Talk:Main Page/Archive 99

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Archive 95 Archive 97 Archive 98 Archive 99 Archive 100 Archive 101 Archive 105


history

you need to have more stuff about the history of the american revolutionary war and about the americans divided cause i am doing report and cant find enough stuff about them —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.12.214.203 (talk) 02:49, 9 May 2007 (UTC).

Should start you off – Gurch 02:52, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
But of course, bear in mind that the Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a research source. I mean, as far as encyclopedias go we're awesome; but a serious history paper should be consulting real sources, not just enyclopedias. Doops | talk 14:44, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Assuming one is near such an establishment, I find that libraries have books in them. They make great sources for assignments and reports. Much better than an unreliable mish-mash of ideas. ;) --Monotonehell 02:29, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
I could not agree more that Wikipedia should not be exploited. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Bywep (talkcontribs) 18:46, 10 May 2007 (UTC).
Why do you think that such use of the wiki counts as exploitation? ffm talk 19:00, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
Bywep probably meant 'mis-used'. --74.14.23.88 19:06, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Dianetics

Is the launch of Dianetics really worthy of a reference in on this day? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Kupos (talkcontribs) 20:28, 9 May 2007 (UTC).

Valid point, "corrupt sinister and dangerous" is the view of Justice Latey on the lot of them. Don't see why we should be promoting their crap. SFC9394 20:42, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Oh, brother. We're not promoting them by putting it on the Main Page any more than we promote Nazism by having Hitler on the Main Page. Find something else on May 9 and suggest it. —Cuiviénen 20:45, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Whether it's a cult or not, it's part of history. Freshacconci 20:49, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Firstly, congrats on failing Godwin's Law! Secondly the negative connotations of the parallel you draw is known by all - the negatives of this bunch of Shysters is, unfortunately not all that well known. SFC9394 20:51, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
It still doesn't mean that it's not a signicant part of history. A group that has thousands of followers (millions? I have no idea), and a real influence on culture (and I'd agree it's a negative influence for the most part), is still worthy of a mention in important historical dates. Freshacconci 20:56, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
1. Godwin's Law usually refers to instances in which online posters compare people (or their actions) with Hitler/Nazis (or their actions). Cuivienen did nothing of the sort.
2. Do you realize that we just had a Scientologist complaining about an "improper" main page item 2 ½ days ago? Why do people believe that the mere mention of a controversial viewpoint constitutes an endorsement thereof? —David Levy 21:06, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
1. Our own article seems to say otherwise, "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one." Not a mention of people or their actions - simply using comparisons (in this case comparing a DYK entry involving the subject) is valid.
2. That's up to them. Just because they have a problem with something doesn't automatically make any concern anyone else has invalid. SFC9394 21:20, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
1. This isn't the usual context in which Godwin's Law is cited. To again quote our article, "it applies to inappropriate, inordinate, or hyperbolic comparisons of other situations (or one's opponent) with Hitler or Nazis." Cuivienen's comparison involved Hitler-related main page items, not Hitler himself.
2. In my opinion, both of you have allowed your personal biases to cloud your perceptions of NPOV main page content. —David Levy 21:41, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
1. "comparison involved Hitler-related main page items, not Hitler himself." The definition of splitting a hair?
2. "In my opinion" Indeed - and we are all entitled to them. SFC9394 21:53, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
1. No. You're attempting to cite Godwin's Law on a technicality. This isn't a game in which the words "Hitler" and "Nazi"—irrespective of context—trigger bells and whistles. It's a claim that a discussion participant has drawn a cheap, ill-advised comparison between Hitler/Nazis and someone/something else (arguably trivializing the Holocaust in the process). Cuivienen did nothing remotely resembling this.
2. I never claimed otherwise. I'm merely expressing my opinion. —David Levy 22:10, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
[outdent] SFC9394, you're of course entitled to you're opinion, but complaining that we mention Scientology on the Main Page isn't going to do anything since our NPOV policy states that we should be taking all events into a historical context, regardless of what religion it's about. If you think that anything uncritical of Scientology should be kept from the Main Page, I suggest you begin a discussion at Wikipedia talk:Neutral point of view, though I can't say you're likely to get much support. ShadowHalo 23:32, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

There can't be many entities that have made a greater contribution to exposing Scientology for what it is than Wikipedia. Ideally everyone should read about Scientology on Wikipedia, so that they will know that they should tell them to get lost if they are ever subjected to a recruitment effort. Wilchett 20:39, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Early season

Why not say exactly how early? Wareq 06:41, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Like now. --74.14.17.68 16:14, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
If you mean by how many weeks, it says on the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season page. -- Chris as I am Chris 17:57, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Is it just me or...

Is it just me or are nearly all of the links on the Main Page red, so that it looks like the article linked isn't there? Yet when I do click on a link, the actual article is still there. A formating mistake or something? 91.125.15.227

For me also--Dcooper 15:31, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
I think everyone is seeing them in this manner. --LuigiManiac 15:32, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
See Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Redlinks that aren't Nil Einne 15:33, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
Your right there I am using Mozilla. Why? AxG ҈ talk 15:33, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)#Redlinks_that_aren.27t --Cadby (talk) 15:35, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
Whoops, didn't realize someone'd already posted the correct link... --Cadby (talk) 15:36, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Shameless Flattery

Just a quick note to say I've really enjoyed the wide selection of featured articles this week, from a medieval pogrom to the red planet, to a Marshal of the Soviet Union to an iconic piece of art. Great stuff and a big thanks to all those involved in working such a diverse array up to featured standard and Raul for selecting them. Lisiate 00:51, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Oh quit your complaini... no wait.. what was that again? ;) Everyone here does a great job, I agree. --Monotonehell 02:33, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
Thank you very much :) Raul654 04:15, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
What no computer games, minor celebrities, singles, or cricketer biographies? Pshaw! :) -- ALoan (Talk) 12:29, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
Be careful not to look at tomorrow's featured article. You might get a heart attack. —Cuiviénen 12:51, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
A pity we didn't have any biology related article this week. Perhaps someone should work on cardiac arrestmyocardial infarction (sorry got wrong article)? It's already been nominated once so probably not that much more work... Nil Einne 15:23, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
Is it a single about a computer game performed by a minor cricket-playing celebrity? I wanna read that article. ShadowHalo 19:39, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
Worse. It's Eurovision Song Contest. —Cuiviénen 20:18, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
Ooh, it's too bad we don't have any Eurovision DYK nominations in the queue. We could've had an all-Eurovision Main Page. howcheng {chat} 03:12, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
Eurovision is on this week, I agree let's have every single item on Main Page relate to it! --Monotonehell 03:36, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

When he was born

He was born 1642 and died 1727. He was born in a manor house and died in London. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 86.145.218.117 (talk) 14:40, 10 May 2007 (UTC).

Um, what the heck are you talking about? If you have a recommendation/info for a specific article, you should post on that article's talk page instead Nil Einne 15:12, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
I think you're talking about Isaac Newton?--User:Rock2e Talk - Contribs 20:35, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

WikiContact

Could we add WikiContact (http://www.wikicontact.org) to the list of sister projects of Wikipedia? It seems relevant and useful. Mrn3 06:00, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

That site is not a sister project of Wikipedia. (Our sister projects) --PS2pcGAMER (talk) 06:02, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
How could it be adopted as a sister project? Mrn3 06:05, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
Things aren't adopted, they are started by the foundation Meta:Proposals for new projects. And to be honest, wikicontacts looks like an identity thiefs best friend (and also useful for people who want to defame and/or piss of people for whatever reason). Raises a whole host of legal and moral issues. Not something I would say that's a good idea for the foundation to support Nil Einne 06:10, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
I see. Thanks for your comments. Wikicontact is revolutionary, but it aims to contain information that is freely available through phonebook sites (whitepages.com, switchboard.com, etc.) anyway - it i just more organized. I can see why the foundation wouldn't be interested in it though. Mrn3 06:19, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
There are many wikis which could be added to the sister projects list, such as Wikitravel, except they need to be operated by the Wikimedia Foundation and they are not. GizzaChat © 08:40, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

Main page featured article today

Is it coincidence that the Eurovision article is up there today at the same time as it happening this weekend, or was this planned? 147.197.215.15 21:14, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

