Case looks to be going pretty well... at least I got one thing ironed out, but we'll see :-) Still needs some more participation from the other parties Xavexgoem (talk) 06:13, 4 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
oh, btw: my day schedule is all night atm, and I think we're both in the U.S., so there might be some communication difficulty via IRC. Dunno when I'll be sleeping at night like the rest of humanity, though. Xavexgoem (talk) 06:32, 4 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
re:hi
Its not a problem, I haven't been online really either, I have exams tomorrow and the day after and then I have about a week until my next exams and after that week its all over and I get to lounge around at home for a few months.--Kerotan-Have a nice day :)11:38, 4 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Development content is very important to include in an encyclopedic video game article. It provides a history of how the game came to be and provides real world information needed for an article to claim comprehensiveness. However, writing this section can be difficult because the amount and type of information available will vary for each game. One of the best sources for such information is a developer interview. These can provide insight into the thought process of the designers and give examples of influences and obstacles encountered. Previews can also be helpful by giving a snap shot of the game before it was released and may mention development issues that were still being addressed.
When writing about development, common sense should be used to organize content to maintain a sense of flow for the reader. Most times, it is best to give the information in a somewhat chronological order—though information can also be grouped by topics like audio, promotion, graphics, etc. If one such topic gets large enough, it can be split off into its own subsection or regular section. For example, Kingdom Hearts#Audio is a separate section from the rest of the development information because it focuses on the game's musical score and voice acting. Portal (video game)#Soundtrack, however, does not have as much content and is a subsection of the main development section.
What to include about development
Who are the developers? Which company or studio developed the game, and are there any prominent designers involved?
When did development begin?
When and where was the game first announced? (e.g. Tokyo Game Show, E3 Media and Business Summit, etc.)
What influenced the game's story, characters, music, and/or gameplay ? (e.g. past games, movies, books, etc.)
Were there any delays?
Was anything excluded because of time or technological constraints? (e.g. extra levels, game modes, characters, story arcs, etc.)
Things to remember
Avoid proseline. Though maintaining a sense to chronology is important, this section should not read like an ordered list of events.
Images in this section should be relevant to the information given and should add on to it.
Source everything to avoid information being tagged as original research.
There are currently 4,266 Good Articles listed at WP:GA.
The backlog at Good Article Nominations is 157 unreviewed articles. Out of 215 total nominations, 44 are on hold, 13 are under review, and one is seeking a second opinion. Please go to WP:GAN and review an article or three as soon as you have a chance!
The categories with the largest backlogs are: Theatre, film and drama (31), Sports and recreation (31), Transport (24), Music (13), and Art and architecture (11)
The GA Sweeps process is progressing nicely! During the month of May, a total of 82 articles were reviewed. Of that total, 71 were found to continue to meet the GA criteria, and 11 were delisted. There are currently 15 articles that are still on hold in this process, awaiting revisions.
We are once again recruiting new sweeps participants. Candidates should be very strong and comfortable in reviewing GA and familiar with the GA processes and criteria. If you are interested, please contact OhanaUnited for details.
GAN Reviewer of the Month
Giggy (talk·contribs) (a.k.a. Dihydrogen Monoxide (talk·contribs)) is the GAN Reviewer of the Month for May, based on the assessments made by Dr. Cash on the number and thoroughness of the reviews made by individual reviewers each week. Giggy had a whopping 45 reviews during the month of May! Congratulations to Giggy (talk·contribs) on being May's GAN Reviewer of the Month!
Other outstanding reviewers during the month of May include:
This WikiProject, and the Good Article program as a whole, would not be where it is today without each and every one of its members! Thank you to all!
New GA Review Process - Review Subpages
In case you haven't noticed, we initiated a new process for GA Reviews at the end of last month. The {{GA nominee}} template was modified to direct new reviews initiated on an article to begin on a subpage of article talkspace (e.g. [[Talk:Article/GA#]], where '#' is the current number of GA reviews conducted for the article, incremented automatically, starting with 1). The primary reason for this change is to address some concerns made by several Wikipedians that previous GA reviews are not easily accessible in archives, the way that featured article reviews and peer reviews are, since the review is conducted on the article's talkspace, instead of in a subpage of the featured article space or peer review space. The reason we opted to move GA reviews to article talkspace (instead of GA space) is to better maintain the personal relationship between editor(s) and reviewer(s) by keeping reviews done in an area where editors can easily access it. Nonetheless, we still desired to have better archiving and maintenance of past reviews, so that GA ultimately becomes more accountable.
When an article is nominated, the nominator adds the template using a substitution, by adding {{subst:GAN|subtopic=<name of subtopic for article at GAN>}}, as well as lists the article (as usual) at WP:GAN in the appropriate category.
When a reviewer initiates a review of an article, all that needs to be done is to read the template on the article's {{GA nominee}} template on its talk page, and click on the link to start the review. When the reviewer clicks on that link, they will also see some instructions on how to start a review of a GAN. For new reviewers, there's also a link to the Good Article criteria, as well as to the Wikipedia:Reviewing good articles page and the mentors list. Once an article is reviewed, the GA review page should be transcluded onto the main article talk page, by adding {{Talk:Article/GA#}} to the bottom of the talk page. This is to ensure maintain the transparency of the GA process, as well as to make editors of the article in question aware that the review is taking place. When an article is either passed or failed, there's really nothing different to do in the process, although reviewers are encouraged to utilize the {{ArticleHistory}} template, linking to the GA review subpage with the 'action#link' parameter.
