Template talk:Neighborhoods in Dubai

Add more neighborhoods

Add more neighborhoods.Kyrsch 01:08, 24 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Major reorganization in September and October 2007

I got rid of the East West, etc designation since Dubai isn't organized that way and doesn't even orient north and south that way some cities do. I think that's one reason the neighborhoods are so important.

It frustrates me that people delete the neighborhood names without justification. I suspect they don't understand the city. In Dubai, the neighborhoods are much more important than just a postal addressing system like in other cities.

I think the best -- for now -- is an alphabetical listing. The best solution would be an hyperlinked map. --Calan 03:28, 30 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure if you intended it or not, but templates generally do not have commentary as this one does, so I've hidden the comments with <noinclude> tags. It seems that this information could be simply added to the Dubai article as way of information, but I have never seen a template that has this kind of commentary/explanation. ^Ariel♥Gold 04:03, 30 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

That's a bit better, but I would still encourage you to not have that information in the template. Templates like this are used purely for navigation, and not for information/commentary, that information should be in the Dubai article, perhaps in a section called "Land division" or something? Some of the issues that arise with this are discussed at Template creep. And hope you don't take any of this negatively, as I truly don't mean it that way! :) ^Ariel♥Gold 04:40, 30 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Personally, I liked it better before all of these changes. It was simple and easy. (But I agree with getting rid of the East/West thing). Also, some of these things you added are either spelled wrong or are missing a word (i.e.:Jumeirah, Oud Metha, Al Shindagha). Also, you deleted some neighborhoods that used to be here (Naif, Bur Dubai (this one is especially important), Jebel Ali, Business Bay, and Dubai Marina). Some of the things currently there should not even be there. This includes Al Burj (a building and not a neighborhood), Al Quoz Industrial Area 1, Al Quoz Industrial Area 3, Al Qusais Industrial Area, Burj Dubai (again, a building), Dubai International Airport (an airport and not a neighborhood), and Jebel Ali Free Zone (an area within Jebel Ali). I am sorry to say this, but I get so frustrated by looking at the current format. Technically, yes, Dubai is seperated into the different parts you have listed. But a lot of them are not used by everyday people in everyday talk. Also, the neighborhoods that have seperate numbers (such as Al Safa 1 and Al Safa 2, or Jumeirah 1, Jumeirah 2, and Jumeirah 3) are never referred to them like this. People usually just clump them all together into one Safa or one Jumeirah. So, please, we need to change this template considerably. I did not want to change anything because I think we should first discuss this all. And more changes would result in even more. It is much easier to get things done if there is one large change instead of 20. Leitmanp 06:38, 30 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry if launching ahead on this was presumptuous! I felt like my restoring the names of the neighborhoods was just fixing some hackwork that people had done when they unilaterally deleted them without including them elsewhere nor with any justification

How they are organized isn't that important to me -- as long as all the neighborhoods are included.

I feel strongly that they all need to be listed and, eventually, given their own entries. This is because Dubai is totally organized around these neighborhoods. Some entries will be small stubs but others will be basically like small city entries.

For example, I'd have no problem with one big "Safa" entry as long as there is a sub listing of Safa 1, Safa 2.

I'm not surprised you found some mistakes -- thanks for fixing them. I think I got the original names from the Etisilat phonebook which may not be authoritative. Maps list them too. Also, it's possible someone changed them and I didn't notice. As I'm sure you know, many people drop the trailing "h" on Anglicized Arabic words while others drop the "Al".

Feel free to fix anything you think is wrong -- that's the beauty of Wikipedia.

I disagree that people don't refer to the neighborhood by their sub number -- I've done it myself many times when trying to find a place. As do government officials. I would expect that tourists and western newcomers would too. Of course many people don't, but that certainly shouldn't be the standard.

I think it would be mistake to base the entries on colloquial use -- since that varies so much. You may remember a Gulf News article a few months ago which showed that something ike half of the people in Dubai did not know what street they lived on or neighborhood they lived in! So, of course they commonly refer to places incorrectly.

My neighborhood, Jafilya, is commonly referred to as "Satwa East" even though it's not Satwa and it's not exactly east! It's commonly spelled different ways (even on street signs). My understanding is that Dubai plans on changing this informality, for the sake of the postal system.

Officially, Dubai is very carefully laid out in named neighborhoods and I feel strongly that all the neighborhoods should be listed with links to their own entries in Wikipedia -- even if just in a table tucked away. That's probably the best place for it -- out-of-the-way for casual readers but available for those who need to know.

By the way - I don't think this gets said enough here on Wikipedia -- thanks for your work on this project. Even if we disagree on this minor point.

--Calan 16:43, 12 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]