Talk:Main Page/Archive 57

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Archive 57


Contents

So why not the sexy small print?

I've been following the cartoons controversy and it is obvious we have no answer to the dilemma of whether we should always publish (right of free speech) or censor (pander to some sensitivities). On the talk page, User:Moocats said "There is no particular approach which will satisfy a tidbit of the free information protagonists (myself included). No magic solution, no special template, no words, no phrases, no pictures........i like warning because warning is needed, if a user is coming to this (pornographic) page, they will see the image and leave, or view it and read the article.". Right, almost. However, why don't we add a brief sentence to the existing Main Page line which says "In this English version, started in 2001, we are currently working on 972,223 articles." Add something like "Wikipedia endeavours to be accurate and balanced without fear or favour, but recognises that some information which is admired by many readers may be objected to by others". A sort of small print warning that basically says there may be content some readers may object to. Sort of You-Have-Been-Warned in a nice way. Yes, I know we have Wikipedia:General disclaimer but I'd guess very few Wiki visitors ever see that page, and even if they did, they wouldn't bother wading right through to the dreary end of it. We need to add something to the Main Page which is brief -- not screeds of legalese -- just a one sentence 'warning'. My 02c worth. Moriori 20:54, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

The first line of the Main Page says "Welcome to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia". That word 'encyclopaedia' is sufficient warning that there will be stuff that people object to, such as articles on alternative religions, science, pictures of genitalia, etc. --Malthusian (talk) 22:08, 14 February 2006 (UTC)
OK. Then you have no objection to junking Wikipedia:General disclaimer? Moriori 22:44, 14 February 2006 (UTC)
What should Wikipedia be embarrassed about? Wikipedia does not allow Original Research. Presenting selected information with a disclaimer would introduce a point of view, and as long as the picture remains, I do not think it would quell any of the rage (whether authentic or exaggerated) on the talk page. --Grocer 22:12, 17 February 2006 (UTC)
No POV danger from Moriori's suggestion. M is not asking for warnings on certain pages, just a note on the main page advising people that they may find some (not stating what) content objectionable. Psud 13:23, 18 February 2006 (UTC)
Would we add a discussion page why Freedom of Speech is relevant regarding Islamic sacrosancts, while revisionism of a histarical incident regarding the plight of the Jewish nation is outlawed in most European countries?--A not Islamic nor Jewish editor, 23 February 2006.


Sindhi

moved to Talk:Sindhi people, and Talk:Sindhi language. -- PFHLai 07:31, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Kindly Let Me Know How to Create A Page in Sindhi ARABIC Script

moved to User talk:Aursani. -- PFHLai 08:12, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Iraq War Protests

Under "selected anniversaries": surely the link you direct to February 15, 2003 anti-war protest rather than where it currently goes? --James Kemp 00:21, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Good idea. Thank you. I've re-wikified the line to link to the suggested article. -- PFHLai 07:21, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Bird Flu in Austria, Germany

Nigeria is old news. The Main Page should now talk about new cases discovered in Germany and Austria. —Cuiviénen (Cuivië) 04:28, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Please update relevant wikiarticles and post a suggested headline at Wikipedia:In the news section on the Main Page/Candidates. Thanks. -- PFHLai 09:00, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Did you know:

That even in the British spelling of "humorous" there is no u after the first o?Copey 2 06:59, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Thats true. Humour becomes humorous... —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 82.18.55.61 (talk • contribs) 16:10, 2006 February 16 (UTC).

Somehow, between 1776 and the present, the gentle folk of the USA have managed to marmalise quite a fair amount of the English language. Sir Hugh Postleworth-Snipe ret.

Your continued donations...

