English native speakers needed

[nurgle]

Hi,

looking at the recent changes in the CPC-Wiki I think many new articles could use some rephrasing. I am afraid my english is not good enough to do it properly, but it should be pretty easy to an english native speaker.

So if english is your primary language (or your english is very good for other reasons): Can you please have a look at the recent changes in the wiki? Thanks!

regards,
nurgle

[MacDeath]

Hi.
I must be one reason of so many engrish...

I'm not english too so this sucks a lot.
But I'm now more aware about "how to use a wiki" and will try to improove those when I can.

[Gryzor]

Dear MacDeath, if you have any questions in particular about the wiki technicalities, please do not hesitate to ask... if nothing else, someone else (me, for instance) can create an article for you if you stumble upon big trouble...

[MacDeath]

THX.

well, the main problem is to re-name pages.

I found out a solution :
--start a new properly named page/category
--copypaste the content.
--change the category spelling in every pages with this category.
--put the ex-page in the "page to delete" category.

Yet my problem is that I don't know how to deal with normal links to normal pages.
Maybe the search engine may help...?

Also can a modo delete a page ?

The problem can come also from characters : cappital letters and small letters (ex : A and a).

It seems the search engine screw with this, the wrong size and it don't find properly.

I often use to put cappital letters on strat of each word in tittles, is it wrong ?


Exemple : when I started the "Disk Drives" page... well, is it Disc or Disk ?
Also should I better say Floppy disk (disc ?) drive ?
"drive" or "drives" ?

The goal for this particular page was to put links to this kind of stuff, as 3" and 3"1/2 are not the same...
But a page which cover every stuff then redirect you to existing stuff...
Maybe i should have created a sub category of the Data storage category instead ?

Same with Datacorder...

Tape recorder ? Cassette recorder ? any other thing ?
also, Cassette, is it proper english ?  more Deutsches or Français in my opinion.


more generalist thoughts :

--Categories : in the "search bar" there's no link to categories page.
To get there I must click on a page, then click on category.

Or click on special pages, then categories...
Not that easy indeed.

Why not put in the search bar/menu (on the left side of the screen) the link to Categories ?

--redirects :

if pages are properlly named, "redirects" are maybe heavy for the system and useless, no ?

Let's just keep them for common abbreviation...

Also, the "User:me" and "me" pages, which are doubles in fact.

Yet how do I redirect properly?

--Games :
Do this wiki aims to include every games ? or just the most notable exemples, prime hits, special technical features and "Post amstrad commercial era" games ?

some games used to have sequels...
Why not "just" put page on the full series then ?

Rick Dangerous 2 = Rick Dangerous series....as exemple.

--Games categories :
also, should we put categories for games ? or just links to the said style in the explanation of the game ?

the exempel of "platforms" games...
Maybe having a second CPCgamesWiki would be better suitable ?

--Categories :
http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Special:Categories

there are no difference between categories and sub categories...not that easy.
Maybe adding a category: category and a category:sub category would ease, no ? er...probably not, lol.

Also : category:CPC
what the point of it ? every stuff enter this category, no ?



So, it would be nice to tell me the "direction" this wiki should take.
maybe reworking the Categories classment...

And some tips so i can be even more usefull.

[Executioner]

Exemple : when I started the "Disk Drives" page... well, is it Disc or Disk ?
Also should I better say Floppy disk (disc ?) drive ?
"drive" or "drives" ?

I think it should always be disc since the CPC is from the UK. Disk is the yankee version.

Tape recorder ? Cassette recorder ? any other thing ?
also, Cassette, is it proper english ?  more Deutsches or Français in my opinion.

Cassette is quite a well used term in English also, but Tape is more common. I'd stick with what they use in AMSDOS (ie. |DISC and |TAPE).

[Duffman]

I think it should always be disc since the CPC is from the UK. Disk is the yankee version.

Is disk not short for diskette?

[MacDeath]

Haha, push the Retro to the limits !

Seriously, England's citizen do not seem very active in the Amstrad CPC communitie nowadays... They prefered the Speccy to Amstrad finest (as eastern europeans...).

More an affair of Spanish, French, and Germans ?

Also, we always say in France :
"nous parlons Anglais  comme des vaches espanioles"
--"we speak English like Spanish cows"...

