Wikipedia talk:Selected Articles on the Main Page/Archive 1

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I reckon that the ongoing Loyalist Feud deserves a mention on the main page, as it has been making major political headlines.

I think today's announcement of new discoveries in the Great Pyramid of Giza is perhaps worthy of mentioning in the "current events" listing here -- but our article on the pyramid is pitiful at present! :-( -- Tarquin 23:27 Sep 17, 2002 (UTC)

I agree on both counts; perhaps its presence will inspire someone to fill it out. --LDC

Certain issues that turn up under "Background on current events" are historical anniversaries. Perhaps it would be nice to divide that section into Current Events ---- "On this day" kind of thing. — Anon

I don't think that we get enough of these to make it worthwhile right now. But it's certainly an idea to keep in mind, in case conditions change. (We went through a similar phase of separating out deaths, but we abandoned that. We just have too few items so far to divide them up into categories yet.) — Toby 11:08 Sep 28, 2002 (UTC)

Can we add Bertrand Delanoë to the front page? (Also, is there somewhere else I can ask these kinds of things?) - ~~

Done. I guess getting stabbed in the butt is worth a couple days. This is the best place for these types of requests. --mav
The stomach, you thilly. - Montréalais

The Queen is in Canada. Maybe you would like to link Queen of Canada to the current events. -- Montréalais on patrol

An interesting bit of trivia; in it goes. --Brion 01:36 Oct 9, 2002 (UTC)

El Niño is starting again. Shall we link? This is much more interesting than the Queen. -- your news beaver Montréalais

I'd like to update the Current events section to look like this:

Current events
Ongoing events: Israeli-Palestinian conflict - U.S. plan to invade Iraq - 2002 stock market downturn - Washington sniper
In the news: Nobel Prize - Eldred v. Ashcroft - Jimmy Carter - Jemaah Islamiyah - Myyrmanni bombing - Bali car bombing
Recent deaths: Stephen Ambrose

but I know that at least LDC objects to linking to recent/ongoing events from the main page. Anyone else want to weigh in?

...and the "2002 stock market downturn" isn't even a recent event anymore. Last time I looked, the Dow was rising. That's exactly why I don't think we should have news items themselves here--we aren't equipped to cover ongoing, changing, news in a timely way, and links will grow stale and irrelevant. But we should certainly have links to things like the AR-14 rifle, Myyrmanni, Bali, etc., that link to articles that we know will still be useful articles a year from now. --LDC

They're not news items. They're newsworthy events. U.S. plan to invade Iraq, Washington sniper, etc. will be useful articles a year from now. Washington sniper kills 8th victim is a news item, Washington sniper is a newsworthy article.
Having a link to AR-14 without having any explanation why is not a good idea. There of course needs to be editorial judgment, but I think there's room for judgment outside of "nothing". --The Cunctator

I can see some of your point; yes, "Washington sniper" will be a useful article a year from now, and I wouldn't object too strongly to making a stub article now and pointing to it. But it's a good example of my main concern--accuracy and completeness. We're not a newspaper, we're an encyclopedia. People expect a newspaper to be up-to-the-minute, but to get things wrong

now an then. They expect an encyclopedia to have reliable information (albeit their expectations are certainly lowered here). A year from now the sniper incident will have all played out and we'll have accurate information. Right now, it's breaking news, and half of what we hear reported is likely to be nonsense--the American press is not a reliable source of encyclopedic information. My concern is that we should not have the front page pointing to articles that we know are incomplete and likely to be inaccurate. We can point to "Bali", because what info we have here on Bali is probably good, it's interesting to people hearing about the bombings in the news, and it's not likely to be the kind of info in the newspaper. What info we have on the bombings is likely just press reports, and press reports don't belong in an encyclopedia (except, perhaps, as coverage of the press itself). But if there are other opinions on the issue, I'm happy to listen. --LDC

