Difference between revisions of "Talk:Jonathan Coulton"

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:: I know, right? :/ I was worried about the same thing. The only thing that made me want references in the first place was because some of this stuff is truly a little obscure (like Jonathan's dad's occupation), and it feels like it needs to be backed up with hard evidence. Let's try to thin out the references by getting rid of the obvious stuff. (Ideally, I want to keep some citations on the obscure stuff, like Jonathan's dad being a lawyer.) And by the way, don't hesitate to edit "my" hard work--it's part of the wiki now! After all, it does say "If you don't want your writing to be edited mercilessly... then don't submit it here." :D (I'll keep a fully-cited copy of this page at [[User:Wesley/Jonathan Coulton]] for reference as we edit this page.) &mdash; <span style="font-variant:small-caps">[[User:Wesley|Wesley]]</span> | 09:39, 1 June 2008 (EDT)
 
:: I know, right? :/ I was worried about the same thing. The only thing that made me want references in the first place was because some of this stuff is truly a little obscure (like Jonathan's dad's occupation), and it feels like it needs to be backed up with hard evidence. Let's try to thin out the references by getting rid of the obvious stuff. (Ideally, I want to keep some citations on the obscure stuff, like Jonathan's dad being a lawyer.) And by the way, don't hesitate to edit "my" hard work--it's part of the wiki now! After all, it does say "If you don't want your writing to be edited mercilessly... then don't submit it here." :D (I'll keep a fully-cited copy of this page at [[User:Wesley/Jonathan Coulton]] for reference as we edit this page.) &mdash; <span style="font-variant:small-caps">[[User:Wesley|Wesley]]</span> | 09:39, 1 June 2008 (EDT)
 
:::Well, personally I'm more distracted by the numbers in the article than the references on the bottom.  Truth be told, I'm more about the tone of the article than anything else at this point.  Again, it's the delicate balance between fact and tone.  There's only one attempt at a humorous statement in here, and uhh ... isn't calling Jonathan's mom a "human female" vaguely insulting (as if she could be anything else?)?  Gotta be careful talking about people's mothers :p.  I didn't want to "edit mercilessly" because I'd probably just be erasing huge chunks right now :p --[[User:MitchO|MitchO]] 09:51, 1 June 2008 (EDT)
 
:::Well, personally I'm more distracted by the numbers in the article than the references on the bottom.  Truth be told, I'm more about the tone of the article than anything else at this point.  Again, it's the delicate balance between fact and tone.  There's only one attempt at a humorous statement in here, and uhh ... isn't calling Jonathan's mom a "human female" vaguely insulting (as if she could be anything else?)?  Gotta be careful talking about people's mothers :p.  I didn't want to "edit mercilessly" because I'd probably just be erasing huge chunks right now :p --[[User:MitchO|MitchO]] 09:51, 1 June 2008 (EDT)
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:::: Erasing huge chunks of the text? If it would help the page be better and more readable, I don't see any problem with that! Not that it would matter if I did--it's part of the public wiki now. I'll hold off on the references stuff for the moment; that's very minor stuff compared to making the text of the article better. So please, edit mercilessly--that's what the page is here for :) (And feel free to get rid of any &lt;ref> tags that get in your way) &mdash; <span style="font-variant:small-caps">[[User:Wesley|Wesley]]</span> | 11:15, 1 June 2008 (EDT)

Revision as of 11:15, 1 June 2008

I wrote up a little biography (User:Wesley/Jonathan Coulton) that I'd like to put in this article. The problem is that this wiki doesn't support Wikipedia-style footnotes, so the citations are ugly. The citations are there merely because I'm a recent fan of JoCo--I had to look everything up on the intertubes while researching the biography anyway.

Long story short: citations stay or go? Citations stay: ugly, and editing is a very minor pain. Citations go: minor loss of context for links if we just list them at the bottom. Thanks for the input, guys. — Wesley | 12:09, 29 May 2008 (EDT)

I like Wesley's version a lot (as I said on its talk page). I really appreciate all the research, and I'm really glad to have the citations. (I didn't know, for instance, that Coulton Sr. is a lawyer, and the citation makes it a lot more convincing.) I'd like to do a little more rigorous sourcing anyway. I say we (compel Lex to) install the citations extension Wikipedia uses... --Bry 12:15, 29 May 2008 (EDT)
I have wondered about citations at one stage, I can't remember where I wanted to put them or what my compromise was but I think it would be a good idea to install the option to include them. Makes the whole wiki more reliable. --BenS 12:32, 29 May 2008 (EDT) (sorry I forgot to hit the button)
I'll leave a message on User talk:Agent Lex asking him about it then. Thanks for the opinion! — Wesley | 14:22, 29 May 2008 (EDT)
(That's Ben above, I believe.) See Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Footnotes and mw:Extension:Cite/Cite.php. --Bry 12:29, 29 May 2008 (EDT)
This looks like exactly what I have in mind. I'll revise that message to User talk:Agent Lex. Thanks! — Wesley | 14:22, 29 May 2008 (EDT) (Editing my previous message: thought Bry posted with a quote; didn't realize it was a separate post from BenS.)
Guys, I gotta be honest ... this page makes my eyes bleed a little. From an entire Wiki with no references to a page with 20 something of them. I realize that this is the central most important page and needs as much info as possible, but it just doesn't look or read like anything else here. I wouldn't dare presume to mess with Wesley's hard work myself, but I'd just like to stick my annoying voice in the back of some heads. Can we get a little more uniform and try to portray the JoConess? --MitchO 22:25, 31 May 2008 (EDT)
(I understand Mitch's point, but I was secretly hoping to move to a lot more references throughout the wiki. Well, not entirely secretly, more that I kinda had it in the back of my mind and hadn't ever brought it up. Can we make the reference links at the bottom small?) --Bry 00:12, 1 June 2008 (EDT)
I know, right? :/ I was worried about the same thing. The only thing that made me want references in the first place was because some of this stuff is truly a little obscure (like Jonathan's dad's occupation), and it feels like it needs to be backed up with hard evidence. Let's try to thin out the references by getting rid of the obvious stuff. (Ideally, I want to keep some citations on the obscure stuff, like Jonathan's dad being a lawyer.) And by the way, don't hesitate to edit "my" hard work--it's part of the wiki now! After all, it does say "If you don't want your writing to be edited mercilessly... then don't submit it here." :D (I'll keep a fully-cited copy of this page at User:Wesley/Jonathan Coulton for reference as we edit this page.) — Wesley | 09:39, 1 June 2008 (EDT)
Well, personally I'm more distracted by the numbers in the article than the references on the bottom. Truth be told, I'm more about the tone of the article than anything else at this point. Again, it's the delicate balance between fact and tone. There's only one attempt at a humorous statement in here, and uhh ... isn't calling Jonathan's mom a "human female" vaguely insulting (as if she could be anything else?)? Gotta be careful talking about people's mothers :p. I didn't want to "edit mercilessly" because I'd probably just be erasing huge chunks right now :p --MitchO 09:51, 1 June 2008 (EDT)
Erasing huge chunks of the text? If it would help the page be better and more readable, I don't see any problem with that! Not that it would matter if I did--it's part of the public wiki now. I'll hold off on the references stuff for the moment; that's very minor stuff compared to making the text of the article better. So please, edit mercilessly--that's what the page is here for :) (And feel free to get rid of any <ref> tags that get in your way) — Wesley | 11:15, 1 June 2008 (EDT)