Thanks for your report. In the future, if both accounts have already been blocked, it is not necessary to file a report because it does not matter: anyway they are both blocked. Only file a report if at least one user is not blocked, or if two users have been blocked as sockpuppets but you think they are not sockpuppets. Yechiel (Shalom) 23:08, 11 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Ultimate
I don't really play, it's on my watch list form an AWB run & I was just tidy in up some bit mainly involved in the Martial Arts Project, & quiet busy with that sorry. --Nate1481(t/c) 10:59, 13 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks!
Hi! Thanks for the barnstar. Well, won't be able to contribute anything to current article Michelangelo, but definitely looking forward to other science-related articles that might be taken up.
Come back to IRC. The spam problem has been fixed. Turns out that I spammed you so fast that by the time I stopped sending spam, it still had multiple requests to deal with.--Kerotan-Have a nice day :)15:11, 14 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I apologize if, in anyway, you see my filing against Pmanderson as undermining your position as our mediator regarding the World War II starting date. Due to the consistency and sheer number of attacks, I simply felt that it would be best to start the process against what I would deem inappropriate behaviour as something of a separate matter to discussion pertaining to content. Oberiko (talk) 02:49, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I regret making your mediation harder; but I do not believe that Oberiko correctly represents his sources, and I know he does not correctly represent my posts. I have attempted to avoid speculating on the reasons for this beyond necessity. SeptentrionalisPMAnderson01:43, 17 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Can we pick a time - I'm actually busy ATM. Maybe we could organize a time for all of the FA-Team editors to work on IRC on the article? Awadewit (talk) 00:05, 17 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the help
...on the Everglades article. I'll move a little faster now; let me know if I need to slow down and talk things out better. Hope you're enjoying the FA Team. - Dan Dank55 (talk)(mistakes) 03:04, 20 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Hi, it's me, Artichoke-Boy! It turns out that I forgot to take your instruction paper you made at school (the one you were making to tell me about that program on Wikipedia). If you have the time, can you tell me how to get on that program you were talking to me about? I'm still interested in doing things like that. Send me a message on my talk page or email me. Thanks! Artichoke-Boy (talk) 19:45, 20 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Believe it or not, not everyone editing anonymously is out there to destroy Wikipedia with every edit. :) But plenty are, so please stay vigilant, but also exercise caution... 67.162.108.96 (talk) 00:55, 22 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I think we should probably let Moni3 strike out what she feels has been addressed on her to-do list. Listing what we have done is as far as I am willing to go! Awadewit (talk) 01:23, 22 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Hello Mm! Thanks for the help on the Sit Back Relax article. Unfortunately, the admins didn't like the article, and so it was deleted. I'm wondering what to do next...do you think putting it under the massage chair article would be a good idea, or should I just redesign the current article? Maybe you could help me? This is my first real article, and I do think it could be of interest to the community at large. I am including a copy of the article below (without the headline markup), as well as my e-mail address. I've also signed your guestbook :). Thanks!
Overview
Sit Back Relax, LLC, is a company that leases massage chairs to public venues. The company was founded in November of 2004, and they currently operate over 2500 massage chair units in over 350 locations in all fifty states. SBR has it's corporate office in southern New Hampshire, and this office is run by nine full-time employees and over 300 independent contractors. The four pillars of Sit Back Relax's mission are: Service, Industry Knowledge, and Financial Strength. The company is wholly-owned, and they do not franchise their locations. Their main venues continue to be airports, shopping centers, and amusement parks.[1]
I would like to Invite you to talk on my talk page under a new topic of mine titled "Can Wikipedia Change, Should it Change?" Also feel free to invite anyone else you think can contribute to this topic. Go all over Wiki is necessary. I'll try to do the same to. I thank you for reading this even if you don't respond to it. And if you do . . . Yaaaaaaay.:~)-BTJM--AKIRA70 (talk) 08:32, 28 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
New Article
Hi Mm,
Hope you are enjoying your vacation! Just wanted to tell you I started a new article instead of continuing on the Sit Back Relax one. I feel that the new article is something that is needed, and the article is on Xavier Gonzalez, a well-known Spanish American artist. I was very surprised when I found that there was no article yet. He was actually a family friend, and, from what I have learned through my research, a very accomplished artist. I would appreciate any tips on the article, and what I can add. I would really like to get it up to start class soon, and then go from there. Do you know how I can get it on the bot list to be assessed? The instructions are quite cryptic on the help page. I'd also like to put the article into categories, but I'm not sure how to go about doing that. Thanks again for the help!
I noticed you were active in the former league of copy-editors. I joined the LOCE something like a few days before it became historical, and have been making a lonely effort to reduce the copy-edit backlog so I've been curious - why did the LOCE close, are there any efforts going on out there to reduce the copy-edit backlog, and do you think there's a point in establishing (and would you join) a wikiproject purely to maintain the category of articles needing copy edits? Thanks ;) -Samuel Tan (talk) 09:54, 2 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
In many video game articles, the Reception section is the last main section of prose. As its name suggests, within the section you should summarize the critical reaction to the game. The section should provide a high-level overview of what the critics liked and didn’t like about the game; it is a summary, not a repetition of what publications thought. Therefore, don’t put in excessive, long winded quotes or have a paragraph detailing IGN’s thoughts on the game. To prevent cluttering of the prose with scores, reviews table such as {{VG Reviews}} can be used to organize this kind of information.
