Talk:Main Page/Archive 88

This is an archive of past discussions about Main Page. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

Archive 85

Archive 86

Archive 87

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Main page image vandalism again?

Just a little while ago someone posted a pic of a bloody vagina on the main page (probably the same loser who posted that mutilated penis pic a week or so ago). I'm guessing that this was done by adding it to an unprotected template that was used on the main page. A bot that automatically protects all templates used on the main page would certainly be a good idea. I'm even thinking that it might be a good idea to semi-protect all templates by default, since template vandalism can show up on hundreds of pages at once, and that way, even if one of the main page templates is left not fully protected by accident it will likely prevent vandalism to it.--Azer Red Si? 02:50, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval#ProtectionBot and Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval#Shadowbot2. Sprotecting probably won't do much, only determined vandals vandalise templates I would think. --WikiSlasher 04:29, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Also consider the following The pentultimate!!1-11 solution to vandalism --Monotonehell 04:55, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

What template was affected this time? I'm just wondering because I tried to work out from the recent changes log but couldn't :-P Nil Einne 14:41, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

There's a huge teletubbies image on the main page... it links to an article on penis.--Gonzalo84 00:45, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

R.E

hey wikipedia

this is the best information website in the world because it has lots of things from buisness to the national flag and alot more.

thankyou

Miss Mulla

p.s sign your name:

It definitely is. =) Nishkid 64 22:51, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Of course it is. Seldon1 18:10, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Misinformation

On the home page it says anyone can edit. This is not the case with an increasing number of pages and with the main page itself. Seens as though you lot always bang on about misinformation whats the deal here? 86.142.89.192 17:59, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Any one can edit the encyclopedia. Nowhere does it say that anyone can edit every page. Koweja 18:06, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

You'r totally right, mann User:Some random —The preceding manually signed comment was added by 86.142.89.192 (talk • contribs) 18:20, 3 January 2007 (UTC).

Spazbox. Blahhhhh —The preceding manually signed comment was added by 86.142.89.192 (talk • contribs) 18:30, 3 January 2007 (UTC).

The only time a person is utterly unable to edit (without resorting to extraordinary measures) is if they're blocked and banned with a protected user page. But, even then they can e-mail anyone who has filled in their e-mail address. So, there's no such thing as being excommunicated from Wikipedia. Vranak

A form of being "excommunicated" from Wikipedia is if you are indefinitely blocked.--C J King 23:40, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

It's not misinformation. It's true that anyone can edit any page here. Just that on certain pages, one must earn the trust of his/her colleagues before editing. --199.71.174.100 00:52, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

In the case of articles that have been fully protected to stop edit wars, administrators shouldn't actually be editing those either, unless it's something uncontroversial (e.g. spelling), or an edit that reflects a new consensus among all editors (admin and non-admin).

Articles that are semi-protected can't be edited by those without accounts or those with very new accounts, but as long as you're capable of filling in a username and password and don't have 3 days or less to live, then "anyone can edit" is still true. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 18:51, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Madrid bomb update

Unfortunately, we now have the first confirmed fatality of the explosion. One of the missing men was finally found dead inside his vehicle: http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/Carlos/Palate/murio/asfixiado/aplastado/minutos/despues/atentado/Barajas/elpepuesp/20070104elpepunac_1/Tes The other one is still missing. Could anyone please update the info in the main page, so that it now reads something like '...leaving 1 killed, 26 injured and 1 missing', or something like that? Thanks Raystorm 13:05, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

UPDATE!: Second body has been found. Caption in main page should now (and definitely) read: ...'leaving 2 killed and 26 injured'. Thanks Raystorm 16:26, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Incorrect term used AGAIN

Forgive the capitalisation, but it now seems as if Wikipedia's being lax. Almost every single time there's an article making mention of something to do with England, it's referred to as Great Britain, or the United Kingdom. Even if one considered this dubiously fine, it's usually being done before 1707, and the union between England and Scotland.

Today's article on the main page referring to the burning of the palace of Whitehall says "English Monarchy," and links to the British Monarchy page! The British Monarchy won't even exist for another nine years from that date of destruction!

I feel like I'm posting the same thing every single time. If it's before 1603, the it's England and Scotland seperately (Obviously not the War of the Three Kingdoms period under Cromwell's forced unification).If it's after 1603 but before 1707 then It's England and Scotland under one crown. If it's after 1707 then England and Scotland together are the Kingdom of Great Britain.

With all due respect, it's beginning to seem like some individuals know fully well what they should be writing, but don't.

Cheers.

