Talk:Main Page/Archive 31

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Archive 31


Contents

Time for a 50k article group of languages?

We've now got five Wikipedia languages??more groups is bad. It makes finding any particular language harder, and it makes it look cluttered. Aronsson practically killed an encyclopedia? Anyway, the swedes clearly call themselves the wiki was because of vandalism. Wouldn't be a good start to exponential growth will curb at some point. We might as well recognize wikipedia already has this milestone: it shows that English would help offset the obvious language bias. I think it's more important showing this information than 1000 languages, which IMHO is beginning to clutter up the main page a bit much.

talk

LOGIN FUGUEUR

Auriez

Dirty front page

Lengthy discussion on Main Page featured article selection/censorship moved to a more long-term section: Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article#Dirty Front Page. -- [[User:Solitude|Solitude\talk]] 11:17, Dec 9, 2004 (UTC)

This has now been moved to its own page, Wikipedia talk:Dirty front page. --[[User:Eequor|ᓛᖁ♀ᑐ]] 21:00, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)
I have moved it back, that lone talk page without an article makes no sense, especially with that title. If you want to make it into a proper policy discussion, feel free to do so. Also the discussion is not that long to warrant its own article just for that reason alone. -- [[User:Solitude|Solitude\talk]] 07:58, Dec 10, 2004 (UTC)
Well... it is likely to produce some sort of policy, isn't it? It also takes up the majority of Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article, which is messy. --[[User:Eequor|ᓛᖁ♀ᑐ]] 08:43, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)

In the news

Hamid Karzai (pictured right)

No, he isn't pictured right ;)

[[User:Sam Spade|Sam Spade Wants you to vote!]] 13:12, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)

The national day is in Bahrain, but the Bangladesh flag is shown. Strange :) Cmapm 00:19, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Less boxy version

I just created Main Page/Less boxy, which is the same as the current main page except with fewer boxes and some minor modifications. I think this looks a lot cleaner. (Also, the donations message is more prominent.) Thoughts? Fredrik | talk 11:05, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Nice attempt for sure, but I personally like the current "boxy" version better, although the difference is pretty small. -- [[User:Solitude|Solitude\talk]] 11:11, Dec 10, 2004 (UTC)
I'd don't see any differences at all. -- user:zanimum. -- user:zanimum
Huh? Scroll down. Fredrik | talk 08:22, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Error message

Every page I open starts with an error message about a syntaxiserror. I have to click 'yes' to see anything. It doesn't happen on German and Dutch Wikis and it started a week ago. It's not a big pain but I just wanna let you know. Greets, B kimmel 14:44, 11 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Evolution

I''' personally do not belive in Evolution.[[Media:I have a ten page report due This friday. I was wondering if you new where i could find info on Fossil dating,and Natrual selection]] --4.154.39.142 16:52, 11 Dec 2004 (UTC)From sdasdfasdfafdasfas--4.154.39.142 16:52, 11 Dec 2004 (UTC)stafford'

do you, personally, believe in orthography? or google? dab (ᛏ)
I do not believe in you, so you don't exist, ergo, I don't have to help you. ;) MikeCapone 21:53, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Taiwan island image

The tool tip (caption) on the island image says it's the flag of Taiwan. It should read something more like "A view of the island of Taiwan from space." Brian Sayrs 19:10, 2004 Dec 11 (UTC)

Methods to Learn topics

I just had access to wikipedia. If you wanted to learn all about wikipedia guide you through learning about chemistry from basic to the more advanced stuff?but i'm really stoned right now...Dessert island.

One problem is that Wikipedia doesn't know who the reader is and what the reader doesn't know. The articles can't all be written to people stranded on a desert island?actually, a topic they would like to see. Could be so that one could easily toggle between the entry's incarnation that's mostly suited for those people who know so much about the topic that they can barely communicate with non-knowers, and something that is actually geared for someone who might just be stopping by. Which does actually exist in developing the implementation of it a bit.

One written towards those presumed to have incarnation of this kinda thing could be adopted just by convention, without the idea of taking it towards Wikibooks. I think it's important to keep their experience at the forefront of our minds.

Anyhoo, just a thought. Ozzyslovechild 17:13, 27 Dec 2004 (UTC)

5 days left to nominate for the Webbys— is Wikipedia in?

