User talk:Richard Jensen

Richard Jensen

Current talk page

Archive 1, Archive 2, Archive 3

First Punic War

I'm sorry it took me so long to get back to you. Finals season up here (one more week!) and I'm swamped with a lot of work.

My plans on the First Punic War were that I'd get a detailed outline of the events down in the main article with sections linked on the important battles and on some of the important academic issues at hand (I.E. the validity of the Treaty of Philinus and the nature of Roman-Punic relations before the First Punic War) followed by a separate article on the Libyan War between Carthage and her Ex-Mercenaries after the end of the Punic War and then the Second Punic War.

Any help at all would be more than welcome, the only problem is (and the main reason why the article is stalled where it is) that I'm still swamped with work here and wont be finished for about another week and a half. After that, however, I'm looking forward to dedicating a lot more time to editing here and finishing the article.

--Rob Glass 06:06, 8 May 2007 (CDT)

Request

Richard, I'd like to ask you, please, to stop moving moving articles to different titles according to your idiosyncratic principles. I'm comfortable with you doing this with the history articles, but not in other fields. Also, please be aware that we will discuss this issue and decide definitively about it as regards History Workgroup articles in the Editorial Council, soon after we've adopted our procedural rules. It's entirely possible--and likely, I think--that we will go back to "history of X" type titles, for the sake of general uniformity across the entirety of Citizendium. Let's not debate this now (again), I just didn't want to leave you thinking that "silence is consent," so the issue had been decided in your favor... I'll be reverting several the "list of journal" name moves. Please don't revert these back. --Larry Sanger 14:08, 12 May 2007 (CDT)

I changed two titles, one in history and one in IR, after explaining the reasons and calling for comments several days ago. The IR article was poorly titled from any perspective. Bringing experts into CZ means we have to listen to their expertise and not dismiss their wisdom as "idiosyncratic". Richard Jensen 14:17, 12 May 2007 (CDT)

I'm truly sorry. I really didn't mean to dismiss your wisdom as idiosyncratic, merely to say that the policy you're advocating is nonstandard for projects like this--for reasons we needn't revisit now.

I hope you'll bear in mind that when it comes to naming conventions on wiki encyclopedias, I'm an expert, too.  ;-) --Larry Sanger 14:20, 12 May 2007 (CDT)

Larry, Appeal to long-standing tradition sits poorly in a new venture. (The IR item we're discussing is a hoary three months old.) I suggest that micromanagement by overruling your experts is an inefficient use of management skills. Richard Jensen 14:25, 12 May 2007 (CDT)

JFK

Just finished the biography of John F. Kennedy from scratch...if you would like to please take a look and improve it if possible. Thank you! Yi Zhe Wu 21:52, 14 May 2007 (CDT)

Thanks. I learned about him in US history class last week and I thought it would be cool to write an article about him in Citizendium. Regards. Yi Zhe Wu 22:16, 14 May 2007 (CDT)

History of English -- thanks!

Hi Richard, just a quick thanks for the bibliography for the History of English entry -- good selections! I have always been a fan of Crystal (he's the author of my regular textbook, the Cambridge Companion to the English Language). A first-rate linguistic bibliography -- for a historian :-> Russell Potter 19:16, 15 May 2007 (CDT)

Thanks! i've been a devoted bibliographer for 40 years and am delighted that CZ gives an opportunity to ply the trade. :) Richard Jensen 19:19, 15 May 2007 (CDT)

Northwest Passage

Hi Richard. After posting it to the "request for comment" page and getting some very useful feedback, I think that Northwest Passage is just about ready for approval. At the suggestion of several readers, I have added a map at the top, and made a few other noted corrections.

If you could have a look at it, and let me know if there are any substantial concerns remaining, I'd be much indebted to you -- and, if these can be addressed, if you'd be willing to nominate it for Approval under the single-editor plan, I would be additionally grateful. This article has been written from scratch for CZ, and will I hope further showcase what we're capable of -- it puts the WP entry to shame, I think! Many thanks, Russell Potter 08:56, 17 May 2007 (CDT)

Excellent article! I added a section on recent diplomacy (which I originally wrote for Wiki in February). I will nominate for Approval. Richard Jensen 11:58, 17 May 2007 (CDT)

Richard, many thanks indeed -- the new section is a great addition, much more up-to-date and specific in terms of the issues involved. Russell Potter 12:33, 17 May 2007 (CDT)

Wilson photos...

