Template talk:Massachusetts

message: If you are dissatisfied with the list of cities, please add or remove individual cities, not the entire list. I included the list based on what I saw on other state templates (notably California, New York, and Michigan). 
For now, I have decided to use the original listing (with the addition of Lawrence). This was before I had decided to add more cities (based on the list from the Massachusetts article, which didn't have a set criteria).Pentawing 04:24, 31 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: List of cities

message: I've just reverted pentawing's edit to remove the colors from the first column of the template. I did so, not to edit war with P., but because I'd like to see some discussion first. There are many different approaches. Template:California Has a striped look. Template:New York goes the way that P. was suggesting. And, of course the original version that I reverted to has a side-bar like look. The reason that I like this version is that it gives some visual isolation to the content of the template, while offsetting the grid. I really don't like tables with grids in them, but at least suggesting the grid seems to help the eye follow what's going on.  The California version does this even moreso, but I think it goes overboard and ends up looking like old greenbar. -Harmil 02:46, 25 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm with Harmil on this, and I was the user who added the color to the sidebar originally. I just think it cleanly separates the relevant info from the descriptive headers without being visually distracting (as I think Cal's template is). On the other hand, it's not worth getting into an edit war over, so I defer to the group's judgment. – Friejose 13:00, 25 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: In terms of the background color in the first column, I just found out that the Florida template does the same so I won't revert again. On the otherhand, the style that I tried to revert to is used at other state templates (e.g. all other New England states and Washington, which was the style I converted the entire Massachusetts template to in the first place. The MA template was once in the other dominant style, such as the one used for Michigan). Anyways, I would like to see a standard style used for most state templates, so that was what I was trying to get at recently, instead of each state having its own individually styled template. Pentawing 22:30, 25 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Color of first column 

message: Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. states/state templates lists and displays all 50 U.S. state (and additional other) templates. It potentially can be used for ideas and standardization. //MrD9 07:20, 19 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: U.S. state templates

message: There is currently an ongoing discussion regarding standardization of state templates (primarily regarding layout and styling) at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject U.S. states/state templates. An effort was made earlier this year to standardize Canadian province templates (which mostly succeeded). Lovelac7 and I have already begun standardizing all state templates. If you have any concerns, they should be directed toward the discussion page for state template standardization. Thanks! — Webdinger BLAH | SZ 22:50, 27 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Standardization of state templates 

message: I continue to maintain that listing towns as a "topic" is insufficient.  Perhaps we should reconsider listing all the towns.  See Template:New Hampshire.  Sahasrahla 19:28, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Towns 

message: I don't think the list of cities is complete. What about Canton? –Llama man 23:40, 19 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Never mind, it's a town. –Llama man 23:43, 19 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Complete? 

message: I have deleted the  South Coast and  South Shore links with Southeatstern Massachusetts. The Southeastern Massachusetts definition encompasses those two areas and paints a better picture of Southeastern Massachusetts as a whole (excluding Cape Cod). I did that to make this template less "beast," in response to user Friejose. Please try the Southeastern Massachusetts link, I think you'll enjoy it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.162.211.197 (talk) 
: (An aside: Please sign your posts with four tildes, i.e. ~~~~.)
: I'd rather see "South Shore" and "South Coast" back in, in addition to Southeastern Mass. Both terms are widely used. If you asked the average Massachusetts person to make a list of geographic regions that comprise the state, both would be on the list. "Southeastern Massachusetts" doesn't encompass "South Shore" and "South Coast" any more than listing Suffolk County encompasses (and obviates the need to list) Boston. My two cents. ``` W i k i W i s t a h ``` 20:01, 19 January 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: One more thing: It's also worth noting that Southeastern Massachusetts is usually defined as being outside Greater Boston -- that is, not including the close-in suburbs (our definition says it extends into Norfolk County only as far as the Rhode Island border towns). This leaves out a substantial amount of what is often called South Shore, such as Quincy, Holbrook, Cohassett, etc. ``` W i k i W i s t a h ``` 20:11, 19 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: South Coast and South Shore

