Talk:Ocala, Florida

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Peer reviewers: Elovece. 20:56, 19 January 2022 (UTC)

To add a site with advertisements
Jumbolair, on the Ocala, Florida website could have a link to the external website for Jumbolair.com — Preceding unsigned comment added by JumbolairAV8 (talk • contribs) 03:35, 23 October 2013 (UTC)
 * No, per WP:ELNO. Gtwfan52 (talk) 06:27, 23 October 2013 (UTC)

Hello, I have a website, www.wearefla.com which has hundreds of pages and links to information about Ocala which cannot be found on any of the linked pages in this article. Our website's purpose is not only to be a commercial website. I get emails from and meet people in the Ocala area quite often who tell me they found information on area lakes, rivers, history, etc on our website that they could not find elsewhere, and many children use our site for research for school papers and projects. I realize the implications of allowing links to commercial websites in an article ostensibly about a government body, but feel our website offers real value to people seeking information on the Ocala area. I feel that wikipedia is a valuable resource and a stage in the evolution of the internet. steven@wearefla.com
 * WikiProject Spam is trying hard to remove links to sites that are making money off Wikipedia. You may check there for additional guidelines. Making a request on the talk page is the right way to start, however, if you have a really exceptional site. Some questions you need to ask yourself: Is the primary purpose of my site to earn income? Could I remove the ads? Or could I add the content to Wikipedia? Is my page really exceptional? Am I emotionally involved with my own creation to the point where I overvalue its quality?
 * If you still feel that it is worthy of inclusion, despite ads on the site, contact a couple unbiased Wikipedia administrators to review your site. Then one of them can add your site, if they feel it justified. It is a good idea to include a hidden note to that effect. I won't remove sites that have met this standard, though I cannot speak for others on the spam team. Pollinator 18:52, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Newton A. Perry - Perry's Swim School. Who's Who of Ocala learning to swim at an institute that is over 50 years old.
I feel that information about Perry's Swim School is relevant to the Ocala, Florida wiki page because there is a rich history within. Several famous people have learned how to swim at the Perry's institute and you have mentioned most of these famous people already. North East 17th Avenue that runs in front of the Fort King Middle School was rededicated as Honorary Perry Avenue. Newt Perry and Dot Perry remain local legends in and around the community and impacts of their lives are still remarkably felt all over Florida. Please include Perry's Swim School in your Ocala, Florida wiki as a local School for Learning as well as a landmark in Ocala History.

Gadgetry Unlimited, LLC Custom Built Computers 18:58, 23 April 2007 (UTC) Rock Perry


 * Why not Midas Mufflers of Ocala? Several famous people have had their mufflers replaced there.  Sorry, I don't think such a thing as Perry's is notable.  --CliffC 02:08, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Rework
I went through this article and began a fairly thorough rework.

I cleaned out unused sections of the infobox, added a picture of the Downtown Historic District to the infobox, added information about the government, and updated all of the population figures. I reorganized the article to conform (better) to standard organization, and I fixed all of the references, which were not formatted correctly. I also removed one that was not needed, and commented out another because it's not a reliable source. I fixed the meaning of the city's name (some IP editor added blatantly incorrect information some time ago), and added a reference to support it. I stripped out all external links in the article (as per the Wikipedia Manual of Style) and removed a blogspot link in the external links section. This article still needs a lot of work, which I will tackle over time. Horologium t-c 22:59, 19 November 2007 (UTC)

Wesley Snipes
Any mention of this city because of Wesley Snipes now having his trial here? Should this be mentioned that Wesley feels this is a biaised place for him to have a tax trail because of talk of gathering of KKK members. Is this vivable to be put in the article or mentioned? ORLANDO, Fla. - Federal prosecutors said there is "no basis in reality" for Wesley Snipes' claims that he cannot get a fair trial on tax evasion charges because of racial prejudice in Ocala.

In recent court filings, Snipes' attorney called Ocala, where the January trial is set, "a hotbed of (Ku Klux Klan) activity," and alleged prosecutors chose it to get the best chance at an all-white jury.

"Defendant Snipes' motion hurls scurrilous and baseless accusations at the prosecution and citizenry of Ocala in an overwrought attempt to have this case dismissed or transferred to another venue," U.S. Attorney Robert O'Neill wrote in a filing Monday.  The Cleveland Browns are awesome! (talk) 17:26, 20 November 2007 (UTC)


 * No, this does not need to be added in, because there is no basis for his accusations. He's just another criminal, using whatever defense he can cobble together. Considering that Marion County's proportion of African-Americans is pretty close to the national average (it's 11.55% in Marion County), playing the race card doesn't work. It can (and should) be mentioned in his article, but not in this article or the one for Marion County. Horologium t-c 18:05, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with Image:Marion County FL Seal.png
The image Image:Marion County FL Seal.png is used in this article under a claim of fair use, but it does not have an adequate explanation for why it meets the requirements for such images when used here. In particular, for each page the image is used on, it must have an explanation linking to that page which explains why it needs to be used on that page. Please check


 * That there is a non-free use rationale on the image's description page for the use in this article.
 * That this article is linked to from the image description page.

