Talk:Main Page/Archive 67

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Archive 67


Contents

Poor anniversary choice

"# 1982 - The Conch Republic facetiously declared independence from the United States."

This is actually kind of a rubbish day in history, besides births and deaths. Perhaps, Polish Constitution of 1935, Rhythm Night Club fire or the Treaty of Oliwa. I would probably go for the latter of the three if it was to be replaced. However it will be changed soon anyway. 12.220.94.199 22:00, 23 April 2006 (UTC)
Or Baedeker Blitz. But all 4 need to be de-stubbed first. -- 199.71.174.100 22:12, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

A quibble

"Normative" does not mean "current," as the first sentence of the featured article today seems to suggest, but rather "adhering to a standard" (often a subconcious standard based on "current" mores, admittedly). Was there something less than "normative" about Turkish literature in its Ottoman form? Aside from this semantic quibble, I found today's lead sentence poor, with its lengthy note between dashes and its repetition of the subject ("this literature is literature that...").

This is a really really pedantic, I know. But I'll admit it: I often only read one sentence of articles and then leave them. I'm sure I'm not the only one. If the lead in general ought be good, the lead sentence to the lead ought to be very good. I've often wondered whether the "normative" Wiki rule of immediately having the article title in bold actually leads us into syntactically awkward phrasing. Couldn't the first sentence just be the one that flows best, rather than the one that makes the title of the article stand out? Marskell 22:16, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

You may be right but would it be better to address this to the article's talk page? Secondly, the rule is that the article's subject should be in bold in the first paragraph, in a natural place. So your comment is valid but the reference to the rule isn't. (I also love how you slipped 'normative' in there. Ten points! --Monotonehell 06:36, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
You're right about the word "normative", of course, but wrong about its use in the lead sentence. It doesn't in any way mean "current", but simply—via "such as"—refers to contemporary Turkish as one example thereof. There wasn't something less than "normative" about Ottoman literature, but there was something less than normative about its language, which is the point that was being made (as was discussed further along in the article). As for your finding the sentence poor, well so be it—stylistic differences are what make the world go round. —Saposcat 07:58, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
There's a difference, of course, between intent and likely interpretation. It was not intended to mean current—OK. But it could easily be read that way: "...normative varieties, such as that spoken in the Republic of Turkey today." Anyhow, I just tweaked it, and I think it's fine. We can agree at least that one sentence paragraphs are a no-no. Marskell 08:10, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
I made one small tweak for accuracy's sake, but your version was better overall than some of the other changes that have been made to the sentence.
Interpretation is, of course, a sticky issue, as I still think that a careful reading of that sentence wouldn't lead all the way to that particular interpretation (although it would lead very slightly there, which was also part of the intent). But your changes are fair enough to the issue, I think (although I do personally disagree with one-sentence paragraphs being a no-no; it depends on the sentence in question). Thanks for contributing. —Saposcat 08:23, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
From the MoS: "Conversely, a one-sentence paragraph is like a cannon-shot during the performance: it attracts so much attention that it had better be good." I think one sentence paragraphs should be saved for things like "In the beginning was the Word" off the top, or perhaps "Caesar crossed the Rubicon and boldly laid seige..." right at the end of a section so the reader is gasping with anticipation ;). Marskell 08:35, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
Yowza! You got me there. Until I can manage such literary heights, I'll just steer clear of them then. Thanks for mending the errors of my thoughts & ways. ;) —Saposcat 08:39, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

Namespace

I don't think the main page should be in the Article namespace. What if you want to actually look up an article on "Main Page". --GeorgeMoneyTalk  Contribs 00:15, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

This question pops up so many times, maybe the answer should be included in the Main Page FAQ. Anyway, Main Page is an article in the article namespace for historical reasons. We can always disambiguate later. And, the article on "Main Page" may be found here. --199.71.174.100 00:33, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
Hmmm... what's really the difference between a main page and a home page? (Home page in the sense of the "home" link at the top of of a menu, not a single person's home page.) Why don't we replace the (very stubbish) home page article with here? zafiroblue05 | Talk 07:36, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

Today's FA Fix

There's a sentence in today's featured article that begins with...

After Andrée, Strindberg, and Frænkel lifted off from Svalbard in July 1897...

Unfortunately, whoever summarized the intro of S. A. Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897 removed the part that mentioned the full names of Strindberg and Frænkel. As a result, someone reading that sentence may be confused as to where those names came from. Therefore I believe it should read:

After Andrée, Nils Strindberg, and Knut Frænkel lifted off from Svalbard in July 1897...

or more preferably...

After Andrée and his two companions, Nils Strindberg and Knut Frænkel, lifted off from Svalbard in July 1897...

Thanks in advance. joturner 02:46, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

Someone fixed this early this morning. -- 199.71.174.100 12:41, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

On this day...

"1916 - Easter Rising: The Irish Republican Brotherhood started a rebellion in Ireland."

This is very misleading and subjective description of the rising. Leaders of the IRB had a substantial part but it was a very complicated story involving the Irish Volunteers, the Irish Citizen Army and various other elements. How about just changing it to 'The Easter 1916 rising took place in Ireland". - User:Dalta

I've tweaked the line a bit. Hope it's better now. -- PFHLai 11:48, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
Aye, it's better, but, without meaning to be pedantic, it's not really objective to say the IRB led it. It was technically an Irish Volunteers manouver which got hijacked by IRB leaders and the Citizen Army leader. I prefer my one(obviously), it doesn't say anything except exactly what happened, then people can click the link to get more. - User:Dalta

Inconvenient?

