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:''See [[Bhamwiki talk:Messageboard/Archive 2006]], [[Bhamwiki talk:Messageboard/Archive 2007]], and [[Bhamwiki talk:Messageboard/Archive 2008]] for archived topics''
:''See [[Bhamwiki talk:Messageboard archives]] for archived topics.''
::''(Add new discussion to the bottom of this page by clicking the "+" above.)''


::''(Add new discussion to the bottom of the page.)''
==18th Anniversary and Business Meeting==
* Save the date. I have booked [[Rojo]]'s side room for an 18th anniversary party and business meeting on the afternoon of Sunday, March 17, 2024 (St Patrick's Day) from 1:00 to 4:00. The agenda for the business meeting is "Time to Grow Up", and we will aim to draft an advisory committee which will take up the task of discussing the future of the website (succession plans, etc.)  Anyone interested is invited to join us. More information to come. Feel free to contact me with questions, etc. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] ([[User talk:Dystopos|talk]]) 10:05, 1 February 2024 (CST)
** I have created an event page on Facebook. If you haven't been invited to interact with that page and would like to be, just let me know. Facebook interaction is by no means a requirement for actually coming to the party. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] ([[User talk:Dystopos|talk]]) 14:43, 12 February 2024 (CST)
*** Thank you to everyone who showed up. It was a surprisingly good turnout and very enjoyable. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] ([[User talk:Dystopos|talk]]) 11:23, 19 March 2024 (CDT)


===Remarks===
* You can find a copy of my remarks here: [[Bhamwiki talk:Messageboard/18th Anniversary notes]]. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] ([[User talk:Dystopos|talk]]) 20:01, 18 March 2024 (CDT)


===Advisory committee ===
* As mentioned in my spoken notes, I do plan to convene an advisory committee or like body, using the names proferred in March (and any others who are interested). I expect to be sending out an email in the next week or so. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] ([[User talk:Dystopos|talk]]) 16:33, 10 May 2024 (CDT)


==3rd Anniversary==
==Giants==
Now is the time for all good editors to come to the smorgasbord and celebrate another anniversary of Bhamwiki. March 15, 2009 falls on a Sunday. I'm open to keeping that date or moving to Friday or Saturday if that works better. I am also open to suggestions for a location, with the proviso that it should be a locally-owned establishment. As before, I plan on picking up some reasonable portion of the tab and bringing some door prizes and/or schwag. Other program suggestions will be entertained. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 15:33, 4 February 2009 (PST)
* Any interest in a [[:Category:Restaurants named for San Francisco Giants players]]? --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] ([[User talk:Dystopos|talk]]) 10:26, 22 June 2024 (CDT)
* As that will be a "kid weekend", if we could make it a lunch or brunch that would suit me better, Saturday or Sunday, or Sunday night.  I can't do Friday or Saturday night, especially if we're going to a place that serves alcohol.  I don't care where we go.  My usuals for a lunch/brunch are [[Rojo]] and [[Silvertron]].  --[[User:Wheresdib|--Wheresdib]] 23:21, 4 February 2009 (PST)
** Doing it sometime other than Sunday night would let me avoid taking a day off work.  (Not that I really mind.)  I was going to ask my parents to watch my boys, as they'd probably be bored, but if Wheresdib is bringing his....  I was about to nominate [[New York Pizza]], but then I remembered we did pizza last year.  Rojo or Silvertron are both good. --[[User:Lkseitz|Lkseitz]] 08:50, 5 February 2009 (PST)
*** Silvertron has a Sunday brunch from 11-2. Does that meet everyone's requirements? --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 09:20, 5 February 2009 (PST)
**** Silverton at brunch sounds great to me! I'll more than likely only have my 8 yr old son with me. [[User:Wheresdib|--Wheresdib]] 13:12, 5 February 2009 (PST)
 
