Talk:Howard County, Maryland

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HoCoPIO (talk · contribs) / Howard County Department of Planning and Zoning This user has contributed to the article.

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Howard County Times

How is the link to the newspaper of record in the county linkspam? It has news and information relevant to the county. Check out Philadelphia for example. Also, there is a presumption of relevancy. Please don't remove things unless clearly irrelevant. Taco325i 01:09, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a link farm. If you wish to specifically cite material from the newspaper in the article, that is great and I support that. In fact, I would like to demand you to do it. But that's just mean. Inserting a bare link without providing any evidence, within the article itself, that it should be linked to and is relevant, is linkspam. As an aside, it is on Philadelphia too, but it is not on my watchlist. If you want to create an web directory, there are plenty of projects for it. This is just not it. -James Howard (talk/web) 02:25, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

From WP:SPAM:

Contribute cited text, not bare links. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a link farm. If you have a source to contribute, first contribute some facts that you learned from that source, then cite the source. Don't simply direct readers to another site for the useful facts; add useful facts to the article, then cite the site where you found them. You're here to improve Wikipedia -- not just to funnel readers off of Wikipedia and onto some other site, right? (If not, see #1 above.)

-James Howard (talk/web) 02:27, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Have you even read the definition for linkspam? Inserting informative and relevant external links is not spam. It is quite appropriate. The external link section is not meant to be a bibliography. I think you are confusing it for what the "references" section ought to be. Taco325i 02:32, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I have read the definition of linkspam. The problem here is that policy is on WP:SPAM, which you apparently haven't read, and your link clearly violates it. Read the quote I copied above. By and large, the external links section has become a repository for those external links that fall under the blanket exception rules, mostly limited to official sites. The newspaper is not an official organ of the county. Now, go read the policy and come back here and have this discussion. -James Howard (talk/web) 02:39, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

"There are two types of wikispam: advertisements masquerading as articles, and wide-scale external link spamming. " Which one of these is it? What you are quoting is from the "guidelines", which means, tips to avoid spamming. Links that don't conform 100% to the 'guidelines' don't make them link spam. You are also losing sight of the purpose of this policy, which is to prevent the use of wikipedia as a mouthpiece of personal or commercial enterprise, not to prevent readers from accessing additional information. Edits made that do not clearly violate the terms of the policy or the underlying policy rationale should be given deference, out of mutual respect for wikipedians and in furtherance of concept that it's better to have more relevant information than less. See Wikipedia:External links Taco325i 03:37, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I tend to agree with Taco325i. As with many other "guidelines" on Wikipedia, WP:SPAM is open to a small amount of interpretation. The link doesn't seem to be self-promotion, and in fact, the only consequence I can forsee of allowing it is simply to direct readers of the article to other relevent information. Amit 23:13, 10 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

trivia?

How is the ice-cream factory trivia in any way related to the terrorist attacks of 9/11? I'm removing that one line. Also, I'm pretty sure it's a Nestle factory, since they have had a regional headquarters in the area for quite some time. Amit 15:35, 11 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It is a Dreyers plant. They make several other brands there, but the company is named Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream. For confirmation see http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=DRYR&script=410&layout=-6&item_id=642616, or just do an internet search for Dreyers Howard County. And, respectfully, you should not change Wikipedia entries if you are just "pretty sure" of your facts.

You are both right, Dreyer's has been acquired by Nestle in Jan 2006 dml 23:19, 4 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It seems like the library references it Trivia could be under Education. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.250.62.4 (talk) 15:23, 10 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Baltimore CDP?

The following was added to the list of census designated places:

Baltimore (a majority is located in Baltimore City, also, some parts are in Baltimore County and Anne Arundel County.)

As far as I know, there's no such census-designated place as Baltimore; either you're in Baltimore city, or you aren't. It's possible that the anonymous editor was referring to the fact that portions of Howard County have Baltimore postal addresses -- I know that parts of Baltimore and A.A. County do, so it could be true in Howard County as well, although it's a little far from the city. However, the post office and census bureau are different agencies, and postal addresses do not define census-designated places. --Jfruh (talk) 20:41, 8 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Which Metropolitan Area?

“This county is a part of the Washington Metropolitan Area and the Baltimore Metropolitan Area, both of which comprise the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area.”

As a matter of technicality, Howard County is not in the Washington Metropolitan Area. It is officially designated as being part of the Baltimore-Towson Metropolitan Statistical Area; and yes, these two metropolitan areas compose the Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, DC-MD-VA-WV Combined Statistical Area. Also, as we all know, yes, Howard County shares exceptionally strong economic and cultural ties to D.C., in some parts stronger so than its economic and cultural ties to Baltimore. But until this potential cultural and economic shift is reflected in the designations by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, the quotation above is quite distinctly incorrect and depending heavily on a biased POV.

