Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Biography

WikiProject Biography

This talk page is automatically archived by Werdnabot. Any sections older than 7 days are automatically archived to Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Biography/Archive/June 2024. Sections without timestamps are not archived. Discussions about article assessment (including complaints and suggestions) should go to Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Biography/Assessment

Religion item in info box

I was sent over here from the Hillary Clinton article after I changed her listed religion in the info box thing from "United Methodist" to "Christian (United Methodist)". Barack Obama lists his as "Christian (United Church of Christ)". I was told that it was a WP convention to give Christians' individual church denominations but not "Christian" itself in the info boxes. I personally think this is wrong and maybe even offensive to some people. If you asked a member of the United Methodist Church or the United Church of Christ what his or her religion was I am sure they would answer "Christian" and only give the name of the demonination if asked about that. I personally think it would be an improvement if the way WP does this were changed. Thanks. Please let me know if there is a better place to post this. Redddogg (talk) 02:44, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

This is probably the right place to post it. And I acknowledge your point regarding what the subject themselves might say. However, as I'm sure you'd probably agree, it's generally assumed that, in like Hillary's case, the Christianity can be fairly easily assumed by most people based on the "United Methodist" info, and those who don't know it could easily follow the link to see what broader faith it belongs to. I note that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lists his religion as "Shi'a Islam", not "Islam", so I think the convention is to use the most precise reasonable term in the infobox as possible. For rather unusual religious affiliations, like say Majalli Wahabi, it would probably even make sense to list only the word "Druze" instead of "Islam - Druze" because of the potential dispute regarding whether the Druze are Islamic. Maybe it'd be clearer if the word "denomination" were used, but that word has its own problems. John Carter (talk) 15:13, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

Two new core biographies needing attention - IMMEDIATELY!

Unhelpful thread removed. Carcharoth (talk) 00:18, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

Close the assessment department?

Articles are no longer being assessed. Please go to Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Biography/Assessment#Close the assessment department? to discuss the issue. Thanks, Melty girl (talk) 20:37, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

Problems with Ataúlfo Argenta

I just came across this article which is definitely not in compliance with verifiability. It is full of original research and the repetition of rumours verging on slander. It has been the subject of persistent attempts by the single purpose account Tilleadh to revert the removal of the unsourced, unverifiable, and potentially biased information. The subject died 50 years ago (although his son is still alive) hence I'm assuming it's not suitable for the BLP noticeboard. If this is not the right page to bring this up, can let me know where I should post it? (I'm also notifying Wikipedia Project Spain.) Thanks Voceditenore (talk) 11:58, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Wu Zetian

I've expanded Wu Zetian and requested a peer review of it. Any review by project members and further refining/expansion would be appreciated. --Nlu (talk) 11:41, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Hillary Clinton at WP:GAR

Hillary Clinton has been at WP:GAR since Feb. 11.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTD) 06:23, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

403 featured articles on people!

Please see User:Carcharoth/Featured articles needing regular updates#Featured articles on people. Carcharoth (talk) 00:20, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

Mikhail Margelov

This is my first biographical article for Wikipedia. Could anyone give me feedback on style, content and ways to improve the article? Thank you.--Conjoiner (talk) 23:56, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

Che Guevara Feature article review notice

Che Guevara has been nominated for a featured article review. Articles are typically reviewed for two weeks. Please leave your comments and help us to return the article to featured quality. If concerns are not addressed during the review period, articles are moved onto the Featured Article Removal Candidates list for a further period, where editors may declare "Keep" or "Remove" the article from featured status. The instructions for the review process are here. Reviewers' concerns are here.

Louis XIV

Members of this project may be interested at a discussion going on at the Louis XIV talk page. If you have anything to add to this obscure discussion, additional opinions would be welcome. Coemgenus 16:19, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

Being a rather long thread and, hence, more difficult to follow all the arguments on either side of the debate(s), these have been summarized on the next thread. Lil' mouse 3 (talk) 17:40, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

Resurrecting an old topic...