I'm fairly sure it was planned, we try put articles on the main page to an important date that concerns them. Ryan Postlethwaite 21:18, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
See Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests. This is where an editor can request a featured article to appear on a particular date. That's probably how the Eurovision article made it to the Main Page today. Nishkid64 (talk) 21:47, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

Cascading protection backup subpages

The Main Page is currently transcluded on Main Page/1, Main Page/2, Main Page/3, Main Page/4, Main Page/5, Main Page/6, Main Page/7, Main Page/8, Main Page/9, and Main Page/10, to prevent another compromised admin account escapade. However, these subpages are all in article space, which I don't regard as a good thing. Does anyone object to me moving them to the Talk: namespace and then deleting these ten? Also, I don't see the necessity of the Main Page's code actually appearing on them - why not just leave it at {{:Main Page}}? Picaroon (Talk) 20:33, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

Please, go right ahead. The Placebo Effect 21:00, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
Originally, these backups were created in several user subpages and they just had {{:Main Page}}, at least my original version did, [1], then somebody moved them to the main article space.[2] I would prefer they were moved back, at least mine. Zzyzx11 (Talk) 22:43, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
As noted below, if the main page is deleted, anyone attempting to visit it will see (and possibly follow) these links. —David Levy 22:49, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
In the event that the main page is deleted, the links to the ten pages will appear in its place. That's why I duplicated the main page code and edited the accompanying message to advise readers to visit one of the ten backup pages (where they may view the missing content).
I do object to the proposed page moves, as this would mess up the pages' appearance for readers in such a circumstance. There's no real harm in bending the rules and leaving these pages in the main namespace. —David Levy 22:49, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
Alright, I understand why you want to leave the code on the page; I concede that that is a very good reason. But I still don't understand why you think we should leave them in the article space - doing so doesn't help us in any way, does it? Would not either the Wikipedia space (as subpages of Wikipedia:Main Page) or the talk space (as subpages of Talk:Main Page) be better? Picaroon (Talk) 23:13, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
Placing the pages in the main namespace (where the actual main page is located), causes them to retain the correct background color and lack a "< Wikipedia:Main Page" or "< Talk:Main Page" link in the header. (The former would lead to a broken redirect to the deleted main page, while the latter would lead to a page that becomes chaotic when the main page is deleted.)
Of course, if you can cite harm that this setup causes, I certainly will reconsider my stance. —David Levy 23:31, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
Any harm? No, not really - nothing more than inflating the article count (6,803,975) by ten. But note that Wikipedia:Main Page actually isn't a redirect; it is, in fact, a page which serves to explain the main page, and therefore isn't an entirely unreasonable link to have below the header. I figure we could also use a UI trick to hide that if needbe. Picaroon (Talk) 23:47, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
Wikipedia:Main Page is a redirect to Main Page. Perhaps you're thinking of a different page.
Both of the issues that I cited could be addressed via hacks within the MediaWiki namespace (which would work for most users), but given the lack of harm caused by the current setup (considering the fact that the article count's margin of error far exceeds ten), I see no significant advantage that would justify such a change. —David Levy 23:59, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
Oh, so it is. I thought it was the location of a Wikipedia-space page which explains the main page, but I guess I'm confusing it with Wikipedia:Did you know and Template:Did you know. Picaroon (Talk) 00:06, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
If the main page is deleted, how would the 10 links show up? --TeckWiz is now R ParlateContribs@ (Let's go Yankees!) 02:24, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
I'm guessing they'd show up redder than a battle in Macbeth. ~ Magnus animuM Brain Freeze! 02:40, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
I mean if the main page is deleted, how would the 10 links show up on a deleted, blank page? --TeckWiz is now R ParlateContribs@ (Let's go Yankees!) 02:45, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
The main page would remain cascade-protected on those ten pages. As a result, the MediaWiki:Cascadeprotected message (with the ten links appended) would appear for users not logged in as sysops.
For an example, click on any of the red links at Wikipedia:Protected titles/Current month. In place of the gray box and all of the text preceding the link would be this:
InfoDue to internal issues, the main page is temporarily unavailable. Other pages are unaffected, and the main page will return shortly. In the meantime, you may view one of the backups linked below.
David Levy 02:48, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
No, the links would be blue (unless the rogue sysop or account hijacker were to delete those pages too, in which case they wouldn't appear at all). —David Levy 02:48, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
Yeah, that's kind of what I don't understand. Anyone who can delete the Main Page can also delete/unprotect all those other pages and still delete the Main Page long before anyone can stop them – Gurch 04:14, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
There are reasons (which I would prefer not to spill) why I dislike the idea of cascade-protecting the main page, but the above isn't one of them. Deleting or unprotecting those ten pages would consume a nontrivial amount of time (especially if other sysops were to simultaneously counter these acts), after which the end result would be no different than if the pages had never existed (except for the delay in engaging in other illicit tasks before the emergency desysopping). —David Levy 04:37, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
If you think there would somehow be a delay, clearly you have never used a tabbed browser – Gurch 08:23, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
Furthermore, David Levy's notion that that messagebox above would appear if the Main Page was deleted seems to be incorrect – at least for anyone with JavaScript enabled. There seems to be some code at the bottom of MediaWiki:Common.js that puts an image there instead. (Clearly people have also forgotten that anyone who can delete the Main Page can edit MediaWiki pages, too). I maintain that this "problem" (which doesn't even exist) is being addressed in completely the wrong way – Gurch 08:28, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
Based on my understanding of the MediaWiki:Common.js code addition (which I just viewed for the first time), it appears that the protected Commons image will be displayed for users with JavaScript enabled when they directly visit the URL "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page" (which is when the text message will not be displayed), but not when they follow an internal link to the main page (which is when the text message will be displayed).
While I've been trying to make the best of it, I agree that cascade-protecting the main page is a bad idea. In addition to your point about the rogue admin (or hijacker of an admin's account) being able to nullify the various pages, I noted my concern that this setup will merely encourage him/her to do something worse than deleting the main page. I didn't want to put ideas in anyone's head, but given the MediaWiki:Sitenotice incident that occurred roughly eleven minutes later, I might as well just come out and say that I was thinking of goatse-style vandalism to the main page. (It's possible that the sitenotice idea—which was far worse than what I'd envisioned—was inspired by the cascading protection put in place earlier that day.) —David Levy 13:06, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
Well, whatever happened with the sitenotice, it's either been deleted or oversighted because one of the edit summaries is "Reverted edits by Jiang," yet there is no edit by Jiang. --TeckWiz is now R ParlateContribs@ (Let's go Yankees!) 13:49, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
Yes, it appears to have been oversighted. It was very, very ugly vandalism. —David Levy 14:39, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
I've been using tabbed browsers for almost as long as they've been available. I'm playing devil's advocate here, but keep in mind that the setup is designed to prevent users without access to a sysop account from editing the main page after it's deleted by someone with access to a sysop account. Under no circumstance would these pages remain deleted/unprotected for very long (so if the rogue admin or account hijacker wished to enable unrestricted editing of the main page, he/she would have to continually delete/unprotect these pages in addition to the main page itself).
A possible outcome, however, is that such an individual would recognize the lack of reward (seeing random users edit the main page) and decide to do something else instead of deleting it. That's what has me worried. —David Levy 13:06, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
Just for the record, I think this is a genius idea :-) —METS501 (talk) 06:33, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
Has it been tested? Quick, someone delete the Main Page... :-) Carcharoth 14:04, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
Or copy the main page somewhere and then test it. --TeckWiz is now R ParlateContribs@ (Let's go Yankees!) 14:06, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
That wouldn't work (because the setup applies strictly to the title "Main Page"). It would, however, be possible to temporarily insert an additional title (of a page that doesn't exist) and transclude it on a cascade-protected page (without any need to create/delete it). I'll give that a try. —David Levy 14:39, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
Yep, it works. The message appeared on the test page. —David Levy 14:58, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

When did we start taking paid placements for the mainpage FA? ;) --Gmaxwell 05:27, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

