Wikipedia talk:Simple start/Archive 1

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Simpler page title

Can we change the words "community portal" to "door to community" or "door to XXXX" please. Portal is not a simple word. --BozMo |talk 12:03, 18 Aug 2004 (UTC)

It might be best to avoid door as well since it probably doesn't translate sensibly for those not speaking English as a first language. Perhaps just "community page" would be better. Angela 13:33, 18 Aug 2004 (UTC)

It has to be portal...it's a new structure...needs a new word.

Community "gateway"

How about community gate. Definately not portal. Howabout1 22:55, 10 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

This seems to have dried up as a discussion. Why not just "community" --BozMo |Bozmo at en 12:54, 8 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The following needs reworking:

Just click on the discussion tab at the top. that is right.

I've just fixed it. Howabout1 22:06, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I think 'portal' must be used. It is a technical term. Archer7 18:47, 12 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I disagree that "portal" is a 'technical term' and that it 'must be used'--if it wasn't so prevalent at EN I don't think its use overall would seem compelling at all. Angela's "Community page" suggestion sounds great to me. Making the second word 'entrance' or 'gateway' also seem like simpler language, viable alternatives. Portal is just fancy-pants English for entrance: http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/portal Freshstart 08:02, 14 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

'Portal' was hardly ever used before the Internet, and it's usage on the Internet has led it to become a technical term. If you must replace it, go for 'Community page', but I still stick with 'portal' Archer7 16:11, 14 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Which seems like all the more reason to avoid the word "portal"--in the future there may be ways to get to Wikipedia that don't involve the Internet. Wikipedia is primarily an information reference work, that secondarily was created using the Internet for convenience--I don't think they are inherently or exclusively linked. Freshstart 00:10, 19 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Created and linked to Internet portal. This should clear up anybody confused over it's meaning. Archer7 21:53, 17 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

How about "Community center" or "community area"? -- Netoholic @ 05:35, 19 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I really like "Community center". I think it really complements all the work Archer7 has done to restructure the page--making it a good centralized location for people to persue whatever way to contribute that 'floats their boat'. Plus, at least in the U.S. a "community center" is often a focal point of neighborhoods; lots of classes for seniors, exercise activities, etc. for adults, athletic programs for kids, and on and on. Seems like the sort of inclusive image any Wikipedia would want to project. Freshstart 07:42, 19 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I still think that 'portal' would be the proper term, but 'Community center' adds a nice touch to it. Only, it's American English, wouldn't that sort of push some of us here in the UK away a bit? Archer7 12:26, 19 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I like "Community center" (as well as "Community page", "Community entrance" or just "Community", but not "Community gateway"), and I agree that "Portal", whether we define it or not, is not simple and therefore better avoided as the title of a major page. For that matter, how about changing "Donations" to something, maybe "Help with money" or something like that? As far as "Community center," I guess trying to universalize (or universalise, if you prefer, but I think that is one of those words that Americans like me have just created, anyway :) the spelling could be a bit tricky, so maybe one of the other options is better. --Cromwellt|talk 21:31, 10 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Portal sucks. If I am not mistaken, Portal means a sci-fi invention which quickly gets you from one location to another by the speed of light. I think this page should be "Community Board", "Community Bulletin" or "How You Can Help Wikipedia". I think gateway and portal are both to complex.

Nope, you are mistaken. It means door or gateway. While it has been used on SG-1 by characters to refer to the gate at times, it is not defined as such. They just borrowed the term. It can also mean a website that leads to other sites (web portal). A combination of the two is much how it works here (gateway that people enter the site to go to other places). -- Creol(talk) 13:25, 13 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I gotta say, I'm surprised to see such a (relatively) complicated title compared to the way the other pages have been named compared to the regular English wiki. I'm also surprised to see this conversation has been going on for so long... Since 2004, wow! However, I can understand why this isn't a big priority. Can we put this to a vote or something? --85.5.105.21 (talk) 21:42, 4 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

"Copy" section ?

It seems to me that thousands of articles could just be copied, as is, from Wikipedia. Should we add a section asking editors to read Wikipedia articles and copy them here, if they are already written in simple language ? StuRat 23:20, 6 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

perhaps we could do this when people save content (as with copyright) rather than in the main text? en:User:BozMo (talk)

I haven't seen anywhere near enough EN articles even close to simple English to make this seem viable. In fact, as of late, I've been finding EN articles (especially in the maths and sciences) that I think can't be read by anyone that hasn't done post-grad work in the subject area. Freshstart 08:08, 14 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with Freshstart. English Wikipedia articles are almost always too hard for Simple English Wikipedia users. The best policy is still to always try to make things simpler. --Cromwellt|talk 21:34, 10 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

New design

In a couple of days I'm planning to replace this page with my new design at User:Archer7/Community_portal. If anybody has any objections or suggestions, now would be the time to say. Leave any comments on it's talk page please. Thanks, Archer7 22:12, 13 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I've now replaced the content (copy and paste so you can still revert it and find the older edits). Archer7 18:39, 15 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

When I first visited the new Community portal, I was pleasantly surprised. It looks very fresh and clean and definitely more professional. Very good work, Archer7 and Co.! --Cromwellt|talk 21:31, 10 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Simple Wikipedia and Simple Wiktionary

Hello. As you might have noticed, Wiktionary in simple English is properly off the ground (224 definitions and growing), and has some committed members working on it. I know some of you may be wondering what the point of simple Wiktionary is, considering that there's a simple Wikipedia, but I think there is room for both – we have different perspectives and objectives on what is wanted. Just glancing at Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not I can see some things that we are - a dictionary and a usage guide.

I'd like to ask you to consider including links to us on pages where it makes sense to do so, perhaps by changing the {{wiktionary}} tag to link to point to the simple version. Something like A or Adjective would be a good example of where this would come in handy. We do the same thing, like cat.

It would also be really cool you added some links to the other simple English projects on your front page – linking to the sister projects is done by pretty much all the other wiki projects, including all the other simple English ones.

Your opinions on this (whether good, bad or indifferent) would be very much appreciated. --H2g2bob 00:00, 12 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I fully agree with what H2g2bob says here. --Cromwellt|talk 00:54, 20 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

What is Simple English exactly?

Hallo, I'm from German Wikipedia. I translated the article en:Simplified English for German WP. Now I'm trying to describe the difference to Basic English, and, if is possible and neccessary, to Simple English.

I couldn't find some exact informations about Simple English. Here I understood the following fact: There ist no exact definition, how to write here, it must be quite "simple". Now my questions:

Is it right?
Is Simple E. an "invention" of Simple E. WP or
Is there Simple E. out of Wikipedia?

Thanks at all! Eryakaas 84.139.184.38 22:55, 22 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I have replied on your talk page on de. —INTRIGUEBLUE (talk|changes) 10:18, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]