Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Michigan/Archive 4

Coordinators' working group
Hi! I'd like to draw your attention to the new WikiProject coordinators' working group, an effort to bring both official and unofficial WikiProject coordinators together so that the projects can more easily develop consensus and collaborate. This group has been created after discussion regarding possible changes to the A-Class review system, and that may be one of the first things discussed by interested coordinators.

All designated project coordinators are invited to join this working group. If your project hasn't formally designated any editors as coordinators, but you are someone who regularly deals with coordination tasks in the project, please feel free to join as well. &mdash; Delievered by §hepBot  ( Disable )  on behalf of the WikiProject coordinators' working group at 05:59, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

Article alerts
This is a notice to let you know about Article alerts, a fully-automated subscription-based news delivery system designed to notify WikiProjects and Taskforces when articles are entering Articles for deletion, Requests for comment, Peer review and other workflows (full list). The reports are updated on a daily basis, and provide brief summaries of what happened, with relevant links to discussion or results when possible. A certain degree of customization is available; WikiProjects and Taskforces can choose which workflows to include, have individual reports generated for each workflow, have deletion discussion transcluded on the reports, and so on. An example of a customized report can be found here.

If you are already subscribed to Article Alerts, it is now easier to report bugs and request new features. We are also in the process of implementing a "news system", which would let projects know about ongoing discussions on a wikipedia-wide level, and other things of interest. The developers also note that some subscribing WikiProjects and Taskforces use the  parameter, but forget to give a link to their alert page. Your alert page should be located at "Wikipedia:PROJECT-OR-TASKFORCE-HOMEPAGE/Article alerts". Questions and feedback should be left at Wikipedia talk:Article alerts.

Message sent by User:Addbot to all active wiki projects per request, Comments on the message and bot are welcome here.

Thanks. — Headbomb {{{sup|ταλκ}}κοντριβς – WP Physics} 09:24, 15 March, 2009 (UTC)

Detroit needs more references, or it could lose its featured article status
I found many unreferenced statements in Detroit - also there is an original research concern in the section "Architecture" - Please address these. If not, Detroit could lose its featured article status. WhisperToMe (talk) 20:06, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

mormon temple in detroit
There is a Mormon temple in Detroit, MI. Should the article belong to this WikiProject? LDS-SPA1000 (talk) 03:32, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

It is in Bloomfield Hills, the churches website has any information you need.

Current discussions
Feel free to comment at Featured topic candidates/2008–09 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team‎ and Featured article candidates/Rob Pelinka/archive1‎.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 22:37, 18 May 2009 (UTC)

GA Sweeps invitation
This message is being sent to WikiProjects with GAs under their scope. Since August 2007, WikiProject Good Articles has been participating in GA sweeps. The process helps to ensure that articles that have passed a nomination before that date meet the GA criteria. After nearly two years, the running total has just passed the 50% mark. In order to expediate the reviewing, several changes have been made to the process. A new worklist has been created, detailing which articles are left to review. Instead of reviewing by topic, editors can consider picking and choosing whichever articles they are interested in.

We are always looking for new members to assist with reviewing the remaining articles, and since this project has GAs under its scope, it would be beneficial if any of its members could review a few articles (perhaps your project's articles). Your project's members are likely to be more knowledgeable about your topic GAs then an outside reviewer. As a result, reviewing your project's articles would improve the quality of the review in ensuring that the article meets your project's concerns on sourcing, content, and guidelines. However, members can also review any other article in the worklist to ensure it meets the GA criteria.

If any members are interested, please visit the GA sweeps page for further details and instructions in initiating a review. If you'd like to join the process, please add your name to the running total page. In addition, for every member that reviews 100 articles from the worklist or has a significant impact on the process, s/he will get an award when they reach that threshold. With ~1,300 articles left to review, we would appreciate any editors that could contribute in helping to uphold the quality of GAs. If you have any questions about the process, reviewing, or need help with a particular article, please contact me or OhanaUnited and we'll be happy to help. --Happy editing! Nehrams2020 (talk • contrib) 06:47, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

Lists of Michigan Wolverines football passing leaders
nominated Lists of Michigan Wolverines football passing leaders for featured list removal here. Please join the discussion on whether this article meets the featured list criteria. Articles are typically reviewed for two weeks; editors may declare "Keep" or "Remove" the article's featured status. The instructions for the review process are here. -- Scorpion 0422  15:53, 30 May 2009 (UTC)

