Wikipedia:New Zealand Wikipedians' notice board/Archive 24

Archive for July to December 2017

Archaeology Categories on Commons
Hi all, I've uploaded a bunch of images from the Auckland collection onto WikiCommons and am attempting to find appropriate categories to place the photos into. In my mind the images (found here:https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Images_from_Auckland_Museum ) fall into New Zealand archaeology and/or Maori culture categories but there isn't a lot of diversity or choice in the categories that are already there. Before I barge on in and start making new categories I was wondering if anyone would take a look and see if they can find suitable categories that match the images? Susan Tol (talk) 05:05, 10 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Its straightforward if not simple. Go look at how its done for major equivalent institutions (Victoria & Albert? Smithsonian? museums in Australia? Canada?) well, in other countries, and do what you want to do but follow their example. (because your new categories (should) end up in a worldwide category with all the equivalent stuff of the other museums) The Commons categorising is much more sophisticated than it might at first appear. If it doesn't seem to make sense ask for advice at Commons:Village_pump but if that doesn't help just making rational decisions by yourself — which you were going to do anyway :) — means they can be re-categorised easily later if anyone is fussed. And they won't be "Uncategorised".


 * Thanks a lot, those were really good examples to work from. The categories did seem quite basic at first so I kind of knew I was missing something which you have now shown me! Susan Tol (talk) 22:00, 10 July 2017 (UTC)

Women in Science Edit-a-thon in Wellington, Sunday 6 August
Ambrosia10 and I are organising a Women in Science Wikipedia workshop, hosted by the Royal Society Te Apārangi. It's an all-day free event on Sunday August 6th, at the Royal Society of NZ building, 11 Turnbull St, Wellington. We're running ticketing through Eventbrite, and there'll be free lunch and childcare funded by Rebecca Priestley at Victoria University of Wellington. So far a dozen people have signed up. Most are newcomers to Wikipedia, so it would be great if any Wellington editors were able to attend, even just to drop in and help troubleshoot. Anyone able to help remotely would also be very welcome, especially with cleaning up references and helping establish notability of any new articles. The project page for the workshop has more details and a link for registration; feel free to leave comments or suggestions on its Talk page. Giantflightlessbirds (talk) 09:49, 19 July 2017 (UTC)
 * @Giantflightlessbirds. I should be able to make it, though I fly back from a ski trip early Sunday morning, so I might be in a little later in the day. I should be pretty useful as my main area of expertise is New Page Patrol, so I know all the stuff to look out for in new articles and can review any new articles we write straight away. I am currently working on getting the Treaty of Waitangi up to Good Article status. —  InsertCleverPhraseHere  10:28, 23 July 2017 (UTC)
 * That sounds great – thanks so much. We have 30 enrolled so far, so we're likely to sell out. Again, even if someone can't make it in person your long-distance assistance over the afternoon would be greatly appreciated, as we want to make this a good experience for newbies and help them make useful edits. Giantflightlessbirds (talk) 04:38, 31 July 2017 (UTC)

Just to report on how things went: there were 35 people at the workshop, including two organisers and four experienced editors who helped newcomers. The majority of those attending were complete beginners, never having edited Wikipedia before. Workshop participants made 1144 edits, created 22 new biographies of women in science, and substantially improved 15 other articles. When surveyed, almost all participants said they would be "more" or "much more" likely to keep editing, and 25 out of 28 said they now have a "more positive" feeling towards Wikipedia. All 28 surveyed said they would definitely come to another workshop, and 21 said they would also be interested in being part of regular informal editing meetups. A typical comment: I knew nothing about Wikipedia before so found this workshop fascinating – both for learning technical skills but also the "history" of Wikipedia, how much voluntary work goes into it, how to address bias. A great day, and very motivating, thank you. Thank you especially,, , , , and we couldn't have done it without your hard work and assistance. Several attendees commented on how great it was to have "helpful knowledgeable 'roving experts' on hand". Giantflightlessbirds (talk) 10:42, 7 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Congratulations to all the organisers and supporters, sounds like a very successful event!! MurielMary (talk) 10:40, 28 August 2017 (UTC)

Treaty of Waitangi Good Article candidate
I've been working on improving the sourcing of Treaty of Waitangi and was hoping that someone who has some experience with good article review from wikiproject NZ could help me by reviewing the article. As you may or may not know, it is a top importance article and very important to get it up to scratch, so I am really looking for a good amount of constructive criticism and ideas for further improvement. Ideally it would be good to get this up to FA status eventually. —  InsertCleverPhraseHere  04:29, 7 August 2017 (UTC)

Arctocephalus forsteri requested move discussion
I've set up a RM discussion on the talk page for what you may know as New Zealand fur seal. Some controversy about whether to use scientific name or use common name. Please feel free to comment.....Pvmoutside (talk) 13:46, 17 August 2017 (UTC)

