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Archive 1 Archive 2

Setting up bot archiving

Glad to be on board WikiProject DC! I've set up bot archiving for this talk page in order to keep it clean right off the bat. SchuminWeb (Talk) 04:13, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

Sounds good. T Rex | talk 10:21, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

Assessment

I just tagged 5,000+ articles with a DC tag, now all we gotta do is assess them all. If you are assessing then please add both quality and importance. Makes it so we don't have to go back and do them all over again. T Rex | talk 02:27, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

Links to Wiki commons from categories

I posted a topo map, aerial photo and SVG road map to wiki commons. I linked where I could think of it -- but I'm not smart enough to get images into Category:Washington,_D.C._maps or Category:Images_of_Washington,_D.C.. Would someone please help? thumb thumb thumb --24.27.19.133 23:50, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

Because they are on Commons then they have to be in the categories there, which you have already done. These images are technically not on the English Wikipedia's servers, they are on Commons so that they can be used by any Wikipedia. T Rex | talk 01:37, 16 August 2007 (UTC)
Likewise, technically, we really shouldn't even have this category. That's something that should be the sole domain of Commons, and not for Wikipedia. Likewise, if any of those images are fair use, that's a breach there. SchuminWeb (Talk) 02:48, 16 August 2007 (UTC)
I finally went through this little category, and cleared out all the "shell" images (i.e. no image, just a category). I will be moving the rest to Commons tomorrow. SchuminWeb (Talk) 03:41, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Adrian S. Fisher article

Noted your Wiki DC tag, and want to direct someone to the Adrian S. Fisher article. It's a GA, and warrants the same designation for the Wikiproject DC. Scott Clarkson 20:46, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Done. T Rex | talk 10:12, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

FAR notice

United States Senate 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. --RelHistBuff 17:19, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

Peer Review request: Reel Affirmations

If you have the time, please head on over to Reel Affirmations and review the article. This would be the first peer review of this article. The goal is to improve the article and seek Good Article status for it. Please improve the article if you can. You may also wish to leave comments here. Thank you! - Tim1965 20:39, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

Suggestion

The photo on the Albert Einstein Memorial does not seems to be of good quality, the statue looks very washed and reddish. What about changing it for a better one. I suggest the following, but it can be any other picture, just one of better photographic quality. Just compare both. Mariordo 15:46, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

I think the lighting is better on the older photo. It's far more evenly lit, thus I favor the old one. The new one has distracting shadows. SchuminWeb (Talk) 03:25, 9 November 2007 (UTC)
OK, anyway, it seems there are copywright issues with the posted image (derivate work of an sculpture) and it is up for speedy deletion. We would have to get permission by the artist, Mr.Robert Berks, to have the photo included in the Einstein Memorial article.Mariordo 14:22, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

Quadrant article names

Are Washington, D.C. (northeast), Washington, D.C. (northwest), Washington, D.C. (southeast) and Washington, D.C. (southwest) really the best names for articles? I'm not sure they should be that, Quadrant, Washington, D.C., Quadrant (Washington, D.C.) or something else. Jason McHuff (talk) 11:59, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

Personally, I'd prefer them the way they are. "Quadrant" just adds in a word that I don't think is particularly necessary. Nobody in DC really refers to them as quadrants; rather they're just "Northwest" and "Northeast" -- as if they were their own cities with those names. --Bossi (talkgallerycontrib) 14:05, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
Let me clarify. I'm not saying "Quadrant" should be in the article title. I was using "Quadrant" as a placeholder/variable to represent "Southwest", "Northwest", etc. The actual article title would be "Southwest, Washington, D.C." or maybe "Southwest (Washington, D.C.)" or something else. Jason McHuff (talk) 23:54, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
Ahhhhh yes, I completely misread that the first time around. Looking at it now, it makes perfect sense. I agree with your recommendations and I think I prefer Quadrant, Washington, D.C. of the two recommendations (though my opinion could be swayed either way). Cheers! --Bossi (talkgallerycontrib) 01:01, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

There are two methods I suggest:

  1. Since we usually do neighborhoods in terms of "Neighborhood, City, State" (examples: Hollywood, Los Angeles, California; Georgetown, Washington, D.C.), we could treat the quadrants that way (making for "Northwest, Washington, D.C.").
  2. However, since these are geographic divisions of a state-equivalent, we can be more literal (examples: Southern California, West Texas, Upstate New York) and treat the quadrants that way (making for "Northwest Washington, D.C.").

Personally, I prefer the latter, but the former could work too. Either way, there's no justification for using parentheses in any fashion. --Golbez (talk) 01:29, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

Process moving to switch to "Washington, D.C." usage rather than "District of Columbia"

I'm involved in WP:NRHP, not WikiProject District of Columbia. FYI, a process outside of WP:NRHP has started which would change wordings to "Washington, D.C." from what has been practice in WP:NRHP "the District of Columbia" in numerous places.

See Historic Places in the District of Columbia Proposal in progress to change away from " Category:Registered Historic Places in the District of Columbia", and similar change on Category:Images in the District of Columbia

This got stirred up by a WP:NRHP proposal to create Category:National Historic Landmarks in the District of Columbia, which is now suggested to be "in Washington, D.C." instead.

Assuming these go through, then I predict that the current titles of list-articles List of Registered Historic Places in the District of Columbia and List of National Historic Landmarks in the District of Columbia would also be changed.

If you care about this, participate by discussing here and/or on the talk page of WP:NRHP if you like, but especially by voting or commenting in the category change process. doncram (talk) 12:55, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

I'm not sure that it has any bearing on this subject but is there actually a city of "Washington" even currently in existence? I asked that over at Talk:Washington, D.C. and it seems no one had an answer. If any of you can shed light, please post there. Thanks. — AjaxSmack 00:11, 9 January 2008 (UTC)
I'm not exactly sure that one has any bearing on the other. All that you've referred to is article and category namespace - the "front areas", so to speak. This is project namespace - different can of beans. I like "WikiProject District of Columbia", and don't see any reason to change it. SchuminWeb (Talk) 01:05, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Abraham Lincoln assassination GA Sweeps Review: On Hold

As part of the WikiProject Good Articles, we're doing sweeps to go over all of the current GAs and see if they still meet the GA criteria. I have left this message at this WikiProjects's talk page since the article falls under its scope and so that any interested members can assist in helping the article keep its GA status. I'm specifically going over all of the "World History-Americas" articles. I have reviewed Abraham Lincoln assassination and believe the article currently meets the majority of the criteria and should remain listed as a Good article. In reviewing the article, I have found there are some issues that may need to be addressed, and I'll leave the article on hold for seven days for them to be fixed. Please consider helping address the several points that I listed on the talk page of the article, which shouldn't take too long to fix. I left messages for the other WikiProjects/task forces and the main contributors to the article so that the workload can be shared. If you have any questions, let me know on my talk page and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. --Nehrams2020 (talk) 21:32, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

AfD Ford's Theatre

Project members should be aware that Ford's Theatre has been proposed for deletion. Discussion here. JGHowes talk - 21:49, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Nonagaye.jpg

Thanks for uploading or contributing to Image:Nonagaye.jpg. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is not a suitable explanation or rationale as to why each specific use in Wikipedia constitutes fair use. Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale.

If you have uploaded other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on those pages too. You can find a list of 'image' pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "Image" from the dropdown box. Note that any non-free media lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

It appears the uploader has been blocked.--Rockfang (talk) 19:00, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

Near Southeast

I've been working on the Navy Yard/Near Southeast article for a few hours and wondered if someone could take a look at it and see where improvements could be made? Thanks. --AgnosticPreachersKid (talk) 15:45, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

The discussion is here. --Eliyak T·C 19:33, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

WikiProject DC: Articles of unclear notability

Hello,

there are currently 10 articles in the scope of this project which are tagged with notability concerns. I have listed them here. (Note: this listing is based on a database snapshot of 12 March 2008 and may be slightly outdated.)

I would encourage members of this project to have a look at these articles, and see whether independent sources can be added, whether the articles can be merged into an article of larger scope, or possibly be deleted. Any help in cleaning up this backlog is appreciated. For further information, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Notability.

If you have any questions, please leave a message on the Notability project page or on my personal talk page. (I'm not watching this page however.) Thanks! --B. Wolterding (talk) 16:52, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

DC area radio programs

There are a couple of DC area radio shows that have been nominated for deletion (on WJFK-FM in each case). The notability of these articles has been questioned and editors are having difficulty finding reliable references. Editors with some DC area experience would be helpful in adding to the discussion. Easiest way to get to these discussions is here:

Wikipedia:WikiProject Deletion sorting/Radio

--Rtphokie (talk) 20:36, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

A new article if someone wants to read over it and check for errors. Thanks. APK yada yada 18:16, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

A new NHRP stub. I don't have alot of info about the house itself, just her. There's already an article for Grimke, so if someone can find more to add to the house article, let me know. Thanks. BTW, List of Registered Historic Places in the District of Columbia could realllly use some help if anyone is interested. Using this will generate an infobox and a basic layout. APK yada yada 05:39, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

A new stub. Martinis, mmm. APK yada yada 13:16, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

Articles flagged for cleanup

Currently, 730 of the articles assigned to this project, or 13.4%, are flagged for cleanup of some sort. (Data as of 18 June 2008.) Are you interested in finding out more? I am offering to generate cleanup to-do lists on a project or work group level. See User:B. Wolterding/Cleanup listings for details. Subsribing is easy - just add a template to your project page. If you want to respond to this canned message, please do so at my user talk page. --B. Wolterding (talk) 17:38, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Changes to the WP:1.0 assessment scheme

As you may have heard, we at the Wikipedia 1.0 Editorial Team recently made some changes to the assessment scale, including the addition of a new level. The new description is available at WP:ASSESS.