Last night I heard a local Washington-area reporter call him the "One shot sniper". We should probably wait until a steady name develops. -- Zoe
Perhaps we should label articles on current stuff -- some sort of standard text at the top: "Warning: this is a topic related to current events still in development." -- Tarquin 22:05 Oct 15, 2002 (UTC)
In an ideal world, we'd have some automatic way to generate groupings of the type at background articles for ongoing events. The problem is that people don't really want to do that. What they actually do is write entries like Washington sniper. I agree that right now the Washington sniper entry should mainly be an entry point for related background entries--there should be a bunch of See alsos. Personally, I find having a link to Bali or Queen of Canada without explanation of what the current event is that motivates its inclusion in the Current events section really frustrating.
I guess I'm saying that--especially since I mainly like writing entries that have (potentially fleeting) timely relevance--I'd like some rein to include breaking events on the front page, keeping in mind all of the absolutely correct considerations LDC points out. Namely: Wikipedia should not try to compete with breaking news sources; Wikipedia should try to provide access to all the necessary background to breaking news; Wikipedia should make sure that events of historical interest are included (but not waste time and especially main-page real estate on those that are not). --The Cunctator

I understand that people are motivated to write about topical things. After all, I wrote biographies like Mortimer Adler, Ken Kesey, Walter Annenberg not just because they are men I admire--there are far more of those--but because their recent deaths brought them to public attention. I won't object to "Washington sniper" or "Bali bombing" links; they're specific enough, and I suppose there is enough information about them, and as you say they do provide some topical context to the backgrounders. But I still think most things like that are adequately covered on the Current events page itself, which is prominently linked from the front. And what I really don't like is things that aren't events at all like "Israeli-Palestinian conflict" and "U.S. plans to invade Iraq". Those are categories under which certain events might fall, and those are definitely better covered in the longer current events page, because they by definition incomplete, and they just invite editorializing. --LDC

I'm not personally averse to a bit of editorializing--good history needs some degree of analysis. But in such topical big issues editorializing can easily slide into ugly edit wars. The positive aspect of those articles is that they are the best catch-basins for listing related topics--Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a perfect example (and probably why you haven't nixed it from the front page?). Separate entries are much more likely to get updated, I'm finding, than the general Background articles for ongoing events. Can you think of any way (through informal/formal policy, naming convention, etc.) that would properly encourage people to create pages that list background articles for a certain breaking-news topic, while discouraging editorializing?
We could potentially try leading by example...can we have a trial run, where I try some things, and see what happens? If you'd like, you can set some criteria for what we should consider failure--that is, if edit wars break out, etc. Or we should also continually poll people on this, especially since right now the numebr of people who can weigh in simply by editing the main page is limited. Whatever the case, I know this isn't a something worth fighting to the death over--it's just that I really enjoy working on such entries, and I know that they're popular. But do they give the wrong impression to incoming users? They certainly could. There's a good metric--see if new editors attracted by such entries have a skewed concept of the project... --The Cunctator

Perhaps the founder of the American gay rights movement merits a "recent deaths" mention. - Montréalais

Done. --Brion 05:41 Oct 26, 2002 (UTC)
Arigatou gozaiimasu. - Montréalais

Can somebody add Lonnie Donegan to the "recent deaths" bit on the Main Page please? Those of us who aren't admins yet (ahem) can't do it ourselves ;) --Camembert 20:02 Nov 4, 2002 (UTC)

Can we get a link to the Information Awareness Office in the "Current Events" section"? User:kwertii Dec 3, 2002

Opps! I missed the request. Up until today I was not watching this page. Sorry. --mav

Mwai Kibaki wins the presidential elections in Kenya, putting an end to 24 years of rule by Daniel arap Moi. Just contributed this article, maybe it's worth a link in the "In the News" section. KS

Done. In the future you should update the Current events page and the page you want listed so that the reader can easily know why the person/thing is being listed. This has to be done before an article is listed in the news/deaths/events/anniversaries section. I did this work for you to serve as an example. --mav

Question: Should religious and other observances (such as the anniversary of very famous person's death) be listed on the Main Page? The Historical anniversaries section is already difficult to maintain and it focuses only on major events (not observances). IMO we shouldn't have more than four lines in the selected articles section but I wouldn't object to having some major observances mixed-in with the other entries in Historical anniversaries. But the name Historical anniversaries doesn't really work if observances are also thrown in. Does anybody have a better name for this part of the selected articles section of the Main Page? There is also the fact that Historical anniversaries conflicts with the name of our calendar at list of historical anniversaries (but that should be changed as well - it really is a list of days). --mav

Today in 1933 - Adolf Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany by President Paul von Hindenburg, important event in our planet's recent history.

