Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Latvia

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This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Wikipedia:WikiProject Latvia page.

This article is part of WikiProject Latvia, a WikiProject related to Latvia.
Latvia Portal
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[edit] wikibreak

Due to circumstances in my life, I need to reduce my activity in Wikipedia, and will be taking a leave of absence. I wish the Project the best of success while I am away. Chris 22:04, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Geting new members

I see that no new members have joined this project for a while, though there are many more people regulary editing Latvia related articles, I've seen that other projects use invitations, so maybe we should also use this tactic to get new members ?---- Xil/talk 07:40, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Images of actors and actresses

I have a number of real photo postcards in my possession with images of Latvian actors and actresses from the 1920's to 1930's. Unfortunately, in most cases I have no clue as to who they are, but I know they were quite famous when they lived. This information just in case someone would assist me to determine who they are. I could write the articles about them myself since I have reference literature. Philaweb T-C 09:53, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

Tehnicaly, I see some ways to find out, if you coulld upload them (basicly I know someone who, I think, has good knowledge in Latvan theatre and maybe could tell)---- Xil/talk 10:29, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
Thanks for your kind offer. I will let you know when I have scanned and uploaded the postcards to my webprovider. Philaweb T-C 10:55, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Heraldry of Latvian municipalities

Looking for (sources of) images of COA's and flags of current Latvian rural municipalities (pagasti), rural territories (lauku teritorijas) and amalgated municipalities (novadi). Philaweb T-C 14:26, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

I don't think rural territories have something like that. Rest certanly can be found on webpages of respective divisons and Latvian wikipedia articles of this category (I allredady looked in novadi and lauku teritorijas - there is nothing more then in folowing examples). Here are some: [1], [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]---- Xil/talk 14:49, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Russian-speaking country

The Article Latvia is categorized in the Russian speaking country category. I am disputing the fact that baltic states are russian speaking. Although there are lots of russian speaking people here, officially those countries have their own languages. In wikipedia traditions category "Russian speaking country" would mean that the official language of this country is Russian.

I am asking advice from Latvian editors on this. Thank you. Suva 14:00, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

See Talk:Latvia#Russian speaking country for further discussion of this issue, which now seems to have been resolved. — Zalktis 07:04, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Spam/Vandalism warning

Please watch out for "External links" added by User:Savvynetworks (contribs) . They are spam and should be removed. The spammer has been warned. — Zalktis 14:49, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Collaboration effort

I think we should adopt this thing some other projects have (mainly because I have difficulties to find a qualitative article to feature on Portal:Latvia). The basic idea, in case if you don't know, is to select an article, which is then improved by project members for some period of time. Additionaly after the collabration is over the article could be featured on Portal:Latvia. So... would you be interested to participiate in such effort and if you would how long do you think it should be ? ---- Xil/talk 14:24, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

This sounds like a good initiative. I would be willing to help out to the best of my ability. Regarding the length of the improvement period: as there are relatively few people active in WikiProject Latvia, it may be wise to take things slow at first. A number of weeks per article at least, I would imagine. - Zalktis 06:20, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

I think a month should be best then - Portal:Latvia featured article is updated monthly, as I don't have anything for october I want to start this as soon as posibile. I prupose that we improve an article for a calendar month and in the last week of this month we pick next month's article by voting for suggestions made for that month (that means that suggestions can be made before that week's monday, after that there is only voting, one can vote before that week), if there is a draw most important and, if there still is a problem, the one with least problems gets selected. And suggested articles that haven't been selected automaticly get an extra support vote next time they are proposed. -- Xil/talk 09:36, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

I think both collabration and the period of time - a month - is acceptable for everyone, so as the month of September has already started I think this should be started as soon as posible, so here's a suggestion:
  • The need of this effort and the period of time is disputed until collabration starts. We can disscus other suggestions untill October
  • Collabration starts when there is at least one support vote (that means by someone else than nominator) for the article and no objections
  • The collabration section is put on Project page whenever collabration begins, so suggestions for September are disputed here
I think that for this month we should pick one of the articles assessed as top importance and start class, which has no major problems and is long, therefore I think we should pick Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga ---- Xil/talk 14:40, 4 September 2007 (UTC)
Because no one has opposed, I'll put this up so that next months efferot can be disscused properly -- Xil/talk 13:05, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Infobox at Latvian War of Independence

Could someone please check accuracy of this ? Some anonymous user insists that Bermont wasn't German ally. I originaly took data for infobox from a history textbook ~~Xil...sist! 00:19, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