Hi Richard,

I removed some photos we added to the Woodrow Wilson article. I thought they looked good when I scrolled through but when I read the whole entire article I just breezed by every single photo except for NY Times election results and the Princeton photo. I removed our photos because

They didn't catch my attention when I read the article. They were a bit faded and difficult to see. They were too big. They would be better used in subpages/other related articles (with exception of the Wilson Trust photo) Wikipedia already had one. I think it would be better if we avoid the pictures wikipedia has and find others that are better.

I hope you don't mind.

Eric Pokorny 20:35, 20 May 2007 (CDT)

Party Systems

At just 198 words, this article is most definitely a stub and is a very long way form reaching status 1-Developed. Additionally, if you alter the checklist, please sign you name. Your current edit makes it look like I think the article is status 1 when I do not! Derek Harkness 04:11, 23 May 2007 (CDT)

The article uses 200 words to define the concept and 500 words for a good bibliography which is what most users will use. Apologies for omitting signature. Richard Jensen 10:39, 23 May 2007 (CDT)

The fact that there are enough books to make a 500 word bibliography proves that the article is a stub. A bibliography cannot be considered acceptable alternative to writing an article properly. I for one have no access to the books you mentioned so the bibliography is next to useless to me. Derek Harkness 13:23, 23 May 2007 (CDT)

Northwest Passage

Hi Richard, it looks like there have been three edits to Northwest Passage since you approved it. If you are still happy with it, just update the version on the ToApprove tag to the latest version. That way when I go to perform the mechanics of the approval, Nancy won't have to look for you. If you don't want them, you don't have to do anything, they will be included on the draft page but not in the article. --Matt Innis (Talk) 18:39, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

Slavery

There was an edit conflict over this article when I was copyediting and changing it; can you check that everything you added is still there; I think I saved your contributions but I'm not sure. Thanks. John Stephenson 22:52, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

Thank you. I made some more small changes. Eventually this will be a long article.Richard Jensen 23:28, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

Request for editorial intervention

Professor Jensen, recently I saw articles on Young earth creationism (which I wrote a large portion for), intelligent design, and intelligent design theory devolving into disputes and may potentially turn into WP-style war. Since you are the only active expert I can find around CZ (User:David Tribe is also an expert, but now he's not that active), can you please take a look and intervene? Thanks! Yi Zhe Wu 09:14, 26 May 2007 (CDT)

P.S. nice job on Hitler article! Yi Zhe Wu 15:20, 26 May 2007 (CDT)

Thanks for the heads up and kind words. Young earth is a religion article / religious history article so I rewrote it accordingly. likewise intelligent design which i will get to later.Richard Jensen 23:09, 26 May 2007 (CDT)

Thanks, I think a consensus may reach soon. Anyways, what's "Niebuhr"? (from the edit summary on Ann Coulter) Yi Zhe Wu 15:18, 27 May 2007 (CDT)

Agreed. NY Times mentioned Reinhold Niebuhr yesterday and I was thinking of him. Leading American theologian c. 1920s-1960s.[1] Richard Jensen 15:37, 27 May 2007 (CDT)

Can I interest you in some collaboration?

Richard, I have been exploring some pediatric topics , and keep brushing up against the concept of infant mortality. Never a party subject, certainly, but obviously important not only in clinical considerations of infant health, but also in analysis of societies, history etc, etc. Anyway- you had mentioned that you are interested in Demographics. I have not had formal training in epidemiology, except for an NIH traing grant fellowship where I did some research, and have had none in demographics, but am open to learning. Are there any articles that you might be interested in starting together? Nancy Sculerati 19:09, 27 May 2007 (CDT)

Good. I have already started Infant mortality. Please start Life expectancy and I will join you. This is not something I know about, so I will be looking it up as we go. I need you to act as a guide, please. Nancy Sculerati 21:35, 27 May 2007 (CDT)

