User talk:AstroHurricane001/Archive 30

=March 2009=

Tut tut tut
You've been here for a long time and you still don't sign you comments. Shame on you! Simply south (talk) 16:38, 8 March 2009 (UTC)
 * My ISP? Why would i need to capitalise that or even give it away? ) And yes i did in the decisions area (unsigned, not random capitalisation). Simply south (talk) 16:50, 8 March 2009 (UTC)
 * ruddymuddyferderedergermedder Simply south (talk) 17:00, 8 March 2009 (UTC)


 * i know. I was delIberately IgnorIng the code so that It would read lIke that. SImply south (talk) 17:02, 8 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Sowwy. :) Simply south (talk) 17:16, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

Tropical cyclones WikiProject Newsletter #24
Jason Rees (talk) 01:12, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

Country outlines project update - 2009/03/08
Things have been slowing down again, so it's time for a big push...

We've gone live
This project needed a shot in the arm. Also, its draft pages have been littering Wikipedia's categories for months. The time seemed right to move all the country outline drafts to article space.

WHAT???

Well, the drafts had been sitting in Wikipedia space for a year.

WHAT???

Development has been moving at a snail's pace and we could use the help of the Wikipedia community at large (who are more likely to find these if they are in article space).

WHAT???

Yes, we've gone live. :)

This puts pressure on us to get the blatantly incomplete elements of these outlines done. The only glaring problem is the government branches sections. These need to be corrected ASAP.

I've mentioned THE GOVERNMENT BRANCHES SECTIONS many times to many people over the past year, but the problem just doesn't seem to have been taken seriously. So let me put it another way:

HELP!!! I need your help on this now. Almost all the countries have a government with an executive branch, a legislative branch, and a judicial branch. The links for these branches need to be completed for each country outline:


 * Here's a convenient list you can use WP:LINKY on to access and edit these quickly. Please copy the list's link to the top of your talk page so that you can access it easily.

If you spot any standardization in links, and ways we can automate parts of this process, or for groups of countries that have links in common, please let me know!

Administrative support for outlines
There has been growing pressure on me to write up the administrative pages for outlines - their instructions, guidelines, etc. Therefore, I'm now in the process of composing these. Fortunately, it is mostly a matter of gathering material from messages I've written to you guys over the past year. Still, this is taking up most of my time, and I will be buried in these for the foreseeable future.

Traffic control
The next big task after the government branches sections are cleaned up is link support for the outlines.

There's quite a list of links and notices that need to be put in place around Wikipedia, providing access to them to readers, and alerting editors to the need to develop and maintain these pages. This will keep our bot people very busy (and happy).

But the most important thing right now is to get the government branches sections completed. So please, put your bots aside, roll up your shirt sleeves, and start typing.

Thank you.

The Transhumanist 03:02, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

Frequently used idea and approved areas
The Frequently used idea are needs updating seriously and now the future of the approved area is questioned. Please see the discussions at Wikipedia talk:Motto of the day/Nominations/Archive 2. Simply south (talk) 20:26, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

Geography WikiProject update - 03/15/2009
You commented on the awards effort when it was just getting started a long while back - I thought you might like to see the end results...

The award images are complete!

After months of toil and attention to detail, Penubag has completed the set of images for this WikiProject's awards!

There are five race ribbons:



There's an engraved medallion:



And by far the hardest to create, a golden trophy:



If you are interested in the contests and collaborations that will feature these awards, drop me a note.

And be sure to pop by Penubag's talk page to let him know what you think of his graphics artistry.

The Transhumanist 22:25, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

Re:GA reviews?
Somehow a comment of mine posted to User:IMatthew's talk page ended up several other user's talk pages, including yours, along with the comment "Geography WikiProject update - 03/15/2009" posted by User:The Transhumanist. I have nothing to do with the WP Meteorlogy assessment system. Dough4872 (talk) 00:42, 16 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Oops. :)  I better track those down and revert them.  The Transhumanist  01:31, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

Re: Awards and outlines
Hi. First of all, I think the awards look excellent. Are there copyright issues with integrating the characters from the Wikipedia logo onto the trophy, however, or did we decide it looks better that way? I'd like some information on the activities available, as I have time over the next week or so. Also, as for the topic outlines, I did some more editing, especially in the governmental area of Canada (as you requested) and the lists of earthquakes in some countries. I found Special:Allpages to be especially useful for some of this. One thing I noticed, however, is how many topic outlines are still missing their time zones. This shouldn't be too difficult to integrate, so I'll take some time to add those if they are still not completed. Do we use numbers (ie. UTC -5) or names (ie. Eastern Standard Time)? Thanks. ~ A H  1 (TCU) 00:17, 16 March 2009 (UTC)


 * As far as I know, all the images belong to Wikipedia.


