User talk:Smallsteps

Hello
Nice meeting you. I saw your nice addition to Category:Medications. I think that the contents should be transferred to a new page named Medications, and the category may be left for listing the pages under the category. --Bhadani (talk ) 17:18, 8 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Okay, I took care of it. I moved the content to Medications, and then made that an article in two categories -- Medications and Interventions. Good catch, Bhadani! -- Danny (talk ) 18:57, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

Evidence
Hi, Danny! I think you are doing a great job with the autism information. You have a high standard for evidence, which is just awesome.Smallsteps 7 May 2007


 * Well, I'm trying... :) It'll be cool when we get a lot of people to join in.


 * By the way, I have a wiki tip for you. You sign talk page messages by typing ~ at the end of your message. That automatically adds your signature, and the date and time.


 * It's good to see you here again... The addiction grows. -- Danny (talk ) 18:12, 7 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Oh, and speaking of evidence... The new pages that you've added are fantastic. I'm wikifying them a little bit, adding links and categories. Challenging behaviors is terrific -- the advice that you give is really helpful. That's the kind of thing that will make this wiki a great resource!


 * I have a question about references... You added a couple references to Epidemic (another helpful page, by the way). Do you have the full references for those? I can turn them into footnotes for you. An easy way for you to do that on a page is to put in a little section at the bottom.


 * You can type ==References== (which creates a heading), and then type the references under that. Then I can come along and turn them into footnotes. Does that work for you? -- Danny (talk ) 19:08, 7 May 2007 (UTC)


 * And another PS: A contributor added a page on Metallothionein proteins. I have no idea how to evaluate it. Is that real or made-up? -- Danny (talk ) 21:16, 7 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Hi, Danny--as you suspected, the metallo-whatevers are an unsubstantiated cause, trying to link mercury to autism. This whole idea that some kids are exceptionally sensitive to toxic effects of heavy metals is creating a model of disease for which there is insubstantial evidence. It sounds impressive, though, and these believers are true believers. Because they are "more sensitive" than "ordinary children" this sets up a null hypothesis. You can't ever prove that someone ISN'T exceptionally sensitive to something. Unless, of course, there were like a.....test. There are unscrupulous people creating "research data" that supply antivaccination litigation (in their own family, as I mentioned.) -- User:Smallsteps 7 May 2007


 * Okay, that's good to know. I'll add that to Unproven therapies. When you get a chance, you should look through the Interventions category, and flag any that should be in "unproven". -- Danny (talk ) 22:01, 7 May 2007 (UTC)


 * I looked under interventions, and, surprisingly these are mostly well-known and consistent with what is known about autism. The one exception seems to be the Miller method...did you see that they suspend children 2 1/2 feet in the air, I'm not sure why. Sounds quirky. But I'll look into it and see what I turn up.Smallsteps


 * No, I don't know anything about it. That sounds wacky. -- Danny (talk ) 22:23, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia
Hi, Danny! I have some questions about wikipedia:


 * Can you tell how many people access a particular site?


 * Are there data on how many people use wikipedia in general?


 * Do you know where I would look for information on the accuracy of internet information sites?

I'm thinking of trying to get the residents in pediatrics to participate in wiki in a study format, so we can measure accuracy of information, and also dissemination of information--that is how effective is what you wrote in teaching, or how many people read it?

Thanks for your thoughts. Have to go to clinic--later! -- Smallsteps 4 May 2007


 * There are statistics pages for Wikipedia, and for each of the wikis on Wikia. You can see the number of contributors -- both a total number and the number that's active for each month.


 * Here's the Wikipedia stats. It's a confusing table, so let me know if you need help with it. Unfortunately, it looks like they last updated in October 2006 -- those dorks. But at the time, they were getting around 43,000 contributors a month.


 * Here's the Wikia stats -- you can click on "Tables" to see statistics for each of the wikis. For example, here's the Muppet Wiki stats, and here's the Autism Wiki stats. Those are more or less up to date, as of a couple days ago.


 * For the other questions, there's a lot of information on the Wikipedia pages about Wikipedia. :) There's a whole page called Reliability of Wikipedia, which discusses the studies that have been done, and there's also a page on Criticism of Wikipedia.


 * I think getting the residents to participate on a wiki is a great idea, and I'd love to help with that. I'm supposed to start a third health wiki, to go along with Diabetes and Autism. If there's a topic that your residents want to work on, then I could work with them to start their own wiki! -- Danny (talk ) 16:50, 4 May 2007 (UTC)


 * added references you requested last nightSmallsteps

You made it!
Hey, Tina! Yay, here you are. This is your talk page; it's the way people communicate on the wiki. You can respond to this message by editing the page, the same way you do with article pages. Putting a colon at the beginning of the line indents your response, and then you sign it by typing ~ -- that automatically adds your signature, and the date/time.

So you can keep this conversation going on this page -- but later, if you want to start a new conversation, you can post a message on my talk page, or anybody else's.

So, to answer your question -- Yeah, add that stuff! :) Pages are usually listed under the general topic -- to take some of the examples on your list, there's already pages for Asperger syndrome, PDD-NOS and Hyperlexia. So for any given subject, you can type it into the search box to see if there's a page on that already.

If there is a page, then feel free to edit that page, and add to it. If there isn't, then you can create a new page -- check out Help:New page for that.

Don't worry about putting things in categories, or anything like that. I can fix all of that. You'll catch on to that stuff as you go, but for now, just add the content. You don't even have to worry about editing -- if you've got three paragraphs on hyperlexia, just stick them on that page, and I'll edit it all together.

I don't mind fixing things up at all... I'd rather edit your text than go to medical school and learn it all myself. So go for it! -- <font color="Blue">Danny (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 19:26, 2 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Yay! You're editing pages. :) -- <font color="Blue">Danny (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 02:05, 4 May 2007 (UTC)


 * wheeeee! this is quite fun, and you're right that adding on forces you to build a consensus based on what's already there.Smallsteps


 * Danny--can I tell you if I think there is a factual misstatement? In Rett syndrome, it says that Rett syndrome causes a chromosomal difference? It's the other way around--the mutation (a change in DNA, not visible on chromosome analysis) that causes Rett's. Thank you!Smallsteps


 * Actually, you can just go ahead and change it. I was just going to tell you that you don't need to indent your contributions and keep them separate from the rest of the text. (Indenting is just for talk pages.) Feel free to play with the text on the page -- add to it, take stuff out. That's what wiki text is for. And if you see something that's incorrect, yes, please fix it! -- <font color="Blue">Danny (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 02:27, 4 May 2007 (UTC)


 * it's so cool that you're reading this real time!


 * I know... I'm actually working on Muppet Wiki right now -- I just added a page on "Herry's Family Song" -- but I'm keeping an eye on how you're doing. :) -- <font color="Blue">Danny (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 02:47, 4 May 2007 (UTC)
 * this is addictive, but must watch Daily Show and Colbert...Smallsteps

Welcome
Welcome

I really like forum here. See you later!