Talk:California

Semi-protected edit request on 27 September 2021

In 1st paragraph change:

"Los Angeles County is the country's most populous, while San Bernardino County is the largest county by area in the country"

to:

"Los Angeles County is the country's most populous, while San Bernardino County is the largest county by area in the contiguous US states" KnowledgeAmplifier (talk) 19:41, 27 September 2021 (UTC)

Question. ...why say "contiguous US states"? Is there a bigger one in Alaska/Hawaii? .Moxy- 01:14, 28 September 2021 (UTC)

 Not done: Alaska doesn't have counties, and LA county is larger than the largest county in Hawaii. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 11:14, 28 September 2021 (UTC)

Why is the California Republic not included in the "Before statehood section"

Its includes Unrecognized territory and Mexican cession but no the Republic. Why is this seemingly grazed over when it should be in that section and possibly the only one in that section? — Preceding unsigned comment added by IHeartVeronica (talk • contribs) 23:47, 10 December 2021 (UTC)

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:California/GA2. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Kavyansh.Singh (talk · contribs) 07:45, 4 March 2022 (UTC)

GA criteria

GA review (see here for what the criteria are, and here for what they are not)
It is reasonably well written. a (prose, spelling, and grammar): b (MoS for lead, layout, word choice, fiction, and lists): It is factually accurate and verifiable. a (references): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR): d (copyvio and plagiarism): It is broad in its coverage. a (major aspects): b (focused): It follows the neutral point of view policy. Fair representation without bias: It is stable. No edit wars, etc.: It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate. a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):
Overall: Pass/Fail:
· · ·

Comments

I am sorry, but I am "quick failing" the article as there are several issues which are significantly major to prevent this from becoming GA in present state:

• The most significant issue here is sourcing of the article. Following are uncited sentences and paragraphs in the article:
  • Shortened forms of the state's name include CA, Cal, Cali, Calif, Califas, and US-CA.
  • The indigenous peoples of California included ... among the diverse groups.
  • After the Portolà expedition of 1769–70 ... which remain to this day.
  • The governor granted many square leagues ... in and surrounding California.
  • This revolt by American settlers served as a prelude to the later American military invasion of California and was closely coordinated with nearby American military commanders.
  • California was suddenly no longer a sparsely populated backwater, but seemingly overnight it had grown into a major population center.
  • with only a short break in 1862 ... and September 9 a state holiday.
  • However, due to the existence of a large contingent of pro-South sympathizers ... in the Central Valley and elsewhere. (three continuous paragraphs)
  • There were also massacres in which hundreds of indigenous people were killed.
  • To meet the population's needs ... of public education.
  • It is bordered by Oregon to the north, ... lie west of San Francisco. (six continuous paragraphs)
  • To the east of the Sierra Nevada ...in the United States.
  • Almost entire "Climate" section of 4 paragraphs. It should also be noted that there is a tag especially for "additional citations for verification."
  • California's large number of endemic species ... encroached on their habitat.
  • Entire "Rivers" section
  • Entire "Regions" section
  • First three paragraphs of "Culture" section
  • Entire "Mass media and entertainment" section
  • Almost entire "Sports" section
  • Chunks of "Education" section
  • In addition, several cities such as Oakland, Berkeley and Davis have declared themselves as nuclear-free zones.
  • Nearly all counties operate bus lines, and many cities operate their own city bus lines as well. Intercity bus travel is provided by Greyhound, Megabus, and Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach.
  • "Legislative branch" section
  • California's judiciary system is the largest in the United States&bsp;... house of the state legislature.
  • Entire "City and town governments" section
  • A special district, defined by California Government Code § 16271(d) as "any agency of the state for the local performance of governmental or proprietary functions within limited boundaries", provides a limited range of services within a defined geographic area. The geographic area of a special district can spread across multiple cities or counties, or could consist of only a portion of one. Most of California's special districts are single-purpose districts, and provide one service.
  • Chunks of "Ideology" section
  • Various footnotes

That is quite a lot!

• The lead section to way too long. See MOS:LEADLENGTH
• Various unreliable/less reliable references like: www.statista.com, statisticalatlas.com, reason.org, etc.
• The prose at various places should be improved. Also, there are many one-lined paragraphs which should be merged.