 * The globe in the trophy looks better without the letters: the letters look cheesy unless they're engraved into the globe like the edges of the puzzle pieces, which is something we couldn't figure out how to do.


 * Someone started filling the time zone entries with numbers, but the problem with that is that the numbers differ based on what season it is (standard vs daylight savings). And the articles on them include the time zone names, not their numbers.  I think we should use the names, with the standard time-zone numbers following them in parentheses.


 * Other activities...

Pictures
Finding and placing images (maps and pictures). Pictures make these outlines look gooooood. The outlines that have the best image support so far are: Outline of Thailand, Outline of Iceland, Outline of Vatican City, Outline of Taiwan, Outline of France, and Outline of Japan.

The standard size we use for pics on the right of the page is 300px. Though that doesn't always work well - whatever size you use, make it look good. And remember, give each image a caption (description).

The best place to start is by picking a country you've always wanted to go to, and then go to Wikimedia Commons and see what they have on the country there. You'll find that they usually have a bigger selection of pictures to choose from than the pictures used in Wikipedia articles.

It's boring to use the same pictures from the Wikipedia article on the country. Try to make the outline look different, and better. :)

Remember, each picture should match the subject of the section they are in. Generally.

By the way, you can get pictures of any person, place, or thing in the country. There are lots of terms other than the country's name that you can type in to the Wikimedia Commons search bar. If you get stuck, you can use the outline itself to "travel" around the country and look around to see what's on Wikipedia.

Maps
As for maps, each outline generally gets a location map at the top. Those were the easiest to place, because they had standard names that could usually be inserted automatically by the country outline creation template. I'm pretty sure all the country outlines have location maps.

Then there's a general map (showing borders, roads, major cities, etc.). The geography section gets either a satellite photo of the country or a topographic map, or both. The administrative division sections get maps showing the subdivisions of the country. Most of the countries haven't had these maps placed yet.

The country outlines that have at least some map support (in addition to the location map), include: India • Indonesia • Iran • Iraq • Israel • Japan • Macau • Russia • Taiwan • Thailand • Albania • Austria • France •  Germany •  Iceland •  Ireland •  Italy • Isle of Man • Romania •  Russia • United Kingdom •  Vatican City  • Bahamas •  Bermuda •  British Virgin Islands •  Canada • United States • Belize • Honduras • Mexico • Australia • Argentina • Bolivia •  Chile • Ecuador • Falkland Islands


 * The atlas link on each outline will take you to the commons map collection. Once there, you can refine or broaden your search as needed.

Fill-ins
There are other entries besides time zones that need to be filled in. Such as:


 * Pronunciation
 * Population
 * Size
 * Form of government
 * Head of state
 * Head of government
 * Commander in chief
 * Economic rank

Blue-linking via redirect
Most links have been standardized. When they are red, rather than change the link, we either rename the destination page to correspond with the link, or if the information is in a section on a page, we click on the link and create a redirect leading to the information.

This helps reduce chaos in country coverage by standardizing article names. These outlines have become the de facto guide for country article naming.

But, we only change article names to a standard if the standard is the most common name. Like "Geography of x". In cases of links sets for which there is no standard (because the common names differ), like "adjectival cuisine" (country adjectivals include German, Italian, Taiwanese, etc.), we standardize by providing redirects, and include the standard links in the alphabetical lists within the outlines (such as in the culture section - adjectivals wreak havoc with comparability, as Algerian cuisine would be at the beginning of the list and Zimbabwean cuisine would be at the end). To keep cuisine in the same place we use Cuisine of x, which leads to the corresponding "adjectival cuisine" article.

In the government branches sections we use the common names. Parliaments have various names, but it could be misleading to refer to a country's government bodies by non-official names.

User:The Transhumanist/Lists by country is a set of lists that show the status of (almost all of) the standard links on the country outlines. These lists are very useful as task lists, for creating redirects, and for checking redlink status.

Or pick a country...
Or you could pick a country, and finish its outline all the way.

Zlerman prefers this approach, and I posted instructions on how to go about this on his talk page at User talk:Zlerman.

How's that?
There should be enough activities to choose from above to get you started.

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask.

The Transhumanist 01:27, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

Do you mind if a new version of this inage is uploaded? Paint isn't the greatest image editor in the world, and images pixelate annoyingly if changed from a SVG, say to a JPG. Do you mind if somebody uploads a cleaner version, using, say, Photoshop? The image would look so much better then. Queenie 19:00, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

Redlinks in country outlines
To browse the links of the country outlines by topic (to see which ones are red), take a look at the lists listed at User:The Transhumanist/Lists by country.

The Transhumanist 01:12, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

thanks
Thanks for signing my autograph book!!!--God&#39;sGirl94 (talk) 14:20, 31 March 2009 (UTC)