Wikipedia needs help with tortoises.

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Madkins007

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Whether you love or hate Wikipedia, its goal of being a great encyclopedia of information is a pretty sweet idea, and it really does try to be accurate, accountable, and verifiable.

When it comes to turtles and tortoises, there is a group called WikiProject Turtles that tries to help bring all chelonian articles up to a high standard. You can go to any turtle species page and click on the 'Talk' tab on the top left and see the Projects scorecard for the species.

Sadly, lots of the tortoise articles are rated pretty low, and it really is kind of a pain in the neck to do the legwork needed to make a really good article...

But- we have lots of really smart people here with a love of tortoises and a decent reference library behind them!

I challenge us, here, to look at the scores of our favorite species, and see if there is anything we can do to help raise that score.

Good Wikipedia articles do not directly help us, and we cannot put a lot of links to the Forum in the articles, but think of how much easier some posts would be if we could link to an AUTHORITATIVE, well-done article on the species... if people thinking about a species could easily find a decent article that had links and references to good books and sites, etc.

I spent a couple weeks on the red-footed article. It ain't done yet (I am hoping to get a good range map posted, and a few other minor points), but it was nowhere near as tough as I thought it was going to be! (The article is currently rated as a C based on the old version, I have asked for a reassessment.) [UPDATE- OK, so doing the citation to a high degree of authoritativeness is a PAIN!]

No fame, no fortune, no medals... but it is a pretty cool thing to do!
 

tortadise

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What species are they looking for? Any in particular. It does take a while. Ive been going on months now on my articles and species breakdown its alot of work. But good for other searchers that arent making it to the forum to give a better more update information on the species.
 

Madkins007

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Look up a species you are familiar with and check the rating under the 'Talk' tab. It also gives an idea of how important it is based on how often it is looked up.
 

Stephanie Logan

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The trouble with Chaco tortoises is that there is so little information available on them, and most of the internet articles are decades old.

Still, I suppose it's worth a try to hook them up with what is known about Chacos, and then hope that Aldabraman's Chaco breeding project is a resounding success and yields relevant new information about the species.;)
 

Madkins007

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Stephanie Logan said:
The trouble with Chaco tortoises is that there is so little information available on them, and most of the internet articles are decades old.

Still, I suppose it's worth a try to hook them up with what is known about Chacos, and then hope that Aldabraman's Chaco breeding project is a resounding success and yields relevant new information about the species.;)

There may not be a ton of stuff out there on them, but there IS useful info by people like the Vinkes, etc., especially in their South American Tortoises book.

Besides, the current article is rated 'Stub', so there is nothing but room for improvement, and 'low priority' indicating that not a lot of people go to it, so there is no real pressure here.

Remember, however, that the BULK of the article should be on their natural habitat and behaviors. Captive care is not needed. I only included a very basic version on the red-footed article because they are such a popular pet species, and there are some reviewers who have already suggested it be removed.
 

Stephanie Logan

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Well, that's good to know. Next time I'm on the Chaco plateau of Argentina or Paraguay, I'll update my Chaco sightings and natural observations! :p
 

JeffG

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I wish I had the experience/knowledge to help, but just don't. Hopefully others that do will take the time to contribute.
 
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