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This is the discussion page for the main page and wiki organizational issues. In this section, one can post their thoughts about the Staples High Wiki. However, one must remember that this is a school page and all comments should be appropriate and therefore abide by the Staples High Wiki General Disclaimers. Also feel free to check out the introduction page. Have fun and be sure to contribute to Staples High Wiki as much as possible!
Article of the Month for January 2006
Hey all, it is time to decide on a new article of the month. I propose the Computer Club article, as it is the second longest page right now. If anyone has any suggestions, they should post them here, but keep in mind that very short pages won't be used as the featured article. :)
--JSherman 14:50, 29 December 2005 (EST)
Computer Club article as Article of the Month for January
I agree with making the Computer Club article the "Article of the Month" for January. I would sugest adding a picture (of some type) to accompany it (it would be lonely by itself on the Main Page. :) Perhaps, a picture of the Computer Club can be taken at our next meeting. It would also be a good idea to take pictures (of those who want them) for the "user talk" pages. This would make it easier for contributors to approach us in the hall with any questions. Happy New Year (if I don't contribute between now and then)!
--Mike 19:14, 29 December 2005 (EST)
Jan 2006 Feature Article
Mike, I just uploaded the article from Inklings on the wiki. I scanned it in. I think I'm going to add this to the Computer Club article. Maybe we still want to take a picture of ourselves for the article, but maybe this should be the picture used on the mainpage with the Computer Club article. What do you think? --JSherman 11:42, 30 December 2005 (EST)
We should use a picture of the article on the Main Page. While the quality of you scan is very good, I am going to get a copy of the PDF version as soon as we get back on Tuesday. The picture is fine for now, but I'll update it ASAP with a better copy.
--Mike 11:59, 30 December 2005 (EST)
Feb 2006 Feature Article
It's that time again to figure out the next month's featured article. Due to the heavy participation of Computer Club and Inklings members, we have a lot of long pages about those and related subjects. Any suggestions for the next article? A.P. Calculus is the third longest I believe, but it doesn't, and probably wont, have a suitable image. Also, the majority of it's bulk seems to have been copied directly from another site. What does everyone think? --JSherman 23:22, 21 January 2006 (EST)
I'd say Modernization, providing that by the time the featured article changes it will be completed. Weiner44408 09:19, 22 January 2006 (EST)
I vote for making the featured article Junker. On the main page, we can make a link to a list where people can submit possible names for the new server. Any objections??? --Mike 23:14, 26 January 2006 (EST)
I guess that means no objections...--Mike 12:00, 28 January 2006 (EST)
Strong support for Modernization instead of Junker, Junker has no pictures, and I think we should make this month's article non-computer club centric after having Computer Club being the feature article in January. -Brian Jordan 15:03, 30 January 2006 (EST)
I agree that we should try to lean away from another Computer Club related article... at least for this month. :) I think Modernization would be a good choice, but feel it still needs a tiny bit of touching up and wikifying. Other than that, I think it would be fine. --JSherman 22:37, 30 January 2006 (EST)
I'm fine with it- provided that a link to a page to vote for our server's is placed somewhere on the main page. --Mike 18:10, 31 January 2006 (EST)
Tried to add it hastily at Staples_High_Wiki:Featured/February_2006, it hasn't loaded on the front page yet, though. Not sure how to get the frontpage to rebuild or anything. Feel free to edit my "featured article" blurb, I just wanted the front page to not have a blank link for the feat'd article. -Brian Jordan 09:47, 1 February 2006 (EST)
"History" section?
I think we should add a History category, considering the amount of historical articles on the Wiki and how well developed they are. Thoughts? --Brian Jordan 17:36, 9 February 2006 (EST)
A very Important Issue
So... we have alluded to many times (but have not directly discussed what should be done about pages related to students. As I stated before: "So many Staples students consider themselves "special" that we could very well end up with over 1,000 articles about people who not one of us have ever heard of (or ever will here of.) I need not even say that the purpose of this Wiki is to be an encyclopedia about Staples, not a moral booster for students with big egos. So, before anymore articles about students are made, I think it is important that all contributors who care about this matter post their oppinion about what the policy should of should not be. So far I am neutral: it would be much easier to just allow all student articles, while it is also true that these articles could "delute" the quality of this Wiki."