Kaenei 15:28, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

English monarchy goes to List of English monarchs. British monarchy is the appropriate article content-wise, as it discusses the pre-UK history as well, regardless of quibbles over terminology. — ceejayoz ^talk 17:15, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

It's Wikipedia, for Pete's sake! The people writing it neither know nor care about that sort of thing. Still, I'm sorry we got it wrong and you were offended.--Here T oHelp 03:34, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Donation Template

I see that the green bar on the donation template on the top continues to move to the right. Is this signifing how close Wikipedia is to reaching its goal amount of money? What is their goal? It must be over a million and a half. Seldon1 18:14, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

The goal is 1.5 million, and yes the bar fills up as the campaign reaches its goal. Koweja 18:19, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Do we actually have a goal? Last time we had a bar, it turned out that a developer thought it was neat to have a bar and invented an arbitrary target when he created it, but the top of the bar was never actually considered a goal by the Foundation. So is there an official target, or is this just another arbitrary large number for the sake of pretty graphics? Dragons flight 13:52, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

I think I remember reading about it somewhere on Meta, but now I can't find the page. Maybe there isn't a target, but in any case I doubt the Foundation would be too upset about going over their target. Koweja 13:59, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Actually things ran the other way, with people being worried when the fundraising drive ended without reaching our "goal" last time. Dragons flight 14:27, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

something

couldn't anyone just write random stuff in other people's articles????? well, i'm writing random stuff now too but not bad stuff —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.144.154.13 (talk) 03:08, 5 January 2007 (UTC).

Yes! That's the beauty of a wiki. See our introduction for more about Wikipedia. And don't forget to sign your comments with ~~~~. :) Cheers, Dar-Ape 03:12, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes, but that would be called vandalism. If you'd like to join Wikipedia and add stuff (factual, hopefully :p) to user pages just click on the button in the top right corner and register as a user. Then you can edit as much as you want. Have fun, and again, don't forget to sign your comments with ~~~~. Good luck, Mrmaroon25 03:14, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Tintin

Great to see him on the front page. Much better than Pokemon junk. Keep up the good work. 70.17.251.235 05:26, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Let's get Asterix up there next! :-) Carcharoth 13:10, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

What happened to the picture? Nyttend 14:05, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Here we go. It was a fair use image and got yanked, apparently. Carcharoth 14:18, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

And it is back again! :-) Carcharoth 14:20, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Images not loading

File:C:\sg.jpg When I go on Wikipedia, images won't load, only images already in my cache can I see. Thanks for any help —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 208.19.12.207 (talk) 02:31, 1 January 2007 (UTC).

It's probably because of your internet connection. I doubt that it has anything to do with the site.--Azer Red Si? 02:51, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

I am running a broadband connection and I stopped loading images after viewing a huge page. Do you know how to fix this? It works now. Just had to wait a couple hours.--208.19.12.207 07:44, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Check your page file and cache. ~user:orngjce223 how am I typing? 23:32, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

First article

Just out of curiosity, what was the first article ever to be written on Wikipedia? -Halibut Thyme

Go to Wikipedia:Wikipedia's oldest articles. There is a saved version of a particularly old one called UuU (i think) and another one at ThomasEdison. You will have to click back on the redirect and look at the history. Simply south 16:12, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Possibly, see also http://nostalgia.wikipedia.org though I'm not really sure what its contents represent, or why it isn't linked from WP:OLDEST? —Quiddity 23:36, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Wow they had the donation banner back then too I didn't know that... --WikiSlasher 23:59, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Actually i think that is an error from Wikimedia as it shows current figures. Simply south 00:28, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Actually I was being sarcastic. Should've made it more obvious --WikiSlasher 02:35, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

April one

Over on the wikinews mailing list we were discussing what we would do on April 1, and Jimbo (as in THE Jimbo) mentioned that he has always wanted to have the front page of wikipedia have all the sections link to really unlikely but true articles/pics etc so that when people visit on April one they think it is a hoax but it actually isn't. You know the kind of articles, Exploding whale and the like. The bellman 10:09, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

"and Jimbo (as in THE Jimbo) mentioned", WP:V WP:CITE your source. ;) --Monotonehell 10:30, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Try to avoid Jimbo-worship :-) that way lies no wiki. But it does sound like a good idea; make people think we're pulling april fools, when we're really not. However, the articles linked to should be brought up to good quality, fully cited and possibly semi-protected before featuring on the main page. That way, what looks like nonsense could turn out to be a perfect example of the best of Wikipedia. DYK could be tricky, and ITN. 86.139.237.132 11:29, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

I don't think DYK will be too much trouble; we can relax the "recent" rule for one day. A good source for ITN would be Reuters Oddly Enough: http://today.reuters.com/news/newsChannel.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&WTmodLoc=Home-C5-oddlyEnoughNews-1. --Nelson Ricardo 13:44, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Sounds like a great idea. In that case Nils Olav would be a nice touch, provided we can dig up more material about this character. Valentinian ^{(talk) / (contribs)} 14:05, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

I nominate The Monkey Gland. Carcharoth 16:10, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Choose any of the articles in Category:Exploding animals. User:Zoe|(talk) 16:21, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Or in Wikipedia:Unusual articles for that matter. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 16:46, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

We tried something along these lines last year, but it wasn't planned as well as it should have been. We probably should start discussing specifics now, as this probably is our only hope of discouraging main page vandalism on the part of sysops who don't take their responsibilities seriously. —David Levy 16:20, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