A good way to lead off the section is a by-the-numbers or at a glance snapshot of the game’s reception; you can use aggregate scores to suggest an overall critical response to the game, and can provide sales figures (if you have them) for the game’s release. Commonly, the rest of the reception is broken into positive and negative paragraphs. Entirely separate ‘Praise’ and ‘Controversy’ or ‘Negative comments’ or the like are strongly discouraged as troll magnets. If the game has won any awards, then listing them at the bottom of the reception section is an option.
Other things to remember:
Don’t list every single review in the reviews table; likewise, don’t mention every award the game has ever gotten.
Generally, talk about what the reviewers say rather than speaking for them; for example, “Reviewer X of Publication Y took issue with elements of the game such as X, Y, and Z” instead of “Review X said that “I took issue with elements of the game such as X, Y, and Z.” If a reviewer has a good comment which sums up the positive/negative/overall reaction, or a particular sentiment common in many reviews, it might be more appropriate to use.
If adding sales data, make sure to provide context; did it sell those 4.2 million units within three months of release or three years? If possible, break down the sales by region; did the Japanese like the game, but Americans not buy it?
Use reviews whose scores are outliers from the average ratings to find key points that were liked or disliked about a game. If all reviews except for one average around a 9 out of 10, and the one is a 7 out of 10, there is probably some clear negative points to be found in it; the same works with very positive reviews.
Perhaps most importantly, give proper weight and keep a neutral point of view. If the game received mostly negative scores, having three paragraphs on positive aspects and glossing over the bad parts in a sentence or two conveys the wrong impression to readers.
The 2008 Home Run Derby took place yesterday. Justin Morneau defeated Josh Hamilton in the final round, 5 home runs to 3, although Hamilton broke a record with 28 home runs hit in the first round.
From the Editors
Baseball has a history unlike any other sport. It has been played in countless countries throughout the decades, and it will undoubtedly continue play for many more. On this eve, some the finest players the sport has to offer will take the field at the Yankee Stadium. Four popes spoke there, Pelé scored goals there, "The Greatest [football] Game Ever Played" was battled out there, John Philip Sousa lead a band there, George Costanza worked there; but what do all these events have in common? They fail to reach the level of greatness that the baseball that was played there did.
In 1923, a man named Babe Ruth decided to build a new house, and over the years, that house was a home to some of the greatest baseball ever played. If I were to list out all of these great moments, it would be longer than the bill for the New Yankee Stadium. So I'll sum it up by saying that we can remember these great moments by adding them to this place we've gathered at for future generations to read about, to learn about, to dream about; but more importantly we can watch tonight and we can remember how baseball is unlike anything else that we will encounter in our lives. — Blackngold29
I have begun a new WikiProject that has a very simple goal, to improve Wikipedia by dealing with the articles tagged for copy edit, and am wondering if you are interested. *smiles* This project is not a clone of the defunct League Of Copy Editors because we will not deal with requests for review (that is currently handled by our good friends over at Peer Review).
I expect that this will be a relaxed, happy and casual WikiProject, because participants will be able to take things at their own pace and use the project page to ask other participants for help. A handful of people have already expressed interest at the proposal page, and if you're interested, feel free to sign up at the project page itself and discuss the project at its talk page.
There are now over 4000 articles needing copy edit, and very, very few people working on them, so any help, however small, is appreciated. I am in the process of getting word out about the project, so I'm pretty sure we will be in good stead to fulfill our goals.
As an FA-Team member, I'm soliciting your assistance with FA-Team Mission 5 on Scattered disc and Solar energy (and possibly others). Your expertise with copyediting and reference finding would be much appreciated. Please sign up on the mission page and watchlist the mission page and articles if you are interested in helping out. Geometry guy15:36, 26 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The list of almost 700 articles has been checked and updated. Special thanks to MrKIA11, Dukeruckley, JFlav, FMF, and several other editors for checking the large number of articles.
Inactive project cleanup Proposal to consolidate inactive projects and taskforces. Project page can be found here.
Wikipedia:WikiProject Indie Game Developers deleted.
Wikipedia:WikiProject Arcade games moved to page under WP:VG. See new Arcade task force page.
Feature: Reliable Sources
A common issue with writing video games articles is that it's often natural for editors to turn to the internet for all their information. However, using only online sources can be problematic, especially if editors are not familiar with Wikipedia's sources guidelines. First off, for every notable, reliable web site about gaming that exists on the web, there are twenty-five fan sites or personal blogs. As per Wikipedia's, content guideline about reliable sources, a proper source that should be used in an article must meet the following criteria:
Articles should be based on reliable, third-party, published sources with a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy.
How do you determine if website X meets the criteria? Look around for information on who owns the website or if the website has a staff and established editorial processes; if the site doesn't have information posted online, send an email to the webmaster or editor. It can be hard to definitely prove the a website has a "reputation" for accuracy. Thus, it's probably easier to go with established sites to begin with, such as IGN or GameSpot. If you use a source with borderline qualifications, be prepared to justify the site at content review or to other editors. WikiProject Video Games has a partially-complete listing of vetted sources in print or online at Wikipedia:WikiProject Video games/Sources, as well as more detailed information on what constitutes a reliable source.
To find sources on the internet, checking Google News as well as simple web searches can help spot references you might have missed. Often, however, older news articles are locked behind pay gates or subscription services. A workaround is using a service like ProQuest or LexisNexis, although unless you have access to these through a college or education institution it will likely cost you money regardless. Libraries can have old newspapers and copies of magazines; to assist in finding print sources online, WikiProject Video Games has a Magazines Department where you can contact users to get copies of certain reviews, previews, or features from old magazines. If you have gaming magazines of your own, add yourself to the list!
