Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Puerto Rico/Archives/2019/November

Help with an article?

There's an article for a short story up for deletion and a quick search shows that there does appear to be coverage, but it's all in Spanish. Can someone who is fluent help look for coverage and if anything is usable, add it to the article? I'm going to keep searching, but I thought it would be better to get someone else to help as well. The article in question is La muñeca menor. I don't know if it's ultimately a notable short story, but I figure that it'd be better to give it more of a fighting chance. --ReaderofthePack(formerly Tokyogirl79) (。◕‿◕。) 20:00, 18 February 2019 (UTC)

I did some updating but my head was not completely into writing prose tonight. Thanks much for bringing this to our attention. That was helpful. --the eloquent peasant (talk) 03:32, 6 March 2019 (UTC)
Yikes. I read the plot summary, it is scary. --Doncram (talk) 06:35, 4 November 2019 (UTC)

2019 leadership crisis

I am from New York, and there has been a lot of coverage of the protests and the eventual resignation of Ricardo Rosello, and the leadership crisis. There only is a small paragraph about it in the Governor of Puerto Rico article. This is worthy of an entire article. Could someone in this project work on creating an article on the crisis. Thanks so much.--Kew Gardens 613 (talk) 20:28, 7 August 2019 (UTC)

Hi. There is Telegramgate and there is a Draft:2019 Puerto Rico protests in the works.--The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 20:48, 7 August 2019 (UTC)
Thanks so much.--Kew Gardens 613 (talk) 20:52, 7 August 2019 (UTC)
As a follow-up, the Draft:2019 Puerto Rico protests got rejected (twice) so someone will have to incorporate its contents into the Telegramgate article.--The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 11:12, 4 November 2019 (UTC)

How to populate the "State =" field of universities located in Puerto Rico

The Infobox of this article previously stated that Universidad del Sagrado Corazón (USC) was located in "San Juan, Puerto Rico", but ElKevbo has changed it to state it is located in "San Juan, Puerto Rico, United States" (emphasis is mine). I reversed his edit to read just San Juan, Puerto Rico, explaining that the island wasn't state, a field he had wrongly populated. But ElKevbo reversed it, expressing his opinions in a rebuttal, HERE. He seems to be asking for guidance on this, and interested in knowing if there is a "standard" and if there is, interested in applying "it consistently to articles as we edit them".

