Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Alaska/Archive 1

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Video Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Alaska/Archive 1

Recent changes

Please see my query re the Recent Changes page (on its talk page). Deirdre 09:17, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

Maps Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Alaska/Archive 1

Senator Stevens

The Ted Stevens page needs some work. He's been getting hammered by a lot of issues recently and the only people that are updating his page are his detractors. I'm not a big fan of him right now either, but it would be nice if people who knew more about his other politics would counterbalance some of the criticism Slarson 07:33, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

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Typing mistake

I am currently working on the German translation of the Copper River article. In the description it is talking about a "wide marshly plain". I could not find marshly in a dictionary and the two simular words 'harshly' and 'marshy' make both sence. Could you please verify this information? Thanks, --Julian Maximilian 21:44, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

It can't be harshly, since that's an adverb and adverbs don't modify nouns. It's "marshy"; I've fixed it. --Zero Gravitas 22:13, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

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Aleut Restitution Act of 1988

Hi, all. I stumbled across a red link in the page Aleut, and did some research on the Aleut Restitution Act of 1988. What you see there is the product of an hour's worth of research. However, the page may benefit from multiple editors' revisions, so it would be nice if that page were put up for collaboration.
On the other hand, would that page even fall under this WikiProject? Thanks Kareeser|^Talk! 05:23, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
P.S. That particular page is in dire need of a category, as I am horrendous at sifting through category lists...

If it's more than tangentially related to Alaska (as this certainly is) it definitely qualifies. Thanks for starting the article! --Zero Gravitas 07:13, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the cricial fixes to the article, ZeroGravitas! I had not realized my mistake in calling the Aleuts "Aleutians" until you fixed my error, and until then, I did not know that I could have realized simply by searching "Aleutian" on Wikipedia. Thanks again! Kareeser|^Talk! 14:27, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

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Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team cooperation

Hello. I'm a member of the Version 1.0 Editorial Team, which is looking to identify quality articles in Wikipedia for future publication on CD or paper. We recently began assessing articles using these criteria, and we are are asking for your help. As you are most aware of the issues surrounding your focus area, we are wondering if you could provide us with a list of the articles that fall within the scope of your WikiProject, and that are either featured, A-class, B-class, or Good articles, with no POV or copyright problems. Do you have any recommendations? If you do, please post your suggestions at the listing of all active Places WikiProjects, and if you have any questions, ask me in the Work Via WikiProjects talk page or directly in my talk page. Thanks a lot! Titoxd^{(?!? - help us)} 18:44, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

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Image request

Soemone requested a map of the Inside Passage, which I think is a good idea. It would be great if anyone has talents in that direction or if there is GFDL-compatible map available. Also, do others think it to be a good idea to have a "Things to do" on the main project page? Luigizanasi 17:16, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

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Arctic Region Supercomputing Center

I did a small article (maybe 20 minutes of work put in) for Arctic Region Supercomputing Center. It's got plenty of sources out there (I added 4 for this just-past-a-stub) and believe it has potential. Anyone want to add some more? -M^ask 05:16, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

Hey, it got on the Did You Know? box on the main page the other day. coolies. -M^ask 01:01, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

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naming for the alaska route

it seems ADOT calls the alaska state highway X as Alaska Route X. Would anyone object if i change the article names to match this (from Alaska State Highway 10 to Alaska Route 10? If i'm misktan, then I'm sorry. atanamir 01:56, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

Do you have a source for this reference? --akghetto ^talk 09:05, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

[1] "Alaska Route Numbers" at the top, and "alaska route 1" is referred to in [2] atanamir 09:14, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

Does anyone mind? If not, i'll go ahead with the moves / renaming. atanamir 09:11, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

Indeed, page 68 of the latter pdf document reads "The George Parks Highway (Alaska Route 1) parallels the Susitna River on the east en route to connecting Anchorage and Fairbanks". Go for it. This will be a small task. -- Apr. 10, '06 [05:04] <freakofnur_xture|talk>

done. atanamir 05:30, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

You missed a few references within the text. I've fixed the ones on my watchlist (Alaska Highway, Klondike Highway and Top of the World Highway) but you might want to go back & do a search on the others to make sure you haven't missed any of the references to "Alaska State Highway". Luigizanasi 05:38, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

ah, thanks for reminding me. I forgot to look for instances of state highway in those pages. I just went through and they all should be gone. atanamir 05:43, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

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Shields

I have redesigned the alaska route shields as per [3] on the ADOT site. The font orgiinally on the PNGs was wrong; the PDF shows a heavier weight font being used (FHWA Series EM), which i have used in the new SVG shields. atanamir 09:36, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

• For numbers greater than 9, though, the EM font is too wide; I have kept the font used previously in the PNGs. atanamir 09:53, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

Huh. I'm pretty sure that in real life I've only seen the narrow font, as here or here; DOT/PF must've changed it. --Zero Gravitas 16:58, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

I got a 'forbidden' error when trying to access those images; any reason why? atanamir 20:58, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

Would you rather the shields be in the skinnny font then? It deosn't really matter to me. atanamir 20:59, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

No, no, whatever they're using right now is clearly the right one to use; I just didn't know they'd changed. --Zero Gravitas 21:22, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

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Category:Wikipedia requested photographs in Alaska

Many articles covered by this WikiProject lack photographs. As part of a subcategorization of the requested photos category, there is now a category for Alaska articles needing photos - to use it, just add {{reqphotoin|Alaska}} to the article's talk page. I have only added a few articles to the category so far, but it would be an easy way to make an extensive list Alaska-related articles lacking photos. I hope you find it useful! TheGrappler 08:59, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

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Project tag

(moved from the template talk page after belatedly realizing that probably only AKGhetto and I would see it there)

Lately I've started noticing how big and obtrusive the Alaska box is, compared to other WikiProject tags with about the same amount of stuff in them. What if it were a bit smaller, to eat up the blank space, like so:

Any thoughts on this, or am I the only one who cares? (as I suspect is likely!) --Zero Gravitas 18:28, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

No comments after about a week, so I'll take that as a tacit approval and just do it. --Zero Gravitas 22:02, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Comment left on template talk page...--akghetto ^talk 22:36, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

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Pioneer Peak photos?

I just created an article on Pioneer Peak, but it's sadly unillustrated. I'm not easily able to get out to Mat-Su to photograph it, but maybe someone here is? Or knows where sufficiently free pictures are? It just isn't right not to have a picture of Pioneer Peak... --Zero Gravitas 03:12, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

Oops, I missed the one in the Palmer article, but one that's just the mountain itself would be better... --Zero Gravitas 03:22, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

• Note that the article has been moved to Pioneer Peak (Alaska) as there are several peaks in the world by this name. RedWolf 20:43, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

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History buff needed

Please check out List of current and former capital cities in the United States and make sure that Alaska's capital cities are listed accurately. A word of warning: the page does contain quite a bit of complicated wiki formatting, so if you're not comfortable editing it, just post your changes on the talk page and someone more experienced will apply them to the article.   JEK   19:40, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

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Nominate articles for Portal:United States

I've worked for the past month to update Portal:United States and keep it better maintained. Though, I think the portal would be even better with broader participation. One way to do that is instead of choosing the "selected article" myself each week, if others would nominate articles and help make decisions. (same goes for pictures, though these are stocked up through July 29) If there is anything related to Alaska (or anything else related to the U.S. - culture, music, literature, geography, history, politics, ...), please nominate. I'd also like people to weigh in on the nominations and help select what should be featured. Thanks. --Aude (talk contribs) 23:16, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

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New "People from [city]" Categories

Hello, everybody. I am the bozo who just recently created the five new subcategories in the "People from Alaska" category. I thought that some of you might want to know why they were created, and why they often have so few pages in them.

The majority of the states have "People from [state]" categories which have at least 200 entries, sometimes over 1,000. This is clearly an unworkably large number for anyone wishing to use the category for research purposes. In 8th grade in Rapid City, South Dakota, the social studies class asked us to write, over the course of the year, reports on two or three people who were or had been residents of the city. Because of that, I have reason to believe that they could be used and probably are used for research purposes. To make such research easier, I looked at the list of metropolitan statistical areas and basically entered in one new category for each metropolitan statistical area, and, in the case of Alaska, three others as well.

I know that many of these categories might well be, in the eyes of you who know more about the cities in question much better than I do, misnamed or otherwise faulty. I apologize for any mistakes I may have made along those lines, and I would welcome any corrections, including deletion, that any of the rest of you might choose to make.

I thought you all should know why these categories were created, and felt some degree of responsibility for letting your know. I wish you all the greatest good fortune in making the coverage of your state in Wikipedia of the greatest scope and quality possible, and I hope that I haven't annoyed too many of you by my recent actions. Badbilltucker 13:12, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

The Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau categories are pretty good ideas, at least in my view, and thanks for making them. They don't hurt, anyway. I've sorted a few bio articles into those categories but haven't systematically gone through all of them yet.

I'm curious about why you chose Homer and Bethel, though; they aren't the next largest cities, and I can't think of anyone notable from Bethel other than Evan Ramsey. --Zero Gravitas 17:23, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

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Contributed to Mat-Su College

I just added a bit to the Mat-Su College article. It's my first contribution so I hope I didn't seriously screw anything up. I've taken a number of classes there ('fore I transfer out to a real college). I'll try to get a picture up of the place (and perhaps each building?) sometime next week. Please check it and let me know if there's anything I need to do different/change/add/remove/etc. Thanks! --Talon Razor 22:20, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

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BC & Pacific Northwest History Forum

Please see RE BC & Pacific Northwest History Forum re: Talk:List of United States military history events#Border Commission troops in the Pacific Northwest. If you think maybe I should also move some or copy some of my other stuff from NW history and BC history pages and various Indigenous peoples project article/talk pages let me know; I never mean to blog, but I'm voluble and to me everything's interconnected; never meaning to dominate a page so have made this area to post my historical rambles on. Thoughts?Skookum1 03:49, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Comment on my posting of this: if anyone has any questions or wants to debate any issues relating to Oregon Country/Columbia District/Pacific Northwest history/historical geography, colonialist or aboriginal/indigenous or related to AK, YT and other related topics, please feel free to drop by the forum and start a thread/topic, or just butt in at yer leisure.Skookum1 05:50, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

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British Columbia Coast - possible expansion to Pacific Northwest Coast

This more concerns Alaska than Washington, but please have a look at British Columbia Coast, which includes a directory-list of inlets/fjords, islands, rivers and so on. Obviously the boundaries are human creations, and the natural boundaries are more like from Cape Flattery to, er, at least Glacier Bay/Alsek River. If you think this would be useful to your Alaska Project let me know and I can work on expanding and renaming the page (it's linked quite a bit already, though....). Been bugging me for a while as an o-c kind of thing; have thought of expanding it to include Puget Sound, northern Olympic Peninsula, but if I do that then it's a propos to do it for the Panhandle, too...Skookum1 00:35, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

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Amchitka

I've been working on this article, de-stubbing, and thoroughly sourcing. I'd be grateful for any feedback. Thanks, Jakew 18:38, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Invitation to new WikiProject

A new WikiProject has been started, and may be of interest to members here. It is WikiProject National Register of Historic Places. It covers all listings on the Register, in all states and territories. Should you be so inclined, please feel free to join. And spread the word to any other interested parties. -Ebyabe 19:35, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Diane E. Benson and Elizabeth Peratrovich

I started an article on Diane Benson (Tlingit playwright and candidate for US House of Representatives) in late August, I think, and it got nominated for deletion and voted on (7 people voting), and then deleted quite recently. I was still working on the article. I'm a little annoyed by this, and would like to know if anyone here also thinks that she was worth a Wikipedia article. The archive of the deletion discussion is here. If people think that she's worth an article, we need to ask for a deletion review. The whole thing seemed to go pretty quickly...I'm a little shocked at how fast it all happened (maybe two weeks or less?), and I wish I'd thought to mention the deletion nomination here while the discussion was going on. Now I've started an article on Elizabeth Peratrovich (about whom Benson wrote a play), but I'm finding I'm a little paranoid about whether somebody's just going to delete that, too, because it might not immediately fit the suggested guidelines for notability or biographies or whatnot. Deirdre 01:39, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Deirdre, I second your objection to this deletion. I'm unable to determine why the article was deleted -- reading the AFD, there was nothing like a unanimous opinion, and no conclusion. I find it troubling that people would delete the article for a credible challenging candidate in the lead-up to an election. People come to Wikipedia to look up the candidates in a political contest, and it shouldn't be Wikipedia's policy to do favors for the incumbent. This is a repeated theme on Wikipedia talk:Candidates and elections, which was referenced by parties for and against the delete. If Benson loses the election and is never heard from again -- perhaps an AFD would have merit then. But during the election? That's worth contesting. It's also interesting to note that none of the four delete votes come from members of WikiProject Alaska who might be better able to judge the Notability in this case. There were an equal number of keep votes, and one of them came from a WikiProject Alaska member -- that's you, Deirdre. Had I known about this before, I would have voted "keep", and I would be happy to join you in requesting a review. -- Shunpiker 05:18, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

There was hardly a consensus for deletion, four to three by my count, and one person changed their vote from delete to neutral. Definitely a case for deletion review just on procedural grounds, and I would also support you just because she is a Tlingit playwright and including her helps fight systemic bias. But a better case needs to be made about her notability as a playwright. You might also want to contact User:James Crippen who is an authority on the Tlingit. Luigizanasi 05:36, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks--I've left a comment with James Crippen, asking him to weigh in on the deletion review. However, I couldn't find it on the review page; does this mean that I need to create it there, or did I just look in the wrong place?Deirdre 00:13, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Okay, I figured it out. There is now a deletion review for Diane Benson, here. Please go comment. Deirdre 03:40, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

