Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Scotland/Archive 7

Popular pages
Anyone got any comment/objection etc on adding the Project to the bot generating lists of popular pages ? I don't know what time zone it's in, might squeeze it in to start generating data for October if I'm quick. Le Deluge (talk) 22:57, 30 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Sounds good to me. Jonathan Oldenbuck (talk) 08:33, 1 October 2009 (UTC)


 * Not only do we have no objections: we would be delighted if you added our WikiProject to the bot! :)  --Mais oui! (talk) 09:31, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

CFD: Scots to Scottish people
I put up a notice at WP:SCOWNB, but very few people seem to Watch that page nowadays. It would be nice if at least one or two Scots contributed to such a basic topic: what should Wikipedia call us? --Mais oui! (talk) 07:22, 6 October 2009 (UTC)
 * Categories_for_discussion/Log/2009_September_28

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography - October 2009 update - Scottish lives: Scotland and overseas
We have a wealth of biog info available here: See also: Hours and hours of endless wiki fun... --Mais oui! (talk) 10:00, 9 October 2009 (UTC)
 * "October’s update adds more than 40 men and women remembered for their contribution to Scottish history or to Scotland’s influence overseas."
 * http://www.oup.com/oxforddnb/info/freeodnb/shelves/scotland/
 * http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/8295298.stm
 * http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/scots-biographies-added-to-oxford-dictionary-1.924884
 * http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2009/091008.html
 * http://www.nls.uk/collections/digital/resources/odnb.html

Old Pictures - an idea
has just posted File:Lawrence and Doris Ogilvie on old Glencoe road 1931.jpg, which is displayed adjacent, to Glen Coe. The image has the description "Photo taken by my now-deceased parents, scanned in by the contributor." This idea may have been used any number of times in the past, but I don't recall seeing such a description before. Sadly, my parents passed away long before the invention of photography, but younger editors may have an interesting store of archive material. Ben  Mac  Dui  13:54, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Peer review - Court of Session (Scotland)
This is a key topic for our WikiProject, absolutely essential to understanding Scottish civil society and our post-medieval history. The quality of our Scots law articles is generally abysmal, with very few articles being above Stub or Start class (no offence intended to the precious few Users who have contributed thus far to what is a massive topic area). I personally find our neglect of civil Scotland to be a tremendous shame: Wikipedia is the poorer for it.

Please help if you can: Thanks in advance. --Mais oui! (talk) 05:20, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Peer review/Court of Session (Scotland)/archive1


 * Encouraging progress has been made so far. IMHO a GA review here was too early, but nevertheless it is underway.  Contributions from Scots lawyers would be especially welcome:
 * Talk:Court of Session
 * --Mais oui! (talk) 09:26, 16 November 2009 (UTC)


 * Indeed! I am having a similar problem.  If anyone can help, please come and visit Talk:Nobility where I have been arguing the status of the Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia, which is generally not appreciated by non-Scots.  Can you believe there was no page on this work?  I have started one off.  Any contributions welcome!  Editor8888 (talk) 13:59, 26 March 2010 (UTC)

Queen's Speech and coming White Paper on Scottish devolution
We should keep our eye on articles associated with Scottish politics, as they will need updated in the coming weeks: --Mais oui! (talk) 09:51, 18 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Holyrood to gain power to set Scots rate of income tax
 * Queen’s Speech will promise new tax-raising powers for Holyrood

GA reassessment - Dundee United F.C.
Please note that the GA status of Dundee United F.C. is currently under reassessment. See top of the Talk page for links. --Mais oui! (talk) 17:16, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

Mary Marquis
I've put BBC Scotland's Mary Marquis up for consideration for DYK, but it could probably use additional eyes and additional copy-editing if it's going to be linked off the front page. Jheald (talk) 22:18, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

Universities COTM Nomination
Hello WikiProject Scotland. I just wanted to let you all know that a university handled by your WikiProject, University of Glasgow, has been nominated for next month's WikiProject Universities Collaboration of the Month. If you'd like to take advantage of this opportunity, be sure to vote for the university. While you're there, consider helping improve one of our current Collaborations of the Month.

Happy editing! -Mabeenot (talk) 18:53, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

New Scottish Gaelic Template created
A new Scottish Gaelic Template has been created for use within articles. Template:Lang-scoga eg.. Newm30 (talk) 02:08, 30 November 2009 (UTC)


 * This already exists: lang-gd, eg. (Dùn Cholla). gd is the ISO 639-1 code for Scottish Gaelic, so should be used in preference to "scoga". I have redirected Template:Lang-scoga to Template:Lang-gd. Regards, Jonathan Oldenbuck (talk) 13:58, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Pageview stats
After a recent request, I added WikiProject Scotland to the list of projects to compile monthly pageview stats for. The data is the same used by http://stats.grok.se/en/ but the program is different, and includes the aggregate views from all redirects to each page. The stats are at WikiProject Scotland/Popular pages.

