Talk:Roanoke, Virginia

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[edit] Question

Wondering how to edit this U.S. County Entry?
The WikiProject U.S. Counties standards might help.

This article refers to the city (not the county) by the same name. Do these standards still apply? —BozoTheScary 03:10, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Nicknames

The business about the nicknames is superfluous and inacurate. It is not important that one of Roanoke's ford dealerships is called Magic City. No one calls it Noketown(since town is not in the name of the city at all) and no one has ever, in the history of the world, called it either Roajoke, Roatoke, or any such thing. Mentioning of the 'star city', 'magic city' and former name, the big lick are enough and sufficiently mentioned elsewhere.

— above unsigned comment by Youzwan 9 October 2006

No one calls it Noketown(since town is not in the name of the city at all) and no one has ever, in the history of the world, called it either Roajoke, Roatoke, or any such thing.
You, sir, have clearly never been to Roanoke in your life, as I hear these terms used nearly on a daily basis, by many people. Furthermore, their use is frequent enough that they reflect an aspect about the local culture here. Get a job. Ƿōdenhelm (talk) 12:55, 12 February 2008 (UTC)
I believe your statement is not backed by any information, for I am from Roanoke as well, and, if you remember, there was a short lived restaurant in downtown roanoke by the name of Noketown and the Roajoke and Roatoke are the Native American names of the area. Fanofranz (talk) 13:52, 12 February 2008 (UTC)
Hey I know a Native American and that's what he calls the place :D Ƿōdenhelm (talk) 00:50, 13 February 2008 (UTC)
As much as we might want this encyclopedia to contain local knowledge, the Wikipedia considers local knowledge to be original research which is barred. No matter what anyone has heard, no nickname will stay in this article unless it is eventually supported by a reliable citation. That means no blogs, no social networking sites, no forum entries.
Newspaper articles about the defunct Noketown Bar & Grill, for example, can be used to support "Noketown" as a nickname, but they may still not be sufficient without other referenced usage illustrating that the name wasn't incidental. This is why the "citation needed" tags have a date, if you look at the source. When they've been unanswered for "too long", they get yanked.
The "Nickname" section is the most active part of this article (with the "Notable Residents" a close second) and has grown and shrunk repeatedly. These unsupported nicknames are due to get yanked by the next exclusionist who wanders by. Then, they will invariably get readded during the next frat party lull, after which they'll get a new coat of "fact" tags all over again.
This cycle is fine by me, but if you really want these nicknames to stick, you need to find references or you need to reconsider whether or not these nicknames are really used by enough people to really be notable. –BozoTheScary (talk) 23:21, 12 February 2008 (UTC)
I largely agree. The 'Magic City' nickname, however, is covered in the History section. It is arguably relevant that it is still used by a few area businesses (Magic City Sprinkler, too) and very rarely in the area press. (Perhaps that wording should be used instead?) The plays on the word 'joke' are almost definitely unencyclopedic in that there don't seem to be any cite-worthy sources, even though I heard them conversationally, albeit rarely, when I was in Roanoke. The plays on the word 'toke' are potentially relevant if there really is a citable source showing that Roanoke is 'known' for pot. This DOJ map doesn't specify Roanoke as a significant drug distribution area at all, though. —BozoTheScary 14:53, 10 October 2006 (UTC)


I too agree, except on one point. I live in Lexington, and many people who I go to school with who are from Roanoke often refer to it as "Noke city" and "Noke Town".

I'm personally inclined to say that that kind of personal reference is exactly the kind of thing that one would expect from an encyclopedia article. However, I've been too involved in some of the delete debates and my mind is now polluted by reading the prohibition on original art/work/research. So, I don't know. I am not inclined to remove the "Noke" stuff, but I'll have a hard time defending it if someone charges it as original research. Bleh. –BozoTheScary 23:34, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

All these names I have heard before by other citizens, so I would consider them acurate, though the acuracy of the weed use may be in question...

