Talk:Switzerland/Archive 1

message: RE Federal Coucil or only this year's president?
Naming only the president of the Council would disregard the core function of the Federal Council as such.
:The format of the template table is such that those positions are reserved for the head of state and the head of government, both of which are represented by the president, even if only for a year. You can edit the text next to it to further elaborate on the exact position, but the table need only contain the current president IMO. -Scipius 22:37 Feb 2, 2003 (UTC)
I think there is difference between confederation and federation???.
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How to bring in, that the german part of Switzerland is talking Swiss German, not German? The whole question of languages is under represented in the article   --Diftong 14:21 22 May 2003 (UTC)
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"www.about.ch is brought to you by TRAMsoft GmbH
 The company for hi-tech watches, global positioning systems (GPS) and mobile computing"
not sure if i like this link (although it lists a lot of information). --Diftong 06:59 6 Jun 2003 (UTC)
deleted link * http://www.about.ch - about Switzerland, because all the information is available on other links.--Diftong 09:18 11 Jun 2003 (UTC)
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It appears that the Economy section of this article is copied directly from the CIA Factbook. Should it be deleted? Tevi 22:11, 21 Aug 2003 (UTC)
replies: text: No! The CIA factbook is public domain. Check the copyright information on this page. diwiki 22:01, 13 Sep 2003 (UTC)

text: Or alternatively, I've just done it myself. Please add. Kokiri 09:47, 27 Nov 2003 (UTC)
thread_title:  Federal Council? 

message: The entry is right now under the German spelling with umlauts Zürich. Most links are to Zurich without umlauts, though. Kokiri
:Zurich 1,411,839; Zürich 325,385
:(Google:) 354,000; 58,800
::I think the Google results for Zürich are misleading, because English speakers don't generally consider accents very important, and there's no easy way to type them on an English keyboard, so they usually just leave them off (when working on a computer). All English reference books I've looked at spell Zürich with an umlaut. --Zundark 13:30, 11 Jan 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Zurich/Zürich

message: I'm really surprised that John Calvin isn't in this article. I don't know much about Switzerland, but I do know that, for good or ill, Calvin has had an enormous impact on Christianity in the West. I think it should be noted that he lived in Switzerland when he attempted to reform the religion.
98.240.208.99 (talk) 16:58, 17 January 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Perhaps but Calvin was actually French (born in Picardy, far north of Switzerland). Historian932 (talk) 18:51, 23 April 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  John Calvin? 

message: The Anthem is not in German only, as may suggest the infobox. As stated in the linked Article, the anthem has lyrics in all four national languages. As I don't wan't to register only to correct this, I hope someone else does. 188.60.80.188 (talk) 09:20, 25 January 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Put it in English. I don't think it is necessary to have the translations in every languages. mgeo talk 15:34, 25 January 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Anthem 

message: Gertzi! It seems I read where either Shauffhausen or Winterthur was bombed by the Allies after repeatedly being warned to stop producing ball bearings for the Nazis. Can someone verify this? I lived in Luzern for 2 years and picked up the language from the locals.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.227.251.201 (talk) 11:24, 29 January 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: It was Schaffhausen, see Schaffhausen#History and :de:Schaffhausen#Bombardierung Schaffhausens im Zweiten Weltkrieg (in German). Though the official version (also by the U.S.) is that it was a mistake. Lupo 11:58, 1 March 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  WW2 Bombing 

message: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Capodistria
says:
In 1809 Kapodistrias entered the service of Alexander I of Russia.[19]  His first important mission, in November 1813, was as unofficial Russian ambassador to Switzerland, with the task of helping disentangle the country from the French dominance imposed by Napoleon. He secured Swiss unity, independence and neutrality, which were formally guaranteed by the Great Powers, and actively facilitated the initiation of a new Constitution for the 19 cantons that were the component states of Switzerland, with personal drafts. In the ensuing Congress of Vienna, 1815, as the Russian minister, he counterbalanced the paramount influence of the Austrian minister, Prince Metternich, and insisted on French state unity under a Bourbon monarch. He also obtained new international guarantees for the Constitution and neutrality of Switzerland through an agreement among the Powers. After these brilliant diplomatic successes, Alexander I appointed Kapodistrias joint Foreign Minister of Russia (with Karl Robert Nesselrode).
Is that true? Supposedly there are some statues to Capodistria in Switzerland too. Simanos (talk) 17:04, 7 February 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, that seems to be true. C.f. , , and . A bust in honor of Kapodistrias was unveiled in Lausanne-Ouchy on September 21, 2009. Lupo 13:38, 5 March 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  How important was Capodistria? 

