Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Pittsburgh/Archive 2011

Membership response
Members still active are asked to sign here in response to a recent inquiry I sent. Thanks,  Grsz 11  17:28, 13 November 2010 (UTC)


 * 1) Hholt01 talk 17:33, 13 November 2010 (UTC) Like the city itself, I'm still here (active) world (global economy) (global mediaplex)! (lol)
 * 2)  Grsz 11  18:07, 13 November 2010 (UTC)
 * 3)  Pustelnik ( pustelnik ) I'm still interested in Lemkos, migration from the former Austrian Empire, Allegheny County coal mines, local folklore and folk history.
 * 4) All is One (talk) 19:16, 13 November 2010 (UTC)
 * 5) T (talk) 20:13, 13 November 2010 (UTC)
 * 6) here. CrazyPaco (talk) 22:56, 13 November 2010 (UTC)
 * 7) Hi. Battlefield1181 (talk) --Battlefield1181 (talk) 23:36, 13 November 2010 (UTC)
 * 8) &mdash;Bill Price (nyb) 01:46, 14 November 2010 (UTC)
 * 9) Lee Paxton (talk) 05:21, 14 November 2010 (UTC) I'm interested in Pittsburgh, its culture, its history, its architecture, and I'm still trying to take as many photographs of notable places in the area that I can find. There's still a lot to do as far as improving Wikipedia pages relating to our city, but I'm looking forward to continuing these efforts and helping out as much as reasonably possible.  I'm glad you folks are around here too, and I would like to say thanks for your continued participation in these ongoing attempts to improve Wikipedia articles relating to Pittsburgh.  I guess I'll see you (or yinz a-rahnd n'at), take care, and peace.
 * 10) — AlekJDS talk 15:37, 14 November 2010 (UTC) (Not so active as of recently, but when I am, I'm working on Pittsburgh-related topics.)
 * 11)   Περσεύς &#124;   Talk to me   16:49, 14 November 2010 (UTC) but still may be semi-inactive
 * 12) Still here, Rauterkus (talk) 21:37, 14 November 2010 (UTC)
 * 13) Support keeping track of who is active. Also, please note we do have physical meetups, would be nice to see more people there! --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus 01:19, 15 November 2010 (UTC)
 * 14) Great point, not of all us share the same state, the diaspora lives through wiki (absence makes the heart grow fonder and all)Hholt01 (talk) 23:56, 16 November 2010 (UTC)
 * 15) Still active in general on WP, but not specifically focusing on Pittsburgh. tlesher (talk) 02:06, 15 November 2010 (UTC)
 * 16) Still here, fixing typos. Typofixer76 (talk) 16:31, 16 November 2010 (UTC)
 * 17) I check in on the Squirrel Hill and Allderdice pages n'at from time to time. Also keeping an eye on Pittsburgh English. Batya7 (talk) 23:19, 17 November 2010 (UTC)
 * 18) BocoROTH (talk) 02:29, 22 November 2010 (UTC) Not that active, but I fix small things here and there.
 * 19) Checking in. Shiori (talk) 03:54, 26 November 2010 (UTC)
 * 20) Present.  Not going to pretend that I'm capable of being the most frequent participant, but I'll do what I can. Fractalchez (talk) 14:40, 27 November 2010 (UTC)
 * 21) Still here, still a member.Squamate (talk) 02:42, 23 December 2010 (UTC)
 * 22) Present and accounted for, albeit a bit late.weyandtWeyandt (talk) 02:50, 26 January 2011 (UTC)

US Collaboration reactivated & Portal:United States starting next
Casliber recently posted a suggestion on the talk page for WikiProject United States about getting the US Wikipedians Collaboration page going again in an effort to build up articles for GA through FA class. See U.S. Wikipedians' notice board/USCOTM. After several days of work from him the page is up and ready for action. A few candidates have already been added for you to vote on or you can submit one using the directions provided. If you are looking for inspiration here is a link to the most commonly viewed articles currently under the scope of Wikiproject United States. There are tons of good articles in the various US related projects as well so feel free to submit any article relating to US topics (not just those under the scope of WPUS). This noticeboard is intended for ‘’’All’’’ editors working on US subjects, not just those under WPUS.

