Wikipedia:WikiProject Belgium

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shortcut: WP:BELG WP:BELGIUM

Welcome to WikiProject Belgium! This group hopes to

• improve articles related to Belgium.
• create missing articles on various fields (history, geography, culture, music, people, organisations, ...).
• If this project gains sufficient critical mass, the talk page could be an efficient way of contacting other Belgians (e.g. for local meetings).

The central place to talk about this project is this page's discussion page.

The parent of this project is WikiProject Countries.

We are currently looking for Belgians or other interested members!

Contents 1 Project News 2 Article improvement drive 3 Article problems 4 Article creation drive 5 Stub sorting 6 Pages of interest 7 Watchlist must-haves 8 Project banner 9 Project barnstar 10 Project trophies 11 Participants

[edit] Project News

• Some members of the Dutch Wikipedia are holding a meet-up in Ghent: nl:Wikipedia:Ontmoeten#Gentse_wikimeet.--Steven Fruitsmaak (Reply) 19:49, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
• In about one week, our project has gathered some 15 members and written at least 12 articles and created 1 portal! The project is in full expansion.--Steven Fruitsmaak (Reply) 18:13, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Article improvement drive

List articles here that you think could be improved. If you're only reporting article problems (such as POV violations, unsourced biographical information etc.), list under "article problems".

• Can anyone find a new approach to Sport in Belgium?--Steven Fruitsmaak (Reply) 17:53, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

I like the approach taken by Sport in the United Kingdom - eg. the sections on 'administration and funding' and the 'role of sport in British life'. Surely there's plenty that can be said about the general structure, governance and financing of sporting organisations in Belgium? I don't have much knowledge on the subject, however. --David Edgar 18:06, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

• Parliament of the German-speaking Community is too short. It doesn't explain -for instance - where these elections are organized (what municipalities), who can be a candidate and who can vote. Evilbu 09:13, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

• Flemish Parliament,Belgian Chamber of People's Representatives and Walloon Parliament need one of those nice diagrams (with a hemisphere) to show the seat distribution. The Dutch article (Vlaams Parlement) already has one : [1]Evilbu 19:23, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Apparently that's not easy to do with Excell...--Steven Fruitsmaak (Reply) 17:12, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

• List of Prime Ministers of Belgium :it would be interesting to add the first language of these prime ministers. It would help to see the evolution of the political landscape in Belgium. There are two problems : 1. I don't know them all myself (I know Leburton was the last Frenchspeaking one) 2. This is sensitive (but it shouldn't be a taboo) and controversial (what is the definition of first language).Evilbu 19:58, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

Their first language? Why not their Province? --moyogo 18:29, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

Yeah great why not!?Evilbu 23:00, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

• French fries : our national symbol deserves a typical picture IMHO, not a version from the Netherlands... ours could go in the Belgium section. Furthermore, the article needs thourough referencing; anyone has access to a book by Prof. Ilegems?--Steven Fruitsmaak (Reply) 15:38, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

• Improve the articles of the 5 biggest cities of the country : Brussels Antwerp Liège Ghent Charleroi. There is a info box in charleroi that could/should be included in all others cities. We could also create maps with red spots like in Liège.

• Campine needs one of those nice maps to depict its location.

• Escorte Royale Belge and Royal Palace Guard still refer to the Royal Escort and the Royal Palace Guard of Belgium as being units of the Belgian Gendarmerie, and both articles could use some improvement. Plus, I think that for the sake of linguistic neutrality the first article should be moved to "Royal Escort of Belgium". --Ganchelkas 16:36, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

• Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde still doesn't properly explain the only thing it really HAS TO EXPLAIN : what is going on! This is outrageous! I myself have been going through official documents, websites,etc... nobody bothers to explain what is really going on. And I know for sure that it's not just a weird electoral district, because the other two electoral districts in Brabant are involved as well!Evilbu 22:20, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Take some time to read the first few lines of the seventh paragraph. As far as i know that is what is going on? (as in: that is why the flemish are so pissed over it) Fisheke 09:40, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

I know but that is still quite vague. Which Frenchspeaking candidates? From Brussels? From Walloon Brabant?How does it work?Evilbu 11:25, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

