User:Bananasoldier/notes

2015

Useful welcome template

{{subst:User:Darylgolden/Welcome}}

Link to copyvio checker

• http://tools.wmflabs.org/copyvios/

TAFI CHECKLIST

• Article fixed to standard Wikipedia formatting
• References checked for reliability, references with poor reliability removed
• References formatted properly and consistently
• Checked for possible pictures from Wikimedia commons and Creative Commons-released sources like Flickr

Stuff

• http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/6696214
• Wikipedia:WikiProject Environment/Environmental Record task force
• Category:Articles with a promotional tone

Waterways

Hi Jakec! I've been inspired by your recent interview at The Signpost and want to start working on some of the waterway articles in my local area (California). I was wondering if you have any tips or perhaps a system of steps for writing waterway articles (good references to check, layout, etc.). Regardless, thanks for your incredible contributions to the 'pedia! Bananasoldier (talk) 01:14, 31 January 2015 (UTC)

@Bananasoldier: Thanks! It's great that you're planning to create some waterway articles; there can never be too many of those. As for typical sources that I use: there are only three that I always use:

1. The National Map. Very useful for describing the course of a creek/stream. The distance measuring tool (in the advanced tab) can be used to measure a creek's length since there isn't any centralized repository on stream lengths for some reason.
2. The Pennsylvania Gazetteer of Streams. Contains comprehensive river miles and watershed area information. Only useful for Pennsylvania obviously, but this has some useful info (though it doesn't look to be anywhere near as comprehensive as the Pennsylvania version, nor does it have quite the same type of information).
3. GNIS. Contains elevation information (only for the mouth, so you have to use The National Map to find the source), USGS quadrangles that a feature is on, and date it was entered into the GNIS. Also sometimes contains a list of alternate names.

A few sources that I sometimes use, but not always:

1. uglybridges.com. For California, go here and navigate to the relevant county. It'll list every bridge in the county along with the creek it crosses (hence the relevance here) and some other useful information as well.
2. TMDLs. Dozens of pages long, and usually chock-full of hydrology and geology data. This seems to be a list of California's TMDLs.
3. County history books. Nothing specific to link to, but I have yet to come across a county that isn't the subject of at least one or two local history books. They often go into detail on the more prominent creeks and at least mention many of the smaller ones. Since they tend to be public domain, they're easily available on Google Books, too.

Other than that, I don't really know of much about references. I'd probably have to write a couple dozen articles to get the feel for what kinds of sources might be available.

On the subject of layout, I typically have a layout of Course, tributaries (subsection of course), Hydrology, Geography and geology, Watershed, History, Biology, Recreation, although if there isn't enough information for a full section, I typically merge some of the sections or leave them out entirely. --Jakob (talk) 02:02, 31 January 2015 (UTC)

@Jakec: Wow! This is incredible! Thank you so much! I'll save all this information in my notes. I hope you'll be seeing some new Californian water articles in the near future. Bananasoldier (talk) 02:08, 31 January 2015 (UTC)

Other

• {{Find sources}}
• {{Find sources 3}}
• {{Find sources 4}}
• {{Former TAFI}}
• {{subst:User:Meaghan/Sunshine}}

• <ref name="brightsurf.com 2013">{{cite web | title=New device could cut costs on household products, pharmaceuticals | website=brightsurf.com | date=15 April 2013 | year=2013 | url=http://www.brightsurf.com/news/headlines/85181/New_device_could_cut_costs_on_household_products_pharmaceuticals.html | accessdate=10 January 2015}}</ref>

• I think the reflinks tool and tools:Checklinks are cool. Category:Pages with broken reference names

• Here's a link to nowhere.

2014

What Fish? book reference set-up:

Better one:

Best:

Also, page 22.

Hey Bananasoldier. I know of no book-specific guideline for located reliable sources, but that's the rule rather than the exception for most topics. Video games are an area where it's often difficult to find reliable sources in the usual places (which I'll get to in a moment) because of how recent they often are and their nature so that guideline was created. For books, like many topics, the usual places are (other) books (Google Books [note this citation tool!]), magazines, newspapers, journals (Google Scholar) and so on. Unfortunately, Google News' archive is down for possibly two months or more and may greatly hamper writing an article on a book, because newspapers are often the predominant place to turn for a book--many books are treated almost nowhere else. However there are other newspaper resources, though the only ones at all comparable (or better) are pay sites (newspaperarchive.com is amazing [though better for older material than current]). For a list of free newspaper sources, see Wikipedia:Free English newspaper sources. Note also the wonderful resource exchange request forum – if you know of a source or likely source but do not have access you can request it there. Best regards--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 05:05, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

Overall coverage of each game looks good, but I also think it's a bit long. Excessive gameplay detail isn't desirable for an encyclopedia, such as lists of all the types of towers, bloon colors, etc. (particularly for Bloons TD 4). Focusing on the key features and biggest changes between each game (graphics, game modes, new features, etc.) are the most important.

I think the next best place to look at is the reception section, since it only mentions a couple of games right now. It's complicated since it's going to cover the entire series. I'd look at the Grand Theft Auto' reception section as a good example; we can provide an overall impression of the entire series, then get into game-specific ratings (with a table?).

Also, question: I believe the article should be moved to Bloons TD, since the series seems to have been renamed? Unless I'm missing something.

For reliable sources related to video gaming, Wikipedia:WikiProject Video games/Sources provides more information than you could ever want about video game sourcing. This list provides a comprehensive list of commonly accepted sources, along with custom Google searches set up so your search only returns results from the listed websites. Hope this helps! ~SuperHamster Talk Contribs 00:59, 31 December 2013 (UTC)