Talk:Morgantown, West Virginia

Wikipedia:Etiquette - I think a reminder about behavior on Wikipedia is in order here

Principles of Wikipedia etiquette

• Assume good faith. Comply with etiquette ethics. Wikipedia has worked remarkably well so far based on a policy of nearly complete freedom to edit. People come here to collaborate and write good articles.
• Remember The Golden Rule: Treat others as you would have them treat you—even if they are new. We were all new once.
• Be polite: "A soft answer turneth away wrath".
• Keep in mind that raw text may be ambiguous and often seems ruder than the same words coming from a person standing in front of you. Irony is not always obvious when written—Remember that text comes without facial expressions, vocal inflection, or body language. Be careful choosing the words you write: what you mean might not be what others understand. Likewise, be careful how you interpret what you read: what you understand might not be what others mean.
• Unless you have an excellent reason not to do so, sign and date your posts to talk pages (not articles).
• Work towards agreement.
• Argue facts, not personalities.
• Do not make misrepresentations.
• Do not ignore questions.
• If another disagrees with your edit, provide good reasons why you think that it is appropriate.
• Concede a point when you have no response to it, or admit when you disagree based on intuition or taste.
• Be civil.
• Although it is understandably difficult in an intense argument, if other editors are not as civil as you would like them to be, be more civil than they are, not less. That way at least you are not moving towards open conflict and name-calling; by your own action you are actively doing something about it: take a hit and refrain from hitting back—everybody appreciates that (or at least they should).
• Do not hesitate to let the others know if you are not comfortable with their tone (e.g., "I feel that you have been sarcastic above, and I don't feel good about it. Let's try to resolve the issue: I think the article would be more understandable if ...").
• Be prepared to apologize. In animated discussions, we often say things we later wish we had not. Say so.
• Forgive and forget.
• Recognize your own biases, and keep them in check.
• Give praise when due. Everybody likes to feel appreciated, especially in an environment that often requires compromise. Drop a friendly note on users' talk pages.
• Remove or summarize resolved disputes that you initiated.
• Help mediate disagreements between others.
• If you are arguing, take a break. If you are mediating, recommend a break.
• Take it slowly. If you are angry, spend time away from Wikipedia instead of posting or editing. Come back in a day or a week. You may find that someone else made the desired change or comment for you. If you think mediation is needed, enlist someone.
• Walk away or find another Wikipedia article to distract yourself—there are 6,948,477 articles in English on Wikipedia. Take up a Wikiproject, lend your much-needed services at Cleanup, or write a new article.
• Nominate yourself for a list of other articles to work on, provided by SuggestBot.
• Remember what Wikipedia is not.
• Review the list of faux pas.
• Avoid reverts whenever possible, and stay within the three-revert rule except in cases of clear vandalism. Explain reversions in the edit summary box.
• Amend, edit, discuss.
• Remind yourself that these are people with whom you are dealing. They have feelings, and probably have other people in the world who love them. Try to treat others with dignity. The world is a big place, with different cultures and conventions. Do not use jargon that others might not understand. Use acronyms carefully and clarify if there is the possibility of any doubt.
• When reverting other people's edits, give a rationale for the revert (on the article's talk page, if necessary), and be prepared to enter into an extended discussion over the edits in question. Calmly explaining your thinking to others can often result in their agreeing with you; being dogmatic or uncommunicative evokes the same behavior in others, and gets you embroiled in an edit war.

All editors need to keep these principles in mind when they post on this (or any) Wikipedia talkpage. Think before you post, walk away before you post, sincerely try to do nothing in haste or in anger.
Shearonink (talk) 01:14, 24 August 2011 (UTC)

Excellent advice - beautifully put, and timely. Gold star to Shearonink :o) Pesky (talk …stalk!) 05:03, 24 August 2011 (UTC)

Hear hear. Important reminder, this discussion has reeked of biting the newbies. Steven Zhang ^{The clock is ticking....} 06:33, 26 August 2011 (UTC)

For the record, as noted above, I started out being extremely nice, and he attacked me immediately. As recently as two days ago, he was still calling me names. I hope you're not saying you're OK with his schoolyard name-calling, of which I have refrained. He doesn't have the right to call me names. --Tenebrae (talk) 13:03, 26 August 2011 (UTC)

(Redacted):I --3TonCatInTheRoom (talk) 23:11, 26 August 2011 (UTC)3TonCatInTheRoom

