Template talk:Infobox country

ITU prefix

Can anybody insert ITU prefix in this tempate. TQ <*)))>< Mr Ikan (talk) 13:03, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

Specific parameters

Currently we have France UK and EU specific parameters (at least in the documentation). None of these seem very important, and adding specifics for some defeats the point of a general template (in addition the EU field can easily be replaced by another sovereignty note if thought necessary). Also, the antipodes field should be removed. Uninformative trivia. Chipmunkdavis (talk) 12:09, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

No objections? Thoughts? Chipmunkdavis (talk) 12:47, 5 December 2011 (UTC)

Inequality-adjusted HDI

As things stand, of the two HDI figures published by the UNDP, only one is represented on the infobox, viz. HDI unadjusted for inequality. Is there any reason not to include the figure for HDI adjusted for inequality in a similar way that a distinction is made between GDP (PPP) and GDP (nominal)? Uranium grenade (talk) 13:33, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

Consistency between template and consolidated data

Looking at various list or compendium articles within Wikipedia, I find that there is often some discrepancy between information presented with a country's info box and that in the listing. Usually minor matters of style, but occasionally something more substantial. For example, in List of national anthems the national anthem of Andorra is shown as El Gran Carlemany, but El Gran Carlemany, Mon Pare in the country infobox. Well, which is the correct title? In the case of Central African Republic, two anthems are listed in the country infobox, but only one in the consolidated list. Just clicking on countries at random brings up other discrepancies, sometimes in spelling, sometimes more problematic. We should not be presenting different information to our readers depending on which article they go to - that is just common sense. My feeling is that the information in a country's article is generally the result of work by many editors who know the topic well, but that compilation articles are not subject to as many informed eyes scrutinising them. In fact, the regular maintainers of articles on countries may be unaware of any consolidated lists, and if (say) a new president is elected, they would quickly change the information in the info box, but the consolidated listing of heads of government may languish uncorrected for some time. Palestine is a case in point. The country infobox lists only one person (President Mahmoud Abbas) in the Government section, whereas List of current heads of state and government shows four - two presidents and two prime ministers. The same list shows North Korea as having three leaders, none of whom is Kim Jong-il, who gets second ranking (after his embalmed father) in the country infobox. --Pete (talk) 19:11, 5 December 2011 (UTC)

Yes, a widespread problem. I find politicians are very well maintained, there are some very dedicated editors who seem to keep track of every election. You're right about the rest though. Is there anything we can do besides just check on each piece of information on a case by case basis? Chipmunkdavis (talk) 00:56, 6 December 2011 (UTC)

I've been thinking about this. I'd like to see the information we present to our readers be as accurate and consistent and accessible to as possible, but at the same time keep everybody happy. The sort of editor who is interested in maintaining lists and templates likes things to be just so. Uniform formats, elegant presentation, no accumulation of cruft and lichen in the form of notes and exceptions and so on. Keep things as simple as possible in other words. On the other hand, those who control the actual information that is poured into these containers tend to be keen on telling the story their way, with as much detail and colour as may be jammed in. Flag images, different languages, diacritical marks and local scripts. I've seen some epic battles develop over the smallest details, with clerics and warriors assaulting each other, calling on wizards and gods to support their crusades.

Identifying mismatches in data is a task in itself. Obviously if there's an election or revolution, the data changes, and there will be a period of time when there is a disparity between infobox data and list data. A common occurrence is for one side to win an election, and the jubilant vassals of that lord whip off to expunge the name of their defeated foe from the tablets of wikistone and inscribe their liege in letters of gold, quite forgetting that there is usually some ceremony held in the real world, with priests and blood oaths sworn, bands playing and salutes fired by the militia, and this happens some time after the election night. Months, in the case of the US.

Once data becomes stable and is identified as being inconsistent between two locations, changing one to match the other becomes problematic, as there will often be champions of both locations, anxious for their view to prevail. Simply changing one to match the other could trigger a war. There should be some protocol to advise of discrepancies, to provide a place for discussion and consensus-forming, to agree on formats, to call down divine intervention if negotiations fail. Most of the time, there would be no problem, and the work could be handled by industrious gnomes, but some times, wizards and saints might be better placed to avoid carnage. I'm thinking about some of those national anthems here - if some barbarian warrior wants their battle song rendered in the appropriate runes, and the clerics who maintain a list pursue a no-rune policy, well, the claymores might be unsheathed. --Pete (talk) 19:00, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

The anthems listed should tally with corresponding article names: in the majority of instances it will be the infobox which needs to be changed for consistency. This is the case with Andorra. As for the Central African Republic, the relevant article suggests that La Renaissance and E Zingo are the same song in two different languages.