message: In the interest of clarity, I have edited the template list of cities to include only those which actually call themselves cities on their website, and am providing the following table with references that clearly point out what the disposition of the official name is. Please read the explanation following the table before reverting this change.
 List of Massachusetts locations using city form of government
Location        	Official name           	Web reference
Agawam          	Town of Agawam          	http://www.agawam.ma.us/
Amesbury        	Town of Amesbury        	http://www.ci.amesbury.ma.us/
Attleboro       	City of Attleboro       	http://www.cityofattleboro.us/
Barnstable      	Town of Barnstable      	http://www.town.barnstable.ma.us/
Beverly         	City of Beverly         	http://www.beverlyma.gov/Public_Documents/index
Boston          	City of Boston          	http://www.cityofboston.gov/
Braintree       	Town of Braintree       	http://www.townofbraintreegov.org/
Brockton        	City of Brockton        	http://www.brockton.ma.us/
Cambridge       	City of Cambridge       	http://www.cambridgema.gov/
Chelsea         	City of Chelsea         	http://www.ci.chelsea.ma.us/Public_Documents/index
Chicopee        	City of Chicopee        	http://www.chicopeema.gov/
Easthampton     	City of Easthampton     	http://www.easthampton.org/
Everett         	City of Everett         	http://www.ci.everett.ma.us/
Fall River      	City of Fall River      	http://www.fallriverma.org/
Fitchburg       	City of Fitchburg       	http://www.ci.fitchburg.ma.us/
Franklin        	Town of Franklin        	http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/index
Gardner         	City of Gardner         	http://www.gardner-ma.gov/
Gloucester      	City of Gloucester      	http://www.ci.gloucester.ma.us/
Greenfield      	City of Greenfield      	http://www.cityofgreenfield.org/survey/home.php
Haverhill       	City of Haverhill       	http://www.ci.haverhill.ma.us/
Holyoke         	City of Holyoke         	http://www.holyoke.org/
Lawrence        	City of Lawrence        	http://www.cityoflawrence.com/Pages/index
Leominster      	City of Leominster      	http://www.leominster-ma.gov/
Lowell          	City of Lowell          	http://www.lowellma.gov/
Lynn            	City of Lynn            	http://www.ci.lynn.ma.us/
Malden          	City of Malden          	http://www.ci.malden.ma.us/
Marlborough     	City of Marlborough     	http://www.marlborough-ma.gov/gen/index
Medford         	City of Medford         	http://www.medford.org/Pages/index
Melrose         	City of Melrose         	http://www.cityofmelrose.org/
Methuen         	City of Methuen         	http://www.ci.methuen.ma.us/
New Bedford     	City of New Bedford     	http://www.newbedford-ma.gov/
Newburyport     	City of Newburyport     	http://www.cityofnewburyport.com/
Newton          	City of Newton          	http://www.ci.newton.ma.us/
North Adams     	City of North Adams     	http://www.northadams-ma.gov/
Northampton     	City of Northampton     	http://www.northamptonma.gov/
Palmer          	Town of Palmer          	http://www.townofpalmer.com/pages/PalmerMA_Manager/townreports/FY08TownReport.pdf
Peabody         	City of Peabody         	http://www.peabody-ma.gov/
Pittsfield      	City of Pittsfield      	http://www.pittsfield-ma.org/
Quincy          	City of Quincy          	http://www.ci.quincy.ma.us/
Revere          	City of Revere          	http://www.revere.org/
Salem           	City of Salem           	http://www.salem.com/Pages/index
Somerville      	City of Somerville      	http://www.somervillema.gov/
Southbridge     	Town of Southbridge     	http://www.ci.southbridge.ma.us/
Springfield     	City of Springfield     	http://www.springfieldcityhall.com/COS/index.php
Taunton         	City of Taunton         	http://www.taunton-ma.gov/Pages/index
Waltham         	City of Waltham         	http://www.city.waltham.ma.us/
Watertown       	Town of Watertown       	http://www.watertown-ma.gov/index.asp?nid=24
Westfield       	City of Westfield       	http://www.cityofwestfield.org/home.html
West Springfield	Town of West Springfield	http://www.west-springfield.ma.us/public_documents/WSpringfieldMA_Minutes/I021EDACD
Weymouth        	Town of Weymouth        	http://www.weymouth.ma.us/clerk/index.asp
Winthrop        	Town of Winthrop        	http://www.town.winthrop.ma.us/Pages/index
Woburn          	City of Woburn          	http://www.cityofwoburn.com/
Worcester       	City of Worcester       	http://www.ci.worcester.ma.us/
The above list shows the 53 government divisions of the Commonwealth which have been officially granted the right to use the city form of government. My source for the table is the Massachusetts Municipal Association 2008-2009 Municipal Directory. This list is not an official state document, but it is much more up to date and accurate than the "offical" list from the Secretary of State's office, which is dated 10-21-2005 and does not include Braintree, Palmer and Winthrop, which have since adopted the city form of government.
The web references listed above each clearly indicate the official name each location uses. In nearly every case the name is confirmed by the banner at the top of the official website. In those where it is not indicated in the banner, it is shown on the page in the title bar, page footer, in the page text or in the case of Palmer by the PDF of the most recent town report. I only eliminated those towns for which no evidence exists that they are officially using the prefix "City of" before the location name.
I looked into these sources before I made this edit because I wondered why Weymouth was listed as a city but Braintree was not. In light of the evidence and in the interest of keeping the list as compact yet as accurate as possible, to use the name officially used by the location in question is the best solution to listing these cities in the template. Sswonk (talk) 19:41, 18 November 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: By 'are', do you mean by the form of government, which would be the 53 listed in the table? I would not really object, except that there are multiple places within the project which blur the distinction. Some articles (including lists) state something like "there are 301 towns and 50 cities". Those would then need to be updated to reflect your proposed addition of Braintree, Palmer and Winthrop to the template. Sswonk (talk) 21:12, 18 November 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: OK, I changed the template to list the 53 cities as defined by their forms of government. I will also change the lists and definitions within Massachusetts articles I find to reflect the official status. I will leave a brief note about this change on the WP:MASS project talk page. Sswonk (talk) 23:27, 18 November 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  List of cities by official name 