The issues are enough for me to quick-fail, sorry.

– Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 08:33, 4 March 2022 (UTC)

note re: native cultures map

Just to note: several of the native cultural groups on the "at time of contact" map (particularly in the south coast area) use the Spanish reference names and not the native names for those cultures. These are generally a shortened version of the name of the local mission with -eno added. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:8801:8100:1950:D845:2713:9067:2D2A (talk) 17:00, 11 March 2022 (UTC)

The Port of Stockton is not the most inland port on the west coast

The sentence about the Port of Stockton being the most inland needs to be removed. That would be the Port of Lewiston. Oregonpaul (talk) 14:54, 29 March 2022 (UTC)

What the heck. Lol. That source doesn't even claim it; it says that it's the easternmost on the West Coast, which is actually even more preposterous. Stockton is west of Los Angeles!!

The sentence adds nothing without being true, so I just deleted it. What a load of poppycock. Red Slash 22:19, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

References

Too Many Mentions of New York and Manhattan in the California Article

There are far too many unnecessary comparisons to New York (8) and Manhattan (3) in this article about California, including 3 such references just in the introductory paragraph. It is enough to state that Los Angeles is the second-most populous city in the nation without mentioning New York, but even if that comparison is justified, there is simply no need to turn discussion of San Francisco's population density toward Manhattan and New York City's other boroughs, as has been done here. Those places are not necessary references to provide basic information like Los Angeles' population or San Francisco's density. It is not a natural point of view to insert New York into this article this much, and those references should be reduced as much as possible. Articles on the other states are not constantly comparing local cities and metropolitan areas with New York and/or Manhattan, and this one should not either.

2603:8001:8F00:79D2:3131:B877:7518:A4F8 (talk) 07:26, 30 April 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 9 May 2022

Can you replace with this sentence? I rephrased it. "Over time, many droughts and wildfires have been increasing in frequency and severity throughout California, which is becoming less seasonal and more year-round and further straining California's water security system and nearly 95% of this region in this state have been experiencing drought conditions." Thank you! 2601:205:C002:D1E0:51A9:AB3F:2ECB:67D9 (talk) 03:04, 9 May 2022 (UTC)

Here it is-

Original: "Over time, droughts and wildfires have been increasing in frequency and severity, becoming less seasonal and more year-round, further straining California's water security."

Rephrased: "Over time, many droughts and wildfires have been increasing in frequency and severity throughout California, which is becoming less seasonal and more year-round and further straining California's water security system and nearly 95% of this region in this state have been experiencing drought conditions."

Hope that it helps. --2601:205:C002:D1E0:D11:AA22:BE7:46C1 (talk) 05:54, 9 May 2022 (UTC)

 Not done. The lead section in an article needs to have as few references cited within it as possible, per Wikipedia's manual of style. Any content that needs a citation should generally be detailed in the body, not the lead paragraph. Since you added, "nearly 95% of this region in this state have been experiencing drought conditions", I would want to see a citation to a reliable source supporting this information. This information is better detailed in the appropriate section within the body of the article, not here. I also assume that you have a reliable source supporting this information? ;-)

You also added the word "many" to your modification. Why? Per Wikipedia's neutral point of view, we try to keep content aimed towards information that is verifiable and avoid any bias. Your modification is very small and certainly doesn't add any bias, but even adjectives such as this should be avoided. It's not up to us to determine if the wildfires and droughts are "numerous" - just state it like it is. The current sentence doesn't need to change. You also added "throughout California" as well. That's redundant, but I don't want to come off as picky... lol ;-).

The main issue is with my first point, which is why I am not modifying the lead paragraph as you suggested. If you have any questions, let me know! Please feel free to add another subsequent edit request regarding the body of the article if the "95% information" is missing, and if you have references to reliable sources supporting this information. I'll be happy to take a look. :-) ~Oshwah~^{(talk) (contribs)} 06:18, 9 May 2022 (UTC)

Here is the source of it: Link

It is already from the article and it will try to make the article look better, hope that it helps. --2601:205:C002:D1E0:D11:AA22:BE7:46C1 (talk) 06:27, 9 May 2022 (UTC)

At least some of the sentence make sense including the citation and the replacement. 2601:205:C002:D1E0:80A0:CF1:CF8A:3ED9 (talk) 01:55, 10 May 2022 (UTC)