NZ Insects Edit-a-thon, Auckland, Sunday 3 September
Another edit-a-thon! With the support of the University of Auckland, I'll be helping run an all-day editing workshop centred on the 52 species depicted on the Insects of New Zealand playing cards. It'll be 10:00 am – 4:00 pm NZST on the Tāmaki campus, free to attend, with lunch and refreshments supplied. We have 7 signed up so far, mostly postgraduate students new to Wikipedia; and  have both indicated they'll be coming along. If anybody else wants to join in please go to the #NZInsectCards project page for more details and to register. Please share this with users in the Auckland area, or Wikiprojects that might be interested in joining in remotely. Giantflightlessbirds (talk) 03:37, 19 August 2017 (UTC)

Hamilton Urban Area
This virtually unreferenced article seems to refer to a self made area by its author. I can't find anything to support it. Before I nominate it for Afd, does anyone know if it is common use. NealeFamily (talk) 04:16, 22 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Urban areas are usually defined by Statistics New Zealand.  Schwede 66  05:13, 22 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Thanks Schwede66 - I took a look at the Stats NZ website. The urban areas they discuss are experimental at the moment - see http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/Maps_and_geography/Geographic-areas/urban-rural-profile.aspx which provides their background. I don't think that the entry in Wikipedia is relevant, as it appears to be generated by the articles author rather than the Stats data. Waikato Region and Hamilton City more than adequately cover the topic. NealeFamily (talk) 23:32, 22 August 2017 (UTC)

Women in Red project is focusing on NZ in September
Just a heads-up that the WikiProject Women in Red, which aims to create new biographies on women, is focusing on Women from New Zealand in September. The project page is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Women_in_Red/Meetup/56 There will probably (and hopefully!) be increased activity on NZ women's biographies in this month as it's a global project with many prolific editors involved. MurielMary (talk) 10:44, 28 August 2017 (UTC)
 * I'll be tackling red links in the Summer Olympics templates. Having just checked, the oldest red links are in Template:1956 New Zealand Olympic team, so I'll go from there.  Schwede 66  20:05, 28 August 2017 (UTC)

Nomination of Howard Leslie Elliott for deletion
A discussion is taking place as to whether the article Howard Leslie Elliott is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Articles for deletion/Howard Leslie Elliott until a consensus is reached, and anyone is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by BSOleader (talk • contribs) 00:27, 13 September 2017 (UTC)

E tū union
Hello, I've made an article for the trade union E tū. Can someone help me make a WikiData item for it? Thanks. — Hugh 21:50, 25 September 2017 (UTC)
 * What are you trying to achieve by that?  Schwede 66  04:58, 26 September 2017 (UTC)
 * In making the article? Or in making a wikidata item? — Hugh 22:34, 27 September 2017 (UTC)

Changing linked instances of "Waitemata Harbour" to correct spelling ("Waitematā Harbour")
I've moved the article that was at Waitemata Harbour to Waitematā Harbour, because that's the correct spelling. Is there some way to systematically convert (using a bot, say) all instances of the old spelling that link to the old page to use the new spelling, with the ? I realise the links have continued to work because of the redirect resulting from the move, but it would be good to change the spelling, I think. Thanks. — Hugh 22:40, 27 September 2017 (UTC)


 * Is it the correct spelling, for this English language article? Roger 8 Roger (talk) 23:40, 27 September 2017 (UTC)
 * Yes; Waitematā has never been an English word. — Hugh 00:49, 28 September 2017 (UTC)
 * I support the spelling change. If there's consensus, I'd be happy to do an AWB run.  Schwede 66  23:49, 27 September 2017 (UTC)
 * Thank you! — Hugh 00:49, 28 September 2017 (UTC)
 * I don't know what exactly qualifies as consensus around here, but would you be able to do this work now through AWB, do you think? — Hugh 01:19, 16 October 2017 (UTC)
 * ✅  Schwede 66  19:48, 20 October 2017 (UTC)
 * But that is my point - it is not an English word, as evidenced in the use of the final non-English, letter. The English word would have a standard 'e' at the end. Because this is an English, not Maori, article, shouldn't we use the English spelling. It seems that your proposed change is not about different spellings, but rather about different languages. Roger 8 Roger (talk) 01:22, 28 September 2017 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure you understand: there is no "English spelling" of the Māori place name/word "Waitematā". — Hugh 01:31, 28 September 2017 (UTC)


 * A standard 'e' at the end?? Haha that's laughable. For the record, "Waitemata" is the English spelling, since the Māori had no written language and the placenames were written down by English missionaries in the 1800–1830 period. What's being confused here is the spelling and the pronunciation. "Waitematā" indicates that the emphasis comes on the last 'a' (as an ahhh sound), with the three preceding syllables pronounced quickly. It's not a spelling variation, it's an attempt at correct pronunciation. Akld guy (talk) 01:58, 28 September 2017 (UTC)


 * I remember seeing an item on Newshub during the last fortnight. It was about the NZ Transport Agency and Auckland Transport having different approaches to macrons. If I remember correctly, whilst the Agency is including macrons on their destination signs when they update them, AT has yet to make a policy decision on macrons. There is a process happening with New Zealand English to slowly adopt macrons as the correct spelling / pronunciation help, with different agencies and members of the public moving a various paces. The New Zealand English article doesn't reflect that process yet (in case somebody is inclined to add something). What Hugh is suggesting here is simply part of that wider process. My observation is that there's been a flood a macrons that has hit NZ articles over the last few years. It's hard to say whether WP is a bit ahead of what we define as common names or not, but the overall change is something that will happen at some point anyway.  Schwede 66  02:39, 28 September 2017 (UTC)


