User talk:WhatamIdoing

If you expected a reply on another page and didn't get it, then please feel free to remind me. I've given up on my watchlist. You can also use the magic summoning tool if you remember to link my userpage in the same edit in which you sign the message.

Please add notes to the end of this page. If you notice the page size getting out of control (>100,000 bytes), then please tell me. I'll probably reply here unless you suggest another page for a reply. Thanks, WhatamIdoing

Gratitude

A few months ago, I said something sassy on a page in NewYorkBrad's userspace in the context of the mobile interface. My main point was that I like using it on my phone, pace what some other editors were opining, but I tacked on a completely unnecessary jab about how any substantive interface propositions would just be ignored by the Foundation anyway. I had wanted to name you as a specific counterexample to lack of Foundation engagement, but didn't, and a bit later you joined the same thread. I've felt guilty about it ever since. I've long held but never expressed an opinion that if there were two or three more of you working for the WMF, that would be enough to dispel anyone's concerns about lack of engagement.

I hopped into an appreciation thread on this page – I think last year – and said how much I admired your dedication and how you always seem to have in mind what's best for readers and editors both. I understand that your job description includes community engagement, but I think you're really crushing it. You also recently answered a question I had about zero-edit editors, and I just saw you again reply to a reply of mine at VPI, so I thought I'd finally come here and apologize.

I don't know why I was feeling so salty when I said what I said. I've had a difficult season. I just wanted to clarify that I really appreciate you and your work. Folly Mox (talk) 08:58, 30 April 2023 (UTC)

Thank you, @Folly Mox. I've always liked you, and this message is just another reason to prove that I was right. I, too, once made a belated apology on wiki, only it took me about six years to make it. The recipient died suddenly about two years later, and it has been a source of comfort to me that I had apologized for an undeserved remark. So I congratulate you on being quicker off the mark than I was, and I will take reasonable steps not to die two years from now. ;-)

I think that the mobile interface is going to get some work in the coming years, though not necessarily during this coming year. I think this mostly because the woman now in charge of the Product and Technology departments is a mobile-first editor, and I suspect that she is finding lots of opportunities to wish it were improved. WhatamIdoing (talk) 16:56, 30 April 2023 (UTC)

I really appreciate that, and thank you for your commitment to not dying. If I get a free wish for mobile, it's unhiding navigation templates. I'll reiterate for any watchers that the genesis of this thread was a post about how I like the mobile interface (which ironically I'm not in for this edit, since following a notification link sends you to desktop view). Folly Mox (talk) 17:24, 30 April 2023 (UTC)

Have you ever asked at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical) for a script that would unhide them? It might be possible to do this in your .css file.

In terms of getting this changed more generally, it'd probably be necessary to first determine whether those links are generally useful, and then whether they're useful on small screens. The infrastructure is in place (it's wikitech:Provenance), but nobody has ever done the study. WhatamIdoing (talk) 22:43, 30 April 2023 (UTC)

That's a good idea! I'll poke around and see if there are any well-known scripts with that functionality or if anyone's asked about it before. Oddly I've never modified my css or js, despite writing in those languages professionally in a previous life of IT.

I know people say that categories are for navigation, but I've always found them to be either underpopulated or overpopulated, and the context-free alphabetical ordering doesn't help, so navigation templates were one of my go-to trapdoors into Wikipedia rabbitholes back when I had a computer. I know I'm not the target audience though. Folly Mox (talk) 00:56, 2 May 2023 (UTC)

Strange talk page notes

Hi! Have you ever seen talk page edits like this: (link to talk page edits)

It is the same editor who is trying really hard to add in Earthquakes and a related syndrome to the Concussion article that I moved to the concussion talk page in the same time range. I just posted on WP:MED talk page to get a few more watchers. If you have any advice on my personal talk page, I would appreciate it. Thanks so much, JenOttawa (talk) 13:13, 26 May 2023 (UTC)

@JenOttawa, I'd guess that the editor is not a native English speaker.

Talk pages are very confusing to newcomers. We are so accustomed to them that it can be really hard to imagine how deeply strange they are. But imagine that you showed up for work at a new company, and your new colleagues said: "We use word processing documents for everything. And we mean everything! Phone calls are banned. E-mail is discouraged. Text messages are never used. Instant messaging software is strictly unofficial (and we're not really inviting you to join us). Social media is for losers. Face-to-face discussions will only happen if you pay for it yourself, or maybe if you dedicate your life to this for the next ten years. Instead, if you want to ask a question, leave a note in a regular doc. Yes, just like the docs we use for writing articles. Just open it up, ignore the fact that you could change other people's comments, and add your own comments at the bottom. We all check the server logs when we feel like it, and we'll probably notice your message. There will be no way for you to find out whether we read your message, no way to require us to respond, and definitely no way to make sure that the people who respond (if any) actually know what they're talking about. It's just a blank doc, and you type in it. See how simple it is?" WhatamIdoing (talk) 19:34, 26 May 2023 (UTC)

Good points. Thanks for your input and perspective! Sorry for the delay in responding. Have a great week. JenOttawa (talk) 13:57, 29 May 2023 (UTC)

Hi! And...

Hi WhatamIdoing! Thanks for your note and for calling the tune. As you seem to be "an editor who seems to be familiar with the subject", please go ahead and fix my "mess" 'cos I'm only likely to mess it up even more. It's all yours. Happy editing! --Technopat (talk) 20:38, 26 May 2023 (UTC)

No problem. WhatamIdoing (talk) 23:38, 26 May 2023 (UTC)

1930s "Censored Eleven" video

Hello, WhatamIdoing Have you ever been uploaded 1930s Warner Bros' "Censored Eleven" video to Internet Archive (archive.org)? Yuliadhi (talk) 00:01, 27 May 2023 (UTC)