text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/BMW E46 Problems List

 This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion of the article below. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record. The result of the debate was delete. - Mailer Diablo 03:28, 16 Apr 2005 (UTC)

BMW E46 Problems List
Non-encyclopedic. An invitation for people to post problems with their cars. "this is done in a "wiki" is so that everyone can add their problem" - well, great: create a wiki at wikicities or something. This shouldn't be in wikipedia. SteveW | Talk 23:11, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * Delete - Non-encyclopedic, more suited to a community forum. Impi 00:55, 11 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete Not-encyclopedic. It would best for him to buy a new car. Dsmdgold 02:12, Apr 11, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete Wikipedia is not a soapboax a free host or a webspace provider. This is better suited to a message board, car review website or possibly some kind of car wikicity... -- Lochaber 11:10, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and, like some other VfD subpages, is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue, the deletion, or the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.


text: Category:Cables

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Category:Cables


text:
Osgood–Schlatter disease

Osgood–Schlatter disease (OSD) is inflammation of the patellar ligament at the tibial tuberosity (apophysitis) usually affecting adolescents during growth spurts. It is characterized by a painful bump just below the knee that is worse with activity and better with rest. Episodes of pain typically last a few weeks to months. One or both knees may be affected and flares may recur.

Risk factors include overuse, especially sports which involve frequent running or jumping. The underlying mechanism is repeated tension on the growth plate of the upper tibia. Diagnosis is typically based on the symptoms. A plain X-ray may be either normal or show fragmentation in the attachment area.

Pain typically resolves with time. Applying cold to the affected area, rest, stretching, and strengthening exercises may help. NSAIDs such as ibuprofen may be used. Slightly less stressful activities such as swimming or walking may be recommended. Casting the leg for a period of time may help. After growth slows, typically age 16 in boys and 14 in girls, the pain will no longer occur despite a bump potentially remaining.

About 4% of people are affected at some point in time. Males between the ages of 10 and 15 are most often affected. The condition is named after Robert Bayley Osgood (1873–1956), an American orthopedic surgeon, and Carl B. Schlatter (1864–1934), a Swiss surgeon, who described the condition independently in 1903.

Signs and symptoms

Osgood–Schlatter disease causes pain in the front lower part of the knee. This is usually at the ligament-bone junction of the patellar ligament and the tibial tuberosity. The tibial tuberosity is a slight elevation of bone on the anterior and proximal portion of the tibia. The patellar tendon attaches the anterior quadriceps muscles to the tibia via the knee cap.

Intense knee pain is usually the presenting symptom that occurs during activities such as running, jumping, lifting things, squatting, and especially ascending or descending stairs and during kneeling. The pain is worse with acute knee impact. The pain can be reproduced by extending the knee against resistance, stressing the quadriceps, or striking the knee. Pain is initially mild and intermittent. In the acute phase, the pain is severe and continuous in nature. Impact of the affected area can be very painful. Bilateral symptoms are observed in 20–30% of people.

Risk factors
Risk factors include overuse, especially sports which involve running or jumping. The underlying mechanism is repeated tension on the growth plate of the upper tibia. It also occurs frequently in male pole vaulters aged 14–22.

Diagnosis
Diagnosis is made based on signs and symptoms.

Ultrasonography
This test can see various warning signs that predict if OSD might occur. Ultrasonography can detect if there is any tissue swelling and cartilage swelling. Ultrasonography's main goal is to identify OSD in the early stage rather than later on. It has unique features such as detection of an increase of swelling within the tibia or the cartilage surrounding the area and can also see if there is any new bone starting to build up around the tibial tuberosity.

Types

OSD may result in an avulsion fracture, with the tibial tuberosity separating from the tibia (usually remaining connected to a tendon or ligament). This injury is uncommon because there are mechanisms that prevent strong muscles from doing damage. The fracture on the tibial tuberosity can be a complete or incomplete break.

Type I: A small fragment is displaced proximally and does not require surgery.

Type II: The articular surface of the tibia remains intact and the fracture occurs at the junction where the secondary center of ossification and the proximal tibial epiphysis come together (may or may not require surgery).

Type III: Complete fracture (through articular surface) including high chance of meniscal damage. This type of fracture usually requires surgery.

Differential diagnosis
Sinding-Larsen and Johansson syndrome, is an analogous condition involving the patellar tendon and the lower margin of the patella bone, instead of the upper margin of the tibia. Sever's disease is an analogous condition affecting the Achilles tendon attachment to the heel.

Prevention
One of the main ways to prevent OSD is to check the participant's flexibility in their quadriceps and hamstrings. Lack of flexibility in these muscles can be a direct risk indicator for OSD. Muscles can shorten, which can cause pain but this is not permanent. Stretches can help reduce shortening of the muscles. The main stretches for prevention of OSD focus on the hamstrings and quadriceps.

Direct stretching of the quadriceps can be painful so the use of foam rolling for self myofascial release can help gently restore flexibility and range of movement

Treatment
Treatment is generally conservative with rest, ice, and specific exercises being recommended. Simple pain medication may be used such as acetaminophen (paracetamol), or NSAIDs such as ibuprofen. Saline injections have also been proposed for pain reduction. Typically symptoms resolve as the growth plate closes. Physiotherapy is generally recommended once the initial symptoms have improved to prevent recurrence. Surgery may rarely be used in those who have stopped growing yet still have symptoms.

Physiotherapy
Recommended efforts include exercises to improve the strength of the gluteals, quadriceps, hamstring and gastrocnemius muscles.

Bracing or use of an orthopedic cast to enforce joint immobilization is rarely required and does not necessarily encourage a quicker resolution. However, bracing may give comfort and help reduce pain as it reduces strain on the tibial tubercle.

Surgery
Surgical excision may rarely be required in people who have stopped growing. Surgical removal of the ossicles generally results in good outcomes, with symptoms improvement after several weeks.

Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation focuses on muscle strengthening, gait training, and pain control to restore knee function. Nonsurgical treatments for less severe symptoms include: exercises for strength, stretches to increase range of motion, ice packs, knee tape, knee braces, anti-inflammatory agents, and electrical stimulation to control inflammation and pain. Quadriceps and hamstring exercises are commonly prescribed by rehabilitation experts restore flexibility and muscle strength.

Isometric exercises, such as isometric leg extensions, have been shown to strengthen the knee, reduce pain and inhibition, and help the tissue repair through Mechanotransduction.

Other exercises can include leg raises, squats, and wall stretches to increase quadriceps and hamstring strength. This helps to avoid pain, stress, and tight muscles that lead to further injury that oppose healing.

Education and knowledge on stretches and exercises are important. Exercises should lack pain and increase gradually with intensity. The patient is given strict guidelines on how to perform exercises at home to avoid more injury. Exercises can include leg raises, squats and wall stretches to increase quadriceps and hamstring strength. This helps to avoid pain, stress, and tight muscles that lead to further injury that oppose healing. Knee orthotics such as patella straps and knee sleeves help decrease force traction and prevent painful tibia contact by restricting unnecessary movement, providing support, and also adding compression to the area of pain.

Prognosis
The condition is usually self-limiting and is caused by stress on the patellar tendon that attaches the quadriceps muscle at the front of the thigh to the tibial tuberosity. Following an adolescent growth spurt, repeated stress from contraction of the quadriceps is transmitted through the patellar tendon to the immature tibial tuberosity. This can cause multiple subacute avulsion fractures along with inflammation of the tendon, leading to excess bone growth in the tuberosity and producing a visible lump which can be very painful, especially when hit. Activities such as kneeling may also irritate the tendon.

The syndrome may develop without trauma or other apparent cause; however, some studies report up to 50% of patients relate a history of precipitating trauma. Several authors have tried to identify the actual underlying etiology and risk factors that predispose Osgood–Schlatter disease and postulated various theories. However, currently, it is widely accepted that Osgood–Schlatter disease is a traction apophysitis of the proximal tibial tubercle at the insertion of the patellar tendon caused by repetitive micro-trauma. In other words, Osgood–Schlatter disease is an overuse injury and closely related to the physical activity of the child. It was shown that children who actively participate in sports are affected more frequently as compared with non-participants. In a retrospective study of adolescents, old athletes actively participating in sports showed a frequency of 21% reporting the syndrome compared with only 4.5% of age-matched nonathletic controls.

The symptoms usually resolve with treatment but may recur for 12–24 months before complete resolution at skeletal maturity, when the tibial epiphysis fuses. In some cases the symptoms do not resolve until the patient is fully grown. In approximately 10% of patients the symptoms continue unabated into adulthood, despite all conservative measures.

Long-term implications
OSD occurs from the combined effects of tibial tuberosity immaturity and quadriceps tightness. There is a possibility of migration of the ossicle or fragmentation in Osgood-Schlatter patients. The implications of OSD and the ossification of the tubercle can lead to functional limitations and pain for patients into adulthood.

