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Please do not remove this invisible timestamp. See WT:ERRORS and WP:SUBSCRIBE. - Dank (push to talk) 01:24, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

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  • Don't understand how Haitian politics is working at the moment, but it seems that our blurb is now out of date/incorrect, as Michel Patrick Boisvert is no longer prime minister, but was replaced with Fritz Belizaire. [1][2] Natg 19 (talk) 05:59, 1 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    It is unclear if the new appointment was with immediate effect or not, so we could very easily still be technically right, or we could be wrong. Might be wise to reword the blurb to avoid mentioning the name of the new PM altogether (and pick a different photo) until there is more clarity. Floquenbeam (talk) 18:48, 2 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Removed mention of Boisvert, as the situation is unclear. The Solomon Islands PM blurb was bumped up, given its new update, and its photo is now displayed.—Bagumba (talk) 03:38, 3 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

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Main page general discussion


No more cricket, Please!!

i am sure that england is biased towards cricket as when england won the cricket world cup, a competition not remotely cared about in most countries, especially america and other western european countries. the whole team recieved awards from the queen. however when liverpool won the europeaan champions league non of them recieved medals from the queen when it is the most prestigous sporting event in europe, and reveared throughout the world. and to do it in the manner in which they did was all the more impressive. however, the main reason i dnt favour cricket as much as other sports is because they are not athletes, they are like snooker players- skill but not athletisism, which is why i respact rugby, football, and other real sports far more than cricket.

When did England win the World Cup? Maquahuitl 04:25, 16 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Cricket is an interesting sport but takes skill and talent, i dont think the discussion

I agree that Cricket does not demand too much of athletic abilities but that's because endurance is not a question in the game. However to compare cricket players with snooker players is idiocy. Cricket has its own fitness requirements. Maquahuitl 04:27, 16 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Cricket is not the most "physical" of sports, but to argue it does not require athleticism is ridiculous. The average man plucked off the street to play in a Test match batting and bowling would end up exhausted and with concussion. 10:25, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

For the idiotic Americans, America is the world and what they don't see in America does not exist. Maquahuitl 04:29, 16 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]


I noticed that there are quite a few articles (too many!) and references to cricket of late in the main page. Cricket is a sport popular in just a handful of countries...It looks like a bias to me, really. Perhaps what I am saying makes no sense, but it is my impression. vaceituno 00:00, 13 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Can you "bowl" a ball at 100mph or 160kph without bending and then straightening your arm like a javelin thrower. An unfit player cannot preform to the levels that a fit player can perform; a lack of fitness will sap him over a long period in the field. Grumpygrumpy 00:33, 16 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
This is no more a bias than if we had a main page article on the FIFA World Cup during that event. The Cricket World Cup is taking place as I type. Whilst certainly not popular in all countries, it is definitely an international competition and is, in fact, popular in most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations. Brown168 07:41, 13 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Regardless of whether Cricket gets too many references, it deserves one today, the start of the world cup is an important event for the sport, and therefore hundreds of millions in South Asia and many elsewhere. Shane1

The articles that are chosen are Feature articles, which means we rate them as the absolute best on Wikipedia. It is not our fault that the cricket-editing Wikipedians want to write superb articles on what they enjoy. If you want other sports or other topics to dominate the main page, I suppose you should start contributing to some FAs or Did you knows! GizzaChat © 10:37, 13 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
How did this end up here anyway? It's a new post but it's neither at the very top (which is wrong but people do it occasionally) nor at the very bottom. In any case, as others have pointed out Cricket World Cup is a featured article so there was never any reason not have it on the main page and this is a good time to have it so why not? It may reduce the demands to mentioning the opening in the world cup too. Nil Einne 18:38, 13 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

That argument gives far greater justification for preventing baseball and American football articles from being featured on the Main Page. As it happens, this World Cup has a global audience estimated at 2 BILLION. Yes, we know that not many of them happen to live in America. There were >600,000 bums on seats at the 2003 event. That's a lot of people. --Dweller 19:04, 13 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There must be quite a few supporters in North America as Canada even have a team in the world cup this time! I agree with others though I have not noticed any cricket bias, there have been a few front page articles on it over the past year or so but considering it is one of the most popular worldwide sports, this isn't surprising and there hasn't been any more articles than on other sports of similar popularity (e.g. Soccer, Rugby & Hockey). Canderra 21:38, 13 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]


cricket must be given front page coverage. It the most popular sports and world cup ocurrs once in four year........

Cricket is a religion in these countries with billoins of followers..........

"There were >600,000 bums on seats at the 2003 event" Actually thats not a huge number for an international sports tournament, though the viewing figures (if they were known accurately) would be huge. In any case I haven't noticed any Cricket bias, though admittedly I am a fan. Perhaps Cricket is over represented relative to the global sport of football, but then we go back to the argument of whether English wikipedia is for native speakers (majority North American) or for anyone with a smidgin of English.