Demography workgroup v the subject

Richard, I am so pleased to read these new artices on demography you have added, and -before I get to why I just took an action that I'm sure did not please you (removing Demogrphy workgroup as a category) I'd like to gush on a little more. :-) I have ordered some current texts on Demogrphics and Epidemiology, and I am very excited intellectually about the chance to tune my understanding of these subjects while applying that knowlege to the health science articles in CZ. I am even more excited about the chance to collaborate with you and Martin, since I think that the three of us, with our different backgrounds, could really do some work to be proud of- also, on a selfish level, it is a great opprtunity for me to have such teachers in the areas of subjects that I approach as a physician and biologist who arrive there from a learned position in the humanities and social sciences. So-now, the workgroup. When the workgroups were set up here they were made broad. I really didn't get involved in that, except fopr proposing the healing arts and health sciences workgroup as separate entities. That was for practical reasons of being able to have groups that could approve articles without inherent conflict or paradox - and to allow editorship to be had by alternative medicine experts as well as health science experts. Now, to invent a new workgroup like Demographics is a hard sell, not the least because I would not have the qualifications to be an editor in it. There are other reasons as well but I would fight for this workgroup if I thought that it would be the pragmatic means to produce great approvable articles in that subject. It seems to me that the preferred means to that goal-which I hope we share- is to class articles honestly according to existing workgroups. If an article that focuses on a demographic approach is fairly in the health sciences workgroup, the history workgroup, and the sociology workgroup (and it is a very few articvles that I can think of that would not clearly qualify for all 3), then we have three editors between us that can nominate right now. I am trying very hard to be fair and just as approvals editor and so it has to be that if I write something in one of those articles that is "pure health science" then I think another health science editor is going to have to nominate it for approval and not me, in other words, it is not a good thing to bypass another person who is an expert checking the work of an author, but under our present system there is so much overlap in demographics that, just like Biology was written by a bunch of Biology editors who constantly argued and refined until they agreed, I think we can do that here and end up with approved articles. I am really looking forward to it. I hope that you are. Nancy Sculerati 08:59, 29 May 2007 (CDT)

Hi Richard, I would also like to congratulate you on your hard work on these demographic articles. Like Nancy, I am wondering whether there is a real need for a demography workgroup or if the goal is better achieved by collaboration across History, Biology and social sciences [we should really have a sociologist here, as well as me]. I have a few comments on organizational issues, which I will put on the relevant pages later today. Again, these are excellent contributions -- especially your account of the demographic transition -- and I hope that we will end up with really high-quality articles, each of us having contributed his/her own expertise. I will try to add some sections over the next week, although I am currently caught up in my own publication schedule and student work to be marked. --Martin Baldwin-Edwards 09:33, 29 May 2007 (CDT)

OK. let's do without a demography workgroup for the good reasons explained here. :) Richard Jensen 19:31, 29 May 2007 (CDT)

Redirects?

Hey Richard, What's up with the sudden bunch of redirects? It seems like all the things you are redirecting from should have their own articles, not just funnels to related articles. -- Sarah Tuttle 21:16, 31 May 2007 (CDT)

yes they should have their own articles, but until then the redirects seem a useful way to help readers find info. Richard Jensen 21:21, 31 May 2007 (CDT)

No offense, I hope, but I've deleted the redirects. The implicit policy you suggest is not our policy--and never was for Wikipedia, which is perfectly reasonable on this point--because doing so will discourage people from writing articles about the topics in question, as well as misleading readers into thinking that all that CZ intends to say about a subject can be found at an article about what is only a related topic. I hope this makes sense. --Larry Sanger 22:38, 31 May 2007 (CDT)

Crystal palace

I noticed your comment on Russel's talk page, are you willing to nominate?Nancy Sculerati 16:30, 4 June 2007 (CDT)

yes--let's nominate it (I'd have bees in my bonnet not to) Richard Jensen 18:02, 4 June 2007 (CDT)

Richard, I placed the tag on the article for you with a date of June 10 for approval. You have the option of changing the date if you like. If you decide to make changes to the article, just make sure Russell agrees with you and I think we can work it like last time. --Matt Innis (Talk) 20:30, 4 June 2007 (CDT)