We still need a religious work group; as well as crime, business - and I still feel activist as well (since you can't very put them into the politician work group unless you change it from "politician" to political). --Ozgod (talk) 11:56, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Samantha Smith

Hi, just to let you know that Samantha Smith, an article within this project's scope, is at featured article review. Please see Wikipedia:Featured article review/Samantha Smith if interested in contributing. Thanks Dspark76 (talk) 20:12, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Spring 2008 Assessment Drive

I would like to invite you all to join me in a Spring 2008 Assessment Drive to help clear out our backlog of unassessed articles. I am looking at launching the drive on March 14, 2008 and having it run for three months, until May 14, 2008 June 14, 2008 or the ending Friday of that week. --Ozgod (talk) 01:02, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

Um, wouldn't 3 months put it at ending on June 14? Wildhartlivie (talk) 04:00, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

Yes, it would. My bad. --Ozgod (talk) 04:35, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

I'll do what I can to help. John Carter (talk) 13:38, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

We (Milhist) will be running a tagging drive starting (hopefully) mid-April. It strikes me that if you could tag any bios of military people for Milhist, we could tag any Military bios we come across for Biography? Does this make sense, pooling resources a little? --ROGER DAVIES ^talk 13:43, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

Sounds great to me. The only questions which come to mind to me would be which task forces, if any, of MilHist to tag the articles for. But, when the page for the assessment drive is created, I can try to ensure that the relevant material for MilHist would also be included. John Carter (talk) 13:51, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

Makes perfect sense and is completely doable - I believe MilHist shows up on Outriggr's script; I'll double check it to be sure. --Ozgod (talk) 14:03, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

(outdent) Sorry to take a while to get back on this but I had it in my mind that this drive was starting at the end of March! Oh well, better late than never. Anyhow, here are a few suggestions for addressing the practicalities.

Tagging

The least-demanding option is for editors to add: {{WPMILHIST|class = |Biography=yes}}. This adds the article to Category:Unassessed military history articles, which is regularly checked and assessed.

The adventurous could add the class too, using the standard codes, class = B. Milhist has its own B-class criteria but we can easily pick up articles which have B-class set but not the parameters so that is no problem.

The really adventurous could add Milhist task forces. However, there are over fifty of them so this can be a daunting job. The most popular ones are: WWI=yes (World War I), WWII=yes (World War II), US=yes (American), British=yes (British), Russian=yes (Russian), Maritime=yes (Naval), and Aviation=yes (Aviation). A complete list can be found in the Milhist template: {{WPMILHIST}}.

Rewards

Obviously any contributing editors would be entitled to Milhist service awards. These are awarded on the following basis:

250 articles - One stripe

500 articles - Two stripes

1000 - Three stripes

I could award them but it may be easier if you do this yourselves at the end of the drive. The

{{subst:Milhist-1stripe|For tagging '''''250''''' articles for the joint ''[[WP:WikiProject Biography|Wikiproject Biography]] / [[WP:MILHIST|Military history Wikiproject]]'' Spring 2008 drive, by order of the coordinators of the ''[[WP:MILHIST|Military history WikiProject]]'' I hereby present you with this Service Award. ~~~~}}

{{subst:Milhist-2stripe|For tagging '''''500''''' articles for the joint ''[[WP:WikiProject Biography|Wikiproject Biography]] / [[WP:MILHIST|Military history Wikiproject]]'' Spring 2008 drive, by order of the coordinators of the ''[[WP:MILHIST|Military history WikiProject]]'' I hereby present you with this Service Award. ~~~~}}

{{subst:Milhist-3stripe|For tagging '''''1000''''' articles for the joint ''[[WP:WikiProject Biography|Wikiproject Biography]] / [[WP:MILHIST|Military history Wikiproject]]'' Spring 2008 drive, by order of the coordinators of the ''[[WP:MILHIST|Military history WikiProject]]'' I hereby present you with this Service Award. ~~~~}}

I think that's everything covered. Thoughts? --ROGER DAVIES ^talk 09:39, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

I'm noticing Outriggr's script does not allow us to tag to other WikiProjects - anyone else noticing that? It would simplify the process in helping to tag for MILHIST as well. --Ozgod (talk) 12:07, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

I found it didn't work for me at all last year. --ROGER DAVIES ^talk 15:19, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

The script allows you to add the banners you specify in Special:Mypage/monobook.js. So in order to use WPBIO and MILHIST banners (and no others) with BIO as the default, try putting something like this:

assessmentMyTemplateCode = ["{{WPBiography|class=|priority=}}", "{{WPMILHIST|class=}}"];

assessmentDefaultProject = "WPBiography"; </code>

instead of the previous lines startingwith assessmentMyTemplateCode = and assessmentDefaultProject = in your monobook.js. I haven't come across a project banner that can't be added to script in this way, but you do have to specify every banner you want to be available. Hemmingsen 16:18, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Old Magazines

