Talk:Grants Pass, Oregon

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This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Grants Pass, Oregon article.
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[edit] Nicknames

Some of us also refer to it as "Grant's Ass"—Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.38.181.154 (talk • contribs) 17:45, December 6, 2005 or "Grass Pants" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.176.142.106 (talk • contribs) 01:12, November 17, 2006

Just remember that this page is for improving the "Grass Pants" article, not discussing Grants Pass in general. :) Katr67 01:50, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Clean up

Changed "a careless hoodlum" to "vandalism", as the hoodlum comment is an opinion and not a fact, and I believe it violates the NPOV. PZoria 02:30, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Caveman Statue Location

I lived in Grants Pass as a kid in the late 70s - early 80s. I visited there again last weekend and the Caveman statue was in a different location from what I remember. I believe it has been moved across the street and is now hidden by trees. I remember it being between 6th and 7th street at the entrance of town. Or, maybe just higher up on the hill, closer to Morgan Lane. I couldn't find anything about this move and would like some clarification here if anyone knows about this. It should be included in the entry if the statue has indeed been moved.--Bsather 02:39, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

It has been moved - it used to be closer to the freeway offramp and more visible to exiting traffic. Much debate has flown around over why it was moved and how the statue didn't represent the image that the city wanted to project on visitors. The statue itself has also been vandalized (arson) and repaired (as mentioned by the article). I'm unable to locate when the statue was moved, but not sure if it's really notable enough for the article. Kameron 18:14, 19 June 2007 (UTC)
Just saw it near the information center or chamber of commerce near Interstate 5. It may be notable enough include, possibly related to the high school using the name "Cavemen". I'd like to know the history behind both myself. Grants Pass unique oddities seem to put it on the map. There are dozens of animal statues all around downtown. Never seen anything like it before. Mdvaden 03:02, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
Do you mean these bear statues. Looks like a variation on the CowParade fundraiser. They might merit a mention in the article. Katr67 17:07, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
Sort of like those. At least life-size or slightly bigger. Multi-color. There are some in this video "blip" I made for Grants Pass... you need to get past the the drive through the country LOL... Tiny Grants Pass video blip The variety is amusing. I'm condering going back this week to record many more of them with my tape camera. I only had my Canon digital camera the day I recorded.Mdvaden 04:46, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] External Link Suggestion

I'd like to propose a website for the external links - the site is ... I Love Grants Pass.com

Apparently, its the only interactive forum for the city, and is widely known. People I meet in other cities, like Brookings, Oregon, are even aware of ilovegrantspass.com. It has one of the best, if not the best, restaurant guides and ratings. Even local law enforcement post topics and interact in the forums. Mdvaden 05:47, 15 July 2007 (UTC)

I actually had a discussion some months ago with the owner of that website. Though I said I wouldn't complain if he added the link back after I had removed it, he was gracious enough about following the WP:SPAM policy to not do it himself. Now remember that forums, restaurant ratings, and the like are not appropriate things to link to in an encyclopedia, because Wikipedia is not a tourist guide. There are also conflict of interest issues to keep in mind. It would be best if there is some encyclopedic local information that could be added to the article and the website used as a reference. I've become more hardline since the above forum posting, so if there isn't anything that could be considered encyclopedic on that website, the link shouldn't be added. Sorry. As an alternative, it's OK to link to the Open Directory Project using the {{dmoz}} template. Dmoz has ILGP on its list here. Let me know if you want me to take care of that for you. P.S. The website owner and I also agreed it was a bit of a breach of Netiquette to repost the contents of the private e-mail I sent him after he contacted me via e-mail, though I didn't say anything I wouldn't have said on a talk page. Katr67 17:04, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
I Love Grants Pass.com isn't encyclopedic in the way that the City's website is, but its much, much more encyclopedic than the Grants Pass Chamber of Commerce Website (purely commercial in nature and ownership) which is very slim on any content, let alone encyclopedic. Based on your criteria, the Chamber of Commerce site may need culling, in the way that a private club's site would need culling.
I propose that with today's technology, that major forums should be included as external links. Some towns have several, and I'd propose including the major forums for a metropolitan area as long as they are "generic" and not extreme in content - like politically driven. A guideline may be to include forums that have 500 members and above, as that would show longevity and establishment. It takes forums a long time to get up to the 500 member mark. For example, in Medford, Oregon, the newspaper's Mail Tribune's forums, would be the only major forum in that city. Surprisingly, it has 3,000 members, and its been online for only 2 years. But either way, these forums are giant store-houses of local information, events, news, directions, etc.. Definitely encyclopedic in their own way. They have content that is almost inaccessible on the internet, and provide an avenue for the outside world to post questions that locals can supply answers for.
Placing a Chamber of Commerce at people's fingertips gives them resources to aid their financial survival and prosperity. I think that major forums place knowledge at their fingertips, which is more useful for storing knowledge. Mdvaden 05:11, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] External Link Suggestion Part 2 & "Media"

While still considering the profit of adding I Love Grants Pass Site and Forums, I decided to see what the "City of Portland" Wikipedia page was like. One thing that stood out, was the section on "Media" which listed the only newspaper (commercial interest) along with other newspapers, radio stations and television stations. Obviously there are hundreds of newspapers and letters in Portland, but they chose the major ones.

My suggestion is to add a MEDIA portion to the Grants Pass page, including not only a major forum like I Love Grants Pass, but also any significant newspapers, radio stations or television stations that serve the area. This approach seems that it would resolve some needs, using a pattern well-established by the Portland page. I propose Media: Internet, Media: Radio and Media: Television for starters.Mdvaden 03:22, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

I think this makes a lot of sense. I would make the case that there is a lot of encycolpedic information, as well as local news and politics, on the http://www.ilovegrantspass.com Web site. Anybody interested in learning about the city, its landmarks, its character, its people, or local events will find more information on this Web site than anywhere else. 24.16.17.125 03:49, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] External links

Though there is no firm policy about it, when I have asked the folks at WikiProject Spam, they seemed to think that having links to local chambers of commerce was acceptable since they are quasi-governmental, official organizations. But I went ahead and added the {{dmoz}} link to the article and took out the CoC link--that way there should be plenty of GP links for everyone (IheartGP is on the top-level page). As far as changing Wikipedia external link policy as argued above, you might find a wider audience for your suggestions at the talk pages for Wikipedia:External links, Wikipedia:WikiProject Spam, and Wikipedia:WikiProject Cities. The way I understand it, the mass media sections in the city articles only include traditional mass media: newspapers, radio and television, so if you think this should change, check in with Wikipedia:WikiProject Cities. Thanks! Katr67 15:56, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

Thank-you....I visited the Wikiproject Cities that you listed and posted a comment or two for future consideration of this type of media.Mdvaden 00:46, 22 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fastest growing city

Per this web site. http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2007/06/oregons_fastest_growing_city_h.html Grants Pass is not one of the top fast growing cities. Removed reference since no source was included to support this claim. C. Williams (talk) 17:39, 29 January 2008 (UTC)