Nope, I still don't get it. This isn't just an electoral district comprised of parts of Flanders and Brussels, it's not really an electoral district in my opinion. There are numerous wierd things. One of them is that [2] this page on an official site adds up the votes in Leuven, Walloon Brabant and Brussels Halle Vilvoorde. Another thing is that according to this official page :[3] CDH got 53129 votes in BHV and just one seat, while ECOLO got 52295 votes in BHV and they did get two seats, which is more! So there is definitely some sort of tie between three "electoral districts"?Evilbu 20:31, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

Historically there used to be a tie between all electoral districts belonging to the same province (not just in the former province of Brabant). This system was called (in Dutch) "apparentering" and it worked in the following way. Seats were attributed per electoral district according to the number of votes obtained within the district according to the system "Dhondt". This calculation method is such that sometimes the last seat in a particular district does not get awarded because no party has a sufficient number of votes within the district in order to obtain it. Thererfore this last seat is transferred to "provincial level", and in order to attribute it to any given party, the "left over" votes that each party has obtained in the different districts belonging to the same province are put together on provincial level, the remaining seat is then awarded to the party that has the most votes. It was therefore possible that a party gained an extra seat in a district where it had less remaining votes than one of the other parties. This system was abandoned when the province as a whole became one electoral district. The only exceptions are the provinces of Vlaams Brabant and Brabant Wallon where the system still works although in a limited way. The old province of Brabant had 3 districts, Leuven (Flemish), Nivelles (Walloon) and BHV (Flemish and Brussels region). As a result of the "apparentering" system it sometimes happened that a Flemish party obtained the last seat in the Nivelles district (Wallonia), and vice versa. The last time this occured was with the election of Toon Van Overstraeten for the Volksunie (somewhere in the eigthties I believe). Since at that time members of the Federal Parlement automatically became members of the regional parliament as well this meant that a Fleming who hardly obtained any votes in Wallonia (a few hundred I believe), would be member of the Walloon regional parliament. This situation created an outrage amongst Walloon politicians and Van Overstraeten although duelly elected was refused entrance to the regional parliament. In order to avoid simular situations in the future it was then decided that in the province of Brabant "apparentering" would only work between either Leuven and BHV or Nivelles and BHV. Effectively this meant that Flemish parties choose to tie up Leuven & BHV and French speaking parties Nivelles & BHV. And this to my knowledge is how it still works today and why it is possible that Ecolo gets 2 seats in BHV with less votes than CDH, Ecolo probably taking the last remaining seat due to the fact that they have more remaining votes in the districts of BHV & Nivelles put together. Complicated? Indeed, but we live in a complicated country don't we! Boerkevitz 16:58, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

• Suikerboon needs a decent reference explaining the tradition. I had previously included a page at suite101.com but this is now blacklisted... the Dutch article doesn't have any sources listed either. --David Edgar 17:06, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

• History of Belgium - I think this article should be thoroughly reorganised. It has too many subsections and "see also"s and it should get a real references section. For instance, the sections "After WWII" and "Post-war economic growth" should be merged and a new section on the more recent history of Belgium should be created. I also think this article is divided by subject too much rather than chronologically. And many sections should be expanded as well.--Ganchelkas 17:19, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

• Our only related featured article, Belgium, lacks inline citation to the point that it's featured status could be removed! Save it by helping with citation! Also, the constant editing calls for a review.--Steven Fruitsmaak (Reply) 13:24, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Article problems

List here if you're only reporting a problem; articles should be listed under "improvement" as much as possible.

• Environment of Belgium has serious POV and tone problems. Piet | Talk 07:06, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

• Category:Belgian_Freemasons lists a lot of politicians without providing sources; this should be cleaned out immediately.--Steven Fruitsmaak (Reply) 14:57, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

I've cleaned it up, if any one has proof consider adding the info back again.--Steven Fruitsmaak (Reply) 17:39, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Article creation drive

You can add links in the normal Wikipedia way (using [[ and ]]), or you can use the Belg and Belg2 templates (that put these handy links to the wikipedias in other languages behind the article title). Anyone can bold articles that they consider high priority! If you translate an article, first read Wikipedia:Translation#Instructions. A bluelinked "striked" title (like this) means that the article has been checked for spelling and grammar. Please check articles that haven't been striked yet.

