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Existing Urban Legends category


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The concept of an "urban legend" as known in the USA appears to be impossible to explain to folks who have something other than English as their first language, and difficult to many other people.

 

Of the submissions to the Urban Legends category almost none that are submitted are actually urban legends and a large number of the waymarks that have gotten approved one way or the other over the years aren't urban legends either.

 

I asked the officers what they thought about trying to adapt the category to handle the legends that are generally submitted and got no response at all.

 

So now I'm throwing it out to the forums. Reply with some suggestions to rework the category to handle "normal" legends as well as urban legends.

 

Here's the category for convenience: https://www.Waymarking.com/cat/details.aspx?f=1&guid=ff570b23-a81a-46e5-b2a5-48f9096a6605&gid=6

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I can see your concerns.  While hoping that the waymarkers won't take offense, can you list some examples that (in your opinion) should not have been approved but will be fine for the new requirements that we have yet to

draft?

Edited by elyob
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I had few waymarks declined in this category because there were not urban legends. According to me it was urban legend, but a legend of more than thousand years. 

When we read the wikipedia page, they say that urban legend existed in primitive and traditionnal society, and that can exist nowadays.

So why decline medieval times urban legend ?

The last waymark legend declined in this category are Urban legends, except if you only want modern urban legend, but it's a non sence, urban legend exists since the world exists

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15 minutes ago, Alfouine said:

I had few waymarks declined in this category because there were not urban legends. According to me it was urban legend, but a legend of more than thousand years. 

When we read the wikipedia page, they say that urban legend existed in primitive and traditionnal society, and that can exist nowadays.

So why decline medieval times urban legend ?

The last waymark legend declined in this category are Urban legends, except if you only want modern urban legend, but it's a non sence, urban legend exists since the world exists

 

That is the difference of meaning QuesterMark is trying to explain. 

 

That is not how urban legends are understood in North America.  Urban legends are contemporary and modern.  The term "urban legends" only dates back to the 1960s.

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Interesting proposal David.  So if we drop "Urban" and simply keep "Legends and Superstitions", although we expand the category, I think this would add even mor confusion.  ie: I consider Maurice Richard a hockey legend by his own right, or the same with Wild Bill Hickok - now we could discuss legend vs hero!  Urban legends are what they are: fictional stories often rooted in local history and popular culture.

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23 hours ago, Loonwatcher said:

Interesting proposal David.  So if we drop "Urban" and simply keep "Legends and Superstitions", although we expand the category, I think this would add even mor confusion.  ie: I consider Maurice Richard a hockey legend by his own right, or the same with Wild Bill Hickok - now we could discuss legend vs hero!  Urban legends are what they are: fictional stories often rooted in local history and popular culture.

 

Agreed.

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Two years after this forum I see that are  a problem in the cathegory yet.

WM with legends are voted and declined, and sometimes for a photo of plaque, that isn't mandatory, only if exists.

I think that requeriments should be reviewed and legends accepted even if they are not urban.

I also think that there are leggend better here than in Weird story locations, for example: https://es.blastingnews.com/showbiz-y-tv/2016/03/la-leyenda-del-diablo-de-timanfaya-lanzarote-00847675.amp.html

 

What do you think?

 

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Here we have a classic example of WHY we have peer review for new categories.  Talk about a category that is completely subjective - one person's "urban legend" may not be another's...  Then, you have the creator of the category bugging out of Waymarking the same year he created this "interesting" piece of Waymarking.  

My question is - if you expand to just "Legends", and these are people, how would this be different than "Epic Beings" if Epic Beings allow a statue of Lewis and Clark to be included in their category????

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I didn't know Lewis and Clark, but I read the according WM. Those two were real people with an "epic (but real) adventure".

 

As QuesterMark mentioned in the initial posting, a person from outside the USA can hardly understand the term "Urban Legends" to the fullest. However, as far as I understand it, they are stories that mostly likely are not true or at least not completely true. In German there is the word "Sagen" (sagas). Those are stories, that often (but not always) have a real part (something that has happened and is proveable) and also several parts that have been added to the story lateron. F.e.: One of the towers of the St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna has not been completed (= fact). There are various legends/sagas, why. I explained the real reasons in that waymark. Therefore, I like the idea of the term "Legendary Stories", but maybe "Sagas" would better fit to "Urban Legends".

 

The questions I have, are: Why does a real person who had an "epic adventure" qualify for the "Epic Beings" category? And when does an adventure begin to become "epic"? Would f.e. Mother Theresa also be considered to be an "epic being"?

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On 11/7/2019 at 4:15 PM, Loonwatcher said:

I consider Maurice Richard a hockey legend by his own right, or the same with Wild Bill Hickok

 

Disagree (with The Rocket's being considered a legend, but only in this particular context). Though Maurice and Wild Bill may have had the  word Legend attached to their names, they, themselves are still simply individuals, not stories. Legendary, true, but not legends.

 

A legend is a story, whether true or not, which is passed through generations about a happenstance of the past. A story of how "The Rocket" scored his 50th goal is, indeed, a story, and an obvious truism, still not yet a true legend. Legends are generally about happenings that may or may not be true, and which occurred prior to the lives of those living people who may be able to corroborate, or negate, the story. Legends aren't about things (or hockey players) whose lives coincide with living individuals; they're about those whose stories may not now be be debated by witnesses.

 

"Urban" is an unfortunate addition to the category title, I agree, but, it seems to me, a pecuniary thing over which there's no need to fret. Proper submissions, as in amenable to the intention of the category, appear to be accepted on a regular basis, as they should. As the Aussies are known to utter on occasion:

NO WORRIES

 

Keith

Edited by ScroogieII
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Well, What I keep seeing is that it is one of those unclear categories, seeing what is published and what is rejected. It's a shame, since you could be a nice category, but stories of the oral tradition of magic, mystery, etc. are rejected and others are published as well. It is a category that brings me on the bitter side, but if the reviewers want it that way. Of course, I agree that athletes would not enter :-)

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