I saw that The Eloquent Peasant had also to corrected that same infobox to read "San Juan, Puerto Rico" HERE, but I am bringing it to the Puerto Rico project team at large asking, what guidelines or general practices exist to specify the location of universities located in Puerto Rico, specifically, is the "US" to be included or to be omitted? Could somebody from the project chime in? — Thanks, Mercy11 (talk) 02:48, 2 November 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for bringing this up here, Mercy11!
There are several parameters in the Template:Infobox university that are relevant to location. The most common approach for colleges and universities in the U.S. are to use the City, State, and Country parameters; the template then combines all three of those parameters into one Location display when the infobox is rendered in the article. Another approach is to use the Location parameter which provides a lot more flexibility as it's one parameter that's rendered however it's filled out; I think it even overrides anything placed in the other location-related parameters e.g., city, state. (There's also a Province parameter but I don't think that's relevant to this discussion as it's essentially equivalent to State.)
There doesn't seem to be a parameter that is a perfect fit for Puerto Rico (or similar locations). We could ask that such a parameter be added to the infobox. Or we can figure out if one of the existing ones is close enough. I think the State parameter is close enough given that we're focusing only on displaying location in the infobox consistently (with other colleges and universities in Puerto Rico and other colleges and universities generally). I also think the Country parameter is important and "United States" is the correct thing to include there. However, I freely acknowledge my complete lack of cultural and historical knowledge of Puerto Rico and its complex relationship with the U.S. so I'm happy that the conversation has been raised here where those who do have that knowledge can provide guidance.
We could also ignore the City, State, and Country parameters and just use the generic Location parameter to type whatever we want but that doesn't resolve all of these issues. ElKevbo (talk) 12:45, 2 November 2019 (UTC)
(The current Universidad del Sagrado Corazón article has an infobox that says the university is in the State of Puerto Rico but it is not part of any country; that's very confusing and an impossible state of affairs! ElKevbo (talk) 12:52, 2 November 2019 (UTC))
An impossible state of affairs??!! I know. It's very upsetting to us too. But Puerto Rico is not "in" the U.S. "For decades, voices both on and off the island of Puerto Rico have decried its status as an "unincorporated territory"-a legal category invented by a fractured U.S. Supreme Court in the widely-reviled Insular Cases a century ago,'and technically unchanged by the adoption of a onstitution and"commonwealth" status in the 1950s. 2 Broad dissatisfaction with thisconstitutional and political limbo-neither state nor incorporated territory,"belonging to" but not "part of' the United States,' "[1] Sometimes a database doesn't have the fields / parameters necessary for all situations. I think that's the case here. In Hawaii the database field names had to be adjusted for the very long first and last names and for two middle names. Anyway, I'm tired. That's not the point. The peripheral databases in P.R. feeding US database systems would have to be adjusted if P.R. were ever to become a state, but it won't become a state. That's my prediction. So we should figure out what to do for the Wikipedia database / infobox in light of this mess and "impossible state of affairs" with dumb databases, that try to fit a square into a circle or something like that. Good night. Puerto Rico is not a state. The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 02:05, 4 November 2019 (UTC)
So what do you suggest we do? ElKevbo (talk) 02:17, 4 November 2019 (UTC)
@ElKevbo: which are "all of these issues" that using the Location field wouldn't resolve? After all, we are just seeking to solve 1 problem: to display Sagrado Corazón's location. Seems to me if we are looking to standardize Sagrado Corazón with other all colleges/universities in Puerto Rico and generally, then we just need to use the location field consistently and, consistently also, leave both state and country blank. Per WP:Infobox, an additional requirement is that the infobox cannot contain new information (like "United States") that the article doesn't already contain. Am I missing something? thanks, Mercy11 (talk) 02:33, 4 November 2019 (UTC)
That is one viable solution. My primary worry is that combining all of the location information in one parameter makes it difficult to do anything other than just display it in the rendered infobox e.g., easily change how the data are formatted across all of these articles by tweaking the infobox, easily import or export the data. In other words, it might solve the immediate problem but cause other problems later or for other editors. So I'm not sure that it's the best idea to immediately focus solely on this one possible solution without examining others.
