Talk:North Coast (California)

Redwood Empire v. North Coast

Prior to being changed to redirect to this article, the Redwood Empire page said:

The Redwood Empire (also Redwood Coast or North Coast) is a region of California that stretches from the Golden Gate to the southern coast of Oregon. It consists of eight counties, all but one of which front the Pacific Ocean or San Francisco Bay, and is named for the Coast Redwood tree (distinct from the Giant Sequoia), a species which can reach 112 meters (350 feet) in height, and only grows within 80 km (50 miles) of the coast. There is some overlap between the Redwood Empire and California's Wine Country.

The Redwood Empire is generally regarded as comprising Marin, Sonoma, Napa, Lake, Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte counties in California, with Josephine County in Oregon sometimes included as well.

Major towns and cities of the region include San Rafael, Novato, Petaluma, Santa Rosa, Ukiah, Mendocino, Fort Bragg, Eureka, Arcata, and Crescent City.

The region includes Humboldt Redwoods State Park, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park and Redwood National Park. Together these parks have more than 45 percent of all the old-growth redwood forest in California.

The two articles ended up being merged because the areas they cover are virtually equivalent. But today, User:137.150.40.187 changed this article to say:

The North Coast (also Redwood Empire or Redwood Coast) is a region of the U.S. state of California commonly including Marin County, Sonoma County, Mendocino County, Humboldt County, and Del Norte County.

The lower reaches of the North Coast are largely urbanizedThe southern edge of the North Coast is sometimes referred to as the Redwood Empire region and is largely urbanized ...

That's a rather large difference, and it came with no discussion, no edit summary, and no sources, so I'm changing it back. If someone does have sources regarding what the Redwood Empire is/isn't, feel free to revert me, but otherwise, could we discuss changes here first? Dori (Talk • Contribs) 03:17, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

And again

Yesterday, User:137.150.40.187 added almost identical changes again, to:

The North Coast (also Redwood Empire or Redwood Coast) is a region of the U.S. state of California commonly including Marin County, Sonoma County, Mendocino County, Humboldt County, and Del Norte County.

The lower reaches of the North Coast are largely urbanizedThe southern area of the North Coast (referred to as the Redwood Empire) is largely urbanized ...

with an edit summary of "To whom it may concern: The "redwood empire" is the term used by the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat to refer to Marin/Sonoma/Mendocino County area, and *omits* Humboldt and Del Norte, thus not inclusive." I looked, and I didn't see any such distinction at the PD site. On the NorthBay.com site, on their high school track blog, there's an article called What is the Redwood Empire?—but (1) that only applies to high school track, not to the area overall, and (2) that article describes the region as Sonoma, Lake & Mendocino counties. And then again, this PD article describes the region as "Sonoma County, Marin County, Mendocino County and Humboldt-Del Norte regions." Consequently, I'm reverting User:137.150.40.187's edit, and adding the PD citation that backs the previous version. Dori (Talk • Contribs) 09:43, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

Article now Start class; rated Low

While looking at the CA WP page, I wanted to see why this stub article was rated Top. There is no reason for this stub article to be rated at that level. In addition, while it still needs more references, it is now Start class. The article is now rated, Start/Low. The bot rated message was removed as per its hidden template message. --Ronbo76 (talk) 13:40, 14 April 2010 (UTC)

Other less significant regions were rated mid level, leading me to elevate this one to that level. How could an entire region be of low importance to a state? Norcalal (talk) 16:19, 14 April 2010 (UTC)

I agree with you. However, one of the things I do not like about the Level rating is that you are given only three choices: Low, Mid and High. Most WPs I belong to use Low quite a bit. Mid's description for too many articles seems weak and puts over emphasis on the article IMHO. That is why I did not go with that rating. As per my initial observation, I could not believe our WP had a High level Stub. I think the Levels need to have more choices (at least four) like the Class status. That way an article's Level is not overstated. --Ronbo76 (talk) 16:56, 14 April 2010 (UTC)

This begs the question: How much of the rating is related to the overall importance of the topic vs. the quality of the article? Norcalal (talk) 03:11, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

I see them as being somewhat independent which is why I came to this article. I was looking at the WP CA stub articles trying to see which I might have an interest in developing. North Coast seemed to speak to me. However, when I looked it, there was no way it was Top. Now, if you live in that area and part of WP CA, it might be Top or Mid to you. To the rest of the project it would not be Top or Mid. And that's where the rub comes in. Like you, I do not believe a Low conveys all it should. Low should be similar to Start class meaning that while it is of interest to the project, it does not affect the overall knowledge or depth of the project. I believe that the importance level should have four or five levels. Low would be "this belongs here but is not the end all." Intermediate - "contributes to the project in a meaningful way. Mid - "needed for an understanding of the project". Top - "of utmost need in defining the understanding of the project". Top, Mid and Low don't cut it. --Ronbo76 (talk) 03:20, 15 April 2010 (UTC)