User talk:Joel M. Williams/Archive 1

Joel M. Williams

Current talk page

1

I've added an archive box for you

Joel,

I've added an archive box to your page so that you don't have to lose anything that has been posted to your talk apge. You can just cut and paste to a new archive page, or move the whole thing. Each method has it's advantages, but I'll leave that to you! If you need some help setting up your first one, just let me know. D. Matt Innis 01:25, 22 February 2011 (UTC

Matt, see you added to the top of my talk! Thanks. Please add the archive box again. I retrieved my previous talk (I had deleted about half of it), but the archive box did not show up in the reconstruction.Joel M. Williams 01:44, 22 February 2011 (UTC)

What your "test" has shown

Hi, Joel: It seems to me that your test has merely shown that you can manually re-arrange your own Talk sheet however you wish, which is pretty much what I told you when you asked me about this in an email.

However, as you have noted, new subjects started by using the "+" tab will still be placed at the bottom of the page. In my opinion, it will be quite difficult to get that changed and there will be people opposed to doing so. Milton Beychok 20:07, 19 February 2011 (UTC)

I certainly won't be spending any time on changing it, or even allowing the option to change it. --Chris Key 20:13, 19 February 2011 (UTC)

Ya'll might want to consider the issue that anyone can change YOUR talk page completely, however. I suggest at least disallowing anyone full access to anyone else's talk page (just the owner) - thus, just allow additions to individual subjects or the addition of totally new ones. See my mod of Matt's talk (http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/User_talk:D._Matt_Innis). Joel M. Williams 21:07, 19 February 2011 (UTC)

You could make such changes -- but it would be a behaviour issue. We do expect from Citizens that they refrain from such actions. --Peter Schmitt 01:04, 20 February 2011 (UTC)

Edited the entire talk page to add this subject at the top

Thus, it is not too hard to get around the system, if one chooses.Joel M. Williams 19:14, 19 February 2011 (UTC)

your talk page preferences

added the red stuff after all the black was entered - a day later.

just to show that stuff can be added anywhere in a "subject".

Hi Joel, I had never thought of turning the comments upside down on my talk page, but I can see why you'd want that. As far as I know, that feature is not available as an option, but you could certainly atte,pt to teach others to do this on your talk page! Good luck with that, though. Something tells me that old habits die hard! D. Matt Innis 01:44, 19 February 2011 (UTC)

added some more in the middle

I guess my desire was that "New Subjects" be placed at the top. Added comments, like this one are easily handled by the :'s and logically follow in time. The "+" tab could just as easily put the latest subject at the top as it does the bottom unless there is some strange syntax happening. I have reordered my talk page to reflect what I like. I do not plan to continue doing this manually, however. Joel M. Williams 03:36, 19 February 2011 (UTC)

I am sure that someone with programming experience could alter the wiki to add the new comments to the top automatically, but, oc course, that would mean that is would happen for everyone. I suppose you might be able to convince one of the gurus to do it to one of the several skins that are available? D. Matt Innis 03:38, 19 February 2011 (UTC)

Note how your response just popped up in the right place and I did not have to "wheel" down the page to see it!!Joel M. Williams

the '+' tab starts a new "subject"; it does not force additions to the "subject" to be added at the bottom of the current subject being edited. It only functions to generate a new subject and place it at the bottom of the talk page as my test (entered at bottom of this discussion page demonstrates.Joel M. Williams 17:43, 19 February 2011 (UTC)

Whilst it is certainly possible to start new topics at the top of the page and it is probably within your rights to ask people to do so on your own talk page, don't forget that this will be contrary to the rest of the wiki. Therefore anyone going to your talk page who is not familiar with your preference will automatically add things to the bottom, and when somebody reads your talk page they will assume that the new stuff is at the bottom. Ask yourself this... is it really worth it? People will find it confusing, and get it wrong often. Your talk page will be different to every other talk page on this and most other wikis.

