User talk:Oort

Welcome!

Hello, Oort, and welcome to Wikipedia. Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! By the way, please be sure to sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~) to produce your name and the current date, or three tildes (~~~) for just your name. If you have any questions, you can post to the help desk or ask me on my talk page. Again, welcome! -- Francs2000 | Talk 16:48, 27 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Orchid genera abbreviations

Answer on my talk page.

I see now that you're a newcomer to Wikipedia. I want to welcome you too. A good starting point is Wikipedia:WikiProject Tree of Life and Wikipedia:WikiProject Tree of Life/taxobox usage with many useful guidelines. Any contribution of yours will be appreciated. If you have any questions or need the help of an administrator, just ask on my talk page. JoJan 08:13, 11 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks JoJan. I do feel that I am jumping in to an immense world... but I am looking forward to lending my energy to helping this new world continue to improve. Brett Francis 17:02, 11 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Peristeria (orchid)

Sorry your work was deleted, but the article had no content and it fell under speedy deletion criteria A3. When I found it, the article contained only a category, stub message, and todo list. As such it was of no use to our readers, and any reader who came across the page looking for information would have been disappointed. - SimonP 18:34, 18 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

List of Bulbophyllum species

You've been making great efforts describing the orchids. As to compiling the list of Bulbophyllum species, the easiest way is to consult the Kew database [1] and to retrieve the accepted names. This database is usually up-to-date, but it never hurts to check the most recent orchid research newletter of Kew [2]. In my latest efforts compiling such lists, I've adopted the habit of adding the author and (between brackets) the location where the species is to be found. This is indeed a lot of work, but it saves even more work in the end when one wants to describe a species : the most elementary information is already available in the list. I also add common names (insofar they exist). A suitable source is the Internet Orchid Photo Encyclopedia [3] (beware of synonyms !). I usually make this list as a Word document, since editing is so much easier in Word. Then I copy and paste the list in Wikipedia. Only then one can start with the italicization of the species names.

I've been thinking of making this list myself, but I'm always running short of time, working on several projects simultaneously. At the moment I'm writing the history of Pisa, Italy. I'm just back from a trip to Tuscany and I have a lot of photos to upload to the Commons (after editing them in Photoshop). And I want decent articles in en.wikipedia to accompany them. This will keep me busy for the next couple of weeks. When you have finished this list, drop me a line and I'll look into it. Good luck. JoJan 15:47, 19 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, it is big, but I was looking foor my first big effort that could be straight-forward at the same time. I am already using the Kew database as my point of reference as I've started my first pass on the list. I am actually using jEdit [4] as it has a plug-in that supports built-in "Wiki-style" markup. Interestingly I hadn't come across the Internet Orchid Photo Encyclopedia but will review it as well. Thanks. I'll drop you a note when my first version is ready. (Brett Francis)

Nice job and a lot of effort. I made some small, almost insignificant, modifications. If you're still up to it, two items are still missing : the common names and the distribution of each species. Since it is highly unlikely that each species will get its own article, it's preferable, in my opinion, to add at least the distribution in this list (to be obtained from the Kew database, by clicking on each species). To avoid infringing on copyright, I use different expressions : e.g. the Kew database gives Distribution for Bulbophyllum absconditum : Sumatera to SW. Pacific 42 JAW LSI PHI SUM 43 NWG 60 NWC VAN. In this case I would write : Distribution: Sumatra, Java, Lesser Sunda Islands, Philippines, New Guinea, New Caledonia and Vanuatu. You can download these codes from : [5] as a MS Access database. As you can see, this is a lot of work and no one requires you to go for it. I may give you later a helping hand, but not in the first month or so, since I'm tied up writing about the churches and monuments in Siena (and next : Florence). Good luck ! JoJan 15:27, 3 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The distribution for each species was going to be my next pass but I will be taking a break for a few more days before I start working on that. :) (Brett Francis 06:25, 9 November 2005 (UTC))[reply]

OK it has been much more than a few days. That "life" thing gets in the way you know. :) I also very much understimated the order of magnitude more editing it will take to put distribution information on each species. Since I cannot read the Access DB file adding this information requires a unique lookup per species listing. This is much more painful than the work I did on the original list. I've started pecking away at it, but will be posting in pieces over time. (Brett Francis 06:04, 6 January 2006 (UTC))[reply]

Oh and on second look I had come across the Internet Orchid Photo Encyclopedia but I'd always thought of it as the "Orchid Species" site; hence my slight earlier confusion. (Brett Francis)

ArbCom elections are now open!

Hi,
You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:09, 23 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

ArbCom elections are now open!

Hi,
You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:33, 23 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]