It all depends on which Germans. Goltz tried to take the Baltics for Germany--however, the driving force were the Baltic German landed gentry who wanted to keep their property and power; Latvia as a German colony was their solution. Goltz's forces remained in Latvia to then join up with and form the vast bulk of Bermont's force. Had Bermont been successful, Latvia would then have undoubtedly allied with Germany as the Baltic Germans would (for obvious reasons) no longer look to Russia, now Soviet.
   To the question of "ally", Goltz + Bermont were a military action instigated by the Baltic Germans with the official and unofficial support (ergo ally) of primarily German forces (all German under Goltz, three-quarters German under Bermont).
   Hope this helps! (See longer answer in article talk.)
   Since we don't have a flag for the Noble Corporation (Ritterschaft), the German flag will do for the Infobox just fine.
P.S. Hopefully Cedriņš or someone else better versed in this will provide a less simplistic account! PētersV 05:42, 31 October 2007 (UTC)
The IP dug up some Russian sources and his arguments on talk page acctualy don't go against my own books (except that 1. Bermont and Goltz formed Bermontians primarily on basis of the Iron division, Russian POWs were only small part of the army. 2. Latvian side did received support of French navy). It seems that Bermontians managed to be bouth under German and White command for certaint periods of time, which perhaps means that they were Pro-Baltic German, not German or Russian army, also Baltic duchy probaly had allready cased to exist, which leaves Bermontians to be army of what country ? --~~Xil...sist! 21:35, 31 October 2007 (UTC)
The 40,000 out of 51-52,000 is Bermont's own number, so there's no "spin" on the #'s--definitely a (vast) majority German force. Bit more checking, ound the flag solution: United Baltic Duchy. :-) PētersV 00:53, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Expert review: Kārlis Skalbe

As part of the Notability wikiproject, I am trying to sort out whether Kārlis Skalbe is notable enough for an own article. I would appreciate an expert opinion. For details, see the article's talk page. If you can spare some time, please add your comments there. Thanks! --B. Wolterding (talk) 16:38, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wrong maps

I'd like to point out that in Image:Latvia districts blank.png and maps based on it lake of Liepāja marked so that it looks like a part of the Sea (I guess it's because of the strange way CIA World Factbook map marks this lake) ~~Xil...sist! 08:53, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

I've found another wrong looking map - Image:Lettland-Karte.png ~~Xil...sist! 23:29, 5 February 2008 (UTC)
I left a note for User:Golbez here PētersV (talk) 18:20, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

== Taip arba Ne ==

Can you have a look at Taip arba Ne please and see if it is notable enough for Wikipedia. There are loads of hits for this on Google, but not so much in English. --Montchav (talk) 21:24, 4 February 2008 (UTC)Oops, wrong baltic state, --Montchav (talk) 21:26, 4 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Heads of state

An IP keeps changing content of List of Presidents of Latvia to what could be called list of heads of Latvia. Due to this discussion and the fact that it is not (in my opinion) in the article's scope, I keep reverting his edits. Now he suggested to rename the list Heads of Latvia, I suggested him that if he wants such list he should get seperate article created, but he added his list again. I am not sure if such list would be good idea nor if he would stop if someone else would create it. Anyway I would like a second opinion - I can't keep endlesly reverting him only because I don't agree with him and he seems to be ignoring discussion ~~Xil...sist! 22:22, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Block him! he's an obvious candidate since he does not follow instructions placed on his talk page. Philaweb T-C 23:33, 17 February 2008 (UTC)
On what basis ? I'm not sure if his violating any rules - I haven't seen any rule that would say that user who ignores discussion should be blocked, there is no consensus, that heads of state shouldn't be there, this isn't vandalsim and he seems to do good to other articles ~~Xil...sist! 01:59, 18 February 2008 (UTC)
For what reasons do you keep reverting his edits then? Now, he needs to propose fundamental changes via the talk page, not via the edit remarks. He also needs to familiarize himself with good wiki manners, without having to revert articles into submission. Philaweb T-C 07:15, 18 February 2008 (UTC)
As I said I feel that there is vague support to my view and adding content which dosen't match with title of the page seems wrong. Now he has added it back and I'm not sure if I won't break rules if I revert him again, I left a him a note that it would be better if he would explain his views, just in case he hasn't realised that he should somehow react to notes left on talk page. This isn't going to work out as long as there are only two people involved, so I'd also would like to know if others support this version instead of IP's version ~~Xil...sist! 15:24, 18 February 2008 (UTC)
And now some User:Ivan Bogdanov moved the page to List of Heads of State of Latvia, I think I'll move the previous version to seperate article if people are unable to create pages, or are there any other suggestions ? ~~Xil...sist! 23:20, 21 February 2008 (UTC)
Have a look at Talk:List of Heads of State of Latvia. Philaweb T 14:43, 23 February 2008 (UTC)
Good, exactly what was needed ~~Xil...sist! 15:07, 24 February 2008 (UTC)
We have a problem - User:Ivan Bogdanov keeps removing templates from the List of Heads of State of Latvia and the IP added that list to List of Presidents of Latvia again ~~Xil...sist! 16:43, 25 February 2008 (UTC)
If the IP activity continues, we can always request protection for edits from anonymous sources for a period of time. I'm hoping that our anonymous Serbian IP finds more pressing current issues to deal with. —PētersV (talk) 17:32, 25 February 2008 (UTC) P.S. Xil, your version is obviously the correct one, it lists **Presidents**.
Now he's doing the same thing to Prime Minister of Latvia. Philaweb T 21:02, 25 February 2008 (UTC)
Vecrumba, he obviously is this Ivan (atleast they use simmilar edit summary - "Ivan IV") so semi-block won't do. ~~Xil...sist! 21:10, 25 February 2008 (UTC)
The anon-ID is using a fixed IP-address via the ISP called Serbia Broadband. A block would only affect this IP. Philaweb T 21:32, 25 February 2008 (UTC)
Ivan Bogdanov just received the fourth reversion warning for his reversions on Prime Minister of Latvia. Philaweb T 21:16, 25 February 2008 (UTC)
I thought Vecrumba meant something else, also I just noticed that he was using different IP of the same provider when he made first edits to Presidents. He's been blocked to three days. Anyway I've suggested to split the heads of state article, please take a look at its talk page. This could produce several reasonable articles and perhaps he will get what he wants and stop. ~~Xil...sist! 08:10, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Mareks Seglins

