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Carsharing - Modest proposal

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Tedernst, Jmabel. Is there anyway that I can ask the two of you to lay off on this and give me say ten days to get it straight? I think by now you should have at least the first blush of the idea that I maybe know a mite [more about our topic] than you do - nothing wrong with that, eh? We also have seen that I have a lot to learn in order to get this in full order. But it is frustrating for me when you go in and start to mess with subtle matters that require real hands-on expertise – and dear friends, I do have that. So, if for these next days you would just be so kind as NOT to make major editorial change but just give me useful hints and guidelines if I am too far off your WP path, which I promise I shall give my full attention. In the meantime, I can concentrate in the challenging task of giving you something you might end up being more than satisfied with. Something, better, denser, more useful than what you may have had in mind a couple of weeks ago when you first started on this bold venture. (I would, and do, do the same for my brightest PhD students, so maybe a bit of reciprocity might be in order?) PS. If you want to hop over to [World Carshare] you’ll see on the top menu that we have put a Wikipedia link and are drawing the attention to our world forum to this entry – warts and all. I am hopeful that useful information will continue to flow in which either they will entry themselves or pass on to me for integration into the entry during this truce period. ericbritton 16:24, 27 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Disambiguation - and The Commons

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What is the mechanism for, I believe the exact term is disambiguation. Our problem is that our Self-Organizing Collaborative Network which is called The Commons, around and flailing at issues of sustainable development and social justice since 1973/74, has to be listed here by its full and very long name, mainly The Commons: Open Society Sustainability Initiative. But most of the world who turns to the Wikipedia will be looking for us simply as “The Commons”. Problem if you click The Commons you will see some other kinds folks already squatting there. Now, not being all that lazy, I have turned to [[1]] , but

  1. I am unable to se my way clear to doing this without having problems
  2. I would hate to get in the way of the other good people there; and
  3. is the etiquette that I should at least be informing, if not actually asking them?

Thanks for clarifying. ericbritton 16:47, 23 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Disambiguation is for exactly this situation, where there are multiple articles with the same or similiar names. I'm involved in a naming dispute right now over critical mass and Critical mass (nuclear). Maybe you'd like to come to Talk:Critical mass (nuclear) and see the discussion and perhaphs weigh in, that would be great.
So back to your specific question. The first thing to do, which I've done already, is to add The Commons: Open Society Sustainability Initiative to Commons (disambiguation). For the next step, you have a choice.
You can either be WP:bold and move The Commons to something like The Commons (apartments) and then edit the resulting redirect at The Commons to point to Commons (disambiguation) instead of this new page.
Your other choice, is to bring up your proposed move at Talk:The Commons and see what kind of pushback you get. If there's a consensus, or no one cares, maybe you'll save yourself the fight I'm in over critical mass (I was bold and just did the move myself without asking so now there are people working to change it back).
Hope this helps. Feel free to ask more. Tedernst | talk 17:49, 23 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]


Think I got it. Just went in and sweetly moved The Commons to something like The Commons (apartments), explaining to whoever that it was for Disambiguation purposes.
This leaves us with one remaining wrinkle -- namely that we are both called "The Commons" but the call to The Commons brings up the apt peopel still, instead of a Disambiguation page, this time with only two choices (for now). But I am still too green to try this.
I changed the re-direct. Tedernst | talk 18:47, 23 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
PS. I also voted for Critical Mass, a group we know and love -- even when it's hard to do so, as it sometimes is. They can be a handful, the little rascals. But democracy needs its activists, and these of many stripes). Salamaat, Shalom, Peace on Earth.ericbritton 18:31, 23 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
You voted on the wrong side, as far as I'm concerned. Of course, you're free to do that, but I don't see why the physical concept should get the page name. Same situation as yours here. You don't think the apartment complex should get the name. Of course, the apartment complex is not the source of the name so the arguments are different, but I was the one that moved the physical concept away from the name critical mass, feeling that it was more appropriate to go directly to teh disambigauation page so people could choose. Tedernst | talk 18:47, 23 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Critical Mass

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;-) As often happens, the problem may contain the solution. Let's stay with Critical Mass for the time being. All upper case title is the bike freaks. No doubt. Anything else should drive the good folks to Nuclear (the core concept) + the disambigauation (awful word) page up top. I am very comfortable with that and certainly ready to vote on it. (Should I got back in and state my cse?)

You can do whatever you like. You're currently voting on the winning side and I'm on the losing side. It's not in my interests for your arguments to get stronger, especially when I don't buy into their reasoning. I don't see how capitalization makes any difference at all. I hate the fact that this place is case sensitive. The rest of the internet isn't, so when I type, "critical mass", I expect that to find the same pages as "Critical Mass" and it simply doesn't work that way here. Tedernst | talk 19:29, 23 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Dear Tedernst. Ah, capitalization and the internet. Just a hick in the UNIX past. In my work I am constantly in contact with people who have to communicate against or through all kinds of barriers and interfaces. And I see lots of people who think that they understand what someone is saying because they know word by word what is being said: but phrase and context are all. It’s there where culture takes over from letters. Let me see if I can quickly put my finer on an example: “In” “God” “we” “trust”. Word by word not problem, but look at the Martians face when you pop that phrase and you will see that what is going on in his mind has nothing to do with the meaning of the full phrase (for better or worse.. and it is a lousy example, but let’s keep on truckin’.) Thus, to these ears and eyes, ‘critical mass’ is one thing and ‘Critical Mass’ quite another. And if the coding behind all this were going backward or even standing still, we could put all that aside. But the new world of communications is upon us and the caps are part of the deal, because they are part of the deal of our common language.
But TdT I really don’t want anything to come between us You are my first friend here and I appreciate your help and above all your kind and firm hand. So please put up with my call it ‘fussiness’ and remember that I am a terrible old man ever planted in another age. Even if I sometimes give the impression of being a digital native (used my first computer on a daily basis starting in 1959.. for doing some very fancy stuff, which in fact boiled down to regression analysis. And so it goes.) ericbritton 20:53, 23 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The Commons (disambiguation again)

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Now back to The Commons. Origins: For many people in the West, the word “commons” evokes a medieval village pasture which villagers did not own but where they had rights to graze their livestock. Yet, for the vast majority of humanity today, The Commons is an everyday reality which provides sustenance, security and independence. The Commons is neither private nor public: neither business firm nor state utility, neither jealously guarded private plot nor national or city park. But it is not usually open to all: the relevant local community typically decides who uses it and how. Indeed, commons regimes can be defined more through their social and cultural organization than their physical location: for example, local or group power, distinctions between members and non-members, rough parity among members, a concern with common safety rather than accumulation, and an absence of the constraints which lead to economic scarcity."
This roughly is the origin for our "The Commons". Thus what this suggests to me is that we possibly need to create a 'main gate' to The Commons from which all of the others might open in turn. That make any sense? ericbritton 19:01, 23 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I don't understand what you're asking. If someone types "Commons", they get that article on the origins that you cite. The top of the page has the other uses language and points to the dab (short for disambiguation). If they type "The Commons", they go directly to the dab. Are you suggesting something else? Tedernst | talk 19:29, 23 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Yes I am. What I am suggesting is that I cobble together the beginning of an acceptable new “master entry’ and definition on “The Commons” reflecting its deepest known origin (roughly along the lines suggested above, but better if time permits), and that once we have this everything else derives therefrom – us (the schlemiels) and the apt schmendricks. But I don’t want to take the time to do it (I am drowning in my work) if it is not going to do a useful job. ericbritton 21:00, 23 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

In fact, Tedernst, I have just had one more look at it and I see that we already have the solution to this in hand. The 'master listing' or front gate to The Commons is in fact the already existing entry Commons, which I now propose should get the main moniker -- the “The” included.

