Wikipedia talk:Reference desk/Archive 7

message: Maybe we should set up a clear policy on trolling, baiting, or clear non-questions. (The creationism one on the science desk currently there comes to mind as an example.) Just deleting the question would probably just prompt the poster to re-enter it, so maybe a strikethrough the question, with a generic template of some sort... Any thoughts? --Fangz 23:46, 10 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: It also looked like trolling to me. There are people too stupid to waste effort on. I don't think we need any formal mechanism. Those who feel like accommodating them can do so and those who don't can ignore it. If it got troublesome, I would use your template idea to redirect people to an "arena" page where those who thought the challenge intellectually worthy could engage each other. alteripse 00:27, 11 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree with alteripse - we don't need a formal mechanism. If you read through all the archives, the reference desk has been robust against these sorts of posts ever since it started way back when; as long as the post itself does not overpower the rest of the questions, in principle there is nothing wrong with keeping it there. --HappyCamper 02:15, 11 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  In relation to non-questions, our policy should be immediate removal.  Otherwise, editors are tempted to reply with smarmy, sarcastic replies, or replies that attempt to answer what they think the submitter might, just, possibly have been on about.   We're not here to try to second guess what people who are too lazy to say what they want, want.  And we're not here to invite editors to go on ego trips where they can display their knowledge in the face of the most cryptic of clues.  JackofOz 05:55, 19 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  Perhaps this is slightly related to this discussion? I've set up an association of reference desk employees at meta:Association of Reference Desk Employees, originally as a joke, but now it might actually have a use; we could come up with policy and things like this...? Any ideas? Cernen Xanthine Katrena 23:37, 18 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Trolls, flamebaits, and non-questions... 

message: Hello everyone! I am not sure of my availability during the holiday season - although I will try to archive during this period, it is quite possible that I will be away from the computer. If there is a need to archive the reference desk, a simple cut-and-paste of X number of days should be adequate - I usually trim a handful of dates so that there are 5-7 days worth of active questions, but there  are really no "rules" behind the archival - whatever seems intuitive and simple usually works best! --HappyCamper 00:11, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Reference desk archival 

message: Since a lot of question-posters forget to mention what nation they're from or interested in, I took the liberty of tracking down an anonymous user by feeding the IP that Wiki had collected into Community Geotarget IP Project, then posted the results to help other answerers.  It just occurred to me that I might have erred in balancing the desire to be helpful with the right to privacy.  Are there any Wikipedia policies advocating or disapproving of what I just did? --Mareino 19:40, 16 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: When someone edits on Wikipedia, their IP is recorded and this becomes public... --HappyCamper 02:11, 17 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Tracking down anonymous question-posters

message: I've had a question go unanswered on this page by the time it was archived, so I thought I would put it in an annex at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Mathematics/unsolved.  I'll leave the honour of how/whether to link it from the ref desk to HappyCamper, since I'll no doubt mess up the house style. --- Charles Stewart 02:13, 30 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Okay, I'll take a look. There really isn't a house style...I just archive whenever I feel like it. All Wikipedians are welcome to archive as they see fit. As long as it's simple, fun, and easy to do, that's all it matters. I used to sort the questions and list them in answered/unanswered sections, but there are too many of them for me to do now. If I ever archive an unanswered question, always feel free to repost it again. I'll do that now, and maybe add another link to the archives. Stay tuned... --HappyCamper 02:21, 30 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Hmm...well, I decided to be a bit creative, and reposted it with lots of references to where it came from. I also made another link in the archives to the new unanswered page that you made. Let's see if Wikipedians can answer the question this time around! --HappyCamper 02:30, 30 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks.  I doubt the question will be answered now, it's pretty obscure. --- Charles Stewart 17:46, 30 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Unsolved queries page for [[Wikipedia:Reference desk/Mathematics]] 

message: I request help from anyone concerned with humanities to assist here where a problem is most apparent[],http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Pope_Pius_XII#Visible_1_1_2006_Impossibility_of_a_Serious_Article and to consider the a.r.t./article resolution template I suggested here at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Vatican_Bank#WP__Article_resolution_template. The template is not a template  in the wiki form but more in the general working sense. Thanks  EffK 01:27, 3 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Request for reason and help

message: The formatting has gone totally haywire from about January 7 onwards, with extra spaces in front of section headers and indentations, causing a whole lot of stuff to end up being in one section.  Can someone fix this without losing the contributions people have made? User:AlMac|(talk) 01:50, 9 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Looks fine to me. I'm guessing it's been fixed. -- Jmabel | Talk 09:08, 9 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text:  Apparently via reverting ... I had posted here, then thought Help Desk would be better ... discussion there took it to Administrative Incidents, and then an Administrator took care of it. User:AlMac|(talk) 11:42, 9 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[WP:RD/M]] Formatting