Deletion discussion needs more input
Despite being listed for a week on the Michican deletion sorting list, the deletion discussion regarding the Zone 8, Detroit article at Articles for deletion/Zone 8, Detroit has failed to attract any input from members of this WikiProject (or indeed anyone other than myself and the nominator). Please read the Zone 8, Detroit article and then come and express your opinion at Articles for deletion/Zone 8, Detroit. Thanks, Thryduulf (talk) 00:22, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

Tiny Michigan communities
I was on vacation recently I took pictures of some tiny communities in Marinette and Dickenson Counties which looked like what we call unincorporated community in Wisconsin. One was Faithorn (map) which I photographed on the way to the Nationally Registered Historic IXL Museum/Wisconsin Land and Lumber Company Office Building in Hermansville (map). I took photos of both communites and I'd like to start stub articles. I'm unfamiliar with how tiny communities are named in Michigan. I know Wisconsin is very complicated. What should the 2 articles be named?  Royal broil  03:16, 10 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Hey, you were near me! :) I think it would be Faithorn, Michigan and Hermansville, Michigan... — Ed   (Talk  •  Contribs)  03:28, 10 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Cool! I've been there several times too, although it's probably been at least a decade. Several other U. P. locations have been destinations for my trips. I've been through all of the counties in the U.P. during various vacations and many of the lower Michigan counties. Thanks for the help!  Royal broil  04:10, 10 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm surprised you have been here; there isn't much. ;) I was up in Copper Harbor just a few weeks ago and went up Brockway; I also attend college in Marquette (NMU). Cheers, — Ed   (Talk  •  Contribs)  04:41, 10 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I love the scenery and I love to travel to see the world - I've been in 20 states so far. I went to Norway Speedway that Friday evening. Did you see that I photographed Norway, the welcome sign on US8, Dickenson County Fairgrounds at Norway Speedway and the MDNR location?  Royal broil  11:46, 10 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Oh man, that welcome sign. :) I played tennis right near that a couple times when I was on the tennis team in high school. — Ed   (Talk  •  Contribs)  18:05, 11 July 2009 (UTC)

Omer, Michigan for many years billed itself as the "smallest City in Michigan", which actually was not true. That title belongs to Lake Angelus, Michigan, which is a very low profile city that is one of the richest -- if not the richest --(per capita income) in the entire state. I would recommend that you go to Ramsay, Michigan, which is near Bessemer, Michigan and is billed as a "ghost town" which it largely is. Some very fancy buildings made during the mining boom stand vacant, and it has a truly awesome and very large stone trestle. Of course, there are remnants of "ghost towns" all over the state, e.g., Killmaster, Michigan, Omer, Michigan, and dozens of sites in the northwestern lower peninsula, which were abandoned when the lumber and/or fish ran out. 7&amp;6=thirteen (talk) 16:02, 10 July 2009 (UTC) Stan
 * The red links for Faithorn, Michigan and Hermansville, Michigan are now blue. Please copyedit of course. Next I have to work up an article for the IXL Museum, which is listed on the national register of historic places as the Wisconsin Land and Lumber Company Office Building. I'm hoping to find enough content to make a DYK, so please don't start the article on me until I have time. I got some GREAT pictures that would look excellent on the main page.  Royal broil  04:14, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 * According to the most recent United States Census Bureau estimates, for July 1, 2008, Omer (population 297) is the smallest city, followed by Gaastra, Michigan (300) and Lake Angelus (313). Of course, if we use actual census figures from 2000, then yes, Lake Angelus is the smallest. Phizzy [[Image:SimpleMichigan.svg|30x15px]]  05:29, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I wasn't trying to say that Faithorn or Hermansville are the smallest or tiniest communities. I was asking about the naming convention for unincorporated communities. When I started this thread, I didn't know how Michigan names these communities.  Royal broil  11:56, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Changes to popular pages lists
There are a few important changes to the popular pages system. A quick summary: -- Mr.Z-man 00:46, 12 July 2009 (UTC)
 * The "importance" ranking (for projects that use it) will be included in the lists along with assessment.
 * The default list size has been lowered to 500 entries (from 1000)
 * I've set up a project on the Toolserver for the popular pages - ~alexz/pop/.
 * This includes a page to view the results for projects, including the in-progress results from the current month. Currently this can only show the results from a single project in one month. Features to see multiple projects or multiple months may be added later.
 * This includes a new interface for making requests to add a new project to the list.
 * There is also a form to request a change to the configuration for a project. Currently the configurable options are the size of the on-wiki list and the project subpage used for the list.
 * The on-wiki list should be generated and posted in a more timely and consistent manner than before.
 * The data is now retained indefinitely.
 * The script used to generate the pages has changed. The output should be the same. Please report any apparent inconsistencies (see below).
 * Bugs and feature requests should be reported using the Toolserver's bug tracker for "alexz's tools" -

Gerald Ford FAR
nominated Gerald Ford for a featured article review here. Please join the discussion on whether this article meets featured article criteria. Articles are typically reviewed for two weeks. If substantial concerns are not addressed during the review period, the article will be moved to the Featured Article Removal Candidates list for a further period, where editors may declare "Keep" or "Remove" the article's featured status. The instructions for the review process are here.