I also think we should seek input from other editors e.g., those who monitor the template's Talk page, the editors who monitor the Wikiproject University Talk page. A formal RfC might be the way to go. But it would be very helpful to consider and discuss the options first. ElKevbo (talk) 03:17, 4 November 2019 (UTC)
Using the location field is fine, IMHO. So each university states for example: Naples, Italy or Owo, Nigeria or Carolina, Puerto Rico or Istanbul, Turkey... plain and simple, and more importantly- correct.The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 11:34, 4 November 2019 (UTC)
If you were to actually look at articles that use this infobox then you'll find that several different parameters are usually combined into what is displayed as "Location" in the rendered article. The examples you just gave would probably use different parameters e.g., City, State, Country.
Would it be helpful if we had an alias for the state parameter labeled "Territory?" (This could also be helpful for other locations that are in similar situations.) ElKevbo (talk) 16:39, 4 November 2019 (UTC)
I think that regardless of what the field is called, if it displayed like this for example, "San Juan, Puerto Rico, United States" separated by commas, I know it would be wrong and give people the wrong information. Many people are surprised when we tell them PR is not part of the US. Anyway, I'm not able to visualize what the "alias" = territory would look like. Would it look like it does on the P.R. subdivisions, like 'this'? Puerto Rico is self-governed so I don't like the infobox on the Subdivisions either. [2] What is the point of having the United States be part of the equation in the university or subdivision infoboxes? Location field is flexible enough without the additional confusing "United States" tagging along... --The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 17:00, 4 November 2019 (UTC)
Very interesting. The case here is that many people have the misconception that Puerto Rico is part of the United States and this is especially true for those who have a political agenda which should be discarded in our project. But, the true fact is that Puerto Rico belongs to the United States, but has never been part of the United States and this fact is backed up by a Supreme Court ruling.[3] Now, since this is a legal fact, no article regarding Puerto Rico should have in it's infobox "Puerto Rico, United States " because this would be a misleading misconception of the political relation between the nations involved. All the infoboxes involving Puerto Rico should stick to the truth and simply have as it's location in their infoboxes the word "Puerto Rico" or for example "San Juan, Puerto Rico", simple as that. Tony the Marine (talk) 20:14, 4 November 2019 (UTC)
@ElKevbo: I don't think we should be worrying about how future generations of editors may need to use those fields. Not only is it speculation but it's also presumptuous: those future editors will simply need do what we, the current generation, have done to overcome legacy problems from our previous generations of editors, namely, we created solutions as we need them. I also do not think it's wise to worry about a inventing a "territory" parameter. THIS example by The Eloquent Peasant is also wrong and needs fixing. That sort of approach, if we notice, didn't make use of any intrinsic "territory" field but instead built it's own by manipulating the "subdivision_type" field. Puerto Rico is a separate country, not part of the US as has already been amply documented here, and the university infobox should reflect that. This, btw, would be true of the university infobox as well as the settlement infobox (Hato Arriba). If, however, the infobox merits a change of country to read "United States" then United States can be populated into the corresponding field. For example, the military person infobox, has an allegiance field that clearly must be populated with "US" even for Puerto Rican nationals. This is not result of Puerto Rico being part of the United States, bc it's not. But even if it were, it would still be populated similarly, bc this is the result of the pact that the PR, a separate country, has with the US. Beyond this fact, is the fact that universities are essentially cultural, not political, institutions. The correct way to reflect this is by using the culture most closely associated with the university based on its location. Again, this points to "San Juan, Puerto Rico" not "San Juan, Puerto Rico, United States" Based on this, the coding should be either "location = San Juan, Puerto Rico" or "location=San Juan", "country=Puerto Rico". Mercy11 (talk) 02:57, 5 November 2019 (UTC)
Just to be clear-I know it's not about what I like or don't like but about what is correct or not correct. --The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 20:54, 5 November 2019 (UTC)