It may also be worth making clear that gags within the project space are viewed only by the community and are not vandalism. Rollback and use of the {{test}} templates are not an appropriate response to jokes. As I recall, some established contributors were treated rather rudely and harshly last year for rather mild and funny gags in community space. - Banyan Tree 02:15, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

By the same token, it must be made clear that vandalism is vandalism. Harmless jokes are acceptable year-round, but other jokes don't somehow become less harmful on 1 April. Certain sysops have performed inexcusable vandalism to the main page in years past. —David Levy 02:57, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Are there any featured articles known as practical jokes? Simply south 16:48, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Just checked the list - Spring Heeled Jack and the Infinite monkey theorem are what I would call semi- or off-mainstream FA-quality articles, maybe they would be suitable? --Ouro 17:09, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Exploding whale is also an FA. —Cuivi é nen 01:40, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

This was done last year, and the coordination page, Wikipedia talk:April Fool's Main Page is still there if people want to restart the idea. Laïka 19:41, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

What about Dihydrogen monoxide hoax? | AndonicO ^{Talk | Sign Here} 01:57, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

That isn't a featured article. —David Levy 02:01, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

I know; I meant as DYK, or another use. It's something that would work (IMHO). | AndonicO ^{Talk | Sign Here} 02:11, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Ah, okay. That might be usable, but only in a factual, non-alarmist manner. (We'd need to clearly identify it as a hoax.) —David Levy 02:57, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

The word hoax appears in that article's title, I guess I'd call that clear identification. --Ouro 06:54, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

I meant that we mustn't attempt to perpetrate the hoax via the wording used on the main page itself (which was was proposed last year). —David Levy 16:26, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes, I understand now! Thanks for the link, David. --Ouro 16:55, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

How about something like "did you know people have signed petitions calling for water to be banned" Nil Einne 15:48, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Good one! Maybe this (discussion) should be moved/continued here? --Ouro 16:03, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

That wording would work. —David Levy 16:26, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

More suggestions (for DYK): Thagomizer, Boston molasses disaster, Norton I Gavia immer (u|t|c) 15:34, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Why not "honor" a Feature Disambiguation Page and a Featured ~~Redirest~~ Redirect? I think that would be a good idea. The Placebo Effect 21:53, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Redirest? Simply south 21:57, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

[:)]

Reverting: Tried and True?

We all know reveting vandalism is the most common way to stop it. But is it the best? We should be thinking outside of the box, coming up with new ways to stop vandals. (Are there any?) Reverting is not always effective, and it's as dull as watching paint dry.

I know this is not the best place for this, but lets face it--you get the most respone on the main page. Seldon1 17:17, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

See User:AntiVandalBot for an example of a different method :) — Dark Shikari ^talk/_contribs 17:22, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Well, other than blocking repeat vandals who ignore warnings, which we already do, the only other way I can think of to stop vandalism would be to stop people editing in the first place. We already do that, too, on a small number of frequently-used or problematic pages, in the form of page protection and semi-protection. Preventing unregistered users from editing completely is an idea that's been discussed before, but it's generally agreed that the drawbacks outweigh the benefits – Gurch 17:47, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

I say block then on the first offence, serious editors never do it, ever.

It's often difficult to tell the difference between a vandal and a well intentioned but misguided user on the first edit ever. — ceejayoz ^talk 01:23, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Another option would be to make it official policy to 24 hour ban any registered users who clearly vandalises twice without any warning. Currently policy dictates test3 or blatant vandal must be given. Some admins block for frequent clear cut vandalism without sufficient warnings but many people like me don't report such users and instead just give appropriate warnings. If it were official policy, I would report anyone who violates such policy. For IPs, perhaps 4 cases of clear cut vandalism in the past 3 weeks should be enough for a ban without sufficient warning. Of course, if people would warn appropriately, we wouldn't have such a problem. It's difficult for bots to adjudge I understand. But in cases of blatant vandalism, e.g. putting fuck into pages so often people give test 1 even with 3 other test 1s and thatsif they warn at all. I myself was blocked as an anon a long while back for a single instance of vandalism even tho it wasn't anything that bad. Against policy (or at least standard practice) but I didn't complain and it probably reduced the chance I would vandalise again altho I'm still miffed that this happened now that I know it's against policy or at least standard practice. P.S. By clear cut vandalism, I mean things like putting fuck, gay etc into pages. Deleting sections and whole pages kind of falls in between and I would say when it's a LP article we shouldn't ban so quickly in case it's poorly done attempt to enforce BLP. I'm in no way referring to content disputes and other misguided attempts to improve pages which some confused users call vandalism Nil Einne 15:34, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

"By e-mail" link

These links (one in the Featured Article section of the Main Page and one in the "On this day..." secion of the Main Page) lead to a 404 not found page. Could anyone fix this? Nitin.viswanathan 13:52, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

They work for me. —Mets501 (talk) 14:54, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Im getting 404 not found pages, but refreshing or reclicking the link takes me to the proper page. Apparently, though, trying to get to the main page: "MediaWiki does not have an article with this exact name. Please search for Main Page in Wikipedia to check for alternative titles or spellings." Refreshing worked again. RHB 16:27, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

