Talk:Fort Collins, Colorado

Blatant Opinions as Fact

I came in to dispute the phrase "the city has a thriving local music circuit" (define "thriving" . . . ) but soon realized that the whole article is littered with these obvious editorial opinions stated as fact, especially Education and Economy (regarding local businesses). I took out some ridiculous statements like "Excellence in the classroom trickles further down into the elementary schools." Added some citation needed type stuff here and there, but probably didn't use the right template. Please correct as necessary. K Revival (talk) 16:38, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Old Town

How about a picture of Old Town?

More additions to article needed

I lived in Fort Collins for over 12 years. It is a beautiful place! More information should be included in the article, such as: items on its beautiful park system (City Park, especially); famous people who live or once lived there; recreational opportunities; and events and celebrations. I have great memories of the city!

Tattva: Well, beer is covered now, the only topic on which I consider myself competent.

Northern Colorado Sucks blog

I think this blog is not a good addition to the external links subheading:

NorthernColoradoSucks: A frequently updated blog about northern Colorado

But, it was returned after I removed it. The person who re-added it did so without any comment. What do you folks think?

In the absence of any discussion, I'll remove it again and seek out an admin to keep it out if it's added again. Enkrates 07:17, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Disambiguation

RMHS (which redirects here) is also a common abbreviation for Richard Montgomery High School in Maryland, D.C., and Northern Virginia, does this call for a disambiguation page? I don't know what the rules are regarding those. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.32.116.227 (talk) 01:57, 19 December 2006 (UTC).

Disambiguated. 69.138.188.233 23:56, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Voting/Government

So, anyone want to take on adding voting demographic and local government structure information? The county page doesn't have much info in this regard either. Thanks! --NightMonkey 22:56, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

External Links

I'm a little concerned about the large number of external links in this article. WP:EL generally frowns on them, but I'm not sure if there is a better way to handle things like Transfort and the links to newspapers. Anyone have a recommendation? --02:34, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

"The Choice City"

Interesting nickname. The obvious questions: where does it come from, and what does it signify? Λυδαcιτγ 04:47, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

Political Demographics

What are the political demographics of the town? I have heard it is more centrest (although center left over all) than Boulder. Is that true?

24.8.106.182 (talk) 06:01, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

From living in both I'd say FC is certainly more center than Boulder; though I can't quantify this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.132.98.55 (talk) 02:41, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Pre GA Review

Ft. Collins article can be an excellant candidate for a GA status. FC has historic heritage and makes for excellant reading. The following are suggestion for improvements:

1. Photo of Old Town
2. Photo of University
3. Few other strategic photos, aerial view of city 4/10/08
4. Fix historic archive link/reference 2/20/08
5. Create an article for Fort Collins Museum 4/10/08
6. Subsection or paragraph on all local museums, historic societies
7. Improve subsection on railroad transportaton: historic and current, traffic impacts, local transportation
8. Subsection or paragraph on aviation and airport: historic and current
9. Make subsection of the paragraph on local/annual community events, ie ,Beer Festival, any parades
10. Resolve any "red" links
11. Resolve "Choice City"
12. Add info on city parks
13. Section on "Futher reading" or bibliography under Refs
14. All extra photos taken and uploaded can go into wiki-commons

After some of these items are addressed, a formal GA/peer review can be submitted to WP:COLO.

Respectfully submitted. LanceBarber (talk) 07:17, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

School Rankings

Links to some statistics ranking schools in Fort Collins (especially high schools) would be nice Raucanum (talk) 05:13, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

Avoiding School Bias

I believe that the Fort Collins page is not an appropriate page to be comparing the different high schools or to be listing prominent graduates. Edits that claim "FCHS is the most prestigious" is both non-objective and off-topic. Comments about a particular high school would better be made on the school's wikipedia entry. Pearmaster (talk) 23:24, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

You were right to revert that. It isn't really a question of content for the talk page, however; it's just vandalism. Someone who thinks it's clever naming his friends. Repeatedly for the last several months. If you see it, just revert it, warn the editor of you feel like it, and if they keep it up after warnings, report them to WP:AIV. I've blocked this latest IP for a month for repeating this same edit over and over. --barneca (talk) 00:03, 16 January 2009 (UTC)

Trivia/Pop Culture References

Fort Collins was the sight of a fabricated "Pube Fair" in the popular TV Series, South Park —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.255.93.201 (talk) 00:54, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Balloon "Incident"

Wow. A balloon that flew around Fort Collins for two hours. This story does not belong in the "Fort Collins" entry. There are 120,000 people in Fort Collins. That's 120,000 life stories. The city was founded in 1864. I know that the news media cares more about the balloon than the town, but I don't think we should give them equal air time on this site. I'm also confused why the authors of that section gave it it's own second-level heading, on par with 'History', 'Economy' and 'Education'. Wouldn't it be within 'History', assuming it had any historical significance for Fort Collins?--Drknkn (talk) 09:16, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

Ironically, the city's sports team is largely unknown nationally, yet the balloon story has been followed by news media around the world (Canada, Russia, Australia, United Kingdom, etc. all broadcasted the hoax/saga as it unfolded). One afternoon's story about a child abducted by a balloon UFO has raised the city to full international notoriety. I believe that completely justifies its inclusion here, even if the town's founding fathers find it rather unseemly.