How do holidays make it onto Selected Articles? Today is Imbolc (February 1) and tomorrow is Groundhog Day/Candlemas. --Jeff

There simply is no section for them - thus the Historical anniversaries section focuses on actual historical events. So observances like Christmas and Ground-hog Day aren't listed but holidays that mark actual historical events, like Australia Day are listed (Jesus, if he did exist, was not born on December 25th - birthdays aren't listed either BTW). As it is the events listed in the Historical anniversaries section are only there only at most several days. Adding birthdays and holidays would shorten that to about a day. That is way too short to be at all useful since the same items are already all listed on their day page - which is only linked to the Main Page for one day. There is little point in just summarizing the current day page on the Main Page only to replace all the links with new ones the next day. That is too much maintenance for very little benefit. Aside: Is there a list of holidays on Wikipedia? We may decide to just add a new section but to do that we need a list of holidays. See my comment above. ---mav

It is now 40 years to the month since Dr Beeching in Britain unveiled the plans to cut the UK's railway network, or the Beeching axe Wouldent it be a good idea to put this in the historical anniversaries section.User:G-Man

Where does it say that in the article? Where is the entry on the correct day page? The guidelines on this page lay-out what is needed. --mav 02:55 Mar 7, 2003 (UTC)

I've now added it to the date page See 1963 and mentioned it in the article User:G-Man 23:37 UTC, Mar 7

Great! It'll be listed on or around the 28th (there are many other events to be listed first). --mav

Carlo Urbani died! Peter Arnett is out of the news! addaddaddaddaddDietary Fiber

Ever hear of the word "please"? If you use it you may get faster results. --mav

Valentin Pavlov, former Prime Minister of the Soviet Union, died on March 30th. Can we get him added to the recent deaths section? Chadloder 06:09 Apr 2, 2003 (UTC)

First, that article needs to be listed on Recent deaths. Second, it needs to be more than a pitiful stub. The purpose of Selected Articles is to showcase some of our best work that happens to be of timely interest. --mav


April 4 is the 35th anniversay of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.. Chadloder 23:10 Apr 4, 2003 (UTC)

Yep, that's a historical event alright. Done. --mav
April 5 is the 9th anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death, and April 16 is the first anniversary of Layne Staley's (of Alice in Chains). -- User:goatasaur
Hm. Suicide. I'm not completely sure if that qualifies as a bona fide historically significant event... But since it wasn't a natural death and much has been made of it then I guess it is at least nominally alright. We'll see what the mix of events are after April 5 falls off the page. But in the meantime please add that entry under the Events heading at April 5. --mav

Perhaps Jessica Lynch should be on the main page.

done --mav

Can we put the Madrid metro expansion on the main page? It is the largest current civil engineering project in Europe, or it was before it opened today. - Montréalais

How about putting Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf (the Iraqi Information Minister) on the main page? -- (Haven't registered yet.)

April 14 is the anniversary of the Titanic disaster.

April 15 is the anniversary of the GATT treaty and the Battle of Formigny. Chadloder

news agencies are reporting that Abu Abbas has been arrested in Baghdad. I just added a decent article about him and it would be nice to see it added to the In the news section. Chadloder 23:24 Apr 15, 2003 (UTC)

Done. Note that such items can also be put on Current events by anyone. -- Infrogmation 23:46 Apr 15, 2003 (UTC)

News agencies are reporting that the Bechtel Corporation has just been awarded a $680 million contract for the rebuilding of Iraq. Bechtel was also in the news yesterday because of the recent lawsuit by the Boston Globe and the Associated Press against the Big Dig to publicly release Bechtel's performance audits (think: cost overruns). Since Halliburton had a few days on the front page, I think the Bechtel Corporation article deserves mention because there are really TWO current events stories about it. Chadloder 00:35 Apr 18, 2003 (UTC)

The Bush Road map for peace has been receiving attention lately. (Maybe link to Israeli-Palestinian conflict.) -Astudent 03:23 May 5, 2003 (UTC)

I suggest a new heading in this section, called "New articles", where we could list recently written articles that have already received some copyediting and that we would like to give additional exposure. Are there any objections? --Eloquence 23:22 May 13, 2003 (UTC)