Raul's eating good tonight! Look forward to tomorrow's featured article, Time Life's Classic Soft Rock Collection! Ral315 » 07:55, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
God no. I had to sit in a waiting room and watch that. And yet I think that very creepy commercial was more painful. ShadowHalo 08:05, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
I have to admit I had the same impression! A FA for a currently existing and very marketable product. Frown. --Ouro (blah blah) 08:35, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
Switching to serious mode, in the future lets make an effort to feature classes of products or underlying mechanisms instead of specific products. Both are more encyclopedic, more guaranteed to be of long term interest, and lack the obvious impression of payoff. Perhaps we should write down a rule against putting stuff like this on the main page? ..er .. or at least making sure we get paid darn well for it? ;) oh wait, I'm supposted to be serious here. --Gmaxwell 09:10, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
I remember when Maraba Coffee was featured, on the same day someone asked on this very talk page where to send payment to get a product featured like this (couldn't find the discussion in the archive right now, sorry). Gmaxwell has a point that there should be a rule on this, perhaps. --Ouro (blah blah) 09:59, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
Talk:Main Page/Archive 87#Wikivertisement ;) timrem 05:00, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
The Maraba Coffee complaint was IMHO a bit silly because it was kind of obvious there was no way in hell they could afford advertising of the sort. This one is IMHO a bit silly because the article reveals the subject is a load of crock, so why would they want to advertise in that way? Another issue is whether this is really worse then some of the pop culture articles we have. Nil Einne 10:38, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
If the product is "a load of crock" then the article should be about the controversy, not the product... Carcharoth 12:11, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
The article is about the product. That includes the claims by the company, the complaints of critics, the customer reaction, etc. There is no reason to re-target it to be about only the controversy. The Ford Pinto is notorious for safety questions, but our article is still on the car, not the safety controversy. Johntex\talk 19:11, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
Exactly. The article is about the product. But the article reveals the product is a load of crock. So why would anyone want to advertise their product in this way? My point is that it's fairly obvious that this is not an advertisement. The point about concentrating on classes of products of underlying mechanisms is an interesting one (but a completely different issue). I mentioned 2 or 3 days back it's a pity there was no biology related articles. This one is perhaps one but it isn't what I was thinking about. I agree in theory it would be better. But in the end, if someone has written an article good enough to be featured, I don't personally see any reason why we shouldn't have it as TFA. Of course, we should try to avoid having them too often but this also applies to other stuff. As I've already mentioned, a lot of the pop culture stuff we have comes far closer to being an 'advertisement' IMHO. Ultimately, it comes down to the existing systematic bias in wikipedia. Raul should and does try to balance things out but as long as there is such strong systematic bias, it will show on the main page. As I've mentioned before, I for one thing the lack of African, Chinese etc featured articles is IMHO a far bigger issue then the fact we occasionally have an article on some bizzare test or some pokemon character or one of the final fantasy games... Nil Einne 20:51, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

I agree with Gmaxwell's point that general classes of products should be covered instead of specific products. This article is an example of a specific subset of products that could be covered at pregnancy test - though that currently covers the initial test for pregnancy, rather than the gender test, though obstetric ultrasonography and amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling could all be included with Baby Gender Mentor in an overview article on tests for gender - I'm going to put them all in a "pregnancy tests" category in any case). Historical products (no longer on sale), like the Ford Model T, would be OK, but featuring products currently on the market will leave us open to accusations of advertising. Carcharoth 11:43, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

If you want to go for an FA on a bigger topic, go right ahead, but that has nothing to do with whether a smaller, more focused article should also be written and improved to FA standards. Johntex\talk 19:13, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
"The volunteer secretary at my first church used to receive a lot of complaints about things; the bulletin print was too small, too large, too fancy, too plain, the church newsletter came on Tuesday and was thrown out because Tuesday is 'junk mail day' and it was overlooked, the new letterhead was too white, too ivory, too expensive. Then, one day, I heard her tell a member: 'Please feel free to tell me everything you don't like about things. Do, however, be prepared for the fact that doing so will make it your job; if you don't like the way I do it, you can do it. Now, what was it that was the problem?'" -- User:Raul654/Raul's laws Raul654 19:21, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
So you're saying I can choose the TFA's now!  ;-P ShadowHalo 19:30, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

I remember when Maraba Coffee was featured, a person was asking for directions to buy the product on the talk page! If the FA were found to be a good place for publicity, companies could make some effort to improve their articles to FA status. This might be against Wikipedia's no-ad policy: since companies have power on the quality of their articles, the selection cannot be altogether fair. Of course, this can be seen as sort of romantic since it doesn't involve money: one can picture the SME underdog getting worldwide adversiment, beating the international company...But things are never like this.--cloviz 14:20, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

  • There is a difference between copyrightable works, like books, movies, even video games, on one hand, and marketable products like this one on the other. There is also a difference between products which have generated public commentary, were involved in controversies, etc. and products which are just available in the market. In this instance, most of the commentary and controversy seems to be about the class of products, not about this particular product. Zocky | picture popups 15:18, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
  • I agree with Zocky. I think the difference here is between copyright and trademarks. Here, the title of the article is a trademarked name, which is dodgy enough in itself for Wikpedia to use (borderline, but still questionable). Viagra could be another example. The Hoover Company is an example of a trademark that is now considered a word in the English language (just to complicate matters). But I think a good rule of thumb would be: if the article is about a trademarked product that is currently on the market, be careful to avoid accusations of advertising. Carcharoth 16:19, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
  • Um so is Final Fantasy, and many, many other pop culture references (most Pokeomon character names are I presume trademarked). While there is a difference, it isn't IMHO as big as people seem to think. One of the reasons is that copyrighted works, especially pop culture ones are predominantly only prominent for a short space of time and at that stage, we usually can't write FAs about them. But for example, are you telling me that having a FA about Spiderman 3 on the day the movie was released (or even over a week or two after it's released) is somehow going to be seen less as advertising then this controversial product? Heck if we featured Spiderman 3 on the day it was released I have little doubt it would have garned far more controversy about advertising. The simple fact is that copyrighted works are marketed and featuring them can be seen as advertising especially in certain contexts. Also, I would have to disagree that the controversy and commentry is about the class of products. There is no class of products similar to this. Or rather, there are products out there similar to this one which make dubious claims without providing any evidence for their claims. Many of the comments/controversy applies to some extent to these sort of products. Gender testing is also somewhat controversial and the commentry surrounding this product in regards to that obviously applies to gender testing in general. However from what I've read, this specific product is unique and isn't a class of products. Nil Einne 21:08, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
I, too, despise the idea of using any Wikipedia page for advertising or product promotion. However, this article is about a very controversial product and carefully details the way the product was promoted, sold and then, apparently, withdrawn. The pseudo-scientific nature of the promotion, the gullibility of the public, scientists, and the media, and the inability or unwillingness of the FDA or the medical profession to regulate what seems to be very misleading claims are all enormously important issues that are clearly evident here. This article is a veritable catalog of quackery in action and should be very useful to those who want to learn how science is abused by fast-buck artists to scam a hopeful public. And, now that product appears not to be available, it certainly cannot be construed as promotional to discuss it! Ben 17:55, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
I strongly agree that Wikipedia has a problem with "Feature Ads" - what surprises me is that this article has received more objections of commercialism than some of the previous cases. The real objection here is simply that it wasn't nearly ready for feature status - it said the way the test worked was "proprietary" based on a reference that didn't use the term, despite there being enough information on the company Web page to tell me how to do the test myself. The article did not make it clear why the product would be preferred to ultrasound. I just rewrote the lead... But where advertising is concerned, it certainly contained some sour notes about lawsuits and inaccuracy, which made me feel like it was not the worst case I've seen. There have been many video game and music Feature Ads that did not allow for even a note of criticism - any such efforts being delegated to a Commentary and criticism of Silly Game XVI page, or declaimed altogether as a "biased point of view" opposed to the "neutral point of view" of the game designers. (I don't believe for a minute that Feature Ads for copyrighted products that are put up on the Main Page the week they're to be launched are anything but pure advertising, and I do believe someone is getting paid for it.)
I remember when I was looking at the vote to delist the Dred Scott v. Sanford article as a feature article - one of the two people who voted it off the list proudly claims a Feature Ad and two Good Articles about songs by a single music producer. While I do support the idea of disqualifying individual modern commercial products for featured articles, what I find most disturbing is when people who appear to have a commercial motivation are then disqualifying academic content. From what I've seen of it there are many articles put up for feature review that are immensely worthy of being listed, which become bogged down in ridiculous technical minutiae. I feel as if an article must be commercial to truly be worthy of featured status - how can an article about a city or a technology ever truly be comprehensive, or stable? Only a manufacturer talking about his product a week before its release to the public can guarantee that every possible detail is discussed, and that no change is possible.
The impact of this goes beyond single articles, though. As we see with the AACS encryption key controversy, an unaccountable group without support from the Wikimedia Foundation can use the spam filter to censor content, delete revisions from the history, all to maintain a "legal" position that seems rather at odds with what many media outlets believe. The question is - given Wikipedia's obvious commercial value, and the huge advantage in time commitment that can be made by paid rather than amateur editors, is there any way to prevent the entire operation of the encyclopedia, policy and content, from being infiltrated and taken over by purely commercial interests? Mike Serfas 18:09, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
Your reference of adding the key related to the AACS encryption key controversy to the spam filter entirely misrepresents the reason why this was done. The key was was being spammed across huge numbers of random articles that had no relation to the number at all, and there were a number of posts (at Digg predominantly) encouraging this to be done. Thus adding the key to the spam filter was entirely appropriate. It is not censorship to prevent vandalism. The idea that this indicates that Wikipedia is "being infiltrated and taken over by purely commercial interests" is entirely without foundation. The Wikimedia Foundation is a non-profit organisation lest you had overlooked that fact. Will (aka Wimt) 19:21, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
  • This article is clearly not a paid product placement. It goes into great length to explain the controversies around this product. I think (as the primary author) that it is very balanced in this regard. If you have specific objections to the neutrality of this specific article, please raise them.
If the concern is a more general concern that no commercial work, should have an article, then you will have a lot of deletion to do. Please see Wii or Ford Mustang or Mona Lisa. All of these are products that someone produced in order to make a buck. They are all worthy of an article here in the world's most comprehensive encyclopedia.
Any article that is worthy for inclusion is worthy of FA status if it is well enough written to meet the criteria.
In short, articles on commerical products are completley appropriate for Wikipedia. If they are neutral and well-written then they are completely appropriate for FA status. Johntex\talk 18:33, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
This is all really silly. The article goes into a ton of detail about the controversy with false results and not giving warrantees. I really wouldn't care if the company itself had produced the article. If the company is able to create such a comprehensive, neutral article, then why not feature it on the Main Page? One of FAC's biggest strengths is weeding out any and all POV, and this would not have been featured were it inappropriately POV. ShadowHalo 18:43, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
I found the link! This discussion just reminded me of this proposal. ShadowHalo 19:34, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
Thank you Zzyzx and Johntex. I was just about to comment on how long the discussion above went on before someone noted that basically everything under Wikipedia:Featured articles#Computers and video games, which perhaps have more of an emotional resonance for the average editor, is a marketable product with a trademarked name. It has long been stated that any article has the potential to become featured. If we open up to selecting the "deserving" FAs, there's bunch of fictional character and pop starlet FAs that I wish to take off the list. - BanyanTree 20:54, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

