Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Alabama
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[edit] Good Article Candidates
I have listed two articles in the TODO box which are currently B class and are getting close to GA review. The Alabama article came close in March and some specific suggestions are on the article's talk page. The Mobile article, like Alabama needs some expansion and some sourcing. These are the two articles I know about and there are probably more. Please list them so we can all work together and get the project some GA, and eventually FA, articles.
[edit] Big steel companies
As companies that have been important in Alabama, especially in the Birmingham, Alabama area for a long time, and continue to be important, there need to be articles on these "big steel" companies:
note that these have both made cast iron and steel pipes for various large civil engineering and petroleum engineering projects for a long time, no matter what their names say.74.249.82.221 (talk) 23:43, 23 September 2008 (UTC)
- I moved this from the project page as it more properly belongs here. - Dravecky (talk) 01:16, 24 September 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Encyclopedia of Alabama
Hello All,
I used to work with the www.EncyclopediaofAlabama.org, actually I still do contract work for them. We launched our site publicly almost a month ago and I have been exploring ways to reference our articles in relevant Wiki articles. It seems that I cannot add an external link to our project because that constitutes 'spam'. However, several of my previously rejected articles (articles that a Wiki bot removed the link) now have the link reinstated, I'm guessing by the author. So, here are a few questions I have for someone more familiar with the Wiki world;
- . As a non-profit, educational project why are we considered spam? How can I get around being blocked?
- . Is there some form or process I can undergo in order to be granted an exception from these automated spamming restrictions?
- . As I mentioned, several of the links that were automatically deleted are now back. If I post an external link, and WIki bots take them down, does the author of that article still get a notification as to what I was trying to do? If this is the case, do you think most authors would be happy to support our external link?
I would be most appreciative of any advice.
Justin from the EOA —Preceding unsigned comment added by 22star (talk • contribs) 15:56, 7 October 2008 (UTC)
- Justin, The label "spam" is clearly overkill. Given Wikipedia's visibility in search results, it is a frequent target of actual spam. When an unregistered or new user makes a number of new external links, it triggers automated scripts to revert the additions. (In my opinion, that process is much too ham-fisted and undermines WP policies on collaboration, but my objections have not made an impact.)
- There are, however, some considerations which recommend against blanketing articles with EofA links, even when they are relevant. First off, the policy on external links is pretty strict. The preference in the case of a resource like EofA is for a Wikipedia author to incorporate the relevant information and cite EofA as a reference rather than just link to it (See WP:EL). The other consideration is that, since you are involved with the project yourself, your actions fall under suspicion with regard to the policy on Conflicts of Interest (WP:COI).
- Probably the best way to proceed would be to suggest EofA as a resource on article talk pages rather than adding at an external link directly in the articles. You can also use this project page to interact with editors who frequently contribute to Alabama-related articles. You might not get much feedback or see much progress, but that is a perfectly-recommended way to contribute without triggering spam-bots. On the other hand, if you are so inclined, putting in the work to go in and improve WP articles with information cited from EofA, would (I expect) be highly appreciated. --Dystopos (talk) 19:18, 7 October 2008 (UTC)
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- I agree with Dystopos on how you should proceed. And BTW- the Encyclopedia of Alabama article was just tagged for notability and lack of references, but all is taken care of now as I have added three independent sources. Altairisfartalk 19:25, 7 October 2008 (UTC)
- All, thanks for the suggestions. I totally agree that I should not be the one adding the external links, but I would like to draw attention to the project -- bringing this up in the talk page is a great idea. I will also try to recruit some manpower to add additional information to the articles. -- Justin —Preceding unsigned comment added by 22star (talk • contribs) 20:47, 7 October 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Alabama articles needing geographic coordinates
141 articles in Category:Alabama articles missing geocoordinate data do not have geographic coordinates. Coords are useful for making the article appear on Google Maps & many other mapping services; and they allow our users to click through to see the article subject location on a map. There's a short guide to on how to add geocodes to articles ... it really is very easy to do. I hope you'll take some time to ensure that Alabama is as well represented as it can be on wikipedia by fixing up the listed articles. thanks --Tagishsimon (talk) 23:33, 25 November 2008 (UTC)
- Good project and really pretty easy to do. Count me in! JodyB talk 00:05, 26 November 2008 (UTC)
- Comment Guys this list is growing as the bot runs. There are now over 175 pages that do not include the coords template. Be sure to remove the missing coords template when you edit the article so it will not show up on the list. Just an idea, but take the articles beginning with the first initial of your username and move down the list from there. JodyB talk 12:02, 26 November 2008 (UTC)
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- I've done some of them, mainly the ones that cover subjects that I'm familiar with. I can easily get the coordinates for the rest of the articles that cover subjects on the National Register of Historic Places, we have a tool for that. Altairisfartalk 21:19, 26 November 2008 (UTC)
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- I've just done another round, also ones that I'm familiar with. Back down to 141! Also, a question: what coordinates should be used for things like rivers? --Spyder_Monkey (Talk) 03:58, 1 December 2008 (UTC)
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- I was wondering the same thing and also historic geographic regions that aren't well defined by modern borders, such as the Mobile District. Altairisfartalk 04:38, 1 December 2008 (UTC)
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[edit] Courthouse Photos
I propose that photos of all Alabama county courthouses be added to their respective article, and possibly the corresponding county seat article. This would serve to beautify the article and serve as a visual representation of the county. Help is needed adding them to their respective county pages by adding the following to the County Infobox template
|ex image = courthouse image filename.jpg
|ex image cap = xxx County Courthouse in xxxx, Alabama
The following counties do not have courthouse photos. Contributors may want to cross them off once a photo is taken and uploaded. --Ichabod (talk) 19:23, 30 November 2008 (UTC)