The next item I intend to start updating is Portal:United States if anyone is interested in helping. Again this is not specific to WPUS and any help would be greatly appreciated to maximize visibility of US topics. The foundation has already been established its just a matter of updating the content with some new images, biographies and articles. Please let leave a comment on the Portals talk page or let me know if you have any questions or ideas. --Kumioko (talk) 19:23, 15 January 2011 (UTC)

Pittsburgh article mentioned in the Post-Gazette
Brian O'Neill interviewed me and wrote a column available here. As he said to me, "90% of this is going to end up on the cutting-room floor", and part of that 90% omitted was the fact that I told him about the Pittsburgh WikiProject, how everything I do is in collaboration with others (to greater or lesser extent), and how several members of the project have even held meetup events. (I have not yet attended one myself.) Regardless of its omissions, it's a bit of good publicity for the article and for the project, I hope. &mdash;Bill Price (nyb) 05:45, 2 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks for trying :) --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus 15:20, 2 February 2011 (UTC)
 * 90% on the cutting-room floor? Maybe the PG is afraid of the competition we pose lol, there was an article about 2 months ago about stolen brass and copper at the city-county building and the writer quoted the wiki article on the city county building word for word lol (my contributions).Hholt01 (talk) 01:47, 4 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Newspapers writers have lost jobs in the past when this was found. You may want to report this plagiarism to Wikipedia Signpost... --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus 06:38, 4 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the advice, I will take that under consideration.Hholt01 (talk) 10:09, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

Join 'Wikimedians Active in Local Regions of the United States' (WALRUS)!
We'd like to invite a representative from the group who should have some experience in organizing Meetup/Pittsburgh, to join the Wikimedians Active in Local Regions of the United States (WALRUS) committee to help advance real-life Wikimedian activities in the US.--Pharos (talk) 22:12, 11 March 2011 (UTC)
 * That's sounds like a good imitative! Our meetups are more lively than this page, for some reason :) --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus 23:11, 11 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Pharos, I would sign, but I am not sure this project is active enough to warrant joining. I mean, if I am the only one who posts here, who else is active? (Sage, I guess...). Technically we can conominate ourselves for 100% support, but it would seem to me like an unfair inflation of real interest in WALRUS. Don't get me wrong, I think it is a great initiative, but I also think it should be composed of real groups, not 1- or 2- person local projects. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus 20:06, 16 March 2011 (UTC)
 * In my experience there are dozens of extremely active members on wikiprojectPittsburgh sites, in true Pittsburgher fashion (or Western Pennsylvania fashion) I see most focused on building rather then building and "Madison Avenue" or "Hollywood Blvd." type recording what we've done. The oldest knock against this region isn't that its not one of the most dynamic and innovative, it's that it never quite writes or publicizes it's own rich history to the degree other regions are apt to.  Just saying some of that I see carrying over in the wikiverse, I see lots of excellent contributions on region specific articles but I share the sentiment hoping that can translate to meetups both virtual and real-time.  Just my two cents.  Hholt01 (talk) 23:32, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

Book Pittsburgh, finished the data side of "On this day"
Hi all been kind of quiet on here (and I took a few months off, and still quiet) hope all is well for everyone. I have populated almost everything on the "On this day" feature over at the Portal, the summer months need a few rewrites and I need to insert links to the wiki articles, all are welcomed to add events if there is any news left I haven't researched to death. My view on the "On this day" was to have world media event (sports title, world visit, conference) or world or regional "firsts" or "lasts" especially ones involving a "pillar" of the community (Rooneys, UPMC, Heinz, Steelers, etc.). I took much of the info from the Chronology Pittsburgh site that Pitt has (google it its very findable), but took out some of the events such as Mr. Blah Blah was appointed head of Cyclops Steel, or XYZ Elementary School opened in accordance to the ideals stated above (with the logic that someone in India will be reading the feature and will recognize a Hockey team title or the Prime Minister of Liberia visiting but really not understand some staff shakeup at a company that was bought out long ago). I also did massive research on events like national golf championships and world sports records that the Chronology at Pitt left out, as well as dates Apple, Intel, Google etc. opened Pittsburgh offices. The "On this Day" is pretty much complete but if anyone stumbles on a world first I missed please add, I was amazed at how many I discovered by accident researching other Pittsburgh topics (I added those). In other news I did create the Book:Pittsburgh and linked it on the bottom of the Pittsburgh infobox that appears on every Pittsburgh related page. Book Pittsburgh needs some work so if anyone is up to it be my guest. Hope all is well with everyone and being that it's April 27th AM GOOOOOO Pens! Please don't leave us with a loss to TB and there just be the Pirates and an NFL strike until October! lol. Hholt01 (talk) 08:36, 27 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your hard work, hopefully we will see you at the next meetup! --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; talk 16:41, 27 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Glad to do it, although I am a homesick member of the diaspora right now, I do fly into the City of Champions twice a year, would love to stop by a meetup if the chance presented it. Hholt01 (talk) 23:21, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

