Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Space/2007 Reorganisation/Archive 1

message: I updated the counts in the member list box.  I also moved constellations out from under solar system in the proposed table above.--mikeu 17:19, 25 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  update 

message: I've been thinking about how to combine the Moon and Mars projects with the parent Solar System project, and have come up with the following idea: What if we just leave the projects as they are, but redirect the talk pages to the Solar System talk page? (I assume that this is technically possible.) I think the Moon and Mars subprojects are useful, as they track only the related articles, and have done article assessments. If we were to combine all solar system subjects under one banner and assessment scheme, it would be much harder for those who are interested in only improving the lunar and martian pages to do so. As an example, there are about 150 Moon related topics. Lunokhod 10:33, 26 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, we use to have a specific need to be able to filter out every message except those pertaining to a certain topic. That's kind of an information technology problem: what info-hierarchy do we use for which filtering-out, and how do we do the filtering? But on the other hand (this is also a central IT-problem) how do we keep the overview when delving deep in an info-hierarchy? For that question I propose: a Space newsletter group making notes about the events of the week (such as votes, new articles, heroic editor deeds etc.), and a template for interproject surfing. I'll soon make a pröpösäl ... Rursus 20:47, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

text: I'm not sure redirecting the talk pages is a good idea; discussions for separate projects, and even task forces, should be kept separate.. otherwise they essentially would become the same project. personally, i'm a big fan of having a big wikiproject, like WP:MILHIST, and several task forces. then things like assessment can be handled in a unified way (see  Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Assessment for awe-inspiring organization). The analogy here could be to have the Space wikiproject the main one, and everything else task forces.. although this seems a little too drastic of a move, since some of the projects are quite well-established. Mlm42 09:53, 27 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: The reasons for redirecting only the talk page would be to help reach a critical mass in active participants. Discussion of the Moon, for examples, clearly falls under the domain of Solar System, and Solar System participants could probably help in addressing lunar issues. Nevertheless, the Moon project page, with its templates, article assessments, to do list, etc., would still remain. In principle I agree with you, but not having a critical mass of participants renders the project useless. Lunokhod 11:13, 27 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: So if you are looking for more participants for the Moon project, then there are several methods of recruitment; alternatively, if you think it would be better to have everyone in a Solar System project discussing Moon issues, then that sounds essentially like a merger, with no need for a separate Moon Wikiproject. All i'm saying is that i believe some (most?) of the main content of a wikiproject exists on its talk page(s), so by removing that feels like it is taking the heart out of the project.. maybe that's just my impression, though. Mlm42 12:04, 27 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: If Moon (or Martian Geography) is merged with Solar System, what should we do about the article assessments? There are about 150 lunar topics (and it looks like the same number for Mars) that have a Moon project banner on them, and which have been assessed in some manner. Do we replace the Moon project banner with the Solar System banner? Or do we keep the lunar project banner on these articles, and keep the "lunar assessments" as is? This would create a multi-tiered assessment scheme for solar system if every planet did the same thing. Lunokhod 19:49, 27 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree with Lunokhod here – reaching a critical mass for  fusion is necessary for the star to burn ... if you get my point. Requesting a merger between Apis and Musca Borealis on the talk page gave no response, but doing it on the Talk:Astronomical objects gave a fast response, making my editing more confident. Rursus 19:51, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

text: Alright, perhaps redirecting the talk pages would be a good idea; in any case it's something that isn't difficult to undo. As for the article assessments, 150 articles is a lot to replace, especially with a relatively new Solar System tag. May want to see how the reorganization settles onto before changing around banners. Mlm42 23:03, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I don't know if I like my original proposal anymore. The more I think about it, the more that I think that a "lunar and martian task force", as subpages of Solar system, might be the best solution. The task force subpage would in essence be in charge of article assessments, templates, etc, but all discussions would be given on the main project talk page. Lunokhod 22:31, 1 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  redirection of talk pages 

message: My main interest is the WikiProject Television, but once in a while, when I feel like doing something else, I do some small edits to some space related articles. I was really surprised to find so many of them in such a bad state, especially some of the older Soyuz and Space shuttle missions. I think this reorganization is gonna be really good to focus the efforts of the editors. Since June 2006 I have been striving to get Wikipedia Television viable again, and together with a couple of other editors who see the importance of better editor directions for sub-wikiprojects and taskforces, I think I can say we have succeeded. Really the only thing I still want to tackle is setting up a good assessment department, because it's currently a tad inactive. I would like to say that you guys should keep at it. The people will come once they see there are more editors committed to properly organizing it. Don't be afraid to take action. WikiProject rules can always be changed, you just need to get the discussion started and making changes is often the only way. Also, the collecting of templates like suggested above is a really good thing. The templates are often the glue that links all the articles in your WikiProject together. Keeping an eye on them, and making their appearances "familiar" will improve the reading experience of others.  --TheDJ (talk • contribs • WikiProject Television) 23:46, 10 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Good idea folks