Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Oregon/Archive 2

Suggestions
Once upon a time, I did a lot of work fleshing out the original Ram-bot entries. I never finished all that could have been done, but here are some of the tasks I started: Good luck. -- llywrch 20:09, 7 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Adding the origins of the community names from Oregon Geographic Names -- & they should be properly referenced.
 * From the Oregon Blue Book, adding the year each city was incorporated. (I think this reference is still online). If it's not incorporated, then entry should be changed to call the place "an unincorporated community".
 * Counties need lists of major state, US, & Interstate highways. (Many states, like Washington, have this information in their country articles.)
 * Many articles have grown wild & have lost al structure that they once had. Someone needs to sort through each one & copy edit them -- & do it again in 6-12 months.
 * I always thought the Geographical sections ought to provide the distance of each location from an appropriate landmark that a non-Oregonian would recognize -- say the county seat for the smallest communities, & from Salem (the capital) or Portland (the largest city) for the rest.
 * Ward Weaver III needs to be written: the son of a murderer, his own killing eerily mirrors his own father's crimes -- as well as being the center of a notorious media circus. I'm sure there are quite a few Oregonians who need to be written about. (I think it could be argued that Tom Peterson deserves an article as someone who appears in a number of Gus Van Sant's movies.)


 * Ward Weaver III has been written, but sad to say needs major cleanup. In particular, an article of this nature must cite references, given the nature of the accusations.  (Even when the subject is a convicted murderer like Weaver).  This is not to be nice to Weaver, but to protect Wikipedia. --EngineerScotty 04:55, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Collaboration or Cohesion
I'd like to see some sort of collaboration or cohesion come out of this, so that maybe we can promote some key articles to FA. Any suggestions? See Wikiproject Michigan for efficiency in Wikiprojects. PDXblazers 19:57, 8 April 2006 (UTC)
 * I think the first step would be to get the Oregon article up to featured status. It looks really good right now, I think with some more sources and cleanup, perhaps have it go through peer review it wouldn't be all that hard to get it to be a FA.  Someone could probably add this to the good articles list as is. I'd also like to get Oregon State University up to FA status along the road (we should probably get the other major universities up there as well). VegaDark 20:52, 8 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I'd say Oregon and Portland, Oregon should be our top aims for FA status, as they venture near it already. Oregon State University is also looking pretty good at this point. Putting out Peer Reviews on these might be a good way of sorting out what else needs to be done. As for articles that just really need work, I'd say Willamette River is a high priority. Sarge Baldy 21:09, 8 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I third that the Oregon and Portland, Oregon articles be FA goals. They are the most attainable at the moment.Ajbenj 21:12, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

Awesome! I'd been doing a major expansion of the Oregon Coast article, though its still a long way from FA. I've just been messing with the main Oregon article, where I turned the lists of of Professional sports teams and Colleges and Universities into prose. The main obstacle to FA for the main article is lack of sources, though there should be plenty on the web. I'll continue to work on this, as well as the University of Oregon article. I like what you guys have done with the OSU article, and I'll try to get U of O to the same standard. Thanks. PDXblazers 02:40, 9 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Yeah, the U of O article could use a history section and quite a few more pictures (they really add a lot of points in deciding new FAs). The Oregon Coast is really my favorite place in the world, so I appreciate what's been done with it. I especially found it interesting that Oregon is unique in banning private ownership of coastal property. I guess I've lived here long enough the idea of someone actually owning the coastline seems rather barbaric. Sarge Baldy 02:58, 9 April 2006 (UTC)


 * There should be some mention in the Oregon Coast article about the highway 101 bridges. Maybe a list of them, and a category? Also maybe more of the lighthouses should get some articles too (with their own category inside of Category:Oregon Coast. Ajbenj 21:12, 10 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Yeah, feel free to add those. I've done a lot of work to the coast article, but there is still tons to do.  I don't know about a list of bridges on the page itself, but maybe a brief description with a link to a daughter article?  Same for the lighthouses maybe?  Also, lots more to add about geography and tourism.  I'd love to see others work on it. PDXblazers 23:19, 10 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Sure thing. I was thinking of a stand-alone list like what you have suggested. I'll try to find a comprehensive list of all the coast bridges, if not, it will at least have all the major ones with links to their main articles. Ajbenj 22:44, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

Oregon v. Portland, Oregon
So it seems like we have consensus that our first FAC attempt should be either Oregon or Portland, Oregon. I'm calling for a discussion and vote on which to work on? the iBook of the Revolution


 * Portland, Oregon - Personally, I feel like I can contribute best to this article (forgive my suburban bias). the iBook of the Revolution 00:53, 28 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Either, I don't live in Portland so it might make contributing to that harder but I would still give it a shot. VegaDark 01:17, 28 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Either as well, I live in Eugene, but could probably still manage to help out with the Portland article. PDXblazers 05:36, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Oregon
Though the vote did take a long time to go through, it seems like there is more interest in working on Oregon than Portland, Oregon based on the vote.

