Talk:New York County Creation Dates and Parent Counties

This information already appears on the county pages (or should). What is the value of having a separate page like this rather than sending readers directly to the county page? It is fine information, but this page seems redundant and unnecessary to me. DiltsGD 16:07, 5 November 2010 (UTC)


 * The decision to have this state and 49 other states was made by the Sysop management. And very useful as well because it shows in a single page the quick succession of condensed information because not all information are shown on county pages. Dsammy 18:00, 5 November 2010 (UTC)


 * The unwise redundant multiplication of pages makes the Wiki confusing and unreliable. When readers are forced to decide between several pages that may contain the same information they are forced to read each page, and are left wondering if there is yet another page with slightly more information that they have not yet discovered. Contributors may be surprized by the use of multiple pages for the same information and update only the one they know about. This will lead to one page being more reliable than another and cast doubt on the credibility of the Wiki. Having two pages with the same information is wasteful of both contributor and reader time. This page should be deleted, or the county pages should be deleted. Having two pages with similar information is inherently bad for the Wiki. If the justification for this redundant page was that "not all information are shown on county pages," then the wiser choice would have been to put that information on the county pages. It is sad that so much time has been wasted creating this beautiful page and the other 49 state pages, but for the good of the Wiki they need to be deleted.


 * Another way this page is ill-advised is that county formation information belongs at the county level. It is a county topic. This page is a statewide page for a county kind of a topic. Mixing county and state level information introduces another level of confusion for contributors and readers. Putting county level information on a statewide level page is fundamentally off-topic. We need to focus on keeping information at the appropriate level to keep the Wiki as simple, straightforward, and readable as possible.
 * DiltsGD 13:31, 6 November 2010 (UTC)
 * Let's put this another way... are you saying we should hop around the counties only to discover the neighboring counties were created from different counties or whatever when one page will tell us at a glance which way counties are tracked back? This answer apply to one you put up for Pennsylvania, too. Dsammy 18:18, 6 November 2010 (UTC)
 * Were the equivalent pages on Wikipedia produced as a holding tank until they could be distributed across the county pages? Here is an example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_counties_in_Kentucky. I like that nice big clickable map at the bottom of the page. I can see how it would be twice the work to keep both pages updated. But then again, I wonder how often this type of information would need updating??? Murphynw 19:54, 6 November 2010 (UTC)
 * The answer is no. The question of a holding page never came up at all. You will have to ask the Sysops for the reason for these Creation Dates Pages, which predated your employment with the FHL. Dsammy
 * I doubt that genealogists ever need to know the county formation dates of more than one county at a time. But even if they did, I cannot believe the minute or two saved by such readers looking up multiple county formation dates on this page would be worth the mass confusion, chaos and thousands of hours lost that will result from establishing the precedent that every piece of information can be allowed on at least two pages.
 * No, it is far more important we establish here and now that information should be on one-and-only-one page. Where appropriate links or references to that information can be given on other pages. No good can come from organizational duplicity on the Wiki. The MoS should reflect, and every effort should be extended to keep the appearance of information on one Wiki page only.
 * Likewise, it is equally important we establish here and now that information must be on pages at the appropriate organizational level. County information belongs on county level pages, and state information belongs on state level pages. No good can come from mixing two different levels of information. Putting county formation data on a statewide page is poor Wikicraftsmanship.


 * These principles apply to New York, Pennsylvania, all the other 48 states, and every page of every nation, state, province, principality, county, shire, canton, city, town, village, crossroad, or topic of the Wiki. DiltsGD 15:38, 7 November 2010 (UTC)