Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Tennessee/Archive 4

Archive 1

Archive 2

Archive 3

Archive 4

Archive 5

Notable Residents

I brought this up a year or two ago...and decided today I'd get around to doing it. I know that we've been removing the notable residents sections from a few articles...I'm going to try to do them all. They are all trivia, there is no criteria as to what constitutes a "resident" (the White House, Tennessee article included Andrew Jackson because he was rumored to have maybe spent the night there once) and they are mostly unreferenced. --Smashville^talk 21:13, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Yeah, good changes. I would say that if there are verifiable residents who have had a measurable impact on the community, an argument could be made to keep those, but yeah, for the most part, it is all trivia. — Huntster (t @ c) 03:50, 22 May 2010 (UTC)

While I have no love lost for Notable Resident lists (apparently everyone from Cleveland, Tennessee thinks themselves notable), when this issue came up two years ago, User:Orlady presented an argument for keeping the lists (Archive 3), to which no one really responded. I agree the lists are abused, though. Bms4880 (talk) 10:52, 22 May 2010 (UTC)

Well, I've been busy restoring some of the notable residents sections that Smashville has been busy deleting (before having seen this conversation, which Bms4880 pointed me to).

I see these wholesale removals as a case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I'm all-too-aware of a propensity to add the names of all manner of show biz stars to articles about Nashville suburban communities where they may or may not live (these are generally unverifiable because these people generally don't advertise their places of residence, so the entries ought to be deleted) and Andrew Jackson should not be identified as a resident of White House, Tennessee. Also, I'm chronically annoyed by the inclusion of names of people who merely attended college in a town (this is a particularly chronic issue in the Clarksville, Tennessee article). Those types of entries are "bathwater" that deserves to be dumped.

However, the names of prominent local residents are an important part of the "story" of many cities and towns -- particularly the smaller communities -- so this information is not inherently nonencyclopedic trivia (as the edit summaries have implied). Furthermore, these people's residency is often well-documented even if the place-name article doesn't cite sources.

Accordingly:

• I restored the mention of Grace Moore to the Jellico article because I have the general impression that she's the single most important positive thing that ever happened to Jellico. I researched her article a few years ago because I was puzzled to find that Chattanooga was claiming her (it turns out that she's buried there), and I'm quite sure that the Jellico connection is sourced (although not cited in the Jellico article).
• I restored the Roan Mountain Hilltoppers to the Roan Mountain town article with an expanded discussion of who they are (since they don't have their own article, but I think they probably are wiki-notable). There's some ambiguity in references to "Roan Mountain, Tennessee", so I'm not 100% sure they truly are from the town rather than from somewhere near Roan Mountain, but the association seems to be significant for the town. Maybe they can be spun off into a separate article that could be listed as a "See also."
• I restored the mention of Dean Dillon to the Lake City article, but with less fluff. It was clear from his article that he's from Lake City (I've now added a source ref to the Lake City article) and that he started his career in the local area; I think Lake City deserves to "take credit" for him. (I also restored the mention of the Fraterville mining disaster, since it's often described as having occurred in "Coal Creek, Tennessee", the former name of Lake City -- and Fraterville isn't exactly an identifiable town.)
• I restored most or all of the list to Oak Ridge, Tennessee (where I live). The large number of notable people associated with this small city (which has existed for less than 70 years) is a source of significant local interest and pride (and anons keep adding Megan Fox's name to the article, even though it's already there -- if it were removed, that activity probably would increase).
• I restored most or all of the list in the Maryville article, as I believe that most (if not all) of these people are strongly connected with Maryville's present or past. However, I flagged the list as needing references.
• I reserve the right to restore additional lists in similar fashion.

Let's not assume that notable people are inherently trivial (particularly when we are looking at articles that document the existence of a Dollar General store or the types of bands featured at the city's annual festival). Instead, I submit that our focus should be on evaluating verifiability and relevance (including WP:N), and deleting stuff that doesn't belong on the basis of those considerations. --Orlady (talk) 14:08, 26 May 2010 (UTC)

I wish to second everything Orlady has said here. --Orange Mike | Talk 18:38, 26 May 2010 (UTC)

Picture request - Temple Israel (Memphis, Tennessee)

Could a member of this project living in the Memphis area possibly take some photographs of Temple Israel (Memphis, Tennessee)? It's currently over 54kb (and over 5200 words), and a WP:GA candidate, but has not one picture! Jayjg ^(talk) 02:58, 18 June 2010 (UTC)

List of United States federal courthouses in Tennessee

This page has been initiated - any help in filling in missing federal courthouses, or providing missing information on listed courthouses (especially pictures) would be appreciated. Cheers! bd2412 T 00:38, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Tennessee articles have been selected for the Wikipedia 0.8 release

Version 0.8 is a collection of Wikipedia articles selected by the Wikipedia 1.0 team for offline release on USB key, DVD and mobile phone. Articles were selected based on their assessed importance and quality, then article versions (revisionIDs) were chosen for trustworthiness (freedom from vandalism) using an adaptation of the WikiTrust algorithm.

We would like to ask you to review the Tennessee articles and revisionIDs we have chosen. Selected articles are marked with a diamond symbol (♦) to the right of each article, and this symbol links to the selected version of each article. If you believe we have included or excluded articles inappropriately, please contact us at Wikipedia talk:Version 0.8 with the details. You may wish to look at your WikiProject's articles with cleanup tags and try to improve any that need work; if you do, please give us the new revisionID at Wikipedia talk:Version 0.8. We would like to complete this consultation period by midnight UTC on Monday, October 11th.

We have greatly streamlined the process since the Version 0.7 release, so we aim to have the collection ready for distribution by the end of October, 2010. As a result, we are planning to distribute the collection much more widely, while continuing to work with groups such as One Laptop per Child and Wikipedia for Schools to extend the reach of Wikipedia worldwide. Please help us, with your WikiProject's feedback!

For the Wikipedia 1.0 editorial team, SelectionBot 23:42, 19 September 2010 (UTC)

Relevant AFD - The Bridge (2006 drama)

• The Bridge (2006 drama)

Relevant AFD, please see Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/The Bridge (2006 drama). -- Cirt (talk) 06:14, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Tennessee article

An anon is determined to add some unsourced data to the demographics section of the Tennessee article, so someone may want to lock it. Bms4880 (talk) 21:47, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

I semi-protected the article again. --Orlady (talk) 00:11, 27 October 2010 (UTC)

WikiProject cleanup listing

I have created together with Smallman12q a toolserver tool that shows a weekly-updated list of cleanup categories for WikiProjects, that can be used as a replacement for WolterBot and this WikiProject is among those that are already included (because it is a member of Category:WolterBot cleanup listing subscriptions). See the tool's wiki page, this project's listing in one big table or by categories and the index of WikiProjects. Svick (talk) 20:24, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

The Cleanup listing subpage Wikipedia:WikiProject Tennessee/Cleanup listing referenced by the WolterBot box at Wikipedia:WikiProject Tennessee#Article status is seriously out of date — March 2010. I suggest the WolterBot box be removed and the subpage labeled as 'Reference Only' SBaker43 (talk) 05:47, 16 January 2011 (UTC)

Invitation to help with WikiProject United States

Hello, WikiProject Tennessee/Archive 4! We are looking for editors to join WikiProject United States, an outreach effort which aims to support development of United States related articles in Wikipedia. We thought you might be interested, and hope that you will join us. Thanks!!!

