User talk:Bob M

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Messing about...
As you'll have seen from the Recent changes, I been messing about with the Main Page. But don't panic - I think I managed to get it back to where it was before I started trying to be clever. Regs., P
 * Looks OK, but Mainpage is a slightly delicate beast. :-) --Bob M 07:27, 1 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Yep, so I noticed. BTW, in case you haven't noticed, seems to be summat wrong with yer latest mindless stats. "Soy de letras", but even I can realise that total would normally be greater than unique... Regs., P
 * Ah yes - got so excited by 11,000+ that I got the number wrong. Thanks for pointing it out.--Bob M 11:31, 1 November 2011 (UTC)

Can't leave a message over at...
Bob. Can't leave a message over at Talk:Non-standard English - the message I get when I preview or try to save is: " http://localhost/removecookies " - but I have no difficulty previewing other pages,... Any ideas? Cheers! --Technopat 23:17, 5 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Not really any ideas. Works for me.  Perhaps it was trick of mine to get the last word on the talk page?  :)--Bob M 10:08, 6 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Sussed it out: I was trying to add a couple of references and the discussion page obviously doesn't accept URLs. Cheers! --Technopat 11:00, 6 November 2011 (UTC)

Autumn cleaning
Bob, have just been tidying up a bit over at Special:Uncategorizedpages, but there are still a couple of things there that need your executive decision as to how to cat. them or whether to ditch 'em. Regs., --Technopat 16:22, 6 November 2011 (UTC).
 * Some of it looks like some stuff which I didn't finish importing. Have to review it later.--Bob M 18:50, 6 November 2011 (UTC)

Checking something...
Hits? Raises Google count? --Technopat 22:00, 18 November 2011 (UTC)
 * I get a lot of statistics from my service provider. For some reason those non-existent pages get a lot of hits.  I don't know why it happens, but if some spammer is using them for some reason I thought that redirecting them to the mainpage can only help our stats and and mess them about.--Bob M 17:39, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Case of page name
Your opinion regarding the capitalization of a page name is requested on Talk:Corporate Social Responsibility conversation questions. Thanks! --Roger 18:45, 16 February 2012 (CST)

Bilbado Bash
Greetings Bob. Nah, think I'll give it a miss - though any excuse to visit Bilbo is valid. Are you part of the host city organisation/organising committee? Try and plug teflpedia and see if we can get a Spanish Fraction up an' going. Cheers! --Technopat 13:04, 25 February 2012 (CST)
 * No, it's nothing to do with me. I'm quite looking forward to listening to David Crystal though. I'll certainly try to plug the site, though I'm not entirely sure how.  Just talking to people I guess.--Bob M 14:04, 25 February 2012 (CST)

Site support
Hey Bob, I was going to make my usual $10 donation to this project when I noticed that your donation button no longer exists. I then went to your Site support page and noticed that it, too, is broken. You may want to fix this. Unless, of course, you just don't want people to be able to donate anymore (in which case please disregard my message). Gooniepunk2005 05:36, 25 March 2012 (CDT)
 * Hi Gooniepunk. No, I'm afraid we lost that in the latest upgrade.  Thanks for reminding me.  I'll see about getting it back.--Bob M 16:08, 25 March 2012 (CDT)

