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Is there currently a consencus on formatting of 'million years ago' dates? Do we use Ma, Myr, Mya, mya, MYA, etc? Also, should these be wikilinked? Perhaps it would be useful for them to be linked back to (e.g.) the Phanerozoic timescale with a suitable pointer inserted at the relevant point - more useful than linking 1963 to details of events in 1963 (he says contraversially...)? Verisimilus 20:13, 10 April 2007 (UTC)
I have two propositions regarding time formatting:
All encyclopaedias I ever came across have the dates and the places of birth and death right after the name of the subject. It gives a general idea on the person and facilitates reading enormously. To separate the dates from the places (these to go in the main text only) means separating something that belongs together. The general guideline on this should be changed! In my articles I follow the traditional usage of putting datas and places in the introduction, not in the main text, unless there was something else to say about the birth or death, then it may be repeated in the main text. If somebody just looks up the general information on some famous person with a big article it is not easy to find the death place among Life, Trivia, Works and other sections, it might be hidden anywhere. Kraxler 17:32, 20 April 2007 (UTC)
"When either of two styles are acceptable it is inappropriate for a Wikipedia editor to change from one style to another unless there is some substantial reason for the change. For example, with respect to English spelling as opposed to American spelling it would be acceptable to change from American spelling to English spelling if the article concerned an English subject."(my italics)
I think what is meant here is "British". Does anyone have any objections if I change this? Soaringgoldeneagle 16:12, 21 April 2007 (UTC)
I've just reverted the deletion of a perfectly correct piece about not using greengrocer's apostrophes in decades (e.g., not "the 1970's" but "the 1970s"). Can anyone suggest an explanation for thinking that one should use an apostrophe in such cases? -- Mel Etitis ( Talk) 23:21, 21 April 2007 (UTC)
It's difficult to see what sense could be made of "years belonging to 1970" though (perhaps that was your point). The form mentioned by SlimVirgin ("the years belonging to the decade beginning 1970") makes a little more sense, but is still pretty peculiar and unintuitive — it's clearly a case of searching for a rationale for what they already do. -- Mel Etitis ( Talk) 12:03, 22 April 2007 (UTC)
The Currency section opens with a note about competing/overlapping proposals and then goes on to read.
“ | In country-specific articles such as Economy of Australia use only the symbol specific to the country, in this case $, with an italicized note placed at the top of the article to make this clear. | ” |
Next it talks about which are not country specific. Then it talks about currency abbreviations. No recommendation has been made as to what currency to use then we come to the Conversions subsection which reads.
“ | Conversions can be made into other currencies that are more familiar to most readers, such as the euro or United States dollar. Conversions should be in parentheses after the original currency, with the year given as a rough point of reference, ... | ” |
There's a hole here. We talk of an "original currency" but don't specify what is to be meant by such. You might assume that it were the currency as appears in the source. If so, should this perhaps be spelt out? However ... the section opened with instruction to use country-specific symbols ... symbols but how about currency? Of course, it would best to use the local currency when writing about specific regions (this will apply equally to time frames as to space frames). But what does one do when the source does not use local currency ... yeah, find a closer source but failing that ...?
I'd suggest the following guidelines for quoting currency in country-specific articles (where possible/convienient).
Too much? How could we simmer it down? Surely we should fill the hole with something ... or am I just imagining this hole? J i m p 08:43, 24 April 2007 (UTC)
You may wish to be more careful before calling users stalkers, Mel. [2] Frankly you disgust me, the mere thought of you possibly accusing me of stalking you disgusts me, you have an ego problem. Addendum: FYI I proposed reverting your crap on the 26th, I'm not the only one who disputes your change. Matthew 17:52, 28 April 2007 (UTC)
See: Alaska Mental Health Enabling Act. Is it acceptable to revert the addition of metric units and add extra non-metric units to articles? Editore99 11:53, 5 May 2007 (UTC)
I just searched this entire document for "age" and "ages" and the words don't appear. What should we do with ages?:
Despite being almost 1000 pages long, the Chicago Manual of Style 15th Ed. is ambiguous on the matter (and doesn't specifically address ages at all; a rather glaring oversight given how frequently this is done, especially in news reporting). I'm on the fence on this. I think that small numbers, like under-100, should be spelled out in non-technical works, with various exceptions like units of measure and sports statistics, as generally suggested by the CMoS. However I'm also well aware that newspapers and magazines generally don't, and use numerals. Then again, print journalism is often a terrible reference for grammar, spelling and style. Then yet again, from a more descriptive p.o.v., perhaps they reflect the genuine evolution of style as generally used and understood. And so on. It is more concise, and it is common to use numerals, but something tells me it is also sloppy and unprofessional looking. — SMcCandlish [ talk] [ cont] ‹(-¿-)› 00:45, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
Can people look at the two reverts of my edits to St Kilda, Scotland. It could be an ownership problem. Since I have tried twice to correct the article, I don't want to try a third time. Can somebody else try? Editore99 20:03, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