The page will be updated monthly with new data. The edits aren't marked as bot edits, so they will show up in watchlists. You can view more results, request a new project be added to the list, or request a configuration change for this project using the toolserver tool. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know. Thanks! Mr.Z-man 00:45, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Strathcona = Clen Coe??
No WP article and no web search has yet been able to tell me the etymology of the word "Strathcona". I have a theory that was invented specificly for use in the title Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal. That article says that the full title of the barons said they were "of Glencoe". Now glen and strath both mean valley, so I asume that coe and cona are variants of the same root. And that would mean Strahcona is derived from Glen Coe. Can anyone shed light on this? --Kevlar (talk • contribs) 03:18, 2 December 2009 (UTC)


 * I have done zilch research on this, so this is pure "WP:OR", but I do know that there is Cona Glen on the Ardgour side of Loch Linnhe. I suspect that the "Cona" element stems from that district rather than from the "Coe" district. --Mais oui! (talk) 11:01, 2 December 2009 (UTC)


 * Likewise no idea if there's a connection but there is a Strathconon west of the Black Isle. Mutt Lunker (talk) 12:09, 2 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Well I never. I'd have said that a Glencoe derivation just sounds all wrong, and I think from a purely toponymical POV it is, but that's without allowing for realpolitik and Victorian romanticism. According to p264 of this source, he originally wanted to be known as Baron Glencoe as he owned the Glencoe estate, but that was considered too incendiary given the history. So they came up with Strathcona as a cod Gaelicisation of Glencoe, to spare the feelings of the locals. Le Deluge (talk) 10:40, 23 December 2009 (UTC)
 * As per my other response, I think a direct derivation of Cona from Coe/Comhann is unlikely. The final -a would be hard to account for. The avoidance of (Glen)coe makes sense as does the suggested link to Conaglen/Conghleann which is geographically near and a good match phonologically so if I had to make an educated guess, I'd go with Conaglen > Cona > strath + cona > Strathcona. Akerbeltz (talk) 01:13, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

Man-made structures found on seabed off Damsay, Orkney
This would appear to be quite an important discovery. Certainly worthy of an expansion of our Damsay article, and perhaps (in time) an article in its own right, when we have sufficient ext refs and notability is established. --Mais oui! (talk) 08:34, 17 December 2009 (UTC)
 * "A unique discovery of submerged man-made structures on the seabed off Orkney could help find solutions to rising sea levels, experts have said.", BBC News Scotland online

A request from a Wikiversity Project
There is a plan to try and get a podcast ready for Burns Night. Wiki_Campus_Radio/Active_audio_stream/01-25

I've already tried asking over on the Scots Wikipedia's seeming equivilant of the Village Pump. I was advised to mention the project here as well.

A lot of effort is needed, as are some readers that are able to provide an appropriate dialect for the poetry included.

Sfan00 IMG (talk) 21:03, 30 December 2009 (UTC)

CFD nominee? - Category:Scottish rebels
I have just discovered a category which has existed since May 2007, and has only one member (Robert the Bruce): Category:Scottish rebels. My first reaction was that this was gravely underpopulated! Gee whizz, could we not just put every single Scot who has ever existed into this cat? After all, rebelliousness is a bit of a national hobby.

However, my 2nd reaction was: why does this cat exist? A "rebel" from whose perspective exactly? Bruce may have been a "rebel" from a non-Scots perspective, but then I'm sure foreign powers often consider national leaders to be inconvenient to their plans. I'm sure that many non-Indian people thought of Gandhi as a "rebel", but it would be inappropriate to enter him into a wiki cat called Category:Indian rebels. (Can you imagine the fuss if someone put him in that cat?)

All in all, this cat should either be properly populated with people who rebelled against the Scottish state (rather than foreign states), or else CFD'd. I think I prefer CFD, due to the WP:VERIFY problems of this cat. Thoughts? --Mais oui! (talk) 09:23, 31 December 2009 (UTC)


 * Arguably Bruce did rebel "against the Scottish state" but given the civil wars and UK/Scotland complication, definitions would be a nightmare I agree that it should be a CFD - or possibly it could become a User category. We could have an annual vote here to determine who was most deserving of the honour!  Ben   Mac  Dui  09:39, 31 December 2009 (UTC)


 * Feel free to enter my good self in the cat. You are in the lead in my annual "Make Me Laugh on Hogmanay" contest. --Mais oui! (talk) 09:42, 31 December 2009 (UTC)