The deletion has been overturned. However, now it's up for deletion again, as a procedural matter. I'm confused. Deirdre 21:22, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

Project directory

Hello. The WikiProject Council has recently updated the Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Directory. This new directory includes a variety of categories and subcategories which will, with luck, potentially draw new members to the projects who are interested in those specific subjects. Please review the directory and make any changes to the entries for your project that you see fit. There is also a directory of portals, at User:B2T2/Portal, listing all the existing portals. Feel free to add any of them to the portals or comments section of your entries in the directory. The three columns regarding assessment, peer review, and collaboration are included in the directory for both the use of the projects themselves and for that of others. Having such departments will allow a project to more quickly and easily identify its most important articles and its articles in greatest need of improvement. If you have not already done so, please consider whether your project would benefit from having departments which deal in these matters. It is my hope that all the changes to the directory can be finished by the first of next month. Please feel free to make any changes you see fit to the entries for your project before then. If you should have any questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you. B2T2 18:36, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia Day Awards

Hello, all. It was initially my hope to try to have this done as part of Esperanza's proposal for an appreciation week to end on Wikipedia Day, January 15. However, several people have once again proposed the entirety of Esperanza for deletion, so that might not work. It was the intention of the Appreciation Week proposal to set aside a given time when the various individuals who have made significant, valuable contributions to the encyclopedia would be recognized and honored. I believe that, with some effort, this could still be done. My proposal is to, with luck, try to organize the various WikiProjects and other entities of wikipedia to take part in a larger celebrartion of its contributors to take place in January, probably beginning January 15, 2007. I have created yet another new subpage for myself (a weakness of mine, I'm afraid) at User talk:Badbilltucker/Appreciation Week where I would greatly appreciate any indications from the members of this project as to whether and how they might be willing and/or able to assist in recognizing the contributions of our editors. Thank you for your attention. Badbilltucker 21:58, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Settlements?

Do Alaskans think of their cities as settlements? Well, check out Category:Settlements in Alaska that's as of today in your category hierarchy. I reverted it out for Kentucky, and I recommend all states do it as well. Kentucky uses "Subdivisions" and Massachusetts uses "Administrative divisions" (both reasonable). "Settlements" are for pioneer days, not for contemporary political subdivisions. Stevie is the man! ^{Talk o Work} 04:05, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

I agree; "4. A colony newly established; a place or region newly settled." -Wikitionary. I'll try to do something about it if i get time. -??????? 22:22, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Jean Keene

I just created a new article about Jean Keene, the famous "Eagle Lady" from Homer. I know that there must be pictures of her feeding the eagles I just don't have any. Can anyone add? Wrad 22:00, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

I'll try to remember to check Flickr -- there's a group there that goes every year to watch the eagles in Alaska, & there might be someone there who's got a photo of her who might be willing to allow the photo's use on Wikipedia. --Yksin 01:15, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Project activity & organization

This project seems to be in something of a moribund state, at least in terms of project members discussing & coordinating with each other. I'm assuming -- or at least hoping -- that there are other people doing stuff to improve Alaska WP articles, but... what? where? how? Is anybody out there? What are people doing? How can we better keep in touch with each other, & the activities of this project?

By way of an introduction: I joined this project a couple months ago; lately I've been doing extensive work on articles relating to Alaska Natives. For example, I created Category:Indigenous languages of Alaska & made sure every language recognized by the Alaska Native Language Center was represented there, & that each of those articles had a language infobox; I created Category:Alaska Native regional corporations, added extensively to the four or so articles that already existed on them, & created articles for the rest, so that now there's an article for all 13 of the ANCSA corporations. Doing a lot of work re: ANCSA, actually. For details, see my user page.

Actually, I'm going to take the WP:BOLD thing seriously & create a subproject under WP:Project on Alaska Natives. And start keeping track of what I'm doing there, too. --Yksin 21:53, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Update: Okay, I've created the Alaska Natives area as a subproject of the "Culture" division of WP:ALASKA. It can be found at Alaska Natives (talk). I've also created pages for all the divisions of the overall project & related talk pages if they weren't already there, & began some preliminary topical subheadings for them. Seems to me that people might be more attracted to the project, or doing stuff in various divisions of it, if the project divisions aren't mostly redlinked as they were previously. Hope this helps; I'll do more over the weekend. --Yksin 01:08, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

The article on Akutan Island should probably mention the Japanese A6M zero that crashed there during WWII. I'll add it when I get the chance. Pi.1415926535 01:54, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Hi Yksin, Thanks for your efforts. For my part, I've been slowly working my way through the List of mayors of Anchorage, de-redlinking as I go. -- Shunpiker 14:23, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Hi Yksin, as well. I'm quite new to this yet, but I have been working on the Kodiak Bear entry and am starting to work my way through glaciers and the like as work allows. If anybody notices any way I can improve the technical end of things, I'm all ears. --Gypsyleathers 15:14, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm slowly working on some natural resources articles and news media in Alaska. Also libraries and misc authors and historical figures. And the odd town or village. Deirdre 20:19, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

Sign Up?

Is there any thing special i have to do to join this project?... sorry im new to wikipedia. I took the liberty of adding my name too the list of memebrs. -Icewedge 05:58, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

Eva McGown ?

Can somebody establish this person's importance? --AW 14:45, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Not much beyond regional. She seems to have been a proactive person in her community but frankly not to have done anything anyone really cares about. -??????? 07:44, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

I agree that her importance is as a regional figure. She is, however, an important character in the history of Fairbanks: An early resident, a local celebrity, and the subject of some national attention for her charitable work. The article needs some editing to make that more clear. -- Shunpiker 14:23, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

"Regional" does not equate to unimportant. If it did, then we could toss out probably about 85% of all articles about state legislators. Certainly Eva McGown has a great deal of important to Fairbanks and Alaska history. But yes, the article needs some work. I'll try to do it over my lunch. --Yksin 16:47, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

P.S. I'm copying this conversation over to the that article's talk page. --Yksin 16:49, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Wrangell Island and others

Alaskan Friends! I see that you are all interested in Alaska! Read the information about your state provided on this website. [4] Russia is attempting to steal some American islands! You can read all I have written on the talk pages for Wrangell Island and the De Long Islands and if you know a lot about this, please get in contact with me as soon as you can!CharlesRobertCountofNesselrode 03:22, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia is not the place to lobby for your personal causes. This user has been repeatedly pushing claims that are not well supported by outside documentation, and which are indeed directly contradicted by quite authoritative sources [5]. If anybody here wants to follow up on this, I ask you simply to keep in mind Wikipedia:Reliable sources. --Reuben 17:10, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

contributor list

Some wikiprojects, such as the fashion project, have a separate page for contributors. I think we're getting enough participants that we could do this. Would anybody object if I started such a page, alphabetizing the list while I do so? Should we vote on this? Deirdre 20:17, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

Sounds good to me. -Icewedge 06:49, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

Righto. In the interests of clutter reduction, I finally got around to creating it. If people object vociferously, I suppose we can delete it, but it makes room on our main project page, so I think this will be a good thing. Deirdre (talk) 00:04, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

Alaska Mental Health Enabling Act

I'm interested in getting Alaska Mental Health Enabling Act to good and ultimately featured status. I'd be grateful if WikiProject Alaska members could have a look at the article and see if there are any improvements that need to be made. -- ChrisO 12:10, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

Alaska Quiz?

Some of you may have seen or heard of the quiz that Fish Portal is putting on. It's a lot of fun, and might be something for us to consider doing as well. FireFly5 04:31, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

Unorganized Bureau

I'm proposing that Unorganized Borough be moved to Unorganized Borough, Alaska, in order to put it in line with all other county equivalents nationwide. Please offer your opinions on the talk page. Nyttend 20:24, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

Taylor Highway question

Has anybody here been on the Taylor Highway? At the junction with the Top of the World Highway, are there any signs that show which way AK-5 goes? I ask this because maps and other sources show that it continues on the Taylor Highway to Eagle, but the Alaska Traffic Manual Supplement says it goes from "Tetlin Junction to border via Taylor Hwy", and the map in that PDF also shows it going to the border. Please reply on Talk:Taylor Highway; thank you. --NE2 07:14, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Proponents and opponents of Alaska statehood

The Proponents and Opponents of Alaska statehood categories have been nominated for deletion. I think this may be due to a misunderstanding of these categories as categorizing by personal opinion, rather than the intention, which was to identify the participants in the historical contest over statehood. If Alaska history is your thing, or it otherwise interests you, please weigh in at Wikipedia:Categories_for_discussion/Log/2007_September_25#Opponents_and_proponents_of_Alaska_statehood. -- Shunpiker 22:33, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Template issues

Okay, a few things...

• I made a bunch of userboxes for students and alumni of all Alaskan colleges a while back but didn't really say anything about it. Well, I'm telling you now. If you want one for your userpage, they are found at the listing of college related userboxes OR as subpages of my userbox page: User:L'Aquatique/Userboxes#Userboxes I've created. Have fun...
• I made a navbox template for use on AMHS related articles. I put it at the bottom of the AMHS main page as well as all the individual ferry pages. My question is, should I put it at the bottom of port cities' pages too, since they are listed in the navbox?

Oh, by the way, about the color scheme... see the talk page for the template for my comments.

'Kay, that's all. Discuss amongst yourself... L'Aquatique ^talktome off! (27 26 Sept, 10:27pm) (yes, I am that stupid that I put the wrong date)

Nice work on the template. It will be a nice addition to vessel pages. I'm leaning towards the position of not including it in town pages. You don't see navboxes for airlines or buslines on town pages but since the AMHS is state run and such an important part of transportation in rural Alaska I might be swayed the other way. --Drew Lindow (talk) 10:45, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

Portal:Alaska is launched!

I updated Portal:Alaska, so now its an up and running portal. If anyone is interested in helping out please leave a message at the Portal:Alaska talk page or my talk page. Thanks --Mr.crabby (Talk) 21:17, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

National Historic Landmarks in Alaska

Hi. There's an article in development at List of National Historic Landmarks in Alaska that is intended to list and describe all 48 U.S. National Historic Landmarks in the state, linking to 48 separate articles one for each site. Please take a look, and edit or add a photo where you can!  :) Comments/suggestions would be appreciated, here or on the talk page for the article. doncram 01:41, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

Alaska Public Radio looking for Wikipedians from Alaska

It would be great to get a response to this help desk request - see WP:HD#Wiki Contributor in Juneau, Alaska? --h2g2bob (talk) 02:09, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

Article grading

Due to recent edits, all Alaska related articles need to be graded for quality and importance on their talk page. Ask me if you need any help. --Mr.crabby (Talk) 00:45, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

• This is one aspect of improving the quality control--and the tendency to leave stubs hanging--that our project needs to improve. I've been sort of a dilitante (can't spell that word, sorry), editing here and there, creating starter articles for people who've seemed like they were important, but I often don't know enough about the subject to really start on them. The grading process will be important, I think, to helping us identify which pages need the most work. Deirdre (talk) 11:43, 14 January 2008 (UTC)
• On the Wikipedia:WikiProject_Environment/Environmental_record_task_force page, they've got a nice box with they number and type of articles in the project and assessed stage that they're at which we might be able to use here. Could help out with the too-speedy deletion problem also. Deirdre (talk) 22:28, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Deletion problems

Hi, everyone, Ray Troll was deleted, a note placed on my page January 14 that it had been nominated for speedy deletion. Apparently the poster couldn't even wait for a full day, because the page is gone. I find this VERY annoying, and a problem that we've encountered in pages in progress before. I'm not quite sure how to avoid this; it seems to me that we need to keep a sharp eye out on our people stubs. Anybody else here want to help me develop the Alaska artists stubs? I'm going to have to recreate the page and make sure I include all the stuff that makes him notable. This is, to put it bluntly, a real pain in the posterior. Deirdre (talk) 10:46, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Hi Deirdre, Do you have a copy of the Ray Troll article? The deletion comment says that it was speedily deleted for not asserting notability. If there was in fact an assertion of notability, then a speedy deletion was out of order. If there wasn't -- for better and worse, that's why they call it "speedy." I think it's a good practice assert a person's significance in the very first paragraph of a biographical stub -- to make it clear that the article is not just a promotional page for a less notable person. References are also very helpful in this regard. I found a bunch for "Ray Troll" by searching Google news, along with the interesting fact that he seems to have a fish named after him. Notable for sure. -- Shunpiker (talk) 14:21, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

No, but there should be one in the record somewhere. The problem is not so much that the stage at which the article was at failed to show notability, but that it was in progress and basically got deleted before it was done. In other words, I hadn't gotten around to demonstrating why he's worth talking about (a HUGE list of educational and fun books on prehistoric fish, for instance--he's popularized paleoichthyology--as well as having a species named after him). I'm a bit of an inclusive Wikipedian--we're not wasting paper here--and since the purpose of Wikipedia is to make the world's knowledge available on the web, free of charge, why the rush to delete? Deirdre (talk) 22:33, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

I have looked at the article, and I have to say that I agree with the deletion. The article made clear what Ray Troll has written and done, but it didn't make clear how that made him notable. Maybe he is notable enough for Wikipedia, I can't tell, but it didn't become clear from the article. If you can write an article that makes his notability clear (using for instance multiple coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject), you can be bold and do so. If you disagree with the deletion itself, you can request a deletion review. If you need help with that, you can leave a message on my talk page. Aecis^Brievenbus 23:52, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Image:AlaskaStateSealTransparent.png

The above linked image of the Alaska state seal is up for deletion on commons (discussion here). Apparently the image is not in the public domain, as claimed, so somebody might want to reupload it on the English Wikipedia so all the links don't turn red when it's deleted on commons. - auburnpilot talk 20:14, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Nunivak Island needs cleanup

The section "ART" (sic) of the article Nunivak Island needs Wikifying and general cleanup. -- Writtenonsand (talk) 14:15, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

Assessement request

There was some controversy about the importance assessment of White Pass. Please review. Thanks. --Qyd (talk) 13:26, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

Fhoki/Shoki/Seiki Kayamori

Near a library with a decent coverage of Alaska? Then please take a quick look at the plea for sourcing and elementary research at Talk:Seiki Kayamori. Thank you! -- Hoary (talk) 14:09, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

New Barnstar!

