Bhamwiki talk:Messageboard

See

• Bhamwiki talk:Messageboard/Archive 2006,
• Bhamwiki talk:Messageboard/Archive 2007,
• Bhamwiki talk:Messageboard/Archive 2008, and
• Bhamwiki talk:Messageboard/Archive 2009, and
• Bhamwiki talk:Messageboard/Archive 2010 for archived topics

(Add new discussion to the bottom of the page by clicking the "+" above.)

"Historic" versus "Historical"

For the nitpicky amongst us, here's Grammar Girl on the use of "historic" vs. "historical". To summarize, historic is important; historical is just old. Of course, when dealing with local history, this can no doubt lead to arguments. (She also tackles "a historic" vs. "an historic", but that's even less clear cut.) --Lkseitz 11:30, 17 January 2011 (PST)

Largest city wikis

Reviving User:Dystopos' post from last year, with somewhat updated statistics. A copy of Wikipedia:City wiki#Largest city wikis with all the non-USA wikis brashly tossed out:

Rank	Founded	Name	Location (City, State)	Articles	Images	Edits	Users
1	2004-06-24	DavisWiki	Davis, California	16,993	20,957	300,448	14,280
2	2006-03-15	Bhamwiki	Birmingham, Alabama	7,888	2,753	72,791	324
3	2007-02-06	Omaha Commons	Omaha, Nebraska	7,124	1,408	39,943	729
4	2005-09-09	ArborWiki	Ann Arbor, Michigan	6,951	849	46,649	1,001
5	2005-01-18	RocWiki	Rochester, New York	6,040	3,003	75,019	5,938
6	2006-12-05	Mankatopedia (disabled)	Mankato, Minnesota	3,984	572	15,254	99
7	2006-02-27	Santa CruzWiki	Santa Cruz, California	3,135	1,603	16,497	98
8	2005-07-18	Bloomingpedia	Bloomington, Indiana	3,109	1,402	27,179	2,816
9	2006-07-19	Chico Wiki	Chico, California	2,495	2,070	18,245	90
10	2009-09-28	PortlandWiki	Portland, Oregon	466	269	4,889	78

Fun with statistics

Images

• Images per article is 141.5% at DavisWiki, 83% at Chico Wiki, 51.1% at Santa CruzWiki, 49.7% at RocWiki, 45.4% at PortlandWiki, 42.7% at Bloomingpedia, 30.1% at Bhamwiki, 19.9% at Omaha Commons, and on down. Of course, that doesn't count images that are used on more than one article. --Lkseitz 12:07, 17 January 2011 (PST)

• We've inched up to 32.0%, still a solid 7th. --Dystopos 00:34, 31 January 2011 (PST)

• And now? --Wheresdib 19:44, 8 February 2011 (PST)

• Just over 33%. --Dystopos 21:07, 8 February 2011 (PST)

• Closing in on 35% --Dystopos 09:16, 5 March 2011 (PST)

Edits per user

We're still on top of edits per user at 215.1, followed by 202.7 at Chico Wiki, 168.3 at Santa CruzWiki, 154.1 at Mankatopedia, 63.9 at Omaha Commons, and on down. --Lkseitz 12:07, 17 January 2011 (PST)

I've revised some of the data on the table. The sites that use DavisWiki's software are very frustrating. Anyway, it looks like Mankatopedia is missing in action. Our current "edits per user" is 218.8. Some of the Wikis count users with 1 or more edits separately from those who have registered and never edited. I expect if we did that, then we'd probably have something in the order of 25-35 "active" users, giving us an "edits per active user" closer to 2,000. --Dystopos 13:01, 17 January 2011 (PST)

Fun with Street View

I've been having fun using Google Street View to link to recent views that match up to historic(al) photos, such as Image:City Market sm.jpg and J. R. Copeland residence. Seems helpful as a way of connecting people's everyday experience to the past. Conveniently, when you get a link from Google (blue button on the top right of the viewing window) it's already formatted as a short URL. Comments and suggestions for expanding this tool are welcome. --Dystopos 13:28, 25 January 2011 (PST)

• I think the way you've been using it is fine. I'll try to keep it in mind as I go forward. --Lkseitz 10:46, 1 February 2011 (PST)
• I seem to be doing something different, as the URLs I'm getting aren't short. --Lkseitz 11:37, 10 February 2011 (PST)