I gave in and just added a section acknowledging the "joke" and "toke" colloquial nickname families. Since they are colloquial there really aren't any citable sources (blogs and comment sections aren't citable), so I just added Google searches as refs. If it doesn't pass muster, revert it, please. I don't know of any other way to substantiate colloquial, yet encyclopedic, information. –BozoTheScary 22:35, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Slow-noke gets like 10 ghits. That's a private joke, not a nickname. —BozoTheScary 03:03, 29 May 2007 (UTC)


Wow, sorry you guys have 0 lives. There really isn't much to do in Roajoke, huh? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nitro27 (talk • contribs) 17:56, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

It's called bikeshedding. They might not now of anything notable to add to the article, but they know of a nickname for the city that they only use on their side of the block. It's actually pretty normal human behavior. My excuse is that I'm trying to keep the article in the good graces of the Wikilawyers while sating the dubious nickname editors. What's your excuse? Got nothing better to do than make fun of other people on Wikipedia on Talk pages on a Saturday night? –BozoTheScary (talk) 23:51, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

I've lived here all my life (30 years) and have never heard the South Roanoke area referred to as "SoRo" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.188.26.77 (talk) 02:50, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] "Roanoke is an Indian word for..."

So far, the only definitive answer for what "roanoke" meant that I've found is "shell money" in the Algonquin language. The river that is currently named the Roanoke River was also known as the "river of death", but that is not what "roanoke" means. "River of death" is only another name for what is now named the Roanoke River, not another meaning of "roanoke". –BozoTheScary 22:06, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] More history

In 1802 Roanoke was called Roan Oak, the original indian name. you can find this info in the Virginia room in the library downtown Roanoke. http://www.salemmuseum.org/images/pubs/chapter1.pdf

In Virginia around Roanoke the New River is called the 'River of Death' http://www.wvexp.com/index.php/New_River#Variant_Names_for_New_River In Roanoke, the Roanoke River is called the 'Mighty Roanoke' or 'River of Life' There are references in Roanoke Rapids, NC where the river is refered to the 'River of Death' http://digitalrepository.fws.gov/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/wildliferef&CISOPTR=151&REC=10

MySpace people refer to Roanoke Va as Nokie

[edit] History

I went a little hog wild on a reorg after trying to add some sensible refs. The article could still use some major refs and could probably benefit from a more "modern" ref strategy for organizing them, since there are so many comprehensive histories of Roanoke out there. Things that still appear to need attention:

  • Did a "Gainsboro" or a "Gainsborough" predate "Big Lick"?
  • One doesn't need to be particularly PC to see that article is glaringly missing historical info on:
    • the African-American former slave communities
    • the Indian tribes that ostensibly frequented the salt licks for game
    • the city's prominent immigrant communities:
      • Greeks
      • Brazilians
      • Southeast Asians

–BozoTheScary 04:32, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Citation style

With the albatross of the unreferenced tag hanging over this article, now would probably be a good time to consider switching to the Citation templates style. I was gung ho about it until I read that it wasn't preferred, it shouldn't be used without consensus, and it is a lot of work. Are there enough folks looking at this article for the word 'consensus' to mean anything? –BozoTheScary 02:14, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Toyota plant

I'm going to remove the paragraph about the Toyota plant since another location was selected. Frankly, I'm not convinced that Virginia in general or the Roanoke area in particular were ever seriously considered by Toyota. Most media outlets except for the NY Times have not mentioned Virginia as a location considered.

VaGuy1973 01:40, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

I have heard that Roanoke lost consideration for the Toyota plant when the Site Search Committee read the high school graduation statistics. ~~ RC ~~

[edit] Schools

Anonymous contributors keep adding in schools that are not in Roanoke City. I've tried to clean up that section to make it more explicit. –BozoTheScary 15:34, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

Is North Side Christian in Roanoke City? It is on the edge of the map on Google Maps. –BozoTheScary 15:34, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Ross Copperman

Ross Copperman is undeniably notable. If he's not, his WP page should be deleted. Anyway, 235 non-vanity, on-subject unique Ghits (97000 non-unique) says that he's notable. The Alexa ranking of his site is weak (2,860,603), but the Alexa ranking of an article about him is quite strong (http://www.jmu.edu/madisononline/RossCopperman.shtml 28,325). Anyway, he is reasonably notable in the UK, which is good enough for the WP.