  • The new C-Class represents articles that are beyond the basic Start-Class, but which need additional references or cleanup to meet the standards for B-Class.
  • The criteria for B-Class have been tightened up with the addition of a rubric, and are now more in line with the stricter standards already used at some projects.
  • A-Class article reviews will now need more than one person, as described here.

Each WikiProject should already have a new C-Class category at Category:C-Class_articles. If your project elects not to use the new level, you can simply delete your WikiProject's C-Class category and clarify any amendments on your project's assessment/discussion pages. The bot is already finding and listing C-Class articles.

Please leave a message with us if you have any queries regarding the introduction of the revised scheme. This scheme should allow the team to start producing offline selections for your project and the wider community within the next year. Thanks for using the Wikipedia 1.0 scheme! For the 1.0 Editorial Team, §hepBot (Disable) 22:00, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

Excessive use of "the District of Columbia WikiProject" template with former/current Washington D.C. athletes

Just recently I've noticed that there has been large scale edits to include the "the District of Columbia WikiProject" template on pages of former athletes of the Washington Bullets/Wizards. It appears this was done using an AWB bot script. Although a case can be made to include notable athletes that played in D.C., I think it is excessive to include players who have a very insignificant contribution to the team's history. Futhermore, nearly all of the players I have identified were neither born, raised nor lived in the D.C. metro.

Here are some examples:

  • Chubby Cox (Talk) - played in a total of seven games for the Washington Bullets

I am currently removing the D.C. WikiProject template on players with minor contributions to the Bullets/Wizards. I feel only players with a significant contribution to the Washington Bullets' history (thus far I've allowed the WikiProject scope for players with at least 3-4 seasons in D.C. or who had a solid season while with the Bullets to be included into the WikiProject scope -- of course players who grew up, went to high school/college or moved to the D.C. Metro area will be included). I'd eventually like to narrow the scope but for now I will leave it like this until there is a consensus from group members. Please feel free to input your ideas and suggestions! Thanks! --Djrun (talk) 00:41, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

I don't have any problem with removing the templates from those people/places/events that are only tangentially related to DC. -epicAdam (talk) 07:02, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia 0.7 articles have been selected for District of Columbia

Wikipedia 0.7 is a collection of English Wikipedia articles due to be released on DVD, and available for free download, later this year. The Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team has made an automated selection of articles for Version 0.7.

We would like to ask you to review the articles selected from this project. These were chosen from the articles with this project's talk page tag, based on the rated importance and quality. If there are any specific articles that should be removed, please let us know at Wikipedia talk:Version 0.7. You can also nominate additional articles for release, following the procedure at Wikipedia:Release Version Nominations.

A list of selected articles with cleanup tags, sorted by project, is available. The list is automatically updated each hour when it is loaded. Please try to fix any urgent problems in the selected articles. A team of copyeditors has agreed to help with copyediting requests, although you should try to fix simple issues on your own if possible.

We would also appreciate your help in identifying the version of each article that you think we should use, to help avoid vandalism or POV issues. These versions can be recorded at this project's subpage of User:SelectionBot/0.7. We are planning to release the selection for the holiday season, so we ask you to select the revisions before October 20. At that time, we will use an automatic process to identify which version of each article to release, if no version has been manually selected. Thanks! For the Wikipedia 1.0 Editorial team, SelectionBot 22:58, 15 September 2008 (UTC)

I am not in DC, but I wrote this article and I wanted some help validating the coordinates. According to sources Temperance Fountain is at the corner of 7th & Penn. NW, across from the Hancock statue, so I kind of guessed at coordinates based on Google Earth -- unfortunately the satellite imagery for that intersection isn't very clear (I put it at the southwestern corner). Would anyone here happen to know if this is right? Thanks... howcheng {chat} 21:52, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

I was down near there today so I took a quick detour to see. It's actually a little farther north, right by Indiana Ave. (You can sort of see a blurry box on the Google satellite image). Wikimapia incidentally had it dead on. Thanks for the heads up. --Bachrach44 (talk) 21:16, 11 November 2008 (UTC)
You can also see the fountain quite clearly using Google's street view that was just activated for DC. Best, epicAdam(talk) 21:20, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

I have just made Category:Georgetown, Washington D.C. and populated it with everything I can think of that's appropriate. Feel free to tag any I missed. --Bachrach44 (talk) 21:09, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

An article in need: Rites of Spring (band)

The article for Rites of Spring (band) has been a mess for a while (people are constantly redirecting it, deleting stuff, and trying to delete it). Can someone help me keep an eye on it?--Emotional Wiki Dude (talk) 21:36, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

Washington, D.C. articles needing geographic coordinates

0 articles in Category:Washington, D.C. articles missing geocoordinate data do not have geographic coordinates. Coords are useful for making the article appear on Google Maps & many other mapping services; and they allow our users to click through to see the article subject location on a map. There's a short guide to on how to add geocodes to articles ... it really is very easy to do. I hope you'll take some time to ensure that Washington, D.C. is as well represented as it can be on wikipedia by fixing up the listed articles. thanks --Tagishsimon (talk) 01:04, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

"Borderstan"

Borderstan?

I was looking for an opinion or two in regards to the notability of "Borderstan." I'm thinking about writing an article on it (the "neighborhood", not the website), but not if it's going to end up at AfD. A few RS have mentioned it: Washington City Paper, DCist; HuffPo has a one-liner reference, and the WaPo describes it as "a mini-hood encompassing western Dupont Circle and eastern Logan Circle, from 14th to 16th NW and from P to S NW. Primary focus is public safety." So, any thoughts? APK is ready for Spring 18:58, 6 February 2009 (UTC)

Wouldn't "Borderstan" change over time as the crime rate gets better (or worse) and the "dividing line" blurs one direction or another? To me, Borderstan may be a notable topic in the article about Logan Circle; however, I just don't see the notability of the term on its own. Best, epicAdam(talk) 01:23, 7 February 2009 (UTC)
Oops, sorry for the delayed response. I forgot about this post. Thanks for responding Adam, and you're probably right about its long-term notability. I guess the homes are in "Dupont Circle East" now that people stopped using DCE to describe Logan Circle (blame the gays for making Logan all fabulous and shizzit). APK has a crush on Brandon Stoughton 13:01, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
Yes, well. That's what we do, right? I mean, if there's a "West End" then I guess there can be an "East End"... :-) Best, epicAdam(talk) 00:33, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

What's that neighborhood? Part Deux

Estoy confundido.

The area located east of Judiciary Square/395, north of Louisiana, and south of Massachusetts is called (fill in the blank). The ==map==> doesn't have that section labeled, but dc.gov says "Downtown East" aka East End aka ANC 6C. The reason I'm asking is because Category:Washington, D.C. on Commons needs to be organized (I've been working on it the past week), and I need to know what neighborhood category should be added to places like the Teamsters headquarters, GULC, and Hotel George. I added the Judiciary Square neighborhood category to GULC, but then Postdlf yelled and cussed at me. He beat me too! Ok, I lie. He kindly pointed out the fact GULC is not located in J.S. So what ya'll think? Is that area called Downtown, East End, or Federal City Shelterville? APK ain't the baby daddy 16:57, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

  • Why not do research on boundaries by finding maps from agencies (DC government, management districts, etc) and then compare the boundaries. If boundaries overlap (according to different definitions, maybe) this could be stated. Some things may be in both places, and could be listed in both neighborhood articles. WhisperToMe (talk) 17:09, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Coordinators' working group

Hi! I'd like to draw your attention to the new WikiProject coordinators' working group, an effort to bring both official and unofficial WikiProject coordinators together so that the projects can more easily develop consensus and collaborate. This group has been created after discussion regarding possible changes to the A-Class review system, and that may be one of the first things discussed by interested coordinators.

All designated project coordinators are invited to join this working group. If your project hasn't formally designated any editors as coordinators, but you are someone who regularly deals with coordination tasks in the project, please feel free to join as well. §hepTalk 00:25, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

Dupont

I left the same message on Talk:Dupont Circle, but I'll mention it here as well. I created a list of Dupont-related topics, in case you guys and gals want to create/expand/improve some articles. APK thinks he's ready for his closeup 02:41, 3 April 2009 (UTC)

Washington Business District

Need to be proofread. First, the map of business dictrict is incorrect. The correct version is here: http://www.ddot.washingtondc.gov/ddot/lib/ddot/information/bicycle/cbdu.pdf —Preceding unsigned comment added by Itman (talkcontribs) 20:31, 18 April 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for that map. However, I don't think there is an article called "Washington Business District". Are you referring to Downtown Washington, D.C.? That article is about the downtown neighborhood, which does not have the same boundaries as the central business district. You'll notice that the map of DC's Central Business District actually overlaps quite a bit with a number of other neighborhoods, notably Dupont, Shaw, and Foggy Bottom. We need to reach a consensus as to whether that information should simply be included in the pre-existing article. Best, epicAdam(talk) 20:55, 18 April 2009 (UTC)

AfD notice

I've nominated 1520 New Hampshire Avenue for deletion. Feel free to voice your opinion here. Gracias. APK straight up now tell me 05:30, 5 May 2009 (UTC)

Photo request: Former US Airways HQ in Arlington County

Hi! Someone should photograph the former US Airways headquarters in Arlington County. It is located at 2345 Crystal Drive - BTW I also posted this in the Virginia WikiProject WhisperToMe (talk) 15:09, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

According to The Times, the guy has a WP user profile. Does anyone know who it might be? APK lives in a very, very Mad World 19:41, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

AfD notice

Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/United States Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting - APK lives in a very, very Mad World 21:44, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

And speedy kept. SchuminWeb (Talk) 23:55, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

Real World: D.C.