So I was working on some barnstars (an excellent outlet for my graphic design creativity) and I discovered that ya'all have been using the barnstar I designed a lot, like for the featured Alaska picture template stuff. Anyway, I realized that, and I can say this because I designed it- it is horribly ugly. So I designed a new one, I hope you like:
Just fyi--

L'Aquatique[review] 04:50, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Skagway?

Today, User:Polaron (reputable, not any kind of vandal) moved around and edited some pages under the claim that Sitka Skagway is now its own borough, apparently similar to Sitka and Anchorage. Has this been done? Some of the moves are quite major, especially moving Skagway-Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, Alaska to Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, Alaska, even though the census area is a creation of the Census Bureau and therefore can't itself be changed except by the Bureau. I don't have access to much of any Alaska sources; would project members please seek to use your sources and resolve this quickly? Nyttend (talk) 03:57, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

Okay, reading through your post I think you are mistaking Skagway for Sitka. Sitka is and always has been its own borough. Skagway is part of the Skagway-Hoonah-Angoon census area, and although there are indications that it is trying to become its own borough ([6]) the fact remains that the US census bureau website returns no hits for either the Skagway Borough or the Skagway Census Area. Though I have no doubt Polaron's edits were in good faith, Wikipedia is not a crystal ball and there just doesn't seem to be any hard evidence that a split ever happened or will happen in the forseeable future. Not to mention of course (here comes the original research) I live one borough over and this is the first I've heard of it. L'Aquatique[talk] 05:53, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

I do meant to say "Skagway is its own borough", thanks :-) I've never been closer to Alaska than Rocky Mountain National Park. Nyttend (talk) 11:55, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

Well, I've been talking with Polaron, and he (she?) says that there are sources out there, but instead of just giving them to me he told me I would find them if I looked hard enough. Not entirely sure what to make of that. L'Aquatique[talk] 00:49, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

I did a search on "Skaguay borough" and found this page: http://www.skagway.org/, which says, interestingly enough, "Welcome to the Municipality of Skagway Borough, Gateway to the Klondike," right on the main page. Here's the explanatory text: "On June 5, 2007, voters approved dissolution of the City of Skagway and incorporation of the first first-class borough in the State of Alaska. The State of Alaska certified this election and the Municipality of Skagway Borough was incorporated on June 25, 2007. The Municipality of Skagway will be transitioning from city to borough status over the next 2 years." Archived story on the Skagway News website: http://www.skagwaynews.com/122006skagwayborough.html. So it looks like it's legit. It's not listed on the state's local boundary commission page, yet, though. Deirdre (talk) 21:58, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

Update: Wrangell has recently been incorporated as a consolidated city and borough (as of June 1, 2008). Unlike Skagway, a GNIS ID has yet to be assigned and the Wrangell-Petersburg CA has not yet been reconfigured. --Polaron | Talk 00:43, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

List of mayors of Anchorage is almost de-redlinked

List of mayors of Anchorage is nearly completely de-redlinked. But the remaining cases are difficult. The following city mayors still want for articles:

• Charles Bush (1924-1926)
• William Clayson (1927-1928)
• Herbert E. Brown (1936-1937, 1938-1940)
• Winfield Ervin, Jr. (1946)

If anyone has leads on these guys, please jump in. --Shunpiker (talk) 08:57, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

Changes to the WP:1.0 assessment scheme

As you may have heard, we at the Wikipedia 1.0 Editorial Team recently made some changes to the assessment scale, including the addition of a new level. The new description is available at WP:ASSESS.

• The new C-Class represents articles that are beyond the basic Start-Class, but which need additional references or cleanup to meet the standards for B-Class.
• The criteria for B-Class have been tightened up with the addition of a rubric, and are now more in line with the stricter standards already used at some projects.
• A-Class article reviews will now need more than one person, as described here.

Each WikiProject should already have a new C-Class category at Category:C-Class_articles. If your project elects not to use the new level, you can simply delete your WikiProject's C-Class category and clarify any amendments on your project's assessment/discussion pages. The bot is already finding and listing C-Class articles.

Please leave a message with us if you have any queries regarding the introduction of the revised scheme. This scheme should allow the team to start producing offline selections for your project and the wider community within the next year. Thanks for using the Wikipedia 1.0 scheme! For the 1.0 Editorial Team, §hepBot (Disable) 22:24, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

Articles flagged for cleanup

Currently, 2183 articles are assigned to this project, of which 251, or 11.5%, are flagged for cleanup of some sort. (Data as of 14 July 2008.) Are you interested in finding out more? I am offering to generate cleanup to-do lists on a project or work group level. See User:B. Wolterding/Cleanup listings for details. More than 150 projects and work groups have already subscribed, and adding a subscription for yours is easy - just place a template on your project page.

If you want to respond to this canned message, please do so at my user talk page; I'm not watching this page. --B. Wolterding (talk) 17:18, 27 July 2008 (UTC)

Persistent deletion problems/notability review

For some odd reason, Alaska-related articles seem to be plagued by people leaping for speedy deletions. We aren't catching them quickly enough; even such pages as History of aviation in Alaska are getting deleted before anybody notices. Others that we had to struggle with are Diane E. Benson, Ray Troll, and so on. It's hard to fend them off quickly enough. It would be good to have something like a deletion patrol, or a notability review of stubs, so that we can protect these pages from too-hasty deletion by people who don't know enough about Alaska to understand who may be well known here or what topics are important. Does anyone have suggestions for how to deal constructively with this problem, or commentary on my suggestions? Maybe an importance rating patrol? Deirdre (talk) 21:51, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

There's an ongoing temptation for some to delete content they don't personally care about. The case of History of aviation in Alaska is instructive. It was nominated for speedy delete, the speedy was properly contested, and then the editor who nominated it for a speedy redirected the article back into History of Alaska without making an effort to merge the contents or even fix the circular "see also" links created by the redirect. That's not bold, it's careless. (It's worth contesting further, and I would be glad to join an effort to rehabilitate that article.)

I think a patrol is a good idea. I'd be glad to add more Wikiproject Alaska articles to my watchlist. Maybe we could coordinate our efforts using the "importance" scale. Currently there are:

• 5 Top-importance Alaska articles
• 22 High-importance Alaska articles
• 94 Mid-importance Alaska articles
• 164 Low-importance Alaska articles
• 2,200 Unknown-importance Alaska articles

In sum, there are about 300 articles that have been rated for importance. Perhaps the first mission of the Wikiproject Alaska patrol could be to ensure that these articles that have been rated for importance are watched. This would have the secondary benefit of driving assessment of the not-yet-rated articles. It might be possible to write a script to this end -- to let us know which of these articles are not yet watched by Wikiproject Alaska editors. In the mean time, we could start by divvying up the ones currently out there by hand. We could create an announcement subpage for articles which are added to the project or assessed for importance. -- Shunpiker (talk) 03:15, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

Really good suggestions! I'm not sure how to go about rating, but I can look at the guidelines (or do we create those?) and start by examining the unknown-importance articles, and watching/rating the ones I think I have some knowledge of or interest in. One idea might be to maintain our to-do list on the projects we have for Alaska pages, too, making it easier for participants to see what groups of tasks and topics need addressing. Right now that list is pretty minimal. Deirdre (talk) 18:18, 24 July 2008 (UTC)

• Okay, I've included the unknown-importance cat in the to-do list; now I just have to figure out how to do the actual rating. Deirdre (talk) 18:29, 24 July 2008 (UTC)

I am not getting how to use the importance rating template. Category, maybe? Deirdre (talk) 00:50, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

Hi Deirdre, to assess the quality and importance of an article, you can add arguments to the {{Project}} template which identifies the article (on its talk page) as belonging to WikiProject Alaska. For example, the Alaska article is classified like so:

{{Project Alaska|class=B|importance=Top}}

There are a few details about assessing the importance of an article in the Wikipedia Version 1.0 project documentation. The guidelines for assessing quality are also worth reading over. In particular, the guideline that "No Start-Class article should be in any danger of being speedily deleted" may be useful: I sometimes mark articles as "stubs" which could probably qualify as "starts". In light of this guideline, that's a habit worth breaking.

Is this what you need to get started? Let me know. In the mean time, just to get the ball rolling, I will assess the 26 unrated Wikiproject Alaska articles filed under 'Y' and 'Z'. -- Shunpiker (talk) 15:29, 6 August 2008 (UTC)

Got 'U' and 'V' done, too. About 350 down, 1850 more to go! I've been pretty conservative about assessing importance and somewhat liberal about assessing quality. If anyone has a quibble about the way I've been rating articles, please pipe up. I'd be glad to consider a change of course. -- Shunpiker (talk) 21:27, 7 August 2008 (UTC)

'W' is now done. 1,786 more to go. Anyone want to call 'T'? --Shunpiker (talk) 17:54, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

Zowie! you've been chugging right along here! I'll try to work from the other end, but I doubt I'll get as far as you have...Thanks for the info. I think this is what I needed--we'll see. Deirdre (talk) 17:11, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Arctic Portal and WikiProject?

Would anyone here be interested in helping me start Portal:Arctic and Wikipedia:WikiProject Arctic? Drop a note on my talk page if you are interested, or if there are any objections. Please also let me know if I've missed any existing projects. I'm notifying the WikiProjects listed at Talk:Arctic (and have also notified Wikipedia:WikiProject Antarctica). Please let me know if you know of any other WikiProjects centred on Arctic or polar areas. Carcharoth (talk) 22:14, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

Tesoro Iron Dog

I started a new article on the snowmobile race, which I heard about from a proposed Did You Know hook for a new article on First Gentleman Todd Palin. I developed the snowmobile article to include as a double hook for Did You Know. Please expand either article if you can or at least copyedit each for errors. Both articles should appear together on the main page in the next few days.

Are you aware of User:AlexNewArtBot/AlaskaSearchResult? It daily lists all of the new articles related to Alaska. The corresponding list about Wisconsin has been a great help for WikiProject Wisconsin. Enjoy! Royalbroil 18:57, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia 0.7 articles have been selected for Alaska

Wikipedia 0.7 is a collection of English Wikipedia articles due to be released on DVD, and available for free download, later this year. The Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team has made an automated selection of articles for Version 0.7.

We would like to ask you to review the articles selected from this project. These were chosen from the articles with this project's talk page tag, based on the rated importance and quality. If there are any specific articles that should be removed, please let us know at Wikipedia talk:Version 0.7. You can also nominate additional articles for release, following the procedure at Wikipedia:Release Version Nominations.

A list of selected articles with cleanup tags, sorted by project, is available. The list is automatically updated each hour when it is loaded. Please try to fix any urgent problems in the selected articles. A team of copyeditors has agreed to help with copyediting requests, although you should try to fix simple issues on your own if possible.

We would also appreciate your help in identifying the version of each article that you think we should use, to help avoid vandalism or POV issues. These versions can be recorded at this project's subpage of User:SelectionBot/0.7. We are planning to release the selection for the holiday season, so we ask you to select the revisions before October 20. At that time, we will use an automatic process to identify which version of each article to release, if no version has been manually selected. Thanks! For the Wikipedia 1.0 Editorial team, SelectionBot 23:29, 15 September 2008 (UTC)

Where's Waldo the Governor?

I'm trying to figure out who would become Governor should both Palin and Parnell succeed and move on to Washington, and I can't find any information on the order of succession. Ideas anyone? Beeblbrox (talk) 18:59, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Me. L'Aquatique[approves|this|message] 04:22, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

 :-) AdjustShift (talk) 09:19, 16 September 2008 (UTC)

Alaska-geo-stubs, by region

I might be useful if someone familiar with the regions of Alaska were to comment on this proposal, with particular reference to whether there's a viable definition of North Alaska, Northern Alaska, or something similar to be had. Alai (talk) 15:51, 7 September 2008 (UTC)

Discussion is over. I'm familiar with Alaska and I wanted to comment. AdjustShift (talk) 09:17, 16 September 2008 (UTC)

Announcement: Alaska article grading and ranking

Over the last two months, I've been working on assessing WikiProject Alaska articles: Ensuring that each article in the project has a grade/class and an importance/priority assigned to it. The work is complete -- and awaits your corrections! The current tally is as follows:

• 31 Top-importance Alaska articles
• 142 High-importance Alaska articles
• 409 Mid-importance Alaska articles
• 1,642 Low-importance Alaska articles

If you notice that I unfairly or inaccurately assessed any articles, please don't hesitate to set the record straight. The low-importance articles category could especially benefit from proof-reading.

