Talk:List of tallest buildings in New York City/FAQ
 | Below are answers to frequently asked questions about the corresponding page List of tallest buildings in New York City. They address concerns, questions, and misconceptions which have repeatedly arisen on the talk page. Please update this material when needed. |
A1: Wikipedia's Manual of Style recommends the use of whatever unit is locally predominant. Further the references drawn from are overwhelmingly American, and also use feet as the primary unit of measurement; Wikipedia tries to reflect its references. The height in meters is available in parenthesis.
Keepin' it real: The guideline that calls the tune here has been extensively discussed; it's not changing anytime soon.
A2: Most likely, your addition/change either was unsourced, cited an unreliable source, or wasn't reasonably germane to this article in particular; changes like that are usually reverted within a short period of time due to the list's Featured Status. Featured Lists require reliable sources to verify their content, as a result any information added to a Featured List that lacks a reliable source is subject to removal from the article at the discretion of any editor. In addition, there's already articles on the Architecture of New York City, and the History of New York City, in addition to many other subject area specific NYC articles. Unless the information is pertinent to this subject in particular, it probably belongs elsewhere.
Keepin' it real: We can add stuff, but it must be relevant, notable, and sourced.
A3: Floor counts may differ among published reliable sources, and among different Wikipedia articles for a variety of reasons, depending on how mechanical floors, enclosed and unenclosed voids, mezzanines, basement levels, small above roof rooms, and over-height lobbies are counted. Further to maximize value it is not uncommon to exclude certain numbers that result in reduced per unit sale/rental price for superstitious reasons. Finally, the ownership or marketing team for a skyscraper may number floors in order to achieve its own objectives resulting in count that differs significantly from the actual number of physical floors present in the skyscraper. We try to default to whatever number is most widely reported in reference.
Keepin' it real: There's no universally agreed upon way to count floors, so we just go with the most widely reported number, because, hey, it works.
A4: Height discrepancies sometimes occur depending on whether the source is measuring to the building's top floor, roof, bulkhead, the curtain wall promontory, or the tip of whatever mechanical masts are present at the top of the building. Sometimes measurement is started from the lowest point on the base, sometimes the lowest entrance, the lowest significant entrance, or the average level of the base is used. Also be aware that permit heights are often listed as "absolute heights" or elevations, that is the official height of the building measured from sea level. Although the majority of Manhattan lies at or near sea level, certain buildings can appear significantly taller based on this measurement. For example, Central Park Tower's permits show an absolute height of 1,630 feet but a building height of 1,550 feet due to the fact that the area south of Central Park is roughly 80 feet above sea level.
Keepin' it real: There's no simple and easily agreed upon way to measure a buildings height. A difference of an inch in choosing a measuring point can possibly make sources appear to show a difference of a foot once rounded. We tend to defer to what the experts on this subject have to say.
A5: To start, the project should have a specific site, an owner, and a developer, who are seriously interested in executing the project; with a professional design and planning team which has passed the conceptual design stage of the project. In addition there must be appropriate paperwork filed with the Department of Buildings. Finally, reliable independent sources must have reported on it so proper citations can be added to verify the information.
Keepin' it real: Proposed skyscrapers can be added, but they must be well sourced. The section is for buildings that are actually likely to built, not some random idea you heard about the other day.
A6: Well it kind of is, and it kind of isn't, and that isn't really a question anyway. In terms of prose the article is actually fairly short. Now, the main list is long in that it does require a lot of scrolling on any size screen due to all the entries, but if we made the rows smaller it would make the article much harder to read, and shrink the images to the point where it would be hard to see any detail.
Keepin' it real: New York City has a lot of tall buildings; you should expect to do some scrolling.