Looked at the source: it cites the US Drought Montior, which constantly updates it data. I mean, we're at 100% this week. To outright put in the number 95% is not a great idea because it's inaccurate. ◢  Ganbaruby!  (talk) 04:01, 10 May 2022 (UTC)

Adding new section

Can somebody add literature to this article with new section tiled ligature? Can you research them and added what books are published? Literature is part of culture and helps people understand California and its origins. Don't forget to add links to this. --2601:205:C002:D1E0:A9C3:48F:EC09:1395 (talk) 07:09, 9 May 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 25 May 2022

Can you add this information on California 1900- present? Here you go:

"One of the first confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States that occurred in California was first of which was confirmed on January 26, 2020. Meaning, all of the early confirmed cases were persons who had recently travelled to China in Asia, as testing was restricted to this group. On this January 29, 2020, as disease containment protocols were still being developed, the U.S. Department of State evacuated 195 persons from Wuhan, China aboard a chartered flight to March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, and in this process, it may have granted and conferred to escalated within the land and the US at cosmic. On February 5, 2020, the U.S. evacuated 345 more citizens from Hubei Province to two military bases in California, Travis Air Force Base in Solano County and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, San Diego, where they were quarantined for 14 days. A state of emergency was largely declared in this state of the nation on March 4, 2020, and as of February 24, 2021 remains in effect. A mandatory statewide stay-at-home order was issued on March 19, 2020 due to increase, which was ended on January 25, 2021, allowing citizens to return to normal life. On April 6, 2021, the state announced plans to fully reopen the economy by June 15, 2021." 76.20.110.116 (talk) 23:26, 25 May 2022 (UTC)

Can anyone respond to my edit request? It is been for days already. 76.20.110.116 (talk) 06:24, 27 May 2022 (UTC)

References

In progress: An editor is implementing the requested edit. Never mind, I can't do it because I am terrible at sourcing with the source editor and the visual editor is just too darn laggy. interstatefive  (talk) - just another roadgeek 22:51, 27 May 2022 (UTC)

 Note: Worldometer as a source is disallowed on COVID-related topics, see WP:RSP. ;; Maddy ♥︎(they/she)♥︎ :: talk  09:02, 28 May 2022 (UTC)

I borrowed some of them from this article. 76.20.110.116 (talk) 19:58, 28 May 2022 (UTC)

 Partly done: I kept everything except the reference to worldometer, as it is unreliable. interstatefive  (talk) - just another roadgeek 19:19, 1 June 2022 (UTC)

Oh, thank you, editor! 76.20.110.116 (talk) 19:57, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

"California borders Oregon to the north..." is a false statement, is it not? Can we get a consensus on this?

Ok, yesterday I made an edit to this page which changed "borders" to "is bordered by" in the second sentence in the opening paragraph, but this edit was reverted on the grounds that it was unnecessary.

The reason I made that edit is because the statement appeared to be plainly false to me. "California borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, the Mexican state of Baja California to the south" implies that Oregon is to the south of California, Nevada and Arizona are to the west, and Baja California is to the north, which is of course the opposite of what is true. After the edit was reverted, I looked up the statements in Google and was surprised to find many more pages that said "California borders Oregon to the north" rather than ""California borders Oregon to the south". As such, I assumed that I was wrong and had a misunderstanding of English.

Since then, however, I've taken a closer look and it appears that all of the pages stating "California borders Oregon to the north" are just copies of this article. Furthermore, I have spoken to several other English speakers and they all seem to agree with me that the factually correct statement is "California borders Oregon to the south".

I am thus again of the opinion that my earlier edit was correct, however I do not intend to start an edit war. Thus, I am asking for a consensus that either "borders" should be changed to "borders by" or the cardinal directions in that second sentence should be reversed. Spongeaang (talk) 10:37, 20 September 2022 (UTC)

Britannica would support the edit, citation added at end of the sentence in question. Ferventassumption (talk) 11:21, 20 September 2022 (UTC)

You added this source to support your edit, but nowhere in the source does it say "is bordered by". Magnolia677 (talk) 11:31, 20 September 2022 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• 1836 alvarado flag.webp

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 16:07, 20 February 2023 (UTC)