I noticed that there are a lot of Alaska-related articles in Wikipedia which have not been added to the project. For example, before tonight, Moose belonged to WP:WikiProject Montana, but not to this project. There is probably quite a bit of low-hanging fruit out there for the plucking.

Thanks! -- Shunpiker (talk) 04:30, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Aviation articles

I have opened a discussion on what the standards should be for aviation articles, given the large number of aviation organizations in Alaska. All input is welcome here Thanks Beeblebrox (talk) 22:23, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

Image needs replacement

Hello there all...

In reviewing a number of images, the following Image:Anchoragecathedral.jpg is in need of replacement and this seemed like a good place to place the request. There is not a risk at this point in time that the image will be deleted, but there are a number of issues with it. First, the image is not that great quality, it was taken with a disposalble camera and there is a scratch on the image. Second, it does not appear to capture the entire front of the church. Third, the licensing is somewhat problematic, it is licensed with an old presumed license and since the uploader is no longer active here, it is difficult to confirm the uploaders intent. The licensing issue could result in complecations in re-use of the image for other uses.

Anyone in Anchorage with a camera -- you have your mission! :-) --Jordan 1972 (talk) 14:34, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Can you see Russia from the cathedral? :-D (just joking, I know you can't).Skookum1 (talk) 16:32, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

PacNW Coast subproject of WP:NorthAmNative

Hi; seemed appropriate to drop notice of this discussion here. Please weigh in as seen fit.....Skookum1 (talk) 21:28, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

Move/rename Russian Alaska -> Russian America

Please see move/rename discussion at Talk:Russian Alaska.Skookum1 (talk) 15:59, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Legal "cities" and actual villages

Please see this discussion re Kasaan but also relevant across the board for other small-community Alaskan articles.Skookum1 (talk) 16:31, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

Alaska articles needing geographic coordinates

91 articles in Category:Alaska articles missing geocoordinate data do not have geographic coordinates. Coords are useful for making the article appear on Google Maps & many other mapping services; and they allow our users to click through to see the article subject location on a map. There's a short guide to on how to add geocodes to articles ... it really is very easy to do. I hope you'll take some time to ensure that Alaska is as well represented as it can be on wikipedia by fixing up the listed articles. thanks --Tagishsimon (talk) 23:42, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Governors of Russian America, bios needed

There is a listing of Governors of the Russian-American Company on the company page, with half a dozen or so in need of bio articles; my intention is to write more of a paragraph on the governors and migrate the list to its own list-page, and also to create a Category:Governors of Russian America category, but it would help to have the missing bios made, if someone here would care to indulge; also some of the existing articles, like Furuhjelm's, need references; even Russian-language ones would do. Thanks.Skookum1 (talk) 15:52, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Demographic cat re Native Alaskan communities

Please see the discussion Category talk:United States communities with Native American majority populationsSkookum1 (talk) 00:58, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

Story, Alaska

If we have an article on the above, I would like to add that Farfrompoopen Road (the only road leading to Constipation Ridge) was named the third wackiest street name according to a 2006 poll by Car Connection website. Sincerely, --A Nobody^{My talk} 19:18, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

• I for one have never heard of this town, and neither has Google maps, this may have been an error/hoax. Anyone ever heard of a town called Story? Beeblebrox (talk) 22:04, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

"Story, Alaska" is not in USGS GNIS, so it's fair to say that it doesn't exist as a notable place name. Farfrompoopen Road apparently does exist, but according to the Associated Press, it's in either Arkansas or Tennessee -- I guess the folks at AP were giggling too much to get that straight. "Constipation Ridge" isn't in GNIS either, so that's no help, but although there is no Story, AK, there is a place west of Little Rock -- i.e. nowhere near the Tennessee border -- called Story, AR. It's conceivable that someone abbreviated Arkansas as AK, hence Mr. Schott's error. Given that there's a nearby peak named Suck Mountain, I don't have much trouble believing there's also a "Constipation Ridge" in the neighborhood. -- Shunpiker (talk) 22:40, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the replies. I keep noticed errors in some of these books and calendars I have been reading lately. For example, 100 Decisive Battles from Ancient Times to the Present has the Battle of Ipsus as occurring in 310 B.C. rather than 301 B.C. Best, --A Nobody^{My talk} 05:34, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

• I have run into numerous instances of people scrambling the abbreviations of Alaska and Arkansas. Supposedly right after Bill Clinton was elected, letters for him started showing up the Hope, Alaska post office, instead of Hope, Arkansas, and I have also gotten calls at like 5am from telemarketers who think I'm in Arkansas and it's 9am. Beeblebrox (talk) 06:40, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

Western Pacific Cordillera

I've initiated a move request for Western Pacific Cordillera, because this name does not appear to have ever been used to refer to what is usually called the Western Cordillera or Pacific Cordillera, and the scope of the article is more than just the western part of the Pacific Cordillera. Please leave your opinions at Talk:Western Pacific Cordillera 76.66.198.171 (talk) 00:09, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

The above is a bogus OR/SYnth name; needs opposing.Skookum1 (talk) 05:18, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Boundary Range (singular)

I just created this stub, which is described in BCGNIS as being "west of the Stikine River between the Mud and Flood Glaciers"; I can't gell from the GeoBase map generated from its latlong whether it spans the border or not, but included it for now in WP:Alaska, Category:Mountain ranges of Alaska and gave it the Alaska-geo-stub. Is it in USGS? i.e. which would mean it's in Alaska. It's only a subrange of the boundary Ranges aka the Alaska Boundary Range....I think it gets its name as it seems to be where the pre-1903 inland maximal claim of the US was, i.e. ten marine leagues from the sea as visible from the Stikine River; but as a designation it may extend to the divide of the Boundary Ranges; the highest mountain there is, I think Kates Needle. this is the BCGNIS listing of all named features within 5km] (in BC).Skookum1 (talk) 05:18, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

FYI new categories

Category:Russian America has been created, and two new subcategories so far:

• Category:Governors of Russian America - template and succession boxes needed
• Category:Settlements in Russian America - for settlements and outposts with associated Russian history; not for indigenous-only settlements during the Russian era...I don't know enough about which Alaskan cities were originally Russian, and which Russian settlements no longer exist; a template for these would probably also be a good idea. Fort Ross will be included even though it was in California as it was an outpost of the Company though not technically apat of the constituted Russian possession of Russian America.

There's a few others I'm knowing/thinking need creating, maybe the names can be tweaked:

• Category:Clerics of the Orthodox Church in Russian America - which can include regular clergy as well as monks (who are not necssarily priests, i.e. clergy) and not just the saints and bishops of course, though those can be subcats, some of those subcats already exist I think and I have to poke aroudn to determine with Category:Russian Orthodox subcategories apply
• Category:Officials of the Russian American Company - to hyphen or not to hyphen? And this will be a parent category to the Governors category once created; note that clerics were officials of the Russian state but not of the company. I don't know how many bios there might be, but a parent "employees" cat might also serve profiles of varous known creoles and other non-officials....
• Category:Russian navy personnel in Russian America subcat would be Category:Russian naval officers in Russian America, though maybe unnecessary as most known personnel were officers
• Category:Russian ships in the Pacific Northwest and California - wording it that way because some visited BC/VI and Ft Vancouver as well as Fort Ross, plus the Russian warship that showed up in San Francisco during the Trent Affair; cutoff date is 1867. Most of these don't have articles yet but are mentioend throughout Russian America/Orthodox Church history articles; List of Russian ships in the Pacific Northwest and California shoudl exist, and the models are List of ships in British Columbia and List of Royal Navy ships in the Pacific Northwest
• Category:Russian expeditions to North America so as to include non-RAC vessels adn pre-Russian America voyages
• Category:Russian Orthodox churches in Russian America though maybe Category:Churches in Russian America is sufficient as there were no Methodist or Catholic churches until after 1867 :-)
  • I went with Category:Churches of Russian America as "Orthodox" is redundant and "of" removes any implication , I think, that Russian America still exists. still, there shoudl be a parent category Category:Russian Orthodox churches in Alaska or Category:Orthodox churches in Alaska, as I'v gathered that there are Antiochan Orthodox churches as well as RO ones; not sure if Old Believers come under Russian Orthodox, technically I guess so, but there's certainly more Orthodox churches in modern Alaska than there were in Russian America (one of the very many intriguing facts about yoru state's history and culture); many church articles already extant are not in Category:Churches in Alaska by the way, I didn't have time to populate that category...a cruise through various city articles will find them....
• Category:Buildings and structures in Russian America for non-ecclesiastical buildlings such as Baranof's Palace etc....
• Category:Conflicts in Russian America so as to include the Battle of Sitka and others that may get written.
• Category:Treaties concerning Russian America or "involving" would work; this wouldn't include the two Ukases (1799 and 1821) but they can jsut be in the regular Russian America category (Iv'e bee avoiding makign them but will try to get to it very soon).

Obviously not all these are needed as yet, I just wanted to give an idea of the potential scope. I also admit to not knowing enough (as yet) about Russian America/Alaska history to delineate anything further, but will do my best to edit the various extant articles, which I find pretty interesting; there's an amazing amount of online resources concerning this period; at some point when the time/inclination present themselves I'll try and make an bibliography of online resources relating to the history of Russian America. Thoughts/input/suggestion more than welcome, just trying to organize a very complex set of articles, written or yet-to-be-written....Skookum1 (talk) 02:27, 4 January 2009 (UTC)

Most of the Russian orthodox churches and a lot of other structures are covered by the category for Category:National Register of Historic Places listings in Alaska, by the way. Check out the newly developed list system at National Register of Historic Places listings in Alaska!!! doncram (talk) 04:09, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

Hmm, i see the category in use is currently Category:National Register of Historic Places in Alaska. That will need to be renamed, centrally, for consistency with the other states and for proper usage otherwise. I'll mention it at wt:NRHP. doncram (talk) 04:13, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

Sanity check

This is the second time I have nominated Alaska Seaplane Service for deletion. It's an air taxi out of Juneau. I wonder if my fellow Alaskans agree with me that not every one of our several hundred micro-airlines needs it's own article. Click here for the AfD. Thanks Beeblebrox (talk) 20:57, 19 January 2009 (UTC)

• In order to clarify what is and is not a notable airline/air taxi, I have re-opened a discussion here. Input from Alaskans, or anyone would be very helpful and appreciated. Thanks. Beeblebrox (talk) 21:51, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

Note

I have significantly expanded this page and it's proposals, including a review of the various positions that have been stated at AfD and elsewhere. See Talk:List of airlines in Alaska/discussion of what constitutes an "airline" in Alaska Your input would be appreciated. Thanks! Beeblebrox (talk) 20:49, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

Begich senate election results table.

What is the meaning of the last column in the table (labeled +-%)? It does not appear on http://www.elections.alaska.gov Jon Walker 152.120.255.250 (talk) 18:38, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

Ernest Sipes - notability

Please see Talk:Ernest_Sipes#Why_Is_This_Page_Being_Scheduled_For_Removal.3F.Skookum1 (talk) 12:51, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Cape Fox(es)

Please see Talk:Cape_Fox_Village#Cape_Foxes.Skookum1 (talk) 23:46, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Fort Stikine

Well, I finally made it, told straight-narrative, I'll add main refs and some line-cites later tonight, or in the next day or two; I may have missed cats needed and some layout work is maybe needed, and I didn't know enough of American Wrangell's history to write much on the end section; there's moer details to be had in all sections, I just wanted to establish the "storyboard" and get all the main elements in place....Skookum1 (talk) 03:44, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

Fort Tongass

Needs some edits, and there are various potentially public domain photographs both of the fort and the Tlingit village and of course the Pioneer Square totem in Seattle. One ref mentions Totem Bight State Park, which I gather is in Saxman by the sound of the article...I didn't give the full story of the totem pole, it almost needs its own article.Skookum1 (talk) 15:04, 24 February 2009 (UTC)

Coordinators' working group

Hi! I'd like to draw your attention to the new WikiProject coordinators' working group, an effort to bring both official and unofficial WikiProject coordinators together so that the projects can more easily develop consensus and collaborate. This group has been created after discussion regarding possible changes to the A-Class review system, and that may be one of the first things discussed by interested coordinators.

All designated project coordinators are invited to join this working group. If your project hasn't formally designated any editors as coordinators, but you are someone who regularly deals with coordination tasks in the project, please feel free to join as well. -- Delievered by §hepBot (Disable) on behalf of the WikiProject coordinators' working group at 04:39, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

Alaska-related feature article candidate

Wanted to let you all know that Rampart Dam, an article about the proposed hydroelectric dam on the Yukon River, is a featured article candidate. It needs comments, revisions, and support to become a featured article. Please consider reviewing it. JKBrooks85 (talk) 02:53, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Article alerts

This is a notice to let you know about Article alerts, a fully-automated subscription-based news delivery system designed to notify WikiProjects and Taskforces when articles are entering Articles for deletion, Requests for comment, Peer review and other workflows (full list). The reports are updated on a daily basis, and provide brief summaries of what happened, with relevant links to discussion or results when possible. A certain degree of customization is available; WikiProjects and Taskforces can choose which workflows to include, have individual reports generated for each workflow, have deletion discussion transcluded on the reports, and so on. An example of a customized report can be found here.

