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Donkey balls


This section discusses my own opinions and guidelines toward updating and improving what some might consider very important aspects of Michigan-related articles. These are not official Wikipedia guidelines. I am very open to hear, discuss, and accept other opinions, but pointless "don't touch my previous edits" and unexplained "your edits are not improvements" will obviously be disregarded. Please direct any messages to my talk page or specific comments to the appropriate article's discussion page. Please adhere to the following:
  1. If I made a slight error or typo, do not revert my entire edit. Change the spot where I might have made an error.
  2. Do not point to nonexistent discussions or say something is the "preferred format" when there is no discussions anywhere and certainly not aconsensus.
  3. Do not make an edit to an article and say that is how it should be, when there are hundreds of other articles that use a different format.
  4. I do not care what formats and map settings other states use. What applies to New York City does not apply to Pilgrim, Michigan.
  5. I may remove large sections of questionable content, but I will redirect it to the talk page and explain why.
  6. Avoid some redirects, dead links, original research, and do not add completely irrelevant information into an article


Infobox consistency

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The example on the right (Elk Rapids) contains an infobox that uses all of the following guidelines (without references).

Elk Rapids, Michigan
Village
Village of Elk Rapids
Downtown Elk Rapids on River Street
Downtown Elk Rapids on River Street
Location within Antrim County
Location within Antrim County
Elk Rapids is located in Michigan
Elk Rapids
Elk Rapids
Location within the state of Michigan
Elk Rapids is located in the United States
Elk Rapids
Elk Rapids
Location within the United States
Coordinates: 44°53′49″N 85°24′38″W / 44.89694°N 85.41056°W / 44.89694; -85.41056
CountryUnited States
StateMichigan
CountyAntrim
TownshipElk Rapids
Platted1852
Incorporated1900
Government
 • TypeVillage council
 • PresidentJames Janisse
 • ClerkCaroline Kennedy
Area
 • Total
2.01 sq mi (5.20 km2)
 • Land1.65 sq mi (4.27 km2)
 • Water0.36 sq mi (0.93 km2)
Elevation
597 ft (182 m)
Population
 (2010)
 • Total
1,642
 • Estimate 
(2018)
1,620
 • Density995.2/sq mi (384.2/km2)
Time zoneUTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code(s)
49629
Area code231
FIPS code26-25320
GNIS feature ID0625459
WebsiteOfficial website

This undertaking is nothing unusual enough to require user consensus, as I am not overhauling major elements of article content and infobox format. I am not reinventing the wheel; I just want a set format for every single municipality infobox in the state of Michigan. My goal is to have solid standard guidelines for every infobox:

  • The heading of the infobox (the settlement's name) should always include "Michigan" after it, such as Gerrish Township, Michigan instead of simply Gerrish Township. Charter townships will not include the word "charter" in this heading, such as Brownstown Township, Michigan instead of Brownstown Charter Township, Michigan. Most charter townships are often colloquially referred to simply as a township, such as Canton Township or Frenchtown Township without the use of the word charter. We don't call a civil township "Summerfield Civil Township."
  • For the settlement type, there are six categories: City, Village, Civil township (not Township), Charter township, Census-designated place (CDP), and Unincorporated community. For CDPs, they are also combined as unincorporated communities, because they are not incorporated municipalities; they are the only listing with dual designations. When the dual designation is used, unincorporated community will not be capitalized.
  • For the settlement's official name, many cities are identified officially as "City of..." or other variations, such as Grosse Pointe Shores and Clarkston. Villages are also identified as "Village of..." or "...Village" if that is their official name. Some cities and villages do not use those as their official name; that inbox line is blank if it is redundant with the inbox heading. Charter townships are almost always officially named "Charter Township of..." but not in all cases. Some are officially named "...Charter Township" in that format. It goes by whatever they are officially named on their website, if available. Civil townships do not have an official name. Gerrish Township is not officially named "Township of Gerrish."
  • If there is an image available for the municipality, I typically set its size at 275px unless it is a odd-sized verticle image. Then, it is usually set between 225–250px. I often try to use more representative images, such as a downtown image, city hall, township hall, or other major landmark. I often remove images that might show a non-notable business, irrelevant landscape, or unprofessional image that might have someone waving or a timestamp.
  • All infoboxes will include a Michigan and USA pushpin map showing its location within the state of Michigan and the United States, with a caption that reads "Location within the state of Michigan" and "Location within the United States" with no punctuation or internal links. For their coordinates, I like to utilize double digits and place zeroes in front of single numbers. For example, the city of Milan is listed as having coordinates 42°05′09″N 83°41′04″W / 42.08583°N 83.68444°W / 42.08583; -83.68444, not 42°5′9″N 83°41′4″W / 42.08583°N 83.68444°W / 42.08583; -83.68444. Even though both formats work, I prefer to add the zeroes. I also tend not to include the USA pushpin for a municipality unless it is a well known outside of Michigan, such as Ann Arbor, Detroit, Flint, or Warren. To be honest, why would Sherman Township need an entire map of the country in its infobox? That is just my opinion.
  • For the municipality's subdivision type, it will read:

|subdivision_type = Country
|subdivision_name = United States
|subdivision_type1 = State
|subdivision_name1 = Michigan
|subdivision_type2 = County
|subdivision_name2 = Monroe