message: Please change "133th" to "133rd" because it is wrong.
93.158.79.103 (talk) 15:35, 21 May 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Done --skew-t (talk) 18:22, 21 May 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Edit request from 93.158.79.103, 21 May 2010 

message: I would rather mention Appenzeller cheese and Rivelle, Ovomaltine etc instead of Swiss wine. Unless there are some awards to prove that it is especially outstanding, I would leave the wine out. Since wine is not an especially Swiss or a product switzerland is known for, it add undue weight to the article. Greetings --hroest 10:12, 8 June 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: It is. See e.g. [Pinot Noir Competition] and [Merlot Competition]. Engelec (talk) 17:16, 26 September 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  food 

message: Some authors say that the real conquerors of England were swiss and not at all normans. The reality must appear. It is not neutral. Check up.--Dogfish Jim and the Dixoap (talk) 20:32, 28 September 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: "Some authors" really need to regularly take their medications.  Please.  Spare us the fringe.HammerFilmFan (talk) 08:55, 29 November 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Swiss conquest of England 

message: (German: die Schweiz,[note 3] French: la Suisse, Italian: la Svizzera, Romansh: la Svizra)
What's the need of articles in the incipit?--93.45.195.8 (talk) 18:53, 5 October 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: I don't know what WP:MOS recommends, but in German, at least, there is a good reason for putting the definite article. "Die Schweiz" is one of few nations where German language uses an article (other examples include "der Sudan", "die Ukraine", or nations in the plural form such as "die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika" (or "die USA"), but simply "Deutschland", "Frankreich", "Australien", "Namibia", ... for most nations. In the three Romance languages, it is standard to use a definite article before a nation, unlike in English (also with a small number of exceptions). So it makes sense to write "la Suisse" as the correct form, because you wouldn't say "Suisse" (without "la") for the nation; "Suisse" would imply the demonym. ---Sluzzelin talk 18:21, 3 November 2010 (UTC)

text: Despite my weak attempt at justifying it, it looks like this usage isn't consistent with other articles on countries, including the featured articles on Peru and Chad, where the Romance translations are given as headwords without article. ---Sluzzelin talk 18:38, 3 November 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: in Romance languages you put the definite article pretty much before of anything, this doesn't mean you need to write "la Suisse" or whatever else, only the proper name is relevant. Probably it's well justified in German, but in the other three cases I think it's just osmosis. --93.45.208.224 (talk) 01:07, 19 November 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Corrected. mgeo talk 01:14, 18 December 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Why the articles 

message: The original three cantons where Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden - and not Nidwalden. Unterwalden later split into Nid- and Obwalden.
The article History of Switzerland shows it correctly. Also does Confoederatio Helvetica on German Wiki. 
84.74.102.34 (talk) 16:40, 6 November 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Corrected. mgeo talk 22:18, 6 November 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Old Swiss Confederacy 

message: I miss some information on the status of the languages: I understand that all 3 languages can be spoken in the national parliament, but are there restriction on official use of the languages in the different regions?
Is education in French organised in the German speaking part and vice versa? And if no is it because there is no need for it or because it is not allowed?
Can a German speaking person expect to do his official communication with the government(tax papers, building permits, other administration) in German in the French speaking part (and vice versa)?
What is the language in local politics, is it fixed or are the politicians free to choose? 
I had asked the question in Talk:Languages of Switzerland, but maybe here there is more chance on getting an answer.Nicob1984 (talk) 13:26, 7 November 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Not quite. It depends on the governmental level. On the Federal level any federal language will do. On the cantonal level, the official language(s) of the canton must be used. Same on the municipal level. All three are separate entities. Don Durandal (talk) 15:40, 8 November 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Status of Swiss Language 

message: The wording for this sounds very strange. The way it's worded is as if the three languages were invented in Switzerland which I'm sure isn't the case. It seems to me like this should be reworded, right? Switzerland#Culture  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.152.182.248 (talk) 13:09, 25 January 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Tweaked. Belgium also hosts 3 major languages. Materialscientist (talk) 23:18, 25 January 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Switzerland is in the unusual situation of being the home of three of Europe's major languages.