Whenever possible, it is important that Wikipedia reflects verifiable facts and official designations, not opinions. Might I suggest that this section be revised to state that Howard County is in the southwestern corner of the Baltimore-Towson Metropolitan Statistical Area, with strong economic and cultural ties to D.C., the nation’s Capital? Or perhaps, the article should simply state that Howard County is within the Baltimore-Washington Area, as does the article on Anne Arundel County, a county that similarly straddles the two metropolitan areas? --Dukiebiddle 17:38, 8 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

"Maryland locked"

As a Maryland resident I have heard this before, but it is not technically true. The Maryland portion of the Chesapeake Bay lies within the state's boundaries. Anne Arundel, Calvert, and Talbot counties also do not touch a state line; nor does Baltimore City. EikwaR 18:09, 27 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with this. Howard County is not the only "Maryland-locked" County in the State. All Maryland counties that contain Chesapeake Bay shoreline also have political boundaries that extend into the middle of the Bay. Therefore, I'm removing the statement "Howard County is the only Maryland-locked county in the state, being the only county entirely enclosed by land and river boundaries with other Maryland counties." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.251.164.152 (talk) 23:33, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Flag

Shouldn't there be an image of the Howard County flag in the article? 208.179.66.68 (talk) 07:07, 7 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Aye, there should, but for some reason there's not. Wonder if any can upload it.Liu Tao (talk) 23:58, 15 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Climate

The description is pretty much spot on. The low elevation areas east of and around 95 in Howard County are humid subtropical. The further west you go in the county, the more it becomes continental. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.244.4.3 (talk) 23:40, 12 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, forget that. The eastern half of the county remains above freezing during the winter. Putting half of it into the humid subtropical zone, and half of it into the humid continental zone.

From 1971-2000. Take a look at the mean temp. Woodstock, which is at the Howard County/Baltimore county line above Ellicott City. On the Patapsco.

http://www.weather-forecasts.com/cityClimate/United+States/Maryland/Elkridge —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.244.4.3 (talk) 04:16, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Removal of Trivia section

I think we should provide a chance for discussion before this removal. I wasn't familiar with [WP:Trivia]. WP:Trivia does advise against trivia sections, but it also includes this:

Trivia sections should not simply be removed from articles in all cases. It may be possible to integrate some items into the article text. Some facts may belong in existing sections, while others may warrant a new section. Integrate trivia items into the body of the article if appropriate. Otherwise, see if there are sources for a particular aspect of the material in such a section, consider using the items as a basis for an article that discusses that effect. Items that duplicate material already contained elsewhere in the article, cannot be supported by reliable sources, or are not of significant importance to the subject matter can be removed in most cases.

Let's talk. -- Jo3sampl (talk) 16:02, 21 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm . . . I made some effort to find additonal info, and now I think the removal is probably appropriate. NikkiMaria, will you hold off a day or two to see if anyone else will help? If no action by 7/23/11, I'll take it out or you can. Thanks -- Jo3sampl (talk) 16:24, 21 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I propose we move the "Choose Civility" text to the end paragraph 2, where other quality of life info is found, or to the end of the HoCo Library text (because of the library sponsorship). I propose we delete the other two trivia bullets. (I am charmed by the ice cream and terrorist-visit items, but I don't see a reasonable tie-in.) Other opinions? Jo3sampl (talk) 19:45, 21 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Moved ChCivility to retitled 'Education and public library' section; removed the rest of Trivia. Jo3sampl (talk) 23:39, 23 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Copyright problem removed

Prior content in this article duplicated one or more previously published sources. The material was copied from: http://countyofhowardmd.us/exec.aspx?id=6442458795. Copied or closely paraphrased material has been rewritten or removed and must not be restored, unless it is duly released under a compatible license. (For more information, please see "using copyrighted works from others" if you are not the copyright holder of this material, or "donating copyrighted materials" if you are.) For legal reasons, we cannot accept copyrighted text or images borrowed from other web sites or published material; such additions will be deleted. Contributors may use copyrighted publications as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences or phrases. Accordingly, the material may be rewritten, but only if it does not infringe on the copyright of the original or plagiarize from that source. Please see our guideline on non-free text for how to properly implement limited quotations of copyrighted text. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously, and persistent violators will be blocked from editing. While we appreciate contributions, we must require all contributors to understand and comply with these policies. Thank you. Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 11:50, 1 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

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The last two actually were typos, actually. I fixed the first one. The second also needed to be updated, and has been. -- Pemilligan (talk) 17:11, 8 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Therefore?

Since there are no incorporated municipalities, there is no incorporated county seat either. Therefore, its county seat is the unincorporated community of Ellicott City.

This doesn't follow. For starters, at least one Maryland county, Calvert, has incorporated municipalities but has an unincorporated place, Prince Frederick, for its seat, and in other states, counties without incorporated places may have their seat outside the county. Secondly, the county lacking towns and cities may mean its seat has to be an unincorporated community, but doesn't in any way imply that it had to be Ellicott City. Infinitebuffalo (talk) 22:00, 2 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

flag redesign

Howard County announced a flag redesign should we mention that? PharaohCrab (talk) 15:10, 25 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]