The rules should apply to everyone, but you're right that established editors are generally expected to know the rules better than newbies are. However, your statement "you are acting immature about the whole thing", is, in and of itself, a violation of our civility rules - it's, sadly, more name-calling. Please don't resort to name-calling, even if it's happened to you. Two wrongs don't make a right, and never will do. I think at this stage you should probably redact that comment - a strike-out will do, or you can put that comment into a {{redacted|''your comment''}} envelope. It's time for the incivility to stop, and an apology would not go amiss. Pesky (talk …stalk!) 10:17, 28 August 2011 (UTC)

As these two have been at it for weeks, it may be time to block both of them. I am tired of this talk page being abused for what is now becoming months. Edits to the page by either one should be automatically reverted. VMS Mosaic (talk) 12:48, 28 August 2011 (UTC)

I'm all for doing that voluntarily. And I'll stay away from his talk page if he'll stay away from mine.--Tenebrae (talk) 00:20, 30 August 2011 (UTC)

TO ThatPeskyCommoner: Did my best to redact it

TO Tenebrae: I dont believe I have ever made an edit on your talk page, but you have made several on mine. --— Preceding unsigned comment added by 3TonCatInTheRoom (talk • contribs) 3:55, 30 August 2011

I'd like to make a suggestion here. Both editors who have been arguing with each other have made their points about what they view as the inadequate debating style of the other editor. Since these points have been thoroughly made, here is my suggestion: Let's have a permanent truce, in which no further references are made to past alleged debating transgressions. It's obvious to me that both editors care deeply about making this article as good as possible, so henceforth let's just discuss what should go in the article, without referring to past discussions on this page. Duoduoduo (talk) 17:30, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

Sounds good to me, a talkpage's purpose is for interested editors to discuss ways to improve the article itself, I don't think the article is up to Good Article status yet. The introductory paragraphs of the History section, for instance, are completely unreferenced. Shearonink (talk) 20:17, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

Infobox image

The quality of the new image is better than the slightly fuzzy previous image. Yet while that one was mostly rooftops, this is one is mostly water and university buildings. Perhaps there is a wide-angle ground-level photo downtown available somewhere? --Tenebrae (talk) 21:09, 13 May 2012 (UTC)

Explanation of city motto found – how should we include it?

Morgantown’s motto “Vestigia nulla retrorsum regina monongahelae” has been analyzed in this comment on this Livejournal post about the motto. The comment explains the English translation of the motto and the history it references, and cites an employee of the Morgantown History Museum.

I’m not sure where in this article the information about the motto should go. I’m also not sure if that information needs a better source to be able to be included. Thus, I’m dropping this pointer to the information here in the hopes that someone who knows Wikipedia better can add that information properly. – Rory O'Kane (talk) 21:57, 3 October 2012 (UTC)

I'm afraid Livejournal is an WP:SPS and can't be cited. I'll look around — maybe there's a newspaper article or something somewhere that translates it. --Tenebrae (talk) 00:30, 5 October 2012 (UTC)

And actually, I've found a snippet view of a Polk's City Directory for Morgantown, W.Va., that says the motto is actually "Regina Monongahelae — Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum". I'll fix it with the cite. --Tenebrae (talk) 00:41, 5 October 2012 (UTC)

OK, it's definitely not "The Queen of the Monongahela has nothing to return to." One translation I've found says "Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum" means "no backward step," which makes a lot more sense. I would also note for the metaphor-challenged Livejournal writer that "Queen of the Monongahela" clearly does not refer to a beauty pageant but to the town itself. I'll try a Latin dictionary next. --Tenebrae (talk) 00:52, 5 October 2012 (UTC)

Google Translate isn't much use: "Trace back." Right. --Tenebrae (talk) 00:54, 5 October 2012 (UTC)

From a couple of others, it does appear to mean "No backward step," but since this would be original research and may not even be exactly correct, so I don't think we can translate it offhand. --Tenebrae (talk) 00:59, 5 October 2012 (UTC)

No. 1 Small City in America

According to an ad by WVU, the town was named "No. 1 Small City in America" by BizJournals.com. I haven't been able to confirm it at that Web site, though. Kdammers (talk) 02:28, 27 June 2015 (UTC)

And the Chamber of Commerce (http://www.morgantownchamber.org/about-the-morgantown-area/morgantowns-location/) says the town was "Ranked third in the nation for Best Small City for Business and Careers by Forbes Magazine!"Kdammers (talk) 02:37, 27 June 2015 (UTC)

Proposed merge with Sabraton, West Virginia

Sabraton is a neighborhood within the incorporated city limits of Morgantown. The Sabraton, West Virginia article is just a stub which can easily be incorporated within the larger Morgantown article. Bitmapped (talk) 00:19, 17 June 2017 (UTC)

• Support - Seems reasonable, since the Morgantown article does a good job describing each of its neighborhoods. Magnolia677 (talk) 14:59, 17 June 2017 (UTC)