Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. Roads/Newsletter/Issues/Volume01/Issue03
   The U.S. Roads WikiProject Newsletter | |||
| Volume 1, Issue 3 | 10 March 2007 | About the Newsletter | |
Introduction[edit]We're getting into the "swing" of creating and delivering this newsletter. The past two weeks have been influential on the development of the project, and there are some important stories in this edition. However, there is an important issue facing all of the U.S. Roads projects: an issue that holds more power to destroy the road articles than any XFD process, naming convention debate, or any such process. Hope you enjoy. | |||
Inactivity?[edit]
Ever since the conclusion of WP:RFAR/HWY and WP:SRNC, many of the U.S. Roads articles and projects have slowly fallen apart. This has been discussed several times on the IRC channel, and we have determined that the cause is due to many users leaving the highways project. Some projects do not even have one active user maintaining the project. The few that are left are overburdened with the maintenance of the articles that were largely ignored due to the vicious discussions at WP:SRNC for the majority of 2006. Thus, we need users to return to the highways project quickly to help us out. List of problems that the U.S. Roads articles are facing[edit]
A visual summary of the state of U.S. Roads articles[edit] | |||
Project news[edit]
Article Improvement Drive[edit] The current U.S. Roads Article Improvement Drive articles are Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. Roads/Article Improvement Drive/current (improvement) and Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. Roads/Article Improvement Drive/currentstub (expansion). Last collaborations were: Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. Roads/Article Improvement Drive/old and Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. Roads/Article Improvement Drive/oldstub. CAST YOUR VOTE for the next articles | |||
Deletion debates[edit]
List of highways numbered 888 is currently at AFD. Comments can be made at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of highways numbered 888.
At AFD, four road-related articles were retained. Rhode Island Route 11, Rhode Island Route 142 and Rhode Island Route 403, nominated in an AFD for Route 11, were kept after the nomination was withdrawn on February 27. Route 11 and Route 142 were redirected to Rhode Island Route 121 while Route 403 was kept as-is. Later, a lack of consensus in an AFD for Newark Airport Interchange (closed on March 8) allowed the article to remain. No categories went to CFD in the past two weeks. At TFD, the templates mnclink and mnclist, two templates designed exclusively for use on Minnesota state highways, were deleted. After upgrades to the MediaWiki software allowed the "Pipe Trick" to be used with commas, the first template, which did the same, became obsolete. The same argument was applied to the second template. | |||
Member news[edit]Let's give these new users a welcome! | |||
Featured subproject: New York[edit]In this issue, we shine a light on the New York State Routes WikiProject, created on 12 February 2006. This project has been a pioneer in the U.S. Road standards since its birth. Its editors have strived to maintain high standards that are fully compliant with WP:USRD, including a compliant infobox, junction list, and more. Here's to continued success! Know of a subproject that has gone above and beyond the call of duty? Nominate it at WP:USRD/NEWS. Please note: projects cannot be nominated more than once a year. | |||
Featured member: Scott5114[edit]Scott5114↗ has been a Wikipedia editor since May 5, 2005. He currently has over 5150 edits and is a member of the WP:USRD, WP:IH, WP:USH, and WP:KSSH projects. He is also the founder of WP:OKSH. Scott5114 is a frequent IRC participant, and he has been influential in nation-wide policy discussions. Also, he has created good quality articles related to roads here and even a few at the Spanish Wikipedia. He was also an important force in getting Kansas Turnpike up to Good Article quality. Thank you, Scott5114, for your continued hard work! Nominations are being taken currently at WP:USRD/NEWS for the next featured member. The editors cannot be nominated at this time, and you may only be nominated once a year. | |||
Article Improvement Drive[edit]
The swell in road-related deletion debates has resulted in the establishment of an Article Improvement Drive dedicated to U.S. roads. Every other week, two articles will be selected (one for expansion, one for improvement) as the AID articles for that two week period. The ultimate goal is to improve the articles to the point where they can be considered for Featured Article status. Nominations for articles and votes for the articles are continually accepted at WP:USRD/AID. A period of two weeks was selected because due to the lack of activity, one week was not enough time to improve the articles. Furthermore, few have voted to choose articles, and a two-week period was thus needed to pick the correct article. Please help us in our efforts to improve the quality of U.S. Road articles across the board!
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Good and Featured Articles[edit]
We've got good and bad news this week to report to you in the area of good and featured articles. Unfortunately, Ridge Route did get defeatured due to inactivity. However, there are plans to at least restore this article to GA quality. However, Interstate 476 passed a GA this week. Interstate 476 is a 132 mile long Interstate Highway that travels between Interstate 95 near Chester, Pennsylvania and Interstate 81 near Scranton, Pennsylvania, serving as the primary north-south Interstate corridor through eastern Pennsylvania. Interstate 290 (Illinois) may potentially undergo a nomination for GA. If it passes, it will be the fifth GA from U.S. Roads. California State Route 37, a current Good Article, was a Featured Article candidate as well, but has failed. In response to peer reviews and such, a highways-specific peer review has been created at WikiProject Highways/Peer review. By the creation of this, a separate highways-specific "Path to a featured article" has been created, and can be seen at the peer review page. | |||
From the Editors[edit]So you've read about the problems... now become part of the solution! Become active in highways again. Let's save the articles from being inactive and destroyed. As always, your feedback on the content and format of this newsletter is greatly desired. With your help, we can make the newsletter better and more informative! Don't be afraid to comment! Lastly, remember that this is your newsletter and you can be involved in the creation of the next issue released on March 24. Any and all contributions are welcome. Simply let yourself be known to any of the undersigned, or just start editing! | |||
Contributors to this Issue[edit]
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