Also, it means that people who wish to start a new topic will have to edit the entire page rather than just use the + button. This may seem like a minor inconvenience, but for people on slow connections this means a larger edit page. It also means they will have to be more familiar with wiki formatting than usual as they will have to know to move down the stuff at the top and surround the header with the correct number of = signs. --Chris Key 20:01, 19 February 2011 (UTC)

Greetings

Hello Joel. I am also a Chemistry Editor. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Seeing your quotations, I think you will like the one atop my user page here. David E. Volk 19:12, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

Edited the entire talk page to add this subject in the middle

More getting around the systemJoel M. Williams 19:14, 19 February 2011 (UTC)

Some ideas for contributions

Dear Joel, welcome aboard CZ. Milt has already given you some hints as to how things work here in general, and I wish to add some more practical suggestions on what possibilities you have to contribute. For a start, I just took some of the keywords from the information you supplied upon registration, and display below the current state of related CZ articles (for icon documentation, see Template:Rpl/Doc):

•  Chemistry [r]: The science of matter, or of the electrical or electrostatical interactions of matter. ^[e]
•  Physics [r]: The study of forces and energies in space and time. ^[e]
• Space Shuttle [r]: Add brief definition or description
•  Los Alamos National Laboratory [r]: A U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory located in Los Alamos, New Mexico and originally the development and construction center of nuclear weapons during the Manhattan Project for use by the United States of America in World War II. ^[e]
• Los Alamos, New Mexico [r]: Add brief definition or description
•  New Mexico (U.S. state) [r]: 47th state (1912) of the USA. ^[e]
• Textile [r]: Add brief definition or description
• Textile fiber [r]: Add brief definition or description
• Meteorite [r]: Add brief definition or description
• Star dust [r]: Add brief definition or description
• Sigma Xi [r]: Add brief definition or description
•  Polymer [r]: A compound of high molecular weight derived either by the addition of many smaller, similar molecules (monomers), or by the condensation of many smaller, similar molecules eliminating water, alcohol, etc. ^[e]
• Polymerization [r]: Add brief definition or description
• Cellular foam [r]: Add brief definition or description
•  Graphite [r]: A naturally occurring allotrope of the element carbon. ^[e]

In order to find articles dealing with similar topics, it's also worth looking at the Related Article subpages of such an article (or the [r]).

In case you are still somewhat involved in homework assignments, please consider doing so via Eduzendium articles.

Looking forward to fruitful collaborative editing, --Daniel Mietchen 16:42, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

Welcome, Joel

Joel, welcome to Citizendium. I've been around a while, so if I can help you in any way, don't hesitate to let me know. I look forward to reading your contributions. Anthony.Sebastian 04:14, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

Congratulations upon becoming a Chemistry workgroup Editor

Joel, I have just granted you a Chemistry workgroup Editorship. Congratulations and best regards! If you would like me to create those two personal sandboxes for you, please let me know on my Talk page... I will gladly oblige. Milton Beychok 01:48, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

As a new Chemistry editor, you will find it most useful to read:

• Category:Chemistry Workgroup : To see the complete list of existing Chemistry articles.
• CZ:The Editor Role : To learn what being an editor at Citizendium entails.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me on my user Talk page. Milton Beychok 03:01, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

Welcome!

Welcome to Citizendium as a new author! We're very glad you've joined us. We hope you will contribute boldly and well. Here are pointers for a quick start. You'll probably also want to know how to get started as an author. Just look at Getting Started for other helpful "startup" pages, and at CZ:Home for a complete listing of help and other community pages. If you wish, just ask me to create a "personal sandbox" for you where you can test out editing and writing articles. If you need help to get going, it is a good idea to join our discussion forums. That's where we discuss policy, proposals or technical problems. You can ask any constable for help, too. Just put a note on their "talk" page. Again, welcome and thank you! We appreciate your willingness to share your expertise, and we hope to see you begin actively editing and contributing to Citizendium. Milton Beychok 07:10, 9 February 2011 (UTC)