User talk:Sj/OOK

OOK 1
Buaidh has been busy - it's nice to meet another fanatic outliner. :) That brings the total number of outlines in article space to about 450.

Four months, tops before outlines outnumber portals.

Of course the set will continue to grow. Which branch of knowledge should we tackle next?

Perhaps we should push for Main page coverage?

Need for traffic analysis
The Traffic counter is useful for monitoring page traffic on Wikipedia.

What interests me most is the difference between outline traffic and portal traffic. Use the above counter on various portals and the corresponding outlines, to see what I mean.

Is the traffic volume of portals related to the structure of their links?

Where is portal traffic coming from? Can the answer be found in "What links here"?

And what about the portal menu bar at the top of every portal page? Does that account for the huge number of hits the main portal list gets each month?

Geography WikiProject update - 03/15/2009
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:

...

OOK 2
See User talk:The Rambling Man

See WikiProject Outline of knowledge.

In an effort to sort out this mess, the indexes are being renamed, and the outlines are being reformatted and moved, or merged, into the Outline of knowledge.

Also, one topic list has been merged into its corresponding outline so far: List of transport topics was merged into Outline of transport. It turned out very good. List of cell biology topics is currently being merged into Outline of cell biology (see the link dump in hidden comments at the end of the outline).

I'm not sure how many lists have "topics" in their titles, but Google turned up 788, and these appear to include the ones that have already been renamed to indexes. Subtracting those renamed so far, there are about 500 more to go.

Watching tips
I thought you might want to compare notes on the methods we use to watch over the outlines. Here's how I keep an eye on things...

My watchlist had so many thousands of articles in it that I finally just deleted them all. Now I have it set so that I have to manually add pages to be watched, and I use it only to watch trouble spots and collaborations I'm participating in.

Because I like to watch specific sets of pages at a time, I use "Related changes" on list pages. That way the results are not watered down with edits from pages I'm not immediately concerned with.

I always use WP:POP and Related changes together. With POP installed, you go to a link list, like User:Buaidh/Country outlines of the Americas, then click on "Related changes" in the toolbox menu, and then hover the mouse cursor over the diff and hist links so you can look at those without clicking on them.

Penubag recommends Update Scanner, which is a Firefox add-on that periodically scans pages and pings you when a change is detected. You can even set its level of sensitivity for each scanned page (e.g., "ignore changes of 100 words or less").

I'd use it, but I don't have a computer. :(

See also WP:OTS for more power tools and techniques, and User:Penubag/optimum toolsets for some more nice addons, that do a variety of things.

I'm always looking for new power tools and power skills, so if you know of any, please share!

For months, I've been sitting at a terminal in one of the largest libraries in the country, and I haven't even looked around at the available resources.

Until a few days ago. I'm overwhelmed.

When compared to libraries, Wikipedia is small. (See Digest of Education Statistics 2008, Chapter 7:Libraries and Educational Technology Libraries, and turn to page 617).

Here are some outlines I just added:


 * 1) List of energy topics --> Outline of energy (it converted great)
 * 2) List of Dewey Decimal classes --> Outline of Dewey Decimal classes (no conversion)
 * 3) Library of Congress Classification --> ??? (no rename, no conversion)

The last 2 are outlines by their very nature, and so our standard outline subheadings didn't seem to fit. So I left them as is. ...not only are they outlines, but they are outlines of knowledge! Well, the top few levels, at least.

What happens if we linkify them? :)

What are the benefits of a tree structure?
The article doesn't say.

I've also asked the question at various reference desks, and these threads may help to jump start your brain on this question. :)


 * Reference desk/Science
 * Reference desk/Mathematics
 * Reference desk/Humanities
 * Reference desk/Language
 * Reference desk/Miscellaneous

What benefits have you noticed? How are Wikipedia's outlines useful to you?

OOK 3
Our AWB'ers and I have placed about '''1600 notices all over Wikipedia. And the plan is to place several thousand more'''.

This generated only one complaint, but it was a very vocal one, and attracted a few other detractors who seemed unfamiliar with the concept of hierarchical outlines and their benefits. However, just as many or more editors came to the defense of the OOK, and there was no consensus formed. But, dab is still trying to rally opposition to outlines at the Village Pump. See below...

Administrator noticeboard incident and Village Pump policy discussion
It appears that the banner placed on the talk page of the Outline of Switzerland caught the attention of an editor named Dbachmann who posted a rather forceful message on my talk page, another on WT:WPOOK, another at WP:VPP, and still another at WP:AN!

