User talk:Littleolive oil

OK, you lost me

I am now completely opposed to ALL your changes to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi article, save one ("everyday"). The rest are unnecessary, distort the meaning of the article ("rock bands, The Beatles and The Beach Boys" sounds like the Beatles and Beach Boys were not rock bands, for one), and if this were a "children's" version of Wikipedia, it would be CALLED "Children's Wikipedia" or "Wikipedia for Kids", or something to that effect. This Wiki is for readers with limited English skills, and sooner or later children are going to find out about sexual intercourse; it's a fact of life.

Most Beatles biographies mention that Lennon was concerned that the Maharishi might seek some kind of "transcendental revenge", try to have him killed, or at least sue him, for using his name in what became "Sexy Sadie". (He told Playboy in 1980 that the Maharishi "gave me a look that said 'I'll kill you, you bastard.'" Cynthia Lennon also recalled in A Twist of Lennon that when they left Rishikesh, their car broke down, and both were concerned that he might indeed have some kind of supernatural powers.) I thought you were going to be helpful. Now you are just being hairsplitting, and irritating. Zephyrad (talk) 22:42, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

Zephyrad. My intention was to copy edit this article, and not in anyway to be annoying...Not sure why it's annoying to copy edit . Many of the changes I made are grammatical or relate to syntax. This is my field and background at least one of them. Even the best writers, novelists have copy editors . And this is collaborative, after all . My understanding was that this was for children and in that case it is not appropriate to link to sexual intercourse, because the SI article contains material that is not necessarily child approachable or child understandable . If the child is on Wikipedia itself, a different matter. Our responsibility ends there as far as I'm concerned. If it's for those adults with limited language skills that's different.

I am not doubting anything you are writing about, but sources are necessary . If I haven't heard about these issues and I am somewhat familiar with the history than the regular readers with limited skills won't have either, so, the Wikipedia way is to give them some help with a reference.

This isn't hairsplitting, these are opinions given my experience . I you don't agree that's fine . I'm not sure its fair to tell editors they are annoying because you don't like their edits . At any rate apologies for any misunderstandings and best wishes.(Littleolive oil (talk) 04:41, 13 April 2008 (UTC))

Well, it looks like I need a copyeditor..... Spelling "grammar". (Littleolive oil (talk) 13:13, 13 April 2008 (UTC))

Littleoliveoil. I'm not calling you annoying; I simply found that stack of minor edits adding up to an annoyance. I write professionally, and have a reputation for not needing more than a minor change or two, to anything... exchanging that second "ordinary" for "everyday" is an example of that. One of my pet peeves is seeing, commas placed where, they don't really need to, be. A misplaced one can throw things off (check out 3 Famous Commas), and that seems to happen a lot of late, here and on regular Wikipedia. (Maybe it's British style to put one between a title and a name, like "Pope, Benedict XVI", but didn't they watch Benny Hill? "What's that in the road, a head?!")

I also don't see a problem with linking to a simple definition of "sexual intercourse"; we're not telling kids how to do it, or where to go for it, or what to expect. My understanding is that children may read this, but the target audience is foreign readers with limited English skills, though the common viewpoint is "I feel like I'm telling a kid a story". And sex is part of life; most kids already have some clue about that, and I'd rather soft-pedal the issue and move on, than leave a gap. (Now, if I'd quoted Lennon saying "We heard about Maharishi trying to rape Mia Farrow, or trying to get off with Mia Farrow, or some shit like that", I think you'd have every reason to cry foul. - That's probably not the precise quote, mind you, though he did say "rape" and "get off". I'd have to exhume the book.)

Anyway, don't let me scare you off editing here. Feedback does help, and it's great when someone can catch plain mistakes (like redundancies, or overuse of words, or punctuation blunders) and correct them. Best of luck. Zephyrad (talk) 17:04, 13 April 2008 (UTC)