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Older discussion

OK, to start off, here are some questions on your list of desired information:

  • Location map - should we use the Scotland Infobox map?
  • Photographs (external and internal) - easy enough, though involving lots of mileage!
  • Floor plans - this will be more tricky, how do you propose uploading these?

Also, would it be worth organising a separate 'to do' list of redlinks? Or can we just work from the Castles in Scotland list. ::Supergolden:: 10:56, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

I like the location map idea, it will coordinate with other Scottish pages. Photos can be added when possible, if we have at least one external to begin with.
I'm not sure how readily available floor plans are - I think that an image format would be easiest to manage, although I don't know what the prefered one is.
A to - do list may be useful, better still, a list showing the status of each castle page (not started; stub; begun; etc) what do you think? Slink pink 21:26, 24 March 2006 (UTC)
Not sure about 'status' list, might be hard to keep on top of? I added the location map with gbmapping template link into Duntrune Castle. What do you think? ::Supergolden:: 13:28, 27 March 2006 (UTC)
I like the location map. Should we incorporate this into an info box, with some basic details or do you think it stands better alone? Slink pink 21:05, 28 March 2006 (UTC)
Maybe - what info would you put in an infobox? As for a to do list, maybe we could have a list of redlinks (ie new article needed), followed by a list of stubs (ie attention required)? ::Supergolden:: 11:54, 29 March 2006 (UTC)
Don't know how applicable this would be for most of them, but {{Infobox Military Structure}} might be useful for some of the articles. Kirill Lokshin 15:32, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

The standalone map looks good. Infoboxes can become overbearing for all but the largest of articles, especially when competing for space with photographs. Just my 50p worth. --Cactus.man ✍ 15:19, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

I've thought some more about the 'status list' idea. I envisage the life of an article as follows

  • Red link
  • Stub
  • Short article
  • Final article (checked)
  • Periodic reviews/updates as required.

I think if we could (to-do) list each castle under these approximate headings then it would provide a good check of progress. I will begin to do this on the progress page. Slink pink 17:23, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

Changes to Castles in Scotland

I've noticed some recent entries by User:Lianachan which relate to places rather than castles, e.g. Thurso (now removed). We will have to keep a careful watch for such additions. Slink pink 11:19, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

Category: Castles in Scotland

Do we need both the category and the page? Slink pink 11:19, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

I'm not a fan of list pages - they are uninformative and usually incomplete anyway. Categories are obviously better for, well, categorising. But lists can include redlinks, whereas cats obviously can't include articles that don't exist. I say we keep both for now. ::Supergolden:: 16:38, 26 March 2006 (UTC)
I agree with that. It may also be helpful to decide which categories will be used throughout (may form part of the template), as I have seen a number used. Slink pink 17:23, 29 March 2006 (UTC)
The list pages are definitely useful for the redlinks. I agree it should be kept. --Cactus.man ✍

Template

I have now looked through all the pages that exist on the Castles in Scotland page and have shortlisted my top 5 for the following reasons (no 1 being my favourite):

  • 5 - Balmoral Castle - This is a fine example of the minimum article length which I would like for any castle. It is also a reasonable text/image balance.
  • 4 - Foulis Castle - Although there is no real structure to this article, I particularly like the mix of pictures shown and the arrangement of images in a column on the right.
  • 3 - Edzell Castle - I like the content of this article. Having visited, the garden is the main feature to see, but the history is more important for the article. Although I'd like more information (and pictures), I like the balance of content.
  • 2 - Kellie Castle - This has good visual appeal, structure and content.
  • 1 - Crathes Castle - Although I'd keep the images to the right, I like the structure and headings used. They capture the information I'd like to see in each article.

Well, your thoughts are appreciated. I think that if we can agree an approximate layout, then a template can be created. Slink pink 17:23, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

From these articles it would seem that the following structure could be used:

  • Introductory paragraph, including location
  • History, divided into 'early' and 'later' or whatever suits
  • The Castle Today - ie description of the state of the place, features etc
  • Gardens - if appropriate
  • Interior - if appropriate
  • Other information specific to any site - ie use in a film etc.

