User talk:Random articles
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Hello, just talk to me here if you want! please use this page for general chat. For edit remarks, click the link below. thanks!
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[edit] Thank you
Thank you for awarding me my first barnstar! I really appreciate it. --Fang Aili 02:01, 11 March 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Wigan
What makes you think I am 'vandalizing' the Wigan page of wikipedia? What I put is the truth! The page is full of false facts and wrong claims. Greater Manchester is NOT a county. Lancashire is, and Wigan is in Lancashire. Greater Manchester is also in Lancashire. Heinz are NOT the biggest food manufacturing plant in europe. Andy Farrell does work for the Royal Mail as a postman. Wallace and Grommit are fictional characters and it is childish to state, in an encyclopedia, that they live in Wigan. Are you in Amarica? If so, you should listen to what someone who lives in the towns on these pages says, as they know more than you do! Regards, Jimmy(H). 21:50, 9 November 2006 (UTC)
- Actually If you care to consult my user page, you will see I come from the UK and i am proud of that fact. The problem i have with your edits to Wigan is that you don't either CITE your references or keep a Neutral Point Of View. That is crucial to the factual information of Wikipedia. If you can CITE your references, than edit away, otherwise, Don't. Random articles 21:59, 9 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Luton etc
Hi thanks for your messages on my talk page. I assume you are from Luton?. I have added a little more to Round Green, although finding it very hard to come up with any more. Could you add the ISBN number for the book you have used. Is there any more info in there which could be used to expand it.
I have added a logo to CNS, but its not a subject i know a lot about. Are you a student there? From memory i recall that there was a public subscription back in the 60's to raise a lot of the funds to build the school, but i have been unable to confirm this on the net. maybe you are aware of this?
Are you interested in working together on the various Luton articles to expand them. One i have put a lot of work into is Leagrave but this is still lacking. I would like to add more info about the early expansion of luton (to leagrave, Stopsley, Limbury etc) as well as some more on Fairly Hill and Lewsey Farm.GazMan7 22:29, 28 December 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Spelling
Hello RA: I saw your recent edits changing the spelling on Gel pen. There is no single "correct" method of spelling, and Wikpedia explicitly recognizes national variations. See Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style#National_varieties_of_English. It should be kept in mind that English spelling was not made uniform until after the settlement of North America, and both it and American spellings have changed since then. Having said that, I have seen far too often American editors replacing English spellings with American versions, even to the point of substituting "honor" for "honour" in the article on Winston Churchill. On the article you recently edited (gel pen) you were correct to change it, not because the spelling was incorrect, but because the article was first created with British English usage. Regards, Kablammo 21:53, 13 January 2007 (UTC)
- Thank you for your very gracious reply. I was just looking for examples of where I reverted "Americanisms" to British spellings-- I know I did it once for Churchill; I think I did it for Sri Lanka as well. Now if we could only get the Yanks who write about British-flagged ships to use your spellings! Regards, Kablammo 22:24, 13 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Question on usage
Now that I've made the (virtual) aquaintance of someone from the UK, permit me to ask a question. I recently wandered into articles on German railway stations. The authors are using terms which I suspect are their literal translations of German terms, but do not conform with English usage (i.e., track hall instead of train shed). I would like to point that out to the editors (who appear to have German as their native tongue) but would like to know if the same terms are used in the UK as in the US. Here one buys tickets at a ticket office, waits in a waiting room, crosses a concourse to get to one's train, which often is under a train shed. Are those same terms used in the UK? Kablammo 22:43, 13 January 2007 (UTC)
- I first came across track hall in München Hauptbahnhof, which I edited. I have looked at a few other Hauptbahnhof articles for other German cities. User:Doco appears to have contributed a lot of material and the articles are linked on his user page. Doco has done a good job but some of the terms used seemed ambiguous. In particular it was not clear to me in these articles what was meant by the word hall, as in some places it seems to refer to the train sheds, and in others the main station or waiting room. Perhaps it has to do with translation, or perhaps the use of Br Eng terms was unfamiliar to me. Kablammo 14:22, 14 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Barnfield
The only reason for the redirect was that Barnfield College used to sit on the Barnfield page. I moved it but didn't get round to starting a Barnfield page. Northwell, Luton exists as a redirect to Marsh Farm at the moment, which is a large part of the ward.
Saints, Luton needs to be set up but other than it having lots of road names called Saint something its not an area i know much about.
When i started the Luton template i used the list of places named on the Luton page as a starting point. I can add Northwell to this if we set up a page.GazMan7 10:13, 19 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Transport and Luton template
I was thinking about adding the transport links to the template, although im not sure whether we would start to get too much on it. Maybe it would be better to add a section in many of the Luton areas to mention the proximity of the Airport, Railway connections, and also the M1 and A6. What do you think?GazMan7 09:39, 23 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] St Marys
I have just read the St Marys article you created. Great work, i had been planning to start one but hadnt got round to it. It might be good to try and get it featured as a "Did you Know..." article.