He went well out of his way to use negative hype to cause a stir.

It appears that Mr. Bachmann doesn't understand the nature of hierarchical outlines and their applications. And though he implied that he has never seen an OOK outline before, he was involved with a discussion on these when they were called "lists of basic topics".

His primary argument is that outlines are content forks of articles, and violate WP:CFORK.

But "topic lists", of which outlines are a type, have been around for almost as long as Wikipedia, and fall under the WP:LISTS and WP:STAND guidelines. They aren't intended as forks, as they are lists, bringing the benefits of lists to the corresponding subjects, such as grouping and navigation.

Someone suggested an MfD, but lists are articles, and are within the jurisdiction of AfD. Only the portal page, which merely lists the outline articles, falls within the scope of the MfD department.

The administrator's noticeboard was considered the wrong venue for the discussion, and the discussion was closed.

But Dab's discussion at the Village Pump is still active. Hopefully level heads will prevail there too.

P.S.: Another related thread has popped up at WP:VPR. --TT  04:45, 25 May 2009 (UTC)

Traffic, traffic comparison, and increasing traffic
Using Traffic, I compare the traffic of articles, their corresponding outlines, and their corresponding portals from time to time.

Outlines are starting to catch up to portals. Though the main portals, which are included in a navbar menu at the top of most portals are still way ahead of their outline counterparts.

Both outlines and portals are way behind the articles on the same subjects. Articles usually have 20 to 30 times the traffic.

Keep in mind that most outlines are orphans, with the primary link to them being Portal:Contents/Outline of knowledge.

Traffic should improve once we include links on the corresponding subject pages, including the main subject as well as subjects that correspond to subheadings (e.g., History of x, and in the case of countries: Geography of x, Demographics of x, Culture of x, etc.)

By the way, there's another traffic counter called Wikirank, but I haven't tested it out much yet, but will do so in the coming weeks.

Going for the Main Page
Once the traffic of outlines has overtaken portals, it will be time to replace portals on the Main Page, even if we need to spearhead a new main page redesign! This isn't a far-fetched idea. I was the one who jumpstarted and led the project responsible for the current main page design (until it hit critical mass and attracted other leaders), and I was also the most active editor on that project. I even created the WP:CBB on the Community Portal to promote the main page election. The second time around should be easier.

May I borrow your brain?
Hi SJ,

I've been working on WP:WPOOK again, and I need your advice.

First, starting with the following goals:


 * 1) Increase awareness of readers of the existence of the outlines on Wikipedia
 * 2) Complete the existing outlines
 * 3) Create an outline for every subject that is extensive enough to benefit from having an outline (core subjects and major or extensive fields).  There are thousands of these.
 * 4) Recruit as many editors to work on these as possible (we need thousands of editors working on these)
 * 5) Surpass portals in number by the end of the summer, and leave them in the dust by the end of the year
 * 6) Get the major outline subject areas displayed on the Main Page (in place of or in addition to the portal links at the top of the page)
 * 7) Increase the OOK to higher quality than Britannica's Outline of Knowledge (published in its Propaedia volume).

I'm very interested in your comments on how to achieve these goals.

Also I'm interested in every possible way of reaching readers and editors of Wikipedia. How can I get the most eyes and typing fingers on Wikipedia's outlines? Contacting editors directly without a reason relevant to them is spam, which I'd like to avoid. There are 75,000 regular editors on Wikipedia, and I want to contact all of them. But how do I do it?

Directly or indirectly, I don't care which, piecemeal or all-at-once, all methods are fine with me. But I've got to find ways. I need your advice.

I would also like to know how to find or attract editors to create new outlines. And I need advice on finding editors to help write the new outline article mentioned above (it needs to be fleshed out, completely referenced, and brought to featured article status).

Please recommend anyone you know who might be interested in sinking their teeth into a project like this. Or ways to reach groups of editors. Or ways to reach all editors. I welcome any and all recommendations and advice you might have.

And any thoughts on attaining the WikiProject goals above.

I look forward to your reply on my talk page.

The Transhumanist 04:02, 1 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Sounds like a great project, one worthy of concerted outreach. Let me get back to you next week; this is a busy weekend, and we have a lot of outreach around the licensing update to attend to as well!  +sj +  18:44, 2 June 2009 (UTC)

Big problem: ignorance of what outlines are for and their benefits
Most of the opposition seems to be unaware of the complete range of what outlines are used for. They just don't get it.

This is why it is important to complete the outline article draft. An article with a comprehensive treatment of outlines would be the perfect place to refer anybody unfamiliar with outlines to.

