User talk:Frob23

An action of mindless fiddling with something (usually physical). This is the root word from which Frob23 gets his user-name.

It's good to link from userpages to regular pages, not so good the other way around. Here's your stuff. You might want to modify it and put it on your userpage. Crazyeddie 13:54, Jan 17, 2005 (EST)

Done. Oops... that's embarrassing. I didn't mean it to be like a vanity thing. Just wanted to add that page and didn't know what to say near the top.

Anyway... it won't happen again. I'm trying to find some place where I can add some information to these pages but so far most areas where I would add something are filled out.

I'm sure there is something. I just have to find it.

--Frob23 22:29, Jan 20, 2005 (EST)

Nice to see a fellow rambler. Do you want to take over the Jargon project? I'll help out when I can, and try to give you pointers on how to be trantic about it. One thing I've been meaning to do is replace the attribution notices on the Jargon pages with a template, so we can change the notice later on. But that is a lot of tedium. Crazyeddie 14:46, Jan 21, 2005 (EST)

I don't know that I would be ready to take over the Jargon project but I would be more than willing to help. The world of wiki is still new to me (last one I remember contributing to was the Plan9 one several years ago and it was all plain text additions). I had no idea about this one until just a little while ago and decided to see if I could contribute anything.

Like I said, I don't know very much about the wiki when it comes to formatting or anything. Or how a template would work. But if you created one (or gave me a clue as to how to create one myself) I would bounce around the pages that currently exist, in my free time, and replace the old attribution with the new template.

I think I am probably going to spend a good amount of time when I get to work tonight learning the markup used by this wiki and then browsing the entries to see which ones look good and why. In the time I have spent hopping around I have seen a number of pages which look fantastic... and others which don't look bad but could look better.

--Frob23 17:01, Jan 21, 2005 (EST)

Here's a link to a wikicode guide: Wiki markup And our manual of style (which I haven't really read myself): Manual of Style We probably ought to come up with a templated welcome message, like the mods at Wikipedia have. Crazyeddie 17:13, Jan 21, 2005 (EST)

Okay, I've made the template. If I got things right, you just need to replace the attribution notices with this:, which the wiki software should intepret as:

(Got it right on the second try.) It'll save time if you go through the List of Jargon File Entries in order. Not as fun as random bouncing, but more efficient. Crazyeddie 17:34, Jan 21, 2005 (EST)

Cool, you just gave me something to do all night while at work. Better then staring at the wall. I've tested it out on one entry already and it works great.

Frob23 18:04, Jan 21, 2005 (EST)

about your note to self - /s play merry hell with the wiki software. Crazyeddie 18:10, Jan 21, 2005 (EST)

I see that... the note really means to check if the redirect contains material from the Jargon file which I believe it does but I did not see any attribution on the page. I gotcha about the starting / ... although the redirect seems to manage some magic and found a way to do it. Maybe the redirect page isn't needed? I don't know. I was going to finish out the stuff before A and then go take a peek at it.

It looks like the dev/null article was made by somebody else, and the Jargon File doesn't really have anything to add. No attrib needed. Crazyeddie 18:50, Jan 21, 2005 (EST)

I'm pretty much the only one who has done anything with the Jargon File, and I've been pretty careful about attribution. So if there isn't an attribution notice of some sort already there, chances are there isn't one needed. Either someone got there first, and the File didn't have anything useful to add, or the Jargon material was edited out later. You're welcome to double check if you wish. Crazyeddie 02:43, Jan 23, 2005 (EST)

I'm trying to make doubly sure just in case -- it only takes a second and I am there anyway. If I see three or more sentences which are directly from the Jargon file, I am going to assume an attribution is needed. This is easier when the quoted text includes other jargon. In cases where I am unsure and it is very general, I'll just go along my way. I've seen a couple like that. I only add it to the talk when it is either likely it is there but too general to know if someone came up with it originally or like BASIC where there is a custom attribution to the history of it having jargon content but there isn't anymore.

Note: I think there have been maybe two were I honestly added an attribution where there wasn't one before. Most of it is like the code grinder entry where it talks about the Jargon file but doesn't include a formal attribute line.

--Frob23 02:53, Jan 23, 2005 (EST)

Now that you're done with the notice grunt work, you might want to start adding more entries. A good place to start would be the "Wanted Pages" list (located on the left nav bar under "Special Pages"). Go through those first before going through the Jargon list alphabetically.

You'll have to tweak the entries a little. The File is set up like a dictionary, wikis are more like encylopedias. The convention in wikis is to use the name of the article in the first sentence and to bold it there. Try to rewrite the entry so it doesn't use a numbered list. When you cut and paste entries from the Jargon website, you'll notice that the paragraphs have an inital indent. There is some sort of formatting mojo in the indent, so delete it or it will screw up the format of the wiki page.

I'll be looking over your sholder, at least at first, so I'll try to catch any mistakes.

The "in part" bit of the attribution notice is there in case somebody adds material to an article that was originally a cut-and-paste from the File. I think we should use it only if the article is 50%+ Jargon material. Otherwise, I think we can get by with footnote style links. 16:02, Feb 16, 2005 (EST)

It will probably be a while before I really have time to add anything. I have gotten bogged down with school and other outside stuff which requires my immediate attention.

As I get around to it, I will try and add some stuff.

-Frob23 00:03, Mar 5, 2005 (EST)