Although its good to have a map for each castle, I think there should always be a picture at the top, with the map at the bottom maybe? ::Supergolden:: 11:08, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Using the above guidelines, I have expanded Orchardton Tower from a substub into a proper article. Is this what we are aiming for? ::Supergolden:: 19:21, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

For castle articles, I think that there should be some sort of an infobox on the side that says basic information like the name of the castle, where it is, what year it was built, who built it, and possibly a picture. --Isabella123 23:00, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

One of the good things about the 5 "favourite" castle pages mentioned above - and the new expanded Orchardton Tower - is the easy flow of text and pictures. A pic (or two) of the castle in pride of place looks great - map lower down seems good. Sometimes infoboxes can seem a bit indigestible/unattractive - prefer them discreet if used, and well down the page after the main text and pics. (Joining in the discussion rather late . . .) --HJMG 15:11, 30 April 2006 (UTC)
I think we should avoid being too rigid with the structure. Some castles lend themselves to different outlines. for example i created the Muchalls Castle article and found a need for several periods of history. I think to put the history under subsections creates an artificial heirarchy that can detract from the flow for the reader. Anlace 23:12, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

Stub Template

I have put up a request for a {{Scotland-castle-stub}} template and category at Wikiproject Stub Sorting. I think this should be OK, so in a week we should have our own stub cat for stubby castles, like my favourite, Moreland Castle ::Supergolden:: 12:28, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Excellent work Super. This will nicely clear up the issue of which stub template to use. Slink pink 07:19, 11 April 2006 (UTC)
Stub template and category now created following discussion at WP:WSS. All castle stubs can now be tagged with {{Scotland-castle-stub}} instead of {{Scotland-struct-stub}}, which will sort all the stubs into Category:Scotland castle stubs. ::Supergolden:: 08:45, 14 April 2006 (UTC)
Category:Scotland castle stubs is now populated with all relevant stubs from Category:Scotland buildings and structures stubs. ::Supergolden:: 08:51, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

Database?

I just found out about this project. Thanks, Slink Pink, for getting this going, and thanks, Supergolden for pointing me here.

Do any of you more experienced Wikipedians know whether Wikipedia supports some type of simple database functionality for articles within a category. I'm imagining someone doing a simple search for all Scottish castles that are, for example, tower houses in Arberdeenshire. We'd have to define a set of basic fields for Scottish castles -- location, type of structure, year of initial construction, year(s) of significant expansion, family (or families) with significant connection, etc. -- which would probably be reflected in an infobox.

Obviously, this could be done at the most basic level with a table on a Scottish Castles page with all of the data, but I have something a bit more interactive and integrated into Wikipedia than that.

I have no idea whether this is possible. If it is, I'd appreciate a pointer to an example of something like this elsewhere on Wikipedia. (If it's not possible and the reasons have been discussed elsewhere, I'd appreciate a pointer to that.)

--JohnPomeranz 21:45, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Thats an interesting idea John. Unfortunatley I've no idea if it's possible - I don't think I've come across anything like that on WP. The only thing i could think of would be to have loads of categories, but that would just get cumbersome. Any other ideas? ::Supergolden:: 10:26, 10 April 2006 (UTC)
I love that idea! I too have not seen any such thing, but will investigate. My initial thoughts were to put that kind of information into an infobox. This may provide a method of holding all the fields, but we'd still need a search engine. Slink pink 07:07, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

Location Maps

[I've copied some discussion from above related to this issue to bring it all into one place...]

I like the location map idea, it will coordinate with other Scottish pages. Photos can be added when possible, if we have at least one external to begin with.
I like the location map. Should we incorporate this into an info box, with some basic details or do you think it stands better alone? Slink pink 21:05, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

The standalone map looks good. Infoboxes can become overbearing for all but the largest of articles, especially when competing for space with photographs. Just my 50p worth. --Cactus.man ✍ 15:19, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

Although its good to have a map for each castle, I think there should always be a picture at the top, with the map at the bottom maybe? ::Supergolden:: 11:08, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

[Now adding my own two cents (pence?)...]

I agree. Location maps are good. I like the Scotland Infobox map, but it's hard for us non-Scots to use when the subject mapped -- castles in this case -- are generally listed by county because it doesn't show the borders of the counties. I recognize that adding all the county boundaries would clutter up the map. Could we compromise by showing regions and grouping castles by region (or would that fail because some regions have too many castles to make a readable list)?

I note that a few castles (e.g. Brodie Castle and Huntly Castle) have a different style of location map created (or at least added by) User:Topbanana. I like these images, but their fault is not showing the location in the larger context of Scotland.

Maybe what I'm looking for is general Scottish castles article with a large map showing all the castles in Scotland and then detail maps for each region. (Such an article could also talk about Scottish castles in general, discussing common features, etc.)

