Talk:Main Page/Archive 38

message: How about a "most viewed" box on the Main Page?
*Nah, these primadonnas already get too much attention.  How about a least-viewed; in fact, how about a never-viewed? :)--Pharos 07:25, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: What I'd like is for each page to display an Edits per View ratio. The theory being that the more often a page is viewed without someone deciding to edit it, the more accurate it probably is. Seabhcán 13:06, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  probably views per edit would be more appropriate - but of course - it's basically the same - just the other way round... - Blueshade 14:51, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

text: Really? I think high edits-per-view is more likely to mean a page is the site of major edit wars, because the really popular pages (penis, George W. Bush) will have large numbers of both editors and viewers. Nickptar 23:54, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Thats true, Edit-war pages are a special case. But even here, the ratio would show high edits per view (or low views per edit, if you prefer) and the ratio would show these pages to be unreliable. Pages with a very high number of views for each edit must be more reliable. The measure would also deal well with pages that are on off beat topics and recieve low traffic. Such pages have both low views and low edits, so the edits/views ratio would still give a rough indication of reliability. It shouldn't put much strain on the servers (speaking as a programmer who hasn't looked at the wikimedia code) each page could be given a simple view counter (this info is probably available as the servers must render wiki-code to html each time a page is requested). The number of edits is readily available. The ratio could be calculated based on "number of edits over the last 20 views/20). It would be a bit like Google's pagerank. Seabhcán 11:30, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Problem: the servers don't render HTML every time a page is viewed; something like 90% of hits are served by a Squid HTTP proxy. Though it would probably be trivial to patch this to count views. Nickptar 13:26, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: How about a '''"most viewed"''' box on the Main Page?

message: The first thing I read when I visit Wikipedia is the lead paragraph of the featured article. Sometimes, although the article itself is fine, the lead paragraph is clumsily-written; most often, it starts up with a long, confusing sentence which tries to encapsulate the subject's attributes as quickly as possible. I usually find that the article has been speedily changed by other, quicker Wikipedia editors. However, the text on the main page remains as it was, a blot.
The example right now is Steve Dalkowski, a baseball bowler. The opening paragraph on the front page reads "Steve Dalkowski is a former minor league left-handed baseball pitcher, sometimes called the fastest pitcher in baseball history – earning him the nickname "White Lightning"". This is a clumsy sentence. "A former minor league left-handed baseball pitcher" is unwieldy, and the second half of the phrase doesn't match the fact of him earning his nickname with an action he performed.
Is it a cache issue, does it take time to filter through - presumably to stop vandalism appearing on the main page - or do administrators have to manually update the text, assuming they can? Could people double-check the opening paragraphs of things they feature? Apart from this issue, please carry on, you're doing a good job - and you, yes you, you're beautiful.-Ashley Pomeroy 16:26, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Clumsy 'Featured Article' opening paragraphs 

message: Hum, excuseme, but is the spelling bee contest important enough for the news on the main page?
: Didn't you hear? Wikipedia is for USA parochial bullshit! Word of your "important global events" has not reached their shores.
May someone remove that story? :-) (left by User:Equinoxe
----
Look at the edit summary: . This admin openly admits he was trolling. Unfortunately when someone responsible cleared up his little joke someone else added it back in again. (81.153.154.71)
:He was joking. It was added because people have been complaining that ITN hasn't been updated enough. Many of the candidates on the candidates page are invalid so us admins don't have as many choices as we would like. Other suggestions are put on the wrong page (like the ones on the bottom of this page) and don't get used. It's hard to be really dynamic without adding less important content. This link is Broken 19:39, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  A spelling bee, a global event? 

message: Unless somebody is making a dig about the pre-NATO European peacekeeping effort in the Balkans, I'm pretty sure the image of thousands of corpses should not be labeled "Flag of the European Union".
:Fixed but please discuss the template on its talk page. This link is Broken 20:44, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  ALT attribute for Srebrenica Massacre image incorrect 

message: Its link should be moved to the third from the second group of "Wikipedia in other languages". Adam78 00:29, 4 Jun 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Not to be picky but isn't it actually at 9967? This link is Broken 00:40, 4 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Hungarian Wikipedia: 10,000 articles reached, requested move 

message: No, it's actually 10042 now.  --194.143.247.99 07:46, 4 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Hun Wikipedia 

message: Srebrenica Massacre has been transferred to Srebrenica massacre. In the news should be corrected. --Eleassar777 my talk 21:32, 4 Jun 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Fixed, in the future make these requests at Template talk:In the news. This link is Broken 00:32, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Srebrenica Massacre

