User talk:Stangboy7

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[edit] Normal trivia

Hello. Not to be nitpicky or anything. Just that if we are going to have trivia sections they should be referenced (which I noticed you are doing : ). One thing that does, besides guaranteeing accuracy, is it deters nonsense and incorrect additions, because they will be rather easy to pick out. Thanks for your work on the article. IvoShandor 04:23, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Sure

What areas would you specifically like guidance in? I can help where needed. IvoShandor 23:15, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

Your interest might make WikiProject National Register of Historic Places and WikiProject Illinois relevant to you, consider joining if you haven't. It seems your interest in small towns crosses my interests (I am from central Illinois originally and am working on northern Illinois history topics). I have a some articles on central Illinois topics that need written, (I have photos to use and can give you some sources to start with), and could "assign" you one of those, if you wanted. I could also give you a link to a similar page I have created that you could use as a basis for the page layout. The key to significant quality contributions is research skill, if you have that (and a good library nearby) any deficiencies elsewhere can be compensated for by the strengths of other editors. IvoShandor 23:21, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
The idea that everything must be on the web is erroneous, though commonly believed. There are numerous ways to cite sources, a few ideas can be found at WP:CITE, and though I don't use them some editors like to utilize the templates which assist you in what information to include at WP:CITET. Personally I use the method laid out at WP:FN, other resources are available at Wikipedia:Harvard referencing. So any published source suffices, in fact, many books are far more reliable than what Google turns up to be sure.
Joining a project is easy, there should be a participants section on the project page, just add yourself there. The talk pages are there for assistance and any issues that arise, and there is usually a userbox template you can put on your userpage. Most of the project pages have other goodies, links, guidelines, and resources to assist in building articles.
I am from Bloomington. There are numerous Bloomington (and surrounding areas) buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places that have articles which need expanded. I can point you toward some if you'd like. IvoShandor 23:43, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
Chenoa, cool. Small town, but its pretty neat, if you're into that sorta rustic, peaceful setting. I took a bunch of photos there in March. The only articles that I see are ones that I have on my watchlist. (See Wikipedia:Watchlist). First and foremost, I would suggest Matthew T. Scott House. An excellent source is the National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, I swear by these things and they are a good starting point for any site listed on the National Register. I have a few examples of how I approach houses that are listed on the National Register. The sections can vary but mostly I keep with a "History" section, an "Architecture" section, and a "Significance" section. Check out some houses I have done like Lake-Peterson House, Lampert-Wildflower House, for an example of an almost complete article I did, see Ellwood House, which is nearly ready for featured article status. These are just some examples, if they don't help let me know, I have more. Don't hesitate to ask me questions or for help, I will help you as much as I can, and if I don't know I will find someone who does. There is lots of stuff that needs done for the central Illinois area so if the Scott House doesn't float your boat, let me know and I will point you toward some other stuff. : ) IvoShandor 09:20, 16 September 2007 (UTC)
An important article is missing for the area as well; and I am not sure it really lies in your interest area, it doesn't mine but I have done one related article on the topic for this area. The huge windfarm under construction (and partially operational) near Arrowsmith is a glaring gap in Wikipedia's Illinois coverage. Here is the red link and some sources:
The article I did was Mendota Hills Wind Farm which you pass along I-39 ahead of Rockford by about 35 miles. There aren't any really quality articles on wiki about wind farms so mine is probably the best model to go on. This is something that is slightly more involved and if you are interested, I would be more than willing to collaborate with on this one in hopes of going for good article status. Let me know what you think. Remember, we have all the time in world, ain't no deadlines 'round here! IvoShandor 09:47, 16 September 2007 (UTC)
Oh, and you're interested in aviation I just noticed. I assume you have been to the Prairie Aviation Museum then, and probably seen the DC-3 (Ozark Airlines plane) they have there. It's pretty cool, I got up close and personal with it when I was younger and serving in the military. Anyway, I started the page U.S. Army Aircraft C-53-DO-41-20124 awhile back, which is about the plane. The plane is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The article lacks photos since you have to pay an admission fee to view it I didn't get to go see it when I was in Bloomington doing some wiki work in the spring. Photos and expansion are what this article needs and I am certain your interest in the areas where a couple of different topics meet in this article would make it another ideal candidate for you to work on. In addition, the many towns and cities have mostly weak articles and anything reliable you find on them can be used to help expand those articles. I kinda cross-pollinate my efforts when it comes to that, for instance when I was working on the Stephen Wright House I did a pretty decent expansion of Paw Paw, Illinois same thing with Oregon, Illinois, I was working on related topics like Oregon Public Library and Ogle County Courthouse and had info in those sources about Oregon, so I expanded that article. I suspect you will find the same for the Scott House in the nomination form I linked above (I haven't actually looked at it yet). Anyhow, sorry to barrage you all at once. IvoShandor 09:58, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] WikiProject Illinois 2007 Census

