Interesting conversation topic! Speaking for myself, I have never,
ever used a portal. I have *seen* them, and thought "that's not for
me". Categories...well...occasionally in moments of boredom they're
good for finding similar information, but the sub-category problem
almost totally defeats their worthfulness IMHO.
For me, infoboxes are totally where it's at. An example I know well is
the {{queen}} template, which links to every Queen album and member,
and some of their more popular songs. That's the kind of direct link
from this page to another similar page that I appreciate for
*browsing* Wikipedia, rather than specifically searching for
something.
As for an "editor's guide", I think the Wikiprojects are probably the
closest you get. Thinking about contribution something about a music
group? Check out Wikiproject:Music. Contributing about Melbourne?
Wikiproject:Melbourne. They set standards, track progress, guide
people to areas that need better coverage, and generally are the place
to ask questions about a whole broad area.
Steve
On 3/24/06, Guettarda <guettarda(a)gmail.com> wrote:
I haven't seen a portal that really achieves what
I am talking about - they
are good entrees to the subject, but they are really information guides.
One of the best WikiProjects I know is the Cricket WikiProject (which
actually has a pretty good Editors Guide, though not exactly along the lines
of what I am thinking of, at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Cricket/contribute. The
Cricket Portal is really impressive, and it points to the WikiProject, but
only secondarily. In addition, creating a Portal simply for the purpose of
pointing readers towards an "editors' guide" dilutes the Portal idea.
Even
starting a WikiProject just to create an editors' guide seems to be a bit
cart-before-horse.
Ian
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