message: Should we mention in the introduction that Switzerland is home to the International Labour Organization and the World Trade Organization? To my knowledge they are not particularly related to Switzerland (unlike the Red Cross) and we could list dozens of other institutions that have at least the same notability. mgeo talk 14:46, 21 April 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Seeing no response, I removed them. mgeo talk 21:37, 7 June 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Introduction 

message: I suggest to keep the version "Western or Central Europe". I believe the previous version gives virtually no transparency to the fact that Switzerland is commonly considered as a Central European country, especially in Britain and Germany.
This also mentions Western in the FIRST PLACE. As Western Europe is still in use and relatively common, especially before 2006 and during the Cold War when countries like Turkey, Finland, Greece, Malta and Cyprus were 'Western European' just because they weren't in the Warsaw Pact.
--Rejedef (talk) 23:18, 27 April 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: This "controversy" is seriously getting out of hand. For me, being Swiss and all, it's a clear case that most Swiss people regard themselves Central Europeans (together with Germans and Austrians and a few others). Apparently, this does not cut it in a lot of English sources. So well. Let's have an edit war for a few weeks. And a fine one at that, one to take serious WP pride in. For Jimminy's sake, let's acknowledge both notions if we must, and move the s**t on. Can we have a "yay"? ("Which one is 'yes'?" - "Yay.") Trigaranus (talk) 06:53, 6 May 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: The proposed consensus is good. The added comment by Trigaranus about "most Swiss people" is to be understood as "Swiss German speaking people" (a majority indeed). French and Italian speakers tend to feel otherwise. Clpda (talk) 13:29, 25 August 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: CONSENSUS

message: The following part of Reference 2 looks spurious:
Also known for their amazing chocolate around the world. Switzerland creates a wonderful variety of desserts filled with rich cocoa.
Lalsam (talk) 10:05, 24 June 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Edit request

message: From the description of a picture "Some of the Swiss scientists who played a key role in their discipline (clockwise):
Leonhard Euler (mathematics)
Louis Agassiz (glaciology)
Auguste Piccard (aeronautics)
Albert Einstein (physics)"
Einstein is a german. Are there not enough real swissborn people to present? I know he studied in swiss but still...  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.54.36.37 (talk) 21:32, 2 October 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: This section is not about Swiss-born people, it is about science in Switzerland. Einstein was Swiss and he was a Nobel Prize winner, see any major biography. mgeo talk 10:52, 3 October 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Einstein was german born and he was german citizen and lived in germany when he recieved the nobel prize, i dont understand why the article suggests einstein was swiss. are there not 4 real swiss people who are worth to mention in this section? Would be better than indicating einstein was a swiss born. And yes i know he was a swiss citizen, but he also was an american... . At least it should be mentioned that einstein was a german and simply lived in switzerland for a while not more...  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.183.155.187 (talk) 22:54, 7 October 2011 (UTC)
replies: text:  Einstein was a german. He officially rejected german citizenship while he was 17 and lived in Switzerland, where he was studying. And sure he was not german when he won the Nobel. It's interesting to note that Nobel winners Von Lenard and Stark (they were actually german) categorized Einstein's works as "Jew Physics" under the 3rd Reich. --Pascalbrax (talk) 08:55, 19 October 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Einstein was born in Germany and was a German citizen from 1879–1896 and from 1914–1933. The Nobel Price he received in 1921, so of course he was a German citizen at the time. Apart from that, he was and always will remain "German-born"; therefore mostly being German.--IIIraute (talk) 10:46, 9 March 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: This is anyway completely irrelevant in this article. There are other people born outside Switzerland mentioned in this article and we don't give their origins. mgeo talk 11:29, 9 March 2012 (UTC)