Osama bin Laden has spoken to jihadists of the world once again. Why is the emir not worthy of mention in the news section?

Feel free to type up such an article. This is a wiki. Afterwards, feel free to post a suggested headline at Wikipedia:In the news section on the Main Page/Candidates. -- 199.71.174.100 12:40, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
The News section highlights Wikipedia articles which have been created or significantly updated to incorporate the news. It isn't just headlines with links. --Dhartung | Talk 20:23, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Vote for Jimmy Wales

Time Magazine is holding polls and letting us decide who the most influential people this year is. Jimmy Wales is a candidate, we can go there and vote for him... or whoever you think is the most influential. I know the discussion is for talking about the page only, but Jimmy is losing and this is the only way to get enough attention to turn the tide. You can go and vote for him here [1] Pseudoanonymous 19:42, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

I did not even know about this. If I knew this I would probably do the same. Thanks for telling everyone because this is very important to most wikipedians. FellowWikipedian talk 4:10 pm 24 April 2006 (UTC-4)

Is advertising for Jimbo allowed? Jedi6-(need help?) 02:38, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

No advertising for Jimbo is not allowed. This isn't even allowed, but I am hoping that they will make an exception, for this. : ) Pseudoanonymous 03:38, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Who on earth is Malcolm Gladwell, and why the **** does he have a higher number of votes than Jimbo! Arrgggh!!! JIHAAAAD! -- Миборовский U|T|C|M|E|Chugoku Banzai! 05:28, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
  • Take a look at the picture of Gladwell....(chuckle chuckle) StillWalking 17:08, 01 May 2006 (UTC)
  • Isn't it quite clear that Jimmy Wales, whoever he is, is simply not the most influential person this year, no matter how much you like him. So there's no point in trying to get people to vote for him as he is a nobody. Skinnyweed 17:19, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
not sure if your comments were meant to be tongue in cheek, but Jimmy Wales is the founder of this very website.--Alhutch 17:25, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

He made the list! Go and see for yourself here [2] or here [3]. Which is strange, because we came second last. Thanks for voting everyone! Pseudoanonymous 22:57, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

Jumping the Gun on ITN

I have an issue with the addition of...

Three explosions hit Dahab, a tourist town on Egypt's Sinai peninsular.

...in In the News. To begin with it should be Sinai Peninsula instead of Sinai peninsular. But furthermore, Wikipedia is not a news organization and therefore should not jump the gun on adding news items. In normal situations, a news item wouldn't make it to the Main Page unless the article in question included a decent amount of information on the subject. The Dahab article mentions one short sentence on the blasts. Perhaps the item should be removed until more information is added on the blasts (which should, by the way, go in 2006 Dahab bombings). joturner 20:08, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

The information should go on whatever article is updated. Dahab was, I expanded it, I added it. Of course we should cover breaking news stories. Not doing so defeats the point of ITN. As for the spelling mistake: forgive me, I am rather emotionally wrought by this affair. Best, Sam Korn (smoddy) 21:59, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
ITN should still be changed from Sinai peninsula to Sinai Peninsula. joturner 00:29, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

The current time

Wikipedia has the wrong time. At 8:00 pm 24 April 2006 (UTC) it changed to 12:00 am 25 April 2006 (UTC). The featured article was changed and the featured picture was changed and On this day was also changed. What happend? Can anybody fix this? FellowWikipedian 8:27 pm 24 April 2006 (UTC)

I'm confused by this one. Where's the time and did you manually put the date and time in your signature? It should be around 00:30 (12:30am) UTC now. joturner 00:31, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
Found the time; I knew I've seen it somewhere. I was just looking for it on the Main Page instead of on this page. joturner 00:32, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
I am from Canada I know what time it is. I am looking at my clock on the radio it says 8:41 pm! FellowWikipedian 8:41 pm 24 April 2006 (UTC)
  • If you did not know, Wikipedia is as an international community, and therefore is organized along Coordinated Universal Time. Therefore, everything on the main page changes at 12:00 am UTC, which is 8:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time where you are. Zzyzx11 (Talk) 00:47, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
Thank you very much. I knew that but I did not know that the time changes at 12:00 am.FellowWikipedian 8:50 pm (Where I am) 24 April 2006 (UTC)
I would highly recommend, FellowWikipedian, that you alter your signature to either a) use the standard signature, which gives Coordinated Universal Time or b) change your signature so it says (UTC-4) instead of (UTC). Your signature is confusing as it states, incorrectly, that your local time is UTC. I'd go with option a) for fixing your signature because it eliminates all confusion. joturner 01:08, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
Ditto. Also, is there a pref setting allowing you to change the time for your account? --M1ss1ontomars2k4 02:17, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
Yes you can set your personal time offset on the (my preferences)page (date and time)tab --Monotonehell 02:12, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
If you were referring to setting the time in your signature, no that is not possible. FellowWikipedian is just manually typing his/her local time after his/her posts. joturner 02:44, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
  • If everyone used the normal time instead, we'd all be good. Skinnyweed 17:24, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Ellaborate PLZ