WP:CRIC carries a list of Cricket's 11 (current) Featured Articles and their appearances on the Main Page. Four have never appeared on the Main Page. Of the other seven, one was yesterday, the previous one was over a year ago and you have to go back to August 2005 for the one before that. (There was also a former FA that appeared in Feb '06) One or two per year (!) doesn't really seem excessive. Two per year is less than 0.6%. --Dweller 10:55, 14 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I don't detect much of a bias towards cricket articles to be honest- these kind of debates crop up from time to time and seem to just be a natural aspect of the global Wikipedia family's workings....it may be easy however for American readers to not realise just quite how incredibly popular cricket is in e.g. India and Pakistan (=about 1/4 of the world's population, and a very significant anglophone audience) just as some non-American readers may underestimate the popularity of, for example, baseball and basketball in e.g. latin America/the Carib/Japan/Eastern Europe etc. This is the pre-eminent competition for one of the most popular sports on the planet (maybe #2 after football?)- not inherently inappropriate for the main page imho. But as always- if we want a greater diversity of articles, let's write more FAs. Badgerpatrol 11:12, 14 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think anyone argues basketball's popularity. We do feel that American Football (esp. during Superbowl) gets too much coverage on Wikipedia. 203.199.213.67 06:02, 15 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

To all the people arguing that "such and such a sport is more popular than this and that other sport", please understand that a subject's popularity plays NO direct part in being featured in any of the sections on the main page. (In fact there could be something said for featuring things that people generally know little about, but may find that they are interested in.) For a subject to appear in Today's Featured Article, it must first be edited up to Featured Article quality, then be selected for inclusion. Popularity plays no part there. For an item to be listed in In The News, it need only be of international interest, be a subject in the News Media, have a substantial article in Wikipedia that has been updated with the current concerns and contain more background encyclopedic information than a reader would normally find in a newspaper. Again nothing to do with how many people follow a sport. Anyone thinking of having a running scoreboard in ITN can put that out of their mind. Only the final result of any one competition can be displayed at the conclusion of the competition. --Monotonehell 11:43, 14 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I think it is worth mentioning that cricket is highly popular in former English colonies and those countries have high percentages of English speaking people. Since this is the English Wikipedia, topics relating to English based subjects are more likely to be written about and therefore, have a higher chance of becoming featured articles. S. Randall 14:11, 16 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

In North America, March is notoriously dead sports-wise, outside of the College basketball finals there's not much going on. Football is over and Baseball hasn't started yet. Surely there's enough room to talk about Cricket. I won't pretend I understand any of it but it seems to be a cool sport. Besides, Wikipedia is a place of learning, it can't hurt to learn about Cricket. Saebhiar Adishatz 00:24, 17 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

England has not won the Cricket World Cup, they have won the football in 1966 and the rugby in 2003.


Believe it or not, very few people care about Liverpool winning some cup. There are MILLIONS of cricket fans throughout the world, who can attend a local or international match without resorting to violence. Begimogik 15:08, 18 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

To deal with your points in turn- a) perhaps very few people in overall terms as a percentage of the global population, but for a sporting event it would not surprise me at all if viewing figures for e.g. the Champion's League Final (is that what you're referring to with "...some cup"?) and the cricket world cup final were comparable (or even if the football was ahead); b) that obviously isn't of any relevence, but it is only fair to point out that cricket also has its share of crowd problems from time to time (not as great as those of football, but then we are dealing with a far, far smaller overall fanbase and a completely different sort of game) and can at times be quite charged (e.g. India v Pakistan etc.). Badgerpatrol 02:19, 19 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Football is very popular world over. And many people worldwide actually do care for Liverpool (and that's why they resort to violence).Aniket ray 02:24, 19 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
No true football fan "resorts" to violence under any circumstance. Invariably, the animalistic thugs who are associated with football violence know or care little or nothing about the game itself. For interest, it seems from this (not the greatest source, I grant you!) that the Champion's League Final gets about 3.5 times as many viewers as the cricket world cup final (and the Superbowl seemingly gets more than either). Badgerpatrol 02:34, 19 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
While I agree that football thugs aren't representative of the average fan and can't be called a true fan, the evidence to me suggests they do in fact know about the game and do in fact care about the game (or rather their teams). Yes they might be somewhat insane individuals but I think you're ignoring the evidence since the evidence to me suggests it isn't just mindless violence. Also I'm highly doubtful of the figures for the cricket world cup however. 20 million seems a rather low number to me. Especially since that final involved India, it wouldn't surprise me if the Indian audience itself exceeded 20 million. Audience statics in India are fairly difficult to work out I presume but the figure does seem on the low side to me Nil Einne 12:35, 20 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Just to tick off the folks over at Conservapedia, I move that we move all of the Cricket-related articles over there. They'll just LOVE them! ;-) Dr. Cash 04:47, 19 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Random Article within some Category?