message: It reads "It also contains work-arounds for to avoid the "DLL hell" that plagued older consumer versions of Windows, which stemmed from inefficient software management." 
which should read "It also contains work-arounds to avoid the "DLL hell" that plagued older consumer versions of Windows, which stemmed from inefficient software management."
There's an un-needed for in there.
:Fixed, thanks. --cesarb 00:55, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Typo on Windows XP 

message: I miss links to all the international Wikipedias on the Mainpage. All over the world it is common use to give a hint to Wikipedias worldwide in a list below toolbox. On the english site it's missing. What's the reason?
Greetings and best wishes
Paul 17:49, Jun 5, 2005 (CET)
:There is a great big section on the main page with links to all Wikipedias with over 1000 articles. — Trilobite (Talk) 20:10, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Links to international Wikipedias

message: Someone please fix the link (well, it's not broken, but direct links rather than redirects are definitely preferred). This is our front page.
----
The front page, as it is, seems to accept the Pentagon's contention ("confirms") that Qur'ans were "accidentally" mistreated fairly uncritically. Saying that it "claims" such might be better. When was the last time you accidentally urinated on a piece of scripture? 
— Vivacissamamente 08:23, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  "In the news"  allegations of Qur'an desecration redirects 

message: In an article about Wikipedia:Gaza Strip several editors object having any links to external photos.
The photos in question http://www.pbase.com/yalop/gaza  http://www.pbase.com/yalop/mawassi http://www.pbase.com/yalop/gaza_surfers
Show visually the life in Gaza, both for the Palestinians and for the Israeli settlers who are facing an evacuation as part of Israel pullout plan from Gaza.
So the question is:
Should links to external photo sites be allowed from Wikipedia or the only use of photos on Wikipedia should be for photos that are loaded into Wikipedia. Maybe all external links should be disallowed? Not just photos .
What do you think ?
:The main issue here (though there are several) is that the anonymous editor keeps linking to his own photo sites; other editors view this as self-promotion. Jayjg (talk) 18:19, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: This isn't the place for policy discussions. -- Cyrius|✎ 19:41, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:   "Should wikipedia have exteranl links to photos" ? 

message: Dear admins! I tried accessing the Wikipedia Sandbox, but I was redirected to the Naruto characters article. Is it me or is it vandalism? KNewman 12:31, Jun 6, 2005 (UTC)
:Not you, someone was testing redirects (which they shouldn't do in the sandbox). Fixed. (For future reference, this kind of stuff goes on Wikipedia:Help desk). --W(t) 12:35, 2005 Jun 6 (UTC)
:I wouldn't call it vandalism, it could just be improper testing of redirects done in good faith. Jeltz talk 13:11, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Wiki Sandbox problem

message: He won by 185-182 in the third round of the election, and he’s hardly an “opposition leader” (with my emphasis on leader). -- Ralesk 00:45, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  László Sólyom 

message: I saw an article in the new featured list a couple of days ago about a medieval Italian who converted to Islam and travelled widely. It showed a picture of a French translation of one of his books. I tried to go back to it yesterday searching on the name nicolò da conti. I completely failed to find anything. Did I spell the name wrong? Am I using the search facility incorrectly? Or am I just going crazy and imagining articles that don't exist?
:Niccolò Da Conti, recovered from Template talk:Did you know. -- ALoan (Talk) 13:20, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Nicolò da Conti 

message: I think that there's a goof in grammar in the DYK section: DYK that 1980s horror movie actress Ellie Cornell nearly broke out of her typecasting by appearing the 1992 film A League of Their Own, but had to drop out because she became pregnant? 
It should be: DYK that 1980s horror movie actress Ellie Cornell nearly broke out of her typecasting by appearing in the 1992 film A League of Their Own, but had to drop out because she became pregnant? Dralwik 21:03, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Grammar error 

message: In the anniversaries section, the 2004 event is about a long-distance runner, with "long-distance" linking to "Athletics long distances", which redirects to Long-distance track event. Dralwik 21:07, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  A redirect 

message: Can we get rid of some of this B.S. on this page?  Like the above entry and the CELL LINES one?  Perhaps we ought also to delete most of the text on the ones asking for help and redirect them to the Reference Desk?  Something to the effect of...
 CELL LINES
 ---- 
 "IT WOULD BE  INTERESTING, TO UNDERSTAND HOW THIS CELL LINE ORIGINATED[...]"
 Please direct your question to Wikipedia:Reference desk
Cigarette 13:20, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Everything is undoable here. If someone really values nonsense, they'll undelete it. Nickptar 20:32, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)

text: If nonsense is preferred, don't come to Wikipedia. You'll feel more at home at Wikia's Uncyclopedia. -- 18:40, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Nonsense on this talk page 

