User talk:Smkolins
New editing method[edit]
I have enabled a new editing method, called "Visual Editor". There are now two edit tabs at the top of any page. The one you're familiar with is renamed "Edit source". The new one is just "Edit", which provides a way to edit the text of a page while hiding the code and formatting. It will be like you're editing without leaving the page (in theory). It's a new feature and may not be working 100% correctly. Also, it may take up to 30 seconds to load the first time you try. Let me know if you have any problems. David (talk) 13:48, 30 August 2016 (PDT)
- Well unfortunately it seems like this feature is not ready for prime time, and was failing on certain large pages. Will have to try again later. David (talk) 22:10, 30 August 2016 (PDT)
OK, the feature has been rolled out and the bugs fixed. It should work now on every page, even your very large ones. David (talk) 21:17, 6 September 2016 (PDT)
1917[edit]
Amazing contributions so far! You've really been able to find a lot of interesting and unique information. One thing I was thinking, though: It'll probably be necessary to create new pages for some of these entries, so that we can keep the material on 1917 nice and brief. As an example, the entries on year pages on Wikipedia generally consist of brief, simple statements of one or two short sentences: See 1917.
So, for instance, the paragraph that starts "An observance of the Birth Centenary was held by the Chicago House of Spirituality, a precursor to local assembly, at the Auditorium Hotel, ninth floor..." could be split into either a history section in Chicago, or an article on Chicago House of Spirituality, with the remaining entry on "1917" reading something like "An observance of the Birth Centenary was held by the Chicago House of Spirituality, a precursor to local assembly."
Likewise, the paragraph about Portland could be split into Portland, Oregon, with a brief summary remaining behind. The information on Beatrice Irwin could go into that article, etc, etc. Just some thoughts about keeping things nice and readable as we build up the year articles! --Dragfyre (talk) 16:11, 15 July 2017 (PDT)
- I agree at some point things could split up. I was trying to keep things relatively limited (so not every meeting, but patterns of activities of communities, etc.) It also depends if this is seen as more a list or a narrative or a series of them at least. There is also a limit at least so far on how much can be done developing each of these into community histories of which 1917 is just a part of. Smkolins (talk) 16:34, 15 July 2017 (PDT)
- In this article's case, it should be a list. We could always consider creating a narrative to pass around to people, but all the year articles here on Bahaikipedia should be lists, as they are on WP. Dragfyre (talk) 16:53, 15 July 2017 (PDT)
- All of that said, of course it's not urgent to do the splitting :) I was mainly noting it for future reference. Dragfyre (talk) 16:55, 15 July 2017 (PDT)
- Yeap - it may take some time unless we just end up with stubs. But Historical mentions of the Bábí/Bahá'í Faiths began this way too. But developing even sketches of community histories like this takes more than just a few hands. I've entirely ignored most of the free content hoping more would take part….Smkolins (talk) 17:02, 15 July 2017 (PDT)
Discussion on site organization[edit]
FYI: I started a discussion on site organization at the Pilgrim House. Feel free to pitch in when you have some time! Dragfyre (talk) 14:57, 23 August 2017 (PDT)
Full names[edit]
I noticed that there are a lot of biographical articles that use a person's full name as their title, such as Sarah Elizabeth Martin Eason Pereira. I think it's fine to include a person's full name in bold at the beginning of the article's lead, but I don't think it's a good idea to use it as a title—the title should link to the form of their name that's most commonly used. For example, if newspaper articles call her Sarah Pereira, then the title of her bio should be Sarah Pereira. Thoughts? Dragfyre (talk) 06:58, 18 October 2017 (PDT)
- or as their grave marker is... i get into the roots of the work and see the breadth of the tree - it can use they eye of more than one person to make the article better. But I’ld like to keep an eye towards an international standard of how people’s names are set forth. But with just a few if us here it may be premature to say what is “right”.08:41, 18 October 2017 (PDT)
- Fair enough. We don't really have to get it perfect, because we can always create redirects. I'd say a rule of thumb could be, if you mostly see someone referred to as X, then the title should be X. Then we can create redirects at Y and Z if those are used less often. Dragfyre (talk) 08:45, 18 October 2017 (PDT)
Geographical articles[edit]
Hi there! I've been making some updates to geographical articles lately, and I was wondering if you could take a look at the new lede on North America sometime to see if you can think of any potential improvements. Thanks! Dragfyre (talk) 20:10, 23 October 2018 (PDT)
- Looks well developed. I had some minor quibbles on wording. See what you think. --Smkolins (talk) 03:33, 27 October 2018 (PDT)
New topic at Pilgrim House: Vital articles[edit]
Hi! Just wanted to let you know that there's a new topic at the Bahaipedia:Pilgrim_house that you might be interested in. Dragfyre (talk) 21:11, 7 April 2019 (PDT)
Dare ya[edit]
Dare you to write about someone from West Virginia! Dragfyre (talk) 20:33, 22 November 2021 (PST)
- Someday someone dared the Baha’is to find a white southern woman to address a black community leader who was visiting Green Acre. Terah Cowart Smith happened to be there her first time. So do you have someone in mind ? Lol.Smkolins (talk) 02:37, 23 November 2021 (PST)
O - and see discord. Dragfyre Smkolins (talk) 04:10, 23 November 2021 (PST)
Getting connected[edit]
Hi Smkolins, I'm new to this platform and not sure if this is the way to go about getting connected, but... I am the great granddaughter of Louise Dixon Boyle and noticed that you have been adding to and editing her page. I would love to get in contact with you as I have been working on a special project around the Brittingham/Dixon/Boyle family history as it relates to the Baha'i Faith. If you are open to connecting, please email me. Kindly,…
Thousands[edit]
On occasion I've said various forms of noting that there is far more to be done than has been done, despite the number of people and the years of work already done. Finally someone asked me to make a list… which I will here attempt.