I feel I've been attacked on my talk page by the WP:OWNer of the article because of my post on this subject. I'm not feeling up to responding any further, so if someone else would like to continue to discussion on my behalf, please be my guest. --Gmaxwell 20:33, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

I have replied to this unfounded allegation at Gmaxwell's talk page. I am not violating WP:OWN. I contacted Gmaxwell asking him if he had any specific ideas for making the article better. I consider his statement here ironic because it is Gmaxwell that is violating WP:NPA by insinuating that I am in some way violating WP:OWN. Johntex\talk 20:56, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

This thread is long enough that I won't copy and paste in all of what I wrote here on Gmaxwell's talk page, but those following this thread might want to read it and copy out bits and comment. While writing that, I managed to identify what was really bugging me about this article, namely that it seems to me to be a prime example of recentism.

"Recentism is the tendency by Wikipedians to edit articles without regard to long-term historical perspective, or to create new articles which inflate the importance and effect of an issue that has received recent media attention. Established articles become skewed towards documenting controversy as it happens..."

It is particularly difficult, in my opinion, to judge the long-term notability of a current product. It's a difficult problem, and maybe the only thing to do is come back in 5 years time and see what the verdict of history has been on this product. Carcharoth 21:44, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

  • I think "recentivism" is not a big problem. I am happy to see articles on James I of England. I am happy for us to improve that article and have it featured on the Main Page.
However, I am also happy we have articles on topics that are of more relevance to today's readers. I am happy for us to seek perspective in our writing and to make sure an article is stable before it gets featured. However, I bet more people come to Wikipedia for info on Wii than come here to look for info on James I of England. Probably by 1,000 times.
The Baby Gender Mentor article is sufficiently stable to meet the FA criteria and sufficiently well written to be FA and to make the front page. It will be useful, interesting reading to some readers, and completely useless to others - just like our article on James I of England.
Fifty years from now, most of the other information about Baby Gender Mentor will have been lost to time. I hope our article still exists so that anyone wanting to research the state of pregnancy-testing in the early 21st century will have this article to study. Johntex\talk 21:51, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
Right. Let's keep all the discussion here, and leave Gmaxwell's talk page alone. I'm copying my response from there to here:
About people in the future using this article to "research the state of pregnancy-testing in the early 21st century" - it is tempting to think of Wikipedia being used that way, but I certainly hope it won't be used to 'save' information that ends up lost to posterity. Just as Wikipedia should not be used as a primary reference now, it shouldn't be used that way in the future. If the sources are lost in 10 years time, then no-one will be able to verify the article in 10 years time, if you get my meaning? Wikipedia should not be used to preserve information. Information should be preserved elsewhere, and Wikipedia can then continue to reference that information. Carcharoth 22:21, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
Wikipedia does not require all our sources to be online or even from books still in print. Once all the other web pages are taken down and all the magazines trashed or recycled, and all the source books out of print - it will still be appropriate for our article to remain. The fact that the article went trhough the rigorous FA process should give future readers comfort that the article is at least mostly correct. They can apply their own "grain of salt" as they desire. Johntex\talk 15:20, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
And a new comment - I noticed that the Main Page picture has changed from one of a smiling pregnant woman to a diagram to do with the Y chromosome. That change made me realise how the incongruity of a smiling pregnant woman 'illustrating' a trademarked product had screamed "advert" at me. Maybe it was just the picture all along! Carcharoth 22:21, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
In that case, the image was not originally the smiley pregnant woman. It was originally the product itself, and I think the request used the packaging. But in a typical, six-hours-before-it's-on-the-Main-Page change, the image was changed to the smiley pregnant woman since copyrighted images make teh babeez cry. ShadowHalo 22:58, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
Hmm. Can you find the discussion and editor who did that? I'd like to point this out to them for uture reference. Smiley, public relations-style photos really aren't suitable for making dodgy pregnancy test products look nice. Carcharoth 23:06, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
[3] As you can tell from the edit summary, it was a last-ditch attempt to make sure that a copyrighted image wasn't used and not any sort of advertising. ShadowHalo 23:24, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
Copyrighted images are fine, provided that they're available for publication under one or more free licenses. —David Levy 13:52, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
You think that replacing a brightly-colored (including a yellow background!), manufacturer-supplied promotional image with a PD photograph of a pregnant woman made the section look more like an advertisement? To me, this screamed "advertisement!". It was created specifically to advertise the product.
Regardless, the original image was non-free and easily replaceable with a free photograph of the product removed from its packaging. Because no one supplied one, I used the best thing that I could think of on short notice. Others, of course, were welcome to find alternative replacements, but this didn't occur until late in the day. I don't know what gave you the idea that I wanted to make the product "look nice." —David Levy 13:52, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
Remember that most people weren't aware that the smiley pregnant woman replaced an earlier photo. It is not a question of whether one is more like an advertisement than the other, but what the initial impression is of readers faced with a smiling pregnant woman next to the product brandname "Baby Gender Mentor". Those readers who didn't read the blurb or the article would have been left with a positive impression of the brandname. That, to me, is the definition of advertising. I am not blaming anyone for this (you quite rightly replaced the non-free image), but I am just pointing out what I think the effect of the picture you replaced it with was. And nothing gave me the idea that you wanted to make the product look nice. I'm pointing out that this was a side-effect of your action that was focused on finding a free image, and I fully accept that this side-effect was unintentional. I know that using free images restricts choices (though you rightly point out that photographing the product out of its packaging was the obvious answer), but in this case I think a close-up of a pregnant woman's abdomen, or even a non-smiling pregnant woman, would have been a better choice. Do you get what I'm saying? Smiling woman = nice; creates a positive impression with readers. We should strive to have neutral imagery on the Main Page. You corrected the non-free image problem, but failed (along with everyone else) to spot the problem with a smiley pregnant woman picture. For the record, the three images are:
That's funny. The pregnant woman's smile is not quite as I rememebred it! More Mona Lisa than Cheshire cat! Still, I remain convinced that the use of that image led to my initial "that looks like an advert" impression yesterday. Carcharoth 14:30, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
As I said, I used the best image that I was able to come up with. (It isn't as though I considered and rejected the Y chromosome diagram that Johntex eventually inserted.) Anyone else (including you) could have suggested a better image if he/she had found one.
As for using a different photograph of a non-smiling pregnant woman, I suppose that we could have gone with this one, but I suspect that such a decision would have generated more complaints than we received about the "advertisement." —David Levy 14:49, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
The image should never have changed from the original product packaging. The article is about the product. It is not about whether it makes pregnant women smile. It is not about the Y Chromosome. We should use the most relevant image available, in this case, that would have been the product photo. And before anyone claims that non-free images are not allowed on the Main Page I will point out that such an assertion would be in error. There was an attempt to change policy to out-law such images, but it failed to reach consensus. That is a good thing. If a non-free image is hte most representative and informative, and if it is legally usable, then we should be using it. Johntex\talk 15:20, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
I agree that non-free images should appear on the main page when no suitable free alternative could exist (such as when the featured article is about a copyrighted cartoon character). This was not such an instance. It was entirely possible to acquire the product, remove it from its packaging, photograph it, and release the image under a free license. The fact that no one did this doesn't make it okay for us to stick a replaceable fair-use image on the main page. Otherwise, why would anyone ever bother to create free alternatives?
Ignoring the recent efforts to remove all FU content from the main page (which I oppose), there has never been consensus for the inclusion of non-free images for which suitable free alternatives could exist. That we happen to lack such an image is irrelevant. All that matters is whether we realistically could possess one. If it's feasible for someone to create a free image of a product, placing a non-free image of the product on the main page is unacceptable. —David Levy 15:51, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
In that case, we are almost in agreement. The only thing is the product appears to have been discontinued. According to the article, the "exclusive reseller" stopped selling the product. We cite a blog as saying the product has been pulled. The company's website still has a place to attempt to buy the product, but I have tried twice and both times been told the product was "out of stock". Therefore, the preponderance of the evidence is that the product is no longer available, which means no free photo of the product could be taken. Johntex\talk 16:42, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
I wasn't aware that such an attempt was made. That is highly relevant, and you should have mentioned this in the fair use rationale (which I read before removing the image).
Of course, someone else would have done this anyway. —David Levy 17:20, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
Good idea, I have now added that information to the fair use rationale. Thanks, Johntex\talk 23:59, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