 * Thanks. I think WP:Māori should make macrons a priority. I would be happy to help if I can. Do you know anyone else who might be interested? — Hugh 22:44, 1 October 2017 (UTC)


 * In the matter of place names (and other loan-words from te reo Māori), macrons on long vowels are specifically included in the NZ English alphabet. See for example Australian / New Zealand standard 4819:2011, sections 3.5.6 and 4.7.7. Daveosaurus (talk) 04:27, 28 September 2017 (UTC)

In case anybody has not seen this recent article, it might be worth a quick read. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/96578644/why-stuff-is-introducing-macrons-for-te-reo-maori-words Roger 8 Roger (talk) 00:49, 29 September 2017 (UTC)

This article seems to imply (although not clearly) that the relevant word is written in te reo, not in English with a new spelling. The fact that the word is usually the same in both languages (except for a macron) means there will be no problem understanding it, and which would explain why it is often assumed to be written in English. If, as Schwede66 says, that the word, with a macron, is actually an adaptation of English, then this has significant implications. It will mean that English in NZ is developing at a rapid rate compared to other dialects. I know of no other variety of English where new letters or symbols have been added. If this is what is happening I think there is great scope fora major overhaul of the NZ English article, which focuses on fairly unimportant nuances. Roger 8 Roger (talk) 02:00, 29 September 2017 (UTC)

AFD notification

 * I have opened Articles for deletion/Tawhai Hill, which is a multi-article nomination that includes Pūkio Stream, Kānuka Hills and Tawhai Hill.--TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 01:47, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

Interesting source for articles to write
Kia ora, I recently discovered a crowdsourced google list of inspirational NZ women, I think it was created to help people find women to have on discussion panels etc as they are so often men-only (or men-heavy). Anyway, there are over 725 names on it and quite a few seem notable enough for a WP article ..... if anyone is looking for any more articles to create! All the best.
 * https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rflLR0PZzvn0L1pvM8-7RtZ3RLsQ5Sb414oR5kzOdGM/edit#gid=0
 * MurielMary (talk) 08:29, 15 October 2017 (UTC)


 * From a quick perusal down the list, I see that the following already have articles: Ali Mau, Carol Hirschfeld, Hilary Barry, Mai Chen. These are ones that I recognise and there may be others with articles. If anyone is interested in media personalities, List of New Zealand television personalities contains some red links. Akld guy (talk) 10:17, 15 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Yes some already have articles. I've written articles for two women off that list so far - Shabnam Shiwan and Vanisa Dhiru. MurielMary (talk) 19:24, 15 October 2017 (UTC)

I have the inclination but not the time to do this. Anyone else?
Margaret Reardon was the only woman ever sentenced to transportation from New Zealand, to Tasmania for seven years in 1848. I haven't the time to do this article justice, but someone else might be prepared. Also of interest is that her partner was the first pakeha judicially executed in NZ. More details at http://www.eoe.convictwomenspress.com.au/index.php/biographical-dictionary/22-r/144-reardon-margaret and https://www.victoria.ac.nz/law/nzlostcases/R_v_Reardon.pdf  Moriori (talk) 22:56, 7 November 2017 (UTC)

Disambiguation links on pages tagged by this wikiproject
Wikipedia has many thousands of wikilinks which point to disambiguation pages. It would be useful to readers if these links directed them to the specific pages of interest, rather than making them search through a list. Members of WikiProject Disambiguation have been working on this and the total number is now below 20,000 for the first time. Some of these links require specialist knowledge of the topics concerned and therefore it would be great if you could help in your area of expertise.

A list of the relevant links on pages which fall within the remit of this wikiproject can be found at http://69.142.160.183/~dispenser/cgi-bin/topic_points.py?banner=WikiProject_New_Zealand

Please take a few minutes to help make these more useful to our readers.&mdash; Rod talk 17:42, 3 December 2017 (UTC)

Archive of historic maps
Hi all... Not sure if people know about this or not... I only just found out about it myself. The Auckland University have a substantial collection of good quality images of historic Lands and Survey / NZMS / LINZ etc. maps up on the internet. Index to the NZMS set here and to the project itself here. You have to know the series and sheet numbers to navigate around - e.g. NZMS 1 are the old inch-to-a-mile topo maps. I'm not sure if their licence type is compatible with Wikipedia, but as sources to demonstrate the existence of places at particular points in time I reckon they'd be useful. Cheers. Daveosaurus (talk) 06:23, 7 December 2017 (UTC)
 * That's a great resource. Thanks for the link.- gadfium 08:07, 7 December 2017 (UTC)

A-Class review for Lawrence Weathers needs attention
A few more editors are needed to complete the A-Class review for Lawrence Weathers; please stop by and help review the article! Thanks! AustralianRupert (talk) 08:12, 30 December 2017 (UTC)