Look at the data: http://fundraising.wikimedia.org/ongoing/index.php/2006-02/

Conclusions:

  1. This notice is not an effective means at raising funds.
  2. Having this notice up outside of the fund drives may have a serious negative impact on the fund drives. The next time it says, "Wikimedia needs your help" the new instinctive reaction is, "Oh, they're always asking for money".
  3. If the individuals who maintain the main page insist on having this notice up all the time, then, again, just look at this data: http://fundraising.4.org/ongoing/index.php/2006-01/

The conclusion here is that Jimmy's personal appeal is FAR FAR more effective at raising funds.

  • Therefore: if enough people are insisting on keeping this notice up, AT LEAST change the link back to Jimmy's personal appeal until we find something else that is even more effective. Not doing so is only going to have a negative impact on long term fundraising for Wikimedia. Djbaniel 09:08, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

DYK: Puerto Rican Spindalis is the -national- bird of Puerto Rico (not a nation)

Should be official bird, not national bird, as Puerto Rico is not a nation, but a commonwealth of the United States.

The DYK template is protected, and Template:Did you know talk page said that errors should be pointed out here. Maybe it should only be semi-protected. --Pmsyyz 10:08, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

The article says "national bird", so I'm not revising what's on MainPage yet. You may want to take this up with the author at Talk:Puerto Rican Spindalis. A discussion on this issue has already started there. ... Everything on the MainPage is protected to avoid vandalism. I wish things were different, too. -- PFHLai 16:42, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
Puerto Rico is a COUNTRY of its own, under US control. National Bird of Puerto Rico is a completely acceptable phrase. --Revolución (talk) 22:02, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
This is no longer on MainPage as a DYK item. Please be encouraged to continue this discussion on Talk:Puerto Rican Spindalis. Thanks. -- PFHLai 00:10, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

DYK: redirect

If you changed "the Nestor Cup" to "Nestor's Cup", you would avoid every clicker getting redirected to the latter? Won't somebody please think of the servers! 57.66.51.165 11:37, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Fixed :-) --HappyCamper 12:34, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Haitian Elections

AP reports that hundreds of ballot boxes have been found in a Haitian garbage dump, and apparantly there are parts of partially burned ballots and vote tallys in the same location. Given that this makes the elections in the country totally illegitmate, that it is certain to fuel the on going riots, and that there are multinational forces in the country, this probably deserves mention in the news section. --Descendall 23:58, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Have fun updating Haitian elections, 2006. :-) When it's ready to be featured at ITN on the MainPage, please post a suggested headline on the ITN Candidates' page. Don't forget to post newslinks at Current events as well. Thanks. -- PFHLai 00:04, 16 February 2006 (UTC)
It's now posted at ITN on the MainPage. -- PFHLai 17:31, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Another great choice for a featured article

It's not like they picked gas metal arc welding twice already or anything. My favorite part about them is the diversity. 24.243.188.42 04:29, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

I assume you're talking about the discussion at Talk:Gas metal arc welding#Wow, *great* choice for a featured article. But Anarcho-capitalism has already appeared on the main page, and it's been several months since the last welding article appeared on the front page, so no hard feelings, right? I guess I'm too focused on getting articles featured on one particular topic. --Spangineer (háblame) 06:48, 16 February 2006 (UTC)
Never mind, Spangineer. Continue your good work with welding-related featured articles. -- Sundar \talk \contribs 06:55, 16 February 2006 (UTC)
Good job spangineer. Don't mind him. He's not fit to interact in human society: [1] Lotsofissues 10:12, 16 February 2006 (UTC)
Hey genius: that comment about anarcho-capitalism was 6 months ago. No, I'm pretty obviously not referring to it. I'm referring to how gas metal arc welding has been featured as an article AND as a picture, and now we get another very similar welding article. It's stupid. Do you get it now? Well, no one ever faulted Wikipedia users for being very bright. 24.243.188.42 00:33, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Take it easy, now. Remember to be nice and civil and assume good faith in Wikipedia, please. --PFHLai 18:18, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Do u guys no swhat i dink swould be a gode artical? .... No? swell fine den i swill tell u people.... i sfound dois on a very cretible swebsite:

CHENEY IS CANABAL!! "I have heard dat dick cheney has secretlee aten dat man dat he shot, he swas under de impression dat he swas a quail and quite delicious. He does nought swant u to hear dis, but i have de sfirst hand scoop. I swas talking to smister evil himself and he swas joking around, saying those things like "yeah" and "haha" swhen swe were doing the talking about da man he shooted. Den i askeded him swhat he did swith the man, and he just patted his stomach region and started to swigity laff. so der u hav it. dick swcheney is sone swigity messed up dude. and a cananabel. and swigity evil, and smore evil dan darth vader evil."