It's a very good article and ready for approval. Richard Jensen 20:34, 4 June 2007 (CDT)

By the way, Richard, when changes are made, make sure to update the version number on the template so that we don't have to hunt you down when approval time comes! Thanks, --Matt Innis (Talk) 20:34, 4 June 2007 (CDT)

Hi Richard, and thanks for the nomination. The entry has had some very careful copyediting since nomination, from several persons, and Chris Day was kind enough to add a paragraph near the end on the association of sport with the Crystal Palace. I have just given it another careful once over, and I think the needed work is complete. If you could have a look, and if you agree, change the version number (not sure how to do that myself!) to the Current revision as of (02:14, 6 June 2007), I would be grateful as ever! Russell Potter 22:41, 5 June 2007 (CDT)

p.s. , while the East Coast slept, numerous a few new copyedits were made, and some accidentally deleted external links restored. I think (!) it's as strong as can be. The current version is now that of (12:00, 6 June 2007) Russell Potter 07:04, 6 June 2007 (CDT)

Hi Richard, as you are the nominating editor on Crystal Palace, could you stop and give an opinion on the edit disagreements that seem to be brewing over there. Also note that you have total control over the version that is approved according to which version you identify on the ToApprove template. Thanks. Matt Innis (Talk) 12:36, 8 June 2007 (CDT)

Redirect

Allow me to say I think redirecting Xenophobia to Nativism is a poor decision. Nativism is a set of policy choices. Xenophobia is attitudinal. People groups can be xenophobic but not nativistic--I've lived such places! I hope you will remove the redirect. Stephen Ewen 22:58, 6 June 2007 (CDT)

interesting point but the Nativist article is also mostly attitudinal (Webster's 3rd says it's an "attitude or policy". Is there a difference in attitudes? Who is xenophobic but not nativistic--I can't think of anyone. American Heritage dictionary: Xenophobe = "A person unduly fearful or contemptuous of that which is foreign, especially of strangers or foreign peoples." Richard Jensen 23:06, 6 June 2007 (CDT)

Well, I could tick off a list of places/peoples who are one and not the other. Fiji is a great example, with a diverse population but supported by policy but whose people are are often xenophobic. One place I lived for two years, Saipan, has xenophobic natives but those same natives by policy encourage "foreigners" to enter the island for economic and other reasons (even genetic). South Africa is a historical example. Whites by policy depended on Blacks and Coloreds, including immigrants, but were xenophobic toward them, living segregated. I could go on. Basically, nativism is about policies at the governmental level, and also in anthropology and sociology is about a "back to roots" movement, e.g., the Negritude Movement in Haiti that stemmed up prior the Duvalier regime. Xenophobia can and does operate independently. Thus they cannot be equated. True, they can both occur in a place, e.g., Japan. But the deal breaker of equating the two is they are not treated as synonyms in available literature. I'd give the benefit of any doubt you have to leaving them separate and letting a sociology editor (when we get one) make any decision to treat them as one. Stephen Ewen 02:16, 7 June 2007 (CDT)

I checked--historians, sociologists and activists are using the terms as synonymous:

• "Xenophobia, nativism and anti-Semitism lay behind a wide range of quotas..." Journal of the Canadian Historical Association 2000
• [2]
• "The continuing national discourse on immigration frequently evokes charges of "nativism, xenophobia, racism...." [3]
• "Sure, there has been xenophobia, nativism, racism; but across American time..." JA Morone in PS: Political Science and Politics 1996
• "the persistence of xenophobia, nativism, and racial..." Teacher's College Record
• "NATIVISM by segments of the dominant population, characterized by (more or less overt) expressions of anti-Catholicism, xenophobia, and racism" Phylon (1967)
• "These tensions came to the surface in the post-World War I wave of xenophobia and nativism that swept much of the nation" Law and History Review, 1997. Richard Jensen 03:28, 7 June 2007 (CDT)

So can we also redirect racism into nativism? Obviously not. Stephen Ewen 14:07, 8 June 2007 (CDT)