And what about special:newpages? The point of Selected Articles is to select articles that have current topical interest. I don't have a strong objection but I don't have any desire to add such a line or to help maintain it. --mav
New pages contains lots of stuff -- stubs, experiments, unformatted text written by newbies, disambiguation pages, imports from other sources and soon-to-be brilliant prose written from scratch hidden among it. This section on the other hand should only link to articles which we think are "good enough" for mainstream consumption already. It could highlight the fact that we constantly work on new articles, even about subjects which go entirely uncovered by normal encyclopedias, without exposing first time visitors immediately to our rough edges. It may be the only way for articles about fringe subjects to get some Main Page exposure. I don't know if it will work yet, but I'll give it a try. --Eloquence 23:36 May 13, 2003 (UTC)
Fair enough - experiment away (please keep it to one line though). --mav
Maybe we could call it Spotlight articles, Featured articles or just Selected articles rather than New articles: it's just that as Wikipedia expands, New articles will become more and more obscure. --Astudent 13:31 31 May 2003 (UTC)
I dunno - what's so obscure about it? It's a list of articles that were usually created in the last 24 hours, and "New articles" links to Special:Newpages, which lists all recently created articles. New articles is not just a line to put any article (that would make it very hard to determine what belongs there) but only ones which were recently written. --Eloquence 13:34 31 May 2003 (UTC)
I meant that as Wikipedia matures, many of the main topics will be taken, and so new topics will have to be more specialized (except for current events). Perhaps more effort will go into improving existing pages rather than creating new ones; sort of like more New changes or New edits rather than New articles. But anyway, these are just suggestions and random thoughts. --Astudent 13:09 2 Jun 2003 (UTC)

This page is getting a little long in the tooth. Is the New articles section going to remain a semi-permanent feature? If so, I'll go ahead and refresh this page a little. -- Minesweeper 02:33 21 May 2003 (UTC)

Perhaps a link to the The New York Times or journalism fraud for recent scandals. Astudent 06:15 29 May 2003 (UTC)

May 11 is a bit back in history, no? I don't think there are any current events on the Main Page that old. ---mav
Ok. Astudent

Would Beagle 2 be worthy of a link? Astudent 13:12 2 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Should we have different main pages for each English-speaking nation: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, India, etc. And one for World. At the moment the main page is quite US-oriented. Astudent 02:11 5 Jun 2003 (UTC)

OK, here is how you can fix it. Write a great new article on any topic you like, just so long as it is of general interest and non-American. Pop a note on my talk page when it's done, and I'll add it to the "new articles". (Or any of the other sysops - the people who have the "keys" to the main page.)
Or, work out what two or three articles are on the main page right now that maybe shouldn't be, and suggest articles that are not on the main page that probably ought to be. Post that here and, provided you are sufficiently persuasive, one of the people that usually look after the main page will make the changes. (By the way, as you have probably guessed, the main page has to be protected because it is such an obvious target for vandalism, which means that you can't edit it directly. But the protection is supposed to be a safety measure, not a form of censorship, so if you have good ideas, sing out with them.) Tannin 02:32 5 Jun 2003 (UTC)
OK. Thanks for the advice. Astudent

I want to thank Infrogmation for putting Weedon on the new aricles on the main page. But, I've got a request. George Weedon is almost a stub, that I needed to resolve links. On the other hand, I'm fairly proud of the just finished (not 'new' because it took a week) Daniel Morgan article. If its not too much trouble, would you mind switching them? Thanks..... Lou I 23:02 8 Jun 2003 (UTC)

the ulr painters online arcyclopedia must notto be changed, it was a web WONDERFUL,WHAT WAY WILL I BE ABLE TO FIND:DAUBIGNY IN ALL MUSEUMS OF THE WORLD WITH ALL YOUR PAINTINGS I ALL MUSEUM,:ADVISE:FOLLOW WITH THE SAME URL PAINTERS ONLINE ARTCYCLOPEDIA, http:www.guillermograndal.com , ggrandal@telefonica.net cordially:grandal, http://www.guillermograndal.com ,

How about adding Iraq and weapons of mass destruction to the main page? Both American and British politicians are asking questions about the lack of evidence to date for the primary (public) reason for the war. Astudent 04:09 10 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Vancouver and Whister's bids for the 2010 Winter Olympics was successful, beating the other finalists, Austria and South Korea. - user:zanimum