Brian suggested: "How about we set forth a guideline as to requirements for notoriety of those we make articles about, whether it be alumni or current students. Like their name being mentioned prominently in some sort of national publication or a certain number of online references to them. I think Wikipedia has something similar."
This very well could work, or we could come up with our own system, as something or someone being noteworthy for Wikipedia is a very different than being considered noteworthy for the Staples High Wiki. I would greatly appreciate it if as many people as possible contributed their points of view on this important issue so that we can perhaps reach some kind of consensus. --Mike Schneider 21:46, 14 February 2006 (EST)
- My view: There's a fine line between the average Staples student and the one who is often featured prominently in the newspapers and heralded for something extrordinary, as in the case of Remi-Alain Ray. Weiner44408 21:49, 14 February 2006 (EST)
As unhelpful as this might be, I pretty much agree with what has been said about this issue so far. I think that we do need a new and slightly more flexible policy about student pages, and should allow pages about current students in some cases. However, it certainly proves that a student is noteworthy when you hear about them 6 years after they've graduated as is the case with prominent Computer Club members, specifically Nathan Faber. The fact that they have graduated and are still well known makes them easier to identify as important, but they need not graduate to become "important". Basically, what I'm getting at is that we need a new policy that allows certain pages about truly notable current students, but a definitive enough policy to draw the line easily and consistantly between contributors such as ourselves. This way, we don't send mixed messages to contributors as to what is or is not allowed here. Any ideas for a draft of a new policy? Adam? :) --JSherman 22:25, 14 February 2006 (EST)
I agree with the points that you made, Justin. I believe that our fist step should be to define what "noteworthy" should mean on this Wiki. What achievements must this person have accomplished? What kind of media should the person have to have been featured in? How many times? How would we confirm that this person was really noteworthy? Personally, I see nothing wrong with students having pages provided that they follow some kind of standardized format with specified information (i.e. the kind of stuff that you kind find on my and Weinz's user pages. Students are as (if not more) important to the Staples community than anything else that we can possibly write articles on. We would simply have to categorize student pages and montitor their content. It is also possible that allowing pages such as these could spark new interest in the Wiki, thus creating a larger number of contributors (something that we really need.) :-) --Mike Schneider 13:10, 15 February 2006 (EST)
- I still see too many problems with allowing *any* current Staples students their own article. I maintain that only alumni should have their own article. If, however, the concensus is against me, I shall help draft a set of rules governing whom would be allowed. -- Akrell 23:14, 15 February 2006 (EST)
- Adam, I don't agree with allowing *no* articles on current Staples students, but I side with you in the sense that I think only a very select few current students really deserve an article on themself. I agree that people like Remi Ray, Jacob Heimer, and Mia Gentile, who are mentioned in the newspapers and are publically known should get pages, but I can't think of many notable current students other than really amazing people in Players and maybe some sport superstars. But I really do think we should keep it relatively limited. This shouldn't become the "new Myspace" --JSherman 23:18, 15 February 2006 (EST)
So... for now should we say that a current student must be mentioned in some kind of media (TV or Newspaper) at least twice. Police reports and other negative sources for articles should not be used. We also have to consider if we should count in-school sources (i.e. Inklings, WWPT etc.) There are also those that are well known (and important) in the Staples community, but may never have been featured in a Newspaper (i.e. some club presidents, actors, athletes, you probably get the point.) --Mike Schneider 18:16, 16 February 2006 (EST)
March 2006 Featured Article
Now taking nominations for the March 2006 featured article. Suggestions? A page about one of the new buildings that has been built would be really nice. If Nick or somebody could get some pictures of the completed school within the next day or two and put it up on the article, I'd say that'd be a perfect featured article or at least news item/picture. --Brian Jordan 18:31, 26 February 2006 (EST)
So... an article on one of the buildings would be good. But, as you said, we need a picture or two. How about making one of the courtyard articles the featured one for March- we already have good pictures for these. --Mike Schneider 18:00, 28 February 2006 (EST)
"Upcoming Events" section on main page?