This is an automated notice by FairuseBot. For assistance on the image use policy, see Media copyright questions. --01:20, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

Weather Article
I live in Ocala and that entire thing was complete BS. There are no wet and dry seasons here and most people who live in Florida will tell you that the weather here is really unpredictable. If for some odd reason any one disagrees with my edit then by all means reverse it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.127.127.131 (talk) 22:16, 13 November 2008.


 * I reversed it, and added a weatherbox, with all of the information in the box referenced to the Weather Channel (there's a citation link). If you look at the numbers, it is plainly obvious that there is a rainy season in Ocala, as there is in every city in Florida. Some of the other information needs to be referenced, corrected, or removed, but that didn't merit nuking the entire section. I'll deal with it later today. Horologium  (talk) 11:51, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

More obvious then living there apparently. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.127.127.131 (talk) 06:21, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

More detailed sections
I see too much misused, uncited information going on to the Ocala page. People are creating whole sections for a sentence or to on things such as bands, and education. Hopefully people will read this first before posting. But I think there really needs to be a goal of expanding sections, while giving truthful details and citing sources.

Just my opinion of course, but I think it would help keep the Ocala page from becoming a joke. Nomardll769 (talk) 23:42, 29 October 2009 (UTC)

Sister cities
This edit is not an improvement over what's there. There's no need for a sub-section, cities don't have "international relations", and as has been pointed out, there's no need to list a sister city that's been dormant for over thirty years. Please do not restore this material again.--Cúchullain t/ c 13:23, 20 April 2011 (UTC)

I appreciate your status as master editor and am willing to take your guidance; however, I hope you will use some discretion instead of simply undoing everything I am trying to do for my city… I gladly take the hint and agree to drop the “International Relations” section (an idea I borrowed from another city) and also lose the reference to Columbia… but must insist that the rest is in fact an improvement and also much desired by my superiors at the City. There was no section at all for our sister cities when I began… What you see is also what I did. Give a guy a break will ya? We are expecting visitors from Ireland this week! Please leave this edit alone for a while, can you handle it? --Wormdust (talk) 00:15, 30 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Thank you for engaging in discussion. As I said before, most of the problem with your edits was the formatting - no need for subsections, no need for bullets, and of course no need to include a sister city partnership that lapsed over three decades ago. Your recent edit was much improved. I've changed it slightly to remove the unnecessary bullet points and to ensure the redirects went to the proper place (eg, Republic of Ireland rather than Ireland, the island.) Hopefully this will be suitable.--Cúchullain t/ c 15:06, 30 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Also, please read Wikipedia's conflict of interest guideline. There's nothing wrong with you editing as a city employee, but any edits that promote your own interests that aren't in the interest of the encylopedia are not acceptable.Cúchullain t/ c 15:20, 30 April 2011 (UTC)

Forgive me, but I don’t see these edits as being helpful or complete… instead they appear a bit intrusive and capricious, and not at all encyclopedic. They have completely left out the flag Icon for Ireland and the date recognizing our relationship, and removed the name “San Rossore” (section of Pisa)… perhaps some have nothing better to do, but as you said, there is nothing wrong with me editing as a city employee, or anyone else’s employee… and let me make this perfectly clear, I am doing this for my city as a honorable citizen… on my time, and only for the public’s best interest. So please stop wasting it, format is important… but so are the facts. There are many cities in Florida that use bullets and the exact same formatting that I used here, why has no one taken issue with them? Example Coral Gables, Florida … so you see my dear friend(s), your hypocrisy has been exposed. Who is the one really promoting “self interest” here at Wiki? The ranking editors??? PS - Changing the link to the Republic of Ireland is appreciated, however, in the future why not ask or suggest that the original junior editor make the changes rather than engage in this childish tit 4 tat that only serves the master’s ego?--Wormdust (talk) 05:40, 1 May 2011 (UTC)


 * By the way, I’ve never lived as far North as Jacksonville… I am a native born Floridian of Welsh decent and after 51 years of swatting mosquitoes, eating mullet, getting sunburned and running over armadillos, I think I have earned the right to edit here more than most.--Wormdust (talk) 05:55, 1 May 2011 (UTC)