* This is coming up pretty soon, and I realize now that I'll be kid free next weekend, so that means we can do it Saturday night if you would prefer.  [[User:Wheresdib|--Wheresdib]] 05:12, 4 March 2009 (PST)
** Saturday night or Sunday brunch still both work for me.  I'm basing whether to bring my boys primarily on whether Wheresdib brings his, so now I guess I won't. --[[User:Lkseitz|Lkseitz]] 08:29, 4 March 2009 (PST)
*** Plan on a Sunday brunch at Silvertron. I'll send out an e-mail and make arrangements. Kids are tolerated graciously. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 20:11, 7 March 2009 (PST)
**** Thanks, but I can't guarantee my boys will tolerate the adults graciously. :-)  Hannah will be joining us, however. --[[User:Lkseitz|Lkseitz]] 08:47, 9 March 2009 (PDT)
 
[[Image:BhamWiki_3rd anniversary brunch.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Photo from anniversary dinner]]
===Details===
* Date: Sunday March 15
* Time: 12:00 PM
* Place: Silvertron Cafe in Forest Park
* Confirmed attendees (6.5):
:: User:Dystopos
:: User:Wheresdib (+Amy)
:: User:Lkseitz (+Dorothy & Hannah)
:: <strike>User:Graham Boettcher</strike>
:: User:Alarob
** Hannah's only 6 months old and won't be ordering, so we'll count her as a half.
*** Graham says he has a cold and can't make it. I was counting him as 1.5.
 
===Results===
* Thanks everybody for coming out. Nice to meet Rob, Dorothy and Hannah for the first time. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 12:33, 15 March 2009 (PDT)
** Thanks for having us.  It was nice to see y'all again and nice to meet Rob. --[[User:Lkseitz|Lkseitz]] 20:21, 15 March 2009 (PDT)
 
==Fair use templates==
I'm considering re-engineering our image templates a bit. I think we could go with one "Fair Use" template for all types of media. At the same time it's nice to be able to bring up galleries of just logos, seals, postcards, advertisements, cd covers, etc. Therefore I propose two kinds of image templates: one for copyright status (public domain, cc, fair use, by permission) and one for the type of art (logo, portrait, photograph, film still, postcard, stamp, cd cover, book cover, magazine cover, screen shot, advertisement, trading card, etc). Any discussion before I start trudging through the dirty work? --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 12:33, 16 February 2009 (PST)
* It occurs to me that some source-specific templates would be nice, too. Especially with regard to BPL Digital Archives. Maybe that template should have fields for item identifier, collection, permanent URL, etc. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 12:36, 16 February 2009 (PST)
** These sound like good ideas!  Beyond the work to implement it with existing items, I don't see an immediate downside to splitting the templates.  Some vague thought of being annoyed at creating yet another Fair Use template crossed my mind with the post card one, but I was too busy trying to get it done to worry about it too much.  A template for the BPL images does sound like a no-brainer (as in the need, not the implementation).  I'll see what I can do when I have the time (if no one beats me to it). --[[User:Lkseitz|Lkseitz]] 08:00, 17 February 2009 (PST)
*** I've done a good bit of the work, (See [[:Category:Seals]], [[:Category:Postcards]], etc). It wasn't as laborious as I thought it might be. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 13:59, 9 March 2009 (PDT)
**** I finally did a [[Template:BPL permission|couple]] [[Template:BPL permission caption|templates]] for BPL images.  Thought I'd solicit feedback before going through and updating all the photos. --[[User:Lkseitz|Lkseitz]] 09:41, 11 March 2009 (PDT)
***** Those look pretty cool to me. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 10:50, 11 March 2009 (PDT)
 
==Facebook==
* Everyone who looks here already knows, but for the record I've started a [http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=57183139226 Facebook group] to facilitate communication between editors, users and supporters of Bhamwiki. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 09:08, 15 March 2009 (PDT)
 
==Out of pocket==
* I'll be away from computers from April 17-24. Hope to see some surprises upon my return. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 21:52, 14 April 2009 (PDT)
:* Surprise!  No edits made since April 16!  I'll be out of town for the weekend (17th-19th) myself.  [[User:Wheresdib|--Wheresdib]] 05:16, 15 April 2009 (PDT)
 
==Sam Thornley residence==
* FYI: Bhamwiki made a small donation toward the expense of preserving the [[Sam Thornley residence]]. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 15:25, 21 May 2009 (PDT)
 