  • My vote is that the main entry is thus “The commons” (as well as “commons” as stands).
  • Then when someone is looking for our “The Commons” , they see it right there ever so unambiguously in to the disambiguation page.
  • My Talmudic soul suggests that this is the purest and more practical solution.. True “disambiguation” (which word literally cries for a better word).

ericbritton 08:40, 24 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Peter Schickele

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The "some say" qualifier would be fine for any other usage (magazine, newspaper article; TV or radio spot, etc.) but this one (an encyclopedia). In any case, my feeling is that Schickele is one of the greatest 20th century American composers for his *non*-PDQ Bach works (do you know them?), but unfortunately they're not discussed in much detail in the article. BTW I think the "dill piccolo" is exactly a regular piccolo, which only plays "sour notes." The article says Schickele invented it. Badagnani 20:46, 24 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, Peter is indeed a leading American composer, and it is a bit of a pity really that his hyper-gaudy prof distracts (but who can resist him?). I have known Peter for years and back at his first concert in Carnegie Hall lent a hand to Wolfgang Zuckermann, a note harpsichord maker and my partner in a summer festival for the performing arts in Upper Black Eddy Pa (the original Sundance), to 'invent' the Hardardt - a modified harpsichord that served hot coffee and cold sandwiches through a frontal slot. (I still hate giving away the game with the USND, so cannot we zap the 'fictional' and leave it to the schmendricks to work that one out for themselves.) ericbritton 21:07, 24 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Who is Doug? Badagnani 09:34, 25 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I am amazed at your connection to these hijinks going back close to 40 years now (?). I think leaving out "fictional" would be fine. My favorite "real" Shickele works are the Quartet for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano and the Serenade for Six (for bassoon + Trout Quintet instruments). Badagnani 09:36, 25 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]


Carsharing Talk

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Better sourcing

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We need to cite sources for some of the information in this article. For example, the following sentence claims to directly quote some type of authority, but fails to identify that person(s).

  • Carshare organizers and proponents say that “if you live in a city and drive less than ten thousand kilometers a year, you should probably look into carsharing”.

I see it was taken directly from http://worldcarshare.com/ but it is unsourced there as well. Citing references would help make this a more authoritative article. --Wildcat dunny 13:21, 17 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I take your point Wildcat, but what do we do in the case in which the "citation" is simply a broadly shared point of view which is often simply _said_, with of course the expected many variations? I want to respect this great group work product (which I'd like to add is very close to my heart (and work)), but what do you do in a case like this when some phrase is widely said in many ways and many places (example of choice: "The Rex Sox are the best team in organized baseball")? Has anyone invented anythiing like "almost quotation marks" for such situations.
Tell me how to handle this and I promise I'll do my best. But I'm never going to be able to source that one.
Eric--This is a tricky issue for a resource like Wikipedia in general, but I think there are ways to address it. For example, if it really is a point of view that is broadly shared by a group of people, then we should try to find a source in which one of those people expresses such a view and cite that. Even better is if we can find an authoritative source that states the view is widely held. See Wikipedia:Cite sources and Wikipedia:Cite sources/example style for some basic info on citing sources on Wikipedia. I tried reworking your quote a bit (and moved it down a paragraph). My goal was to still express that point of view, but in a more verifiable fashion (see the footnote/reference).
We should also try to provide references for other factual assertions made in the article. The stylistic details for citations in Wikipedia are still being worked out, but including verifiable references now will help make this a stronger article into the future. --Wildcat dunny 16:35, 17 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Beyond sourcing

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Looks great Wildcat. I am getting there and the entry at the same time. As you will have spotted I am one of those who learns by doing and then when he actually does it proceeds in iterations. Couple of points that I would like to share with you quickly, if you will:.

1. I like the “Contents” and see how it works. Any problem now that you have added the (absolutely necessary, and whatever was I thinking about) Reference section, if I kick over some of the sources that do that job into that category. These are great since they serve to give a variety of perspectives – important here because of the great heterogeneity of these operations. We don’t want anyone who is genuinely curious to get the idea that there is just one set of perspectives and one basic model. Just ain’t so.
2. As to the ‘origin’ of the famous quote, I guess as authoritative a single source as we can find is just maybe me (though I prefer to cite the World Carshare Collaborate rather than myself – I always feel that only schmucks quote themselves). But after all, who knows more about it than we do? Also since WCS thus becomes the cited source, we can use exactly our wording (which incidentally has been on the opening page of http://worldcarshare.com untouched since 1999 – and believe me if it did not rhyme with the people we have coming into that program, we would have been hooted out of the ballpark a long time ago.)
3. Next and before I take this any further, I will be a good lad and get back to your “How to write a great article” entry and its extensions. (I believe the expression is “Duh”)
4. If you have a minute to have a quick look at The Commons: Open Society Sustainability Initiative at www.ecoplan.org you will see that what we try to do is create ‘knowledge and action zones” (poorly said Eric, but it’s late) which invite a very wide range of people with interests in the specific area (carsharing being just one example) to “build knowledge and consensus to support change”. Again, the basic themes are (a) better understanding technology change as it effects people in their day to day lives. And (b) the difficult struggle toward sustainable development and social justice.
5. I am now (as we used to say in Mississippi cogitatin’ on a new project that you can catch at http://www.xwork.org (New Ways to Work in an Information Society) – the specific goal of which will (may) be to create and help propel a “Self-Organizing Collaborative Network” that will look specifically and creatively at improved the supply/demand mesh of IT and SD (sustainable development). One of the main reasons for doing this is that most of the international organizations and bilateral aid programs just do not seem to be able to get anything of much use done. And I think that if we bring together a couple of hundred bright and diverse people and put them in the right learning/collaboration environment we may be able to blaze some useful new trails. The site at present is just getting underway, and certainly needs work and maybe some cutting and dicing. But the reason I bring this to you attention is that there are definitely some important object lessons to be learned from you great on-going experiment. (And who knows, you might even be interested to keep an eye out on this one as it moves along.

ericbritton 22:46, 17 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Improved organization, but . . .

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I very much appreciate the more structured framework that you have now created here. It's a big improvement. But on the other hand we have some real problems with what is now being proposed on the content side. Let me take one example alone: the History section.

