Wikipedia talk:Typo Team/Archive 1

message: How would I go about joining the typo department? Can anyone just sign up for it? What kind of work does it entail? Muriel noticed I do a lot of cleaning up already a while ago and suggested I get involved. Sarge Baldy 09:37, Dec 8, 2003 (UTC)
: It's perfectly informal.  The typo page merely serves to coordinate activities.  Yes, you can just sign up.  --Naddy 22:04, 8 Dec 2003 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes. Graham87 06:04, 7 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: "Membership"

message: Hi, I just used google to search for "feautres" I've corrected all the articles that I found is there a place I can add this word so that others can check upon it as well?--Drawde83 21:54, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: You add it at the end of the "work completed" heading, with the approximate number in brackets, and sign your name with  "~~~~". Graham 08:51, 5 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Work completed

message: The spell checker mentioned seems Ameri-biased.  Perfectly good British spellings are considered misspellings (e.g. centre, colour).  Not very globally friendly.  Brooklyn Nellie (Nricardo) 03:46, Mar 31, 2004 (UTC)
:Wikitravel prefers American spellings because "the founders of Wikitravel are Americans" and they want to be consistent. Wikipedia was initiated by an American and our policy seems much more fine-tuned. Maybe Wikitravel's policy will someday change. Could Wikitravel's spellchecker be perhaps modified to suit our needs? Chris Roy 04:05, 31 Mar 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Wikitravel Misspellings

message: I've just put together a simple script which I've been running by hand from my Linux machine (should work on any unix-like system) to pull Special:Randompage and spell check it.  Lots of false positives for words which are valid but not in my dictionary, but I have found and fixed more than a few legit errors already.  
#!/bin/sh
lynx -nolist -dump http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Randompage > /tmp/wiki.$$
TITLE=`head -4 /tmp/wiki.$$ | tail -1`
URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/`echo $TITLE | sed 's/ /_/g'`"
echo "Article: $TITLE"
echo "URL: $URL"
echo "Checking spelling: "
aspell --add-extra-dicts british -l < /tmp/wiki.$$ 2>/dev/null | grep -v Wiki
rm /tmp/wiki.$$
PxT 19:44, 15 Jun 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  spellchecking Special:Randompage 

message: Guys - I've finally gotten around to writing a report that checks for mis-spelled words.  There's a sample at User:Topbanana/Reports/This article may contain a mis-spelled word (geenrated from the 20th June database dump).  If any of you have a moment or two to try it out and give feedback I'd be most grateful.  Cheers.  - TB 17:03, Jun 22, 2004 (UTC)
:Did you add "mis-spelled" to your list? :) --BillFlis 13:03, 16 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Commonly mis-spelled words report 

message: Mediawiki's built-in spellchecker was working for a couple of hours but isn't anymore. I'm sad now. -- Cyrius|✎ 05:44, 24 Jun 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  Arrrgh 

message: Oxford University Press has published a report of the most common misspellings, which (in these days of spellcheckers) seem mostly to be cases where two similarly spelt words are interchanged. The worst offender is "diffuse" (as in "gases diffuse") and "defuse" (as in "defuse the situation"). Ironically, all the diffuses/defuses in Wikipedia seem to be correct, but there are a few more of their findings listed on guardian.co.uk.
:Thanks for this, this will be invaluable in detecting common typos.--Knucmo2 18:38, 12 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: OUP report

message: "Prefecture" should be capitalized when it's part of a proper noun. (Also noted at Wikipedia:Manual of Style (Japan-related articles).)  I ran a scan on the 26 Nov 2004 database dump, and detected a number of errors.  Matches are shown with an excerpt from the article in question. -- Beland 05:10, 5 Dec 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: (The capitalization list is now defunct. -- Beland 04:12, 9 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Capitalization

message: I have the 2005-02-09 database dump (direct download at ) and I wouldn't mind running some queries/searches. What do I do? r3m0t 17:33, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  What queries should I run? 

message: I see a good number of articles which have the (to me) extremely grating use of "ie" or "eg" where the proper spelling in my idiolect would be "i.e." or "e.g." and would always be followed by a comma.  Is this just an error or is there a style which favors leaving out the periods from Latin abbreviations?  18.26.0.18 07:05, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Agreed - I fix these as I come across them. Dave.Dunford 11:57, 29 Apr 2005 (UTC)

text: I fix these as well. Most print usage I see of thses isn't italicized (since they really have been assimilated into English). Would it be sensable to have a semi-automatic bot (or even just a search) that dragged up all usage that weren't "i.e.," or "e.g.,"? —BenFrantzDale 18:42, 27 September 2005 (UTC)

