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I'm faced with a possible edit war over an essay that I wrote about a year ago, Wikipedia: These are not original research. The dispute is over a couple of sentences concerning fixing obvious typos & misspellings in a quoted source. Another user wants to change this passage becuse he believes them to be "intellectually dishonest", & for some reason believes this essay is the equivalent of policy, while I believe his edits violate the point of this essay -- which was written as some thoughts about how to interpret policy.
AFAIK, this is the only place on Wikipedia where this issue is raised. Whether or not my belief is "intellectually dishonest", I believe replacing this statement with another sppresses one opinion on this matter; there is nothing keeping the other editor from writing his own essay on this matter.
If we consider the intent of WP:OWN, it could argued that I have no right to object to this change without creating a consensus to support my view that the original version of this passage is better. However, & probably more significantly, an edit war over how to deal with typos & misspellings in quotations does seem to qualify for WP:LAME, so I'd rather not push the matter to a 3RR incident (he has made two reversions to my one).
So what to do? Allow anyone to make changes to essays, even if it could be argued that this changes the meaning of the essay? Permit the original author to have special rights when it comes to edits to an essay? Is there a recommended course of actin to take in these situations? Or, since I came across this proposal, simply admit no one except me is interested in this essay, let alone my suggestion about quotation practices, & move this page to my own userspace where I can flip the bit so that non-Admins cannot edit it? -- llywrch 18:17, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
Just to confirm, it's bad to have a direct link to a template inside a template (except for the maintenance "v d e" links at the top), since templates themselves are "behind-the-scenes" pages, right? -- NE2 03:25, 16 September 2007 (UTC)
The templates are now nominated for deletion: Wikipedia:Templates for deletion/Log/2007 September 16#Templates that link to templates. -- NE2 22:27, 16 September 2007 (UTC)
We are having a discussion on the talk page for the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band article about the definition of a third-party source. The Aggie Band is a student organization at Texas A&M University, meaning it receives funding from Texas A&M. A particular fact was sourced from three different places: 1) a book published by the Texas A&M University Press, which receives some, but not all, of its funding from Texas A&M, 2) an article in the Texas A&M school newspaper, The Battalion, which has been named one of Princeton Review's top 20 college newspapers, but which receives some funding from Texas A&M, and 3) a video produced by the Texas A&M Association of Former Students, an alumni association which operates independently from Texas A&M and receives no funding from the university (although it provides funding to the university, including to the Aggie Band). Do any of these sources qualify as third-party sources, or are all of them considered to be self-published for the purposes of the article on the Aggie Band? Any guidance would be very much appreciated. Karanacs 19:36, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
The article on Hailey, Idaho includes this link to a Microsoft page with an aerial pictures of the community. Below the picture is stated "Image courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey." Is it permissible to upload this picture with a {{PD-USGov}} or similar tag? Nyttend 23:35, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
Is it appropriate for an editor to run simultaneous Afd and Speedy on the same article? DuncanHill 12:17, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
Greetings, I have not done a policy item before, so here goes. Currently our deletion policy makes it far to easy to nominate an article for deletion [2] when all it actually needs is some love. All articles should first go through an "attempted retention" process. Here is my idea but I don't know how to start a new piece of policy.
All articles that do not qualify for speedy delete would need to go through the following process before they are allowed to go for a AfD.
Comments? Suggestions? Help? Fosnez 02:31, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
I'm opposed to this. There are instances where an article is so bad, and the realistic chances that it's going to get the necessary amount of love is so low, that deleting it is the best option. Sometimes the harm done by a perennially bad article is greater than the harm of not having an article at all. But I'd mostly apply this to old articles, not to newly creates ones maybe. Fut.Perf. ☼ 10:40, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
I have proposed that the notability subguidelines be deprecated with the salient points being merged into the main notability guideline and the remaining subguidelines merged & deprecated to essay status. ( Wikipedia talk:Notability#Merge proposal) Vassyana 01:00, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
I started to think today about wikipedias system that everyone can change everything. It works well if everyone have good intention to improve articles. But there is always users that want to destroy articles. This is often reverted by other alert users, but not always. And this takes extra time that may be better used.
Here is my suggestion or solution on this. Introduce a ranking on users and articles. An user got rights to edit an article only if certain preconditions occurs. The preconditions depends on a combination of the ranking for the user and article. A bad written article or a stub have more to win than loose to let anyone edit it. But a well written article has more to loose. Therefor only a higher ranked user should be able to edit this article. How the limits for this is adjusted is another technical thing. The user ratings may look like this:
All users can set ranking of articles but a high ranked users have more weight. The articles ranking is similar.
-- D98rolb 18:47, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
There is a move proposal being currently discussed at Wikipedia talk:Trivia sections. It is proposed to rename Wikipedia:Trivia sections#Proposed move to Wikipedia:Miscellaneous lists. Comments welcome. Mango juice talk 13:35, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
There is a discussion at Wikipedia talk:Username policy#Non-language character usernames to explicitly prohibit usernames that consist of characters or symbols that are not in an alphabet or language character set. -- Flyguy649 talk contribs 15:10, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
A situation that's come up in two RFAs in as many months ( Crockspot and Number_57) - a user canvasses for responses to the RfA, unbalancing it and rendering it non-neutral.
In such debates the issue is not policy related points, but "what the community thinks". A large amount of smoke or heat raised via meatpuppetry or canvassing, or other disruption, can and does materially derail the fairness of such a discussion and change its result, possibly in a manner which wouldn't have happened if the respondents were more neutrally representative, and there isn't an easy recourse. Without getting into any specific case, canvassers are difficult to deal with under existing policy. They have disrupted an important activity, possibly seriously distorted the filling of important roles at admin or other level, but are unlikely to do so again on this page, and may not ever do so on other similar pages. Warnings are unlikely to mean a thing, and blocks are presently hard to justify since blocks are not punitive and there may be no future action to protect against. And yet to do nothing, says that such activity has a free hand by others.
To cover this exceptional loophole, I'd like to see discussion of the following approach as an exception:
Disruption of appointment and removal debates
Wikipedia uses open debate to discuss suitability of experienced editors for various roles. These include for example, requests for adminship and de-admining, various elections and committees, and requests for permissions. In view of their importance, and the importance of debate neutrality, a user causing wilful disruption to these processes, including undue canvassing, is warned they are likely to be blocked for this even on a first occasion. |
I think this loophole needs closing, and it's not easy to see how else to do it, or what other means might deter it. In best wiki style, open discussion seems the best way.
FT2 (
Talk |
email) 02:26, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
Just sort of an outside (wikimedian) opinion here: English Wikipedia is rather notorious for having "compulsive voters" who hang out on XfDs, XfAs, and so on, so it might actually be contsructive to get opinions (either positive or negative) from people who are normally not a part of those processes. I don't know if it's still there, but I know at one time people even had pages listing their "criteria" for who they'll support, and since those folks tend to vote on every RfA, their criteria end up more or less defining the standards for what sort of person an administrator should be. -- SB_Johnny | PA! 11:11, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
Its understood that most editors have a consistent interest in some given article, page, or process. What's not okay is that because some editors have a specific interest in an article (or xFD, or RfX), therefore canvassing for one's own view there becomes harmless and acceptable. It would seem the community has rejected that logic, in general. We (communally) reject that logic on mainspace pages: if there is blatant canvassing of extra editors to stack one "view" higher it's not necessarily considered a genuine "consensus". We disregard it and consider it highly improper in deletion debates (
WP:AFD: "Do not message editors about AfD nominations because they support your view on the topic").
The notion that because certain editors may be consistently involved in some article, page or process, therefore canvassing of this kind is appropriate to "overcome" that, is not how the community sees it in general, as best I can tell. FT2 ( Talk | email) 15:42, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
As one of the !canvassed editors, I think it should be noted that at least in my case, the !canvassing editor only contacted one other individual, and that I had already been referenced by the nominated editor in his remarks such that I should have been notified by someone. The existing guidelines at WP:CANVASS are quite well-written in their distinction between a few friendly notices and disruptive campaigning; had the notification been better phrased ("You've been mentioned here..."), I don't think anyone would confuse it for the latter. Tewfik Talk 16:17, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
What is the point of blocking someone for a single (possibly inoccuous) act without even warning them? If they persist in canvassing after being informed of the relevant guideline, then sure, block for disruption. But I fail to see what is to be gained by blocking an editor who may have made an entirely good faith edit. Further, I don't know that it's even well established in consensus what constitutes "bad" canvassing. Some might find a simple talk page message to a relevant Wikiproject to be canvassing. Others may not. The proposed no-warning, first-instance block for this is far too draconian and I think likely to be non-productive. - Chunky Rice 17:44, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
Wikipedia is way too bloated. The same information can be found in too many different places, but often each place contains some information that cannot be found elsewhere forcing users to search countless pages to find what they want. This mostly applies to articles about editing wikipedia not the encyclopedic articles themselves. Often there is a page in the wikipedia namespace, a page in the help namespace, a page in the category namespace, and a page in the template namespace that all relate to the same thing and should be brought together. I do not know if anyone else knows what I am talking about, but if you do and agree, please support my cause. The organization of these pages must be fixed. -- bse3 02:17, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
I ask because Radiant and I have been having a -- we're too collegial to edit war so let's call it a discussion -- on the Wikipedia:Polling is not a substitute for discussion page about whether it is okay for a single editor to summarily close polls on sight on guideline and policy pages. - Wikidemo 09:31, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
I see a number of essays and guideline pages of varying credibility that talk about polls being bad, but nowhere do I see an outright prohibition.
