Talk:West Haven, Connecticut

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Is this,

//Their boys' hockey team always loses to Fairfield Prep.

It is often referred to as "Waste Haven" by town outsiders.//

really necessary?

The moniker "Waste Haven" is significant, but the comment regarding the hockey is vandalism. SteelyDave 18:48, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Waste Haven"

I would argue that the term "Waste Haven" is also vandalism. What is the reason that outsiders call West Haven "Waste Haven"? I am a resident of Connecticut and every city has "derisive" nicknames. I have searched a variety of city wiki entries and none of them present such a vile nickname for a city. An exmaple on the state level is that I have heard New Jersey refered to as the "armpit" of America. Yet, that tidbit rightfully doesn't appear on the wiki page. The term "Waste Haven" is offense, period. It is of no informational value.

I was part of the West Haven community. It is a community of people who help each other out. There are many families and it's a great place to raise young chldren. Why are you so persistent on spreading to the rest of the world the ignorance that some CT residents might have for what is a beautiful seaside city?

I have no vendetta against West Haven (there are many things I love about it), but the Waster Haven moniker is quite common. Like it or not, the city has it's problems (I don't deny the ongoing effort to clean it up), and I feel that a complete article would include them in some way. The better Wikipedia city articles include more information than just demographics. For example, the Hartford article mentions the revitiavlisation work in the city. Wikipedia is not for projecting town images to help real estate values - it is for the spread of information. Your personal experience of living in West Haven is intrinsically POV and holds questionable weight here. I plan on re-writing this article to reflect the changing nature of the city and to create a more informative article. Lastly, I ask that you follow protocol and sign your posts properly.Plasticbadge 03:57, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

Okay. First, I no longer live in West Haven and I am not trying to project a town image or help real estate values. I still feel my argument is valid. The term "Waste Haven" is prejudicial and is simply not an accurate description. It's an opinion held mostly by persons who don't even have POV experience. In fact most people who use the term Waste Haven have never ever lived in West Haven and use the term because they learned it from someone else -- similar to the propogation of racial epithets, homophobic slurs, and other undesireable speech. Again, I ask "What is the reason that outsiders call West Haven "Waste Haven"? Using Waste Haven without any source listed or noted appears suspect and inflammatory. You say the Waste Haven moniker is quite common but in fact you list no source. You also list no reasons. A more constructive article would speak to any problems the city is having but wouldn't include an unreferenced, lone sentence with a loaded colloquialism. This is supposed to be an encyclopedia of sorts.Cjoseph 05:12, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

I plan to expand it further when I have the time. I have lived in New Haven county area and actually spent quite a great deal of time in West Haven itself, so I am quite well qualified to speak on any colloquialisms as such. In fact, many young West Haven residents I knew were the biggest users of the term "Waste Haven", some using it as a badge of honor. Regardless, this article needs expansion badly. My next draft will include citations, but will probably include the term "Waste Haven", though in a more contextual form than the previous article. Surely you can't disagree that the term would have a place within a related segment? Plasticbadge 05:48, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

Having lived in West Haven since 1990, I have *never* heard ANYONE use the term 'Waste Haven' until I found this wiki. Is this perhaps a college student or high school student colloquialism?

- I find it very hard to believe that you have lived in West Haven for over a decade without hearing this term. Plasticbadge 04:58, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

Hard to believe or not, I've never heard anyone use that phrase. That's why I was wondering if it was a term that is popularized by those who have attended West Haven High School or UNH.

- From personal experience I have heard in used in not only West Haven and Notre Dame high schools, UNH, Quinnipiac, and Yale circles, but also in the realms of journalism and local politics - and by residents themsleves. It it quite widespread among the adolescent and middle aged demographics, although I haven't heard it as often from the elderly (maybe they are nostalgic for the "old" West Haven they knew).Plasticbadge 20:01, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

--It doesn't matter who uses it, "Waste Haven" is an insulting moniker. Reading it/hearing it in the "realms of journalism" doesn't make it any less so--and to consider local politics a credible source is laughable. Hardly anything in politics nowadays is not a negative attack on someone or something. I have a feeling, which I am sure you will contest until you are blue in the face, that if you were actually a West Haven native, you would not feel that a derisive remark such as this is a credible addition to an encyclopedic article. Or a necessary one, for that matter. Your efforts to expand on the article are appreciated, but why don't we try to leave out juvenile epithets such as this? --LadyCroc 05:48, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Links discussion

I would like to end the rampant revert war regarding the links. I hold that all links avalible through the given city website are extranneous (few if any town wikis have direct links to their justice of the peace). The one city link provides a path to the others, so why clutter the wiki?

[edit] Inserting errors

Someone, I don't even care who, edited my entry to say that Jimmies of Savin Rock, a famous restaurant known for its seafood and hot dogs, had closed down. This is not true, as I just verified by calling Jimmies.

If you're going to edit something, it's best to verify that what you are changing is true, especially if it could affect a living person or ongoing business.

InkQuill 18:56, 8 December 2006 (UTC)