Is this eligible? This isn't news news, but it certainly is of great world-wide significance. - user:zanimum
Yah, it'll blow over in a few weeks. But it'll have its consequences, like the damaging of the bids of New York and Toronto for 2012 Summer Olympics. -Poor Yorick

Could the article Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23 be added to the In the news section on the main page? It may not be of great world-wide significance, but once-the-most-open society in Southeast Asia is now facing the danger of losing the freedom of speech. International attention to the crisis faced by Hong Kong is definitely needed. -- Wshun

yup yup Poor Yorick

May I suggest The Mississauga Blob as a "New Article". It is certainly oddballish, but by every means is an unexplained scientific occurance. - user:Zanimum

yup yup Poor Yorick
Wow, I never thought anyone would take my offbeat article seriously. Cool. - user:Zanimum
I read it, and its lighthearted enuff. The Main page could use something relaxing once in a while. Poor Yorick

I would suggest Liberia for "In the news". Gustavf 12:57 22 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Please read the criteria for inclusion. --mav
I believe it does. It is not a stub, it is on the current events page, it is updated to reflect the current events (I moved some of this information from the history of Liberia page to the main page for Liberia, but it was on the history page) and it is in the news. -- Gustavf
Then if anything History of Liberia would be on the Main Page not Liberia (which doesn't even have "July" anywhere on the page let alone a recent date link). An article about the actual event would be much better (we have never had a "History of.." article in the "In the News" section before). --mav
One time has to be the first :-) Maybe it would not be such a bad idea, since this is a quiet long lasting civil war which has intensified the last weeks. I suggest the guidelines be clarified a bit on what "updated to reflect the new information" is supposed to mean without being a news report. The best, would of course, be if someone with insight could write the Liberian Civil War article. -- Gustavf 06:23 24 Jul 2003 (UTC)


Contents

Abud Sarhan

Would someone please add Abud Sarhan to people in the news? Pizza Puzzle

I'm not sure that article meets all of the requirements for selection. -- Notheruser 13:18 15 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Why not? He is suing the United States for massacring his family. He is in the news. How is that not acceptable? Pizza Puzzle


The article is a stub. --Camembert

Its not really a stub. There just isn't much information in existence on the topic. Pizza Puzzle

San Antonio Spurs

NOW the Spurs should be on In The News, main page..LOl -- Antonio Spanker Martin

PS: Happy Fathers day everyone!! Antonio Uncle Daddy Martin

Larry Doby to deaths

Larry Doby to recent deaths...

Antonio Rodman Martin

1st baseball game too specific

Tsk. It shouldn't be "1st baseball game" under anniversaries; it should merely be "baseball", as is done for all other subjects. Though I'm somewhat loath to call Americanocentralism... :-) James F. 21:31 19 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Sorry, what was that? "I want to be a sysop so I can edit the Main Page," did you say? See Wikipedia:Requests for adminship. :) -- Oliver P. 21:51 19 Jun 2003 (UTC)

GIF patent expiry

The GIF patent expiration applies only in the US, not Canada, Japan, or Europe. The current listing may be misleading. - Pipian 05:58 20 Jun 2003 (UTC)

How new articles are chosen

How is it decided which new articles go into the 'new Articles' section, or is it just random G-Man 18:37 22 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I try to pick those above a certain length (>1000 bytes), preferably non-list articles which are not imported from late 19th/early 20th century sources. YMMV. --Eloquence 19:00 22 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Red Sox

Maybe Boston Red Sox should be on main page, current events.