Personally, I agree that polls are disfavored, are not conclusive as to consensus, and have limited application, there are some valid occasions to conduct them. Sometimes a properly conducted survey (with adequate room for comments, alternate proposals, and sidebar discussions) will help focus a discussion and break an impasse. Sometimes a poll wasn't the best idea to start with but it has evolved over time or has a lot of useful discussion. There are some cases where a poll isn't just within reason, it's the best way to approach things, like when a discussion gets to the level of considering exact wording of a policy everyone has already agreed to yet they seem to be fighting over that wording. Sometimes you want to ask everybody if they agree on the principle or not so you can tell if the debate is semantic or substantive.
Polling is not the same as deciding policy by vote. It is merely a question, one of many possible formats for discussion. Whether subtly, or through words, headings, asking specific questions, announcing facts, or laying out premises and ground rules, every editor not only says what he/she thinks but shapes the tone of the debate. Putting a question in the form of a survey is just one of many ways to do that.
For these reasons and others I don't think the material in a poll should be lightly discarded, and certainly not on an "open season on polls" approach where any editor can shut them down at any time. Closing down polls is an extreme step because it violates our normal prohibitions on editing existing talk sections, and on telling people what they can and cannot say on a talk page.
Closing polls is one of the more controversial and upsetting things I see on policy pages, which are unruly and uncivil enough as it is. When one person closes a poll someone else invariably opens it back up, and you get the sorry sight of edit warring on a talk page. I've often spent considerable time composing my thoughts to add to a discussion in survey format, in which five or ten serious editors have been participating for days, only to have one of our super-aggressive editors come from nowhere, shut the discussion down with a spurious reference to "policy is not decided by vote," and then attempt to unilaterally create policy by decree. Sometimes the very statement that policy is not a vote simply becomes a way of saying I am the boss of this page and I will not listen to you.- Wikidemo 09:31, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
With that in mind, I say we should decide whether polls are allowed or not on policy/guideline talk pages. If they are not allowed then any editor can and should shut them down as soon as they start. If they are allowed, then no editor should unilaterally shut them down while they are still active, at least not solely on the theory that polls are bad. I don't think the issue has been decided. If we can come to a decision that polls are forbidden then the various pages should reflect that, and we should probably put a master statement in WP:CONSENSUS. If we cannot demonstrate a consensus on the issue, none of these pages should by edit creep be allowed to say that we have. - Wikidemo 09:31, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
Nobody is claiming that polls are banned. Wikidemo's recent edits appear to be claiming that, once started for whatever reason, polls may not be closed prematurely for any reason. >Radiant< 11:06, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
I proposed this before but nobody commented on whether it should be a guideline. It's very sensible and is basically an extension of Wikipedia:Talk page#Formatting. I don't see why it shouldn't be a guideline-- Phoenix 15 19:27, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Simply writing support or I don't like it etc will be enough-- Phoenix 15 22:03, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
look, I'd really like more opinions on this-- Phoenix 15 11:16, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
Wikipedia's got enough guidelines as it is. If this is already addressed somewhere, leave it at that. It's pretty much common sense anyway. Glass Cobra 02:31, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
Note: orginally posted at Wikipedia talk:Citing sources#Problems with the embedded citations method; comments are welcomed there or here.
Background: WP:CITE says that there are three different, fully acceptable ways to cite a source: with a footnote (cite.php), using Harvard referencing (which uses templates), and with embedded citations (not the same as embedded links; this method requires both an embedded link and putting the full information about the source into a "References" section).
Immediate problem: The guideline doesn't say that the three methods can't be mixed on a single page, but IF they can be, nowhere is it discussed where to put the full citation information of the "embedded citations" method if a "References" section already exists that is being used by one of the other two methods.
Larger issue: How can the embedded citation method be considered co-equal to the others when it can't handle the citation of off-line sources??
Intersection of the two problems: What happens when someone wants to add a citation to an off-line source, and the article already has extensive citations using the embedded citations method? (The two choices seem to be: (a) mix methods, or (b) convert all the existing embedded citations to either footnotes or Harvard referencing.) -- John Broughton (♫♫) 20:24, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
There are thousands of categories already existing on Wikipedia so even if a new page may need a new category to be created but in absence of that it can be placed in closest matching broader category. Same goes for stub categorized pages, this will increase chances of finding the page and may lead to better categorization/maintenance else such pages are simply lost. Can this be ensured somehow. Vjdchauhan 17:50, 23 September 2007 (UTC).
Is there an easier way to navigate categories? For example Category:WikiProject_Nintendo_articles has subcategories for articles based on importance and quality. Under each of these are further divisions. Is there a way to generate a list of all the articles included in all the subcategories of a certain category? In reference to my above example, how could I see all WikiProject Nintendo articles at once, without having to sort through lists of importance or quality? Another problem is that the links all go to the talk pages rather than the article. I know this is because the template that adds articles to this category is placed on the talk page to prevent clutter on the actual article. I also know that I could add a piece of code into the template that would add the articles to a separate subcategory that disregards importance or quality, but I want to know if there is a less tedious method of doing this. Seeing the articles in an easy to read list would be much easier. Is there a way to create "autogenerated lists" much the same way categories are created? I know this may be a lot to ask, but if it does not already exist (which I am quite sure it does not) it could be a good addition to the structure of wikipedia to provide easier browsing. This could either involve creating a new "list namespace" (now I am probably in way over my head) or revamping the format of category namespace (more likely possible). —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bse3 ( talk • contribs) 00:53, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
Thanks Vassyana. I think that is exactly what I was looking for. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bse3 ( talk • contribs) 01:41, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
I am not sure if a policy or guideline governing the use of templates on article talk pages already exists. If it does, it is either broken or is being disregarded all over wikipedia. My peeve is that several article talk pages are being laid waste with numerous templates, some of them from random wikiprojects. I cant think of any practical use these templates serve. Yes, I can think of some theoretical uses, but none 'practical'.
Some talk pages are being reduced to billboards to advertise wikiprojects, and worse, in some cases to push POV(even if only in the minds of those who add them). In some cases, these wikiproject templates serve no more than to simply mimic the categories listed on the article. Some of the templates are to wikiprojects manned by people who between them would hardly even have edited the article. Even templates like {{ featured}} serve no useful purpose in my opinion.
Can we decide to simply ban these wikiproject templates from talk pages? If that is not possible, can we atleast decide to compact them all in a collapsable box so that it doesnt get in the way and irritate people who dislike them and would want none of it? Or can all these templates be reduced to simple icons like the featured article icon at the top right of featured article pages? At the very least, can we get a bot to add {{ skiptotoc}} at the top of every talk page that has a template? Sarvagnya 07:16, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
I confess I find the banners minorly annoying at times, but they are highly useful, which more than makes up for it. Additionally, WikiProjects are one of the best ways we've found to help deal with the issue of scaling the encyclopedia. If you don't personally find the projects or their banners useful, that's fine, but a large number of us do. -- tjstrf talk 08:17, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
Do we really have a need for the several subarticles on notability ( Category:Wikipedia notability guidelines)? Looking over them, they seem to be little more than specific examples of the general notability principles, which would be more appropriate for essays than guidelines. At worst, it seems as though the addition of a few points, or clarifications, to the main guideline would completely cover this sprawling mess of rules. Why not just revise the main guideline, rather than having several separate guidelines? At least to me, this appears to be a very good example of instruction creep. Vassyana 02:14, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
It might be worth running through the individual guidelines to see if we need them all, or whether some can be merged (eg religious figures into people), but I would not support a general move to delete or remove all...Notability does need to be explained, covered and defined in specific situations. An example would be fiction, where issues of in-universe and out-of-universe material apply, and the general notability guidelines are not quite comprehensive enough. It's not creep, but help for editors to understand what sort of articles are appropriate and encouraged on Wikipedia. Let's make it easier for editors to understand what is required in their field. Gwinva 01:21, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
Please note that discussion on this issue is also taking place on Wikipedia talk:Notability#Policy rewrite proposed. — gorgan_almighty 12:40, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
There is currently a discussion on WT:CSD#I8: wait one week to determine if waiting one week is still applicable or not now. All are welcome to participate in the discussion. — O ( 说 • 喝) 21:37, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
A new criteria, "Relevance" was recently added to Wikipedia:Reliable sources. A single user has expressed a strong objection to the new criteria, which otherwise received strong support (also see here). Additional comments would be welcome to clarify consensus either for or against the addition.
Another additional criteria, "Credibility" has been proposed. After objections to the original proposal, a revision was made to the suggested criteria to address the concerns raised. Comments would be welcome to establish a consensus for or against the proposal. Thanks! Vassyana 20:35, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
What is Wikipedia's stance on photos that are taken illustrate the packaging/labeling of a product? Some of them, like this one, are tagged with a free license, while others, like this one, are tagged as copyrighted and claimed under fair use. Do we have any hard-and-fast rules concerning cases like this? If not, I think we should--and re-tag all the photos as necessary. -- Crazy Legs KC 02:46, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
I am looking for details on Musical album covers. I took a few pictures (then cut and crop) of albums I own to add them (using the appropriate albums template), and added the indicated (c) notice about Album Cover (low-res fair use). But browsing around I saw several 'nominated for quick deletion' notes for album covers, without any more details than missing pictures. I want to be sure my pictures are OK and will be kept. Is my method OK? Should I add a note to release the image to public domain or is a simple note "Source: picture I took from album I own" enough? Thanks for the info. -- YegLi 20:45, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
In the past two years I have seen groups of editors delete well referenced material from wikipedia.
These editors are not simply deleting one or two references, sometimes they are dozens. I saw one of these editors delete 8 cited paragraphs that he personally disagreed with, making the article a stub. These deleted references are not to web sites but scholarly books and magazine articles.
Is there any policy or any guidelines in place to stop this? Is any group policing this behavior? There are the toothless WP:Edit war guidelines, which only apply to one article and one person. Travb ( talk) 09:12, 24 September 2007 (UTC)
I have had a quick look at User:BernardL's user page. I thought that the sort of messages he has put up are not allowed on a user page - something along the lines of a user page shouldn't be used as a blog, platform, etc, just a place to tell people something about yourself.