Opposers also don't seem to understand how outlines differ from some other page type that they prefer. Some think articles are good enough as an overview, others think portals are more in-depth, still others think categories or navigation boxes are the most efficient and useful way to organize and present topical information. Some have simply never seen an "Outline of" page before and think they are a new type of page (they've been around under other names since 2001).

If you run across anyone who doesn't understand the role of outlines on Wikipedia, Why do we have outlines in addition to...? might help reduce their misconceptions or uncertainties about outlines.

On the bright side, you've got to see this...
To add the outlines and related support pages to your watchlist (takes less than 30 seconds), cut and paste them from WikiProject Outline of knowledge/Watchlist into your raw watchlist. For a way to improve the display of your watchlist - by namespace (very useful) - see Watchlist sorter, or use the "super fast upgrade" at WP:OTS.

Or go to WikiProject Outline of knowledge/Watchlist using Related changes (currently without the talk pages) and click on "Related changes" in the toolbox menu on the sidebar on the left side of your screen.

The big push started with about a thousand banners and notices being placed on article talk pages all over Wikipedia.

But it didn't stop there...

The following Wikipedians have joined the OOK team.

Be sure to stop by their talk pages and introduce yourselves.


 * Tarheel95 - going after the Main Page.
 * Vivio Testarossa / Feinoha - here to help.
 * Burningview - made a splash at MfD with WikiProject Outline of knowledge/Drafts/Outline of British Columbia (see the talk page for the MfD link - lots of support there).

I asked a bunch of mentors at WP:ADOPT for advice. Several of them answered on my talk page. Most of those who replied were happy to help, and posted some very good ideas. A couple even joined the project.

Here are their ideas, and what is being done about them. A few of the tasks still need volunteers:


 * Strdst grl: Create and place project banners - already ✅
 * Strdst grl & The Earwig: put an animated ad for the project in WP:BANNER - Our graphics specialist Penubag is looking into it.
 * Strdst grl: Create a userbox for the project - assigned to Penubag.
 * Garden: Ask to have outlines added to next year's WikiCup competition - ✅ (proposal posted)
 * Tarheel95: Add a link to Portal:Contents/Outline of knowledge to the Main Page - Tarheel95 is taking on the creation of the proposal
 * SriMesh: Create an outreach subpage to WPOOK - ✅ (invitation coming soon, see below)
 * SriMesh: (Create a newsletter archive subpage) - ✅
 * SriMesh: Add a feed to AlexNewArtBot to gather links to new outlines and post them on a page. Then personally invite new creators to the project. - who wants to tackle the feed?
 * SriMesh: Assign someone to monitor the outlines via watchlist, and invite new outline editors to the project - any volunteers?
 * Related: Create an invitation - Penubag is working on it.
 * SriMesh: Create Template:Expand outline similar to Template:Expand list, which adds each outline it is posted on to Category:Incomplete outlines, where editors (who are browsing the categories) can find them and work on them - to be assigned
 * SriMesh: Add the above template to incomplete outlines - upcoming AWB task
 * The Earwig: "Tell your wikifriends about it" - I've told mine, have you told yours?
 * The Earwig: "Collaborate with other WikiProjects" - we've been doing this from the start (each outline is associated with at least one other WikiProject).
 * : move the projected outline to a subpage of WP:WPOOK - ✅

Linking to outlines has begun
To the tops of about 30 subject articles, I placed a test batch of hatnotes leading to the corresponding outlines. The hatnotes look like this:


 * For a topical guide to this subject, see Outline of X.(Hidden: <!- PLEASE LEAVE THIS LINE IN PLACE because it leads to the page that serves as the table of contents for Wikipedia's overall coverage of this subject. Thank you.-->

The rationale for the hatnotes is that each outline is a topical guide for its subject, and since tables of contents go at the front of a book, a link to each outline should be placed at the front of its subject.

Unfortunately, not all editors agree. Some of the hatnotes have already disappeared. :(

Some past discussions pertaining to the existence or location of outlines
Note that the "Lists of topics" are of two types, including outlines and indexes, so discussions to remove, move, or merge those are usually relevant to the OOK. Also, outlines are a type of list, so discussions that affect lists in general also pertain to outlines. We've got to be on our toes!


