Wiktionary talk:Information desk/2014/July

Proposals:

The information desk...

IS for:

• General requests for definitions. (i.e. "What does the phrase ____ mean in English?")
• Questions about how to use Wiktionary. (WT:ID)
• Questions about where to go for help. (WT:ID)

ISN'T for:

• Policy discussions (WT:BP)
• Questions about formatting entries (WT:ELE, WT:BP)
• Questions about specific words (specifically: clarification about already existing entries) (WT:TR)
• Requests for any kind of persmissions (WT:BP, WT:A)
• Questions about whether a word should be deleted (WT:RFV) or if a word is really a word (WT:TR)

MIGHT be for:

• Basic questions about the English language, words, grammar etc.

Richardb response

Would prefer to send questions about words to Wiktionary:Tea Room.

Think it should be called "information desk". People are not looking for a discussion (never mind an argument, flame war and everything elese we have in Beer Parlour.

IS FOR "Questions about formatting entries" - the answers might point the new user to WT:ELE etc, but the information desk is the place for a newbie to start by asking the simple question

if the 'Tea room' was called the literal (ie the meaning of words) or linguistic (ie the use of or pertaining to language) room/area/forum there may be less confusion. It says "Questions and discussions about specific words", but my question is based on a topic that may cover more than one word (ie linguistics). And besides that, whenever I see the words 'tea room' I back away slowly and without drawing attention to myself for fear of having my cheek pinched... well usually; this time I'm going in. 124.150.56.235 12:40, 22 February 2011 (UTC) [also posted under another similar heading]

Proposal for intro

I first thought to build some intro for our two, now three, major talk pages, but it's become a bit more than that, more of a guideline for newcomers where to go. I still post it here, though, as it involves the function of WT:ID. It could appear at various places, for instance at Wiktionary:Welcome, newcomers and Wiktionary:FAQ, so it'll be a template. It's partly inspired on w:WP:VP. Please comment or improve. Perhaps the last one is a bit too experimental. — Vildricianus 17:40, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

What to do	Place to be
Request one or more articles to be written for you	Wiktionary:Requested articles
Particular questions about how to use Wiktionary, requests for information or help with a specific problem	WT:ID; check WT:FAQ first!
Questions about particular lexical or language-specific subjects; discussion of existing enties, meanings of words	WT:TR or the concerned article's talk page
General, broad questions concerning policies, proposals, important formatting concepts or community-wide aspects; requests for bot approval and other kinds of permissions	WT:BP
Format-specific questions and proposals	check WT:ELE, then go to WT:ID if you still need to ask a question.
Request or discuss verification of a word or sense	WT:RFV
Request or discuss an entry's deletion	WT:RFD
Information about the clean up and deletion processes	WT:CDP
Report bugs	WT:BR
Minor announcements and news	WT:AN
Request for adminship	WT:A
Request someone's block; Report vandalism	WT:VIP

• I put in a suggested change, striking out RFV and RFD, putting in Cleanup and Deletion process instead.--Richardb 15:42, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

"Include" Wiktionary:Information desk in Beer Parlour ?

Whilst I like the idea of having a seperate Information Desk for newbies, that is not cluttered with all the crap of Beer Parlour, the problem is once we hive it off here the knowledgeable people won't be viewing the newbie questions very often.

One way we might be able to overcome this is by somehow "including" the Information desk contents into Beer Parlour, whilst retaining them as separate, like a template. Something Connel is doing over at Wiktionary:Project - Keeping Translations Common and Synchronised Across Different Spellings indicated inclusions could be editied in their source. We need to look into that. Then we could "include" Information desk in Beer Parlour, but have people go directly to the source in Information Desk when they edit to provide an answer. Then the question comes where to "include" them in Beer Parlour. Somewhere near the bottom so they get looked at frequently. How to keep it at the bottom - manually ??--Richardb 13:59, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

This is the way it's done at Wikipedia. Their Village pump has several sections, but there's also a master page where one can view all sections (contained as templates). — Vildricianus 14:00, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

I think enough people keep an eye on the ID (I know I have it watchlisted, and I suspect many regulars do) that including it into the BP is unnecessary. Moreover, those of us with modems (such as yours truly) won't appreciate it: the BP is quite long enough as it is.—msh210℠ 17:34, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

About typing Bengali characters

Can anyone help me with the tools for typing Bengali characters (alphabets)? R Ray

I use Tavultesoft Keyman for several different scripts. Try http://www.tavultesoft.com/forums/category.php?ForumCategoryID=106 . —Stephen 14:52, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Renaming Information desk

I like how tea, beer, and grease are themes of liquids involved in meals. Information desk doesn't fit. I seem to remember Charlie Brown and Calvin & Hobbes having Lemonade (in strikethrough) Advice Stands. I've seen them in cartoons as well, I think. It gives me connotations of philosophy, help, approachability, and amusement, + it carries the drink theme. I think it'd also be readily understandable to any newbie. I'd like to know if that resonates with anyone or if somebody has a better term. Please, do not take this too seriously ;-P Thecurran 02:58, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Unlike with the others, the information desk gets a lot of questions from people with very poor English. If we gave it a name that was only understandable as a cultural reference, I fear that they would not be able to find it. Also, the grease in a grease pit is hopefully not the same grease as is involved in meals, unless you're alluding to meals on wheels. —Ruakh_TALK 03:49, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

That's a very important point. ...stand sounds pretty understandable to me. Desk isn't a normal loan into Japanese, but stand is. Petrol station in Japanese is a word made to be pronounced like gasoline stand. I think advisors and information are both well incorporated into business-speak in foreign languages, but I don't know about advice. If advice stand is much less understandable than information desk to people who have trouble with English, mine is a poor suggestion. I've seen a symbol with i in a circle mean information in many contexts. I just wish I could find some way to make the liquid theme consistent in information desk without subtracting from its usefulness. Maybe I should just think of the flow of information like that of tea, beer, or grease. Hey, do you know how to underline or strikethrough? Is it <strikethough> lemonade </strikethrough> & <underline> before </underline> ? Thecurran 04:45, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