Hello, sorry to be so impersonal, in a rush, got to go. :)

The WikiProject Illinois 2007 membership census has concluded. If you did not add your name during the last week, you were declared "inactive" in the project, your name is still listed at The Participants Page. You can change your status by replacing {{member inactive}} with {{active}} in the table. Any members should also feel free to fill in any missing details on the list below.

IvoShandor 11:22, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] WikiProject Illinois Post Census Report

The WikiProject Illinois Newsletter (Beta)
"Post Census Report"
Vol. I, No. 1, Issue 1, October 2007
If you would like to delete this message, the original is at Wikipedia:WikiProject Illinois/Newsletter/Post Census Report
Census results

On October 4, 2007 WikiProject Illinois embarked on a membership census. The census was the project's first since its establishment on September 24, 2005. Due to the nature of the wiki, and the two years that had passed, it seemed likely that many of the project's older members were no longer active. The project page had grown stagnant and the census provided an opportunity to see who was still around, slaving away in their own corner of the encylopedia, unknown to the rest of the Illinois editing world. Well, now, the tabulation is complete, and after a notice at the Community Portal, we have gained a couple new members amongst the cluster of project veterans who returned to sign up.

Of the 55 members listed on the project membership list on October 4, 26 editors returned to the list to "resign up," thus, confirming their current activity within project areas. If you received this message, you were one of those editors. The List of Participants has now been updated to reflect the results of this membership survey, with members who failed to respond highlighted as "inactive." Now, as a group of editors, we have a core list of individuals, that will hopefully grow in size as the project strives to become a better organized central collaboration space for editors working on Illinois related topics.

What's next?

The big question, where does the project go from here? Well there are a few proposals being floated at this project page. Little discussion has occurred thus far, and participation would be key to all of them. Some ideas include:

  • An A-class review system, under the WP:ILLINOIS banner, to serve the Illinois and Chicago WikiProjects.
  • A project newsletter, of which this is a beta version.
  • Project restructuring, to include regional and specific discipline task forces.
  • A monthly project collaboration to grow out of our currently idle collaboration division.
From the Editors
  • Welcome new members: Laleena, Omnedon and Rickvaughn
  • Interested in helping building and developing a project newsletter? See, start and join in on the proposal discussion.
  • The table is back up at the List of Participants and it has several blanks you can fill in if you have not done so already. They are: where you are originally from, where you live, the project areas you work in, your join date, and now, your status (which has been filled in for you).
News & Notes
  • Don't forget to add the project page to your watchlist so you can monitor the project talk page for relevant discussion.
  • As a note: WP:ILLINOIS is the project page shortcut and WT:ILLINOIS is the project talk page shortcut.
  • Kranar drogin essentially single-handedly cleared out the massive backlog in Category:Unassessed WikiProject Illinois articles, feel free to sprinkle his page with barnstars and thank yous, he deserves it. Everyone can help keep it cleared out by checking it for unassessed articles. For more information see the Assessment division of the project, though it isn't as project specific as it should be, it has enough info to give assessors an idea of what to do. Be aware that classes A, GA and FA can only be imposed by outside review processes.
  • The AlexNewArtBot dumps new Illinois related articles on this page periodically. You can help monitor new material by watchlisting the page, and combing new Illinois articles for clean up, referencing and other needed editing work.
Contributors to this Issue

IvoShandor 06:18, 11 October 2007 (UTC)