text: The science part is full of bias and misleading in the way it is written. It also did claim that Einstein did write his "General Theory of Relativity (1916)" in Bern, while it was the "Special Relativity (1905)" he did write in Bern. In his early days in Berlin, Einstein postulated that the correct interpretation of the special theory of relativity must also furnish a theory of gravitation and in 1916 he published his paper on the general theory of relativity. In 1921 he received the Nobel Prize while being a German citizen, researching and living in Germany. (see: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1921/einstein-bio.html)--IIIraute (talk) 11:40, 9 March 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes you're right about the "special theory" he developed in Bern (and not the general theory). Thanks for the correction. mgeo talk 11:41, 9 March 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Question 

message: A point about English idiom. "Its policy of neutrality has been internationally recognised at the Congress of Vienna in 1815" You can say "Switzerland has been neutral since 1815" but for a once-only act you need to use "was" not "has been". So you could say "Its policy of neutrality was internationally recognised at the Congress of Vienna in 1815."Alphick (talk) 22:10, 17 December 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: I corrected it. Thanks for spotting the mistake. mgeo talk 20:06, 20 December 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Minor edit request 

message: An image used in this article, , has been nominated for deletion at Wikimedia Commons in the following category: Deletion requests January 2012 
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thread_title: File:Bundesrat der Schweiz 2011.jpg Nominated for Deletion

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thread_title: File:KKG-SW-Flight.jpg Nominated for Deletion

message: The science part is full of bias and misleading in the way it is written. It also did claim (before my edit) that Einstein did write his "General Theory of Relativity (1916)" in Bern, while it was the "Special Relativity (1905)" he did write in Bern. In his early days in Berlin, Einstein postulated that the correct interpretation of the special theory of relativity must also furnish a theory of gravitation and in 1916 he published his paper on the general theory of relativity. In 1921 he received the Nobel Prize for his 1916 publication, while being a German citizen, researching, teaching and living in Germany. (see: www.Nobelprize.org - http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1921/einstein-bio.html). The former source cited (before the changes) is full of mistakes and POV, gives wrong dates, etc. --IIIraute (talk) 11:48, 9 March 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: The source: Einstein tops list of leading Swiss - swissinfo.ch, should be removed, as it is full of wrong & bias information. (Wrong theory, wrong date for Nobel Prize, wrong curriculum vitae & citizenship, etc.)--IIIraute (talk) 11:53, 9 March 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: see response(s) in section "Question" above. mgeo talk 12:24, 9 March 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Science 

message: :See also: Template talk:Infobox country#Can we add a small button to play the anthem? mgeo talk 07:36, 23 April 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: I don't think it is necessary to have this huge button in the infobox and anyone can click on the link to access the anthem page when interested. The infobox is already big, so I think we'd better avoid including things that are not strictly necessary. mgeo talk 07:31, 23 April 2012 (UTC)
replies: text:  actually it is neccisary since all of the nations and most in Europe have one. it would be great to have one! I personally listen to the anthem when i read the article. It shouldn't be our opinions. It seem the readers interest that the button should be on the page for ease of access. It doesn't make sense to have the link only! Sometimes......,we just have to  take a risk to make wiki better, and i'd love to make wiki beter by putting up this box!!!!!  Thank you!! Philpm930 (talk) 19:00, 23 April 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: Sound file for National Anthem

message: The following sentence from the Modern History section; "Even in the 21st century, some Swiss banks and entities still refused to surrender the assets obtained from victims of Nazi persecution." is a claim of fact on a controversial subject that requires a citation from a reputable source.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ad Orientem (talk • contribs) 22:32, 1 August 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: I removed it. To me the history section seems to contain to many unnecessary details like this one. We really need to shorten this section. The sentence in question could be included in Switzerland during the World Wars if cited. mgeo talk 21:55, 3 August 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  World War II bank claims need citation 

