Talk:Sixth Column

Badly transcluded

This article needs the attention of an expert. David Finn 04:28, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

I have no idea what you mean by that. What transclution? What expert? --Peter Schmitt 01:01, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Huh?

Transclusion means the inclusion of the content of one document in another document by reference.

An expert is someone who is familiar with a topic.

Random quote from article - Several informal reviewers have suggested that Sixth ColumnJohn W. Campbell, and another novel by Heinlein was closer to his own style.

Any more questions? David Finn 06:52, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Don't pretend, David. You know quite well that I do not need your explanations.

• If you spot a misformed sentence then (best option) correct it yourself, or point to it and say that you do not know how to correct it. Don't ask for an unspecified expert for the whole article.
• I still don't know where you spotted a "bad transclusion".

--Peter Schmitt 23:55, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Perhaps I should have been more clear - I was hoping for an expert in Literature or Anthropology to help clear up some issues with this particular article rather than a general conversation about editing with an expert in Mathematics, if that is ok! I really think I am allowed to ask for help if I need it. David Finn 00:42, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

... or someone who is willing to do some research and revise the article, sure. But what is badly transcluded? This technical, not literature. --Peter Schmitt 00:58, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

Peter...

You say that I just want someone to do the research and editing for me. Since this is a misinterpretation on your part I should explain the sequence of thought to you.

This article was added by Howard in one block. I know from experience that Howard did a lot of editing in a sandbox and copy/pasted his work in blocks. I also know from experience that on occasion his copy/pastes became accidentally truncated and I have once or twice tidied up one of these moves - no big deal, it was obvious what he was trying to do.

Knowing all this I happen upon this article and straight away I come across something that has not been transcluded correctly. But this is an article that has been developed by an Editor - I am not an expert in literature nor this book and my researching the entire article to find the missing pieces would be like reinventing Howards wheel.

The far more sensible option is if an expert in the subject would take a quick read of the article - it isn't long - because someone familiar with the subject would be able to make the probably very minor editing needed to fix the article in a jiffy, or suggest how - note I said attention, not editing. No research, two minutes of their time, and all optional.

I hope this clears up any questions about my motivation for writing on this talkpage, and I rather suppose that 99 people out of 100 would have understood that I meant an expert in this subject. It may be that there isn't one around, even for some time to come, but if they use the Workgroup and its Recent Changes function they will get this far one day. David Finn 02:00, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

rewriting confusing section

A key paragraph in this article is taken from Science fiction and religion. A good beginning would be to cut and paste from there as the version over there is a little less confusing. To take matters a little further:

• That Sixth Column is based on John W. Campbell outline is documented. See Patterson, William H. (2010-08-17). Robert A. Heinlein: 1907-1948, learning curve. Macmillan. ISBN 9780765319609. 

• I'm going to clean up a rather unwieldy transition to a discussion of "If This Goes On—". -Derek Hodges 03:50, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

Great work Derek, thanks a lot! David Finn 09:12, 21 November 2011 (UTC)