Wikipedia talk:WikiProject UK Waterways/Coordinates + microformats

message: :Incidentally, would these tables fall under [[WP:EL]?  as the page says, "This page in a nutshell: Adding external links can be a service to our readers, but they should be kept to a minimum of those that are meritable, accessible and appropriate to the article."  Is 18 links, all to coordinates a contravention of this?  L.J.Skinnerwot|I did 13:59, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: "would these tables fall under [[WP:EL]?" No. Andy Mabbett 14:36, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Of course the external links fall under the External links policy. The co-ordinate links are a very special case, and the guideline was not written with them in mind, so the policy shouldn't be applied hastily, but it should be kept in mind. JPD (talk) 14:52, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: None of the links created by  is external. Andy Mabbett 14:55, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: All the links are external on several different levels. Firstly, the direct link is to http://tools.wikimedia.de/~magnus/geo/geohack.php which is on wikimedia servers, but not in any sense an internal part of the en-Wikipedia project. Secondly, that page itself is simple a collection of external links, showing not only that such a page wouldn't be accepted as a Wikipedia page, but also that the intent of the original link is purely to provide access to external websites. The use of these links is quite contrary to Wikipedia practice in dealing with nearly all other external websites, and while I think it is worthwhile, it needs to be kept in perspective. To think of them as internal links is pushing the boundary way too far. JPD (talk) 15:19, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Uh huh: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:GeoTemplate Andy Mabbett 15:23, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Is this relevant? It is a template, not used anywhere in the main namespace, which to some extent duplicates the external link used by . It's contents, as I already said, are the sort of thing that would be immediately rejected in just about any other context on Wikipedia. I think it is good that it is treated as a special case, and am not using slippery slope arguments to speak against it, but as I said, once you treat it as a normal internal link, you are hitting the bottom of the slope, and I disagree. It is a facility enabling users to access external, non-encyclopedic sources; a facility that is great as long as it is treated accordingly. JPD (talk) 16:26, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: External links

message: This discussion on coordinates is in danger of swamping the project, as people are discussing little else at present.  My views are adequately described among the wildly differing viewpoints above, so may I suggest some ideas to progress this discussion towards a conclusion:
#Move the coord discussion from here to a sub-page -- project members may then watch the main project talk page without having to see the coord discussions, if they wish :o).
#Provide appropriate examples of how the coords will actually be displayed and used.
#Advertise the suggestions more widely at Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals) (or elsewhere, if more appropriate) to gauge the views of non-project members
EdJogg 12:01, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Sub-project Required?

message: The proposal to give tables their own name-space may be relevant; and may allay concerns that table mark-up in article wiki-code is off-putting to novice editors. Andy Mabbett 09:57, 21 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Tables in own name-space 

message: FYI: pages marked with 'coord' can be exported as KML or seen on Google Maps. Andy Mabbett | Talk to Andy Mabbett 13:48, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Another reason to use coordinates