Smith, John. United States. Hunting accident. 3rd Cong., 1st sess. HR 77, S. Res. 61. Washington: GPO, 2006.

Noisylax 13:41, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

DYK error

...that Pigeon Post, winner of the first ever Carnegie Medal for children's literature, is the only Swallows and Amazons book that does not feature some sort of sailing adventure?, yet the article itself says This book is one of the few Swallows and Amazons books that does not feature sailing. Sherurcij (talk) (Terrorist Wikiproject) 09:04, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

This item is no longer at DYK on the MainPage. -- PFHLai 17:30, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Abu Ghraib pictures on ITN

"Previously unreleased photographs from Abu Ghraib prison _are said to_ depict homicide, torture, and sexual abuse" No, they undeniably depict that. If you want to imply that they may be false, you should put the "apparent" in there like all the news agencies do. But my opinion is that both that and the original headline are poor attempts at "balancing" an issue that I suspect no one would have thought needed balancing if it hadn't been politically controversial in the US and UK. Vintermann 13:17, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Wanna propose an alternate headline ? Please post it at Wikipedia:In the news section on the Main Page/Candidates. Thanks. -- PFHLai 17:38, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Disappointed in headline text regarding Haitian election

(reposted with alterations from Talk:Haitian_elections,_2006)

Specifically the sentence including "after several thousand blank votes were discounted, giving him the majority needed..."

This insinuates that Preval would not have won if those several thousand had not been discounted. This isn't something wikipedia knows. I'm very disappointed that this error of association made it to the front page.

I suggest this alternative text:

Former president René Préval is declared the winner of the Haitian presidential election after several thousand blank votes were discounted. Mr. Preval had a majority of the vote and therefore a run-off election was not held.

This replacement text adheres to NPOV, is encyclopedic, and only says what we know. Again, suggesting that Preval owes his victory to the discarded ballots is unsourced, improper, and biased. -Kasreyn 18:14, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing this out. And, I thought the protests should be mentioned. A shorter headline is now on ITN. I hope it's not disappointing now. -- PFHLai 18:31, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

DYK Redirect

The link to Ernest Millington redirects to Ernest Rogers Millington, so could an admin change the template to help the poor old servers ? Robmods 19:33, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

new word for the dictionary

upfall

I discovered this while I sat in my literature class. We were talking about coruption of power and its downfall in some places. So, I said what if everything goes good; would that make it an upfall.

Tokelau

Do you really think it's NPOV to say they voted to remain a territory, when 60% actually voted for self-governance, thus making it a majority that voted to NOT be a territory. I think it should be reworded "Tokelau fails to gain a two-thirds majority in their self-determination referendum, with 60% voting for self-governance." --Revolución (talk) 01:02, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

  • OK, I've reworded it.--Pharos 01:33, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

WHERE IS CHENEY's Mess-Up?

I came here looking for the Dick Cheney Story!! Where is it? I didnt expect wikinews to be slow. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 213.158.163.13 (talk • contribs) .

Did you miss Dick Cheney#Hunting incident? hydnjo talk 02:39, 17 February 2006 (UTC)
Difficult though it may be to believe, other things have happened in the world since the breaking of the Dick Cheney story; accordingly, Template:In the news (to which you are presumably referring when you say "Wikinews") has moved on. — Dan | talk 02:41, 17 February 2006 (UTC)
In case you still don't know how to use the search box in Wikipedia: Dick Cheney hunting incident. Enjoy. -- 199.71.174.100 01:25, 19 February 2006 (UTC)
Yeah it's not like you need to cover an ongoing controversy. Remember, Wikinews only had a Hurricane Katrina link up for a day, two at most, after it hit!

