Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Minnesota/Archive 2

Minnesota article reaches FA status
The Minnesota article reached featured article status today. Our first FA article! I'd like to thank some of the people who put in a great deal of time and hard work to get it there. That includes Ravedave, Appraiser, Kablammo, Outriggr, Meersan, Elkspeak and Jonathunder among others.

Hopefully we can move on as a team to another Minnesota article to bring others to FA status also. I note that California has five FA articles listed. But, I believe that the Minnesota article was the first state article to reach featured article status. Perhaps one or more of the sub-articles referenced in the Minnesota article? We can discuss that further, later.

Further more I'd like to give an original Barnstar to Ravedave, Appraiser, Kablammo for their efforts.

Atom 14:29, 3 December 2006 (UTC)


 * I've been categorizing articles related to the state. Please look at Category:Top-importance Minnesota articles, Category:High-importance Minnesota articles, and Category:Mid-importance Minnesota articles, and suggest changes to the articles' relative importance.  Then I suggest that we work on reaching at least GA status on each of the Top-Importance articles related to the state.  Thanks Appraiser 17:37, 30 November 2006 (UTC)
 * I plan to start attacking the articles here:Category:Top-importance Minnesota articles, particularly those in worst shape that people will be linking to from Minnesota when it's on Main page. Appraiser 02:06, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
 * I've been working on History of Minnesota a lot lately, with the goal of reaching FA status. Any help would be appreciated, of course.  I've mainly been working on creating stubs for the red links in the article, such as some of the Sioux Uprising battles. If someone wants to research and take on Antoine Auguelle and Charlemagne Tower, that would help.  Any general copyediting and checking for completeness would be useful, too.  --Elkman - (Elkspeak) 14:19, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
 * I started the article for Charlemagne Tower; needs categorizing. Grika  Ⓣ 20:40, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Just wrote the stub for Antoine Auguelle. It's pretty slim; not much info readily available. Grika  Ⓣ 06:51, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

That sounds like a possibility, and will require a few visits to the Minneosta Historical Society, I think. (Field trip!).

Child articles, and related articles referenced in the Minnesota article seem to be:
 * History of Minnesota (GA, and recommended by Elkspeak)
 * Climate of Minnesota (Rated "B" — GA nominee))
 * Politics of Minnesota (Rated "B")
 * Category:Parks in Minnesota (Five items, and a few empty sub-categories)
 * Geology of Minnesota (Rated "B")
 * Demographics of Minnesota (Rated "B")
 * Music of Minnesota (Rated FA)!
 * Economy of Minnesota (Rated "Start")
 * Transportation in Minnesota (Rated "Start")
 * Sports in Minnesota (Rated "B")
 * List of Governors of Minnesota (Rated "B")
 * List of colleges and universities in Minnesota (Rated "Start")
 * List of high schools in Minnesota (Not rated yet)
 * List of school districts in Minnesota (Not rated yet)
 * List of cities in Minnesota (Rated "Start")
 * List of townships in Minnesota (Not Rated)
 * Lists of U.S. state insignia (Not tagged as a Minnesota project article, and so not rated)
 * List of lakes in Minnesota (Not rated yet)
 * List of Minnesota rivers (Not rated yet)
 * Category:Fauna of Minnesota (Rated "Start") (Note: rumor is that this category may be eliminated nationwide)
 * Category:Flora of Minnesota (Rated "Start") (Note: rumor is that this category may be eliminated nationwide)
 * Category:Minnesota counties (90 entries) (Rated "Start")
 * Category:Minnesota elections (Rated "Start")
 * Common ethanol fuel mixtures (Not tagged as a Minnesota project article, and so not rated)
 * Wind power (Not tagged as a Minnesota Project article, and so not rated)
 * Minnesota gubernatorial election, 2006 (Rated "Start")
 * Minnesota United States Senate election, 2006 (rated "Start")
 * United_States_House_elections%2C_2006 (Not listed as a Minnesota project article, and so not rated)
 * List of political parties in Minnesota (Not Rated yet)
 * United States Congressional Delegations from Minnesota (Rated "B")
 * Minnesota Congressional Districts (rated "Start")
 * List of Minnesota State Parks (Not rated yet)

Also what seems like high priority items would be:
 * Saint Paul, Minnesota
 * Minneapolis, Minnesota and
 * University of Minnesota/University of Minnesota system.

Maybe we can go through the list that Appraiser gave :Category:Top-importance Minnesota articles and get them all rated and ranked first, and then focus on pushing GA to FA and then "A" and "B" to GA from that list?

