Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Mesoamerica/Archives/Archive 2

message: The WP:MESO article rating and assessment scheme is up and running as of 2006-07-05, and it looks as if the first pass of Mathbot auto-updates to Mesoamerica articles by quality rating has been successful.--cjllw | TALK 04:47, 6 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Version 1.0 Editorial Team cooperation

message: Like it says, this project is very much in draft mode. I'll continue working on getting it into some sort of usable order, but if anyone happens to drop by with some ideas or desire to help out, then please do!--cjllw | TALK 07:40, 2 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Project startup

message: (prompted in part by Matt's offer of assistance on proj pg re Columbus & Taino)<BR>
While many interpretations of Mesoamerica used by various reference works exclude or ignore the Carribbean islands, in the absence of any project focussed on the history of the Carribbean I don't see why these may not also be considered in scope; certainly, there is a pre-Columbian 
--cjllw | TALK 09:33, 26 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text:  The reason the caribbean is not considered a part of mesoamerica is that the islands doesnt share the cultural traits that are used to define mesoamerica as cultural and not just a geographic arefrontier and trading connection between the islands and the mainland areas. They have different agricultural practices, different mythological complexes, and different social organisations etc. Indeed they lack most of the really defining traits of the mesoamerican area such as Maize, Ballgame, 260 day calendar. Basically they were oot of the loop of interaction that caused the diffusion of these traits throught out the area known as mesoamerica.--Maunus 16:18, 2 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: "Mesoamerica"- geographical scope

message: It's taken a little longer than anticipated, but the Project's structure and layout has now been completely overhauled, and some additional content added. This structure revolves around the Project Main page, which provides links and windows to the content of a number of Project subpages which have been set up, each addressing a particular facet of the project. Updates to the project documentation and work efforts take place on these subpages, while the results are visible on the main page. Most of the presentational and formatting markup is hidden away on separate layout pages, for protection and to avoid cluttering up the editing window when working on the project, and also to make it easier to keep the formatting consistent. The structure is explained a little more here, but (I hope) should be reasonably self-explanatory.
There are three main sections defined, each consisting of a series of subpages:
*01. Project Definition - information describing the project, its goals and scope, guidelines, resources, and so on. This section can be "hidden" if desired by using the 'show/hide' toggle link to the right of the title.
*02. Project Activities - the work and activities for the project, such as To-Do list, Open Tasks, and so on. Some of the content here is still under construction.
*03. Project Catalogue - survey of Mesoamerica-related articles, lists, templates, categories and images. These still need to be updated, organised, categorised, and rated. Some sections and features are still under construction.
Any comments on the content, appearance and usability of this structure would be appreciated- putting it all together was more a case of "monkey see - monkey do" than any real markup expertise on my part, and I'm sure there are a number of improvements and efficiencies to be made. The pages look fine in IE6 and Firefox at my local settings, but would be particularly interested to hear if there are any browser display problems.--cjllw | TALK 10:25, 9 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  V1.0 of project structure layout implemented 

message: Project structure and layout has now been overhauled to break the project mainpage up into three separate mainpages- Definition, Activities and Catalogue, since the all-at-once approach was appearing too crowded. Each of these three main pages has a series of associated subpages, which appear transcluded (either whole or in part) on these main pages. The actual work takes place on these subpages, while the results are passed through a layout formatting 'template' for consistent viewing from the main pages.--cjllw | TALK 04:17, 21 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  V2.0 of project structure layout implemented 

message: The Mesoamerica article was recently selected as this week's Spanish Translation of the Week. The article is basically finished now, and it's a straight translation of the Spanish article with very little added. You might want to take a look at it, check it for factual errors, and/or trim it down (at 88kb, it'a a huge article). We're translators, not historians, so once the translation is wrapped up, the SPATRA crew will move on and probably not look back. - Draeco 17:28, 11 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks, Draeco, have been watching that translation with keen interest, and kudos to the SPATRA team for a job well done. Will certainly be reviewing that article now that a stable version has been reached. Thanks again!--cjllw | TALK 00:08, 12 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: [[Mesoamerica]] as the [[WP:SPATRA]]

