FCS Map Is Wikipedia Linkspam?

[Lehigh Football Nation]

http://www.championshipsubdivisionnews.com/?disp=fcsmap

The FCS Map, my pet project for two years running now, is something I thought would be useful on the stadium sites that are cropping up on Wikipedia. Many of these stadium pages are stubs, with little information on them, so I thought it would be mutually beneficial to have my site as an external link on the Wikipedia entry: it doesn't interfere with the main "article" and it provides another link to a site where someone can get more information (and satellite views) of FCS stadiums. It's a work in progress, but all the satellite images are there.

Today I found out that Wikipedia folks have been taking down my external links. Why?

* The (singular) person decided it was "link spam"
* The (singular) person decided that "wikipedia is not a collection of links"

I don't feel the FCS Map is "link spam" and is in compliance with Wikipedia's TOS. It provides different information than what the Wikipedia entries have and have different satellite views, and it provides a way for people to get Google directions to the stadium.

As for the "collection of links" argument, I think it is patently ridiculous that some of these articles have TWO links on them are suddenly a collection of links when it has THREE external links on them, especially when it includes three pages of text with my poor link on the bottom.

Is the FCS Map link spam, and does it violate the TOS of Wikipedia? Click it and judge for yourself.

[Syntax Error]

there are some real pieces of work judging wiki stuff, ask unhwildcats

[AmsterBison]

That map is very cool.

Maybe FCS needs its own wiki.

[dgreco]

no bryant?

[raginram]

no Winston?

[raginram]

and by no winston I meant the logo on the map

[Lehigh Football Nation]

WSSU should be on there:

http://assets.espn.go.com/i/teamlogos/ncaa/lrg/trans/2736.gif

Bowman-Gray Stadium
Winston-Salem, NC

Capacity: 18,000
Opened in: 1942
Renovated: 2007
Surface: Bermuda Grass

Home of the:
Winston-Salem State Rams

I've held off on Bryant only because technically they're playing a D-II transition schedule rather than D-I at this point, although I could be convinced to add them.

[89Hen]

Is the FCS Map link spam, and does it violate the TOS of Wikipedia? Click it and judge for yourself.
I'd say the Texas A&M Ringtones ad on your site is far more offensive. xsmiley_wix

[93henfan]

Wow. Great map and an excellent visual for why Chattanooga is the best location for the FCS Championship game.

10925

[dgreco]

WSSU should be on there:

http://assets.espn.go.com/i/teamlogos/ncaa/lrg/trans/2736.gif

Bowman-Gray Stadium
Winston-Salem, NC

Capacity: 18,000
Opened in: 1942
Renovated: 2007
Surface: Bermuda Grass

Home of the:
Winston-Salem State Rams

I've held off on Bryant only because technically they're playing a D-II transition schedule rather than D-I at this point, although I could be convinced to add them.

Cause USD and UND are listed? and Bryant plays a mroe worthy DI schedule than some of its NEC members :D ?

[Lehigh Football Nation]

I'm convinced - sometime (probably) next week, I'll add it.

[Appguy]

yes, certainly shows why there is an east coast bias (because there should be)

[gophoenix]

A little constructive criticism. You really need to use transparent gifs or PNGs. The ones with a white background and square overlap other logos on the map (like NCCU, South Dakota, A&T).

And technically, since UNC, USD are listed, shouldn't Bryant be listed?

I also agree with AppGuy, as it is what I am saying all the time. There should be an east coast bias. There are as many FCS teams in NC/SC/GA as there are in the last two time zones combined.

[dgreco]

I'm convinced - sometime (probably) next week, I'll add it.

thanks :D

[NoCoDanny]

A little constructive criticism. You really need to use transparent gifs or PNGs. The ones with a white background and square overlap other logos on the map (like NCCU, South Dakota, A&T).

And technically, since UNC, USD are listed, shouldn't Bryant be listed?

I also agree with AppGuy, as it is what I am saying all the time. There should be an east coast bias. There are as many FCS teams in NC/SC/GA as there are in the last two time zones combined.