All mailing lists were recently (a few hours ago) migrated to a new server, and as part of the process, the URL (and email) of the mailing lists were moved to a lists.wikimedia.org address. The old list page should redirect to the new site, but there may be some (hopefully temporary) problems. Note that the link to the email list is included in Template:TFAfooter, and if the redirect stops working, we can change the current link to a simple URL. For now, though, I don't think that's necessary. Thanks! Flcelloguy (A note?) 16:42, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Ahmose

Take that ugly-ass picture of the dead Egyptian guy off the Main Page! 89.120.193.125 18:02, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

That's today's featured article and will disappear by tomorrow. If you don't like it then ignore it. Simple.Simply south 18:10, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

The wikilink for Middle Kingdom on the FA teaser leads to a disambiguation page. It should be corrected to Middle Kingdom of Egypt. Mrbluesky 20:12, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Very interesting. I thought I would get a whole lot of responses involving two things: 1. "WIKIPEDIA IS NOT CENSORED!!!!11!!" and 2. "You're so stupid, you write 'ugly-ass dead guy' and you want it removed? Ha, ha!" Instead, I got a very nice and simple answer, plus a comment which has nothing to do with what I said (except the fact that it's connected to the FA). 89.120.193.125 20:31, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Even more interesting, I was wondering how many people would complain that this picture and that of Nancy Peolsi got interchanged!SkierRMH 06:20, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Two links

Why is there two links to the complete list on other language Wikipedias, in the 'in other languages' bit on the Main Page. I don't see why there is two thay link to the same page. AxG ^(talk) _{(sign here)} 20:59, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

There's one link in Template:Wikipedialang at the page bottom, and one link in the sidebar list Template:MainPageInterwikis (though it's not in that template's code, so it must be included via a subscript or css page somehow). Hope that helps. —Quiddity 21:16, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Did you know

Hi, Its not very important but I just noticed in the "Did you know?" section it says this:

...that curb feelers (pictured) are especially popular for hotrods with whitewall tires?

To be honest, thats not really true. I don't think I have ever seen a hotrod like that, not even the very old ones... Just thought i'd get that out while i'm learning how to use wikipedia. Ad0500 21:36, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Make a comment on the curb feelers page. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Moonlight Mile (talk • contribs) 02:07, 7 January 2007 (UTC).

Question

I feel i'm asking a stupid question here bt what will happen to the status of the donations when the numbers reach the borderline? Simply south 00:29, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Wild guess: The donation template will disappear? --Ouro 01:11, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Wild guess #2: It will revert to zero so Wikipedia can beg for even more unneeded funds. --Haizum μολὼν λαβέ 02:15, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you mean by "unneeded funds". We are experiencing exponential growth, and the money is badly needed in order to keep up with this traffic and to improve our experience (be it reading or editing) here on Wikipedia. Look at some of the archives of this page for more details. Thanks! Flcelloguy (A note?) 02:22, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you mean by "beg" either. Beggars don't give anything in return when Wikipedia provides everyone with internet access a massive amount of encyclopedic knowledge. Gizza^Chat ^© 06:01, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Do we really have to feed the trolls? --Howard the Duck 06:07, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Dates

Should dates in articles be written from the perspective of local time or from the perspective of GMT time? For example, someone died on Jan 31st in his locality but it was still Jan 30th in Greenwich. --Ineffable3000 08:50, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

I'd say local time, although in the few cases where the distinction is important, it may not hurt to mention both. Additionally, you may wish to refer this to the village pump, where it will probably get more attention. Luna Santin 08:52, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

RFA for ProtectionBot

As this community is more impacted by the request than any other, I would like to make you aware that I have filed an RFA for ProtectionBot, an automated process designed to protect the main page from vandalism. Dragons flight 09:58, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Not sure this is the best place for this notice. The Village Pump or the notices section of the Community Portal seem more appropriate. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 22:09, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

This is the page that is directly affected, much like if there were a bot for Wikipedia:WikiProject on open proxies, WP:RFPP, etc., or even simply an AfD. —Centrx→talk • 22:42, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

SIDEBAR BROKEN

→ Moved to Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#SIDEBAR BROKEN. Please followup there. --Ligulem 15:18, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Png is NOT animation

Something needs to be done about the PotD - either fix the caption, which says the image is an animation, or replace the png with the animated gif... (The fact that there is a "view this animation" link does not remove the error.) --Janke | Talk 08:55, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

This has been the convention for animated images for a fair while now. It came about for two main reasons: to cut down on the time needed for 56k dialup users to load the Main Page (the png is under 20kb, while the gif is over half a meg) and easy thumbnailing of animations with large dimensions (480x360 may be a tad too large for people using an 800x600 resolution). It was believed that for the Main Page, usability took precedence over a niggling and somewhat pedantic point of accuracy. I don't much care which way it's done, but then I'm using a fairly top-end machine, so the gif is hardly a strain on my system. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 09:23, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

P.S. To help out a bit, I've changed the png image description page to redirect to the main gif, so in addition to the "view" link, you can now click the image itself to see the animation. I'm not sure how ProtectionBot'll react to having one of its uploads become a redirect page, but I'll keep an eye on it and delete it myself tomorrow if necessary. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 09:40, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

The bot isn't running at the moment, so it won't do anything – Gurch 13:07, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

In the news/Speak of the house

Is it just me or has this piece of news hogged the spotlight for 2+ days now. If US news gets more attention its an unfair slant on many other English users.