==Local slang terms==
* RocWiki (Rochester, NY) has a page compiling [http://rocwiki.org/Local_Slang local slang terms]. I like the idea, though I'd hate to throw ourselves wide open to unverifiable garbage like Urban Dictionary. I wouldn't mind if we started making notes of common slang terms as they are used or referred to in the media, though. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 13:43, 3 June 2009 (PDT)
** Malfunction Junction, tank farm, RME, OTM, Brookies, that's all I got so far.  Oh and I forgot "8 County" which at least in my circles refers to [[Blount County]] license plates, inferring "country" or "redneck".  [[User:Wheresdib|--Wheresdib]] 21:37, 28 June 2009 (PDT)
*** I think most cities have their own intersection known as "[[Malfunction Junction]]."  Not that we shouldn't have the article on it, just that the name isn't unique. --[[User:Lkseitz|Lkseitz]] 10:50, 29 June 2009 (PDT)
 
:* I threw up a draft at [[Bhamwiki:Slang terms]] --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 09:00, 1 July 2009 (PDT)
 
== Individuals ==
 
In the years, we have a section called "People."  In a few cases where we noted the death of zoo animals, I'd changed it to "People & animals."  Yesterday I had the brilliant idea (I thought) of shortening it to "Individuals."  Anyone think this is a bad idea? --[[User:Lkseitz|Lkseitz]] 08:07, 26 June 2009 (PDT)
* I am, as usual, supportively ambivalent. (In other words, it's as good as anything else). --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 08:28, 26 June 2009 (PDT)
** It seemed the best choice when I added [[Ricko]]'s birth to [[1997]]. Good idea. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 08:58, 7 August 2009 (PDT)
 
==Living people==
* Just noticed we've got 968 entries in the "[[:Category:Living people|living people]]" category. By one faulty measure, then, we're covering 0.42% of the city's total population. (Faulty because many of the living notables don't live in Birmingham) --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 08:51, 1 July 2009 (PDT)
* With the recent blitz of political candidates, we're up to 1,054 living people now (0.46% of Birmingham's population). --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 13:46, 25 August 2009 (PDT)
 
== Birmingham News archives tip ==
 
Here's something I discovered and thought I'd share.  If you're searching the [http://www.bhamnews.com/archives/ ''Birmingham News'' archives], you can change the URL to get more information.  Do your search and then change the bit of the URL that says "p_theme=bi" to "p_theme=hutb".  You'll then get the story author (if known) and pages the article appeared on, in addition to the information given by default. --[[User:Lkseitz|Lkseitz]] 08:08, 4 August 2009 (PDT)
* FWIW, free online access to the ''Birmingham News'' archive is one of the services being considered for elimination as the [[JCLC]] faces budget cutbacks. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 11:59, 16 September 2009 (PDT)
 
== Podcast recommendation ==
For any BhamWiki editors who listen to podcasts and want to improve their writing skills, I recommend the [http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ Grammar Girl] podcast.  The most recent one deals with redundancies, particularly ones that are commonly seen and not thought about.  I've been debating whether to mention it here or not for months as I didn't want it to be considered spam, but it's so chock-full of goodness I finally decided to go for it. --[[User:Lkseitz|Lkseitz]] 07:22, 7 August 2009 (PDT)
* I am sure that it would be very helpful to me personally. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 08:57, 7 August 2009 (PDT)
 
== Why Newspapers Are Failing ==
In a [http://www.splicetoday.com/politics-and-media/five-key-reasons-why-newspapers-are-failing thoughtful article] on the predicament faced by daily print newspapers, critic Bill Wyman makes 9 suggestions for making newspaper chains relevant to readers and competitive with other media offerings. His 8th suggestion is this: "Create and maintain a wiki designed ultimately to function as an encyclopedia for the town, from neighborhoods and politicians to every retail establishment. Let it become the ultimate guide to the area. Like Wikipedia, it will inevitably contain information that is controversial. Cover the controversies with alacrity."
 