text: I disagree. They really are abbreviations; they diserve two periods. (I have to wonder, what are you doing commenting on Wikipedia_talk:Typo but yet not being anal about the spelling of these? ;-) ) —BenFrantzDale 18:42, 27 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Personal feeling: ie. and eg. look fine to me, regardless of whether they're technically correct.  Yes, I know they're id est, and exemplum gratia (sp?), but society has moved a LONG way from the time when they actually reminded the user of a meaningful latin phrase.  Insisting on the dots (i.e. "e.g.") is just...anal and a waste of space, really. [Credibility grab: I've studied both latin and linguistics] --Stevage 03:06, 3 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: If it's anal & a waste of space to put a full stop where it belongs, why bother about punctuation at all?  As for me, I'd rather see these spelt out in English anyway.  Jimp 06:53, 16 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: British usage tends to drop the punctuation in these situations; see for example, usage in The Economist. --Xwu 14:44, 14 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  ie eg 

message: How does one go about signing up if they are interested in joining this department? (Typos are practically all I edit.)
:Just add your name to the list and keep up correcting the tyops typos. - Marcika 23:02, 23 Apr 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Signing up? 

message: should alternate be changed in the above case?  I believe not as it is part of the technological term, started incorrectly. Ytgy111 08:03, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  alternate DNS root? 

message: *masterful. Masterful means 'domineering, imperious'. It  is very frequently (perhaps nearly always) used in newspapers when masterly, meaning 'designed as if by a master, extremely skillful' is intended. Johnrayjr 07:54, 8 July 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: American Heritage has a useful note on this very subject .  Particularly in a dynamic wikipedia, I certainly wouldn't view this "correction" as a high priority, though being married to a former newspaper copyeditor I fully understand grammatical pet peeves. -Jcbarr 21:57, 2 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Masterful 

message: Hi.  I've just learned of the existence of this page, and will now become a regular visitor.  One thing that immediately struck me is that there is a lot of debate on the Typo page (eg. "considered").  Wouldn't it be better if all debate occurred on this Talk page, and the Typo page show only what has been agreed (subject to change of course), like every other subject on Wikipedia?  The bulleted list of typos at the bottom of the Typo page needs to be restructured into alpha order to make it more helpful.  Cheers JackofOz 03:18, 11 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Structure of these pages

message: Is it possible for a bot to fix the typos? It would seem like just a simple search and replace. I don't know. It just seems really tedious doing it manually. Gflores Talk 07:15, 21 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Bot? 

message: I disagree with this edit and I want to revert it. Any comments? I don't see the problem with the question that was deleted. Also, is there a revert button somewhere or do I gave to cut and paste?  -Barry- 03:36, 15 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: It is the removal of someone's own comments that got no response. I think it's borderline acceptable on a talk page, but I don't feel strongly enough about it to revert it myself. For details on reverting (which can't be followed on this page because comments have been made!), see wikipedia:revert. Graham/pianoman87 talk 05:10, 15 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks, I didn't notice that the author reverted his own comment. That's fine with me.  -Barry- 05:40, 15 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Reason for reverting 

message: Do you guys mind if I do some clean-up on the Typo page, it seems cluttered and there's ancient information about a spell-checker and other stuff that can be organized. Gflores Talk 03:32, 20 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I wouldn't mind it, as there is some very old information on there. Graham/pianoman87 talk 06:16, 20 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  Yes please, that would be good. CarolGray 10:33, 20 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  cleanup of main page? 

message: I spent about 30 minutes going through the first 100 Google results for the phrase "better then" on this website and changing it where appropriate to "better than" being careful not to change things like "If it's better then celebrate." There were a few hundred more. Then there's "more then" and all the rest.
Does this belong on the common misspellings page in the Other strange couples section?  -Barry- 01:42, 15 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: If you add "-intitle:talk", so that talk pages are excluded, you get only 142 results, many of which are repeated pages, deletion pages and user pages. I don't exclude wikipedia and user pages from the search, in case there are some policies or well-written user pages with just one misspelling that should be corrected. Therefore, I estimate that there are about 50 pages that can be corrected from that search, and I have corrected the other ones.
You can list any typo, grammar error or doubled word in the work completed section. I have sometimes listed mistakes like "of the of the" in that section. Graham/pianoman87 talk 09:53, 15 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: "Better then"

message: IMO, the fastest way to fix typos is to use the Autowikibrowser by User:Bluemoose. Unfortunately, he has quit WP, but has left his program (and source code) with us. It can be downloaded here. Instructions are in the process of being set up. It really is very simple to use. Just enter the typo and it'll get the list of articles from google containing that typo and then it does a semi-automatic search and replace for each entry. If you've got questions, you can ask me or User:Mathwiz2020, who has taken up the program. Be sure to check what is being changed before hitting save. Gflores Talk 03:15, 3 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: fastest way to fix typos