If you are already subscribed to Article Alerts, it is now easier to report bugs and request new features. We are also in the process of implementing a "news system", which would let projects know about ongoing discussions on a wikipedia-wide level, and other things of interest. The developers also note that some subscribing WikiProjects and Taskforces use the display=none parameter, but forget to give a link to their alert page. Your alert page should be located at "Wikipedia:PROJECT-OR-TASKFORCE-HOMEPAGE/Article alerts". Questions and feedback should be left at Wikipedia talk:Article alerts.

Thanks. -- Headbomb {^????_???????? - WP Physics} 08:43, 15 March, 2009 (UTC)

• I went ahead and added a link to the main page. So far it's not doing much, but I think it would be good to leave it in place for a while and see if it's helpful. Beeblebrox (talk) 17:01, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

WP:NOT#PLOT

Apologies for the notice, but this is being posted to every WikiProject to avoid accusations of systemic bias. Hiding T 13:20, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

mormon temple in Anchorage

There is a Mormon temple in Anchorage. Should the article belong to this WikiProject? LDS-SPA1000 (talk) 21:04, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

Floods

Rather than start up separate pages for all the floods going on right now, I've created 2009 Alaska floods. Anything you'd care to add would be appreciated. JKBrooks85 (talk) 12:11, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

Does your WikiProject care about talk pages of redirects?

Does your project care about what happens to the talk pages of articles that have been replaced with redirects? If so, please provide your input at User:Mikaey/Request for Input/ListasBot 3. Thanks, Matt (talk) 01:30, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

Alaska-related FAC

Just wanted to give you all a heads up that Yukon Quest, the article about the 1,000-mile sled dog race from Fairbanks to Whitehorse, has been nominated for featured article status. Any comments or support would be appreciated. Thanks! JKBrooks85 (talk) 10:45, 15 May 2009 (UTC)

GA Sweeps invitation

This message is being sent to WikiProjects with GAs under their scope. Since August 2007, WikiProject Good Articles has been participating in GA sweeps. The process helps to ensure that articles that have passed a nomination before that date meet the GA criteria. After nearly two years, the running total has just passed the 50% mark. In order to expediate the reviewing, several changes have been made to the process. A new worklist has been created, detailing which articles are left to review. Instead of reviewing by topic, editors can consider picking and choosing whichever articles they are interested in.

We are always looking for new members to assist with reviewing the remaining articles, and since this project has GAs under its scope, it would be beneficial if any of its members could review a few articles (perhaps your project's articles). Your project's members are likely to be more knowledgeable about your topic GAs then an outside reviewer. As a result, reviewing your project's articles would improve the quality of the review in ensuring that the article meets your project's concerns on sourcing, content, and guidelines. However, members can also review any other article in the worklist to ensure it meets the GA criteria.

If any members are interested, please visit the GA sweeps page for further details and instructions in initiating a review. If you'd like to join the process, please add your name to the running total page. In addition, for every member that reviews 100 articles from the worklist or has a significant impact on the process, s/he will get an award when they reach that threshold. With ~1,300 articles left to review, we would appreciate any editors that could contribute in helping to uphold the quality of GAs. If you have any questions about the process, reviewing, or need help with a particular article, please contact me or OhanaUnited and we'll be happy to help. --Happy editing! Nehrams2020 (talk o contrib) 21:56, 19 May 2009 (UTC)

Trans-Alaska Pipeline improvements

Just wanted to note that I'm undertaking a project to improve the article on the Trans-Alaska pipeline to FA status. If you're interested in helping, drop me a line on my talk page. JKBrooks85 (talk) 03:02, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Alaska parks? - re {{Boundary Ranges}}

I just had a look through the nat'l and state parks categories for Alaska and couldn't find any that are in the Panhandle/SE Alaska, i.e. east/south of the Chilkat Pass, which is the northwestern boundary of the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains; Glacier Bay doesn't count, it's not in the Coast Mountains. I would have thought there would be at least state parks in teh area of Wrangell and Ketchikan - maybe there just aren't articles yet? I guess Misty Fjords National Monument qualifies as a national park or can be in the template's "Parks" section, and isn't there a Klondike NRHP around the Chilkoot Pass? Theoretically the Alexander Archipelago is part of the Coast Mountains, I haven't seen a definition of the Boundary Ranges which includes it though; its counterpart in BC is the Insular Mountains (Queen Charlotte Mountains and the Vancouver Island Ranges; the coastal archipelago offshore from Prince Rupert-Bella Bella is considered part of the Kitimat Ranges). Other than the geographic technicality of whether or not the Alexander Archipelago is part of the Coast Mountains - a US cite for that would be nice - I'd just like to flesh out the {{Boundary Ranges}} template with Alaskan content.....county/borough parks could also qualify....Skookum1 (talk) 14:26, 18 June 2009 (UTC)

Jean Keene GA Sweeps: On Hold

I have reviewed Jean Keene for GA Sweeps to determine if it still qualifies as a Good Article. In reviewing the article I have found several issues, which I have detailed here. Since the article falls under the scope of this project, I figured you would be interested in contributing to further improve the article. Please comment there to help the article maintain its GA status. If you have any questions, let me know on my talk page and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. --Happy editing! Nehrams2020 (talk o contrib) 22:53, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

Stikine-LeConte Wilderness vs Tongass NF

IN following up on an image issue re the Stikine-LeConte Wilderness article, as the one in use seems to be from the Canadian part of the Stikine and not actualin Alaska, I followed the reflink given on that page to find out what the boundaries were to get an idea of where to look in flickr or WM Commons etc for something more suitable. But the link is dead - it yields a 404 on the National Forest Service website; I searched - though their search engine doesn't seem to work all that well - but of their Alaskan materials there's only the Chugach and Stikine National Forests, and while it does mention the LeConte Glacier there's no mention of the Stikine-LeConte Wilderness. Is this simply a sub-area of the Tongass or is it an Alaskan state designation or? The creator of the article, User:Hike395 is not from Alaska so it seemed better to ask for clarification here. Should these two be merged, or is there a good reason for the Stikine-LeConte Wilderness to exist as an article?Skookum1 (talk) 14:30, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

Well, apparently it does - I found a bit more history/specifics at wilderness.net and a map showing its boundaries, and those of other formal Wildernesses within the Tongass National Forest which also would seem to deserve their own articles....as protected areas (if not as parks?). I"m concerned though, that the copy on that link is boilerplate-identical to the Wikipedia article; is one the clone of the other (there's no copyright mark on the wilderness.net one) or are they both clones of the now-vanished National Forest Service pate? I gather a listing of these wildernesses should be on the Tongass Nat'l Forest page....Skookum1 (talk) 14:47, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

Craig Campbell (politician)

I started this article today following the announcement by Governor Palin that he will be the new lieutenant governor after Sean Parnell becomes governor on July 26. It might be a good idea for someone more familiar with Alaska and its politics than I (who lives several thousand miles away from the great state of Alaska) to take a look at the article and perhaps add to it, now that this gentleman has suddenly been thrust into the spotlight. I did put a source to a bio of him in the article, but it is already a few years old and there might be something more recent. In Googling him, I did find a few sources about controversies involving statements he made during Palin's run for vice president, but they were from blogs and therefore not reliable sources. I did not find any newspaper reportage of the controversy, but perhaps I did not look deep enough. One question that I could not find the answer to is, where is the authority for the head of the Military and Veterans Department (or whatever the formal title is) to be next in line to be lieutenant governor? I read the Executive section of the Alaska constitution ([7]) and I don't see the answer, in fact after reading Article 3, Section 13 I would have concluded that when the lieutenant governor becomes governor, there is no lieutenant governor for the remainder of the term. (This is the case in New York, for example, and was the case with the Vice Presidency of the U.S. until the Constitution was amended in the 1960's.) I did not dig further to see if there is a statute that provides a different answer. Any Alaska attorneys or experts on Alaska politics in this project? Neutron (talk) 03:04, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

Origin of the name Eskimo

FYI, Origin of the name Eskimo has been nominated for deletion. 70.29.208.69 (talk) 06:41, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

Org spam?

Please see Talk:Rivers_Without_Borders#Dangerously_close_to_org-spam. Various issues, doesn't quite read like an ad/brochure/SOAP but very close; maybe needs notability and advert tags.Skookum1 (talk) 13:47, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

Chicagof placenames

Please see Talk:ChichagofSkookum1 (talk) 16:43, 24 August 2009 (UTC)

Erroneous info in entry on 'Yukon Flats'

Part of the first paragraph says ".......The Yukon Flats are bordered in the north by the Brooks Range, in the south by the White Mountains, and cover an area of approximately 11,000,000 square miles (28,489,869 km2)........" This statement is incorrect. The state of Alaska has an area of around 662,000 square miles. An ecosystem 11 million square miles in area would definitely not fit in the state. Maybe there are too many zeros? I do not know the correct info. May I request the author to edit and correct the entry? Arkij72 (talk) 16:38, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

Boundary Peaks of the AK-BC and BC-AB borders

Please see Category_talk:Boundary_Ranges in re related categories and potential subcategories and their parents, and suggesting List of Boundary Peaks of the Alaska-British Columbia border or List of Boundary Peaks of the Alaska Boundary Settlement (or whatever title of t hat kind; the Hay-Herbert Treaty seems less descriptive for the context, which is geographic in nature); and related subcats Note the use of full caps on Boundary Peaks, these are official names/designations not simply peaks the border touches it; they are the border, quite literally, although there are some Boundary Monuments also at certain points, and designated latitude-longitude "corner turns", though the peaks are the dominant defining points of the boundary.Skookum1 (talk) 22:35, 2 November 2009 (UTC)

Category-Members of the Alaska Territorial Legislature

You may want to create a Category: Members of the Alaska Territorial Legislature. The categories involving the members of the Alaska State Legislature are not accurate when use for those members of the Alaska Territorial Legislature. WP-Arizona has a category for the Arizona Territorial Legislature. Thank you-RFD (talk) 01:19, 5 January 2010 (UTC) --Preceding unsigned comment added by RadioKAOS (talk o contribs)

As I have been making an effort to improve pages related to past and present Alaskan political figures (slowly; I have precious little time for Internet endeavors nowadays), I was starting to think the exact same thing, that perhaps some separation or distinction is necessary between the territorial and state legislatures.

The existing category pages present a dilemma, however. The existing House category page is titled "Members of the Alaska House of Representatives," with no distinction made as to whether that denotes the territorial House or the state House, or whether it should denote such. The existing Senate category page, however, is titled "Alaska State Senators," which does, at least in my mind.

I don't have time right now to look this up, but I'm pretty sure that in referencing these pages in the past, that persons who served only in the territorial legislature were included in these categories. My only concern would be as to whether enough pages exist at the present for members of the territorial legislature as to warrant separate category pages. RadioKAOS (talk) 03:00, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Category page has been started, BTW, with the first 6 names added to it that I had time to research.RadioKAOS (talk) 09:04, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

WP 1.0 bot announcement

This message is being sent to each WikiProject that participates in the WP 1.0 assessment system. On Saturday, January 23, 2010, the WP 1.0 bot will be upgraded. Your project does not need to take any action, but the appearance of your project's summary table will change. The upgrade will make many new, optional features available to all WikiProjects. Additional information is available at the WP 1.0 project homepage. -- Carl (CBM · talk) 02:42, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

Merge Orca Bay, Alaska with Orca Inlet?

Are these the same place? Please respond at Talk:Orca Bay, Alaska#Merge Orca Bay with Orca Inlet? --Hroðulf (or Hrothulf) (Talk) 06:31, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for responding. I have a follow up question: It is not clear to me whether the historic name of Puerto Córdova applies to the inlet or the bay. Anyone have access to pre-1909 charts or maps? Answers at Talk:Orca Bay, Alaska again, please. --Hroðulf (or Hrothulf) (Talk) 15:27, 4 May 2010 (UTC)

My new WikiProject

Hello everyone! I joined this WikiProject because I love Alaska (everything but the politics!). I also feel strongly that many of the pages are missing relevant photos to go with them. I have been trying to work on that as I travel. Please take a look at the photos I've added recently and tell me what you think, good or bad. Thanks, and I look forward to being involved in this WikiProject long term. I have a list of the photos I've added here: [8] Michaelh2001 (talk) 18:16, 7 July 2010 (UTC)

List of United States federal courthouses in Alaska

This list is largely complete, but has bits and pieces of information missing, and needs some images filled in - any help in completing it would be much appreciated. Cheers! bd2412 T 18:40, 8 August 2010 (UTC)

Missing are information on courthouses covering about the first half-century of federal jurisprudence in Alaska (e.g. Eagle, St. Michael, Sitka, Valdez), not to mention the current Alaska State Capitol.

The Anchorage entry is messed up. Shown is the old courthouse with the current courthouse's address, and dates of use which are (somewhat) incorrect.

The old Fairbanks courthouse was opened in 1934 or roughly thereabouts, not 1958. RadioKAOS (talk) 02:02, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Images

One of the things I've kept in the back of my head relates to images, particularly in regards to Alaskan pages. I guess some person or persons have in the past posted low-res photos from the state's Official Election Pamphlet. This is what I had to say in response to the rationale found for one such image of John Lindauer:

I wanted to discuss the rationale. It read "low res, no revenue loss." Once again, I get the feeling that someone not familiar with Alaska was responsible for this. According to the link posted, the source was the Official Election Pamphlet for Alaska elections. This publication is distributed free by the State of Alaska government to all voters in the state prior to every general election. So just what the hell do you mean by "no revenue loss" when you're referring to a publication which isn't sold for money? I don't get it.