So let's all start talking about what we can contribute to Oregon, and what our steps will be towards making it a FAC. the iBook of the Revolution 04:42, 15 May 2006 (UTC)


 * I can make a spoken article once it is finished, but before it's nominated for FAC. I don't have a lot of time to research, and I don't have a digital camera to take photos, but I have a good (Cascadian) speaking voice. I can also keep an eye on our images to make sure they're GFDL or fair use, since I've been working on WP:UI for a bit now.  the iBook of the Revolution 04:42, 15 May 2006 (UTC)


 * I am good at the research/referencing part of writing articles, and will probably concentrate mostly on adding refs/inline citations to the article. I'm not so good at writing brilliant prose, so I count on others to clean up my messes.  Here is what the article needs on the surface:


 * References and inline citations
 * Removal of the 'trivia' section. Whats salvagable should be moved to the body of the article.  The rest should be scrapped.
 * Lists should be converted to prose
 * The fair use rationale for the postage stamp is sketchy and, honestly, I don't really like it anyway. The Blazers' logo also doesn't really qualify here for fair use, so maybe we should put up a pic of the Rose Garden instead.


 * These are the major issues I see. I'll start cleaning up some of them soon. PDXblazers 05:22, 15 May 2006 (UTC)


 * I've just done a bit of work on it. We definitely need more pictures, and there are still a lot of redirects that need to be bypassed.  MANY More references are a must if this is to be featured, if you add some please put them in the format the current ones are in with the cite web format.  Or, better yet, add non-web references. It's also a bit listy towards the bottom with all the white space, I think we might want to space out the lists so they are not all next to eachother and add some pics next to them to lessen the white space. VegaDark 07:46, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

City info box, seals and flags project
I'm currently awaiting word from a number of cities across Oregon for information and images of their city flags and seals. I emailed half the list of cities in the Oregon box that appears below most Oregon-related articles, plus Vancouver, Washington (I know its not Oregon, but it needs some attention from me as I'm near it in the Portland area). I have also hunted down Eugene's seal, and cleaned up Oregon City's article.

So far Lake Oswego, Corvallis, and Albany have replied with info. Corvallis does not allow its city symbols to be used however.

With some nice city info boxes, there'll be some uniformity to at least the bigger cities in Oregon. The goal is to have each Oregon municipality article resemble Salem's page in some form. Portland's info box template seems to be for the much larger cities. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Ajbenj (talk • contribs) 17:34, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

We tried to get Medford's seal inserted, but have had trouble with it. Perhaps you could do better? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by PDXblazers (talk • contribs) 17:47, 17 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Wrote up a little bit on your talk page about this Blazers! Working on getting a city-sanctioned version. Just pulling things off their servers could be a big no-no, as I found out with Corvallis. Although these could be considered public documents, or public domain, they really are subject to each individual city's terms. Most are copyrighted, or at best unclear. Its best that we ask permission first before posting anything. Besides, the cities usually can dig up better images than they have on their websites if you ask. I'm going through all these myself and making sure any future city symbols posted are the best ones we can get, and that Wikipedia's usage of those is OK with said authorities. Also I will eventually get around to looking at previously posted images, and making sure their copyright status is OK as well. Ajbenj 23:02, 18 May 2006 (UTC)


 * I don't think that the cities can deny the use of their seals. I believe they are allowed without consent of the copyright holder as fair use under the Copyright Act of 1976.  Cacophony 02:13, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Speaking of infoboxes
The Oregon infobox that appears at the bottom of most Oregon articles is really not very good. It has too many cities, and the 'regions' section seems way off base. Maybe we should improve that a little? PDXblazers


 * Hmmmm maybe it's time to cull the herd. I just added a bunch that I thought should be on there, drawing the line at anything below 10,000 population... Perhaps I outght to prune it based on better criteria? For example:


 * Fame/history: Oregon City, Jacksonville, Baker City, and Astoria definetly make this cut (OC wasn't included originally)


 * Size: Eugene, Medford, Corvallis, Albany, Salem, Gresham, Beaverton definetly go here.


 * Economic importance: Hillsboro, Seaside, Newport (tourism)


 * Geographic variety: Lakeview, Ontario, Redmond, The Dalles, Ashland


 * Metro area cities could be excluded from this list box and added to the each individual Metro Areas page. Keizer could go into Salem's, Hillsboro-Beaverton-Gresham-et al.. into Portland, Albany and Corvallis could be considered its own metro area, and Springfield could go with Eugene in a double-bill.


 * Any thoughts?


 * Ajbenj 22:57, 18 May 2006 (UTC)
 * It seems like our infobox is in line with other infoboxes (read:suffering from the same problems). I like your idea - it makes us distinct.  the iBook of the Revolution 01:02, 20 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Well, I'll take a few unworthies out in a minute or two. Why the heck should Happy Valley be in there? Since I put it there, I'll have to figure out what posessed me to put it in. Come to think of it, Lebanon was originally there. Why? If anything, they belong in a forthcoming Portland Metro and Albany-Corvallis Area boxes respectively...


 * Time to edit...


 * Ajbenj 12:40, 22 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Why are the Pacific Northwest Region listings included? the iBook of the Revolution 22:36, 22 May 2006 (UTC)


 * I don't know. My guess is that there are some areas that slop over borders, like the Columbia Plateau. I'll try to find articles and get a temporary, Oregon-friendly, list up later today. User:Ajbenj 13:10, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

Cities/Region listings in Oregon info box update
OK Take a look at the new box. Just consolidated the listings, made Springfiled and Eugene, Redmond and Bend co-equal metro area listings. Trying to figure out a way to make Salem-Keizer... I kept Gresham, Tigard, Beaverton, Oregon City, and Hillsboro out, as they tend to be cities of their own right, even though they are inside Portland. The justification for this is that their populations, economic influence, or historical value cries out for them to be listed. The same reasoning can be said for the rest, but lop in geographic diversity. The city list is now named "Notable cities" as some of Oregon's biggest and smallest are all lumped in there. The cities chosen are for reasons of their notability, not nessescarily size. The list is a little shorter than it ought to be just in case someone outside this project really, really, really thinks that (for example) West Linn just HAS to be listed, and just does it. Or if someone here thinks something ought to be added.