Just to add to this page (since it's locked):

On July 3, someone (I didn't catch who, some girl) called in a local radio station (Hot 99.5) that there is four girls, four guys, and 2 of the guys are gay. Just some info to add. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mmafan2010 (talkcontribs) 22:36, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

watchlist

If Marion Barry isn't on your watchlist, please add it (at least temporarily). The article might be prone to unhelpful edits during the next day or so. APK coffee talk 03:30, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

Why do you figure it will be prone to more vandalism than usual? SchuminWeb (Talk) 07:23, 5 July 2009 (UTC)
July 4 wasn't a good day for MB. APK coffee talk 07:27, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

Washington Metro GAR notification

Washington Metro has been nominated for a good article reassessment. Please leave your comments and help us to return the article to good article quality. If concerns are not addressed during the review period, the good article status will be removed from the article. Reviewers' concerns are here.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 20:59, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

FA candidate

Just a heads up - Inauguration of Barack Obama is a FAC, if anyone wants to join the discussion. APK that's not my name 00:10, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Since the article is under our project's scope, I'd appreciate some third opinions related to crowd estimates. Gracias. APK is a GLEEk 00:55, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

See that ten-foot pole touching the article? I'm about a thousand feet from that pole... The V-Man (Said · Done) 02:42, 15 September 2009 (UTC)
sigh APK is a GLEEk 02:49, 15 September 2009 (UTC)
But, IMHO, I say we let the media sort it out first and state the existence of the controversy for now. The V-Man (Said · Done) 02:55, 15 September 2009 (UTC)
I'll agree with that. Let's let the media figure itself out, and then state what the media settles on with multiple sources. There's no hurry to jump in and say how many people there were out there. SchuminWeb (Talk) 03:07, 15 September 2009 (UTC)
I'm confused. Do you mean the current version is fine (the estimate was reported in every RS I've read - they said "tens of thousands" or the DCFD estimate "60 to 75,000") or that someone should remove the estimate altogether. The talk page protesters are trying to use blogs, photos, hear-say, and debunked estimates to prove there were 1-2 million people. Nothing we've said (using RS, not using OR, V, etc.) is getting through to certain editors. I'm hoping the "controversy" will die down once the blogosphere moves on to the next story. APK is a GLEEk 03:34, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

On a similar note, List of protest marches on Washington, D.C. has been semi-protected due to constant additions of unsourced material and removal of sourced material related to the teabagger protest by IP editors. SchuminWeb (Talk) 00:06, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Oh, and kudos to APK for being so good about reverting. SchuminWeb (Talk) 00:07, 18 September 2009 (UTC)
Indeed. The article seems fine in its current state. As long as we've got neutral, reliable sources, we're good. Let's keep the blogs and self-published estimates by biased groups and individuals off as much as possible. APK, I salute you. The V-Man (Said · Done) 00:21, 18 September 2009 (UTC)
Muchas gracias. Random side note - The protest was "discussed" on tonight's episode of Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday. APK say that you love me 03:25, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

DC scope

Should this WikiProject also include suburbs of Washington DC in Northern Virginia and Southern Maryland? I would like to include the counties in the Washington MSA WhisperToMe (talk) 03:50, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

IMHO, they don't fall under the project's scope. APK say that you love me 04:52, 13 October 2009 (UTC)
I tend to agree on that. Those articles fall under WikiProject Virginia and WikiProject Maryland. If we start letting suburbs in, how far is too far? Just on the Virginia side, where do we stop? Fairfax County? Prince William? Stafford? Spotsylvania? SchuminWeb (Talk) 05:46, 13 October 2009 (UTC)
In WikiProject Houston whatever is in the MSA is in the WikiProject. Metropolitan areas in the United States can be defined in very precise manners, so what a WikiProject can do is use the MSA's precise boundaries. Also I don't see a problem in having NOVA and south Maryland overlap. WikiProject Philadelphia covers areas in multiple states as well. WhisperToMe (talk) 06:29, 13 October 2009 (UTC)
Another thing is that, typically, the broader a WikiProject becomes, the more activity it gets. What I want to do in particular is add companies based in DC suburbs or formerly based in DC suburbs (i.e. Mars, Incorporated, US Airways, Independence Air) to the WikiProject. As I stated above we have a precise definition for what is in the DC area (the MSA) WhisperToMe (talk) 22:51, 13 October 2009 (UTC)
I don't agree that VA counties should be included in the DC project. Your example is Houston, TX. All suburbs of Houston are in Texas, whereas you're talking about including suburbs from different states. It didn't make sense to me when I saw Fairfax County was under both the VA and DC projects.
Because there is, as of yet, no consensus that I can see, I'm reverting this unilateral project addition. --Tim Sabin (talk) 02:38, 15 October 2009 (UTC)
There is a consensus in favor of including because the other responses were not satisfactory and did not take into account the other WikiProjects and other facts.
The first post of objection did not cite any argument. The second cited a fear of defining a metropolitan area, when in fact the US government clearly defines metropolitan areas.
Philadelphia, Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis, etc. have are metropolitan areas defined by the U.S. government as having territory in multiple states. These city-level projects justifiably include the entire areas. Houston, TX only includes Texas areas because its scope happens to be in Texas.
While New York City only has the city itself, New York City has 8 million people, making the scope very large. DC itself has 591,833 people. This WikiProject can easily cover the metropolitan area.
Tim Sabin said: "It didn't make sense to me when I saw Fairfax County was under both the VA and DC projects." - The state is VA, but the metro area is DC. It is acceptable for state and "metro area" WikiProjects to coincide. Tim Sabin said: "whereas you're talking about including suburbs from different states." - Suburbs are not out of the sphere of DC just because they are in other states. Why do Arlington County, Virginia, Alexandria, Virginia, etc have ties to DC? Why do area people say "I am from DC" even if they are in other states?
The objection regarding suburbs should not be taken into account because the U.S. government has precise boundaries for metropolitan areas.
By only allowing places and things within the DC city limits to be within this WikiProject, the WikiProject is weakened by a lack of scope and insufficient coverage of the DC sphere. By this logic I see, Interstate 495 (Capital Beltway) should not be in WikiProject DC because the Beltway is entirely in the suburbs. By this logic the airports and FedEx field should be removed from the DC project too because they are not in DC. The DC project will become weak by not covering the suburbs.
Consensus is based on the strength of arguments too. Wikipedia:Consensus says "In determining consensus, consider the quality of the arguments, the history of how they came about, the objections of those who disagree, and existing documentation in the project namespace. The quality of an argument is more important than whether it comes from a minority or a majority."
Also, the first reply of my last post here was at 06:29, 13 October 2009 - I began adding NOVA to this project at 23:49, 14 October 2009 - A day and a half later, nobody replied.
WhisperToMe (talk) 03:10, 15 October 2009 (UTC)
There might be some reason for including the suburbs in a Washington Metropolitan Area; including them in DC is merely a personal opinion which equates the two. Tedickey (talk) 08:33, 15 October 2009 (UTC)
Most city-level WikiProjects cover the metropolitan area, not only the city itself. The exception is New York City. If this is only about DC, then the Beltway, FedEx Field, and everything not in DC itself would have to be removed. Then this WikiProject becomes more unhelpful and more restricted. Cities do not exist in vacuums, and municipal boundaries tend to be rather arbitrary. WhisperToMe (talk) 12:15, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

WhisperToMe, four people have voiced their informed opinions; brief statements do not equal weak "arguments". You said "I have the consensus", but at this time, that appears to be your own opinion. Articles such as Mars, Incorporated and Colgan Air do not fall under the project's scope. APK say that you love me 09:29, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

