Talk:Van Mildert College, Durham: Difference between revisions

Notability

This article is expanding at a great rate, which is good; but contributors probably need to consider which content is appropriate for an encyclopedia. I think large parts of the sections "'Mildert' Traditions", "Mildert Galaxy Football Club" and "Van Mildert Bus Society (VMBS)" are probably things that most Wikipedians would not consider sufficiently notable for inclusion in a general-interest encyclopedia. This is just a friendly alert, really - because I know a lot of editors would just come in and delete all three sections, so if you don't want this to happen the article needs editing and cutting down to only include what is really notable about Mildert. TSP 12:55, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Notability

I can't really see what's wrong with most of it. As long as the traditional encyclopaedic stuff (history etc.) is included, I don't see the problem with also providing more light-hearted information that will be of interest to anybody connected to the college, past, present or future.

Oh, I don't have a problem with light-heartedness. But Wikipedia is explicitly not written for people connected with the college - Mildert and Mildert JCR both have web pages for the benefit of people connected with the college. Wikipedia should include the things about Mildert that an international audience would consider to be of interest. Pretty much everything in the first section of the page, for example, is the sort of thing people in general might seek to find out about the college from an encyclopedia; whereas a vague tendency of members of the college to drink a particular not-very-unusual alcoholic drink (not actually something I'd noticed any of the times I've been there) probably isn't something most people outside the college would find interesting.

I think, perhaps, the decision as to what's relevant for an encyclopedia page about Van Mildert College should be left to those of us with a knowledge of the institution.

But the people who are closest to the subject are not necessarily those who have the best idea of what is notable about it (Wikipedia guidelines say: "In order to prevent prolonged disputes about the significance, factual accuracy, and neutrality of material on subjects in which you are personally involved, it is often a good idea to wait until others lay the groundwork before creating or heavily expanding such articles."). The current section on bops is an example: I'm sure Mildert bops are a particularly significant part of college life to those who live there. On the other hand, all Durham colleges (and colleges and halls at other universities) have bops on not-dissimilar lines, so the fact that Mildert has bops isn't a particularly notable thing about Mildert to an outsider; deserving of a sentence, perhaps. Ultimately no Wikipedia page belongs to anyone - the decision on what belongs here is in the hands of the community. Please do keep adding, but pages need to be assessed by people with some distance from the subject, not just by those with a close affiliation to it, so don't be too surprised if someone comes in and significantly edits these sections. TSP 02:10, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Involvement

Do we have any evidence to suggest that the statement "the level of student involvement in the running of the college is quite probably higher than any other Doxbridge college." is true - I've never been struck by Van Mildert as being anything particularly unusual in terms of student involvement, but has it been widely said in the past, or do Student Experience Surveys suggest that it's true? Tompagenet 20:19, 26 Jun 2005 (UTC)