![]() | This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Archive 65 | ← | Archive 67 | Archive 68 | Archive 69 | Archive 70 | Archive 71 | → | Archive 75 |
Is there currently a consencus on formatting of 'million years ago' dates? Do we use Ma, Myr, Mya, mya, MYA, etc? Also, should these be wikilinked? Perhaps it would be useful for them to be linked back to (e.g.) the Phanerozoic timescale with a suitable pointer inserted at the relevant point - more useful than linking 1963 to details of events in 1963 (he says contraversially...)? Verisimilus 20:13, 10 April 2007 (UTC)
I have two propositions regarding time formatting:
All encyclopaedias I ever came across have the dates and the places of birth and death right after the name of the subject. It gives a general idea on the person and facilitates reading enormously. To separate the dates from the places (these to go in the main text only) means separating something that belongs together. The general guideline on this should be changed! In my articles I follow the traditional usage of putting datas and places in the introduction, not in the main text, unless there was something else to say about the birth or death, then it may be repeated in the main text. If somebody just looks up the general information on some famous person with a big article it is not easy to find the death place among Life, Trivia, Works and other sections, it might be hidden anywhere. Kraxler 17:32, 20 April 2007 (UTC)
"When either of two styles are acceptable it is inappropriate for a Wikipedia editor to change from one style to another unless there is some substantial reason for the change. For example, with respect to English spelling as opposed to American spelling it would be acceptable to change from American spelling to English spelling if the article concerned an English subject."(my italics)
I think what is meant here is "British". Does anyone have any objections if I change this? Soaringgoldeneagle 16:12, 21 April 2007 (UTC)
I've just reverted the deletion of a perfectly correct piece about not using greengrocer's apostrophes in decades (e.g., not "the 1970's" but "the 1970s"). Can anyone suggest an explanation for thinking that one should use an apostrophe in such cases? -- Mel Etitis ( Talk) 23:21, 21 April 2007 (UTC)
It's difficult to see what sense could be made of "years belonging to 1970" though (perhaps that was your point). The form mentioned by SlimVirgin ("the years belonging to the decade beginning 1970") makes a little more sense, but is still pretty peculiar and unintuitive — it's clearly a case of searching for a rationale for what they already do. -- Mel Etitis ( Talk) 12:03, 22 April 2007 (UTC)
The Currency section opens with a note about competing/overlapping proposals and then goes on to read.
“ | In country-specific articles such as Economy of Australia use only the symbol specific to the country, in this case $, with an italicized note placed at the top of the article to make this clear. | ” |
Next it talks about which are not country specific. Then it talks about currency abbreviations. No recommendation has been made as to what currency to use then we come to the Conversions subsection which reads.
“ | Conversions can be made into other currencies that are more familiar to most readers, such as the euro or United States dollar. Conversions should be in parentheses after the original currency, with the year given as a rough point of reference, ... | ” |
There's a hole here. We talk of an "original currency" but don't specify what is to be meant by such. You might assume that it were the currency as appears in the source. If so, should this perhaps be spelt out? However ... the section opened with instruction to use country-specific symbols ... symbols but how about currency? Of course, it would best to use the local currency when writing about specific regions (this will apply equally to time frames as to space frames). But what does one do when the source does not use local currency ... yeah, find a closer source but failing that ...?
I'd suggest the following guidelines for quoting currency in country-specific articles (where possible/convienient).
Too much? How could we simmer it down? Surely we should fill the hole with something ... or am I just imagining this hole? J i m p 08:43, 24 April 2007 (UTC)
You may wish to be more careful before calling users stalkers, Mel. [2] Frankly you disgust me, the mere thought of you possibly accusing me of stalking you disgusts me, you have an ego problem. Addendum: FYI I proposed reverting your crap on the 26th, I'm not the only one who disputes your change. Matthew 17:52, 28 April 2007 (UTC)
See: Alaska Mental Health Enabling Act. Is it acceptable to revert the addition of metric units and add extra non-metric units to articles? Editore99 11:53, 5 May 2007 (UTC)
I just searched this entire document for "age" and "ages" and the words don't appear. What should we do with ages?:
Despite being almost 1000 pages long, the Chicago Manual of Style 15th Ed. is ambiguous on the matter (and doesn't specifically address ages at all; a rather glaring oversight given how frequently this is done, especially in news reporting). I'm on the fence on this. I think that small numbers, like under-100, should be spelled out in non-technical works, with various exceptions like units of measure and sports statistics, as generally suggested by the CMoS. However I'm also well aware that newspapers and magazines generally don't, and use numerals. Then again, print journalism is often a terrible reference for grammar, spelling and style. Then yet again, from a more descriptive p.o.v., perhaps they reflect the genuine evolution of style as generally used and understood. And so on. It is more concise, and it is common to use numerals, but something tells me it is also sloppy and unprofessional looking. — SMcCandlish [ talk] [ cont] ‹(-¿-)› 00:45, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
Can people look at the two reverts of my edits to St Kilda, Scotland. It could be an ownership problem. Since I have tried twice to correct the article, I don't want to try a third time. Can somebody else try? Editore99 20:03, 13 May 2007 (UTC)