APK, your own post did not cite a particular argument. Usually when you respond to a question, you have to state why something ought or not ought to be. Your post said: "IMHO, they don't fall under the project's scope." - It did not say why it should not.
SchuminWeb argued that there would be confusion over what would be a suburb and what would not be a suburb. That would be understandable if this was about about a city in another country. However this is a place in the United States - The US Federal Government defines metropolitan areas, so all a WikiProject needs to do is use the (or a) US Government definition. While there are multiple US government definitions for the DC area, it becomes a matter of picking and choosing from a small selection. It becomes very easy to classify what belongs and what does not belong. The post was not informed because it did not take into account the U.S. Government definitions and the ease of adopting these definitions, not because it was brief.
Tim's post argued that Houston would be a bad example compared to the DC area, because the DC area has territory in multiple states while Houston's is entirely in one state. The issue is that other city WikiProjects cover multi-state areas too (i.e. Cincinnati, Chicago, Philadelphia), instead of only covering one state.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/informed - This dictionary defines "informed" as "1 a : having information <informed sources> <informed observers> b : based on possession of information <an informed opinion>" - The latter post did not take into account the existence of United States federal government-defined metropolitan areas, so therefore the latter post was not informed.
IMO Tedickey has developed a workable argument regarding this debate, so I think the discussion should focus around itself that point.
WhisperToMe (talk) 12:15, 15 October 2009 (UTC)
You realize that calling those who oppose your idea uninformed is not doing any favors for your cause. That said, just going by a headcount, the only person interested in including suburbs in the DC project is yourself. There is nothing wrong with covering only the city itself in a WikiProject. The fact that other stuff exists does not weigh heavily on me, because ultimately, project scopes, like everything else, are determined via consensus, and the group seems to believe that it is not a good idea to go out to the suburbs. I believe it's time to drop the stick and back slowly away from the horse carcass on this matter. SchuminWeb (Talk) 13:15, 15 October 2009 (UTC)
Wikipedia:Consensus very clearly states that the progression of arguments is more important than simply a headcount. Saying that four people oppose versus one is a smokescreen. If you want a consensus in your favor, address my points. To get consensus, my argument must be attacked.
Schumin said: "You realize that calling those who oppose your idea uninformed is not doing any favors for your cause" - I am not calling people uninformed. I am calling posts and arguments uninformed. If a person finds that his or her argument doesn't work, the person can make a new post and advance a new argument. I am focusing on the content. It is perfectly acceptable to say "the arguments presented so far are not informed." If you want to say "but they are informed positions," then you need to show why they are informed.
Regarding Wikipedia:Other stuff exists, it is an acceptable argument, provided the reasoning is correct. The essay at Wikipedia:Other stuff exists says "When used properly, a logical rationalization of "Other Stuff Exists" may be used in a perfectly valid manner in discussions of what articles to create, delete, or retain." - Instead of simply citing WP:OTHERSTUFFEXISTS, you should directly address the comparison I made. For example, I addressed the comparison made by a user between the DC and Houston Wikiprojects and I explained how that logic does not work. WP:OTHERSTUFFEXISTS is not saying that all comparisons are bad. It is saying that comparisons need to be properly made.
The rest of the logic in the post has the mentality of what is described in the essay Wikipedia:I just don't like it - It seems like a group of users in this project just doesn't want to cover the suburbs. That is not an acceptable rationale. You need to create an argument for why it would be better to cover only DC. Why is covering DC preferable to instead covering the suburbs also? You said: "and the group seems to believe that it is not a good idea to go out to the suburbs." - In order to keep the consensus, the group must come up with a strong argument for why it is not a good idea to go out to the suburbs. Without the argument, the group cannot get consensus.
The horse is still alive. Wikipedia:Consensus#Consensus_as_a_result_of_the_editing_process says "Consequently, you should not remove a change solely on the grounds that there is no formal record indicating consensus for it: instead, you should give a policy-based or common-sense reason for challenging it." - If you want to end this discussion in favor of limiting the scope to DC, give a common sense reason for why limiting it is preferable.
WhisperToMe (talk) 13:25, 15 October 2009 (UTC)
I'm still strongly against VA and MD suburbs being included in the DC WikiProject. Now, if you were to start a project for the DC Metro Area, that's a different story; we could talk about what to include. But no cowboy-editing, please. That is what I objected to most of all in the first place.
The essay Wikipedia:I just don't like it really doesn't apply here; this essay is based on one person not liking something, not on the majority not approving it. --Tim Sabin (talk) 14:31, 15 October 2009 (UTC)
Wikipedia:I just don't like it is not about one person not liking something - it is based on an argument style that is faulty. The page Wikipedia:I just don't like it says "Emotion does not trump logic at Wikipedia. We are not trying to "win" what Steele and Beasor characterize as a "game". Wikipedia is not a business deal. It is an encyclopaedia. Well-argued statements do beat personal, subjective tastes." - It's not about the number of people, it is about the type of argument
I will say that I should have waited longer for more responses before beginning to add DC templates to NOVA. But if it had been maybe four days to a week, and there had been no further replies from anyone else after 05:46, 13 October 2009, then I would assume that silence means consent (there's an essay about it here: Wikipedia:Silence and consensus), and then I could be Wikipedia:Bold and begin adding them. I should have given more time to see if there were any other statements.
What I could do is consult Wikipedia:WikiProject Cities about this. The thing about starting a DC area project is, how would it interact with this one. IMO it would mostly correspond with DC anyway, and there could be some overlap.
WhisperToMe (talk) 15:11, 15 October 2009 (UTC)
I also decided to ask Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Council - In the meantime, the "pro-DC only" needs to come up with a rationale, a reason for why the project ought to cover only DC. WhisperToMe (talk) 12:59, 16 October 2009 (UTC)
We did. You just refused to listen. SchuminWeb (Talk) 16:11, 16 October 2009 (UTC)
Well, then what is it? BTW the "headcount" does not count as an argument. "You just refused to listen." - if you are referring to the headcount, "No" by itself is not a sufficient answer. Without a reason, "No" = WP:IDONTLIKEIT. I can refuse to listen to WP:IDONTLIKEIT because WP:IDONTLIKEIT is an unacceptable argument on here. WhisperToMe (talk) 17:23, 16 October 2009 (UTC)
Schuminweb, are are talking about your post at 05:46, 13 October 2009? If so, I did not refuse to listen. I answered that post at my reply at 06:29, 13 October 2009. Defining the scope of a suburban area is very easy thanks to the US government's CSAs and MSAs. While there are multiple definitions, it becomes a matter of choosing one or another. Anyway, the objection at 06:29, 13 October 2009 is not sufficient considering that the US government already has defined the metropolitan areas, and other WikiProjects of U.S. cities use those US government definitions. There's no Wikipedia:Original research involved in choosing an MSA or CSA.
Regarding overlap with state WikiProjects, I answered that one too. I am aware of Timsabin's post at 02:38, 15 October 2009, and I answered that with my post at 03:10, 15 October 2009. firstly, other metro area WikiProjects overlap and have overlapped with multiple states. I'll add another point: I don't see how overlap between one city project and multiple state projects is a problem. Have there been any conflicts between state and city WikiProjects in this manner? Regarding WP:OTHERSTUFF exists, I answered that it is acceptable to use that argument in certain circumstances, like this one.
Tedickey's argument was that the DC area and DC itself should not be equated together. I responded by saying that most city WikiProjects cover the Metro area too, and by making it DC only, the WikiProject would become weakened in coverage and power. What one needs to do is take what he said, add to it, and argue why it is better for the project to cover only DC itself.
In short, I did not "refuse to listen" - I addressed the previous arguments. You need to either address my latest arguments, or you need to make new arguments. You should be saying "This project needs to be only DC because of W, X, and Y" or something like that, or you need to say "Your reply is not correct because of A, B, and C"
WhisperToMe (talk) 17:33, 16 October 2009 (UTC)
Basically, any project should have a scope agreed upon by the members of that project. I believe the Philadelphia, St. Louis, Kansas City, etc., projects all stated up front that their scope would cross state lines to cover the entire metropolitan area. So far as I can tell, that was not the case here. So, for the scope of this project to be expanded, it would basically require the consensus of the membership. Personally, I can and do see how there might be some reasonable leeway here. As an example, an individual whose notability might be related to having worked in the federal government, but whose residence was Alexandria during that period, might not be cldearly included within the scope of this group, and I think there is a good case that they should be. I personally don't see any inherent difficulties in having a geographic area fall within the scope of multiple geographic projects, if those projects real can help the article. But, if that could only be done by expanding the existing stated scope of one of those groups, then that would reasonably require a reasonable consensus of support for such a broadening of scope. John Carter (talk) 23:34, 16 October 2009 (UTC)
I figured that originally this project was started to cover solely DC - My point is that a city WikiProject can successfully cover territory in multiple state lines, as demonstrated by the other projects. If someone wanted to counter that argument, he or she would state Covering multiple states in one city WikiProject is a problem because of X, Y, and Z
In my view city WikiProjects can also help articles of surrounding cities. The Houston WikiProject, for instance, has been working on the article of Galveston, Texas to get it up to Good article status.
WhisperToMe (talk) 20:43, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Is Harry Thomas, Jr. the same as Harry K. Thomas, Jr. ?

Hi folks. I'd like to request a clarification: is Harry Thomas, Jr. the Harry K. Thomas, Jr. who has been designated as the next United States Ambassador to the Philippines? The two biographies do not seem to match. I created a Harry K. Thomas, Jr. stub and then made it a redirect when I saw a link to the current article. Is this someone with a similar name, perhaps? Thanks. -- Alternativity (talk) 11:30, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

You're correct. It's someone with a similar name. This website includes a photo of Councilman Harry "Tommy" Thomas, Jr. This news article includes a photo of Ambassador-designate Harry K. Thomas, Jr. APK lives in Dupont and Gomorrah 13:06, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

Sorting DC Cats

Hello: Yesterday I created Category:Romanesque revival architecture in Washington, D.C. I had added as a category to it Category:Romanesque revival architecture in the United States on which I had a sort of |District of Columbia. Another user came along and changed it to |Washington, D.C. so it shows up under the "W" Which is correct? I see other places where it shows up under "D" and thought that was correct. TIA--Pubdog (talk) 01:36, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Another user ===> moi. I came along and changed it because most readers will look for Washington, D.C. categories under "W", not "D". Exhibit A: - District of Columbia redirects to Washington, D.C. APK has a turkey hangover 03:32, 2 December 2009 (UTC)
Thanks for the guidance. You may want to look at other categories then and revise to move from "D" to "W". Two main examples are: Category:American architecture by state and Category:Buildings and structures in the United States by state; within the latter each subcategory then has Washington D.C. listed under "D". The only subcat I found with Washington D.C. listed under "W" was Museums. Therefore, my confusion...--Pubdog (talk) 09:52, 2 December 2009 (UTC)
It doesn't really matter to me whether or not Washington, D.C. sub-cats are listed under "D". I'm indifferent to such a minor issue. I use "W" because it seems like the obvious choice, but don't fret - most of my category contributions take place on Commons. APK whisper in my ear 14:36, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Rewrite of Lincoln Memorial

I've been working on a rewrite of Lincoln Memorial, which currently is in pretty rough shape considering there is an NRHP nomination out there with a great amount of historical and architectural information out there. The rewrite is hosted at Lincoln Memorial/Sandbox. I have yet to rewrite the lead, but most of the text in the history and architecture sections is new. I'm having trouble updating the "Memorial today" section (specifically visitors #s are difficult to find). If anybody has interest, by all means, take part and edit away. I would like to see this hit GA sometime in the near future. upstateNYer 09:05, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

WP 1.0 bot announcement

This message is being sent to each WikiProject that participates in the WP 1.0 assessment system. On Saturday, January 23, 2010, the WP 1.0 bot will be upgraded. Your project does not need to take any action, but the appearance of your project's summary table will change. The upgrade will make many new, optional features available to all WikiProjects. Additional information is available at the WP 1.0 project homepage. — Carl (CBM · talk) 03:13, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

Library of Congress Classification

One of the series of articles organized in Category:Library of Congress Classification has been proposed for deletion (Library of Congress Classification:Class P, subclass PD -- Germanic languages). I will be removing the PROD-tag shortly as I think that all of the contents of this category should be considered together if any pro-deletion activity ensues. Personally, I think that this content should perhaps go into either WikiSource or a Wiktionary appendix. I can see, however, the advantages of having it sitting here on Wikipedia. Regard —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ceyockey (talkcontribs) 01:32, August 25, 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject Virginia

How many of you contribute to this project? I notice Wikipedia:WikiProject Virginia was marked as inactive... WhisperToMe (talk) 11:21, 14 February 2010 (UTC)

I have conducted a reassessment of the above article as part of the GA Sweeps process. You are being notified as this project's banner is on the talk page. I have found some concerns which you can see at Talk:Streetcars in Washington, D.C./GA1. I have placed the article on hold whilst these are fixed. Thanks. Jezhotwells (talk) 20:18, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Commons DCPS category

Hi! I created on the Commons the Commons:Category:District of Columbia Public Schools category - It needs to be populated with DCPS school images. Please tag images of DCPS schools on the Commons if you know of any. Thanks WhisperToMe (talk) 12:52, 17 March 2010 (UTC)

Speaking of stuff, I also have some photo requests:

WhisperToMe (talk) 12:22, 31 March 2010 (UTC)

Proposed move discussion re: Washington

A discussion has been started at Talk:Washington#Requested move which may be of interest to members of this WikiProject.