--Kumioko (talk) 02:57, 9 November 2010 (UTC)

Temple Israel (Memphis, Tennessee)

Temple Israel (Memphis, Tennessee) has been nominated for Featured Article status; the discussion is here. Any comments, advice or other input would be appreciated. Jayjg ^(talk) 02:49, 24 November 2010 (UTC)

A consideration for cross project consolidation of talk page templates

I have started a conversation here about the possibility of combining some of the United States related WikiProject Banners into {{WikiProject United States}}. If you have any comments, questions or suggestions please take a moment and let me know. --Kumioko (talk) 20:25, 27 November 2010 (UTC)

I see no need for this. The Tennessee template is already using WPBannerMeta, which is bad enough (in my opinion, of course). — Huntster (t @ c) 05:07, 28 November 2010 (UTC)

Forwarded message: Help with Southern College of Optometry in Memphis

Perhaps someone from the western end of the state can address the request below, which was posted on my talk page. (I edited it to fit into this context better.) --Orlady (talk) 14:39, 29 November 2010 (UTC)

Southern College of Optometry

Good Morning-How are you doing? If you have the time would you please look at the Southern College of Optometry, in Memphis, Tennessee. I was working on an article about a Kansas legislator James Morrison (Kansas politician) who just died and Morrison graduated from the school. The article about the school may need to be edited. Thank you as always-RFD (talk) 14:21, 26 November 2010 (UTC)

AfD Notice

FedEx Express Flight 647 has been nominated for deletion Mjroots (talk) 09:00, 9 December 2010 (UTC)

Tennessee Century Farm

Is that a term? Hmm, there is Century Farm article, so i gather a Tennessee Century Farm is a continuing farm >100 years in operation. I wonder is there a list of these, are these especially notable in Tennessee, because i notice Smithson-McCall Farm is described as being one. Any help categorizing, developing this new article appreciated. I'm working on some other NRHP-listed places in Williamson County, too. --Doncram (talk) 05:04, 14 January 2011 (UTC)

This is not unique to Tennessee. There are "century farm" programs in almost every state of the United States (not just the states listed in Century Farm). As you inferred/discovered, these are farms that have been in operation for more than a century -- generally as family farms that have remained in the hands of the same family. I've used "century farm" information in other articles, so it should be possible to find resources by searching wikipedia for that term. I am not aware of any master list, but one of the state universities maintains a website about these farms. --Orlady (talk) 05:27, 14 January 2011 (UTC)

Ah, i now see this page on What is the Tennessee Century Farms program. They claim a lot for the Tennessee Century Farms program, including credit for a MPS study, which "Considered a model for rural preservation, this was the first thematic nomination in the country to deal with historic farmsteads" (which i think cannot be true, or can be true only in a narrow way). They also note "Many Century Farm families choose to have their farms nominated to the National Register as a protective measure from future federally-funded projects that may impact their farm." which seems to indicate not much benefit from NRHP listing (like no tax credits, and like no eligibility for some well-funded state grant program). But then i did see Smithson-Carlson Farm being mentioned in comments to the effect that a transmission lines impacts on it would be "completely unacceptable", within an Enviromental Impact statement, in this TVA report. NRHP listing does raise a hurdle for other Federal agencies, that they must consider and perhaps mitigate or avoid impacts.

There is likely enough material for an article about the Tennessee Century Farms program. "After 30 years, the statewide and ongoing program has 1,357 certified farms. Of that number 136 are 200 years old, 603 are 150 years old, and 618 are over 100 years old." Etc. And they all are listed; you can get to information and pics about each one. A list of them all could be included in Wikipedia.

Or, this all could be material for an article Historic preservation in Tennessee, which could have a section on the Tennessee Century Farms program to which Tennessee Century Farms could redirect, and which could serve other purposes, such as characterizing advantages and disadvantages of NRHP listing, and of other programs, in this state. There's a fledgling article at Historic preservation in New York which could give some ideas; i don't think there are any other state-specific articles this way (see also this (now-archived) discussion at wt:NRHP). --Doncram (talk) 13:02, 14 January 2011 (UTC)

Boyd-Wilson Farm is another NRHP-listed century farm in TN; there is now a Category:Century farms to which others can be added. --doncram 18:21, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

If you are interested in century farms, you should be aware that century farm programs are not unique to Tennessee. They exist in most or all U.S. states and in at least one Canadian province. New York's century farm program began in 1937.[1] Iowa and Minnesota have designated thousands of century farms since starting the program in 1976.[2][3] New Jersey hasn't designated nearly as many, but its program apparently started in 1976 or 1977.[4] Kansas has had a program since at least 2000.[5] Oregon has added a "sesquicentennial award" for farms or ranches in the same family for over 150 years.[6] --Orlady (talk) 17:32, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

Yes, i am aware (see above). Some but not all of those new mentions are within the current Century Farms article, an article which has links to many state programs and which could use further development. That article and a couple Tennessee century farm articles were tagged by me to be in a category, mentioned above. Interesting that some states' programs are relatively new. It seems that the Tennessee program claims a lot about itself and/or the relatively greater importance of century farms for Tennessee. Thanks. --doncram 20:00, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

importance ratings for historic sites

Wikiproject NRHP has just recently started doing importance ratings and has put all National Historic Landmark properties of Tennessee in at High importance. The National Historic Landmarks are quite a high honor roll of historic sites, all having national impdortance and higher site integrity and other requirements than for regular NRHP listings, and can be quite outstanding. These are indexed at List of NHLs in TN. I notice that many of these are rated as "Mid" importance by Wikiproject Tennesseee, but some, including Talk:Downtown Presbyterian Church, Nashville show "Low" importance. Could these be revisited and all be given Mid, or perhaps higher rating, supporting further development?

Also, going the other way, is there some subset of NRHP-listed places in Tennessee, say those in some state program, which WikiProject NRHP should rate higher than it does? Wikiproject NRHP is applying "Low" importance ratings as the default for NRHP-listed places, but "Mid" rating is available to be used in any way that makes sense here. --Doncram (talk) 13:24, 14 January 2011 (UTC)

The Tennessee WikiProject's importance scale at Wikipedia:WikiProject Tennessee/Assessment#Importance scale focuses on importance within the state context. An article that is very important for some other WikiProject could be of relatively low interest for Tennessee. I believe the contributors who rated most of these articles do not consider very many individual buildings to be of greater than "low" interest for this WikiProject, regardless of what the NRHP WikiProject might think. --Orlady (talk) 21:15, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

I think National Historic Landmark sites usually do have state and/or local importance; it's hard for a building to have importance at only national level and not any importance locally. Is the Downtown Presbyterian Church, Nashville one not important for Tennessee? Looking at its article, it was designed by William Strickland, a Nashville architect who also designed the Tennessee state capital. It's asserted to be one of few church examples of Egyptian Revival architecture nationally, so it must be one of even fewer in Tennessee. I was just wondering if WikiProject TN regulars would like to revisit this and other TN NHLs.

