Wikinfo:Village pump

From Wikinfo

Wikinfo:Village pump/Archive 1, Wikinfo:Village pump/Archive 2, Wikinfo:Village pump/Archive 3, Wikinfo:Village pump/Archive 4

German Wikinfo celebrates its 400th article

Our 400th article is about Shax, the national game of Somalia. About 18% of the German articles cannot be found on Wikipedia, just on Wikinfo. - Mr Mancala 03:22, 27 May 2008 (EDT)

Spoiled

Wikinfo has been spoiled. It is no longer useful for non-English people. Could you recover the Germanic Umlaute and the special signs used in French, please? In fact, more than a hundred articles are missing. I doubt that I should continue to contribute here. -Mr Mancala 14:23, 27 May 2008 (EDT)

Could you give me an example? Fred Talk 14:25, 27 May 2008 (EDT)

Try any article with an accent or an Umlaut such as [[A-i-�]], [[Bar�]], [[Burg Olbr�ck]] or look at the French start page. Burg Olbr�ck is now Burg Olbrück ! - Mr Mancala 14:28, 27 May 2008 (EDT)

This was cased by a transfer of the contents of the database done by ibibio. It has to do with the character set used. I'll see if anything can be done. Fred Talk 14:34, 27 May 2008 (EDT)

Okay, if they can't, they have killed Wikinfo as an international project. - Mr Mancala 14:42, 27 May 2008 (EDT)

and almost all mancala articles are also spoiled (probably up to 200). I believe several thousand articles are damaged in all languages (maybe not in Croatian and Latin). - Mr Mancala 15:11, 27 May 2008 (EDT)

Thanks for saving them. - Mr Mancala 03:37, 31 May 2008 (EDT)

German Wikipedia

The article on Wikinfo has been deleted. The discussion was characterized by manipulations, half-truths and lies. Particularly active was a German sysop called Achates who recently joined Wikinfo to write a defamatory article about me. - Mr Mancala 08:44, 31 May 2008 (EDT)

Article request

Can someone start the Wikinfo article on Conservapedia (as I am busy)? There is enough material on Wikipedia (including the talk page and its archives). Jackiespeel 11:50, 2 June 2008 (EDT)

Done. Or should I say "started?" ;-) As per the policies here on SPOV, a criticism page was created from the main Wikipedia article on Conservapedia. - Nhprman 13:05, 2 June 2008 (EDT)

Imports jumbled

Can someone go have a look at the new entry LaGrange, Georgia and perhaps repair and also possibly explain what's causing the jumble of sections... it was supposed to be an average import from Wikipedia, but something obviously went wrong. In addition, my log in information is missing after saving. I'm going back for another look, but it seems to be staying fouled up. Will Dockery 18:06, 4 June 2008 (EDT)

Is it OK now? Fred Talk 18:31, 4 June 2008 (EDT)

I'm afraid not. It's that coord template thing again. I checked the article on Wikipedia and it displays fine there. My personal opinion is that we should leave the coordinate templates off of Wikinfo for the time being, untill we have a user on board who really knows them. --AaronCarson 18:52, 4 June 2008 (EDT)

I was afriad that it was something from this end, since I'm working with a really ancient computer...Will Dockery 18:58, 4 June 2008 (EDT)

Well it's not a matter of your computer, but your internet browzer does affect whether or not the articles with coordinates on them, appear jumbled or not. Our Fred, is spared having to see them that way because he's using firefox, but editors who use Microsoft Internet Explorer are not so lucky. I'm off to bed now, but I'll check on the templates tomorrow. --AaronCarson 19:05, 4 June 2008 (EDT)

I'll just leave it be for now, although it's pretty frustrating to look at as is, and impossible, it seems, to edit from that page from here.Will Dockery 20:00, 4 June 2008 (EDT)

How about now? Fred Talk 20:11, 4 June 2008 (EDT)

Looks great now, thanks. Will Dockery 20:30, 4 June 2008 (EDT)

The template removed was Template:Mapit-US-cityscale. Fred Talk 20:41, 4 June 2008 (EDT)

How ever did you manage to find it?--AaronCarson 16:29, 5 June 2008 (EDT)

Trial and error, but hard, as removing it doesn't change the display on my browser. It had to do with coordinates and that is the template that does that. Fred Talk 16:31, 5 June 2008 (EDT)

Well thanks for taking it on. I found it quite frustrating, even being able to see the difference. Cheers!--AaronCarson 16:35, 5 June 2008 (EDT)

Fair Use Questions on Images

I think the image of Mary Quant and her designs I uploaded for miniskirt can be considered fair use for information/educational purposes... please correct and delete if inappropriate.

