Talk:Mail

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Former featured article Mail is a former featured article. Please see the links under Article milestones below for its original nomination page (for older articles, check the nomination archive) and why it was removed.
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Contents

[edit] Various edits prior to talk page refactoring

Mention of ZIP codes makes for a U.S.-centric page. Replace with mention of zip codes being insituted in the U.S. and postal codes in general as well. --Daniel C. Boyer

Added mention of military censorship. 141.219.41.163

Added mention of some additional methods of mail transport. Does anyone care to expand on them...? --Daniel C. Boyer

Perhaps it could be put somewhat better than "rendered obsolete"... --Daniel C. Boyer

Added mention that packages are also transported "by mail." --Daniel C. Boyer

I am going to edit the stuff about calligraphy to provide more detail and a more NPOV. --Daniel C. Boyer

"The study of a fine form of hand-writing, in fact, has quite completely disappeared": again, this can hardly be said to be true. "Quite completely" means absolutely entirely, and no one can seriously maintain this. --Daniel C. Boyer
I am going to remove most of this paragraph as it is not NPOV. --user:Daniel C. Boyer

Somehow "mail art" should be mentioned or linked to in the article. --Daniel C. Boyer

Can someone explain the attribution of mail to 4000 B.C. in China. This seems like an extremely unlikely date given what we know about world history and the requisites of a mail system. --Davis Foulger

I want to write an article on a band called "The Postal Service". I'm vaguely concerned because postal service redirects here. Is this OK? --Nelson 18:39, 1 Aug 2003 (UTC)

I think probably the solution is having postal service redirect here, Postal Service direct to your article, and have a little disambig block at the top of each. - Hephaestos 19:58, 1 Aug 2003 (UTC)

The most recent change to this article (October 13, 2003) suggests that HTTP is itself an evolution of mail. I think this is strongly inaccurate beyond the level of extremely loose analogy (e.g. HTTP entails addresses). It might be reasonable to say that electronic mail is a evolution of mail (which in a limited sense it is), but not that HTTP is. Davis Foulger

No discussion about poste restante? --Kaihsu 09:36, 2004 Apr 27 (UTC)

I added the comment about charities here because it didn't seem to fit the postcard article itself; however, ultimately I think that is where it should go.--NicholasJones 13:08, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Is there no discussion of the sorting process anywhere? Shantavira 11:57, 29 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I was looking for this also. 119 08:13, 13 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Request for references

Hi, I am working to encourage implementation of the goals of the Wikipedia:Verifiability policy. Part of that is to make sure articles cite their sources. This is particularly important for featured articles, since they are a prominent part of Wikipedia. The Fact and Reference Check Project has more information. Thank you, and please leave me a message when you have added a few references to the article. - Taxman 19:15, Apr 21, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] History

The history of mail in this article seems to end just before the beginning of modern mail service. Are there any editors who can add something about how modern postal sytems, stamps, etc, began? It doesn't have to be thorough. Cheers, -Willmcw 08:47, Apr 27, 2005 (UTC)

Can somebody source the introduction of the envelope? I've seen it credited to Britain 1696. And mention V-mail? Trekphiler 12:15, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] German mailbox

What about using the current Briefkasten image instead of the old the "old-style-replica Postbriefkasten" image at the bottom? -- Felix Wiemann 17:48, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Spoken?

Hi all! Is there still a desire to see this article recorded for Spoken Wikipedia? I'd be willing to take it on if so. Ckamaeleon ((T)) 17:53, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Another request for references

Hello! This article entirely lacks references and footnotes, which are a must for featured articles. I'm considering nominating it for removal from the list of featured articles unless references and footnotes are provided, and will most likely do so in a week, as there was already a previous request tha remained unanswered. Todor Bozhinov  → 17:30, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Going out on a limb

I must entirely agree with Todor above, but I'm using this chink in the citation-armor of Wikipedia to brazenly assert my own POV. I think that the non-referencing author who added the note about the Teutonic Knights was actually thinking of the Knights Templar, who had a sprawling network of land holdings and estates and who in addition to a private postal service had something resembling a modern banking system, which allowed a pilgrim to deposit money with a Templar church in Europe and withdraw it when they reached Jerusalem. My understanding is that the Teutonics, on the other hand, were much more on the hack-and-slash end of the spectrum rather than the clever monk/scribe/administrator like the Templars. But that's purely a guess on my part, time affords me the arrogance but not the research to confirm it ;^). I guess you could consider this comment to be a sort of anti-citation. Struthious Bandersnatch, Fourth Tildé of the Apocalypse 03:48, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Citation style

Please switch the section marked over to footnote style to match the rest of the article. Kat, Queen of Typos 09:27, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

OK, done. Fayenatic london 18:19, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Lacking a lot of info

I don't know how this article made it into featured status, but it has a lot of omissions.

  • Grammatical errors (it's/its, etc.)
  • Doesn't address the history of modern mail, just a bunch of ancient systems -- where's the penny black, for instance?
  • Gives little more than a few sentences about the history of postage stamps or the UPU, whereas a little information about them does belong here

Bit of Trivia: as the first postage stamp was issued in the UK (the penny black), the UK is the only country which doesn't have to put its name on its postage stamps. I knew this from a book, but I also seem to recall reading it on Wikipedia a few months ago, but now it isn't here, at Postage stamp or UPU. That could be put back as well.

128.208.1.238 01:27, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

Why don't you fix some of the grammar instead of just putting a tag on the page? This is not an article about postage stamps, Penny Black or UPU but if you look at Postage stamps and postal history of Great Britain and Postage stamp design you will find the info you are looking for concerning the country not using its name on stamps—the appropriate place for this information. It was an FA in 2004 until 2006; the criteria has changed since then, so if you had been around you would see the difference in the development of the wiki. Be constructive and bold. Regarding the "ancient systems", that is about the mail systems not about stamps, stamp design, etc., and is part of history and background which is far better then some articles that only have modern information and no background or history. While this article does need some expansion it should not duplicate other data that already exist appropriately elsewhere. Cheers ww2censor 01:42, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
I'm sure you'll agree with me that there's a better place to put that bit of trivia than Postage stamp design. Surely UPU or Postage stamp would be more logical. As for the history, I just brought the penny black up as an example of the lack of the modern history. It's great that we have ancient systems, but we also firmly need the modern history. It would be like having an article about the history of Police describing Roman lictors at length, while forgetting bobbies and Peel. As for the corrections, I'm a better critic than a writer, I'm afraid. 128.208.1.238 00:14, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Stealth postage

This should be included. --Daniel C. Boyer (talk) 13:11, 10 March 2008 (UTC)