See: Talk:Webby_Awards#5_days_left.97_is_Wikipedia_in.3F

help. aristotelian model of compassion vs. dalai lama's view

can anyone help me understand the aristotelian model? - Transferred your question to the reference desk. Ancheta Wis 05:03, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)


Pinochet's alleged indictment, allegedly allegedly

I think talking about Pinochet's "alleged" human rights abuses is the kind of "balance" that wants to give equal time to creationism. Now I'm no expert on the english language, but if "charged" is the same as "indicted", it would probably be better to use since indictement sounds like convictement. If it's obvious that he isn't convicted yet, the "alleged" should be dropped. Vintermann 13:38, Dec 14, 2004 (UTC)

Indictment: a formal statement of accusation, so it means exactly what is intended here. -- [[User:Solitude|Solitude\talk]] 16:19, Dec 14, 2004 (UTC)

Dayton Agreement

I think that The Dayton Agreement was signed in Dayton, USA, not in Paris, France.

Well, the initial conference was held in Dayton and ended on 21 November 1995, but the official signing occurred in Paris. See Dayton Agreement and for instance [1]. -- [[User:Solitude|Solitude\talk]] 16:26, Dec 14, 2004 (UTC)

Where to report Wikipedia abuse?

Not sure if this is the appropriate place.

Cyprus2k1 is a religious Baha'i who keeps deleting and reverting virtually all content on the Bahai page that disagrees with the official Baha'i PR program. I suspect he is acting in an official capacity for the Baha'i organization.

I am a former member of the Baha'i faith who is commenting anonymously to avoid retribution against members of my family who are still members of the Baha'i faith organization. I would like to be able to include relevant critical information in the Baha'i article without having it reverted the next day. I'm fine with having my work EDITED, but Cyprus is simply deleting information he doesn't care for. 65.184.35.245 22:32, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Try Wikipedia:Dispute Resolution. --fvw* 22:34, 2004 Dec 16 (UTC)
"I suspect he is acting in an official capacity for the Baha'i organization."lol, please...... - --Cyprus2k1 16:24, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)

ml.wikipedia.org

has more than 100 articles - please add it to the list

I was about to, but it looks like it has already been done. [2] -- TomPreuss 17:09, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Add Ma On Shan (KCRC) as the featured article

I want to add Ma On Shan (KCRC) as the featured article on December 21, 2004. Would you accept my request? --202.75.80.6 04:54, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)

You need to nominate it as a featured article. If it is accepted there, it becomes eligible to be the front page featured article for a day, but there is no formal mechanism that I know of to determine when a given article appears on the front page. Get it to the featured article status first, then ask how to get it on the front page for an appropriate date.-gadfium (talk) 05:05, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)
I choose the featured articles for the main page. The formal mechanism is that once it becomes a featured article, you ask me :) →Raul654 19:25, Dec 17, 2004 (UTC)

Easy-to-fix CODE TYPO on Main Page

WikiCookie

Sorry to yell, but last time I mentioned this here it was ignored and fell into the archive. On the ninth ("other languages") code line of the Main Page, </i> should be </li>. Kdau 06:49, 2004 Dec 17 (UTC)

Good spotting there. Thanks, it should be fixed now. You win a cookie. - Mark 13:00, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Hey, I just ate some of those. Chocolate chip cookies rule. Along with Bruce Springsteen, they are one of the few unilaterally positive things to come from the United States. Of course, they had to borrow the word for them from us, but still... 82.92.119.11 21:17, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Portugese

Should say "Portuguese" Juppiter 04:05, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Fixed. (be bold!) 68.81.231.127 09:51, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Defecation

On the main page, as we speak, the word Defecation is being pipe-linked to Defecate. This seems unnecessary, as the Wikipedia article concerning this topic is found at Defecation (unpiped) anyway. I hope I'm not splitting hairs. Bobo192 08:01, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Nope, little errors should be fixed (even mine [3]). I fixed it, but in the future, feel free to be be bold! 68.81.231.127 09:08, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Unnecessary text in Anniversaries?

Recent days: December 18 – December 17 – December 16

Do we really need to say Recent Days? Perhaps there could be a more efficient system. Even just putting Dec 18, 17, 16 would be better...

Going backwards in time by a day each time is a very simple thing to understand :) unlike the very useful "recents" of the other groups.

Hope that made sense

Yukos

"To the previously unknown and recently-founded Baikalfinansgroup." If they registered it last week, maybe it's not so strange no body has heard of it. - Jerryseinfeld 21:27, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)


Strange upload behaviour

Something strange is happening now.. When I want to upload a new image, it tells me, that there already is one, but isn't! I agree to save it, but the image page opens, but the image itself is empty. I have to reupload again, but it appears twice in history. It happened with my Image:tartaric acids.png and Image:L-tartaric acid.png. The latter wasn't actually reuploaded, so the oddity can be seen in action. --Mykhal 22:46, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I apologize. The warning message was not about that there already is such image, but about name change. And the upload now also seem so work properly. --Mykhal 23:54, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Bad grammar on main page

This sentence is incorrect: "The phrase "up to us" is vague admits of a variety of interpretations." You can afford carelessness like this on the rest of the Wikipedia, but not on a page that is uneditable. Proofread, people.