Of course, I should add, in case somewhat wrongfully jumps on the last statement, that the publication is not only not sold for money, but is specifically published and distributed by a government in order to convey information to the public.

Obviously, in the above statement, I'm being at least somewhat sarcastic and somewhat attempting to push buttons at the same time. Let's tackle this seriously, though. I feel that the situation in which images from the U.S. government are freely available, but that images from other governmental entities require permission, leads to another form of systemic bias manifesting itself on Wikipedia. In the larger picture, though, there's probably not much which can be done about that.

Has anyone tried to approach the State of Alaska, regarding seeking permission for images found in their publications, so that they may be made available to Wikipedia either under a license or made public domain? Me, I'm just a regular working stiff whose job is pretty far removed from the Internet. I enjoy doing historical research as a hobby, and usually one day a week during my volunteer job, I have plenty of time to fool around on the Internet and share some of my knowledge. What I'm saying is that perhaps I'm not the right person in terms of having the time to make such an inquiry. I'll certainly keep it in mind in case no one else feels the need to devote the time to it.

In my library, I have a complete collection of OEPs dating back to 1974. I could have very well done the same thing that that person did with the Lindauer photo, but I would rather see a full-res image which is properly licensed or otherwise free. --Preceding unsigned comment added by RadioKAOS (talk o contribs) 06:42, 3 September 2010 (UTC)

Frank Moolin, Jr.

I want to create an article on him. He headed the Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. I am scratching around for an image. Any suggestions? Thanks. Anna Frodesiak (talk) 01:10, 6 September 2010 (UTC)

Alaska articles have been selected for the Wikipedia 0.8 release

Version 0.8 is a collection of Wikipedia articles selected by the Wikipedia 1.0 team for offline release on USB key, DVD and mobile phone. Articles were selected based on their assessed importance and quality, then article versions (revisionIDs) were chosen for trustworthiness (freedom from vandalism) using an adaptation of the WikiTrust algorithm.

We would like to ask you to review the Alaska articles and revisionIDs we have chosen. Selected articles are marked with a diamond symbol (?) to the right of each article, and this symbol links to the selected version of each article. If you believe we have included or excluded articles inappropriately, please contact us at Wikipedia talk:Version 0.8 with the details. You may wish to look at your WikiProject's articles with cleanup tags and try to improve any that need work; if you do, please give us the new revisionID at Wikipedia talk:Version 0.8. We would like to complete this consultation period by midnight UTC on Monday, October 11th.

We have greatly streamlined the process since the Version 0.7 release, so we aim to have the collection ready for distribution by the end of October, 2010. As a result, we are planning to distribute the collection much more widely, while continuing to work with groups such as One Laptop per Child and Wikipedia for Schools to extend the reach of Wikipedia worldwide. Please help us, with your WikiProject's feedback!

For the Wikipedia 1.0 editorial team, SelectionBot 00:05, 18 September 2010 (UTC)

External link concern

I was looking for something on the Anchorage Police Department page. First thing which came to mind was that someone had cut-and-pasted the content from an APD webpage. Not the first time such a thing has happened on Wikipedia, of course.

The real concern, and why this is being posted to this page, is this. This is also not the first time I've seen this. On Anchorage-related pages, someone has inserted relevant external links to various pages on the Municipality's website on the page, and that these links are usually directly related to the page's subject matter. I've noticed that instead, some of these links redirect to a generic departmental default page instead. From searching on the MOA's website, I'm not sure the original pages even exist anymore.

Does this mean that the MOA website was redesigned since these links were added, or just that this content was removed for whatever reason? I don't know how many other such bad links exist, and I probably don't have time to find out other than just happening upon them. RadioKAOS (talk) 01:30, 19 September 2010 (UTC)

Guide to terms of the Alaska Legislature

This came up the last time I was on here regarding certain members of the Alaska Legislature, such as with their infobox entries containing correct information on the duration of their legislative terms. Some members have dates more pertaining to congressional terms, some have start dates of legislative sessions, others simply have the year they were elected to their terms. I went back and researched the entire history of state legislative terms. Here goes:

Statutes in effect

• Alaska Constitution, Article II, Section 3 (ratified 1956)
  • "Their terms begin on the fourth Monday of the January following election unless otherwise provided by law."
• Senate Bill 70, 1st Legislature, 1959 (Chapter 157, Session Laws of Alaska 1959)
  • Placed the date into statute, which remained unchanged in the process
• Senate Bill 343, 6th Legislature, 1969 (Chapter 91, Session Laws of Alaska 1969)
  • Changed the date to the second Monday in January
• Committee Substitute for House Bill 382, 8th Legislature, 1973 (Chapter 53, Session Laws of Alaska 1973)
  • Changed the date to the third Monday in January
• Senate Committee Substitute for House Bill 446, 9th Legislature, 1975 (Chapter 143, Session Laws of Alaska 1975)
  • Bifurcated the date for alternate legislatures. Changed the date to the second Monday in January following a presidential election, and the third Monday in January following a gubernatorial election.
• House Bill 90 as amended, 19th Legislature, 1996 (Chapter 72, Session Laws of Alaska 1996)
  • Changed the date following gubernatorial elections to the third Tuesday in January.
• House Committee Substitute for Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 260, 25th Legislature, 2008 (Chapter 40, Session Laws of Alaska 2008)
  • Deleted the separate dates for alternate legislatures. Current laws reads that all legislative terms begin on the third Tuesday in January.

Table of start and end dates for each legislature

With election day today, this could come in helpful in case folks decide to create or edit pages based on election results, without regard for whether the terms of those elected actually begin on election day. RadioKAOS (talk) 20:45, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

Invitation to help with WikiProject United States

--Kumioko (talk) 03:39, 3 November 2010 (UTC)

Bristol Palin - Importance

Hello, I am Whitestorm13, and I wanted to first off, compliment everybody who was worked hard here. This project is very great and provides a lot of accurate information. I also have one thing I need to discuss, the article Bristol Palin is rated Low-Importance on the Project Alaska scale. I am not quite sure how this project decides how to rate articles on the impotance scale, but I think she should be rated higher. She has recently been called "America's Favorite Daughter" many times, and has become famous with her mom, and is very important to Alaska. Also, she has become even more famous with her recent appearance on Dancing with the Stars, and has received many, many fan votes, showing how popular she is. I do not know if this is the right place to post this, or how to change it, but I have pointed out my reasons above, and I truly believe that she should be ranked higher. Please consider this carefully. Kind Regards, Whitestorm13 (talk) 02:40, 3 November 2010 (UTC)

High-importance, as an example, means the subject is very important in understanding the contents of the project. Is Bristol Palin important to understanding Alaska? Hardly. I think that the current rating is accurate. Grsz¹¹ 03:28, 3 November 2010 (UTC)

Does it mean importance in understanding the contents of the project or importance of the article? Please forgive me if I am wrong. I thought it meant that it was rated low to be worked on soon, and I thought it should be higher. If this is not what this is for, then is there a list for that somewhere? Sorry for any trouble I caused. Kind Regards, Whitestorm13 (talk) 03:33, 3 November 2010 (UTC)

I've probably overstated my case on numerous other talk pages on this very same subject. Wikipedia, as I understand it, is an attempt to develop a body encompassing human knowledge. Allowing our perspectives on human knowledge to be skewed either by what can or cannot be found via a Google search, or by the agendas of modern corporate media, is an all too obvious problem on Wikipedia. This is especially obvious with the plethora of Alaskan-related pages which are solely lacking in relevant, important details, instead containing gratuitous references to media celebrities such as the Palin family, Ted Stevens, Lisa Murkowski, Joe Miller, ad infinitum ad nauseum. To keep this from being another excessive rant, the short version is that it's all about perspective, and whether or not you have the proper perspective. If this were TMZpedia, I'm sure the page would rate top or high importance.RadioKAOS (talk) 21:57, 3 November 2010 (UTC)

New politician articles

I realize that there are already numerous Alaskan politican stubs, many of which are nothing more than an infobox and collection of external links, which could use some work. However, I would like to make a challenge. Between now and the end of the year, everyone reading this should make an effort to create a new page every now and then about someone who was a candidate (successful or unsuccessful, if anyone in the latter category is notable enough) in any of the 2010 elections in Alaska. In doing my part towards this, I created Steve M. Thompson, former mayor of Fairbanks and representative-elect.

Just as a general rule, please note that members-elect of the 27th Legislature do not start their terms until January 18, 2011. They should not be listed, either through categories or in the main text of the article, as members until that time. RadioKAOS (talk) 06:41, 5 November 2010 (UTC)

And old politician articles

User:RadioKAOS/Sandbox

I'm trying to start a list of Alaskan politicians who, due to timeframe, geography, offices held or any other reason, haven't been represented on here as of yet, even though many of them are far more worthy of mention than many modern-day politicians. Most of the entries are below stub level at the moment, more due to time and inclination factors than for a lack of information or sources. Speaking of sources, mine are scattered at the moment, so that will have to come later. I finally have a replacement for my "crackhead special" laptop, so it may come sooner than later.

If you feel you can contribute names to the list, or information to any of the entries, feel free to do so. It is VERY incomplete at the moment. The main thing I went by to establish inclusion was length of service in government or politics. That doesn't necessarily have to be the case. Ken Fanning, even though he served only one term in the House, would be considered notable for being only the second Libertarian elected to a state legislature in the entire United States, just to give an example. RadioKAOS (talk) 22:06, 12 November 2010 (UTC)

A consideration for cross project consolidation of talk page templates

I have started a conversation here about the possibility of combining some of the United States related WikiProject Banners into {{WikiProject United States}}. If you have any comments, questions or suggestions please take a moment and let me know. --Kumioko (talk) 05:02, 27 November 2010 (UTC)

Election results apart from U.S. Senate certified? and freshman members of the 27th Legislature

I haven't been paying much attention. From what I gather from what I'm reading, the election results were certified on November 30 except for the U.S Senate race? I'm really not sure, maybe I should read some of these recent newspapers I have lying around. Anyway, here are the incoming members of the Alaska Legislature, in case anyone is still in the business of creating pages for these people.

• Catherine A. Giessel Senate District P, replacing Con Bunde.
• Alan S. Dick, House District 6, replacing Woodie Salmon.
• Bob Miller, House District 7, replacing Mike Kelly.
• Steve M. Thompson (page already created), House District 10, replacing Jay Ramras.
• Eric A. Feige, House District 12, replacing John Harris.
• Dan Saddler, House District 18, replacing Nancy Dahlstrom (the seat is actually currently vacant).
• Lance Pruitt, House District 21, replacing Harry Crawford.
• Mia Costello, House District 27, replacing Bob Buch.

That's only 7 pages needed. I only created the one page because I don't know a whole lot about any of the others on the list. I'm sure that could be done before the start of session next month.RadioKAOS (talk) 11:58, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

Cleanup of old election articles

Just an aside: United States Senate election in Alaska, 2010 contains patently false information about primary elections in Alaska, and has been marked as such on the talk page. I take it most contributors aren't in Alaska, and may lack knowledge of this or where to go to correct it. Most page activity for roughly the past two months runs contrary to the notion that Wikipedia is not a repository for everything you just read in, or watched on, the news.

I was cleaning up articles and category pages on past Alaska elections. I'm redoing Alaska state elections, 2006 in the hopes of producing a suitable template to be used for creating articles on other elections. Also, two things came to mind when going through the category pages: there are articles on Juneau's municipal elections from 2005 to 2007. These could certainly be renamed Municipal elections in Alaska, YYYY, so long as there was a willingness to rewrite them, and provide a base for coverage of any future municipal elections.

Lastly, I fail to see why there is the need for more than one article covering all party caucuses for a given year. Neither of the existing articles for 2008 contain enough relevant content to stand on their own, and I don't see much opportunity to expand those articles.

• (Postscript: I just noticed that the 2004 caucuses have articles, but they exist in the Template: namespace, even though the pages appear to actually be stub articles, rather than proper templates.)RadioKAOS (talk) 08:06, 2 December 2010 (UTC)

Oh yeah, another aside: United States House of Representatives election in Alaska, 1970 redirects to United States House of Representatives elections, 1970, which at present contains no content on the House race in Alaska for that year. In fact, the only state which is mentioned in the article is California, which I would assume has something to do with their state laws governing state information in the public domain. I cleaned up the mess created from linking the redirect, but there is currently an empty category page Category:Alaska elections, 1970, which is chronologically way out of step with the remaining pages in the category in addition to being unpopulated (and likely to remain that way for quite some time).RadioKAOS (talk) 05:21, 2 December 2010 (UTC)

Join me at Meta to formulate a Wikimania bid

Hi all, been out of touch with the project for a while, doing a lot of admin stuff. I have begun the process of putting a bid together to host Wikimania in Anchorage in 2012. This is something that needs to be planned now if we are to have any chance of pulling it off. Bid page is under construction at [9], and please feel free to contact me on my talk either here or there about this. The field is pretty narrow at the moment, there is a real chance this could be done, but I doubt I could pull it together all by myself. We need to find sponsors, meeting rooms (preferably free or cheap from UAA) whatever hotel discounts can be found, etc. If this ball starts rolling I will put together a place on Meta to coordinate our efforts, for now I'm just working on the basics of assembling a page for our bid. Hope to see you all over there! Beeblebrox (talk) 07:25, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

Expanding list of people from Alaska, needs help

When it was suggested to orphan the list of people section from Alaska, I added that information to List of people from Alaska. There was another article entitled List of artists and writers from Alaska, with a nearly 3 year old merge proposal. I subsequently merged the two lists; the latter article is now a redirect. I'm working until way too early in the morning on Christmas Eve trying to get everything done so I don't have to worry about anything for the next day or two. Any help, suggestions, etc. on that article would be appreciated, including on whether the format I am attempting is an improvement or no.RadioKAOS (talk) 18:49, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

US Collaboration reactivated & Portal:United States starting next

Casliber recently posted a suggestion on the talk page for WikiProject United States about getting the US Wikipedians Collaboration page going again in an effort to build up articles for GA through FA class. See Wikipedia:U.S. Wikipedians' notice board/USCOTM. After several days of work from him the page is up and ready for action. A few candidates have already been added for you to vote on or you can submit one using the directions provided. If you are looking for inspiration here is a link to the most commonly viewed articles currently under the scope of Wikiproject United States. There are tons of good articles in the various US related projects as well so feel free to submit any article relating to US topics (not just those under the scope of WPUS). This noticeboard is intended for '''All''' editors working on US subjects, not just those under WPUS.