Another idea... Rather than a simple dot on the map for the castle, could we use symbols that provide more information? Ruin vs. Standing; Open to the public vs. closed; different symbols for different basic types of castle construction... Whichever information we think important enough to make clear at first glance.

--JohnPomeranz 22:12, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

First, I think your suggestion of a proper Castles in Scotland article is great - i think we really need some sort of overview of how castle building developed across the country, different types of castles, architectural styles, why castle building stopped and when, why there are more castles in some areas, modern day preservation and restoration, all that stuff. The current list page could then move to List of Castles in Scotland. A fine idea.
This article could include a map or maps, but my only concern is the sheer quantity of dots, over 3000 across the country, often clustered. Showing different symbols might also be problematic - possible but would have to be kept simple to be useful.
Third, I too like the maps by Topbanana, they are on some of the Aberdeenshire Castles, and just show Aberdeenshire. Although it might be nice to make a set of area maps to show the location, rather than the whole of Scotland, I think the Scotland infobox map works well. Combined with the grid ref link it gives the whole picture - from national scale to the precise location.
My tuppence worth ::Supergolden:: 10:51, 10 April 2006 (UTC)
Yep, I'm all in favour of a proper Scottish Castle article.
I also like the large map idea, showing all the castles, but I think this might get a bit crazy. It may be possible to have larger version of the now standard scottish map, with clickable regions (i.e. the current groupings on the Castles in Scotland list, or similar), linking to a regional map showing all the castles that lie within. Although some regions will have a high density, a reasonably large image could provide a means of showing the approximate location of each.
As for Topbanana's maps, I like them, but would prefer a slightly more detailed version - i.e. one that looks more like a map and less like a sketch. Maybe I'm just being picky. Going back to my previous thought, is it possible to have hover text on a large clickable map, so you could hover over a location icon to gain a very short snippet about that castle? Slink pink 07:16, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

Scottish Castle Article

This is a slightly different topic from the location map, so deserves it's own heading. I have also copied some relavent comments from above.

First, I think your suggestion of a proper Castles in Scotland article is great - i think we really need some sort of overview of how castle building developed across the country, different types of castles, architectural styles, why castle building stopped and when, why there are more castles in some areas, modern day preservation and restoration, all that stuff. The current list page could then move to List of Castles in Scotland. A fine idea. ::Supergolden:: 10:51, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

I discovered a lovely info-box style links-box on the pasta page - if you follow the link you may understand what I mean. This might be a useful structure to adopt for a general page on Scottish Castles. If sufficient information existed, a similar style box could be created, for example:
Castle classification
  • Tower house
  • Castle
  • etc
Shape
  • L plan
  • Z plan
  • T plan
Prominent features
  • Turret
  • etc
I know this is possibly leading out of the scope of this Wikiproject, but maybe not... thoughts? Slink pink 12:57, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

Template

I have created a template for the project: {{WPSCOTCASTLE}}

Which looks like this:

This can be put ON TALK PAGES of relevant articles to draw attention to our efforts. ::Supergolden:: 08:54, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

Good idea. Slink pink 16:32, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
Looks good, I will work through adding it to talk pages. --Cactus.man ✍ 12:42, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

Castle naming

Newark Castle, Port Glasgow was moved to Newark Castle, Inverclyde, the reason given in the edit summary being "std dab by local govt". This "std" is not reflected in the Castles in Scotland list, where Newark Castle, Fife is the only other title to use the current local govt. name. Nisbet, Berwickshire uses the historic county, and Beaufort Castle, Scotland the country. The Earl's Palace, Kirkwall and Bishop's Palace, Kirkwall use the town name, Earl's Palace, Birsay the name of the village and parish. The "std" was not discussed on the talk page or here. Using the county or region name is useful for castles in the countryside, but not the normal usage for castles in towns. A move back to the original name has been requested at Wikipedia:Requested moves and votes are at Talk:Newark Castle, Inverclyde. Serious consideration should be given as to whether this new naming "std" should be introduced. dave souza, talk 18:56, 27 April 2006 (UTC) amended ..dave souza, talk 20:53, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

This 'std' is fairly 'std' when applied to towns, I'm not sure how it applies to structures. At present, as your quick survey reveals, it appears we have no 'std' at all. ::Supergolden:: 14:30, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

Castles, Tower Houses, Mansions, etc

What to include? The time has come to decide what will be allowed on the Castles in Scotland list. We need to decide what makes a castle a castle and whether or not to include other castle-like things (e.g. tower houses) in our list, or what to do with the things not in our list. Do we...

