User talk:Colinvlr

Schoemansville, and your talk page
Hi Colinvlr. I saw your note on the South Africa project page. Three things: But I hope that helps somewhat. If I can help with anything else you can drop me a note here or on my talk page. 9Nak (talk) 22:40, 8 January 2009 (UTC)
 * This talk page was redirected to the talk page for the Liliesleaf Farm entry you created. Normally it is a no-no to mess with the talk page of another user in this way, but I assume that it was an accident and I have removed the redirect. Also, with the redirect in place there is no easy way to communicate directly with you. My sincere apologies if the redirect was intentional.
 * Your user page is also (still) redirected, to the main article page for Liliesleaf. If you wish to change that you can edit it by using this link.
 * According to http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol031vs.html Schoemansville was named for General Hendrik Schoeman. That source should meet Wikipedia guidelines and can be cited in an article. But from reading it (and a couple of other random Google hits) it seems things are somewhat complicated. Schoemansville is still a suburb of Hartebeespoortdam (the town), and may also be the name of the district. The name indicates that there was once a town called Schoemansville (just judging on the -ville), but I'm not sure that is the exact same place as Hartebeespoortdam. And I can't immediately find a source to confirm the history.

Thanks for the feedback.


 * As to redirects, I haven't learnt anything about them yet, so anything that happened that shouldn't was an accident. I've deleted the 'redirect' line from my user page. (The link you gave me doesn't work because the Editor insists that I log in using the secure log on. )

Colinvlr (talk) 15:00, 9 January 2009 (UTC)
 * The town these days is known only as Hartbeespoort. (Note the spelling - Afr.) It was previously known as Schoemansville for many many years, and I'm sure you're right - it was named after Gen. Hendrik Schoeman. BUT it needs verifying. The point you make about the town name and the 'suburb' name is well made. Next time I'm in Brits, which is the town of the Madibeng Municipality, I'll call in and get some verifiable facts.

Help
Re Butea, the indian Flame tree, How do I put a second reference to the DV Cowen book with the 'Other names' heading without it becoming another item in the references? I just looked at the FAQs, and I suspect that as the article is very short, I shouldn't bother. Also the DV Cowen book has 140 pages of very detailed information about that many species. Is it worth embarking on a mini-project to expand ALL the items ??? (And I'm not a botanist, I just happen to be her niece's husband, with a copy of her book.)Colinvlr (talk) 09:21, 10 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Hiya. In order: if you're using something as a reference, it should be added to the reflist, doesn't matter whether it's short or not. As long as it's a reliable source, you're good to go. It's always worth adding more encyclopedic information to the project. Beware of conflicts of interest when doing so. // roux   10:07, 10 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Sorry - I'm not making myself clear. The Butea article was very short to start with. I added info from the DV Cowen book in two places, the most significant being the list of other names, and also added the book as a reference.  But the first reference to the book is earlier in the text, so the ref pointer #1 appears there. I was just concerned to indicate that the list of other names also came from the book, but couldn't work out how to do that without causing a second reference item to be created as #2.


 * I agree that it's always worth adding more encyclopedic information to the project - it's just that it's not an area of particular interest to me.  I did the changes to the Butea article more as a test than as the beginning of an extended project.  Maybe there is someone in a/the(?) Plants Project ....???? BUT if they don't have the book .....

Colinvlr (talk) 13:00, 10 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. What you need to learn about is reference names. Okay. So when you put in a ref, you usually use . If you want to use the same reference (which means an identical copy; if the ref text is "Foo, 1" this method will link all references and use "Foo, 1"), you use ref names. So. The first time the DV Cowen book is used, you want to change alone) . Then, when you want to reference the exact same thing again later in the text, you just need to put in (the slash is essential). This will show in the reflist as, e.g., 1a b. If, however, you are referencing different parts of the work, it makes sense to use Harvard referencing; in the References section use the cite book template in a bullet point (and don't use for it there), and when you are referencing the text use or similar to indicate which pages of the work you are citing. WP:CITE will help you a lot with this. Cheers. // roux   13:28, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

WikiProject South Africa
I have recently overhauled WikiProject South Africa with the following:
 * Improving collaboration of participants by adding an Open tasks section with specific as well as common tasks
 * Added link to the CatScan tool to find articles needing cleanup, referencing and expanding
 * Added common tasks that should be performed on Portal:South Africa
 * Added information on how to add Geographical coordinates
 * Added articles missing Images
 * Added assessment information
 * Improving the layout to make access to information easier
 * Added simple "How can I help?" instructions for new project members
 * Extended the Resources section to assist participants in finding South Africa related information
 * Added bot generated Article alerts
 * Added a bot generated Cleanup listing
 * Added more information on template usage
 * Added a section on language usage
 * Improved the categories section with trees for category:South Africa Wikipedia administration and category:South Africa
 * Added link to Wikipedia Books
 * Marked inactive sections of the project as inactive

Comments, constructive criticism and suggestions for improving it further are welcome --NJR_ZA (talk) 07:22, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Stellenbosch to bid for Wikimania 2012!
Hi Colin!

The nascent South African Wikimedia chapter has decided to bid to host Wikimania in Stellenbosch, South Africa in 2012. This would be the first Wikimania in South Africa, and would be a great advertisement for our country. Please take a look at meta:Wikimania_2012/Bids/Stellenbosch. If you can add to the discussion, please do. If you feel that you are able to do anything to help, please join the Wikimedia South Africa mailing list and let us know. Even simple messages of support are valued!

Best regards,

David Richfield

Wiki Loves Monuments in South Africa
Dear WikiProject South Africa Wikipedians

This is an urgent call from Wikimedia South Africa. We are currently working hard on the South African side of the exciting international photographic competition, Wiki Loves Monuments. We have been planning to make this national competition really take off, but to do so, we need your help! The competition starts on the 1st September, and we need your help now! If you are interested in being part of or can help the Wiki Loves Monuments national organising team, then please join here [ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2012_in_South_Africa]. If you have limited time, but want to help out at an upload marathon at a heritage site near you, please then contact either Lourie [louriepieterse@yahoo.com] or Isla [islahf@africacentre.net]. We look forward to hearing from you!"

Kind regards, Lourie

Sent by Lucia Bot in 13:57, 4 August 2012 (UTC)