It's not that big of news anymore, it's been a while since Cheney shot the man. --Von 09:12, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

Main Page Lack the Subject of Economy

I see that the main page is lack of subject Economy. I suggest that you must put into it..thanks.

che 05:53, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Click on "Society" on the 4th line from the top on the MainPage. There, you'll find a link to Portal:Business and Economics. -- PFHLai 08:20, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Neiborhood

Looks a bit wrong to me. Piet 08:57, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

  • Fixed.--Pharos 08:59, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

In the News

The header about the smoking ban is slightly misleading as it implies it pertains to all of the UK. In fact the newly-announced ban refers to England only as the rest of the UK had already legislated to introduce bans. Demogorgon's Soup-taster 10:23, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

  • I changed it to England and Wales; I think that's correct, right?--Pharos 17:27, 17 February 2006 (UTC)
    • OK, now it's at "England". Some of the news reports were a bit contradictory...--Pharos 17:49, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Orange Free State Flag

I think the Orange Free State flag needs to be moved down to it's article. Skeeter08865 14:46, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

We usually don't move the image at Selected Anniversaries around. What if the image corresponds to the 4th or 5th item ? The image may stick out at the bottom, messing up with the layout of the whole MainPage. So, the image is always at the same spot -- top right of the Selected Anniversaries section. I suspect you are using a small screen and/or displaying text in a large font. The Orange Free State flag is actually immediately above the corresponding text on my screen at home. At work, where I have a slightly wider monitor, the flag is next to the corresponding text. -- PFHLai 18:02, 17 February 2006 (UTC)


So now I'm a grammar Nazi - because I take offence at the above "it's article" which means "it is article" and does not indicate possession, which obviously is what you want to express. A little apostrophe makes that much difference - and it makes me a Nazi. Attention to detail used to be a good dogma - before the English language was adulterated by people who insult others before learning the basics. HPB, 20/02/06

Abu Ghraib - In the news...

Why has the Abu Ghraib story been removed from the In the news section? This is a story that is still unfolding and is of the utmost importance and notability. As of yesterday Salon.com has obtained what they believe to be _all_ of the material. See [2]. Nonplus 16:52, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, other things have happened since the release of these pictures, so newer news headlines have displaced this old news from ITN. If the Abu Ghraib Prison abuse page gets more drastic updates (not just an external link), please draft a new headline for ITN and post it at WP:ITN/Candidates. Thanks. -- PFHLai 17:46, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Featured Pictured

Hi, the subheading is listed twice. --PS2pcGAMER (talk) 00:11, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Fixed now, thanks! --PS2pcGAMER (talk) 01:23, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Hi, the featured picture paragraph should say "because of" not "thanks to." It looks more formal and encyclopedish and doesn't imply action. Dave 02:16, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I changed it to "As explained via." —David Levy 02:21, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Smoking ban

I think a more correct (and grammar Nazi-pleasing) form of words would be: "The British House of Commons votes to enact legislation that will lead to a ban on smoking in public places". Can someone change it please? Thanks! Batmanand 12:13, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Please can you clarify what you meant by the phrase, "grammar Nazi-pleasing" because at the moment, I am unsure of what you want changed. Thanks Yellowmellow45 12:17, 18 February 2006 (UTC)
"Grammar Nazi-pleasing" = something likely to please a grammar Nazi. "Grammar Nazi" = someone who takes strong exception to even relatively minor gramattical errors. Batmanand just wants the phrasing on ITN changed to a more pleasing version, not to one that promotes the Third Reich.--Cherry blossom tree 12:31, 18 February 2006 (UTC)
Sorry if my turn of phrase was not clear... I was not trying to bring up images of hordes of black shirts marching down the ITN street if what I said did not happen. All I meant is that, technically, the House of Commons does not "pass" anything, let alone a ban. All they do it vote whether or not to enact legislation. That was the only change I wanted; sorry if this caused trouble or offence. Batmanand 14:44, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