  1. make a Tower Houses in Scotland list?
  2. make a seperate Wikiproject?
  3. include them in this wikiproject but under a different set of articles?
  4. delete them all and forget about them?
  5. none of the above.

Once again, your thoughts/suggestions are welcomed. Slink pink 16:56, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

For me, tower houses are definitely in, being defensive structures. Many castles have an older tower house at their core. My candidate for exclusion would be non-defensive castles, such as Floors Castle and Drumlanrig Castle, which are just country houses called 'castle', and aren't really within the scope of the Wikiproject. Then, on the other hand, there are the country houses which are built around older fortified structures, but are no longer called 'castle', such as Falkland Palace. This project should, I believe, concentrate on defensive structures from the 12th to 17th centuries. ::Supergolden:: 14:44, 2 May 2006 (UTC)
It seems like real defensive elements are the key, so fortified manor houses might qualify while manor houses not. Tower houses are inherently defensive in nature. Motte and bailey such as the Bass of Inverurie are perhaps also worth inclusion.

Images

Having previously expressed a wish for as many images as possible of the interior, exterior and gardens/other features of note, it occured to me that each article (where required) could have three sub-pages containing only images. For example,

The article could contain a small number of the best, say one or two from each category, or more if it was a particularly large article. I think that this may help to keep a good balance of text and images throughout without sacrificing material. If this seems agreeable, I can produce a sample using Elcho Castle for which I have a large number of images, and the article needs written anyway. Slink pink 06:46, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

Slink, I like your idea, but I think this would be something for Commons, which is designed as an image repository. You can upload a whole bunch of pictures and make a page on commons called 'Some Castle' and put tham all on it as a gallery. Images uploaded to Commons can still be used on Wikipedia in the normal way, and you can add a link to the commons page using the {{commons}} template. Typing {{commons|Some Castle}} gives you:
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Some Castle.
Have a look at the Castles in Scotland category at Commons for a start. Sorry if you know all this, but I think its worth spreading the knowledge! ::Supergolden:: 12:40, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

More Pages

This page is growing quite rapidly these days, so I would like your opinions on the proposal of creating a number of other work pages, like the progress page, to categorise specific queries and notes. I don't know what to call such pages or how many we may require. Slink pink 06:46, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

Project page

Hope everyone likes the Project Page reshuffle. I wanted to get more stuff from the discussions onto the front page, hopefully to encourage more involvement and discussion! Feel free to edit away... ::Supergolden:: 10:21, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks Super, I've been meaning to sort it out for a while. Slink pink 11:03, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

Citing Sources

Is there a standard format for citing those tourist boards/notices (those things with lots of info on the castle that are there for visitors to read) as sources. I added soume info to the Broughty Castle article that I got from some but I thought it would look better if it was referenced. Ydam 12:05, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

Didn't know that - do you know what the standard format is or how I can find it? Citing sources is certainly something we should encourage within this project. Thanks, ::Supergolden:: 18:24, 19 June 2006 (UTC)
The main details are at WP:CITE, WP:FOOT and WP:CTT. Personally I always thought that references were one of the most important things in an article. It's one thing to state something it's totally different if that assertion is instantly backed up by a source. Anyways, I suppose I would be better off if we asked at the relevent talk page of those links. Ydam 18:39, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Photos

Mains Castle.
Dudhope Castle.

I've taken some photos of Dudhope and Mains castles in Dundee but they don't have articles as of yet so I'm going to place them here so that when they do get articles they'll be easily accesible for those that need them. Ydam 15:49, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks Ydam! I would only suggest that if you have images with no article, they would be better off uploaded to Commons rather than Wikipedia. They can still be used in the normal way, but images on Commons don't get 'orphaned' and deleted the way WP images do (although since you've put them here that won't happen). ::Supergolden:: 12:43, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
Thats what I did. Ydam 13:44, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
So you did, silly me. Thanks! ::Supergolden:: 13:02, 30 June 2006 (UTC)
Here are a couple picture of Foulis Castle that were taken off the Foulis Castle page. I took these a couple summers ago Foulis Side Foulis King-of-no-pants 03:11, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

National Monuments Record of Scotland Data

At a minimum, I suggest all articles contain a sentence as follows: "The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland lists the site as a ____________ (e.g., castle, tower, motte, etc.) and holds records for the monument in its databases under map sheet __________ (e.g., NS92SE), site number _________ (e.g., 3). See article on Crawford Castle.