70.29.208.247 (talk) 11:43, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

National Transportation Safety Board HQ

Would someone mind photographing the NTSB headquarters in DC? WhisperToMe (talk) 01:47, 15 May 2010 (UTC)

According to their article, the NTSB is at 490 L'Enfant Plaza SW. Google Earth places it where one would expect for that sort of address, but Street View isn't sufficient to show which of three buildings is 490. Is that the building with the Loews hotel in it? If that's the case, I might already have a photo of it somewhere in my archives. If not, it's a fairly simple proposition to go down there and take a photo of the facility. SchuminWeb (Talk) 03:55, 15 May 2010 (UTC)
Thank you in advance! According to this copyrighted Flickr photo, this is what the NTSB building looks like WhisperToMe (talk) 10:04, 15 May 2010 (UTC)
That's not the building I was thinking it was, and so I don't have a photo of it. However, I don't think it ought to be too much trouble to get on the way to a meetup near there. Look for results in about a month when the meetup happens. SchuminWeb (Talk) 13:29, 15 May 2010 (UTC)
Thank you very much :) WhisperToMe (talk) 14:02, 15 May 2010 (UTC)

Recent Changes list

Hi folks -- I'm a DC-area Wikipedian who generally edits articles when I run across them and find errors. I just did some editing to the articles on Hains Point and East Potomac Park (primarily the former), and then stumbled across this project when I took a look at one of the discussion pages.

I'm confused by the "Recent changes" list -- is it automatically updated, or are we supposed to update it ourselves? If the latter, how the heck do we do that? I can't figure out how to change the date/time for the "Show new changes starting from" field.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Languorous Lass (talk) 02:49, 29 June 2010 (UTC)

You're going to love this - I had to first of all, look hard to even find what you're referring to (and I've been on this WikiProject for some time), and then upon finding it, I was stumped. Considering it refers to a redlink title, I think it's supposed to do something, but for some reason or other it's not set up to do anything, but I don't quite know how to make it do what it's supposed to be doing. SchuminWeb (Talk) 03:57, 29 June 2010 (UTC)

The Cellar door

I would like to suggest a correction to the article about the Cellar Door music club in Georgetown during the 1960s and thereafter. The article currently states that the Cellar Door "emerged from The Shadows." ("Emerged from" means what, exactly?) In fact, "the Door," as we who attended Georgetown University in the late '60s called it, was a completely different establishment than the Shadows. "The Door" was at the west end of the Georgetown portion of M Street, NW, while the Shadows was at the east end of that portion of M Street. The Shadows was in operation at least two years prior to the 1965 opening of the Cellar Door. In about 1964 a band called the Mugwumps played the Shadows that entire summer, as I recall. The Mugwumps consisted of Cass Elliot and Dennis Doherty of (later on) the Mamas and the Papas, John Sebastian and Zal Yanovsky of (later) the Lovin' Spoonful, and Jim Hendricks, who later wrote "Summer Rain," as recorded by Johnny Rivers. The Shadows seems to have gone out of business well before the 1981 demise of the Door. I do not know if the Shadows was ever owned by Jack Boyle and Sam L'Hommedieu, original owners of the Door and other Georgetown nightlife establishments such as the Crazy Horse. Even if they did, I do not think it is correct to say that the Cellar Door "emerged from" the Shadows. It is more correct to say that the Shadows and the Cellar Door were, together, the two most important "folk-oriented" night spots in 1960s Georgetown. Epstewart (talk) 20:34, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

Hi Epstewart. Welcome (back) to Wikipedia. If you feel that the article on The Cellar Door is inaccurate, please be bold and dive right in to make the changes. Very little of that particular article is very well referenced, so if you have any citations you could add to the material it certainly would be helpful. You may also want to consider putting your comments on the talk page of the article itself so that any other editors who may be monitoring the page will see it. Thanks for your help. Best, epicAdam(talk) 23:19, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

AfD

Please check out Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Watermelon HouseWolfview (talk) 05:08, 9 September 2010 (UTC)

District of Columbia articles have been selected for the Wikipedia 0.8 release

Version 0.8 is a collection of Wikipedia articles selected by the Wikipedia 1.0 team for offline release on USB key, DVD and mobile phone. Articles were selected based on their assessed importance and quality, then article versions (revisionIDs) were chosen for trustworthiness (freedom from vandalism) using an adaptation of the WikiTrust algorithm.

We would like to ask you to review the District of Columbia articles and revisionIDs we have chosen. Selected articles are marked with a diamond symbol (♦) to the right of each article, and this symbol links to the selected version of each article. If you believe we have included or excluded articles inappropriately, please contact us at Wikipedia talk:Version 0.8 with the details. You may wish to look at your WikiProject's articles with cleanup tags and try to improve any that need work; if you do, please give us the new revisionID at Wikipedia talk:Version 0.8. We would like to complete this consultation period by midnight UTC on Monday, October 11th.

We have greatly streamlined the process since the Version 0.7 release, so we aim to have the collection ready for distribution by the end of October, 2010. As a result, we are planning to distribute the collection much more widely, while continuing to work with groups such as One Laptop per Child and Wikipedia for Schools to extend the reach of Wikipedia worldwide. Please help us, with your WikiProject's feedback!

For the Wikipedia 1.0 editorial team, SelectionBot 22:22, 19 September 2010 (UTC)

Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services

Which article would be the best place to describe the activity of the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services of DC?

I found several sources about the Oak Hill Youth Center and its replacement [1] [2] and I thought I would use them to describe the youth centers. WhisperToMe (talk) 21:15, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

I believe that technically, this would fall under WikiProject Maryland, due to this facility's location outside DC proper. However, I think you might have enough to write a freestanding article about the facility. SchuminWeb (Talk) 23:26, 7 October 2010 (UTC)
It would be both, because while the facility is in Maryland, it's operated by the District of Columbia, for people within the District of Columbia. I'll get to work on the department of the DC government, and the department page will talk about the youth facilities. WhisperToMe (talk) 00:48, 8 October 2010 (UTC)
So far there's just an article about District of Columbia Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, but if there's more info about New Beginnings that can branch off into its own article. And I found a parallel article, Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, so I merged the two together. WhisperToMe (talk) 01:02, 8 October 2010 (UTC)

C-SPAN improvement project

Because the TV channel C-SPAN falls under the scope of this WikiProject, I want to make an announcement, a disclosure and a request for assistance.

The announcement is that I am interested in updating and improving several articles and some non-article pages (such as categories) related to C-SPAN, its shows and related subjects.

The disclosure is that I work with C-SPAN's communications team, so I have a potential conflict of interest with the subject, and I've already posted a similar notice on the Conflict of interest/Noticeboard discussion page. Also: this is not my primary account, but one I plan to use for potential COI topics; I've posted a thorough explanation of this account's creation on my user page.

The request is for your assistance. I intend for any edits I make to be constructive, although with the exception of non-controversial edits, that can be in the eye of the beholder. I've found in my early outreach / requests for help only silence, so I am hoping to find someone willing to look over my shoulder, and provide a non-conflicted perspective. I'll watchlist this page, but also feel free to leave a comment on my Talk page.

First things first, the articles Q&A (talk show) and Q & A (C-SPAN) are about the exact same C-SPAN series. I've proposed a merger on the former's Talk page, and while I suppose it's as unobjectionable an edit as can be, demonstrating good faith is important to me as I get started. Cheers, WWB Too (talk) 19:32, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

Q&A replacement suggestion

I posted a request here recently (see above) regarding improvements to the Wikipedia article about the C-SPAN TV show Q&A. That has since been resolved, and my second wish is now to replace that article’s text with a better one of my drafting, available in my subspace here. This article is currently a stub and I have written an expanded version to include just a bit more information, with reliable sources (online and offline) to verify the material. I followed the MOS for TV series in re-organizing the page, and have added an infobox. As stated before, I have a potential COI with this subject, so I would appreciate any feedback from a non-conflicted point of view. If you like the replacement, please feel free to move it. If you have any questions, I’ll be watching this page and my Talk page. And since I don’t think this update is at all controversial, if there are no objections within a reasonable time period, I may just move it myself. Cheers, WWB Too (talk) 14:20, 18 October 2010 (UTC)

Update: settled here. WWB Too (talk) 19:33, 18 October 2010 (UTC)
Excellent! SchuminWeb (Talk) 19:50, 18 October 2010 (UTC)

Invitation to help with WikiProject United States

Hello, WikiProject District of Columbia/Archive 1! We are looking for editors to join WikiProject United States, an outreach effort which aims to support development of United States related articles in Wikipedia. We thought you might be interested, and hope that you will join us. Thanks!!!

--Kumioko (talk) 15:09, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

This is a notice to let you know about Article alerts, a fully-automated subscription-based news delivery system designed to notify WikiProjects and Taskforces when articles are entering Articles for deletion, Requests for comment, Peer review and other workflows (full list). The reports are updated on a daily basis, and provide brief summaries of what happened, with relevant links to discussion or results when possible. A certain degree of customization is available; WikiProjects and Taskforces can choose which workflows to include, have individual reports generated for each workflow, have deletion discussion transcluded on the reports, and so on. An example of a customized report can be found here.