Today's FA is a disgrace. The fact of the matter is that anyone who views Wikipedia today is given the impression that a principle component of the front page is advertising space! The content of the actual article is irrelevant, as few viewers of the front page actually visit it; the wording of the FA section on the front page reads like an advertisement and so that is what unaccustomed viewers will conclude it is. Comparing it to the Mona Lisa or the Ford Model T is not valid arguments at all, the Wii is a valid comparison but that too should not have been placed on the front page for it also seemed like an advertisement. It should be pretty obvious any intelligent person what sort of article would be perceived as an advertisement and this one (unlike the Mona Lisa and the Model T) does. The fact that it got on the front page shows that the front page FA selection process is flawed. Canderra 23:51, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

Much of the purpose of having a featured article on the Main Page is to encourage users to raise the quality of articles to high standards. Telling them that a large class of articles will never appear on the Main Page somewhat defeats the purpose. Regardless, the article is off the Main Page now. If you want to propose that we not include products as the TFA, you're welcome to do so at the village pump, but this wouldn't be the first proposal of the sort. ShadowHalo 00:09, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
The wording on the Main Page included this: "Customers and scientists question the accuracy of the test; and legal action is being pursued against Acu-Gen as well as a major supplier of the test. Concerns have also been raised by bioethicists that use of the test could lead to practices such as gender selection and Acu-Gen has allegedly used the test to illegally offer medical diagnoses." How is that an advertisement again? Johntex\talk 15:20, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
Tobacco ads in most countries have big warnings on the bottom stating "Will cause death" etc., they are still ads. The majority of the text read like an ad. It was a disgraceful addition to the front-page which does not show Wikipedia in a good light at all. I just hope for Wikiepdia's sake such lack of intuition is not repeated. Canderra 20:30, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Scholarships

I require a scholarship so that my Wikipedia improvement may be effectively doubled Perturbed Pete 08:34, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

:( hey, I want a scholarship too! The Wikimedia Foundation had better be writing some checks right now... GracenotesT § 13:46, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
I still think we should be paid by the edit. I could make a fortune that way – Gurch 06:58, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
yeah me too. --Oh so andrea 12:48, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Editability

I cannot seem to edit the references for the article on scurvy. Has something been done to it? I was going to remove two links that look like they are part of a search engine optimization scheme.

Do you have an account? Chef Clover 14:19, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

I can see no indication in the log that it would have been protected recently so it should be editable by anyone. Maybe you encountered one of the temporary lockings of the database. Jeltz talk 16:38, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

Are you trying to edit the References section directly? Due to the formatting style Wikipedia uses, that will not work. You have to seek out the references as they appear within the text of the article. —Cuiviénen 17:26, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
If this is the case, you may want to read Wikipedia:Footnotes for how references work. - BanyanTree 05:27, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Plurality?

I've never heard the word "plurality" used in the UK. In fact, I suspect many British people wouldn't know its meaning (certainly not out of context). I understood this was the US term for a majority that is not absolute. But in the UK, we call this simply a majority, while an absolute majority is called an "overall majority" or something similar. As the English Wikipedia isn't supposed to be a specifically US Engish site, is it appropriate to use "plurality" when discussing UK-related topics? (see WP:ENGVAR) JRawle (Talk) 14:15, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

Really? I am skeptical of this notion of "a majority that is not absolute" — sounds like an oxymoron to me. But whatever. It would be fine for the blurb to say "the most seats" or something like that; but it definitely should not say "majority"; that would be directly misleading for many readers. Doops | talk 15:27, 6 May 2007 (UTC)
Plurality is neither an American nor a British term. It's a neutral term, though one used somewhat rarely. People not understanding the word, which is not really a hard one, is no reason not to include it on the Main Page. "The most seats" is an awkward and unnecessary construction. —Cuiviénen 16:11, 6 May 2007 (UTC)
Just use overall majority. Anyway it sounds better. Wiki.user 17:49, 6 May 2007 (UTC)
Um, except the SNP DOESN'T have a majority. Doops | talk 18:09, 6 May 2007 (UTC)
Pls see Plurality and Majority. Maybe a link to these pages should be placed on ITN whenever these terms are used (hopefully, correctly). --74.14.16.14 02:08, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
I never knew what it meant until the Dutch elections some time ago. I have lived for the majority of my life in Britain and never ever saw the word. So for those of you who said I didn't have a good education in Europe, well heres more proof that the political jargon can be a little unknown. Happy VE DAY!!!Tourskin 03:41, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
Let me give the helpful definition here:

20 bananas, 10 apples, 10 oranges, 10 berries, 10 strawberries.