Crystal Palace edit conflict

Hi Richard, just a brief note to alert you to my comments at the bottom of the Talk page for Talk:Crystal Palace. There, I have identified the specific version of the entry which I feel is the strongest, and truest to the subject, with all the changes that have strengthened the entry included. Russell Potter 12:57, 8 June 2007 (CDT)

Hi again, Richard. Your latest post to Talk:Crystal Palace made me smile (albeit somewhat ironically). Have a look at the most recent version(s); whichever you decide is the one that should be approved, we'll all move along to the /Draft page and keep things lively (but civilized)! Cheers, Russell Potter 22:59, 8 June 2007 (CDT)

GO! freeze it now!  :) Richard Jensen 23:57, 8 June 2007 (CDT)

I'll go ahead and update the version to approve to todays version to avoid confusion later. --Matt Innis (Talk) 10:15, 9 June 2007 (CDT)

Crystal Palace

Hi Richard, I am not sure if you saw my earlier edit concerning Crystal Palace. If you did, just ignore this one, otherwise, your guidence would be appreciated as the only editor on the article. Matt Innis (Talk) 21:54, 8 June 2007 (CDT)

Lincoln picture

[4] You may enjoy this article, but I am asking you to look at the great picture of Lincoln (Photo: Alexander Gardner, Library of Congress). This is an open copyright journal. Can we use that picture? Nancy Sculerati 16:02, 9 June 2007 (CDT)

Shirley Chisholm

I wrote most of Shirley Chisholm (with some modification of others), just want to see how far it is from a complete article that would have a chance of approval. Thanks! Yi Zhe Wu 22:06, 9 June 2007 (CDT)

First glance looks good! Suggestions: edit the photo so you can see her features; in bibliog, add date of publication and drop isbn (which is not very helpful); don't cite Crystal Reference Encyclopedia (it does not even give her name). Keep up good work!

Richard, the isbn leads to a pge where users can see the books,and in some cases, search through them, by clicking on either Barnes and Noble and Amazon. If the user buys the book from either site through that page, CZ gets referral fees. I don't want to push books on people, (and I get no money from CZ, just the opposite) but I am loathe to discourage putting ISBN on-please do so. Click a blue number and you'll see what I mean. Nancy Sculerati 22:32, 9 June 2007 (CDT)

I just modified the photo to increase brightness, don't know if it's enough yet. Also I agree that Crystal Reference can be dropped---and I just did that, plus all facts there used in the article can be found elsewhere. I did remove ISBN first, but after Nancy's message above I reinstated them. I'm still undecided on this, because ISBN does help people find the books on Amazon, should we have a rule/policy on it? Yi Zhe Wu 22:43, 9 June 2007 (CDT)

I think ISBN's are a royal waste of time (important books have many isbn numbers, one for each edition; old books have none) but was unaware of the $$ factor. My experience with H-Net is they got very little $ from the Amazon direct connection they used. (How would Amazon know someone reached their website from CZ??) Richard Jensen 00:27, 10 June 2007 (CDT)

It works, Richard-we just started and few are buying anything -but we are already earning hundred plus dollars a month.We've done that for May and June and haven't even had a full 4 week month yet. Those ISBN seem to work whether you put the 10 digit or the 13 digit ones in, meaning if you actually put them in from the book you are using, it should work. I like it, frankly, because I like to look at the covers and often -at least for the newer books, I can go to Amazon and open the book and read an excerpt and get an idea of its level and quality. Whatever ISBN you put in for a book, the other editions can be easily found in those sites. I often look at books in bibliographies that way whether or not I am on CZ and whether or not I buy them. Anyway- look at the main page. see there is some text that tells about the associates programs. If you click the links there, or through that page you get on the ISBN, when you go to the stores there is a code that identifies you as having come through a CZ link. If a purchase is made within a certain length of time- a few hours I think, then CZ get between 6-8%. No charge to the user (you). Same for you, in cost, as if you went there directly. I helped set it up and I promise you, it works. I think it is morally fine, as long as we don't turn our interface into a commercial billboard, and as long as we don't push sales or list books (or anything else) just to make money. We pick the books because they are good, or useful. But I personally love books and do buy them, and having experts come up with bibliographies is a help for readers, nothing to be ashamed of - I hope. What do you think? I respect your opinion. Nancy Sculerati 02:09, 10 June 2007 (CDT) (if there is no ISBN, just don't worry about it, list the book as is)

Nancy--thanks for the highly informative update. Speaking of usage, do we know how many clicks each CZ page is getting (not talking Amazon here, just ordinary page look-ats)? that would be useful info for the editors.Richard Jensen 02:22, 10 June 2007 (CDT)

I don't. Alexdander Stos may know. Nancy Sculerati 03:41, 10 June 2007 (CDT)

Image:1944barkley.jpg

No source. Kindly add. Stephen Ewen 04:43, 12 June 2007 (CDT)

Fleming...