As *History of Minnesota and Music of Minnesota are our only GA (I think), that is in alignment with Elkman's suggestion. Atom 15:13, 4 December 2006 (UTC)


 * List of Registered Historic Places in Minnesota might be something to work on as well. I've been taking care of the state highway articles of late, which is coming along fairly well. I could start working on Parks in Minnesota, I assume this category is just for state parks?
 * As for List of townships in Minnesota (two-part article): This used to be a page of incorrect links and had cities included. I cleaned all of that up, is there anything else that should be listed there? --Sable232 16:24, 4 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Would it be possible to put Minnesota on the Main page for May 11, specifically May 11, 2008 - Minnesota's 150th anniversary of statehood? -- theblueflamingo  Speak 00:56, 12 January 2007 (UTC) (I know Raul sometimes puts FA on specific days related to the article, so I was wondering what you guys think, since you guys are the ones that contributed heavily to the article).

North Shore (Lake Superior)
I wrote large portions of this article earlier this year (before I learned about inline citations, so I intend to do an overhaul sometime this winter, but that's another matter) and recently noticed that there's a spot on the minnesota template for "North Shore", but it doesn't link anywhere. I'd add it myself, but I don't know how. Can anyone do that?

As an aside, the article could really use some work and I've left it unfinished for months now because I don't have good source material. Any help is always appreciated. I know making this the most comprehensive article on the place isn't really your top priority, but that's my dream, some years down the road... Thanatosimii 23:42, 29 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Are you talking about Template:Minnesota? There's a link to it within the "Regions" section, and it looks like the link goes to your article.  If you're viewing it from within the North Shore (Lake Superior) article itself, you won't see a link -- instead, you'll see just the title bold and in black.  (Like this: Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Minnesota.)  As far as work on the article goes, just work on it as you have time.  I think mentioning it here will get some people to pay some attention to it, as well, if they have time.  --Elkman - (Elkspeak) 23:51, 29 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Ah, I don't understand these things. That seems to be the answer. Thanatosimii 00:02, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Portal for Minnesota
Added the Minnesota Portal. It has a beginning, but needs to be fleshed out. Particularly a list of Minnesota images to be replaced one a week, or two weeks, a list of Minnesota historical comments for each month, and a list of articles about Minnesota for us to feature. Also, looking for volunteers to maintain the portal. Atom 20:13, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Please see Portal talk:Minnesota and Portal:Minnesota/wip-scenic. If you have favorite scenic places in MN, please add them to the list, and we will get them in the portal eventually. Atom 21:23, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Tourism category created
FYI: I just created Category:Tourism in Minnesota. Please populate it if you are so inclined. Mike Dillon 19:36, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Why did you remove the tourist attractions category from a bunch of article and then create that one? Wouldn't it have made sense to replace "tourist attractions" with that category? -Ravedave (help name my baby) 19:41, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
 * It might have made sense to do that, but I didn't. In my (possibly uninformed) judgement, the articles that were being added did not belong in the category in all cases. Also, I had not intended to create the new category when I removed the non-existent one. Mike Dillon 19:45, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Here's the articles I removed Category:Tourist Attractions in Minnesota from: It didn't make sense to me for things to be Category:Landmarks in Minnesota and Category:Tourism in Minnesota, but I'll leave it up to others to decide. Let me know if you have any other questions. Mike Dillon 19:55, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
 * 1) Aerial Lift Bridge
 * 2) Aquatennial (added new category)
 * 3) Biggest ball of twine
 * 4) Fitzgerald Theater
 * 5) Fort Snelling, Minnesota
 * 6) Foshay Tower
 * 7) Guthrie Theater
 * 8) Heart Lake (Minnesota)
 * 9) Herman the German
 * 10) Lake Itasca
 * 11) Lake of the Woods
 * 12) Mall of America
 * 13) Minnehaha Falls
 * 14) Minnesota State Fair
 * 15) New Ulm, Minnesota
 * 16) Nicollet Island
 * 17) North Shore Scenic Drive
 * 18) Saint Paul Winter Carnival (added new category)
 * 19) Split Rock Light
 * 20) Stillwater, Minnesota
 * 21) United States Hockey Hall of Fame

Added articles
Added Pike island and Bradbury Brook. Both would benefit greatly from other perspectives and energy. I still ahve to work through ref's on Pike Island to properly format, and get much more detail. Atom 21:21, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Pike Island is currently on "Did you know..." on Main Page. It will probably be there for a few hours.  Appraiser 20:19, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

Some light-hearted fun
See the latest changes to the Minnesota Article. Atom 02:53, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Request
Hinduism in Minnesota I heard they just built a huge temple and there's a small community in the state.--D-Boy 08:59, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