Why does UNC being listed have anything to do with Bryant?

[dgreco]

Why does UNC being listed have anything to do with Bryant?

thinkhe meant und

[Lehigh Football Nation]

A little constructive criticism. You really need to use transparent gifs or PNGs. The ones with a white background and square overlap other logos on the map (like NCCU, South Dakota, A&T).

And technically, since UNC, USD are listed, shouldn't Bryant be listed?

I also agree with AppGuy, as it is what I am saying all the time. There should be an east coast bias. There are as many FCS teams in NC/SC/GA as there are in the last two time zones combined.

That is another thing I am working on - making the backings of the other logos transparent. To do that I need time to do photoshop work AND modify the code to grab the right one.

As mentioned, Bryant will get in there this week, most likely. :)

[dgreco]

still no love? =(

[Lehigh Football Nation]

still no love? =(

For you, Mr. dgreco, Bryant is now officially on the map:

http://www.championshipsubdivisionnews.com/?disp=fcsmap

Now, I *know* the Bryant logo on the map itself sucks... I will have to render one myself and put it there as soon as I can. But you're, well officially FCS now. xthumbsupx

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Bryant now looks good: other additions:

* fixed Bryant, Brown, NCCU logos
* updated all the SWAC stadium information
* fixed TxSo's stadium information (right stadium, wrong name)

http://www.championshipsubdivisionnews.com/?disp=fcsmap

[GradBison]

Nice work!

The Fargodome, home of the NDSU Bison is listed as capacity: null. It's 19,000 if you didn't have the figure :)

Opened in: 1992
Renovated: N/A
Surface: Astroturf Magic Carpet

Also The Gateway is now the Missouri Valley Football Conference. xthumbsupx

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Nice work!

The Fargodome, home of the NDSU Bison is listed as capacity: null. It's 19,000 if you didn't have the figure :)

Also The Gateway is now the Missouri Valley Football Conference. xthumbsupx

That's another thing I need to fix, thanks for pointing that out. All the MVC stadiums need their full information added.

[gophoenix]

Can you make all the icons transparent gifs or pngs? Some of the logos are hard to see hidden under other ones.

Otherwise, nice work.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Can you make all the icons transparent gifs or pngs? Some of the logos are hard to see hidden under other ones.

Otherwise, nice work.

All should be transparent GIFs now.

Added Southland conference information.

Replaced Gateway logo with MVC logo.

If you have problems seeing your school, be sure to use the drop-down "center the map" feature, which automatically zooms in to show a better view! You can use this to show more detail in close areas like Fordham/Columbia, Brown/Bryant, etc.

To-do: finish the last bits of stadium information (MVC, Pioneer, Big Sky, Indeps)! Then it's done!

[UNHWildCats]

is it just me or does nothing west of Presbyterian show up?

[houtexan]

is it just me or does nothing west of Presbyterian show up?

I had the same issue. Even selecting from the dropdown made no difference. hmm. Very cool concept though.

[Syntax Error]

it is MVFC not MVC

[appfan2008]

the map sure shows chatty as the center of the fcs universe

[Lehigh Football Nation]

is it just me or does nothing west of Presbyterian show up?


I had the same issue. Even selecting from the dropdown made no difference. hmm. Very cool concept though.

What browser are you using? It is working fine for me and Firefox 2.0.0.15.

[UNHWildCats]

ie mostly, i just looked with firefox and its fine, but you should see why only the east is showing up on ie since that browser is over 50% of the browser market.

[dgreco]

thanks for the add and the updates:D

[Lehigh Football Nation]

The problems with the interactive map and IE are FIXED.

For those that care (which is nobody), the problems were a div tag that needed rearranging and a typo in the XML file.

More feedback, good or bad, is welcome!

[houtexan]

The problems with the interactive map and IE are FIXED.

For those that care (which is nobody), the problems were a div tag that needed rearranging and a typo in the XML file.

More feedback, good or bad, is welcome!

It is working for me now in IE. Great site. Hope to see some of the future teams added soon (ie. Lamar).