It's not that it's hogging the spot, there's just not been any newer suitable item suggested at the appropriate place since. --Monotonehell 12:11, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm kind of getting sick of it, too. Yes, I'm American, but I'm also a Republican! → JARED ^(t) 13:34, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Word to that, man. Dooms Day349 18:08, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Why not have the Ashes item at the top? It's the newest, and there's supposedly no subjective order. Tntnnbltn 13:41, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

I was wondering about that, too. --Howard the Duck 17:01, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Is there a new PD/free picture for the Ashes? --65.95.105.205 17:58, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

The image doesn't have to illustrate the top item, that's what the (pictured) is for. But I dont think arbitrarily switching around the items is worth the hassle. Just wait until something new hits the presses to displace it. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 19:51, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

It definitely shows bias toward the US. If the UK House of Lords gets a new chair, we won't probably hear about it, especially for 3 days. --Ineffable3000 21:19, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes you would, and it would be on the template as long as it is not pushed out by newer news. —Centrx→talk • 21:24, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Actually, I doubt we'd put a change in the House of Lords, which is not all that politically important and has no elections, on the Main Page. The House of Commons, though, would. —Cuivi é nen 21:41, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

I think the reason the speaker of the senate item is there is because she's the first woman speaker. Ordinarily the inner workings of the senate wouldn't be ITN worthy. --Monotonehell 01:47, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Actually, I'd like to turn that around and say that the request for the rules be bent to avoid having the item in the lead is in fact slightly biased against the US. If it were an equivalent story based in Uganda or Japan, people would be complaining of staleness, but no-one would be demanding the re-arrangement of items to "freshen up" the section. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 21:27, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

As soon as we start bending rules like that we're guilty of introducing bias instead of letting the organic process continue. There's not normaly such a pause in ITN candidates, so I don't think its actually a problem. Go make some news ;) --Monotonehell 01:47, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Well, I don't have all the components for TATP on hand, and 3/4 of a Master's in chemistry. I guess I could see about ending the dry spell of news myself :) GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 13:21, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Can you hear them breaking down your front door yet? Carcharoth 16:49, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Living in England, I'd be kind of shocked if I did. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 12:09, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Still desperate to get rid of Nancy ? Please be encouraged to update pages related to politics of Austria. A new Chancellor of Austria will be installed this week, and we have his picture standing by at WCommons. --PFHLai 01:09, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

WP: RM above

Will anyone object if i manually move the Requested Move to the archive to stop people adding to an already closed discussion? Simply south 18:43, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Please do. (Isn't there a 'force archive now' tag for (one of the) archival-bots?). —Quiddity 20:02, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure. Simply south 20:38, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

I've moved it.

For the archive requested move see Talk:Main Page/Archive 87#Requested move

Simply south 20:46, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

TITLES

Wikipedia needs to have an edit title feature, there are too many titles that have grammatical mistakes. These titles lower credibility, and make the site look BAD. Any thoughts? Danielfolsom 21:00, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

You mean page titles? There is one: any page can be renamed. If your account is less than four days old, you won't be able to do this yet; if so, make a request at Wikipedia:Requested moves. Otherwise, you can move it yourself using the "move" tab at the top of the page. If you mean section titles, anyone can fix them (unless the page is protected), just edit the section and change the text at the top – Gurch 21:05, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

In fact it's probably better to bring up a move request on the article's talk page first as what you may consider a gramatical error may be a difference in dialect or a technical restriction. --Monotonehell 04:36, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

It's OK, he only wanted to capitalize someone's surname [1] – Gurch 13:06, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Ohh I never knew about the move thing, and my account is no close to 4 days (more). My bad.--Danielfolsom 04:43, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

On this day...

Can't find the right place to report this, so I'll start here - the image for January 25th's On this day... is gone. I can't seem to find a history for it either! SkierRMH 21:16, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

It's now fixed. Thanks for pointing this out. --PFHLai 00:50, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Animatino Link

The link to the picture (animation) of the day is

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Today's_featured_picture_(animation)

If you click on the link, it takes you to that page. However, if I click the link from the main page, it turns into

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Today%27s_featured_picture_%28animation%29 (the same page, but with code substituted for symbols in the address)

Why does this happen?