Of people admitted with OSD, about half were children who were between the ages of 1 and 17. In addition, in 2014, a case study of 261 patients was observed over 12 to 24 months. 237 of these people responded well to sport restriction and non-steroid anti-inflammatory agents, which resulted in recovery to normal athletic activity.

Epidemiology
Osgood–Schlatter disease generally occurs in boys and girls aged 9–16 coinciding with periods of growth spurts. It occurs more frequently in boys than in girls, with reports of a male-to-female ratio ranging from 3:1 to as high as 7:1. It has been suggested that difference is related to a greater participation by boys in sports and risk activities than by girls.

Osgood–Schlatter disease resolves or becomes asymptomatic in the majority of cases. One study showed that 90% of reported patients had symptom resolution in 12–24 months. Because of this short symptomatic period with most patients, the number of people who become diagnosed is a fraction of the true number.

For adolescents between the ages of 12–15, there is a disease prevalence of 9.8% with a greater 11.4% in males and 8.3% in females. Osgood-Schlatter's disease presents bilaterally in a range of about 20%-30% of patients.

It was found that the leading cause for the incidence of the disease was regular sport practicing and shortening of the rectus femoris muscle in adolescents that were in the pubertal phase. For there is a 76% prevalence of patients with a shortened rectus femoris in those who have the Osgood-Schlatter's disease. This risk ratio shows the anatomical relationship between the tibial tuberosity and the quadriceps muscle group, which connect through the patella and its ligamentous structures.

In a survey of patients with the diagnosis, 97% reported to have pain during palpation over the tibial tuberosity. The high risk ratio with people with the disease and palpatory pain is likely the reason that the number one diagnosis method is with physical examination, rather than imaging as most bone pathologies are diagnosed.

Research suggests that Osgood–Schlatter disease also increases the risk of tibial fractures. It's possible that the rapid tuberosity bone development and other changes to the proximal aspect of the knee with those who have the disease is the culprit to the increased risk.

Because increased activity is a risk factor for developing Osgood–Schlatter disease there is also research that may suggest children and adolescents with ADHD are at higher risk. Increased activity and stress on the tibial tuberosity would be greater in a more active population in the 9-16 age bracket, but this study was still not conclusive as to which aspect of ADHD was the cause of the higher incidence.

title: Osgood–Schlatter disease


text:
User:Gnostic804

I live and work in the United States. I have often worked as a copy editor in an assortment of technical fields. Even though English is my native language, I still find it very challenging, especially after studying and translating some other widely used languages. I deeply sympathize with Wikipedia editors for whom English is not their first language, and sincerely appreciate the difficulties presented thereby.

My contributions at Wikimedia sites are supported by my experience in scientific and technical editing, translation, and publishing; selection of risks in life and health insurance; lay medical underwriting; computer programming in a number of compiled and interpreted languages; computer systems administration and analysis; and formal training of adults in such subjects as typing, software usage, assembly language programming, interrogation techniques, speech and voice control, business ethics and law, customer relations, and sales techniques and efficiencies.

There was no philosophical or religious significance intended in my choice of user name.

simple:User:Gnostic804

title: User:Gnostic804


text:
Peščenica – Žitnjak

Peščenica – Žitnjak is a city district in the southeastern part of Zagreb, Croatia. It consists of two parts: Peščenica, a set of neighborhoods; and Žitnjak, a large industrial zone on the city outskirts, and has a total population of 56,487 (2011 census).

The smaller neighbourhoods that form the core of Peščenica include:
 * Stara Peščenica
 * Donje Svetice
 * Volovčica
 * Ferenščica

These neighborhoods are delineated by major city arterials, such as the Slavonska Avenue and Vukovarska Avenue.

To the northeast, towards Donja Dubrava, there are:
 * Borongaj (local administration "Bruno Bušić")
 * Borongaj Lugovi
 * Vukomerec

To the southwest, towards Trnje, there are:
 * Folnegovićevo naselje
 * local administration "Janko Matko"
 * Borovje (administratively part of Savica–Šanci)

The places in the outer rim, around and beyond Žitnjak, include:
 * Kozari Bok
 * Kozari putevi
 * Savica–Šanci
 * Petruševec
 * Resnik
 * Ivanja Reka
 * Žitnjak (Struge)

History
Stara Peščenica and Volovčica were first planned in 1913 and built after World War I. Donje Svetice, Ferenščica, Borongaj, Folnegovićevo naselje and Vukomerec were started then and built up mostly after World War II.

Žitnjak is named after wheat (žito), as it used to be the location of wheat fields. In 1865, it was a small settlement of 10 houses and 177 inhabitants. After World War II, it became an industrial zone.

Resnik and Ivanja Reka were previously villages, and their first mention dates from 1217. They were urbanized after World War II, particularly in the 1980s.

Ivanja Reka remains a standalone settlement, but Resnik stopped being tracked as one after 1971, when it had 456 residents.

Peščenica has been made famous locally by its resident and self-proclaimed president of the "Republic of Peščenica" Željko Malnar, a maverick traveler, author and talk show host.

title: Peščenica – Žitnjak


text:
Talk:Ye olde deluder satan act

This looks to me, given the use of the slightly ridiculous "ye olde", like a nihilartikel. Matthew Platts 23:17, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC)

The Deluder Satan Act is real, and while I can't vouch for the veracity of the archaic language, it's an important document in educational history. -- Sherman Dorn

I edited out the bit in the intro about the Enlightenment because classical ("Latin") education had been going on for a long time before the Enlightenment. Sophy's Duckling 02:26, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

The Olde Deluder Satan Act stated that any town in Massachussettes with 50 families or more had to establish a school separate from the church. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.165.79.180 (talk) 03:21, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

It was chenelin chu chu. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 112.208.164.19 (talk) 10:52, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

title: Talk:Ye olde deluder satan act


text:
Talk:Black-and-white ruffed lemur

varecia
I studied them this summer in Mada and have some really cool pictures of working with them, if you would like to use some more pictures for this page. And isn't their name Varecia variegata(spelling?) editorum? JenniferL 17 13:56, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

From the article: There are three subspecies of Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur: I don't think we need more pictures of them in the article. However, if you feel you have encyclopedia-worthy articles that could replace the two we have, please upload them to http://commons.wikipedia.org where they will be able to be used more easily by all of hte different language 'pedias. - UtherSRG (talk) 14:17, 27 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Varecia variegata variegata
 * Varecia variegata editorum
 * Varecia variegata subcincta

Upcoming major edits
I am currently in the process of preparing major edits for the current page, as well as the following (related) pages:

 * Ruffed Lemur
 * Red Ruffed Lemur

The edits will be similar in style to the major edit of Ring-tailed Lemur on 03:27, 20 June 2008. The goal is the same as it was for the Ring-tailed Lemur: to move the pages significantly beyond Start-class. As with the aforementioned major edit, I will make a significant effort to preserve as much of the existing text as possible. However, uncited material will not be represented if I am unable to find a reliable source.

The edits will be written off-line and tested in the sandbox, so the tag will not be used when the major revision is ready. Sections will be added to either parallel those used on the Ring-tailed Lemur page, or (preferably) follow the proposed WikiProject Primates Article format. Information will be expanded greatly, and citations will be given. Range maps for the taxoboxes have already been provided. If you have any comments, suggestions, or concerns, please reply to this post, or leave a note on my talk page.