 * Hmmm! Sorry, it doesn't work that way. What counts in Wikipedia is how you contribute to the encyclopedia. Certain policies, i.e., verifiability, no original research, neutral point of view, etc. are pretty much set in stone, but the implementation of policies and editing of content are subject to consensus. No Wikipedians have any special status on questions of content and editing. Oh, and not that it matters, but I am a native Floridian, as were my parents, and even a great-grandmother. But, that doesn't mean I have any special position or knowledge in regard to Florida. I still try to cite reliable sources for everything I add or edit, whether or not I have any personal knowledge of the subject (and what I remember about things often cannot be supported by, or even does not agree with, reliable sources, and so cannot be used in Wikipedia). What does matter in Wikipedia is reputation for contributions and behavior. I would add that, in general, there is a tendency in Wikipedia to reject any claims of expertness, special status, etc., and making such claims will likely hurt an editor's reputation. -- Donald Albury 11:01, 1 May 2011 (UTC)


 * That was said with tongue in cheek Donald, hope you know that.Wormdust (talk) 13:49, 2 May 2011 (UTC)

I'm happy with this last edit Donald; hopefully it will stay as it is now. I'm glad you asserted this is a group conscience; I was really beginning to wonder if personalities were going to outweigh principles. I believe that from the beginning I tried to meet all the “set in stone” requirements here, but I must say I wasn’t made to feel particularly welcomed here in Wiki land. It will probably be my last contribution. So, what do you say about the formatting on Coral Gables, Florida Sister City sub-section? Is there a reason bullets are accepted in this case but separation of the cities in Ocala’s case are not? Even as a line item? Do you have some “grandfather” clause here at Wiki to explain inconsistency? PS – No special claims or knowledge :), just glad to meet another native! My mom was born in Dunnellon in 1924… Wormdust (talk) 13:49, 2 May 2011 (UTC)
 * I think we've all simply gotten off on the wrong foot here, Wormdust (btw, I'm also a native Floridian, as is my mother). Bold edits are welcome, but when a particular edit is challenged, the next step is to discuss it, not to just revert. Your edits just had a few fixable problems, and we've explained and tried to fix.
 * On conflict of interest, you said above that your edits were "much desired by my superiors at the City" and "We are expecting visitors from Ireland this week!" However you meant it, these statements strongly imply you're editing in the interests of your employers, and where this conflicts with Wikipedia's policies and practices, it's a major problem.
 * To my knowledge I haven't edited the Coral Gables article (whereas I have edited here, which is why your edits popped up on my watchlist), but bullets are used only where a passage would not read easily in plain text. Coral Gables appears to have seven sister cities, so a list is more useful than here, where there are only two sister cities. A list with only two items could easily be a sentence. However, the current edit looks sloppy, with the flag icons in the middle of the prose, so if these remain, bullets may look better.--Cúchullain t/ c 14:42, 2 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks for taking the time to explain Cuchullain, as a newbie I really didn't understand what was happening to my edits and thought it was a glitch in the system... took awhile for me to come around and find out how to make contact. As for the superiors comment, they liked what I did when I showed it to them… and then it got changed, re-changed, and changed again.  So please understand my since of embarrassment and impending doom from trying to do something a little above and beyond my call to obscurity… and then having it backfire.  Trust me, next time I will wait until I get all the blessings necessary before I share it with anyone … I like the flag Icons and think they add a since of respect for the relationship of the cities and hope you will opt to keep them.  And I don’t think I need express my feeling about the bullets – lol.  Even separate line items without bullets would look good.Wormdust (talk) 19:41, 2 May 2011 (UTC)
 * No worries. Wikipedia can be confusing for newcomers and I hope you'll stick around and help improve our articles on Ocala (and anything else that may be interesting to you). Next time, if you get reverted, just bring it up on the talk page, or ask the person who did it. If you want the flags I'll just go ahead and restore the list format.--Cúchullain t/ c 20:26, 2 May 2011 (UTC)