Why is he not a serious scholar? His book is well researched and to my knowledge he is a respected historian. I am also not trying to smear FDR. I tried to add more info about Churchill and the Balkins but I had an edit conflict. I thought it was interesting info and he provides sources.

Eric Pokorny 00:41, 13 June 2007 (CDT) Fleming is not a serious scholar (he writes children's books on the one hand and, as here, polemics), He looks for snide remarks --a few words given without context--in the hope that readers will get the a negative impression of FDR. This quote for example, does not explain what FDR's policy actually was and does not tell readers that FDR was saying that he will abide the results of free elections in Poland and accept it if the Communists win. Richard Jensen 01:10, 13 June 2007 (CDT)

Fleming wasn't talking about Poland specifically but FDR’s policy towards Soviet expansion in East Europe, in particular the Balkins. FDR was repeatedly advised about Stalin’s intentions but didn’t want to open up another front. There are several reasons for this that are covered by Flemming. Flemming dedicates three pages covering FDR’s attitudes at Tehran and putting it in context but I am just unfamiliar with writing for encyclopedias. I want to put more detailed info about FDR’s attitudes but I just don’t know if the most important facts should be summarized and the more detailed info should be put on a separate Tehran Conference page. I can’t just put the context in the article without lengthening the section considerably. Either way I definitely would like to add more detail about the contrasting opinions of Churchill and FDR. However, the quote definitely appeared as a snide remark but I didn’t finish adding more info to balance it out.

Eric Pokorny 02:01, 13 June 2007 (CDT)

Great plan. You need to read the relevant chapters in the bibliography on foreign policy--those are sound, non-polemical books. Start with Friedel or Burns, I suggest. Richard Jensen 04:16, 13 June 2007 (CDT)

Fixed Great Depression page

Should look fine now. For help creating tables using "wiki code", see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Table :) - Mike Mayors (Talk) 01:21, 14 June 2007 (CDT)

hey THANKS! That was fast  :) Richard Jensen 01:21, 14 June 2007 (CDT)

New articles for Approval?

Hi Richard,

Just a brief note -- I'm covering Approvals for Nancy while she takes a well-earned break -- are there any articles you know of in History, or other categories, which are nearing readiness for Approval, I'd be grateful if you could let me know. Also, I note that in Politics, where we don't have any really active editors, there has been some talk of looking for someone to nominate United States Electoral College -- if you could have a look at it, and see if it might reasonably be tagged for History, I'd value your view on whether it is indeed nomination-worthy.

Many thanks, as ever,

Russell Potter 11:21, 15 June 2007 (CDT)

Thanks for your attention to United States Electoral College! It looks better already. What I'd done earlier but not mentioned was to tag the entry for History as well -- if you agree with that tag, you could already nominate it, as a History editor, whenever you feel it's ready (I can then place the Approval nomination tag for you if you like). As far as I'm personally concerned, you are eminently (over!)qualified to be a politics editor, but since I'm filling in for Nancy this week in my capacity as Assistant Approvals Management Editor, I'd rather not do it for you lest it be construed as an official deed, but you could ask the editorial staff about this, and then nominate it as a Politics editor, if you believe that to be the better course of action.

Best, Russell Potter 13:07, 15 June 2007 (CDT)

Update: Richard, I just talked with Nancy and I believe she will address this; you should be all set. best, Russell Potter 14:51, 15 June 2007 (CDT)

Let me know when you think the entry is ready for nomination. If you do decide to move it to the new name, best to do that beforehand, I think. Best, Russell Potter 10:27, 16 June 2007 (CDT)