To strike through without any additional semantics, use <strike>foo</strike> or <s>foo</s>. To underline without any additional semantics, use <u>bar</u>. To convey the idea of deleting or inserting something, though, it's theoretically better to use <del>foo</del> or <ins>bar</ins> (respectively), because non-visual browsers can theoretically convey those ideas non-visually, while striking through and underlining are strictly visual concepts. (Well, I guess they could be tactile as well, but you get the idea.) —Ruakh_TALK 04:55, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Wow! I just figured out the s, u, strike, and b on Wikipedia's sandbox, because something on my watchlist just got underlined, but I never imagined ins or del. lemonade advice stand Thecurran 05:01, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

(also posted under similar heading elsewhere on this page) - that "if the 'Tea room' was called the literal (ie the meaning of words) or linguistic (ie the use of or pertaining to language) room/area/forum there may be less confusion. It says "Questions and discussions about specific words", but my question is based on a topic that may cover more than one word (ie linguistics). And besides that, whenever I see the words 'tea room' I back away slowly and without drawing attention to myself for fear of having my cheek pinched... well usually; this time I'm going in." Let me add that the point made above on 'cultural references' also seems like a logical basis for changing the name(s), given the stated purpose ie disambiguation. 124.150.56.235 12:50, 22 February 2011 (UTC)

Zealot plus "My way or the highway"

I seek a word to modify or substitute for Zealot to add emphasis on "My way or the highway". While zealot means a fanatical partisan, I want to boost the notion that everyone else is wrong/bad/evil. 24.32.56.64 17:11, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

You don’t need zealot at all. Just say my way or the highway, or "it’s my way or the highway". —Stephen 05:34, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

Striking section headers.

A lot of questions here are kind of open-ended, but a lot are very cut and dried. Does anyone object to the striking of section headers for questions that have been resolved (like we do at WT:RF*)? —Ruakh_TALK 20:18, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Article Template

I come here searching for the ultimate article/word template....with all possible sub-headings AND in their "preferred" order...? -- IrishDragon 02:17, 19 November 2008 (UTC)

WT:ELE Conrad.Irwin 02:21, 19 November 2008 (UTC)

Could I ask why you use British spellings for many words (e.g., realisation)? Just by sheer numbers, probably most users are in the US.

• Because many of our editors are British. SemperBlotto 09:52, 5 April 2009 (UTC)
• If someone troubles to investigate actual usage frequencies and the US spelling is fairly common in the UK and the UK spelling is rare in the US, we change the UK spelling to an alternative spelling. The best sources for relative frequency are COCA (US) and BNC (UK), both of which are available at [1]. It is essential that we show alternative spellings and have the right tags and/or usage notes to indicate the scope of each spelling as best we can. When adding an entry, it is useful to see whether the alternative spelling already has a full entry. DCDuring TALK 13:17, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Order

I think the order is wrong: new entries in Wiktionary:Information desk would be above and the older ones bellow.--Nudecline 12:28, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

All of our talk pages work this way. —Michael Z. 2010-06-03 19:46 z

Bare: Nautical term?

The entry BARE does not list the act of changing direction for vehicles/boats/aircraft as a definition. "Bare left heading 270 degrees" for instance. Is there an alternate spelling? Or perhaps a yet unincluded definition? Dbalcaen 13:07, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

That’s bear (definition 7). It’s not confined to nautical language, it can be also be used when giving driving directions (automobiles) and hiking directions. —Stephen ^(Talk) 12:58, 22 February 2011 (UTC)

Semiprotection?

Any objections to my semiprotecting this page for a while? I'm really getting sick of the ads for pirated perfume. —Angr 21:52, 9 February 2013 (UTC)

I don’t object, but we should add a note for beginners to post at the talk page. — Ungoliant ^(Falai) 22:00, 9 February 2013 (UTC)

I think the page should be left unprotected (it is, after all, the primary forum newcomers are supposed to come to for help). The adverts have been caught and removed within a few minutes or hours. Perhaps we could use an edit-filter to block all newcomers' edits to this page if they're about perfume or contain external links, though... - -sche (discuss) 22:11, 9 February 2013 (UTC)

I think we can be very specific with the edit filter, since this seems to be running unattended. I've been hiding the edits just to be safe, but they're probably useless to any spammer without the url and other information about whatever site they're trying to promote. Come to think of it, this may be a virus or worm that sends spam from infected computers, but has lost contact with the source that feeds them the directions from the spammer. Chuck Entz (talk) 23:22, 9 February 2013 (UTC)

I don't even know what "very specific with the edit filter" means, so I'll leave the page protection (if any happens) to you. —Angr 23:37, 9 February 2013 (UTC)

Interwiki Link proposal

I just wanted to drop a note to let interested parties know that they can weigh in on a proposal to possibly link to this desk from the main English-language Wikipedia Reference Desk, should the reference desk editors over there support doing so.

The proposal may be found here under Proposal B.

--Falconus (talk) 15:36, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

Picture

Can we put a picture on this page? All the other WT:Discussion rooms have one. -WF

This is a good one

Hmm

I think there's a cat underneath

Possible

This one is pretty refined

We all feel like this sometimes

We all feel like this sometimes

File:Empire State Building - Empfangshalle.jpg

But this will probably be most popular

Would be good but photo quality sucks

The last one I suggest

WF you are a dork, but I actually like the "desk of death" image. Let's do it. Haha. Equinox ◑ 20:08, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

I like the question mark