Sorry but this information is seriously inaccurate. The fact is that there is a great deal of mis-information that pops up cheerfully in the media and other sources on this new mobility form. However at this point since I am not a seasoned member here, I quite frankly do not know what to do next. On the one hand, I really don't want to hurt anyone's feelings or dampen their enthusiasm. Life is too short for that. But I would hope that there is a premium here on accuracy. Let me know and I'll get to work on it. (Incidentally this is important for us in terms of accuracy, since I have popped the reference right at the top menu of the World Carshare site, and I certainly cannot leave it there if it says in this form. I would not be able to stand the laughter.) Salamaat, Shalom, and Peace on Earth. ericbritton 16:27, 18 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

“I'd still be interested to know what is inaccurate with the article.” - --Petros471 16:40, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

Fair enough, let’s just take that history section, by the numbers and very quickly for now:

1. “Car sharing was first developed in Europe during the early 1970s”. Wrong. Try this: International Carshare Developments and Trends: 350 BC -2006

  • • Ca. 350 – Aristotle writes "On the whole, you find wealth much in use than in ownership."
  • • 1948 – Selbstfahrergenossenshaft and the rest – 2300 years later
  • • 1960’s – The “miracle” of PRT and automatic small vehicle transport (precursors of carsharing 2005?)
  • • 1972/4 – Two great carsharing projects: ProcoTip and Witkar start . . . and stop
  • • 1980’s – Slow, spread out, start-and-stop diffusion – but it doesn’t stop there
  • • 1987+ – Carsharing starts to come of age: Pre-Mobility & StattAuto set pattern. As projects multiple around (mainly) Europe, World Carshare Consortium established
  • • Late nineties – Carsharing picks up speed and starts to establish itself in country after country (fast here, slower there. . . including France)
  • • 2005 -- More than 150 CSOs identified in World Carshare inventory
  • • 2006 -- More than 650 cities around the world where you can carshare this morning

2. . . . in response to the high cost of car ownership and the 1973 energy crisis

Wrong. That’s hindsight. Not information. Most of the start-ups in the middle Dark Ages of carsharing in the 70s/80s were driven by mainly ecological and neighborliness, with of course a good dash of potential savings.

3. The concept spread to North America in the 1990s, beginning with Communauto in Canada. The United States saw the introduction of its first car sharing organization in 1998[1].

Wrong again. Benoit Robert and CommunAuto are important landmark projects, but there were small very artesian carshares going on in the States already in the eighties. True though the real push gets underway in the mid-late nineties. You 1998 reference for the State is for the first _commercial__ CSO start-up, but Dave Brook and his team in Portland Oregon. (Today this is Flexcar.)

Let me not drive you nuts with this quibbling, but I hope the basic idea gets through. We can get this right, and in the process make a real contribution. But we need to have a firm base if we are to engage the other serious players who will be pleased to make a strong statement stronger yet. Which to my mind is what Self-Organizing Collaborative Networks are all about.

ericbritton 17:34, 18 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
  • Thank you for addressing specific disputed facts, that is helpful. You'll notice that the information in the History section cited a specific source, and those statements can be easily verified within the source material. This is consistent with Wikipedia's official policy on Wikipedia:Verifiability. In this case, it appears you are attempting to dispute that information on the grounds that the source is not a Wikipedia:Reliable_source. That is a useful argument to make, but it is important to back up your claim by explaining on the talk page why you do not consider that source to be reliable. Others can then discuss the reliability of the source and come to some type of resolution (usually this is a relatively quick process). --Wildcat dunny 23:29, 18 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
  • In your contribution above, you included some very specific information about the history of car sharing. It seems to me that much of this information would be useful for inclusion in the History section of the article. However, you did not cite a source for this information. (I found no reference named "International Carshare Developments and Trends: 350 BC -2006", and a quick Google search turned up nothing. A link or formal reference would be more helpful.) I understand that you are involved in a car sharing community and likely have good knowledge about the topic, but the Wikipedia:No_original_research policy requires that information in articles have a basis in published sources. Since you may be considered an expert on car sharing, the page on Wikipedia:No_original_research#The_role_of_expert_editors may be of interest. If you are an expert, you probably have knowledge of some great sources to support that content! --Wildcat dunny 23:36, 18 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

"A type of cooperative"

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The lead now says that carsharing is "a type of cooperative", even if it is for-profit. I think that's just plain wrong. How is it any more a "cooperative" than, for example, a video rental store? Unless someone can make a strong case for this that currently escapes me, it should be removed. -- Jmabel | Talk 05:11, 24 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Now, I want to take this one as sweetly as I can, but when I read canonical statements from you, Jmabel, like "it should be removed" about a topic in which the writer (in this case you) is still very early on her/his learning curve, I begin to wonder if I am in the right place here. At the very least, if you are authoritarian you should at the very least be an authority on your subject (are you?). A polite challenge between colleagues is one thing. Marginal rudeness quite another and your tone is very much the latter.
Back to CSOs as cooperatives.
(a) Historical: Most of the early schemes through the late nineties were actually established as cooperative ventures (under a variety of labels but nonetheless on inspection cooperatives indeed).
(b) Contemporary: And this is still an important pattern for small start-ups today.
(c) Behavioral: Join a carshare operation in your community - – whether non-profit or for- - and you will quickly see how the cooperative component, how strong and continuing cooperation among the members is vital.
(d) My acid test for all statements here are the members of the World Carshare cooperative, who collectively know more about this topic than anyone in the world. And thus far, none of them who have some in and had a look have squealed.
All that said, if this is not a place of measured, friendly even collegial discourse and decision making, then I am out of here. If I were looking for authoritarianism, I would move to any of the tattered vestiges of the good old soviet union.
NB. The cooperative movement in Europe, and in Latin America where it is mostly a spillover from the Spanish Civil War, has far deeper historical and political roots than the Wikipedia entry on the subject currently charts. The links to what can only be called “positive anarchy” and “Communalism” are very important parts of that ball of wax – although my available time and immediate credentials do not permit me to go into that entry and trying to push it in this important direction. I would like to think that it might be taken into account in good time. And that after all is what this cooperative venture, the Wikipedia, is all about. (Or do I have that wrong?)
I may be a relative newbie on carsharing, but I'm quite knowledgable on cooperatives (although, to the best of my recollection, I've never worked on, or even read, Wikipedia's article on the topic). Yes, historically many (perhaps most, I have no idea) carsharing operations have been cooperatives. But FlexCar, for example, is no more a cooperative than the for-profit video rental store in front of which one of its cars may be parked. Is it a good business for the community? Sure. Glad to have them here in Seattle. But in institutional terms, "cooperative" has a very specific meaning: it means member-owned on some level, whether those members are consumers or (as in a farmers' cooperative) small producers. It typically means one share per member, and always means a very limited ratio of shares per member (the [Mondragón Cooperative Corporation|Mondragón cooperatives]] historically allowed as many as six shares for highly skilled workers; I'm not sure, but I think that may now have gone higher).
Is there an element of cooperation involved in even a for-profit carsharing operation? Absolutely. But we don't call a public library "a cooperative" either: in that case, it is publicly owned, not cooperatively owned. Nor a university, unless somewhere there is a university run as a co-op (presumably, owned by its faculty). And making a library or a university succeed also involves plenty of cooperation. -- Jmabel | Talk 10:31, 25 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Very nice. Uncle. ericbritton 17:02, 27 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia is not a web directory