An Upcoming Events or Event Calendar section would be nice on the main page, below either of the sections. We could announce stuff like Urinetown's dates on the main page, with references to wiki articles. --Brian Jordan 19:15, 26 February 2006 (EST)
"Browse" categories
Our main page's Browse categories don't accurately represent how many quality articles we have on the wiki at this time. One of our medium-term goals should be to make most articles accessible from the main page, through categories and sub-categories. In terms of sections, we need a History or equivalent section for all of our articles on school and building history. We should also make sure all pages are placed in appropriate categories. As of now, looking through the Browse categories yields sections with only 1 or 2 pages, it looks pretty dismal. The wiki's really taking off, hopefully the main page will reflect that soon :). --Brian Jordan 20:39, 26 February 2006 (EST)
Categories: Alphabet?
Would it be possible to take out the letter headings on the categories, at least until there's more than one article under each letter? The alphabetic letter headings make it hard to look through the different pages. --Brian Jordan 14:50, 27 February 2006 (EST)
March 2006
We desperately need a featured article for this month, considering that it is already March. I think that the Staples Players article should be featured since Urinetown is coming up. Also, it is now one of the longest articles on the wiki with the recent merge from the separate Players Hierarchy page. Any ideas, suggestions or comments? --JSherman 09:57, 1 March 2006 (EST)
- Sounds like a plan. As long as some tinkering is done to it... Weiner44408 10:03, 1 March 2006 (EST)
- Sounds good, you can put it up there but someone should add another picture or two onto the article, it's a bit tedious to actually read-though as of now. But that's a good idea with urinetown coming up. --Brian Jordan 15:51, 1 March 2006 (EST)
Deletion of "Other" category
While the "Other" category seems to fit on the main page, logistically it doesn't make sense. You'd never want to classify an article as not having an underlying topic, becuase that would warrant not classifying it at all. I say delete the "Other" category and take it off of the main page Browse list. --Brian Jordan 20:23, 1 March 2006 (EST)
- I agree...pages that don't fit into any other category should not be categorized, or a category should be made that they fit into; there shouldn't be an "Other" category. Considering it has no actual content and no pages are in that category, and it was actually deleted once before (by Akrell) I'm going to go ahead and remove it...if anyone objects let's continue the discussion and add it back, but I think this is a fairly easy call... --Tom 22:04, 1 March 2006 (EST)
404 Page
Should a user entering a page's name that hasn't been created yet be sent to the 404 error page? Personally, I create pages by typing the URL into my browser and hitting edit on the uncreated page. --Brian Jordan 18:18, 2 March 2006 (EST)
- Entering a page name that hasn't been created yet will not bring you to the 404 page. There is an apache rewrite rule that basically decides if the url that was entered (/wiki/$1) should be rewritten to (/wiki/index.php?title=$1). If that doesn't rewrite the URL, it literally looks for (/wiki/$1) which almost always won't exist, giving you the 404 error. I believe that the rewrite rule does not catch pages that are only 1 character long in name or that are really long or bizzare. You can see the rewrite rule if you want; it was copied from the MediaWiki documentation by Tom, but it works perfectly. You really have to try to be able to enter a page title that gives you the error; if anyone has any trouble making a page because of the error page, tell me, but it's been there for a long time. --JSherman 08:54, 20 March 2006 (EST)
April 2006
I just wanted to put it out there that we need a featured article for April. I don't have any suggestions right now, nor do I have the time to look around for a good article. Any suggestions? --JSherman 08:49, 20 March 2006 (EST)
How about the Cafeteria article? It's fairly long and everyone loves food :-) --Mike Schneider 09:20, 20 March 2006 (EST)