- Only about half the countries and territories of the world have a modest if reasonable history of the Faith in that country, and that variously contentions because of the question of independent sources let alone various conflicting definitions of counting what is a Baha'i not only geographically but historically.
Centering on the United States mostly…. Basically a systematic history of the Faith reaches to about 1912-1913 thanks to the years of work of Dr. Stockman and then falls into biographies of Hands of the Cause and a few other major figures who, in their lives, then cross decades. The introduction chapter of Richard Hollinger's (ed) Community Histories being perhaps the most well developed history of the United States across about a century of development. To update and extend that history a great deal of work needs to be done.
- A slight handful of work has been done on regional/state/province histories, some of which the Wilmette Institute has done seminars on, but most of the 50 US states remain to be done and or their stories made equal access. Having at least one assembly per state was a goal of the first Seven Year Plan (1937-1944). Yet those communities have essentially no history documented and shared. Histories of those cities would be a first step.
- Only a handful Baha'i communities of the largest cities, if that, have histories of their city - and surely major components of any state history so maybe these need to be done before the 50 can well be done, and ditto for the below.
- There are 27 cities in the United States with over 500000 people and basically none of them have a history written. The Baha'i population in gross approximation would be 1/5000 of those so perhaps communities of 500 or so.
- There are over 300 cities with over 100000 people with no history done.
- There are over 600 cities with over 50000 people - a one time goal of the Faith in the 1990s.[1],[2],[3] By the Ten Year Crusade the US had about 170 Assemblies but none of them have histories. We had the The intranational growth of Local Spiritual Assemblies during the Ten Year Crusade in the continental United States, a subject until recently not even summarized. Then there are histories of those additional 170 assemblies beyond the 170 before the Crusade. But that leaves aside the counties which may have had more penetration. It is my observation that Baha'i populations of major urban centers are surrounded by communities about 1/10th their size, but several of them, and those communities themselves surrounded by a region now a very appreciable part of the states that are again to 1/10th of those, but the number of counties included growing in number significantly. For a central community of a thousand there could be approaching another thousand Bahai's surrounding that central population but spread over a hundred times the geography. Or at least an off the top of my head guess is.
- For these hundreds - basically a thousand articles to be considered just in the United States - replicate some version/proportion for every country.
- For these thousands of articles there will be individuals who need biographies - the first Baha'i to visit a place, to live in that place, to find local converts and who they were, the first assembly, the locally prominent people who served long years, the minorities stories who need to be centered, and during periods of the Ministry of Central Institutions - some little bit of that has been done (see Bahá’í Historical Record Survey and related articles.) At least a tabulation of the delegates to the national convention, perhaps the chair and secretary of the assemblies all along, and a list of the summer and winter schools held in a region when they did occur.
So at a thumbnail I can outline something like 2 thousand articles for the United States, times 200 for the countries of the world, of which perhaps 200ish article have been done one way or another, compared to some 400,000ish. At least that's a first attempt I've written down of the magnitude of the need of "how far we've come". Smkolins (talk) 05:08, 13 December 2022 (PST)
Errata in the Ragna Linné article[edit]
Hi Smkolins. I just want to start by saying thank you for creating such a nice article on Ragna Linné. It is for the most part excellent. However, there are errors that I am catching as I am researching her. To begin with she was not born on October 10 but on October 9, 1862. I have access to ancestry.com and have viewed her United States passport application, and her entries in the Norway, Death Registers, 1928-1960 and Norway, Church Records, 1812-1938, Birth, baptism & christening which all confirm her date of birth to October 9.
Additionally, the archives of New York Clipper (see https://idnc.library.illinois.edu/?a=cl&cl=CL1&sp=NYC) has no publication on Aug 21, 1885. That week's publication occurred on August 22, 1885 and there is zero mention of Soldiers and Sweethearts in it. Additionally, in newspapers.com there are no articles about Soldiers and Sweethearts in 1885, but many in 1886 identifying the show as a brand new musical; including development updates and casting announcements. It's clear from the historical record that the show did not exist in 1885. This also matches the accounts in theatre history books which all indicate the original production was in August 1886 at the Bijou. The current article is just wrong in asserting that there was an 1885 August staging.
Additionally, her American debut was covered in The Boston Globe. See "Mme. Ragna Linne's Debut". The Boston Globe. March 29, 1886. p. 4. This was her first significant appearance in the United States; although she did sing earlier in Boston with a Scandinavian choral group. (see The Boston Globe, Tue, Jan 12, 1886 ·Page 5) I haven't fact checked the whole article, and I may find other errors as I go. I'm currently working on fact checking the wikipedia page on Linne which is how I came across your nice article. Best wishes.4meter4 (talk) 12:18, 29 August 2025 (EDT)