- Visionholder (talk) 20:05, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

 * Sorry for the delays in posting these re-writes. Between new events in my personal life, time reallocated to improving the Ring-tailed Lemur article for an upcoming FA reveiw, and the re-writes taking longer than expected, it may take me a few more weeks before I am finished.  At this point, the plan is to roll out the re-write of Ruffed lemur within the coming week, followed in a few weeks by the two species pages, and possibly followed by the creation of subspecies pages.  Again, if you have comments or concerns, please leave a note on my talk page. - Visionholder (talk) 20:41, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

 * A complete re-write of the Ruffed lemur page was posted late last night. I will now start working on re-writes for both this page and the Red Ruffed Lemur.  At this point, I have no idea how long those re-writes will take.  If I'm lucky, they'll be easy to write and they'll be done shortly.  If not, it may take another month or more.  I can assure you, though, that they will be completed within a reasonable amount of time.  - Visionholder (talk) 18:56, 10 October 2008 (UTC)

 * Due to real life events and higher priority pages that need major revisions, I'm postponing the re-write of this page. It will be done eventually, but not any time soon. –Visionholder (talk) 20:51, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

Contradition in size
See Talk:Indri. 212.10.95.14 (talk) 10:06, 28 May 2010 (UTC)

new lemur pic
Hi Maky - I just uploaded this beautiful B&W ruffed lemur shot from Flikr. Feel free to use if you like. Lemurbaby (talk) 06:45, 26 May 2012 (UTC)
 * Very nice pics! Thanks for uploading.  One of these days I'll re-write these ruffed lemur articles, but since I already did Ruffed lemur, I'm not sure how what to say in these articles since it would be largely redundant.  (The differences between the species are mostly color, location, conservation threats/status, and one vocalization.)  Anyway, I'll be sure to put the images to good use. –  Maky  « talk » 14:19, 26 May 2012 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Black-and-white ruffed lemur. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120915052023/http://pages.uoregon.edu/fwhite/Rapps%20and%20White.pdf to http://pages.uoregon.edu/fwhite/Rapps%20and%20White.pdf

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Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 06:52, 21 July 2017 (UTC)

title: Talk:Black-and-white ruffed lemur


text:
Talk:EFnet

Aitvaras
Aitvaras links to nothing like an IRC network - either create a page for it or remove that entry? (clem 23:18, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC))

EFnet ops have no guidelines
If there is some dispute about this you can talk about this here. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Simonapro (talk • contribs) 09:12, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

 * Whether or not there are guidelines, the POV stuff about "EFNet continuing to 'loose' credibility" due to "substandard ops" is inappropriate. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.1.48.108 (talk • contribs) 17:38, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

Okay I removed the 'loose credibility' because it is still technically an IRC server. However the EFnet operators are substandard because they do not use the standard IRC OP guidelines as described in the IRC Operators Guide http://www.irchelp.org/irchelp/ircd/ircopguide.html Thus they are substandard. I included this in the EFnet section. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Simonapro (talk • contribs) 20:52, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

 * Unless you have an unbiased source which documents EFnet operator behavior, that paragraph is exactly the sort of thing forbidden under WP:NPOV. AKADriver 20:29, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

Ok I corrected it further to include the fact that EFnet IRC operators are not required to follow the traditional standard IRC administration guidelines (IRC Operators Guide). Simonapro 20:04, 26 April 2006 (UTC)]

 * The link you provided actually says those guidelines apply only to EFnet operators, while your statement implies the opposite (that they apply to everyone but EFnet operators). Granted, it is 9 years old, and I know IRC networks have changed a lot since then.  Even so, they were guidelines to begin with, not steadfast policies.  You've also made an unprovable statement when you say that all EFnet operators do not follow those guidelines. — AKADriver  ☎  20:29, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

I did not say all. I will make it clearer. Simonapro 23:43, 27 April 2006 (UTC)]

IPv6 and SSL
It is great that EFnet have some servers that use IPv6. Too bad none support SSL, I would love to see that. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Frap (talk • contribs) 19:03, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

 * SSL is good for giving people a false sense of security. I'd be more worried about currupt irc server admins than network snifing if i was discussing anything really secret on irc. Plugwash 16:00, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

Remove them all
if you going to remove 1 legit site you had better remove them all str33tshen -- very upset -- co-owner of ufc-pride.org —Preceding unsigned comment added by Str33tshen (talk • contribs) 15:43, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

What possibly really happened to eris
You may be interested to see the less reengineered version of history concerning the IRC war that produced EFnet. http://about.psyc.eu/IRC#The_Battle_Of_Eris_-_The_War_Of_IRC --lynX 22:24, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

 * This "history" is quite biased. But yes, there are many sides to the story. -- Wumpus Greg 18:37, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

The word biased implies there is a personal interest in presenting it in one way rather than another. There is no such interest, this is merely a reconstruction from memory and historic mail folders from a perspective of someone who experienced massive service disruptions and wondered why that had to be. The operlist archives help understanding both sides. In the end it isn't all that important what really happened, but it is interesting to see how history has been written by a certain side, even with things that happened in the digital domain where a lot of evidence is still available. For the purpose of Wikipedia maybe somebody completely uninvolved should have a look at those operlist archives which luckily are not available on our site, we just link to them. Btw, nice seeing you again Wump.. and funny how you rewrote my headline.. ;) --lynX

 * I'm not implying that at all. It's biased as it doesn't meet fact in some ways -- one point of a Wikipedia article is not just to repeat the hysterical accusations of the heat of the moment, but also look at fact. I'm glad you liked my joke. -- wumpus Greg 23:06, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Oh, you call it hysterical. Well today there is a whole new chat system based on the philosophy of being server-open. So I wouldn't say this was a minor issue. The fall of eris was the day when IRC stopped being like SMTP or most other decentralized protocols and became oligarchic instead. I wouldn't advocate the technical merits of this new decentralized chat technology, but politically it is quite a step forward. The creation of EFnet is of philosophical and political relevance in the History of the Internet. So in the end it's not hysterical, it's not an accusation either, or at least not intended as such, but it may be of historical relevance. --lynX

 * Um, Duh. An architecture which permits server open without compromising security is a fine way to solve the problem. That was obvious 15 years ago, too. Doesn't have much to do with this Wikipedia article, though. -- wumpus Greg 02:02, 18 December 2006 (UTC)
 * IRC was never decentralised in the way that smtp and jabber are, it relies on replicating the entire network state to every node in the network, a fragile tree of persistant connections and almost total trust between servers. Those who wanted a workable decentralised network needed to start more or less from scratch. Plugwash 01:05, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the elementary tutorial on IRC, I am aware of this. I could show you all the design documents of what I was thinking about doing to IRC, however, I went to work on my PhD instead. What's this have to do with this article? -- wumpus Greg 16:28, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes, both PSYC and Jabber started from scratch with a new URL-based approach to avoid the distributed database. Okay, Jabber doesn't use real URLs. Anyway, the only thing this has to do with the article is how the creation of the EFnet exposed the political implications of the IRC technology in a painful way. Season's Greetings. --lynX 09:21, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

Well, one thing I have found interesting about the IRC network splits are how they can be paralleled to the thirteen colonies declaring independence from Britain. I'm actually writing a paper on it for school. lol --65.10.135.123 02:20, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Client Counts
User count on efnet is closer to 70 thousand than 100,000. IRWolfie- 01:33, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Average is now 52k http://searchirc.com/rank/EFnet IRWolfie- (talk) 15:31, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

EXTERNAL LINK SPAM FROM CHOOPA.NET
Whoever the anonymous user from choopa.net is whom keeps spamming the external links needs to stop. stats.efnet.org is already listed once, no need to add 4 more deep links. The user is also trying to hijack the link to map.efnet.org after making a carbon copy of the site. Seems like this user has a real desire to push stats.efnet.org.

STOP SPAMMING WIKIPEDIA It would be nice for this article to become protected or semi protected until this stops.

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Capeworm (talk • contribs) 20:36, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

3/11/07, choopa linkspammer returns. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.64.98.163 (talk • contribs) 05:10, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

3/12/07, repeat —Preceding unsigned comment added by Capeworm (talk • contribs) 13 March 2007 (UTC)

3/14/07, repeat —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.64.98.163 (talk • contribs) 21:16, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

Semi-protection
This article has been semi-protected as per a request at WP:RFP. Anonymous users, please register accounts and discuss changes to the article here on its talk page before making potentially contentious edits. A Train take the 14:14, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

April's fools
Wikipedia fooled by April's fools? "Undernet has decided to rejoin EFNET, and EFNET is to change thier name to EFUnet." Well, this piece of "news" was posted on Efnet.org "posted on 03/31/2007 at 23:43:32 EDT by Pills", dangerously close to April 1st. I'm removing this line from the page. -- Tor I. Pettersen —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.160.171.98 (talk • contribs) 02:40, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Desync
Soup guys. What is the reason Desync was Delinked. (Doc aberdeen 21:21, 15 April 2007 (UTC))

 * They were too hardcore. They didn't beat around the bush on the lists, and they didn't take IRC very seriously.  It's serious business! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.64.98.163 (talk • contribs) 06:22, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

 * GNAArly? (Doc aberdeen 08:16, 6 May 2007 (UTC))
 * GNAArly? (Doc aberdeen 08:16, 6 May 2007 (UTC))

Noppa merge
It has been proposed that Noppa is merged into the EFnet article. However, I don't see any mention of bots in the article. This leads me to question if the bot is notable enough for an article. A quick google search doesn't come up with much, but maybe others can bring up something more. Being the first bot on EFnet does assert some sort of notabilitiy. If we can verify that, a merge could be appropriate. Martijn Hoekstra 22:11, 11 June 2007 (UTC)
 * See IRC bot - it seems to me it would be more appropriate to merge Noppa there. MartinBrook t'' 13:33, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

News sources
http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=efnet+irc&hl=en&sa=N&start=10 - There are several mainstream news sources (including NYTimes and Deutche Welle) and plenty of reasonably reliable news blogs that have some level of coverage of EFNet - If someone's interested in getting rid of that 4 month old unreferenced-template, there's how to do it. Expand and source your expansions. Happy editing, MrZaius  talk  16:07, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