People from this WikiProject may be interested in assessing and improving this article. Thank you.--h i s s p a c e r e s e a r c h 17:11, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Wikipedia:Centralized discussion/Country of birth

Please check Wikipedia:Centralized discussion/Country of birth, it appears important Alex Bakharev (talk) 14:31, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] 1000 articles

It's time to celebrate our 1000th article and to drink a bottle of beer ;). And by the way, we don't have any good articles, I think it's time to finish and nominate some of our best articles. Denis Tarasov (talk) 16:39, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Cheers! We have some obscure article on some basketball player ;) at a glance 2006 Riga summit and Salaspils look good enough to try ~~Xil * 17:22, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
By the way Denis, don't you think it would be more approporiate to nominate NATO summit under Politics section, not Military ? It's more about international organisiation than military - people who look in that section probably look for battles & stuff, so it might take ages until someone reviews it ~~Xil * 23:30, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

I think it doesn’t matter, although you can move it, if you think it will get better. I also think it's better to leave the phrase about CIS summit in the article... it intentionally was held in the same day as the NATO summit. Denis Tarasov (talk) 12:43, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

I think it would be better if you would move it as you nominated it, it matters because the page has backlog - it may take long time until it's reviewed in any case, but it ought to get reviewed faster if it's placed in category where people, who might be interesed to review it, look. If the CIS summit was held on the same day on purpose, the article should say so, otherwise it isn't logic to leave that fact - CIS is compleatly diferent organisation and Latvia has never even been its member ~~Xil * 13:20, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Mind that Riga summit has been put on hold, reviewer says that article should be better referenced and that there could be more images, if we won't do something about it it will be failed after 7 days ~~Xil * 16:13, 10 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Andrejs Zavadskis

Does Andrejs Zavadskis merit an article? (Has he had any solo exhibitions, or has he had any books published?) I note that there's no link to an article on him in Latvian-language Wikipedia. The article on him here talks of winning some contests, but I don't know how notable they are. There's something obscure about a "gallery" (an exhibition?). The article ends on a most humdrum note -- but then, he's remarkably young. (Perhaps he'll deserve an article ten or twenty years from now.) Am I missing something? (Unfortunately I can't read Latvian.) -- Hoary (talk) 07:29, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Looks like Andrejs took courses at FotoAkadēmija, itself founded in September, 2005, and the photographers mentioned are his school instructors. Andrejs has apparently been very busy posting pictures, running his own photo blog, signing up on photo sites, registering multiple domain names to his site, and joining professional organizations.
   His work's not bad--though there are glimpses of the slightly over-the-top and staged Latvian aesthetic I recognize from exhibitions I've seen in Rīga. (My "expertise" includes: my father graduated from the Latvian Academy of Art before the war, I grew up in the Latvian artists exile community in New York, I studied calligraphy and photography at Cooper Union, years ago, but I still got "A"s in both from the toughest professors,...)
   With regard to the photo contest, "Latio" is a real estate company. They are the corporate sponsor, working together with the Ministry of Culture, of the "Latvijas Fotogrāfija" annual award, with an exhibit held in the gallery "Arsenāls". So being among the winners (there are a number, with a fair number of photographs among them in total) is a reasonable accomplishment.
   However, I'm concerned that Andrejs is not notable yet and that given the article creation edit history, appearing to have been created by a single-purpose account also created the same day and which has not edited since, the article is really a self-promotion piece. —PētersV (talk) 15:48, 10 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] IP 213.180.97.70 making disruptive edits