The next item I intend to start updating is Portal:United States if anyone is interested in helping. Again this is not specific to WPUS and any help would be greatly appreciated to maximize visibility of US topics. The foundation has already been established its just a matter of updating the content with some new images, biographies and articles. Please let leave a comment on the Portals talk page or let me know if you have any questions or ideas. --Kumioko (talk) 19:02, 15 January 2011 (UTC)

Someone please check and update List of Alaska Native tribal entities

I have gone an updated the Federally Recognized Tribes per 75 FR 60810 and 75 FR 66124. Would somebody go though 75 FR 60810 and update the List of Alaska Native tribal entities, please? Thanks. CJLippert (talk) 21:59, 3 February 2011 (UTC)

Adding "Popular pages" to U.S.-related projects

A very interesting tool of the Wikimedia Toolserver is called WikiProject Popular pages lists. These lists are similar to project-related article lists like U. S. article lists used for generating assessment statistics. The Popular pages lists include the rank, total views, average daily views, quality and importance ratings for the listed articles. Here is the full list of projects using popular pages lists. An FAQ also is available at User:Mr.Z-man/Popular pages FAQ.

I recently added links to lists of popular pages as shown below to the U.S. Portal - WikiProjects box and the nominations sections for each of the selected articles boxes.

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Portal:United States/Projects/Popular pages

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Because this project was not included, I am bringing up the popular pages tool here. This tool makes it very easy to track three of four balancing dimensions when selecting articles for showcasing at a portal - quality, importance and popularity. When tracking the fourth dimension, topic, the related article lists tool (such as for U.S. article lists tool) also might be useful by filtering on categories of interest.

If you do decide to use this tool, feel free to update Portal:United States/Projects/Popular pages as well.

Regards, RichardF (talk) 01:28, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

Featured portal candidate: United States

Portal:United States is a current featured portal candidate. Please feel free to leave comments. -- RichardF (talk) 01:28, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

Alaskan gold rush redirect to Klondike Gold Rush - ??

I just reversed the addition of an "Alaskan gold rush" link to the see also section of Russo-American Treaty of 1824, partly because the date of said rushes is well after 1824 and it's not directly related to this article. However, I discovered that "Alaskan gold rush" redirects to Klondike Gold Rush, and that's not right; not so much because, well, obviously the Klondike isn't in Alaska - granted the staging area for the Klondike rush was mostly in Alaska (but not entirely), but there were actual gold rushes in Alaska. If there's an Alaska history person here I urge you to write a separate Alaskan gold rushes article, like "my" British Columbia gold rushes summary article (still incomplete), to encompass the Juneau and Nome and Copper River(?) strikes; with sidebars about Atlin and the Klondike I suppose (Atlin was considered by the US press to be within Alaska until teh 1903 boundary settlement); just wanted to bring this to this WP's attention as it needs reolution;a wrong redirect is a wrong redirect, but all the more difficult to deal with when a full article is needed to compensate.Skookum1 (talk) 00:14, 26 January 2011 (UTC)

I'll try to get something togetherDankarl (talk) 18:31, 13 March 2011 (UTC)

Help needed

I'm reading the information on copyrights and public domain material, and am looking for pointers to information which would help me to discern whether or not early State of Alaska documents and publications have fallen into the public domain. If I could obtain a clear answer to that, it would help greatly with providing images on Alaska-related pages, many of which I can tell are needed. If you can help out here, many thanks in advance.RadioKAOS (talk) 03:44, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

New info on Ray Mala forthcoming

Here's an opportunity for someone to become proactive. There have been numerous references to Ray Mala written into various Wikipedia pages. These have tended to be overly promotional in nature, in addition to indications existing that they were written by a family member of Mala's. Here's promo copy for an upcoming radio show (airing live on March 15, 2011, at 10:00 am AKDT):

In 1921 a boy from Candle, Alaska took a job in Hollywood. His name was Ray Wise, but as Ray Mala he became a movie star and a highly sought-after cinematographer, especially when it came to the Arctic. Many new details of the Ray Mala story have recently come to light, and will be heard on the next Talk of Alaska, Tuesday morning at ten, from APRN...

I dunno if this will amount to anything which meets the prevailing notion of "reliable sources." If you look at the existing copy on these pages, you would want to believe that Ray Mala revolutionized both Hollywood and Alaska, which is stretching the truth more than just a little bit.

I'll try and check it out myself. However, I work at night, and am usually asleep at 10 in the morning. Next week is expected to be busy for me.

Here's the link. I didn't bother to look up the link for live streaming. It appears that this is being done in conjunction with a book coming out on Mala.RadioKAOS (talk) 11:05, 12 March 2011 (UTC)

Orth online

Just noticed this though it looks like Google's had it for a year. It appears complete on a quick scan.

• Orth, Donald (1967) Dictionary of Alaska Place Names Geological Survey professional paper, Volume 567. USGS. Government Printing Office, Washington.Dankarl (talk) 21:42, 13 March 2011 (UTC)

New info on Ray Mala forthcoming

Here's an opportunity for someone to become proactive. There have been numerous references to Ray Mala written into various Wikipedia pages. These have tended to be overly promotional in nature, in addition to indications existing that they were written by a family member of Mala's. Here's promo copy for an upcoming radio show (airing live on March 15, 2011, at 10:00 am AKDT):

In 1921 a boy from Candle, Alaska took a job in Hollywood. His name was Ray Wise, but as Ray Mala he became a movie star and a highly sought-after cinematographer, especially when it came to the Arctic. Many new details of the Ray Mala story have recently come to light, and will be heard on the next Talk of Alaska, Tuesday morning at ten, from APRN...

I dunno if this will amount to anything which meets the prevailing notion of "reliable sources." If you look at the existing copy on these pages, you would want to believe that Ray Mala revolutionized both Hollywood and Alaska, which is stretching the truth more than just a little bit.

I'll try and check it out myself. However, I work at night, and am usually asleep at 10 in the morning. Next week is expected to be busy for me.

Here's the link. I didn't bother to look up the link for live streaming. It appears that this is being done in conjunction with a book coming out on Mala.RadioKAOS (talk) 11:05, 12 March 2011 (UTC)

Orth online

Just noticed this though it looks like Google's had it for a year. It appears complete on a quick scan.

• Orth, Donald (1967) Dictionary of Alaska Place Names Geological Survey professional paper, Volume 567. USGS. Government Printing Office, Washington.Dankarl (talk) 21:42, 13 March 2011 (UTC)

North Pole, Alaska needing oversight/attention

As usual, this came up in the course of following issues in general with Alaskan-related pages. North Pole, Alaska, as should be obvious because of the Santa Claus thing, has been a frequent target of infantile vandalism, with indications being that such is only occasionally being monitored and corrected. In recent weeks, there has been an edit war on the page involving competing roller derby leagues. They appear to be competing to see how far they can go to fill the lead section with promotional material for their upcoming games.

I'm working on rewriting the page, but I can do that offline. My time for online activities lately is erratic; I certainly don't have the time necessary to keep constantly reverting misbegotten edits.RadioKAOS (talk) 03:08, 18 March 2011 (UTC)

Two more articles needing attention

Yes, I still seem to have just enough time to point this out, but not enough to do much in the way of actual work. The articles are such:

• Sean Parnell - Most of the past two months' worth of edits have managed to turn this page full on in the direction of a train wreck. It really is as if the people making these edits don't know the first thing about Parnell. I did make an effort. However, I started at the top, which was with trying to find his full name. I figured my best bet would be microfilms of newspapers from 1980, in the event that the high school graduating classes were listed. I gave up after damn near putting my fist through two different microfilm machines that weren't cooperating. I'll see what I can do when I have time. The main problems at present appear to be twofold: confusing Sean Parnell with his father, and a link to a picture which I'm guessing wasn't uploaded yet.

• Mr. Whitekeys - All references to his real name were deleted, first from the article itself by an IP (who did a very sloppy job), then from the article's talk page by User:Verbster, which is the only contribution logged from that username. Since I listen to enough talk radio to constantly hear commercials screaming "Pay us! We'll delete your personal information from websites!", I hope no one is naive enough to think that those folks don't operate here on Wikipedia. I did already acknowledge that Whitekeys is an obsessively private man, so my first guess would be that he is actually the one responsible. If anyone is thinking of using the excuse that it wasn't sourced, please review this link. As an AP story, it likely appeared in numerous newspapers. The Juneau Empire seems to be the only Alaska newspaper of any significance which doesn't place its archives behind a pay wall, so that's why it always comes up as an easy source on here, as opposed to most other Alaskan newspapers. Since I own a copy of the record by Jimmy Spenard and his Bucket of Lard, I'm probably as much of an "expert" on the subject as anyone on here. I don't have time for edit wars, though. Even if I really did have time, I still don't have time, if you know what I mean. The main reason why I don't want to take charge on this is that I live in Alaska with these people. Some of them might actually expect me to explain why I'm being so nosy about their personal affairs. Public figures in Alaska have a tendency to not realize or care exactly what being a public figure entails.RadioKAOS (talk) 04:27, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

Another red flag - Sports Talk Alaska

I noticed issues with the page Sports Talk Alaska and wanted to discuss these on the appropriate talk pages before suggesting it as a candidate for deletion.

• The article was created in late 2009 and has been improved upon very little. The page was tagged numerous times over various issues. User:Mixlom, who created the page, recently removed the tags without actually addressing any of those issues. This smacks of the suggestion of WP:OWNERSHIP.

• User:Mixlom appears to be the epitome of WP:SPA. The contributions from this account are so narrow, I would want to believe that this user is in fact Kirk Caudle (the host of the program). I really shouldn't have to point out WP:NOTPROMOTION.

• One would have to be rather ignorant of broadcasting in Alaska or its history to assume or believe that this program is at all notable. Previously, I brought up Norma Goodman from KTVA as an example. Goodman hosted a daily, non-topical, 30-minute talk show on the station for 47 years, followed by a 5-minute segment for another 6 years until her death. I would think that would qualify as notable. Instead, the first name mentioned on the KTVA article under former on-air staff was Sarah Palin, who was at the station for perhaps 10 or 15 minutes at the most. Same criteria applies here. Compare Norma Goodman's show with that of a topical, weekly (?) television talk show which aired on a public access cable channel (?) for less than a year. The question marks are on account of the article being short of relevant details such as that.

• That brings me to my next point. The attempt at establishing notability for the article is in explaining that individuals who appeared on the program 15+ years ago are currently or recently famous. So what? I would think that the multiple pirate radio stations which aired in Anchorage around that same time period (including the now-licensed KEUL) was a far more notable occurrence in Anchorage broadcasting in 1995/1996. I would think Steve MacDonald leaving KTVA for KTUU (which also happened at that time) was also far more notable.

Quick summary of the above two paragraphs - "celebrity name dropping" DOES NOT EQUAL "notability."

• The page contains no references, but does contain an irrelevant external link to a page mentioning Brandon Drumm. HUH?!?!? Near as I can tell, it's because Drumm is the only "big name" mentioned as appearing on the show who doesn't have his own Wikipedia article? Perhaps someone can make sense of that for me, because other than that, it's not obvious.