Please excuse, but why isn't it mentioned in the main headline that islamic fundamentalists caused these explosions? It wasn't like there was a gas line explosion or something. These were terrorists that killed innocent muslims and Christians. The current headline is way too vague. Thanks, Salva 02:33, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Because there is no proof who did it yet. Jedi6-(need help?) 02:47, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
It's not particularly relevant or important for ITN that the terrorists are Islamic fundamentalists. In fact, as that is not even known, you're jumping to conclusions with that. The terrorists may have killed innocent Muslims and Christians, but I hope you and everyone else can realize that the only important thing is that they killed innocent people; the races and religions of the victims are irrelevant. joturner 02:49, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Fine, I suppose that since the identities of the attackers are not "confirmed" yet, it would be unprofessional to "jump to conclusions." And uhh, yeah it is relevant. Because they're the ones that frequently target innocents in acts of terrorism. Why should that not be mentioned? Why hide the fact that islamic fundamentalists are the primary instigators of terrorism? By the way, when did I say anything about race? Just for the record, you're the first one to say anything at all about "race." Thanks again, =) Salva 03:14, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

The fact that they are Christian and Muslim is not relevant; the fact that they were innocent is. 61.24.83.175
I never said you said anything about race. I was just adding that to cover more than one example of irrelevant traits. Of course, the people responsible for the incident should be mentioned in the article. But if, for instance, al Qaeda were responsible, it should say "al Qaeda was responsible...," not "Islamic fundamentalists were responsible..." or "Muslim al Qaeda members were responsible..." joturner 04:19, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
Don't be flippant about it being necessary to identify who the instigators were - Fine, I suppose that since the identities of the attackers are not "confirmed" yet, it would be unprofessional to "jump to conclusions." - the Spanish government made the mistake of jumping to a conclusion after the Madrid train bombings and got it wrong. Bazza 10:20, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

How about just "verminous, terrorist scum?" Just an idea. 165.173.126.76 17:39, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Fine, I suppose that since the identities of the attackers are not "confirmed" yet, it would be unprofessional to "jump to conclusions." How odd. Your use of "" suggests you view this approach as silly. Shall I just jump to the conclusion that you did it, and write that on the front page of a website that we hope to keep/make reputable and trustworthy? Fine, I suppose since jumping out of the window to my death would be "foolish and suicidal" I'll just have to stay "alive". Anything can be made to look silly like this. I think I have a new game. 57.66.51.165 11:48, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

What happened to the story?

This was reported nationwide on Saturday about five IU Jacobs School of Music students who died in a plane crash near Bloomington on late Thursday night, all five were musicians.

--65.54.155.14 03:07, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

While tragic, this event is also a everyday event. Plane crashes happen, and quite often, and we can't put every or any of them but the most severe on the Main Page. —Cuiviénen, Tuesday, 25 April 2006 @ 03:45 UTC

DYK

The template has not been updated since Monday. Can't we update it more regularly? --Ghirla -трёп- 06:21, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

See Template:Did you know history. Looks like it was updated 6 hours before you posted, and 24 hours before that. In general they do pretty good, but if you want to help, apply to be an administrator. --Dhartung | Talk 18:54, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

There's a metric typo: "...100m freestyle" should read "...100 m freestyle" Blaise 21:41, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

ITN

ITN also needs to be updated. I have 3 suggestions on the ITN Candidates page. Thanks. -- 199.71.174.100 06:33, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Thank you, Admin:Harro5, for putting 2 of my 3 suggestions on the Main Page. Is there any admin who wants to check out my 3rd suggestion there ? It's more interesting than the one about Mary getting sacked. :-) Any help in (further) improving the relevant pages is welcome. -- 199.71.174.100 07:03, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

dissoultion of parliament

Nepal's Parliament was not dissolved in 2005. It was dissolved in 2002 by the king on the advise of the prime minister. The king would later overthrow that Prime Minister in 2002 and again in 2005.

on our article about the parliament of nepal, it says it was dissolved in 2002, not 2005. can someone verify this and say with certainty which is correct so we can change the main page if necessary?--Alhutch 17:00, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
Reuters articles confirm that the House of Parliament was dissolved in 2002, but nominal "civilian rule" by Prime Minister was reinstated twice, adding to the confusion. The Main Page should read 2002. The article needs updating. --Dhartung | Talk 18:57, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
BBC confirm

Parliament was dissolved by the king on advice of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on May 2002. King fired Deuba on Oct 4 2002.

Appointed Lokendra Bahadur Chand as prime minister.

June 2003, Chand resigns. King appoints Surya Bahadur Thapa as prime minister.

June 2004, due to popular demand, Sher Bahadur Deuba was reinstated as Prime Minister on June 2003. Deuba led an all-party government which was to hold elections.

Feb 1, 2005 King claims that Deuba government is not moving toward elections. Therefore he arrests the heads of most political parties and personally leads a royalist government.

April 24, 2006 King gives into popular protests and calls for the reinstatement of Parliament. The next day the SPA appoints Girija Prasad Koirala as Prime Minister.


It isn't fair to blame the king for the original dissolution of parliament. He did offically dissolve it. However this was done on advice of the prime minister. A better headline would state "that was dissolved"

It's fixed already (not by me.) -- PFHLai 01:37, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

More Information

I think that you should have some more info about Thales the one who invented geometry and abstract please and if you get some more info i might get it from here. Thank you

There is a good article at Thales. Did you try the search box to the left? --Dhartung | Talk 18:21, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Cyclone picture

I don't know whether this is my workstation displaying it wrong, but there's a picture of a cyclone next to a blurb about the king of nepal...

i'm pretty sure that's how it's meant to display. it does say (pictured) in the part about the hurricane below, but i can understand how it would be confusing.--Alhutch 16:58, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Fix IT!!!