User:213.180.97.70 has been making various edits which, personally, strike me as disruptive. These (somewhat bizarrely) often involve replacing references to Lithuanian with ones to Latvian, as well as trying to make far-right Latvian movements be presented as simply "nationalists". I assume this guy is a member or hang-around of "Visu Latvijai!". Keep an eye out for his "contributions". —Zalktis (talk) 15:03, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Dosen't look very distruptive - one might indeed wonder why if a large nummber of various languages is given, it gives only Lithuanian, if it could refer to Latvian as well (though simply deliting Lithuanian is wrong of course). Also All for Latvia! themselves call their party national conservative and perhaps simply calling them nationalist dosen't reflect their views on things like homosexuality ~~Xil * 16:17, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Categories

Hello. There are 77 officialy designated cities in Latvia but it seems there is no linguistic distinction between city and town in Latvian, this causes problems with nomenclature, here on WP. Would renaming Cat:Cities in Latvia to Cat:Cities and towns in Latvia be reasonable? Thanks. - Darwinek (talk) 13:41, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

There is a legal designation and see User_talk:Yyy#template:Latvian_cities (so I don't have to make a lenghtly explenation) ~~Xil * 21:30, 22 May 2008 (UTC)
Thanks, I see. So what do you propose? Should it stay where it is? - Darwinek (talk) 09:44, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
Is there an option to indicate that it is a legal designation - I see that township has different meaning than it might seem, but perhaps there is some synonim ? ~~Xil * 13:24, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
Probably the best way is to indicate it at the top of the category and make a link to List of cities in Latvia, which already explains the official designation. I see three possible ways for categories:
  1. Let it be as it is.
  2. Make "Cities and towns in Latvia" for 77 cities/towns and remaining settlements put into "Villages in Latvia" category.
  3. Leave "Cities in Latvia" alone, make redirect from "Towns in Latvia" to it and create "Villages in Latvia" for remaining settlements.

What do you think? - Darwinek (talk) 13:49, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

I'm not sure what should be done - cities and towns seem OK as long as other populated places are not taken into account - I don't know how these are officilay divided, and the current Towns and villages category list quite different things together. We could call towns and villages category populated places, however that would seem to include cities as well ~~Xil * 15:27, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
That's what I'm talking about - category only for Latvian cities and another for other settlements. Both are in use as for now but the only issue here is naming, i.e. if they should be renamed. - Darwinek (talk) 15:59, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Draft Guidelines for Lists of companies by country - Feedback Requested

Within WikiProject Companies I am trying to establish guidelines for all Lists of companies by country, the implementation of which would hopefully ensure a minimum quality standard and level of consistency across all of these related but currently disparate articles. The ultimate goal is the improvement of these articles to Featured List status. As a WikiProject that currently has one of these lists within your scope, I would really appreciate your feedback! You can find the draft guidelines here. Thanks for your help as we look to build consensus and improve Wikipedia! - Richc80 (talk) 04:50, 26 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Oliver Kahn

Oliver Kahn is of partial Latvian descent: his grandmother was Latvian, his grandfather Baltic German, and his father was born in Liepāja. His Latvian background caused media speculation as to whether this would affect his perfromance in the Germany–Latvia game during the UEFA Euro 2004 championships. Should this famous German goalkeeper be included in WikiProject Latvia? —Zalktis (talk) 06:40, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Latvian music industry

I've been unable to find information pertaining to the Latvian music industry, so I was hoping someone here could help me. Is there a Latvian equivalent to the Recording Industry Association of America or British Phonographic Industry? I ask because I'm working on a global music-market type article (List of music recording sales certifications) and I've been unable to find much info pertaining to the Latvian music industry. Any help anyone could give would very much appreciated. Drewcifer (talk) 02:41, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

There's the Latvian Music Producers Association, Latvijas Mūzikas Producentu Apvienība (LaMPA). —PētersV (talk) 03:02, 8 June 2008 (UTC)
Cool, thanks! Do you know if they have a website? Drewcifer (talk) 03:07, 8 June 2008 (UTC)