User talk:Staplegunther

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

When placing pictures on the page, please use thumbnail option.

Contents 1 Photos 2 Images 3 Welcome 4 Photos 5 Mormon Corridor 6 Editing 7 Quantity of photos 8 Everything OK?

[edit] Photos

What does adding a photo of a hospital in St. George contribute to an article on the Mojave Desert? How does it help to illustrate it? MojaveNC 06:46, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

• • The hospital picture represents how St. George is growing and the landscaping is typical of a Mojave Desert community. However, if there are better pictures out there link them up to the article.

• • • But does it really accomplish that? It's a building with desert landscaping, and would work well on an article about xeriscape or St. George. But if you want to say St. George is rapidly growing, say it in the text. If people want to see a close-up of a desert tortoise, they can look on the desert tortoise page. Pictures on the Mojave Desert page should vividly show people who don't know what the Mojave Desert looks like what they're missing – such as your pictures of the Great Basin. The pictures you've uploaded to this article are not germaine to the topic at hand. MojaveNC 07:48, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

A tag has been placed on Black Rock Road, requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done because the article seems to be about a person, group of people, band, club, company, or web content, but it does not indicate how or why the subject is notable, that is, why an article about that subject should be included in Wikipedia. Under the criteria for speedy deletion, articles that do not assert notability may be deleted at any time. Please see the guidelines for what is generally accepted as notable, and if you can indicate why the subject of this article is notable, you may contest the tagging. To do this, add {{hangon}} on the top of the page (below the existing db tag) and leave a note on the article's talk page explaining your position. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information to the article that would confirm its subject's notability under the guidelines.

For guidelines on specific types of articles, you may want to check out our criteria for biographies, for web sites, for bands, or for companies. Feel free to leave a note on my talk page if you have any questions about this. Steve _(Slf67) ^talk 08:30, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Images

I have left a note on talk:Yellowstone National Park regarding further image additions to the article. I think you should move the image to Commons so all wiki's can have access to it easier.--MONGO 17:07, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Welcome

Welcome! (We can't say that loudly enough!)

Here are a few links you might find helpful:

• Be Bold!
• Don't let grumpy users scare you off.
• Meet other new users
• Learn from others
• Play nicely with others
• Contribute, Contribute, Contribute!
• Tell us about you

You can sign your name on talk pages and votes by typing ~~~~; our software automatically converts it to your username and the date.

If you have any questions or problems, no matter what they are, leave me a message on User talk:SilkTork. Or, please come to the Wikipedia Boot Camp, where experienced Wikipedians can answer any queries you have! Or, you can just type {{helpme}} on your user page, and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions.

We're so glad you're here! SilkTork 08:43, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Photos

Hi ya! First of all - welcome to Wiki. Second - don't worry! We all make mistakes, and we all encounter problems when we first join. And some of us carry on making mistakes. It's the nature of Wiki. But, yes, you are welcome. And we hope you'll stay and enrich the world's greatest communal project. There appears to be an issue with some of the photos you are using. These are worth reading: Wikipedia:Picture tutorial, Wikipedia:Images and Wikipedia:Image use policy. It's a lot of stuff to read (and there's plenty more!), and I don't expect you read it all and understand it in one go. Carry on uploading and entering your images, but do take a look at those essays from time to time, especially when other editors remove your pictures or question you about your use of pictures. There will always be debate. Most of it is well intentioned and in good faith, but sometime people can be grumpy. Don't let grumpy users put you off. Don't get into a fight with them. Come to me and have a chat. I'm always willing to listen, help out where I can and give some advise. SilkTork 22:59, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Mormon Corridor

I disagree with your statement about reverting citations that don't meet quality standards. That's part of what the Wikipedia is about - having quality, reliable sources and information, not just any source/information. You should use more discretion with your contributions – many of them do little to contribute to the overall knowledge of a topic due to low quality or dubious sourcing.

On the Mormon Corridor, I am not completely ignorant. I am actually of that faith so I understand a bit about my LDS history, though I am not perfect. If I cannot cite sources for questionable areas on the corridor or anywhere else I will correct them as I have.

