Talk:Jackson Heights

Scope of Neighborhood Sites
It's my belief that neighborhood sites should serve the neighborhood from which they take their name, not primarily the interest of those outside the neighborhood, thus serving the interest or tourist organizations or real estate agents. Tom Lowenhaupt 23:06, 22 July 2010 (EDT)

Neighborhood sites should primarily reach neighbors. So perhaps we're having a street party on 78th Street and 31st and 30th Avenue and we want it to be just for the people in the surrounding area. We get a street closing permit from the city and we want neighbors to come but we don't want buss loads. We want to limit the notice to the neighborhood.

Or perhaps we have an opinion about the quality of a longtime good neighbors restaurant that's not entirely favorable. We want him to get the message but we don't want to call in the health department or suggest he be removed from Zagat.

Or imagine there a political race and we want to have a discussion about the quality of services provided by certain resident who's running for office, or maybe discuss who we think should run for office. And we don't want it spread outside the site, for doing so would bring speculation that might reduce the breadth of the conversation. Tom Lowenhaupt 23:06, 22 July 2010 (EDT) Each of these and many similar questions have a copyright implication. Perhaps a form of Chathan House Rules Copyright Tom Lowenhaupt 23:06, 22 July 2010 (EDT)


 * This is an appropriate topic for the general forum. I am going to copy it over and respond to it there. Wwwhatsup 03:31, 23 July 2010 (EDT)

Editorial Markings
A recent import of a wp file was noted in the comment area but not the elimination of a good deal of content, e.g., adjacent neighborhoods. What's good wiki form - just put them back or ask why were they taken out?

Importing from Wikipedia
At Wednesday's meeting we left thinking that we'd start by copying from Wikipedia as a start. You disagree? Tom Lowenhaupt


 * We have to in that case work on a method of importing wikipedia with working links and references. Fixing it manually was too much work. I think we'd be better off figuring out taxonomies that allow people to easily build on neighborhoods.. Wwwhatsup 03:05, 27 June 2010 (UTC)

But that heads us to a fixed model from the start. Some experimentation was to provide a learning experiences. Tom Lowenhaupt


 * Right. That is the whole idea of wikis to be adaptable. But one should work from a basis of making coherent pieces with some kind of purpose rather than copying wholesale, particularly if that involves creating broken content.


 * You'd be better off starting by adding links to a bunch of resources for the neighborhood which can then be synthesised into good info and possible sub articles. In my opinion. Wwwhatsup 05:12, 27 June 2010 (UTC)


 * My thinking was that a discussion with the expert Wikipedians would offer a solution to the link problems, or perhaps we'd just eliminate them. Now when I go to JH it's an intimidating blank. Depends on your disposition, I'm a researcher and fixer-upper, doing creative stuff when necessary. Tom Lowenhaupt 13:23, 27 June 2010 (UTC)

Neighborlyness
"Civic Heroes" is bound to be a touchy subject that will test the neighborlyness of our neighborhood. We'll need to divine criteria for enabling people to learn how to get things done which most often requires working with others.

We have no saints in Jackson Heights, people who are sometimes saintly, but no saints. So lets recognize our gray world and look to maximize everyone's contributions. Tom Lowenhaupt 14:49, 15 July 2010 (EDT)


 * Hi Tom


 * First thing I'd mention is that it is normal practice in wiki discussion to add new comments at the bottom rather then the top of a topic, and also, if it's a new topic, to add it at the bottom of a page with a new header (this is easily achieved by clicking the 'Add topic' tab at the top.


 * To the point of your comment, perhaps 'Notable Residents' might avoid the POV dilemma, at least to some extent. Wwwhatsup 15:30, 15 July 2010 (EDT)