User talk:Saruman

Semantic_MediaWiki_-_startpagina
Hi Saruman, it is sad to see the Dutch main page abandoned. Perhaps you might want to update it or ask somebody you know to do it. This would be very good. Cheers --&#91;&#91;kgh&#93;&#93; 13:22, 26 May 2011 (CEST)
 * Fixed --Jan &quot;Saruman!&quot; S. 07:44, 28 May 2011 (CEST)
 * Cool! Thank you for your help. Cheers --&#91;&#91;kgh&#93;&#93; 09:19, 28 May 2011 (CEST)

Representing dates
Hi I have just joined :) I was looking for help and suggestions about how to represent 'uncertain' dates in MediaWiki. Sometimes we only know roughly when a medieval writer was born, or that he died before or after a certain date.  I haven't had much success in building anything workable here. Let me know if you have any suggestions. Edward Ockham 19:37, 28 May 2011 (CEST)
 * You may wanna go onto the IRC Channel and ask there, that's interactive. Or maybe post a mail to the SMW mailing list. Me, I'd prolly use a record containing the estimated date and two fields that indicate deviations plus or minus, something like has fields::Date; Date; Date where the first field is the estimated date, the second field the earliest possible date, and the third field the latest possible date. This way, an exact date would be entered as "23 April 1616; 23 April 1616; 23 April 1616" while an approximate date could be "23 April, 1564; 20 April, 1564; 25 April, 1564" (which medieval writer was born around this date? :-). Note, however, that while searching for matching dates is relatively straightforward (you only have to use the 2nd and 3rd field), representing and/or interpreting these dates is not exactly straightforward. Calls for a lot of template work and string manipulation. Also, you have to do some input validation to make sure the 2nd field has the earliest of the three dates, and the 3rd one the latest. Strange stuff happens in your templates when a user manages to input "January 1, 2011; January 3, 2011, January 5, 2000". --Jan &quot;Saruman!&quot; S. 20:41, 28 May 2011 (CEST)
 * thanks. A simple workaround is just to use strings, but I might experiment with the record idea. Edward Ockham 21:09, 28 May 2011 (CEST)
 * Sure, strings can be used, but they don't "work"; they don't leverage the power of semantics. With records containing a date range, you could ask the wiki "who was born on or around 21 April, 1564" and get the medieval writer that was born some time around 23 April 1616. If the property Birthdate is of type Record as described, the query would look something like . I don't see how you can do such a thing with strings. --Jan &quot;Saruman!&quot; S. 21:21, 28 May 2011 (CEST)
 * OK I will give it a whirl. Edward Ockham 00:02, 29 May 2011 (CEST)

Template:Docu and Template:Docinfo
Hi Saruman, I would like to make you aware of the fact that the messages used in these templates are translatable. In case you provide the three translations into Dutch. I will gladly add them for you. Cheers --&#91;&#91;kgh&#93;&#93; 23:51, 12 September 2011 (CEST)
 * Docu:
 * Deze documentatiepagina is geldig voor alle SMW versies van tot.
 * nl = Andere versies :|
 * nl = Andere talen :|
 * Docinfo: I could edit that one myself. --Jan &quot;Saruman!&quot; S. 07:08, 13 September 2011 (CEST)


 * Hi Jan, I have added this. Thank you and cheers --&#91;&#91;kgh&#93;&#93; 09:55, 13 September 2011 (CEST)

redundant Netherlands help pages
Hi Saruman! It seems that there are who Netherlands versions of the Help:User_manual page: Help:Gebruikershandleiding and Help:Handleiding. What of them looks better in your opinion and how can we merge them?--Yury Katkov 13:46, 29 September 2011 (CEST)
 * Help:Handleiding is an ancient page that I believe can be removed, perhaps with a redirect to Help:Gebruikershandleiding - which is a more recent page anyway. I'll put it and the Help:User_manual on my watchlist to keep them in sync. I do not, however, intend to translate the whole user manual, nor would I advise anyone else to do so: any Dutch person with the intelligence to use SMW can also read English (it is a compulsory class from primary school on, and has been for many decades). --Jan &quot;Saruman!&quot; S. 15:42, 30 September 2011 (CEST)
 * Hi Jan, thank you for your reply. I just did the redirect. Cheers --&#91;&#91;kgh&#93;&#93; 16:54, 30 September 2011 (CEST)

Wiki of the Month
Hi Jan, I just introduced a system that automatically inserts your translation into main page. Additionally the translations of older WotMs do not get lost in version history which was a "shame" so for. All you have to do in the future is to use this form to create the Dutch translation. The previous wikis are displayed in a nicer and more appealing way on this page. Perhaps it might be nice to also have Wiki van de Maand which is like Wiki of the Month. As I converted to the new system I realised that you missed out on Gardenology.org. In case your would like to achieve a complete showcase in Dutch you might want to add this too. I case you do it, please do a trivial edit to the most recent WotM since the translation with the most recent edit gets transcluded on main page. Cheers --&#91;&#91;kgh&#93;&#93; 17:11, 9 October 2011 (CEST) PS I hope you like the system.


