Portal talk:Scotland/Archive 1

message: Welcome, fàilte, to the new Scotland Portal. This is a project in the early stages of development, and it aims to provide a useful resource for readers.
Please add the following code -  - to your own User page, and you will have the link to the portal right there for easy access.
Assistance from Wikipedians in the rest of the UK, and indeed everywhere, would be greatly appreciated!--Mais oui! 09:08, 25 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Welcome 

message: ... that after you have edited any of the boxes, it is a good idea to purge the cache, in order for your changes to be immediately visible. You do this by entering this address and hitting enter:
:http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Portal:Scotland&action=purge
--Mais oui! 09:29, 28 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Did you know 2... 

message: I have set up a new shortcut for the Scotland Wikiportal: saves on typing it out all the time. It is lovely and short (unlike WP:SCOWNB!):
P:S
--Mais oui! 11:34, 28 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  New Shortcut 

message: haha almost as good as P:L for London!  Anyway, just thought I'd let you know that you haven't signed up on Wikipedia:Wikiportal.  Title, Link, Creator, Date and Maintenance.  Actually now that I look at it again, Portal:NYC haven't signed up either.  Tut tut tut... Deano 14:07, 28 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: OK, will do. Ta. I didn't do it straightaway because it was kind of "under-development".--Mais oui! 14:59, 28 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Register Portal

message: Good work, nice looking portal you have here! --kingboyk 22:39, 2 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Very Nice! 

message: I've created articles for a few of our Commonwealth champs (Gregor Tait, Kenny Anderson, Caitlin McClatchey) but as it's the featured article it would be great to see at least all the gold winners with a bio page. Google news is a good source for background info and external links. Deizio 16:06, 2 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Commonwealth athletes 

message: There's a big Commons link box in the Categories table, but there's also a whole table devoted to other projects at the bottom of the page; The commons link box is repeated. Is this for good reason? Canaen 23:10, 4 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Nope. It's an oversight. I created that box at the bottom recently (copied from the Featured Portal Portal:New Zealand) and I forgot to cut it from categories box. I have been meaning to update and improve that categories box for months - I'll do it soon. Ta. --Mais oui! 23:24, 4 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Categories -- Commons 

message: I'm a regular on the French WP and we have some sort of controversy on the use of the term Scot, Scottish and Scotland in articles referring to people and places from Scotland. Someone who describes himself as a "Scot" removes all references to Scotland if the person has lived after the Union of 1801, and replaces them with "UK" or "British". He also removes most categories containing the word "Scotland" (see for instance this modification to James Watt, but he's done the same to hundreds of articles). I was wondering what's your policy in that regard? When should someone or something be described as "Scottish" and when should it be described as "British"? Thanks in advance Bouchecl 15:22, 16 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm sorry to hear that the French WP has been having a problem with that. My personal opinion is that all Scots are Britons in the same sense that all Britons are Europeans. However I would not replace "Scot" with "Briton" any more than I would replace "Briton" with "European" since the more specific term implies the more general term but not vice-versa. We certainly have plenty of "Scotland" categories on the English WP so its disturbing to hear that they are being systematically deleted on the French WP. I would answer your final question by saying "Use Scottish unless there is a good reason not to do so". However as I said before that's just my personal opinion. -- Derek Ross | Talk 21:23, 16 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Everything Derek Ross just said. I would inevitably have put it less politely. The whole point of an encyclopaedia is to increase knowledge, not censor it. English, Northern Irish, Scottish or Welsh as adjectives impart information; British conceals information. Anyway, how many French speakers ever say "britannique" about a person (or indeed, ever)? It is always, always "anglais", unless of course they know, or are informed, that you are "écossais", in which case their demenour tends to brighten considerably. --Mais oui! 22:37, 16 July 2006 (UTC)

text: On the broader issue of use of "Angleterre/anglais" when it's incorrect and "Royaume-Uni/britannique" would be better or use of "britannique" when someone isn't obviously English, Scottish, etc., PetetheJock is right on the mark.  I would have made a lot of those changes myself if my French was good enough. I think that he might be better to stick to those areas. They're easy to justify and should give him plenty to keep him busy without burnout due to continual conflicts. Putting people into a British category when they are obviously English or Scottish may not be incorrect but neither is it inarguably the best course of action. As Mais Oui! says, it hides information that doesn't need to be hidden. -- Derek Ross | Talk 22:56, 16 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks for clearing that up. You've been very helpful. I'll relay the information south of the Channel, in a matter of speaking. Bouchecl 03:56, 20 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Scottish or British? 

message: :Please see relevant discussion at:
:*Wikipedia_talk:Scottish_Wikipedians%27_notice_board#WP:SCOWNB__WP:SCO_etc._-_Spring_cleaning
:--Mais oui! 08:08, 3 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  WP:SCOWNB WP:SCO etc. - Spring cleaning 

message: Is this portal really still "under construction"? It looks fairly mature to me. -- DH85868993 14:11, 6 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Whoops :) Removed. Daniel Bryant 02:51, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Cool. I would suggest it probably doesn't need to be in :Category:Geography portals, since it's already in the sub-category :Category:European portals. -- DH85868993 02:55, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Ah, yes, didn't see that it was a sub-cat. Thanks again :) Daniel Bryant 03:06, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Category:Portals under construction