WeRelate:Links from Wikipedia

The really observant members of this community will have seen that I've just created a link to one of our "place" categories on the matching Wikipedia page. It seems to be as valid a link as most, because this site is totally non-commercial (unlike Wikia, which has Google ads and was therefore unfavourably mentioned in a WP message I read yesterday about linking to Wikia). I think our place categories are the ones to link to, because (with all those Sources, for example) they show much more than the place page shows. That distinction will remain valid for some time as long as all the place page content is straight from Wikipedia, as it will be for most of them until specifically changed. (Now a rhetorical question: did someone say "do we need the place categories -- how helpful are they?"?!)

Ok, I get it :-). Here's a question: eventually (hopefully!) we will have millions of person and family pages on WeRelate. I think weshould automatically add the person pages (and probably the family pages) into the proper surname categories. Should we also automatically add them into place categories? We could automatically add them into the place categories for the places that appear on events (e.g., birth, death, and marriage place). But would having a lot of person and family pages clutter up the place categories too much?--Dallan 16:30, 4 November 2006 (MST)

I'd vote against having a person or family page in a place category unless said person(s) never travelled. The library stays in the place; so does the family history society; the census book referred to the place and probably no others (unless it should be in a more inclusive place category); similarly the "Surname in Place" categories and pages; but individual people mostly make too many moves and would clutter the place category too much. Leave that link to the "search" or "what links here" facilities for researchers who are really keen to find every person who ever did anything in a place (even if it was only a fleeting once-only visit to Gretna Green for a marriage!) Robin Patterson 17:33, 23 November 2006 (MST)

That makes sense. I'll remove people from place categories once we have finished renaming the places.--Dallan 00:49, 24 November 2006 (MST)

If Wikipedia doesn't decide to ban links to WeRelate, there's scope for creating a template or two so as to automate the linkng process. I'll leave that to the enthusiasts/experts; but the generic wording on the displayed part of the link I created would be the sort of thing such a template should use.

Robin Patterson 17:35, 2 November 2006 (MST)