It's so true...
So I'm afraid you German fellows will have to fix that alone...

Diskette ? in French we say Disquettes...lol.
The -ette ending is french...

Is it possible to redirect more often then, so we may use the many words for the same concept or is it heavy for the Wiki-system ?

It is said in the Wiki that Amstrad CPC was a Hufge success...well...
not bad at all, but it was 3rd of his generation in fact, on par with MSX systems.

C64 : 30 millions...ouch. best selling even by today as computers are no more like that (same builder, no evolution...retro to the limit...).
Speccy : cheaper, cheaper, shittier...oops. but as cheaper, sold well in Eastern communist europe, also because massively cloned.

Then, Atari 8bit sold "well" mostly in America, Amstrad in Eastern europe (and was #1 only in France, maybe Spain too and on par with c64 in Deutschland ?)
MSX sold quite well too, but badly imported and yet was more a Japanese stuff...just like Amstrad was a French stuff...
WolrdWide, Amstrad is On par with MSX, yet MSX was like PC compatibles : many builders so Amstrad did full benefits with his system.
Also MSX had more evolutions, so compatibilities issues were had.

oops, I'm a bit off topic.

[Devilmarkus]

So we should call it

discqkette

[CPCLER]

Users from the UK are still more active than users from France on the CPCWIKI!

According to site statisics there is 18.07% from the UK and 13.32% from France!

I think it would be nice with more contributions from CPC users regardsless of where they come from in the world!

/CPCLER

Haha, push the Retro to the limits !

Seriously, England's citizen do not seem very active in the Amstrad CPC communitie nowadays... They prefered the Speccy to Amstrad finest (as eastern europeans...).

More an affair of Spanish, French, and Germans ?

Also, we always say in France :
"nous parlons Anglais  comme des vaches espanioles"
--"we speak English like Spanish cows"...

It's so true...
So I'm afraid you German fellows will have to fix that alone...

Diskette ? in French we say Disquettes...lol.
The -ette ending is french...

Is it possible to redirect more often then, so we may use the many words for the same concept or is it heavy for the Wiki-system ?

It is said in the Wiki that Amstrad CPC was a Hufge success...well...
not bad at all, but it was 3rd of his generation in fact, on par with MSX systems.

C64 : 30 millions...ouch. best selling even by today as computers are no more like that (same builder, no evolution...retro to the limit...).
Speccy : cheaper, cheaper, shittier...oops. but as cheaper, sold well in Eastern communist europe, also because massively cloned.

Then, Atari 8bit sold "well" mostly in America, Amstrad in Eastern europe (and was #1 only in France, maybe Spain too and on par with c64 in Deutschland ?)
MSX sold quite well too, but badly imported and yet was more a Japanese stuff...just like Amstrad was a French stuff...
WolrdWide, Amstrad is On par with MSX, yet MSX was like PC compatibles : many builders so Amstrad did full benefits with his system.
Also MSX had more evolutions, so compatibilities issues were had.

oops, I'm a bit off topic.

[fano]

oops, I'm a bit off topic.

OMG ! here too   

[MacDeath]

Users from the UK are still more active than users from France on the CPCWIKI!

Because it's in English...
And french speak english like Spanish cows...

OMG ! here too

Oops, I should go trolling elsewhere...

[fano]

You're true, we are not very good with other languages (look at me , i am writting in engrish  )

Oops, I should go trolling elsewhere...

No problemo m8, we like reading your rambling 

[Bryce]

Just a suggestion....

Would it be possible to add a flag that the author could tick (like the "Watch this Page")
So that "Natives" could read proof-read them when they are online and uncheck the flag when
the article has been verified.

Alternatively, a Wiki page with links to pages that need to be proof-read might also help,
but is obviously not as user-friendly.

[Bryce]

And why can I only log in as a guest here? Do I need to register seperately for the Forum?

[Gryzor]

And why can I only log in as a guest here? Do I need to register seperately for the Forum?

Yes, it's two different systems, two different programs, two different databases...

[MacDeath]

Just a suggestion....

Would it be possible to add a flag that the author could tick (like the "Watch this Page")
So that "Natives" could read proof-read them when they are online and uncheck the flag when
the article has been verified.

