User talk:Dystopos

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Use this page to make comments or ask questions of BhamWiki's founder. For help in making sure I don't get a big head, go here.

Comments (sign with four tildes: ~~~~)

Questions

  • Should I send e-mail, comment here, or comment elsewhere? I looked at the Bhamwiki:Community Portal page and saw the need for school pages. I did a search on schools, which led me to the List of school systems. I followed the one active link to Jefferson County and performed a minor fix. Then I tried to get back without using the back button. Jefferson County leads to Category:Schools, which leads to Category:Education. However neither includes the List of school systems. Should this list be in the Schools category, too? (Sorry, I'm essentially new to actually editing Wikis.) --Lkseitz 12:30, 28 April 2006 (PDT)
  • What's the criteria for a person getting their own entry? For example Darin Powell. I stubbed out an article for him because I discovered a link to him in the Birmingham Weekly article. Is he really important enough in Birmingham history to merit a page? Or is it better to have a page for him, just so it can be expanded a little without cluttering the Birmingham Weekly one? Other examples: Mark Maisel, publisher and editor of BTN; Allen and Susan Hammack, founders of Lion and Unicorn. In short, people that are primarily known in Birmingham for a single thing, such as owning a particular shop. --Lkseitz 18:44, 30 May 2006 (PDT)

Stubs

quick

  • Just a quick thanks for helping me find my feet. Glad that my favorite city has this project going for it! -- Rob 19:40, 2 October 2006 (PDT)
  • You're welcome. Me too. --Dystopos 19:42, 2 October 2006 (PDT)

Portal

  1. The problem with the text being outside the boxes is a </div> is getting inserted immediately after the one that opens to contain the text. Unfortunately, I cannot determine the cause for this. It doesn't appear to be in a template; rather it looks like something the software's doing (but I could be mistaken).
  2. The edit buttons not working seems to have to do with the "{{#if:{{{section|}}}|&section={{{section|}}}}}}}" bit in the template. This is called a predefined template over on Wikipedia. I'm suspecting this predefined template simply doesn't exist on BhamWiki, thus it doesn't do anything. You might try taking that bit out. I think, for your purposes, the links will work without it.
  3. I'm guessing the sub-pages linking back to the portal has to do with using the "Portal" namespace (instead of "Wikipedia" or, in our case, "Bhamwiki"). Of course, it's possible the whole portal thing isn't implemented here at BhamWiki. --Lkseitz 19:41, 10 October 2006 (PDT)
The </div> in Template:Box-footer is supposed to close one opened in Template:Box-header. I attempted to add a </div> tag to the end of Template:Sustainability box-footer, but the system treated it as literal text instead of an HTML tag, which confounds me. I've now tried it for Box-footer, but again the system treated it as text instead of a tag. I don't understand why. --Lkseitz 04:54, 11 October 2006 (PDT)

Pictures

  • I would like to upload some pictures I have taken to illustrate articles. I have a scan of an old coin envelope from BTNB (which became SouthTrust) that has the old BTNB logo from the 70's on it. I think I can use the fair use tag for that. Also I have pictures of the 9-11 Memorial Walk, and will have others for future articles. I notice that you upload pictures you've taken, but I was wondering what the criteria for using the CC Image tag would be. --Wheresdib 13:54, 23 October 2006 (PDT)

School infobox

I've created an infobox for K-12 schools. You can see an example at Vestavia Hills High School. Unfortunately the lack of #if means all fields are required. Feedback desired. --Lkseitz 15:06, 25 October 2006 (PDT)

That's a lovely and inobtrusive box. That's important to me. In fact, the smaller the better. Looks like we could reduce the space between the columns a bit and omit the "www." from the link (or just show the word "link" in light blue next to the heading "website"). I think the name of the school should be inside the box (with no divider above the image) and, if you can make some of the fields optional, that would be grand. Otherwise, great job! --Dystopos 15:53, 25 October 2006 (PDT)
I've done what I can to reduce spaces between columns. I've also reduced the total width of the box. I've changed the website text to "Link" because the URL doesn't work without the "www". (This could be deceptive to someone who only had a printed version of the page.) I've moved the school name. Making fields optional is going to require getting #if to work in templates, which is beyond my skills and access level. I've added it to the Homewood High School article too now. --Lkseitz 11:30, 26 October 2006 (PDT)
I hadn't considered the use of printed versions. I think it's good to keep the urls intact. I also linked the enrollment to a new List of high schools by enrollment which is in an embryonic state but might someday be useful. Regarding the #if's, if you get the skills I'll be happy to work with you on access - but don't worry about it on my account. I think at some point I'll have to contract with a programmer for a few tweaks. I'll get your wish-list before I make a step like that.
By the way, in principle I'm still not a big fan of infoboxes. I find them to be rather redundant, to hog space, and to intimidate novice editors. This one does look nice though, and I definitely don't want to be squashing the ambitions of the people I rely on. By now BhamWiki is as much your baby as mine. --Dystopos 12:07, 26 October 2006 (PDT)
I agree they can be redundant and take up space, but as we've discussed earlier, they can also lead to less awkward bits being put in the text. Besides, I think in today's "gotta have it now" culture, they'll be popular with the casual surfer. Hopefully this one is straight-forward enough to not be too intimidating. (Chris, not that he's a novice, was quick to add one to Hewitt-Trussville High School.)
And thanks for saying that last bit, but considering my 90 articles (almost half of which are stubs) only make up 7% of BhamWiki, it's still your baby. (Yes, I know I've done more than articles, but I imagine that's probably a similar percentage compared to you.) --Lkseitz 06:34, 27 October 2006 (PDT)

Morris Family

I am in need of assistance (sp?). I know that William H. Morris was one of the original founders of the AREA that is now Birmingham. I have always been told that by my family. But, I'm not quite sure if Josiah Morris had any relation to William H. Morris, he had never been mention my my Great Grandmother or any of the matriarcs in my family. If she was alive I could ask, but it is not possible. I could also have asked my grandmother Mary Alice Morris, but she also died. There are no really clear sources in my family of which I know to ask, so, maybe you know some sort of link between Josiah Morris and the rest of the Morris Family. -- AlabamaGuy2007

Possible Link

Ok, took some digging, but, I might have found something of a link between William H. Morris and Josiah Morris.

Now, William had one brother, his name was Shadrach, AKA "Shades". Now, I know that Shades Creek, and Shades Valley were named after Shadrach. Knew all that before I dug. Where I found this possible link is here [1]. It inserts something into the story that made me think. Maybe Josiah is "Shades". "Shades'" wife's name was Elizabeth, I know that from family, but, Josiah also had a wife named Elizabeth. Another thing, both men came to Alabama from Georgia, probably Columbus. William came over from Rome, so, it's possible that the family was divided between Rome and Columbus. I have no clue if these two men are one, I can ask my grandfather and he would probably know. I'll do that tomorrow. AlabamaGuy2007 20:45, 31 October 2006 (PST)

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