Only a little amount of editing has taken place, I have been supremely busy trying to get a job, and I haven't had much time to edit wikipedia.--Kerotan-Have a nice day :)12:31, 13 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Dates
Hey Mm40 - just to let you know I was looking at your edits to Biafra - and you added a comma to the international date format - which is incorrect. In the U.S., the date format (for Wikipedia) is (say): August 15, 2008; the international (British) version, however, is: 15 August 2008. Thanks!--danielfolsom02:37, 16 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I hope you enjoyed your vacation. I wanted to thank you for helping out with the Xavier Gonzalez article. I would like to get it rated, but I'm not sure how to go about doing that. Also, do you know where I can put a link so that more knowledgeable people can add to the article? Thanks!
Salutations Mm40! I checked your contribuations page today and saw that you made an edit. I'm glad you're back in Wikipedia! I hope you enjoyed your summer vacation.
I still thank you for introducing me to the Wikipedia Community. I think it's great.
Looking at this edit, I see that you are changing date formats. Please stop. Please revert any similar changes. Previous discussion supports using International Dating (day month year) for this article. In addition, linking dates is now deprecated, as per the Manual of Style. --Pete (talk) 22:40, 25 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The Reboot of Wikiproject New Jersey has certainly stirred up some new activity at the project. Discussion on several improvements and new initiatives have been going on at the talk page. There has been an involved discussion regarding our 121unassessed articles, especially those on municipalities. The current goal is to review and assess all 566 New Jersey muncipality articles by September 30. A suggestion has been made to intiate Wikipedia Takes New Jersey to begin clearing the large backlog of articles needing photos. Let's all grab our cameras and head out into the vast wilds of the Garden State. Town Halls, High Schools, Historic Places - every article deserves a picture.
The following articles may be in need of attention:
WPNJ member Mm40 has volunteered to coordinate a new WPNJ Collaboration project. It's been a while since we used the NJCOTW and new volunteers are needed. Join the discussion to volunteer.
Battle of Trenton was recently proposed as a Featured Article candidate. It was not promoted, but has now been nominated for A-Class review through the Military History WikiProject. Take a look at their A-Class FAQ. As we need to set up our own process for reviewing A-Class articles, it may be worth watching the process.
Please welcome the following new members to WikiProject New Jersey:
The redesign has been well received. There are still some things left to do. This newsletter was one big check mark off the list. Hopefully this can be continued on a regular basis. There are literally thousands of articles in Category:New Jersey that have not been tagged as part of the project, and stub sorting hasn't been run in 10 months. We will need to identify some friendly bot operators to help with these projects. An outreach department (which includes the newsletter) needs to be formalized. Creating an invitation template for easy placement on userpages will also be part of that effort.
There are lots of best practices described at the WikiProject Council with ideas of how to make our project more responsive, welcoming, active, and effective. Task forces? Peer review? Other ideas welcome!
I just wanted to say that the response to my bold makeover of WPNJ has been gratifying, but nothing will improve the project as much as more activity, and that means more members. There are lots of things to do in this new setup, and everyone with an interest should be able to find a way to contribute to the collaboration. I want to thank you all for the patience, the appreciation, and the effort. - Jim Miller
You are receiving this newsletter as a member of WikiProject New Jersey. To stop receiving these messages, remove your name here.
If you are going to take it upon yourself to delink an entire article, it would helpful to other editors for you to make sure you do it right or it just creates more work. The article was currently in the U.S. date format of August 28, 2008. The U.S. format always has a comma. When you delinked the dates, all the dates were left without a comma. The other date format that most countries use, 28 August 2008 does not have a comma but the date format you left it in does and it looks really sloppy to leave it without one. You also missed a good amount of the dates, leaving some linked and some not. It would probably be more useful to do one section at a time so that you don't miss so much. My comment was directed at you but I was not really irritated at you, I am more irritated at this new mass removal of linked dates from articles. It doesn't help much in my opinion, especially when users who delink the dates do a sloppy job. But I didn't mean to overreact, I know your intentions were good. LonelyMarble (talk) 01:39, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You are right, it should be in the international format of Day-Month-Year, since that is the format Scotland uses. Note on your edit here though, [1], take the first change for example: you delinked June 18 and August 23, 1361 to June 18 and August 23 1361. International format, or the date format used in most countries other than the United States would be 18 June and 23 August 1361. They list the day then the month then the year without any commas. You delinked the dates but you left the date format in the US style of month-day-year, and if you leave it in that style then you need the comma after the day. So when you delinked the dates you should have switched the day to before the month, that was the only thing you did wrong. Pretty much if the article is United States centered then the date would be August 28, 2008. If the date is any other country it should probably be 28 August 2008. The only thing you did wrong was you left the date at August 28 2008. It's not a big deal, pretty nitpicky. LonelyMarble (talk) 01:58, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
No big deal, I didn't mean to come off as cranky towards you. It's just that it will take forever to delink all dates in Wikipedia articles and there are many users that don't see why it should even be done. If it's really agreed upon to delink all the dates someone should make a bot to do it, that would remove all human error from the problem and save a lot of people time. Anyway, I looked at your userpage and see you like to be a Wikignome, which I do too, so at least you'll make sure you get your date formatting right in the future. If you have any questions about formatting or something like that feel free to ask me anytime, I've worried myself with stupid stuff like this before too and I think I know my way around pretty good by now. LonelyMarble (talk)
Hi, I found you listed at WikiProject Featured Articles under available copyeditors. Tony suggested at the FAC for Disintegration that I find someone not familiar with the prose to copyedit it. Would you be willing to help out? WesleyDodds (talk) 08:23, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Quick Question
Hi Mm40! Thank you so much for all the help on my first article. I really appreciate it! Here's to show my thanks:
Artichoke-Boy (talk) has smiled at you! Smiles promote WikiLove and hopefully this one has made your day better. Spread the WikiLove by smiling at someone else, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past or a good friend. Cheers, and Happy editing! Smile at others by adding {{subst:Smile}} to their talk page with a friendly message.