Thanks, fixed.-gadfium (talk) 01:12, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Announce request to rename page

{{move|Main page}}

The request failed to achieve consensus. --fvw* 06:15, 2005 Jan 1 (UTC)

today's "Did you know..."

on my screen, the entire section of the Did you know... section appears in a smaller font than the rest of the main page. is this happening with anyone else? can this be fixed? Kingturtle 15:38, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)

  • It's the same for me, but I don't know enough about wikipedia to tell what causes it. Jeltz talk 15:41, 2004 Dec 21 (UTC)

The other hero is likewise to Arland Williams

New layout

This is so much uglier than the old design, and it seems to waste a large amount of space, the red box is about 30 lines longer than it needs to be.--naryathegreat 00:31, Dec 22, 2004 (UTC)

the picture of David Blunkett should be lower and be identified. He has nothing to do with Mosul. Jim 04:43, Dec 22, 2004 (UTC)

NPOV

The blunkett story is NPOV tory proganda. "the application but said it was not possible to determine if Blunkett had personally ordered the visa to be fast-tracked"--Jirate 14:07, 2004 Dec 22 (UTC)

Propaganda, by definition is not NPoV and vice versa. Hu 06:33, 2004 Dec 23 (UTC)

Content Rating

I noticed that when using a content filter program (i.e. parental filter) that they warn that wikipedia pages do not have a content rating. I suggest that all pages of wikipedia get a content rating (I think a snippet of code can accomplish this). Specifically, the content should be rated as "educational"--jabelar 14:07, 2004 Dec 22 (UTC)

While this sounds like a good idea, this page is for discussion of the main page. You might repeat your suggestion at the village pump. [[User:Rdsmith4|User:Rdsmith4/sig]] 21:49, 24 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Upgrade

Wikipedia upgraded to 1.4b3 tonight. Can we put this somewhere on the Main Page along with a change log?--Sean Kelly 03:54, 23 Dec 2004 (UTC)

  • Why would you want such on the main page? BLANKFAZE | (что??) 04:01, 23 Dec 2004 (UTC)
    • Well where is it? I ended up going onto IRC and asking. --Sean Kelly 06:05, 23 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Wikipedia Logo

Is it just me, or is the Wikipedia logo looking out of focus this evening? 172.175.127.8 06:03, 23 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Must be you (or at least it looks fine for me). -- Schneelocke (cheeks clone) [[]] 06:12, 23 Dec 2004 (UTC)
The logo is rendered twice, slightly horizontally offset causing an out-of-focus appearance for me too. (XP IE6/SP2) --218.50.191.197 06:16, 23 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Yes, exactly. 172.175.127.8 06:19, 23 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Known bug, being investigated. -- Cyrius|✎ 07:19, 23 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Fixed. It was an old work-around mucking up a new work-around! Tom- 15:24, 23 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Where'd the days go?

I note that the links to the last few days have gone from below the Selected anniversaries section. Shame, I liked those. For example, it was by birthday recently and when I visited Wikipedia a day later, it was great to be able to still click on my b'day. The 'Archives' and 'More selected...' also kinda sound like the same thing, even if they aren't. Confusing. Dan100 15:21, Dec 23, 2004 (UTC)

Today's featured article

Can I suggest that the text 'Recently featured' be bolded, to distinguish it more noticeably from the text of the article above it? Dan100 15:24, Dec 23, 2004 (UTC)

  • User:Raul654 is the "director" of the featured article template. Perhaps you might want to bring it up with him. BLANKFAZE | (что??) 19:17, 23 Dec 2004 (UTC)
  • Thanks, done. Dan100 22:40, Dec 23, 2004 (UTC)

What happened to the discussions that were here yesterday?