Look, this is ridiculous. The attackers of the 2006 Dahab bombings were terrorists. Even though we all know already that they're Islamic fundamentalists, it's no doubt appropriate to wait for official confirmation. Aside from that, the current headline is so uneloquently vague. What the hell caused the explosions? Was it a volcano, a gas line, nuclear power plants...??? The main fact is that the attackers were terrorists, not that there were just "explosions." An explosion caused naturally and one caused by a terrorist are two very different things. Please fix this. 165.173.126.76 17:50, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Relax, I don't find anything wrong with the wording, it's similar to what you might see on a Cable News ticker. Most people think that explosions are bad no matter who causes them, it's really not going to make more people think they're bad to say the word "terrorist". --Dhartung | Talk 18:24, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
I must agree the wording is bad; not exactly passive voice, but "explosions" aren't tornadoes or bricks, they don't just "hit" a place. It would be easy enough to form a useful summary from the linked article: "A series of bombs explode in the Egyptian resort area of Dahab in an apparent terrorist attack". Jgm 20:29, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
Some people will never be satisfied unless we use the word "evildoers". A simpler non-passive wording using information in the article -- calling attention to which is the whole point of In the News -- might be "Three nail-bombs kill over 20 people in Dahab, a resort on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula." --Dhartung | Talk 02:23, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Mary O. McCarthy

Currently the sentence reads:

The Central Intelligence Agency fires a high-ranking analyst, reportedly Mary O. McCarthy, for disclosing the existence of CIA-operated black sites.

Please note that she denies the charges. On the other hand, McCarthy was definitely fired. I would suggest the alternate phrasing:

The Central Intelligence Agency fires a high-ranking analyst, Mary O. McCarthy, for allegedly disclosing the existence of CIA-operated black sites.

Crust 18:15, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

The phrase was obviously written before her identity was widely confirmed. "Reportedly" is still correct NPOV wording, as she has made no statement. --Dhartung | Talk 18:47, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks (to whoever is responsible) for correcting the front page. Crust 20:14, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Suggestion for "Random Article" link.

I tend to be a heavy user of the "random article" link in the main nav menu on the left side.

Most of what it returns is sorta silly because it's little 1 to 3 sentence blurbs about some obscure phrase, person, etc.

I suggest filtering the "Random Articles" so that only articles with significant content lenghth (> 500 words, or including at least 1 photo) are returned when clicking the link.

Anachron 20:29, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

If "random articles" were filtered, then it wouldn't be random anymore. I like that it highlights short articles that have things to fix, expand, etc. But, if there was an option in my preferences for some sort of filter, that would be okay by me. -Aude (talk | contribs) 20:34, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
Actually, the original idea behind the Random Article feature was to facilitate finding stubs and subpar articles (such as the ones you propose to filter out) one then could improve.—Ëzhiki (ërinacëus amurënsis) • (yo?); :20:35, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
Having different random article settings would be useful. Skinnyweed 23:19, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
Definitely. For general readers (millions of people), as opposed to editors (thousands of people), the existing feature makes Wikipedia look like most its articles are rubbish. Actually that's true, but most of the articles about major topics are not rubbish. 62.31.55.223 01:39, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
Ahh, the fruit of my patience has manifested itself. I was waiting for someone besides myself to make my main point, which I didn't have the energy to express myself but now do completely support. Exaclty, for the *millions* of general readers, the "Random Article" link is just annoying because 9 times of out 10 it returns a stub, squib, or hyper-short "article." Change it so that the default is to filter out articles with < 500 (or perhaps 1000?) words, and make an option for the few thousand editors who want "real randomness" to have it their way. Peace out. Anachron 03:23, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
How about "Random Featured Articles" instead of linking to Wikipedia:Featured articles from the navigation bar under the logo ? --199.71.174.100 07:29, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
Or even return a sort-of-random always-good article if you're not signed in, and a really random article if you are. Bazza 08:39, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
Don't make it FA only, at least have GA. Or possibly any article over a certain length, that isn't "disputed", "NPOV", "cleanup", etc. -- Zanimum 15:35, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

If the 'Random article' wasn't random, that would be false advertising. Or as we call it where I come from - lying. Eixo 22:34, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Yours would be a valid point - IF this was advertising, which it is distinctly not. Nothing is being bought or sold on the main page of wikipedia. In any of thousands of other instances (outside the world of advertising,) a thing, activity, etc. is referred to by means of words that don't EXACTLY match its meaning, or that gesture at the meaning without completely defining and enclosing it. The main page link does not say COMPLETELY Random Article.
My proposal for a change in the behavior of "Random Article" would still yield a randomly-selected article, but the meaning will have changed from
Completely Random Article to Random Article Selected from the huge set of articles most likely to be of interest to the general reader (The general reader is, if I'm not mistaken, the target audience of Wikipedia.)
In either case, the act of selecting is equally random. The only thing that would change is the set from which the random selection was drawn.
Also, Bazza's suggestion to have "high quality random" be the default for un-logged-in viewers, with "true random" the default for logged-in viewers gives the best of both worlds -- a more coherent, interesting window into Wikipedia for the general public, and for logged-in people, the "frontier spirit" that encourages editing and preening potentially good stubs and articles, and chaffing a lot of the junk ones.
-- Anachron 17:26, 27 April 2006 (UTC)
That's why I used the word 'lying', 'cause whether you're selling something or not (and we're not), you have to tell people the truth. So the tag would then have to read 'Article chosen randomly within certain narrow parameters decided by the Wikipedia community to reflect the best that the Wikipedia website has to offer', which would take up a lot of space.
I think it's only fair that anyone should be allowed to see what the avarage Wikipedia article looks like, so that they can get an idea about the general quality and diversity of the site. And if they want to see what the best articles look like - that's what the featured article is there for. Eixo 01:08, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