If there is more than one county, "County" will be pluralized and all counties will be listed in alphabetical order, such as "Monroe and Washtenaw" or "Genesee, Livingston, and Oakland" if there are three counties (e.g. Fenton). For villages, CDPs, and other unincorporated areas, they will include a third line that reads:

|subdivision_type3 = Township
|subdivision_name3 = Allen

If the township is chartered, it will be linked as such but still using only "Township" or "Townships" for the text. In the rarest of cases where one might be a part of a civil and charter township, then the link will go to [[List of municipalities in Michigan|Townships]]. Many township articles (that I have not updated yet), still link to List of townships in Michigan, which is no longer an article on its own.
  • If the municipality has a verified establishment date, I try to list as many as possible—usually when it was founded or settled, when it was organized or platted, and when it was incorporated as a village and as a city, if applicable. Unincorporated communities may also have founding dates. Some were also originally settled under a different name, which may also be listed in parentheses (such as St. Ignace. There is no sense in having dual lines to designate their incorporation, in which village and city can simply be listed under one establishment date line (using the <br> tag to create a second line under the same title). If dates are listed, I will follow this format, used for Caseville:

|established_title = Settled
|established_date = 1836
|established_title1 = Incorporated
|established_date1 = 1896 (village)<br>2010 (city)

  • For the government leaders, I try to incorporate at least two and list the government type, if available. Government types generally consist of only council–manager government and mayor–council government for cities, and village council or Board of Trustees for villages. For cities, I try to list the mayor first and then either a mayor pro tem, city manager (or administrator), and municipal clerk if I can locate up-to-date information. I do not want to overload the leaders section by including lesser officials like attorneys, prosecutors, fire or police chief, or long lists of council members (unless it is for a major city). Villages often have a "president" (in some cases called a "mayor") and a municipal clerk (sometimes vice president or president pro tempore), but some villages do not have websites to locate this information. Civil and charter townships all have a "supervisor" and municipal clerk, and even if they have no website, the information can be found at the state's township association website.
  • The area, land, and water line is easily accessible information from the United States Census Bureau. Many townships still have data from the 2000 census and were never updated after 2010. Even so, some municipalities with updated information have inaccurate information—numbers that are simply wrong. In most cases, I like to include two spaces past the decimal, because rounding numbers can be inaccurate. For example, a small village of 0.35 square miles (0.91 km2) will end up rounded to 0.4 square miles (1.0 km2) and skew the statistical data. These numbers are also factored into the population density line, especially if a previous editor used "auto" to calculate the density. In most cases, I like to use two decimals for the population density but not all the time. If a city has a high density, listing it as 3,714.5 per square mile (1,434.2/km2) is sufficient, while a sparsely populated township will benefit more by having double digits after the decimal, such as 0.87 per square mile (0.34/km2), which will round up to 0.9 if only one decimal place is used. There doesn't need to be a consistency to this, just accurate numbers.
  • The elevation and time zone sections are already set; even those might be inconsistent but not a priority. Some list the time zone as "UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))" and some list it as "UTC-5 (EST)." Either way, the links are a redirect.
Example
(Alcona Township, Michigan)
ZIP code(s)
48721 (Black River)
48728 (Curran)
48742 (Lincoln)
48762 (Spruce)
49747 (Hubbard Lake)
49766 (Ossineke)
Area code989
  • Many townships lack ZIP Code and area code information, and some other municipalities have incomplete ZIP Code listings (or still link the title to "ZIP code" which is a redirect). I use the correct internal link and try to identify the correct codes to list. Many places use more than one ZIP Code (some places have more than one area code too). If the ZIP Code is not the name of the municipality, I like to list and link the ZIP Code address in parentheses, using the following format from Alcona Township. In this example, "Black River" is a community within Alcona Township, so no link is provided since Black River does not have its own article.
  • The FIPS code and GNIS feature ID and always listed when available, even if the links and website do not work.
  • In the last line for the website, there is no consistent format agreed upon, and I see several different formats. I only list a website if it is the municipality's official website or, in rare cases, a tourism bureau or chamber of commerce. I do not link subpages from a county website. I use the following syntax {{URL|http://www.rockwoodmi.org/|Official website}}, which renders it as Official website within the infobox. Listing it as "Official website" denotes it is obviously the official government website. Others choose to omit the "Official website" wording, which renders it naked as www.rockwoodmi.org. I have no issue with that, but in some cases, the URL is very long and will distort the infobox or push part of the URL into a second line.


