Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Cetaceans/Merge suggestion

This page was created to discuss the Suggestion of a merge of WikiProject Cetaceans into WikiProject Mammals.  Zoo Pro  06:15, 28 December 2009 (UTC)

Oppose

 * 1) Unclear on a reason for a merge. I, for one, would not be interested in watchlisting a project page that discusses needed changes to articles about desert rats and panda bears, as interesting as those articles may be.  On the other hand, should I develop the interest, I am free to join and/or watchlist the WikiProject Mammals page.  I think a merge would be a net negative.  Neil916 (Talk) 06:21, 29 December 2009 (UTC)
 * 2) I don't see any particular reason to merge the projects. The Cetacean project has churned out a good deal of great content, and an interest in cetaceans does not guarantee an interest in mammals as a whole. This project falls under the marine life etc. projects as well as mammals. Maybe a WikiProject Marine Mammals, taking in pinnipeds and sharing a couple of mustelids would be a good idea, though this would require a good deal of changes. (Note: I'm not listed here, and I don't contribute much to cetacean articles because: 1. I live far from the sea. 2. Cetaceans are too charismatic for my tastes.) —innotata (Talk • Contribs) 20:08, 31 December 2009 (UTC)
 * 3) As above. Clayoquot (talk | contribs) 00:40, 2 January 2010 (UTC)

Neutral

 * 1) Symbol abstain vote.svg Abstain i will not take part in this vote as i suggested the merge.  Zoo Pro  06:19, 28 December 2009 (UTC)
 * 2) I'm not so sure on this one. There is a widespread of articles under this topic that could use a WikiProject.  Zoo Fari  01:36, 31 December 2009 (UTC)

Discussion
ZooPro mentioned that he has stepped in a number of times to rescue inactive projects. I'm curious as to what the effects have been. Can we expect that the cetacean articles get their share of attention from the mammal project or mainly sit there as idle as they are here.

The mammal project has nearly thirty times as many articles as the little cetacean project. It may be hard to gauge, but is it reasonable to say that it has thirty times as much activity? I guess we could try to find information on how many articles get assessed, featured, etc. every year and see if that warrants a merger.

What are te pros and contras regarding simply joining multiple projects? Is there lots of synergy from getting input from people who aren't really interested in a particular mammal sub-group, or do people just stick to their fields of direct interest and weed out discussions on unrelated topics within the project, in which case it might be wiser to try and recruit people from related projects rather than merge.

Lastly, does anyone know what were the reasons for creating WP:CETA in the first place? --Swift (talk) 12:22, 28 December 2009 (UTC)