I'll be waiting to hear from the ''News'' on my new executive position and how many staff members they're planning to put directly under me. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 13:42, 25 August 2009 (PDT)
* I hope you'll remember us, the little people, when you do hear from them. :-) --[[User:Lkseitz|Lkseitz]] 07:36, 26 August 2009 (PDT)
** I second that motion! [[User:Wheresdib|--Wheresdib]] 15:27, 16 September 2009 (PDT)
 
==Naming dilemma==
* I'd like to put up something about [http://www.al.com/business/birminghamnews/news.ssf?/base/business/1253002547283850.xml&coll=2 this development], but I'm not sure how to describe it. One thought would be to use the address ([[2801-2809 18th Street South Homewood]]), but that seems a little unwieldy. The article doesn't name the owner, but that's not too hard to find out. Any other ideas? --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 06:56, 15 September 2009 (PDT)
** I've been unable to come up with anything more concise than your suggestion. --[[User:Lkseitz|Lkseitz]] 08:00, 16 September 2009 (PDT)
 
==CD Baby==
* We're starting to get a lot of links to CD Baby for independently-released albums. In principle, these links are not unlike the ISBN links that connect readers to online stores. It's my feeling that these links should be minimized, and kept within the context of an artist's discography, though. I'll see about setting an example. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 11:55, 16 September 2009 (PDT)
 
==Outburst==
* Who could have seen [http://kanyelicious.appspot.com/www.bhamwiki.com this] coming? --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 08:38, 17 September 2009 (PDT)
 
== Categories as reminders ==
 
You know how Wikipedia has some special categories for maintenance purposes?  I was wondering if we might need some of those.  In particular, I'm thinking of categories like, "Articles to revisit in October 2009".  These would be used to remember to update articles about annual events, election results, projects under construction, etc.  New categories would be created on an as-needed basis.  The categories would roll by date so that old ones would be deleted each month.  Any articles still left at the end of the month would have the "to revisit" category updated to a new date if the expected information is still unavailable.  The only downside I can think of is that, right now, [[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] is the only one with delete ability.  Any thoughts? --[[User:Lkseitz|Lkseitz]] 10:47, 18 September 2009 (PDT)
* It's a good thought, but I shudder to consider adding to my to-do list. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 16:52, 18 September 2009 (PDT)
** The actual deletion of the categories isn't nearly as important as cleaning them out.  Any of us could clean them out at the end of the month.  You could limit deletion to once a year if you wanted. --[[User:Lkseitz|Lkseitz]] 10:31, 22 September 2009 (PDT)
*** I meant that the actual revisiting of articles would be a "to-do list". But I guess they're on the list whether we formalize it with categories or not. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 11:54, 22 September 2009 (PDT)
 
== Oliver's age ==
I posted this on [[Talk:Oliver|Oliver's discussion page]], but perhaps it was overlooked.  A September 3
[http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/metro.ssf?/base/news/1251965713310830.xml&coll=2 ''Birmingham News'' article] says that Oliver is 28-years-old, not five as we have listed in his entry. Can we get confirmation of the correct ages for both [[Oliver]] and [[Lipz]]? --[[User:Lkseitz|Lkseitz]] 10:10, 23 September 2009 (PDT)
* I emailed their PR contact this morning. No word yet. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 14:58, 23 September 2009 (PDT)
 
== Animals ==
I found I couldn't remember which animal was which of the many animals in [[:Category:Zoo animals]], so I added additional categories under [[:Category:Animals]] so I could, for example, find the sea lions easily.  It kind of evolved as I went through and saw just what animals we've done so far.  (Like, all our big cats so far are lions & cheetahs.)  I hope you don't think I've overdone it. --[[User:Lkseitz|Lkseitz]] 14:55, 24 September 2009 (PDT)
* That was my first thought, but your reasoning is sound. Godspeed. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 15:02, 24 September 2009 (PDT)
 
== New templates ==
 
I've created three new templates lately.  The first is [[Template:']] (single quote), stolen from Wikipedia and which is for situations where MediaWiki doesn't correctly handle multiple quotes.  This typically happens when a word is in italics and has an apostrophe-S at the end.  The second is [[Template:About]], which is for those "This article is about the X.  For other uses, see Y" hatnotes.  The third is [[Template:Alphabetical locations]], which is for the notice at the top of the "Notable locations" sections of [[:Category:Streets|street articles]].  The last takes no parameters and, while lengthy, is still shorter than the actual text.  My thinking behind it was to avoid yet another spot where editors have to remember to change the street name when copying and pasting from an existing article to a new one. --[[User:Lkseitz|Lkseitz]] 09:51, 2 October 2009 (PDT)
 