As you can see, the bananas have the largest group, but do not constitue over 50% of the fruit there. Therefore, a plurality of the fruit are bananas (the largest group where there is no clear majority). Tourskin 05:36, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

On reflection I now see no reason why this word causes so much trouble, there are plenty of other words that seem confusing.Tourskin 06:33, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
It causes trouble because not many people in the UK have come across it, as mentioned above. I cannot recall ever coming across it in UK media coverage of elections either here or elsewhere. The term "majority" seems to be the nearest commonly used equivalent, qualified by "absolute" when needed. Bazza 12:25, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Looking up 'plurality' in my OED gives: 3. (US) A majority that is not absolute. Whereas 'majority' is: 1. the greater number or part of a group etc. It's a purely American term and should not be used. You can only use 'majority' in the American sense over here when there are two parties involved. --84.67.250.92 16:53, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Who said it was American? I got quite a hammering from some users in previous discussions who thought they were high and mighty for knowing a political word that a European like me didn't.Tourskin 00:59, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
The reason you've never seen it used before is that parties rarely win pluralities in UK elections, and hardly ever form coalition governments. They usually win majorities (that is, absolute majorities), and when they win a plurality they usually form a minority government very quickly. However, the new voting systems in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales have led to coalition governments becoming the norm; it was only inevitable that the introduction of the word 'plurality' should follow. In addition, Doops is right to say that eferring to the SNP's win as a 'majority' is a nonsensical idea, since they got less than 50% of the seats; they got a minority just like everyone else. If plurality is too confusing for readers, either add a hyperlink (that's what hyperlinks are there for!) or say something longer like "the SNP wins the most seats but does not win an overall majority". Polocrunch
I supppose you are reffering to the administrators who write the main page - I already asked for simpler yet longer wording yet they refused on the basis that it would have been difficult to understand. Ironic. Tourskin 16:50, 12 May 2007 (UTC)


Who said the alternative is difficult to understand? From what I can tell, the only person to comment on your proposal is Cuivenen who said it's an awkward and unnecessary sentence construction (which it is) but didn't say it's more difficult to understand. Nil Einne 13:40, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
I have no objection to this use. The last time I raised this issue I got a hell of a response from numerous users boasting their superior intellect. I can't remember exactly who told me. I got the impression that most agreed it was not appropriate to replace plurality. If something is awkward and unnecessary its usually difficult to understand in terms of getting the message across on wikipedia - imagine saying "retain" pluarity" and then to make it understanding without pluraity used you have to say something like "remain the largest non-majority party". Tourskin 00:26, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
As already stated above, in England pluarities are rare due to some extent to the nature of the "First past the post" system which means that there are fewer parties so more likely that one party gets more of the seats. Its more common in many other European countries which have proportional representation, in which its unlikely that a party, unless its very popular, will recieve over 50% of the vote needed to constitute a majority Tourskin 00:29, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Errors in On this day...

Today's page has a note mentioning the Palestinians' so-called "Nakhba Day". The term is highly charged and POV. There is overwhelming evidence that the the Palestinians' disaster was entirely self-inflicted. If Wikipedia can demand a "neutral" euphamism like "militant" for "terrorist" a fully defined dictionary term, certainly a more neutral euphamism could be used for "Nakhba Day". "Exile Day" perhaps.Scott Adler 11:34, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

In this case, it would be inappropriate to call the day anything else because Palestinians are commerating Nakbha Day, not Exile Day. Note that if Bush calls someone a terrorist, we don't say Bush calls that person a militant, we say Bush call's him/her a terrorist. Besides that it's likely, most people won't know what Nakhba means so calling it Nakhba Day doesn't actually make much difference. Most people will click on the day where they will get the info. (N.B. It doesn't actually matter who's fault it was. Palestinians obviously don't believe they were completely at fault, they believe the invaders should share some of the blame but even if they are completely wrong as you allege, it's still a catastrophe unless you're trying to say the lives of 700 thousand Palestinians doesn't matter) Nil Einne 11:48, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Also, this belongs in WP:ERRORS, the section on the top of this page. ffm talk 11:39, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

May 18

Just a heads up: May 18 is the 80th anniversary of the Bath School disaster. I think it would look utterly foolish to omit that from the main page. 67.149.103.119 02:01, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

I would say that the other topics from May 18's OTD are a lot more important than a tragic but still in the larger scheme of things irrelevant event. —Cuiviénen 02:11, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
I wouldn't say irrelevant - the deadliest mass murder in the history of the United States (which sees two school shootings a year on average) would definitely make the grade on most other days. I do agree though that it shouldn't displace any of the ones currently on there. GeeJo (t)(c) • 06:30, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
Don't you mean deadliest mass murder in a school? There are several largely undisputed mass murders which are deadlier in US history as well as several other events which some would argue qualify Nil Einne 06:47, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
utterly foolish? Oh, please... --74.14.19.160 12:29, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
I believe we have to omit massacres and mass murders every day: they are sadly common through human history.--cloviz 16:30, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
It will be on the front page of the U.S. Portal (and see here), if that's any consolation. — Zaui (talk) 16:42, 17 May 2007 (UTC)


Yay! (ITN)

Yay, there is finally some Pacific news in ITN. Well done. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 130.195.86.38 (talkcontribs) 03:05, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

To get more Pacific news in ITN, pls get related articles updated and suggest important news at WP:ITN/C. --74.14.20.219 15:17, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
Also, please contribute to the news column at Portal:Oceania.-gadfium 20:12, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Date and time

I suggest use {{UTC}} in the top of the page, that produces:


or better [[{{CURRENTYEAR}}-{{CURRENTMONTH}}-{{CURRENTDAY2}}]] T {{CURRENTTIME}}<small> [[w:UTC|UTC]]</small>, that produces:

2024-03-28 T 11:56 UTC —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Nopetro (talkcontribs) 08:38, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Possibly because most of the world would find the abbreviated version confusing as 2007-05-17 means nothing to a European, whereas 17/5/7 is 'normal' to us. The current version is clear across all boundaries. --Hydeblake 12:40, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

I've never seen the date as that (17/5/7) anywhere in Europe, where do you live? The European common date format is DD/MM/YYYY or DD/MM/YY (17/05/2007 or 17/05/07). -- Chris as I am Chris 12:46, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Britain! Where it is either 17/5/7 or 17/05/07 My point is that either these formats, or the US format, are open to confusion, whereas the current standard used by Wiki of writing it out in full is NOT open to confusion--Hydeblake 16:06, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Dunno personally I have no problem with YY/MM/DD or DD/MM/YY (or YYYY for either). What I don't understand is funny systems like YY/DD/MM or MM/DD/YY (or four digit year for either). Nil Einne 16:09, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
17/5/7 isn't a common date format in Britain or in fact anywhere in the world, see Calendar date, as it could be mixed up with the American date format as the year 2017. -- Chris as I am Chris 17:27, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Sorry Chris, it IS common, it just isn't a recognized official standard. If you ask people to write down a date they will not put 05, they will put 5. Anyway, regardless of that, what I said still stands: writing May 1 2007 is much better than any of: 01/05/07, 2007/01/05, 2007/05/01 or any other possible permutation! --hydeblake 19:21, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

I'd agree the best way is to spell out the month name, removes any ambiguity. Example: 2/3/87 (my birthdate and the source of my username) means February 3rd, 1987 to me. It could, though, easily be mistaken for March 2nd, 1987. February 3rd, though, means the same date to anyone.--Fyre2387 (talkcontribs) 20:19, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
I'm British and also quite familiar with European and US customs concerning dates (though I'm no expert) and I have never in my life seen anyone put just the last digit (i.e. "7") for a year - "'07", "07" and "2007" are much more common - as far as I've seen. ...but anymahoozles, I agree that including the actual month and the date of the month avoids any such conclusion. I'm going to ask some people tomorrow (or today actually - I'm staying up late) to see if they do - could be interesting. Benedictwest 23:20, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
I completely concur with the above point, I am a Brit, and I have never seen a single digit year used either. 213.48.15.234 09:24, 18 May 2007 (UTC)


YYYY-MM-DD is the ISO 8601 date standard, which is expected to be understood by most anyone, or at least figure-out-able. But since this is the English Wikipedia, using the English month names makes the most sense. howcheng {chat} 03:41, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

What's wrong with "Friday May 18, 2007" anyway? --Howard the Duck 12:42, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

I prefer "Friday 18 May 2007"! Which is why Wikipedia encourages use of its date formatting features. Bazza 13:06, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
I think it depends on your "My Preferences", for me, I see the <Month> <Day> convention. I guess it won't work when the date is not generated by magic words. --Howard the Duck 14:32, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Query - is the MM/DD version used outside the US and it's pseudo-colonies?