It would also be helpful to researchers in history and archeology as well as persons researching ancestry or planning to visit Scotland to include (in each article re Scottish Castles) the raw data from public records as shown in the article for Crawford Castle. A good primary source for location and archeological data for many Scottish castles can be found in the public records held in the National Monuments Record of Scotland database. Subheadings listing or expositing this data could include those subheads shown in the article for Crawford Castle (i.e., exact location by map coordinates, archeological notes, etc.). Also, please consider adding footnotes to your article. The archeological data from the National Monuments Record of Scotland database includes footnotes and it would be immensely helpful if those footnotes were reproduced in each article on a Scottish castle. I cannot recall if I had to pay for some of this information when I originated the article on Crawford Castle. Not all of the information held in the National Monuments Record of Scotland database is available on line.

This is NOT to say the article on Crawford Castle cannot be improved - it has a long way to go and I would appreciate any help you can give to improving this article as well as the Lindsay Tower article. I initially had some trouble distinguishing Crawford Castle from the castle known as Crawford Castle or Spetisbury Rings, iron-age fortification and its ruins, at Spetisbury in Dorset, England (see Crawford Castle (disambiguation)). There are likely more good connections to be made between Crawford Castle and William Wallace that have not been uncovered.

Hmm. Well, NMRS data is extremely helpful in putting together these articles, and should certainly be a first point of reference for any Scottish Castle page. However, I would advise against including the raw data from the database, as well as the lists of Archaeological notes, footnotes, sources etc. This just builds into a bewildering mess of data which is not appropriate, in my view, to an encyclopedia. Don't forget that this wikiproject only exists within Wikipedia: What wikipedia is not advises against this sort of thing.
The RCAHMS databases can be accessed here. (I find PASTMAP particularly helpful) Any castle article should include a link to the relevant online section of the NMRS database, as I have done at Carsluith Castle (site reference included). The data can then be accesssed from there, and doesn't need to be copied into the article as well. What do others think? ::Supergolden:: 12:57, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

Powrie Castle

Anyone heard of this one. I'd never heard of it before and it's not in the list but I was browsing through this leaflet and it featured it. I'd love to go and get a photo of it for any future article but aside from the fact that it's in Dundee I can't find any information on it or its precise location aside from a vague reference to it being north of dundee Ydam 18:20, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

Never heard of it, but a Google search came up with, among other things, this photo page with a map link, and this pdf which descibes Powrie Castle on page 11. Good old Google. ::Supergolden:: 09:04, 4 July 2006 (UTC)
Thanks for that, will have to go down later this week and get a photo Ydam 00:28, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Infobox

Billreid has added an infobox to Spynie Palace and Duffus Castle (there may be others). I think this would make a great template for use across the wikiproject, but I think some discussion is needed to make sure the template suits all castles. My comments would be to add an entry on 'Condition' (ie ruin, occupied, etc), and on a more cosmetic point, to take out the frames around the imiages, and put the photo, rather than the map, at the top. Anyway, thanks to Billreid for making a start. What does anyone else think? ::Supergolden:: 12:52, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

I've re-jigged it to look like a proper infobox. What do you think?

Duffus Castle

Location Duffus, Nr Elgin, Moray, Scotland
57.68N 3.29W
Established c.1140
Last occupied 1705
Construction First castle: wood - Motte-and-bailey
Second castle: - stone keep with curtain wall
Built by Freskyn, of Strabrock and Duffus
Owner Historic Scotland
Entry Fee No
Billreid 16:12, 2 October 2006 (UTC)


Useful Book

Recently published: Castles of Scotland- Martin Coventry, Birlinn General 2006. It lists around 2700 fortifications in ScotlandBrendandh 22:36, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

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Thanks Bill, I checked and added Portal Scotland to our listing, but our wee project doesnt have any departments at present... ::Supergolden:: 10:44, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

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Balquhain Castle Article

WikiProject Scottish Castles,

Article: Balquhain Castle

I am trying figure out which period or timeline that this castle was built, the war it was involved in. It's not my area. I thought I'd give it an assessment it, but no idea on the years it was in use. If you take a look at it, and know when or roughly when it was then it would be appreciated. It is a very very short article 5 lines at the most with a picture. Because I can change it once I get feedback. Adamdaley (talk) 15:22, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

