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Not quite sure why Chariots of the Gods (which is presented as non-fiction) is in the same category as War of the Worlds here...

Right you are.

Bufo, I vote for replacing Chariots of the Gods with a couple of great fiction books that depend on aliens. I think, having just brought up the ancient astronauts theory, CotG was right at the front of the writer's thoughts, but I agree with you that the type of book doesn't match up. And there are so many great possibilities that it would be hard to pick what to include: The Mote in God's Eye, perhaps? Or Suzette Haden Elgin's Native Tongue?

Regards,
Candy
Cashanundudyub 01:37, 22 November 2006 (EST)

I hadn't even thought as far as fiction vs. nonfiction. I simply listed the first and only two things on my mind at the moment hoping someone else would fill in the blanks. Another issue is whether this article should be about fictional aliens or the scientific views on extraterrestrial life. Can the two be combined or do we need two separate articles? --MarshAngel 07:53, 22 November 2006 (EST)

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I like it better now.  :) I've personally been trying to shift away from lists in articles to categories. The lists in the articles seem "hard-coded", where they are more difficult to update. However, I also know I =like= jumping place to place, whereas less computer-integrated folks might prefer staying in one location. Thoughts there?

The issue of mixing fiction and non-fiction is a significant one. While I think the serious-minded science folks like to know that there is fiction based on their area of interest, I personally know of some who are dismayed when it gets lumped together. Some SETI folks (my Uncle Mel was one of the original ones) are really anti-UFO, because they feel it muddies the waters of their research. I would think the way to do it would be to have a link from one article to the other, and not too much mixing.

Oh, one minor thing, Candy...I do have pages watched, but I no longer get e-mails when they are changed. Do you think I exceeded a limit?

--Bufocalvin 10:02, 22 November 2006 (EST)

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I think a good option might be to keep this article science related and create a new one for Extraterrestrial life in fiction and move the fictional information from this article there.

My mind has also been on lists. As related to this article, barring a few notable selections, a link to a list article such as List of extraterrestrials in fiction might be warranted. It has the positives of really organizing by type, film, literature etc. without detracting from the original article. One benefit of lists is that it can be searched and what's needed can be easily seen. I've noticed that when I run a search the category of the article doesn't come up, just the contents.. which makes me wonder, in regards to lists of TV episodes, if it wouldn't be wise to have episode list articles, that essentially replicate the same information on the category page.

--MarshAngel 10:33, 22 November 2006 (EST)

You've both brought up many excellent points here.

I need to give them some thought, but just a quick response now about the Watch list notification. I have never gotten email notification of changes to watched articles, and didn't know that was an option. I'll check into it and find out what's going on.

MarshAngel, I hadn't checked the history of the article and didn't realize it was yours. It's definitely a seed with many promising shoots.

Regards,
Candy
Cashanundudyub 13:12, 22 November 2006 (EST)

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Searching for Categories

Here's the thing. You can set your search to include category names (I do), but I know the vast majority of people don't, and that's not the default. Ideally, an article gets created within each category (with the same name) that briefly describes the category. Then it would show up in standard searches. I've created quite a few categories without doing that, but I do intend to get back to them. It seems easiest to have a category for say, Extraterrestrials in Movies, create a paragraph or so article about it, and then categorize movies into that grouping. There could also be a long article (and probably should be), but the short article lets people realize there are a bunch of articles in the category. I don't usually put any significant data in the category listing itself...John Douglas correctly pointed out that most people wouldn't see it.

Just thinking...

--Bufocalvin 13:31, 22 November 2006 (EST)

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