message: You have a good project.  My typo corrections tend to be done in passsing rather than as systematic searches.  Sometimes non-native speakers ask me to proofread their new articles.  I don't track minor edits so I doubt I'll be posting accomplishments to your project page.  This post is to say I'm helping with your cause.  Regards, Durova 18:16, 12 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Welcome! I think any way we can fix typos is a good thing, regardless of whether or not we do it systematically or just as we come across them. I first started fixing typos when I was doing a little bit of Recent changes patrolling. Normally, I do systematic searches when I feel like I want to work on something related to Wikipedia, but I don't want to have to really think. There was one page where a systematic search turned up like 10-15 other spelling errors on the same page. Whee! Sue Anne 22:11, 12 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Joining

message: Unless some sources are cited to overturn the common spelling of the word playwright, particularly when Merriam-Webster says it is correct, these changes by Chris the speller should be undone. Thanks. Harro5 01:55, 16 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: It is my understanding that Chris was replacing the misspelled word, playright with the correct word, playwright. See here   Gflores Talk 04:46, 16 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: This issue has been sorted out on my talk page. Thanks. Harro5 23:16, 16 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[Playwright]] or playright? 

message: I think there's a better way to organize our work - right now we just think up (or get one from the done list) of a typo and go search it with google - wouldn't it be better if we committed ourselves (as a whole) to have a list of google queries that we would run monthly or every two months?
A better way would be for a user to choose a pending item and incrementing the date that the query should be rerun on. For example:
* excelent This query should be rerun on the 4th of March 2006.
Then, on the 5th of March (for example) a user would choose to run this query, and would change it to:
* excelent This query should be rerun on the 5th of April 2006.
If everyone agrees, I think this should be explained on the project page. Rbarreira 20:42, 4 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Better way of organizing our work 

message: Hi Typopedians! I'm just curious if something like this would be useful. I'm ok with the not commenting out part, but on rethink I wonder how useful it would be. I plan to have an example on the "A" page shortly. Sct72 01:42, 19 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Common misspellings 

message: If you google for wikipedia pages containing "diss" to take the place of "disrespect" you can find quite a few. I was wondering whether to go through and correct them (to "dis") or leave them since most people will know what it means all the same. I also considered the fact that "diss" and "dis" look unprofessional (to me, anyways); would it be better to simply replace them both with "disrespect" (unless the slang is relevant to the meaning of the idea, like a "dis rap")?
KyleP 07:35, 30 March 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I think it'd be best to replace them with "disrespect". I think slang is unprofessional and shouldn't be in wikipedia. Leave them if they are in quotes though. Graham talk 09:35, 30 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Often misspelled word, but also slang 

message: Sorry, but the double is is on Disputed English Grammar was intentional.Bridesmill 17:03, 14 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Reverted you

message: I've been spell checking the "Special pages" "Articles with the most revisions", that is, Special:Mostrevisions, because these are often among the most noticed pages. Art LaPella 04:21, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Articles with the most revisions

message: I was convinced to join when I saw your first typo correction was on my birthday (the day and month that is, not year).  that's pretty cool  --Osbus 00:36, 27 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  a new member 

message: Is there any solution to maintaining proper spelling, punctuation and grammar in the edits of users that make no attempt to spell correctly? I have been following and fixing the edits of one particular user who tends to have upwards of three misspellings per edit. He has been asked on more than one occasion to run a spell check on his edits before he submits them (twice by me). However, he responded to my requests by vandalizing my user page and has completely ignored the others. I have been trying to find a permanent solution to this problem, but in the meantime I have been doing my best to track and correct all his mistakes. If someone would be able to help with this, I would greatly appreciate it.
Ryan 00:29, 7 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Take it up with an admin.  Although we like to say anyone is welcome, some people are more trouble than they are worth.  --mboverload 02:47, 7 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Frequent offenders 

message: I've made a tool that assists in correcting spelling, based on the last database dump. It uses a list of common misspellings but also checks the other words in a page.
Basically, you add a line to your user monobook.js, then follow a link to get an article with suggested spelling corrections. You don't have to install any special software, though you need a recent browser. Any comments are welcome. Wmahan. 16:02, 26 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Great job! I've spent hours playing with my new toy. ςפקιДИτς ☺ ☻ 03:19, 27 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm glad you like it. It's encouraging to know that others are helping. Wmahan. 16:23, 27 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Javascript tool 