At lest not have 'disambiguation' pages of the random list. Disambiguation is not a article.68.239.243.201 20:46, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

  • Yeah, can we get some action on this? Who has the authority / ability to actually make the necessary technical changes to get this implemented? Anachron 23:01, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

Births and Deaths

Below, someone suggested listing Shakespeare's day of death, and someone said that that is not usually done. Why not? How about putting in a box somewhere with "Born/Died On this Day:"? Sir Elderberry 22:45, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Where on MainPage ? It's crowded already. Also, everybody has their favorites. Let's avoid fights over notability and so on. We have Selected Anniversaries / On This Day occasionally showing a special (100th, 250th, etc.) birthday of someone really special. That's all. I believe the next one is Rembrandt's 400th.
BTW, Shakespeare's death day is on UNESCO World Book Day, which was already on MainPage that day. -- PFHLai
Directly below the On This Day header there is a link to the date page, which lists (in theory) every notable birth and death for that date. Personally I find significant events more compelling than basic information, and more varied -- otherwise all-stars like Shakespeare take up part of the box every year, and there's very little chance for other people to be picked. --Dhartung | Talk 02:05, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Today's FA Changed Too Early

I currently see Hong Kong action cinema as Today's Featured Article, but it's supposed to be the featured article for April 26, 2006. It's 23:17, 25 April 2006 (UTC) right now, so does anyone know what's going on? joturner 23:17, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Maybe someone had to go to bed before midnight? ;) Less than an hour before isn't a big deal. At least someone is on it. --Monotonehell 00:17, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
That would not be the reason, because the change should automatically happen at exactly 00:00:00 UTC (server time), due to the use of {{CURRENTMONTH}} {{CURRENTDAY}}, {{CURRENTYEAR}}. – ABCDe✉ 00:26, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
Precisely what I was going to say (during the edit conflict). joturner 00:29, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
It was not the first time this happened. I suspect the Wikiserver has issues with daylight saving and got 'confused' for a moment. --PFHLai 01:24, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
There is a link at Wikipedia:Today's featured article to manually purge the cache and update the page contents. I suspect it is a little forgiving about how close to 00:00:00 it is. --Dhartung | Talk 02:30, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
That's the problem - computers aren't supposed to be forgiving; they're supposed to be hard, mean, and unforgiving - a lot like german chicks ;) Raul654 02:53, 26 April 2006 (UTC) (PS - that was a joke. Laugh, it's funny).
I'm sorry Dave I can't do that now. ;) --Monotonehell 06:03, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
Sounds like Raul's speaking from personal experience... --maru (talk) contribs 06:07, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
In my defense, that quote was inspired by a line in the Bad News Bears remake - Baseball's hard. You can love it but, believe me, it don't always love you back. It's kinda like dating a German chick. Raul654 07:56, 29 April 2006 (UTC)
You'd love the Iggy Pop song "Nazi Girlfriend", then ... --Dhartung | Talk 06:17, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

800x600 compliance

The panorama pic of the day is 700px. This doesn't fit on a 800x600 display; I would hope this can be avoided for the main page. - RoyBoy 800 03:09, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

It is a panorama .. you need to look around. ;) Okay I'm being far too flipant on here, I'll stop it before I upset someone... Myself, when developing web pages I try to make them usable in 800x600 (at least) but with a picture I'm not sure that it matters in THIS case, as it's a very wide picture. Can you can scroll it okay? --Monotonehell 06:07, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Grand Comet Hikareteku???

This was an article formally on the front page but there seems to be no reference to it anymore,typing "Grand Comet Hikareteku" into Search comes up with absolutely NUTHIN'. Can we dig up that particular article so that in future it appears in searches? By the way, I noticed that capitals need to be used for the words Navigation, Search and Toolbox on the left side of the screen, it looks more professionaL in my opinion. Danmeister 6:12, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

I think you want Comet Hyakutake. Our search doesn't try to substitute spellings the way Google does because it would overload our servers, but even Google could come up with useful suggestions in this case. I had to look at the list of Featured articles.-gadfium 09:19, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Link error in Mustang article

In the "Did you know" section about the Mustang the link to Porsche in "chasing Porsches for a living" is pointing to Porche (however there is a redirect from Porche to Porsche) - nevertheless, this should be corrected. MikeZ 11:48, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Fixed, thanks for pointing this out. RexNL 14:00, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

News

This is the english page, and I've noticed that seldomly is there a news headline about something that happens in an English speaking country. Just an observation, perhaps we could filter in more headlines about things that directly affect us? NIRVANA2764 20:24, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

The news section is purposely about World News. Jedi6-(need help?) 20:27, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
Nothing directly affects ALL English speakers anyway. Something that happens in New Zealand or Ghana isn't any more important than something that happens in Egypt or Iran. Makes sense, ne? Karlusss 23:23, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
See Wikipedia:How the Current events page works, and consider contributing more items. This is a collaborative activity. The basic issue is that much of "breaking news" is not encyclopedic. The purpose of the Current Events page is to let visitors know about articles that have been created or updated, which is why it is not comprehensive and doesn't have to be constantly refreshed. --Dhartung | Talk 01:26, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Does anyone else find it amazing

that Wikipedia used to look like this?