Article Deletion? UHH?
Are you kidding? EFnet is the original IRC network, used by tens of millions of people since the creation of IRC. Frogfork (talk) 10:34, 1 December 2008 (UTC)
 * New sections go at the bottom... You should put your arguments here otherwise they won't count. --Hm2k (talk) 11:58, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

article pov
the article appears to have been written with the pov of an experienced irc user. this type of article isn't necessary on wikipedia since it serves a very small portion of readers. a re-write of the article with the assumption that it's basically a living person with constantly changing figures would be more in line since citing user/channel counts that are constantly on the decline isn't relevant.Woods01 (talk) 04:42, 24 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Thank you for your suggestion. When you believe an article needs improvement, please feel free to make those changes. Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone can edit almost any article by simply following the  link at the top. The Wikipedia community encourages you to be bold in updating pages. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes—they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. If you're not sure how editing works, check out how to edit a page, or use the sandbox to try out your editing skills.  New contributors are always welcome. You don't even need to log in (although there are many reasons why you might want to). --Hm2k (talk) 09:01, 24 August 2009 (UTC)

NickServ
With regards to this statement currently in the article... This also disputes these edits
 * "although it had a NickServ until April 8, 1994"

Was Nickserv ever on EFnet? I for one do not ever recall it, especially since EFnet's policy is "Nicknames are not owned", however my knowledge only goes back as far as 1998. The reference supplied with the statement says the following...
 * "Nickserv "was born" on July 1990, and was shut down on April 8th, 1994 by the same person who created it. "Some people always argued about Nickserv and its purpose, and even some operators killed it randomly. This was one of the reasons for the shutdown" (Gruner, e-mail communication, June 4,1995). There were additional reasons, such as the dramatic increase in the number of Nickserv users, which caused a significant Net overload.

Further more at the bottom of the article it says:
 * "All fieldwork for this study was carried out on Efnet."

However, none of this means that NickServ was ever on EFnet. Ideally, if someone with authority on EFnet (and a good memory) could confirm or deny the statement, it would make it a lot clearer. Thanks. --Hm2k (talk) 14:59, 22 September 2009 (UTC) You can also find information about the EFnet NickServ in the news:alt.irc FAQ, which was written and maintained by Helen Rose. Numerous versions of the FAQ have been reformatted and copied around the web and ftp archives. One of the older versions of the FAQ that turns up in the first page of Google is which was written while the EFnet NickServ was still active. Later versions of the FAQ such as and  were edited after the EFnet NickServ was shut down. Original versions of the alt.irc FAQ such as can be found via the Internet Archive at  with the original url for the FAQ still being linked from the ibiblio.org archive. The original web location for the FAQ was but it was gone from that location before the Internet Archive came to be so the only thing archived there is a pointer  to the irchelp.org website. The An Introduction to IRC document written and maintained by Tjerk Vonck also discusses the EFnet NickServ. It too has been reformatted and copied all over the place and has been revised numerous times. A maintained version can be found at Lots of others such as  and  also turned up and an older archived version of document can be found at  and in other ftp archives. This document is also distributed with later versions of mIRC. (Note that this is not the same document as the ircintro document by Steve Harrison, old versions for which seem to be difficult to find, although it did turn up in a few locations such as and ) This FAQ also mentions /ignoring EFnet's NickServ. --Tothwolf (talk) 18:44, 22 September 2009 (UTC) The reason mentions ignoring EFnet's NickServ is since it did not enforce "nickname ownership" people could and did simply /ignore it. When other networks began adding IRC services, the (then obsolete) ignore could cause problems. You may still be able to find many old ircII scripts in the various ftp archives with a hard-coded ignore for "NickServ" due to this. Note that the FAQ we are discussing uses ircII syntax for the /ignore command example. In addition to Tjerk Vonck, I would suggest you also try to contact Helen Rose (possibly hrose[at]eff[dot]org) and some of the other EFnet operators from back then. Helen Rose was a developer and an oper on the Boston University irc.bu.edu EFnet server. There also used to be a massive IRC documentation and software archive at but last I checked it was long gone. --Tothwolf (talk) 16:59, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Sure, there was indeed a NickServ on EFnet in the early 90s, but it didn't kill connections that used a registered nick anyway so it was possible to simply /ignore it (which many people did). As you mention, the citation currently used in the article contains the footnote "All fieldwork for this study was carried out on Efnet." and you have to remember that many of the IRC networks that exist today (which have IRC services such as NickServ) simply did not exist in the early 90s.
 * I asked for someone with authority to respond. I've already spoke with some EFnet opers with regards to this, and they agree that there was in fact never a NickServ on EFnet to their memory. I raised the question so that it could be confirmed on Wikipedia too.
 * Having said that I reviewed your references. The first few links talk don't talk about EFnet and appear to be talking about other networks such as Undernet, however shockingly the intro on mirc.com does actually say "In the past on EFnet, NickServ registered nicknames", but could just be a mistake that was never corrected, I'll ask Tjerk Vonck to confirm. Finally does talk about ignoring EFnet's NickServ, but I suspect it's because it used to message users on connect saying that EFnet had no nickname services, thus ignored.
 * --Hm2k (talk) 13:54, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Considering my background with EFnet, IRC, and the fact that I personally used the original NickServ on EFnet back in the early 90s, I think I've got some authority here myself. It could be that the current EFnet operators are unfamiliar with EFnet's short lived NickServ since most of the current opers were probably not around back then and iirc it was an event many of the current operators back then wanted to forget (I don't think any of the original servers exist anymore either).
 * Something else I should point out is the FAQ I linked to above that was written by Helen Rose was written with a focus on EFnet. Try Google searches for the channels listed such as #hottub or #Twilight_Zone as well as the hostnames of the various irc servers listed in "(5) Which server do I connect to?". --Tothwolf (talk) 17:15, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
 * That FAQ seems to be about IRC pre-EFnet, before the first split. Like I said, I'd prefer to hear from an authoritative figure on this. --Hm2k (talk) 18:57, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
 * I can assure you that irc.bu.edu was an EFnet server and you can verify this yourself via Google and all the historical documents. --Tothwolf (talk) 19:15, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

(outdent) Searches for various historical EFnet servers turns up all sorts of information such as:
 * EFnet server list from 1993-12-02 (from the ibiblio.org archive)
 * IRC - Internet Relay Chat, doc/NETWORKING
 * Internet Relay Chat Operator Etiquette Guide

Earlier versions of the alt.irc FAQ from Helen Rose (also found a copies in the ibiblio.org archive and Google Groups usenet archive ) mention "NickServ@service.de" and later versions of the FAQ  and the An Introduction to IRC document from Tjerk Vonck mention it was run in Germany (which of course .de is).

If you Google for "NickServ@service.de" you'll find a ton of information. Note that this predates DALnet, which was founded in July 1994.
 * IRC-NickServ Frequently Asked Questions (also found in the Google Groups usenet archive   )
 * Ensor's IRC Newbie Information Guide Thing
 * A short IRC primer (Updated version at )
 * "Internet Relay Chat"
 * Introduction to the Internet: Starting to use IRC (Internet Relay Chat) (Gives an example of how to ignore NickServ in the .ircrc file: "/IGNORE NICKSERV@SERVICE.DE +ALL")

Also see about.psyc.eu: IRC: Historic Documents and the these two links that are linked there

I'd also suggest you look into contacting lynX (also lynX on Wikipedia, although you'll probably have to email him).