Alternatively, a Wiki page with links to pages that need to be proof-read might also help,
but is obviously not as user-friendly.

So adding a category, like the stub one, just to say such page contains bad spellings or non native english which may be unproper ?

[Bryce]

Yeah, more or less, just some way of knowing that the page needs checking, without having to go through every new page or edit. I'm sure every author knows them self how good their English is. I post to German and French sites too, and I'm well aware of my linguistic inadequacies in both German and French 

Bryce

[nurgle]

Brilliant idea! Did you add such a category already?

[Gryzor]

Ok, let's see all the issues at hand...

• According to Google Analytics, in 2009 we've had 11.5k visitors from the UK, 7.6k visitors from France, 7.1k visitors from Germany and 4.4k visitors from Spain. Denmark and Greece are quite high too, with 3.8k visitors each. Indeed some basic conventions should be used, but let's not worry too much about it. Yes, it should be disc rather than discquette, obviously, but how can you communicate the fact to all contributors if you have a long list? Maybe better to just correct entries as they come. I'm in favor of 'disc' myself, since the CPC is quite eurocentric anyways. Floppy drive is ok, I guess, but was it really used that much? I always called it a disc drive. Floppies came later on, to make the distinction with HDDs and stuff... I'm also in favor of 'tape recorder' since it's how it's been referenced too since dawn of time
• Copying/pasting a page's content to a new page is a no-no. According to the Wikipedia guidelines:
  
  

  Do not move or rename a page by copying/pasting its content, because doing so destroys the edit history.

  
  You can always move a page to a new one with the correct title - this is how renaming is done in mediawiki. And I think all users can do that - there should be a link at the top of the page.


• @MacDeath: about search engines and capitalisation: can you give an example? I never had an issue with titles containing capital letters...! Of course, IMO, there's no real reason to use capital letters for each word in a page's title, but it shouldn't cause a problem... About drives: indeed probably a sub-cat would be best, unless there's so much material that it'd warrant its own page.
• @MacDeath:Concerning categories: as per MacDeath's request, I added a categories link to the sidebar (near the top). But, IMO, categorising articles still needs some work... Btw, I didn't find a 'CPC' category...
• @MacDeath: what exactly do you mean by 'redirect'? I mean, what exactly do you want to do? Because redirection is quite specific in mediawiki, with some consequences...
• @MacDeath:Regarding games... ah.... This is a long-standing issue. I think that now that CPCZone is probably down for good maybe we should start adding all the games. Maybe merge with another site, such as CPCGamesReviews? Or share their content instead of reinventing the wheel? Anyhow, this is a big question... should we be a GameBase as well? I think it'd be nice If we do it then yes, it should be quite organized, with proper categories (genre/year/publisher maybe...?) and all.
• @Bruce: Flagging pages would be a nice feature, but how exactly would it work? I mean, would the author flag it for proofreading? I don't think many would... On the other hand, maybe we could make it so that edits/creations need to be approved, but this would break the immediacy of it all. One way to keep an eye on it all is to follow the rss feed of 'recent changes.' I have tried to do it in the past and have corrected quite a few things, but it's too much for one person to do (and I just realised my RSS reader (FeedDemon) stopped following the RSS, so I missed quite a few, darn!).

There are a few questions I didn't reply to because I didn't quite understand them... but let's keep the discussion alive

[Bryce]

Morning all,
         I assume you're refering to me, when you say "Bruce" I agree that pages shouldn't be proof-read before they go online and as you said, most users wouldn't click the proof-read flag if it existed, but if there was one, that was set "On" as default, when a new page is written, then the Native speakers could proof-read and uncheck the flags and it would be easy to see what had been checked and what hadn't?

Disc was always used when referring to CPC Discs. Floppies only refers to the 5.25" PC Discs (or the 8" Discs if like me, you are old enough to remember them). Tape Recorder was used to refer to the Audio recorders that were popular at the time and the 8-Bit equivalents inherited this name too, although some people did call them Tape-drives. There was also shorter versions of the normal 60/90min cassettes which were usually 15mins long and were referred to as "Datasettes", but I hated this name and stuck with "Cassettes".

Bryce

[Gryzor]

Hello Bruce

This will require an extension, and I haven't seen one anywhere... but I'll try asking