So if anyone has any more comments about the cities list, please feel free to yack about it here. Now let's talk about fixing the regions. Blazers, iBook, Sarge- Any suggestions? I'm figuring that once we hammer out what we think are Oregon regions (and why), we may need to create some articles. For instance, I think the names "High Desert" or "Central Oregon" suit Crook, Deschutes, and Jefferson counties well. The present links must have been put there by an out-of-stater and must be replaced soon. A nice and accurate infobox would help in the quest for Featured Article status...

On the city seals project, still awaiting more answers back....

Ajbenj 13:22, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

These are based on common identity as best as possible.
 * Portland - Washington, Clackamas, Multnomah, Columbia counties
 * Columbia River Gorge - Hood River County to the one next to Hermiston (but not including Hermiston)
 * Oregon Coast - Astoria to Lincoln City
 * Central Oregon - a circle centered at Bend, including Madras, Prineville,
 * Southern Willamette Valley - Salem to Eugene
 * Rogue River Valley - a triangle with points at Florence, Brookings, and Ashland, including Crater Lake
 * Eastern Oregon - the Wallowa Mountains, including Pendleton, La Grande, and Ontario but not Burns
 * Harney Basin - the rest of Oregon, including K-Falls and Burns

the iBook of the Revolution 22:30, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

No gripes with the overall idea, though there is no way you can convince me that Florence is in the Rogue River Valley. Why do Portlanders insist that the coast ends at Lincoln City? I'm a lifelong Oregonian, and the coast goes from Astoria to Brookings. Try telling someone in Florence, Coos Bay, or Bandon that they do not live on the coast, but in the Rogue River valley, and I guarantee they'll laugh at you. But, anyway, no general complaints other than this matter of semantics. PDXblazers 02:31, 23 May 2006 (UTC)


 * I also wonder why the Pacific NW regions are included. It seems to be heavily Idaho-centric, with no mention of most of Oregon or Western Washington, and doesn't really enhance the infobox whatsoever.  I say scrap it. PDXblazers 02:33, 23 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Agreed. That is interesting. I've rarely been to the coast north of Lincoln City, so Oregon Coast to brings to my mind the stretch between Newport and Reedsport. But certainly the whole coastline is considered the Oregon Coast... Sarge Baldy 02:40, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

Consider the Idaho-centric regions scrapped then!

On the Coast ending at Lincoln City: All I can think of is that sometimes, touristy places on the coast promote themselves as being "On the scenic Northern Oregon Coast...", etc... But Lincoln City considers itself part of the North Coast. If anything, the designation of cardinal directions doesn't make it a seperate region, most of the time these are sub-regions reflecting some sort of promotional purpose.

I think we should aim for something like Maine's template, but something more nicer-looking. Blue-and-gold (state colors) may look nice...

As to candidates, I fall in line mostly with iBook's definition. Regions more than likely will overlap (Portland and Willamette Valley), but I think that there are many different ways of describing "where" one ends and another begins. And, of course, the can end up slopping over the ID, CA, NV, and WA borders...


 * Portland Metro: We could use the US census statistical area (which would also include Vancouver, WA), or just what the Metro government has inside the Urban Growth Boundary.
 * Oregon Coast: Everything on the Pacific's edge between the CA and WA borders, maybe including the Coast Range.
 * Coast Range: Everything between the Willamette Valley and the coast?
 * Wilamette Valley: The Willamette basin. Anything near anything draining into the Willamette's fair game.
 * Columbia Gorge: Everything along the Columbia east of Portland.
 * Lower Columbia River: Every thing along the Columbia west of Portland.
 * The Cascades: A definite region, basicly the mountain chain through Oregon and Washington.
 * Eastern Oregon: I think there's an actual article on it out there, and has a good definition of the region.
 * Central Oregon: This is usally considered Deschutes, Lincoln, and Crook counties. Coexistant with Eastern Oregon. Also the High Desert?
 * Alvorod Desert: Parts of Malheur and Harney Counties?
 * Southern Oregon: I'm unclear as to what exactly this refers to, but I'd peg it as Jackson, Josephine, Curry, and maybe Klamath Counties.
 * Rogue Valley: The Rogue River basin, mostly Douglas County.

Those are what I think look good. Although search me for articles anout most of them. We may have to write some up. Ajbenj 12:04, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

Cities Subproject
I started fleshing out the city subproject page a while ago, now I have figured out what to do with it. If anyone wants to join, please sign up there. I consider the city seals/flag and city info boxes project part of the subproject now. If this is too bureaucratic, let me know by replying to this topic, and then I'll just keep discussing those things here. The city projects could eventually grow to bigger porportions and deserve their own talk page. Is there a way to make it have its own talk page? Following its link takes you here...