The trouble is that he's not from Roanoke City. He's from somewhere very close and much whiter, but I can't find a place name. All I have is "10 minutes from Roanoke", "in the Blue Ridge Mountains", and "one black kid in our school". Which reminds me that we need a Roanoke Metropolitan Area article to cut down on the need for such pedantics. –BozoTheScary 04:15, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Citation for Elevation of 1175ft

The USGS gives an elevation for city of Roanoke as 940ft, and the USGS lat/long for the city are very close to a benchmark with elevation of 939 feet. (Check www.topozone.com to verify.) So where did the 1175ft figure come from? There are outlying parts of the city that high, but elevation of a city (as USGS means it) means the elevation of some major landmark downtown.

A quick Google search revealed hits for a wide range of elevations. Since Mill Mountain is inside the city, the potential range will be large. What does the city's web site claim? –BozoTheScary 17:18, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
[The city site] gives 1149 ft. We can quote that for the time being. - BillCJ 17:26, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
I've changed it to a range using the lowest low I could find and the highest high. There really is a lot of contradictory elevation data on the city (and even the airport). Since Mill Mountain is in the city, there is a large range. –BozoTheScary 21:41, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

The 1847' height is for the top of 'Star', obviously a manmade structure. The highest natural point on Mill Mountain (which is indeed within city limits) is 1740'. Groups such as the County Highpointers take these distinctions very seriously. See http://www.cohp.org/va/Roanoke_City_1.html. 128.173.49.45 13:49, 25 May 2007 (UTC)


Good work! —BozoTheScary 20:03, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Photos

This article could use more photos, but don't replace Ben Schumin's nighttime shot of downtown as the box photo unless it shows aliens cruising down Campbell Avenue mooning Zsa Zsa Gábor. Well, maybe a decent shot of the Star at night or something interesting, but not a daytime shot of the Bank Merger of the Month Corp. Building. —BozoTheScary 03:12, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Notable residents

I'm a newby here. A lot of you guys have done some great editing. I was wondering if I could add something about Oscar Micheaux or the Royal Kings.Pommerenke 18:51, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

From the sound of the crickets chirping, I'd say that you can feel free to knock yourself out. It would be very nice (arguably mandatory) if you could support your edits with references, preferably from books or newspapers. If you need help, just post it here. I'll chime in eventually. —BozoTheScary 21:25, 13 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Userbox

This user lives in or hails from Roanoke, Virginia.

I just created a Roanoke user box available for your use shown at right. Patriarca12 21:21, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Add the following to your user page if you'd like to:

{{user Roanoke}}

[edit] List of neighborhoods in Roanoke, Virginia

I recently created a List of neighborhoods in Roanoke, Virginia to include in this article. I have placed it under the government heading as I was not sure as to where else to place it. Please feel free to move the link elsewhere on the page if there is a better location for it. Patriarca12 (talk) 01:19, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Government

I reverted a series of edits by 152.130.7.65.

These were essentially material removed previously by me with the comment "removed old election results; removed unsupported categorizations". I removed details about elections that were not the latest elections for the offices and were otherwise not notable from an encyclopedic perspective. (They might be appropriate for a Politics in Roanoke, Virginia article, if such a thing existed.) I also removed the categorization "anti-change" as potentially WP:POV and as otherwise unsupported by any reference.

I reverted the reinstatement of this material with prejudice. The edit comment "This person made an edit to the government section, possibly to support a hidden political agenda," violates WP:AGF. However, that doesn't bear against the edits.

The edits failed for removing a fact tag without a supporting ref, for potentially POV categorizations, and for election minutiae that has become non-notable history from elections that were not the most recent elections. The new references don't support the notability of the old elections, nor do they support the categorizations. –BozoTheScary (talk) 22:40, 17 May 2008 (UTC)