Talk:Syracuse, New York/Archive 1

message: Question: named after Syracuse in Europe, or maybe a Iroquois reference?
*Definitely the Syracuse in Italy. The village's previous name was already taken in New York and thus a new name had to be found. Because of several similarities, such as salt mining and a neighboring village called Salina, Syracuse was chosen. newkai 12:44, 28 Jun 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Naming

message: I reworked the famous Syracusans section a bit. I moved Tim Green and Richard Gere to the metropolitan area, and Grace Jones out of S.U. and into the city (actually growing up the city seems more important here than attending the university).
Also, is Phil Markert famous outside Syracuse? I mean I used to like his singing of the school lunch menu in the morning (that was him, right?) but maybe he doesn't belong in a list with nationwide notables. --Cam 03:56, 9 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Famous Syracusans 

message: "WRITER TERMS SYRACUSE "BORING' IN WIKIPEDIA ENTRY Post-Standard, The (Syracuse, NY) January 5, 2006 Author: Staff writer Pam Greene Estimated printed pages: 1
An anonymous writer Wednesday trashed Syracuse on the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, the same day The Post-Standard published an article pointing out 25 errors in the Syracuse entry on Wikipedia.
"Syracuse is an American city in Central New York. It is known for being quite boring and bland. A city which boasts to have it all, but in reality has nothing," read Wikipedia's entry on the city Wednesday night. The entry also called the state fair "an otherwise overrated carnival." According to the Web site, an unnamed user added the negative comments at 12:09 p.m. EST. They were removed 11 minutes later by 23skidoo, a user from Alberta, Canada. The comments were re-posted, then removed again."
Lotsofissues 01:22, 11 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Wow, they are really lovin' this. -newkai | talk | contribs 07:13, 11 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Ironic Post-Standard article 

message: Anonymous user 24.92.206.126 added the following comment to the section on Interstate 690:
"The title is ironic cuase the bums that live in the building are " Waiting for some Night Train" an alcoholic beverage prefered by african americans."
That doesn't seem to belong in Wikipedia.
I noticed that many of that user's contributions (mostly Jan 13) involve deleting stuff having to do with Destiny USA or the Carousel Center. User also added the "Penthouse model" label to Vanessa Williams. Some of the edits have been reverted, some haven't. What should be done? 128.230.13.84 00:32, 28 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Contributions by user 24.92.206.126 

message: "the city had a total population of 146,435, and its metropolitan area had a population of 732,117"
How is this possible? Someone please rectify this. Fuzzform 19:42, 8 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: For the 2000 Census, Syracuse was the center of a four-county metropolitan area with that population. -newkai | talk | contribs 04:04, 9 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Contradictions 

message: It took me awhile, but I finally did write a letter to the editor, which was published February 12:
Why is the paper picking on Wikipedia? [Title they made up]
To the Editor:
The Post-Standard last month published several articles mentioning Wikipedia, the free, open-source encyclopedia. In particular, your staff spent a day and a half checking the site's article about Syracuse for errors. You found 25 "errors" in the (at that time) approximately 5,500-word article. Wikipedians almost immediately went to work correcting these "mistakes."
I am a major contributor to the article in question. I contested many of the "mistakes" your staff found by inserting references to primary or well-respected secondary sources after the statements in question. For example, my average snowfall statistics were from the National Weather Service directly, and the number of records broken by the Blizzard of 1993 came from a Post-Standard staff report from Dec. 31, 2003. Yet these, among several others, were listed as "mistakes."
I feel that that the Post-Standard's journalism regarding Wikipedia has been very one-sided and unbalanced, especially since there is much to support the view opposite to that of the staff. Last December, the magazine Nature published a much more extensive and scientific study about the accuracy of Wikipedia, which found the editable encyclopedia nearly as accurate as Britannica.
As a university student, I would never use Wikipedia or Britannica as a direct source in a research paper. However, Wikipedia provides me with quick access to almost endless amounts of information. In addition, articles are becoming increasingly well-cited, allowing Wikipedia to be used as a quick stepping-stone to primary research.
Kai Brinker, Syracuse
Editor's note: We agree wholeheartedly with your last point about relying on more authoritative sources in serious research. Our staff picked apart the entry on Syracuse to prove that point.
To be fair, a strict analysis of any day's Post-Standard would yield a small percentage of disputable or inaccurate information. And just as we endeavor to correct our errors, you and other Wikipedians try to set the Web site straight.
Still, while Wikipedia's openness to contributors is its greatest strength, its openness to tampering remains its biggest flaw.
-newkai | talk | contribs 06:12, 22 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Response to ''Post-Standard'' Coverage 

message: I noticed that a few edits back, someone removed the map and someone else replaced it.  It should be noted that on some computers the red dot does not show up at all, so all readers see is a plain map of New York.  I suspect that's what triggered the original edit.  Is there some way to fix this? 4.236.69.103 21:54, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I replaced it, as I wasn't aware of that problem. Wouldn't this be a Wikipedia-wide problem? -newkai | talk | contribs 05:39, 5 March 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Indeed, I also do not see the dot on the map. Please take action about it. --TML1988 22:56, 7 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Map

message: I really love (sarcastic) those sarcastic, anonymous users, who stop by and randomly place disgruntled comments after facts in this article, or add sourceless statements. There was a wonderful (sarcastic) attack by two IPs today, all over the article. -newkai | talk | contribs 02:57, 16 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: *shrug* Hey, it's vandalism, it happens. Believe me, your wiki-stress will be much lower if you don't let yourself get bent out of shape by it. ;)  Hbackman 05:46, 16 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Oh, I don't let myself get bent out of shape. It just seems to happen to this article very often! I was just noting that. -newkai | talk | contribs 02:45, 20 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Syracuse Hater" Attack