I posted a message about the logo being out of focus, now I don't even see anything in the history which shows that that discussion ever took place. 172.196.66.177 04:06, 24 Dec 2004 (UTC)

How odd. Now it's there. I wonder what happened. 172.196.66.177 04:07, 24 Dec 2004 (UTC)

'languages' icon

I'm not too much into all these icons anyway, but that 'other languges' one, I don't know, it's particularly nondescript. A globe, fair enough. An arabic kaf, a french c-cedille, and a chinese, what, 'man' or something? how does that translate to 'languages'? if we really (really really) need an icon for 'languages', better make it a talking head or something, along the lines of Ferdinand de Saussure's [4] dab (ᛏ) 20:21, 24 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I designed it (or tried to, I'm not that artistic!), tried to get a feeling of lots of different languages in a multilingual way. Feel free to make a better design. Tom- 20:30, 24 Dec 2004 (UTC)
no offence, Tom. It boils down to a matter of taste, I suppose. dab (ᛏ) 20:36, 24 Dec 2004 (UTC)


I moved it from the template to the Main page itself for now. See Template talk:Wikipedialang. dab (ᛏ) 10:01, 25 Dec 2004 (UTC)

at the moment, the icon serves no purpose: it leads to a page containing exactly the same table right next to it. I think it was originally intended to be at the top of the page. Is say either move it back to the top, or remove it altogether. dab (ᛏ) 11:36, 25 Dec 2004 (UTC)


sandbox

Is it just me?

I really liked having a link to the sandbox on the title page.

Article number comma separation

Is there any way to put commas in the "number of articles we're currently working on"? For example, right now it says "We are currently working on 431943 articles." Is there any way we could make it 431,943? I mean, I'm sure there's a way, has the topic come up before? I realize the comma delimeters are not standard (I think they're just American, and Europe uses periods), but, to me, it increases readability a great deal. LockeShocke 20:56, Dec 24, 2004 (UTC)

Just American?! aaargh! violet/riga (t) 21:58, 24 Dec 2004 (UTC)
I think these commas are also British, Canadian, Australian, etc. It's continental (non-English-speaking) Europe that uses the dot, to the best of my knowledge. Slim 23:25, Dec 24, 2004 (UTC)
Well, sorry. The point is - why don't we do it? LockeShocke 22:10, Dec 25, 2004 (UTC)
The best way would be to have it space seperated as according to the SI standard. "We are currently working on 431 943 articles."--Clawed 00:38, 29 Dec 2004 (UTC)
That's just as good, anything for readability, some sort of separation. Now... uhm, how does it get done? :) LockeShocke 02:26, Dec 29, 2004 (UTC)
place a feature request here http://bugzilla.wikipedia.org/ to set the wheels in motion --Clawed 11:42, 29 Dec 2004 (UTC)
I hate to rain your parade, but space separation is [a bad idea]. Standards be damned. What is this? 123 456 Two numbers "123" and "456" or "123456". What a ridiculous standard. --Anon_E_Mouse 14:15, 29 Dec 2004 (Central, clock on the wall)
I've always liked using space separation, although I fell out of the habit of using it about 30 years ago. I think you are supposed to use a hairspace (&hairsp;) but that doesn't work on my browser (Firefox on XP).-gadfium 00:25, 30 Dec 2004 (UTC)
I personally find it ridiculous that 123,456 doesn't mean 123, 456. Fredrik | talk 20:37, 29 Dec 2004 (UTC)
well, there's aloways 1.23456 x 105 :) Grutness|hello? 23:35, 29 Dec 2004 (UTC)

In this English version, started in 2001, we are currently working on 436 451 articles.

In this English version, started in 2001, we are currently working on 436,451 articles.

In this English version, started in 2001, we are currently working on over 400 000 articles.

In this English version, started in 2001, we are currently working on 1.23456 x 105 articles.

Edit Page Code Problems

Didn't know where else to leave this. On EVERY "edit this page" (including this one!) near the bottom, the "special characters" box suddenly has no top border for some reason. Also, next to the buttons for "SAVE PAGE" and "SHOW PREVIEW" " the words "Cancel|Editing help (opens in new window)" are in italics for some reason, but the style doesn't seem to match the rest of the links. Can someone with access fix these (admittedly trivial) matters?

what does lung fibrosis or minimal subsegmental atelectasis mean?

If someone can explain this please do

Well, I will, but I confess I'm confused as to why this comes up on the Main Page talk page....