No, No, don't worry!! I see what you meant! Yep, I agree Yellowmellow45 14:47, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Sorry to moan, but is anything going to happen with regards to my above request? I did make it 8 hours ago... Batmanand

Just did it now .... Sorry to keep you waiting. I like to sleep in on weekends, ya know .... -- PFHLai 20:38, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

AOL blocks of almost 2 hours?

This has nothing to do with Main Page. Moved to the user talk page of the blocking admininstrator concerned. (This talk page is not a forum to complain about other Wikipedians.) -- PFHLai 20:25, 18 February 2006 (UTC)
  • Asking the admin in question why a range block was needed that would wipe out over a third of all AOL users for almost 2 hours, apparently was the justification for the block, so it didn't seem like a good idea to put it there--64.12.116.203 20:56, 18 February 2006 (UTC)
  • Still, this talk page is not a forum to complain about other Wikipedians. The issue has nothing to do with the Main Page. If you need help from other admins, there are other more appropriate pages, such as Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard. -- PFHLai 21:13, 18 February 2006 (UTC)
I'm pretty sure it would just be deleted, by the admin in question--64.12.116.203 21:40, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

DYK The More button on Main article needs fixing

It currently points to the article on Indian history.

My mistake. I have fixed it. Raul654 02:15, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

POTD Photo Credit

Hi, would it be possible to change the photo credit from "Jeff Davidson" to my username "Tokugawapants" to avoid some confusion/complication? I've already changed it on the POTD page but I guess the Main Page is completely locked. Thanks. Tokugawapants 06:58, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Done. (Wikipedia:Today's second feature/February 19, 2006) Raul654 07:11, 19 February 2006 (UTC)


Sea Turtles (clarity)

"There are seven surviving species of sea turtle and all endangered."

I think that sentence is missing something. I suggest the following wording as an alternative:

"There are seven surviving species of sea turtle and they are all endangered."

Rod ESQ 20:25, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia is great, but what if you want to add a little opinion...

You start a blog right...? Yeah, but what if you just want to write about one thing - you don't want the burden of a blog - afterall its a log that should be updated. So, a website, right? But then you are back to the problem of getting it all set-up (and frankly I don't wanna learn).

I was just PMed in a forum with regard to a rather long post I had made by "Bank of Info" (bankof.info). Although I don't approve of unsolicted approaches, this one caught my eye. Might be one to watch.

Uh... what?Borisblue 22:50, 19 February 2006 (UTC)
Yeah Wikipedia might be one to watch. Gonna be big someday, I just know it.  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  06:00, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Shani Davis

With Shani Davis taking home an Olympic gold medal in speed skating, does he become the first black athlete to win an individual gold in the Winter Olympics, or the first African-American athlete to do so? 'Cuz obviously there's quite a difference, since if he's the first African-American to win gold in the Winter Olympics that means that a black person from another country could have done so. ekedolphin 07:40, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

seems to be first black athlete to win gold [3]. BrokenSegue 16:57, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

My name is Harry V. Gina

-- He's the first African-American to win individual gold.