Sorry, I know this doesn't belong here. I just felt like sharing it. --69.145.122.209 22:15, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

You're discussing the main page .. why not? Looks vaugley familiar. --Monotonehell 15:59, 27 April 2006 (UTC)
When you save a page from Wikipedia on your desktop, it will look just like the one you are talking about. (But a bit newer).FellowWikipedian 13:36, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

1.1 million articles

Congrats, Wikipedia. --- Dralwik|Have a Chat My "Great Project"

When was this milestone reached ? The time and date in Dralwik's signature keeps changing. (Needs subst:-ing of {{CURRENTDATE}}?) --199.71.174.100 06:47, 27 April 2006 (UTC)
He has the {{CURRENTDATE}} code in his signature. He made the comment at 18:44, 26 April 2006. Cigarette 15:37, 27 April 2006 (UTC)
Sorry. --- Dralwik|Have a Chat My "Great Project"

How to hide Title on this page?

It doesn't have a H1 header saying "Main Page" at the top. How did you get rid of that? I asked this before and someone pointed me to Monobook.css, but I couldn't find where. Can someone tell me specifically how to remove the title on the Main Page? Appreciate a reply on my Talk page. -- Alfakim --  talk  00:43, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Replied on your talk. --Spangineer[es] (háblame) 01:58, 27 April 2006 (UTC)


Did You Know picture unidentified

The picture in the 'Did You Know' section doesn't have any label. None of the data points have the '(pictured)' label to go with it, to point to the picture. Can one of the admins add it ? I can't even figure out what it goes with. Seems to say 'Drosera anglica' but what does that tie in with ?

The picture relates to the first article unless there's something to say otherwise. Drosera anglica is the English sundew.-gadfium 05:59, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

AOL users

I notice that Wiktionary now requires AOL users to log in through SSL. Good idea! Can we implement this on Wikipedia? - Ta bu shi da yu 07:20, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

It's in a sort of test mode on Wiktionary. If we force this on Wikipedia, we'd need better SSL server(s) (currently, sending all of Wikipedia's AOL traffic through the 1 SSL server we have would overload it...) Ral315 (talk) 23:11, 27 April 2006 (UTC)


Spelling in DYK

In the did you know item about the Croÿ family, "millenium" should be "millennium". -- Graham talk 10:59, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Also, the F in Federal should probably be in lower case. And there should probably be a comma between Lord Denning and MR. --199.71.174.100 11:35, 27 April 2006 (UTC)
And the link for cardinal points to a disambig page rather than the intendend reference, and I suspect "biggest" should be "largest" here. All in all, pretty amatuerish; perhaps people charged with main page updates need a peer-copyediting system. Jgm 11:50, 27 April 2006 (UTC)
Yeah, or maybe biggest should be highest. A peer copyediting system would be nice, but how could it be administered? I just hope it wouldn't become a peer vandalising system. Graham talk 11:54, 27 April 2006 (UTC)
A peer copyediting system ? According to the Archives (here and here), PFHLai has been inviting people to Template talk:Did you know "to fix up DYK entries before they show up on the Main Page." -- 199.71.174.100 13:15, 27 April 2006 (UTC)
Fixed the issues mentioned above. RexNL 12:39, 27 April 2006 (UTC)
Thanks, RexNL, for fixing. -- 199.71.174.100 13:15, 27 April 2006 (UTC)
Wikipedia's Main Page does have a peer copyediting system, at least last time I checked. It's called Talk:Main Page. The only thing which separates the Main Page from the rest of the site is the semi-protection, which means that only administrators can actually make these small fixes. --Dhartung | Talk 00:13, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

number of articles

The number of articles in the main portal (wikipedia.org) is not updated since several days. This concerns all the wikipedias. gala.martin (what?) 16:05, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

I believe that page needs a manual update, and hence it is only updated to a rough count (e.g. 1.1 million + articles) instead of a variable-based count. I can't remember where the correct place to update that page is, though. Titoxd(?!? - help us) 23:13, 27 April 2006 (UTC)
You can post changes to m:Www.wikipedia.org template/temp, which is the unprotected version of the portal page. (Please be careful to only edit the number of articles -- the rest of the HTML and CSS code on that page is carefully balanced to make the portal display correctly in as many browsers/devices as possible.) Updates made to that Temp page are periodically copied to the protected live page by Meta administrators.
By the way, in case you didn't see it in the Signpost this week:

Design of Wikipedia.org portal and Main Page praised

Portal page
Portal page

Wikipedia was mentioned in the May cover article of .net magazine, "Create sites with impact" (subscription only), which includes a list of ten websites that have "instant impact".

A screenshot of the wikipedia.org portal was accompanied by brief commentary: "Wikipedia pages aren't much to look at. The collaborative encyclopedia overcomes this with two landing pages. The first is a high-impact splash page with language options, search and navigation, while the second [the Main Page] highlights current content." Some of the other sites chosen include Google, Flickr and BBC News Online.