message: Foundation of the nation
There is an error about the Table under 'independence' and there foundation date:
As only few of the really old states and state-simmilar constitutions the swiss history is based on a origin document and underbuilt by other documents about the creation of the coenfederatio helvetica. The modern state is still in the same spirit and the origin federal charter of 1291 after christi is worth to be studied: please refer to the official translation from this text written in a early Allemannish but still understandable from original habitants from swiss german part of switzerland: http://www.admin.ch/org/polit/00056/index.html?lang=en
There is also the mentionned sources of scientific documents about this early aera: The Origin of the Swiss Confederation Section 1, Document Volume 1, Aarau, 1933 
Languages
You made a really big mistake. It's completely wrong that in switzerland Latin would be a official language! Latin was longtime oficcialised as part of study program in the collegues by side of french and english respectively german and english for french spoken regions respectively (french OR german) AND english for italian spoken regions. Today - after a program review in the eigthies- it is still obligatory prorgram in the branch of studies : medical, culture, language, literature, philosophy.. and NO MORE for technical and oeconomics. the high scool no more held this language in theyr education program. NEVER Bold textswiss origins had spoken this language. Latin is definitively a dead language like old greek.
So- in order to refer to official language you have to hold you tight on declaration of that state you're writing about. it is not as serios enougth. Please correct them.
Aprovals, Sources:
* in our constitution in article 4, ones can read (in the english version as cited behind): 
The National Languages are German, French, Italian, and Romansh.
English is not an official language of the Swiss Confederation. This translation is provided for information purposes only and has no legal force.''
http://www.admin.ch/ch/e/rs/1/101.en.pdf
* the swiss money (paper money) is correctly held in all four official languages, as is the federal constitiution and some cultural things.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_the_Swiss_franc#cite_note-10   and also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_the_Swiss_franc
There are many other unconvenients, but lets finish here. I am sad to see that there are authors they write about things they don't know. Really not the concept of wikipedia - is n't? I am shure you can find a very big lot of people able to perfectly write in english the are really knowing switzerland.
--81.13.237.223 (talk) 09:08, 19 August 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: I can't understand most of this, but nowhere does our article say that latin is an official language of Switzerland.  Sandstein  11:05, 19 August 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: It actually did! Someone added it recently, probably in good faith, seeing the Latin name for the Confederation. I just removed it as unsourced. mgeo talk 12:11, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

text: so why do you have the notice in your table that 0.5% of Swiss citiciens are native latin speakers? What kind of mess...
--Cosy-ch (talk) 11:54, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

text: Oh what kind of surprise: your right nhow: in the changings about the main article I found this:
(cur | prev) 11:54, 19 August 2012‎ MadGeographer (talk | contribs)‎ . . (138,019 bytes) (-31)‎ . . (undoing recent addition of Latin as national language (unsourced)) (undo)
@MadGeographer: thank you for the changing! and @Sandstein: keep whatever you want. For me and for Swiss oficials, what you are doing by  'englishing' official names from our cantons: it is no gentil way of behaviour. Therfore, I will also underline, that cantons are not only governal district- the concept is completely different. Your arguments for names I cannot agree. For correct spelling, please refer to http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanton_(Schweiz). You are not as mutch as logical correct, because international papers are refering BASEL as BASLE ?? Did you? Why GENEVA ZURICH and LUCERNE (ghrrr) but NOT BASLE ????????...and so on.. you can find others...
--Cosy-ch (talk) 12:13, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

text: What you don't understand here is that we have the article titles Geneva, Zurich and Lucerne, hence we use here "Geneva", "Zurich" and "Lucerne" in order not to confuse the readers. If you think one of those cities/cantons has a title that fails the Wikipedia common name creterion you should feel free to start a discussion at the specific talk page (for example Talk:Geneva, Talk:Basel) and if a consensus is reached there, the article title may be modified. mgeo talk 12:55, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