Antonio Ms Trevi Martin

Reference Desk categorization

Wikipedia:Reference Desk is not for those who want to write articles but for those who want Wikipedia to ask something. In other words, it's for readers and not editors. So why is it under the heading "Writing Articles"? -- Paddu 14:05 29 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Cayley anniversary

Please could somebody list Sir George Cayley's coachman as a significant historical anniversary. The first ever successful flight by a manned heavier-than-air machine took place 150 years ago this week. Ta. GrahamN 16:43 30 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Done. Could you add more stuff to it? I know it's mysterious and all, but it's such an ugly stub. --Menchi 16:48 30 Jun 2003 (UTC)

How do you mean "ugly"? It would be nice to have a photo in the article of the replica of the "Coachman Carrier" that was built and flown across Brompton Dale a few years ago, but I don't have one. Other than that I can't see how we could add to it. If it's "more stuff" you are after, follow the prominent link to Sir George Cayley. I put quite a lot of work into that article some time ago. GrahamN 15:11 3 Jul 2003 (UTC)

UN vs. United Nations

What's wrong with UN Charter? Why must it be United Nations Charter? I doubt many know not UN = United Nations. Anyway, it did that to maintain the table's square-ness. Now it's off square again because of the full name. --Menchi 16:51 30 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Albertson's

Maybe Albertson's should be in main page-current events.

Antonio Twisted Mind Martin

Anniversaries

I have had the terrific pleasure of keeping the Anniversaries on the Main Page up to date. However, I will be on vacation until August 10th, and I will not have access to the Internet. So please take up the slack :) And have a nice summer :) Kingturtle 19:28 1 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Have a nice holiday - I'll help to keep the Anniversaries in good order. --mav 22:13 1 Jul 2003 (UTC)

GM food trade war

How about putting the Trade war over genetically modified food (maybe US v EU on GM food is shorter) in the "news" line on the Main Page? In Europe there is currently no day without an Article on this in the newspaper and additionally it seems to me that many Americans are not even aware that this problem exists also in America, but is ignored by the Bush-Administration. Fantasy 08:08 2 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Alrighty then. Poor Yorick 08:14 2 Jul 2003 (UTC)
Thanks, that was fast! Fantasy ;-)

Adium

Adium was previously a one-line stub, but is now a full-fleged article. I nominate it to go in the "New Articles" section. (Of course, I wrote it, but... ;-)) --bdesham 23:43 2 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Request link to "Civil Rights Act of 1964"

In the Historical links section, there's a link to "US Civil Rights Act of 1964" that currently points to Civil Rights Act. Could someone change this to point to Civil Rights Act of 1964 (which is no longer a redirect, and now has a pretty picture) -- RobLa 07:15 3 Jul 2003 (UTC)

---

Serena Williams should be in main page, current events.--Antonio Martini
Ha, ha, Antonio. :) What has Serena Williams done recently to merit listing in the current events section? This info needs to be in her article and on the current events page. --mav

She won Wimbledon..:)

Antonio 1000 names Martin

That info and the exact, linked date needs to be in her article before it is listed. --mav
Done....--Antonio bottle licker Martin
Listed. mav


The Shahab-3 is In the News! Pizza Puzzle

Well then put it in Current Events, and maybe update or add to the Shahab-3 article. MB 15:07 7 Jul 2003 (UTC)

New article for your consideration... Mr. Hooper's Store. It's not scholarly, just comprehensive. - user:zanimum

Why is Pat Robertson In the news? There is nothing in current events or his article to indicate why. --mav 20:05 10 Jul 2003 (UTC)

I just read the article too and was gonna say that on Talk:Pat Robertson but didn't bother to. Is this some local paper or TV news? --Menchi 09:20 11 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Would someone please put a non-breaking space in the middle of the "recent deaths" heading so it doesn't wrap? See Main Page/temp. -- Merphant 06:07 11 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Done. BTW there is no reason I can think of why you shouldn't be an Admin. Please apply at Wikipedia:Requests for Adminship. --mav


Thanks. Ok, I will. -- Merphant

Extrasolar planet isnt in the news, its Methuselah thats in the news. Pizza Puzzle

Scott McClellan has been in the news for two days now...Pizza Puzzle

Can someone put British Open (golf) on the home page for today? or put the winner, Ben Curtis. Need to attract people to those pages to make them better too... dave 14:49 21 Jul 2003 (UTC)


I think that Rosalyn Tureck was sufficiently important to appear in the list of recent deaths on the front page. -- David Martland 18:28 21 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Happy Birthday announcements on Main page

Ive been trying to push this idea for a long time, for example, say that Walter Mercado and Hilary Duff, who are still alive, share the same birthday, we can go like: Happy Birthday to: Walter Mercado - Hilary Duff -