The example itself was a great example! And, IMO, you've done (& are doing) a great job a standardizing a bunch of articles that were either incomplete of not yet done at all. That one (Hato Arriba), together with all the barrio articles that read similar to it, share one huge quality - they are all consistent (i.e., they all read "US"). This is, of course, at the heart of the PR university articles, and ElKevbo has stated his concern on this regard which is, of course, the reason why we came to this page: that some university articles read with the "US" while others read without it. (Better for all the university articles to read wrong than for only some of them to read wrong.) But I am glad you put in your note above bc, upon reading it back myself, I can see how it can be read in 2 different ways. What I should had said is that the example you used should also have the US removed (together -of course- with the other 910 barrios). Sorry for rushing as I was heading to other chores; my rush led to the misunderstanding! regards, Mercy11 (talk) 02:15, 6 November 2019 (UTC)
@Marine 69-71: you are one of the longest-serving WP editors participating in this discussion. Has a grouping ever been created listing those article types where using the "US" has been judged to be expected (recommended, mandated, or whatever)?
For example, one group of articles, those articles that wouldn't include the "US" would be articles regarding Puerto Rico at the Olympics, Puerto Rican beauty pageants, the PR internet country code. In addition, imo, a listing of List of rivers of Puerto Rico doesn't need to list "US" since those rivers will be there regardless of change in political status. Extending out this (rivers) rationale, it would be incorrect to include a "US" in articles related to geographic features in Puerto Rico, since they won't change with change in sovereignty. Another case where "US" is not useful would be in articles dealing with PR cultural institutions and Puerto Rican culture (e.g., ICP, Centro Cultural Carmen Solá de Pereira de Ponce, Las Mañanitas) such as music, festivals, cuisine, literature, folklore, carnivals, museums, rums, etc. "US" and "American" have also long been reverted by multiple editors across the entire spectrum of nationalities from Puerto Rican governor articles; so governors and PR politicians would also be in this group.
On the other end of the spectrum, there would be articles where the "US" would be mandatory. For example, those discussing army posts in Puerto Rico (barracks, armories, airfields, etc.), and their associated institutions such as military cemeteries, prisons, hospitals, etc. Mandatory (obviously) in the "military person" infobox (although sometimes this may also be "Spain", e.g. Antonio de los Reyes Correa, or even "Puerto Rico", e.g., José and Francisco Díaz). It might also include articles types of an international political nature, like Political divisions of the United States, government-based installations or concerns, such as Castillo San Felipe del Morro, El Yunque National Forest, radio article (e.g., those dealing with FCC licenses, a federal concern), and telephony (e.g., NANP). I am sure there are others.
Do you recall any past discussions on this topic leading to consensus? If not, such listing could be started so that future editors will have something to go by. much like editors are advised not to add any names to the List of Puerto Ricans, unless the person was born in, or had at least one parent born in, Puerto Rico. If such list doesn't yet exist, we wouldn't have to come up with a complete list just now; it could be a work in progress, where new types (categories) of articles are added as they are brought up for consensus. Thanks, Mercy11 (talk) 02:12, 7 November 2019 (UTC)
@Mercy11: This is weird- you must have read my mind because I did so much research about this recently and just today thought the same thing you're now proposing. I researched and read because of the supreme court decision saying that for the purposes of double jeopardy Puerto Rico is not sovereign. The list that you propose, a dynamic list, is a great idea. It's such a "unique relationship" that we need a "unique approach" to this. [4][5]--The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 02:38, 7 November 2019 (UTC)
@The Eloquent Peasant: That qualifier, "for purposes of", is a reminder of why it is so important to go about the job of categorizing the groups of articles (universities, rivers, governors, parks, bases, etc, etc.) very carefully so we can reflect the decisions of the SCOTUS, when available for the article type at hand, in deciding what belong in which of the 2 groups. Mercy11 (talk) 00:03, 8 November 2019 (UTC)
United States military bases in accordance to the terms of their lease belong to the United States until the lease is terminated. A good example is Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. That is why a person born, let's say in Camp Fuji, Japan is an American Citizen and not Japanese. Therefore, it would be logical to state that Fort Buchanan in Puerto Rico is actually "Fort Buchanan, United States of America". The same applies to the embassies and consulates.