If you are already subscribed to Article Alerts, it is now easier to report bugs and request new features. We are also in the process of implementing a "news system", which would let projects know about ongoing discussions on a wikipedia-wide level, and other things of interest. The developers also note that some subscribing WikiProjects and Taskforces use the display=none parameter, but forget to give a link to their alert page. Your alert page should be located at "Wikipedia:PROJECT-OR-TASKFORCE-HOMEPAGE/Article alerts". Questions and feedback should be left at Wikipedia talk:Article alerts.

Message sent by User:Addbot to all active wiki projects per request, Comments on the message and bot are welcome here.

Thanks. — Headbomb {ταλκκοντριβς – WP Physics} 09:05, 15 March, 2009 (UTC)

A consideration for cross project consolidation of talk page templates

I have started a conversation here about the possibility of combining some of the United States related WikiProject Banners into {{WikiProject United States}}. If you have any comments, questions or suggestions please take a moment and let me know. --Kumioko (talk) 05:00, 27 November 2010 (UTC)

Wards & Neighborhoods page structure

Hey, I noticed that the Wards of Washington, D.C. page has been receiving little attention, leading to scattered and redundant information across a variety of pages, and wanted to take this as an opportunity to talk about how we want to ultimately have our pages on DC's wards and neighborhoods look. I would appreciate the comments of all WikiProject DC members at Talk:Wards of Washington, D.C.. MarginalCost (talk) 20:25, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

I redirected that page to List of neighborhoods of the District of Columbia by ward. Frankly, I didn't even know the page existed but almost nothing linked to it except for a "See also" from the geography sub-article. Ward boundaries are transient and rather superficial, since they change with the Census just like Congressional districts. More important are the neighborhoods and how those articles are structured. Best, epicAdam(talk) 21:20, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

Recommendation for this project

Based on talking with a couple of the current active editors on this project and the minimal activity of the project in general I am recommending that this project fall under WikiProject US. What this means:

  1. The project pages, member lists and talk page will remain intact
  2. {{WikiProject District of Columbia}} will be replaced with {{WikiProject United States}} and District of Columbia will be added as a subproject within the WPUS banner. This will affect about 5100 articles.
  3. The remaining articles that fall under the scope of WikiProject District of Columbia (this # depends on how you define what counts for DC but is about another 20,000) that are currently not tagged Will be.

This will allow greater visibility of both projects and allow them to better collaborate on improving US and DC related articles. --Kumioko (talk) 04:31, 4 December 2010 (UTC)

I added District of Columbia to {{WikiProject United States}}

Based on comments received from the editors who are still active in WikiProject DC I have added District of Columbia to {{WikiProject United States}}. I will start tagging the DC articles in the next couple days. The syntax of the template looks like this: . Please let me know if you have any questions or comments. --Kumioko (talk) 20:11, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

I have started to Tag the DC articles with WPUS/DC=yes

I have started the process of tagging the DC related articles. It will take me a few days to finish this and in the mean time I have left the District of Columbia banner in place. If there are no objections. Once I have completed the process of adding the WPUS banner/DC=yes I will go back and remove the DC banner. If you want me to leave the DC banner as well however I can do that too. One note I would like to make. Although the current DC template has some categories and templates I have added them to the appropriate class under WPUS for know. Leaving them in the Topic with the articles was looking a bit cluttered and I'm not sure its necessary to separate these out for the DC project anyway. Please let me know if you have any comments or questions. --Kumioko (talk) 04:26, 9 December 2010 (UTC)

I am going to modify my original concept a little bit. I am going to go ahead and replace the DC banner with the US banner/DC=yes. This will save me from doing about 5500 edits tot he talk pages later and I think the District of Columbia info looks very good and is easily seen with the US banner. If anyone has a problem with this please let me know and we can discuss. --Kumioko (talk) 05:06, 10 December 2010 (UTC)
Seems like a pretty sound idea to me. SchuminWeb (Talk) 07:26, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

I have finished converting the DC articles to US/DC

Now that all DC related articles have been migrated from {{[[Template:|]]}} to {{WikiProject United States}} I will begin tagging the articles that should have been tagged for DC but weren't such as 1000 Connecticut Avenue. I would also like to suggest we submit the WikiProject DC template for deletion/redirect it to WPUS. If everyone wants to keep it that's fine but we will have to keep eyes on it to switch over any articles that get tagged with the DC tag. I have about another 5-10, 000 DC related articles to tag so.....off I go. --Kumioko (talk) 04:51, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Virginia Metro stations?

Why are Metro stations in Virginia being tagged for WikiProject DC? I noticed that the new Silver Line stations in Virginia (such as Tysons Central 123 (Washington Metro)) have been tagged for this project. --StuffOfInterest (talk) 19:47, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Well, lookit that, it is wrong. You are correct that these need to be tagged for WikiProject Virginia. Nothing a little spin with AWB won't fix, though. However, I wonder how many other articles are mis-tagged... SchuminWeb (Talk) 06:11, 15 December 2010 (UTC)
I wonder as well. One other article which caught my eye yesterday is Air Force District of Washington. This article is tagged for DC but their headquarters is in Maryland (on Andrews AFB) with only assigned units in DC (along with MD and VA). --StuffOfInterest (talk) 15:04, 15 December 2010 (UTC)
I think that these both depend on how you gauges whats in DC's scope. I would argue that they should be in DC and the state in these 2 cases. Another example would be Arlington Cemetery and the Pentagon. It could be argued that these are no in DC so they shouldn't be in the DC scope however since both are closely and commonly associated with DC, whether in the corporate city limits or not, they should be in both. --Kumioko (talk) 15:09, 15 December 2010 (UTC)
Under that concept then this WikiProject should be renamed something like "WikiProject US National Capital Area" as you are lumping entities for the region into a project which is currently named for a specific entity. Very much an issue of scope creep. How far do you let it creep? VRE terminates at Union Station, so should all VRE stations in Virigina also be part of this project? --StuffOfInterest (talk) 17:30, 15 December 2010 (UTC)
I don't know honestly about the scope I am currently just replacing the DC banner with US/DC but I brought this up because someone replaced the USDC tag with Washington Metro when the stations (or lines) clearly applied to DC as well. I wouldn't be opposed to a US National Capital region because this would also help cover some other areas that currently don't get as much attention (I dont know how active Virginia and Maryland are as projects) and I do agree that US/DC probably need not include the stations deeper in the state such as Springfield or the Tysens example given above or the full list of stops for the VRE. I would argue that the ones closer in such as Pentagon, Pentagon City, Arlington Cemetery, and a couple of others probably should. I would argue that Air Force District of Washington should also qualify due to its title and because it does have offices in DC. I hope this helps. --Kumioko (talk) 18:14, 15 December 2010 (UTC)
We had a discussion on this point a while back when someone wanted to expand the DC project to the entire region, and consensus at that time was that WikiProject DC should remain as it was - District of Columbia-specific, as in within the boundaries of DC itself. If someone wants to create some sort of switch in the Virginia and Maryland templates to enable one to designate National Capital Region, then go for it, and it actually would be rather beneficial. But I would still contend that the DC project should remain restricted to DC proper. Trust me, DC contains enough stuff to be its own project without the suburbs in there. SchuminWeb (Talk) 03:03, 16 December 2010 (UTC)
As much as it may sound to the contrary above I am ok with doing it either way but I still think that things that are in DC should still be tagged. For example you removed the DC tag from The Red line and Blue line even though they apply to DC as well as to Maryland or Virginia. The same logic applies to a couple of other things as well such as the Pentagon. Even though the Pentagon is physically located in Va its mailing address goes to DC (Va. says they can't handle the volume of mail) so IMO that grey area warrants both tags. --Kumioko (talk) 04:22, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Issue with tagging articles relating to the Smithsonian Institution and the Library of Congress

In the process of tagging articles that relate to DC I came across 2 specific cases that I would like to discuss. They are the artificts in the collections of the Smithsonian Museum and the Library of Congress. Both of these 2 have several hundred to several thousand articles each. In the case of the SI it already has a project so Im not sure if it would be appropriate to tag all the collection items with "DC". Some high profile ones sich as the Hope diamond maybe but not sure all. The other is the case of the Library of Congress where there is no project. The catch here is that there are 3000ish items in the LOC collection that has its own article such as the articles under Category:United States National Recording Registry recordings. IMO if we do tag all these we should do it as a Library of Congress task force or project of its own. The volume of articles supports it, we could probably find enough people to participate and there are several initiatives that are working to collaborate more with the SI and the LOC. Just tagging it all as DC though, IMO, would be overly ambiguous since these are not directly relating to DC. --Kumioko (talk) 04:37, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

US Collaboration reactivated & Portal:United States starting next

Casliber recently posted a suggestion on the talk page for WikiProject United States about getting the US Wikipedians Collaboration page going again in an effort to build up articles for GA through FA class. See Wikipedia:U.S. Wikipedians' notice board/USCOTM. After several days of work from him the page is up and ready for action. A few candidates have already been added for you to vote on or you can submit one using the directions provided. If you are looking for inspiration here is a link to the most commonly viewed articles currently under the scope of Wikiproject United States. There are tons of good articles in the various US related projects as well so feel free to submit any article relating to US topics (not just those under the scope of WPUS). This noticeboard is intended for ‘’’All’’’ editors working on US subjects, not just those under WPUS.

