Emmette Hernandez Coleman

Hi, welcome to English Wikiquote.

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Enjoy! TheAE talk 22:36, 14 March 2009 (UTC)

Tips

Hi Emmette. Thanks for your question at the village pump.

1. Wikipedia links: Instead of linking to Wikipedia articles like this [[w:Wikipedia|Wikipedia]] , you can save some typing by using an "empty pipe" like this [[w:Wikipedia|]] if the link text and the article title are the same, and they don't have any problematic punctuation.
2. Annotating quotes: Adding explanations like this and links like these is not usually necessary, and they tend to distract from the quote itself. If the meaning of a quote is so unclear that it needs explanation then it usually isn't worth quoting in the first place.
3. Annotating again: On the other hand, sometimes it is helpful to annotate the context like this when it clarifies what the quote refers to.

Happy wikiing! ~ Ningauble 19:19, 30 May 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the tips, but I do not agree with you're view under "Annotating quotes". I do not see how what I did would distrait from the quote. It may not be necessary, but it helps people understand the quote, especially in the case of defining "yondlengs" as "children". It seems to me that when a quotes meaning is unclear th the point of needing, a very short explanation, such as the ones I added, It is worth having the quote, with an extra word or 2. In [brackets] of course so it is not a misquote. But I am very new here, so maybe you know something I do not.--Emmette Hernandez Coleman 21:38, 30 May 2009 (UTC)

The usual practice at Wikiquote is to let the quotes speak for themselves, and let the reader form their own interpretation. Sometimes an author chooses a particular wording in order to be tricky or subtle, or even intentionally open to interpretation. In the case of "younglings," I think the writer deliberately chose the "-ling" suffix because its connotations are different from the literal meaning of "children." I could write a whole paragraph about what I think the difference is, but there would be no guarantee it would really be what the author meant. The author presumably gave some thought to choosing the word he wanted, and I think you will find that at Wikiquote we do not try to interpret or second-guess the author's meaning. ~ Ningauble 17:13, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

Perhaps you misunderstood my edit. From the context of the film, it is quite clear that "younglings" meant "children". The page did not provide the context, so it was unclear what "younglings" meant. So I clarified it. Was this the correct thing to do.--Emmette Hernandez Coleman 18:26, 2 June 2009 (UTC)

Ningauble, would you point me to some pages about this please.--Emmette Hernandez Coleman 22:19, 1 June 2009 (UTC)

I don't think there is a policy page about annotating what a quote means, if that is what you mean. Wikiquote is a small project, with less written rules than Wikipedia, and this sort of thing is mostly a matter of precedent and common practice. One reason we don't have a lot of rules about writing is because Wikiquote's focus is showing other people's famous or excellent words, not doing our own original writing.

To get some idea of common practice at Wikiquote, you could review the articles listed on the Main Page under "Selected pages" to see what kinds of things are normally annotated—very few explanations are used there. ~ Ningauble 15:14, 2 June 2009 (UTC)

So if I understand this correctly, we do have policies and/or guidelines about what we have talked about here, they just have not been written down yet. Please correct me if I am wrong and confirm if I am correct.--Emmette Hernandez Coleman 17:48, 2 June 2009 (UTC)

Wikiquote has written policies and guidelines for some matters where it was found necessary, and in other areas the community is regulated by a general consensus grounded in a shared sense of purpose and common sense. The community does not spend much time writing rules and lawyering over them, except when it becomes necessary.

• Si fueris Romae, Romano vivito more; Si fueris alibi, vivito sicut ibi.
  • If you are at Rome, live in the Roman style; if you are elsewhere, live as they live there.
  • Attributed to St. Ambrose
  • Proverbially: When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

That is why your original question at the Village Pump was a good one, and why I suggested reviewing selected pages to get an idea how things are done here. ~ Ningauble 18:47, 2 June 2009 (UTC)