	Pending tasks for WikiProject Belgium:	edit - history - watch - purge
	Comedy: Hugo Matthysen, Bert Kruismans, Herr Seele (nl), Kamagurka (nl), ... Comics: Merho, Jean-Claude Servais (fr),... Crime: Freddy Horion, Alex Vercauteren, Karel Van Noppen, Victor Hoxha, ... Culture: Carnival of Binche (fr) Economy: Maurice Lippens, Tessenderlo Group, Liège Airport (fr/nl), Ostend-Bruges International Airport (nl), Port of Liège (fr), Port of Brussels (nl) ... Film: Stijn Coninx (nl/li/de), Dominique Deruddere (nl/li), Julien Schoenaerts (nl), Nicole Van Goethem, Raoul Servais (fr/nl),... Geography: Voer/Fouron, ... Literature: Herman de Coninck, Kristien Hemmerechts, Herman Teirlinck, Karel van de Woestijne, Gerard Walschap, ... Music: Noordkaap (nl/li), The Radios, Johan Verminnen (nl/de/eo/fr/lb), Guido Belcanto, Jean Blaute, Jo Lemaire, SABAM, Stijn Meuris (fr/nl), Nicole & Hugo (nl) ... Politics: Bernard Anselme, Jos Chabert, Guy Coëme (nl), Jean-Maurice Dehousse, Bart De Wever (nl), Isabelle Durant (nl/fr), Jaak Gabriëls, Jean-Marie Happart ,José Happart (nl/fr), Guy Mathot, Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb, Patrick Moriaux, Philippe Moureaux, Serge Moureaux, Miet Smet, Marleen Vanderpoorten (nl), Eric Van Rompuy (nl), Herman Van Rompuy (nl), Freddy Willockx, Charles Woeste (nl/fr), Patrick Janssens (nl/fr),Inge Vervotte (nl), Bert Anciaux (nl), Marie Arena (nl/fr), Michel Daerden (fr/nl), Claude Eerdekens, White March (nl),Roger Nols, Voting rights for immigrants in municipal elections in Belgium ([4] is the Dutch version), 0110 concerts, Jules Destrée, Staf Nimmegeers, Lionel Vandenberghe, Marc Van Peel,... Printed media: , Knack (magazine), Roularta Media Group, ... Science: Catherine Verfaillie, ... Sport: Ingrid Berghmans (nl), Brigitte Becue, Kathleen Smets, Sport in Belgium, Luc Millecamps, Walter Meeuws, Michel Renquin (fr/nl), Theo Custers, Marc Baecke, Maurits De Schrijver, Gerard Plessers (nl), Raymond Mommens, Marc Millecamps, Guy Vandersmissen (nl), Philippe Desmet, Leo Van Der Elst, Nicolas Claesen, Daniel Veyt, Stéphane Demol (nl), Bruno Versavel (nl), Jean-François De Sart (nl), Pascal Plovie, Marc Van Der Linden (nl), Rutger Beke... Television and Radio: Bart Peeters, Marcel Vanthilt, JimTV, vijfTV, Vitaya, RTL TVI, Radio 2 (Flanders) ... Various: University hospitals Leuven, Flor Grammens (nl), National Congress of Belgium (nl), Joint Community Commission (nl/fr) Holidays : Flemish Community Holiday, French Community Holiday, Dynasty Day (this last one is tricky, we might have to add Belgium or Belgian to the name and the date has nothing to do with Belgium!!)

[edit] Stub sorting

Please use the most specific stub tag possible. Propose new stub categories according to guidelines. All new stub types should be proposed at WP:WSS/P before creation. Otherwise, these may need to be re-named, modified, or deleted, because they may mess up the hierarchy of stub types.

• {{Belgium-stub}}
  • {{Belgium-geo-stub}}
  • {{Belgium-bio-stub}}
    • {{Belgium-footybio-stub}}
    • {{Belgium-politician-stub}}
  • {{Belgium-sport-stub}}
    • {{Belgium-footyclub-stub}}
  • Belgian culture
  • {{Belgium-music-stub}}
    • {{Belgium-band-stub}}
  • {{FrancoBelgian-comics-stub}}
    • {{Tintin-stub}}

Category:Belgium stubs looks like it could use some stub category diffusion... I've created Template:Belgium-sport-stub, but we could definitely use others like Template:Belgium-song-stub and others about music, etc.--Steven Fruitsmaak (Reply) 13:55, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

I've proposed new stubs and categories here: all ideas welcome!--Steven Fruitsmaak (Reply) 18:01, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Pages of interest

• List of Belgium-related topics
• Wikipedia:Translation_into_English/Dutch, Wikipedia:French Collaboration Project and Wikipedia:German-English translation requests.
• Category:Belgium
• Category:Belgium stubs
• Portal:Belgium
• ...