Erchless Castle Article

WikiProject Scottish Castles,

Article: Erchless Castle

I am trying figure out which period or timeline that this castle was built, the war it was involved in. It's not my area. I thought I'd give it an assessment it, but no idea on the years it was in use. If you take a look at it, and know when or roughly when it was then it would be appreciated. It is a very very short article 5 lines at the most with a picture. Because I can change it once I get feedback. Adamdaley (talk) 15:22, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

Federate Castle Article

WikiProject Scottish Castles,

Article: Federate Castle

I am trying figure out which period or timeline that this castle was built, the war it was involved in. It's not my area. I thought I'd give it an assessment it, but no idea on the years it was in use. If you take a look at it, and know when or roughly when it was then it would be appreciated. It is a very very short article 5 lines at the most with a picture. Because I can change it once I get feedback. Adamdaley (talk) 15:22, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

Whitefield Castle Article

WikiProject Scottish Castles,

Article: Whitefield Castle

I am trying figure out which period or timeline that this castle was built, the war it was involved in. It's not my area. I thought I'd give it an assessment it, but no idea on the years it was in use. If you take a look at it, and know when or roughly when it was then it would be appreciated. It is a very very short article 5 lines at the most with a picture. Because I can change it once I get feedback. Adamdaley (talk) 15:22, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

Edinburgh Castle

I've nominated Edinburgh Castle for an A class review. Anyone is welcome to make comments at Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Assessment/Edinburgh Castle. Thanks, Jonathan Oldenbuck (talk) 08:19, 30 May 2011 (UTC)

Please help get Scottish castles ready for the start of the Wiki Loves Monuments competition on 1st September

In September the UK is taking part for the first time in the international photography competition Wiki Loves Monuments. Participants will be invited to submit pictures of listed buildings of significant importance (category A), as recorded by Historic Scotland. The main external website for competitors can be found here, and you can leave a message there if you have queries about competing. Do please join in, and let people in your local area know of this excellent way in which both existing and new Wiki users can help improve the encyclopaedia by contributing photographs of local listed structures. What about organizing a local Wikimeet to attract new people?

In preparation for the start of the competition on 1st September there is still quite a lot of work to do, and we would like to ask for the help of members of this wikiproject. Your local and expert knowledge will be invaluable in ensuring that the lists of eligible buildings are up to date and correctly formatted. If you look at Listed buildings in the United Kingdom you will see how many structures are included. If you then follow the link to Listed buildings in Scotland, you can get to the detailed lists for your area. Alternatively have a look at the WLM planning table. Can you help to ensure that the lists for your area are up to date and well presented?

Some of the lists have been semi-automatically generated from data provided by Historic Scotland. These use pre formatted templates (eg NS header) which will make it much easier for competition participants to upload their photographs to Commons as an automated process. Please don't change the template structure, as we need to ensure that the templates are properly compatible with the WLM standards that are in use worldwide. The format will allow a bot automatically to collect the information and to put it into the international Monuments Database.

The data still needs the attention of local editors:

  • The "title" may need wikilinking to a suitable article name (whether we currently have that article or not). If there are several buildings in one street all of the wikilinks point at an article about the street; however each entry has a separate line in the list.
  • The "location" column looks and sorts better if just the parish or town is included (& wikilinked).
  • The "date completed" column sometimes has eg "C19" for 19th century, and "C1850" for c. 1850 when the date is uncertain - these need to be corrected manually.
  • The "grid ref & lat & long" (which is occasionally missing) may be given to 8 characters — only 6 (grid ref) or 5 (lat & long) are really needed.
  • Clicking on the "list entry number" should take you to the data sheet for that entry on the Historic Scotland database which can be checked if needed for details.
  • The image column should have a picture added if we already have a suitable image on Commons. (N.B. if you are going to be taking photos yourself for inclusion in the competition don't upload them until September)
  • References may be added according to normal WP practice.

For further information, please see Commons:Wiki Loves Monuments 2013 in the United Kingdom.

If you have any queries, please post them not below but on the Organizers' help page on Commons.

Anything you can do to help improve these lists will be much appreciated. The final deadline for cleaning up is 31st August.

