User talk:MDCollins/Ajith adoption

Welcome Ajith

Hi. Here is the promised page that will enable us to contain our conversations in one place. Have a look at the history to discover my edit summary...!!

Any thoughts, questions, however stupid, just fire away here.

–MDCollins (talk) 22:56, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you

Thank you so much for your kind reply agreeing to help me. As you said, i've added this page to my 'watch' list n i've changed my preferences to prompt me to add edit summary.

Right now, i'd like you to work with you in improving the articles i've already written. I made those by looking others' work and using the help pages. Then I came across things for which i did'nt have a solution. Hope, you can help.

1. I wrote an article about pianist Benjamin Grosvenor. For the photo, I contacted him directly through his website (http://www.benjamingrosvenor.co.uk/). He agreed, and sent me a couple of his photos which when used, was not accepted. Can you tell which policy does this come :under (if it can be used).

2. Should i seek any kind of permission to use a picture which is already in wikipedia commons?

3. I'd like to know about basic conventions used in wikipedia articles like- where to use italics, bold etc. particularly for music related articles.

4. Can I include references for articles that I did'nt write?

M Ajith ^{(Talk to me)} 05:22, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi,

I see you have run into image copyright problems already. Join the rest of us mate. The simple answer to 1), as far as I can see it, is no. There is a big clamp down on the use of non-free images, especially where free ones are obtainable. For example, you cannot use a photo found on a website of a building which you can walk down the road and photograph yourself. By taking your own picture, you can release it for anybody to use as a free image, thus avoiding the problems. I'm still trying to find my way through the minefield of guidelines about using pictures you have permission to you - simply having the permission doesn't seem to be enough. I'll get back to you.

2) No permission is needed for images in the commons, they are there because people have given their permission already. Just link to it in the normal way.

3) In general do not overuse bold text. It should be used for the first mention of the article title in the text (like you have done with Benjamin Grosvenor), but there is not really any need for it anywhere else. Italics can be used more often, to emphasize important words. They should also be used for titles of works for example Holst's The Planets. Notice that the composer isn't in italics, and both the composer and piece are linked separately. This allows users to navigate to either Holst or The Planets depending on what they want. If you link to Handel's Messiah, it redirects you to Messiah (Handel) with one link instead of one for both Handel and Messiah: Handel's Messiah.

As a side point, when linking to composers, use the full article name followed by a Piped link: | if necessary.

For example [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] which will display as Mozart.

Also when you write a full date, link the month and day together, and then the year. Like this: Today's date is June 9 2007. This allows user set preferences to sort the date how they like (month date, year / date month, year or whatever). You can set your preference on the 'my preferences:date and time' tab like you did for the edit summary. Personally mine is June 9, 2007 but yours may be different!

4) Of course. Not only can you reference other articles, it is positively encouraged to reference anything that requires it. If you can find a website, or book or whatever that you can use, feel free. There is also a big push to encourage referencing and increase the reliability of the information.

I'll talk to you about categories sometime. Articles must be categorized correctly, and they appear as links at the bottom of the article. It helps navigation between similar articles for example Category:1992 births, or Category:English classical pianists. I suggest you have a read of Help:Category, and have a look at certain (similar) articles to your interests and see which they are in. A long list of inappropriate or unnecessary categories is not wise, but a few useful ones are. Year of birth is a good one for people, whereas Category:United Kingdom may not be. Other than being British, does Grosvenor have much to do with the other articles in that category? Have a look at that category and see for yourself! Have a play, and I'll see what you've done.

A small thing - the 'talk to me' in your signature doesn't link to your talk page! Check the capital letters in your signature settings...

Good luck,

–MDCollins (talk) 16:26, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi,

As you have suggested, i've changed my time preferences and corrected my signature.

Categorized Benjamin Grosvenor article. The old category

United Kingdom was not given by me.. i didnt know how to categorize then.

I've found the website addresses for some of the existing piano manufacturing brands which is in my Sandbox.I'd like to use them in the article List of Piano Brand Names. Will it be appropirate? If yes, is it a good idea insert the link next to each name?

Thanks, M Ajith ^{(Talk to me)} 07:45, 11 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Categories and external links

Hi. One thing I forgot to mention with categories. I have removed Category:British classical pianists as Category:English classical pianists is a sub-category of that. Generally a category tree structure works that you don't need to include parent categories as well.