What is the position of Wikipedia policy on this? John Smith's 11:31, 16 September 2007 (UTC)
Whats the right way to handle a article which has been proposed for deletion? Walt Disney World resorts was proposed for deletion because it's a duplicate of other existing articles. Should it immediately be redirected to a more appropriate article or left as is so other editors have a chance to comment on the deletion proposal? It's been redirected and reverted several times.-- Rtphokie 03:51, 16 September 2007 (UTC)
This is a proposed addition to the Manual of Style. It pertains to the grammar rules concerning Dutch names; I believe that when omitting the first name of a person, there should be a rule that defines whether or not certain words that are otherwise in lowercase should be capitalized.
A small introduction: some Dutch names have words in them that are always kept in lowercase when writing out the full name. These are called tussenvoegsels. Some examples:
As you can see, the so-called "tussenvoegsels" are written in lowercase.
These tussenvoegsels carry certain special characteristics. For example, when omitting a person's first name, the first tussenvoegsel should be capitalized:
This is a Dutch grammar rule that may seem a bit awkward at first to speakers of English. However, it is my belief that this is the correct way of writing Dutch names, and that we should create a rule that states this specifically. There is no existing English rule that overrides this characteristic. It should be noted that the Chicago Manual of Style recommends this as well (free registration is necessary to view the page).
Does anyone have questions or comments on this? I'd like to see what you think about this. In case there's a positive response, I'll be bold and make a new page on the Manual of Style that explains this rule in more detail.
There are some things to note, however:
Of course, if there are any questions about this, feel free to ask! —msikma ( user, talk) 13:20, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
Not a good idea. For reasons, see detailed discussions at:
A related current instruction reads ( Wikipedia:Categorization of people#Ordering names in a category):
People with multiple-word last names are usually sorted by the first capitalized element, though this is a complex field and there are exceptions and inconsistencies. But for coding reasons the first letter of each word is capitalized in the actual sort text. The French and Spanish "de" or "du" and German "von" are usually not sorted on, except for some examples living in English-speaking countries, like Corne Du Plessis (D). But the Italian "De" or "Di" usually is sorted on. Dutch/Flemish/Belgian/South African names are especially unpredictable. Often, historical European figures with local names are treated differently from modern figures with the "same" name living in English-speaking countries - thus Anthony van Dyck and Steve Van Dyck are sorted on D and V respectively. Some examples: "Ludwig van Beethoven → Beethoven, Ludwig Van", Otto von Bismarck → " Bismarck, Otto Von", Giuseppe Di Stefano → " Di Stefano, Giuseppe", Jan van Eyck → " Eyck, Jan Van", Guy de Maupassant → " Maupassant, Guy De", Martin Van Buren → " Van Buren, Martin, and "Jean-Claude Van Damme " → Van Damme, Jean-Claude".
Messy, confusing and over-all unhelpful: it tries to derive a rule ("...usually sorted by the first capitalized element...") from something that is thoroughly unregulated in English (WHEN does one use capitals for secondary words in last names in English? - I've defied English speakers to point to consistent rules on this, which thus far nobody has been able to produce). My contention: it is better to have no rule than a rule that is so messy, unintelligible and doubtful that it reaches a point of not being helpful.
The thing is not helped by importing rules from other languages: these rules almost certainly do not apply in English. Certainly not when these rules are applied differently in different regions (Netherlands, Flanders,...) using the same language. English grammar does not know any rule (not for proper names nor otherwise) that makes a capitalisation depend on a preceding word (like e.g. a first name). Trying to introduce such rule (based on the concept "tussenvoegsel", unknown in English grammar) in the English language via the Manual of Style of the English Wikipedia, would be some sort of original research (or worse) wouldn't it?
Also, despite Mskima's contention there's no "easy way of checking whether a name is Dutch (Benelux) or not" - in order to make his new rule feasible one would even have to distinguish on a more detailed level between "Dutch names, which can belong to people of any nationality" (to which the new rule is supposed to apply) and "names of people from the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium" (to which the new rule is supposed not to apply). There's no way (simple or otherwise) by which an average English speaker could distinguish between "a Dutch name of any nationality" and "the name of a person from the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium".-- Francis Schonken 12:43, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
I'd like to reopen this issue after a dispute with another user. He, and other editors kept referring me to an earlier village pump discussion [8]. According to the user I was in dispute with, his interpretation of that discussion was 'We do not say "x murdered y" or "x was convicted of murdering y", we say "x was convicted of murder"' [9]. The precedent or 'consensus' supposedly established in this discussion was the justification certain editors used for reverting my edits. He suggested that I reopen the issue in this forum if I wished to change the 'consensus', so here I am.
I do not believe, as some editors do that there is a NPOV issue here. Surely the words killed, killing mean any form of non-natural death. When we use words like murder, executed, assassinated etc. anyone reading the article realises that the person was in question was killed, but we are using a term which is more specific, more accurate and more factual. Obviously, we need to have a source to prove that a person was convicted of murder or a person was sentenced to death. Killed is an accurate term to refer to someone who was death was caused by someone convicted of manslaughter, because that word presupposes their was no intent in the act of causing death. When someone was sentenced to death by a court of law , it is common sense to say, e.g. ' Hans Frank was executed', not 'Hans Frank was killed'. When someone was killed by a person who was convicted of their murder, then we should say, for example ' Holly Wells was murdered', not 'Holly Wells was killed'. I do not agree with the user that "we do not say "x murdered y" or "x was convicted of murdering y"-in my last example x is Ian Huntley an y is Holly Wells. We have to ignore the fact that some users are clearly uncomfortable with applying this common sense to articles where moral guilt is less obvious in some people's opinion than in a case like Huntley's-that has no relevance to 'NPOV'. The articles I were in dispute with were about the victims of a person convicted of murder, Thomas McMahon, who was a member of the IRA and thought his political convictions justified the murderous acts. That doesn't change the fact that just like in the Huntley case, McMahon was found guilty of murder, and therefore his victims were murdered, not merely 'killed'. Deus Ex 19:30, 28 August 2007 (UTC)
(deindent) Not really. This is a neutral encyclopedia, we should not be judging whether convictions are correct or not. We should state the facts as they are known - "x was convicted of murder". We should not under any circumstances use that to state "x murdered y". Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2007 June 27#Category:American murderers is relevant here. To say "x murdered y" is not verifiable either, all that is verifiable is that "x was convicted". It's also a leap of logic we shouldn't make to even say "y was murdered", as Sally Clark shows. One Night In Hackney 303 21:11, 28 August 2007 (UTC)
You make some good points Stanselmdoc, thank you for taking the time to read my argument. Yes, I agree "x was convicted of murdering y" is a better technical phrase, but we can't allow that to prohibit the use of "x murdered y". Whether an offender has admitted murdering a specific person cannot be relevant, because people can make false confessions or refusal to confess to murders that undeniable evidence proves they committed. The existence of court conviction is proof enough to make an assertion that "x murdered y" in an article. If their is significant documented controversy, then we should be more limited in our assertations. Deus Ex 21:14, 28 August 2007 (UTC)
I understand not stating murders as unequivocal truth (not using X murdered Y), but what could possibly be wrong with "x was convicted of murdering y" that would be improved by "X was convicted of murder" without stating the victim in the murder X was convicted of?
Night Gyr (
talk/
Oy) 23:06, 28 August 2007 (UTC)
He didn't say accept the conclusion. You did. I don't think that has any place in an encyclopedia. LeadSongDog 20:25, 29 August 2007 (UTC)Our job is to write down the conclusions of the coroners and crime scene investigators. If their conclusion states, "x was murdered", then logically we should be able to say that as well.
My opinion on "X murdered Y" vs. "X was convicted of the murder of Y": we have to remember that those are two separate facts, they are not one and the same. I believe that in most cases we should favor the latter, because it will be much more easily sourced: for example, coverage of the trial. However, "X murdered Y" (without further qualification) would be fine with me if we can attribute it to sources: although most writing about crimes tends to be very careful because of libel issues, there are probably some cases where sources are willing to go beyond mentioning the conviction and actually conclude that the murder did in fact take place. If this is the case, and the sourcing is good enough, and if there are not actually opposing opinions (merely examples of hedging), I think it's fine to write X murdered Y. Without direct sourcing, though, I think it's inappropriate to use the "X murdered Y" wording without qualifying it. Mango juice talk 04:35, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
Saying Y was murdered and citing a source should be fine, as long as it has been determined by the relevant scientific process. Saying X murdered Y follows logically from X was convicted of murdering Y is completely different and a logical fallacy. A jury is not the equivalent of a scientific expert, and neither is a judge. I think this is an especially sensitive issue considering many of the X's in these articles are still alive and therefore fall under the intense scrutiny required by Biographies of living persons. Ardent †alk ∈ 14:18, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
Prose style aside, perhaps we're disputing over the intent of some pronouns. When you say "we can make that point" do you mean that
a. We can make the point that "x was murdered"
or do you mean that
b. We can make the point that a coroner's report says that "x was murdered"<br?>
I would have no real problem supporting the latter which presents an objective fact, but still oppose the former.
LeadSongDog 20:04, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
Murder is defined as meaning unlawful killing. See here for many different unbias definitions for murder:
[14]. All paramilitary killings during the Troubles where unlawful and thus should be classified as murder as the killings where premeditated.
