Portal talk:Wales/Archive 18

Ooh
A Wales portal? Great. Was anyone thinking of announcing it anywhere? At all? :) I found it by accident. Is it also time for a Wales discussion board on the lines of the Wikipedia talk:UK Wikipedians' notice board one which already exists for the UK as a whole? There must be (almost) enough people editing in the general area now to make it worth thinking about. Telsa 22:12, 17 January 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree. Shout it from the rooftops. Please insert the following code into as many Wales categories as you can manage (and certainly all the main cats):
 * which then produces the pretty:
 * which then produces the pretty:


 * I put it on quite a lot of Wales cats myself when it was still a red link (I am the proud initiator, and point of contact for, Portal:Scotland). It should also be on the main page of the relevant article being "portalised", in this case Wales: I'll nip over there and put it on now.


 * On the topic of notice boards, I am also the initiator of the Scottish Wikipedians' notice board. Feel free to nick our template if you like, and visit some other notice boards for ideas too: some are hives of activity, some are dead as dodos. I note that some of our subpages are edited far more often than the main page. Good luck.


 * (Listen, while I'm over here, can I just say that I have become increasingly concerned by the persistent POV vandalism over at Plaid Cymru and Welsh nationalism articles (even the title of that last one is strongly POV, let alone the content). Whatever one's views on those topics, Wikipedia cannot allow articles to be totally hijacked by political opponents. If the vandalism continues I am going to seek advice at a high level.)--Mais oui! 22:55, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

I just found the portal by accident - great! I would agree with Telsa's suggestion of a Wales discussion board, though I've no idea how to go about setting one up. Rhion 12:53, 24 January 2006 (UTC)
 * See Regional notice boards.--cj | talk 13:24, 24 January 2006 (UTC)


 * You simply find an existing notice board that you like, and then just cut and paste the template into the blank page at red link: Welsh Wikipedians' notice board. Then you fiddle about changing "Finnish" (or whatever) to "Welsh" etc, and probably adding or deleting relevant/irrelevant sections.


 * For the Scottish one I wholesale nicked the design of the Norwegian one, who in turn had nicked the design of the ground-breaking Swedish one. Funnily enough, the Swedish one is no longer as good as it used to be.


 * Of course, you could hardly do better than to nick the Scottish one... :) --Mais oui! 13:59, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

Welsh Wikipaedians' Notice Board
Following Telsa's suggestion and Mais oui!'s instructions above, I've set up something simple to see what sort of response we get. Please sign up, let as many users as you can know about it and feel free to make any changes. Shortcut WP:WWNB. Rhion 19:25, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

Flags
Does anybody else think we should also have the Flag of Saint David (left) on the portal aswell? -Aled D 22:09, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

Politics of Wales Table needed
For the articles Politics in Wales, National Assembly for Wales, Welsh Assembly Government etc.. we will need a "Politics and Government of Wales" table for each, possibly the same table for each. Similar tables like this are featured on the Scottish and United Kingdom political articles.

Amlder20 22:09, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

Welsh Movies
Is there a list of Welsh movies? Meaning movies with Welsh content from language, subject matter, and maybe other movies shot in Wales? If not, this would be a great list to place on the main page possibly. I love this portal! Drachenfyre 09:41, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

Seeking approval
I have created a new Politics of Wales Template on my Userpage that I would think needs approval of Welsh Wikipedians. Please leave me a message of approval on my user talk page. Amlder20 14:41, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

Wales national rugby union team (version française)
Nobody wants (or is able) to better this article in order to make a featured article...


 * The article in french language is now nominated for a featured article ( « Article de qualité » )


 * ... And it should be easier if the english article is better... And it is easier to better english article with the help of french model... in order to better rugby union in Wikipedia... Ddfree 09:45, 14 July 2007 (UTC)

There is a lack of photos in Wikipedia Commons... So if you're a welsh contributor or if you see some Wales national rugby union team's match, please take some photos and the rights to put them in Commons to better Welsh footballer articles and Wales national rugby union team's article... thanks a lot and good work... Many pleasure... Specially for the period 1920-1990 Ddfree 09:45, 14 July 2007 (UTC)
 * More images

History of Wales
I have recently been looking around WP (in vain) for significant coverage of the history of the period after the fall of the Principality of Wales. I have recently done a major edit on Whittington Castle (part of Wales c.1150-1536) and created the Baron FitzWarin, concerning its lords. I have also taken in hand Baron Mortimer. However there are another 30 (odd) Marcher lordships, each of which deserve a serious article. Castles have received slightly better coverage, but some of these articles are still weak. I have not done a comprehensive search, but there appears to be a severe weakness. Could I suggest that this ougth to be the subject of a major improvement effort? Or have I missed something? Peterkingiron (talk) 10:02, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