 * Move navigational lists to portal namespace
 * Articles for deletion/Outline of Islamic and Muslim related topics
 * Articles for deletion/Outline of South Africa
 * Articles for deletion/List of basic visual arts and design topics
 * Articles for deletion/List of basic mining topics
 * Articles for deletion/List of basic management topics
 * Articles for deletion/List of basic industrial topics
 * Articles for deletion/List of basic computer science topics
 * Articles for deletion/List of basic Canada topics
 * User talk:The Transhumanist/Archive 21
 * Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:WikiProject Outline of knowledge/Drafts/Outline of British Columbia
 * Talk:Switzerland
 * Outline of science converted to redirect by Dbachmann
 * Village pump (policy)/Archive 64
 * Administrators' noticeboard/Archive193
 * Village pump (proposals)/Archive 47

I've excluded links to live discussions, out of respect for WP:CANVASS.

Table of contents to OOK-related stuff
Here's a directory of outline support pages:


 * Portal:Contents/Outline of knowledge
 * Lists
 * WP:CLN
 * Stand-alone lists
 * Outlines
 * Why do we have outlines in addition to...?
 * Comparison of Wikipedia's and Britannica's outlines of knowledge
 * WP:WPOOK
 * WikiProject Outline of knowledge/Projected outline

Keep up the great work!

Thank you to those who suggested WPOOK have an animated advert banner. Penubag got working on it right away. Here's what he's come up with so far:



Penubag needs feedback.

I've posted a few changes for him to make to it.

Please post additional comments and suggestions for him at User talk:Penubag.

Thank you.

The banner prominently presents the "Outline of chocolate", which of course will become the most widely advertised outline as soon as the banner goes live. The first thing many editors will do after seeing the banner is look for that outline.

The problem is, we don't have one.

So that's our first outline collaboration!

I started a draft this morning.

It needs to be finished and moved to the article namespace before we can start using Penubag's banner ad!

Come join in on the fun. It's chocolate!

WPOOK's advert banner has gone live!
Penubag has finished this WikiProject's animated advert banner, and it is now being displayed on the Wikipedia ads template which in turn is displayed on about 2000 user pages. Each time someone access one of those pages, there is a 1 in 184 chance of them viewing this:

If you'd like to display the banner on your userpage locked-on to the ad as above, use the following code:

 

(By the way, it's been awhile since we've barnstarred Penubag).

Watchers needed!
If you haven't already, please add the entire project's watchlist to your watchlist. Here's how:


 * From the edit window, copy and paste WikiProject Outline of knowledge/Watchlist into your raw watchlist.


 * Or go to WikiProject Outline of knowledge/Watchlist using Related changes and click on "Related changes" in the toolbox menu in Wikipedia's sidebar on the left hand side of the screen.

The OOK is in 5 other Wikipedias?
I can't make heads or tails of 'em, but these links were on Portal:Contents/Outline of knowledge:


 * ar:ويكيبيديا:مواضيع أساسية
 * fa:پورتال:فهرست موضوعات پایه
 * pl:Przegląd dziedzin wiedzy
 * pt:Portal:Conteúdo/Esboço do conhecimento
 * zh-yue:基礎課題表清單

Resurrected from the grave yard...
I discovered an AfD discussion on possibly the first article named "Outline of", which was called Outline of Islamic and Muslim related topics, and which was created 4 years ago. Of course they deleted it. But now it has many friends, and so it has risen from the dead. :)

See the DRV discussion at Deletion review/Log/2009 June 7.


 * When G716 found the page "Learn" tucked away as a subpage of the Probability WikiProject, he thought "This deserves to be in the article space", and moved it to the encyclopedia. See Outline of probability.

Recruiters needed. Drop me a note if you are interested.

Advice from the mentors

 * Astatine-210, Strdst grl, and Willscrlt - link to the outlines from the corresponding subject articles' see also sections - this is underway by MacMed (non-country outlines) and User talk:NuclearWarfare (counry outlines).
 * Astatine-210 - add a link to the outlines to the disambiguation pages of the corresponding subjects - good idea. Since "Outline" is just the type of page, not the subject, I think these might qualify for inclusion on disambiguation pages. We need someone to look into the relevant guidelines on this.
 * SimonTrew - provide a badge (userbox) for WPOOK members to add to their user pages - Penubag will have one for us soon.
 * Zachary crimsonwolf - create a card explaining outlines, and send it to everyone you know, and make it viral (by including a request for the recipients to send the card to everyone they know) - this task has been split in three:
 * Creation of a "thank you for your interest" card which introduces (explains) outlines, to send to queriers, new participants to discussions, those who seem to be confused about outlines, etc.
 * Creation of a thank you card / invitation to the WPOOK, to send to users we see working on outlines, including a request for them to invite others whom they think might be interested


 * weebiloobil - contact Wikignomes - OK...
 * 3. Creation of an invitation to Wikignomes, with a brief rundown on the types of tasks there are for them to do on the outlines. The invitation will include a request for them to invite anyone they think would enjoy working on outlines.