Well, his article says he's the first black athlete. --Elmer Clark 23:50, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Polish "Did You Know" item

The second "Did You Know" item should have the word "the" before "Renaissance", and the last word "poets" should be "poet". (Rewriting as "one of the great Slavic poets" would also be grammatical if that was intended.) Art LaPella 17:09, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

The latter has been fixed, but the former has not. —Cuiviénen (Cuivië) 22:43, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Page Focus

I think the main page should be changed so that when someone loads the page the wiki search bar is already selected and they can just start typing without having to click on it. Most search sights already do this (Google, Answers, Yahoo) and it makes quick searching much easier. Zigbigadoorlue 20:27, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

There has been considerable opposition to this in the past, with one of the major reasons being those who wish to read the main page are prevented from doing so until they remove the focus from the search box. Since Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a search engine, one should not necessarily expect it to be constructed like the latter. Other online encyclopedias, such as Britannica and Encarta, do not. — Knowledge Seeker দ 21:08, 20 February 2006

Canada Women Win Hockey Gold

Come on, lets get the Olympic Current events updated. The Canadian women just secured gold in what was without a doubt the most impressive women's tournament ever! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.65.141.226 (talk • contribs) 22:46, 20 February 2006 (UTC).

Calm down. It's already on Wikipedia:In the news section on the Main Page/Candidates. -- 199.71.174.100 23:39, 20 February 2006 (UTC)
And with a no Canada-USA matchup, it wasn't the most impressive women's tournament ever--Will2k 13:53, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
Please people, consider NPOV, I wanted Sweeden to win. Pkazazes 15:22, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

"Main Page" or "Main page"?

Is "Main Page" (as it is currently written) a title or a heading? If it's the latter, the MoS would favor "Main page"; likewise, Community Portal seems to be unduly capitalized, as it is generally written in lowercase in body text. ProhibitOnions 00:33, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

This has been discussed before. Technically, "Main Page" should be "Main page", but (1) the main page was created years before the manual of styl existed, and (2) it was decided that we shouldn't move it because it'd probably cause a lot of problems, for reasons that could (at best) be called pedantic. Raul654 00:36, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
Okey-dokey, I figured there was a reason like this, but couldn't find the pertinent discussion. Thanks, ProhibitOnions 00:42, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
I avoid the problem by referring to the Mainpage (only for WP's Main page).  ;-) hydnjo talk 02:49, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

David Irving

I realize this is a minor quibble, but should David Irving really be identified as a "historian"? I think "historical revisionist" is more accurate. Stlom 02:10, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

He was considered mainstream historian for quite a long time (before the libel suit made him persona non grata in academic circles) Raul654 02:25, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
I do not think his opponent should be mentioned on the main page. She does not play a major role in the trial. 84.59.70.29 02:41, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
"and is sentenced to three years imprisonment" should have an additional apostrophe and thus become: "and is sentenced to three years' imprisonment.". DavidFarmbrough 08:44, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
Aren't both forms gramatically correct?--Pharos 08:52, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
Stlom, I agree. He was "persona non grata in academic circles" long before the Lipstadt trial. Michael Peterson, for example, wrote popular histories, but he would not now be referred to as "historial Michael Peterson." He would be referred to as "convicted murderer David Peterson." David Hoag 20:32, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
Academics shouldn't be allowed to decide who is a historian and who is not. Someone who writes history books is a historian, whether good one or a bad one. CalJW 01:00, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Clarifying Picture

Could someone add the phrase "(right)" following the mention of David Irving in the In the News section. Considering the names of three people are mentioned in the ITN section, I believe it is appropriate to remove all confusion by adding that simple comment. joturner 03:35, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

Done. Thanks for the suggestion. Canderson7 (talk) 03:48, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

Second Search Box!! What?? Yeah!! Ok!!

Good idea, whoever suggested it, then someone [anyone who uses it] can search for two separate strings at the same time!!! Please implement ASAP!!!! I find it VERY annnoying trying to search for one string, finding no direct matches and sometimes receiving highly irrelevant matches [even as low as 5% relevancy in some cases!!], and then having to go through the effort of entering ANOTHER string in the search box, it would be MUCH MORE EFFICIENT to be able to enter TWO entirely different strings into Wikipedia at the same time!!! [The second search box cloud be placed blow the area titled "Toolbox" ["Toolbox" should have a capital, so should "Navigation", this is an official Encyclopedia, it should be free, as much as is possible, of spelling errors, careless spacing between words, translation errors, etc]I think in Wednesday's Advertiser there should be an article about Wikipedia that confirms whether or not this change has been approved of, it should be written by whoever was going to write the FF7 article or whatever it was in tomorrow's Advertiser, and should be included in the liftout called (I think this is what it's called) "Education and Training", something appropriate like "Finally a Second Search Box" or something like that, I'll check the final edition of tomorrow's paper on Wednesday morning to see what information has been included!!! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 202.6.138.34 (talk • contribs) .