--JianLi 21:56, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

See Percent-encoding. Zzyzx11 (Talk) 01:06, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Picture of the Day

I may be completely blind, but I don't see the picture of the day today. What's up with that? 22:46, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Nevermind; I see it now...--Falconus|Talk 22:47, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Idea

This may be a stupid idea, but there could be perhaps say an 'ask page' or something where users could ask questions who's answers are a bit to complex or ambiguous for search sites. Also if you had pictures of say an animal you could see if other people could identify it. Yahoo has something like that but not quite. Maybe there is such a page i'm new to wikipedia so I wouldn't know, hopefully I posted this in an appropriate place. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Gotskills22 (talk • contribs) 03:35, January 9, 2007.

It's not a stupid idea at all. As a matter of, Wikipedia has two such pages already. You can ask questions about Wikipedia at the Help Desk, and you can ask general knowledge questions at the Reference Desk. I hope that answers your question. By the way, Welcome to Wikipedia! Canderson7 ^(talk) 03:51, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

U.S. Airstrikes in Somalia

Just off the presses....something to get Nancy Pelosi's ugly face off ITN if anyone wants to run with it. [2]. Cheers! —ExplorerCDT 04:27, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

I'djust love to say I have been a great fan of wikipedia and I encourage yall to keep on doin this site its so fun!!!!! :)

500,00

Little goof: the 2000 Sri Lanka Cyclone summary in Newest Articles has 500,00 instead of 500,000 (which is on the original page). Can't fix it myself... graphite _elbow 13:43, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Fixed by Samuel Blanning, thanks – Gurch 14:34, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Nancy Pelosi Pic

Nothing against Nancy Pelosi, but could someone please replace her pic with something fresh? Merci! 24.82.168.119 04:23, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

What do you suggest? —David Levy 04:35, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Yeah Nancy Pelosi is getting annoying...you could change it to a laughing baby or something. Dagari 04:58, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Still desperate to get rid of Nancy ? Please be encouraged to update pages related to politics of Austria. A new Chancellor of Austria will be installed this week, and we have his picture standing by at WCommons. --PFHLai 16:40, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Yea, its starting to get a bit old, especially with her story falling way down to the bottom. There have been US strikes in Somalia, that seems worthy of replacing Pelosi. Perhaps a picture of an AC-130. ~Rangeley (talk) 22:29, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Tired of seeing Nancy Pelosi? Well guess what? So am I. I want another picture to be there. For the past 3 days I am stuck seeing her face. Please someone change to photo to another news article. thanks Sf49rox 05:34, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Find a free photo then. —Centrx→talk • 05:34, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

http://www.inthenews.co.uk/photo/oil-$7307$180.jpg —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Sf49rox (talk • contribs) 05:41, 9 January 2007 (UTC).

Is that applicable? and free? It comes from this news article: http://www.inthenews.co.uk/money/finance/news/international-affairs/belarus-shuts-down-oil-pipeline-$1038488.htm Sf49rox 05:43, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

It needs to be free as in liberty. This picture does not indicate its license; the copyright is owned by a news agency or a photography service, and without evidence of a free license, we cannot use it. The Pelosi portrait, for example, is in the public domain because it is a work of the United States government. —Centrx→talk • 05:53, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Here is government picture: http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/images/pipeline.jpg —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Sf49rox (talk • contribs) 06:07, 9 January 2007 (UTC).

And seriously, don't all pipelines look the same? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Sf49rox (talk • contribs) 06:11, 9 January 2007 (UTC).

This looks like it's just a random pipeline, not especially relevant to this news item. This does not add any information; the Pelosi picture says "This is what this person looks like". What's worse, it may very well be entirely misleading; the pipeline could be metal and be supported by concrete or be in a totally different natural environment. The picture cannot be false. Anyway, the proper place to bring this up is Template talk:In the news. —Centrx→talk • 06:14, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Indeed, the Pelosi picture has become rather stale. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a viable alternative at the present time. —David Levy 06:41, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Can't we find one of those green-and black <a href="" onmouseover="window.status='night-vision'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=; return true;">night-vision</a> images of u.s. airstrikes on southern somalia? There's gotta be one free, or a fair use screenshot we can snag.—ExplorerCDT 06:47, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Firstly, to which ITN entry would that be relevant? Secondly, we only use free images in this section. —David Levy 06:55, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Well, a U.S. airstike in Somalia is worthy of inclusion in ITN. Surprised no one's added it yet. —ExplorerCDT 07:20, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

You've spamed the link to the news in a couple of places. But you haven't put it forward as an ITN candidate. It may be in the mass media and big news - but is there an substantial article on Wikipedia about it? --Monotonehell 08:04, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

No, because I was busy getting drunk tonight. Now, see below. —ExplorerCDT 10:11, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Getting drunk? I approve ;) --Monotonehell 10:36, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

See War in Somalia (2006-present). The ITN line should read something like (not final): "An United States Air Force AC-130 gunship attacks suspected Al-Qaeda operatives entrenched in southern Somalia".