Could you 'ave a butcher's?
Greetings Bob, How's tricks? Before you head off for lunch, could you pop in at Used to 'cos I'm not very happy about it... Cheers! --Technopat 05:28, 5 April 2012 (CDT)
 * Actually the family has just arrived. Got to go.--Bob M 06:31, 5 April 2012 (CDT)
 * I've added how I explain it and teach it. I haven't changed the grammar section as that's not usually how I go at it and  don't want to step on your edits.--Bob M 13:03, 5 April 2012 (CDT)
 * Thanx for that. No, I don't attack like that, either, but for an "encyclopaedic" entry/intro, I reckon it's the way to go. Have fun with the "family" - UK- or Spain-based? --Technopat 13:22, 5 April 2012 (CDT)
 * Spanish. Had elven to lunch - which is a lot for us.  Coincidentally, my brother arrives from the UK for a week tomorrow.  Should be fun. A few beers and stories from the motherland.
 * You doing anything special to celebrate Astarte?--Bob M 13:48, 5 April 2012 (CDT)
 * Enjoy the beers and the stories. I'm rained in here at the inlaws' place out in the sticks. There'll be 15 of us for dinner tonight and around 24 for lunch on the morrow - smoking room only - and they hate having the windows open, specially when it's raining outside... Think of me occasionally when you wiggle that bottle opener - life is earnest and we are not put on Earth for pleasure alone. Now, who said that? - it's too good to be my own :) --Technopat 14:03, 5 April 2012 (CDT)
 * My word, that's a lot. Sounds smoky too! A tad damp here as well, but any smokers are well trained to go outside. Tomorrow it's just the three of us and wife has to pull 24 hour shifts on Saturday and Monday which gives us a boys' day out on those two days. Shame about the rain though. --Bob M 14:47, 5 April 2012 (CDT)
 * As I said, "we are not put..." - Re. yer missus, I'll send you a text - in Spanish - for her to have a browse through while she's on that 2nd 24hr shift. Cheers!--Technopat 15:03, 5 April 2012 (CDT)
 * Yes, text is a bit OTT, I'll see what she makes of it. She is a civil servant so it will be relevant. Perhaps your quote was Longfellow?--Bob M 15:27, 5 April 2012 (CDT)

Teflpedia:Site support
Hi Bob, I was tinkering with trying to get a DONATE button, like RationalWiki has, to display at bottom of left navbar. It doesn't show yet for some probably CSS related reason I haven't cracked yet. Will look at it again at a later date. Meanwhile, I tried to give the Teflpedia:Site support page a little more style. I added "Thank You, Bob Mudford" at bottom of it for a personal touch which it otherwise lacks. Hope that is okay with you. If you don't like it, just delete the "Bob Mudford" there of course. FYI. Cheers, --Roger 00:42, 2 October 2012 (CDT)
 * No, that's cool. Helps my profile.  :-)  As of this moment, the contributions received since we fixed the paypal thing have been zero- but one lives n hope.  Thanks.--Bob M 01:46, 2 October 2012 (CDT)

Whoops!
Greetings Bob. Sorry! I thought you'd be pleased... I just happened to come across this and on visiting a couple of our external links saw that they all have 'em. In fact, I just popped in now to add another turn o' phrase that I thought was particularly apt: "teflpedia makes no warranties concerning the accuracy or suitability of the contents of this website for any purpose. All such information is provided "as is" ". However, as you seem to oppose the idea, will leave it on hold.

In answer to your specific question, yes, I do think we need it, especially given the number of external sites we seem to "recommend". If we were just linking to the Beeb or the British Council, etc., it would indeed seem unnecessary, but there's some pretty weird stuff out there. Likewise, I personally dislike being redirected to a subscription site, so I thought that if it were made clear that teflpedia does not do so knowingly, it would help soften the blow. Again, I was going to add summat along those lines today. I was also going to add a bit about how we accept contributions from users in good faith and make every effort to ensure that no copyrighted material gets posted, and that it is understood that it is the user who must ensure he/she does not submit such material.