Why doesnt the top of the page just coordinate to your own time preferences? Ferdia O'Brien The Archiver And The Vandal Watchman (Talk) 16:24, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Most newbies don't know how to set their preferences. Or when not to use "[[w:". --74.14.20.219 16:36, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

well im a total newbie, so help me! thorbabe

type {{helpme}} on user talk:thorbabe and click on 'save page'. someone will come to your assistance. --76.64.76.249 20:52, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

More bias

Uncle Tom's Cabin? Shinozaki Mamoru? A picture of Lincoln? Clearly more evidence of Wikipedia's anti-slavery agenda... Raul654 03:31, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

Hehe. If there was a barnstar for "Congratulations, you made me laugh my head off" you would receive it at this point. DoomsDay349 03:43, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
Try Image:Comedy gold.png. violet/riga (t) 10:42, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
(EC) I just had to spend the last five minutes cleaning chocolate milk off my monitor, keyboard, and phone after an unfortunately-timed reading of the above. Damn, I don't think I've laughed that hard in the last month.... -- MarcoTolo 03:47, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
We're all Jimbo's slaves anyway... --Howard the Duck 06:20, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
Oh course, that is the funnest thing I have read this day! I need to read the talk page more ofter... - Thekittybomb 23:51, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

Missing Text

All of the text that should be at the top of this page are gone.--Ed ¿Cómo estás? 18:58, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

That is because we do not want Main Page appearing at the top of the main page. As a side effect, on the history and move pages main page is omitted. Not too much of an issue, though. ffm talk 20:44, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
You can manually do it &action=logs or something like that. (Take the end of any other log page) --R ParlateContribs@ (Let's go Yankees!) 00:14, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

Stale Photographs on "In the news section"

For last three days the photograph of Paul Wolfowitz is present on Main page in "In the News" Section. We have around 5 or 6 news items. Can't we change the photographs daily? 59.178.79.255 08:17, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

Lol only on Wikipedia is something three days old "stale"! Batmanand | Talk 09:44, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
That's not Paul Wolfowitz... Mgiganteus1 11:25, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
The last few days have been slow news days. Clearly we need to jazz it up. I suggest we start with this one from the Simpsons: Paris is no more! The legendary city of lights has been extinguished forever as a massive... and fill in the blanks from there. Raul654 15:25, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
I changed the image, so now it actually is Paul Wolfowitz. —David Levy 15:47, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
Suggestions for ITN, including pictures, can be made at WP:ITN/C. If anyone sees a few suggestions left unattended at WP:ITN/C, please go to WP:AN. You may find an admin there to help. This way, hopefully, ITN won't go stale. Thanks. --PFHLai 16:13, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
This pic might make a good start. Raul654 16:14, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
Raul, if that really happens, very few Wikipedians may still have internet access and sign in to change the picture on ITN. --PFHLai 16:20, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

I too am totaly sick of looking at Wolfowitz. Please change it or let me know how & I will do it myself.Gaff ταλκ 18:37, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

Um... that picture has been there for a mere three hours. -- tariqabjotu 18:52, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
I've been editing WP all week, a lot. I know that there has been a picture of WOlfowitz there for more than three hours. Maybe they changed the picture, but its still the same guy. Can't we get a picture of something else??Gaff
Sorry, but you're wrong. The current image was added here [4], previously it was a picture of François Fillon. They do look somewhat similar, guessing that's the mix up.--Fyre2387 (talkcontribs) 20:02, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
Maybe I'm just sick of looking at tired old white dudes...LOL.Gaff ταλκ 21:21, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
A photo of the Cutty Sark is now on ITN. Hope everyone is happy with it. --PFHLai 18:37, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

Strategy Wiki Link

Someone should put in a link to Strategy Wiki on the main page under "sister projects". I mean, it is part of Wikipedia, right? Sincerely, Kevin 20 5 23 26 21:27, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

No it isn't a part of Wikimedia as you can see here: Wikimedia Foundation#Wikimedia coordination and projects. As far as I can tell it's not even part of Wikia. Gdo01 21:44, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
No it's not, it's owned by User:echelon and a few others.--User:Rock2e Talk - Contribs 05:37, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

Then why does it use the same formatting and abide by the same rules?? Kevin 20 5 23 26 20:13, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

Partial Answer : Because it runs on the same software. 69.95.50.15 20:30, 21 May

2007 (UTC)

Oh. That makes sense. Never mind then. I think it's pretty deceiving, especially since it has the word Wiki in its title and the main page looks the same. Kevin 20 5 23 26 21:39, 21 May 2007 (UTC)
Wikis existed before wikipedia,WP is just the most famous. Look at WikiWikiWeb and the Wiki articles. ffm talk 23:02, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

Need more Non-Animal non-insect featured pics

I loved seeing the Aerogel image. I feel like there have been more Insects and birds than objects. I am sure this is because there are more featured pics of nature than objects, but my 2 cents is that we should alternate daily if possible, nature, non-nature. Drewson99 17:32, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

The correct place for this comment is Wikipedia_talk:Featured_pictures. (And all insects are animals, so all non-animals are non-insects....) - UtherSRG (talk) 17:49, 21 May 2007 (UTC)
Actually, the correct place for this is Wikipedia talk:Picture of the day. howcheng {chat} 21:23, 21 May 2007 (UTC)
Looking at the choices for May, there are 9 animal pictures, and two other "green" ones, out of 31 pictures. Seems fine to me. GeeJo (t)(c) • 19:19, 21 May 2007 (UTC)
Looking at this past month, I guess I'd agree, I guess I was lumping animal pics with nature pics. I just feel like there is a lack of technical/machine/object pics. I'll try and be part of the solution and submit some fine images of my own, maybe one day they will be recommended for featuring.64.37.159.196 20:57, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

Cutty Sark

Is this important enough to be news? Cutty_sark#Fire - Jeff24 06:04, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

It's certainly big UK news but I'm not sure it's of worldwide interest. Secretlondon 06:51, 21 May 2007 (UTC)
I think it is. It's a historic ship. Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 08:06, 21 May 2007 (UTC)
It really should be ITN, Greenwich Maritime is a world Heritage site. --LiamE 08:12, 21 May 2007 (UTC)
Try WP:ITN/C.
And it should be Cutty Sark#Fire, instead of Cutty_sark#Fire. The fire is not on the disambiguation page. --74.13.130.205 13:59, 21 May 2007 (UTC)
Maybe Wikipedians in London could snap a photo or two of the charred but cherished clipper for ITN. It's quite close to the tube station with the same name. --74.14.22.137 15:50, 21 May 2007 (UTC)
Off topic but Cutty Sark is a DLR station and NOT a tube station. They are quite different. Simply south 09:25, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
Thanks for letting me know. I've been to London only twice. I thought the DLR was part of the tube system. My mistake. Anyways, my point is that the site should be easily accessible and someone should try to get there and take a picture. --74.13.124.245 04:19, 23 May 2007 (UTC)
This is now on ITN. --PFHLai 18:35, 21 May 2007 (UTC)
It was lead item on TV news here in Finland. (There aren't any tildes on a Finnish keyboard!
Funny, no tildes on Finnish keyboard! Did you check the top left corner (just below 'Esc') 198.62.10.11 08:58, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
Click the signature icon above your edit window. It should be the 10th from the left, between the "NoWiki" icon and the horizontal line icon. --74.13.124.253 16:23, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
See Keyboard_layout#Finnish.2FSwedish I'm presuming that pressing AltGr+^ produces a tilde. Caffm8 23:23, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

"Mayan Languages" grammatical pedantry

Shouldn't it be "The Mayan Languages" instead of "Mayan Languages"? To me, that makes more aesthetic sense. Brrk.3001 08:20, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

Try WP:ERRORS above.
I believe the grammar is incorrect herein this first line. This first line should read: Mayan Languages "is" a language family and not "are" a language family. The subject if this sentence is actually language family. I think also the "The" needs to be in place . The sentence could also read , and this gives a clue to the real subject and the use of the "the". A language family is the Mayan languages.The Mayan languages is not a group of things in this context but is one thing -a family.(olive 22:34, 21 May 2007 (UTC))
PS Sorry but couldn't figure out how to edit this article(olive 02:50, 22 May 2007 (UTC))
olive, for small tweaks on the Main Page in future, please post your suggestions at the top of this talkpage. --74.13.124.253 16:28, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

cross-wiki passwords

When can we finally enter to ALL languages with the SAME name and password? Fak119 08:08, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

This has nothing to do with the main page. Please try WP:VP or "http://meta.wikimedia.org/". --74.13.129.168 09:27, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
It actually has to do with Help:Unified login, the final outcome of Single login. Gripe there, please. I do agree that it's long overdue. —Vanderdeckenξφ 17:10, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Top Topics

Top Topics —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 202.184.37.1 (talkcontribs) 04:11, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

You may be looking for Wikipedia:Featured topics.--Pharos 04:24, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

Number of featured articles

Who was it that said that basically every 1 in 30 main page featured articles was Australian? IMO it now seems like, say, every 1 in 10 (or something like that) is American. Simply south 09:28, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Assuming people focus on their own country's articles, thats relatively poor because almost 20% of users are from the US. Its somewhere in the Archives, cant find it with google though. 87.194.107.47 11:57, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
There's a greater percentage of American editors I'd assume, and thus a greater percentage of editors from that land turning out featured articles. Want to increase the percentage for said nation? Get writing... -- Phoenix2 (talk, review) 03:16, 23 May 2007 (UTC)
Mind, I'm writing an online dictionary and when I write the entry for "guesswork," I'll just put a link to this discussion. What do you mean by "American?" I personally have written a featured article that was about a Venetian subject and had nothing to do with America. JHMM13 17:22, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
I'm referring to those appearing on the main page and am in no way saying that all FAs are. It just seems like it as in the past month or so a lot have come up. Simply south 19:44, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Jerusalem

Not recognized by the UN as Israel's capital and in the beggining of the article says it's the capital of Israel? How come? radiant guy 06:25, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

See the discussion at Talk:Jerusalem/capital. ShadowHalo 06:40, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

I never expected Wikipedia to be so blatently without perspective. It is well known that Jerusalem is _not_ the capital of Israel. Why the not-so subtle pro-zionism propaganda on the front page of wikipedia?