message: To day I added the page Mesoamerican Linguistic Area and I would appreciated that it was added to the mesoamerica project and also that it was reviewed by you guys. Thanks--Maunus 18:28, 19 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks for the notification, Maunus, good to see more contributions in the linguistics arena. Will definitely give it a look over, regards--cjllw | TALK 02:17, 20 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: added a mesoamerica page today and would appreciate review

message: I'm a newcomer to the Mesoamerica project, and I was wondering if there would be any interest in creating an article on Maya Art. There certainly is enough information out there to create one, and I think it would be a worthwile addition to the project. If anyone is interested in helping with this add your comments below. Akubra 14:15, 27 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I say go for it. Be bold! I'll help you along once it gets going. Maunus 15:56, 27 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I just put up the page, it needs some more information, but I'm too tired to do it now :) I live pretty close to the British Museum, which has some Maya pieces; I might go sometime soon and take some pictures to add to this article. But for now, I would appreciate if anyone with any additional knowledge on the subject would add it to the article. Akubra 20:27, 27 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Maya art article?

message: I think it would be an idea if project members were to keep a watchful eye on the article for the year 2012, given its popular association with the "end" of the Maya calendar. I've just removed some of the more egrarious New Ageisms and updated the Dec. 21 entry with a more factual, less sensationalistic account of the Maya Long Count calendar workings and its possible significance to the pre-Columbian Maya; however it seems that this article is periodically 'adorned' with the latest speculative musings about this year/date. As we get closer to that year, there will surely be an increase in pseudo-factual additions at this and related articles, in particular Maya calendar.--cjllw | TALK 08:54, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[2012]] 

message: US-based project members might be interested in the updated listing of public lectures, presentations and fora maintained by Mike Ruggeri at his Ancient America/Mesoamerica website, here. This is a compilation of upcoming academic presentations on the latest research open to the public (some with a fee) from all over the US (and some in Canada & Mexico, too). If anyone's able to go to one of these it may well prove a valuable opportunity and source for new materials, and the listing is well worth keeping an eye on.--cjllw | TALK 00:25, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mesoamerican lectures in the US 

message: Hello. The WikiProject Council has recently updated the Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Directory.  This new directory includes a variety of categories and subcategories which will, with luck, potentially draw new members to the projects who are interested in those specific subjects. Please review the directory and make any changes to the entries for your project that you see fit. There is also a directory of portals, at User:B2T2/Portal, listing all the existing portals. Feel free to add any of them to the portals or comments section of your entries in the directory. The three columns regarding assessment, peer review, and collaboration are included in the directory for both the use of the projects themselves and for that of others. Having such departments will allow a project to more quickly and easily identify its most important articles and its articles in greatest need of improvement. If you have not already done so, please consider whether your project would benefit from having departments which deal in these matters. It is my hope that all the changes to the directory can be finished by the first of next month. Please feel free to make any changes you see fit to the entries for your project before then. If you should have any questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you.  B2T2 16:08, 25 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Project directory 

message: Hello, all. It was initially my hope to try to have this done as part of Esperanza's proposal for an appreciation week to end on Wikipedia Day, January 15. However, several people have once again proposed the entirety of Esperanza for deletion, so that might not work. It was the intention of the Appreciation Week proposal to set aside a given time when the various individuals who have made significant, valuable contributions to the encyclopedia would be recognized and honored. I believe that, with some effort, this could still be done. My proposal is to, with luck, try to organize the various WikiProjects and other entities of wikipedia to take part in a larger celebrartion of its contributors to take place in January, probably beginning January 15, 2007. I have created yet another new subpage for myself (a weakness of mine, I'm afraid) at User talk:Badbilltucker/Appreciation Week where I would greatly appreciate any indications from the members of this project as to whether and how they might be willing and/or able to assist in recognizing the contributions of our editors. Thank you for your attention. Badbilltucker 20:05, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Wikipedia Day Awards