Remember too that few people had ever heard of Roswell, New Mexico, until their silly UFO-shaped weather balloon incident created a lasting place for them in Wikipedia. 174.21.13.141 (talk) 09:36, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

I live in Fort Collins and I don't know about the sports team, either. I do know about the HP research facilities and the 20,000-man university here -- among other things. The fact you would even bring up the sports team (along with the balloon) shows you don't know anything about the town. I don't care about notoriety, either. What matters is that residents here do things that affect people's lives across the world, whether you know it or not, and flying balloons isn't one of them. I resent the fact that this incident is in the article, and that people who live in other states are forcing this content into this entry.--Drknkn (talk) 09:43, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

I also live here and have for over 30 years. We have had a number of "historical events" that have made the national media. There was Debbie Does Donuts, a topless donut shop, Dan's Bake Sale, an event to raise money so "Dan" could purchase a subscription to Rush Limbaugh's newsletter, as well as the big flood, the Windsor tornado, etc. I don't think the Fort Collins article should include all the details of those events. Those details deserve a separate article if they are important for national media attention. But the Fort Collins article should include some reference to those events. They happened. They have colored our reputation. They are part of the reality of Fort Collins. Dreeser (talk) 16:17, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

For info on your town's sports teams, see the article (it's under heading "Notable Sports Teams"). Please remember wikipedia is not your personal journal. People who attempt to use it as a reference tool should have access to info even if you personally find the info distasteful.

The story itself, while receiving international news and water cooler commentary, belongs in the article. After people decide if it was a hoax or publicity stunt or not, it will die down, and you can then reasonably suggest it be removed, or just culled down to blurb. But for now, it's the most famous thing to happen to Fort Collins since it was founded, and belongs in the article.

(As a resident, have lots of pride and fear: the whole world saw very beautiful views of the plains of Colorado, and now will want to move there, crowd it up and raise your real estate taxes.) 174.21.13.141 (talk) 10:00, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

Omit - If the story is notable, it merits its own article; otherwise, it's just trivia. Either way, it doesn't belong in the Ft. Collins article. Plazak (talk) 13:38, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

Keep - Fort Collins has become internationally famous solely due to this incident. To omit referencing the incident here would be absurd.

Additionally, Wikipedia has already established a precedence for including this type of information within a city's article. See Roswell, New Mexico. "Roswell is most popularly known for having its name attached to what is now called the 1947 Roswell UFO incident". Perfect example. 174.21.13.141 (talk) 20:54, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

This incident is not comparable to the sustained connection in the media between Roswell and UFOs. Since there is already a separate article, all that's needed here is a brief mention. I suggest that a sentence in the "history" section could cover it adequately.   Will Beback  talk  21:44, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

Agreed, per what I stated above. 174.21.7.123 (talk) 05:41, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

There has to be at least one small mention. Yes, 99.999% of FC residents hate that it happened, but sadly it did. We can't ignore that or pretend it didn't. As for the argument that there are 120,000 life stories, why mention Balloon Boy..? What tosh. Some life stories are notable, most aren't. It's hardly a sickening incident anyway - I'm sure the town of Holcomb, KS would prefer not to be associated with one night in 1959 - but guess what, it is. Fort Collins should be grateful that it is notorious world wide for a hoax rather than a horrific murder or act of violence. Other towns are remembered for and live with their hoaxes (Piltdown/ Uckfield for example), I'm sure Fort Collins can live with this. Quite simply, you don't get to gloss over your town's history just to suit your own pink & fluffy views as to how it should be perceived. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.16.33.108 (talk) 21:33, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

I completely agree with you. I think the residents of Fort Collins who keep on reversing or omitting information about the Balloon Boy Hoax from the Fort Collins page are showing a lot of rigidity and hypersensitivity to something that happened in their town and, as a historical event, deserves to be part of the article (as per other Wikipedia precedents). I also agree that those who are making much ado about nothing should be happy that, when compared to what happened in Holcomb, KS, the Balloon Boy Hoax is nothing to be so ashamed of. I guess some people are just too afraid of the truth, even when the truth is completely innocuous. --75.82.223.169 (talk) 06:12, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Also, just by looking at how long the Balloon "Incident" thread on the discussion page is should tell you that this is an issue that people care about and that should be included in the article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.82.223.169 (talk) 06:15, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

It is getting pretty tiring undoing edits done by (97.124.225.99). S/he leaves no explanations - just removes the reference to Falcon Heene. I am not sure how to get this user's IP address banned. Dreeser (talk) 21:00, 13 January 2010 (UTC)

Bob Schaffer is not Mayor

I just undid some edits that replaced Doug Hutchison's name with Bob Schaffer's. There has been no change in who is the mayor of Fort Collins. I'm not sure who did the edits or why. Dreeser (talk) 21:53, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

Micro-Breweries error

New Belgium Brewery is not a microbrewery. According to its own website, it surpassed that in 1994. Again, on its FAQ site, it claims a microbrewery produces less than 15,000 barrels of beer. In 2008, (again, on the same site), they said they sold 493,200 barrels. http://www.newbelgium.com/faq Although we all want to believe that they are a microbrewery, New Belgium Beer is sold in 26 states from coast to coast and border to border (http://www.newbelgium.com/beer/finder)