FAR for Ann Arbor
nominated Ann Arbor, Michigan for a featured article review here. Please join the discussion on whether this article meets featured article criteria. Articles are typically reviewed for two weeks. If substantial concerns are not addressed during the review period, the article will be moved to the Featured Article Removal Candidates list for a further period, where editors may declare "Keep" or "Remove" the article's featured status. The instructions for the review process are here.

Bo Schembechler
I hope nobody minds that I added this page to the project. Schembechler lived in the state for the final 37 of his life and is arguably the most well known figure at the state's largest university. Anyway, the article could do with some improving. Copies of his books are scarce overseas... so if anyone in the project can offer some help I'd really appreciate it. -- MichiganCharms (talk) 04:15, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

summer residents in onekama, mi
Does anyone see the need for the Summer Residents section in the article for Onekama, MI (village). Pdcook (talk) 15:14, 24 August 2009 (UTC)


 * No. older ≠ wiser 15:16, 24 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I deleted the section.Pdcook (talk) 12:24, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Grand Rapids as the principal city in west Michigan
The article on Grand Rapids, Michigan currently states that the city is one of the principal cities in west Michigan, whereas it used to state that Grand Rapids is the principal city in west Michigan. Given that Grand Rapids is the center of the Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland, Michigan combined statistical area, the only CSA in west Michigan, I think it should considered the principal city in west Michigan. Pdcook (talk) 12:29, 18 September 2009 (UTC)
 * The article in question has been changed to say "the largest city in west Michigan." Pdcook (talk) 16:54, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Largest sounds better than principal, not that it isn't but a statement like "principal" aludes to importance, and many in west michigan think Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Benton Harbor, St. joseph are all pretty important.
 * Largest is way more neutral tone. Principal does state importance, and it is definitely an opinion which goes against WP:NPOV.  Royal broil  13:55, 24 October 2009 (UTC)
 * Just noticed one of my edits was being discussed here. I changed the article lead here based on Pdcook's proposal on the article's talk page.

Detroit task force
Wouldn't it be a good idea to form a Detroit task force to cover Detroit and Greater Detroit? WhisperToMe (talk) 21:24, 17 October 2009 (UTC)
 * Sounds like a good idea. I'll contribute. --Thomprod (talk) 10:30, 19 October 2009 (UTC)
 * Let's make the scope include the Detroit MSA. It will cover the suburbs and the city. How is that? To see similar task forces, we have WikiProject France/Paris and WikiProject Japan/Tokyo - We need to add a tag to the WikiProject Michigan article to mark the article as within the scope of the task force. WhisperToMe (talk) 04:48, 21 October 2009 (UTC)


 * Half the people in the state live in Metro Detroit and the citizens of the state are generally interested in all parts of the state as a whole. Would agree it should cover the Metro Detroit area as a project if there were such a project page, but not sure its necessary. As a matter of priority, I would rather see the time spent on building the Metro Detroit portal which User:Unforgiven24/Sandbox/Portal:Metro Detroit has begun and probably could use some help.Thomas Paine1776 (talk) 19:45, 21 October 2009 (UTC)
 * We can make the portal into an integral part of the task force. Houston's WikiProject maintains its respective portal, for instance. The Paris taskforce also maintains the Paris portal. By having the task force cover half of the state population, the other, more rural half can consult the main WikiProject Michigan page. WhisperToMe (talk) 22:00, 21 October 2009 (UTC)
 * Since other members expressed interest in starting the task force, we need to make a task force page for the Detroit task force, and add a tag to the Michigan template to indicate that the article belongs to the task force. The portal will be an integral part of the task force. WhisperToMe (talk) 08:26, 28 October 2009 (UTC)
 * I started the task force page here WikiProject Michigan/Detroit. I will add links to the task force and try to add the Detroit parameter to the template. WhisperToMe (talk) 08:30, 28 October 2009 (UTC)
 * I added the Detroit tag to the template and I am proceeding to tag Detroit related things. I am making the development of the portal the first to do for the task force. WhisperToMe (talk) 08:42, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