I think we're OK here with that. Fred Talk 11:17, 5 June 2008 (EDT)

Email confirmation and moving pages

I have changed user permission to require email confirmation as a condition of editing. I hope that does not affect any of our regular editors, but should inhibit vandalism. Also, due to move vandalism, I have removed the option for ordinary users to move pages. Fred Talk 09:32, 9 June 2008 (EDT)

Even better. More peace and quiet.WHEELER 20:00, 9 June 2008 (EDT)

Coolness. There was some vandal on a 'pedia who moved all kinds of pages, but that was several years ago, I guess. (Eddie On Wheels), or a like user name. Terryeo 00:42, 11 June 2008 (EDT)

Hi ibiblio-announce

This is a reminder that we will be taking most ibiblio.org services offline on tomorrow, June 10, 2008 beginning at 6:00 a.m. EDT. We are re-racking our primary Netapp filer in order to add additional hardware. We hope that the total downtime will be less than one hour. Forwarded from an email from ibiblio by Fred Talk 21:15, 9 June 2008 (EDT)

When will this be Greenwich Mean Time? Proxima Centauri 02:29, 10 June 2008 (EDT)

Eleven in the morning. Fred Talk 05:11, 10 June 2008 (EDT)

False Info on Wikipedia

Scotland is blaming Wikipedia for falling test scores amongst its students.

"The Scottish Parent Teacher Council (SPTC) said pupils are turning to websites and internet resources that contain inaccurate or deliberately misleading information before passing it off as their own work. The group singled out online encyclopedia Wikipedia, which allows entries to be logged or updated by anyone and is not verified by researchers, as the main source of information."

from http://news.scotsman.com/education/Falling-exam--passes-blamed.4209408.jp

We are trying to put a product on the market and this product, knowledge, requires precision and accuracy. I bought iFinger software that has dictionary, thesaurus and search engine. It automatically includes Wikipedia.WHEELER 11:07, 22 June 2008 (EDT)

Templates and categories

Let me make a simple suggestion, not directed at anyone in particular. When we import templates from Wikipedia - and I should also include article Categories too - I urge people to think it through. Rather than simply bringing them over because they are THERE and we have imported articles that include them now HERE, let's think "Is this template or category the BEST we can do, or is it simply micro-categorizing the articles, as Wikipedians are prone to do? When I'm importing a WP article that has 30+ categories, I do NOT bring them all over. Some of them are insanely detailed, and I must say, they change constantly over at WP anyway, usually matasticizing into ever smaller degrees of descriptions. Templates are great tools, and I like them, but some are simply far too detailed and frankly, are distractions. Categories are the same. I would also note that when I bring over WP articles, I rework them, sometimes cutting out cruft, often adding details that were either ignored, cut hastily, or are being suppressed due to "gang editing" over there. I also want to reiterate that I don't think we want this to be simply a carbon copy of WP. Just some food for thought. - Nhprman 15:08, 26 June 2008 (EDT)

Yes, import their excellence, discard their mediocrity. Fred Talk 15:24, 26 June 2008 (EDT)

Techniqly you're right, practicly it takes forever. I tried to do that in one or two times, but except getting the lost information from a lot deleted at one time, cause the history of a page is usually very full and filled with more or less useful information, it's kind of hard. That category things I've noticed too, but I always thought they'll be made eventually. Anyhow, you're right, it's annoying to see so many red links, and worse, to import useless stuff. On that idea... can we have some sort of format for... people? So that we don't have to transfer "player infobox", "coach infobox" and such. Anime addict 17:06, 26 June 2008 (EDT)

There is no formula, just create a useful information resource. What you think is useful is as valid as what I think. The answer is always both. Fred Talk 17:41, 26 June 2008 (EDT)

We don't involve ourselves with every jot of positive/negative and write a single neutral article. Because we don't, the goal remains clear and in sight. We can keep in mind that we are creating useful information for readers because we are not pressed to defend our every edit. While in an argumentative environment (such as WP), it is less easy to keep the proposed goal in mind. What do you all think of writing Fred's succinct description into policy in a clear manner. It seems to me "useful information" is the best possible description of the rudder that steers this ship. Terryeo 03:39, 27 June 2008 (EDT)

I'm not real sure this conversation is going to result in a clear policy, other than it is up to each editor to think about what they are doing and it's effect on the usefulness of the site. Fred Talk 05:34, 27 June 2008 (EDT)

And as far as /useful/ goes, the more information and perspectives, the better. And while I agree with Nhprman that I'm sure none of us want this to be a mirror site of Wikipedia, I've come to see the value of importing information from there, with the goal of improving/adding to it at some point in the future. Will Dockery 09:29, 27 June 2008 (EDT)

Well, we have more freedom the WP's editors, We need not justify every jot and comma. We can create multi-page articles rich with graphics, perhaps even sound clips. While the main page could be clean and quick to load. There are additionally possible ways to present useful information that WP's single article, single page, single thinking, single "neutral" opinion. Terryeo 20:16, 3 July 2008 (EDT)