Talk:Sibolga

Historical photos

Unless the "way it used to be" is far more relevant to modern travel here than the way it is now, I think these historical pictures need to go, particularly the giant one that dominates the page. This article looks like a page from a history book or encyclopedia rather than a travel guide. If the history of the town is not the main reason for visiting this destination, it would be far better to show what the traveller can actually expect. In that respect, I think the third photo (explaining that the road is the same now as it was 100 years ago) is the only one we should even consider keeping. Texugo (talk) 14:54, 18 October 2013 (UTC)

Now the article has some decent modern pictures, and there are too many images for this article to support, so I am removing the following four from the article, though actually more need to be removed:

Sibolga harbour, ca. 1910-1920

Panorama of Sibolga, 1928. Unknown (presumably Dutch) photographer. The major settlement of Tapanoeli, on the west coast of Sumatra. The road through the mountains turns left towards Tarodoeng. This road rises to 1100 meters and then drops to 926 meters at Tarodoeng. In the middle of the foreground is the barracks of the Armed Police, the Inspector's Office, the Water Office, and the Notary Office. In the background right are the European and native commercial districts. (The native commercial district notably included a Chinese quarter.)

Typical street food stalls in Sibolga Square, Sibolga, North Sumatra, Sumatra, Indonesia. On offer are numerous tropical fruit juices (jus), fried rice (nasi) and noodle (mi) dishes, and satay (sate).

Public bus on the mountain road above Sibolga, June 1919. This seems to be exactly the same road used today to cross the mountains... things change slowly in Sibolga.

Texugo (talk) 01:22, 19 October 2013 (UTC)

I don't know what kind of traveller you are, but "the way it used to be" is important to many of us when seeking to understand the significance where we are. A primary source such as a historical panorama is perfect as an overview, as it is unobtrusive (users can click to get more information) yet shows perfectly the historical districts of the town which are still very much relevant. In this case, it is particularly significant when other pictures on the page include heritage architecture and the more prominent locations for such can be identified from the image. Further, one of the images you deleted is a modern image I just took, not a historic one. Rather than spending your time removing content that others have worked very hard to put together, how about actually creating some instead? Pratyeka (talk) 19:09, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

You now have two photos overlapping each other, a huge photo in the middle of the page, and at least one photo justified center. Regardless of the questions about historical photos (and I tend to come down on Texugo's side of that argument, for the most part), I think there is too much density of images and just plain too many of them on the page now, for the amount of text, and I'm going to re-delete the ones you added, for now, and then some, for that reason. Also, please discuss things calmly. The great content you add is much appreciated, and I'm very glad you decided to come back and contribute more! But arguing that Texugo doesn't create content or that anyone who's not adding content to a particular article shouldn't care about how an article looks is not going to get you very far. Ikan Kekek (talk) 22:58, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

We should actually be talking about which other thumbnails should be removed for now, because it looks bad to have such a long extension of images below the end of the text. I nominate the "typical food stall" pic for removal, though it has a good caption. I also don't find the mosque pic that interesting. I'd also suggest that most of the mi tiew caption be moved into the "Eat" section as regular text. Are there other local specialties that can be described there? If so, we will have more text and might not need to remove so many photos. Ikan Kekek (talk) 23:21, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

Too many images

There are still way too many photos on this page, as they go way below the end of the text. Which photos should be deleted? We can discuss this, or anyone can just plunge forward and make their own choices. But we shouldn't let this article remain the way it is, indefinitely. Ikan Kekek (talk) 21:57, 14 June 2015 (UTC)

I removed some images, moved some caption text to the article and reoriented the photos, but the last one still goes slightly beyond the text. Ikan Kekek (talk) 22:14, 14 June 2015 (UTC)