Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Pittsburgh/Archive 1

Welcome to the family of city WikiProjects
I just wanted to say Hello, and offer technical support should you need it in building this new WikiProject. With WikiProject Louisville, we've seen a significant growth in contributions to local articles since the project began in June. The project has been especially good for identifying what new articles need to be created, and that has generated a good deal of excitement for our members. So, I offer my best wishes, and... Bon voyage! :) Stevie is the man!  Talk &bull; Work 16:13, 30 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Well, thank you. We're just getting started, so I really appreciate it. It may be obvious, but I used WP:Louisville as the starting point for the project page. --Chris Griswold (  ☏  )  17:16, 30 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Yeap, I noticed that. :) I did the same thing, as I copied Chicago's WikiProject for Louisville. Of course, WP:Louisville has been changed dramatically since that time, but it was still a good starting point. Cheers! Stevie is the man!  Talk &bull; Work 17:26, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

Recognition concept idea
Perhaps three barnstars, in the same red, yellow, blue pattern as in the steel logo. FireSpike 20:39, 5 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I know someone could do way better, but this is just the basic concept for now. FireSpike 21:26, 5 September 2006 (UTC)


 * I like the idea; it's a good beginning. --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  )  21:42, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

Pittsburgh Barnstar
I have created a new Pittsburgh Barnstar to award to editors who go above and beyond in the improvement of Pittsburgh-related articles and WikiProject Pittsburgh.

Just add "" to an editor's talk page, filling in a message to let them know why they have received it.

I just made this, and I have already place it on the talk pages of and  who have been tagging the appropriate articles with pghproj and Pittsburgh-stub, respectively. also received one for his work with the school articles and for his work on the Culture of Pittsburgh article. --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 08:18, 7 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Thanx! I've taken the liberty of awarding a Pittsburgh Barnstar to for his creation of WikiProject Pittsburgh, the Barnstar itself and for all the myriad articles and categories about Pittsburgh he's worked on. – Paschmitts 21:32, 7 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanks, I appreciate that. It's kind of funny for me to receive an award within a day of creating it. I should make some more awards. --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  )

A small change
The award was changed to and it was placed on the PUA page because it had not been properly vetted. --evrik (talk) 05:40, 12 December 2006 (UTC)
 * How is such a thing vetted? --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 05:54, 12 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Nevermind; I see it now. --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 05:54, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Another Recipient
I've awarded a Pittsburgh Star to for setting up the Assessment system for WikiProject Pittsburgh. – Paschmitts 00:54, 13 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks! It was a fun little project. PadreNuestro 01:28, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

PittsburghWikiProject
I've been adding PittsburghWikiProject to numerous talk pages of Pittsburgh-related articles. --myselfalso 02:23, 8 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanks. I've recently been working on making links to Pittsburgh link directly to Pittsburgh, PA to make certain tasks easier. --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  )  03:52, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

I've been working on Pittsburgh Public Schools and related pages and tagging their Talk pages as part of the Project. --Paschmitts 16:34, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Those especially will need patrolling because high school students will frequently vandalize their schools' pages.--Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 18:17, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

OK, there's now at least stubs for all the PPS High Schools. Almost no other schools have pages yet. I'll keep working. Paschmitts 04:56, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

Any problems? Concerns? Questions?
Be sure to bring up any issues that need to be discussed on this page. Don't be afraid to ask questions, ask for assistance, or notify other editors of ongoing problems. --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 15:53, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

I live in Fayette City, and Id like to know who the mayor is, can anyone add that to the article? --DaveTheKing 05:52, 23 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Looking for it now. --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 06:31, 23 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Thank you very much. --DaveTheKing 17:27, 23 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Is there a mayor? Do you know? --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 04:28, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

Yes there is. --DaveTheKing 03:28, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Seal and Flag of Pittsburgh
I decided to start working on the Seal of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania page. Please make suggestions on its talk page. Paschmitts 03:23, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

I also created a Flag of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania page. Paschmitts 05:10, 16 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Good work. Thanks. --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 15:39, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