Mabuska 23:08, 16 September 2007 (UTC)
What should be done about cases like Image:278overheads.jpg, where someone uploaded it with a GFDL tag but later added unfree conditions? Can it just be reverted? -- NE2 03:43, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
The signs were "designed" by the New York State DOT, but really they just took a bit of text and "plugged it in" to the standards. I doubt anything in the design of the signs is eligible for copyright, except possibly the Interstate shield, which is public domain. But this is a "red herring"; some of his photos, like Image:Del Mem Br.jpg and Image:Throgs Neck Bridge from approach.JPG, aren't of signs. I'm going to revert his licensing change. -- NE2 18:59, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
What about Image:EndOfTaconicPkwy.JPG? He uploaded it with "Permission to use this image outside of Wikipedia may be acquired from chrisrocco777@msn.com", but also a GFDL/cc-by-sa template. -- NE2 19:09, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
I suggest we forward this to Mike Godwin and/or someone at the Free Software Foundation and see what they think. There is a more general problem here that we have generally ignored - that is, whether adding a template to an image description page is really enough to release something under a particular license. For now, it might be best to delete the image since we don't want to keep "free" images around that may really not be free. In situations where someone attempts to "revoke" the GFDL on a text contribution, we need to hold our ground, but for most images, pretending that we allow the user to "revoke" the GFDL isn't really a problem. --- RockMFR 22:08, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
If someone uploads an image under the GFDL (or similar) but later decides they didn't really want to do that, then historically Wikipedia usually deletes the image. Wikipedia may not be required to do so, but this is seen as something of a courtesy to people who in many cases don't really understand what they were agreeing to. I'd suggest that may be reasonable here too. First though, someone ought to go talk to the uploader about this situation, which no one here seems to have done. 136.152.153.227 23:02, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
Please see here for debate, thanks. Tazmaniacs 15:50, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
I think it's time to revisit that old debate, Wikipedia:Viewing deleted articles. The proposal last time was, "Should non-admins be given access to view deleted articles (except those that Wikipedia is legally required to remove)?" Despite the parenthetical exception, for some reason much of the debate bogged down in issues related to copyvios.
I recommend that we further narrow this to only allow reading of deleted articles by logged-in users, and that we clarify that there would be two classes of deleted articles: (1) copvios, libel, and other stuff that we're legally required to delete, and (2) all the other stuff that's deleted. Only the latter could be viewed by non-admin logged-in users. The former would remain accessible only to admins.
One purpose of this is so that if an article is put on AfD, numerous votes are made in favor of deletion based on the actual content of the article (as opposed to the notability, etc. of the subject), and then at the last minute major revisions are made to make the article no longer deletion-worthy, but it is deleted anyway due to the delete votes placed on the original article, then a user could retrieve the markup and restore the revised article.
(Cross-posted to Wikipedia_talk:Viewing_deleted_articles
Captain Zyrain 02:43, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
Hi! I've created a brief, extremely rough and incomplete draft of a proposed guideline for notability for religious figures, Wikipedia:Notability (religious figures). Please feel free to edit, improve, and/or comment at Wikipedia talk:Notability (religious figures). Best, -- Shirahadasha 01:11, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
Wy is BIO not adequate for this purpose? -- Kevin Murray 17:42, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
copied from Wikipedia talk:Notability (religious figures)
I really don't think this is all that necessary. Criteria 1 and 4 are redundant to the main criterion. People which 2 applies to are pretty much considered inherently notable as is (being in the Bible, Qur'an, etc, how much more notable can you get?). Same for criteria 3. I dislike 5. This is basically like letting the religious group choose who is notable. Without original research, how are we to determine what an "important figure" is in the religion without sources (which would make this criterion moot)? Mr. Z-man 00:21, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
end of copy
Why exactly is there a separate talk page? Can that just redirect to the main page? Might prevent some confusion/duplication of effort. MrZaius talk 15:19, 27 September 2007 (UTC)
This "behavioral guideline" seems to have sprung up a couple of months ago. I have serious concerns with it, one being that the discussion under point #7 is out of sync with Wikipedia policy on verifiability and the associated reliable sources. How does such a guideline take effect without broad community input and with substantial deviation from established policy? Raymond Arritt 02:04, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
This is a good day to discuss the relative notability of RPG related articles, as today’s featured article is Dungeons & Dragons.
I have recently nominated some RPG related articles about books of gaming instructions for deletion which I think are bad examples of fancruft, because the articles have not provided evidence of notability. Current AfDs include:
In my view there is a large group of RPG articles whose contributors seem to have completely ignored the guidelines on notability, verification and original research. Examples of these groups of games included:
The articles seem to follow a common pattern: they feature cover artwork, contain lots of in universe description of the characters or scenarios relating to the game, but are devoid of independently sourced analysis about the game’s development, relative merit or context.
I think the creators of these articles who hold these games high esteem have good intentions, in that they want to create a record of their favorite games that will endure beyond the life of the game and their related web sites. However, their affection for these games has blinded them to into thinking that a summary of the game and a few links is all that is need to establish notability, with the result that these articles will at some be either consolidated or deleted. They wish to emulate the success of the Dungeons & Dragons article, but without going through the rigorous process of editorial review.
Some of the nominations for deletion have been successful, and others have not, but have at least resulted in the supporters of these games to add some evidence of notability. In the spirit of Wikipedia, I would like some feedback as to whether this approach is appropriate: whether it is not appropriate to challenge the supporters of these articles by putting them forward for deletion. -- Gavin Collins 09:28, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
In my opinion, using AfD to instigate clean-up of an article is an abuse of process. If an article is keepable, but needs clean up, you should improve it, not nominate it for deletion to try and get others to do it. - Chunky Rice 14:15, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
In response to Dhaluza's point, it is doubly disingenuous to suggest that, when no sources are available to back up a case for note (as is the case with many, if not all) of these articles, AfD is not warranted. That's the whole point of the NOTE guideline - to give us grounds to nominate unsourced cruft for deletion. Plainly a good faith effort has been made by some, myself included, to locate independent, verifiable sources, but most of these don't even warrant cursory mention by good sources, much less full coverage. MrZaius talk 12:07, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
I just have to comment that the original poster seems to dismiss, out of hand, the notability of the Origins Awards, describing them as "trade awards" in an attempt to suggest they aren't worthy of satisfying the notability criteria. They are "trade awards" in the same sense that the Oscars or Grammy Awards are "trade awards". It just happens that the Oscars are more "popular" and well-known as they deal with the film industry, and are shown on TV each year. However, as we all know, obscurity is not grounds for deletion, or arguing against their notability. Origins Awards have been given out for more than thirty years and are amongst the highest awards that RPGs (and RPG supplements) can acheive. You can find the criteria for how they are selected at the website of the Academy of Adventure Gaming, Arts, & Design[ [19]. Several of the articles that the original poster have nominated for deletion have had these awards noted, and clearly referenced, in the articles at the time the articles were placed as AfDs. --Craw-daddy | T | 17:21, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
A few comments to address certain points you made. I would love to hear your feed back, Gavin.
Looking forward to your reply. Turlo Lomon 01:34, 16 September 2007 (UTC)
If we had articles for every product line of every "commercial publisher" (where the publisher made a living off the game company) of roleplaying and wargaming produced in history, it would be a relatively small increase. Notability should not be used excessively as a club; it's a way to avoid getting widescale random junk and cruft in the encyclopedia. There isn't enough in the games industry to do so. The current deletion campaign is silly... there's nothing here to protect Wikipedia from... Georgewilliamherbert 19:45, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
For anyone interested, there is a lively debate over at Wikipedia talk:Use of flags in articles discussing the proposed ban on Wikipedia of flags and flag icons in almost all articles (including infoboxes). Proposed exceptions are sports articles where flags are needed. If you have any comments, please feel free to leave them on the talk page. Sue Wallace 20:56, 28 September 2007 (UTC)
I'm faced with a possible edit war over an essay that I wrote about a year ago, Wikipedia: These are not original research. The dispute is over a couple of sentences concerning fixing obvious typos & misspellings in a quoted source. Another user wants to change this passage becuse he believes them to be "intellectually dishonest", & for some reason believes this essay is the equivalent of policy, while I believe his edits violate the point of this essay -- which was written as some thoughts about how to interpret policy.
AFAIK, this is the only place on Wikipedia where this issue is raised. Whether or not my belief is "intellectually dishonest", I believe replacing this statement with another sppresses one opinion on this matter; there is nothing keeping the other editor from writing his own essay on this matter.
If we consider the intent of WP:OWN, it could argued that I have no right to object to this change without creating a consensus to support my view that the original version of this passage is better. However, & probably more significantly, an edit war over how to deal with typos & misspellings in quotations does seem to qualify for WP:LAME, so I'd rather not push the matter to a 3RR incident (he has made two reversions to my one).
So what to do? Allow anyone to make changes to essays, even if it could be argued that this changes the meaning of the essay? Permit the original author to have special rights when it comes to edits to an essay? Is there a recommended course of actin to take in these situations? Or, since I came across this proposal, simply admit no one except me is interested in this essay, let alone my suggestion about quotation practices, & move this page to my own userspace where I can flip the bit so that non-Admins cannot edit it? -- llywrch 18:17, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
Please see Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Gongriding. Is Transwikiing to Uncyclopedia allowed? Isn't that a copvyio? Corvus cornix 18:08, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
It looks like User:Gong rider is the only contributor to the actual text of the article. Provided you don't want to transwiki the speedy tag, you could try asking their permission. If they give it (which they can, they're the copyright holder), you could transwiki the material. In that case, it would effectively be dual-licensed between CC-BY-NC-SA and GFDL. You could also ask Uncyclopedia if they would accept material under GFDL, since it's actually less restrictive than the noncommercial license they use. If they would agree to do that, this would also work, but I have no idea if they would. The above is otherwise correct, though, since you're not the copyright holder, you're not allowed to just choose a license other than the GFDL, and Uncyclopedia is free to reject any material which is not under its preferred license, even if that license is less restrictive. Seraphimblade Talk to me 06:20, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
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I'm faced with a possible edit war over an essay that I wrote about a year ago, Wikipedia: These are not original research. The dispute is over a couple of sentences concerning fixing obvious typos & misspellings in a quoted source. Another user wants to change this passage becuse he believes them to be "intellectually dishonest", & for some reason believes this essay is the equivalent of policy, while I believe his edits violate the point of this essay -- which was written as some thoughts about how to interpret policy.
