Wikipedia talk:Education program archive/Nanyang Technological University/ Information Technology (Spring 2015)

Please enter comments/ discussions regarding the assignment here. - Twotino (talk) 14:58, 26 March 2015 (UTC)

Talk pages of nonexistent articles

Hello. Your instructions are leading students to create talk pages like Talk:5k resolution associated with nonexistent articles. You should be aware that these are subject to speedy deletion under WP:CSD G8. Perhaps there's a different way to accomplish whatever it is you intend to be accomplishing through those talk pages. —Largo Plazo (talk) 14:42, 3 April 2015 (UTC)

@Largoplazo: The instructions are basically what was suggested by the Wikimedia Foundation and the course assignment wizard. Could you please tell us precisely which instruction you're referring to? The students shouldn't be creating new talk pages. Twotino (talk)

@Twotino: It's under Week 3, Drafting Starter Articles, the second bullet item: "By the start of our next class, find an article you want to work on and mark the article's talk page with a banner to let other editors know you're working on it. To add the banner, add this code in the top section of the talk page: ...." Since the actual creation of the article is further down the list of instructions, it means that the students are being instructed to place banners on talk pages of the articles that don't exist yet. —Largo Plazo (talk) 04:06, 4 April 2015 (UTC)

@Largoplazo: Thanks. Do note that there's this instruction as well just below:

If you are starting a new article, write a 3–4 paragraph summary version of your article—with citations—in your Wikipedia sandbox.

As I had mentioned previously, these and other set of instructions here aren't what we drafted ourselves; they are based on the guidelines suggested by the Wikimedia Foundation, and are generated based on the course-assignment wizard I linked to earlier. While we'd be happy to clarify to our students that if they are starting a new article, they need not follow the instructions for the talk page, you really ought to work with the Wikimedia Foundation if you'd like to get these instructions re-drafted; other universities will also be generating the same set of instructions as us. Twotino (talk) 11:16, 5 April 2015 (UTC)

There isn't any burden on me to pursue this, as I'm just an ordinary Wikipedia editor who routinely flags Talk pages unaccompanied by articles for deletion because Wikipedia's maintenance guidelines provide for that. I just happen to have realized that this was going to create a recurring problem for your students since they were receiving instructions (wherever they originally came from) that were going to lead to frustration when they tried to follow them, and decided to point it out to you. I suggest that you, instead should bring this to the attention of the Wikimedia Foundation and ask them for guidance. They may say, "Oh, thanks, we see why this is causing a problem," and revise the instructions. Or they may update the maintenance guidelines to exempt Talk pages with an education program banner from deletion. —Largo Plazo (talk) 14:24, 6 April 2015 (UTC)

Account sharing

As long as I'm here: Recently I came across user accounts created in association with this program that were evidently being shared by two or more people. Please see the policy on this at WP:NOSHARING. —Largo Plazo (talk) 14:45, 3 April 2015 (UTC)

@Largoplazo: Thanks. We're aware of the policy; we had warned the students not to share accounts before. We'll send an email notification again through the university announcement system. Could you tell us which account was being shared here? Twotino (talk)

@Twotino: They were:

• User:NBSIT15s2 (identifying self as "Jonas, Wei Hao and Sid"[1])

• User:OperationData (identifying self as "Yuan Yi and Bartholomew"[2] and greeting NBSIT15s2 as such[3])

• User:Jasslimhuimin (identifying self as "Ai Wey and Jass"[4] and greeting Sohwanru as such[5])

—Largo Plazo (talk) 04:20, 4 April 2015 (UTC)

@Largoplazo: Thanks. This was when the students just signed up for their accounts; we had subsequently spoken with one set and have warned the others to create separate accounts for themselves. I don't think the students would have reused the same account after this. Twotino (talk) 11:10, 5 April 2015 (UTC)

How to add an article if it's a new article?

I dont get how to add a new article to the class course page. My article is still sitting in the sandbox. And what does it mean to add the banner?

Thank you for your assistance.

Brandongjy93 (talk) 11:59, 10 April 2015 (UTC)

@Brandongjy93: You've already added the article to the class course-page. We basically are asking students like you to specify in the talk page of your articles that you're doing this as part of a class-assignment; this will re-direct editors to this page, and they can tell us if they have further problems. The easiest way to put the banner up is to copy-paste the code for the banner into the talk-page, a bit like how it was done at Talk:Project Naptha.

However, I notice that your article on Caroussell was rejected for inclusion. Please email me at the NTU email further; can try and help you there. -Twotino (talk) 12:59, 11 April 2015 (UTC)

@Twotino: I would suggest using a slightly more specific entry for "term =" as Spring is not at the same time worldwide! Perhaps "Spring (April) 2015", if the template accepts it of course! 220 of ^Borg 18:40, 14 April 2015 (UTC)

@220 of Borg: Thanks. We generally use the term 'second semester' in Singapore, but Spring term is generally understood. I didn't want to modify the template more than was already designed, so we decided to leave it at that.

Yes, the students are required to put the banner up to show that they're editting the page as part of this course. -Twotino (talk) 06:16, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

@Brandongjy93: like this {{course assignment | course = User:Twotino/Information Technology | term = Spring 2015 }}

See {{course assignment}} for more information about the 'banner' template. 220 of ^Borg 18:40, 14 April 2015 (UTC)

Actually the course page says to add:

{{course assignment|course=Education Program:Nanyang Technological University/ Information Technology (Spring 2015)|term=Spring 2015}}

The 'banner' on Talk:Project Naptha is the one I pasted further above. 220 of ^Borg 18:47, 14 April 2015 (UTC)