User talk:Martha Forsyth/Madison Meadow

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[edit] Wow

Hi Pete's Mom! I used to live near there, in fact my home away from home is in the 'hood. If you're still in need of pic next time I visit I'll try to get some. Of the meadow and the snazzy "Save Madison Meadow" signs. Cheers! Katr67 (talk) 03:18, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

P.S. I see Pete dropped my name on your page :) I haven't looked it over for style and such, but I do wonder if it's notable? I'm biased--I think the idea is great. Is there any press coverage outside of Eugene? Katr67 (talk) 03:23, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
Well hello there Katr, right on cue :) Methinks it's notable, you're probably right that all the coverage has been in Eugene, but it's reasonably extensive coverage. It's an impressive effort, with a dedicated community group raising over $500,000, and getting the owner(s) to cooperate in their efforts. It also ties in with the LCDC planning process, which is alluded to in one of the articles. There's similar stuff happening in Ashland and Portland, of course that connection's not covered in any reliable source (yet), but maybe some day...anyway, just my 2c. Haven't looked up relevant specific notability guidelines, but the sources listed here are pretty extensive. -Pete (talk) 07:10, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
Cool. If y'all decide to take it live I'll help out. So I'm glad they saved it--my friend's kid plays there, but my friend and I always have these inconclusive discussions about whether it's actually better to infill housing in the cities and help prevent sprawl into the farms and orchards. Has that debate been addressed anywhere? Katr67 (talk) 15:53, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
Lucky you, it should be addressed over the next three years in every major metropolitan area in the state! In Portland that would be the Portland Plan, not sure where to point you for info on Salem or Eugene. And yes, it's a tough balance...no sweeping, easy answers. -Pete (talk) 20:27, 4 March 2008 (UTC)


[edit] Wow right back at ya!

Geez, put up a little thing and SOMEBODY NOTICES!! Thank you, Katr for your comments and your suggestions. I don't quite know where to start - I know about this project because Linda Prier has been a close friend of mine for many years, and in conversation with her the other day, it just suddenly dawned on me that - damn, these folks have DONE this, and it was HER idea in the first place! Now, I completely agree that the text I put up is not a dispassionate enough approach. In mild self-defense - I was trying to sketch something, "get it onto the map". I like Peter's suggested introduction and other text, and I don't at all mind having you just MAKE those changes (that goes for both of you).

Incidentally, Katr's question of "urban sprawl vs. tight-packed cities" HAS come up in the group, though where I know that from, I'm not sure, since I can't find it on their website at present. Probably I know it from conversation, but I'm sure I've seen some written discussion on it. Yes they DID address that thought. That's one of the things I find impressive (that they "did their homework" and thought things through - but frankly I've never really been happy with their website, it strikes me as "beautiful" to the exclusion of some of the necessary information. (I'm just writing to them about this - and taking the plunge of letting them know I'm trying to get this page going - hope that doesn't backfire somehow!)

Frankly I think the whole effort is quite important as a successful "grass-roots conservation" project. But I'm out of my depth here (in terms of writing a proper article - I can write, and I can edit, but I have other things that need ME to do them; this can be done by other people). Even though I know Linda well, I would have to put as much time as anyone else into researching this topic. Lazily (or possibly "realistically"?! I have way too many irons in the fire, and some serious work on my Bulgarian field recordings that I am really the only one who can do) I would love to just turn the article loose on the world and let people whomp it into shape. Their website is not a bad place to start, but they'll need to be contacted for clarification I think.

However, I think the page has gotta be a little better than it is now before I can "turn it loose". I won't have time to do much about it till next week, so please feel free. I'll go back to it now and see if I can do a little cleaning-up.... -- Martha (talk) 03:57, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] How would I reference this?

I tried to follow a link to http://www.uoregon.edu/~interns/Posted%20Spring%202007/madison%20meadow.doc but it came up 404 Not Found. I was able to find it in Google's cache, but won't that disappear? I'm copying the content here "for safekeeping" - in case I want to use it. But how would I reference it, if I did?

“

Are you familiar with Madison Meadow? The two acre open space parcel at 22nd and Madison St. in Eugene. This parcel left in a natural state is flanked on 3 sides by houses. It is a space free to all, kids, place for eye rest, and dog walking.

The Madison Meadow neighbors have until December 2007 to raise $200,000 to keep it an open space for everyone. Otherwise it will become yet another massive housing development squeezed into 2 acres.

Our fundraising has come from tabling, selling t-shirts, yard signs and soliciting our neighbors. We have a lovely little flyer and we are registered as a non-profit.

We are in need of a resourceful grant writing person, a dynamic organizer or someone who is good at fund raising. It would be a good opportunity for a student and perhaps it could be documented as an internship, community education or credit.

Thank you and I do hope you can find someone who believes in our cause.

Linna Muschlitz, 684-8015

You can also try Linda Prier, 683-3430.

 ”

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Martha Forsyth (talk • contribs) 05:24, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

That's a tough one. I looked at archive.org (you're aware of this incredible tool, yes?), but it didn't get archived there. What do you want to use it as a citation for? You could list the URL and the date you accessed it, but somebody might object. If it was, say, a newspaper article, that stuff wouldn't matter, as long as you have info like reporter and date, that makes finding it in a library possible... -Pete (talk) 22:45, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
Probably the simplest thing to do....will be to pick up the phone (remember that?!) and CALL Linna Muschlitz, and ask HER! I didn't have any clear idea of where to use it, but maybe as an example of how they worked. -Martha (talk) 23:05, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] images

FYI, if you approach MM for a photo, be sure you ask them for the "right thing." Often people make the mistake of simply asking if it's OK to put it on Wikipedia. But that isn't enough. Wikipedia can only have it if it's under a license that allows it to be republished elsewhere, too, and allows other people to modify it. The Creative Commons cc-by-sa license is one of the preferred licenses. The permission is ideally added when you upload the file, or it can be provided by sending an email to some committee called OTRS who vets such things. -Pete (talk) 22:38, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Suggestions between Peteforsyth and Martha Forsyth, moved from main article page

  • Pete, on one of the refs: Great find! The scan on their site is fine for a link. The citation stuff is complex, hope it makes some sense... -p. M reply: Thanks! Yeah, it makes sense - it's where to find the template to START with, and which one is appropriate, that's still daunting to me. - Martha (talk) 22:46, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
<ref> and </ref> tags can be used without the templates, and the {{Reflist}} template down at the bottom of the page is the thing that makes them work. You can just put in the other stuff manually, like "Last, First. "[httblah Article title", newspaper. Date."
When you want to get fancier, the most general template is {{Cite}}, and other useful ones are {{cite news}}, {{cite web}}, {{cite journal}}, {{cite book}}, {{cite press release}}. You can click those links to see how to format them. -Pete (talk) 23:26, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

T-shirts, [------etc?].

Petenote: The Field Fairies were written up in an article. Also, is it your intent to turn this bullet list into prose? I think it would ultimately read better that way. Marthareply: Hadn't thought that far (turning into prose) but sounds like a good idea.