Going the other way, i wonder if the 14 Tennessee state-owned historic sites here, many/most of which are probably NRHP-listed are more important to TN than other NRHP-listed places? If so then WikiProject NHRP would want to rate them higher than Low, too. Looking, i see now that there is Category:Tennessee State Historic Sites and that at least a couple of those have "Mid" ratings given by TN, while being Low rated by wp:NRHP so far. In another state i know about, I would say the state-owned historic sites are very important, that the state ownership really is a significant indicator of importance which i would carry back to a Mid rating for wp:NRHP rating, too. State ownership and operation as a historic site requires continued budgetary support, which suggests state importance. But i don't know if state ownership is significant, if these are regarded as important, here in TN.

Hey, i further notice now the James K. Polk Ancestral Home is both an NHL and a Tennessee-owned historic site, currently rated Low by TN while High by wp:NRHP. I would hope it deserves a higher TN rating, despite President Polk being a figure of national stature. :)

As a shortcut, I suggest that the Category:National Historic Landmarks in Tennessee ones be given Mid rating for TN, unless TN really wants to assert disfavor with something or someone too Yankee-oriented or otherwise distasteful, and that each one individually be considered for High rating.

Thanks for commenting, anyhow. --doncram 22:35, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

I agree with Orlady's post. I see no problem with having vastly different ratings between projects. The NRHP project should rate articles according to how important they are to the project or to a national audience. Tennessee will rate articles according to how important the article is to this project or the state in general. Personally, while I love architecture, I would not rate most buildings in Tennessee as having beyond low importance, save for those that are highly iconic or historic in nature. — Huntster (t @ c) 23:57, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

Okay, one part of it was that i was asking you, does any editor here know about any Tennessee places that are more historically important than is recognized simply in NRHP listing. I take it the answer is No so far, which is okay; there's no reason that editors here have to know about historic preservation stuff in the state. I was just asking.

But about any suggestion the TN rating of importance might be changed, I am sensing some resistance here. Orlady's comment came across as negative although i fully agree that for the most part, NRHP-listed places should be rated no greater than "low" interest for wp:TN. There are in fact 1,975 NRHP places in Tennessee according to National Register of Historic Places listings in Tennessee right now, almost all rated Low by wp:TN and to be rated Low by wp:NRHP as well. They are almost all listed because of Tennessee state staff working on their being nominated and promoted as being of local or state importance, by the way.

What i am asking about, is whether Wp:TN editors would consider the perhaps-new/perhaps-not-yet-considered information that some few of these, 33 i think, are actually a lot more important than the others, including for wp:TN, according to wp:TN's own rating system. The articles might not yet reflect the importance, but a partly-Tennessee-state-run process has led to a select few of the NRHPs to be recognized as U.S. National Historic Landmarks. I think that you might consider there could be importance for Tennessee reflected in the NHL designations. I don't myself know details about very many of these, and i doubt whether Orlady or many wp:TN editors have really considered them either. I do know from other states, and from some consideration of some of the TN ones, that the NHLs are more important than regular NRHP-listed places. Are you simply dismissing that? Why dismiss that?

In particular, i suggested looking at two where TN's rating is currently Low. Why not revisit those two (and look to see whether others of the 33 are rated Low and should be upgraded, too)? In fact by this CatScan search, i see a total of 13 worth revisiting:

1. Talk:Battle of Franklin (1864)
2. Talk:Chucalissa Indian Village
3. Talk:Downtown Presbyterian Church, Nashville
4. Talk:Fort Loudoun (Tennessee)
5. Talk:James K. Polk Ancestral Home
6. Talk:Long Island (Tennessee)
7. Talk:Rhea County Courthouse
8. Talk:Sun Studio
9. Talk:Sycamore Shoals
10. Talk:The Hermitage (Nashville, Tennessee)
11. Talk:William Blount Mansion
12. Talk:Wynnewood (Tennessee)
13. Talk:X-10 Graphite Reactor

I don't want to claim it is a really huge favor to you, but i did come with some perspective, some knowledge, to offer up for you. :) --doncram 02:53, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

Also the following are rated High by NRHP and are probably all NHLs, while being rated only Mid by TN.

1. Talk:Delta Queen
2. Talk:Fort Pillow State Park
3. Talk:Franklin Battlefield
4. Talk:Hiram Masonic Lodge No. 7
5. Talk:Jubilee Hall
6. Talk:Moccasin Bend
7. Talk:Montgomery Bell Tunnel
8. Talk:Peabody College
9. Talk:Pinson Mounds
10. Talk:Rattle and Snap
11. Talk:Sgt. Alvin C. York State Historic Park
12. Talk:T. O. Fuller State Park

--doncram 14:46, 21 January 2011 (UTC)

I'm upgrading the NHL ones above that are rated Low by TN to Mid for TN. That's a compromise; i think they should be ranked high and there are no good reasons stated for any of these ones for them not to be ranked high. This discussion thread was another kinda unpleasant one. I guess i'm already a member here, having signed up at some foolish moment, so you can't object that i am not formally a member of WikiProject TN.

It is pretty obvious these select historic sites are more important than other ones, and should have higher rating for importance for Wikipedia Tennessee editors in general, or at least for editors not just wanting to be rude for sake of being unpleasant. If you look at them and the rankings system here, you'd see that they should probably be ranked High.

I'm not saying importance ratings are all that important, but it seems kinda silly to have them and then to be unpleasant to someone who points out where the importance ratings should be improved. --doncram 00:42, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

US Collaboration reactivated & Portal:United States starting next

Casliber recently posted a suggestion on the talk page for WikiProject United States about getting the US Wikipedians Collaboration page going again in an effort to build up articles for GA through FA class. See Wikipedia:U.S. Wikipedians' notice board/USCOTM. After several days of work from him the page is up and ready for action. A few candidates have already been added for you to vote on or you can submit one using the directions provided. If you are looking for inspiration here is a link to the most commonly viewed articles currently under the scope of Wikiproject United States. There are tons of good articles in the various US related projects as well so feel free to submit any article relating to US topics (not just those under the scope of WPUS). This noticeboard is intended for ‘’’All’’’ editors working on US subjects, not just those under WPUS.

The next item I intend to start updating is Portal:United States if anyone is interested in helping. Again this is not specific to WPUS and any help would be greatly appreciated to maximize visibility of US topics. The foundation has already been established its just a matter of updating the content with some new images, biographies and articles. Please let leave a comment on the Portals talk page or let me know if you have any questions or ideas. --Kumioko (talk) 19:30, 15 January 2011 (UTC)

Photo request for Nashville

If anyone is in Nashville, would anyone mind fulfilling this photo request?