Now, let's take for example "El Yunque Rain Forest". Even though El Yunque is administered by the United States National Forest System, it belongs to Puerto Rico and not the U.S. Same goes for El Morro which is a "World Heritage Site".
In regard to the List of Puerto Ricans, we have kept it in accordance to what the Citizenship of Puerto Rico states which is that a person who has at one grand-parent who is Puerto Rican qualifies and can apply for their PR citizenship papers. Now, if someday Puerto Rico becomes a state or an independent nation, then we will have to re-write the list. Tony the Marine (talk) 03:28, 7 November 2019 (UTC)
My intention was to provide some food for thought. Once we agree that something can or should be done, I think we can start deciding how to go about it. For now, what's at stake is whether universities in Puerto Rico (like Sagrado Corazon, SC) should have "US" in the infobox. My position with ElKevbo was that No, it doesn't belong there. ElKevbo's position was that whatever it is, it needs to be consistent, uniform, standard throughout all Puerto Rican university article. He also seemed to indicate he had a preference for the US to be there; I don't know for sure. He will need to speak for himself on that.
I also want to clarify a few things:
a. TTBOMK, this discussion is only about the infobox, not about article titles. No one is saying that, for example, articles such as Playa, Ponce, Puerto Rico should be moved to Playa, Ponce, Puerto Rico, United States.
b. This discussion also isn't about adding "US" to the article text/prose itself. For example, no one is saying that the lead in articles such as Mayagüez, Puerto Rico should be changed from "Mayagüez (Spanish pronunciation: [maʝaˈɣwes]) is the eighth-largest[3] municipality of Puerto Rico" to "Mayagüez (Spanish pronunciation: [maʝaˈɣwes]) is the eighth-largest[3] municipality of Puerto Rico, United States."
At least that's my understanding (the issue is complex enough already; so stuff outside the infobox, like stuff in the leads, I suggest be handled separately.)
BTW, thanks for the links; they should result informative, at least for editors unfamiliar with the complexities of the US-PR relationship and, thus, the complexities of the task we may be getting into as WP Puerto Rico article editors.)
Mercy11 (talk) 22:40, 7 November 2019 (UTC)
@Marine 69-71: (and, btw, happy Veteran's Day weekend) what I would suggest is if the Puerto Rico project could come up standards, something like WP:USRD/STDS but regarding when to use and when to skip the use of "US" in infoboxes (can later be extended to article's text/prose). Mercy11 (talk) 23:09, 7 November 2019 (UTC)
Your summary is essentially correct with two corrections or additions. First, I do have a slight preference for including "United States" in the "Country" parameter of the Infobox University template for colleges and universities in Puerto Rico. However, I readily admit my ignorance of the many complexities involved in this sensitive area so I am happy to defer to editors who are more knowledgeable and experienced particularly if we can argue that a reasonable consensus has been established that follows other project-wide norms and practices.
Second, I don't think it's sufficient to decide to not include "United States" in the Country parameter and instead include "Puerto Rico" in the infobox without specifying exactly where to place it in the infobox (Country? State?). I'm not very enthusiastic about the proposal floated above to simply place the entire location in the broad "Location" parameter (e.g., "San Juan, Puerto Rico") but it's certainly a proposal that is clear and workable. It lacks elegance and it makes it challenging to parse the location data using automated tools but if it's the best we can do right now then I can certainly go along with it.
(Side note: If anyone is really concerned about this or interested in it then they should see how this is being handled in Wikidata. I haven't looked yet and I have no idea what kind of database field is being used for these data.) ElKevbo (talk) 23:24, 7 November 2019 (UTC)
One of my primary concerns about adding "US" to the Country parameter (applies equally to the Location parameter) is that it would be in non-conformance with this guideline, specifically, "An infobox...summarizes key features of the page's subject." That would then not be a "summary". Adding "US" to the infobox would require the addition of US to the body of the article (to be strictly complete it would, in fact, require that the addition of "US" be explained at some length as well, so it can then be summarized in the infobox.) That's the essence of a summary: a synopsis of something that has already discussed in the text at some length. And if we are going to standardize infoboxes across all PR university articles, but then be non-standard with respect to explaining why US is in the article, that would be, imo, a step backwards in progress. Mercy11 (talk) 23:55, 7 November 2019 (UTC)
@Mercy11:, @Marine 69-71: et al. Please build on the Puerto Rico Project Standards page. Thank you.--The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 02:43, 8 November 2019 (UTC)