The next item I intend to start updating is Portal:United States if anyone is interested in helping. Again this is not specific to WPUS and any help would be greatly appreciated to maximize visibility of US topics. The foundation has already been established its just a matter of updating the content with some new images, biographies and articles. Please let leave a comment on the Portals talk page or let me know if you have any questions or ideas. --Kumioko (talk) 19:08, 15 January 2011 (UTC)

WP District of Columbia in the Signpost

"WikiProject Report" would like to focus on WikiProject District of Columbia for a Signpost article. This is an excellent opportunity to draw attention to your efforts and attract new members to the project. Would you be willing to participate in an interview? If so, here are the questions for the interview. Just add your response below each question and feel free to skip any questions that you don't feel comfortable answering. Have a great day. -Mabeenot (talk) 02:39, 16 January 2011 (UTC)

Old images of the Capitol Building

Resolved
Senate Chamber
'"Marble Room" at the Capitol, by Brumidi, Constantino'
"Supreme Court Room"

Over on Commons, I've been sorting the 2,000 or so stereo cards of Washington, D.C., which were originally placed in rather arbitrary temporary categories. I'm running into a few things I'm not sure of, and am hoping someone here can help me. I'll probably have up to a dozen questions about individual images over the next week or two, and perhaps more after that. Let me know if this is appropriate here, or if someone wants me to set up a separate subpage for this.

First question: would you agree that the "Senate Chamber" depicted at right is the present chamber, now somewhat differently configured, and not the old (pre-1860) chamber?

Second question: Am I correct that the "Marble Room" depicted here is in the Senate wing, on the opposite side of the Senate Lobby than the Senate Chamber? Is there another name it is known by today? Any information or sources about this room would be welcome. - Jmabel | Talk 20:31, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Regarding the first question, that would be the the current Senate chamber, since the Old Senate Chamber is a half-circle, and did not have galleries on all four sides.
Regarding the second question, I have no idea. SchuminWeb (Talk) 02:29, 3 January 2011 (UTC)
I've confirmed my guess on the Marble Room. - Jmabel | Talk 06:56, 8 January 2011 (UTC)

OK, so then am I right that this image labeled "Supreme Court Room" would be the Old Senate Chamber, not the original Supreme Court room? - Jmabel | Talk 05:47, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

Correct. The image labeled "Supreme Court Room" is the Old Senate Chamber, since according to We, the People (a history of the US Capitol), the original Supreme Court chamber was directly beneath the Old Senate Chamber and had a low "pumpkin shell" ceiling, and the Supreme Court moved to the Old Senate Chamber after the Senate vacated it in 1859, and remaining there until the Supreme Court building was finished. SchuminWeb (Talk) 02:49, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

Another (at left): can anyone identify any of what is in the foreground? - Jmabel | Talk 05:50, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

I have no idea, unfortunately, because I don't know which direction we're looking in. Once we know which direction we're looking in, one can more easily determine what we're looking at. SchuminWeb (Talk) 02:49, 9 January 2011 (UTC)
I've answered a bunch of these more fully at Commons:User talk:Jmabel/Stereo cards of Washington, D.C., but I figured I'd update here for the record. For this one, I am almost certain it is a view from the old City Hall towards the Capitol, with the twin spires of Trinity Episcopal Church visible. The same view today would show the Department of Labor building and little else. Carl Lindberg (talk) 07:10, 23 January 2011 (UTC)

Washington Monument

Resolved

SchuminWeb, since you've been so helpful so far: could you take a look at Commons:Category:Stereo cards of the Washington Monument? Would you agree that those images that make reference to the State Department, etc., are simply mistitled, rather than there being something going on here that I'm missing? - Jmabel | Talk 03:43, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

Thats clearly the Washington Monument in various states of Construction. I also agree they are mistitled. --Kumioko (talk) 03:45, 12 January 2011 (UTC)
Agreed. They are mistitled, as it shows an incomplete Washington Monument. As I understand it, the "State War Navy Building" that the title refers to is the Old Executive Office Building, but that's definitely the Washington Monument that's pictured. SchuminWeb (Talk) 06:13, 12 January 2011 (UTC)
Thanks, moved. It's really weird to see so many mistakes in materials prepared by the New York Public Library. I've handled a few thousand of these now, and the (detected) error rate probably runs about 5%. - Jmabel | Talk 06:54, 13 January 2011 (UTC)
Well, such is what happens with historic stuff sometimes, I suppose. The people attempting to identify stuff do their best, but people make mistakes, especially when it's from an agency about four hours' driving time (on a good day) away from the subject matter being studied. I'm in the DC area, and am likely more familiar with the area than someone who's always lived in New York, and so it's good to have a few extra eyes on things to spot things. SchuminWeb (Talk) 15:37, 13 January 2011 (UTC)
My own total time in D.C. adds up to maybe a month in my life and I'm at least spotting that a lot of these seem damned unlikely... - Jmabel | Talk 06:23, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
I wonder if they were views of the Washington Monument *from* the State War Navy Building. Some of those look like they have the opening of the canal which was between the Washington Monument and White House in those days. Carl Lindberg (talk) 07:10, 23 January 2011 (UTC)

Yards Park

I decided yesterday to start a page for the Yards Park near the ballparkin Near Southeast. However, I could use some help. In my mind, its one of the better public parks on the east coast. I plan to work on it, but I have little experience with wiki projects (I have no idea where to place it, etc.) Thanks Thedofc (talk) 20:40, 16 January 2011 (UTC)

I put it in WPUS and DC. Ill try and add some too it myself. I work at the WNY so Ill try and take a couple photos this week and upload them. --Kumioko (talk) 05:13, 17 January 2011 (UTC)

(Apparently) Back to the Capitol Building

Resolved

I've taken the liberty of copying unresolved questions to Commons:User talk:Jmabel/Stereo cards of Washington, D.C., so people should feel free to archive the discussions above whenever they seem to have gone stale. - Jmabel | Talk 02:28, 22 January 2011 (UTC)

"Gen. French's Room - Senate"

A near-total mystery to me. Why would a general (presumably William H. French, who spent much of the Civil War in D.C.) have had a room in the Senate? And what room would this have been? - Jmabel | Talk 02:09, 22 January 2011 (UTC)

My guess is that it meant John R. French, the senate sergeant-at-arms. Carl Lindberg (talk) 07:10, 23 January 2011 (UTC)

Beyond the Capitol Building

Resolved

... though we could still use more certainty about "Carnival Day". - Jmabel | Talk 07:59, 24 January 2011 (UTC) As of 19:41, 23 January 2011 (UTC), the only remaining open question here is the date of "West Point Cadets passing Reviewing Stand..." - Jmabel | Talk 19:41, 23 January 2011 (UTC)

Mystery building: can anyone identify

Another mystery building. NYPL's tentative identification as "Art Gallery?" is probably based on where someone filed it; it might have been misfiled, because someone who didn't look closely might have mistaken it for the Corcoran. - Jmabel | Talk 01:37, 10 January 2011 (UTC)

I don't recognize that building. SchuminWeb (Talk) 08:19, 10 January 2011 (UTC)
Louise House, built by Corcoran actually, thus the possible confusion in the title. It was on 15th and 16th streets NW, fronting on the south side of Massachusetts, torn down in 1949. Carl Lindberg (talk) 07:10, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
Treasury Dep't?

This one at left is identified by someone from NYPL as "Postal Office". It sure looks to me like the Treasury Building, and certainly it would not be the first time NYPL's catalogers made a mistake like this, but maybe there is some other very similar building I'm not thinking of. Does anyone think I should hesitate to rename this file and categorize it as a stereo card of the Treasury Building? - Jmabel | Talk 02:48, 10 January 2011 (UTC)

Definitely Treasury. Looks like a view from the southeast near or on 15th Street. SchuminWeb (Talk) 08:19, 10 January 2011 (UTC)
Capitol?

Similarly, this one at right. The caption on the image itself, reproduced by the NYPL, says it's the Capitol, but I can't think of any part of the Capitol Building that looks like this. I suspect this one is also the Treasury. Thoughts? - Jmabel | Talk 02:55, 10 January 2011 (UTC)

Based on the building height and the design of the windows, I agree with you that this is Treasury. SchuminWeb (Talk) 08:19, 10 January 2011 (UTC)
"West Point Cadets passing Reviewing Stand, inauguration Parade"

And this one, at left: can anyone think of a way to determine which inauguration this would be? And would people agree that this must be somewhere on Pennsylvania Avenue? - Jmabel | Talk 04:38, 10 January 2011 (UTC)

I consider that likely, but can't say 100%. SchuminWeb (Talk) 08:19, 10 January 2011 (UTC)
The first reviewing stand was 1881, and cadets marched from 1873-1885 and from 1901 on. My guess is early 1900s, but not sure. Carl Lindberg (talk) 07:10, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
Based on this, I think it's the 1905 inauguration. Carl Lindberg (talk) 07:48, 24 January 2011 (UTC)
McKinley and Admiral Dewey in 1899

One more, before I wait to see if I get some answers. At right, in this picture of McKinley and Admiral Dewey reviewing a parade in 1899: can anyone identify the building or buildings behind them? - Jmabel | Talk 04:50, 10 January 2011 (UTC)

They are definitely at the Capitol, near where the wings join the center section. I can't tell which side of the Capitol they're on, though, but I'd suspect they're on the House side, on the west front. SchuminWeb (Talk) 08:19, 10 January 2011 (UTC)
Thanks. - Jmabel | Talk 07:53, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
"Pennsylvania Ave. on Carnival Day"

"Pennsylvania Ave. on Carnival Day". NYPL dates this 1860–1880. Anyone know anything about "Carnival Day" in D.C. in this era? - Jmabel | Talk 07:53, 11 January 2011 (UTC)

Same picture on page 100 of a Washington history book (ISBN 978-1580930918). February 21 or 22, 1871, carnival to celebrate the re-opening of Pennyslvania Avenue after being paved for the first time (by wood blocks). Never expected to run across that. Carl Lindberg (talk) 03:53, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

Wikpedia: Public Art - DC Task Force!

FYI for Project folks..

