Wikipedia:Centralized discussion/2005 Atlantic hurricane season effects

Given their closeness in time and location, it strikes me that it will soon become difficult to separate the respective economic, political, and social effects of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. How would my fellow editors feel about moving the articles covering these aspects for Hurricane Katrina (Economic effects of Hurricane Katrina, Political effects of Hurricane Katrina, and Social effects of Hurricane Katrina) to Economic effects of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, Political effects of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, and Social effects of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season? -- BD2412 ^talk 00:23, 22 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps timeline also. AlMac|^(talk) 00:21, 22 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]
- ^{Note: above response copied from Talk:Hurricane Katrina. -- BD2412 ^talk 00:30, 22 September 2005 (UTC)}[reply]
It's possible the nationwide effects could be taken together, but we still need a whole host of articles for the localized impacts. Since the effects of Rita are speculation at this point, I don't think we need the new articles now. Will we need them in a few days? Possibly, but I'd rather separate things now because these articles will fill up with information and get very large very quickly. Make separate articles for the effects of Rita when needed; after the hurricane season is over we can consider condensing things and closing articles then. To put it briefly, I think combined articles would end up way too big.Kevin M Marshall 00:25, 22 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]
- ^{Note: above response copied from Talk:Hurricane Rita. -- BD2412 ^talk 00:29, 22 September 2005 (UTC)}[reply]
I say wait until we see what happens with this hurricane first. I think everyone's a little on edge because of Katrina, so let's see what the effects are after the effects happen. RADICALBENDER ★ 00:34, 22 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Rita hasn't even made landfall in Texas yet. I would develop everything per standard procedure and wait a couple of weeks before even thinking about this seriously.--Pharos 00:40, 22 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]
- I'm not trying to be a Cassandra, but there are poverty-stricken evacuees from Katrina who are now being bused by the hundreds to another city for the second time this month. Gas prices are spiking for a second time as well. While the criticisms regarding the response to Katrina should stay separate (as the same problems will likely not be repeated), the other political effects - e.g. policy debates on disaster preparedness - will be affected in a unitary way. -- BD2412 ^talk 00:58, 22 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]
  - To the extent that there are unitary effects, I really don't think they will be clear at all until at least a week or two after it hits. I think to do it sooner would be putting the cart before the horse.--Pharos 01:03, 22 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

It may become difficult to separate them, that's speculation -- presumably both have short term immediate effects somewhere, and the immediate effects will be the most obvious change - Rita will have some effect before it reaches land, as people anticipate its arrival, too, in the end-run, the sum of its effect may depend on the land area hit (if any), there would be some longer lasting effects each storm would have that can be distinguished, and yes, there could be a combined effect, say if Rita were to impact the United States as predicted.. in the future it could begin to become hard for our sources to distinguish longer-term effects which then seem to be a 'combined' effect, not verifiably attributable to just one of them (and only the result.. the effects of having 2 storms, not just 1), but let's not assume this will be the case ahead of time. As the situation develops, it should become more clear about which subjects should be merged into one article -- which will be appropriate. The Hurricane season itself continues even after both of these storms, too, by the way, so the article technically would continue to be speculative until the end of November. Document the immediate, verifiable effects first. Wait and see on the long term effects, at least, until good sources and expert opinions appear to back up the idea of combined effects. --Mysidia (talk) 01:12, 22 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]
A good idea, though perhaps we should wait until the official ending of the hurricane sason before proceeding (we can get lots of post-season roundups from the newspapers). Neutrality^talk 01:44, 22 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I think it's premature to do this at this point, and I think that the primary entry search for the articles will still be the hurricane names, for years to come. People will remember those. But more importantly, since we have the power to change things as needed literally on the spot, there's no reasaon to worry about this now. This is the sort of thing that my inclination is to say "let's revisit this in 5 years". (Realistically, since that's an eternity in WikiYears, I'd say wait a year... or at least until the end of Atlantic hurricane season!) --MCB 08:15, 22 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I may have been a bit hasty in putting this thought forward. There are certain matters that I reasonably anticipate will become entangled, but I agree that those can be addressed at the end of the season. One thing that seems immediate to me, however, is the effect these hurricanes are having in terms of dispersing people. A point that I touched above is that there are people who were moved from New Orleans to Houston, and who are now being bused to Arkansas, Tennessee, Atlanta, and who knows where else - and this is an effect that has already manifested, well before Rita's landfall. -- BD2412 ^talk 08:41, 22 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Wait until everything has happened and blown over and things have settled back to normal, and then see what can be merged and tidied. Anthony Appleyard 10:53, 24 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]