Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Proposals/Oxfordshire

The following discussion is an archived proposal of the WikiProject below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the project's talk page (if created) or the WikiProject Council). No further edits should be made to this page.

The resulting WikiProject was not created

We have WikiProjects for most English counties, but not Oxfordshire. The scope for this WikiProject would be similar to those relating to other counties. Redrose64 (talk) 18:12, 4 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

There would be a certain amount overlap with WikiProject University of Oxford, but University-specific articles which have little to do with the county as a whole would not necessarily be within WikiProject Oxfordshire. --Redrose64 (talk) 11:28, 29 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Please specify whether or not you would join the project.

1. Redrose64 (talk) 18:12, 4 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
2. Folks at 137 (talk) 14:28, 13 December 2009 (UTC) unlikely to participate - own county needs attention[reply]
3. waggers (talk) 12:09, 29 January 2010 (UTC) (but I'm in a similar position to Folks at 137)[reply]
4. snigbrook (talk) 19:03, 6 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
5. Dharmaquila (talk) 22:42, 19 March 2010 (UTC) Would activly participate, would be my main activity on wikipedia if it were to come about[reply]
6. Motacilla (talk) 01:16, 22 March 2010 (UTC) Most of my editing is currently about places in Oxfordshire.[reply]
7. M1rtyn (talk) 07:35, 19 April 2010 (UTC) Thanks for the invite, Motacilla. I'd be an occasional contributor, but as a relatively recent ex-pat, I'd need to rely on online references.[reply]
8. 07bargem (talk) 15:58, 7 June 2010 (UTC) - I don't know a lot but I feel there should be a wikiproject for every county.[reply]
9. Kithira (talk) 22:06, 2 August 2010 (UTC) I would not join the project, but every county should have its own WikiProject.[reply]
10. Roleplayer (talk) 22:10, 14 August 2010 (UTC) - not likely to join as I have enough to do at the Buckinghamshire project. But every county should have a project.[reply]
11. Jaguar (talk) 20:19, 10 October 2010 (UTC) - I actually was thinking of setting up a WikiProject for Oxfordshire myself, but instead I created WikiProject Wiltshire. I think every county should have a project.[reply]

I did suggest this to somebody several months ago, but was ignored. I've only just found this formal proposal method. So, what do people think? --Redrose64 (talk) 18:12, 4 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Seems natural. This proposal could be publicised to contributors to relevant articles. Could establish support. Folks at 137 (talk) 19:48, 13 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah. I thought about going through the histories of some Oxfordshire-related articles and popping a note on the user talk pages of the significant contributors, but then I realised that I might fall foul of WP:CANVAS. The thing is, I can't find anything in Wikipedia:WikiProject Council or Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Guide about recruiting members once the proposal page has been raised, until you have five signatories and can then actually start the project - see Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Guide/WikiProject#Recruiting. It's catch-22. --Redrose64 (talk) 20:16, 13 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You know, you don't have to get five signitures, no one will stop you from creating one, it is just if you don't get a sufficient amount here then your WikiProject may fail. Secondly, I don't think that there is too much of a problem with leaving a friendly note to recent contributors, providing you don't pester them, of course. 95jb14 (talk) 21:20, 11 January 2010 (UTC), Founder of WikiProject Latin.[reply]

You might like to try contacting WikiProject University of Oxford to drum up some interest. I know the university isn't the county, but some of them live in the right place. And good luck from WikiProject Worcestershire - we're just starting up, so we'd enjoy the company :-) GyroMagician (talk) 06:39, 29 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Waggers (talk · contribs) might be interested, as he set up Portal:Oxfordshire. Bencherlite^Talk 11:27, 29 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, count me in. waggers (talk) 12:08, 29 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Not intending to extinguish fires here (far from it), but just pointing out that most (if not all) rural county projects have died on their feet in the last couple of years (information at Wikipedia:WikiProject England/Projects). There was a large discussion here about how county projects were losing strength, numbers and purpose (a discussion which influenced the creation of the joint Wikipedia:WikiProject Lancashire and Cumbria). Might I suggest pairing Oxfordshire up with one or more of its neighbours so as to increase numbers and rate of activity? The real problem with projects for areas with small populations (even the city projects for Bradford etc have died) appears to be that they don't attract enough editors. It's no real skin off my nose, but I'd love to see a fully fledged local/regional WikiProject really take off in 2010. --Jza84 |  Talk  12:41, 11 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm the editor to whom Redrose64 suggested the creation of a WikiProject Oxfordshire. I apologise for not replying at the time. I do thank RedRose64 for proposing the creation of a WikiProject and initiating the discussion.

Like Jza84 I'm concerned that a number of English county WikiProjects are dormant. Also I've no idea how much work would be required to maintain the WikiProject, and whether that time could be better spent just writing articles about subjects in Oxfordshire.

Looking no further than Oxfordshire's immediate neighbours, WP:NORTHANTS is new, WP:WARWICKSHIRE is rated as "low" activity, WP:BERKS, WP:BUCKS and WP:GLOUC are all tagged as "inactive", and there is no WP:WILTS yet. But what does "inactive" mean, anyone? It cannot mean that articles within those projects are not being edited, as articles within the scope of the Berks, Bucks and Gloucs WikiProjects have been worked on in recent months.

In reply to Jza84's suggestion of "pairing" Oxfordshire with one or more of its close neighbours, I don't know whether this would help. I would prefer to try a WP:OXON first before resorting to that option. However, were adjacent county WikiProjects to be combined, I suggest the candidates would have to be Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. My reasons are:

1. Berks and Bucks are the only neighbours of Oxon that are within the Government South East England region.

2. About a quarter of post-1974 Oxon is pre-1974 Berks!

3. Since 1881 Oxon and Bucks have shared the same light infantry regiment.

4. Berks, Bucks and Oxon share the same police force, safer roads partnership and county wildlife trust

5. The three counties share one ambulance service (albeit with Hampshire and the Isle of Wight).

6. Berks, Bucks and Oxon have all been in the Church of England Diocese of Oxford ever since it was created in 1540.

Were such a joint WikiProject to be created, I would counsel against calling it WikiProject Thames Valley. Much of the area of the three counties is outside the geographical Thames Valley and much of the Thames Valley is outside the three counties. "WikiProject Berks, Bucks and Oxon" would be longer and more prosaic, but more accurate and less ambiguous.

In the past I've joined various WikiProjects but then not done much work on them. In Oxfordshire I've already created and developed lots of articles, so if a WikiProject were created I would join it and continue editing. Motacilla (talk) 01:16, 22 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Please note, it wasn't Motacilla who was ignoring me, sorry.

I do agree that if a combined WikiProject be initiated, Berks/Bucks/Oxon would be a sensible grouping, for all the reasons given above. --Redrose64 (talk) 12:54, 22 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the project's talk page (if created) or at the WikiProject Council). No further edits should be made to this page.