• headquarters of the Corrections Corporation of America at 10 Burton Hills Boulevard Nashville, Tennessee 37215

Thanks, WhisperToMe (talk) 03:38, 2 February 2011 (UTC)

Memphis WikiProject proposal

I have proposed establishing a WikiProject for Greater Memphis - please see Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Proposals/Memphis WhisperToMe (talk) 15:20, 20 February 2011 (UTC)

Jonesboro vs. Jonesborough

There's a town named Jonesborough, Tennessee which has been also referred to as Jonesboro, erroneously or as a proper alternative name. I just created Jonesboro Historic District (Jonesboro, Tennessee) as an NRHP article to address the naming issue for that district. The NRHP name could possibly be a typo, in which case it should be moved to "Jonesborough Historic District" leaving a redirect behind, but I am guessing that "Jonesboro" is an acceptable alternate name (or that it historically was). My best info is that the NRHP name is in fact "Jonesboro Historic District", although I have not obtained or requested the official NRHP nomination document which would provide more clear evidence. Does anyone here know? --doncram 20:32, 26 February 2011 (UTC)

The town was founded in 1779 as "Jonesborough." The spelling "Jonesboro" was adopted around 1880. The town voted to return to the original "Jonesborough" in 1983. The historic district was listed (1969) when the spelling was still "Jonesboro," hence the spelling. I suggest moving the article to "Jonesborough Historic District," with a redirect, and mention on the Jonesboro Historic District disambiguation page. Bms4880 (talk) 21:44, 26 February 2011 (UTC)

Bms4880 is right. The name of the town is "Jonesborough," and the historic district is a tourist attraction that is widely known by the "Jonesborough" spelling. I moved the article. For what it's worth, I believe that the "boro" spelling resulted from a standardized-spelling initiative of the U.S. federal government (the same one that is discussed in Etymology of Pittsburgh#Official elimination and restoration of the 'h'). --Orlady (talk) 05:54, 27 February 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the info. I didn't see that info about name changing in the Jonesborough, Tennessee article; hopefully it can be added if it's not there already. But then the NRHP listing name, from 1969, was in fact accurately using name Jonesboro Historic District. This apparently is not, was not, listed on the National Register as "Jonesborough Historic District". I don't see any evidence that there is a historic district of the Jonesborough name, i.e. i don't think there was a name change put through in the National Register system or that the district is officially or unofficially known as "Jonesborough Historic District". However there is documentation of it being named as "Jonesboro Historic District" in the NRHP listing and in the multiple copies of info at private sites like www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com. So, I think it should now be moved to Jonesboro Historic District (Jonesborough, Tennessee) reflecting accurately the NRHP listing name and the location of the place in what is now known as Jonesborough, and leaving redirects from the other names. I'll browse a bit more now before implementing that. --doncram 19:51, 27 February 2011 (UTC)

Bms, what is your source for that useful info about the town's 2 renamings? And/or could you add that to the Jonesborough, Tennessee article. In some more browsing, I find this brochure about historic Jonesborough which carefully avoids giving a name to the historic district, referring to it as "Jonesborough's historic district" instead. And i find no reliable source giving "Jonesborough Historic District" as a name used anywhere, so far. I don't care terribly about keeping an HD article separate from the town article, if it might be thought better to merge it into that eventually, but I do think that an artificial name should not be coined by us, so my main point is that the name of the district does seem to be "Jonesboro Historic District". I'll put in a request for the NRHP nomination document now and will plan to develop more about the district in a few weeks after receiving it. Thanks. --doncram 20:17, 27 February 2011 (UTC)

I see that I was wrong earlier. According to this page on the county's GenWeb site, the simplified spelling dates to 1877, not the slightly later US federal initiative to simplify spelling. Also see this page. Regardless, as Bms4880 says, it has been Jonesborough since 1983.

I imagine that the good people of Jonesborough are unaware that anyone thinks that the old spelling of their town's name is permanently affixed to their historic district. History is a major source of local pride and economic activity in Jonesborough, where guided tours of the "Jonesborough Historic District" are one of the main tourist attractions. I doubt that anyone has told the local people who nominated their town's downtown area for the National Register back in the 1960s, say with pride that theirs "was the first town in Tennessee to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places,"[7][8] and have been maintaining and promoting the area for all these years that bureaucrats in Washington, DC, now own their historic district and now insist that it must forever use the town's old name. I doubt that anyone has told them that because it isn't true. Wikipedia looks pretty asinine if it insists that a now-dusty 42-year-old document filed in a federal government office has a unique claim on this town's reality. --Orlady (talk) 22:37, 27 February 2011 (UTC)

This is both weird and boring to have this discussion now. Orlady has cumulatively complained about there being articles on NRHP-listed places a few hundred times to me before. Here it is misleading for Orlady to assert with sources that "guided tours of the 'Jonesborough Historic District' are one of the main tourist attractions" when none of the sources give that name. I do see one more mention of "Jonesborough's Historic District" in one of those, but in fact not a single proper noun naming for the district. In fact, calling it "Jonesboro Historic District" as it was and apparently still is named, provides a nice historical touch reflecting the fact that the town was for much of its history named Jonesboro. Orlady has argued against use of neologisms or other coinings of terms elsewhere; here i think it would be wrong also to coin an artifical term when the quaint historic one is available and documented and accurate.

Regarding your plans to use that 42-year-old document to write an article about Jonesborough's historic district, please note that the history of the historic district has long been the main focus of Jonesborough, Tennessee and is amply documented elsewhere. See [9], [10], [11], and [12] for some examples of content that you may or not find in the document that local folks generated in 1969. --Orlady (talk) 22:52, 27 February 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for those links; i'll take a look at them. No thanks for your vote of no confidence that the NRHP document will provide no information on the metes and bounds of the district, on any local arguments for it being listed, and so on. Good thing i am not looking for your approval, Orlady, in my choosing to work on wikipedia articles in the state of Tennessee. It seems pretty unwelcoming and unpleasant, that i should ask a question here on some factual matters and get back more of your sarcasm and derision. I'm pretty used to it, but i would think it would be somewhat a negative for other editors to read this shit here. --doncram 00:00, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Some of this consternation might be explainable by the fact that the area is also a local historic district subject to special local regulations. The specific metes and bounds in the federal listing from 1969 are probably not of intense interest to people involved in preservation and interpretation of the area. --Orlady (talk) 03:01, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure there is a sign in the town that says, "Jonesborough Historic District," but I don't fully recall. I think Sakowski uses "Jonesborough Historic District" in her book, Touring the East Tennessee Backroads (she also says it was the first historic district in Tennessee listed on the Register). I can vouch that Jonesboroughans prefer the early, longer spelling in all things related to the town (see the first comment on the town's discussion page, for instance). Bms4880 (talk) 00:16, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

A few references calling the place "Jonesborough Historic District":

• Black heritage sites: an African American odyssey and finder's guide, By Nancy C. Curtis - Link is to a section titled "Jonesborough Historic District"
• Bicycling Tennessee - Lists a place to stay in the "Jonesborough Historic District"
• America's historic places: an illustrated guide to our country's past - Lists "Jonesborough Historic District"

I found a news story from 1963 about a bill introduced that year in the state legislature to get the "ugh" restored -- that indicates that the simplified spelling had been unpopular for a long time as of 1969.

