Bhamwiki talk:Messageboard/Archive 2008

This is an archive of discussions from 2008. For earlier discussion, see Bhamwiki talk:Messageboard/Archive 2006 and Bhamwiki talk:Messageboard/Archive 2007. Current discussion is at Bhamwiki talk:Messageboard. If you wish to expand on a topic here, its best to open a new topic and link to the prior discussion.

"Random page" time!

• I think we should spend some time looking at the pages that are on BhamWiki and making sure there are no typos, glaring errors, tense issues and other problems. If you click on "Random page" to the left, in the "navigation" box [1] it will pop up a page for you to look at. I've come across some pages, especially ones that were added early on, that refer to things that will happen in the future, when in fact that date has come to pass. --Wheresdib 07:43, 4 January 2008 (PST)

• A capital idea. One might also search for the terms "will" or "scheduled" to ferret out such anachronisms. --Dystopos 08:17, 4 January 2008 (PST)

New Category for articles with outdated statements?

• Over the last few days, I've come across several articles that have outdated information (i.e., "the complex is scheduled to open in Fall 2007" etc) that I can't verify if it came to fruition or not. I would like to mark those in some way so I (or someone) can follow up on those statements. Would it be ok for me to create a "Articles with outdated information" category or something to that effect? --Wheresdib 20:51, 18 January 2008 (PST)

• I'm not sure. I guess my preference would be to assemble a list without cluttering the categories section of the article. --Dystopos 21:28, 18 January 2008 (PST)

• OK, that's fine with me. I wasn't sure how to proceed. I love working from lists but hate having to manually maintain them, LOL. --Wheresdib 06:33, 19 January 2008 (PST)
• While I agree maintenance categories can clutter an article's categories to unusefulness, I doubt we'd reach ever reach that point here. I think a single "outdated" category could be useful, much in the way of the stubs category is. It's also a lot easier to apply a template to an article that would insert a notice and the "outdated" category than it is to maintain a list. That's my two cents. --Lkseitz 12:53, 21 January 2008 (PST)

• That was sorta my thought to begin with. I started a list somewhere. --Wheresdib 13:00, 21 January 2008 (PST)

• Has the "stubs" category proven to be very useful? --Dystopos 13:11, 21 January 2008 (PST)

• That's a tough call. Maybe it is useful for generating interest in those who aren't signed up to create an account and edit that article. But for me, a regular editor, I don't think I've ever looked at the category "stubs". I still don't see why a single category called "Outdated", or whatever, is a big deal, but hey this is your baby, and my list is fine with me. Get another 10 or 15 regular contributors/editors, then we'll see. But between the three core contributors we have now, it's manageable since I am pretty sure you nor Lee haven't any burning desire to check on those type articles. I am not complaining at all, just making a statement. --Wheresdib 14:37, 21 January 2008 (PST)

• It's your baby too. No one is obligated to abide by my stated preferences as long as they continue to abide by the User Agreement. --Dystopos 14:57, 21 January 2008 (PST)
• The problem with the stubs category is, at least for me, most of the things I put in it are there because I'm unable to find any further information on the Internet. Not from lack of research. --Lkseitz 06:47, 23 January 2008 (PST)

Blizzard of 2008

• What, no Blizzard of 2008 article? What did we get, like maybe 2 inches of snow, on a Saturday? (Completely joking, of course) --Wheresdib 08:12, 22 January 2008 (PST)

• See Bhamwiki:What to write about, item 4. --Dystopos 06:49, 10 March 2008 (PDT)

2nd Anniversary Party

BhamWiki turns 2 on March 15. I'm hoping some of you will join me for a celebratory dinner and casual brainstorming session. The tentative plan is to meet at Cosmo's Pizza in 5 Points at around 7:00 on Saturday the 15th. Let me know if you expect to come and if there are a lot, I'll make sure we have a reserved table. --Dystopos 08:13, 26 February 2008 (PST)

• I'm asking the wife right now! If so, I'd probably have my 7 yr old with us, unless I talked my mom in to keeping him. --Wheresdib 08:41, 26 February 2008 (PST)

• I think we can accommodate a 7 year old. As long as he likes pizza. --Dystopos 08:42, 26 February 2008 (PST)

• I'll try to be there, if I don't book a gig. --Rreach 12:22, 26 February 2008
• Barring unforseen complications, I should be there. --Lkseitz 10:20, 6 March 2008 (PST)

update

• So far it looks like a decent group. I'm excited. I'll bring a couple of door prizes, too. --Dystopos 19:11, 27 February 2008 (PST)
• In addition to pizza, chocolate mousse, beer, door prizes and great conversation, I will make a report on the status of the project and share some exciting ideas about the future. --Dystopos 15:34, 10 March 2008 (PDT)
• I compiled some suggestions about parking at 5 Points South here. --Dystopos 14:56, 11 March 2008 (PDT)

results?

Photo from anniversary dinner

• So how did it go tonight? I hate that I missed it but I passed out around 4:30 and didn't wake up until around 8. This time change really kicked my butt this past week. I was watching the NASCAR race and apparently it lulled me to sleep. Oh well :( --Wheresdib 20:04, 15 March 2008 (PDT)

• I had a good time. Users Dre, Gt9606a, Lkseitz, and BPL were there and we talked about Birmingham and media and stuff. The pizza was good, but damned if I didn't forget to order mousse. So I'll have to go back. --Dystopos 21:56, 15 March 2008 (PDT)

• I enjoyed it, too, although I felt a little out of the loop because I've given up following the Birmingham news sites of late. And I also realized this morning, just before I uploaded the above photo, that we didn't get any mousse. --Lkseitz 04:41, 16 March 2008 (PDT)

Policy update

• I've elaborated a little bit on our existing policies at Bhamwiki:Policy. --Dystopos 10:51, 29 February 2008 (PST)

Server change

• Dreamhost has moved our MySQL server once more. (The new server name is "bagheera") So far the site's feeling much snappier to me. Let me know if you can feel the difference. --Dystopos 10:15, 5 March 2008 (PST)

Yahoo! maps

• Yahoo! maps (maps.yahoo.com) now has neighborhood data for Birmingham, visible at closer zoom levels. It's missing some labels and there appear to be some errors, but it might be useful to us. --Dystopos 13:57, 6 March 2008 (PST)

Jay Barker

We got tons of traffic from people searching for more information about Jay Barker. Help improving our coverage of topics in the news is always valuable (as long as it is, in fact, improvement). --Dystopos 22:13, 25 March 2008 (PDT)

Continued

• See Bhamwiki talk:Messageboard for continuation of discussion.