== Self edits ==
 
Is there a way with the current software to block individuals from editing certain articles?  Regardless, I would suggest a new, stronger policy concerning self-edits of articles, meaning an individual editor who is either the subject of the article, or has a vested interest in the subject of the article, should not make edits but rather make suggestions for edits on the discussion page.  [[User:Wheresdib|--Wheresdib]] 05:08, 25 October 2009 (PDT)
* Ideally, I would be able to frame guidelines such that they directly address the benefit and harm to the project rather than prohibit specific behaviors that merely have a greater or lesser chance of benefit or harm. I do see the issue and have been considering additional guidelines. Here's an interesting page at Pensapedia: [http://www.pensapedia.com/wiki/Pensapedia:Conflict_of_interest Pensapedia:Conflict of interest] (which is a condensed version of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:COI Wikipedia:Conflict of interest].) --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 08:11, 25 October 2009 (PDT)
** I've upgraded and expanded the policy [[Bhamwiki:Conflicts of interest]]. Feel free to reference it when engaging in correcting violations and I'll more strongly point to it when registering new members. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 08:47, 25 October 2009 (PDT)
*** I realize this discussion isn't aimed at me, who tries to prove you can edit despite conflict of interest, but it prompted me to add disclosures to a few more articles.  And I'm amused that the "larger community" is pretty much three people at the moment.  --[[User:Lkseitz|Lkseitz]] 11:36, 26 October 2009 (PDT)
**** Three people with a demonstrated sense of duty make for a reasonably effective community. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 12:58, 26 October 2009 (PDT)
 
==Category:Birmingham natives==
* I'm considering a category to distinguish natives of the Birmingham district from the Michael Jordans and Charles Linns of Bhamwiki. Clearly it won't do to limit nativism to the city limits (and in many cases it would be impossible to establish EXACT birthplaces), but I haven't thought it through enough to have settled on a name or to predict any other conflicts that might arise. --[[User:Dystopos|Dystopos]] 13:01, 26 October 2009 (PDT)
** Birthplaces are a real pain.  In the early days, people were typically born in their parents' homes and it was simple.  Nowdays, people are generally born at the local hospital, which may or may not be in the same city where their parents reside.  (Or you have extremists like us who had our daughter over the border in Tennessee, yet we've never spent more than four nights in that state at a time.  Does that she's not a native of Huntsville, where she's resided her entire life?)  And what about people born in what's now inside the city limits of Birmingham that wasn't when they were born?  I'd be tempted to call it "Birmingham District natives" and be done with it. --[[User:Lkseitz|Lkseitz]] 14:43, 26 October 2009 (PDT)

Latest revision as of 10:26, 22 June 2024

See Bhamwiki talk:Messageboard archives for archived topics.
(Add new discussion to the bottom of this page by clicking the "+" above.)

18th Anniversary and Business Meeting

  • Save the date. I have booked Rojo's side room for an 18th anniversary party and business meeting on the afternoon of Sunday, March 17, 2024 (St Patrick's Day) from 1:00 to 4:00. The agenda for the business meeting is "Time to Grow Up", and we will aim to draft an advisory committee which will take up the task of discussing the future of the website (succession plans, etc.) Anyone interested is invited to join us. More information to come. Feel free to contact me with questions, etc. --Dystopos (talk) 10:05, 1 February 2024 (CST)
    • I have created an event page on Facebook. If you haven't been invited to interact with that page and would like to be, just let me know. Facebook interaction is by no means a requirement for actually coming to the party. --Dystopos (talk) 14:43, 12 February 2024 (CST)
      • Thank you to everyone who showed up. It was a surprisingly good turnout and very enjoyable. --Dystopos (talk) 11:23, 19 March 2024 (CDT)

Remarks

Advisory committee

  • As mentioned in my spoken notes, I do plan to convene an advisory committee or like body, using the names proferred in March (and any others who are interested). I expect to be sending out an email in the next week or so. --Dystopos (talk) 16:33, 10 May 2024 (CDT)

Giants