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Some of this is shaping up well, but other parts are turning into a web directory. Wikipedia is not a repository of links. I've done some cleanup, but this is getting bigger than I feel like taking on, and I would appreciate if the people writing this would make an effort to familiarize themselves with Wikipedia standards. I can't go through a hundred external links to see which are likely to be useful to a reader. -- Jmabel | Talk 05:36, 24 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Jmabel. Since we are at the outset here in our collaboration, I think it’s important that we get on the same side without losing any more time. So let me take it one at a time, with an eye among other things to keep you from losing time with all that cross-checking:
  1. First, I want you to know how much I appreciate your English language proofing. Not that I – you may have noted that I am a bit of a word person, or at the least a real lover of careful use of language(s) – hence I look at your editorial changes with real interest, not least because they are all nicely reasoned. I had to grin when you changed my “got established” (may sound like Appalachia calling, but it is indeed proper English, if out of common usage in most places today) for your more current “become established”. In point of fact I hesitated at least three times myself before letting it start its short and happy life there. Well, bye “got”.
  2. I was sorry to see that you shipped the two gizmos that demonstrate (a) how carsharing works and (b) impact on the city to the External Links section, where I am afraid they get a bit lost. My thought is that simple as they are they help people from the outset to get a cleare visions as to what this is all about.
  3. I purposely separated carsharing/carpooling distinction para – which is universal – from the UK discussion, which is specific and need not concern most people. But hey . . .
  4. The bottom line – editorially-wise speaking (and here I quote the great Professor Peter Schickele of the University of Southern North Dakota) is that your version is a far, far better thing. . .
  5. Now the big one: Let me start with your good reminder that “Wikipedia is not a web directory” and specifically you firm reminder that it is not a “is not a repository of links”. Hmm. Yes, yes and but. Let me see if I can explain.
In collaborating with you all on this, my model for the handful of entries that I intend to make (who knows once you start?) is to follow the inspiration if not exactly the model of the famous 1911 Britannica, which has always been a great friend and mind stretcher for me since childhood. As you know it was a storehouse not only of the usual and most important crisp encyclopedic definitions, but also was intended by the editors and main collaborators as a research tool opening up both broad concepts and new specifics of their fast changing world for anyone who had the energy to look.
This gives me a variant of the classic Scylla and Charybdis navigation problem. On the one hand, I don’t want to run away from the best of your lovely concise Wikipedia presentation model and guidelines. But at the same time, we are looking here – as with my evolving contributions in terms of the New Mobility Agenda, Car Free Days, The Commons, [Kyoto World Cities Challenge] and Self-Organizing Collaborative Networks -- at rich, ground breaking and internationally quite well known concepts that are not just in hot air, research projects or someone’s next book, but which are focused, practical, articulated instruments of knowledge building and change. Now these may be new to you (and gazillions of others), but they are part of a process of sustainable development and social justice and are known (and not always appreciated) by tens of thousands of policy makers, activists and scholars in many parts of the world, rich and poor. (You can get a handle on the type of people and groups who are part of this world wide movement if you click the International Advisory Council link at the top of www.kyotocities.org, which lists approximately ten percent of those who are either closely following or actively working with pieces of this new development agenda.
Back to [carsharing] as a concrete case in point. My goal here is (a) to provide an accurate description and general introduction to the concept and its current realities for the general reader, and (b) in parallel provide a fairly comprehensive set of tools and leads that will help scholars, policy makers, public officials, and people and groups considering possibly doing something along these lines – with a strong set of references in one place, and at a level that would have made Mr. Chisholm nod his head in agreement. Modest project.
I note that our present draft is still well short of 3k words and well within the size limits set our in various places in the WikiInfo. I also note that we have come a long way since we hunkered down on this together just two short weeks ago. Admittedly we are staggering to get this right, but I would imagine that this is par for more complex and generally little known phenomena such as this., when the visiting schmendrick (that’s me) is going at this for the first time. As I look at the text, I am pleased if not by what we have here thus far but both by the general tone of the entry as well as the direction which we have now firmly engaged. As to those last sections of links and references, yes I agree that more thought and work will be needed there, and I am pleased to engage to make sure that it gets done. I hate thinking of myself as an “expert” on anything, but I guess when it comes to this particular entry that words is as good as any other. What I would like to hope is that I am not both an exert and stupid – which is a combination of which I have seen many examples in the past. And not least in the field of transport and city polities. (Which by the way explains why things are in such a mess in many places.)
The acid test: A first handful of my international colleagues ,who know this field from the inside as well as anyone, have already had a peek at what we are doing here, and they have been universally encouraging. Indeed, if you go to World Carshare at, you will see a Wikipedia link on the top menu, which takes you to an introduction page which invites them to come in and add their expertise and vision to ours. I also am inviting all of the 20+ operators world wide whom we have inventories, to come in and add nice crisp entries under their names. Thus making this a truly useful contribution to and from the Wikipedia.
Over and out on the eve of 24 Dec 2005. And if you are a Christian, let me wish you a very merry Christmas. And if you’re a Jew, well Happy Chanukah. And a Muslim, or like me an all purpose life embracing infidel: a happy and long life with those you love ericbritton 18:11, 24 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Apologies that I'm not giving this a lengthy reply, but sections like Where it works as it currently stands are simply not Wikipedia style. When we want to aim people outside of Wikipedia like this, we do it in an external links section. Period. -- Jmabel | Talk 02:41, 25 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]


Mainly housekeeping and clarification

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I am not a lazy guy, and I have thrashed around but I cannot find help on the following I think, I hope rather small point: When I make a reference on any given page, I woudld almos talways like to see the linked item pop up in another window -- and not utterly smash the thing I think the visitor probably came for. Help!

I am unaware of any way to make wikilinks open in a new window, nor do I know why someone would want this. Many people are now using tabbed browsers like Firefox that allow the user to decide that links will open in background tabs, thus not interrupting the reading of the current page. You seem to be after something similar. I'd not worry about it if I were you and leave it to the reader to figure out. Tedernst | talk 17:49, 23 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Books

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On the matter of print publications with my name on them. In my case it seems to be a life pattern and not just an accident. Even at the time I has completed a rough draft for my PhD dissertation at Columbia, once I had satisfied my own curiosity on the topic - Mezzogiorno development shenanigans in the high name of economics -- and when faced between the options of schlepping back to New York to complete and then defend it doggedly in front of the usuals, as opposed to staying in Italy to work on hands-on development challenges, it was a no brainer for me. Who wants to hang around with a bunch of committees composed of old white guys with full tables and pensions while life passes one by? In the event I never had any intention of being either a prof nor in fact an economist. I got into the economics racket specifically because I wanted to understand better how that part of people's brains and decisions, and those of society collectively, tick (or ticketh not).
This pattern has carried on in all my work since, which involves problem setting and problem solving in my areas of deep concern -- and not publication. Thus whereas I have set up 'knowledge networks' that indeed actually do work in a number of areas -- carsharing being just one -- never for one moment have I thought about sticking anything on paper (which struck me a long time ago as a sideline and in the wake of all that has taken place since little more than quaint Paper, books? Sure but for Chekhov, Balzac and if you push me even Philip Roth). Rather in my short life I prefer to provide the raw materials for others, perhaps more gifted or at least more psychologically apt for the task, to do just that.
On my way out the door here, I might mention that whereas I will put any eventual 'Eric Britton' entry into the hands of the gods, I very definitely am moving to bring in quite a large number of highly talented 'change makers' (if you will) on the sustainable development and social justice scene and have indeed already started. You can see some of the schmear behind that if you go to [The Commons] at and pop the Wikipedia link up top. I am hopeful that this will be good for WP and good for the sustainability agenda as well. But as you say, I shall immediately read WP:BIO. Thank you. Over and out. ericbritton 14:30, 28 December 2005 (UTC) ("Almost an economist")[reply]
I don't have time to look it up and it may be apocryphal, but Harry S. Truman is said to have said something like:
"There is absolutely nothing in the world that you cannot accomplish, provided you do not care who gets the credit."
Dpbsmith (talk) 14:56, 28 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