Greetings, WikiProject Biography! I am Cryptic C62 from Wikiproject Chemistry. I went to a massive low-price book sale today and found two old magazines with some articles you mind find interesting:

• November-December 1978 issue of American Art & Antiques:
  • Frank Furness
  • John Henry Twachtman
  • Atelier 17
  • The Paintings of William Robinson Leigh
• January 1999 issue of The Magazine - Antiques
  • Namikawa Yasusuki
  • Eastman Johnson, Edmund C. Tarbell, George Caleb Bingham
  • Dagobert Peche

If any of you are interested in using these magazines as sources, or if you're simply curious, I am offering to ship them at no cost other than the shipping charge. I have a complete list of the articles in each magazine, and will gladly provide any additional information needed. Anyone who is interested should respond on my Talk Page. --Cryptic C62 · Talk 01:47, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Annie Lee Moss

Can anyone lend a third pair of eyes for the article Annie Lee Moss. There is a dispute over whether historical references in the New York Times and Washington Post should be deleted from the article in favor of newer references from books. Thanks. --Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) (talk) 18:13, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Actually, (as I've tried to explained to User:Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) multiple times) the dispute is over the appropriateness and usefulness of some footnotes that RAN insists on adding. As the other party in the dispute, I certainly would welcome some additional opinions. RedSpruce (talk) 20:41, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Proposed amendment to notability guidelines

There have been many arguments at multiple biographical AfDs about articles on the victims of murders that have received significant press coverage. I have, in conjunction with other editors, formulated a guideline proposal at User:Fritzpoll/Notability (criminal acts) which would potentially cause a slight reinterpretation of WP:BIO if consensus is reached. I would like to ask people to come, read the proposed guideline and make comments or suggestions on the talk page. Best wishes - Fritzpoll (talk) 12:07, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

Proposal now exists in project space at WP:FELONY WP:N/CA Fritzpoll (talk) 17:05, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

WikiProject Screenwriters

I am trying to figure how best to jumpstart the stagnant Screenwriters Project: And it has been suggested that it be curtailed to a Task Force or Subproject and merged with WikiProject: Biography or even Wikiproject Actors and Filmmakers. The structure of a full wikiproject is a little overwhelming for a such a limited number of editors. I am well versed in the subject matter but I am not at all versed in Wikiproject management. I am finding the disconnect between categories, lists and indexes of the Screenwriters Project wildly misleading, thoroughly subjective, often irrelevant, and possibly sexist. I think that organized a different manner as a project with a small 'p', it could give equal weight to all eras and disciplines. I am deeply engaged in writing well researched articles about dead women screenwriters, however, I would like to see template standardization applied to all screenwriter articles and would be willing to do much of the heavy lifting towards this end. I am looking for other editors who are interested in breathing some life into this neglected topic. Any thoughts? EraserGirl (talk) 16:22, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

Please see also Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Actors and Filmmakers#WikiProject Screenwriters. I, as opposed to you, rarely write anything, really, but am pretty good with the project management end, and I would support a merger to either project. John Carter (talk) 16:37, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

Infobox Writer template is broken

The {{Infobox Writer}} template is broken (see Template talk:Infobox Writer). 67.100.45.72 (contribs) 01:50, 14 March 2008 (UTC).

It's not broke. As you pointed out at Template talk:Infobox Writer, "I'm using an antiquated version of Mozilla that predates Firefox". I am working on a solution. _pete 17:02, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

Assessment Drive is up

The Spring 2008 assessment drive is up and running and I look forward to working with all of you! --Ozgod (talk) 11:26, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

Coordinators revisited

I see some other projects are now in the process of setting up coordinators like MILHIST does. Personally, given the scope of this project, and the amount of work to keep it going, I think that this project would probably stand to have a few individuals at least stated somewhere to be individuals who can be contacted regarding certain matters and/or who commit to help keeping the project's activities current. If MILHIST has nine, considering we have about 10 times the number of articles they have, I think we could probably use at least 9 as well. Also, I think it might help if we had at least one of the coordinators able to, perhaps, focus a bit of concentrated attention on the various work group and subprojects, maybe even designating them that group's primary coordinator. Thoughts? John Carter (talk) 15:55, 16 March 2008 (UTC) --66.195.91.61 (talk) 15:41, 19 March 2008 (UTC)dwqdsqedesqafkkkkkkfkdllelllllldfkkkkfkkwekq;THE NADE KILLED HIM SUP

Yeah, I remember my first time being drunk, too. John Carter (talk) 16:09, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