--Tothwolf (talk) 19:12, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

 * Yeah, so irc.bu.edu was on the original IRC network (when there was only one) and then split with EFnet.
 * With regards to NickServ@service.de -- a google search doesn't exactly fill me with confidence... I think you'll find this was never on EFnet.
 * The threads and sites you have referenced clearly state that NickServ was part of the IRC network BEFORE the EFnet split.
 * The thread shows how the 1991 public wanted NickServ back and wasn't at all happy with the policy of nicknames not being owned. The thread also mentions the IRC War that had taken place before and led to the separation of the EFnet from the free IRC later also termed Anarchy-Net by the EFnet people.
 * I'm pretty confident that this means NickServ was on the IRC network BEFORE EFnet split away from it. It's clear now there was no NickServ on EFnet, so thanks for clearing that up for me. However, if you're still unsure, feel free to invite lynX to the discussion. Perhaps he can make it clearer for you.
 * --Hm2k (talk) 20:13, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

 * You are confusing two of the EFnet "splits". NickServ was on EFnet after the A-net/EFnet split in 1990 but before the EFnet/IRCnet "Great Split" in 1996. --Tothwolf (talk) 20:43, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Furthermore, the A-net/EFnet split occurred due to the open server links policy of, not due to a NickServ. --Tothwolf (talk) 20:49, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Maybe the confusion here is how the EFnet/IRCnet split occurred. EFnet actually existed first, IRCnet split away from EFnet. It pretty much split along the lines of American/European servers with the American servers remaining EFnet and the European servers becoming IRCnet. The split occurred due to a disagreement over how to implement timestamp in the servers to deal with things like nick collisions and stealing chanop in channels during netsplit/netrejoins. --Tothwolf (talk) 21:22, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

 * I'm not confused. The reference is clearly talking about when the original IRC network split into EFnet and the so called "Anarchy-Net" around 1990, forget about IRCnet for now. Why this split happened has not been questioned by me, but it would be ignorant to think that the split was due to a single issue, but rather that a single issue triggered the split. --Hm2k (talk) 21:38, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Well, the Anarchy-Net/EFnet split technically was due to a number of things but the open C/N lines on  was the underlying cause, see  for one viewpoint. (Note that the link to  at the bottom was the later EFnet/IRCnet split so the text describing it as a different pov of the earlier Anarchy-Net/EFnet split is obviously wrong.) This is actually talking about two different events though, the oper killing NickServ and taking its nickname and the earlier Anarchy-Net/EFnet split. --Tothwolf (talk) 22:11, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

 * So, now you're pretty much debunking psyc.eu as a reliable source. Instead, I've emailed Armin Gruner who originally wrote NickServ, as described here. This will confirm or deny the statement which is currently supported by that reference. --Hm2k (talk) 22:20, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
 * I never claimed psyc.eu was a reliable source – I pointed you to it because it links to lots of historical documentation. Maybe this usenet thread from February 1994 will help --Tothwolf (talk) 22:31, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Where does it says EFnet? --Hm2k (talk) 23:15, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Where does it not say EFnet? Helen Rose and many of the other people in that discussion were EFnet IRC operators and the server names (with the exception of where someone explains what Undernet is), are EFnet server names. Why don't you contact Helen Rose and bring them into this discussion so we can finally settle this? --Tothwolf (talk) 00:15, 24 September 2009 (UTC)

(←) The difficulty is that while the existence of EFnet is undoubtedly notable and can be reliably sourced, a lot of the details of its existence are a little murkier when it comes to reliable sourcing. It does seem, based on the above, that the NickServ was there (although I don't specifically recall it, and was there for a time just a bit before the NickServ was said to have been taken down). If Mr. Gruner were to respond, that would certainly alleviate concerns on the "truth" of the matter, though, and wp:rs would seem to be satisfied by the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication piece. user: J  aka justen (talk) 00:45, 24 September 2009 (UTC)

Helen Rose is unreachable. I was able to reach Armin Gruner, he said NickServ appeared from spring 1990 until somewhere in 1994, with a break in-between, however he said that the split actually occurred in 1988 or 1989. Armin also pointed out that NickServ in it's original form was never designed to prevent the use of registered nicknames, just notify the user that the nickname was registered. The important characteristics here are the "nicknames are not owned" policy, which always existed and that in fact there was once a NickServ service on EFnet, but not the NickServ that is recognised today. --Hm2k (talk) 16:25, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

 * The mention of a break in-between for NickServ seems to be corroborated by the usenet posts where there were multiple discussions after it was shut down. The split Armin Gruner is referring to must be the Anarchy-Net/EFnet split since the EFnet/IRCnet took place much later. His mention of NickServ only notifying also correlates with the FAQs I linked to and with what I mentioned earlier. Glad to see that this is cleared up now :) --Tothwolf (talk) 23:58, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

 * It's very murky waters. However, it's much clearer now and I intend on rewriting part of the article to reflect what has been discussed here. --Hm2k (talk) 08:23, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

Something I did note while doing research on other IRC-related topics is a number of people seemed to have gotten the EFnet/IRCnet split information wrong (and even a few books too). Some claim that IRCnet existed first and EFnet split away from it (clearly wrong and not supported by the historical information we have). I have no idea how they came to that conclusion unless maybe they just assumed that "IRCnet" came first because it has "IRC" in its name. This may be something we want to note in the article as well to point out the inaccuracy. --Tothwolf (talk) 09:38, 7 October 2009 (UTC)
 * I'll leave it to you. Some of the above links that I dug up previously may be usable as references as well. Have you come across much about the EFnet/NewNew  split? It should probably go into the timeline as well as it was a big deal when   was juped and eventually delinked. A quick Google search turned up  as well as a Linux Journal article  that discusses the irc.eskimo.com machine.

Timeline/The Great Split
"In July 1996, disagreement on policy caused EFnet to break in two: the slightly larger European half (including Australia and Japan) formed IRCnet, while the American servers continued as EFnet. This was widely known as the Great Split [3]." -- according to the source, European part was actually smaller than EFNet's. But it contained .fi hub, from which IRC originates. --194.149.88.193 (talk) 15:10, 6 October 2009 (UTC)
 * Is any more detailed information on the relative size available? In any case, I believe the split was roughly half/half, with the original IRC server being among those that split off, which makes the claim that the present EFnet is the continuation of the original IRC network somewhat contentious. Rp (talk) 18:18, 17 December 2009 (UTC)

Questions regarding the current state of efnet.
Hey,

I recently removed some errors regarding the operations of efnet. As an efnet admin for over a decade, I might be of service, should you have any additional questions. Feel free to ask, and I will do my best to give you correct information.

For the sake of the network and the future of IRC, I think it is important we keep this document as up to date and correct as possible.

So, questions?

Best regards,

Johan 'Silence' Boger. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jboger (talk • contribs) 07:40, 20 October 2012 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on EFnet. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110322175909/http://www.irchelp.org/irchelp/ircd/ircopguide.html to http://www.irchelp.org/irchelp/ircd/ircopguide.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 15:51, 15 September 2017 (UTC)

Cited sources outdated
"In July 2001, after a string of DDoS attacks[6] a service called CHANFIX[7]" shows the quoted DDoS attacks as outdated when you visit the link. There is nothing but advertising left. Should be removed? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2003:CB:3FFF:BE8:0:0:0:0 (talk) 09:15, 16 September 2019 (UTC)

Highest User Count
It would be interesting to know the highest number of online users and when that occurred, if anyone knows of any reliable sources for such data. I came here wondering when EFnet was at the height of its popularity, and that's one piece of info that could shed some light. 137.254.7.165 (talk) 17:49, 22 April 2021 (UTC)
 * netsplit.de is still going strong ... Rp (talk) 15:16, 23 April 2021 (UTC)

title: Talk:EFnet


text:
Recruitment in the British Army

The British Army came into being with the unification of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England and Scotland. The Army has traditionally relied on volunteer recruits, the only exceptions to this being during the latter part of the First World War until 1919, and then again during the Second World War when conscription was brought in during the war and stayed until 1960.

18th and 19th centuries
At the beginning of the 18th century, the standing strength of the British Army was reduced after the Treaty of Ryswick, and stood at 7,000 troops at home and 14,000 based overseas, with recruits ranging from 17 to 50 years of age. The army was kept small by the government during peacetime, mainly due to the fear that the army would be unduly influenced by the Crown or used to depose the government. The Bill of Rights of 1689 specifies that Parliamentary authority is needed to maintain a standing army in peacetime.

For much of the 18th century, the army was recruited in a wide variety of places, and its manpower was additionally supplemented by auxiliaries from continental Europe, including Danes, Hessians and Hanoverians. These auxiliaries were hired out by other states on contracted terms. Other regiments were formed of volunteers such as French Huguenots. By 1709, during the War of the Spanish Succession, British forces totalled 150,000 men, of whom 81,000 were foreign mercenaries of variable quality. The rest of the army consisted of natives of the British Isles who, apart from the officers, were mainly recruited from the poorest sections of society. Each regiment was responsible for the recruitment of its own troops, and individual colonels would lead recruiting parties on tours of the towns and villages. This was emphasized by a popular play of the time called The Recruiting Officer. Other powers were given by the British government to allow the forcible enlistment of vagrants and vagabonds. Some of these powers were abused by recruiting officers desperate to fill their quotas, although a legalized Royal Navy press-gang system would not be implemented yet, even though normal recruiting methods failed to supply the required annual influx of troops, as the army was not a popular profession, with low pay, flogging and other barbarous disciplinary measures. The army's recruiting methods and treatment of its soldiers would remain the same for the rest of the 18th century.