But let's say that for argument's sake there is a systemic problem. My suggestion would be to do a quarterly or biannual audit of the relevant lists. That would involve painstakingly careful cross-checking of each list, the listed item(s), and the corresponding country for each entry, and making corrections as necessary. We could take steps to reduce the risk of one article being updated and not the others, such as commented notes next to the relevant parameter or to do lists on the relevant talk page, but the fact of the matter is that there are no guarantees that someone who cares will notice. —WFC— 07:20, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

They'll notice if it isn't what they want. Most changes would be non-problematic, but there'd be a few that would spark conflict. Going around and updating each entry where there is a difference is a big job, not in the edits involved so much, but in doing the research you indicate, and then dealing with a lot of editors very attached to whatever format they think is best for their national pride or their obsession with having uniformity in a list. There's always a few. --Pete (talk) 09:27, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

Add debt parameter

Lettres (talk) 22:12, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

Would this be an absolute number? A percentage of GDP? In dollars? Local currency? --Golbez (talk) 22:27, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

Just in USD like the GDP. Thats not to much for this Infobox i think. Lettres (talk) 22:44, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

Is it a necessary and fundamental part of understanding a nation's economy? One can still have a strong economy with high debt, and a weak economy with a surplus. Also, is this private or public debt? --Golbez (talk) 22:50, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

Thats right. I think the public debt tells you if a country is healthy through the taxes by the GDP. Lettres (talk) 23:35, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

Social Security and Standard & Poor's etc. ratings healthy Lettres (talk) 01:18, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

There's zero reason to include the opinion of one single company. I don't know what you mean by 'social security.' --Golbez (talk) 03:41, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

just wanted to discribe healthy country. still only want the debt parameter. Lettres (talk) 04:50, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

native_name_lang

Please can someone add the |native-name_lang= parameter and associated markup, as used in {{Infobox settlement}}? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 18:50, 17 December 2011 (UTC)

Can someone help, please? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 20:37, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

Kingdom of Denmark parameters

The Kingdom of Denmark article is currently in the process of being merged into the Denmark article and we now need to include the populations, land areas and HDI for not only Denmark (proper/continental Denmark) but also Greenland and the Faroe Islands - as additional figures.

I noticed that there were separate parameters for France, and ideally we could really use separate parameters in the Denmark article. The merged Denmark article will really be a special case; Denmark, the country, and the state need to be on one article but the infobox must also account for Greenland and the Faroe Islands seperately.

I want to propose that additional parameters are created that allow three (or possibly more) figures to be displayed for the population (estimate, density), land area and HDI. The last two should be subsets of the firs, if possiblet. In the merge proposal discussion it was agreed not to include a 'Total' figures, as used on the France article, but three separate figures. See the infobox on the German wikipedia for an idea of how this could look - de:Dänemark.

Perhaps something like:

|population_estimate1 = 5,564,219
|population_estimate2 = 56,615
|population_estimate3 = 49,267
|population_estimate_year = 2011
|population_estimate_rank1 = 132nd
|population_estimate_rank2 = 12th
|population_estimate_rank3 = 180th

What do you think? Peter (talk) 00:09, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

It looks too much like we're referring to different estimates rather than different parts of the country. What about?

|region1=Penninsular Denmark
|region2=Greenland
|region3=Faroe Islands
|population_estimate = 5,671,050
|population_estimate_year = 2011
|population_estimate_rank = 110
|population_estimate_region1 = 5,564,219
|population_estimate_region2 = 56,615
|population_estimate_region3 = 49,267
|population_estimate_rank_region1 = 132nd
|population_estimate_rank_region2 = 12th
|population_estimate_rank_region3 = 180th

— Blue-Haired Lawyer ^t 21:40, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

Yes! That's the sort of thing I had in mind. Thanks! So would it be possible to add those to the infobox template? I understand that the purpose of this template is to standardise country infoboxs, but the Kingdom of Denmark is, as stated, a special case (like France). It would be great have different region parameters, and it doesn't look too confusing either. ~ Peter (Talk page) 23:39, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

Is there any way we get can get a quick resolution? If a change to the infobox isn't favoured then is another solution/fix possible? Peter (Talk page) 13:31, 15 January 2012 (UTC)

Name no longer centered?

Was it the intention to no longer align the country names to the center or has something gone wrong? (Or am I now talking at the wrong template since this one hasn't been edited for a while?) Styath (talk) 21:32, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

I think something's gone wrong. I saw this on my watchlist and hurried to a country article and I can see the name aligned to the left-hand side too. I don't know what's happened... we should probably leave it and see if it sorts itself out (hopefully..). Peter (Talk page) 21:41, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

See WP:VPT#Alignment of infobox labels. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 02:30, 15 January 2012 (UTC)

Upper house & Lower house

Hi, these currently link to Upper House and Lower House. Can they be changed to Upper house and Lower house in order to avoid the redirect? Thanks, Snappy (talk) 20:36, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

Done, only because the redirects are marked unprintworthy. Anomie⚔ 14:13, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

Population density

Hi, this currently links to List of countries by population density. Can this be changed to List of sovereign states and dependent territories by population density in order to avoid the redirect? Thanks, Snappy (talk) 20:42, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

Y Done Skier Dude (talk) 02:36, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. Could you also do my other request immediately above? Snappy (talk) 20:04, 23 January 2012 (UTC)

Vertical alignment of section titles

Official language(s)		Fish Fish Fish
Ethnic groups		Fish Fish Fish

A quick question about the layout of the (extremely empty) version of this template shown here. Is there a reason why the "Official languages" title appears centred vertically, while the "Ethnic groups" is top aligned? It might look better if they were both top aligned. Thanks  — Amakuru (talk) 14:52, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

As much as I prefer the aesthetics here of middle aligned, top aligned would make more sense for very long lists. As far as I can tell (which may not be very well), this will just require the removal of "vertical-align:middle" from the coding. CMD (talk) 15:32, 14 February 2012 (UTC)