Staplegunther aka Dave

[edit] Editing

David -

I'm not trying to scare you away from Wikipedia, nor to undo everything you do. My goal, and I hope yours, is to make sure Wikipedia is a repository of high-quality, accurate, unbiased and generally reliable information. I think we have different visions of how that should come about.

The problems I'm seeing with your contributions include:

• Low quality photos - Your photography looks like it was shot from a cellphone in a moving car. That doesn't do anything to help folks visualize what the article's about. Think about quality of your photo, the context it offers and basically what the photo says. The Dixie D is a good example of this. On the surface, the photo is a White D. The photo doesn't have any context – where is the D? how big is it? what does it represent? – and it's blurry. Your photos of power substations offer context – they show a typical power substation – but they are of very, very poor quality and in the end, are counterproductive to the article.

Don't zoom in as much. Use a nicer camera and hold steady. Provide a broader scope to your photos.

• Research - The Mormon Corridor article in particular seemed to characterize this problem. When posting articles, don't use original research. I am not convinced that San Francisco could be called part of the Mormon Corridor. After all, if you named every city founded by Mormons as part of the Mormon Corridor, there'd be hundreds of them and they wouldn't necessarily represent a corridor. Go back, do your homewrk on the topic and see if anyone else, in a book, scholarly journal or elsewhere calls Grand Junction, San Francisco or Billings as part of the Mormon Corridor. Just because it has a temple doesn't mean it's a Saint-ctuary.

• Compromise - Please be willing to work with other editors who may have more experience in the topic. Just because you read something somewhere doesn't mean somebody else didn't read five things that contradict what you read. It's counterproductive to start an edit war on every topic you write about.

Again, I think we both want to see the Wikipedia thrive. I'm concerned that your edits are sometimes counterproductive to that goal. MojaveNC 18:20, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Quantity of photos

One other thing – Not every page needs six pictures of the same thing. For example, I think one picture of Zion National Park will do on the Utah page, don't you agree? If you have extra shots of a topic, put them in the wiki commons. Don't clog a page with pictures because you have pictures you want to share. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by MojaveNC (talk • contribs) 15:01, 14 March 2007 (UTC).

• Mojave, I may not have the best quality photos in the world, but they do offer context for what I do have. I do not wish to get into an edit war. As I learn I grow and will offer better narratives as well as photos. But as we are all in this together, I think that we should respect one anothers contributions. Photos need not be perfect quality. With digital cameras, as I am sure you will agree, there are issues with pixel, light, and others. Demensions on the D are good for an article about the D. However on the "D" for Dixie at night you should have seen it before I put it up. It was a pixel mess. I understand that you are trying to help, but please also understand that my contributions, as well as others, are important. BTW I replaced a substation photo I have with a better one. I am not a complete photo slob. Respectfully, Dave

• • Thank you for your edits this evening. The Virgin River Gorge photo was much better than the Black Rock Road photo. I always have a very hard time shooting the gorge - the light never seems right to me, always too faded with blue from the sky. One of these days I'm going to get out there on a full moon, and that's going to be a great shot.

No problem. I think that I am getting the hang of it. I would like to see your work on the Virgin River Gorge photo. I think that will be awsome to add that the the Virgin River Gorge or another section. I hope that my contributions to Wikipedia will be somewhat better. As one other user told me it takes time. Thanks for your patience with me. Dave

[edit] Everything OK?

Hi Dave. You seem to have entered into a dialogue with MojaveNC and things are moving in the right direction. Do you need any help, or are you getting the hang of things? Please let me know if you need any advise or assistance. I'm always happy to help. Contact me here. Regards SilkTork 17:08, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

Hi again. I've been checking in on your edits. You seem to be doing fine - adding some nice pictures. I have discovered that unless there is an unusual need to create a larger or smaller picture than normal, that it is best not to put in a size and let the Wiki software default to standard size. Also, if an article already is crowded with pictures it is best not to add any more - it can be awkward to find the right place to put new pictures and can end up making the article look distorted. Keep well! SilkTork 16:19, 27 March 2007 (UTC)