Get back to me on this and let me know if you want me to remove all the templates (can it be done in one fell swoop by eliminating the template at source?). But I do think it's important to teflpedia to have something along these lines. Cheers!
 * No good deed goes unpunished. :-)
 * It seems to me that the whole internet is a complex web of people linking to each other and that people do not generally assume that a site linked to is endorsed by or controlled by the site linking in. For example Wikipdia does not seem to feel that such a prominent disclaimer is necessary.  (Though, like us, it has a link to it's general disclaimer on all pages.)
 * As far as pay sites are concerned we can state that they are pay in the article. I think that I have posted positive reviews about some pay sites in the past. I guess that some sites will morph from free to pay over time as well.
 * The information you have put into the "Disclimer" page itself is great and that is automatically linked from the bottom of all our pages. I would have thought that would be enough.
 * I'll ask Roger to comment though. Cheers and thanks for all you work.--Bob M 05:25, 8 October 2012 (CDT)
 * The link at the bottom of each page is fine for "normal pages", but I do think we should have some sort of "extra" disclaimer on the those that are specifically aimed at external sites. One thing is an external link included in a normal article leading to further information on any given topic; another, very different, is that we seem to "recommend" other sites, sites over which we have no control. --Technopat 06:11, 8 October 2012 (CDT)
 * My view is the site-wide Disclaimer page, linked to at bottom off all pages, is the place for disclaimers. I don't see value in dashing further boiler plate disclaimer language about in our site content, generally. External links really aught to be presented in sufficient context or with sufficient description so that people may readily understand what they might expect if they follow them. A template is overkill for that I might think. If a link is to pay for view content, that could be sufficiently stated within parentheses or otherwise in the context the link appears in. Let's remember that Teflpedia is more an encyclopedia than a Web directory. Trying to create a Web directory by hand is futile in the face of modern search engines--tis a slippery slop down down down to mud, usually (I've been down it). So links to external sites could be limited to only really great links that are squarely on topic for a given article. Pay for view links are not what I would consider, in general, great links. Templates are okay and don't really do harm I should think; if an author wishes to use a template on Teflpedia, I would say that is his prerogative, particularly within text he his contributing. By the way, deleting a Template:Such_and_such leaves all pages that use that template with a red link to Template:Such_and_such where the template was. Before deleting a template therefore it is polite to click that template's "What links here" (in left sidebar "Toolbox") and deal with the pages you find there--it presents a list of all pages that use that template. Are we discussing an actual template that already exists on Teflpedia? If we are, I'd have a look at it. --Roger 16:44, 8 October 2012 (CDT)
 * Totally agree with you, Roger, regarding web directory, pay sites, etc. It is precisely with that in mind that I reckon a page-specific template is needed to point out to users that teflpedia's aim is not to promote external sites, but that we sort of "tolerate" 'em, within reason. It is also what encouraged me to continue, despite me own misgivings regarding overkill, aesthetics, etc. As I mentioned to Bob, above, the general disclaimer is fine for "normal" pages and general bumph/bumf. Let's face it, a disclaimer page is not the sexiest of pages and users need a reason, i.e. a direct link via "my" template, to visit it. BTW, the disclaimer page has had 1,643 visits to date... all of which, barring Bob's creation & my 3 edits, were to a page with zero content until I added some stuff the other day. So, Bob and Roger, please consider this appeal before condemning me to the Herculean task of removing templates & their redlinks from sidebars. --Technopat 05:25, 9 October 2012 (CDT)
 * Ps. Given that there seems to be no objection to my adding stuff to the general disclaimer, am adding what I mentioned at the top of this thread. Cheers! --Technopat 05:30, 9 October 2012 (CDT)
 * What I'm not sure of is what we gain from the disclaimer template. Aesthetically it's not a fantastic thing to have so we'd really need some slam-dunk benefit from it - and I can't see it. Nobody is going to think that we are responsible for content on The Economist and, even if they did, so what?
 * As far as whether we think the website linked to is good or not, then I fully agree that this should be clear from the article. So what is the purpose of the template?
 * Finally, if such a thing were really necessary, then I'm sure that we'd see it on Wikipedia - and we don't.--Bob M 10:01, 9 October 2012 (CDT)
 * Wikipedia has, in theory, if not in practice, very strict guidelines as to the encyclopaedic relevance of a company, organisation, etc. that they accept as an article and very few of the external links we tolerate here would stand a dog's chance... not even our own, dear teflpedia makes the grade. Be that as it may, given that the consensus seems to be against me, will knuckle under and, against my better judgement, start to withdraw the template & corresponding redlinks. --Technopat 11:09, 9 October 2012 (CDT)