I think the seal and flag articles can be merged. Even when most of the information about the two is in the articles, I think it would just make more sense to have them together. Any other thoughts? Carboneyes 17:10, 10 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Well both of them are based on the Chatham Arms, so they're not that different. I created them separately because most other cities have them spearate. I wouldn't object to merging them. – Paschmitts 18:23, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Project directory
Hello. The WikiProject Council has recently updated the WikiProject Council/Directory. This new directory includes a variety of categories and subcategories which will, with luck, potentially draw new members to the projects who are interested in those specific subjects. Please review the directory and make any changes to the entries for your project that you see fit. There is also a directory of portals, at User:B2T2/Portal, listing all the existing portals. Feel free to add any of them to the portals or comments section of your entries in the directory. The three columns regarding assessment, peer review, and collaboration are included in the directory for both the use of the projects themselves and for that of others. Having such departments will allow a project to more quickly and easily identify its most important articles and its articles in greatest need of improvement. If you have not already done so, please consider whether your project would benefit from having departments which deal in these matters. It is my hope that all the changes to the directory can be finished by the first of next month. Please feel free to make any changes you see fit to the entries for your project before then. If you should have any questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you. B2T2 19:18, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Music articles
Currently looking through the Pittsburgh band-related articles. Many of these are uncited and a number need to at least claim notability. I will see what I can find on them, but if they do not claim notability in a week, I will probably bring them up for (possibly speedy) deletion. --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 07:45, 6 November 2006 (UTC)
 * If anyone wants to help, Anti-Flag is a good example of a band article. --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 07:46, 6 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Well, except for the lack of references. --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 22:02, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Frick ISA Middle School Proposed for Deletion
The Frick International Studies Academy Middle School page has been proposed for deletion by 23 November 2006. I feel it is a unique school in the Pittsburgh Public Schools and is notable enough to have its own page. However I'm not familiar enough with the school to improve on it. Could somebody who knows Frick take a look and improve on things. If anyone knows of Notable Alumni already in Wikipedia, that would go a long way to making this a notable school. – Paschmitts 20:11, 18 November 2006 (UTC)


 * The page has been saved from deletion. Being an International Studies school at the Middle School level makes it notable. Of course, it could always use more editing, so feel free to help out. – Paschmitts 20:27, 20 November 2006 (UTC)
 * I took a look at it but didn't have much time to work on it. I figured something like that would happen, and if not, I would have made sure it was not deleted. I am an admin, and you can call on me for related tasks whenever you need such help. --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 01:05, 21 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanx. I had some trouble on the George Westinghouse High School page when I created it. Folks were expecting the one in NYC, rather than the 'burgh. I moved it to its current page (with the city) and someone jumped in to expand the page and made it worthy of keeping. So then I created a disambiguation page to get people to the right school. I've created pages for all the High Schools, but Carrick High School, and Langley High School (Pittsburgh) are just place-holders (not even worthy to be called stubs), and some of the others would probably not pass a notability test. Anyway, I've held off creating pages for other schools to avoid any problems like these. Hopefully we can recruit others to help flesh out the pages. – Paschmitts 05:03, 21 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Well, I was just interviewed for something for the City Paper, and we talked about the project, so hopefully it will see print and some new editors will join us. I am prepared, though, to do any administrative work that needs done. --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 09:11, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

Recruitment
Does anyone have suggestions for how to raise awareness/recruit new members? As I mentioned above, I discussed the WikiProject in an interview for the City Paper. I also am considering approaching Pittsburgh's Young Preservationists' Association, a group dedicated to preserving the city's history. Any other ideas? Maybe CraigsList? --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 09:19, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

Drugs in the 1970s in Taylor Allderdice High School
Please take a look at Talk:Taylor Allderdice High School, where there is a debate about whether section about drug use in the 1970s, based solely on student newspapers, should be added to the article, which is currently little more than an infobox, student statistics and a list of famous alumni. Thanks.--Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 04:30, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

North Shore
It seems to me that this is a neologism created to separate positive cultural and sports news from negative crime news about basically the same area. Am I incorrect? Does anyone know? Thanks, Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 10:12, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Primanti Bros.
Someone suggested that the Primanti Sandwich article be merged with the Primanti Bros. Article. I second that motion, and I feel the restaurant article should be the dominant article, but I don't know how to actually merge the two. Carboneyes 19:40, 28 November 2006 (UTC)
 * That's all I needed; I'll take care of it now. --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 19:57, 28 November 2006 (UTC)
 * OK, I just merged and overhauled the articles, but the article still needs work, particularly with citations. --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 20:08, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

I tried to reference the Primanti Brothers in the Cheesesteak article. My reference was removed quickly with the following comment, "Yeah, they made sandwiches in the 1930s, but nothing indicates their steak sandwich is anywhere near that old, nor is there evidence it's particularly notable." I need some help here.Weyandt (talk) 18:01, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Rick Sebak
I've just created this article; I would appreciate any help other editors might be able to give me with it. Thanks. --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 23:00, 28 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Great idea, glad someone created an article on Sebak. I own most of his movies, so maybe I'll get around to adding some info. Also, I see you made interior links for each individual movie, should I make pages for them? RiverHockey 16:36, 30 November 2006 (UTC)
 * I actually swiped the list from the WQED article, which also could use some expansion: It's a pioneer in broadcasting. I have seen a number of Sebak's films and am a big fan, but I only own Kennywood Memories and Things That Aren't There Anymore. If you actually have copies of his documentaries, I would appreciate working with you on some articles based on them. Do what you can, and I will see what I can add to it. Thanks so much. --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 16:52, 30 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Been busy lately, but I will get around to it. I have to sort through my VHS collection. RiverHockey 19:31, 12 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Added Photo of Mr. Sebak Pianoman7692 02:56, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