Also, I have a quick question for you. Do you need to contact someone or make a proposal in order to create a new article on Wikipedia, or can you just go right ahead and make it? If the page is part of a Wikiproject, is it manditory to tell other members you're making it before you do so? Please respond ASAP.
I'm asking you this because I want to create another page as a part of Wikiproject Wimpy Kid, which I joined.
Special note: The naming convention for the newsletter has altered. Instead of being labeled the month it is delivered, it is now labeled the month the content applies to. See discussion.
Assessment Department: This department focuses on assessing the quality of Wikipedia's video games articles. The resulting article ratings are used within the project to aid in recognizing excellent contributions and identifying topics in need of further work, and are also expected to play a role in the WP:1.0 program, and more specifically in the Video games essential articles page.
Two new quality ratings have been implemented into the Assessment Department's scale. The new Wikipedia-wide C-Class rating (see category) has been added to the scale between Start-Class and B-Class. Because of this, the criteria of the B-Class has been tweaked to better illustrate the difference between a B-Class and C-Class article. An older rating, List-Class (see category), has been added to the scale as well. It is mainly used on pages that have very little prose and are primarily tables and lists of information.
Editors are encouraged to submit articles for assessment if they feel an article has made significant progress up the assessment scale or has gained importance within video game articles. Assessed articles generally receive some feedback to further improve the article. Experienced editors are also encouraged to help with assessment of articles when the number of requests gets too large.
Peer Review Department: The Peer review process for WikiProject Video games exposes video-game-related articles to closer scrutiny from a broader group of editors, and is intended for high-quality articles that have already undergone extensive work, often as a way of preparing a Featured article candidate. It is not a academic peer review by a group of experts in a particular subject, and articles that undergo this process should not be assumed to have greater authority than any other.
Editors are encouraged to use the Video game peer review process, as well as the regular Wikipedia-wide process, to improve the quality of articles. While a peer review can be done at any time, it strongly suggested to use this process before an article goes up for Good article nomination and Featured article or Feature list candidacy as articles cannot be a candidate for GA or FA while at peer review.
Editors are also encouraged to leave feedback for articles undergoing peer review. A process such as this will not work if editors do not give as well as take. Feedback can range from brief comments after skimming through a page to a full blown dissection of grammar, structure, and references. Either way, every bit helps.
Hello, I notice you're using one of the {{motd}} templates, run by Wikipedia:Motto of the day. You may have noticed that some of the mottos recently have been followed by a date from 2006, or on occasion simply "Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia". The reason for this is that Motto of the day is in some very serious need of help. Participation in the project, which has never been especially high, has dropped considerably over this past summer, to the point we have had several days where no motto was scheduled to appear at all. Over the past several weeks, I've been the only editor scheduling mottos at all, but there aren't enough comments on some of these mottos to justify their use. If we do not get some help - and soon - your daily mottos will stop. In order for us to continue updating these templates for you, we need your help.
When you get a chance between your normal editing, could you stop by our nominations page and leave a few comments on some of the mottos there, especially those that do not have any comments yet? This works very simply; you read a motto, decide whether or not you like it, and post your opinion just below the motto. That's it - no experience required, just an idea of what you personally like and what you feel reflects Wikipedia and its community. If you do have past experience with the project, then please close some of the older nominations once they've got a decent consensus going. There are directions on the nominations page on how to do this.
If you have any questions, please let me know, or post on the project's talk page. I'm looking forward to reading your comments on the suggested mottos, and any additional suggestions you'd like to make. Until then, happy editing! Hersfold(t/a/c)03:38, 4 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The Maryland WikiProject has put together a great chart comparing the growth of several state WikiProjects, including WPNJ. Take a look at the chart to see how the growth of WPNJ compares to some of our peer projects. Please remember to place the {{WikiProject New Jersey}} tag on the talk pages of any New Jersey related articles you create or come across. You can also add the new articles page to your watchlist. Some updates have been made to the NJ Portal, but much more needs to be done. If a few volunteers can put together Featured Article summmaries, we can automate rotating the portal content. The same can be done for DYK items. Please take a look and see if you can assist.
The following articles may be in need of attention:
Selection is an automated process based on article assessments. To help avoid vandalism and POV concerns, specific versions of articles can be tagged for inclusion in the downloadable release. See the New Jersey section of the bot results to recommend a production version. The process ends on October 20, and then a bot will select an appropriate version if none has been recommended.
Please welcome the following new members to WikiProject New Jersey:
Both Jon Corzine and The Sopranos were promoted to Good Article status in the past month. No WikiProject New Jersey articles were promoted to Featured article status. Battle of Trenton was not listed as a Featured Article, and may need more editors to complete the remaining work to be promoted. Also, in an item that was missed last month, Thomas Edison was delisted as a Good Article in July.
The WPNJ Assessment Drive is ongoing. Please help assess all of the articles about places in New Jersey. There are currently 121 articles that have not been assessed.