Meetups ongoing
Just a reminder that the next meetup is planned for April. See details here. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus 22:00, 11 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Or May. Anybody? --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus 17:35, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

We have also been invited to take part in the Wiknic (tentative Pittsburgh location, Schenley Park, 25 June). This may involve media and city's officials - and I would really hate to be there alone :D It would be really helpful to have a May meetup to hash out Wiknic details (and correspondingly, I'd hate to commit myself/us to Wiknic if we cannot even hold a single meetup before it). --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus 17:12, 18 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Wiknic went well, thanks to all those who came. Let's start planning on the meetup page our next one, August or September? --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; talk 19:54, 26 June 2011 (UTC)

Carnegie Mellon University alumni Page
Are only graduates suppose to be listed as Carnegie Mellon alumni or is it alright that someone is listed that only finished 1 year or even less?TL36 (talk) 05:58, 14 June 2011 (UTC)
 * That's a question better for Alumnus in general, but per this article, I'd say, yes, a graduate (some diploma received) status is needed. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; talk 17:08, 14 June 2011 (UTC)
 * It's not very common to use "alumni" to refer to people who attended an institution without graduating, but predictably, it seems to show up often when the PR folks at a university want to associate themselves more closely with a celebrity. See, for example, Kurt Vonnegut and Harry Chapin vis-a-vis Cornell University: neither graduated, but both are claimed as "alumni". &mdash;Bill Price (nyb) 17:26, 14 June 2011 (UTC)
 * In such rare cases, this should be clarified in text or with a footnote. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; talk 20:19, 14 June 2011 (UTC)
 * I don't think it is as rare as you think. It is the policy of some universities that there is a minimum amount of attendance at a university below graduation that qualifies them as alumni. So for some schools, having simply attended is enough to denote them per the institution's official policy that they are alumni. At Pitt, for instance, I pretty sure that to be considered and alumni, you must possess some sort of actual degree (although I'm unsure if a certificate program is sufficient). Other schools may consider medical residents and post-doctoral fellows as alumni. Its can be quite variable based on the school. However, it is often difficult to verify the official status of any individual since most schools' records are not available to the public. There needs to be some flexibility on it, but footnotes, or suitable explanation in the lead of any list of alumni, should be included. CrazyPaco (talk) 17:33, 26 June 2011 (UTC)

New articles notification list
I've requested that we receive a report on new articles with keyword Pittsburgh (see here for an example feed for Poland project). I'll update you and our page when it is live. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; talk 19:02, 26 June 2011 (UTC)

Newsletter and membership check
I would like to create a project newsletter (see the two I've done in the past, for Poland and Sociology projects). Everyone is involved to add content, improve the layout, suggest name and motto. For starters, colors should be shifted to Pittsburgh (yellow, black?). Draft is here: WikiProject Pittsburgh/Newsletter

Before it is send out, I'd like to verify our membership, to see who is active (and, as the bot delivery is automated based on user list, to try to get various people who have Pittsburgh userboxes but have not added themselves to our project list, to officially join us). I have created the WikiProject Pittsburgh/Members dedicated list, and I'll send a roll call notification to everyone on that list, as well as in related categories and userboxes. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; talk 19:36, 26 June 2011 (UTC)