As an aside, I also had an issue with Sports in Alaska, which appears to have been edited in similar fashion and with more gratuitous references to Sports Talk Alaska. Mainly, the article contains a long list of Anchorage residents who became big names in professional sports, yet little else of substance. After the list, there is "Oh yeah, there's also Carlos Boozer, who isn't from Anchorage." Sorry, I would think that right now at this moment, the best-known or most popular professional athlete from Alaska would be Daryn Colledge, who isn't from Anchorage and isn't on the list either.RadioKAOS (talk) 09:14, 31 May 2011 (UTC)

Looks like this got a brief write up from the Daily News [10] and that's about all the press attention this program ever got. Public access cable shows are generally not notable and this does not seem like an exeption to that. Beeblebrox (talk) 17:11, 31 May 2011 (UTC)

Whole Wheat Radio

I don't think the proposed deletion was entirely warranted. Therefore, I've added some more tags and removed the PROD tag. I believe this article to be useful. Anyone here with more knowledge about the subject may wish to work on the article to rescue it. --Trevj (talk) 11:21, 9 June 2011 (UTC)

Order of governors

As originally posted to Talk:Sean Parnell, reposted here in the hopes that someone reading this page and not that one can provide a better answer:

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governor number

His website states that he is the tenth governor of Alaska, but the Wikipedia page says that he is the twelth. Does anyone have information about this discrepancy? --Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.69.112.208 (talk) 22:07, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

Egan & Hickel, are only counted once each (even though they served non-consectuive terms), going by the gov website. GoodDay (talk) 19:52, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

Thank goodness you noticed the mistake. Alaska is one of those states that number their governors via individual. GoodDay (talk) 20:04, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

I hate to keep harping on this, but so far, all anyone has done to prove that Parnell is the tenth and not the twelfth governor is to point to the website of the Office of the Governor, specifically this page. Taking something you find off of the web as gospel without further discernment is certainly problematic. My experience as an Internet user predates the existence of the World Wide Web. It used to be that "I read it on the Internet, it must be true!" was correctly recognized as an in-joke, not a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Let's dissect two other statements found on the same page:

Governor Parnell first served in the Alaska House of Representatives in 1992 at the age of 29.

Actually, he was first elected to the House in 1992 at age 29. His 30th birthday occurred in between the election and his being sworn into office.

In 1973, Governor Parnell came to Alaska at the age of 10, when his father, Pat, was stationed at Fort Richardson.

Every other source I've read states that Pat Parnell was stationed at Fort Richardson several years prior to the birth of either of his two sons. Without explicitly stating so, Pat Parnell's 1990 campaign bio indicates that he was at Fort Richardson in 1958 and 1959.

The point I'm trying to make is this: it appears as if weight is being given to these statements solely on account of their source, without regard to factual or historical accuracy or completeness.

Like with another issue I addressed recently, has it occurred to anyone that reviewing more than one source may be necessary in this instance? Let me introduce another one, namely: Metcalfe, Peter M., ed. (1991). Alaska Blue Book (Tenth ed.). Juneau: Alaska Department of Education, Division of State Libraries, Archives and Museums. 

On page 8, it says:

Walter J. Hickel was elected Alaska's first Independence Party Governor on November 6, 1990. He was sworn into office on December 3, 1990, becoming Alaska's seventh Governor since statehood in 1959. He also served as the state's second Governor from 1966 to January 1969.

On page 19, it says much the same thing:

Walter Hickel became Alaska's second governor in 1966, and its seventh governor upon his election in 1990.

This book is the exact equivalent to today's State of Alaska website, and carries the same weight. The only difference should be obvious, that a web page is easier for the average person to access. With two different governors claiming different things in historically equivalent media, this tells me you need to dig deeper. I don't recall this issue being addressed in Alaska's constitution, but I haven't had the time to pour through it to make sure. In the absence of that, is there a statute, executive order or Supreme Court ruling? That's what you need to go by, not some random thing you find on the web.RadioKAOS (talk) 02:35, 21 July 2011 (UTC)

---

Of course, any help in resolving this is appreciated. Lacking that help, it puts the existing order as found on numerous Wikipedia articles in doubt.RadioKAOS (talk) 03:00, 21 July 2011 (UTC)

Suggestion for WikiProject United States to support WikiProject Alaska

It was recently suggested that this project be included in the list of projects supported by WikiProject United States. After reviewing the project it appears that there haven't been any active discussions on the talk page in a long time and very few project page updates. Before any action is taken I want to ensure that the members of the project concur with this action. Please feel free to contact me if there are any comments or questions. --Kumioko (talk) 23:54, 29 August 2011 (UTC)

As has been noted in other forums, it is totally unclear what you are proposing.Dankarl (talk) 15:56, 31 August 2011 (UTC)

No problem, First let me say that the project page with members stay basically as they are with the members able to dictate how things happen, scope of the project, etc. Its not going to be absorbed or dissolved in any way and the scope won't change unless the members want it too. The only change would be that the WikiProject banner would be replaced with the WPUS banner with WikiProject Alaska embedded within it. You can take a look at Category talk:Visitor attractions in South Carolina to see an example. All the projects use a standard group of parameters (Needs infobox, image, attention, etc), and the banner allows for things like project to do lists, articles with to do lists and articles with comments. It also reduces the number of banners on the talk page of the articles. All the projects use the same article classes (If the project doesn't want to though thats ok too but the rest do and I would like to try and keep it as standard as possible).

How it will be supported can depend on what the members of the project want but typically WPUS is a bigger project with a lot more members, it has a newsletter, a monthly collaboration, multiple bots that run actively through the articles for various things (as can be seen on the members page) with more being setup as we go along. This means that it will be seen by a lot of people in a lot of ways. Up till now we have mostly been concentrating on building up the project but soon we are going to be starting to do some drives to build up articles, create new ones, etc. I hope this helps. --Kumioko (talk) 20:00, 9 September 2011 (UTC)

What projects have adopted this plan?Dankarl (talk) 23:30, 10 September 2011 (UTC)

All of the ones seen on the WikiProject United States template here. --Kumioko (talk) 00:17, 11 September 2011 (UTC)

Does anyone have any more comments about this suggestion. Its fine with me either way but it seems like there are no objections to the suggestion. --Kumioko (talk) 20:32, 30 September 2011 (UTC)

I don't know if there is any real reason to believe that this will get our Alaska-related content any more support, but I also don't see any reason to oppose it. Beeblebrox (talk) 21:04, 30 September 2011 (UTC)

Biographies

While I had a minute here, I've been thinking of something for a little while now. Would it be appropriate to create a "requested biographies" page of Alaskans as part of this project? The main requested bios page seems large enough to where things get lost in the shuffle. Also, since Wikipedia in general suffers from a lack of proper historical perspective and/or editors who highlight particular aspects of history for perhaps personal reasons, it appears as though multiple generations worth of individuals have thus far not been recognized for their notability, as compared to long-ago or recent figures. Comments welcome.RadioKAOS (talk) 14:29, 16 September 2011 (UTC)

I think that's a good idea. I seem to recall you and I discussing before how many notable Alaskans from the territory-to-statehood period were not covered here. I'm sure there are more out there that we could write about. Beeblebrox (talk) 21:06, 30 September 2011 (UTC)

Pageview stats

After a recent request, I added WikiProject Alaska to the list of projects to compile monthly pageview stats for. The data is the same used by http://stats.grok.se/en/ but the program is different, and includes the aggregate views from all redirects to each page. The stats are at Wikipedia:WikiProject Alaska/Popular pages.

The page will be updated monthly with new data. The edits aren't marked as bot edits, so they will show up in watchlists. You can view more results, request a new project be added to the list, or request a configuration change for this project using the toolserver tool. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know. Thanks! Mr.Z-man 22:34, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

I really want to go on a tear about a dead porn star being three times as popular as Lisa Murkowski, but there is that assuming good faith thing. Perhaps we've found her opponent for 2016? (Oh, I know, shoot me now...)RadioKAOS (talk) 02:55, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

Legislator biography articles

These are amongst my backlog of offline new articles and revisions. That effort covers mostly recent/current legislators; the historic figures were being started at User:RadioKAOS/Sandbox and User:RadioKAOS/Who's Who in Alaskan Politics, both of which are in severely unfinished form (as in, not anywhere near close to complete). I caught an issue with Les Gara passing through my watchlist, which upon further examination was more extensive and involved other Democratic legislators. A fuller explanation of the problem can be found at Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons/Noticeboard#Bill Wielechowski, Hollis French, Les Gara.RadioKAOS (talk) 03:15, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

Map

Which map is preferred? The second was reverted for being "ugly", even though it shows the Aleutian Islands better. ? Dr. Blofeld 20:27, 6 October 2011 (UTC)

What's the context? are Aleutians particularly important? Could you modify the colors on the second? Are the full set of islands shown on the first but the contrast is too low to show, so changing the outline color would bring them up? Dankarl (talk) 22:28, 6 October 2011 (UTC)

Alert: Speedy deletion issues

I don't regularly follow speedy deletions, but I do tend to get involved when articles of interest to this project come up. Two recent cases came up, both of which were tagged for SD for reasons I felt were peripheral to such things as notability of the subject or existing encyclopedic content, either in current or past revisions.

The first was with KENI, which was SD'ed because the article was edited to where it was almost exclusively a profile of Rick Rydell and Mike Porcaro (the station's drive-time hosts). To me, the material read like it was copied and pasted from KENI's website, though said site appeared to have been revamped in recent years and I couldn't find the specific text on there. That article wound up being rescued by me through deletion review and to some limited extent on finding collaborators to replace it with more meaningful content.

The latest example is with Fred Dyson, which has twice been tagged for SD due to G5. Below, you'll find a repost of material I originally posted to Wikipedia talk:WikiProject US State Legislatures, as it seemed to me that something specific to Ohio legislator articles was being used to SD legislator articles in other states, including Alaska and perhaps in other states as well. These deletions were perhaps contrary to the goals of that project to create new articles on all state legislators throughout the United States.

Theoretically, I'm supposed to be ending my self-imposed vacation and becoming too busy for this shit any day now. What that means is that I expect to have far less time to be involved for at least the next three months, though that may not necessarily be the case on a day-to-day basis. We'll see. I dunno if there are other Alaska-related articles being proposed for SD or which have been SD'ed on account of essentially strawman arguments, with no one around to counter those arguments. If anyone so inclined can keep an eye out, it would help greatly.

---

If anyone is still paying attention over here, apparently, there is an SD war going on over state legislator articles created by a banned user (OSUHEY) and associated sockpuppets. The politics of that is really beyond my scope of interest. Of interest to this project, I would think, is that new articles are being created for state legislators (part of the short term goals I've read of on this project's page) and are being deleted for reasons peripheral to the subject's notability or the likelihood that the article can be expanded. I've twice found myself having to point this out in the case of Fred Dyson, which was deleted and quickly restored the second time an SD request came about. In the most recent instance, the admin in question repeatedly pointed to G5 in spite of other admins pointing out that the subject's notability trumps that consideration. From browsing around, it appears that this same scenario is occurring with other state legislator articles.

After having posted this, I am going back and reading through this issue in a little greater detail than I did before. Apparently, this all began with OSUHEY posting material in serial fashion which may have been copied and pasted from the Ohio Legislature website in violation of copyright. From my perspective, how a state legislator in Alaska has managed to become involved with this issue is something I find totally bizarre. The only possible connection I see is that in the discussion, OSUHEY is suspected to be a GOP operative. I would have never found myself involved in this issue if not for the fact that I was already working on Alaska legislator articles. Most of the work I've done so has been offline, and in many cases it may not be ready for prime time. As it specifically concerns the Dyson article, my question is this: is there a specific problem with copyright violations in this article, or has it just not been expanded quickly enough to suit the tastes of one or more admins?RadioKAOS (talk) 08:25, 8 October 2011 (UTC)

Vandalism on Mr. Whitekeys, again

Once again, IP vandalism on Mr. Whitekeys, to the extent of removing his personal information. If this really is Whitekeys, someone associated with him or someone otherwise acting on his behalf, this may reveal some cluelessness on a couple of levels. Don't BLP policies afford the subject the opportunity to challenge the existence of some content in an article themselves through administrative channels? Otherwise, the cluelessness is more obvious when you realize that someone believes that Whitekeys can provide his personal information to a newspaper reporter (e.g. the AP story when the Fly By Night Club closed down, the ADN story by Mike Dunham published earlier this year), yet we're not allowed to use those articles as sources for building Wikipedia articles. Uh, gee, last I checked, tons of other BLPs, including on Alaskans, have been built exactly that same way, even to the extent of ignoring better sources.RadioKAOS (talk) 23:28, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

Two more articles I've noticed concerns over recently

They would be Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport and Dalton Highway. In both cases, there has been an excessive amount of editing activity to only one particular aspect of the article. Kind of like where the only improvements made to Frank Murkowski as of late really have to do with Lisa Murkowski. Anyway, in the case of the former, it has been to the list of airlines, while the rest of the article is basically a mess. In the case of the latter, it has been to the list of places along the highway, which I take it is motivated exclusively by what people see on Ice Road Truckers. It's starting to overtake the rest of the article. Also, not necessarily related to the above, I noticed that "Ted Stevens crash" redirects to 2010 Alaska Turbo Otter crash, which ignores that his 1978 plane crash was just as notable if not more so.RadioKAOS (talk) 23:33, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

Another one is United States House of Representatives election in Alaska, 2012. At present, my concerns are over continued activity on the article by an SPA. However, this activity suggests the notion that others may believe that the article only needs to mention Joe Miller and Don Young. Never mind that at present, neither has actually filed for the seat and yet numerous others have filed. If the corporate media ignores certain candidates, that's because those candidates aren't planning and raising and spending enough money for advertising with those media outlets. I really don't believe that this is a standard by which Wikipedia articles should develop.RadioKAOS (talk) 02:13, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

Wiki Loves Pride!

CfD on Category:Rivers of the Boundary Ranges etc

• Category:Rivers of the Boundary Ranges
• Category:Rivers of the Canadian Rockies
• Category:Rivers of the Omineca Mountains
• Category:Rivers of the Pacific Ranges
• Category:Rivers of the Kitimat Ranges
• and various others by-region

See Wikipedia:Categories_for_discussion/Log/2014_April_17#Category:Rivers_of_the_Boundary_Ranges on the Categories for discussion page.

Greetings from GLAM-Wiki US

Source of the article : Wikipedia