AFAIK, this is the only place on Wikipedia where this issue is raised. Whether or not my belief is "intellectually dishonest", I believe replacing this statement with another sppresses one opinion on this matter; there is nothing keeping the other editor from writing his own essay on this matter.
If we consider the intent of WP:OWN, it could argued that I have no right to object to this change without creating a consensus to support my view that the original version of this passage is better. However, & probably more significantly, an edit war over how to deal with typos & misspellings in quotations does seem to qualify for WP:LAME, so I'd rather not push the matter to a 3RR incident (he has made two reversions to my one).
So what to do? Allow anyone to make changes to essays, even if it could be argued that this changes the meaning of the essay? Permit the original author to have special rights when it comes to edits to an essay? Is there a recommended course of actin to take in these situations? Or, since I came across this proposal, simply admit no one except me is interested in this essay, let alone my suggestion about quotation practices, & move this page to my own userspace where I can flip the bit so that non-Admins cannot edit it? -- llywrch 18:17, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
Just to confirm, it's bad to have a direct link to a template inside a template (except for the maintenance "v d e" links at the top), since templates themselves are "behind-the-scenes" pages, right? -- NE2 03:25, 16 September 2007 (UTC)
The templates are now nominated for deletion: Wikipedia:Templates for deletion/Log/2007 September 16#Templates that link to templates. -- NE2 22:27, 16 September 2007 (UTC)
We are having a discussion on the talk page for the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band article about the definition of a third-party source. The Aggie Band is a student organization at Texas A&M University, meaning it receives funding from Texas A&M. A particular fact was sourced from three different places: 1) a book published by the Texas A&M University Press, which receives some, but not all, of its funding from Texas A&M, 2) an article in the Texas A&M school newspaper, The Battalion, which has been named one of Princeton Review's top 20 college newspapers, but which receives some funding from Texas A&M, and 3) a video produced by the Texas A&M Association of Former Students, an alumni association which operates independently from Texas A&M and receives no funding from the university (although it provides funding to the university, including to the Aggie Band). Do any of these sources qualify as third-party sources, or are all of them considered to be self-published for the purposes of the article on the Aggie Band? Any guidance would be very much appreciated. Karanacs 19:36, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
The article on Hailey, Idaho includes this link to a Microsoft page with an aerial pictures of the community. Below the picture is stated "Image courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey." Is it permissible to upload this picture with a {{PD-USGov}} or similar tag? Nyttend 23:35, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
Is it appropriate for an editor to run simultaneous Afd and Speedy on the same article? DuncanHill 12:17, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
Greetings, I have not done a policy item before, so here goes. Currently our deletion policy makes it far to easy to nominate an article for deletion [2] when all it actually needs is some love. All articles should first go through an "attempted retention" process. Here is my idea but I don't know how to start a new piece of policy.
All articles that do not qualify for speedy delete would need to go through the following process before they are allowed to go for a AfD.
Comments? Suggestions? Help? Fosnez 02:31, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
I'm opposed to this. There are instances where an article is so bad, and the realistic chances that it's going to get the necessary amount of love is so low, that deleting it is the best option. Sometimes the harm done by a perennially bad article is greater than the harm of not having an article at all. But I'd mostly apply this to old articles, not to newly creates ones maybe. Fut.Perf. ☼ 10:40, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
I have proposed that the notability subguidelines be deprecated with the salient points being merged into the main notability guideline and the remaining subguidelines merged & deprecated to essay status. ( Wikipedia talk:Notability#Merge proposal) Vassyana 01:00, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
I started to think today about wikipedias system that everyone can change everything. It works well if everyone have good intention to improve articles. But there is always users that want to destroy articles. This is often reverted by other alert users, but not always. And this takes extra time that may be better used.
Here is my suggestion or solution on this. Introduce a ranking on users and articles. An user got rights to edit an article only if certain preconditions occurs. The preconditions depends on a combination of the ranking for the user and article. A bad written article or a stub have more to win than loose to let anyone edit it. But a well written article has more to loose. Therefor only a higher ranked user should be able to edit this article. How the limits for this is adjusted is another technical thing. The user ratings may look like this:
All users can set ranking of articles but a high ranked users have more weight. The articles ranking is similar.
-- D98rolb 18:47, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
There is a move proposal being currently discussed at Wikipedia talk:Trivia sections. It is proposed to rename Wikipedia:Trivia sections#Proposed move to Wikipedia:Miscellaneous lists. Comments welcome. Mango juice talk 13:35, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
There is a discussion at Wikipedia talk:Username policy#Non-language character usernames to explicitly prohibit usernames that consist of characters or symbols that are not in an alphabet or language character set. -- Flyguy649 talk contribs 15:10, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
A situation that's come up in two RFAs in as many months ( Crockspot and Number_57) - a user canvasses for responses to the RfA, unbalancing it and rendering it non-neutral.
In such debates the issue is not policy related points, but "what the community thinks". A large amount of smoke or heat raised via meatpuppetry or canvassing, or other disruption, can and does materially derail the fairness of such a discussion and change its result, possibly in a manner which wouldn't have happened if the respondents were more neutrally representative, and there isn't an easy recourse. Without getting into any specific case, canvassers are difficult to deal with under existing policy. They have disrupted an important activity, possibly seriously distorted the filling of important roles at admin or other level, but are unlikely to do so again on this page, and may not ever do so on other similar pages. Warnings are unlikely to mean a thing, and blocks are presently hard to justify since blocks are not punitive and there may be no future action to protect against. And yet to do nothing, says that such activity has a free hand by others.
To cover this exceptional loophole, I'd like to see discussion of the following approach as an exception:
Disruption of appointment and removal debates
Wikipedia uses open debate to discuss suitability of experienced editors for various roles. These include for example, requests for adminship and de-admining, various elections and committees, and requests for permissions. In view of their importance, and the importance of debate neutrality, a user causing wilful disruption to these processes, including undue canvassing, is warned they are likely to be blocked for this even on a first occasion. |
I think this loophole needs closing, and it's not easy to see how else to do it, or what other means might deter it. In best wiki style, open discussion seems the best way.
FT2 (
Talk |
email) 02:26, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
Just sort of an outside (wikimedian) opinion here: English Wikipedia is rather notorious for having "compulsive voters" who hang out on XfDs, XfAs, and so on, so it might actually be contsructive to get opinions (either positive or negative) from people who are normally not a part of those processes. I don't know if it's still there, but I know at one time people even had pages listing their "criteria" for who they'll support, and since those folks tend to vote on every RfA, their criteria end up more or less defining the standards for what sort of person an administrator should be. -- SB_Johnny | PA! 11:11, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
Its understood that most editors have a consistent interest in some given article, page, or process. What's not okay is that because some editors have a specific interest in an article (or xFD, or RfX), therefore canvassing for one's own view there becomes harmless and acceptable. It would seem the community has rejected that logic, in general. We (communally) reject that logic on mainspace pages: if there is blatant canvassing of extra editors to stack one "view" higher it's not necessarily considered a genuine "consensus". We disregard it and consider it highly improper in deletion debates (
WP:AFD: "Do not message editors about AfD nominations because they support your view on the topic").
The notion that because certain editors may be consistently involved in some article, page or process, therefore canvassing of this kind is appropriate to "overcome" that, is not how the community sees it in general, as best I can tell. FT2 ( Talk | email) 15:42, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
As one of the !canvassed editors, I think it should be noted that at least in my case, the !canvassing editor only contacted one other individual, and that I had already been referenced by the nominated editor in his remarks such that I should have been notified by someone. The existing guidelines at WP:CANVASS are quite well-written in their distinction between a few friendly notices and disruptive campaigning; had the notification been better phrased ("You've been mentioned here..."), I don't think anyone would confuse it for the latter. Tewfik Talk 16:17, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
What is the point of blocking someone for a single (possibly inoccuous) act without even warning them? If they persist in canvassing after being informed of the relevant guideline, then sure, block for disruption. But I fail to see what is to be gained by blocking an editor who may have made an entirely good faith edit. Further, I don't know that it's even well established in consensus what constitutes "bad" canvassing. Some might find a simple talk page message to a relevant Wikiproject to be canvassing. Others may not. The proposed no-warning, first-instance block for this is far too draconian and I think likely to be non-productive. - Chunky Rice 17:44, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
Wikipedia is way too bloated. The same information can be found in too many different places, but often each place contains some information that cannot be found elsewhere forcing users to search countless pages to find what they want. This mostly applies to articles about editing wikipedia not the encyclopedic articles themselves. Often there is a page in the wikipedia namespace, a page in the help namespace, a page in the category namespace, and a page in the template namespace that all relate to the same thing and should be brought together. I do not know if anyone else knows what I am talking about, but if you do and agree, please support my cause. The organization of these pages must be fixed. -- bse3 02:17, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
I ask because Radiant and I have been having a -- we're too collegial to edit war so let's call it a discussion -- on the Wikipedia:Polling is not a substitute for discussion page about whether it is okay for a single editor to summarily close polls on sight on guideline and policy pages. - Wikidemo 09:31, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
I see a number of essays and guideline pages of varying credibility that talk about polls being bad, but nowhere do I see an outright prohibition.
