Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Ghost towns/Article guidelines

Definition

The definition of a ghost town has been, and still is, up in the air on Wikipedia. The main topic of discussion on some of these articles and lists has been what the heck constitutes a ghost town? When does a town cease to exist and become a ghost town. There are a number of towns and villages categorized as ghost towns which, indeed, have people living in them. So how do we define ghost town? How do we define defunct city or town? I propose the following.

Ghost town: For a town, village or city to be considered a ghost town under five people have to live there if there was once a significant population. The way I see it any "community" that was once an actual community that has shrank to the size of five or less probably isn't going to see growth ever again, in fact I would say it's not outside the realm to believe a place with less than five people is doomed.

Defunct city/town/village: First let's call it something specific, one of the three, I like Defunct towns in ....(inset state here), but whatever works. Secondly, a definition, which I think we were close to before I dissapeared for a bit and altered the scope slightly. The proposal, a defunct town is any place which has been absorbed by another munipality and encompassed into that municipality. Speak up, we just need a consensus. A mcmurray 20:22, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

The definition of the term ghost town is subjective. A criterion for ghost towns was proposed here and the consensus seems to be that if a reliable resource calls a site a ghost town, then it is a ghost town. Some ghost towns have hundreds of people still living in them, but have diminished considerably from their high point.Narthring (talk • contribs) 02:33, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

We need to have some sort of agreed upion standard. Why not propose basic criteria Such as the following: 1)The population is greatly as in more than 60+% diminished. 2)The reason for the town being created no lonfger exists, a coal town with NO coal etc etc 3) (up for debate, if conditions 1 and 2 are met, does the place have a post office?? ANYBODY have a thing to say? Additionally, do we have a Ghost Town Stub which is equivalent to a US County Stub or category????Coal town guy (talk) 16:42, 3 April 2012 (UTC)

Be sure to include the idea of a district. In Southern Nevada, districts usually include a large city, which may be abandoned (like Rhyolite, NV) or may still be occupied (like Tonopah, NV). The district usually includes a number of small ancillary and company towns, typically with populations of a few hundred persons (Like Carrara and Bullfrog). Also included the district are the railroad spurs, including named entities like the Tidewater & Tonopah RR, and unnamed spurs going to the larger mining claims. Districts also include small, ephemeral campsites known only to enthusiasts and archaeologists, small exploratory mines, and the historic campsites of aboriginal people who live in this area. Unfortunately, I can't spend time on this project, but I think you're on the right idea. BWilreker 131.216.48.250 (talk) 21:30, 9 November 2015 (UTC)

Lists

Should we create lists? While they be hard to ever complete it would give new members somewhere to start creating articles without having to find out some places to create articles about. I vote for it, I can do it, by state if you want. We may even eventually be able to be rid of the lists, I just think they help when looking for somewhere to start. What does everybody think? A mcmurray 20:27, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

I have decided to be bold and create lists as states warrant them. They may never be really complete but they will help as far as giving people a place to start.A mcmurray 09:07, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Just in case someone new comes along I thought it would be helpful to state that there is a list of ghost towns in the United States and some States have their own list. There are also categories for ghost towns in each state, for example, Alabama. I found the lists a good starting place, adding ghost towns to the state lists as I found sources for them and then creating the articles for the ghost towns.Narthring (talk • contribs) 02:41, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Infobox

I know, I know, three topics at once, right, what am I, Windows? Anyway we need an infobox, if I don't see anyone volunteer and make one I will take a shot at it, but as far as info to include I was thinking something along the lines below, labeled and titled for the box in whatever way the creator thinks works best, but this is what I was thinking for basic info.

A label: Like American Ghost town, or U.S. Ghost town, or something, linking, probably to ghost town. Image: a place for an image and or a state map with red dot, (state would be best, national map is too ambiguous I think) Caption: A place for an image caption Place name: town, county, country type thing. Absorbed by: (munipality--for defunct towns/cities only) Coordinates: Longitude/latitude Founded: year Abandoned/Absorbed: year Founder: Person Type of town: A lot of towns that were abandoned were part of something else, i.e. mining towns, logging towns, company towns, etc. if applicable to each entry that could be included.

Any other thoughts? Any volunteers?

A mcmurray 20:35, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

How about using the [[Template:Infobox City]] and paring it down for our project? Ronbo76 22:50, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

Sounds good to me, do you have an example or did you want me to do it? I can, it's no problem. IvoShandor 08:41, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

I haven't found any instances of any other ghost town-specific Infoboxes, so I started using Geoboxes, with the fields from the {{Geobox|Settlement}} here and simply calling it {{Geobox|Ghost town}} Narthring (talk • contribs) 02:45, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Updates

There hasn't been a lot of activity in this project, with some of the project pages going for almost two years without comments or updates. I'm going to try, to the best of my ability, to update some of the pages with relevant information. It would be great to get a discussion going on some of these subjects, but until then I think it would help people browsing the project for the first time to see newer material.Narthring (talk • contribs) 02:55, 13 July 2009 (UTC)