With biographical articles, they need to be categorised so they appear in alphabetical order (Surname, Forenames). This is so Benjamin Grosvenor is sorted under G, and not B. This is done either in the form [[Category:1992 births|Grosvenor, Benjamin]], or by using the {{DEFAULTSORT}} template as I have done in the article. This is useful when an article is in many categories, as the form [[Category:1992 births]] will then apply the defaultsort process.

As for the Piano brands you should be careful about it turning into a list of external links. Perhaps some external links would be ok, but probably not for all of them. I'd leave them out for now. This also needs some categories, I suggest you start with [[Category:Music-related articles|Piano]], and [[Category:Piano manufacturing companies|*]] (which will sort it at the top of the list, away from the actual manufacturers]]. I know some of the list are not technically 'manufacturers', but that's a minor point! I'd also move the page to List of piano brand names inline with naming conventions.

Other things you might like to consider is an indication of whether or not they are stencil brands, or whether they still exist today. I guess that depends on your sources whether you have the information. If you have found major 'notable' manufacturers that don't have articles, you can perhaps create stubs for them with an external link there rather than on a list page.

Change name, Indicate stencil brands, Other language articles

Hello. As you said, i've categorized the List of Piano Brand Names article. I went through the naming conventions and I understood that we've to change the name. How do we do that? Looks like we have to create a new page n link it to the current one.

Yes. I know the brand names that exist today and some of the stencil brand names-not for all of them. Should i go ahead and indicate them? add an (*) next to those names or use italic text or something else?

I'm now trying to improve articles on individual piano manufacturers and brand names. There are some pages in other languages for eg. Zimmermann[1]. Can I, in some way link them with my article? or should I create a new one in English and translate?

To change a page name, you use the 'move' tab at the top of the page. This then moves the page to the new name whilst supplying a redirect from the old page. This also keeps the edit history in place.

Indicate the current names/stencils in whatever way you like really as long as you explain the code. One possibility is * for a stencil and italics for still exists: Current manufacturer, current stencil*, old manufacturer, old stencil*

It's up to you really.

You shouldn't really link to foreign language articles in the main text. If you have knowledge of the language you can have a go at translating it yourself, or there is a translation request page where you can list it. I can't guarantee it will get done though! You can however put the other language link in the sidebar on the left by including [[nl:|Zimmerman (piano)]] at the very bottom of the page.

Remember to sign your talk page posts (even if it is only for us!)

Good luck, –MDCollins (talk) 10:24, 12 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

China-related list

Hi,

Just noticed you've started List of China-related topics. Well done, it looks good. You ought to find a more specific stub tag (although I'm not sure you need one at all), Wikipedia:WikiProject Stub sorting/Stub types should help. I find this page invaluable. Perhaps {{China-stub}}. Have a look at Category:China stubs - there are some sub-categories there.

Also, you need to add it to a "Lists" category, this might be difficult owing to the nature of the list but Category:Asia-related lists is one possibility unless you can find a better one!

Ah! - I've just seen List of China-related topics 123-L and List of China-related topics M-Z - you might want to look at these, they are more populated than yours! My guess is that this was split out of List of China-related topics. Be careful - your page may well need to be merged, or redirected. I would advise that you replace your page with "This page has been sub-divided into List of China-related topics 123-L and List of China-related topics M-Z", and leave it as a WP:Disambiguation page.

Best of luck. –MDCollins (talk) 09:41, 21 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hello,

I have merged the List of China-related topics with List of China-related topics 123-L and List of China-related topics M-Z. I was quite surprised when I found that this article was not there before. Did'nt realize that it was broke down into two.

M Ajith ^{(Talk to me)} 12:32, 21 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yamaha Merging

Hi, I created a topic Yamaha (piano). It has been suggested that it should be merged with Yamaha Corporation. But dont you think Yamaha piano itself is important and can be a seperate topic?

Can you suggest me some categorizing options for Yamaha (piano)?

M Ajith ^{(Talk to me)} 06:12, 23 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Miyazawa Referencing

Hello, I just created the Miyazawa Flutes page (I am a brand new user). I used other flute company pages as a model as to not make it sound like an ad, just give information about the company (I play a Miyazawa.) However, my refernces to their website articles didn't work, and the page now says that it appears to be an ad. I see the other flute companies (Powell, Brannen Brothers, Muramatsu, Sankyo...) have information similar to what I included, and their pages are not flagged...? Thank you!

--Mhlwest (talk) 16:00, 12 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]