Well aren't you just hilarious -Elmer Clark 08:57, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

DYK

Can some please change the following in DYK: "...was a children's television programme that was telecast for three years on..." to "...was a children's television programme that was broadcast for three years on..." I am not sure the word telecast is still considered Standard English. Batmanand | Talk 10:25, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

I've changed it to 'televised'. I'm trying to avoid people who want to add '-ed' to 'broadcast'. -- PFHLai 21:02, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
Fine. Telecast just sounded weird, that was all. Batmanand | Talk 23:13, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't think Ismail Haniya is the new Palestinian PM (yet)

My understanding is that Ismail Haniya has been chosen by Hamas as their proposed candidate but he would not be prime minister until he is asked to form a government by President Abbas (and possibly needs to confirmed by the parliament?) Even in the Wikipedia article he is listed only as 'expected to become' the next prime minister and edits making him prime minister have been reverted. News articles all suggest that his appointment is 'expected' around now (e.g. 16:00 UTC 21 Feb). -- Blorg 16:14, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

  • You're right, and I've changed it accordingly. In future we should be more careful about these things.--Pharos 16:20, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
    • As I understand it, he was given the mandate to form a goverment by the president. Zocky | picture popups 18:33, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Days of the week

In Mexico they start there week with Monday and end it with Sunday.

We do that in my house too.--Cherry blossom tree 00:03, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

So? What's your point? dposse 00:48, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

2006 Winter Olympics

Can someone take out the Olympic results from the Main Page? It ruins it for people who can't see the Olympics live. --Schzmo 22:41, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

I agree with that. dposse 00:46, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Thirded. Actually, it all appears on the side of Yahoo! etc as well and we can all just not look at it if don't want to so I take that back. Sorry. It is annoying, but mostly just because of internal curiosity. Jellypuzzle | Talk 11:17, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

This was already discussed last week. Please see Template talk:In the news#Olympic news. -- PFHLai 17:39, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

SSSLLLOOOWWW

How come today's featured article takes forever to load??? Pkazz 00:13, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

were you here last night? The entire site was slowed down to the point where i couldn't load a page anymore. It's alot better today. dposse 00:44, 22 February 2006 (UTC)
as a matter of fact I was, but the featured article takes an eternity compaared to the other articles. I think it is just because of the table. Pkazz 00:16, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

WHY IS THE SITE SO SLOW?!?!?!Pkazz 22:06, 22 February 2006 (UTC) please post all further comments in the wikipedia speed section.

URGENT

The Al Askariya Mosque has been heavily damaged in the last few hours! I created the article, it should be under "In the news". This is a BIG DEAL. If page needs to be renamed then do it. Grandmasterka 10:16, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Also, now that it is there, could an admin please move the picture of David Irving down a little? It looks a bit odd as it is at the moment. Batmanand | Talk 15:09, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Did You Know: Elfin-woods Warbler

How do we know that this is the last warbler to be discovered. Shouldn't it be "the most recent New World warbler to be discovered"? Bazza 16:26, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure that these are equivalent statements, with the limiting clause "to be discovered". If I say that "This is the last car to be sold", that doesn't preclude other cars from being unsold. - BanyanTree 17:27, 22 February 2006 (UTC)
I wouldn't say that's a fair comparison - if you're selling your last car then you have none left. It just didn't read right first time, and User:Joelr31 seems to agree in the article, which has been updated. - Bazza 19:13, 22 February 2006 (UTC)
To me it reads that there won't be any more warbler species discovered in the New World, ever. "Most recent" would be better. --Cam 20:37, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Culture link

What has happenedt to the 'culture' link at the top of the main page; it's still there on the portals, with 'society', 'technology' etc. Has it been removed, is it just my browser??