These are phrases that describe abnormal conditions of the lungs...probably used by a radiologist. "Lung fibrosis" means that the lung tissue itself has become thicker (more "fibrotic") than normal, probably to a degree that might interfere with oxygenation of the blood and might cause shortness of breath. When used by a radiologist, it simply means the lung tissue appears "whiter" on an x-ray than normal - though this finding can be simulated by an underexposed x-ray. "Atelectasis" is a collapse of the small airways of the lung. Each lung is anatomically divided into "segments", and so "subsegmental" means that the condition doesn't involve a whole segment. "Minimal" more or less speaks for itself. "Minimal subsegmental atelectasis" means that the radiologist has again seen, or is again describing, an area of whiteness in a small area of the lung that is not particularly severe. The interpretation of those radiological findings will be based on the clinical condition and other symptoms of the patient (and on the reason an x-ray was done in the first place). Atelectasis is sometimes found in pneumonias. - Nunh-huh 00:17, 25 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Happy Christmas oggs at bottom?

What on earth is their function? It seems rather christanocentric (to coin a term?) - we did not observe Ramadan or Chanukah. This is ludicrous, completely unacceptable - please remove it. --80.225.33.122 23:01, 24 Dec 2004 (UTC)

well, it could be worse. say, your browser could be starting to play a MIDI version of jingle bells as it loads the page (the horror). I suggest you exert some tolerance, I am sure they will be gone in a day or two. dab (ᛏ) 23:11, 24 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Yes, and of course they'll be back next year and all the years after that, because nobody really protested this year. Something like that? :-)
I find it amusing how the "we will have fun dammit" people override the "this is not neutral" people so easily. You'd expect the former to be more easy-going than the latter. Not so.
Incidentally, why not an ogg that says "My name is Jimbo Wales and I pronounce Wikipedia as Wikipedia"? Just a little thing to celebrate "the encyclopedia that Slashdot built". ;-D 82.92.119.11 23:17, 24 Dec 2004 (UTC)
It's Christmas and virtually all the people that visit the English Wikipedia will be celebrating. violet/riga (t) 23:21, 24 Dec 2004 (UTC)
I didn't say I disagreed. Just that I find it interesting that there's an enormous and implicit consensus that these celebrations must be represented on the Main Page somehow. If it weren't Christmas, it would really be a bit spooky. (And I still disagree, even though we're "all" celebrating over here.) 82.92.119.11 23:43, 24 Dec 2004 (UTC)
"It's Christmas and virtually all the people that visit the English Wikipedia will be celebrating" -- That's a really POV statement and untrue. Virtually all people here aren't Christian and even if they were, I don't think we should place other holidays lower on the totum pole. We all use computers, but computer articles should be more important on the main page than other articles. If we are to decide to celebrate holidays in the future in this manner, I think we should avoid cultural bias. --Sketchee 02:17, Dec 26, 2004 (UTC)
Seems like they've disappeared anyway. And I vote for themed Wikipedia logos for major events. :) violet/riga (t) 23:45, 24 Dec 2004 (UTC)
I didn't say I agree with them. I didn't even say I'm celebrating christmas. But I don't mind people enjoying their holidays, and if that results in couple of links to ogg files, I think this is harmless and not worth getting upset about. dab (ᛏ) 09:16, 25 Dec 2004 (UTC)
also, look at bg:. Now this, I agree, is dreadful, and I think I would assist you there. dab (ᛏ) 09:46, 25 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Good gravy, they don't just put it at the top of the Main Page, they have jolly Santa flying around the Wiki globe for crying out loud! Really, an autoplay midi is the only thing missing. Why not animated GIFs with Christmas lights while we're at it? Dreadful. If they'd done this on the en Wikipedia, I really would have run off and hidden under the Christmas tree for the duration. Vulgar Bulgars! :-) JRM 15:24, 2004 Dec 25 (UTC)

People, notice the picture of the Christmas tree we have now at "Selected anniversaries". If you don't mind me saying so: this is how you do it. Simple, uncontroversial, and a lovely image. Kudos to Jengod. God jul! JRM 21:27, 2004 Dec 25 (UTC)

You guys should see what we did at the Icelandic wikipedia ;) -- Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason 21:48, 2004 Dec 25 (UTC)
Oh no. Oh no, no, no. You didn't. Heathens! Infidels! The Really Reformed Church of Wikipedia will burn you all at the stake! :-) JRM 02:24, 2004 Dec 26 (UTC)
Perhaps..... Perhaps there could be a frame on the bottom of the main page (use of frame here is the HTML term) that has "Choose your holiday" on the top, with links to all the holidays going on during this season, including a "No Holiday" link. When a user selects a link, a cookie could be stored on the users computer (again the HTML term) with the holiday selected. Next time the user visits the main page, the frame would look for the cookie, read it, and display the holday's symbols. If there isn't a cookie, the frame will display the "Choose your holiday" page again.

Just a suggestion....do you think the admin could try something like this?
--Ptolmey 22:15, Dec 30, 2004 (UTC)