text: ok, just let me do a final comment about that issue:  In the period of coming semantic web I cannot understand that authors are trying to rename origin names and labels of things like town and important persons names and so on. I can only imagine that they don't aware about weight and influence to semantic adherence . You never will find authentic articles about politic, financial reports, job offers and other staff by searching eg. "Lucerne" without semantic aid from Google Lucern is a entity of {Luzern, Lucerne, Lucerna}. I am fully agree with kind of solutions to ADD english nomination byside of orginate. 
If you send a physical letter here in switzerland with a name as Lucerne you risk to get it automaticly back to you. since automatic tray centers are doing the job, there is a obligation to follow exactly official addressing scheme. "unreadable" addresses are automaticly rejected.
--Cosy-ch (talk) 14:01, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

text: No, there's an obligation to use the English language here on English wikipedia. Local names are given on the specific pages. CMD (talk) 04:34, 20 August 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Grave mistakes and errors in your text [from an origin citicen from Switzerland] 

message: This part is full of errors.
reasons:
1) You HAVE to follow official namings
2) as english is no official language, there is no place to write administrative regions and theyr capitals in english!
3) There are some adm. divisions they have anchored in theyr constitution two official languages. Therfore they are named allways in both variants. I propose this here.
Mistakes belonging 1) and 2) obviously wrong:
 * Geneva correct to Genève (same for town)
 * Lucerne correct to Luzern (same for town)
 * Zurich correct to Zürich (same for town)
Two official denominations: belonging 3):
 * Fribourg : add Freiburg for official german (same for town): nearly half / half French/German native residents
 * Bern:  add Berne  for official french(same for town)
 * Valais: add Wallis for official german (town is Sitten for German): a little bit mor german residents then french
It is really important to differ between commercial and publicistic publications and this one . I guess you want to be honest and serious and not arbitrary amateurs. 
Personnaly I am origin swiss german, living in french part of Valais (here around speaking, living and loving in French) and not so fit in english.. But- thinking/dreaming twice is enought (in french AND swiss german)
--Cosy-ch (talk) 09:40, 19 August 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Hi. That is a style issue. Wikipedia articles are normally named according to what is the most common name in English for any particular place; hence Geneva and Zurich instead of Genève and Zürich. See WP:COMMONNAME.  Sandstein  11:07, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

text: Just in case you did not notice, at Cantons of Switzerland#Names in national languages (which can be accessed by clicking the link on the top of the section) you will find a list including the regional language name for each canton. mgeo talk 11:48, 19 August 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Administrative divisions: Errors 

message: The sentence is wrong: Electricity generated in Switzerland is 56% from hydroelectricity and 39% from nuclear power, with 5% of the electricity generated from conventional power sources resulting in a nearly CO2-free electricity-generating network.
I am shure that you missinterpreted the last 5%. If you (as US or UK - based writers) understand by "convential power sources" the production by heatprocess by firing coal or gas- you are completley wrong. We have no production of electrical energy by gas or by coal nether by oil. There have been one site for oil - buth this is our of service since nhow 27 years. The wording would be correct, if you replace "conventional" by "unconventional": There is acutally arround fife percent of production based on 
 * waste incineration processes (heat recuperation and vapour driven turbines)
 * wood burning processes (industrial sized installation with production of vapor that drives turbines)
 * photovoltaics
 * gas from deposits(combined heat and gas to electricity machines)
 * gas (same as above) but from water clearing installations and from farmer installations
--Cosy-ch (talk) 11:50, 19 August 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Energy 

message: I wonder why on the list of cantons are listed only half of them?
Cautious (talk) 11:57, 8 October 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Have another look. The table's first two column's display one half; columns 3 + 4 represent the (alphabetically) second half. ---Sluzzelin talk 03:48, 22 October 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Administrative divisions 

message: (read subject) HELLO?! WHO WOULDN'T PUT ANYTHING IN ABOUT THE Swiss Army knife?!
Not to be impolite, but I think someone should put in stuff about that. I, however, cannot.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.48.55.87 (talk) 21:55, 17 December 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Probably too trivial to deserve a mention... mgeo talk 09:33, 12 February 2013 (UTC)
replies: text:  Why being so condescending? The army knife is an icon, representing Swiss ingenuity, an asset the country's industry takes great pride in and is internationally acclaimed for.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 46.114.28.119 (talk) 21:28, 15 February 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Swiss Army Knife 