Wikiworking

 * ) Thanks, but it really needed Roger's techy techie support to put it into practice. Now that it's operative, I reckon we can update quite a few pages with wrong examples. I always give (or sometimes ask them to detect them by themselves) students wrong examples (as in "typical mistakes made by Spanish students/speakers of English") as regards grammar, pronunciation, false friends, etc. and they love it. It doesn't always mean they can immediately implement 'em, but it's useful to be aware of the existence of a "problem". Cheers! --Technopat 05:55, 12 October 2012 (CDT)
 * Ps. The initial smiley above didn't work - came out as indented text :) --Technopat 05:56, 12 October 2012 (CDT)
 * Indeed, I'm pretty sure that there are other pages which have "wrong" examples. I'll try to remember some.--Bob M 08:02, 12 October 2012 (CDT)

Sidebar
Bob, please see my proposal for the sidebar's Help navigation labels at MediaWiki_talk:Sidebar. Thx --Roger 14:25, 12 October 2012 (CDT)

Special:Booksources
Bob, editing the Special:Booksources page has proved complicated. I have been rewriting my reply to you on Help:Support as I research this. When I am done I may move most of the technical details to a more appropriate location and leave a brief note about it at Help:Support. Meanwhile, back to my research!... :-) --Roger 12:49, 16 October 2012 (CDT)

Category naming conventions
Bob, your input is requested at Teflpedia:Teachers'_room. --Roger 11:13, 21 October 2012 (CDT)

Your opinions and suggestions are humbly requested
Bob, your opinions and suggestions are humbly requested in the Teachers' room where I have made a scene. --Roger 14:48, 22 October 2012 (CDT)

Bureaucrat request
Hi Bob, I'd like to set Category-bot's flag so I can use it to rename some of the categories I am working with over on Contents without cluttering up recent changes any more than necessary. If you make me a Bureaucrat I could take care of this. If you deem this appropriate, go to http://www.teflpedia.com/index.php?title=Special%3AUserRights&user=roger, check the [ ] bureaucrat box and click "Save user groups". Thanks! --Roger 16:26, 7 November 2012 (CST)
 * I thought you were. Anyway, it' done.  Happy bureaucrating! --Bob M 01:12, 8 November 2012 (CST)
 * Thanks Bob. --Roger 10:29, 8 November 2012 (CST)

Stupendous figs!
Makes it all worthwhile! Be interesting to check out the Xmas conversation questions over the coming weeks :) --Technopat 04:42, 7 December 2012 (CST)
 * Indeed. Pretty incredible. The rate of growth is impressive as well. Yes, I reviewed them a while ago but another review might be in order.  (It's on 3,634 views at the moment)--Bob M 05:43, 7 December 2012 (CST)
 * And now it's just over 5,000.--Bob M (talk) 15:03, 14 February 2013 (CST)

Weird stuff...
Bob, just tried to twk yer banner but something strange is happening and it didn't work. Just so I don't goof it up for you, you need to change that "add-free" to ad-free... and even then I'm not so sure that that hyphen might need to go altogether. I'll think about it and let you know. But in the meantime, that double d is a no-no. Regs., Tp--Technopat (talk) 14:43, 14 February 2013 (CST)
 * Thanks for that. I think you should be able to edit it - unless Roger has locked it at some really high level.--Bob M (talk) 15:00, 14 February 2013 (CST)