Ajbenj 12:02, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

Added article on New Carissa
Surprised it wasn't covered here before; I've created M/V New Carissa, about our favorite beach landmark. --EngineerScotty 06:46, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Nice to see it! I was wondering when we'd have an article on that. Sarge Baldy 06:49, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Wow, nice article! -Big Smooth 17:42, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I've done some expansion on the article, including the use of Template:Infobox Ship, adding some additional data I found. Take a look! I think we could get this to "good" article status pretty easily with some more work. -Big Smooth 17:44, 2 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Why stop at "good" article status? This looks like its on its way to FA. PDXblazers 23:57, 5 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Agreed, that article is looking really nice. Sarge Baldy 01:05, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

Did some more work on the article, including a lot of cleanup of the references trying to get them closer to WP:CITE. I also added more environmental impact info and another image. I think we could possibly add a subsection on the reaction to the hull failure, there is a lot of info at and in the various government reports. -Big Smooth 19:05, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

Pictures of the University of Oregon
What, specifically, do you need photos of? I have time this week and a good digital camera. I'll start with Deady Hall, Hayward Field, Deschutes Hall, Willamette Hall, Lillis Business Complex, and other buildings, plus the significant statues.

But any other suggestions would be nice.

Adam850 06:00, 5 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Nice! Maybe you can get a shot of the the Knight Library as well? It has its own separate article, so it could be used there as well (or if there just isn't room on the U of O page). And maybe a shot of the EMU? Sarge Baldy 08:26, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Where should I upload them? Commons? Should I upload all of them, or just a select few? Adam850 22:49, 5 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Yeah, upload them to commons and just do all of them. The great thing with commons if you can keep images in repository, even if they're not being used. Also it lets the various languages of encyclopedias have more options for their articles. Sarge Baldy 23:16, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Maybe a nice picture of the pioneer statue and the stretch of 13th avenue by the bookstore. These would be my suggestions. PDXblazers 23:55, 5 June 2006 (UTC)


 * I'll do that later. I have so far:

Here's all of the photos I've uploaded.  My battery died, but I'll try tomorrow. Can someone format/link to these for the U of O article and the EmX article? I don't have a fast computer available now. Adam850 02:06, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Oregon Hall
 * Onyx bridge Image:OnyxBridge.JPG
 * Klamath Hall
 * Agate Street Sign Image:UofOsign.JPG
 * EmX Image:EugBRT.JPG
 * Some others.

Springfield
I've asked the city for permission to use the city logo. The artiicle had the City of Albany seal instead of the Springfield river/driftboat logo. No response today, but I'll wait. Adam850 22:48, 5 June 2006 (UTC)


 * There is no city seal. There is no city flag.  The e-mail response was a bit vague on the logo.
 * Their response:
 * "The City of Springfield doesn't have a city flag and there is no city
 * seal. If you go to the City's website, www.ci.springfield.or.us and go
 * to the heading entitled "About Springfield" you will find information
 * about statistics, demographics, information and history. You could use a
 * low resolution image of the seal for illustrative purposes on the site
 * you mentioned if the city had a seal. We have a logo that is used for
 * city stationery, etc. however that is not available for the public use."
 * 64.13.9.0 00:15, 10 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I asked about Benton County a few months ago. They actually told it to me the other way around, that the county logo "can be used by the public", but
 * The official County Seal can only be used or imprinted by Benton County.
 * So I don't know. Sarge Baldy 00:42, 10 June 2006 (UTC)


 * I had a very informative discussion about this with the City of Beaverton about their seal. If I understand it right, they can't give you anything made on, or from their computers due to security risks, etc. But I was told that if I was to (*wink wink, nugdge, nudge*) scan the logo off a public document (PDF, business card, whatever you can get), that'd be OK. Reproducing it by hand in Photoshop or modifying the original scan was OK to, so long as it was not innacurate (correct colors, not badly distorted, etc..). Now, I can't guarantee that Benton County or Springfield'll will be OK with that, but it won't hurt to ask if you can make a self-made reproduction. Which reminds me to ask Corvallis about this. Every government entity in Benton County seems to be really uptight about all that. Well, see what you can do. Also we may want to check and see what Wikipedia's own guidelines have to say about seals, and if hand-made reproductions are allowed without permission. Could someone do that please, Hopefully someone with more Wiki experience than myself? Ajbenj 22:50, 10 June 2006 (UTC)


 * My first thought is that WP:fair use would permit use of seals of all sorts. OTOH, a government agency might try and claim that "unauthorized" use of their seals or insignias is tantamount to forgery, even if used in a manner where no attempt is made to misrepresent the origin or official status of a document.  IANAL.--EngineerScotty 22:27, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

New categories on To-Do list
Hope y'all don't mind that I added two new categories to the To-Do list: 'Review recent changes' and 'To split' (if you can think of better names, go ahead and edit). The former is for articles that have recently undergone a major rewrite (or were just created) and should probably be sanity checked by someone else (I know that my contributions are often in need of sanity checks!). The latter is to propose content that could be split out from a parent article into it's own new article. In the case of the one I proposed, splitting Timberline Ski Area from Timberline Lodge National Historic Landmark, I think it would allow us to create an article more inline with a typical ski area article (with at least an infobox of all of the stats of interest to skiers/snowboarders), without overloading the nat'l monument article. When I have some time, I might get around to doing that, unless there are any objections. EvilSuggestions 20:12, 11 June 2006 (UTC)


 * I think the new categories are a great idea. I'm new to the project, though, so I don't know how well that's going to go with everyone else. I've already added something to the 'Review recent changes' section since I recently wrote an article for the project. As for the proposed Timberline Lodge National Historic Landmark, I don't know much about the way ski area articles are written so I wouldn't be able to offer a good opinion on whether it should be split to offer seperate info on the ski area or not. It doesn't sound too unreasonable, though. --Yellow Archer 22:03, 11 June 2006 (UTC)

Oregon Citizens Alliance
Someone created this article. I wikified it, made it a bit more NPOV, and added it to the WikiProject. The article is still very much a stub; there is lots of additional info which could be stated about the group and it's impact on Oregon politics. --EngineerScotty 06:18, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Goverrnment logos
I have heard back from Gresham about use of their city seal, which was declined. So I decided to make a list of cities and other governments who don't want us to use their logos on the city subproject page. That we won't get into trouble. We ought to start going in person to the cities in question and making the request, especially for the batch of reluctant cities we've run into lately. An in-person request can yeild interesting information, as did my meeting with a member of the Beaverton City Council with their City Recorder present.