message: There has been some controversy about adding the phrase "worse than most Western World nations" in this sentence
:Switzerland is an easy place to do business; Switzerland currently ranks 28th of 178 countries in the Ease of Doing Business Index, worse than most Western World nation.
I believe according to WP:NPOV we should report the facts and not interpret them. Also it is factually incorrect to say "worse than most Western World" (apart from the difficulty of defining the western world) since many countries like France, Belgium, Austria, Spain, Luxemburg, Italy etc that I consider to be part of the western world are ranked below Switzerland. Maybe if one would like to add a comparison, one could compute the rank of Switzerland within the OECD or the new and old EU countries (even though Switzerland is not part of the EU, its geography suggest a comparison / ranking with other EU countries). 
One could also question whether this index should even appear in the main article and why we use this index and not the Indices of economic freedom or Global Competitiveness Report. Interestingly, Switzerland ranks much better in those two later indices. Greetings --hroest 12:15, 19 December 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[Ease of doing business index]] 

message: The main page lists Switzerland's official languages (German, French, Italian, Romansh) by percentage but when you add them up it only reaches around 90%...I could understand if they were listing languages actually used in Switzerland (in other words non-official languages used by immigrants and businesspeople such as English) but it's "official" languages...doesn't make sense to me? (Perhaps 10% of the population does not speak any of the four?) Historian932 (talk) 18:59, 23 April 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: Not sure if this is the reason, but that might be the percentage of the population that has each language as a mother tongue. Given that CH has a large foreign population, I find it OK that it does not add up to 100%. If it was the percentage of population that spoke each language, it would add to way more than 100%, since a lot of people speak at least two languages. Uirauna (talk) 19:11, 23 April 2013 (UTC)

text: yes, see also Languages_of_Switzerland#Immigrant_languages --dab (𒁳) 18:38, 16 August 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Official" languages don't add up? 

message: Why you didn't write anything about Kapodistrias? Without him Switzerland would never exist.
: I assume you're talking about Ioannis Kapodistrias, who could be mentioned for his involvement in the Congress of Vienna.Tobyc75 (talk) 19:18, 16 May 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Kapodistrias 

message: I came upon this book; clicking the "Search inside this book" link shows us a preview, and surprisingly its contents are pretty much a copy of this article, presenting it as an original work of the author, Tomas Clancy. I am not sure how to proceed, so I'm hoping someone with better understanding of copyright stuff will handle this situation. Poromiami (talk) 05:08, 23 July 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: It looks like this book was self-published and Amazon gives a publication date of Feb 11, 2012.  Looking at a Wikipedia version from Feb 8, 2012, a few days before, the text is almost exactly the same as the book.  The book looks like it was lifted from the Switzerland article.  Looking at the table of contents, it looks like this book was lifted from numerous Wikipedia articles.  I'm not sure if packaging the articles together and selling them violates the free licenses that the Wikipedia articles were released under.  Someone with more knowledge than me would have to comment on that.Tobyc75 (talk) 20:23, 23 July 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Copyright violation? 

message: In the introduction, the sentence "It is the twentieth largest exporter and eighteenth largest importer of goods" needs to be updated. See List of countries by imports and List of countries by exports. Thanks! Coreyemotela (talk) 10:35, 23 August 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: I updated that, thanks! Door Dow Win 345 (talk) 18:54, 2 October 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Import and export in the introduction 

message: Please remove all references to "half-canton" in this article as this term is superseded since the new Constitution entered into force on 1 January 2000. There are now simply called 26 cantons. See art. 1 of the Constitution http://www.admin.ch/ch/e/rs/101/a1.html
Among others, the section on the Council of States should be corrected. Art. 150 of the Constitution deals with this particular topic http://www.admin.ch/ch/e/rs/101/a150.html
193.239.220.249 (talk) 12:52, 29 August 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: only the second can be changed to canton without affecting the meaning. I've linked the first to a good explanation. (I considered scare quotes as well, but they are discouraged by the style guide.) The third refers to "traditional half-cantons" which seems fine even after an official name change. If you want different changes, please supply the text. Thanks, Celestra (talk) 18:04, 7 September 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Edit request on 29 August 2013 