During the American Revolutionary War, a policy similar to the Royal Navy's Press Gangs was introduced. Two acts were passed, the Recruiting Act 1778 and the Recruiting Act 1779, for the impressment of individuals. For some men this would have been for being drunk and disorderly. The chief advantages of these acts was in the number of volunteers brought in under the apprehension of impressment. To avoid impressment, some recruits incapacitated themselves by cutting off the thumb and forefinger of the right hand. Both acts were repealed in 1780. The British Government also released criminals and debtors from prison on the condition they joined the army. Three entire regiments during the American Revolution were raised from this early release programme. Of the Volunteer recruits, some would find they had been enticed to take the King's shilling under false pretenses and many men would find they had signed to a lifetime in the army.

After the defeat of Great Britain by the American revolutionaries, the British Army fell into dereliction (the army in 1775 was in a poor state anyway), morale and discipline were low, and troops levels fell. The Army was neglected as never before and its total strength in 1793 stood at 40,000 men.

Napoleonic wars
The United Kingdom's struggle with France during the Napoleonic wars required the British Army to expand rapidly. Ordinary recruiting methods failed to supply the number of men required to fill the Army ranks. The main methods used for recruiting were: private individuals were recruited for their own interests, volunteers from the militia and placing obligations on communities to enlist. Generals called for conscription for the first time in British History, although this was never enacted for the regular army. During this period, Great Britain was at a disadvantage to her enemy, as due to the Industrial Revolution potential recruits were instead drawn to the cities to earn more money in the many factories now being built in the country, while France was still largely an agrarian society.

Competition from civilian occupations was intense and highlighted in the disparity in pay; where a private could earn 7s per week in 1806, a dockworker could expect to earn 28s. However soldiers would expect to supplement this meagre income with promotion and loot on campaign. During the early phases of the war, joining the Army could still mean effectively joining for life, which was frequently brutally cut short. For instance, a posting to the Caribbean in 1790 was seen as a near death sentence, as thousands of men died or were disabled by disease there. The Army still struggled to raise the troops required to replace the discharged, wounded and dead as the war against France continued. As early as 1794, 18,596 soldiers died on active service and another 40,639 men were discharged. This would remain a constant theme during the Napoleonic wars, and the British Army also used foreign volunteers, such as French Royalists, Germans, Greeks and Corsicans to supplement its forces. In 1813 one fifth of the army, 52,000 men, were such volunteers. The British Army in 1813 contained over 250,000 men, though this was much larger in comparison to the army at the beginning of the war, the all volunteer British army was still much smaller than that of France, which with conscription had an army over 2.6 million.

Reform
From 1798 onwards, structural, training and logistical reforms implemented or authorised by the Duke of York (as commander-in-chief of the army) slowly improved the lot of the ordinary soldier. York oversaw a crackdown on corruption and removed the threat of corporal punishment for a large number of petty offences (while it was still retained for serious derelictions of duty). He also stamped down on the abuse of buying officer commissions, making it necessary for officers to serve two full years before either promotion or purchase to captain and six years before becoming a major The establishment of the Royal Military Academy for officers was instigated due to York's influence, while regular recruits to the army were allowed to join under contract for limited periods, rather than for life. Men such as Sir John Moore, Thomas Sydney Beckwith and Rowland Hill characterised the new breed of officers who sought to improve the relationship between officers and men, motivating troops through mutual respect, reward and promotion rather than by relying on punishment. The Shorncliffe System for light infantry was established, being devised by Lt-Col Kenneth Mackenzie, and trained soldiers to think for themselves and act on initiative while the light infantry officers drilled alongside the men fostering comradeship. In addition, the introduction of new tactical and organisational flexibility contributed a great deal to the successes of the Peninsula and Waterloo.

Post-Napoleonic army
After the victory in the Napoleonic wars, there followed 40 years of peace in Europe during which the army would again revert to its peacetime role. The Army that won the war was again neglected in the peace. The Government's immediate priority was to cut taxes, to lessen the burden of taxation on the economy, which had remained high over the previous 20 years, to pay for the expensive war that enabled Britain to be victorious over France. The British Army funding would be cut drastically in the short term, but as became evident this would apply for the next 40 years. The budget was cut from £43 million in 1815, to £10.7 million in 1820, £8 million in 1836 and only rose slightly 10 years later to £9.5 million. With the budget cuts, troop levels were inevitably cut from 233,592 men in 1815 to 102,529 men by 1828. There were further reductions in 1838, after which troop strength stood at 91,388. With the constant cuts, recruiting parties would achieve their reduced recruiting targets with greater ease.

1870 reforms
The army during peacetime was deliberately kept small and the recruitment methods would only change once the Cardwell reforms were implemented in the 1870s. The Crimean War nevertheless highlighted several defects and weaknesses in the Army's organisation. Although in theory, 70,000 soldiers were stationed in Britain, it was found that this number included several units in transit from distant outposts of the Empire, and some underdeveloped recruits and many old soldiers whose constitution had been ruined by harsh climate and disease and who were no longer capable of serving in the field. As a result, the provision of an expeditionary force of only 25,000 in the Crimea stripped Britain of almost every trained soldier.

Some of the Cardwell's reforms included the abolition of sale of commissions, the banning of flogging and other measures, such as reducing the length of service, to make recruitment more appealing. An Enlistment Act saw a change in the terms of enlistment, which could at last produce some trained reserves and also made soldiering a more tempting career. A Localisation Scheme resulted in the pairing of single-battalion regiments via administrative depots on a county-based system.

First World War

At the start of 1914, the British Army had a reported strength of 710,000 men including reserves, of which 247,432 were regular troops, also including 80,000 regular troops formed as the British Expeditionary Force. The recruitment drive would be spearheaded by Lord Kitchener once war had been declared in August 1914.

At the outset of war young Britons answered the call, for King and Country, and voluntarily joined the British Army. By early 1915 much of the regular army had been killed and was now replaced by the part-time volunteers of the Territorial Force and Kitchener's new volunteer army. A feature of the volunteer army was the Pals battalions, recruited from single communities or even factories, who were allowed to serve together. The Kitchener recruitment campaign had proved to be very successful, as on 1 September 1914, over 30,000 men enlisted. With each day passing, thousands more were clamouring to be taken. The British Government soon realised the main drawback of this campaign, as opposed to the French and German conscriptions, which selected men individually, was that a high proportion of men from skilled industries left their work, which would prove to be costly to the war effort. A better-controlled enlistment programme would be required.

The Military Service Bill was enacted with effect from January 1916 and specified that men from the ages of 18 to 41 were liable to be called up for service unless they were married (or widowed with children), or else served in one of a number of reserved professions. By the end of World War I, almost a quarter of the total male population of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland had joined up, over five million men.

Inter-war period 1919–38
After the Great war and the inevitable defence cuts that would follow, the army was reduced in size, and by 1920 had fallen to a strength of 370,000. There were a number of factors for the reductions in the size of British Army, and the cuts to the budget of the Army. The army now had competition from the new armed service, the Royal Air Force, which could patrol far greater land areas, and keep the far flung corners of the Empire policed from the sky at a relatively cheaper cost. The defence budget for the army was repeatedly cut yearly, as in 1923 the army defence budget was 43.5 million pounds sterling, and during the Great Depression in 1932 to just under 36 million pounds sterling. Only with the rise of Germany, would the budget for the British army again increase, by 1938 to 123 million pounds sterling; the army again started a rapid recruitment program.

Second World War
The pre-war army was an all-volunteer army and recruits were allotted to the corps of their wishes. The only pre-conditions placed on candidates were an interview with a recruiting officer, who could only glean partial information on a recruit, a medical examination, and some educational tests. If these requirements were met, the recruit was posted to the arm of his choice, there was no scientific selection process unlike the rapidly growing German army. This led to men being allocated to the wrong or unsuitable corps. The Secretary of State for War, Leslie Hore-Belisha attempted to address these problems, and the wider problems of the British army. The process of allocating men would remain ad hoc at the start of the war. The army would be without the quotas of men required from skilled professions and trades, which modern warfare demanded. With the army being the least popular service compared to the navy and airforce, a higher proportion of army recruits were said to be dull and backward.

A memorandum to the Executive Committee of the Army Council highlighted the growing concern: "'The British Army is wasting manpower in this war almost as badly as it did in the last war. A man is posted to a Corps almost entirely on the demand of the moment and without any effort at personal selection by proper tests.'"

Only with the creation of the Beveridge committee in 1941, and their subsequent findings in 1942, would the situation of skilled men not being assigned correctly be addressed. The findings led directly to the creation of the General Service Corps, and would remain in place long after the war. Hore-Belisha had sought permission to introduce conscription in 1938 but was rebuffed by Neville Chamberlain, who would not agree to increased defence spending. In early 1939, he was finally allowed to introduce conscription to meet the threat of Germany, with the Military Training Act of 27 April 1939. The act required all men aged 20 and 21 to take six months military training. This act was extended on the declaration of the war, to include all fit men between the ages of 18 and 41. Conscription was gradually brought in, starting in October 1939 and applying to all fit men between 20–23, and the age group was increased as the war continued.