An autobiography for this was posted tonight at Eric Britton. I have started a discussion there continuing this debate about what exactly is noteworthy. See the talk. —akghetto talk 09:56, 27 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Naming conventions (people)

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Please read over Wikipedia:Naming conventions (people) before creating new biographical articles. In general, we only use additional words to differentiate people of the same name, and then we use the shortest, most NPOV word that will suit. -Will Beback 00:49, 10 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Incomplete stub

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Sustainability Advocates has little useful content. If you're going to add to it, then please do right away or the page will be taken down. Since Wikipeia is always "live", we need to avoid puting notes in the articles. Thanks, -Will Beback 05:47, 10 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Archiving of talk pages

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Hi, I've noticed that you have removed some of your the content of your talk page with the edit summary cleaning up to get out old stuff and get page within indicated limits. The article Wikipedia:Talk pages includes "If you feel that your user talk page is getting too large and is taking a long time to load, you may archive it. You may then remove comments from your talk page, but please make sure that those comments are readily accessible on another page."

Note that this is not official policy, and therefore not a requirement, however it is useful in case anyone wants to refer to old content, get an overview of your history etc. Here is a guide to archiving. Hope that helps, feel free to ask any questions on my talk page.

And as it's been a while since I last dropped by your talk page: thanks again for you continued contributions to Wikipedia! --Petros471 11:50, 27 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Questions out of the blue

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Is there anyway one can know about the number of hits any given entry is getting? And if not, would that not be useful?

No, there isn't any way. I'm sure it could be very useful for certain purposes, but I think it has been said somewhere that no-one really bothered because this site does not host or sell advertising, and therefore accurate usage figures were not required. Also the server load for individual hit counters would be significant. That's all from memory, so I could be wrong... Petros471 10:08, 30 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks so much Petros, That's very helpful. But as to the advertising angle, I understand it but I also deeply believe there is something to the saying that man does not live by bread alone -- and I think that it is important for something as society shaping -- yes, that is indeed what I believe it to be (if we all get it right) -- as the Wikipedia we should not be making ourselves just as smart as we can. And knowing what's going on is part of this. So is there any way that this idea can be pushed up a couple of notches in the reaches of our not quite [Self-Organizing Collaborative Network]?  ;-) ericbritton 10:18, 30 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Italian/hits

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You're right, I never learned Italian (aside from musical and food terms). My grandparents came from Italy so I am 3rd generation. Thus, Italiano was the "secret language" for grandparents and parents to speak about subjects they don't want the kids to understand. This is common in many ethnic communities in the U.S.

About hits on specific pages, it would be interesting and I think there is a way to tell this, but maybe only for admins or those with access to hosting stats. But I don't know more, sorry! Badagnani 15:48, 30 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Self-Organizing Collaborative Networks

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There is a bit of a discussion going on over at Articles_for_deletion/Self-Organizing_Collaborative_Networks to which I woudl be pleased to invite comments and suggestions.


New Mobility Agenda Article

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A tip: You may find that the recently started campaigns wikia is a more appropriate place for that kind of article.

Also check the Anti-car campaign on campaigns wikia 82.32.60.14 12:39, 16 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

License tagging for Image:Paratransit2.jpg

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Thanks for uploading Image:Paratransit2.jpg. Wikipedia gets thousands of images uploaded every day, and in order to verify that the images can be legally used on Wikipedia, the source and copyright status must be indicated. Images need to have an image tag applied to the image description page indicating the copyright status of the image. This uniform and easy-to-understand method of indicating the license status allows potential re-users of the images to know what they are allowed to do with the images.

For more information on using images, see the following pages:

This is an automated notice by OrphanBot. If you need help on selecting a tag to use, or in adding the tag to the image description, feel free to post a message at Wikipedia:Media copyright questions. 10:07, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

I have failed miserably to get this image, which comes from one of our reports for the UD Dept of Transportation, into the Paratransit entry. Help? ericbritton 10:24, 29 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Invitation from urbepedia

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Hi, my name is Chaerani from Singapore. I volunteered helped out in the Urbepedia. It is a newly set up wiki focusing on Urban issues, and currently needing more contributors. I'd like to invite your participation in the wiki. Also need to brainstorm more on how the Urbepedia can be different yet complementing to information already existing in Wikipedia. At this stage, i'm thinking that Urbepedia would be more detailed and more technical, and also acts as repository of best urban practices from around the world, as well as repository of contact information of urban experts. Whereas wikipedia is aimed for a broader audience, the article should be easy to grasp to different kind of people, from kids to adults. In that sense, urbepedia is different from wikipedia, but of course, we can link both wikipedia and urbepedia together in the article page. We hope that you'd be interested to get involved. You can reach me by skype too, username chaerani . thanks! Chaerani 07:54, 6 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Image:Pic-hamilton-baille.jpg listed for deletion

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An image or media file that you uploaded or altered, Image:Pic-hamilton-baille.jpg, has been listed at Wikipedia:Images and media for deletion. Please look there to see why this is (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry), if you are interested in it not being deleted. Thank you. — Nv8200p talk 22:33, 6 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ever heard of prof. John Pucher, Bloustein school?

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He's an anti-auto and pro-bicycle and pro active commuting professor here at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy ("here" being Rutgers in New Brunswick). I mention him because he's a professor I'm working with. — Rickyrab | Talk 20:49, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Jane Jacobs, Washington Square Village, and me

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I heard that you worked with Jane Jacobs. Very interesting comment over in Talk:Jane Jacobs. Anyhow, I mention this because you said that you were part of the "resistance" in the late 50s along with Jacobs, and I'm pretty sure that "resistance" concerned the Washington Square area, including WSV. Furthermore, I once lived at WSV and the Silver Towers (ok, from ages 0 to 5) and have visited it since... I was wondering what was considered so bad about Washington Square Village? Was it the absence of diversity? (A friend of mine who also lived there once commented, upon revisiting, that the main change she noticed was that the trees had grown.) Was it the intrusion of gigantic buildings into a landscape of rowhouses, tenements, NYU, etc.? Was it simply the demolition of old buildings? The intrusion of traffic? Perhaps all of those, yet for the life of me, I don't see that compound as being quite so bad. Maybe it's just nostalgia. (For the record, we lived on the second floor of a building facing the block of, I believe, the Bobst Library and some other large NYU buildings - perhaps an apartment in an area that ought to have been part of a store had the planners thought a bit more wisely.) Then again, I don't see Co-op City as being all that bad either, even though it's a gargantuan, monotonous Radiant City, because Grandma and Grandpa once lived there, and there was family (and a playground, now unfortunately replaced) there. Maybe it's just the world of a kid, as opposed to that of an adult. — Rickyrab | Talk 21:00, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Push the envelope

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Saw your comment at Talk:Sustainable transport - I agree and have placed merge notices on the two articles.

