Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Central Asia

geographic scope

I would consider extending the range to Afghanistan, Tibet, Ladakh, and Tuva. Chris 21:55, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

I forgot to add Afghanistan and am doing that now. As for the others, if you want to add them go ahead. Aelfthrytha 21:58, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

I'd also include the North West Frontier Province (basically an extension of Pashtun Afghanistan]] and Baluchistan. Both of these places are very Central Asian and an extension of Iranian civilization of the Central Asian variety. Tombseye 22:33, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Add as you like. Aelfthrytha 23:46, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Tibet should be very much a part of it. I'm adding it, per Aelfthrytha deeptrivia (talk) 04:23, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

I have some reservations on what regions should or should not be included in this project. For example, although Mongolia has strong historical importance to Central Asia, the country itself is definitely not geographically Central Asian. I also don't see why Tibet and Ladakh qualify. On the flipside, if Tuva is to be included (presumably on an ethnic basis) then so should the Altai Republic and perhaps some other regions in the southern Russian Federation.

So in other words, on what basis are we including some regions and excluding others? My feeling is that since there is a consensus on what is "core" CA (i.e. Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan), the Wiki project should expand as appropriate from there, on the basis of the geographic and ethnic qualities of surrounding areas.

Thoughts? -- Hux 18:29, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

The problem here is that what Central Asia is is disputed and unclear, even according to the article on it on wiki. I was personally interested in applying the broadest definition, which is the UNESCO Cultural Heritage one on the Central Asia page linked to above, which was why I was open to including those other regions. Aelfthrytha 18:32, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Second thought: Would anyone be interested in carrying on this discussion on in IRC, MSN, or a real-time interface that would be more efficient and allow everyone to have a 'conversation' about the subject? Aelfthrytha 18:34, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

I'm in #linguistics and #wikipedia on FreeNode as spectei. - FrancisTyers · 18:41, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Hmm, interesting points. I think one aspect that is important is language. Clearly, Turkic and Iranian languages and a relatively linked history are what define Central Asia. the peripheral areas are just that peripheral. Now you take the languages spoken in the core Central Asian states and you include the areas that these languages correspond to and you have a good definition of Central Asia. Tibet's inclusion and others like it become problematic as a result however. Although I personally have no problem with a greater Central Asia and since this is a wikiproject and not an article a larger scope may not be that much of a big deal anyway. Tombseye 18:42, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

This was also in my mind - if we have a bit of an unclear scope, that could be fine, especially considering that these areas are all quite neglected and would benefit from just about any attention. Aelfthrytha 18:48, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes, and the border areas are tough to define anyway. Due to political inclusion in China, Tibet is often considered broadly 'East Asian' and their language is even closely related to Chinese ,Sino-Tibetan, but there is geographic proximity to consider then. Where do we draw the lines in terms of regions is a tough question. I think we can go with a broad scope and, as you say, shed some attention upon neglected articles. Tombseye 18:56, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

template

How does this look for starters? Template:WikiProject Central Asia --Chris 04:50, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Looks good Chris. I was wondering if the Scythian archers image could be replaced with something that can be recognised without zooming in. I know it's also used in the Central Asia stub template, but it would be great to have something that's atleast not blurred. Will try to suggest something. deeptrivia (talk) 06:20, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

For starters, looks great. I'm really relieved someone else grabbed that job because I don't know how to do it! :) But I agree, the picture probably would be better off replaced for something unblurred. Aelfthrytha 13:59, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Georgia

Hey all, this isn't exactly related, but there is a poll going down at Talk:Georgia (country), it would be great to have your input. - FrancisTyers · 17:46, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Boy that is a tough call. On the one hand Georgia as a country is important, but since the American state has such a high degree of notriety, it's hard to say. A disambiguation page seems like the neutral way to go, but both arguments have their merits. Tombseye 18:48, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Peer review

I know this is the second spam of the day, but at least this one is kind of related :) Could interested parties take a look at Tajik alphabet and give ideas on the talk page, or at the peer review page for how it can be improved? Many thanks - FrancisTyers · 18:39, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Udmurts?

The article on Udmurts says nothing about them living in Central Asia, so it's not clear why Udmurt language is in the list here. Perhaps some information is missing in Udmurts and should be added, or the inclusion of Udmurt language here is an error?--Imz 18:54, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Ummm...yes! Sorry, putting in all the languages I must have gone a little loopy. I'm removing it. Aelfthrytha 18:59, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Project page structure

I took a risk to structure the project page a bit. Any remarks will be appreciated. RamBow 20:13, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Looks great, thanks! Can you help look for more articles to put on the to-do section? Aelfthrytha 21:31, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Lake Balkhash

Hey hey! Excellent program you have going on here. I just thought I'd stop in and recommend you add Lake Balkhash to your project. It is also part of the WP:LAKES, and I would love to see someone with experience in the REGION add some more details. Of particular interest might be the Sino-Russian treaty that directly involves the lake. Anyhoo ... keep up the good work folks! Em3rald 00:56, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Pakol / Pakul

These two articles (Pakol and Pakul) probably should be merged. I've put a merge suggestion on the pages, but could people weigh in regarding preferred spelling? Aelfthrytha 03:08, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Photos

Regarding, "Making contact with people currently in Central Asian countries to request use of their photographs or to request that they take photographs for us." I'd just like to point out that I live in Bishkek and am open to photo requests. I also have a photo album and would be happy to contribute anything relevant under the GFDL license. :) -- Hux 20:25, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Grammar problems section

i would appreciate it if someone created a grammer problems section. that way i could find those articles easily and corret the mistakes in them, so that they look more professional. thanks in advance.Iranian Patriot 16:01, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Would you also be interested in wikifying articles? Usually I grab and correct the ones with grammar problems because my English is pretty good, but I don't like to wikify. Aelfthrytha 23:23, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

what is "wikify". im still kind of new to this whole wikipedia thing.Iranian Patriot 15:23, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

To wikify an article is to make it fit into the general Wikipedia scheme. A wikified article has correct grammar and spelling, conforms with the Wikipedia Manual of Style, provides sufficient context to be useful to someone with no background in the topic, provides links to related articles (and is linked to by related articles), uses Wiki-style markup (e.g. ''italics'') rather than supported-but-not-ideal HTML-style markup (e.g. <i>italics</i>), belongs to relevant categories, etc. Ruakh 15:45, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Stub Proposals

After collecting all the stubs related to Central Asia, tagging them {{CAsia-stub}} and counting up, I've just proposed a boatload of new stubs that will hopefully help to better organize our project here. Here's a link to my proposal so the rest can see and comment: Central Asia Stub Proposal. Aelfthrytha 04:25, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Vacation

From today until 5 or 6 August I'll be on vacation, so don't look for me around here! :D Aelfthrytha 16:55, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Ethnicity of participants

When i look at the ist of participants i see that majority are from Iran and have Persian nicknames. Central Asia is populated mostly by Turkic people and irani nationalists have an ideal of making the region a part of greater iran. i think the persian majority of participants will affect the neutrality of the project in a negative way, more Turkic participants are requiered. Irani people are minority in the region but are majority in the project, this is unacceptable for Turkic people.