References

University students created this book on their Hurricane Maria experience

I thought you'd be interested in seeing this. You, anyone. Sorry everyone can't read it, 'cause it's in Spanish. Even just the drawings are impactful. https://www.proyecto1867.com/uploads/8/6/3/9/86396506/un_cambio_categoria_4.pdf - page 44 "The road where destruction and anxiety meet". In the Virgin Islands they have cisterns under their homes, so they had water. P.R. didn't. --The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 02:19, 4 November 2019 (UTC)

Interesting, i went through it all to see the pics, stopping occasionally to puzzle out a bit of the text. Seems powerful. A relative of mine was very dismissive about it, because PR is so foreign to them, they were turned off when they saw some TV coverage where the people needing help spoke Spanish. I wish this had been accessible to them. --Doncram (talk) 06:24, 4 November 2019 (UTC)
I spoke with Google employees who work on translation systems and they answered, "it's hard!" when I joked with them that their translations aren't always right. "I know it's hard", I answered stroking their bruised egos. (I didn't mean to hurt their feelings and they sure took it personally). Google translate is better than nothing. Doncram, it's really difficult to learn a language. I work with some Americans who learn Spanish and I work with Spanish speakers who are learning English. Anyway, if it were easy, we'd all speak 3 or 4, right? The coverage doesn't really help. :) Have a good day now, for here or to go? (oh by the way, the next news you'll hear is about how so many Puerto Ricans were arrested for illegal cockfighting, a business that's been legal for decades, employs thousands, but is now illegal). Anyway, I think Google will find a way to teach us all a new language soon. I like linguee.es -Here are the top searches for people learning Spanish. --The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 11:07, 4 November 2019 (UTC)
@Doncram: This book "Puerto Rico: its conditions and possibilities" is in English and of course, with tech it's easy to listen to it like an audiobook but it is a bit outdated. I wish it was still like that before the economic depression.--The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 22:12, 4 November 2019 (UTC)
@Doncram: The whole thing, the hurricane, the crime, the political status, the options of splitting from the US and being independent or the option of becoming a state- all the current state of affairs regarding Puerto Rico, can easily make one sad.--The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 07:34, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

Nov 27 wiki-event in Puerto Rico

Meetup invitation from the Wikimedians of the Carribbean User Group

 
Wiki Cari Cafe y Donas, a Microsoft Puerto Rico

Wiki Caribbean presenta: “Las cinco cosas más interesantes en Wikipedia, Wikimedia y Wikidata, y cómo pueden ayudar a impulsar la información sobre Puerto Rico” Café y donas con Autor Andrew Lih En la sede de Microsoft, Puerto Rico Cuándo: 27 de noviembre de 2019, 11:30 a.m. a 1:30 p.m., hora del Atlántico Dónde: oficinas de Microsoft Puerto Rico City View Plaza, 48, PR-165, Guaynabo, 00968. Detalles: Wiki Caribbean Café y donas, Puerto Rico. Charla con café y donas junto al experto de Wikipedia y autor Andrew Lih


Wiki Caribbean Presents: “The five most exciting things in Wikipedia, Wikimedia, and Wikidata - and how they can help boost content about Puerto Rico” Coffee and donuts with Author Andrew Lih Hosted by Microsoft,Puerto Rico When: November 27, 2019, 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM Atlantic Time Where: Location: Microsoft Puerto Rico offices City View Plaza, 48, PR-165, Guaynabo, 00968. Details: Wiki Caribbean Coffee and donuts, Puerto Rico. Learn about the exciting new things happening in the world of Wikipedia,in a Coffee and donuts discussion with Wikipedia scholar and author Andrew Lih.

Thank you. Shared it with over 5,000 people in Puerto Rico.--The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 21:06, 26 November 2019 (UTC)

@Shanluan: Thank you. I shared it with a young professional who has over 5,000 followers in Puerto Rico. Hopefully one of his followers will attend.--The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 21:12, 26 November 2019 (UTC)

Shared with +50,000 people in Puerto Rico but you know how marketing is: maybe 1/2% will see it. Wish I'd known just a little bit sooner. Thanks though! I'm sure it'll be great.The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 23:41, 26 November 2019 (UTC)