Remember to ask if you can reproduce the logo for educational purposes! Even if you can't draw or use Photoshop, I and other people can! Just tell us where online the image is, and we can make it, so long as we have permission to do so.

It may also be the case that since a seal or logo is used educationally on Wikipedia to demonstrate the entity in question, that it'd be fair use even if they don't give permission. I'm not too keen on trying that yet unless several people can tell us that this is OK, and most importantly, we can't get sued!

I can cover the Portland area to some extent, when it comes to actually showing up at City Hall in person to make requests. Anywhere else, I can not easily get to. Any volunteers for other parts of the state? Ajbenj 22:46, 22 June 2006 (UTC)
 * I would hesitate to make "educational use only" asks. Educational use images have been deemed by User:Jimbo Wales as a non-free license, and so are ineligible for inclusion on Wikipedia.  the iBook of the Revolution 07:20, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Chamber of Commerce links
Please move this discussion if it should go somewhere else.

I am having a discussion with someone about inclusion of Chamber of Commerce links in the external link subsection of articles here. Does anyone have an opinion on linking to Chamber of Commerce websites in light of the general ban on linking to commercial sites? Thanks! Katr67 15:53, 26 June 2006 (UTC)


 * This came up again, and I was directed to this discussion from WikiProject Spam, in case anyone is interested. Katr67 00:25, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

History buff needed
Please check out List of current and former capital cities in the United States and make sure that Oregon's capital cities are listed accurately. A word of warning: the page does contain quite a bit of complicated wiki formatting, so if you're not comfortable editing it, just post your changes on the talk page and someone more experienced will apply them to the article. JEK   19:55, 28 June 2006 (UTC)


 * I think there are some discrepancies between the Salem, Oregon article (which refers to various locations of the state capital when it means the territorial captial) and the list. I'll look it up, get you some sources, and fix it if someone doesn't beat me to it. Thanks for checking in. Katr67 21:02, 29 June 2006 (UTC)


 * I've looked this up and found the following in the Oregon Blue Book article about the capital city of Oregon:


 * The location of the Oregon capital caused a spirited contest that lasted nearly 15 years. By an act of 1851, the territorial government moved the capital to Salem from Oregon City; in 1855 it was moved to Corvallis, only to move back to Salem the same year. Destruction of the Capitol at Salem on December 31, 1855, was considered an incendiary part of this controversy.


 * So Salem's the capital for part of the territorial and all of statehood (although this was approved by voters officially in 1864 and Article XIV, Sec. 1 of the state constitution only specifies that the seat of government should be in Marion County!). Oregon City was definetly Territorial Capital before Salem. But then there's the issue of Champoeg- Haven't ever seen that mentioned as the Provisional Government's capital, but the legislature did meet there quite a few times after passing the provisional constitution and passed laws there for a short time, maybe even while some government functions took place in Oregon City.


 * I can't seem to find anything about the situations surrounding the move to Corvallis. If anything it looks like only the Legislative Assembly moved there and I've never seen any wording about this decalring this an official act of any kind. So should we say it was a de facto legislative capital? Nothing that I have seen so far says the Territorial Governor went there or governed from Corvallis. Ajbenj 21:47, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Nominate articles for Portal:United States
I've worked for the past month to update Portal:United States and keep it better maintained. Though, I think the Portal:United States would be even better with broader participation. One way to do that is instead of choosing the "selected article" myself each week, if others would nominate articles and help make decisions. (same goes for pictures, though these are stocked up through July 29) If there is anything related to Oregon (or anything else related to the U.S. - culture, music, literature, geography, history, politics, ...), please nominate. I'd also like people to weigh in on the nominations and help select what should be featured. Thanks. --Aude ( talk contribs ) 23:37, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

New "People from [city]" Categories
Hello, everybody. I am the bozo who just recently created the new subcategories in the "People from Oregon" category. I thought that some of you might want to know why they were created, and why they often have so few pages in them.

The majority of the states have "People from [state]" categories which have at least 200 entries, sometimes over 1,000. This is clearly an unworkably large number for anyone wishing to use the category for research purposes. In 8th grade in Rapid City, South Dakota, the social studies class asked us to write, over the course of the year, reports on two or three people who were or had been residents of the city. Because of that, I have reason to believe that they could be used and probably are used for research purposes. To make such research easier, I looked at the list of metropolitan statistical areas and basically entered in one new category for each metropolitan statistical area.

I know that many of these categories might well be, in the eyes of you who know more about the cities in question much better than I do, misnamed or otherwise faulty. I apologize for any mistakes I may have made along those lines, and I would welcome any corrections, including deletion, that any of the rest of you might choose to make. With that in mind, I have also generally populated the categories with only one or two names, to ease in the process of deletion or renaming.