My interest waxes and wanes, but I'm likely to stick around and be available in the long-term, if not the short-term, so keep me informed about stuff if you need anyone to help. Carcharoth (talk) 13:12, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Lists of people needing categorization by birth or death

I've compiled three lists of people needing categorization by birth or death (as of mid-March 2008):

• User:Dsp13/Living people needing categorization by year of birth (containing about 26,000 individuals)
• User:Dsp13/People needing categorization by year of birth (containing about 11,000 individuals)
• User:Dsp13/People needing categorization as living or by year of death (containing about 18,000 individuals)

Any help gratefully received in adding the appropriate categories to these! Dsp13 (talk) 23:48, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

Biographies of unclear notability

Hello,

on Wikipedia, there are currently more than 3100 biographies with their notability questioned. Based on a database snapshot of March 12, I have listed them here, sorted by workgroup.

I would encourage members of this project to have a look at these articles, and see whether independent sources can be added, whether the articles can be merged, or possibly be deleted. Any help in cleaning up this backlog is appreciated. For further information, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Notability.

If you have further questions, please leave a message on the Notability project page or on my personal talk page. (I'm not watching this page however.) Thanks! --B. Wolterding (talk) 11:23, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

Alma Mater

What counts as the alma mater for the "person" infobox? Please post your thoughts at Template talk:Infobox Person#Alma Mater. Thanks --Tim4christ17 ^talk 22:13, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

Should A-Class review go?

I like the idea of it, however, there's two major problems with it which can't be fixed easily. First, the lack of eyes on the page almost defeats the purpose of having it, since pages just sit there. More seriously though, the gap between GAs and FAs seems to be quite smaller than it used to be, making A-class a pretty small step between the two. As a result, there seems to relatively little need for it at all. I mean, I don't think the 20 bios would mind going back to GA. Thoughts? Wizardman 02:37, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

Rate

• Could somebody rate this page - Giourkas Seitaridis. The-Real-ZEUS (talk) 02:34, 25 March 2008 (UTC)
  • It's already been rated as start, which I support. Wizardman 15:10, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Clarence Lightner

This is a recent DYK article and my goal is for it to reach GA status. I listed the article at Wikipedia:Peer review/Clarence Lightner/archive1, but was told it might be a good idea to leave a note on the project talk pages for helpful suggestions. Thanks. AgnosticPreachersKid (talk) 17:23, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

James K. Polk

I have nominated this article for Featured Article Review. Please come and review it, and help it retain FA status! Judgesurreal777 (talk) 22:40, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

William IV of the United Kingdom

William IV of the United Kingdom has been nominated for a featured article review. Articles are typically reviewed for two weeks. Please leave your comments and help us to return the article to featured quality. If concerns are not addressed during the review period, articles are moved onto the Featured Article Removal Candidates list for a further period, where editors may declare "Keep" or "Remove" the article from featured status. The instructions for the review process are here. Reviewers' concerns are here. Chwech 00:41, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Walter Lippmann, recently vandal target, please watch

Please help to watch Walter Lippmann. AFAIK, Lippmann died in 1974. Vandals keep inserting the info that he is still alive and 119 years old. -- Writtenonsand (talk) 18:41, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Tom Brinkman

Tom Brinkman has been nominated for a featured article review. Articles are typically reviewed for two weeks. Please leave your comments and help us to return the article to featured quality. If concerns are not addressed during the review period, articles are moved onto the Featured Article Removal Candidates list for a further period, where editors may declare "Keep" or "Remove" the article from featured status. The instructions for the review process are here. Reviewers' concerns are here. --Daysleeper47 (talk) 13:07, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

First Ladies of Texas

I posted this over at WikiProject Texas, but no action was taken. I assume there might be more people interested over here. I personally do not have the time to do this. Here is my recommendation: Aside from Laura Bush and Anita Thigpen Perry there are not that many articles about the First Ladies of Texas (the wives of the governors). Here are some that can be written about with links to sites with some info on them.

• Linda Gale Thompson: Governors: Mark White
• Rita Crocker Clements: Texas Women's Hall of Fame: Rita Crocker Clements
• Janey Briscoe: Governor Dolph Briscoe and Janey Briscoe
• Ima Smith: Smith_donor_highlight.pdf

You can also talk to the people over at WikiProject Biographies [Well, I guess for you this means you can talk with the people at WikiProject Texas.] for help with this. I can also help you whenever I have spare time. --Merond e 11:59, 1 April 2008 (UTC)