 * Hey Jan, thank you very much for your help. Looks good, doesn't it? :) Cheers --&#91;&#91;kgh&#93;&#93; 23:39, 2 November 2011 (CET)

Saruman for admin
Heiya Jan, I believe you are a valuable member of our community. Thus I provided you with the user rights of an admin. I should have done this earlier. Cheers --&#91;&#91;kgh&#93;&#93; 16:46, 6 November 2011 (CET)
 * Thanks for the vote of trust --Jan &quot;Saruman!&quot; S. 16:47, 6 November 2011 (CET)

New CAPTCHA
Heiya Jan, this wiki switched to QuestyCAPTCHA. Hopefully this solves or at least reduces our problem. Thank you for your help in fighting spammers on this wiki. Cheers --&#91;&#91;kgh&#93;&#93; 23:33, 18 November 2011 (CET)
 * Good news - at least I hope so :-))) --Jan &quot;Saruman!&quot; S. 00:18, 19 November 2011 (CET)

Property and Filter
Hello! I hope I am not a pain in your neck...

What for extensions are needed, that I have the Namespaces Property and Filter?

I want to use my wiki with templates like this Template:language. What do I need for that?

Thank you! --Speedtook 17:29, 6 December 2011 (CET)
 * Hi Speedtook, Property: is part of core SMW, and Filter: belongs to Semantic Drilldown. I have no idea how the Language template actually works, but in general I'd advise you NOT repeat NOT try to create a multilanguage wiki, ESPECIALLY if you haven't even mastered SMW yet. Every language you add increases the maintenance load of the wiki, splintering scarce resources such as editors, while it adds little or no value to the wiki. Better have a wiki with really good content in one language, than average content in two languages (which in turn is better than crap content in 20 languages)... This ofcourse may be influenced a bit depending on your target audience, but even so.... Furthermore there are two approaches to multi-language: the multi-wiki-approach followed by Wikipedia, and the one-wiki approach followed on this site. This also has impact on usability and maintenance burden. For the record, I currently maintain an architecture wiki in 2 wikis / 2 languages, and it hurts me almost daily. Greetingz, --Jan &quot;Saruman!&quot; S. 18:14, 6 December 2011 (CET)

tiny check
Hi Jan, may you just check if this is ok. Sounds good to me, but you never know. Thank you and cheers. --&#91;&#91;kgh&#93;&#93; 01:13, 27 January 2012 (CET)
 * It's just fine. --Jan &quot;Saruman!&quot; S. 07:27, 27 January 2012 (CET)
 * Great. Thank you. --&#91;&#91;kgh&#93;&#93; 15:16, 27 January 2012 (CET)

"Checking" bugs
Heiya Saruman,

MWJames came up with the idea of tidying up old issues on bugzilla which is a good idea, I guess. Would you like to join this effort?

Cheers --&#91;&#91;kgh&#93;&#93; 23:12, 5 June 2012 (CEST)
 * Sure, although my time is currently somewhat limited. Virtual get-together? --Jan &#34;Saruman!&#34; S. 07:41, 6 June 2012 (CEST)
 * Same for me as you can imagine by judging my recent activity on this wiki. :) I just found out that I account for about 8 % of all open SMW bugs. O_o Luckily these are tidy in the meantime. :) Yeah, I try to be in IRC tomorrow evening. Let's see I the meet ... Cheers --&#91;&#91;kgh&#93;&#93; 01:55, 7 June 2012 (CEST)

Yesterday's spammer
Heiya Jan, thank you for taking care of this spammer. During he day the spam protection was changed and hopefully improved. Let's hope for the best. Cheers --&#91;&#91;kgh&#93;&#93; (talk) 01:15, 1 August 2012 (CEST)


 * FYI: I just mailed the system admins of this wiki asking them to change the questies to improve the current spam situation. Cheers --&#91;&#91;kgh&#93;&#93; (talk) 12:58, 20 September 2014 (CEST)


 * Thanks again for helping and caring. I guess we have a situation but I believe improvement is at sight. Sit tight. Cheers --&#91;&#91;kgh&#93;&#93; (talk) 23:18, 3 December 2015 (CET)