message: Furthermore, considering how much direction we do on THIS page to the Reference Desk, it might be a really good idea to put a link to the Wikipedia:Reference desk on the Front Page or perhaps in the sidebar. Cigarette 13:20, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Good idea.  Go for it. ... Actually, it's up there already in the header on THIS talk page.  People just don't see it ..... I've just bolded it. -- 64.229.229.120 16:18, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  you can bold it, make it larger, make it blink and still people will ask here, some people are just too lazy to read anything and will just go in and post. Boneyard 18:18, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Reference Desk on the Front Page 

message: What is this ruling party/opposition party nonsense. If this were the United States or Great Britain would anyone say opposition party instead of Democrats or Conservatives. Has anyone called New Labour the ruling party in place of its name in an encyclopedia?
:Main issue is sheer wordiness in limited space.  Look at the names of parties that are being linked to and think of how many extra lines that adds.  I would be delighted with one word party names.  Also, read the bolded article and see why "ruling party" is not entirely inappropriate. And please sign your edits with four tildes (~~~~).  Cheers, BanyanTree 23:08, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Ethiopia poll violence 

message: Eduardo Rodriguez is the new president of Bolivia, the #1 story of google news. Where is his wiki article? Sam Spade 07:10, 10 Jun 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I created an insanely crappy sub-stub, please help make it main page worthy ASAP. Sam Spade 07:14, 10 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Eduardo Rodriguez 

message: Please insert images in the article if you have them because I don't know how to insert them.
Kind of images are a Japanese rock singer Kyosuke Himuro, a soul music singer Ken Hirai, a famous economist Kazuhide Uekusa.
If their images are vivid and clear, it's better. (Sorry, I can't write English well because I'm Japanese) 61.26.91.43 13:14 Jun 12, 2005 (UTC)
: Please see Wikipedia:Image use policy and Wikipedia:Uploading images.  BTW, your English is fine. Cheers ! :-) -- 65.95.155.249 18:34, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Requested images 

message: Is it just me or has there been a lot of American Civil War stuff on the "on this day" bit of the site over the last few weeks? This is a bit POV in favour of the US. --Batmanand 18:36, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm more annoyed by the posting of anniversaries of the founding of big US corporations. US-centrism ? Free advertising on the Front Page of Wikipedia ? -- 64.229.206.40 13:18, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Too much American Civil War? 

message: I have made several comments here in the past about changes I recommend to the front page. Until the protocols change (see my recommendation on my user page) the main page should IMHO change the banner proclaim to read:
The free-content Encyclopedia anyone can contribute to
instead of
The Encyclopedia anyone can edit
There also needs to be a clear public warning or clear directions on how to read or use the Encyclopedia - one that clearly states that articles can claim no authority. The main page should clearly state:
Contributions to Wikipedia are not authoritative and may represent the bias and ignorance of the author. The presence of a subject in Wikipedia may not present a balanced view of the field to which the subject pertains. The presence of little known historical or contemporary figures in Wikipedia does not signify that their contribution or their field has merit.
This can then say something constructive about the Wikipedia process and how to best read Wikipedia - but this should be balanced and not self-aggrandising.
Further, Wikipedian's must stop claiming either directly or by implication that the Wikipedia has the same authority as Brittanica or other professional encyclopedias - it does not, and it cannot have such authority because the process and protocols that provide that authority are absent. To make such statements is a violation of public trust in my view. It can and maybe should be prosecuted by public authorities. This may startle many of the fine contributors here, and I mean no offence, but I feel strongly that something must be done to address the issues and ensure the public is protected.
That Brittanica and others have liability disclaimers is not a defence.
Steven Zenith 03:45, Jun 13, 2005 (UTC)
*Oppose. — Knowledge Seeker দ 04:28, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Recommended changes 

message: If any administrator/sysop can confirm that today is Shavuot, please add this Jewish holiday to the MainPage. It says so on Current events, but there is no mention on the Shavnot page. Thanks. -- 64.229.206.40 12:59, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Shavuot today ? 

message: Pioneer 10 has not left the solar system, the first craft to do this will probably be Voyager 1.  Pioneer 10 was the first craft to go beyond the orbit of Neptune (and Pluto).  Some scientists content that this is the definition of leaving the solar system, but most agree that it will need to pass through the heliopause first. Zerbey 15:21, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: That's correct, but is this or was this on the Main Page somewhere? Or is there somewhere else it needs to be fixed? Perhaps it was on the Main Page but has now been removed? — Knowledge Seeker দ 07:27, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  Yes, this was on yesterday's Selected Anniversaries. -- 11:56, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Pioneer 10