She's old news. That was Friday. This is Tuesday. Even the mention of her has moved so far down the page that it's separated from the photo. I suspect that any resistance to removing her photo may be based on "in your face" DailyKos politics, rather than legitimate copyright concerns about other photos. Can't we move the photo down to keep it with that mention? - ClemsonTiger 14:18, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

And your suspicion is wrong. Find another free-licensed image for any one of the items. — BRIAN0918 • 2007-01-09 14:44Z

It's interesting to see how a fake smile bores people quicker than any other picture.--cloviz 15:05, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Still desperate to get rid of Nancy ? Please be encouraged to update pages related to politics of Austria. A new Chancellor of Austria will be installed this week, and we have his picture standing by at WCommons. --PFHLai 16:40, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

There's another option. You could suggest a few new news items, or just grow up and deal with Nancys picture. dposse 20:07, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Huh ? "Just grow up" ? --PFHLai 23:51, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Anything. Please. The humanity. ~Rangeley (talk) 00:43, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

It's hardly a matter of maturity, it's a matter of stagnation of the main page's ITN picture. Though I agree that nothing has come to take its place, I as well am tired of seeing. Can't wait for the picture to change...Dooms Day349 00:52, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Please someone, change it. It is annoying! Sf49rox 01:41, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

*cough* ~Rangeley (talk) 02:12, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH THAT IS FUNNY. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Sf49rox 02:17, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Nice article man. I've updated Nancy Pelosi's page at Uncyclopedia, have a laugh eh? Dooms Day349 02:34, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

So Pelosi is attacking Somalia now? Can't we get a pic of the plane, for a change? --Howard the Duck 07:23, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Image of the day DAB

The link for Salamis on the image of the day for January 9 goes to a disambig page. Can we get that changed to either Battle of Salamis or Salamis, Cyprus? z4ns4tsu\^talk 14:41, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Links to Salamis Island & Battle of Salamis have been added. Thanks for pointing this out, z4ns4tsu. Next time, please make use of WP:ERRORS. It's good for suggesting small tweaks on MainPage like that. Service is usually quicker there. Thanks. --PFHLai 16:50, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Question

Why is the Wikipedia logo on Russian Wikipedia all sparkly now? 158.123.160.2 17:53, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Whatever it was, it's not there now. I don't see it, at least. Seldon1 17:59, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

I am thinking the same thing, It's still there [3]. AxG ^(talk) _{(sign here)} 19:18, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Is it the anniversary of its creation? Or is it for Wikipedia Day? -- tariqabjotu 19:25, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

I have been looking and they recently celebrated 100,000 articles. but now they have about 130,000 articles. AxG ^(talk) _{(sign here)} 19:29, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

It looks like a Christmas-themed logo: [4] (remember that over there, Christmas lands on January 7.) Titoxd^(?!?) 07:36, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Deguerre Image

Isn't there a Deguerreotype image of Deguerre than can be used rather than a pencil drawing? Not sure about copyright issues, but there are a ton in google image search (http://www.acmi.net.au/AIC/daguerre_jemayall_1848.gif). And given his 1789 birth I can't imagine any of them aren't in the public domain. Aepryus 19:01, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

The image may not nessisarly be in the public domain, even if the man was born in 1789. Unless you are aboslutly sure that it will not be a copyvio, then don't upload it. FirefoxMan 19:12, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Daguerre died in 1851, well over 70 years ago. Any of his works are in the public domain in the US (which is what matters for the English Wikipedia, as our servers are in Florida), no matter who tries to claim otherwise. —Cuivi é nen 21:13, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Please consider submitting the pics to Wikimedia Commons. We can use one of those pics next year. (Pls check the photographer's year of death for non-selfportraits.) Thanks. --PFHLai 23:53, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

RSS feed for POTD

The RSS feed for POTD shows the following page: Wikipedia:Picture of the day/January 10, 2007. Which does not exist. What's happened? --Midnighttonight (rendezvous) 01:57, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

The POTD system was changed recently, see Wikipedia:Picture of the day#Including the POTD on your user page. So it looks like the RSS feed was not updated yet. Zzyzx11 (Talk) 02:08, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Gathland State Park

The DYK on this park is incorrect - the article stated that this park hold the only memorial to war correspondents killed in combat in the world, but there is actually at least two other prominent memorials of this kind in the US - the OPC memorial center in New York City and the memorial at the Arlington National Cemetery. I've now corrected the article on this point Bwithh 10:08, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Skewed taxonomic diversity

Can someone elaborate on what the phrase "skewed taxonomic diversity" in the opening sentence, means. There is no explanation of skewed in the Alpha diversity or Biodiversity articles and this piece of jargon stands poorly in the opening of an article. Lumos3 13:16, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Read the article and you'll see that the term is described in the opening paragraph (and the Main Page blurb). It means that the taxonomic diversity observed differs from (is skewed from) that or the general region. In this case, there is a significant lack in terrestrial mammal diversity. - UtherSRG (talk) 13:31, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Idea

I know we ask a math question before allowing an account to be created, to protect from vandalbots and automated spam. But what if we asked a random math question every time before editing an article? This would prevent vandalbots from vandalizing at all. I know this is not the place for this---where do I go to sugesst this? Seldon1 17:33, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

You may want to go to Wikipedia:Village pump. --PFHLai 18:06, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Village pump (technical) would be an appropriate forum, but I seriously doubt that this idea will garner much support. While an exception could be coded for properly flagged bots, this would inconvenience editors and reduce productivity to far too great an extent. —David Levy 18:07, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm dyscalculic ... —The preceding unsigned comment was added by TheVenerableBede (talk • contribs) 16:33, 10 January 2007 (UTC).

