User:Macdonald-ross
Welcome to Mac's Userpage!
Why simplicity is important
Wikipedia
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It is important not to import excessive detail from the main English Wikipedia. This is the key issue: if a reader wants more detail, they can find it on enWP. But if a reader wants to find a simpler version of something on enWP this is the only place they can go to get it. It is why we were created. The more we look like a mirror site for enWP, the less we are doing our job.
Approximations in science
Approximations in science are estimates. They may not be based on actual measurements. They may be based on very few measurements. For example, measurements of incomplete fossils, or weight estimates that can never be actually measured. In palaeontology, weight estimates have always given difficulty, and there are no end of authors who have said this. Also, of course, measurements from one or a few individuals do not give the full range of adult sizes in a population. We add to the problem when we use a template to translate it, from one scale to another. In general, it is the height of bad science to present estimates or small samples as exact figures.
Idiomatic language
This means words which have changed their meaning in common use. The use of 'flop' as in "She flopped onto the bed" is correct usage. "The film flopped at the box-office" is very common nowadays, and is an extension or second meaning of the term. In this sense it means "to fail". 'Box-office' is also idiomatic. It is short for the complete financial earning of a film as compared to its originally planned earnings. "Takings" is another idiom for earnings. Show business, advertising and politics are the main users of idiomatic language. It cannot be entirely avoided, but writers should stay with standard dictionary meanings as far as they can. Be warned that here for once English wiki fails, for it redirects "idiomatic language" to "first language" which is not the same concept. The page to look for on this wiki and En wiki is idiom.
Awards
DYKs
My pets
- I don't add to this any longer: too much like hard work. But I still do new pages... Macdonald-ross (talk) 08:12, 1 May 2018 (UTC)
2350 new pages to date.
216 categories to date:
Categories created
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Categories224 to date
Category:Mammals of South America
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Stuff
IPv6
- User:TonyBallioni/Just block the /64
Agreed colour for animalia taxoboxes
- rgb(220,220,183)
Syntax for autocollapse
- | collapse_state = <includeonly>{{{1|autocollapse}}}</includeonly><noinclude>collapsed</noinclude> = syntax for collapsing ugly large templates
- {{[title of template footer|collapsed}} forces collapse on individual pages
Various
- {{ma|65|mya}} produces "65 mya"
- [The Dab Solver]
- WP:Template messages#Multi-level templates
- Attrib template: {{enwp based|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Philosophical_skepticism&oldid=346768538}} gives specific version.
- All caps or all lowercase: https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/BA
- [1] Article stats tool
- Wikipedia:Examples of simpler English
- WP:Manual of Style
- Administrators' reading list
- Block message: {{subst:uw-block1}} {{subst:block|reason|time}
- WP:copyPatrol
- {{performing-arts-stub}}
- Chess Project User:Macdonald-ross/WikiProject Chess
- Tony's tips: [5]
Dots & dashes
How to create dots:
| • | bullet |
| • | bold bullet |
| – | ndash |
| − | minus sign |
There are several other templates with similar functionality:
- {{·}} – Bold middot "·" is mostly used for dotted lists.
- {{•}} – Bullet "•" is mostly used for dotted lists that use small font sizes.
User:Macdonald-ross/S1
- Tony's tips[6]
- <gallery widths="200px" heights="170px" perrow="2">
Other
- <gallery widths="200px" heights="170px" perrow="2"> </gallery>
- New gallery settings :
- Packed-overlay
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The -
captions -
are -
always there
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