User talk:Chris the speller

This user is one of the 400 most active English Wikipedians of all time.

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For smoother grammar and style, it's better to add a comma after the date. MithilaExplorer (talk) 14:05, 7 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I use the style specified in MOS:YEAR, which says "A comma follows the year unless other punctuation obviates it: " Chris the speller ^yack 14:18, 7 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Ok MithilaExplorer (talk) 10:05, 9 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Your edits of Dr Marjorie McIntosh's page are incorrect, Mr "Speller." The words you uncapitalized are professional titles and should be capitalized. "Assistant Professor" is a title and should be capitalized. "History," as used in this context, is a professional academic discipline and should be capitalized. The same is true of most of your edits here. And just FYI, Dr McIntosh was my PhD supervisor at CU-Boulder, so I have some direct experience with this. If you have any concerns, please see her bio on the CU website, or the bios of faculty with similar titles. You will find that all are capitalized. DesertSkies120 (talk) 23:03, 10 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@DesertSkies120: Wikipedia editors are volunteers, and it is inappropriate to communicate with them using a mocking tone (Mr "Speller.") Wikipedia has its own house style, which is described in its Manual of Style (WP:MOS), and this style is often especially evident in its use of capitalization. The simplest guidance is to capitalize only the first word in a sentence and any proper nouns. This means that editors should not apply capitals to anything just because they wish to glorify it. If in doubt, it is often sufficient to check with a major dictionary such as merriam-webster.com or ahdictionary.com to see if they capitalize it. In Wikipedia, we do not capitalize job titles, not even "king" and "pope", let alone "assistant professor", except when it becomes part of a person's name ("Professor Plum" or "Colonel Mustard"); see MOS:JOBTITLES. We do not sprinkle "Dr." throughout articles; see MOS:DOCTOR. Also, we speak of studying history and teaching history; it would only be capitalized in the case of a formal title of a course or program: (He wrote and taught the course "Intermediate French History 203.") ALso, headings are in sentence case, not title case; see MOS:HEADINGS. If you still think that the person who wrote the bios for a university knows more about capitalization than Wikipedia editors, read WP:SSF before overriding WP:MOS. Chris the speller ^yack 21:35, 11 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Apologies, but I assumed your real surname is not Speller, so I put it in quotation marks. Should I have written "Mr Chris"? If so, I apologize. "My bad." Perhaps your last name really is Speller. As for Wikipedia's style guide, all I can say is that it is simply wrong ... as are MANY things about Wikipedia. Professor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, etc, are all titles of office, just like President, Vice President, Congressman, Senator, etc. We do not write "Mitch McConnell, republican senator from Kentucky" or "Donald Trump, president of the United States," so why would we write "Marjorie McIntosh, distinguished professor of history"? You say "we do not capitalize job titles, not even "king" or "pope," yet the article on King Charles describes him as "King of the United Kingdom", with "King" capitalized even though it is a job title. Likewise, the article on Francis refers to him as "Pope Francis," not "pope Francis," even though "pope" is a job title. Very inconsistent, in my opinion.

I agree 100%, however, on the issue of "sprinkling" Dr throughout articles. But I do not recall raising that concern in my previous communication.

DesertSkies120 (talk) 00:02, 12 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I would like to congratulate you on reaching 20 active years on Wikipedia. Keep going. Sincerely, TheBestYoutube (talk) 14:04, 20 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi @Chris_the_speller, I want to let you know I've reverted one or more of your contributions because they do not seem constructive. If you think I made a mistake or have questions, you can leave a message on [[User talk:|my talk page]]. Please note that continued vandalism may lead to restrictions. 2403:6200:8832:8095:FEFA:DBAC:25F5:A976 (talk) 04:25, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

You have done no such thing, as the bizarre "warning" above is the only edit you have ever made, and it does not seem constructive. Of the over 800,000 edits I have made, not one has been vandalism. Chris the speller ^yack 13:49, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Chris,

Regarding recent changes to VFA season pages e.g. [1]. In recognition of MOS:INSTITUTION but also maintaining the intent of the way it is was written (which was to distinguish Victorian Football Association to Victorian Football League), my request is that instead of changing Association to association and League to league, your default be to change Association to VFA and League to VFL on future corrections. Aspirex (talk) 09:58, 28 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I am using a tool to fix capitalization and other things; it is not set up to change a common noun to a proper name, and in most articles that would be the wrong thing to do. I leave that up to you. Chris the speller ^yack 14:11, 28 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Please observe WP:MOS especially that "Directly before the person's name, such words begin with a capital letter (President Obama, not president Obama). Standard or commonly used names of an office are treated as proper names (David Cameron was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; Hirohito was Emperor of Japan; Louis XVI was King of France). Royal styles take capitals (Her Majesty; His Highness); exceptions may apply for particular offices." e.g. Secretary-General, not Secretary-general, President of Ireland, not president of Ireland, etc. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:871:5A:CE14:5DB6:E94B:820C:94F3 (talk) 17:34, 27 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I hardly know how to respond to this, as no article or specific edit is identified. However, the "Secretary-General" example is wrong: MOS:PEOPLETITLES says "When hyphenated and capitalized, e.g. Vice-president (as it is usually spelled in contexts other than US politics), the element after the hyphen is not capitalized." Chris the speller ^yack 17:50, 27 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The quote above, "Directly before the person's name ..." is from the general page WP:MOS, but it also refers to the main page for capitalization of bio articles, MOS:PEOPLETITLES, which has much more detail on the subject. Chris the speller ^yack

Good day and thank you for reaching out. Wow that was a long time ago looking at the history. Since it is used in lowercase form throughout the page I'm totally fine for downsizing Secretary to secretary. Tinton5 (talk) 20:57, 30 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Grateful for the feedback. Happy editing! Chris the speller ^yack 04:43, 31 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]