I thought you all should know why these categories were created, and felt some degree of responsibility for letting your know. I wish you all the greatest good fortune in making the coverage of your state in Wikipedia of the greatest scope and quality possible, and I hope that I haven't annoyed too many of you by my recent actions. Badbilltucker 13:35, 29 June 2006 (UTC)
 * I have a question. What classifies someoneone as being "from" an area?  Just being born there?  Living there for a certain amount of time?  Currently residing there?  We should make this clear in the category page.  Personally I'd say all three of those could be justification for adding a "people from ..." category. VegaDark 20:24, 29 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Thanks for explaining. I was a little puzzled about why the only person in the Salem category was a Playboy model (not that there's anything wrong with that...). On the qualification for inclusion question, I agree that any of the above three are legitimate. Those are the parameters I've used to add people to the section in the Eugene article. Katr67 20:57, 29 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Does that mean all the people in List of Oregon State University people should be in Category:People from Corvallis, Oregon and all people in List of University of Oregon people should be in Category:People from Eugene, Oregon? Perhaps we should make a subcategory for OSU/UO alumni inside the city category and simply list them in that, and only list people who didn't attened those universities but are still associated with the city in the main category.  Then that also brings up the question of university faculty...maybe make Category:Oregon State University people and have alumni and faculty in seperate subcategories inside that...and maybe put the preexisting categories like Category:Oregon State Beavers football players as a subcategory of alumni...yes, my brain hurts now. VegaDark 03:08, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

Governor and Legislature articles
Lately I've been working through the Oregon Government stuff, mostly the Governors pages.

List of Governors of Oregon has been through some serious tweaking. I plan on adding a few more pics from existing wiki pages. I have added some articles that were redlinked there, and am working on the last few governors who don't have any articles.

If someone could take a picture (or find a Wiki copyright-friendly image) of the Governor's office at the Capitol and Mahonia Hall (Governor's Mansion) to add there, that'd be GREAT! Also, do the Governor, Senate, and House have seals? The Oregon State Senate and Oregon House of Representatives now have lists of members of the last legislative session, following closely to articles I have found on other state legislative pages. Anyone know of anything that may improve those articles, please add it there!

Ajbenj 16:30, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

PGE Park
Had a go at PGE Park; though there is more work to be done. Some better sources can be added, and some info about the financial difficulties that arose after the 2001 renovation. --EngineerScotty 23:37, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Added Spirit Mountain Casino
I added the article Spirit Mountain Casino; please see discussion on Wikipedia talk:Wikiproject Oregon/to do. --EngineerScotty 05:09, 10 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Also, there seem to be duplicate articles, WikiProject Oregon/to do and Wikiproject Oregon/to do, along with their talk pages. The latter is linked to from the front page of this project; but the former exists (and is not a redirect; the two are out of sync).  Could someone fix this? --EngineerScotty 05:13, 10 July 2006 (UTC)


 * I redirected Wikiproject Oregon/to do to WikiProject Oregon/to do. I will move your not from the former talk page to the latter.  Cacophony 06:45, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Added article on Bull Mountain, Oregon
I added an article on Bull Mountain, Oregon. I did include some material on the present annexation/incorporation fight with Tigard, which the rest of you tried to check. I tried to maintain NPOV (I don't live in either Bull Mountain or Tigard, and have no dog in this proverbial fight), but the article could probably stand some improvement.

Have at it...

--EngineerScotty 06:13, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

Added article on Antique Powerland
With the Great Oregon Steam-Up this weekend, I was rather surprised to find that Wikipedia lacked an article on one of the coolest museums in the state, Antique Powerland in Brooks. I have since rectified that situation. This article is well-sourced, I'll be adding photos later--perhaps we can make this one a good article. --EngineerScotty 03:19, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

New Carissa up for peer review
discussion page at Peer review/New Carissa‎. I'd like to move this to FAC one day. Also, I've cleaned up the opening section, to contain a more accurate rendition of what happened prior to the wreck. --EngineerScotty 20:01, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

Editing Oregon Coast Aquarium
I'm trying to improve Oregon Coast Aquarium, which, until a few minutes ago, consisted of one sentence. However, I don't have any pictures and can't find any good web links on the history of the aquarium. If anyone can help, please do. PDXblazers 05:40, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

Linus Pauling FARC'd
For anyone interested, Linus Pauling was removed as a featured article. I'm not really interested enough in the subject to try to bring it back to FA, but thought someone else may be. PDXblazers 05:45, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

Added Oregon Lottery
Just in time for the anouncement that state managed to collect $1 billion worth of taxes on poor math skills last year. :) With snarky remarks like that, please check it for NPOV and such.  Now off to download the logo... --EngineerScotty 16:47, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

Created articles on Asa Lovejoy and Francis Pettygrove
Flipped a coin to see who gets written first, Lovejoy won this time. :) Note that the "to-do" box said William Pettygrove, but his full name is Francis W. Pettygrove.  Article is at Francis, and William is a redirect.

Also found a picture online (certainly in the public domain; I doubt many photos from the 1800s are still copyrighted), of Pettygrove. Haven't found any of Lovejoy.

--EngineerScotty 05:54, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

Created Rajneeshpuram
There was a bit of confusion on the article of Antelope, Oregon, confusing Antelope with Rajneeshpuram (suggesting they were the same place). I fixed that, and wrote a separate article on Rajneeshpuram. --EngineerScotty 17:30, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

Found Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition
An article about the Lewis and Clark expo exists, at the above. It's off to a good start, well-written and well-sourced (though the prose is so well-written that it might be a copyvio, though google revealed nothing); but only covers the planning. It doesn't discuss the execution of the fair or its after-effects; there's a lot to write about there.