Fall has arrived, and with it will come a rush of new Wikipedians. Inviting new editors to join WPNJ is easy to do, and can help us improve our New Jersey articles. Keep an eye out for editors who work on NJ articles who can help the project. The Wikipedia Release version project is in its final stages for the next version. Take a look at the article lists, cleanup where you can, and nominate articles that should be included on the DVD version of WP. Lets make sure that those who end up with a downloaded copy of WP get solid articles about New Jersey. - Jim Miller
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39 of 393 articles have been prepared and submitted. Come help us prepare more at the workshop page.
Feature: Wikipedia 0.7
Wikipedia 0.7 is a collection of articles taken from the English version of Wikipedia, compiled by the Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team. It is designed for a DVD release, and the selection was put together using a Selection Bot, based on the quality and importance assigned by WikiProjects.
The Video games Project and its daughter projects have multiple articles among the selection and are currently working on cleaning up the articles to improve their presentation. A workshop page has been set up that is designed to assist and coordinate the effort. The status of and recommendations for articles is listed on the table. Discussion about which articles should be kept and removed from the list have been taking place on the talk page.
If you have assisted in working on and improving a current Featured article, Good article, or A-Class article, please check the workshop page to see if the article is recommended for inclusion.
Articles will need an id version submitted to ensure it is included. They will also need to be cleaned up if maintenance tags and other issues are present. Participation is not restricted, and if you can assist with the preparation effort, it would be greatly appreciated.
Things to remember for preparation
The workshop page has a notes section for each article. Clean up suggestions have been left for some articles.
Do a light sweep of the article to address any vandalism andclean up tags: citation needed, more references, lengthy plot, etc.
If you need help with an article, post on the talk page.
We apologize for not sending out our August newsletter, we have tried to cover some events of the month in this issue.
The playoffs have started! The Dodgers and Phillies have won their respective Division Series and will face off in the NL Championship Series. Both series in the American League have yet to be finished. Show your support for your favorite teams by keeping up with their season pages!
A new bot is patrolling Wikipedia workflows to let WPNJ members know when any of our articles may be in need of attention. Any article tagged with the WPNJ banner that has been added to one of the major workflows (AfD, FAC, GAN, etc.) will be added to a new project page. The bot runs daily, so add the new Article Alerts page to your watchlist, or just check the main project page to see the updates. See the Article Alerts project page for details on how the bot works and which processes it covers.
The following articles may be in need of attention:
WPNJ received the following request for assistance with New Jersey Devils articles: "The WikiProject Ice Hockey is currently looking for editors to help update team articles about the 2008-09 NHL season. If you are interested in the NHL, please consider helping us keep these article current. To sign up, go to this page and add your name beside the team or teams you wish to particpate in." See the WPNJ talk page for more information.
Please welcome the following new members to WikiProject New Jersey:
No, not the state - the battleship! On October 15, USS New Jersey (BB-62) was the Featured Article on the Wikipedia main page. Featured articles receive heavier traffic when they are on the main page. Improving WPNJ articles to featured status can help drive more editors to our project.
Seems like a pretty light month in terms of activity at WPNJ. Personally, your editor was doing a lot of travelling and went on a wiki-free vacation for nine days. Time to dive back in and create some new NJ articles. - Jim MillerSee me | Touch me
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For some time now, the Video games project and the Military history project have been cross listing their articles undergoing peer review in an effort to improve the quality of articles, as well as the copy editing skills of editors. The idea was first proposed by User:Krator as a way to better prepare articles for Featured article candidacy. After being approved by both projects, the idea was implemented under a trial period, and eventually approved as a standard practice.
New, cross listed military history articles are announced on the Video games project talk page, and listed on the Video games Peer review page under a special section. Video game editors are encouraged to leave any type of comments that come to mind. If you don't know anything about military history, that's perfectly fine because that's the point. An editor lacking knowledge about the particular topic can provide a helpful point of view as a general reader—the intended audience.
A peer review process such as this will not work if editors do not give as well as take.
Peer reviews are meant to examine not just the prose, but the sources and images used in the article.
Feedback can range from brief comments after skimming through a page to a full blown dissection of grammar, structure, and references. Either way, every bit helps.
Reviewing another editor's article can help sharpen your writing skills, which in turn can improve the articles you write.
Signpost updated for November 17, 2008 and before.
Because the Signpost hasn't been sent in a while, to save space, I've condensed all seven issues that were not sent into this archive. Only the three issues from November are below.
Article importance is an assessment of a topic's importance in understanding a specific higher level topic. Assessments are maintained by WikiProjects and reflect the project's view of what is essential to understanding their scope. In the VG Project's case, all importance scales are in terms of understanding video games.
Recent discussions at the VG Project's talk page have called for revisions to the practice of assigning article importance. The discussion began in mid-November with the goal of clarifying what level of importance should be assigned to certain type of articles. It eventually expanded to creating a standardized table of importance to serve as a guide for current and future editors.
The discussion has focused on and shifted to several topics including flaws of previous practices, new ways to view assessment, other project practices to emulate, and specific articles which are exceptions to proposed guidelines. A brief pole and discussion determined most editors felt that the bulk of some topics—specifically individual video game, series, and character articles—were not essential to understanding video games, making them ineligible for top importance. The discussion then shifted to tweaking the wording and layout of the table.
The current proposed table is being discussed on the project's talk page, and the issue of whether some topics—specifically character articles—should be allowed to be rated importance has also been brought up. As always, member are encouraged to voice their opinions and engage in discussion to determine consensus so the new assessment scale can be implemented.