We have much in common! I can relate to your ideas about pushing the envelope, but I think the best way to do it is on another wiki which complements Wikipedia, thus lifting all or almost all the restrictions that you're finding here. Check out Appropedia. Would love to have your contributions there (as well as here).

Your user page and contributions look fascinating, at a glance. Will visit again. Hope to hear from you. --Chriswaterguy talk 01:08, 19 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Image:Fazal.jpg

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Thanks for uploading Image:Fazal.jpg. I notice the 'image' page specifies that the image is being used under fair use, but its use in Wikipedia articles fails our first fair use criterion in that it illustrates a subject for which a freely licensed image could reasonably be found or created that provides substantially the same information. If you believe this image is not replaceable, please:

  1. Go to the image description page and edit it to add {{Replaceable fair use disputed}}, without deleting the original Replaceable fair use template.
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Alternatively, you can also choose to replace the fair use image by finding a freely licensed image of its subject, requesting that the copyright holder release this (or a similar) image under a free license, or by taking a picture of it yourself.

If you have uploaded other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified how these images fully satisfy our fair use criteria. You can find a list of 'image' pages you have edited by clicking on this link. Note that any fair use images which are replaceable by free-licensed alternatives will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you. howcheng {chat} 16:45, 22 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This is an automated message from CorenSearchBot. I have performed a web search with the contents of James Britton, and it appears to include a substantial copy of http://www.nabiarts.com/06/Britton06.htm. For legal reasons, we cannot accept copyrighted text or images borrowed from other web sites or printed material; such additions will be deleted. You may use external websites as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences.

This message was placed automatically, and it is possible that the bot is confused and found similarity where none actually exists. If that is the case, you can remove the tag from the article and it would be appreciated if you could drop a note on the maintainer's talk page. CorenSearchBot 17:30, 15 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Speedy deletion of James Britton

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A tag has been placed on James Britton, requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia per CSD g12.

Under the criteria for speedy deletion, articles that do not meet basic Wikipedia criteria may be deleted at any time. Please see the guidelines for what is generally accepted as an appropriate article, and if you can indicate why the subject of this article is appropriate, you may contest the tagging. To do this, add {{hangon}} on the top of the article and leave a note on the article's talk page explaining your position. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information to the article that would confirm its subject's notability under the guidelines.

If you think that this notice was placed here in error, you may contest the deletion. To do this, add {{hangon}} on the top of the page (just below the existing speedy deletion or "db" tag) and leave a note on the page's talk page explaining your position. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself. Seraphim Whipp 17:34, 15 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Speedy deletion of Grenelle de l'environnement

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A tag has been placed on Grenelle de l'environnement requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section A3 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because it is an article with no content whatsoever, or whose contents consist only of external links, "See also" section, book reference, category tag, template tag, interwiki link, rephrasing of the title, or an attempt to contact the subject of the article. Please see Wikipedia:Stub for our minimum information standards for short articles. Also please note that articles must be on notable subjects and should provide references to reliable sources that verify their content.

If you think that this notice was placed here in error, you may contest the deletion by adding {{hangon}} to the top of the page that has been nominated for deletion (just below the existing speedy deletion or "db" tag), coupled with adding a note on the talk page explaining your position, but be aware that once tagged for speedy deletion, if the article meets the criterion it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information to the article that would would render it more in conformance with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. Lastly, please note that if the article does get deleted, you can contact one of these admins to request that a copy be emailed to you. Mspraveen (talk) 08:41, 1 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I have removed the speedy deletion tag and changed the page into a redirect. Anonymous101 (talk) 08:46, 1 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

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To add a link for a french page to the 'in other languages' section of the sidebar, simply as [[fr:french pagename here]] to the english page. Anonymous101 (talk) 09:02, 1 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

New Mobility HUB

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I have redirected this article to the pre-existing article at New mobility. There is no need for a so-called "hub" article for this subject; besides, there is no concept of "hub" articles in use on Wikipedia. Perhaps you are confusing this concept with portals instead. - Realkyhick (Talk to me) 17:54, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Those are good thoughts Realkyhick, but the fact is that the NMH approach has real world implications, with substantial projects currently underway in Chennai (http://um-smart.org/project_research/New_Mobility_Hubs_Chennai.pdf) and Cape Town (http://um-smart.org/project_research/NMA%201-pager.pdf). The just completed conference at the U of Michigan on “New Mobility: The Emerging Transportation Economy” (http://um-smart.org/resources/conference/overview.html) included reports on these and other NMH (and New Mobility Agenda) projects and programs. So it's not just more vaporware. SO can we leave it where it was and invite those directly involved to give it substance? I hope this works for you. ericbritton (talk) 07:19, 17 June 2008 (UTC).[reply]
OK. I understand, as I'm a sportswriter focusing on high schools, and it's football season. 'Nuff said. - Realkyhick (Talk to me) 06:54, 12 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Payment for services has nothing to do with conflict of interest. If you are a volunteer for an organization and try to write something about it here, yuo have a COI. - Realkyhick (Talk to me) 00:59, 11 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Speedy deletion of World Streets

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A tag has been placed on World Streets requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section A7 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the article appears to be about web content, but it does not indicate how or why the subject is important or significant: that is, why an article about that subject should be included in an encyclopedia. Under the criteria for speedy deletion, such articles may be deleted at any time. Please see the guidelines for what is generally accepted as notable, as well as our subject-specific notability guideline for web content.

If you think that this notice was placed here in error, you may contest the deletion by adding {{hangon}} to the top of the page that has been nominated for deletion (just below the existing speedy deletion or "db" tag), coupled with adding a note on the talk page explaining your position, but be aware that once tagged for speedy deletion, if the page meets the criterion it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information to the page that would render it more in conformance with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. Lastly, please note that if the page does get deleted, you can contact one of these admins to request that they userfy the page or have a copy emailed to you. Bongomatic 11:58, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Talkback

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Hello, Ericbritton. You have new messages at Tnxman307's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

TNXMan 11:59, 30 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Talkback

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Hello, Ericbritton. You have new messages at Talk:Delhi Metro.
Message added SBC-YPR (talk) 13:21, 24 November 2009 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.[reply]

December 2009

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Welcome to Wikipedia. Everyone is welcome to contribute to the encyclopedia, but when you add content (particularly if you change facts and figures), as you have to the article Jason S. K. Chang, please cite a reliable source for the content you're adding or changing. This helps maintain our policy of verifiability. Take a look at Wikipedia:Citing sources for information about how to cite sources and the welcome page to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia. Thank you. PDCook (talk) 14:19, 11 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Unreferenced BLPs

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Hello Ericbritton! Thank you for your contributions. I am a bot alerting you that 2 of the articles that you created are Unreferenced Biographies of Living Persons. Please note that all biographies of living persons must be sourced. If you were to add reliable, secondary sources to these articles, it would greatly help us with the current 3 article backlog. Once the articles are adequately referenced, please remove the {{unreferencedBLP}} tag. Here is the list:

  1. Mikoto Usui - Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs· FENS · JSTOR · TWL
  2. Jason S. K. Chang - Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs· FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Thanks!--DASHBot (talk) 18:41, 2 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

A tag has been placed on World Streets requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section A7 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the article appears to be about web content, but it does not indicate how or why the subject is important or significant: that is, why an article about that subject should be included in an encyclopedia. Under the criteria for speedy deletion, such articles may be deleted at any time. Please see the guidelines for what is generally accepted as notable, as well as our subject-specific notability guideline for web content. You may also wish to consider using a Wizard to help you create articles - see the Article Wizard.