The AP Assassination article should definetly be the May feature article- I know it's a bit early, but I just wanted to state that... --Mike Schneider 09:20, 20 March 2006 (EST)
- You've got some good choices there; however AP Assassination lacks an image. The Cafeteria sounds like the best bet. --Weiner44408 17:10, 20 March 2006 (EST)
I sugested the AP assassination article for May, not April, but anyway... The article on the cafeteria works (my reasons for this are stated above.) Perhaps a better idea would be the article on the Library, as it is currently newsworthy. --Mike Schneider 17:18, 22 March 2006 (EST)
I say Library, but Cafeteria is a close second in my book. And careful with the AP assass article, it's something the school admins like to distance from the school itself as much as possible. --Brian Jordan 19:46, 27 March 2006 (EST)
Since it is getting close to April, I say Library and feel that's the general consensus. I will make the featured article template for April with the Library article; if anyone objects to this, we essentially have until March 31st to discuss or change it, but I can't think of any valid reason to do so. --JSherman 22:27, 27 March 2006 (EST)
- By the way, since the library picture will be on the main page under the featured article section, we need a new "headliner news story picture" for the other side... along with some, well, new news. --JSherman 22:32, 27 March 2006 (EST)
New news? And all of this time I thought we were trying to live up to the high standards of Fox... --Mike Schneider 23:00, 27 March 2006 (EST)
May 2006
We need a new featured article for May? I don't have any suggestions... Does anyone else? --JSherman 08:53, 24 April 2006 (EDT)
- Since Cafeteria was a close second, I think that's my best suggestion. --Weiner44408 12:50, 24 April 2006 (EDT)Insert non-formatted text here
Ontario! Ontario! Just kidding... Inklings! Inklings! (why not?) --Mike Schneider 12:51, 24 April 2006 (EDT)
- Well I think that Inklings lacks enough content for a featured article; but maybe it can be expanded. A history section containing the mere sentence "Inklings was formed in 1931" is not FA acceptable. --Weiner44408 16:40, 24 April 2006 (EDT)
Ontario. --Mike Schneider 18:26, 24 April 2006 (EDT)
- Maybe on Wikipedia, but not here... --Weiner44408 21:40, 24 April 2006 (EDT)
In a serious tone: "Ok. The Cafeteria article looks good." Hahahaha...sorry, forgot that I can't have fun or laugh on the Wiki. :-) --Mike Schneider 13:13, 29 April 2006 (EDT)
- I made the Cafeteria article the featured article for May. However, after looking at the article carefully, I noticed that it needs some copy editing. This should probably be finished before tomorrow but I am too busy to do it today. There are mostly minor grammatical errors, but should be fixed soon anyway. Make sure to re-copy the first two paragraphs of the article (except the last sentence of the second one), the image (size 220px, no thumb, left), and make the Cafeteria reference a link to the article if copy editing is performed on the first two paragraphs; this way, the featured article summary and the article itself are synced. I'll probably double-check this tomorrow anyway, so if it's too cumbersome for anyone else to do, I'll do it myself. --JSherman 14:27, 30 April 2006 (EDT)
June 2006
I think that AP Assassination article would be a great idea for the featured article for June. I think that it could use a little bit of work, mainly cleanup and maybe information from this year's game, and certainly needs a relevant picture. Not only would June be a good month for this article to be featured (it would be after the game is over) but the article is also apparently one of the most popular pages on the wiki. Having it featured on the front page would do the wiki good (hopefully). Any objections? --JSherman 23:01, 25 May 2006 (EDT)
Sounds good. While it will be released in a couple of weeks from now, the Senior Supplement issue of Inklings will most likely include an overview of AP assassination. This should give a significant boost to the articles content. --Mike Schneider 22:31, 26 May 2006 (EDT)
July 2006
We need yet another featured article. This time we need to select the article quickly and then make sure it has a good picture and is very well written before it actually becomes the featured article. Any suggestions? --JSherman 20:52, 22 June 2006 (EDT)