One of the reasons why I have said that the 1969 is no longer an ideal source is that much preservation activity has occurred since 1969. For example, a newspaper story I found in Newsbank says "Jonesborough was the first town in Tennessee to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Many historic buildings have been restored and preserved. One such building, a two-story log home and Jonesborough's oldest building, was restored and moved to Main Street's Historic District." --Orlady (talk) 03:01, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

I was going to let this conversation drop. But given a comment at Talk:Jonesboro Historic District (Jonesborough, Tennessee) i suppose maybe i should reply further. Here goes.

I'm not convinced by 3 bicycling or other guidebook type usages, where the guidebook editor had to come up with a name and there is the apparent reality of "Jonesboro Historic District" being the National Register name seemingly in contradiction to the "Historic Jonesborough" name. In small space for a bicycling guidebook, a writer doesn't want to go into explanations about the name of the town changing back and forth, or go into nuances of what is the official name or not. I'm just not convinced by those usages.

About the last quote from Newsbank, the statement that "Jonesborough was the first town" in TN to be NRHP-listed is a fair approximation which a newspaper can make, like many Orlady and I have considered before, which blurs over distinctions that a NRHP listing involves specific borders, and what is implied to be the whole town often/usually is not. I have collected the NRHP nom which shows exact borders not including a whole town and shows that the statement is imperfect (fine for a news article, but not precise). The last part of the quote shows avoidance of a formal official name for the district. I don't believe the district is formally named "Main Street's Historic District", nor do I see that quote anywhere suggesting the formal name is anything besides the NRHP listing name.

What seems most likely to me is that the official name is unchanged. And that the Historic Jonesborough as a town and self-promoting marketing organization both wants not to highlight borders of the district and wants not to highlight its name. I believe they may want to de-emphasize the district because they want to promote the town as a whole, and don't want potential tourists insisting upon staying at an inn in the official district only. Also they want to be called "Historic Jonesborough", not "Jonesboro Historic District", as a marketing decision. It seems best to me to develop an article specifically about the district, using its official name and describing it. And, probably, have a Historic Jonesborough article as a separate, more general article, or as a section in Jonesborough, Tennessee article, which summarizes from the more detailed article about the actual historic district.

I opened the discussion here to get other editors input and thank you for providing it. I hope i can plug along under that plan. --doncram 18:08, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

Because you started a new discussion of this topic at Talk:Jonesboro Historic District (Jonesborough, Tennessee) the day before you posted the above reply to the comment that I had posted 26 days earlier, I have made the assumption that you decided that the discussion should move to Talk:Jonesboro Historic District (Jonesborough, Tennessee). As I noted there, I perceive this as WP:Forum shopping on your part. Whatever your intentions might have been, in order to avoid fragmenting the conversation any more than is already the case, I am not going to try to reply to you here. If you want your above comments to be part of your new discussion, please repost them there. --Orlady (talk) 17:05, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

Created a William Bean article

One of (if not the) first white settlers of Tennessee. Check it out! --AW (talk) 16:11, 12 March 2011 (UTC)

2010 census

Is there a procedure or bot for updating population figures to reflect the 2010 census, or is it something we need to do manually? The anonymous editors of the world seem eager to update these figures, but don't like to provide sources. Bms4880 (talk) 22:50, 19 March 2011 (UTC)

Discussed here. -Ichabod (talk) 03:49, 20 March 2011 (UTC)

State line unincorporated communities

I'm going to create an article for Static, Tennessee/Kentucky, and I was wondering if unincorporated communities that straddle state lines require two articles (i.e., Static, Tennessee, and Static, Kentucky), or if just one article will suffice. I realize for incorporated places, two articles are needed for the split census data. Bms4880 (talk) 22:33, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

Hmm. I"ve never heard of Static in either state. Folks who hail from Albany, Kentucky or environs (apparently it's what you call "a good place to be from"), consider Albany to be pretty obscure, so Static is probably even more so. Moreover, people from that area talk about the irrelevance of the state line in their daily lives. Those observations would lead me to think that a single article would make more sense than two.
Regarding the difference with incorporated places, it's not just a matter of demographic data. Two articles are needed for places like Bristol, TN/VA, and Ardmore, AL/TN, because these are pairs of two legally separate and distinct cities; municipalities can't cross state lines. Unincorporated places don't have that problem.
I note that the USPS publishes a zip code for Static, KY (it's an acceptable name for the Albany zip code), but its zip code search page does not recognize Static, Tennessee as a valid city. On the other hand, Static, Tennessee has several backlinks in Wikipedia, but Static, Kentucky has none. --Orlady (talk) 23:45, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

I was in Byrdstown to photograph the sunset yesterday, and while waiting for the sun to set, I decided to drive to the end of TN-111 and take pictures of the rough-looking honky-tonks that typically grace the Tennessee side of the TN-KY border. Just before I reached the state line, I noticed the "Static Unincorporated" sign, verifying that it at least exists on the Tennessee side.

I found three similar articles - Glenrio, New Mexico and Texas, Ray, Indiana and Michigan, and Denio, Nevada. A discussion on Glenrio appears to have established precedent. Bms4880 (talk) 01:19, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Sounds sensible! (I had a recollection of a discussion involving the NM-TX border, but I didn't remember the place name. Glad you found it!) Just make sure that Static, Kentucky and Static, Tennessee redirect to your new article. ;-) --Orlady (talk) 01:42, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Update links to The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture

Once again (seems like this happens every couple of years), the online version of the Tennessee Encyclopedia has been reconfigured. Some Wikipedians are assiduously deleting perfectly good references instead of updating the URLs. If somebody is so inclined, it would be worthwhile to go through Wikipedian and fix the bad URLs. The domain is still http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/ -- current links are in the form http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=698 and old links are likely to be in the form http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/imagegallery.php?EntryID=T111

Since most of the content exists in paper form, and this is still likely to be "where you got it," the references shouldn't be deleted merely because the URLs don't work, but that's what people tend to do... --Orlady (talk) 23:28, 23 April 2011 (UTC)

Oi, why must websites do this.... In any case, if anyone finds someone deleting references like this, please give them a light trouting and make them understand that if the reference was once acceptable (and these certainly are), then the reference remains acceptable, even if the link doesn't work. :( — Huntster (t @ c) 04:35, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

I've taken it upon myself to develop an article about the encyclopedia. Now, in addition to updating URLs, we can link to the article. --Orlady (talk) 05:53, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

I'll go through and change the ones I can find. A plus for the new site is that it covers more topics. I don't think the old site had articles on William Yardley or Cal Johnson. Bms4880 (talk) 18:49, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

I found a lot of links to the encyclopedia (only a few of which I've fixed so far) by searching Wikipedia for the string "tennesseee" and then searching those pages for the string "gallery". --Orlady (talk) 21:03, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

There's now a second article about this encyclopedia at The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History & Culture (Online). The earlier article, covering both the print and online versions, is at Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. Do we really need both articles? -- Foetusized (talk) 12:22, 9 August 2011 (UTC)

No, we didn't need two articles. We also didn't need the same new user's new article about the online edition of Encyclopedia of Appalachia. I redirected both of them to the existing articles. Here's hoping that the new user is interested in building other articles, though! --Orlady (talk) 13:09, 9 August 2011 (UTC)

Cleveland again

Would anyone consider the last two paragraphs (recently added) of the Cleveland, Tennessee, article's history section promotional? Bms4880 (talk) 19:46, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

The offending content seems to have been removed. :-) --Orlady (talk) 03:53, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

Jimmy Quillen

Could I please get some eyeballs on the recent changes (July and August) to the above article, for the late US Representative from the TN first district? I've not made any changes there, having been on vacation, and due to my past history with the editor (see Talk:Tennessee's 1st congressional district#Foetusized: sneaky vandalism).

