User talk:Blair Bonnett/Archives/2008/December

Notability tag
Hi Blair, I notice you've been newpatrolling some recent WP:Cornwall articles. In particular, I notice you've put a 'notability' tag on Bodbrane.

It is an aim to blue the redlinks on List of places in Cornwall. Of course, some places are more notable than others - a big town like St Austell is obviously more notable than a village such as Summercourt which, in turn, is more notable than a hamlet such as Bodieve which is... well, you get my drift. Who is to say where the line is to be drawn?

The guidance in Wikipedia is neither exhaustive, over-tightly defined, nor Stalinist.

It starts: ''...The topic of an article should be notable, or "worthy of notice." Notability is distinct from "fame," "importance," or "popularity,"...'''

But equally ...If an article currently does not cite reliable secondary sources, that does not necessarily mean that its topic is not notable...'

OK, let's apply that to places in Cornwall.

Take Slaughterbridge. If a WP:Cornwall member who didn't know that particular hamlet was blue-ing redlinks, s/he might simply start the Slaughterbridge article with a one-line entry such as those for Darite or Maer, Cornwall or Westdowns or dozens of other stubs. Another Wikipedian might then have come along and filled in the detail. As it happens, I got there first and, as I know the area well, I was able to do a fairly full stub from the outset.

My point is that a particular Wikipedian might not have enough knowledge or sources to do much more than start an article with a stub - be bold - so that others will be able to come along later and fill in the detail. For example, neither you nor I know whether there might be something very notable to be written about Bodbrane - maybe there's an old Celtic cross there, maybe Quiller-Couch visited the house, maybe the present farmer raises rare-breed cattle?

I'd be interested to your comments in response to the foregoing. You know where I live. Meanwhile, I intend to continue blue-ing the redlinked places in List of places in Cornwall. Season's greetings, Andy F (talk) 22:34, 20 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Postscript I am now fleshing out the bare bones of the Bodbrane stub. It is a very old settlement. It turns out to be interesting (in the encyclopedic sense} in several ways. Not least of these is the fact that farmer John Grigg of Bodbrane sold up in the 19th century, emigrated to NZ, started a farm that is there to this day, and supplied some of the first-ever consignment of frozen meat to be shipped to England. Notable? I think so. Best wishes, Andy F (talk) 23:46, 20 December 2008 (UTC)


 * PPS You might like to read this essay: Give an article a chance. Best wishes, Andy F (talk) 06:10, 21 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Thats why I didn't propose deletion - I thought it might well be notable. I tend to err on the side of caution and only speedy nominate the blatantly useless articles. Since I didn't have the time to investigate it thoroughly then and there, I put a tag on it so that others would be alerted to the need to verify its notability.


 * As an aside, I notice you 'sign' most of your mainspace edit summaries by adding ~ to them - just wanted to make sure you're aware they don't get expanded out into a signature.


 * Cheers, BlairSpeak to Me/Breathe 09:50, 21 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Hi Blair, hey thanks for the TC star - greatly appreciated :)


 * What a weird coincide that the farm at Bodbrane turned out to have NZ connections. Who knows, had you been a Norwegian editor maybe Grigg would've emigrated there - or, had he emigrated to Norway, maybe a Norwegian editor would've have spotted the stub... er, what am I talking about?


 * I intend to nip back to the other WP:Cornwall stubs (both mine and other editors') as time allows to see how they can be expanded. I honestly think that virtually all places of human habitation, however small, are notable - after all, their history goes back as far as written language in many cases and (in England at least) back to 1086 in most cases. Someone, somewhere, can dig out that history and - we hope - write it up for WP.


 * BTW, do you know why my ~ aren't rendering as my sig in mainspace? Season's greetings an' all that, best wishes Andy F (talk) 12:03, 21 December 2008 (UTC)


 * In actual edits they would, but they don't in the edit summaries (for an example, check out the history of the Bodbrane article). I'd assume this was deliberate on the part of the developers since there is only limited space in the edit summary field in the database. Besides, all contributions are linked with your account so there is no need to repeat that information in the edit summary. Its not a big deal but I wanted to draw your attention to it.


 * Have a great Christmas. BlairSpeak to Me/Breathe 01:20, 22 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Hope you have a cool yule, Blair. Best wishes, Andy F (talk) 02:02, 22 December 2008 (UTC)