User talk:Lafarge Dodger

Welcome!

Hello, Lafarge Dodger, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question and then place {{helpme}} before the question on your talk page. Again, welcome! Vsmith 01:47, 29 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Just saw your note on Talk:Niagara Falls. The simple fix I applied was to add <ref> url </ref> tags before and after the web address. A little better would be to add a title or short description after the url before the end tag (be sure to leave a space between the url and the title). There are more elaborate methods, but that is the easiest - and I like easy. Vsmith 01:47, 29 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Actually...[edit]

Neutral is not a proper name in the Niagra Falls instance you changed. :) See Webster's, click on adjective, examples are not capitalized. In that sentence, it is an adjective, a word describing a noun (nation), so it is "neutral nation". The nation's name is not "Neutral". And adjectives don't get capitalized. :) (I didn't change it, but I'm sure it will be changed, because it should not be capitalized in that usage. ) Don't take this wrong, just wanted to clear that up :) Cheers! ^Ariel♥Gold 01:56, 1 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, in the sentence "An Iroquois tribe named the Neutrals by French settlers," the word "Neutrals" (note the use of plural) is the name of the tribe (and is properly wiki-linked as such) and is a proper noun in the sentence. Yes, you're correct, that word should be capitalized, as it is. As should be "Neutral Nation" if it is used in the context of the tribal land, i.e. country.

However, in the sentence I was referring to, "It is also possible the falls were visited by Jean de Brebeuf during his visit to the neutral nation." (note the singular use, followed by the noun, nation), the wording is such that it isn't a proper name. The use of "neutral" in that sentence is in the form of an adjective of "nation", instead of the actual name, Neutral Nation, due to the use of the preposition "the". (A good way judge is to replace "Neutral Nation" with some other country name, and see if it fits. For example, Canada, and it would become, "during his visit to the Canada." which would be grammatically incorrect, again because of the word "the".)

Perhaps it is simply poor choice of wording on the original writer of that sentence, perhaps the wording could be changed to something like "It is also possible the falls were visited by Jean de Brebeuf during his visit to the Iroquois Neutrals.", or ""It is also possible the falls were visited by Jean de Brebeuf during his visit to Neutral Nation."

Proper names don't generally have the preposition "the" in front of them. Do it with a person's name. One does not say: "during his visit to the Robert's house". Or, "his visit to the Robert". This was the issue in the original wording of that sentence.

From a strictly copy-editing point of view, for clarity, it would be better to reword the sentence to match the use of the term that appeared in the opening History paragraph, (Iroquois Neutrals, plural) for continuity of terminology. Hope that clears up what I meant. :) Cheers! ^Ariel♥Gold 12:30, 1 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

History of Canada[edit]

Thanks for your well-meaning contributions to this article. As I see you are fairly new to wikipedia, you may not be familiar with Wikipedia:Summary style, in which a large topic like History of Canada is broken up into many detailed sub-articles, then presented in one survey article, a superficial history, as you rightly called it. Please feel free to correct errors or re-write the superficial description of Canada's history, but expand the sub-articles (and sub-sub-articles) with more detail. - TheMightyQuill 20:38, 26 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Bourrie at Concordia[edit]

Thanks for your message. I think you'll find that if you visit Concordia's directory page at type in Bourrie's surname, his name will appear. Victoriagirl 11:44, 4 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Jon Stewart[edit]

I saw that episode too. Please do not knowingly edit articles to include untrue information, as this is considered vandalism. Thank you. ‐ Clockwork Soul 16:45, 11 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Privacy breach[edit]

Lafarge Dodger, while I am pleased that have chosen to address your concerns with Wikipedia:Requests for checkuser/Case/Ceraurus in a manner that does not involve unilateral blanking, I must take exception to the post you have made on my talk page and that of Jimbo Wales. I'll begin by making a clarification: I am not the only user who has reverted your edits, as you suggest. It is not this in which I take offense, but the speculation that I hold a grudge against the subject and may be a student of his. In fact, I do not know the subject. Furthermore, the edit history of the subject's biographical article and associated discussion page record that I have not only worked to improve and expand the article, but have defended it from numerous acts of vandalism. I would ask you to remember Wikipedia's policy concerning the assumption of good faith.

Finally, Lafarge Dodger, I do not insist on an invasion of privacy, as you state in your edit summary. Indeed, I have acknowledged at Wikipedia talk:Requests for checkuser/Case/Ceraurus that your reasoning might be valid. My issue is that unilateral blanking runs counter to policy. As I pointed out numerous times, there are forums through which your issue can be addressed. I'm pleased to see that you are following this path.Victoriagirl 15:51, 12 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You seem to haunt Bourrie's life and derogatory Wikipedia entries about him. Dominic J. Solntseff 21:43, 15 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]