What do you guys think? -- AntonioMartin

I like it. Though I'd obviously prefer a Main Page/Temp4 style - "Happy Birthday to Walter Mercado, inventor of sliced bread, who is 100 today". Martin 12:39 17 Jul 2003 (UTC)
I'm not sure about the "Happy" bit - "Happy birthday, Osama Bin Laden", for example, doesn't sound right. Can't it just be "People born today" or something? CGS 12:49 17 Jul 2003 (UTC).
"Happy birthday" has NPOV problems. --Eloquence 07:22 22 Jul 2003 (UTC)
Please not another sub-section! Births and deaths are already on day pages and are covered via "Anniversaries." However due to space considerations only births and deaths that are at 100 year increments are listed (since simply being born or dying is not an event unless you are Jesus Christ or were assassinated, murdered or killed yourself). If a person is famous enough to be in Wikipedia then they should have actually done something worth us reporting - if there is an exact date for this and the event is important enough to be placed on the corresponding day and year pages, then that person's bio is a candidate for listing in the Anniversaries sub-section. --mav 08:55 22 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Someone remove Bill Bright from the main page as the article was a copyright violation. -- Popsracer 23:37 21 Jul 2003 (UTC)

This has now been resolved. -- Popsracer 01:18 22 Jul 2003 (UTC)

May I add Uday and Qusay Hussein to the list? 172

Sorry. 1) Their articles are not updated with the current event info and date links and 2) the current news isn't solid enough yet to warrent such an update. See also the selected articles guidelines. If they are dead then they'll go in recent deaths and then be placed on the Main Page. --mav 19:59 22 Jul 2003 (UTC)
That confirmation was fast. --mav

Ok I can understand how the Hussein Brothers death should knock older deaths off the list, but David Kelly is still very much in the news. Can his name replace on of the other name in the In the News: section? If no-one objects I suggest the Irish bloke who wasn't a terrorist after all. Mintguy 23:11 22 Jul 2003 (UTC)

I put him back - good point. --mav


A link to Matt Jefferies may be worth listing among the recent deaths on the front page. -- StAkAr Karnak

We only put articles on the front page if they are longer than this. It's not a good advert for Wiki otherwise - very stubbish articles where new comers might find them right away and judge us. CGS 13:01 23 Jul 2003 (UTC).

I've managed to flesh out the article a bit. Hopefully it will qualify now. -- StAkAr Karnak

Yes, I think that's fleshed-out enough. Added.
James F. 17:59 23 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Could someone put James E. Davis on as a recent death. Thanks -- Popsracer 20:59 24 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Done. --mav

Today, July 27, is the 50th anniversary of the end of the Korean War. Could that be added to the anniversaries? -- RickK 22:21 27 Jul 2003 (UTC)

As soon as I get around to adding new events to the Anniversaries section, yes. I tend to do this after the UTC day is over as a way to highlight the events that are no longer accessible via the current day page link. --mav

Why on Aug 6 is Anne Frank listed in Anniversaries? I can find no event relating to her on this date. -- SGBailey

It was for August 4th, just no one bothered to change it. - user:zanimum

From: Talk:Main Page -

Where is the policy and what should and should not be included? Jiang is taking off my Harley-Davidson anniversary because the article itself doesn't include the exact date that the first Harley was created. But the company is celebrating their anniversary this weekend with a gigantic party in Milwauke in which over one hundred thousand motorcyclists are participating. RickK 01:26, 31 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Perhaps this would better belong in the current events section...Explained further at User talk:RickK --Jiang
Update the article and it will be listed. --mav 01:44, 31 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Apparently only a limited clique is allowed to update the Main Page. RickK 01:53, 31 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Yeah Admins. But we do have guidelines for doing so. Please follow them by updating articles in the Selected Articles section so that readers will known why an article is listed. Also, the whole point of the Selected Articles section is to encourage people to update different kinds of articles. If that wasn't required then there is no real way to encourage updating the articles and furthermore readers don't know why an item is listed. --mav

I went ahead and updated the article and then listed it. --mav

I wholeheartedly agree with this criterion. It's infuriating to see something listed in "Recent Events," click through to find out why, and find absolutely no indication in the article of why. Since having them listed there is essentially a request to click for details, there should actually, of course, be details. --Delirium 08:52, Aug 31, 2003 (UTC)

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