User talk:Wsk

Retired Commander in the U.S. Navy with duty stations in Japan, France, and the Antarctic as well as a number of localities in the U.S.

Hi Wsk, and thanks for the work you're putting into expanding our aircraft coverage at the moment. You might like to check out WikiProject Aircraft, the effort to co-ordinate aircraft articles.

A few tips that may be helpful:


 * Names - Aircraft articles are generally named Manufacturer then Name or Model Number (as applicable, but generally only one or the other). The convention for US military types is a little different: Where there's an official name, the article should be named Designation-Name (eg F-14 Tomcat, SOC Seagull). For those without official names, the article should be named Manufacturer-Designation (eg Lockheed U-2, North American A2J). You can find a full set of the current aircraft article naming conventions here.


 * Articles should only be named after a subtype (eg Monocoupe 90A) if we already have a more general article about the type, and there's enough material for an article about that specific version.


 * Instead of creating separate articles about the same aircraft (or very minor variations) under different designations, use redirects to make the different designations point to the one central article.


 * Please take a look at WikiProject Aircraft/page content - we have a standard way to lay out the specifications and related content sections of aircraft articles. It would be really helpful if you would use this standard in your contributions, without removing or altering lines of it. If you don't have the information to fill in all the lines, please leave the line intact (units and all). Similarly, if you don't know how to do the metric conversions (or don't want to), just leave the bracketed parts intact as well for someone else to fill in.


 * Please insert the "airlistbox" at the end of the article. This is done simply by typing before saving.


 * Try to get a feel for the category system and use it for your articles - aircraft articles are classified by Nation-role-decade of first flight, eg Category:U.S. fighter aircraft 1930-1939. You can find a full description of the system here, but it's probably easier just to browse around a bit and learn by example.

Hope I haven't put you off! Please keep up the good work. Cheers, --Rlandmann 02:51, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Hi again! Thanks for putting in the time and effort to learn the system. If I haven't overstayed my welcome yet...


 * Always place aircraft only into the most specific category available: The Grumman F2F belongs in Category:U.S. fighter aircraft 1930-1939 - this category eventually branches up into all the other categories you placed the article in.


 * In the "Specifications" section, U.S. aircraft should have imperial units first (metric in brackets)


 * When you're ready, start getting a feel for the "Related content" section. The three essential lines of this are "Related development", "Comparable aircraft", and "Designation sequence". These three should be included, even if they're initially empty. Take a look at the North American A2J article as an example.


 * Placing "" as the first line of the article stops Wikipedia's software from automatically inserting a table of contents into the article (not useful and just plain ugly in articles of this length).


 * Wherever possible, try to wiki companies, powerplants, weapons, and dates. When wiki-ing dates, use 1943 rather than just 1943

Once again, I'm just nit-picking! Thanks for all your hard work! --Rlandmann 00:24, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I agree with Rlandmann - your articles are really solid, and they're expanding our coverage (and my knowledge!) of some unique prototypes. The XP-67 Bat, for example, was a delightful new find for me. I thought I'd seen most of the WWII concepts, but a new one always turns up. Anyway, thanks for your contributions!

Also, a few wikilink tips: we've got articles on a lot of engine components and aviation items and maneuvers, so something like dutch roll or turbosupercharger can be bracketed nicely. If you take dates and bracket the date and year, like this - July 72005, the wikipedia can autoformat it to a user's own date prefs (if their nation has different formats). Finally, if you'd rather not use that method, linking to (year) will send visitors to an aviation history page like this: 1943. (haha, i missed the end of rlandmann's edit.) Hope to see more of your articles! -eric &#9992; 8 July 2005 06:39 (UTC)

Aircraft specifications survey
Hi again Wsk! Even though you haven't yet listed yourself as a WikiProject Aircraft participant, you're definitely one of our key contributors at the moment. You may therefore be interested in a survey currently underway to help develop a revised version of our standard specifications section. I'd appreciate your input --Rlandmann 03:08, 18 July 2005 (UTC)

Infobox
There is a consensus discussion on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Aircraft on adopting a non-specifications summary infobox for aircraft articles. Your comments would be appreciated. Thanks! - Emt147 Burninate!  18:43, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

An exciting opportunity to get involved!
As a member of the Aviation WikiProject or one of its subprojects, you may be interested in testing your skills in the Aviation Contest! I created this contest, not to pit editor against editor, but to promote article improvement and project participation and camraderie. Hopefully you will agree with its usefulness. Sign up here, read up on the rules here, and discuss the contest here. The first round of the contest may not start until September 1st-unless a large number of editors signup and are ready to compete immediately! Since this contest is just beginning, please give feedback here, or let me know what you think on my talkpage. -  Trevor  MacInnis   contribs  06:09, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:01, 23 November 2015 (UTC)