Yet another POV main page

Far right parliamentarians increase their influence within the European Parliament (pictured) by founding a new transnational caucus.

Great job using a wikilinked term having a disputed neutrality and unsourced materal to describe MEPs. Wikipedia is consistently a joke. --Haizum μολὼν λαβέ 15:39, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Well they are all far-right. It's established at the article. Still, it shouldn't really be stated at ITN, so I'll change it now...Actually I have to go, someone else take care of this. Nishkid 64 15:52, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

You do realize that everyone who edits wikipedia is human, right? I dunno about you, but i haven't met a perfect one yet. dposse 16:23, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

It's pretty ironic to declare "they are all far-right" in the context of the moral and political relativism that is the EU. --Haizum μολὼν λαβέ 16:37, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps it is, but your comment "Wikipedia is consistently a joke" is very, very insulting and demeaning to thousands of editors who actually work to try to make it better. I take great offense at that, personally, and ask you either apologize or retract the comment. Dooms Day349 01:17, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

So do we really have to feed the trolls, again? --Howard the Duck 07:28, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

But that's the only context they should be considered in. No one gives a screwy whether they're far right in the context of the US or Haizum or whatever, that's completely irrelevant Nil Einne 11:34, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

No, what's screwy is the inability to just let their political leaning be self-evident. Instead, "someone" has chosen to use a wikilinked term that has disputed neutrality, is of substandard quality, and doesn't cite its sources. Just bringing this up results in personal attacks by editors that have fancy user pages. The joke continues. --Haizum μολὼν λαβέ 20:57, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

For the record, the Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty page has a source that the group really is far right. --Howard the Duck 04:37, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

Also keep in mind that the news story is much less significant if the group's far-right status isn't pointed out. -Elmer Clark 08:03, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

You seem to be missing the point. You said, "pretty ironic to declare "they are all far-right" in the context of the moral and political relativism that is the EU". Whatever you may think of the EU, and regardless of whether you think anything associated with the EU can be far right it's irrelevant. What is relevant that far right in this context means far right in the context of the EU. Not far right in the context of the US or far right in the context of Haizum. Whether or whether not it was justifiable/right to call them far right on the main page is not a debate I want to get into. My sole point was that your suggestion that they can't be far right because they're associated with the EU is IMHO, silly... Nil Einne

Wikia

lets mention wikia search on the front page of wikipedia to get more users to wikia.

Sadly Wikiasari doesn't have it's own page, so that alone disqualifies it from the Today's Featured Article and Did You Know sections. The proposed launch was mentioned by Jimbo way back on December 23, so it's a tad stale to appear in In The News (and barely got a mutter in the offline press regardless), and I'm afraid the idea's not been around long enough to merit a place on On This Day. Lacking any images for Picture Of The Day, there don't appear to be any sections that the proposed search engine would qualify for at the moment. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 07:48, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

It's not a metawiki sister project either :( --Monotonehell 08:37, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Oldest atill active

Just to say i have moved this conversation to Wikipedia:Village pump (miscellaneous)#Oldest still active. Simply south 15:18, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Recent Changes

I have a question about the recent changes page but I don't know where to ask it so I'll ask it here. What are the numbers with the plus and minus signs next to them all about? Like I uploaded a picture to the Battle of Bunker Hill and it said -1 or someone edited a page and next to their name in the history it said +675. What does this mean? --ILoveFuturama 15:21, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

It's the number of bytes (basically the same as characters) added to or removed from a page. —Mets501 (talk) 15:35, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Suggestion

Sorry, but I was not sure where to put this. Wikipedia should get an Amazon Affiliate account to use when linking to any book. This is a way to raise money for Wikipedia, which will require less donations to help it sustain itself!

Take a look at the book sources talk. I believe we tried this before but didn't get much money and Jimbo decided to can it because of complaints Nil Einne 16:36, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

(edit conflict) There's more use of Wikipedia:ISBN in lieu of linking to for-profit sites like Amazon. I'm not necessarily opposed to the idea, but I think it's unlikely to gain traction among the community.--Kchase T 16:38, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

This is what I was referring to BTW Wikipedia talk:Book sources Nil Einne 17:00, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

That would favour Amazon over other online book stores and would be unfair, especially if there was not community consensus on which online book store to use. --Midnighttonight (rendezvous) 23:09, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

I guess you don't mean we'll be directly favouring Amazon since AFAIK there was no suggestion to do that? But I never really thought about it but you have a point. If we have an Amazon affliate account but not affliates with other book sellers, people may be encouraged to use our Amazon link because we will get money. Nil Einne 14:14, 14 January 2007 (UTC)