[edit] Watchlist must-haves

Some high-profile articles related to Belgium that have been repeatedly vandalised (the typical insert-a-not-so-funny-joke vandalism).

• Belgium
• Guy Verhofstadt
• Jacques Tits (well he WAS a Belgian)
• ...add more here...

[edit] Project banner

This page relates to the WikiProject Belgium, a project to create and improve Belgium-related Wikipedia articles. If you would like to participate, you can visit the project page, all interested editors are welcome!

Talk pages related to this WikiProject can be tagged with {{WPBelgium}} in order to let people know we exist, so that they can contact us when needed. Note: this banner should not be substituted.

[edit] Project barnstar

...maybe some day...

[edit] Project trophies

List here any newly created articles or media that can be somehow credited to this project (e.g. because a participant created it from the article improvement drive).

• Crime: Pierre Carette
• Film: Stijn Coninx
• History: National Congress of Belgium
• Music: Will Tura, 0110 concerts, TC Matic, Noordkaap, Bart Peeters
• Politics: Isabelle Durant, Jaak Gabriëls, Olivier Maingain, Bruno Tobback, Johan Vande Lanotte, Melchior Wathelet, Patrick Janssens, Olivier Maingain, Jules Destrée, Marleen Vanderpoorten, Herman Van Rompuy
• Sport: Sport in Belgium, Dwars door Vlaanderen, Serge Baguet
• Images or diagrams: Image:Belgium provinces regions striped.png, Image:Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt.jpg
• Economy : Liège Airport
• Literature: Cornelis de Bie
• other: KHBO, Mesen

[edit] Participants

This is just an informal headcount and directory; no strings attached! Anyone interested can list himself/herself (or others) here alphabetically (there's no leader).

User name	Languages	Location	Interests
Alison	en, fr-2, ga-3, gd-1, nl-1	Cupertino, California	Art, Geography, Medicine, adding images ...
-Casualty-	nl, fr, en-3
Belgian man	nl, en-2, fr-2, als-1, by-1, ca-1, de-1, es-1, it-1, ...	Ghent	Main: Languages, Oceania, Cars, Flanders, Wallonia
BertK	nl, en-4, li-4, fr-3, de-2	near Leuven	Music, History, Computer science, Telecommunication,...
Blakewiki	nl, vls, en-5, de-2, fr-3, la-2, en-me-2, got-1, mnl-3	Leuven and Ostend	Linguistics, Literature, Arts, History, Politics
David Edgar	en, fr-1, de-1	Brussels
Evilbu	nl, en-2, fr-1,de-0	near Ghent	Mathematics, history, anime, Flanders and politics
Fisheke	nl, en-4, fr-3, de-2, it-1	Leuven and Antwerp	Engineering,...
Fram	nl		Comics, ...
Ganchelkas	nl, en-2		Politics, History, ...
Jrenier	fr, en, nl-1	Liège
LHOON	nl, en-4, fr-4, it-3, de-2, sv-1,...		Trains and other public transport,...
Lord Snoeckx	nl, en-4, fr-4, de-2, it-1	Berchem, Antwerpen	Linguistics, Politics, Literature, Language, ...
LucVerhelst	nl, en-3, fr-2, de-1, es-1, af-1	Berchem, Antwerp	Politics, ...
Mamour	fr, en-4, sv-3, nl-2		Computer science, bioinformatics
Moyogo	fr, en-4, nl-1	Low Countries	Low Countries
Pan Gerwazy	nl, en-4, fr-3, ru-2	Ghent	history, linguistics
pdehaye	nl-1,en-4,fr-N	Oxford
Pvosta	nl,en-3	Malle	Science, Medicine
Riki	nl, en-4, fr-4, de-1	Brussels	Politics, Music, Films
Steven Fruitsmaak	nl, en-3, fr-2, es-2, de-1,...	Leuven	Medicine, Music, ...
Yvesb	fr, en-3	Brussels
Angus McLellan	en, fr-3, nl-1

If you want to identify yourself as a member of this project on your userpage, you can use this userbox template. Use the notation {{User WPBelgium}} .

This is an alternative userbox: {{Wikipedia:WikiProject Belgium/Userbox2}}.