Silver Springs material
This edit was intended to update material that was already present, with citations. The article formerly still referred to Silver Springs Nature Theme Park and Silver River State Park, though those names were changed months ago. Additionally, the fact that the springs are outside the city limits of Ocala is not a reason to remove it, considering how important they are to the city. Orlando, Florida contains information on Disney World, Universal Orlando Resort and SeaWorld, all of which are well outside of Orlando's city limits. Thanks,.--Cúchullain t/ c 13:58, 10 April 2014 (UTC)
 * I agree, You are correct. Silver Springs is adjacent and makes sense to be considered part of Ocala, but this section needs some work.  The section heading is "Tourist and retirement center".  There are references to Silver Spring as a tourist center, but none for Ocala proper, and no references at all for Ocala as a "retirement center".  You and I both know there are many retired people in Ocala, but where's a source that would qualify it as a "center"?  For that matter, does Silver Springs alone really qualify Ocala as a "center" of tourism?  I have never heard anyone describe Ocala as a tourist destination exception in reference to the "Kingdom of the Sun" basketball tournament.  And the mention that it's 70 miles from Orlando - that certainly doesn't make it a tourism or retirement center in its own right.  The section really needs some sources or it just needs to be removed entirely as it doesn't have anything to it except opinions and duplication of information already in Silver Springs, FloridaJacona (talk) 14:28, 10 April 2014 (UTC)


 * Yes, it needs some work. I don't know why "retirement center" is there, why Disney is mentioned, or why information on Silver Springs was included in the history section after "20th century establishment as horse capital". My only goal here was to update the information on Silver Springs, as it was outdated (and not properly sourced). I would say there should be a separate section on tourism or attractions, and Silver Springs and the others should be there. It should also probably be mentioned in the history section as it's had such a big impact on the development of Ocala.--Cúchullain t/ c 14:41, 10 April 2014 (UTC)
 * see what you think. It still needs work, but at least the section titles aren't so nutty

Hiding Crime section
It looks really ugly and is out of sync with the general style of pages of cities to just have a table of the FBI crime rates as the sole content of a Crime section. Hiding it pending additions to this section. DemocraticLuntz (talk) 21:14, 17 June 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20140305164937/http://factfinder2.census.gov:80/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=DEC_10_DP_DPDP1%26prodType=table to http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=DEC_10_DP_DPDP1&prodType=table

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External links modified
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"20th century establishment as horse capital" Section
I would like to suggest that the following changes be made to the "20th century establishment as horse capital" section to make this article more accurate and up to date.

a. "… a Dressage/Jumper event lasting about two months…" should be amend to, "… a Hunter/Jumper competition that takes place over the course of ten weeks…"

b. "The show features classes for over 100 different breeds, including Tennessee Walker, Paso Fino, Morgan horse, SaddleBred, Draft horse and the American Quarter Horse," should be amended to, "The show includes a variety of equine breeds, mostly surrounding the warmblood types and off the track thoroughbreds, however there are no limits or requirement to have a certain breed in the competition."

The reference supporting this information is linked below. It is the official website of the HITS Ocala horse show. http://www.hitsshows.com/ocala/hits-ocala-winter-circuit

Elovece (talk) 21:02, 22 February 2018 (UTC)Emily Lo VeceElovece (talk) 21:02, 22 February 2018 (UTC)

Ocala turning into a waste land
I've seen a tremendous increase in crime homelessness and drug use in Ocala. We live in the Ft. King area and let me tell you it's turned into I cesspool. Hell we have a meth house two doors from my house and everybody on the police forced to include our mayor is aware of it and do nothing while 11 children ages 3 to preteens are right outside playing with all this going on around them. I've tried to work with deputy chief biondi the mayor Quinn the district attorney and many other people of the City and county government with no resolve only lip service. The police force here is an incompetent and impotent police Force based on my two plus years of experience trying to work with them. It sure seems the Ocala police and the Marion county district attorney pick select cases and choose which laws they  want to prosecute and or enforce while we the law abiding constituency at the city has to suffer. My neighbors and I have had meetings with the mayor and Deputy chief biondi and I have spoken to the district attorney office for Marion county to include Ashley Moody's office our State attorney general's office inquiring about trying to form a legal armed security Force for our neighborhood since the police will not and cannot protect us from the drug addicts and criminals. 2600:8807:C802:EA00:F8DB:C6B4:639A:F19D (talk) 01:55, 6 June 2022 (UTC)

2020 metropolitan population
Hi, maybe I’m just naive as I’m not someone who normally edits Wikipedia articles. But shouldn’t someone be allowed to post the 2020 census metro population in this article? Nearly every other article related to a sizable city has the 2020 metropolitan population except Ocala, which keeps getting them reverted to the 2017 estimate. Am I missing something? 2600:8807:C800:2820:D52A:6687:C889:A330 (talk) 13:28, 24 February 2023 (UTC)


 * I do not see any attempt to edit the 'Metro' population in the infobox in the past year. Anyone can indeed update that figure, but we do ask that whoever does so makes sure that the population figure comes from the official Census Bureau report of the 2020 census. Donald Albury 16:01, 24 February 2023 (UTC)