Wikipedia speed?

Why is Wikipedia running so slowly? I don't get it? Is it an actual problem or am I going to have to get used to this? It is maddeningly slow. I thought they fixed their speed problems last week, after the shutdown? 24.226.10.98 18:39, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Segregation

We are school students and we were wondereing if there is anybody out there who will come to our school and talk to us about segregation. We have been reading a story based on the time period of segregation. We live in Billings Missouri so any one around the Springfield area. We will appreciate it! If you can help us send an email to (email deleted to avoid spam). Thank you —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 204.185.24.253 (talk • contribs) .

This has nothing to do with the Main Page, could you please move it to a diffrent location. This talk page is for wikipedia Main Page disscusion ONLY. You could post this on a blog, this encylopedia is not a message board. Thank you for your cooporation.—Preceding unsigned comment added by Pkazazes (talk • contribs)

£25 million!?

This should be written in $ so the whole world can understand.--203.39.81.10 00:55, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Did the whole world switch to dollar currency while I was sleeping? - Trevor MacInnis (Talk | Contribs) 01:38, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
No. But everybody knows American dollars are the most important currancy in the world. And don't give me this "American" aragance crap either. I'm Australian.--203.39.81.10 03:32, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
The amount stolen in dollars was zero. That doesn't make for such a story. -Splashtalk 01:39, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
I don't think so.--203.39.81.10 03:32, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
Wikipedia normally uses local currencies when reporting a story. If you don't know the exchange rate between your own currency and the currency in the story, then use any internet search engine to find "exchange rate".-gadfium 02:34, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
Still should be written in brakets so nobody has to waste time clicking on the stupid link.--203.39.81.10 03:32, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
How many different currencies do we need there ? One is enough. Let's just stick with the local currency. -- PFHLai 03:45, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
Okay, okay, okay. I just thought this was based in Florida.--203.39.81.10 04:19, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
Last I heard, it was based on Earth.  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  05:50, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
Last I heard, Florida was in Earth.--Greasysteve13 06:20, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
Last I heard, Florida wasn't the only place on the planet. Get used to the fact that more than one country exists.
How about "£25 million (€37 million)" - that puts it in local and world currencies. - Bazza 11:12, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
how many times could you have checked out GBP instead of having this discussion? I guess WP is just not for the terminally lazy. dab (ᛏ) 15:01, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

"The preceding unsigned comment was added by..."

Is some sort of robot adding this signature to unsigned comments? Or is it a person with too much time on their hands? I have an account at Wikipedia and I sign 99% of my comments. But when I choose not to, I don't want to find my comment altered with this blurb. Thank you.—Preceding unsigned comment added by JohnOw (talk • contribs)

Whether you sign your comments or not, your user information is logged in the history, thus not signing comments doesn't serve any purpose other than to be slightly annoying to other users who want to know who they're talking to and when the comment was entered.  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  05:48, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
The majority of people who don't sign comments are newbies who don't know that they should or don't know how to, and occasionally an experienced contributor forgets. Adding {{unsigned}} lets them know how to sign if they return to see any answers, and makes it much easier for everyone to communicate. It doesn't compromise anyone's privacy because the author of the original comment can be found in the page history, although on busy pages that may take some searching.-gadfium 06:09, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

"This page is for discussion of the Main Page only."—Preceding unsigned comment added by Greasysteve13 (talk • contribs)

blizzards

can we prevent blizzards?

You would get a much better response if you asked your question over at the Wikipedia:Reference desk/Science!  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  10:07, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
It's still possibly the best question I've ever seen on here though. Jellypuzzle | Talk 14:04, 23 February 2006 (UTC)