Talk:Timeline of the Joe Biden presidency (2021 Q1)/Archive 1

Archive 1

Timelines

This article is a Timeline of the Presidency of Joseph Biden. Over the past dozen years presidential timeline articles have been edited with brevity and clarity as the guiding precepts. The following are some tips that have seemed to work over the years to keep the articles like this "grounded".―Buster7 ☎ 19:13, 20 January 2021 (UTC)

What to include

During an AfD discussion in 2008 regarding the Obama Timelines there were worries brought up about the content of the ever evolving articles. It was suggested that things TO include would be;

• Firsts (presidential orders, Predator-drone attack, etc) - obviously this means it will be somewhat frontloaded
• Major speeches
• Signings of major pieces of legislation
• Foreign trips/Major diplomatic meetings
• Other major events by cabinet members, administration personnel (resignations, major diplomacy (China/North Korea aka DPRK/Cuba/Iran...), etc)

To sum it up, basically use commonsense, and discuss things that are relevant and have historic potential. ―Buster7 ☎ 19:13, 20 January 2021 (UTC)

• (small note:) It is also convention on these articles to write in the present tense (ie: President Biden signs Bill X into law.). Mgasparin (talk) 09:06, 28 January 2021 (UTC)

Things NOT to Include

• Routine activities (calls, meetings, weekly addresses, trips to Capitol Hill, etc)
• Unremarkable ceremonies (obscure legislation/executive orders, obscure nominations/speeches/announcements, etc)
• When in doubt, many items can be judged by how much coverage they generate (breadth and depth) with brevity and clarity as the touch stones.―Buster7 ☎ 19:13, 20 January 2021 (UTC)

Buster7 - thanks, and I will try to keep these things in mind. I am relatively new to articles like this, so I'll do my best. PCN02WPS (talk | contribs) 19:26, 20 January 2021 (UTC)

PCN02WPS - Best to you. Thanks for this set-up. I'm sure we will have smooth sailing. Surprisingly, among politically-themed articles I find the timelines are the least problematic or drama-charged. ―Buster7 ☎ 22:06, 20 January 2021 (UTC)

Buster7, a quick question: would we include confirmations of cabinet members or cabinet-level officials? DNI Avril Haines was confirmed today, and we'll get much of the rest of the Cabinet in the coming days. PCN02WPS (talk | contribs) 00:16, 21 January 2021 (UTC)

Looking at the Trump 2017 Q1 timeline, it looks like much of the cabinet confirmations were listed, so I assume we would continue that practice. PCN02WPS (talk | contribs) 00:18, 21 January 2021 (UTC)

Cabinet members are major players in a presidency. Soon Biden will begin to interact with Congress. The possible impeachment of Trump is on the horizon. Each day will bring input decisions that editors of this article will have to consider are either necessary or of little importance to future readers. The fact that executive orders were issued on the first day and a press conference was held for the first time in months is important. We, the editors of this article, have a good start. ―Buster7 ☎ 06:40, 21 January 2021 (UTC)

Buster question

User:Buster7 - I am just now reading this after adding some content to the page, sorry! That's what I get for editing Wikipedia before I've had my full cup of tea. I did add a little dose of Kamala Harris into the article thus far - I noticed she was originally only mentioned in the Inauguration section and frankly, everything she's doing is historic - but that doesn't mean very breathe she takes needs to be listed, of course! But, on that note, regarding above - I did include her first official call as Vice President, which was with WHO. I also included her getting her second shot (which is a national security interest) and that she did it live on television at NIH. I won't be offended if any of this is removed, but, I hope it won't be - just because of the historic nature of it and so far there was little mention of her.

My only disappointment with this article, thus far, is that there is no mention of Champ and Major arriving at the White House. But, I guess that just means we need to make them their own timeline. Hehehe...kidding!! Missvain (talk) 16:51, 27 January 2021 (UTC)

Champ and Major can be found as the most recent entry at United States presidential pets. I may be mistaken but I think there is also a cat that has free range privileges.―Buster7 ☎ 00:20, 30 January 2021 (UTC)

@Missvain: Thanks for your generous comment. True, I had misgivings about your Kamala Harris entries at the time (and still do) but I did not want to subvert your energy and enthusiasm by removing them. I've had the same personal response to other editors of the article. Some of the descriptions and detail are much too long and detailed and if it continues the end product will be bloated and undesirable for our future readers perusal. Most encyclopedic timelines provide limited space for descriptive text input. Plus, links are available to send the reader to an expanded explanation. Nice to meet you! ―Buster7 ☎ 16:45, 29 January 2021 (UTC)

@Buster7: I appreciate that! But, feel free to WP:BE BOLD and edit away. I can now see how a few of my contributions are too long. Clearly a lot of people are excited to be a part of documenting this White House! Missvain (talk) 17:00, 29 January 2021 (UTC)

Exactly and rightfully so. And I don't want to be the curmudgeon that spoils their fun. But...... ―Buster7 ☎ 17:08, 29 January 2021 (UTC)

Bloat

I have been monitoring the various presidential timeline articles since 2008. It has required reverting the occasional (what I felt were...) unconstructive edits that were made to them. Preventing WP:Bloat was always my concern. I was never my intention to deter other editors from editing the timelines constructively as long as the descriptive texts remained brief and concise. I found that, at times, descriptive texts are used to allow political bias to "creep" into a timeline. Keeping them as short and concise as possible prevents this natural tendency of editor bias. I readily admit my own bias but do my utmost to contain it. ―Buster7 ☎ 17:22, 29 January 2021 (UTC)

We're all in it together and User:Buster7 you are our presidential timeline sensei. Missvain (talk) 23:26, 29 January 2021 (UTC)

An honorific I will do my best to fulfill.―Buster7 ☎ 00:25, 30 January 2021 (UTC)

"President Biden" vs. "Biden"

Just a quick question - do we want to qualify Biden by saying "President Biden" at every mention? To me, that seems like overkill, as he is mentioned to be the president by the article's title, lead, and the first bullet point on the timeline. I changed all of the instances of "President Biden" back to "Biden" once, but they have since been restored by an IP editor, and, in lieu of starting a minor edit war, I just wanted to see if there's any consensus on this. PCN02WPS (talk | contribs) 05:14, 2 February 2021 (UTC)

I remember back in the early days of the Obama Admin I was advocating a mix of 3 ways to mention him: President Obama, the President and simply Obama. ―Buster7 ☎ 06:35, 2 February 2021 (UTC)

Buster7 In light of all the people saying he's not the president, I would advocate for mentioning his title. I also know that in the Trump admin timeline it was convention to start most entries with "President Trump ....". Mgasparin (talk) 03:18, 3 February 2021 (UTC)

Wide table size in February month

I don't know why February table looks so fat and wide. Anyone please make the table narrow and thin! I will thank anyone who does that. Chandan Kanti Paul (talk) 13:43, 18 February 2021 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• Biden holds first bilateral meeting with Trudeau.jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 13:08, 26 February 2021 (UTC)

Tripping on stairs

Maybe we're looking at "breadth of coverage" here, but right now under March 19 "President Biden stumbles three times while trying to climb the stairs on Air Force One" looks pretty absurd mixed in with Senate confirmations, the passing of legislation and lawsuits. Is it really notable? Wodgester (talk) 21:07, 23 March 2021 (UTC)