A search bar has been added to the archive box on the VG project talk page. Searching the discussion archives is now much easier.
Feature: Video game notability
Video game related articles fall under niche categories on Wikipedia: "Culture and the arts" and "Everyday life". Because of this, they are often required to demonstrate notability more than other topics. Wikipedia defines notability as "worthy of notice", and considers it distinct from fame, importance, and popularity. Though it is acknowledge to be related to fame and the like, it is important understand that being famous, important, or popular does not mean a video game article should be on Wikipedia.
Being notable means that a topic has "received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject." Wikipedia's policy also stipulates that this only presumes to "satisfy the inclusion criteria for a stand-alone article." This means that though an article may meet the criteria on paper, it is up to the community to decide if a topic truly is notable and/or violates other policies such as WP:NOT. In short, just because a video game, character, or related topic exists, does not mean it should also exist as a Wikipedia article.
Dealing with non-notable topics
Articles that do not meet the criteria are either deleted or merged into a relevant topic.
WP:Articles for deletion (AfD) handles the deletion of non-notable articles, among other types, and has an established process to begin discussions about reasons for deletion.
If an article is a subarticle of a larger topic, merging it into the larger topic article is a more desirable action. For example, the main character of a video may not be notable, but has received some mentions in reviews. It would benefit both topics, the character and its video game, to include the content into the article of the video game; essentially using a small, weaker article to strengthen a larger more notable article.
Things to remember
The best way to show notability is to provide reliable sources about the topic.
Notability is less about keeping articles out of Wikipedia and more about making sure readers are provided articles about significant, quality topics.
While you may think a topic is notable, others may disagree. Try to keep a clear perspective when assessing notability so discussions can reach a consensus.
AfD is more of a last resort and is not always the best course of action to take.
Consider starting a merger discussion first, as some editors may not fully understand why an article they started is not suitable for Wikipedia.
This issue we are trying a new type of newsletter feature: "Featured editor". This is a chance to learn more about the various editors who contribute to the Video games project as well as the roles they fill. If you enjoyed this new feature and would like to see similar interviews in future issues, please drop us a note at the VG newsletter talk page.
David Fuchs (also known as Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs), is a long time video games editor that has written a large number of the project's Featured articles. He has been ranked high on Wikipedia:List of Wikipedians by featured article nominations, and has assisted in reviewing and editing more many. Recently David has begun to assist with image reviews for Featured article candidates, and branched out into other types of articles in addition to video games. He can normally been seen on the project's talk page offering advice and his input on the various discussion taking place there.
What drew you to Wikipedia, and what prompted you to begin editing?
I got involved due in part to (I believe, my memory is fuzzy) finding the site while doing research for Advanced Placement Europen History during high school. My earliest contributions (in December 2005) were creating topics based on what I learned, as well as creating an article for my high school with another friend. I soon became involved with editing topics related to Halo video game franchise, specifically the article on the parasitic Flood.
What got you involved in writing Featured articles?
I think for most editors it's a shiny accomplishment you are striving for, and natural for most editors to try and get an FA. I first nominated an article for FA in 2007, after about a year of inactivity onwiki; it didn't pass as it was poorly written and didn't follow our guidelines for writing about fiction; I also took a couple of tries to get my first video game FA (Halo 2).
What article(s) are you most proud of writing or exemplifies your best work?
I suppose Myst is a sort of accomplishment I can point to; I started work on the article on May 2 2008, when it looked like this, and submitted it to Featured Article Candidates one day later. I think that's some kind of record, but I dunno. In terms of being a good read or something I'm very happy with, however, I'd have to look at my more recent work, specifically Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Bone Wars.
How do you pick the articles you work on?
Whatever hits me. There's many articles I haven't gotten around to editing and improving as planned because another article has caught my fancy.
What advice would you give to editors seeking to write quality articles?
In the words of one of my favorite cartoon characters when I was a child, "We must do reeea-search!" Even in video games, online sources don't usually cut it. Even after getting an article to FA, make sure you continually trawl the internet and elsewhere for more information to add to the topic.
Note: This is an abridged version. To read the full interview, click here.
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The VG Project Collaboration of the Week is a new effort to improve important video game articles of low quality. Every week, an article is random selected by AnomieBOT from the Stub-, Start-, and C-class categories that are rated either High- or Top-importance. Such topics can offer a reader a good deal of encyclopedic information about video games, but are often too underdeveloped or lacking the proper level of writing and sourcing to accomplish this.
All editors are welcome and encouraged to participate by offering their insights and suggestions. Having a pool of different editors, both old and new, will help maximize improvements to the articles as well as our editing skills.
History
Collaborative efforts have come and gone within the VG project several times before. The first such effort, the "Gaming collaboration of the week", began in October 2004 as a result of the several otherweekly collaborations popping up on Wikipedia. It proved to be quite successful at improving articles to meet Wikipedia's standard at the time, but the effort eventually saw less and less participation. A second effort, the "Improvement Drive", began in August 2005 with the intent of improving articles to FA-quality. However, few nominations and articles were selected. The decline in participation in the collaborations and peer reviews resulted in a third effort. It began in February 2006 as a workshop, but never got off the ground.
Numerous discussions have taken place on at WT:VG to jump start collaborations and improve the process to prevent its decline again. While previous collaborations selected any video game article, most editors felt focus should be on video game topics more encyclopedic in nature—topics that are also generally in poor shape because of lack of attention. A common problem mentioned was that previous nomination processes were lengthy and hindered participation. The current idea to automate the process was brought up by JohnnyMrNinja, which was further discussed to iron out the details.