At the start of the Second World War, the British Army Strength stood at 897,000 men including reserves. By the end of 1939, the strength of the British Army stood at 1.1 million men, and further increased to 1.65 million men during June 1940, By the end of the war some 2.9 million men had served in the British Army.

The Local Defence Volunteers was formed early in 1940. Very large numbers of civilians too old or too young for the Army, or barred from serving if they were in reserved occupations, volunteered for the new force. The organisation was eventually renamed the "Home Guard" and was to be part of the defence of Britain in the advent of a German invasion of Britain.

Post-war period
As with the previous World War, the end of wartime conscription saw the army reduced in size and reverting to its peacetime role of maintaining the Empire. In 1947, British India was given Independence, which meant the loss of the British Indian Army and thousands of volunteer soldiers. The British Government had relied on the British Indian Army for Imperial matters. Now, without this army, the regular British Army was judged to be too small for the demands of an impending Cold War and maintaining the Empire. To meet this demand, which volunteers alone would not, peacetime conscription was enacted by the government and passed by the House of Commons in 1947. In the United Kingdom, it is this period of peacetime conscription that is usually referred to as 'National Service'. It remains the only period of peacetime conscription in UK history, apart from the periods immediately before and after World War II. The majority of National Servicemen went into the Army and, by 1951, National Servicemen made up half the force, leading to a reduced level of voluntary recruitment to the regular army. The last intake of National Servicemen took place in 1960, with the last National Serviceman being demobbed on 16 May 1963. The army reverted to an all professional volunteer service, which it remains to this day.

The decision to abolish National Service was taken in 1957 with the 1957 Defence White Paper, which led to an enormous reduction in the number of soldiers between 1958–63, from about 330,000 to 165,000 by the end of National Service. In the decades that followed, cuts in the Army were the constant theme, although they were never on a large scale until the end of the cold war. Between 1963 and 1992, strength was reduced to 153,000. In 1990, the Government started another defence review, which concluded with the Defence White Paper of 1992. In a post-Soviet world, the white paper would again further reduce the army by 50,000, effectively ending the British Army of the Rhine.

Present day
At the turn of the 21st century, the British army numbered about 102,000 regular personnel, with about 25,000 recruits per year, mainly from the United Kingdom. The Army missed its recruitment targets in the 2010s due to low unemployment in Britain and other causes, despite raising the number of recruits from Commonwealth countries. The Army was shrunk to 82,000 in 2015, 82,000 in 2021, and about 72,000 thereafter.

The minimum recruitment age is 16 years, after the end of GCSEs, although soldiers may not serve on operations below 18 years. , the maximum age to enlist as a Regular soldier is 35 years and 6 months, and for Reserve soldiers, the maximum age is 49. For those entering as commissioned officers, the maximum age is 29. The normal term of engagement is 22 years; and, once enlisted, soldiers are not normally permitted to leave until they have served at least four years. Soldiers are now enlisted on a 24-year engagement known as versatile engagement (VEng). After 22 years service a soldier may be offered a 2-year extension. After the 2 years, the soldier or officer may be offered a further 2 years service and thereafter until they reach 55 years of age.

Officers and royalty
Officers of the British army before the late 18th century were mainly recruited from a narrow segment of society, with a majority coming from the landed gentry and the aristocracy or often officers were from families with a military tradition. (This contrasted with the Navy, whose officers were more often from a middle-class background.) The second son of King George III, Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, did much to improve the standard of officer recruitment from his position as Commander in Chief of the Army (from 1795 to 1809, then from 1811 to 1827). The sale of commissions, finally abolished in the Cardwell reforms in 1868–1874, and the further Childers Reforms. In spite of its abolition, the status of an officer being from a privileged background and that of another rank being from a less privileged one has, for the most part remained.

The Royal Family traditionally had its members serve in the Armed Forces, usually with the Royal Navy though many have served with the Army. This occasionally warped operations in the field, for example at the Battle of Tel el-Kebir, where Wolseley was forced to leave an entire brigade of Guards in reserve to avoid harm coming to Queen Victoria's third son, the Duke of Connaught. The tradition has continued into the 21st century, with Prince Harry and Prince William both joining the Army as officers. However, Royals are no longer deliberately kept out of harm's way; Prince Harry saw active service in Afghanistan until the publicity posed a threat to the troops serving with him, while Prince Andrew served as a front-line helicopter pilot with the Royal Navy during the Falklands War.

Foreign Royals have also served in the Army, such as Eugène Bonaparte, the son of Napoléon III, who was commissioned into the Royal Artillery, but was killed in 1879 while serving in South Africa during the Anglo-Zulu War. Later in the 20th century, King Abdullah II of Jordan served as a Second Lieutenant with the 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own), and Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said of Oman served with the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles).

Recruitment from the Empire and Commonwealth
During both World Wars, subjects throughout the British Empire volunteered to help the United Kingdom. During World War I, the Dominions raised their own armies, but were under the British command structure, and very much integrated into the British fighting forces. Over 2.5 million men, which included Canada sending 418,000 men overseas, Australia sending 322,000, South Africa sending 230,000, New Zealand sending 124,000, and other volunteers from the Crown Colonies.

During peacetime, British Empire soldiers were usually recruited into indigenous regiments, such as the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps, to garrison their own land, thus ensuring that the Army did not have to allocate its own units to garrison the territories. One of the oldest regiments raised from the empire was the West India Regiment, which was raised in 1795, and was formed as an integral part of the regular British Army. The recruits of the West India Regiment were originally raised from freed slaves from North America and by the purchase of slaves in the West Indies; the regiment was disbanded in 1927. The Fiji Infantry Regiment, which was raised in 1920 and consisted of a single battalion, garrisoned the Pacific territory. One of the largest units was the multi-battalion Royal West African Frontier Force, which garrisoned British West Africa and included The Nigeria Regiment.

British Indian Army
The largest of the colonial military forces was the British Indian Army. Up to Indian independence, this was a volunteer army, raised from the native population and staffed by British officers. The Indian Army served both as a security force in India itself and, particularly during the World Wars, in other theatres. The Indian Army proved a very useful adjunct to British forces wherever it served. Recruitment was entirely voluntary; about 1.3 million men served in the First World War, many on the Western Front, and 2.5 million in the Second. Initially the soldiers and NCOs were Indian, with British officers, but later Indian officers were promoted King's Commissioned Indian Officer.

Gurkhas
Gurkhas have been employed as an integral part of the Indian Army since the early 19th century. After Indian independence, some Gurkha units were transferred to the British Army. There are approximately 3,500 Gurkhas currently serving in the British Army. Joining the British Army is one of the few ways Nepalese people have of escaping poverty and earning a good salary. As a result, each year, there are thousands of applicants, as in 2007 when over 17,349 applied for just 230 posts. In some years, there are over 60,000 applying to join, and from 2010, women were allowed to join for the first time. Candidates must be between 17½ and 21 years of age.

Irish regiments
Irishmen have served in large numbers with the British army since the late 18th century, to the Napoleonic Wars and beyond. During this time, 20 to 40 percent of soldiers in the British army were Irish born. Levels would remain high, although recruitment steadily dropped from the period of the Irish Famine until 1900, but the Irish would remain over represented compared to the size of the population. At the turn of the 20th century, the number of Irish volunteers reduced, as the criticism by nationalists of recruitment to the army grew. Over 28,000 Irishmen served in the army during the Second Boer War, but by 1910 recruitment levels had fallen to 9 percent and for the first time were below Ireland's share of the UK population. During World War I, over 200,000 Irish soldiers volunteered to serve; many recruits from the new Southern state were known as National Volunteers. During World War II, over 70,000 were recruited from the Republic of Ireland and 38,000 from Northern Ireland.

The importance of the Irish in the British Army was summed up by Rudyard Kipling, who lost his son, Lt John Kipling of the Irish Guards, in World War I:

Present Commonwealth and foreign recruitment

Until 1998 there were restrictions on the enlistment of Commonwealth citizens in the British Army. Commonwealth citizens could generally join if they had been resident in the United Kingdom for five years. In 1998 the restrictions were lifted, following recruiting difficulties among British citizens. Under the new provisions Commonwealth citizens were permitted to enlist directly in any one of the British services and significant numbers did so in subsequent years.

The Ministry of Defence later capped the number of recruits from Commonwealth countries at 10% of any corps or regiment in the Army, although this did not affect the Gurkhas. The cap was debated, as some feared the army's "Britishness" was being diluted, and employing too many could make the army seem as employing too many mercenaries.

