Talk:Timeline of United States inventions (after 1991)

Native American Inventions

I am surprised to see that native American inventions have not been included on this page. They are United States citizens and belong to this land. African-Americans have a page.

By the way, the research on this page is excellent. I always enjoy visiting here. A good and quick reference to find everything I need. Thank you. --Zeppher (talk) 07:11, 7 April 2009 (UTC)

Please break this up

With greater than 400kb, 1000s of wikilinks, and over 600 references this page is too big.

Served by srv177 in 57.264 secs

No page should be taking more than about 20 seconds to render.

Please break it up into smaller subarticles. Dragons flight (talk) 04:21, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

I agree, break it up, perhaps by century. And identify in the introduction what the criteria are for inclusion -- the current list is arbitrary. 67.100.222.20 (talk) 20:39, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

The recent spawning off of Timeline of United States discoveries has shrunk this article enough so that it is now the second longest article instead of the first. So while its length is slightly less of an issue, the problems from Talk:Timeline of United States inventions and discoveries/Comments still apply, i.e. the lack of referenced criteria for what gets included and what doesn't, and the violation of Wikipedia:No original research#Synthesis of published material that advances a position. 68.167.252.230 (talk) 05:05, 14 April 2009 (UTC).

Better yet, delete it. The histories of each of the inventions on this list can be discussed at their respective articles. The very existence of this "article" constitutes an affirmation of the ridiculous concept of "American exceptionalism." Encyclopedias ought to avoid such nonsense. Besides, the last time I checked, Americans were mere garden-variety Homo sapiens, not a superior sub-species. If this list must exist, then it ought to be titled something like: Timeline of inventions by persons who happened to dwell within the national borders of the United States of America. When titled accurately, the absurdity of the list becomes immediately apparent and Wikipedia gains 353 kilobytes of storage space. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.105.246.237 (talk) 05:36, 10 May 2009 (UTC)

Restored lost discussion, but archive needs to be restored too

I restored comments that appeared to play a role in a recent renaming and splitting of this article. This archive needs to be moved here as well. 72.244.200.10 (talk) 04:25, 11 April 2009 (UTC).

These comments were also lost in the move and must be restored. 72.244.200.10 (talk) 04:28, 11 April 2009 (UTC).

Zeppher's reversion of 68.167.252.230 changes

Zeppher mischaracterized 68.167.252.230 changes as vandalism. I restored those changes, without losing Zeppher's minor wikification of a few words in the introduction. I hope Zeppher focuses on the issues with the article's length and lack of criteria for inclusion or exclusion of items instead of resorting to further reversions. 72.244.206.205 (talk) 13:03, 15 April 2009 (UTC).

Name change

I would like to put a request to change the name of the article from List of United States inventions to List of US inventions, cause the current name just doesn't sound right to me. I think my idea (List of US inventions) would sound better. Ross Rhodes (T C) ^Sign! 13:09, 10 May 2009 (UTC)

It's still nonsense, because it reifies the United States. The US has never invented anything. People invent things. Some of those people just happen to have lived in the US. That factlet has as much to do with the nature of what they invented, or their ability to invent, or the likelihood of them inventing, as does the month they were born. As I said above, if this article were titled accurately, it would be laughed into oblivion. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.105.246.237 (talk) 15:36, 10 May 2009 (UTC)

True. Ross Rhodes (T C) ^Sign! 16:11, 10 May 2009 (UTC)

Due to what 70.105.246.237 said (which is true), I propose we change the article's name to Timeline of inventions made by citizens of the United States. Ross Rhodes (T C) ^Sign! 21:35, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

And some perhaps by people who later became US citizens And the ones before the US was a nation? So we would have [[Timelines of inventions made by United States citizens and some made by citizens of colonies which later became the United States and a few made by people who became naturalized citizens before or after their inventions, and maybe a couple made by non-citizens resident in the United States]]? Naw -- the presnt name is quite adequate. Collect (talk) 17:12, 17 May 2009 (UTC)

It's not. I'm sorry, but I just think that calling the article Timeline of United States inventions is wrong. As it wasn't the country itself that invented these things; it was the people of the country. I still strongly suggest changing the name to a more appropriate one. As long as its not refering to the actual country. Ross Rhodes (T C) ^Sign! 17:37, 17 May 2009 (UTC)

I've just been thinking more about what Collect had said earlier. Perhaps we should split the list up into diffrent sections. Having only inventions made by people when the US was a nation on this page. Then the name request would still work, and it would make the list smaller. Ross Rhodes (T C) ^Sign! 17:41, 17 May 2009 (UTC)

I do agree about the deletion idea. 'cause this list just isn't right. Ross Rhodes (T C) ^Sign! 20:00, 17 May 2009 (UTC)

Nope. Removing Ben Franklin etc. is rather a Monty Python wway to handle an article which, I am happy to say, has been trimmed a bit. Collect (talk) 19:47, 17 May 2009 (UTC)

I'll simply repeat myself by suggesting that this list be deleted and that the list items be worked into their respective articles. I find no justification for this list beyond an affirmation of "American exceptionalism," which would be a rather unencyclopedic stance to take. If deletion is off the table and the best that can be hoped for is a name change, then I suggest we merge this list with "America, Fuck Yeah" and use that title, which approximates the vibe that this list gives off. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.105.246.237 (talk • contribs) 12:38, 17 May 2009 (UTC)

I think the title is adequate as it expresses the same idea in a short title; otherwise, it could be changed to Timeline of inventions from the United States as there's no need for such a long title. -download ׀ sign! 02:19, 18 May 2009 (UTC)

I love how my actual point is simply ignored. WP is clearly biased in favor of treating "American exceptionalism" as a valid concept. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.105.246.237 (talk) 03:50, 18 May 2009 (UTC)

Which rather seems that it is not voiced in any attempt to improve this specific article. As long as this article has a name which is substantially logical to most people, there is no reason to change it. Thanks 70. Collect (talk) 10:57, 18 May 2009 (UTC)

There's no point trying to "improve" a biased list of factlets, nor does that bias constitute a reason for keeping it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.105.246.237 (talk) 13:06, 21 May 2009 (UTC)

The premise of the article is wonky, as 70.105.246.237 points out. But "Timeline of inventions made by citizens of the United States" is definitely worse. Now, on to my next project: Timeline of species identified by citizens of the United States... — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 23:38, 23 May 2009 (UTC)

And such articles as English_inventions_and_discoveries and the like? This is not the only article to take righteous indignation at. Collect (talk) 01:00, 24 May 2009 (UTC)

Agreed! Kill 'em all! Thanks Col.