Infobox Pittsburgh
Hi all, some interesting discussions going on over at Template talk:Pittsburgh on both the color style and the extent of the box. We welcome any and all views that editors or users find relevant. Thanks. Hholt01 (talk) 21:10, 12 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Hmmm, Hmmm not three month later and look what we got, I am all for compliance and rules but I wouldn't go on the Ireland wikiarticle and just start changing things without first reading the discussion, or better yet contributing to the discussion. It is one thing if you are versed on the subject matter and provide citations, I might be coming down with hot-shot wiki editors not-knowing- a-**#-thing-about-what-they-are-attempting-to-edit fatigue. Hholt01 (talk) 04:30, 8 July 2011 (UTC)
 * And this editor that somehow needs not discussion, consensus or even rationale to change what experts in the area have deemed appropriate apparently is "owed" something with his eyes?!? Hholt01 (talk) 04:30, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

WikiProject cleanup listing and most popular pages listing
I've asked for listings to be generated for this project. See examples: cleanup listing for WikiProject Poland, most popular pages for WikiProject Poland. When they are ready, I'll update you here and add them to our main page. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; talk 19:20, 26 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Cleanup listing available: --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; talk  19:02, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

List of bridges in Pittsburgh
I'm working on the List of bridges in Pittsburgh page. It's not live yet (see here). Your help is appreciated! —Tucoxn (talk) 11:51, 6 July 2011 (UTC)
 * I'd suggest moving it to mainspace as soon as possible. I think articles in userspace are often left unfinished and forgotten. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; talk 15:57, 6 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Looks nice if I have time I'll def lend a hand.Hholt01 (talk) 04:23, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

DejaVu all over again
Do non-expert, non-versed editors even bother reading the discussion page, the consensus or god forbid leaving a comment on the discussion page? If "experts" and those "well versed" read and contribute to comment pages, shouldn't those with little or no knowledge be expected to? I really pray that "owe my eyes" doesn't become the SOLE non-discussion standard for an editor changing content. Hholt01 (talk) 04:37, 8 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Update, seems that although the user doesn't read discussions or add to them, he had only the best intentions. I will pass along that once again, those not raised in W Pa. think that the colors might be a little abrasive or hard on the eyes.  I did thank him for visiting Pittsburgh articles.  Hholt01 (talk) 18:43, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

Fort Pitt Blockhouse
I was really surprised that this article did not exist, so I created it and populated it with information from two Franklin Toker books and a few websites. More contributions would be appreciated! While doing the research, I was amazed to see that the building isn't recorded on the NRHP. I wonder why not. Update: It looks like it's part of the "Forks of the Ohio" historic place. &mdash;Bill Price (nyb) 21:27, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Good job, please nominate it at T:TDYK for main page exposure, too! --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; talk 01:44, 16 July 2011 (UTC)
 * I just gave it a try- we'll see what happens! &mdash;Bill Price (nyb) 03:30, 16 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Looks good! --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; talk 05:25, 16 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the contribution! Hholt01 (talk) 03:41, 20 July 2011 (UTC)

Allegheny County District Attorney
Hi all, I created the article for Allegheny County D.A. as well as the wikiarticles for each of the last 6 D.A.'s before Zappala from Google News archives. Also created a succession box for them going back to 1948. Put on each of the 7 wikiarticles the Allegheny DA infobox though have not started that yet. Anyone that wants to dig into Google News prior to 1948 please be my guest and add, no list at all exists online for them, they seem to take office in January of presidential election years and have the primaries the year before for reference on Google News. Let me know what you think of it, and any help would be appreciated as always. Also I did find a site listing ALL of the Federal District Attorney's (Western District of Pennsylvania) so we could start that article as well as articles for each one. Hholt01 (talk) 23:19, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

Teaching with Wikipedia Workshop at CMU (Aug 15)
Interested editors are invited to Teaching with Wikipedia Workshop. It will also cover how to become a Campus Ambassadors. If you are an instructor or a student, this workshop may be quite useful to you. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; talk 17:27, 9 August 2011 (UTC)

Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute Page Edits Needed
Hello, I am an employee on the corporate communications team at the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute (SEI). I’m seeking help in updating the outdated information that is currently in the Software Engineering Institute Wikipedia article. I’ve included links to several resources below that contain information about the SEI and programs, and technologies. Please feel free to consult these sources as you are making updates to the article.