I do have a copy of Frank B. Williams, Jr.'s history of East Tennessee State, A University's Story 1911-1980, to use as a reference in putting Quillen College of Medicine#History in order, but after having bookmarked the relevant passages in the book last week, I still have not gotten started. I plan to remove the "controversy" sub-section that was copied-and-pasted from the recent changes to the Quillen article, and rewrite the whole History section, using the Williams book and his article in the Tennessee Encyclopedia on the QCoM [13].

Thanks in advance -- Foetusized (talk) 15:24, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Need Memphis experts to verify location of a photo

Calling all Memphians! A question has arisen at Talk:Cordova, Tennessee regarding a photo (uploaded several years ago) that is identified as Cordova but that a user indicates to be at Mud Island. Please help sort this out. --Orlady (talk) 17:27, 9 August 2011 (UTC)

This question has been answered, thanks to DoxTxob. --Orlady (talk) 15:05, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

The H. T. Hackney Company

I created an article for The H. T. Hackney Company yesterday, and, by some monstrous coincidence, the company made national headlines today when they hired former UT basketball coach Bruce Pearl. If any of you will be on Wikipedia tonight (8/30), I would appreciate it if you could watchlist this page, and make sure the ESPN'ers don't fill it with poor edits. Bms4880 (talk) 20:11, 30 August 2011 (UTC)

Wow, that's bizarre (both the hiring and the coincidence)! I had already watchlisted it, as I was pondering about whether anyone would possibly care about any DYK hook I could write for it. I've been reading local business news stories about the company for years, but I knew little about the company. I didn't know anything about its size, where-all they sell wholesale groceries, etc. And I didn't know that Bill Sansom, of TVA board "fame", was associated with Hackney. I suppose Bruce Pearl might make a more compelling hook than "...distributes groceries to 20,000 retail locations in 21 U.S. states" or "...started in 1887 as a feed and grain business operating in a public marketplace", but I'd still rather prefer to entice readers with information about the company than with a factoid about putting a disgraced basketball coach in charge of marketing. --Orlady (talk) 00:42, 31 August 2011 (UTC)

Have you read this knoxnews commentary looking for ways to compare Bruce Pearl to Cas Walker? Note that it comes complete with a link to the Wikipedia article Cas Walker! --Orlady (talk) 00:47, 31 August 2011 (UTC)

It's very much a "background" type of company, so an interesting DYK hook might be difficult to find. "The nation's 4th largest wholesaler began as a stall on Market Square," maybe. I was aware of them because I pass their giant warehouse on I-40 whenever I drive into town, and I found their profile in the back of that Crossroads book. And thanks for the blog link. Walker and Pearl have similar personalities, but I doubt Pearl will be in the business world for long. In any case, the article only landed about 200 hits, so it looks like a false alarm. Bms4880 (talk) 18:34, 31 August 2011 (UTC)

Glad that nothing happened to the article. I imagine that Pearl will have a pretty low profile at Hackney, just as the company keeps a low profile. BTW, I renamed the article, removing the "The". Wikipedia convention discourage use of articles like that one. --Orlady (talk) 01:00, 1 September 2011 (UTC)

Searching for the number of patents granted to a particular inventor

Does anyone know of a way to search for the number of patents granted to a particular inventor? The patent office's database doesn't appear to be much help if the inventions came before 1976. Bms4880 (talk) 17:31, 30 September 2011 (UTC)

Haslam and Occupy Nashville

We may want to keep the Bill Haslam article under close watch. It could take a beating if the Occupy Nashville situation spins out of control. We may need a separate article for Occupy Nashville. Bms4880 (talk) 04:00, 30 October 2011 (UTC)

Newspaper question

I'm going to create an article for the Knoxville Journal, a newspaper published in Knoxville, 1885 to 1991. While this paper closed in 1991, someone bought the rights to its name a few years later, and began publishing a weekly newspaper under the name, with a similar logo [14]. Other than the name, this new paper bears little resemblance to the old paper, with (as far as I know) different staff and reporters, though it considers itself a successor to the old paper. Should I treat the new paper as though it's a legitimate successor (e.g., open the article with "The Knoxville Journal is...") or should I treat it as a different paper (e.g., "The Knoxville Journal was...)? Bms4880 (talk) 22:32, 8 November 2011 (UTC)

• You'll want to go with the former, since the paper resumed publication after closure under its former name. Had the paper resumed under a different name - say, the "Knoxville Hoobajoob" (which would be a really awesome name for a media outlet anywhere, but I digress) - you would say "The Knoxville Hoobajoob is a newspaper blahblahblah. The Hoobajoob has in the past operated under the name blahblahblah" or something like that. Sidatio (talk) 14:11, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

Image deletion discussion

Relevant deletion discussion at Wikipedia:Files_for_deletion/2011_December_31#File:Tennessee Football.png.--GrapedApe (talk) 17:37, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

WikiProject Middle Tennessee State University was marked as inactive

I just wanted to drop a note that WikiProject Middle Tennessee State University was recently marked as inactive. It doesn't appear that the project ever really gained any momentum and I recommend we just eliminate it. I am ok with keeping it if there is interest but itf we do we should pull it under the WPTennessee/WPUnited States umbrella. It needs a lot of work and there are only 17 articles in it currently. Does anyone have any ideas or opinions about what to do with this project? --Kumioko (talk) 14:51, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Just leave it as it is. I'll figure out something to do with it. There's no request for the name or links, so there's no current problem. — Huntster (t @ c) 20:51, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

No problem. --Kumioko (talk) 03:45, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Ingram Marine Group and Ingram Barge Company

There is a page for the Ingram Barge Company, but it is apparently a subsidiary of the Ingram Marine Group. I was going to create that page, but when you look on their website, it looks like it's exactly the same thing : [15]. And yet Orrin H. Ingram II is apparently CEO of the Ingram Barge Company while his mother Martha Rivers Ingram is Chairwoman, and then he is Chairman of the Ingram Marine Group. What to do?Zigzig20s (talk) 10:19, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Belle Meade Country Club

Belle Meade Country Club has been deleted. However, it is number 3 out of the 100 highest-income places with at least 1,000 households in the United States, and there has been significant coverage in the press about its alleged discrimination against blacks. A book has also been written about it. It is not "just a country club." Can we reverse that?Zigzig20s (talk) 10:25, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

There is nothing of worth in the deleted article --Guerillero | My Talk 07:06, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

As I said, it is one of the wealthiest communities in America, and they only have one black member. The book that's been written about it may give more insights as well.Zigzig20s (talk) 01:47, 12 January 2012 (UTC)

Are you creating the article simply to point out that the club discriminates? Bms4880 (talk) 14:17, 12 January 2012 (UTC)

The wealthy place is Belle Meade, Tennessee, not the country club. --Orlady (talk) 16:27, 12 January 2012 (UTC)

I guess we could just add a subsection to the Belle Meade page, though we have pages for other country clubs in TN: [16]. As for the alleged bigotry, I don't think it is the only reason, but I don't think it can be dismissed.Zigzig20s (talk) 16:56, 12 January 2012 (UTC)

News stories about crime in Memphis

• McMillin, Zack. "Notice, enforcement, education tame crime at Memphis apartments." The Commercial Appeal. January 11, 2010.
• Rosin, Hanna. "American Murder Mystery." The Atlantic. July/August 2008.