Thanks for your interest in helping bring DC public art to Wikipedia! We have updated our Task Force page for DC, so please take a look and get started. We look forward to seeing your contributions and please let me know if I can help you with anything. Missvain (talk) 14:06, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

Continuing the pictures

Resolved
"Statue of Lincoln, U.S. Capitol"

A statue of Lincoln in the U.S. Capitol, but not the Vinnie Ream statue. Anyone know who would be the sculptor (or anything else about this statue)? - Jmabel | Talk 01:14, 17 January 2011 (UTC)

This and the others resolved, largely thanks to sleuthing by Carl Lindberg. - Jmabel | Talk 07:10, 27 January 2011 (UTC)


"Washington, Office of Army Department"

Assuming the description is something like correct, any idea whether this on the right would be in the Old Executive Office Building or in something else from before that? - Jmabel | Talk 06:57, 15 January 2011 (UTC)

Based on this, that looks like the kind of decor found in the OEOB, so while it's not a 100% this-is-definitely-it confirmation, it seems pretty likely that's the case.
Also, thanks for separating out the pictures. Much easier to read now. SchuminWeb (Talk) 11:47, 19 January 2011 (UTC)
"State Department, Washington, D.C."

And how about this on the left, identified as the State Department? Any idea when and where? It doesn't match the picture of the State Department in 1865 in our United States Department of State article. - Jmabel | Talk 07:01, 15 January 2011 (UTC)

I'm not sure about the one one the right [that would now be the one above - JM] but I am pretty sure that the other one is not the state department. --Kumioko (talk) 13:21, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
It was built as the Washington City Orphan Asylum, but co-opted by the State Department starting in 1866 (when it was built) for roughly 10 years, before it actually became the orphanage. Carl Lindberg (talk) 07:10, 23 January 2011 (UTC)

Jmabel, minor suggestion: could you place the pictures in such a way so that it goes like so:

Picture
Question
Picture
Question (etc.)

The way you've been doing it, when you have a few of them, since they're stacked on the sides, it gets difficult to figure out which picture goes with which question. Thanks! SchuminWeb (Talk) 05:02, 17 January 2011 (UTC)

Section now edited accordingly. - Jmabel | Talk 06:49, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
"Summer School, Washington, D.C."

Needless to say, a school named "Summer School" isn't the easiest thing to search for. Anyone know anything about this one? - Jmabel | Talk

Charles Sumner School. Building still exists but is now a museum. Carl Lindberg (talk) 07:10, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
"Lincoln Monument, Metropolitan Church"

Anyone know anything about this (presumably former) monument, or about the church? The church appears to be the Israel Metropolitan Church; a bit of quick Googling suggests that was an important African American church that merits an article, but lacks one. - Jmabel | Talk 06:57, 17 January 2011 (UTC)

Virtually positive that this was taken in front of City Hall, looking due south. Per this, the Flannery statue of Lincoln used to be on a 35-foot-high marble pillar, which fits that photo. The statue is still there, but not on that pillar. The church would then be the Metropolitan Methodist Church[3]; the Canadian Embassy is on that site today. The street is even gone now. Carl Lindberg (talk) 07:10, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
"The Langham Hotel, Wash"
The Langham Hotel, London

The card itself says "The Langham Hotel, Wash", "American Scenery" and "Washington", but this sure looks like the (still-extant) Langham Hotel in London. I suspect that the maker of this card back in the 19th century made a mistake; or does anyone know of a building like this in D.C.? - Jmabel | Talk 07:53, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

I think you hit the nail right on the head. The subject in the modern photo in London and the subject of the stereoscopic card are definitely the same (I compared a lot of details), and I don't recognize that building from time spent in Washington. SchuminWeb (Talk) 11:52, 19 January 2011 (UTC)
"Pension Office"

"Pension Office"; presumably a predecessor to the Pension Bureau Building that is now the National Building Museum. Anyone know where it was? By the way, we have barely a stub about the Pension Bureau. - Jmabel | Talk 06:05, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

It says right on the card -- it was at "435 Penn Ave." That means NW, since 435 SE is inside Seward Square, which I believe has always been an open space. --M@rēino 15:24, 20 January 2011 (UTC)
That would far more likely be the address of the publisher of the stereo card than of the building depicted. If you look at a bunch of these (I've looked at thousands), that's the pattern. Most often they are not even in the same city so there's no chance of confusion, although here that's not the case. - Jmabel | Talk 01:40, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
By the way the address on the card is "135 Penn Ave.", not 435. here is the same address on another card from the same publisher, and here is yet another, so it's the publisher's address. - Jmabel | Talk 01:46, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
The Shepherd Centennial Building, which eventually morphed into the Raleigh Hotel.[4] Carl Lindberg (talk) 07:10, 23 January 2011 (UTC)

Relationship with WikiProject United States

People from a variety of WikiProjects have had concerns about the scope of WikiProject United States and its relationship with other WikiProjects. We have created an RFC and invite all interested editors to discuss it at: Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject United States#Mission statement for WikiProject United States. Thanks, Racepacket (talk) 15:33, 26 January 2011 (UTC)

Adding "Popular pages" to U.S.-related projects

A very interesting tool of the Wikimedia Toolserver is called WikiProject Popular pages lists. These lists are similar to project-related article lists like U. S. article lists used for generating assessment statistics. The Popular pages lists include the rank, total views, average daily views, quality and importance ratings for the listed articles. Here is the full list of projects using popular pages lists. An FAQ also is available at User:Mr.Z-man/Popular pages FAQ.

I recently added links to lists of popular pages as shown below to the U.S. Portal - WikiProjects box and the nominations sections for each of the selected articles boxes.


Portal:United States/Projects/Popular pages


Because this project was not included, I am bringing up the popular pages tool here. This tool makes it very easy to track three of four balancing dimensions when selecting articles for showcasing at a portal - quality, importance and popularity. When tracking the fourth dimension, topic, the related article lists tool (such as for U.S. article lists tool) also might be useful by filtering on categories of interest.

If you do decide to use this tool, feel free to update Portal:United States/Projects/Popular pages as well.

Regards, RichardF (talk) 03:02, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

Featured portal candidate: United States

Portal:United States is a current featured portal candidate. Please feel free to leave comments. -- RichardF (talk) 03:02, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

Greetings -- Any sourcing help needed?

Hello all, this past weekend I just joined as part of Wikiproject DC; however I wish to become involved a bit more. While I am no library scientist, I am fairly seasoned at tracking down reliable sources for Wikipedia articles and I happen to have a subscription to a few research tools which help in digging up archived articles and other obscure (yet reliable) sources that can't be easily googled. Well, I have two questions for you all:

  • Are there any specific DC-related articles of focus at the moment that are in need of additional sources?
  • Does this Wikiproject have occasional meet-ups? I vaguely recall reading about an initiative you all did with the National Archives. I would definitely be interested in contributing to things of this nature.

Cheers, Jeff Bedford (talk) 20:58, 28 March 2011 (UTC)

Well to answer your second question first there are DC meetups every couple months and there is a movement to establish DC as the location for the next Wikimania in 2012. To answer your second question there are several areas that are active. User:Racepacket has been working on getting the various metro stations and related articles to GA status or higher and User:Missvain has been working on creating articles for all the sculptures and art. User:Aude and several others are working to expand articles relating to the Library of Congress, National archives, Smithsonian and others. I guess in the end it depends on where your interests lie. --Kumioko (talk) 22:33, 28 March 2011 (UTC)

"Dominos method"

This source talks about a way journalists determined breaking news in the pre-internet era:

"In the old days, Washington, D.C. ,was a sleepy, backwater town. When I went to school in the 1990s, there was at least one way beyond "sources" that journalists could figure out if there was something going on: It was called the Dominos method. If a certain government building had lights on at night and was receiving pizza deliveries in the off-hours, then that agency was brewing something big." WhisperToMe (talk) 03:21, 3 May 2011 (UTC)

May 2011 Newsletter for WikiProject United States

The May 2011 issue of the WikiProject United States newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.

 
.--Kumioko (talk) 02:42, 6 May 2011 (UTC)

Book

A DC book is now available at Book:Washington DC. - Presidentman talk·contribs Random Picture of the Day (Talkback) 17:53, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

Great thanks. Great work. It appeared that there was no Category for Book-Class District of Columbia articles so I created it. --Kumioko (talk) 17:58, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

Portal:Supreme Court of the United States at Featured Portal candidates

Portal:Supreme Court of the United States is a candidate for Featured Portal, with discussion at Wikipedia:Featured portal candidates/Portal:Supreme Court of the United States. — Cirt (talk) 16:03, 12 July 2011 (UTC)

GLAM Wiki events on July 22-23 in Baltimore's Mount Vernon Neighborhood

Join us at the Walters Art Museum on July 23

Please join us next weekend for GLAM Baltimore 2011 --- a series of two events organized by Baltimore Heritage on July 22-23 to build relationships between cultural heritage organizations, archives and museums and the Wikipedian community in Baltimore and Maryland. We'll start on Friday, July 22 with a happy hour at the Midtown Yacht Club in Baltimore's historic Mount Vernon neighborhoods. On the morning of Saturday, July 23, we'll meet at the Walters Art Museum for an introduction to GLAM Wiki partnerships around the country and break out into smaller groups to develop new ideas for projects. I know this is a bit of a distance but we'd welcome any DC-area Wikipedians or GLAM folks that like to come up and participate.

You can sign up and find additional details on our meetup page or on the Baltimore Heritage website where you can also use a form to RSVP for the July 22 Happy Hour or the July 23 GLAM Wiki partnerships meeting. I hope you can join us! --Eli.pousson (talk) 20:11, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

Stuff on Little Ethiopia in DC

I found:

WhisperToMe (talk) 00:33, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

September 2011 Newsletter for WikiProject United States

The September 2011 issue of the WikiProject United States newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.

 
--Kumioko (talk) 03:15, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

This article was rated C-class some time ago, but a lot of work has been done since then. Could someone take a look to consider reassessment? NearTheZoo (talk) 13:25, 10 September 2011 (UTC)