  • Additionally, if I updated population and area statistics within the infobox, I also try to updated the Geography section in each article. Many townships still use 2000 census data in the Demographic section but may have 2010 census data in their infobox and Geography section. I am not going to go through and meticulously update the Demographic sections, especially with a new census coming up, but I will update the infobox. A lot of municipalities have had boundary changes from the 2000 to 2010 census.
  • If applicable, I have updated categories as well, especially pertaining to when they were established and if they border one of the Great Lakes and fall into that category. I also make little tweaks and rewording here and there, but I'm not going to go through and heavily edit main article content. If I find dead links or questionable information, I will remove it.


Boundary maps for Michigan municipalities

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Top: Example of my map design format for Delta County (showing the city of Escanaba)

Bottom: Previous version from 2007 showing no townships, non-precise city lines, and no water coloration or boundaries.
Example of a cleaned up and colorized census map naming local municipalities within Delta County

I am now focusing on standardizing, updating, and improving infoboxes and article content for the many municipalities of Michigan. I use census maps, clean up the boundaries, remove labels, and add colors. I am aiming to include a simple boundary map for every municipality. Some articles have older maps that date as far back as 2005, and those older maps commonly feature incorrect boundaries, no differentiating between land and water, and a noticeable lack of details.

I am working on making all of these maps the same scale size, shading in areas for cities, cleaning up white-filled boundaries for villages and CDPs (not including unincorporated communities), using the same style of thick gray county border (while not including anything outside of the county depicted), and using the same colors for municipality identified (red), water (light blue), and villages and CDPs in township maps (pink). Maps will also include the Michigan map highlighting the county. I am working on more mentioning of indian reservations, which are sparsely dotted throughout the state and often not mentioned in appropriate articles. Some of my earlier county maps are missing some CDPs, because I couldn't locate their precise boundaries. For those county's missing that information, I will go back in the future and add a more detailed map. There are many cities, villages, and some CDPs that span more than one county. When this occurs, I will add a multi-county map, such as for Milan or Mackinac City.

I also implement a consist caption for these maps, example: "Location within Charlevoix County" with no punctuation or state name. If there is an administered village or CDP within the township, the caption will follow the example: "Location within Oakland County (red) and an administered portion of the village of Holly (pink)"

Other variations may be necessary for some townships if they have multiple villages or CDPs, such as "Location within Saginaw County and the administered communities of Saginaw Township North (1) and Saginaw Township South (2)"

Counties completed

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  • Counties with no symbols haven't been started by me and may contain other older map versions.
  • : Counties with the red button need their location map updated to include the Michigan map. In the early process of updating municipality maps, I did not include a Michigan map showing the highlighted county, but I later changed my mind. This currently applies to only one county in the Upper Peninsula (Iron), which is also missing CDPs in the maps.
  • : These counties have infobox municipality maps updated in the individual articles, although some infobox information may still need to be completed. These counties may also be missing appropriate CDP designations and will have to be updated. These counties include a census data map in the main county article, although it also may need to be updated to add new CDPs from the 2020 census. Even if all the information in the infobox is up-to-date and accurate, the county is still not listed in bold since the maps need updated with new CDPs and/or information completed.
  • and BOLD: These counties have their maps 100% completed with all CDPs and their infoboxes fully updated, as well as including a census data municipality map in the county main page. These counties have maps that include new CDPs from the 2020 census.
Michigan map showing counties that include updated municipality maps. Uncolored counties have not been started and may contain other map versions or none at all.

(Last updated: 18:28, 5 November 2024 (UTC))

GOLD: 100% complete infoboxes in all aspects (30 / 83 – 36.1%)
RED: Counties that include up-to-date maps but still need their infoboxes finalized
PINK: Counties that include completed maps but are missing CDPs that need to be added, as well as information completed

Upper Peninsula

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Northern Michigan

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Middle Michigan

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Southern Michigan

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  1. ^ Benzie County includes all updated municipality maps in the infoboxes, but I later drew in the large Crystal Lake into a more recent map that still needs to be updated in some county articles.
  2. ^ Saginaw County has maps in all of the articles; however, the now-defunct CDP boundaries of Saginaw Township North and Saginaw Township South still appear in the location maps.
  3. ^ The Washtenaw County map needs to be slightly modified, as Manchester is now an incorporated city and needs to be shaded, as well as removed from the Manchester Township map.
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