WhisperToMe (talk) 18:24, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Non-notables and vandalism

If someone is continuously trying to add a non-notable name to a Notable persons list on an article, as is currently happening with Cookeville, Tennessee, is it considered vandalism? Bms4880 (talk) 23:54, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

I've provided a final warning. While not specifically vandalism, it is abuse of editing. Since it is an IP, I can do a short block and protection of the article. — Huntster (t @ c) 00:43, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, Huntster. I can see why you don't like these lists. Bms4880 (talk) 00:46, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

— Huntster (t @ c) 01:08, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

I'm fond of templated warnings for those situations, largely because the templated warnings often have the effect of alerting anti-vandalism 'bots to the situation, so I don't have to continue to revert the user(s). There's even a very polite warning that's specifically appropriate for many of the additions of non-notables to local articles: {{subst:uw-badlistentry}}. Text of that warning reads "In general, a person or organization added to a list should have a pre-existing article to establish notability. If you wish to create such an article, please confirm that your subject is notable according to Wikipedia's notability guideline. Thank you." --Orlady (talk) 18:08, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. I searched for such a template, but was unable to find one. I'll use that one if it happens again. Bms4880 (talk) 19:00, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

WikiWomen's History Month

Hi everyone. March is Women's History Month and I'm hoping a few folks here at WP:Tennessee will have interest in putting on events (on and off wiki) related to women's roles in Tennessee's history, society and culture. We've created an event page on English Wikipedia (please translate!) and I hope you'll find the inspiration to participate. These events can take place off wiki, like edit-a-thons, or on wiki, such as themes and translations. Please visit the page here: WikiWomen's History Month. Thanks for your consideration and I look forward to seeing events take place! SarahStierch (talk) 00:36, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Project branch for Tennessee political notables?

Does a project branch exist within WP:TN for statewide political notables? If not, we probably need one. If so, we need some active individuals in it. (I'm volunteering to either create the group or join it and get it into gear.) Sidatio (talk) 14:15, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

I'll chip in whenever possible. Bms4880 (talk) 14:20, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

Greetings from GLAM-Wiki US

Invitation to join GLAM-Wiki US

tight Hello! This WikiProject aligns closely with the work of the GLAM-Wiki initiative (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums), a global community of volunteers who assist cultural institutions with sharing resources with Wikimedia. GLAM-Wiki US is a new community initiative focused on organizing cultural collaborations within the United States. GLAM organizations are diverse and span numerous topics, from libraries and art museums to science centers and historic sites. We currently have a backlog of interested institutions- and we need your help! Are you interested in helping with current or future GLAM projects? Join→ Online Volunteers We hope you'll join the growing GLAM-Wiki community in the US. Thank you! -Lori Phillips (Talk), US Cultural Partnerships Coordinator For more information visit→ The GLAM:US portal or GLAM-Wiki on Outreach

AEDC 60th anniversary

Arnold Engineering Development Center will celebrate 60 years of existence in June of 2012. The special day is June 24. This is a unique national aerospace testing facility which has been in Tennessee since the early 1950s. WP:TN needs to significantly expand this article, adding references, and moving it to at least a B-class article in time for it to be nominated for Featured status for June 24th.
SBaker43 (talk) 02:12, 16 April 2012 (UTC)

Determined copy-paster

Someone may want to lock the Lenoir City, Tennessee article. A new editor is determined to keep copypasting information fromt the Lenoir City website, namely this, this, and this. Not to mention, the information is of questionable encyclopedic value (it describes equipment used by police and fire departments, shifts, etc.). Bms4880 (talk) 13:26, 23 April 2012 (UTC)

I have it watchlisted. If the warnings to the registered user and IP don't have the desired effect, I can protect the article, but I hope that won't be necessary. There's been no editing activity in the last few hours... --Orlady (talk) 22:33, 23 April 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, to you and Meters both, for your help with this. Bms4880 (talk) 13:26, 24 April 2012 (UTC)

Rivers

Anyone interested in improving the state's river articles? Some are very brief or inadequate. If there is sufficient interest, I'll form a task force. Bms4880 (talk) 20:49, 6 May 2012 (UTC)

This is something I'm interested in, although I'm generally not inclined to engage in campaign-mode article-building. The master list of the state's rivers is at List of rivers of Tennessee; it's not complete, but it's a start for anyone wanting to work on rivers -- and it needs to be completed.

I've worked on a bunch of articles about rivers and streams in Tennessee, mostly stubby things like Beaver Creek (Tennessee), Coal Creek (Clinch River), and Shoal Creek (Tennessee River). It's reasonably easy to generate those types of articles. Those articles provide some clues on the kinds of sources and information that exist. Possibly the biggest challenge in this project is disambiguating the multiple streams that have the same names. --Orlady (talk) 22:59, 6 May 2012 (UTC)

That'll be a nightmare (I wonder how many are named "Mill Creek"). Is there a threshold for notability? Bms4880 (talk) 14:15, 7 May 2012 (UTC)

There are 45 "Mill Creek"s in Tennessee, if you believe GNIS. --Orlady (talk) 17:05, 7 May 2012 (UTC)

Is there anything that gives the elevation of the rivers' sources? GNIS apparently gives the elevation of the mouth. Bms4880 (talk) 17:27, 7 May 2012 (UTC)

Using this source to overhaul the Calfkiller River article, do I put "558" and "22000" for the discharge information in the infobox, based on the data on the second page? Bms4880 (talk) 17:43, 10 May 2012 (UTC)

Nice work adding the infobox and finding the source! Did I ever mention how much I dislike infoboxes? Nevertheless, I think I actually figured out some of the nuances in that one. I agree with you on the 558, but I added a note to indicate the period of the averaging. As for 22,000, that's only the maximum for a 6-year period. I changed it to 25,000, which is listed on the first page of that source as the highest value ever recorded in a much longer period. I also added the minimum flow from that first page -- and even figured out how to force the system to display the metric conversion as a fractional decimal, instead of zero. Phew! --Orlady (talk) 19:47, 10 May 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, that looks much better, and much more accurate. The pubs.usgs.gov domain has a lot of river data. Bms4880 (talk) 20:44, 10 May 2012 (UTC)