Delete Co- operative learning
Hi Bob, I put a delete template on Co- operative learning. You welcomed the anonymous user who contributed it and you did some edits on it. We don't use the delete template much but I think plagiarism is a case where it is appropriate to use it. I would like to welcome the anonymous user to Teflpedia at the same time as coach him about proper referencing to avoid plagiarism. I'm not willing to put a lot of effort into that however while he is anonymous and apparently not around here. Let's see if he shows up. I'd love to have some input from him on this matter, some engagement. Co- operative learning is in some ways a more attractive and readable shot at this topic that Cooperative language learning but plagiarism just wont suffice, and of course the page name is wrong. Please give us a hello on Talk:Co- operative learning. Thanks! :-) --Roger (talk) 18:30, 10 March 2013 (CDT)
 * ✅ I deleted it as the anonymous user who added it never responded to the plagiarism issue. --Roger (talk) 15:43, 11 April 2013 (CDT)
 * Yes, I noticed that you'd done that. Good follow-up!--Bob M (talk) 00:31, 12 April 2013 (CDT)

You've got a message
Hi Bob, please reply on Teflpedia talk:Feedback. --Roger (talk) 17:55, 13 March 2013 (CDT)

Too boldly go...
Sorry! Got carried away there... Regs., --Technopat (talk) 14:44, 29 March 2013 (CDT)
 * Subesquent conversation cut to: Talk:Hotels_conversation_questions

Re NPOV
Greetings Bob. It never occurred to me that there could be anything but an NPOV policy in place here, but I must say that I, personally get mildly irritated when I see websites give certain kinds of "plugs", especially when unjustified (NPOV?). In the specific case of the free dictionary, like the similar website word reference, after having had many of my students rave about it to me, and having patiently let them show me the supposed virtues of the site, my "professional" conclusion is that it is actually a pretty lousy resource, more often downright wrong, and in many cases misleading. The best that can be said for it is that it is an online resource :) But I'm not going to question your decision and if you want to revert, fine by me. Come to think of it, haven't we had this conversation, or a similar one, before? Regs., --Technopat (talk) 05:35, 9 June 2013 (CDT) PS. See you over at the new debate page? --Technopat (talk) 05:36, 9 June 2013 (CDT)
 * In that case we should not be afraid to say that it's not very good. If our opinions differ we can say that opinions differ.  We have no need to have no opinion at all.--Bob M (talk) 06:22, 9 June 2013 (CDT)

Essay space
I only changed the formatting, using wiki markup:. I didn't even copy edit. Regards Ghoti (talk) 19:04, 7 November 2013 (CST)
 * OK. I just wanted to make sure you were aware.  Cheers.--Bob M (talk) 01:48, 8 November 2013 (CST)

User rights
Belated thanks for your welcome message, and thanks for your trust. Ghoti (talk) 06:11, 13 November 2013 (CST)

Deleting old welcome messages
Since currently we are not nice with spammers I thought that old nice messages to them were showing too much consideration. Currently we simply ignore them or block them. On the other hand, if a non-contributor who wasn't a spammer ever comes again, he or she will deserve a new greeting. Ghoti (talk) 20:36, 2 February 2015 (UTC)

Could you take a look at Teflpedia:Teachers%27_room? Thanks. Ghoti (talk) 20:41, 2 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Well - ok. But I don't really see the point of removing welcome messages to users who seem to be real people.--Bob M (talk) 16:57, 3 February 2015 (UTC)
 * I'm removing welcome messages to people I believe are not real people. If there any trace of activity I leave the page. In the unlikely event that they are lurkers, they won't even notice the welcome message was removed. Ghoti (talk) 17:05, 3 February 2015 (UTC)
 * I see. But what is the advantage of this action in any event? What purpose does it serve?--Bob M (talk) 17:09, 3 February 2015 (UTC)
 * I think that having welcome messages to spammers is not good. Ghoti (talk) 17:15, 3 February 2015 (UTC)
 * For example, in this case I changed my mind . First I deleted the link and yesterday I deleted the page altogether. Ghoti (talk) 17:19, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

To myself.
Just checking something.--Bob M (talk) 18:30, 12 February 2015 (UTC)

Please check
Hi Bob.

There are four issues that need your attention.

Three non-patrolled edits:, TEFL Academy, Boyband question.

Technical problem: Teflpedia:Teachers' room.

Regards, Ghoti (talk) 00:27, 10 May 2016 (UTC)