University of Minnesota Task Force
I would like to propose the creation of a task force to coordinate articles relating to the University of Minnesota/University of Minnesota system. I had thought of creating a separate WikiProject for these articles, but though that it would be a better idea to fold it into this larger project. Any thoughts? I'm more than happy to get started on this if a number of you think it is a good idea. The Military History project has set up several task forces that can serve as models for this one. Gopherbone 06:37, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia Day Awards
Hello, all. It was initially my hope to try to have this done as part of Esperanza's proposal for an appreciation week to end on Wikipedia Day, January 15. However, several people have once again proposed the entirety of Esperanza for deletion, so that might not work. It was the intention of the Appreciation Week proposal to set aside a given time when the various individuals who have made significant, valuable contributions to the encyclopedia would be recognized and honored. I believe that, with some effort, this could still be done. My proposal is to, with luck, try to organize the various WikiProjects and other entities of wikipedia to take part in a larger celebrartion of its contributors to take place in January, probably beginning January 15, 2007. I have created yet another new subpage for myself (a weakness of mine, I'm afraid) at User talk:Badbilltucker/Appreciation Week where I would greatly appreciate any indications from the members of this project as to whether and how they might be willing and/or able to assist in recognizing the contributions of our editors. Thank you for your attention. Badbilltucker 22:12, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

3 images of state seal

 * [[Image:Minnesota-StateSeal.svg]] —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 198.203.175.175 (talk) 20:53, 5 January 2007 (UTC).

Featured Article status
Gopher backer has nominated Climate of Minnesota for Featured Article status. Here's the nomination.

I'm also looking at nominating History of Minnesota for FA status pretty soon. Anyone who wants to make comments, copyediting, or any other changes is welcome to do so. --Elkman - (Elkspeak) 16:37, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Camp Coldwater
Very few pages link to Camp Coldwater, and maybe the article needs further work as well. Michael Hardy 20:20, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

GA nominee
Comments and edits welcome on Jeannette Piccard in GA nominees. -Susanlesch 02:50, 1 February 2007 (UTC)
 * WikiProject Biography gave a favorable and very helpful review. Thanks to help from a friend who passed this I am going to try FAC in a few weeks. Your input is welcome. -Susanlesch 14:38, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Zip codes?
Regarding the city template, where, if anywhere, should zip codes go? I've seen them in a variety of places on Wikipedia entries, including the introduction and under the geography heading. It would be nice to have a standard place for this kind of information. Thanks, Jcbutler 15:43, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
 * IMO they really shouldn't be in Wikipedia at all. --Appraiser 16:05, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
 * There's been discussion of that, but no clear consensus. In my opinion, for a small town, particularly in Greater Minnesota, where a ZIP code probably has never changed and is unlikely to in the forseeable future, having that somewhere might be useful. For a city where there may be a changing list of ZIP codes, that isn't as likely to be something a reader would expect from Wikipedia. Jonathunder 16:39, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

For now, I've decided to include it in geography, along with time zone and other similar information. Seems like the most logical place. --Jcbutler 20:36, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

U of M
I disagree with the U of M and U of M system being labeled as core article. What do you guys think? -Ravedave (Adopt a State) 22:56, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I don't feel strongly either way. There are 16 core articles which seems like a reasonable number.  Glancing at the "high' list, nothing pops out as an article that should move up the list.  Did you have something in mind to swap with them, or do you prefer fewer core articles?  I was disappointed when Saint Paul failed GA, because I think it's in decent shape.  I was also disappointed at the dearth of interest in improving it.  Minneapolis has been improved markedly (thanks to User:Susanlesch especially).  I wouldn't mind concentrating on these two next.  --Appraiser 01:43, 7 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I don't necessarily think we need more top articles, I just think that if I were choosing the "top" Minnesota related article those wouldn't be on my list.

Culture of Minnesota
I have created Culture of Minnesota it needs more work though. -Ravedave (Adopt a State) 18:10, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Minnesota Corporations
I've created Template:Minnesota_Corporations, based on Template:Seattle_Corporations and Template:Philadelphia_Corporations (I'm sure others exist as well). I haven't yet added the template to the linked company -- does anyone know if that can be done automatically somehow? Afiler 22:46, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

League of Minnesota Cities
I added some references to League of Minnesota Cities, but I'm worried that they don't sufficiently demonstrate notability. --Eastmain 02:23, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

History of Minnesota up for FA review
I've nominated History of Minnesota for Featured Article status. Please feel free to leave comments or to reply at Featured article candidates/History of Minnesota. --Elkman - (Elkspeak) 04:29, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

U.S. county infobox
The Infobox U.S. County needs to be added to almost all MN county articles. /Timneu22 02:47, 25 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I'm about 90% done with adding county infoboxes. Still have roughly from S to Z to add. RyguyMN 05:53, 1 March 2007 (UTC)
 * All counties now have an infobox! RyguyMN 01:12, 2 March 2007 (UTC)