Current collaboration
The current collaborative efforts began in mid-January 2009, and several articles have been improved by editors. The random choice is intended to minimize the selection process, which allows editors to focus on article improvement. Improvements include better organization of content, massaging and copy editing the prose, removing excess non-free images, and much more. The random choice is also meant to encourage participation from editors of varying interest and help prevent burnout. If the present selection is not to your liking, wait until next week. Editors are encouraged to add Template:Collab-gaming to their watchlist to see which article is selected. Recently selected articles are:
The WikiProject Video games Newsletter released its first issue a year ago. The newsletter is meant to help connect editors, keep them up-to-date with the activities of the VG project, and improve the knowledge of our members. We've compiled a list of questions to help gauge the effectiveness of the newsletter's first year.
Answers will be accepted for a three week period following the deliver of the March 2009 issue on Wednesday, April 1, 2009. Just to clarify, this is not an April Fools' Day gag, and we would really appreciate honest criticism. Information obtained from this poll is intend to alter the newsletter for the better. So don't feel you should hold back or give answers similar to everyone else.
The VG Barnstar is an award given to Wikipedians recognized for efforts and contributions to improve and develop video game related articles.
The VG Barnstar is one of many Wikipedia Barnstars designed to be given to editors that have helped further the overall quality of Wikipedia. It was created in February 2006 by Jacoplane—see past discussion for details—and has been given to numerous editors since. Sometimes editors with multiple Barnstars use an alternative way to display them: ribbons.
Barnstars are designed to be given by anyone, so don't be shy as everyone enjoys appreciation. If you have noticed or have been impressed with the work of an editor, feel free to let them know by placing {{subst:Barnstar VG|"message" ~~~~}} on their talk page. The template uses a parameter to include a message expressing the reasons behind the award.
Sorry I didn't speak when you asked - I was on holiday and forgot to change my status. I'll go on IRC now, and expect to be on for a few hours at least, and for up to an hour most days next week. DendodgeT\C13:15, 12 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
In the past you've copyedited this article once. It has however failed the recent FAC nomination due to objections that this article has not been sufficiently copyedited before and that there are some "prose issues". I'd like to ask you to consider copyediting it again (I am not an native speaker of English so I cannot spot those "prose issues" myself). Thank you, --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk 23:30, 27 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Hi, and welcome to the Military history WikiProject! As you may have guessed, we're a group of editors working to improve Wikipedia's coverage of topics related to military history.
A few features that you might find helpful:
Our navigation box points to most of the useful pages within the project.
The project has a stress hotline available for your use.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask any of the project coordinators or any other experienced member of the project, and we'll be happy to help you. Again, welcome, and we are looking forward to seeing you around! Kirill[talk][pf]00:24, 2 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
iwlinking of tools
When link to my tool could you please use the interwiki format, like so [[tools:~dispenser/cgi-bin/dabfinder.py/Brain]]. Thanks. — Dispenser01:50, 3 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I was looking at this IP's link additions for possible blacklisting; when I looked more closely, I realized that these were benign edits. This IP was updating existing links to reflect a change in URLs. (Yahoo is discontinuing it's Geocities hosting, so the content for these links is moving to another provider). --A. B.(talk • contribs)21:52, 3 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The Military history WikiProject Newsletter : Issue XXXVIII (April 2009)
The April 2009 issue of the Military history WikiProject newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you. This has been an automated delivery by BrownBot (talk) 23:45, 5 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Due to an apparent lack of interest, the WPVG Newsletter will be switching from a monthly publication schedule to a quarterly one. The next issue be delivered on July 1, 2009, and will pertain to the second quarter of the calendar year. If you have any comments regarding this, or suggestions to improve the newsletter, please post at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Video games/Newsletter.
Hello, I hope you are doing well. I am sending you this message since you are a member of the GA WikiProject. I would like to invite you to consider helping with the GA sweeps process. Sweeps helps to ensure that the oldest GAs still meet the criteria, and improve the quality of GAs overall. Unfortunately, last month only two articles were reviewed. This is definitely a low point after our peak at the beginning of the process when 163 articles were reviewed in September 2007. After nearly two years, the running total has just passed the 50% mark. In order to expediate the reviewing, several changes have been made to the process. A new worklist has been created, detailing which articles are left to review. All exempt and previously reviewed articles have already been removed from the list. Instead of reviewing by topic, you can consider picking and choosing whichever articles interest you.
We are always looking for new members to assist with the remaining articles, so if you are interested or know of anybody that can assist, please visit the GA sweeps page. In addition, for every member that reviews 100 articles or has a significant impact on the process, s/he will get an award when they reach that threshold. If only 14 editors achieve this feat starting now, we would be done with Sweeps! Of course, having more people reviewing less articles would be better for all involved, so please consider asking others to help out. Feel free to stop by and only review a few articles, something's better than nothing! Take a look at the list, and see what articles interest you. Let's work to complete Sweeps so that efforts can be fully focused on the backlog at GAN. If you have any questions about the process, reviewing, or need help with a particular article, please contact me or OhanaUnited and we'll be happy to help. --Happy editing! Nehrams2020 (talk • contrib) 08:32, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
You may or may not care, but I finished creating that page I was working on, and I think I did a fairly good job on it. Click here if you want to take a look at it. Artichoke-Boy (talk) 23:45, 12 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
— 16 March 2009
: 6 April 2009