If you've got a few minutes

StuartDH · #1 (**permalink**) 21-09-2005, 07:06 PM

If you've got a few minutes, please help us to add content to the reference section and keep the pages up-to-date.

We've just added the facility for comments to be posted on every page of the reference section - via a new link at the bottom of each page.

It would be a great help if everyone could use this facility to add content to the reference pages by posting additional info that we've missed out. Also, feel free to let us know if there are facts that we've got wrong or if there are any incorrect spellings/typos etc.

Cheers

Stuart

Helen · #2 (**permalink**) 21-09-2005, 07:52 PM

I've got some more time on my hands now, so will get cracking again on it!

Diane · #3 (**permalink**) 21-09-2005, 07:53 PM

Just had a quick look at the Reference section. It looks really good.

Where do you want us to let you know of typos? Here or in the comments? I spotted one on the first page I looked at!!

StuartDH · #4 (**permalink**) 21-09-2005, 10:34 PM

Hi Diane,

Thanks, you'll probably find plenty more.

If you could add the comments to the page by clicking on the 'add new comment' link and then post a quick message in the box that appears. We'll then receive a note on the system that takes us straight back to the page you were viewing and the comments that you've added.

Cheers

Stuart

Diane · #5 (**permalink**) 22-09-2005, 08:25 AM

Actually, this site is one of the best I have come across so far for the lack of typos. On another site I mentioned several errors, but they were never changed.

I'll have a look through the other pages sometime. I do a bit of proofreading in my job, so I'm semi-trained to look for these things. It's a curse sometimes, as I spot them everywhere.

StuartDH · #6 (**permalink**) 22-09-2005, 08:56 AM

I forgot to mention that, unless you add your name, the comments are entirely anonymous

StuartDH · #7 (**permalink**) 22-09-2005, 07:21 PM

Thanks to everyone who has helped out with the comments so far. As a result of the info you've sent us today, we've added well over a hundred new facts to the facts and figures section.

We've started to break the facts and figures into more specific catergories and we'll break them down even further wherever we can. As a result, we've now got seperate facts pages for everything from dolphins and bats to rainbows and moths.

If we're missing a category that you'd like to work on, then let me know and I'll add it in.

Thanks again

Stuart

LonesomeTwin · #8 (**permalink**) 22-09-2005, 08:33 PM

Slight problem, well, dilemma.

I'd like to add a section about bumblebees. Now although I know quite a lot about the subject, I mostly only know from things that other people (mostly dead!) have written. Anything I wrote would therefore be plagiarism at best, and copyright theft at worst. For instance: Painted Ladies migrate from North Africa. How do you know? Have you watched them? Probably not, you probably read it somewhere, although this example could be taken as common knowledge.

So anything I could contribute of my own experience would be from experiments that I did as an evil schoolboy, so I can tell you how much wing to chop off before they really can't fly, which ones will drown and which revive when dried out, and how long you can leave them in a fridge icebox, if anybodies interested.

Helen · #9 (**permalink**) 22-09-2005, 08:59 PM

HI Lonesome.

I don't think you have to much to worry about there. Copyright would be as follows:

"On a cold and dark night, the bumblebee flew off in a huff and migrated" You''ve read that in a book, and you write the exact words elsewhere, then yes, you may well have a problem.

However, if you write "The bumblebee migrated", then it's fine, no problem. i.e. in your own words. Or course, the words "bumblebee" and "migrated" are not copyright so you are in the clear.

Er, that's the only way I can think of how to explain it!
Regards

StuartDH · #10 (**permalink**) 22-09-2005, 09:46 PM

Hi LonesomeTwin,

Copyright really isn't as bad as that and there are even special leniences for non-commercial educational applications, even if original text is copied verbatim. Plagiarism is a different case entirely, but it generally applies if you try to pass off someone elses entire work, copied verbatim, as your own original efforts.

As Helen suggested, we're certainly not looking to copy text directly from other sources. Although it would be great if we could do this, because then we could simply build the facts pages by cutting and pasting from other websites and it would only take a few minutes.

In essence, copyright covers the creative expression of ideas, rather than the actual ideas (or facts) themselves. So it's OK to read a paragraph of text and re-write the facts using your own original expression.

Anyway, before I start to ramble off topic too much, we've set up a bees page today so you should now be able to start adding comments on the page straight away.

http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/wi...rtebrates/bees

Cheers

Stuart