I would love to be able to look at a random article in science/technology. Is there any way to do something like this? Vincecate 23:10, 9 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

As far as I know, no! --Meno25 01:29, 10 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

No no there is a way. I have already tried it out. Ill get back with the details Pozhan 09:05, 10 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Well, you can click Special:Random until you get a science/technology article, or you can find an appropriate category page and click a link at random. Can't think of anything other than that – Qxz 13:41, 10 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Now that you think of it, it would be nice when you click "random article", say a drop down list opened and you could click all articles or a particular section. -abynion08 11:57, 13 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
it would be cool, but you would have to throw all of the millions(billions?) of articles into a category for each of them. 65.9.153.112 20:43, 13 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

So what is this exactly??

It wouldn't hurt to ask Werdna to make this possible. · AO Talk 17:08, 16 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Or anyone at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical). --199.71.174.100 23:00, 18 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia functions

What is the most complicated function that Wikipedia can perform? Ahadland 21:16, 17 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Creating an encyclopaedia? You'll have to be more specific. --Cherry blossom tree 01:03, 18 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Like whats the most complicated formulae it can produce, or the most complicated infobox —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Ahadland1234 (talkcontribs) 16:28, 18 March 2007 (UTC).[reply]
I still think my (removed) quine is better. 81.77.73.180 22:13, 18 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
If you're talking about m:ParserFunctions, then... well, see that page for what they can do – Qxz 00:15, 20 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Suggestion

I think someone should create a software using which we can easily create pages in a graphical interface. The software can resemble Microsoft Frontpage or any other web designing software. The software should then be able to convert the web page into a Wikipedia style page. You know it's difficult to use the editing interface currently offered. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.130.9.24 (talk) 15:02, 20 March 2007 (UTC).[reply]

That's why we have WikEd, but you will need to register for an account and add that to your WP:monobook. It isn't stable enough to be standard, and doesn't work with all browsers, so it is not the default. And this isn't the right place for this kind of stuff, anyway. This belongs in the village pump proposals. ffm talk 15:53, 20 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

6 Nations

I was wondering wether the 6 nations final (won by France) should be included in the news. It is by no means a minor sporting event, and the Superball was included. Matt. P 22:30, 17 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You might want to discuss this at Template talk:In the news where it is more appropriate. Alternatively, you can propose it yourself at Wikipedia:In the news section on the Main Page/Candidates. I'd have to say tho, I'm not particularly sure this is of sufficient international interest for ITN, especially as there was nothing particularly suprising about the result. The Superbowl often seems to be mentioned but I personally feel it shouldn't. The RWC this year definitely should be mentioned. Nil Einne 01:56, 18 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
What the fuck is the "6 nations final"? (And please stop editing my question. Wikipedia is not censored.) 89.120.193.125 20:56, 18 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
89.120.193.125, please be civil. There's no need to use bad language in these discussions here. Use the F-word only when it's appropriate, like when screaming at vandals. --199.71.174.100 21:51, 18 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Even then don't. It just encourages vandals. Wikipedia may not be censored but as you said let's be civil at all times. --Monotonehell 16:27, 19 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
"...incivility is roughly defined as personally targeted behavior that causes an atmosphere of greater conflict and stress." My comment was neither personally targeted nor did it cause an atmosphere of greater conflict and stress (there was only an IP who decided to edit my question - and that was his only edit on Wikipedia). 89.120.193.125 16:06, 20 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Try Six Nations Championship. Next time scroll to the box to your left, enter Six Nations (or 6 Nations, both work) and click "GO". You should end up at Six Nations from which you can go to Six Nations Championship. Alternatively, if you use www.google.com and search for "Six Nations" you should find useful results. Nil Einne 21:11, 18 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Well its more important than the Superbowl but thats a discussion for another day, I am dissapointed it didn't make in the news, because i woukd make sure as hell the AFL Grandfinal or the Tri-nations final would get in. -- Librarianofages 21:32, 18 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I was also extremely surprised the 6 nations result wasn't mentioned in the "in the news" section. Particularly as I've seen several other sporting events of less prominence mentioned. Canderra 21:25, 18 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I just wanted to point out that so far no one has actually properly proposed the Six Nations final result for ITN as I suggested above. While I personally am not sure it should go up I'm just one person. If people feel so strongly it does then you should go ahead and read the guidelines and propose it. You won't know until you try. The criteria is here BTW Wikipedia:In the news section on the Main Page Nil Einne 21:39, 18 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

