Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Rivers/Waterfalls task force/Archive 1

Archive 1

More details for project

I added more details to the project to flesh out the project's aims. I also provided an infobox format as a wiki-table. Hope this helps to drive more wikipedians to join the project.

Epolk 23:01, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

Landforms by country

Comments regarding a proposal at Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (categories) that would make "in country" the naming convention for Landform by country categories (such as waterfalls by country categories) would be very appreciated prior to a cfru. Kurieeto 22:57, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

Hikipedia

Hello,

Some time ago I was inspired by Wikipedia and a few other hiking sites to create Hikipedia - a wiki entirely focused on hiking trails. I need your help in making it the best place for sharing information about hiking trails. Could you please visit the site and then give me some feedback about it?

I am especially looking for actionable feedback that I could use to improve site's engine and site's content. Would you consider submitting a trail to Hikipedia? Why? Why not? Can I do something that would change your mind? Would you contribute by submitting a photo? A trail report? Voting for trail's difficulty? Do you think that putting the content into public domain is a good idea? Do you think that I should add or improve handling of some trail-specific metadata?

Please post your feedback either here, on Wikipedia or use the feedback page on Hikipedia. Your feedback will help me greatly in building the site.

Let me tell you in a few words, why I think there is a place for Hikipedia and why it might be better suited than Wikipedia for building a free database of hiking trails. If you disagree with some of my opinions, then please by all means reply with your contrarguments.

First of all, Hikipedia is built around trail metadata - it can use that metadata to automatically embed weather report (via accuweather.com), to provide driving directions to the trailhead (via google.com), to search for trails using the metadata (i.e. one can search for easy to moderate trails within 100 miles from Seattle, WA). There are links to topo maps of the trail, to nearby geocaches and to nearby trails. In a separate section I can list guidebooks that include the trail together with a picture of frontpages (via amazon.com).

Additionally Hikipedia puts all its content in public domain, which makes it easy to legally republish the content in short publications like guesthouse handouts or hiking club posters - something that cannot be said about Wikipedia (as discussed on WikiTravel )

Currently Wikipedia has advantage over Hikipedia in an ownership structure. Wikipedia is sponsored by a non-profit foundation, where Hikipedia (at least its engine) is owned by me. Nevertheless Wikipedia also started as a one-man project and I hope that putting Hikipedia content into public domain will ensure everyone that I am not here to steal your work, but to share trail information with the rest of the hiking community. I plan to put google adsense textual advertisments on the site at one point, but it won't happen anytime soon - I am in the US on a H1b visa and currently it would be illegal for me to earn money from any other source than my primary employee (and with the current low trafic the hosting costs are still affordable for me).

Please share your thoughts and comments, so I can improve Hikipedia. Thank you for your time,

Regards,

Lukasz Anforowicz

PS. Disclaimer and apologies for readers that are not in the USA: Hikipedia uses US-specific information for weather reports and finding nearest town, so it cannot be used for storing hiking information about trails outside the US.

Anforowicz 03:00, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

new infobox

Hi! I'm going to create Template:Waterfall to use as an alternative to using the current format. This should simplify things, but I'm not sure if I can make it look as good as it does now. Some help from a template expert would be welcome. Cacophony 06:34, 29 June 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 14:53, 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 19:52, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

New Article Template

I may have jumped the gun, but I've gone and created an article template for the waterfall project. Please feel free to edit/correct my work as you feel it's needed. 5minutes 18:25, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

In case you are interested, besides lakes and rivers, new articles about waterfalls generally show up on User:AlexNewArtBot/WaterbodiesSearchResult. -- User:Docu

Niagara Falls FAR

Niagara Falls has been nominated for a featured article review. Articles are typically reviewed for two weeks. Please leave your comments and help us to return the article to featured quality. If concerns are not addressed during the review period, articles are moved onto the Featured Article Removal Candidates list for a further period, where editors may declare "Keep" or "Remove" the article from featured status. The instructions for the review process are here. Reviewers' concerns are here. Marskell 07:42, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Article Structure

As a part of the articles I've been assembling on waterfalls in North Carolina, I've been including a tag on visiting the waterfalls. Any comments or thoughts on this? 5minutes 22:33, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for bringing this to discussion. Unfortunately I think it is a pretty clear violation of Wikipedia is not a travel guide. Information regarding were to park when visiting a waterfall is not appropriate in my opinion. --Daniel J. Leivick 17:52, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