Personally, I agree that polls are disfavored, are not conclusive as to consensus, and have limited application, there are some valid occasions to conduct them. Sometimes a properly conducted survey (with adequate room for comments, alternate proposals, and sidebar discussions) will help focus a discussion and break an impasse. Sometimes a poll wasn't the best idea to start with but it has evolved over time or has a lot of useful discussion. There are some cases where a poll isn't just within reason, it's the best way to approach things, like when a discussion gets to the level of considering exact wording of a policy everyone has already agreed to yet they seem to be fighting over that wording. Sometimes you want to ask everybody if they agree on the principle or not so you can tell if the debate is semantic or substantive.
Polling is not the same as deciding policy by vote. It is merely a question, one of many possible formats for discussion. Whether subtly, or through words, headings, asking specific questions, announcing facts, or laying out premises and ground rules, every editor not only says what he/she thinks but shapes the tone of the debate. Putting a question in the form of a survey is just one of many ways to do that.
For these reasons and others I don't think the material in a poll should be lightly discarded, and certainly not on an "open season on polls" approach where any editor can shut them down at any time. Closing down polls is an extreme step because it violates our normal prohibitions on editing existing talk sections, and on telling people what they can and cannot say on a talk page.
Closing polls is one of the more controversial and upsetting things I see on policy pages, which are unruly and uncivil enough as it is. When one person closes a poll someone else invariably opens it back up, and you get the sorry sight of edit warring on a talk page. I've often spent considerable time composing my thoughts to add to a discussion in survey format, in which five or ten serious editors have been participating for days, only to have one of our super-aggressive editors come from nowhere, shut the discussion down with a spurious reference to "policy is not decided by vote," and then attempt to unilaterally create policy by decree. Sometimes the very statement that policy is not a vote simply becomes a way of saying I am the boss of this page and I will not listen to you.- Wikidemo 09:31, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
With that in mind, I say we should decide whether polls are allowed or not on policy/guideline talk pages. If they are not allowed then any editor can and should shut them down as soon as they start. If they are allowed, then no editor should unilaterally shut them down while they are still active, at least not solely on the theory that polls are bad. I don't think the issue has been decided. If we can come to a decision that polls are forbidden then the various pages should reflect that, and we should probably put a master statement in WP:CONSENSUS. If we cannot demonstrate a consensus on the issue, none of these pages should by edit creep be allowed to say that we have. - Wikidemo 09:31, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
Nobody is claiming that polls are banned. Wikidemo's recent edits appear to be claiming that, once started for whatever reason, polls may not be closed prematurely for any reason. >Radiant< 11:06, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
I proposed this before but nobody commented on whether it should be a guideline. It's very sensible and is basically an extension of Wikipedia:Talk page#Formatting. I don't see why it shouldn't be a guideline-- Phoenix 15 19:27, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Simply writing support or I don't like it etc will be enough-- Phoenix 15 22:03, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
look, I'd really like more opinions on this-- Phoenix 15 11:16, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
Wikipedia's got enough guidelines as it is. If this is already addressed somewhere, leave it at that. It's pretty much common sense anyway. Glass Cobra 02:31, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
Note: orginally posted at Wikipedia talk:Citing sources#Problems with the embedded citations method; comments are welcomed there or here.
Background: WP:CITE says that there are three different, fully acceptable ways to cite a source: with a footnote (cite.php), using Harvard referencing (which uses templates), and with embedded citations (not the same as embedded links; this method requires both an embedded link and putting the full information about the source into a "References" section).
Immediate problem: The guideline doesn't say that the three methods can't be mixed on a single page, but IF they can be, nowhere is it discussed where to put the full citation information of the "embedded citations" method if a "References" section already exists that is being used by one of the other two methods.
Larger issue: How can the embedded citation method be considered co-equal to the others when it can't handle the citation of off-line sources??
Intersection of the two problems: What happens when someone wants to add a citation to an off-line source, and the article already has extensive citations using the embedded citations method? (The two choices seem to be: (a) mix methods, or (b) convert all the existing embedded citations to either footnotes or Harvard referencing.) -- John Broughton (♫♫) 20:24, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
There are thousands of categories already existing on Wikipedia so even if a new page may need a new category to be created but in absence of that it can be placed in closest matching broader category. Same goes for stub categorized pages, this will increase chances of finding the page and may lead to better categorization/maintenance else such pages are simply lost. Can this be ensured somehow. Vjdchauhan 17:50, 23 September 2007 (UTC).
Is there an easier way to navigate categories? For example Category:WikiProject_Nintendo_articles has subcategories for articles based on importance and quality. Under each of these are further divisions. Is there a way to generate a list of all the articles included in all the subcategories of a certain category? In reference to my above example, how could I see all WikiProject Nintendo articles at once, without having to sort through lists of importance or quality? Another problem is that the links all go to the talk pages rather than the article. I know this is because the template that adds articles to this category is placed on the talk page to prevent clutter on the actual article. I also know that I could add a piece of code into the template that would add the articles to a separate subcategory that disregards importance or quality, but I want to know if there is a less tedious method of doing this. Seeing the articles in an easy to read list would be much easier. Is there a way to create "autogenerated lists" much the same way categories are created? I know this may be a lot to ask, but if it does not already exist (which I am quite sure it does not) it could be a good addition to the structure of wikipedia to provide easier browsing. This could either involve creating a new "list namespace" (now I am probably in way over my head) or revamping the format of category namespace (more likely possible). —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bse3 ( talk • contribs) 00:53, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
Thanks Vassyana. I think that is exactly what I was looking for. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bse3 ( talk • contribs) 01:41, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
I am not sure if a policy or guideline governing the use of templates on article talk pages already exists. If it does, it is either broken or is being disregarded all over wikipedia. My peeve is that several article talk pages are being laid waste with numerous templates, some of them from random wikiprojects. I cant think of any practical use these templates serve. Yes, I can think of some theoretical uses, but none 'practical'.
Some talk pages are being reduced to billboards to advertise wikiprojects, and worse, in some cases to push POV(even if only in the minds of those who add them). In some cases, these wikiproject templates serve no more than to simply mimic the categories listed on the article. Some of the templates are to wikiprojects manned by people who between them would hardly even have edited the article. Even templates like {{ featured}} serve no useful purpose in my opinion.
Can we decide to simply ban these wikiproject templates from talk pages? If that is not possible, can we atleast decide to compact them all in a collapsable box so that it doesnt get in the way and irritate people who dislike them and would want none of it? Or can all these templates be reduced to simple icons like the featured article icon at the top right of featured article pages? At the very least, can we get a bot to add {{ skiptotoc}} at the top of every talk page that has a template? Sarvagnya 07:16, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
I confess I find the banners minorly annoying at times, but they are highly useful, which more than makes up for it. Additionally, WikiProjects are one of the best ways we've found to help deal with the issue of scaling the encyclopedia. If you don't personally find the projects or their banners useful, that's fine, but a large number of us do. -- tjstrf talk 08:17, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
Do we really have a need for the several subarticles on notability ( Category:Wikipedia notability guidelines)? Looking over them, they seem to be little more than specific examples of the general notability principles, which would be more appropriate for essays than guidelines. At worst, it seems as though the addition of a few points, or clarifications, to the main guideline would completely cover this sprawling mess of rules. Why not just revise the main guideline, rather than having several separate guidelines? At least to me, this appears to be a very good example of instruction creep. Vassyana 02:14, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
It might be worth running through the individual guidelines to see if we need them all, or whether some can be merged (eg religious figures into people), but I would not support a general move to delete or remove all...Notability does need to be explained, covered and defined in specific situations. An example would be fiction, where issues of in-universe and out-of-universe material apply, and the general notability guidelines are not quite comprehensive enough. It's not creep, but help for editors to understand what sort of articles are appropriate and encouraged on Wikipedia. Let's make it easier for editors to understand what is required in their field. Gwinva 01:21, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
Please note that discussion on this issue is also taking place on Wikipedia talk:Notability#Policy rewrite proposed. — gorgan_almighty 12:40, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
There is currently a discussion on WT:CSD#I8: wait one week to determine if waiting one week is still applicable or not now. All are welcome to participate in the discussion. — O ( 说 • 喝) 21:37, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
A new criteria, "Relevance" was recently added to Wikipedia:Reliable sources. A single user has expressed a strong objection to the new criteria, which otherwise received strong support (also see here). Additional comments would be welcome to clarify consensus either for or against the addition.
Another additional criteria, "Credibility" has been proposed. After objections to the original proposal, a revision was made to the suggested criteria to address the concerns raised. Comments would be welcome to establish a consensus for or against the proposal. Thanks! Vassyana 20:35, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
What is Wikipedia's stance on photos that are taken illustrate the packaging/labeling of a product? Some of them, like this one, are tagged with a free license, while others, like this one, are tagged as copyrighted and claimed under fair use. Do we have any hard-and-fast rules concerning cases like this? If not, I think we should--and re-tag all the photos as necessary. -- Crazy Legs KC 02:46, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
I am looking for details on Musical album covers. I took a few pictures (then cut and crop) of albums I own to add them (using the appropriate albums template), and added the indicated (c) notice about Album Cover (low-res fair use). But browsing around I saw several 'nominated for quick deletion' notes for album covers, without any more details than missing pictures. I want to be sure my pictures are OK and will be kept. Is my method OK? Should I add a note to release the image to public domain or is a simple note "Source: picture I took from album I own" enough? Thanks for the info. -- YegLi 20:45, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
In the past two years I have seen groups of editors delete well referenced material from wikipedia.
These editors are not simply deleting one or two references, sometimes they are dozens. I saw one of these editors delete 8 cited paragraphs that he personally disagreed with, making the article a stub. These deleted references are not to web sites but scholarly books and magazine articles.
Is there any policy or any guidelines in place to stop this? Is any group policing this behavior? There are the toothless WP:Edit war guidelines, which only apply to one article and one person. Travb ( talk) 09:12, 24 September 2007 (UTC)
I have had a quick look at User:BernardL's user page. I thought that the sort of messages he has put up are not allowed on a user page - something along the lines of a user page shouldn't be used as a blog, platform, etc, just a place to tell people something about yourself.