--EngineerScotty 19:56, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

Oregon Wineries
Perhaps we need a list of Oregon wineries in sections by appellation? There is already a Category:Oregon wineries, but it's not very populated. Of course we will have to watch for making any of it sound like an advert... Katr67 14:31, 11 August 2006 (UTC)


 * I just crossposted this suggestion over on WikiProject Wine's talk page, to try to solicit some help from those kind folks. I might chip in later when I have some free time. --EvilSuggestions 18:16, 12 August 2006 (UTC)


 * I just started a draft article on our wine industry. It isn't ready for being put in the main article space, so it's currently at WikiProject Oregon/Oregon wine; it currently contains a lot of redlinks which we ought to either write articles on, or remove/delink.  (Or maybe leave them; occasional redlinks don't bother me).  Feel free to have a go at it; when it gets good enough (no TBD sections, in particular), move it to the main article space.  This isn't a topic I know that much about (but there are lots of web resources), so some help would be greatly appreciated!  --EngineerScotty 05:31, 13 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Thanks for making the crosspost. I don't know much about wine either (I'm mostly a beer drinker), but it comes up in a lot of the city and county articles, so it will be good to have a wine article to link to. Speaking of beer, I added Oregon beer and breweries to WikiProject Oregon. It could use some work. Katr67 18:39, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Oregon wine is now in the main article space; it is sufficiently done to be a complete article. A few more things to add include more wineries, vineyards, and such; and a section on wine tourism in Oregon (and the effect of development). (What, no article on wine tourism?) --EngineerScotty 19:13, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

There is now List of Oregon wineries and vineyards. Currently, it contains mainly Willamette Valley winemaking places, and very few. I've broken it apart from Oregon wine, though a section on notable wineries might go back in (or perhaps to the AVA-specific articles). The list is intended to be comprehensive, so if your favorite winery is at all verifiable (and licensed by the state), please add it! People who grow grapes in their backyard and make a few bottles for their friends don't meet WP:V and don't go on the list, but anyone who is legitimately in the winemaking business is fair game. The winery in question need not be notable enough for an article on Wikipedia. --EngineerScotty 21:38, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

New Carissa listed as feature article candidate
The article New Carissa is a FAC. Comments are at Featured article candidates/New Carissa. --EngineerScotty 22:28, 16 August 2006 (UTC)


 * I'm not sure I'm qualified to comment on the FA status (though I can certainly compare it to the FA criteria), but I've been meaning to give the article a going over since you put it up for peer review, so I'll try to get around to that today. Looks great so far though--good job! Katr67 22:43, 16 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Congrats on the article being approved! I still need to look over the last couple sections, be sure to check in and make sure I don't do anything stupid. Katr67 22:43, 22 August 2006 (UTC)P.S. I rewrote a sentence that probably now needs a cite. I tagged it. Katr67
 * Woohoo! Congrats to everyone who contributed to this article, especially EngineerScotty who gave it a great start and did a ton of excellent work on it (improving the prose, copy editing, researching, and tirelessly tweaking it to FA standards). I hope WikiProject Oregon can keep this up! -Big Smooth 23:08, 22 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanks! I'm not the only one who worked on the article; both of you two put in a lot of time and effort; both adding content to the article, and cleaning up my frequient mispelings and tyops.  :)  Speaking of which, I found cites for the oil tanker info--turns out Portland does have a small refinery or two, and 200,000 gallons were spilled by an oil tanker in the Columbia back in 1984.  (Nowadays, I suspect that the modern supertankers which are used these days are too big to navigate the Columbia; but crude still arrives here by pipeline.  This last bit of speculation is not in the article, though...) --EngineerScotty 23:18, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Port of Coos Bay
I added this to the to-do list since, according to its website: "Coos Bay is the largest deep-draft coastal harbor between San Francisco Bay and Puget Sound, and is Oregon's second busiest maritime commerce center", and there is an article on Port of Portland. Seems notable to me, especially in light of all the New Carissa activity. Katr67 17:48, 17 August 2006 (UTC)


 * OK, thanks to EngineerScotty I made a really stubby stub. Surely we have a shipping fan on board who would love to expand it. :) Katr67 18:18, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

Shy Huntington
Added a stub for Shy Huntington, UO football player and coach who led the team to two rose bowls. If someone knows of Huntington's exploits after UO, or can find a photo, please contribute. PDXblazers 06:40, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

Scotts Mills earthquake
Just ran across an article on the Nisqually earthquake of 2001 in Washington, and thought the 1993 Scotts Mills quake (the largest in Oregon at the time) would also make a good article. Here's some info: http://www.ess.washington.edu/SEIS/EQ_Special/pnwtectonics.html (scroll all the way to the bottom). And: http://www.co.clackamas.or.us/emergency/earthquake.htm (has photo showing damage in Molalla). Katr67 02:18, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

Government of Oregon
I made a stub article for this. I plan to look for any existing redlinks to state agencies and start there. There's a gazillion state agencies--not sure they all need their own articles. If anyone runs across a stray government agency article, be sure to add it (first making sure it matches the agency's official title, if you don't mind.) Thanks! Katr67 01:55, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

Another draft article
for folks to work on. WikiProject Oregon/History of Oregon, which will eventually become History of Oregon. I'm not a history buff, so lots of help is needed to do this. This article is a necessity for Oregon to become a FAC; the current history section in Oregon needs a bit of work. --EngineerScotty 00:28, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

Oregon tax revolt
Found this existing article, added it to the WP. Needs lots of cleanup and wikification. I'm off to bed now. :) --EngineerScotty 06:49, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