However, basic location information should, I think, be included. I think the issue being addressed by the "Travel Guide" statement is more along the lines of attempting to limit promotional material, such as (to quote the statement), listing your favorite hotel or a good restaurant to get a nice cup of coffee nearby. THAT, I think, would certainly fall under "travel guide" status and should be rapidly deleted. However, posting basic information about parking (which may actually be a safety issue) or paths, while I think it certainly does give basic information on travel-related issues, doesn't exactly pass the "café au lait" test for disinclusion. 5minutes 18:07, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

I have to disagree. To keep with the Paris examples, should we have info on where to park when visiting the Eiffel tower? How about for Pacbell Park I have some good parking hints there? I would say no, encyclopedia articles are designed to help people understand the subject, not visit it. Also I have a feeling these items may violate WP:OR unless they are sourced from some kind of guidebook. Thanks again for discussing. --Daniel J. Leivick 18:14, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

However, both of these examples are of objects that are very large and easy to find. Many waterfalls are not easy to find. As to the directions that have been posted, I've gotten information from several different sources, and have tried to include those sources as either references or external links. I guess the real question is why SHOULDN'T this information be included? We already include the location of the falls in the info box. Anyone else want to comment? 5minutes 14:34, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

Duplicate infobox templates

{{Waterfall}} and {{Infobox Waterfall}} seem redundant. Should they be merged? Discussion at Template Talk:Infobox Waterfall. Thanks! hike395 04:41, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

Any thoughts? Three people (incl me) have spoken in favor of {{Infobox Waterfall}}. I tried to make it look a little more like {{Waterfall}}. hike395 14:40, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

I've finished converting over all waterfall articles to {{Infobox Waterfall}}. Please feel free to comment on the formatting of the infobox at Template Talk:Infobox Waterfall. I'm going to call for {{Waterfall}} to be deleted. hike395 06:27, 10 August 2007

TfD nomination of Template:Waterfall

Template:Waterfall has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for Deletion page. Thank you. — hike395 06:51, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

Hogenakkal Falls

There is an existing discussion of the talk page of the article involved about whether reliably sourced information about a proposed water project related to the falls should be included. Any input from members of this project would be appreciated. Also, I notice that this project's banner does not as yet include assessment criteria. Would the members of this project want to see such information added? John Carter (talk) 15:40, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Are maps to be considered primary or secondary sources?

Please give your input at Wikipedia talk:No original research#Regarding maps being "primary sources" according to this policy. --Rschen7754 (T C) 12:05, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

Heights of waterfalls

Palouse Falls was run by kayak—on April 30th, 2009, Tyler Bradt ran the falls setting an unofficial world record for the highest waterfall run. The plunge was filmed; Bradt's media agent released the video footage of him dropping over the falls to Sports Illustrated, which carried it on their website.^{"Fall Guy: Paddling Over Palouse Falls", Sports Illustrated, 13 May 2009, retrieved 15 May 2009{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)}

The actual height of the falls—as well as how that height is measured—suddenly became of interest. There are two net-published heights for the falls which differ by 4 meters. It is possible that the difference results from the variaton of gradiant into the falls (if you will, the short stretch of cascade waters before the plunge over the lip). So it would be nice to get back to a reliable source.

Does anyone have a good source on heights of waterfalls? Thanks - Williamborg (Bill) 17:15, 16 May 2009 (UTC)

I've used several different sources, ranging from books, the World Waterfalls Database, and even Google Earth to determine the heights of some falls. The fact is, tho, that there's no real way to determine the height of a falls any more than there's a way to say what is a waterfall and what isn't. Besides different types of falls (including some that are longer than they are high), you also have varying degrees of talus (the rocks below) and waterflow that can vary depending on the weather, upstream water control, etc. Personally, if it's within, say, 2%, I just don't worry about it. Having said that - 4 meters (aka "13 feet") is a bit much. There's a great article on it here: http://www.world-of-waterfalls.com/featured-articles-waterfalls-101-how-do-i-measure-a-waterfalls-height.html 5minutes (talk) 14:18, 17 May 2009 (UTC)

Missing falls topics

Iäve updated the falls section of one of my missing topics lists - Skysmith (talk) 12:52, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

Assistance with waterfall type in infobox

I recently added 7 infoboxes to North Queensland waterfall articles but wasn't certain of their type. 2 had a photo - Stoney Creek Falls, Millstream Falls, while the others didn't - Tchupala Falls, Milmilgee Falls, Murray Falls, Herbert River Falls and Tinaroo Falls. If you can tell from photos or have a reference for their type it would be good if you could add this to the infobox. - Shiftchange (talk) 02:36, 16 May 2010 (UTC)