If you think that this notice was placed here in error, you may contest the deletion by adding {{hangon}} to the top of the page that has been nominated for deletion (just below the existing speedy deletion or "db" tag), coupled with adding a note on the talk page explaining your position, but be aware that once tagged for speedy deletion, if the page meets the criterion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information to the page that would render it more in conformance with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. Lastly, please note that if the page does get deleted, you can contact one of these admins to request that they userfy the page or have a copy emailed to you. Bongomatic 14:37, 8 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The article Jason S. K. Chang has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:

Notability of the subject has not been established, after tags were put up late last year.

While all contributions to Wikipedia are appreciated, content or articles may be deleted for any of several reasons.

You may prevent the proposed deletion by removing the {{dated prod}} notice, but please explain why in your edit summary or on the article's talk page.

Please consider improving the article to address the issues raised. Removing {{dated prod}} will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. The speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. Taiwantaffy (talk) 10:05, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Zero-fare move disputed

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Hello Eric, I dispute your re-naming of Zero-fare public transport for the reasons given at Talk:Free public transport#Title change disputed; request move back to 'Zero-fare public transport', but I'm glad you gave it a lot of thought and I am willing to engage in a consensus-driven consultation on the matter. Yrs in good faith and happy new year, Peter alias Nankai (talk) 20:13, 31 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This is a very nice job Peter. ericbritton 19:01, 8 March 2011 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of Slowth

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Hi, I just wanted to inform you that I have nominated Slowth for deletion on the basis that it is a neologism. MakeBelieveMonster (talk) 03:01, 25 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

That's a bit of a pity really. You have a point really and I respect that. And I assume that before making this decision you took the time to inform yourself though the literature first about the growing use of this concept in the ongoing process of planning and policy in the broad area of sustainable transport and sustainable cities. The word is ugly, and it began life a few years ago as a neologism, both are true. But over time even such a word when used often and broadly enough, it begins to enter into if not THE at least A mainstream. Which is the case here. The WP entry is part of a process and the original entry was part of an important shift in public policy (away from speed) that is gaining real momentum worldwide today. (It would be interesting to see something about your background and work so that I understand where you are coming from in this. You can find out all about mine using Google and my name in quotes.) But at the end of the day, qualifications and occasional griping aside, we all love WP, so keep at it. Eric Britton. ericbritton 10:54, 27 November 2011 (UTC)

Slowth

Slowth is a new mobility transport planning concept, usually deployed in congested urban environments, where transport is calibrated for lower top speeds, but the result is shorter overall travel times across the entire system.[1]

The concept of slowth is sometimes compared to the story of The Tortoise and the Hare; the paradoxical notion that slowing the top speeds of transport will when properly engineered allow more people to get to their destinations more quickly. An example is that where there is sufficient traffic congestion, a bicycle may get to its destination more quickly than say a Ferrari. When a city adopts a policy of slowth, the top speeds will be lower, but congestion decreases because the slower speeds result in steadier traffic flow.[1]

This is a powerful model which urban planners and traffic engineers, with a few notable exceptions, are only recently starting to take seriously. An important new mobility concept, it is also referred to as “slow transport.” In the report “Speed Control and Transport Policy” (Chapter 10, on speed limits in towns, Policy Studies Institute, 1996) Mayer Hillman and Stephen Plowden describe an experiment in Växjö, a Swedish town of 70,000, which showed very small time penalties arising from some fairly substantial speed reductions at 20 junctions. The Swedish researchers used the results to simulate what would happen if similar speed-reducing measures were introduced at 111 junctions throughout the town and concluded that there would probably be a small net time saving.[2]

In recent years it has gotten steadily increasing attention both in the literature but above all as part of the on-street sustainable transport strategies of a growing number of leading programs and projects around the world (Here is a first listing which we hope you will improve and complete).

• Cittaslow (Slow cities movement, in English) • Home zones • Livable Streets • Living Street • New Mobility Agenda • Pedestrian#Pedestrianisation • Public space management • Road traffic control • Shared space • Slow movement • Street hierarchy • Sustainable transportation • Traffic calming • Twenty is Plenty • Walkability • Walking • Woonerf • World Sauntering Day • World Streets“

Your submission at Articles for creation

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I noticed your submission in Articles for creation, Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Twenty is Plenty. Thanks! It will be reviewed by a volunteer soon.

Before it can be added to Wikipedia, your submission should have references. All articles on Wikipedia should have inline, numbered references after facts, showing the 'reliable source' (a newspaper, book, etc.) where the information can be checked, so that all information is verifiable.

Here's a video tutorial - hit play, then right-click for "full screen".

Here's an example of how to add references:

Chzz is 98 years old.<ref> "The book of Chzz", Aardvark Books, 2009. </ref>

He likes tea.<ref> Smith, John. "[http://foonews.com/Article42 Interview with Chzz]", Foo News, 1 April 2010. Retrieved 2011-05-22. </ref>

== References ==

{{reflist}}

That makes the references automatically display as small numbers[1] which will link to the details in the section titled == References == at the end. You can see that example in action here.

Please add references to your submission, which will be reviewed as soon as possible. See also, Wikipedia:Referencing for beginners. If you need any help, just put {{helpme}} at the end of this page, followed by a question or get into our live help chat chanel at #wikipedia-en-help connect.

Best, ChzzBot IV (talk) 13:04, 27 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Your submission at Articles for creation

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Twenty is Plenty, which you submitted to Articles for creation, has been created.

Thank you for helping improve Wikipedia!

mabdul 14:33, 27 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Possibly unfree File:P-newman.jpg

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A file that you uploaded or altered, File:P-newman.jpg, has been listed at Wikipedia:Possibly unfree files because its copyright status is unclear or disputed. If the file's copyright status cannot be verified, it may be deleted. You may find more information on the file description page. You are welcome to add comments to its entry at the discussion if you object to the listing for any reason. Thank you. Deadstar (talk) 12:09, 25 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Zuckermann

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Might you have any current information with which we could update Wolfgang Zuckermann? Thanks for your help. Opus33 (talk) 21:04, 5 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Hi,
You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:38, 23 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

User:Ericbritton/World Streets, a page which you created or substantially contributed to, has been nominated for deletion. Your opinions on the matter are welcome; you may participate in the discussion by adding your comments at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/User:Ericbritton/World Streets and please be sure to sign your comments with four tildes (~~~~). You are free to edit the content of User:Ericbritton/World Streets during the discussion but should not remove the miscellany for deletion template from the top of the page; such a removal will not end the deletion discussion. Thank you. Ricky81682 (talk) 01:46, 27 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

File:Eb-head3.jpg listed for discussion

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A file that you uploaded or altered, File:Eb-head3.jpg, has been listed at Wikipedia:Files for discussion. Please see the discussion to see why it has been listed (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry). Feel free to add your opinion on the matter below the nomination. Thank you. ~ RobTalk 23:11, 24 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Nomination of Slowth for deletion

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A discussion is taking place as to whether the article Slowth is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Slowth until a consensus is reached, and anyone is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article. Kolbasz (talk) 12:28, 20 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]

ArbCom Elections 2016: Voting now open!