One thing that could be added, although i havent got time to check for references is that the Royal family used to regulary visit the church when staying at Luton Hoo. (Indeed the Queen spent part of her honeymoon at Luton Hoo).GazMan7 09:41, 23 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] continued....
Thanks for the message. Ill try and have a look at the carnival item. It would be good to try and get that up to a decent standard. One of the problems with a lot of the luton pages is they dont link to much outside the town. Where possible it would be good to try and build links in from elsewhere. Hopefully increasing the number of people that visit.
I have tidied up the transport section on Luton this where it seems appropriate could be used and edited for other areas in luton. Although it might get a bit excessive if its on every one.
I know you are keen to improve the schools pages, i have been looking at the wiki-schools project page there are a couple of schools info boxes that would probably be better used than the company info box we have used on the luton ones thus far.
these are
| {{{name}}} | |
| {{{image}}} | |
|---|---|
| Details | |
| Location | {{{locale}}} |
| LEA | {{{LEA}}} |
| Region | {{{region}}} |
| Founded | {{{founded}}} |
| Ofsted | |
| Type | {{{type}}} |
| Category | {{{category}}} |
| Reference | {{{ofsted}}} |
| Students | |
| Total | {{{total}}} |
| Age range | {{{low}}}–{{{high}}} |
| Gender | {{{gender}}} |
| Other | |
| Motto | {{{motto}}} |
| Website | {{{website}}} |
| {{{name}}} | ||
|---|---|---|
| {{{image}}} | ||
| {{{motto}}} | ||
| Founded: {{{founded}}} | ||
| Type: {{{type}}} | ||
| Location: {{{city/town}}}, {{{county}}}, {{{country}}} | ||
| LEA: {{{LEA}}} | ||
| Ofsted number: {{{ofsted}}} | ||
| School Category: {{{category}}} | ||
| Headteacher: {{{headteacher}}} | ||
| Staff: {{{staff}}} | ||
| Students: {{{students}}} | ||
| Age Range: {{{age}}} | ||
| Gender: {{{gender}}} | ||
| Website: | ||
To be honest the schools stuff is not something i have the patience to sit down and go through, although im happy to add and help a bit. let me know what you think.
The other thing i was thinking about was to have a page that organises all the luton related articles. We have places, schools, museums/parks etc, people and so on, at the moment some of them are likely to be missed by someone looking for stuff on luton. I started with a List of places within Luton but not really sure whether its worth keeping as it adds little. However putting everything on the info box is likely to get it too big and excessive. However im not totally sure the format we could use.
The main Luton page really needs a total re-write the opening paragraphs are too long and the whole thing is disorganised. Im not really sure where to start on this one, it just strikes me as being a huge job to get organised. I have been improving sections.
I think we probably need a Luton Schools page especially if you plan to get all the High Schools set up. Then probably list the Junior and Infant Schools. I think there is a list of schools somewhere on Wiki, so ill find that and make sur ethe Luton ones that exist are included on it.
Good luck with your exams. Is that A level or GCSE you have? If you want to keep in touch i could let you have my email if you want, do u use msn?GazMan7 14:48, 23 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Luton
Hi there, hope the exams etc are o k.
I have been working on the main Luton article at the moment - see the talk page for ideas. gradually working down the list to try and get it to as close to a good article as i can.
One of the critasisms was the short stubby stuff at the start and the intro paraggraph. Do you fancy trying to get the into sorted out and the first section - About Luton.
I had started the about luton one to try and get some order to random bits of info, but i think most of them need a little expaning into a proper para each.
Wanna help with that?
[edit] Menu troubles
I got your message. Menu 5 from the Userpage Design Center worked fine for your userpage(s). I just swapped out the image and links names with the ones from your menu, and it worked perfectly. I placed the new menu on a subpage called User:Random articles/Menu, and installed ("transcluded") it onto every page of yours which is on the menu. You can have it display ("transclude") anywhere you like by enclosing it in double curly brackets, like this:
{{User:Random articles/Menu}}
which of course will look like this:
I haven't tested it in IE, but it looks and works fine in Firefox.
I hope that is what you were trying to do.
Enjoy, and thanks for helping out on Wikipedia.
[edit] Hi
Hi, ive not been on Wiki much recently, not been too well and then been quite busy.
Sounds good to re-org the Luton article as id noticed it was jumpy.
I dont think we are that far off Good Article status, but i think the prose probably needs improving, which unfortunately is not really my strong point. It might be good to try to get someone external to have a bit of a go at it.
Geology etc sounds good. ONe think i am slightly worried by is the very long index Luton is developing, and whether we need to think about addressing this. Some parts may need to be made into daughter articles and then referenced in, but im not sure. GazMan7 08:33, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
One thing that i have noticed is that on the Luton article we have two sections re the Uni and 2 re the airport. I think we probably should combine the relavent info into one place for each topic.