What is the position of Wikipedia policy on this? John Smith's 11:31, 16 September 2007 (UTC)
Whats the right way to handle a article which has been proposed for deletion? Walt Disney World resorts was proposed for deletion because it's a duplicate of other existing articles. Should it immediately be redirected to a more appropriate article or left as is so other editors have a chance to comment on the deletion proposal? It's been redirected and reverted several times.-- Rtphokie 03:51, 16 September 2007 (UTC)
This is a proposed addition to the Manual of Style. It pertains to the grammar rules concerning Dutch names; I believe that when omitting the first name of a person, there should be a rule that defines whether or not certain words that are otherwise in lowercase should be capitalized.
A small introduction: some Dutch names have words in them that are always kept in lowercase when writing out the full name. These are called tussenvoegsels. Some examples:
As you can see, the so-called "tussenvoegsels" are written in lowercase.
These tussenvoegsels carry certain special characteristics. For example, when omitting a person's first name, the first tussenvoegsel should be capitalized:
This is a Dutch grammar rule that may seem a bit awkward at first to speakers of English. However, it is my belief that this is the correct way of writing Dutch names, and that we should create a rule that states this specifically. There is no existing English rule that overrides this characteristic. It should be noted that the Chicago Manual of Style recommends this as well (free registration is necessary to view the page).
Does anyone have questions or comments on this? I'd like to see what you think about this. In case there's a positive response, I'll be bold and make a new page on the Manual of Style that explains this rule in more detail.
There are some things to note, however:
Of course, if there are any questions about this, feel free to ask! —msikma ( user, talk) 13:20, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
Not a good idea. For reasons, see detailed discussions at:
A related current instruction reads ( Wikipedia:Categorization of people#Ordering names in a category):
People with multiple-word last names are usually sorted by the first capitalized element, though this is a complex field and there are exceptions and inconsistencies. But for coding reasons the first letter of each word is capitalized in the actual sort text. The French and Spanish "de" or "du" and German "von" are usually not sorted on, except for some examples living in English-speaking countries, like Corne Du Plessis (D). But the Italian "De" or "Di" usually is sorted on. Dutch/Flemish/Belgian/South African names are especially unpredictable. Often, historical European figures with local names are treated differently from modern figures with the "same" name living in English-speaking countries - thus Anthony van Dyck and Steve Van Dyck are sorted on D and V respectively. Some examples: "Ludwig van Beethoven → Beethoven, Ludwig Van", Otto von Bismarck → " Bismarck, Otto Von", Giuseppe Di Stefano → " Di Stefano, Giuseppe", Jan van Eyck → " Eyck, Jan Van", Guy de Maupassant → " Maupassant, Guy De", Martin Van Buren → " Van Buren, Martin, and "Jean-Claude Van Damme " → Van Damme, Jean-Claude".
Messy, confusing and over-all unhelpful: it tries to derive a rule ("...usually sorted by the first capitalized element...") from something that is thoroughly unregulated in English (WHEN does one use capitals for secondary words in last names in English? - I've defied English speakers to point to consistent rules on this, which thus far nobody has been able to produce). My contention: it is better to have no rule than a rule that is so messy, unintelligible and doubtful that it reaches a point of not being helpful.
The thing is not helped by importing rules from other languages: these rules almost certainly do not apply in English. Certainly not when these rules are applied differently in different regions (Netherlands, Flanders,...) using the same language. English grammar does not know any rule (not for proper names nor otherwise) that makes a capitalisation depend on a preceding word (like e.g. a first name). Trying to introduce such rule (based on the concept "tussenvoegsel", unknown in English grammar) in the English language via the Manual of Style of the English Wikipedia, would be some sort of original research (or worse) wouldn't it?
Also, despite Mskima's contention there's no "easy way of checking whether a name is Dutch (Benelux) or not" - in order to make his new rule feasible one would even have to distinguish on a more detailed level between "Dutch names, which can belong to people of any nationality" (to which the new rule is supposed to apply) and "names of people from the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium" (to which the new rule is supposed not to apply). There's no way (simple or otherwise) by which an average English speaker could distinguish between "a Dutch name of any nationality" and "the name of a person from the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium".-- Francis Schonken 12:43, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
I'd like to reopen this issue after a dispute with another user. He, and other editors kept referring me to an earlier village pump discussion [8]. According to the user I was in dispute with, his interpretation of that discussion was 'We do not say "x murdered y" or "x was convicted of murdering y", we say "x was convicted of murder"' [9]. The precedent or 'consensus' supposedly established in this discussion was the justification certain editors used for reverting my edits. He suggested that I reopen the issue in this forum if I wished to change the 'consensus', so here I am.
I do not believe, as some editors do that there is a NPOV issue here. Surely the words killed, killing mean any form of non-natural death. When we use words like murder, executed, assassinated etc. anyone reading the article realises that the person was in question was killed, but we are using a term which is more specific, more accurate and more factual. Obviously, we need to have a source to prove that a person was convicted of murder or a person was sentenced to death. Killed is an accurate term to refer to someone who was death was caused by someone convicted of manslaughter, because that word presupposes their was no intent in the act of causing death. When someone was sentenced to death by a court of law , it is common sense to say, e.g. ' Hans Frank was executed', not 'Hans Frank was killed'. When someone was killed by a person who was convicted of their murder, then we should say, for example ' Holly Wells was murdered', not 'Holly Wells was killed'. I do not agree with the user that "we do not say "x murdered y" or "x was convicted of murdering y"-in my last example x is Ian Huntley an y is Holly Wells. We have to ignore the fact that some users are clearly uncomfortable with applying this common sense to articles where moral guilt is less obvious in some people's opinion than in a case like Huntley's-that has no relevance to 'NPOV'. The articles I were in dispute with were about the victims of a person convicted of murder, Thomas McMahon, who was a member of the IRA and thought his political convictions justified the murderous acts. That doesn't change the fact that just like in the Huntley case, McMahon was found guilty of murder, and therefore his victims were murdered, not merely 'killed'. Deus Ex 19:30, 28 August 2007 (UTC)
(deindent) Not really. This is a neutral encyclopedia, we should not be judging whether convictions are correct or not. We should state the facts as they are known - "x was convicted of murder". We should not under any circumstances use that to state "x murdered y". Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2007 June 27#Category:American murderers is relevant here. To say "x murdered y" is not verifiable either, all that is verifiable is that "x was convicted". It's also a leap of logic we shouldn't make to even say "y was murdered", as Sally Clark shows. One Night In Hackney 303 21:11, 28 August 2007 (UTC)
You make some good points Stanselmdoc, thank you for taking the time to read my argument. Yes, I agree "x was convicted of murdering y" is a better technical phrase, but we can't allow that to prohibit the use of "x murdered y". Whether an offender has admitted murdering a specific person cannot be relevant, because people can make false confessions or refusal to confess to murders that undeniable evidence proves they committed. The existence of court conviction is proof enough to make an assertion that "x murdered y" in an article. If their is significant documented controversy, then we should be more limited in our assertations. Deus Ex 21:14, 28 August 2007 (UTC)
I understand not stating murders as unequivocal truth (not using X murdered Y), but what could possibly be wrong with "x was convicted of murdering y" that would be improved by "X was convicted of murder" without stating the victim in the murder X was convicted of?
Night Gyr (
talk/
Oy) 23:06, 28 August 2007 (UTC)
He didn't say accept the conclusion. You did. I don't think that has any place in an encyclopedia. LeadSongDog 20:25, 29 August 2007 (UTC)Our job is to write down the conclusions of the coroners and crime scene investigators. If their conclusion states, "x was murdered", then logically we should be able to say that as well.
My opinion on "X murdered Y" vs. "X was convicted of the murder of Y": we have to remember that those are two separate facts, they are not one and the same. I believe that in most cases we should favor the latter, because it will be much more easily sourced: for example, coverage of the trial. However, "X murdered Y" (without further qualification) would be fine with me if we can attribute it to sources: although most writing about crimes tends to be very careful because of libel issues, there are probably some cases where sources are willing to go beyond mentioning the conviction and actually conclude that the murder did in fact take place. If this is the case, and the sourcing is good enough, and if there are not actually opposing opinions (merely examples of hedging), I think it's fine to write X murdered Y. Without direct sourcing, though, I think it's inappropriate to use the "X murdered Y" wording without qualifying it. Mango juice talk 04:35, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
Saying Y was murdered and citing a source should be fine, as long as it has been determined by the relevant scientific process. Saying X murdered Y follows logically from X was convicted of murdering Y is completely different and a logical fallacy. A jury is not the equivalent of a scientific expert, and neither is a judge. I think this is an especially sensitive issue considering many of the X's in these articles are still alive and therefore fall under the intense scrutiny required by Biographies of living persons. Ardent †alk ∈ 14:18, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
Prose style aside, perhaps we're disputing over the intent of some pronouns. When you say "we can make that point" do you mean that
a. We can make the point that "x was murdered"
or do you mean that
b. We can make the point that a coroner's report says that "x was murdered"<br?>
I would have no real problem supporting the latter which presents an objective fact, but still oppose the former.
LeadSongDog 20:04, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
Murder is defined as meaning unlawful killing. See here for many different unbias definitions for murder:
[14]. All paramilitary killings during the Troubles where unlawful and thus should be classified as murder as the killings where premeditated.