No need to bother with WP:ITN/C. The Six Nations should stay off ITN because it's not the top level competition in the sport of rugby, unlike the SuperBowl (/NFL postseason play), the top level competition in American football. Wait till October for 2007 Rugby World Cup, people. --199.71.174.100 21:49, 18 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Forget Six Nations. Why isn't Cricket World Cup in the news? 58.178.129.251 08:22, 19 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Because nobody won yet, although the death of the Pakistan coach might be included. --Howard the Duck 11:43, 19 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
This issue should be discussed at WP:ITN/C. Not here. --74.14.18.212 15:53, 19 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Duplicate Headings

(Moved to Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Duplicate Headings)

I move the above as it's likely to require further discussion and should get the most appropriate attention there. Hope contributors don't mind Nil Einne 19:27, 18 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

What happened...

to the tips on where else a user might want to go for assistance besides this talk page? On February 15, for example, under the "Main Page and beyond" box, there was a link to Wikipedia:Contributing to Wikipedia, a server status page, and the important bullet point (in bold) "If you have an opinion, comment, question or are looking for help regarding Wikipedia in general, find the place where your post will get the most attention here. Just that last link alone would be helpful, I think. --zenohockey 01:06, 19 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

We decided to take all that crap out because it made this page look daunting and overly complicated. 89.120.193.125 11:01, 19 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
And because people just ignored it anyway. We "connected" this page with WP:ERRORS, as a compromise over a merge poll. ffm talk 20:15, 19 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Obscene pic @ uranium

Tried to undo, but failed. Please act quickly. Thanks. Murcielago 02:07, 19 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Next time, report such problems at WP:ANI or WP:AIV for immediate assistance. Not here. --74.14.18.212 15:52, 19 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Could you please be a little more polite when responding. Your reply comes off as quite antagonistic. Thanks Ahadland 00:04, 20 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Antagonistic? Really? I'd never thought about that. I had no such intent, but perception counts. Sorry. I just wanted to give clear directions and be helpful. --74.13.130.64 04:38, 20 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, here is where I found the initial report... as long as you report it somewhere visible, nobody cares. Titoxd(?!? - cool stuff) 00:18, 20 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Many viewers of this talk page lack the technical capacity to do much about serious vandalism. Reports at ANI or AIV will probably lead to better response from experienced admins who can provide more assistance. --74.13.130.64 04:38, 20 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Bob Woolmer's death

moved to WP:ITN/C by ffm talk on 16:00, 19 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Tabs for ITN?

Would it technically be possible to have tabs for the ITN section, to satisfy readers with seperate World / North America / South America / Africa and the Middle East / Asia / Europe feeds? See the new homepage for USA Today, which features "Headlines" and "News notes". -- Zanimum 18:11, 19 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There's separate pages for the regions in the ITN "back end" Portal:Current events, but they are for the most part woefully neglected. So you'd see some tabs stagnate for weeks while others moved past too quickly to be noticed. --Monotonehell 18:21, 19 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I agree that's a strong possibility, the neglect. But those pages are ultimately quite hidden, in my opinion at least, so there's little point in updating them for many people. I'm asking strictly about the technical aspects for now. Does the wiki software have the technical ability to do something like this? -- Zanimum 19:22, 19 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
We could probably do it with CSS... ffm talk 20:13, 19 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Tabs are ridiculously difficult to use on wikis, along with several other complex CSS functions. For instance, a two tab system (tabs A and B) would require that when a user clicks to see B, B's display property would switch from none to block and A's display property would switch from block to none. (Actually the specific term block is unnecessary, if you simply clear the property (style.display='';) it will act just the same). This requires coding like onclick="document.getElementById('B').style.display='block';". From my experience, wikis deactivate coding like this, unless there is a provision somewhere for purposes like these. Zanimum, if you are seriously interested in creating some kind of tab system, I would suggest you do a trial somewhere deep within the encyclopedia instead of trying to get it here on the main page. There would be a lot of controversy getting it placed somewhere so highly visible because of browser compatibility and user confusion.. etc. One place where I've tried for quite a while to get a tabbed system working is {{Navigation tabs}}. If you look at the edit history, you'll see I've gotten quite frustrated trying out many approaches. -- drumguy8800 C T 05:42, 20 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Do we have enough ITN candidates to fill up all those tabs? Maybe better for the Signpost? Or Wikipedia:Community Portal/Opentask, allowing the font size to be larger? --74.13.125.194 14:24, 20 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Not currently, no, but I know we could stir up more interest. I mean, we could do a trial time, and see how it goes. -- Zanimum 20:01, 20 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
A tab for the Signpost and the Open tasks would be nice... Titoxd(?!? - cool stuff) 20:03, 20 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I guess we will just have to pray to the gods of CSS and wikisyntax (why isnt there an article about it!) to bless us with such great gifts. ffm talk 01:20, 21 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I would support this. BTW, the article's at "Wikitext" — Jack · talk · 01:27, Wednesday, 21 March 2007