 * weebiloobil - add examples to Outlines - more examples will be added as suitable outlines are completed
 * weebiloobil - add a picture to Outlines (it doesn't have to be relevant), to provide atmosphere and to break it up visually and add a splash of color - will do, and we'll add a caption to make it relevant, with a link to the outline on that subject. Thank you for the idea.
 * Zachary crimsonwolf - ask Jimbo Wales to bestow the award(s) for the country outlines contest, once you get it going first - we'll give that a try
 * Zachary crimsonwolf - ask everyone in the project to inform their acquaintances around Wikipedia about the OOK - will do, as soon as the cards
 * UzEE - collaborate with all the WikiProjects you share scope with - we've placed a banner on their talk pages, and have placed task notices on some. We'll be posting more tasks, and plan to create a section on contents system development and maintenance for each WikiProject page itself.
 * SriMesh - if you can't get outlines added to next year's WikiCup, then create your own WikiCup-like contest - there's 6 months left to this year to address reservations and work out the details at WikiCup. In the meantime, there's the 200-WikiProject contest, which needs input.

More outline tasks

 * WikiProject Outline of knowledge/Drafts/Outline of chocolate draft - our current outline collaboration!
 * Outline of psychology - someone moved a big chunk of this article to the talk page, leaving a big gap in the outline. Editors are needed to add subheadings and links.
 * See also links - add (where "x" is the subject) to the see also section of the corresponding subject article of each outline

New outlines in article space

 * Outline of sharks - under construction in article space
 * Outline of Hinduism (converted from "List of Hinduism-related topics")

New outline drafts

 * Outline of chocolate
 * Outline of Christianity

Main discussion pages

 * Wikipedia talk:Outlines
 * Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Outline of knowledge
 * Portal talk:Contents/Outline of knowledge

I'm impressed with the level of enthusiasm and work going into the outlines. I'm proud to be working with each of you.

Outline collaboration #2: Outline of Gibraltar
This outline is approaching completion.

I added a bunch more links, finding them with the following Google site-specific searches of Wikipedia:
 * "of" and "Gibraltar"


 * "in" and "Gibraltar"


 * "for" and "Gibraltar"


 * with "Gibraltar" not at the end

(You can use the wikicode for the links above as the basis for new searches - just replace "Gibraltar" with any other country or region name).

P.S.: on an unrelated matter, where should the Outline of chocolate be placed on the OOK? -TT

Outline update - Push push push - 06/25/2009
Work is proceeding apace...


 * Julian is working on getting a bot account (and he delivered this update as his trial run).
 * Penubag is working on the Project page and upcoming contest.
 * Buaidh is developing all of the U.S. state historical outlines.
 * Tarheel95 is writing a proposal to add a link to the Main Page leading to the the OOK.
 * Highfields is integrating the OOK into the encyclopedia by deorphanizing outlines by placing a main link in the see also section of the subject articles that have a corresponding outline.
 * I've been trying to keep up with them. :)


 * New members


 * Minnecologies - developing Outline of forestry and is watching the big picture.
 * Mnation2 - improving Outline of Lebanon


 * Hatnotes

The current consensus is that we can't place a hatnote leading to an outline at the top of a subject articles unless the outline being presented is of at least the same quality-level as the article.

Place hatnotes for the outlines of high enough quality.

Guidelines pertaining to outlines need to be updated. Outlines emerged as a class of pages only a few months ago, and most of the relevant guidelines don't cover them specifically. For example, Stand-alone lists is incredibly out of date.

Invite wikignomes, wikielves, and wikifairies (all 2500+ of them) to help on the outlines.

Identify 600 more subjects with coverage extensive enough to justify outlines, create rudimentary drafts for them, and post notices to the corresponding WikiProjects and subject talk pages to help build them.

Request for feedback
Minnecologies has done an incredible amount of work on Outline of forestry and posted a note to me on my talk page requesting feedback.

I've posted my observations at Talk:Outline of forestry.

Please take a look at the outline and let Minnecologies know what you think of it on the outline's talk page.

Thank you.

The Transhumanist 19:37, 29 June 2009 (UTC) Delivered by JCbot (talk) at 20:16, 29 June 2009 (UTC).

What is fiction?
Is this section accurate? Is it complete? Please take a quick look. Thank you. The Transhumanist 00:07, 14 January 2012 (UTC)