message: There are many instances (thousands, it seems) of the (mis)spelling 'humourous' in Wikipedia; unfortunately, it's not a word in English anywhere in the world (check the OED if I'm not to be believed), even though it seems many people seem to think it is. Is it advisable to correct, or will it spark unpleasantness? --Xwu 14:50, 14 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I don't know about the OED but I found that spelling at http://www.dictionary.com among other places. Art LaPella 17:15, 14 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Unfortunately, the same source at http://www.dictionary.com also considers 'publically' a word, among other egregious specimens... --Xwu 19:40, 19 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Interesting! Humourous looked wrong to me. I'll go ahead and correct that. Sad that dictionary.com cannot be trusted. --Guinnog 11:11, 5 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Humourous" 

message: The project page suggests installing "the Findtextarea extension".  It appears that that no longer exists, or has been re-named.  Does anyone know of a replacement?  The project page needs updating, anyway. --MichaelMaggs 12:35, 2 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Oh!  This bothers me too, but for some reason it didn't occur to me to look for an extension.  I haven't used it yet (I'm *ahem* at work, using IE) but this should be it: Wikipedia:Tools/Browser tools/Mozilla Firefox/Search within Textarea Extension with regex. --Galaxiaad 14:33, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

text: The URL of the installer is http://wargers.org/mozilla/oldfindtexarea.xpi.  Download it, then Open File it in Firefox, and it should install.  Mine gave an error message after the install but seems to be working fine. :)  Hope this helps. --Galaxiaad 02:02, 3 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Searching within text window of Firefox 

message: Is this a legitimate word? Shouldn't it be "broadcast"?
Anyway, my Google search just revealed "about 1,380" broadcasted 's on Wikipedia. I corrected one so there's only 1,379 left!  Bot anyone? :) -- B33R 05:48, 17 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Webster's Unabridged New Revised Edition lists "broadcasted" as a valid alternate to "broadcast". Firsfron of Ronchester 06:10, 17 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: OK, thanks. I can honestly say I've never heard of that before. I was always taught "broadcast".  B33R 06:14, 17 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Broadcasted"? 

message: I made a userbox for this project.  It's at User:Galaxiaad/typo. :) --Galaxiaad 02:58, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Userbox

message: Hello. The WikiProject Council has recently updated the Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Directory.  This new directory includes a variety of categories and subcategories which will, with luck, potentially draw new members to the projects who are interested in those specific subjects. Please review the directory and make any changes to the entries for your project that you see fit. There is also a directory of portals, at User:B2T2/Portal, listing all the existing portals. Feel free to add any of them to the portals or comments section of your entries in the directory. The three columns regarding assessment, peer review, and collaboration are included in the directory for both the use of the projects themselves and for that of others. Having such departments will allow a project to more quickly and easily identify its most important articles and its articles in greatest need of improvement. If you have not already done so, please consider whether your project would benefit from having departments which deal in these matters. It is my hope that all the changes to the directory can be finished by the first of next month. Please feel free to make any changes you see fit to the entries for your project before then. If you should have any questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you.   B2T2 14:24, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Project directory 

message: Any plans to publicize another Typo Correction Day? I know it's the day before Thanksgiving and all, but it'd help get more publicity (and help to make Wikipedia cleaner.) Crystallina 19:29, 18 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Guess there's not enough interest. Oh well. I'm going to go ahead and concentrate efforts on typo killing tomorrow. (Or, really, today according to Wikipedia time.) Feel free to join in. Crystallina 02:05, 22 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  November 22, 2006? 

message: Any ideas for queries to find misspelled references to the country Colombia amid the tens of thousands of perfectly legitimate Columbias? I found about a dozen instances today searching for names of Colombian cities + Columbia (e.g., "Cali Columbia"). I'd welcome other recommendations! Kyriosity 06:49, 28 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Columbia/Colombia 

message: Hello, all. It was initially my hope to try to have this done as part of Esperanza's proposal for an appreciation week to end on Wikipedia Day, January 15. However, several people have once again proposed the entirety of Esperanza for deletion, so that might not work. It was the intention of the Appreciation Week proposal to set aside a given time when the various individuals who have made significant, valuable contributions to the encyclopedia would be recognized and honored. I believe that, with some effort, this could still be done. My proposal is to, with luck, try to organize the various WikiProjects and other entities of wikipedia to take part in a larger celebrartion of its contributors to take place in January, probably beginning January 15, 2007. I have created yet another new subpage for myself (a weakness of mine, I'm afraid) at User talk:Badbilltucker/Appreciation Week where I would greatly appreciate any indications from the members of this project as to whether and how they might be willing and/or able to assist in recognizing the contributions of our editors. Thank you for your attention.  Badbilltucker 19:36, 30 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Wikipedia Day Awards