How many articles does a Wikipedia need to be included in the ten Wikipedias surrounding the globe? I remember when Spanish had something like 80,000 or so articles and it was included in the list, so does it need 75,000, or has that number changed now that the number of articles in the Wikipedias in the 10,000+ category has increased, pushing the number up to 100,000 now that Spanish has more than that? The Russian Wikipedia's article count is closing in on 75,000 (with 71,861 as of April 27), so would it be included if it gains 3,139 articles? If so, how would the splash screen be changed? If not, what is the new threshold? BirdValiant 00:22, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

I'm guessing it's the ten languages with the most articles. But I don't really know. joturner 00:33, 28 April 2006 (UTC)
Yep, it's just the top ten by article count. Russian would need to surpass Spanish to get into the circle -- unless someone would like to design a portal layout that did it differently. — Catherine\talk 00:38, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

I also think that the language portal page design is particularly nice. —Michiel Sikma, 08:56, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

  • Add an eleventh language if necessary between the bottom of the wikipedia symbol and the search bar on the portal. Rrpbgeek 22:16, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Poll of the Day

I think to solve the disputes about Articles for deletion on Wikipedia, we should have an daily poll of the daywhere users vote on whether specific article(s) should be delted or not. You would have to enter your username and password and then cast your ballot. You can only vote once.1028 19:50, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

Interested users can always browse Wikipedia:Articles for Deletion and participate in any poll they like (although generally unregistered users' votes are not counted, and this consensus is unlikely to change soon). How would a front page poll eliminate the "dispute" over a deletion? --Dhartung | Talk 00:16, 28 April 2006 (UTC)
I think it would be a good idea because:
  • 1.More people would be involved in the articles for deletion
  • 2.It would encourage more people who log on to Wikipedia to become a member
  • 3.Once you tally the results, we can either delete the article or not delete the article depending on what they voted for
  • 4.It would be more fair because everybody can see it when they log on and not just the people who log on to the articles for deletion page

Ads you can see, having a poll of the day is a good idea1028 00:02, 1 May 2006 (UTC)


Go to WP:Pump. Such a poll does not belong to Main Page. -- 65.95.106.174 15:22, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Arbor Day

Should we add "Arbor Day in the United States (2006)" to 'On This Day' ? Notable enough ? It looks kind of empty there without any holidays anywhere in the world today. -- 199.71.174.100 00:58, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

yes, that should be there. Where are all of the admins who read this page? —Cuiviénen, Friday, 28 April 2006 @ 15:09 UTC
One holiday is better than none. However, we should've mentioned some of the other countries that casually observe it. -- Zanimum 17:53, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

Freedom Tower

I think it would be a good idea to mention how long it has taken to build the tower. Something like, "After x many years of delay, the Freedom Tower..." --Cumbiagermen 01:51, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Well, space is limited, and most people can subtract 2001 from 2006 ... --Dhartung | Talk 02:34, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

Injuried

In the 4/28/96 "On this day" entry, "injuried" should be "injured". Every dictionary I checked shows "injury" as a noun only. Art LaPella 02:18, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Fixed, thanks for the info. Prodego talk 02:23, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Typo

DYK: ...that Burg Pfalzgrafenstein, a castle in the Rhine that Victor Hugo described as a “ship of stone”, also used it's well as a dungeon? should be its not it's --mervyn 07:46, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

I second this. Please fix this ASAP. Thank you! -- Miwa * talk * contribs ^_^ 08:21, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Main page formatting magic

Can anyone enlighten me, how it is achieved that the h1 caption "Main Page" is invisible on the main page? --Pjacobi 12:54, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

It's a special bit of javascript in MediaWiki:Monobook.js which writes (effectively) h1 { display:none} to the page if its the main page, on load.-- Alfakim --  talk  13:36, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Featured picture

How did today's picture (a transformer) warrent a space on the main page, or even become featured in the first place? It isn't even in any article! Dave 16:23, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

For how, see Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Single-phase transformer and, as for article use, see Transformer. - BanyanTree 17:13, 28 April 2006 (UTC)
yeah- sorry, I missed it Dave 17:16, 28 April 2006 (UTC)


Wikipedia:Featured pictures. -- Zanimum 17:49, 29 April 2006 (UTC)
Dp462090, it was removed by a vandal. -- 199.71.174.100 22:36, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

Question

Question where does urethral sounds come from?

Please ask at WP:REF -- Zanimum 17:49, 29 April 2006 (UTC)
I think that you mean WP:RD which is the place where you ask questions. Jeltz talk 22:00, 29 April 2006 (UTC)
You ask questions at the WP:Help_desk. FellowWikipedian 16:19, 30 April 2006 (UTC)
You ask questions about Wikipedia at the help desk. You ask questions about urethral sounds at the reference desk. --Cherry blossom tree 17:12, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

ITN flag

Is the flag in "In the news" that of the Solomon Islands, Nepal, Egypt, or Australia? One shouldn't have to mouseover the image or click it to find out. --Cam 00:31, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

  • Done, I added "flag pictured" to ITN. Zzyzx11 (Talk) 01:56, 30 April 2006 (UTC)
    • Of course, there is this discussion about changing the format of ITN about making the image descriptions a bit more clear. Zzyzx11 (Talk) 02:03, 30 April 2006 (UTC)
Actually, we need a new flag rather than the discussion on the format or layout. How about replacing the Flag of the Solomon Islands with the Flag of South Korea for now ? (Some new news items on the Main Page would be even better.) -- 199.71.174.100 21:47, 30 April 2006 (UTC)
This is fine, but it still says (flag pictured) by the Solomon Islands article.-Matthew Cieplak (talk) (edits) 08:37, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

Should 'Help' be bolded?