Feature articles

• I've been mulling over the possibility of having some kind of "featured articles" listing on Bhamwiki. It might be a good place to direct newcomers who wouldn't be impressed with most of what a "random" page turns up. I think Linn Park and Wallace Rayfield are good candidates, based in part on the level of graphical content. Any other suggestions or thoughts on whether it's worth doing and how to do it? --Dystopos 15:21, 9 February 2011 (PST)
  • See first stab at Bhamwiki:Featured articles --Dystopos 09:35, 13 February 2011 (PST)
    • Looks good to me. --Lkseitz 11:14, 17 February 2011 (PST)

Anniversary

Anniversary V at Davenport's Pizza (L-R: Lkseitz, Dystopos, Wheresdib)

• This year's FIFTH anniversary falls on a Tuesday, but in the past weekends have been better for everyone. Saturday the 12th is the last day of standard time. On Saturday the 19th we could all pitch in on a 5 Mile Creek cleanup (or not). As before, my plan is to briefly share some milestones, mention a few possibilities for the future of the project, and hand out some goodies. I'll invite everyone in the Facebook "fan" list, so there's a possibility for a larger turnout, but who knows. I'm open to venue suggestions. Do you guys like Jim Davenport's Pizza Palace? --Dystopos 15:21, 9 February 2011 (PST)
  • Alternately, we could stage a bal masque on the theme of "Night on Mount Olympus". Just let me know. --Dystopos 15:23, 9 February 2011 (PST)
  • March 12 works best for me, Davenport's is fine (I haven't been there in 15 years though). --Wheresdib 17:01, 9 February 2011 (PST)
    • I don't see anything major on the calendar either weekend yet, but March 12 is slightly better. Despite growing up less than 1/2-mile from Davenport's, I don't recall ever eating there. --Lkseitz 12:24, 10 February 2011 (PST)
      • March 12 is the date, then. Place to be determined. --Dystopos 11:59, 17 February 2011 (PST)
        • March 12 is the date. Jim Davenport's Pizza Palace. What time? 7:00? --Dystopos 09:57, 5 March 2011 (PST)
          • That or earlier works for me. --Lkseitz 15:51, 7 March 2011 (PST)
          • Same here, 7 or earlier. --Wheresdib 16:07, 7 March 2011 (PST)
            • And please make it an event on Facebook or I'll forget to come ;-). --Wheresdib 08:21, 8 March 2011 (PST)
              • I started too, but, the "like" page doesn't allow the creation of events, so I'll have to do it from the group page, which I had intended to deprecate. Ah well. --Dystopos 10:38, 8 March 2011 (PST)

Results

• As always, thanks for a great time, Dystopos! It was a nice night for pizza and a scooter ride. --Wheresdib 05:31, 13 March 2011 (PDT)
  • What he said, minus the scooter ride. Thanks, Dystopos. --Lkseitz 06:01, 13 March 2011 (PDT)
    • My pleasure. Darren, let's meet at Bakers' sometime. --Dystopos 17:46, 28 March 2011 (PDT)

Dashes revisited

We've discussed dashes before. I should have looked it up a long time ago, but instead of using "–", you can also hold down Alt and press "0150" on your numeric keypad. Unfortunately, the en-dash (–) and hyphen (-) look identical in the editing window, at least on my computer, but a preview shows the difference. (And Alt-0151 can be used for an em-dash (—), but we don't have much call for those.) --Lkseitz 11:20, 17 February 2011 (PST)

• For the record, on a Mac, I can just use hold down the option key and type a hyphen. Like with Windows, the appearance in the input window is the same, but it shows up as an en dash in the article. (Thanks for inspiring me to look that up!). The "½" I've been using on some addresses requires going to the Special Characters palette on a Mac, but is accessible in windows with Alt+0189. An online tool I've used sometimes when I can't remember how to get a certain character is copypastecharacter.com. ✌♥☺ --Dystopos 11:57, 17 February 2011 (PST)

Return

AT&T promises to replace my non-functioning drop line from the pole in the alley tomorrow, so I should be able to rejoin the project then. One of the things on my to-do list is to upgrade to the current version of MediaWiki, so if anyone has any expertise or warnings to share, let me know. --Dystopos 17:45, 28 March 2011 (PDT)

• The first serviceperson said the drop line was damaged, but the guy who came today said that the lines just got switched, apparently by AT&T's other work in the area, and nothing was broken. Anyway. I'm back. --Dystopos 14:07, 29 March 2011 (PDT)