There should be some kind of "controversy" or "facts in dispute" clause added to the frontpage ASAP!

Wageslave 18:21, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

Uh, Positions on Jerusalem. Its linked in the article. Gdo01 18:23, 23 May 2007 (UTC)
Jerusalem is Israel's capital city, because Israel said so. It doesn't matter whether people think it shouldn't be , it is the de facto capital. Whether it being the capital is legal under international law is disputed, but the fact that it is the capital, whether legal or not, is not disputed. —Dark•Shikari[T] 19:20, 23 May 2007 (UTC)
"Jerusalem is Israel's capital city, because Israel said so" What a ridiculous statement! Palestinians say exactly the same thing so why do Israelies have their case put forward and not the other side?? Chrisp7 20:41, 23 May 2007 (UTC)
Because they decide what they declare as their capital? The Palestinians can also declare their capital to be Jerusalem if they want--nobody is stopping them. Israel's capital is, by the definition of a "capital", exactly what Israel says it is, regardless of any de facto or de jure situation. That is what capital means. Its what a country says is its capital. There are other terms similar to capital you might be thinking of, such as seat of government. —Dark•Shikari[T] 21:24, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

Oh, come ON! The information about the controversy isn't even just in the article, its actually in the main page blurb! Of course, that would be asking everybody to read past the first sentence...--Fyre2387 (talkcontribs) 19:36, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

Jerusalem is globally recognized as the capital of Israel. Palestine no longer exists. 68.33.250.101 02:33, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Actually no it isn't recognized (see Positions on Jerusalem), that's precisely the reason this is an issue. Palestine has nothing to do with this. Gdo01 02:35, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Jerusalem is the de facto capital of Israel because all branches the Israeli government are based in Jerusalem and Israel maintains control of the city. The debate is to whether it is the de jure capital of Israel. For more information, see: Positions on Jerusalem. 71.103.178.8 05:48, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Parliament house is in Jerusalem, the high court is in Jeruslaem, therefore the capital is in Jerusalem. Israel decides its own capital. Perhaps If the Palestinians controlled Jerusalem they could call it ther capital. Just like if Australia controlled New York they could call it their capital. But guess what, they don't control Jerusalem just like the Aussies don't control the big apple. Plus I don't really take note of the opinion of the beuracratic and pathetic organisation known as the UN. The only good thing they ever did was in 1948. --user:specialkaye33

The main, main page and the placement of Italiano

Now that the Italian language Wikipedia has surpassed the Dutch language Wikipedia, shouldn't their positions be swapped on this page? Also they've pushed over 300k in case you guys want to update it. ;-D Thanks, JHMM13 21:35, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

Isn't Italy all ready to the left of the Dutch Wiki? Gdo01 21:38, 23 May 2007 (UTC)
Oops I thought you were referring to the Main Page as in this page's article page. Gdo01 21:42, 23 May 2007 (UTC)
Seems sensible, although I'm not sure where one would make such a request. Somewhere on Meta, maybe?--Fyre2387 (talkcontribs) 23:49, 23 May 2007 (UTC)
Ask any meta admin. They can do it, though whether they will know how... Prodego talk 02:00, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

(reindent)The relevant discussion page is meta:Talk:Www.wikipedia.org template. It appears that changes made to meta:Www.wikipedia.org template/temp are periodically moved to the live page. Further instructions can be found on the /temp discussion page. Cheers, BanyanTree 09:12, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Thanks! JHMM13 17:24, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

fairuse pic on the main page

Tomorrow's FA has a fairuse pic. Those who hate seeing non-free pics on the main page may want to start looking for a replacement now and get things sorted out before midnight UTC tonight. No 'edit(star)warring' on the main page, please. --74.13.124.11 12:20, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Something from Commons:Star Wars, perhaps? GeeJo (t)(c) • 15:38, 24 May 2007 (UTC)
No editwars? That's good. Scooby-Doo would be proud. --74.13.131.228 14:27, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

ITN pics

I see that we don't have sufficient number of editors who are interested in changing this photograph daily. Now the Cutty Sark is there since last three days!! Can anyone tell me how to change this pic so that I can do it myself (if people agree to this!)! 198.62.10.11 13:54, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

You can suggest new pics at WP:ITN/C. --74.13.124.11 14:36, 24 May 2007 (UTC)
We ought have pics about the riots outside the UEFA CL final *lol* --Howard the Duck 14:47, 24 May 2007 (UTC)
Just to clarify an apparent misconception on the part of the topic starter: ITN's image isn't meant to change daily. Generally, the most recently added item that has an appropriate image available gets that image displayed.--Fyre2387 (talkcontribs) 14:56, 24 May 2007 (UTC)
What pictures about the riots? I don't see any Nil Einne 14:57, 24 May 2007 (UTC)
If Howard the Duck is starting a riot, he'd better bring a camera. :-) --74.13.124.11 15:05, 24 May 2007 (UTC)
On the local newscast which doesn't even care about the UEFA Champions League, let alone soccer, they've reported riots in Athens with the participants wearing red and black stripes tees against Molotov cocktail-throwing people wearing red tees. --Howard the Duck 15:15, 24 May 2007 (UTC)
My point is that there are no free images of these riots that I seeNil Einne 15:31, 24 May 2007 (UTC)
Maybe someone can come up with one... even better would be the pics of the match. --Howard the Duck 15:39, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Fyre, Thanks for the clarification. 198.62.10.11 04:45, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Liberation Day of Lebanon

U forgot to mention it on On this day for May 25. Robin Hood 1212 01:34, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Just an oversight. It was hidden and commented out last year because the date was not cited in the article back then.[5] Thanks. Zzyzx11 (Talk) 03:48, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Stars Wars featured article

Usually, the featured article is both well-written and informative. This one lacks segues, amongst other things. The introduction paragraph is cumbersome and somewhat broken up, as if each sentence was written by a different people. While I understand that Wikipedia is meant to edited by anyone who wishes to do so, this article (and especially its introduction) lacks cohesiveness and, in my humble opinion, compromises the quality of the Main Page. Arthurian Legend 08:46, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

This has nothing to do with the main page tho and is best suited for the article talk page or village pump Nil Einne 09:48, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Sport in Belfast

The article supporting the reference that 59% of Belfast adults participate in sport, later mentions that it considers walking to be "sport". I don't think that walking is considered "sport" in the U.S. Is this an English dialect thing? Is "sport" in Ireland the same as "exercise" in the U.S.? —BozoTheScary 21:59, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Where on the main page is this mentioned? --74.14.17.26 04:11, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
It used to be in the Did you know. ShadowHalo 04:51, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
So, this should be on the DYK article's talk page? --74.13.131.228 14:05, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
No, it should be at WP:ERRORS. ShadowHalo 17:53, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
Or both. --74.13.129.114 04:19, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Please delete it. I hope.

Nice to meet you. I say Railroad acting in a Japanese version. Because the translation software is used, the sentence is strange. Please forgive me. In and a Japanese version, the version of the article named Junko Furuta including the link to this English version article was deleted. The reason is a thing of violations of privacy. Then, could you delete this article though it is asking? It did not correspond though it wrote in Discussion of the article. Please continue your favors toward the deletion.   --124.210.245.64 09:16, 26 May 2007 (UTC)(Railroad)

Discussed at Junko Furuta Nil Einne 16:39, 26 May 2007 (UTC)