--MichaelMaggs (talk) 17:15, 23 August 2013 (UTC)

Gilbertfield castle

Castle built 1607. Mary Queen of Scots died 1587 so questionable how she managed to stay in castle. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.149.153.233 (talk) 11:31, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

As of January, the popular pages tool has moved from the Toolserver to Wikimedia Tool Labs. The code has changed significantly from the Toolserver version, but users should notice few differences. Please take a moment to look over your project's list for any anomalies, such as pages that you expect to see that are missing or pages that seem to have more views than expected. Note that unlike other tools, this tool aggregates all views from redirects, which means it will typically have higher numbers. (For January 2014 specifically, 35 hours of data is missing from the WMF data, which was approximated from other dates. For most articles, this should yield a more accurate number. However, a few articles, like ones featured on the Main Page, may be off).

Web tools, to replace the ones at tools:~alexz/pop, will become available over the next few weeks at toollabs:popularpages. All of the historical data (back to July 2009 for some projects) has been copied over. The tool to view historical data is currently partially available (assessment data and a few projects may not be available at the moment). The tool to add new projects to the bot's list is also available now (editing the configuration of current projects coming soon). Unlike the previous tool, all changes will be effective immediately. OAuth is used to authenticate users, allowing only regular users to make changes to prevent abuse. A visible history of configuration additions and changes is coming soon. Once tools become fully available, their toolserver versions will redirect to Labs.

If you have any questions, want to report any bugs, or there are any features you would like to see that aren't currently available on the Toolserver tools, see the updated FAQ or contact me on my talk page. Mr.Z-bot (talk) (for Mr.Z-man) 05:25, 23 February 2014 (UTC)

Leaflet for Wikiproject Scottish Castles at Wikimania 2014

Hi all,

My name is Adi Khajuria and I am helping out with Wikimania 2014 in London.

One of our initiatives is to create leaflets to increase the discoverability of various wikimedia projects, and showcase the breadth of activity within wikimedia. Any kind of project can have a physical paper leaflet designed - for free - as a tool to help recruit new contributors. These leaflets will be printed at Wikimania 2014, and the designs can be re-used in the future at other events and locations.

This is particularly aimed at highlighting less discoverable but successful projects, e.g:

• Active Wikiprojects: Wikiproject Medicine, WikiProject Video Games, Wikiproject Film

• Tech projects/Tools, which may be looking for either users or developers.

• Less known major projects: Wikinews, Wikidata, Wikivoyage, etc.

• Wiki Loves Parliaments, Wiki Loves Monuments, Wiki Loves ____

• Wikimedia thematic organisations, Wikiwomen’s Collaborative, The Signpost

The deadline for submissions is 1st July 2014

For more information or to sign up for one for your project, go to:

Project leaflets
Adikhajuria (talk) 12:27, 26 June 2014 (UTC)

Comment on the WikiProject X proposal

Hello there! As you may already know, most WikiProjects here on Wikipedia struggle to stay active after they've been founded. I believe there is a lot of potential for WikiProjects to facilitate collaboration across subject areas, so I have submitted a grant proposal with the Wikimedia Foundation for the "WikiProject X" project. WikiProject X will study what makes WikiProjects succeed in retaining editors and then design a prototype WikiProject system that will recruit contributors to WikiProjects and help them run effectively. Please review the proposal here and leave feedback. If you have any questions, you can ask on the proposal page or leave a message on my talk page. Thank you for your time! (Also, sorry about the posting mistake earlier. If someone already moved my message to the talk page, feel free to remove this posting.) Harej (talk) 22:48, 1 October 2014 (UTC)

Featured Picture on the front page

POTD

Hi everyone, this Featured Picture of Blackness Castle will be part of the main page on 26th December. If anyone was planning on adding anything to what looks like an already well-sourced article, the next couple of weeks would be a good opportunity ahead of the increased exposure the article will get. Nev1 (talk) 21:44, 8 December 2014 (UTC)

WikiProject X is live!

Hello everyone!

You may have received a message from me earlier asking you to comment on my WikiProject X proposal. The good news is that WikiProject X is now live! In our first phase, we are focusing on research. At this time, we are looking for people to share their experiences with WikiProjects: good, bad, or neutral. We are also looking for WikiProjects that may be interested in trying out new tools and layouts that will make participating easier and projects easier to maintain. If you or your WikiProject are interested, check us out! Note that this is an opt-in program; no WikiProject will be required to change anything against its wishes. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you!

Note: To receive additional notifications about WikiProject X on this talk page, please add this page to Wikipedia:WikiProject X/Newsletter. Otherwise, this will be the last notification sent about WikiProject X.