message: Anyone have any idea why NPOV was added? The editor who did so gave no reason. Uberstadt (talk) 17:18, 17 October 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  NPOV 

message: The term  Non-Denominationalhas been used as translation of the Gemran word Konfessionslos. I doubt though that these two words mean (exactly) the same. Konfessionslos does include atheists, agnostic etc but Non-Denominational as per the wikipage does not. I replaced Non-Denominational by unchurched allthough a literal translation - without confession - is maybe better. 
Grsd (talk) 14:57, 18 April 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: "Unchurched" tends to be used in a derogatory sense, however. More appropriate IMO might be something like "Unaffiliated." Uberstadt (talk) 18:43, 18 April 2014 (UTC)
replies: text:  Wasn't aware of a derogatory conotation. Thanks for the improvementGrsd (talk) 14:30, 19 April 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[Non-Denominational]] 

message: Percent numbers are INCORRECT! 
73,1 + 23,1 + 6,1 + 0,7 = 103
--Pimlico27 (talk) 18:27, 25 April 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: I'll look into it, but my guess is that they are rounded to one decimal place, as such figures often are. That's why many similar tables on Wikipedia have a disclaimer that the numbers do not add up to 100%. Uberstadt (talk) 19:13, 26 April 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  LANGUAGES TABLE 

message: Culture of Switzerland is too backward to be considered culturally Western European. It introduced universal vote for women very late, in mid-20th century, and it also opposed to a large extent LGBT equality. See the report here: http://www.ilga-europe.org/home/publications/reports_and_other_materials/rainbow_europe--141.70.80.5 (talk) 13:14, 11 June 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Switzerland is rather in Central Europe 

message: This article states that racing is now legal in Switzerland, but it you read the Wikipedia article about the 1955 Le Mans Disaster, it states that it's still outlawed. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1955_Le_Mans_disaster)
Please refer to this:
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Switzerland_lifts_ban_on_motor_racing
Also looks like it was in fact still outlawed as of 2009:
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/sport/Formula_One_motor_racing_ban_to_continue.html?cid=7447592
Here's another source (not exactly the best):
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2007/06/06/switzerland-ends-52-year-motor-sport-ban/
Multiple sources here, but judging by the second one, racing is still outlawed.  I'm guessing that the article about The Le Mans Disaster is correct and this one should be edited.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Melvinlusk (talk • contribs) 21:13, 12 June 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: — added verbiage, along with a reference (to the same grandprix.com site btw), indicating that the legislation was only passed by one house of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland and that the other house rejected the change. Mojoworker (talk) 17:21, 13 June 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Automobile Racing 

message: The time-lapse map of Europe here shows the separation of Switzerland from the Holy Roman Empire occurring in 1609, well after the union of the Swiss Confederation within the HRE but decades earlier than the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, described in the article as the point where European countries began to recognize Switzerland as an independent entity. Is the time-lapse map correct? Does it reflect some key event that's missing from the history section of the article and that should be added? —Largo Plazo (talk) 13:37, 7 September 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: The separation de jure of Switzerland from the HRE occurred with the Peace of Westphalia, in 1648. The map is wrong. Alex2006 (talk) 14:25, 7 September 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: All right, it just came to my attention that it also shows the recession of Germany from Eastern Europe occurring into the 1950s. The synchronization between the years and the border shifts is way off altogether. —Largo Plazo (talk) 14:33, 7 September 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: Forget internet, look on the books... :-) Alex2006 (talk) 14:40, 7 September 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Separation from the HRE 

message: Hallo, I removed the section about possible future enlargements of Switzerland per WP:UNDUE. I don't think that this story deserves its own section in a general article about Switzerland. The whole story belongs more to a "trivia" section and the motion of Baettig - a politician notorious for his provocations -  has never been discussed, since he was not reelected,and its party (SVP) did not present it again. Of, course, if you don't agree with the removal, feel free to revert it and discuss here. Alex2006 (talk) 05:39, 17 October 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Removal of "Future Enlargement" Section