Talk:List of misleading place names

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Previous discussions:

• Archive 1 (June 2005)

[edit] Do we need to highlight sometimes what the confusion is about?

Often it is obvious which is the more famous place and hence the misleading place name. However, it is not always apparent - for example, not all Wikipedia readers may know that the more famous Las Vegas in in Nevada and thus the point of including Las Vegas, New Mexico in the list. Any comments? --AYArktos 09:04, 13 July 2005 (UTC)

I left this comment before I saw that AYArktos had left the above; editing in too much haste, not for the first time. Sorry.

I've just removed this from the entry on Las Vegas, New Mexico: "confused with the more famous Las Vegas, Nevada". If this is included, I suppose that we should add an explanation for all the entries; I have thought of this, but put it aside as a big job, and possibly unnecessary. Any thoughts? --Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 11:28, 13 July 2005 (UTC)

As implied by my annotation of Las Vegas, New Mexico and my entry on Perth, I think it is appropriate for any but the most obvious (London, Paris, New York, country names) and I think it will prompt editors to think about adding a name. For me, all I know is Las Vegas is in the US. If prompted perhaps I could have come up with location on the state of Nevada but maybe not - if somebody said it was in New Mexico I would have accepted that. I note that the Las Vegas, New Mexico article states it is a source of confusion for the media who one should expect to be relatively well-versed and at least more au fait than the average non-US wikipedia reader. To give examples of names included on the list currently that perhaps could be clarified: Ophir, New Zealand; Warrington (also NZ); Balaton & Kingston, Minnesota; Burbank, South Dakota; Golden Gate, Illinois; - as far as I am concerned I have not heard of, or cannot immediately recall, the (more famous?) counterpart of these places. I am prepared to believe there is one but it would be useful to link to it and thus explain the presence of the entry on the list. Incidentally I do not believe that the counterpart has to be more famous for the place name to be misleading but there certainly has to be a counterpart. --AYArktos 22:03, 13 July 2005 (UTC) (from Australia)

I certainly see your point; your list contains a couple of which I'm ignorant, and one that I can make a brave guess at. The problem with making exceptions would be that it would involve second-guessing the reader (who knows but that there are U.S. citizens who don't realise that Cambridge and Boston aren't just a places in Massachusetts, or Paris not just a place in Texas? Surveys have shown that some ten percent of U.S. respondents didn't know that English was spoken in England...). Perhaps we could just list duplicates (which would perhaps offer a new solution to the article-name question)? --Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 11:35, 14 July 2005 (UTC)

FWIW, Ophir was a famous place in antiquity (mentioned in the Bible, among other places), Warrington is in northern england, Burbank is in California, Kingston in Jamaica, Balaton in Hungary, and the Golden Gate is the entrance to San Francisco harbour. Grutness...wha? 10:45, 27 September 2005 (UTC)

Ah, now I'd have put Kingston, Jamaica on the lists (easily confused with Kingston upon Thames, or even Kingston upon Hull). --Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 09:37, 28 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Image copyright

I would like to add the linked image to the top of this article, with a caption [1]. This is a directional sign in an area of Maine where there are a lot of towns named after countries. I found this image through Google Image Search. It is from the Maine Arts Commission, which appears to be a State of Maine government agency. I would like to know if use of the image falls under fair use, or what copyright I should attribute to the image otherwise.

Tckma 02:46, 25 October 2005 (UTC)

The website at which you find it gives the name of the photographer, and the site as a whole has a copyright notice. I'd be surprised if the image were usable by us, but the best thing to do is contact the website and ask them. just say that you're a volunteer editor on Wikipedia, and would like to know if the image is usable under GNU Free Documentation License. --Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 11:40, 26 October 2005 (UTC)

If all I need to do is ask permission, then I'll do it. I went through this big thing posting to Wikipedia:Requested copyright examinations and then was asked to move it to Wikipedia:Copyright problems because I'd already uploaded the image (even though it was unlinked). I think I saw sample permission letters somewhere on the image policy pages... I can use one of those. --Tckma 20:02, 27 October 2005 (UTC)

It is a terrific looking picture which illustrates the point of the article - thanks for following up to see if it can be used on Wikipedia. If it can - it would be good to upload to Commons so that other wikimedia projects can use it.--AYArktos (Talk) 00:52, 28 October 2005 (UTC)

I sent a permission request for this image via e-mail to MaineArts.info@maine.gov on 29 October 2005, using Wikipedia:Boilerplate request for permission#Informal (images). Tckma 20:44, 29 October 2005 (UTC)