Harej (talk) 16:56, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

Culzean Castle

Wikimedia UK are talking to Culzean Castle about possibly holding an editathon there. It's at an early stage, but would people writing articles related to this project be interested in such an event? Richard Nevell (WMUK) (talk) 13:16, 20 April 2016 (UTC)

Greetings WikiProject Scottish Castles/Archive 1 Members!

This is a one-time-only message to inform you about a technical proposal to revive your Popular Pages list in the 2016 Community Wishlist Survey that I think you may be interested in reviewing and perhaps even voting for:

If the above proposal gets in the Top 10 based on the votes, there is a high likelihood of this bot being restored so your project will again see monthly updates of popular pages.

Further, there are over 260 proposals in all to review and vote for, across many aspects of wikis.

Thank you for your consideration. Please note that voting for proposals continues through December 12, 2016.

Best regards, Stevietheman — Delivered: 18:07, 7 December 2016 (UTC)

We – Community Tech – are happy to announce that the Popular pages bot is back up-and-running (after a one year hiatus)! You're receiving this message because your WikiProject or task force is signed up to receive the popular pages report. Every month, Community Tech bot will post at Wikipedia:WikiProject Scottish Castles/Archive 1/Popular pages with a list of the most-viewed pages over the previous month that are within the scope of WikiProject Scottish Castles.

We've made some enhancements to the original report. Here's what's new:

  • The pageview data includes both desktop and mobile data.
  • The report will include a link to the pageviews tool for each article, to dig deeper into any surprises or anomalies.
  • The report will include the total pageviews for the entire project (including redirects).

We're grateful to Mr.Z-man for his original Mr.Z-bot, and we wish his bot a happy robot retirement. Just as before, we hope the popular pages reports will aid you in understanding the reach of WikiProject Scottish Castles, and what articles may be deserving of more attention. If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at m:User talk:Community Tech bot.

Warm regards, the Community Tech Team 17:16, 17 May 2017 (UTC)

A new newsletter directory is out!

A new Newsletter directory has been created to replace the old, out-of-date one. If your WikiProject and its taskforces have newsletters (even inactive ones), or if you know of a missing newsletter (including from sister projects like WikiSpecies), please include it in the directory! The template can be a bit tricky, so if you need help, just post the newsletter on the template's talk page and someone will add it for you.

– Sent on behalf of Headbomb. 03:11, 11 April 2019 (UTC)

Request for information on WP1.0 web tool

Hello and greetings from the maintainers of the WP 1.0 Bot! As you may or may not know, we are currently involved in an overhaul of the bot, in order to make it more modern and maintainable. As part of this process, we will be rewriting the web tool that is part of the project. You might have noticed this tool if you click through the links on the project assessment summary tables.

We'd like to collect information on how the current tool is used by....you! How do you yourself and the other maintainers of your project use the web tool? Which of its features do you need? How frequently do you use these features? And what features is the tool missing that would be useful to you? We have collected all of these questions at this Google form where you can leave your response. Walkerma (talk) 04:24, 27 October 2019 (UTC)

New article - Popular castles of Scotland

I have a fascination for Scotland. I decided to make the above article. Have a look, make improvements or suggestions. I will endeavour to further wikify it, especially in terms of categories and such.

QuakerIlK (talk) 10:38, 18 July 2020 (UTC)

Project-independent quality assessments

Quality assessments by Wikipedia editors rate articles in terms of completeness, organization, prose quality, sourcing, etc. Most wikiprojects follow the general guidelines at Wikipedia:Content assessment, but some have specialized assessment guidelines. A recent Village pump proposal was approved and has been implemented to add a |class= parameter to {{WikiProject banner shell}}, which can display a general quality assessment for an article, and to let project banner templates "inherit" this assessment.

No action is required if your wikiproject follows the standard assessment approach. Over time, quality assessments will be migrated up to {{WikiProject banner shell}}, and your project banner will automatically "inherit" any changes to the general assessments for the purpose of assigning categories.

However, if your project has decided to "opt out" and follow a non-standard quality assessment approach, all you have to do is modify your wikiproject banner template to pass {{WPBannerMeta}} a new |QUALITY_CRITERIA=custom parameter. If this is done, changes to the general quality assessment will be ignored, and your project-level assessment will be displayed and used to create categories, as at present. Aymatth2 (talk) 13:55, 13 April 2023 (UTC)

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