User:Danger/Adoption/gardsmyg

Questions

1. Is there a way to internally link to a 'diff' page? Or does the entire URL have to be copied each time and linked as if it were an external site?
   • Unfortunately, it seems from the relevant help page that you have to use the entire URL. Gimme danger (talk) 18:41, 10 July 2008 (UTC)
2. Where would be a good place to find "standards" for specific types of articles? I'm trying to see if there is a specific structure I should follow for my rework of Szczebrzeszyn but most town articles I've come across are very stubby. --gardsmyg (talk) 20:59, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

   Featured articles are the best Wikipedia has to offer, in general. The articles are arranged by topic, so browsing the appropriate section will usually uncover a good model. Chetwynd, British Columbia is a town of similar size. WikiProjects are also a good place to look for guidlines. Some projects have a standard format or other resources. --Gimme danger (talk) 21:12, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

Assignments

Taking the plunge

Let's start out easy. There is a massive backlog of articles that need improvements. The vast majority of these articles are unwatched and unloved; there are no toes for you to step on. One of my favorite cleanup tasks is policing external links. First, read these relevant policy pages: external links and linkspam. Then, choose five articles from Category:Wikipedia external links cleanup or Category:Wikipedia spam cleanup and remove inappropriate external links. List the articles you've finished below. Keep in mind that external links should be directly relevant to the article they appear on — a general fingerprint information site shouldn't be linked on Biometrics in schools, for example — and that sites which have excessive advertising or sell a service are not appropriate, even if they do contain relevant material. Take your time and have fun.

Homework

I have worked on the following articles:

1. Removed section from Bicycle trainer. (Someone added an empty external links section after the entire section was removed. I re-deleted it and cleared spamtag.)
2. Removed spam from Geomag. (Left official website link intact for this commercial entity.)
3. Removed entire section from Gold coin.
4. Destroyed all spam at Monster truck.
5. Removed inappropriate links from Class ring. (Someone was angry in Discussion over these removals the last time someone tried it. May not stick.)
   • Hmm... perhaps this will be your first exercise in wikiconflict resolution. This is a pretty uncontroversial sort of case: Wikipedia has no business linking to, well, businesses, other than in articles about those businesses. If someone makes a fuss, consider adding a link to the Open Directory Project. Use Template:dmoz for this. It's listed under "Links to be considered" at WP:EL. I'll put this page on my watchlist; try to work it out on your own, but if someone is being nasty, I'll help you out. --Gimme danger (talk) 10:37, 11 July 2008 (UTC)
6. Removed most links from Department of Peace.
   • I might have left the text of the house resolution text, since that's something that can't be included in the article but still is useful to the reader.--Gimme danger (talk) 10:37, 11 July 2008 (UTC)
     • I removed the house resolution link since it was included in the references section. Should it still have stayed? --gardsmyg (talk) 17:00, 11 July 2008 (UTC)
       • Oh... hmmm... that's probably fine, as long as there's a link somewhere on the page. If it's added back I wouldn't remove it though. Gimme danger (talk) 17:22, 11 July 2008 (UTC)
7. Removed unwanted links from Peanut allergy. (I am unsure about the last link I left on the page.)

Good! That link section was way too long. Remember, external links should include only sites that provide useful information and fit wiki-standards for reliability that cannot be used as references for some reason. I probably would have deleted all of the links in the section, but I'm angry like that. --Gimme danger (talk) 18:38, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Projects

If you have any large project that you'd like to work on, suggest them here. I can help you with what you need to complete them.

Szczebrzeszyn

Szczebrzeszyn - In the spirit of being bold, I have taken this much neglected, horrifically messy article on a tiny Polish village under my wing. I'm trying to force myself into learning Wikipedia markup/editing/procedure/whatever by helping this poor thing figure out what it wants to be. I've gotten through to the end of the "Rise and Fall" subsection. My current approach is copy-editing the article and making it more fluent (it appears to be almost a direct C&P of a translated paper [licensed!]). Then once I've figured out what is actually relevant and being said, perhaps doing a complete and total restructure so it fits more in-line with the encyclopedia. I'm really confused how to start getting some citations in this thing though. I know there's a template, but the size and fear of breaking something important has intimidated me into putting it off.
I know, I said I wasn't going to be doing crazy projects. I felt that forcing myself into rescuing this behemoth would get my feet wet, and hopefully when I'm done, I'll have a really good idea what Wikipedia is about.

Dear lord, that is a mess. It looks like a fairly interesting place though, so I think the article has potential. Good idea for a project. Citation is also one of my favorite areas here. The first thing that you need, naturally is something to cite. Why don't you list a few potential sources here, along with the reason that they are reliable sources. I love google books, which gives quite a bit here, and google scholar. Some of the links given in the article might be reliable sources, but I'm not sure. --Gimme danger (talk) 18:53, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

References

• Dia-pozytyw has some great info. It gains authority from its association with The Adam Mickiewicz Institute which in turn appears to be in some way supported by the Polish Government].
• Polin.org is a Jewish Heritage portal for Poland. It seems reputable; all the facts on it that are on other reputable sources match up.

Both of these sources have editorial oversight, which is the key to reliability. Good finds.--Gimme danger (talk) 10:27, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Comment: I'm becoming concerned about an automatic bias due to the vast majority of sources being focused on the Jewish history. Apparently Szczebrzeszyn has been the site of no less than two complete massacres of the large Jewish population. ~100% of the Jewish population was killed in the 17th century and then again during the Holocaust.

If most of the literature about the town was written about it's Jewish history, then the article will reflect that. This might be a problem, might not; I'm not an expert on neutrality issues. I think I saw in my cursory search a book about town history, translated from Polish, which might cover more aspects. In my opinion, as long as the topic is covered completely, then it's fine. If you find a great deal of material, perhaps a spin-off article on the Jewish history of ... that town might be appropriate to avoid taking up too much space in the main article. See WP:SUMMARY for more information about spin-off articles and summary style writing.Gimme danger (talk) 10:27, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

The translated town history...do you remember how you found it? I haven't seen this yet and my google-fu is failing me right now. --gardsmyg (talk) 17:44, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

It's referenced in the history section of the first site in external links, here. The translator's name is spelled without a k, I think. I tried to find it on isbn lookup, but was unsuccessful. Maybe it exists? --Gimme danger (talk) 17:59, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

• Poland: The Rough Guide (book) has a little blurb on the town, which could come in handy if I can't find a "better" source for some the information contained.
• A Guide to Jewish Lublin and Surroundings (book) looks like it might have some good info. Bad news is I'll have to wait until I'm back in New York to pull it from NYPL's Access archives, or take a peek the next time I'm in Hyde Park. Snippet view is frustrating.
• My Dear Daughter (book) has a short mention of a teacher from the town, which could be helpful in building the 'story of education' that I've been seeing in numerous places and is awkwardly referenced in the original article.

• A note on your editing: excellent work so far. Individual years, however, should not be internally linked. The reason we link dates is so that users can view dates according to their preferences; WikiMedia software automatically formats linked full dates. For more information about this, see MOS:UNLINKYEARS. --Gimme danger (talk) 10:27, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Ah, I see now. I must have misunderstood or misread it when I first read that page. I'll fix it the next time I take a pass at it. --gardsmyg (talk) 17:44, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Draft

I've started (slowly) drawing up a draft here. I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing, but so far so good? --gardsmyg (talk) 06:05, 15 July 2008 (UTC)