Important: Pittsuburgh People categories may be deleted
Currently, Category: People from Pittsburgh is huge. The subcategories help to organize these articles into manageable clusters. There are certainly enough actors, athletes, businesspeople, writers, and politicians to populate these categories; I am currently in the process of migrating the majority of the the People from Pittsburgh articles into these categories. Unfortunately, these have been brought up for deletion, and so we soon may lose these, making it easy to lose these articles in the category. It's much easier to look at Category:Actors from Pittsburgh and find the article you want than to try to scan through People from Pittsburgh to find it. Please support keeping these articles by voting keep here: Categories for deletion/Log/2006 November 29 Thanks, Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 01:41, 29 November 2006 (UTC)
 * I am taking care of adding all Pittsburgh sportspeople to their appropriate subcategory. Sportspeople from Pittsburgh RiverHockey 22:33, 14 December 2006 (UTC)
 * The categories are saved; unfortunately, this happened after I had spent hours making lists of where articles needed to go. I will need to get back to this, but this kind of killed my momentum. --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 00:34, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
 * I've gotten all 'people from Pittsburgh' into their respective categories but there are still many left over. Should I create a category named 'Scholars from Pittsburgh'. This would include chemists, physicists, professors, phiolosophers. I would use 'Scientists from Pittsburgh', but such a title would exclude philosophers, etc.. If you think it's a good idea let me know and I'll make the category.-RiverHockey 22:25, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

An AfD nomination for The O
The Original Hot Dog Shop has been SliceNYC 22:45, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the heads up. We do need to fix that thing up.

Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation
Would someone mind writing an article about this? It seems like a pretty good subject for an article. Apparently it created Station Square. An article was created about the yesterday, but I had to delete it because it was copied directly from the Foundation's Web site at [www.phlf.org www.phlf.org]. Thanks in advane. --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 07:26, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia Links in Google Earth
Google Earth has added (at least in version 4) a Layer with links to Wikipedia articles which have coordinates listed. For example, if you look at Downtown, you'll find a link to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania which, when you click it, show the first three paragraphs of the lead and the first three pictures (outside the infobox) and of course a link to the full article. This is really cool!

In order to get more information about Pittsburgh out there, everybody should start tagging articles with the template coor; specifically use one of the variants to put the Coordinates link at the top of the page. A number of Pittsburgh pages already have this, but let's make an effort to put coordinates on any Pittsburgh page with a reference to a location.

If you'd like to do this but don't know how to find out the coordinates of a location, leave a note on my talk page and I'll use Google Earth to find them. Leave me a link to the article in question and an address (of the location, not your own) if you know it.

– Paschmitts 16:27, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Great idea. --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 19:03, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

OK, I can't figure this out: Carnegie Mellon has a Wikipedia link in Google Earth, but as far as I can see there are no coordinates on the page? I note that it still links to Carnegie Mellon University so maybe it's an old version. Maybe I'll look through the history for coordinates. – Paschmitts 19:55, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Here's an article about Wikipedia in Google Earth. It doesn't say how the links are created, but it can't hurt to put Coordinates in as many articles as we can. – Paschmitts 21:52, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

OK, this article on Editing Wikipedia Layer Content confirms that Google Earth looks for the coor template in articles. Specifically or  are used. So start adding those to any Pittsburgh articles you can. – Paschmitts 03:09, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

There is now a FAQ about how coordinates are pulled from Wikipedia into Google Earth. – Paschmitts 02:08, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Most of the locations in Category:Neighborhoods of Pittsburgh have had their coordinates entered incorrectly. When entered in the preferred decimal format, the second set of coordinates must be preceded by a minus sign; this has been omitted for most of the neighborhoods. As a consequence, if you go to, say, 40.409 79.941 in GE's "Fly to" window, which are the coordinates supplied for Hazelwood, you will be taken to the desert wilds of western Xinjiang Province in China. If you have the Wikipedia layer enabled, and if you zoom out to about 15 miles, you will see about 3 dozen purple dots -- each referring to a Pittsburgh neighborhood. I was unable to edit that entry, but I think the problem is that the coordinates in the Infobox use the degree sign -- that is not necessary.garber 03:38, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

The Pittsburgh Promise
I've added a section on The Pittsburgh Promise to the Pittsburgh Public Schools page. Is this important enough for its own page and/or should it be linked from the main Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania page?

I'll be adding more information about it during the next couple of days as it get reported on more. – Paschmitts 16:19, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
 * I don't think it needs an article yet; it has only just begun. Give it a chance t see if it actually becomes anything. --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 23:10, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

WP:PGH mentions
OK, so my site Overheard in Pittsburgh has been named best blog of 2006 by the readers of the Pittsburgh City Paper. But one of the great things about the article is that it mentions this WikiProject. See also: PittBlog. --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 15:51, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

the Hills
Please take a look at North Hills (Pennsylvania) and South Hills (Pennsylvania); these need work. They have no references, and they could definitely be expanded. Also, the lists of municipalities do not appear to be complete. --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  ) 07:49, 20 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Off the idea of the N Hills and S Hill, I created a West Hills page. It has communities listed, school districts, major corporations and a history section (which lacks big time).  Take a stab at editing it folks!  =)  --Write On 1983 16:38, 18 March 2007 (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 22:21, 29 December 2006 (UTC)