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Hello, Ericbritton. Voting in the 2016 Arbitration Committee elections is open from Monday, 00:00, 21 November through Sunday, 23:59, 4 December to all unblocked users who have registered an account before Wednesday, 00:00, 28 October 2016 and have made at least 150 mainspace edits before Sunday, 00:00, 1 November 2016.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

If you wish to participate in the 2016 election, please review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:08, 21 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Slow City - New Article

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There is a rich body of activity and information on the Slow City New Mobility movement. -- see https://worldstreets.wordpress.com/tag/slow-city-reader/ and https://www.facebook.com/SlowCity2020 for a first introduction.

But I am unable to start a new article because Slow City here redirects to https://wiki.riteme.site/wiki/Cittaslow.

How can I unhook this redirection and get started with the new article.

Thank you.

ericbritton 07:02, 10 July 2017 (UTC)

Hello Eric, I think this works: type "Slow City" into the Wikipedia search window. This will take you to Cittaslow. But, you will also see, in small print, the words "Redirected from Slow City". Click on the link in that phrase, and then you can edit the page. I suggest you also include a "See also" link to Cittaslow so they don't get annoyed. I hope this helps. Opus33 (talk) 01:43, 11 July 2017 (UTC)[reply]

ArbCom 2017 election voter message

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Hello, Ericbritton. Voting in the 2017 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23.59 on Sunday, 10 December. All users who registered an account before Saturday, 28 October 2017, made at least 150 mainspace edits before Wednesday, 1 November 2017 and are not currently blocked are eligible to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

If you wish to participate in the 2017 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:42, 3 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there, I'm HasteurBot. I just wanted to let you know that Draft:S.K. Jason Chang, a page you created, has not been edited in 5 months. The Articles for Creation space is not an indefinite storage location for content that is not appropriate for articlespace.

If your submission is not edited soon, it could be nominated for deletion. If you would like to attempt to save it, you will need to improve it.

You may request Userfication of the content if it meets requirements.

If the deletion has already occured, instructions on how you may be able to retrieve it are available at WP:REFUND/G13.

Thank you for your attention. HasteurBot (talk) 01:36, 30 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Your draft article, Draft:S.K. Jason Chang

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Hello, Ericbritton. It has been over six months since you last edited the Articles for Creation submission or Draft page you started, "S.K. Jason Chang".

In accordance with our policy that Wikipedia is not for the indefinite hosting of material deemed unsuitable for the encyclopedia mainspace, the draft has been nominated for deletion. If you plan on working on it further, or editing it to address the issues raised if it was declined, simply edit the submission and remove the {{db-afc}}, {{db-draft}}, or {{db-g13}} code.

If your submission has already been deleted by the time you get there, and you wish to retrieve it, you can request its undeletion by following the instructions at this link. An administrator will, in most cases, restore the submission so you can continue to work on it.

Thanks for your submission to Wikipedia, and happy editing. HasteurBot (talk) 06:01, 1 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Nomination of 20's Plenty for Us for deletion

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A discussion is taking place as to whether the article 20's Plenty for Us is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/20's Plenty for Us until a consensus is reached, and anyone is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article. Vermont | reply here 13:23, 8 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Wolfgang Zuckermann

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Can I ask where you got the date of death for him? I’ve not seen any online sources (personally) we can use to source the dod. Rusted AutoParts 01:25, 15 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

ArbCom 2018 election voter message

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Hello, Ericbritton. Voting in the 2018 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23.59 on Sunday, 3 December. All users who registered an account before Sunday, 28 October 2018, made at least 150 mainspace edits before Thursday, 1 November 2018 and are not currently blocked are eligible to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

If you wish to participate in the 2018 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:42, 19 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Notice

The article Stockholm Partnerships for Sustainable Cities has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:

Local project which does not appear to have received the significant coverage required to meet WP:GNG.

While all constructive contributions to Wikipedia are appreciated, pages may be deleted for any of several reasons.

You may prevent the proposed deletion by removing the {{proposed deletion/dated}} notice, but please explain why in your edit summary or on the article's talk page.

Please consider improving the page to address the issues raised. Removing {{proposed deletion/dated}} will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. SITH (talk) 14:08, 24 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Notice

The article Stockholm Partnerships for Sustainable Cities has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:

Local project which does not appear to have received the significant coverage required to meet WP:GNG.

While all constructive contributions to Wikipedia are appreciated, pages may be deleted for any of several reasons.

You may prevent the proposed deletion by removing the {{proposed deletion/dated}} notice, but please explain why in your edit summary or on the article's talk page.

Please consider improving the page to address the issues raised. Removing {{proposed deletion/dated}} will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. SITH (talk) 14:09, 24 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Notice

The article New Mobility Agenda has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:

no evidence of notability

While all constructive contributions to Wikipedia are appreciated, pages may be deleted for any of several reasons.

You may prevent the proposed deletion by removing the {{proposed deletion/dated}} notice, but please explain why in your edit summary or on the article's talk page.

Please consider improving the page to address the issues raised. Removing {{proposed deletion/dated}} will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 13:11, 19 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Nomination of New Mobility Agenda for deletion

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A discussion is taking place as to whether the article New Mobility Agenda is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/New Mobility Agenda until a consensus is reached, and anyone, including you, is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 15:08, 26 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Non-free rationale for File:Wz-modern-harp.jpg

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Thanks for uploading or contributing to File:Wz-modern-harp.jpg. I notice the file page specifies that the file is being used under non-free content criteria, but there is not a suitable explanation or rationale as to why each specific use in Wikipedia is acceptable. Please go to the file description page, and edit it to include a non-free rationale.

If you have uploaded other non-free media, consider checking that you have specified the non-free rationale on those pages too. You can find a list of 'file' pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "File" from the dropdown box. Note that any non-free media lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been tagged, as described in section F6 of the criteria for speedy deletion. If the file is already gone, you can still make a request for undeletion and ask for a chance to fix the problem. If you have any questions, please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you. Salavat (talk) 06:41, 18 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Orphaned non-free image File:Wz-modern-harp.jpg

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⚠

Thanks for uploading File:Wz-modern-harp.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in section F5 of the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. --B-bot (talk) 03:56, 22 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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The article United Nations Car Free Days has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:

Does not meet WP:GNG

While all constructive contributions to Wikipedia are appreciated, pages may be deleted for any of several reasons.

You may prevent the proposed deletion by removing the {{proposed deletion/dated}} notice, but please explain why in your edit summary or on the article's talk page.

Please consider improving the page to address the issues raised. Removing {{proposed deletion/dated}} will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. Rusf10 (talk) 21:14, 8 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]