Talk:Mark Satin

Initial posting of the Satin Wikiquote page
I helped create and edit the Mark Satin page on Wikipedia, and helped turn it into a Featured Article there. Today, I am posting an initial entry on the Mark Satin Wikiquote page. My goal was to make it commensurate in scope and quality to the Wikipedia page.

Toward that end, I made four choices you might want to know about:

1. In the "Quotes" section, I only drew from Satin's published books. His hard-copy political newsletters, New Options and Radical Middle, stretching from the 1980s to the 2000s, contain much additional material. But the newsletters are largely available on the Internet now (see the "External links" section), and the books appear to include the most complete and polished statements of Satin's views.

2. In preparing the "About Satin and his work" section, I was faced with another mass of material, much of it stretching back to the 1960s and 1970s. I decided to limit that material by only includinbg quotes in this section if they were from people or periodicals or publishers that had been recognized by Wikipedia as "notable" and have pages devoted to them; see Wikipedia:Notability.

3. Because of the relatively large number of quotes by or about Satin that I decided to use, I limited all quotes to a maximum of approx. 150 words each, rather than the 250 word maximum imposed by Wikiquote (see WQ:LOQ). I feel the page reads much more easily this way, and I do not feel anything was lost by keeping the quotes briefer than the Wikiquote maximum.

4. I did not add boldface to passages I liked - or disliked - in any of the quotes. The quoted authors themselves provide emphasis via their writing styles. I want to read them, not them as augmented by Wikiquote editors.

Of course, future contributors should not (and anyway, will not) feel bound by my choices. All I am saying is that my choices were made deliberately and for what I feel are good reasons. - Babel41 (talk) 04:03, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

P.S. Wikiquote wants us to limit book excerpts to 1.25% of the text - that works out to approx. 50 lines of text for every 100 pages (see WQ:LOQ). I have done so, and have included page counts for all six of Satin's books.

Two alterations I hope you will keep
I have made two alterations to the Satin Wikiquote template that I hope you will keep:

1. I have bolded the sources of each of the quotes (and nothing else, unless done by those quoted). The result, I think, is to make it easier - like, infinitely easier - for the viewer to make visual sense of the material. In long Wikiquote pages where the quotes and sources are both in regular type, the viewer easily loses his or her way.

2. Whenever I added brief notes to a quote, I did so immediately following the bolded source, rather than on a line underneath the source (as Wikiquote recommends). I believe that makes it easier - like, much, much easier - to tell that a note refers to the quote above it, and is not a subsequent quote.

I hope future editors will let these two alterations stand. In fact, I hope Wikiquote administrators will recommend that all Wikiquote contributors consider adopting them on the pages they upgrade or create. - Babel41 (talk) 04:03, 1 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Hey Babel41! Welcome to Wikiquote! Please make sure that when you are categorizing, categorize the page with existing categories. Category:American and Category:Writer don't exist. You should categorize these 2 into Category:American authors, also go to the categories in the Mark Satin article on enWP and get info from there for categories (such as if he is a Jew, add Category:Jews; if he is a vegetarian, link to Category:Vegetarians, don't get straight-to-straight cats from the article, like adding Mark Satin to categories which are really specific, like 2000th century authors, since WQ does not categorize that specifically). BTW, please make sure to add links, such as his birthdate (which is November 16, 1946, link the "November 16", and the "1946"... like how George Washington was born on February 22, 1732... link February 22, and 1732). As well.. you should link "American" to USA. Like this: American, to show he is from America. Also, add new pages to Template:New pages.
 * Other than that, great start! I hope to see more articles from you in the future! ---Atcovi (Talk - Contribs) 22:19, 5 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your encouragement and your advice, Atcovi. I will work to improve the categories and catch the omissions and glitches as best as I can. - Babel41 (talk) 23:47, 5 March 2016 (UTC)