Invite
Wanted to let you know that WP:BIOGRAPHY has added a "work group" called Politics and government, and so wanted to invite you to participate on any biography-type articles. The section for OR is here and if there's interest, we can beef it up to look like the newly-created Virginia one plange 05:35, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

List of Oregon State Parks
Just found this list and it is a total mess. No order whatsoever, and a ton of redlinks. How should this be organized? By region? Simply alphabetically? I'd love other opinions. Hopefully we can fix this up. With no red links and some photos, I think it could potentially be a beautiful list. PDXblazers 07:17, 27 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Why do you say there's no order? Was it alphabetical when you looked?  For useful (thus beautiful to me) how about something like:
 * {| class="wikitable"

!Name !! region !! locale !! camping !! trailer hookups !! showers !! close to
 * Washburne State Wayside || coast || level forest || • || • || • || Newport
 * Willamette Stone State Heritage Site || Willamette Valley || hillside forest ||  ||   ||   || Portland
 * }
 * —EncMstr 21:26, 27 August 2006 (UTC)
 * }
 * —EncMstr 21:26, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

This looks really nice! I'll have some time this week, I'll see what I can do! PDXblazers 22:57, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

I was going to add that as an example Washington's list looks like this, but I like the table idea better. Katr67 23:00, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

I looked at all the List of whatever state parks: most have the same panache as the existing Oregon article. A few stand out with useful and interesting features: It would seem easy to improve on the best of these. —EncMstr 01:33, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Several have a standard state links template, like Arkansas and New Mexico.
 * Iowa adds a list of county-managed parks.
 * Maine lists public reserved land: someone should investigate what this means.
 * Michigan sure lists a lot of forests.
 * Mississippi lists seven defunct state parks!
 * |Nebraska includes recreation areas and a recreational trail.
 * New Jersey adds historic sites.
 * New York has many nice photos.
 * Ohio includes all kinds of park like settings: federal, state, city, forests, memorials.
 * West Virgina has listings by amenity and region.

I'm creating a new list at List of Oregon State Parks/New article Feel free to contribute, especially with the introduction (I am not a wizard with words)! PDXblazers 02:54, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

In actually composing the list, I am using the template, but it is sometimes difficult to verify the "locale" by the website alone. I am inclined to scrap it, unless someone vehemently objects. PDXblazers 03:10, 28 August 2006 (UTC)


 * I like the layout, but is the info on camping, trailer hookups and showers encyclopedic? I'm always leery of things that seem like tourist marketing. (As wonderful as our fine state is.) I do, however, like the subtler form of marketing on the New York list. Those are some gorgeous photos. We definitely need to do that. Katr67 03:35, 28 August 2006 (UTC)


 * It's a good question, but is a list of state parks enclopedic?  I was thinking it would be nice to hint at the character of the park in a few broad strokes:  Can one spend the night there?  Are there picnic tables?  Is there a swimming pool?  Is it merely a road side pullout?  Yeah, it is something a cheesy tourist trap brochure might have, but the inclusion of park character (locale) was intended to transcend that.
 * Ideally, I'd like to see a column like character: cozy, quiet, safe or character: isolated, spooky, crime-ridden, but that's hard to cite references.  Besides, if one were looking at a list of parks, what would one want to know?  I'm having trouble thinking of anything untouristy.  Agreed: the photos are a great touch.  —EncMstr 04:49, 28 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Take a look now. The touristy stuff is gone.  I think that this, with photos added, would make a beautiful list.  As far as whether its encyclopedic, take a look at Featured lists, things much more suspect than this are in there. PDXblazers 21:16, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

Politics and Government
Currently, there exist two subcategories of Category:Oregon, Category:Government of Oregon and Category:Politics of Oregon. Right now, they are siblings.

I'm of the belief that Politics of Oregon should be made a subcat of Government. Currently, there are several articles under government that might be better placed under politics; such as articles on political parties and such.

Thoughts? --EngineerScotty 01:28, 31 August 2006 (UTC)


 * I looked at the other states and I don't think Politics should be made a subcat of Government, especially because each is already a subcat of Category:Politics of the United States by state and Category:State governments of the United States respectively. The stuff on parties should definitely be moved to Politics. Politics is underpopulated but I bet there are several articles that could go in there. Oregon Bottle Bill comes to mind, though it is also in Category:Oregon law, which is also underpopulated. I know there are several articles on various ballot measures that can go in there. You might want to ask WikiProject United States--it seems like the cats are pretty standarized, or at least they are trying to get them that way. Katr67 01:49, 31 August 2006 (UTC)
 * As a sidenote, I added all of the Supreme Court cases that I know relate to Oregon to Category:Oregon law, although this is way out of my area of expertise so I could have missed a bunch of them. -Big Smooth 14:46, 31 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Hmmm, Postdlf asked me to remove those cases from the category; apparently the state law categories are only for specific laws, not a more general listing of law-related articles relating to the state. So, given that we already have Category:Oregon Ballot Measures, Category:Oregon law will probably always be underpopulated. -Big Smooth 19:06, 31 August 2006 (UTC)
 * I saw that discussion. I can see that another category would be useful. I'm marginally involved with the creation of Oregon law, but I'm no legal expert--I don't really know how it should be organized. Let's keep up a dialogue with Postdlf--he seems to know what he is doing... Katr67 19:30, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

WikiProject Oregon State Highways
I mentioned this on the transportation subproject page, but in case anybody missed it:

Northenglish started up this WikiProject, so I thought I would promote it here. There's lots to do. Katr67 17:37, 28 September 2006 (UTC)