Talk:Current events/Vote on tense

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Vote on whether past or present tense should be used

Since there has been chaotic confusion of tenses in the description of current events for months on end, and no agreement has surfaced so far, I suggest we simply vote for it. Since there are just two relevant options, we can use simple majority voting. Please add your nickname behind the choice you prefer (use ~~~ to insert it). Voting will end on April 13, 2003, the tense that the majority prefers will then be used for coming events and a notice to that effect will be inserted into the article.

Past tense: Eloquence

Arguments against:

  • Present tense is used in month/day articles (e.g. April 15)
  • It is very odd to use the past tense under a specific date on a page called "current events"
  • Nearly all the current events up to now have been in the present tense.
  • If it ain't broke, why fix it?
    • It's definitely broken. Have you ever tried to actually read the Current Events?

Present tense: mav (why the hell is this being voted on anyway?) Tarquin (hm, indeed. there was a debate about this on another page that wasn't resolved)

Arguments for:

  • These are "current events", therefore the context is the indicated date.
  • They have always been in the present tense.
    • Unfortunately, that's not true. The majority of events may have been in the present tense, but for almost every day, you can find tense inconsistency.
  • All the year pages and day pages are in the present tense.
  • These events are derived from news reports which are almost always in the present tense.

Arguments against:

  • Makes copy and pasting into other articles harder
  • Gets difficult in cases of complex events with varying tense ("XY agreed .. ABC later remarked that if they had not .. ") (BUT: "XY agrees; however, ABC later remarks...)


I agree with mav because (A) mav is usually right, and (B) why the heck are we writing so much current events stuff anyway? Let's return to our focus of writing encyclopedia articles -- this ain't a newspaper, a dictionary, or a discussion board, it's -- quick, what's a 12-letter word that rhymes with Wikipedia? --Uncle Ed 22:56 Apr 8, 2003 (UTC)

"fix it seedier"


Regarding the question "why do we need to vote on it", the answer is: Because there is inconsistency that needs to be resolved. I don't care much about the outcome, but having different tenses even within a single event is very, very annoying. --Eloquence 23:17 Apr 8, 2003 (UTC)


    • EXAMPLES

Present:New user "shows" examples-- plans great insight... I'm just checking the site ...relative time should be used if possible. If it is past then use past. However,If it is a situation "in progress" it does make a story clearer when read in present or transitive tense. As mentioned the tense may need to be corrected if the story is finished or otherwise updated Such revision seems unavoidable here --editing is a necessary overhead.

    • Undecided issues:

present tense also seems usefull for undecided issues such as these..

(this editing page however is much wider than my browser NS4.5 fixing that would greatly help)

i dont know why bother bout such things like tense. Read out the date of the article and adjust the tense accordingly.Dont get tensed about tense.