In 2008, Commonwealth origin volunteers comprised approximately 6.7% of the Army's total strength. In total, 6,600 foreign soldiers from 42 countries were represented in the Army, not including Gurkhas, i.e. Nepalis. After Nepal, the nation with most citizens in the British Army was Fiji, with 1,900, followed by Jamaica and Ghana with 600 each; soldiers also came from more prosperous countries, such as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. There are also volunteers from the Republic of Ireland – the level of recruitment among Irish nationals has been increasing, and figures for recruitment in Northern Ireland show that 16% came from south of the border during 2008.

However, in 2013 the previous restraints were reintroduced with immediate effect, in the context of reduced establishment numbers. From July 2013, all Commonwealth citizens except for those from Ireland, Cyprus, and Malta must have resided for 5 years in the UK before being allowed to join. As of May 2016, commonwealth citizens can enlist in the British army in limited roles without meeting the residence requirements. On 5 November 2018 the Ministry of Defence once again removed the requirement of residing in the country for five years. This now meant that any citizen of the Commonwealth could join the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy as of 6 November 2018. However, the British Army planned to open applications in early 2019.

title: Recruitment in the British Army


text:
Lollipop (Candyman)

"Lollipop (Candyman)" is a song by Danish-Norwegian dance-pop group Aqua. It was released as the fifth overall single from their debut album, Aquarium, in Australasia, North America, and mainland Europe. However, it was not released in the United Kingdom. "Lollipop" features a prominent role for René Dif, with vocals also from main vocalist Lene. The US CD and cassette single include "Good Morning Sunshine" as the B-side.

The song failed to replicate the success of "Barbie Girl", "Doctor Jones", and "My Oh My" where it was released. In the United States, it became their second top-40 hit and last song to chart there, peaking at No. 23, until 26 years later, when the group was credited on the 2023 Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice single "Barbie World". The single reached the top 10 in Sweden and Australia, staying at number three for five consecutive weeks in the latter country.

Critical reception
Larry Flick from Billboard described the song as a "Barbie Girl" "similar-sounding Euro-NRG ditty" and noted that "although "Lollipop" does not have such an immediate, media-friendly punch, it's ultimately just as fun and goofy as its predecessor. Sure, this is pop music at its most frivolous and disposable." Dave Sholin from the Gavin Report commented, "Nothing like a sugar rush, and this is yet another double dose of ear candy from Denmark's leading confectioners." Pop Rescue wrote that it "is laden with pumping beats, and vocal play between René and Lene." They added that "it's quite close to Barbie Girl."

Music video
The video features the group in space, much like in the later "Cartoon Heroes", and includes a fight against aliens and a small robot saving the day.

Track listings
Scandinavian and European CD single
 * 1) "Lollipop (Candyman)" (radio edit) – 3:35
 * 2) "Lollipop (Candyman)" (extended version) – 5:29

US CD and cassette single
 * 1) "Lollipop (Candyman)" – 3:35
 * 2) "Good Morning Sunshine" – 4:03

US 12-inch single
 * A1. "Lollipop (Candyman)" (Fitch Brother's "Sugar Mix") – 6:52
 * A2. "Lollipop (Candyman)" (extended original mix) – 5:51
 * B1. "Lollipop (Candyman)" (Razor-N-Go "Lick It Mix") – 12:18

Australian CD single
 * 1) "Lollipop (Candyman)" (radio edit) – 2:54
 * 2) "Lollipop (Candyman)" (extended mix) – 5:24
 * 3) "Lollipop (Candyman)" (DJ Greek's Candy Mix) – 7:28
 * 4) "Doctor Jones" (Adrenaline club mix) – 6:22
 * 5) "Doctor Jones" (Antiloop club mix) – 9:59
 * 6) "Doctor Jones" (Molella & Phil Jay mix) – 6:22
 * 7) "Barbie Girl" (video)
 * 8) "Doctor Jones" (Metro's full video)

title: Lollipop (Candyman)


text:
Gloria Carter Spann

Gloria Carter Spann (Carter; October 22, 1926 – March 5, 1990) was a motorcyclist and activist. Spann was a sister of the 39th president of the United States, Jimmy Carter. She was noted as one of the first women inducted into Harley-Davidson’s 100,000 Mile Club, was named Most Outstanding Female Motorcyclist in 1978 and worked as an activist for motorcycle rights.

Early years
Gloria Carter was the second of four children, and the first daughter born to James Earl Carter, Sr. (1894–1953) and Lillian Gordy Carter (1898–1983) and was two year younger than her brother, Jimmy. When Jimmy was small, he pronounced her name "Go Go", a nickname which stuck. By many accounts, including her mother's, Gloria was the smartest, most interesting, most attractive, most outgoing, and most talented of the Carter children. As children competing for the affections of their parents, the relationship between Spann and the future president was somewhat strained, but the two grew extremely close in their later years. Jimmy shot her with a BB gun after she threw a wrench at him when they were children.

Carter graduated from high school in June 1944 and enrolled in Georgia Southwestern College, where she began to study journalism. Her plans were deferred when she married a war hero, William Everett Hardy, from Americus. The Carters disapproved of the match, as the groom was a former drugstore clerk, not a suitable job for well-to-do families at the time. The marriage produced a son, William Everett (Hardy) Spann (1946–1997). Gloria returned to Georgia in 1949 from Texas, and her father was upset by the brutal beatings Gloria suffered at her husband's hands. With her father's help, Gloria had her marriage annulled in 1949. On December 15, 1950, she married Walter Guy Spann (1925–2012), a farmer from Webster County, Georgia, and he adopted the son of her first marriage. Walter and Gloria Spann had no children of their own together. By all accounts, the two had a very happy, affectionate marriage, which lasted almost 40 years, until her death.

In 1964, Spann resigned from the Baptist Church the Carters belonged to after the church voted not to lift its ban on black people from attending.

Carter presidency: 1977–1981
Although Spann had some level of fame of her own before Carter's election, she was not forced into the spotlight until then. She was probably the sibling who shunned the spotlight most during her brother's years in office. Before Carter was elected president in 1976, Spann had participated in several campaigns for him. In his bids for the governorship of Georgia, she made countless phone calls and mailed numerous pamphlets on his behalf.

Spann maintained a relatively low profile as she and her husband participated in cross-country cycling on their Harley-Davidson motorcycles. She began cycling around 1967. In 1977, she published a book of her mother's letters detailing her mother's struggles and accomplishments during two years working for the Peace Corps in India. She and Walter were also members of Union Life, a religious brotherhood.

Spann's son caused her great distress. He became a nocturnal wanderer and often disappeared for three or four days at a time, leaving Spann frantic. As her husband made good money, Spann was not required to work, but since her son was continually expelled from schools, she began work as a secretary in order to send him to a private school. She discussed her trouble with her evangelist sister, Ruth Stapleton. At Stapleton's cabin in the mountains, Spann picked up material that encouraged readers to give their problems to God.

William Carter Spann moved to California in 1969, and Gloria cited his troubled life as the main factor that turned her back toward her faith. William Spann often said that his mother rejected him and used this to justify his unconventional behavior. Gloria Carter Spann never saw her son during the last 21 years of her life.

Though William had moved out to California and severed contact with his family, this did not keep him out of the spotlight. During Jimmy Carter's 1976 presidential campaign, William was interviewed in his California jail cell. Of his uncle's success, he said: "He's in the White House, I'm in the big house." Gloria also received a phone call threatening to reveal that "Jimmy Carter's got a nephew in jail" if she did not pay a sum of money to keep the caller quiet. In 1979, Spann was herself arrested for disorderly conduct when she refused to stop playing a harmonica in a McWaffle restaurant in Americus, Georgia.

Spann was one of the first women inducted into Harley Davidson’s 100,000 Mile Club, was named Most Outstanding Female Motorcyclist in 1978, and worked as an activist for motorcycle rights. During their years as motorcyclists, Gloria and her husband became "den mother" and father to the younger riders. The Spanns planted a large garden for bikers each year and canned the vegetables to serve as they often had unexpected guests. Their farmhouse was arranged for multiple cots or sleeping bags. Walter constructed a four-hole outhouse to accommodate bikers who were cruising through the South or headed to the races at Daytona.

Illness and death
In the fall of 1989, Spann learned that she had pancreatic cancer. The Spanns, both in their sixties, were looking forward to retiring to their farmhouse and continuing their interest in motorcycles. Her cancer, as is common, was detected at a late stage when the only treatment is palliative care. Spann had been a smoker but had broken the habit in the years before her death.

On March 5, 1990, Spann died of complications from pancreatic cancer, at the age of 63. Her father and her sister, Ruth Carter Stapleton, and brother, Billy Carter, had also died of pancreatic cancer. Her mother died of breast cancer. Spann's tombstone reads, "She rides in Harley Heaven." Spann is buried in the Lebanon Baptist Church Cemetery near Plains, Georgia, where her parents and brother are also buried.

title: Gloria Carter Spann