Area codes
I notice that someone was extremely kind and placed in area code in the municipality infoboxes for all of Michigan (and other states). No one has done this for Wisconsin. If I ever get time (ha ha), I'd like to use an AWB or bot to do the same for Wisconsin. The area codes were extremely useful when I was a Wikipedia consumer at work. Does anyone know how it was done in Michigan? How did you come up with the list? Was it implemented with the AWB or a programmed bot?  Royal broil  14:00, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

Problems with the Michigan Locator Map with US
I was doing some work to add the template Michigan County Labelled Map to the list of Michigan counties, and I noticed a few errors on the Michigan Locator Map with US image that is used on some 2,000 different articles for things in the state of Michigan. I noticed this issues awhile ago, but I thought I'd bring it up to this project. The reason I'm bringing it up is because I don't know how to change it. Typically, I've been able to just upload a newer version of the picture to replace the older one, as I've done in the past with some pictures I uploaded myself. However, the Michigan Locator image is in Commons and cannot simply be replaced with a newer version. I don't want to try anything yet, because I don't want to simultaneously mess up thousands of articles until I know what to do for sure. The image on the left below is the image that currently appears on thousands of articles. The newer image that I propose replace it is on the right. The images are the exact same size (420px × 470px), so replacing the image will not mess up any articles where it appears since the name of the image and its size can remain the same. Only the image needs to be substituted, and no actual articles need to be touched.



So, you don't think this is something from the Sunday comics where you have to spot the differences, here they are and why the changes were needed:
 * 1) The insert image of Michigan's location in the United States has been sharpened for better quality, and the thick black line around this insert has been reduced ever so slightly to make the insert more aesthetically appealing without changing the size of the insert itself.
 * 2) In the upper left hand corner of the original map, there is a small island that is identified as if it's a part of Michigan. The island, Outer Island, actually belongs to Wisconsin.  I have removed it completely from the newer image
 * 3) The original image looks as thought it combined the Canadian St. Joseph Island and the Neebish Island in the St. Marys River on the eastern tip of the Upper Peninsula. Because of that, it looks like there is a solid land border between the U.S. and Canada, which there is not.  On the newer image, I have separated the two.
 * 4) On the older map, Sugar Island appears a lot smaller than what it really is in the northern portion of the St. Marys River. I extended the island slightly further south to better match its true size.
 * 5) As a note, I didn't change any islands in Lake Michigan, but I believe a few more islands in the Beaver Island archipelago could be added to fill in the blue space where larger islands actually appear. This could prove useful if any of those island (listed here) are to be included with an infobox.  This isn't a major concern though since they can have an infobox with the red pushpin anyway, even if they don't appear on the map.

If anyone has any questions or comments, feel free to respond on this page. I would like to see a newer version of the Michigan Locator used since the other one could use improvement. Thank you. —Notorious4life (talk) 17:50, 26 October 2009 (UTC)


 * I'm not familiar enough with the geography of islands surrounding the UP to comment on those, but my first thought upon seeing the current (older) image was that the inset is very blurry; that, at least, needs to be fixed. cmadler (talk) 16:46, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Detroit portal
Would anyone else like to help me decide what should go up in the Detroit portal here: User:Unforgiven24/Sandbox/Portal:Metro Detroit? What should be the selected picture and the did you know? WhisperToMe (talk) 22:48, 28 December 2009 (UTC)
 * The Detroit portal is now at Portal:Metro Detroit WhisperToMe (talk) 05:49, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Education task force
I was looking at a lot of the education articles for Michigan Colleges and Universities and a lot of them are in a state of sadness. With national spotlight is focusing on Michigan and education projects that are being invested in a Michigan. Like the $12 Billion dollar plan of President Obama when he spoke a Macomb Community College in July. He set a goal of helping 5 million more Americans earn degrees and certification from community college. Along with the Michigan No-worker left behind program. I think we should develop a group to look at the higher education articles and clean them up and make them better. I looked at the the community colleges and they range from stubs with no real information to articles which are just ads placed by the local webmaster of the school. I think it would be a task that would make the state of Michigan standing on wiki go up. Any thoughts? Jsgoodrich (talk) 07:16, 29 December 2009 (UTC)

George W. Romney FAC
FYI, George W. Romney (Detroit auto CEO, Governor of Michigan, etc.) has been nominated for Featured Article status. Support/opposition/comments welcome at Featured article candidates/George W. Romney/archive1. Wasted Time R (talk) 17:52, 29 December 2009 (UTC)

M-28 Business (Ishpeming–Negaunee, Michigan)
FYI, this article is also nominated for Featured Article status. 75.41.110.200 (talk) 16:28, 31 December 2009 (UTC)