Thank you for your help, Dana

• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10182/1069538-28.stm

• eWeek: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Application-Development/Software-Engineering-Institute-Contract-Renewed-466589/

• Dr. Dobb’s Journal: http://drdobbs.com/222301637

• PCWorld: http://www.pcworld.com/article/216936/when_trusted_IT_people_go_bad.html?tk=rss_news

• Government Info Security: http://www.govinfosecurity.com/podcasts.php?podcastID=465

• Software Integrity Blog: http://blog.coverity.com/uncategorized/interview-with-robert-seacord-head-of-the-secure-coding-initiative-at-cert/

• Bank Info Security: http://www.bankinfosecurity.com/podcasts.php?podcastID=823

• On Software Engineering: http://onsoftwareengineering.com/2010/12/03/cmmi-version-1-3-and-agile/

• About.com: http://adulted.about.com/od/learningorganizations/a/seicertificationatcarnegiemellon.htm

--CMUSEI (talk)(CMUSEI (talk) 15:26, 10 August 2011 (UTC))
 * Thanks for your contributions, interesting links, will be interesting to see them grow! Hholt01 (talk) 08:45, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

DYK: VISTA volunteer, Carl Gershman
Hi VISTA people!

Please consider checking/verifying the DYK nomination for Carl Gershman:


 * ... that the President of the National Endowment for Democracy, Carl Gershman, served with the "domestic Peace Corps"—Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA)—in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during 1965–1967?

Thanks! Kiefer .Wolfowitz 12:49, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

Some Pirates rivalry articles suggested for deletion.
A proposal has been made to delete all Pittsburgh Pirates rivalry articles save Phillies-Pirates. If you have viewpoints on whether to merge/keep/delete and facts/citations to justify it please comment here. Thanks for your participation. Hholt01 (talk) 09:02, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

Editors with possible conflicts of interest editing Luke Ravenstahl
Please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Luke_Ravenstahl#Edits_from_individuals_with_possible_conflicts_of_interest. Two editors have been notified of COI issues and invited to the article talk page. One has chosen to revert my rollback on the article without explanation or discussion and continue editing, and the other has not yet responded. &mdash;Bill Price (nyb) 19:59, 31 August 2011 (UTC)

New articles feed
We should soon see a feed with new Pittsburgh created articles at User:AlexNewArtBot/PittsburghSearchResult.--<sub style="border:1px solid #228B22;padding:1px;">Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; talk to me 17:32, 3 November 2011 (UTC)

Market Square
The Market Square article needs serious improvements. Would anyone like to help? See the talk page. Best, Weatherman1126  (  talk  ) 04:10, 17 November 2011 (UTC)

Occupy Pittsburgh created
I created an article on Occupy Pittsburgh. I note we are missing an entry on the Mellon Green park, perhaps somebody could stub it? --<sub style="border:1px solid #228B22;padding:1px;">Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; talk to me 19:02, 2 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks, will look into creating it. Hholt01 (talk) 11:43, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

Proposing to split Films/TV shows
Proposing to split: List_of_films_and_television_shows_shot_in_Pittsburgh into tv/videos and widescreen film articles, if you have any comment or suggestion please join the discussion at Talk:List_of_films_and_television_shows_shot_in_Pittsburgh Thanks! Hholt01 (talk) 11:50, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

Succession boxes lists being made incomplete on Pittsburgh sports stadium pages
One editor in the College Football Wikiproject is insisting on the removal of succession boxes on all stadiums that hosted college football teams in the United States. For stadiums and venues that host other sports/teams, this leads to an incomplete list of tenant succession boxes in the event and tenant lists on those articles. If you wish to add your opinion to this issue, please feel free to do so at the discussion pages of Recreation Park, Exposition Park, Forbes Field, Pitt Stadium, Three Rivers Stadium, Heinz Field. A general discussion of this and other issues can be found at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject College football.CrazyPaco (talk) 00:47, 26 December 2011 (UTC)