Requests for Mediatiin from the Wales community
Greetings Wales community! We need your Voice! We need mediation and impute from the wider community who regularily contribute to articals of Wales interest. At issue is the use of a distinctive border around the country info box, as well title bar. The issue seems to have become a crusade against Wales by certin editors, who have almost never contributed to and practically never visit (by their own admission) the Wales page. I do not tust the motives of the editor, who seems to be stalking my edits and reverting them purposefully. This editor even dismisses the colors of Wales red and green saying that Wales does not have any official colors! (quote: "I imagine that this use of "national colours" (of which Wales has none by custom or tradition)...", Unfortunatly, I must deal with these cyber bullying tactics if I am to contribute here. However, I implore the Wales commmunity to weigh in on the topic of allowing info box borders and title headers. Please submit views on Template talk:Infobox Country and talk:Wales. If the wider Wales community decides not to support a border and title header color in the colors of Wales then I will withdrawal from this position. However, I and other editors do feel it makes the Wales page far more distinctive. Sincerly, David Llewellyn♦Drachenfyre♦· Talk 02:10, 14 April 2008 (UTC)
 * NEW DEVELOPMENTS: JZA84 Has nominated the use of the styalized borders and title headers for deletion!!!! Please have your say here! Templates for deletion/Log/2008 April 14♦Drachenfyre♦· Talk 10:06, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Requests for unbiased mediation
Hello! I am an editor contributing to Wikipedia, however I seem to have entered into an edit conflict with another editor who hawks over my edits and reverts them. Above some of the disagreements are documented when he orchastrated a campaign against styalized country info boxes, now he has followed me to the Kingdom of Gwynedd page and is editing out an into image there. I seek others opinions because I feel that these are targeted against any edits that I do. Thank you very much!♦Drachenfyre♦· Talk 10:49, 13 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Addressed. --Jza84 | Talk  11:13, 13 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Nothing is addressed without mediation.♦Drachenfyre♦· Talk 11:40, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

Distinctive?
Wales has remained distinct from the rest of the United Kingdom due to the strength of Welsh history, culture and especially the Welsh language. Well I don't think it's really that distinct, certainly not as distinct as Scotland (I guess because Scotland was a country of the union). The border lands are pretty vague, Newport could be any English city really. North Wales has remainded disctinctively inaccessible and has a traditional reputation for being inhospitable. South Wales, Pembrokeshire say, has a distinct beauty of being a British national park, but apart from the road signs, revisionism and bizarre resurrection of the language it just seems like the annex of England that it is. Welsh history: well their were a few years in about 13C before the annexisation when Wales was almost a country in it's own right. Culture: that's where the revisionist creation of all this druidic bard stuff comes in. Language: nearly dead and then imposed due to people not being able to get over the name of the language in common use, if English was called "International Language", then Welsh would have remainded the preserve of linguists and historians. I guess then, in my opinion it's no more distinct from the rest of England than say Yorkshire or Wessex. Can't see this opinion being popular, mind you. Pbhj (talk) 22:16, 7 May 2008 (UTC)#


 * Sir, you're an idiot. Ham 20:12, 9 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Even an idiot is right sometimes. So I guess you're probably right :0)> Pbhj (talk) 03:34, 12 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Well, since Wales has eisteddfods, bilingual adverts and signs, unique valley villages and a thriving language that bounced back from the grave, I would argue that it is culturally very different from England. The places you mentioned; Newport and Pembrokeshire are both places with strong English influences. Newport is just like most other cities in the UK- english is the main language and it is populated by a mix of people from across the UK (meaning that Welsh culture is pretty slack here. Pembrokeshire meanwhile has had problems with too many people from other parts of Britain moving house there. Not only does this create an economic problem (house prices) it also creates a cultural problem (many of the people moving in are unfortunately ignorant to Welsh culture). If you where to visit other parts of Wales however (such as the southern Welsh valleys and the northwestern regions of Wales) you would see strong Welsh culture in those areas. But really, saying Wales is no different to England is like saying that England is no different to France.--Tlle1 (talk) 18:16, 29 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Although we ought to keep this page free of non-portal-related discussion, I fear my refusal to feed the the troll came across as not having an argument, so might I add: there's an excellent extended essay here on Welsh literature from britannia.com (Pbhj will like that – definitely no Welsh nationalism there), level-headedly addressing the claim that Wales has no distinct literary culture. This addresses his "culture" and "language" points. On the "Wales no different from England" matter, the law recognises an entity called England and Wales, "two of the four countries of the United Kingdom ... the constitutional successor to the former Kingdom of England". Pbhj's "country of the union" schtick is therefore irrelevant: what was regarded as one country in 1701 (England) is now seen as being two. (What "country" really means here is another matter... but if Wales isn't one, nor is England!) Ham 12:58, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

As an Englishman, it is clear to me that Wales is a distinctive country. This is primarily because it has its own native language. England has been a unified kingdom, with a single language (though with dialects) for 1000 years. The distinctions between Wessex, the Danelaw, etc are relatively minor. The imposition of English law on Wales took place nearly 500 years ago, but the existence of its own language kept it separate, and this was reinforced by the resurgence of a Welsh culture in the 19th and 20th centuries, followed by political changes in the late 20th century. On WP:CFD discussions the issue of the split of the UK into the four home countries requently comes up, and I normally defend the existence of the split. Many of us have ancestors from all over the UK. This often makes determining ethnicity (apart from "British") difficult, but we have to live with the world as it is: WP cannot impose order where there is none. Peterkingiron (talk) 16:05, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

Obvious featured article?
Julia Gillard - first female Aussie PM, from Wales originally apparently.--MacRusgail (talk) 13:32, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Year in Wales: New template
Someone's very kindly created a new Year in Wales template. Do we want to use it? Deb (talk) 12:00, 14 July 2010 (UTC)

St Davids
I am considering moving St David's to St Davids because the spelling without the apostrophe is that used by the city council: http://www.stdavids.gov.uk/. But I will not do so if it is going to cause upset. Are there any thoughts on this? (Perhaps better to put them on the talk page Talk:St David's if there are.) --Doric Loon (talk) 20:34, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia Visiting Scholars
The National Library of Wales is looking to appoint the UK's first Wikipedia Visiting Scholar. We are looking for enthusiastic volunteers to improve content relating to Wales on Wikipedia (in English or Welsh). Successful applicants will be given access to Library collections, online resources and staff expertise. This is a voluntary position. Visiting scholars can work remotely and at their own pace. Jason.nlw (talk) 09:44, 1 April 2016 (UTC)