2012 legislative session

Is the governor finished signing legislation this year? I need to add a 2012 section to his article, but I was waiting until they had wrapped things up for this term. It seems like he was still signing bills in early June of last year. Bms4880 (talk) 20:44, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

I _think_ he's done. If he doesn't sign or veto a bill within a certain period of time, it passes into law without his signature. I don't know what that time period is, but I do know that he vetoed exactly one bill (his only veto since taking office) and wasn't considering any other vetoes... --Orlady (talk) 02:34, 24 May 2012 (UTC)

WP:RFC for a Tennessee article

FYI: There's an ongoing RFC at Talk:Beacon Center of Tennessee#Neutrality RfC regarding the use of a Nashville Scene item as a source. Other Tennessee Wikiproject participants might be able to help sort out the issues there. --Orlady (talk) 02:07, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

Mountain City, Tennessee

We may need to lock this article due to persistent vandalism. It appears to be one guy using several accounts. Bms4880 (talk) 15:11, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

Lieutenant governor

Were there lieutenant governors before the 1870 state constitution? The 1796 state constitution lists the Speaker of the Senate as the first in line of succession, but it doesn't specifically mention an office of "lieutenant governor." Bms4880 (talk) 18:40, 7 September 2012 (UTC)

Request for comment

There is an open request for comment at Talk:Third Saturday in October#RfC on page move for anyone interesting in participating on whether the article title should be Third Saturday in October or Alabama–Tennessee football rivalry. Altairisfar (talk) 06:04, 28 September 2012 (UTC)

Bristol, Tennessee

Help, please. There's a new editor that insists on inserting content about a OB-GYN practice that performs abortions into the article, without any citations. I usually try to find citations for new content before deleting, but I couldn't find any. Living in the area, I'd never heard about it, so my gut feeling is that the practice and the physicians are not notable. More eyes on the article and someone able to provide some guidance for the new editor would be lovely -- Foetusized (talk) 00:59, 17 October 2012 (UTC)

WP:SOAPBOX and WP:NOTDIRECTORY will also apply. Bms4880 (talk) 19:05, 17 October 2012 (UTC)

Revisions to Sen. Corker's article

Hi, I work on Bob Corker's campaign and I'm looking for help improving his article. I've been working with editors on the article's talk page for several months now, but this is my first time reaching out here. To address any concerns, I have read Wikipedia's guidelines on COI editing and I am not involved in directly editing the article. I'm currently looking for editors to review a request I made on the article's talk page last week. I would like to group together information regarding health care policy and create a new subsection within the Political positions section to improve the article's organization. The talk page request provides the specifics. I would appreciate it if an editor here had the time to review and possibly make this change it if they agree it improves the article. If there are any questions I will respond as I am able. Thanks. Mark from tn (talk) 22:25, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

Do you have a link to his stated positions on health care? Bms4880 (talk) 15:39, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

Hi Bms4880, to clarify, the information on health care policy is currently in the article and referenced. I'm only seeking to group this information together to create a "Health care policy" section so that the article is better organized. The existing information I'd like to move into this section is listed in my request on the article's talk page. Thanks. Mark from tn (talk) 00:47, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

Sen. Corker second request

Hi, as explained in my post directly above I work on Bob Corker's campaign and am looking for help making some improvements to the Senator's article. I have left a detailed request on the article's talk page here. This is a two part request. First, I am again asking to move a portion of existing text to a more appropriate location in the article. Second, I am asking editors to review some revisions and additions to the fiscal policy section of this article to improve readability, correct inaccuracies and to introduce new sources to support the information. Again I am looking for an editor who is able to review and help me make this change if it looks appropriate. I'll respond to any questions as quickly as I am able. Thanks in advance. Mark from tn (talk) 19:44, 29 October 2012 (UTC)

WP:CFD discussion on Category:Tennessee colonial people

There is an ongoing discussion at WP:CFD regarding a proposal to eliminate Category:Tennessee colonial people. The nominator wants to merge the contents into a North Carolina category, and also objects to including Native Americans in the category. Tennessee project participants may want to comment at Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2012 November 16#Category:Tennessee colonial people. --Orlady (talk) 06:20, 18 November 2012 (UTC)

Infobox images of Tennessee governors needed

I'm currently overhauling articles for Tennessee's governors (I hope to finish by the end of the year). I have located images for all but the following: Henry Hollis Horton, Hill McAlister, Jim Nance McCord, Buford Ellington, and Don Sundquist. If anyone can locate at least a fair-use image, let me know, or go ahead and upload it to its respective article. Bms4880 (talk) 23:40, 2 December 2012 (UTC)

Hmm, this could be a challenge... I thought that it should at least be possible to find an official US government photo of Sundquist (as a Congressman), but I didn't find anything in my online searches. Since he's still living, it would be hard to justify a fair-use image. --Orlady (talk) 17:35, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

Are the ORNL photos public domain? Bms4880 (talk) 18:19, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

The prevailing view at Wikipedia is that ORNL photos are the work of a government contractor, not of a government employee. Thus, they are not PD-US. --Orlady (talk) 18:37, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

I found a picture of Sundquist in Appalachia, the journal (hard copy) of the Appalachian Regional Commission. It's a federal publication, but they also accept "submissions" from other photographers, so I'm not sure those fall under PD-US (depends on the waiver the freelancer signs, I suppose). I'll check the late-60's issues for photos of Ellington later. Bms4880 (talk) 21:55, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

The most straightforward way to get a photo of Sundquist might be to send a request to him (or his business) asking for a photo to be released under a suitable license. --Orlady (talk) 15:58, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

I'll give that a try. That photo on his lawfirm's page looks like a congressional portrait. Bms4880 (talk) 22:42, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

/Article alerts

For what it's worth, I've requested article alerts for the project. —Theopolisme 12:29, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

Congressional districts

Is there an online source that shows when the state's congressional districts were created? Someone is making changes to the early congressional districts, and I'm trying to verify them. The Our Campaigns website suggests the state was divided into the "Washington," "Mero," and "Hamilton" districts in the earliest years. Bms4880 (talk) 15:11, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

I found this: [17]. I'm assuming these three districts, Mero, Hamilton, and Washington, were not "at large" districts. Bms4880 (talk) 15:28, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

And here it is in the Blue Book: [18]. Apparently, these weren't "at large" districts, but three separate districts. Bms4880 (talk) 15:33, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

These three named districts seem to have been established in 1796 as judicial districts, per the Blue Book (top of page 17) -- Foetusized (talk) 16:05, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

At the top of p. 19, it says they were also congressional districts. The district were divided into 6 congressional districts in 1812 (p. 21). Bms4880 (talk) 16:18, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

main article route marker

Does anyone know how to edit the "route marker" under state symbols in the Tennessee article infobox? Someone has put the full link to the image, but apparently only the image name is required. Bms4880 (talk) 14:22, 20 December 2012 (UTC)

 Done, and overhauled the symbols list and template in the article. — Huntster (t @ c) 00:52, 21 December 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. Looks good. Bms4880 (talk) 14:16, 21 December 2012 (UTC)