message: Is there a particular reason why this template is white on dark blue?  I understand the general idea is to try to match the flag, but it is a bit hard to read. Wouldn't it be better to just go with the default used by  to avoid having a rainbow at the bottom of the page when this navbox is next to another one and per WP:ACCESSIBILITY?  Please let me know if there is a strong reason to have it a particular color.  I noticed this was attempted recently, but was reverted, so I thought I would be proactive and start a thread here to avoid an edit war. Thanks! Plastikspork ―Œ(talk) 21:40, 19 December 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  white on dark blue 

message: Massachusetts (as a state, not including its colonial history) has nine former counties -- not just the three that were added to this template recently. All nine former counties were part of the District of Maine. If we're going to include three, we should include all, but that would result in two-fifths of the template's "Counties" entries being territory that hasn't been part of the state for 200 years, which is ridiculous and would be confusing for the vast majority of template viewers, who (I presume) are looking for information about what today we call Massachusetts.
Additionally, District of Maine was the only "former region" listed in that section -- there's no entry for Massachusetts' ceded western claims, or Bristol County, R.I., or Pawtucket, or Woodstock or Enfield, Conn. Nor should there be. My solution was to add a note to the "counties" listing about how nine former counties became Maine, and include the District of Maine link there. ``` t b w i l l i e ` $1.25 ` 23:19, 10 June 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Former counties and District of Maine 

message: Could the seal please be removed from the title in accordance with MOS:ICON? Thanks, 207.161.86.162 (talk) 07:50, 2 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: . I don't see why it can't bet there; MOS:ICON doesn't prohibit this use. ◢  Ganbaruby!  (Say hi!) 08:41, 2 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text:  How does it comply with MOS:DECORATION? 207.161.86.162 (talk) 07:56, 3 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: As the flag of the state, it does have an encyclopedic purpose in the context of a navbox. You might want to start a discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject United States or Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Massachusetts for wider consensus. ◢  Ganbaruby!  (Say hi!) 08:11, 3 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: What non-decorative "encyclopedic purpose" does it serve in your view, ? 207.161.86.162 (talk) 08:43, 3 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: Primarily for identification purposes, especially when there's multiple navboxes in a row. To make it clear, I'm not very opposed to removing it, but please get wider consensus first. ◢  Ganbaruby!  (Say hi!) 01:12, 4 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: Given that it is an unremarkable subnational flag and is only 100px in size, what leads you to believe it serves as an identification aid? 207.161.86.162 (talk) 01:55, 4 February 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Icon 

message: The Town of Amherst, by Massachusetts law, is a city, and should be listed as such following the City of Agawam.  See https://www.amherstma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/41987/Amherst-Home-Rule-Charter section 1.4 or https://www.sec.state.ma.us/cis/cisctlist/ctlistcoun.htm 2600:8800:1680:1AE:419C:B6A0:8B34:AFFB (talk) 00:20, 29 September 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: Note that the Amherst,_Massachusetts article might need to be updated as well. Mlkj (talk) 20:27, 7 October 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Semi-protected edit request on 29 September 2022