Mabuska 23:08, 16 September 2007 (UTC)
What should be done about cases like Image:278overheads.jpg, where someone uploaded it with a GFDL tag but later added unfree conditions? Can it just be reverted? -- NE2 03:43, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
The signs were "designed" by the New York State DOT, but really they just took a bit of text and "plugged it in" to the standards. I doubt anything in the design of the signs is eligible for copyright, except possibly the Interstate shield, which is public domain. But this is a "red herring"; some of his photos, like Image:Del Mem Br.jpg and Image:Throgs Neck Bridge from approach.JPG, aren't of signs. I'm going to revert his licensing change. -- NE2 18:59, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
What about Image:EndOfTaconicPkwy.JPG? He uploaded it with "Permission to use this image outside of Wikipedia may be acquired from chrisrocco777@msn.com", but also a GFDL/cc-by-sa template. -- NE2 19:09, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
I suggest we forward this to Mike Godwin and/or someone at the Free Software Foundation and see what they think. There is a more general problem here that we have generally ignored - that is, whether adding a template to an image description page is really enough to release something under a particular license. For now, it might be best to delete the image since we don't want to keep "free" images around that may really not be free. In situations where someone attempts to "revoke" the GFDL on a text contribution, we need to hold our ground, but for most images, pretending that we allow the user to "revoke" the GFDL isn't really a problem. --- RockMFR 22:08, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
If someone uploads an image under the GFDL (or similar) but later decides they didn't really want to do that, then historically Wikipedia usually deletes the image. Wikipedia may not be required to do so, but this is seen as something of a courtesy to people who in many cases don't really understand what they were agreeing to. I'd suggest that may be reasonable here too. First though, someone ought to go talk to the uploader about this situation, which no one here seems to have done. 136.152.153.227 23:02, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
Please see here for debate, thanks. Tazmaniacs 15:50, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
I think it's time to revisit that old debate, Wikipedia:Viewing deleted articles. The proposal last time was, "Should non-admins be given access to view deleted articles (except those that Wikipedia is legally required to remove)?" Despite the parenthetical exception, for some reason much of the debate bogged down in issues related to copyvios.
I recommend that we further narrow this to only allow reading of deleted articles by logged-in users, and that we clarify that there would be two classes of deleted articles: (1) copvios, libel, and other stuff that we're legally required to delete, and (2) all the other stuff that's deleted. Only the latter could be viewed by non-admin logged-in users. The former would remain accessible only to admins.
One purpose of this is so that if an article is put on AfD, numerous votes are made in favor of deletion based on the actual content of the article (as opposed to the notability, etc. of the subject), and then at the last minute major revisions are made to make the article no longer deletion-worthy, but it is deleted anyway due to the delete votes placed on the original article, then a user could retrieve the markup and restore the revised article.
(Cross-posted to Wikipedia_talk:Viewing_deleted_articles
Captain Zyrain 02:43, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
Hi! I've created a brief, extremely rough and incomplete draft of a proposed guideline for notability for religious figures, Wikipedia:Notability (religious figures). Please feel free to edit, improve, and/or comment at Wikipedia talk:Notability (religious figures). Best, -- Shirahadasha 01:11, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
Wy is BIO not adequate for this purpose? -- Kevin Murray 17:42, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
copied from Wikipedia talk:Notability (religious figures)
I really don't think this is all that necessary. Criteria 1 and 4 are redundant to the main criterion. People which 2 applies to are pretty much considered inherently notable as is (being in the Bible, Qur'an, etc, how much more notable can you get?). Same for criteria 3. I dislike 5. This is basically like letting the religious group choose who is notable. Without original research, how are we to determine what an "important figure" is in the religion without sources (which would make this criterion moot)? Mr. Z-man 00:21, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
end of copy
Why exactly is there a separate talk page? Can that just redirect to the main page? Might prevent some confusion/duplication of effort. MrZaius talk 15:19, 27 September 2007 (UTC)
This "behavioral guideline" seems to have sprung up a couple of months ago. I have serious concerns with it, one being that the discussion under point #7 is out of sync with Wikipedia policy on verifiability and the associated reliable sources. How does such a guideline take effect without broad community input and with substantial deviation from established policy? Raymond Arritt 02:04, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
This is a good day to discuss the relative notability of RPG related articles, as today’s featured article is Dungeons & Dragons.
I have recently nominated some RPG related articles about books of gaming instructions for deletion which I think are bad examples of fancruft, because the articles have not provided evidence of notability. Current AfDs include:
In my view there is a large group of RPG articles whose contributors seem to have completely ignored the guidelines on notability, verification and original research. Examples of these groups of games included:
The articles seem to follow a common pattern: they feature cover artwork, contain lots of in universe description of the characters or scenarios relating to the game, but are devoid of independently sourced analysis about the game’s development, relative merit or context.
I think the creators of these articles who hold these games high esteem have good intentions, in that they want to create a record of their favorite games that will endure beyond the life of the game and their related web sites. However, their affection for these games has blinded them to into thinking that a summary of the game and a few links is all that is need to establish notability, with the result that these articles will at some be either consolidated or deleted. They wish to emulate the success of the Dungeons & Dragons article, but without going through the rigorous process of editorial review.
Some of the nominations for deletion have been successful, and others have not, but have at least resulted in the supporters of these games to add some evidence of notability. In the spirit of Wikipedia, I would like some feedback as to whether this approach is appropriate: whether it is not appropriate to challenge the supporters of these articles by putting them forward for deletion. -- Gavin Collins 09:28, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
In my opinion, using AfD to instigate clean-up of an article is an abuse of process. If an article is keepable, but needs clean up, you should improve it, not nominate it for deletion to try and get others to do it. - Chunky Rice 14:15, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
In response to Dhaluza's point, it is doubly disingenuous to suggest that, when no sources are available to back up a case for note (as is the case with many, if not all) of these articles, AfD is not warranted. That's the whole point of the NOTE guideline - to give us grounds to nominate unsourced cruft for deletion. Plainly a good faith effort has been made by some, myself included, to locate independent, verifiable sources, but most of these don't even warrant cursory mention by good sources, much less full coverage. MrZaius talk 12:07, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
I just have to comment that the original poster seems to dismiss, out of hand, the notability of the Origins Awards, describing them as "trade awards" in an attempt to suggest they aren't worthy of satisfying the notability criteria. They are "trade awards" in the same sense that the Oscars or Grammy Awards are "trade awards". It just happens that the Oscars are more "popular" and well-known as they deal with the film industry, and are shown on TV each year. However, as we all know, obscurity is not grounds for deletion, or arguing against their notability. Origins Awards have been given out for more than thirty years and are amongst the highest awards that RPGs (and RPG supplements) can acheive. You can find the criteria for how they are selected at the website of the Academy of Adventure Gaming, Arts, & Design[ [19]. Several of the articles that the original poster have nominated for deletion have had these awards noted, and clearly referenced, in the articles at the time the articles were placed as AfDs. --Craw-daddy | T | 17:21, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
A few comments to address certain points you made. I would love to hear your feed back, Gavin.
Looking forward to your reply. Turlo Lomon 01:34, 16 September 2007 (UTC)
If we had articles for every product line of every "commercial publisher" (where the publisher made a living off the game company) of roleplaying and wargaming produced in history, it would be a relatively small increase. Notability should not be used excessively as a club; it's a way to avoid getting widescale random junk and cruft in the encyclopedia. There isn't enough in the games industry to do so. The current deletion campaign is silly... there's nothing here to protect Wikipedia from... Georgewilliamherbert 19:45, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
For anyone interested, there is a lively debate over at Wikipedia talk:Use of flags in articles discussing the proposed ban on Wikipedia of flags and flag icons in almost all articles (including infoboxes). Proposed exceptions are sports articles where flags are needed. If you have any comments, please feel free to leave them on the talk page. Sue Wallace 20:56, 28 September 2007 (UTC)
I'm faced with a possible edit war over an essay that I wrote about a year ago, Wikipedia: These are not original research. The dispute is over a couple of sentences concerning fixing obvious typos & misspellings in a quoted source. Another user wants to change this passage becuse he believes them to be "intellectually dishonest", & for some reason believes this essay is the equivalent of policy, while I believe his edits violate the point of this essay -- which was written as some thoughts about how to interpret policy.
AFAIK, this is the only place on Wikipedia where this issue is raised. Whether or not my belief is "intellectually dishonest", I believe replacing this statement with another sppresses one opinion on this matter; there is nothing keeping the other editor from writing his own essay on this matter.
If we consider the intent of WP:OWN, it could argued that I have no right to object to this change without creating a consensus to support my view that the original version of this passage is better. However, & probably more significantly, an edit war over how to deal with typos & misspellings in quotations does seem to qualify for WP:LAME, so I'd rather not push the matter to a 3RR incident (he has made two reversions to my one).
So what to do? Allow anyone to make changes to essays, even if it could be argued that this changes the meaning of the essay? Permit the original author to have special rights when it comes to edits to an essay? Is there a recommended course of actin to take in these situations? Or, since I came across this proposal, simply admit no one except me is interested in this essay, let alone my suggestion about quotation practices, & move this page to my own userspace where I can flip the bit so that non-Admins cannot edit it? -- llywrch 18:17, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
Please see Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Gongriding. Is Transwikiing to Uncyclopedia allowed? Isn't that a copvyio? Corvus cornix 18:08, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
It looks like User:Gong rider is the only contributor to the actual text of the article. Provided you don't want to transwiki the speedy tag, you could try asking their permission. If they give it (which they can, they're the copyright holder), you could transwiki the material. In that case, it would effectively be dual-licensed between CC-BY-NC-SA and GFDL. You could also ask Uncyclopedia if they would accept material under GFDL, since it's actually less restrictive than the noncommercial license they use. If they would agree to do that, this would also work, but I have no idea if they would. The above is otherwise correct, though, since you're not the copyright holder, you're not allowed to just choose a license other than the GFDL, and Uncyclopedia is free to reject any material which is not under its preferred license, even if that license is less restrictive. Seraphimblade Talk to me 06:20, 15 September 2007 (UTC)