I still think the artcile doenst flow terribly well and ther are several very short paragraphs which we should avoid. Want to have a go at that?GazMan7 12:39, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Luton Plan
[edit] Luton
See my comments in italics
Right, I've come up with a plan of action. There are several things to do before I reckon the article is good article status (possibly featured - you never know):
- Firstly, we need to reorganise the article. I think that history, followed by politics and demographics should come first. Then education, followed by economics, then transport connections, followed by twin towns, (crap towns), finished by see also and references.
Sounds reasonable, the article has grown a lot recently and hasnt flowed very well for some time
- We then need to start new sections. Geography and geology should come at the top, before history and after the opening para. Then start a new section called Culture (or something similar - see below). Also add a "see also" bit, linking to other relevant articles.
Interesting idea, geography may well be useful, as long as we can get decent references etc. Culture would take in the 'about luton stuff quite well
- Dismantle the About Luton bit. Sorry, but I think it's too clumsy, and we should merge it with the rest of the article in the relevant places.
I never really liked the title, this was a start off point from the old very long intro, some of the info is repeated, and the title is dreadful (even though i came up with it)
- Culture(?) - this is a good bit, where we can combine all the info about the parks, festivals, local attractions, (crap towns) etc. (again see below (Daughter pages))
I think the culture bit could work, but it needs to be good, otherwise it wont really be any better than what we have. Whilst i have argued for the crap towns stuff to be included, im more tempted to lose it, but we need to justify why. In my view this is old news now (it was 2004), and a limited 'survey/vote' by a small magazine, lighthearted and heavily influenced by Watford FC fans (they had a link to the nomination page on their fan website at the time).
- Daughter pages - these will become increasingly important. I reckon the main article can have a lot of info, but sometimes wanders off (example - history - great, but can wander). I reckon we should set up daughter pages like History of luton, or culture of Luton, or politics in luton etc, so we can expand on these subjects at great length, without cluttering up the main article.
The history of luton im quite pleased with as the bones of it. There is a lot that needs expanding , and some copy edit to make it flow better. In places it just becomes a list of dates.
Politics, i dont know if other towns have daughter pages for this. but i suspect that as long we we have links to the current constituencies and MP's its pretty much covered. At some point i want to start an article about luton council and the borough status, which could be linked.
- Possibly something about the environment. Luton is an industrial town (was), but we don't want to give the impression that we don't care about the environment. There is loads of trees, parks, woods and the river lee to write about, giving a good impression of the town.
Be careful we dont lose the neutral PoV here. Luton does have its fair share of parks etc, but there are still many rather grotty old industrial bits too. Something about the redevelopment of vauxhall would fit in here. Which would also tie into history as well.
- At some point, I will get a picture (a panorama) of Luton, which I will upload and stick on. this will be, I think, a great addition to the article, giving people a great insight to what luton looks like. (mabye when it's a bit drier, but I will get it).
Sorting out decent photos is something i have been meaning to do for a while. Some better town centre ones, also the railway station and football club photos are poor.
- References - I only noticed today that it said on points for improvement that our referencing was incorrectly formatted. I'm guessing this will need to be done at some point, but it looks overly boring to me. I'm not saying you should do it, but there must be something like a bot that can do it for us.
I have steered clear of this as it just looked techy and dull, but at some point we need to tackle it, i suspect that to do it we should just divide up the ones that need doing and get stuck in.
I can see that there are a lot of points, containing a lot of work, but this I think will improve the article no end. I have no problem working on them for the next few days, but I'm back at school next monday, and I shall disappear into a shadow of my current self on Wikipedia. So if we are to do this, we need to start now.
I hope this is OK :)
Random articles 14:06, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
Anyway those are my comments, i think we can get this upto Good Article status and maybe beyond. I dont really have a lot of time at the momemnt, but prob can spend more time on it from next week. Have you seen the Milton Keynes page as im quite impressed with the layout etc GazMan7 15:09, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
OK well lets work to these ideas on those you just posted on my page and lets see where we get ove rthe next week or so.GazMan7 15:47, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
Re the daughter pages, id start off with what ever interests you, theres a lot to get through so may as well do the bit you enjoy. we can worry more about the boring bits at the end!!GazMan7 16:10, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Thanks!
Thank you so much for tidying up my userpage, much appreciated. I'll have to think of something to write for it!--Starrycupz 21:42, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Invite
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Hello! I thought you may be interested in joining WikiProject England. We work on creating, expanding and making general changes to England related articles. If you would be interested in joining feel free to visit the Project Page!. Thank You. |
[edit] Hi
thanks for the message.
I havent done a lot on the Luto n project of late - havent had a decent amount of free time to really get stuck in. When i do i think the first thing i really want to sort out is the History bit - get that onto a page and then pull out highlights for the Luton page. With separte sections for history of Vauxhall etc, but need to get ready for all that.
Good luck with your exams etc.GazMan7 10:25, 20 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Bedfordshire WikiProject
Im trying to get this project running again, are you interested in joining?