Does anybody else think that it might help if the link to help:contents in main page header was made bold? It would make the header look like this:

I think you are right. Help:contents should be bolded. It will make it easier for people who need help. FellowWikipedian 15:58, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

Welcome to Wikipedia,

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.
1,729,618 articles in English
Overview · Searching · Editing · Questions · Help

Categories · Featured content · A–Z index

@ 04:56, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

A link is already on the navigation bar right underneath the logo. Let's not overdo this. How about moving that link a little higher ? Or down to become the first item in the toolbox ? -- 199.71.174.100 21:55, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

Since noone seems to care much, could an admin perhaps try it out to see what the reaction is?It's a small word, easy to ignore, but visible enough to stand out to someone who doesn't know what to do. -- drrngrvy tlk @ 14:58, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Diane Keaton photo

I don't have anything to do with images on Wikipedia so I don't know if this is possible, but surely the image of Diane Keaton should have focused on her face (the important bit, surely)? By shrinking the whole image - including desk and windows - to 100 pixels wide, it included lots of extraneous detail but left her face as only a few pixels across. El T 14:12, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

I agree I clicked on the picture to see what is looked like, it is not the best picture of her. It should have focused on her face. I guess we'll have to keep it that way. Mabie next time. FellowWikipedian 16:09, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

Shouldn't Keaton be referred to as an actress rather than an actor? --the Dannycas 21:09, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

Although most people don't use it as such, actor is a gender-neutral term. Evil Monkey - Hello 22:00, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

simple english

People who speak only a little english will not be looking in the languages for simple english. There should be a link in plan sight for the simple english wikipedia.

You're right. The link to the Simple English Wikipedia is obscure.
It's unfortunate, but a bigger problem is that the Simple English Wikipedia just doesn't have that many articles (and many that it does have are barely stubs). I like the idea myself -- I've even tossed out the idea of a Wikipedia for Kids -- but I think it should earn greater prominence, to be blunt. --Dhartung | Talk 06:15, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

Typos

In the last Did You Know entry, "restistance" should be "resistance", "figter" should be "fighter", "againt" should be "against" and "Soviet NKVD" should be "the Soviet NKVD". Art LaPella 21:54, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing these out. I've fixed them. Raven4x4x 00:07, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

POTD unprotected

I don't know if it's too soon to complain about this, but the picture of the day, Image:Caerulea3 crop.jpg, isn't protected. Melchoir 00:05, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

Come to think of it, neither is Image:Starship troopers2.jpg. Melchoir 00:06, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

Neither was the Selected Anniversary one. All three are protected now. --Spangineer[es] (háblame) 00:15, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
Thanks! Melchoir 00:20, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
Next time, please don't alert potential vandals about unprotected Main Page components so publicly here. -- 199.71.174.100 07:05, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
No need to be quite so abrupt to well-meaning people. If not here, then where? Bazza 13:08, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
Sorry to be blunt. We can contact admins at their noticeboard (did that already) or individual talkpages. -- 199.71.174.100 13:33, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
You're right; I guess it didn't occur to me that vandals would see the talk page, but surely some of them do. Melchoir 02:50, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

Featured Picture, Frog

That's the second frog in a month. What's the deal with that?

You mean since Frog itself was featured with the same picture a month ago? Ah well. Melchoir 00:59, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

The featured picture description notes the frog's average lifespan in captivity twice, once by spelling out the number "sixteen", and once by using the numerals "16". It's a little redundant. :^) – Minh Nguyễn (talk, contribs) 01:11, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

Qualifying "redundant" with "a little" is also redundant. --JohnO 05:10, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
No, it's not. "Little" and "redundant" have two different meanings. Oxymoronic, perhaps. —  MusicMaker 05:15, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
Yes, it is. But it's not oxymoronic. You can't have degrees of redundancy. Something is either redundant... or not. The word "little" in the phrase "a little redundant" is unnecessary. An oxymoron, on the other hand, is the combination of two contradictory terms. Little does not contradict redundant. Nor does it contribute to the meaning of the adjective (nor the sentence as a whole). It is of no use in the sentence. It is redundant! --JohnO 09:11, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
I was reading "redundant" as "repetitive" and not as "unnecessarily much". I've never heard it used that way before. Concede. —  MusicMaker 21:13, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

what so big deal about it??? "a little redundant" for ASIAN means "a bit too much"....we are not attending the court of law,we are in a dicussion,so....what the fuss about grammar in it???? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 202.71.100.76 (talk • contribs) 09:31, 1 May 2006 (UTC).

Sheesh, that was just my way of not sounding so blunt! – Minh Nguyễn (talk, contribs) 19:48, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

I think they were joking around...I hope they were...BrokenSegue 21:33, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
Seems like "a little" is not redundant at all. It conveys a subtle message. BTW, let's not pick on each other's English on Talk:Main Page (except when asking for clarification). We should be constructively discussing the content of Main Page, instead. -- 199.71.174.100 23:12, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

"Flag Pictured": Solomon Islands or South Korea?

The current 'in the news' section shows the South Korean flag (referencing the first news item), but the third news item says that the Solomon Islands flag is pictured :

Snyder Rini resigns as Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands (flag pictured), avoiding a motion of no confidence in parliament.

Should be changed? Comrade42 08:38, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing this out, I made the change. I didn't include "flag pictured" on the South Korea news line because I figured it would be assumed since it is the first entry. However, if that is unclear, an admin can change it. --PS2pcGAMER (talk) 08:46, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
There was a simular problem, that somone did not know which flag it was in the ITN section. I guess we should only put it there, when there is a new entry on the main page on top of the old one that was realated to the picture. Then someone can put "flag pictured" in the sentence for the old one. FellowWikipedian 12:47, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

itn

Can somebody please look @ a suggestion I have made for a ITN headline. --HamedogTalk|@ 09:36, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

Someone already posted it. FellowWikipedian 17:37, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

On this day: May 1

May 1 is also the Worker's Day in Brazil. Carioca 21:29, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

I believe that goes under the 'May Day in various countries' blurb. Preston 22:06, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
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