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Errors in the summary of the featured article

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Errors with "In the news"

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Current DYK

• Please wikilink Limia tridens, the little fish in the photo. Thanks, Abductive (reasoning) 12:59, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

  It already links Limia, although hidden behind different text. Secretlondon (talk) 13:10, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

  Limia tridens and Limia are not the same thing. Also, per WP:SURPRISE, not having a wikilink for an obvious (or at least potential) article indicates (incorrectly, in this case) to readers that no such article exists. Abductive (reasoning) 13:14, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

  The photo is being used as an example of limia Secretlondon (talk) 13:32, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

  The idea is to boost the article that an editor made for a DYK. I understand that. But the Main Page is for readers, not editors seeking points in the WP:CUP. Abductive (reasoning) 13:36, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

  I agree with Abductive - the caption should link to the species. It already uses the full species name, so just adding some square brackets is sufficient. Modest Genius 15:40, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

  Link added. RoySmith (talk) 17:29, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

• Is it just me, or is the DYK about treatment of Jewish POW's a misrepresentation of the article to which it links, and potentially down-playing antisemitic activities of the Nazi regime? The text is: "... that while Germans murdered millions of prisoners of war during WWII, the survival ratio of Jewish POWs was generally tied to the army or nation they served with, and not to their ethnicity?" This can easily be read as Jewishness was irrelevant to their treatment. Reading the actual article, the article says there were very large differences in treatment of POW's depending on the country with which they fought, but in all cases referred to in the article, Jewish POW's were treated worse than non-Jewish from the same military background. It seems to me that this is a very contentious topic, a topic where right-wing extremists are happy to misinterpret any text they can find. We are doubly, triply obligated to be super-careful in our wording, and today's DYK falls woefully short of the necessary care. Could we take it out, and run it again after better wording has been agreed? Elemimele (talk) 17:01, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

  I read the target article the other day and have now looked at the DYK nomination. It had not occurred to me at the time of reading the article, but Elemimele's concern is justified. ALT3 is the other hook that one of the reviewers liked, and it certainly intrigued me when I read the article (maybe I should have known that, but I didn't – hence I was surprised). Not sure whether that works for others (it didn't for the final reviewer), but I'd prefer ALT3 over something that raises concerns. Hence, I've swapped it. Schwede66 17:30, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

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General discussion

Punctuation @ In the News

In the first item, the sentence reads, "...a main shopping street Cyprus' divided capital of Nicosia."

In any dictionary you care to reference, whether it's the O.E.D. or Webster's, the rule dealing with the formation of the possessive in English states "add an apostrophe and the letter 's' to singular nouns and names". A few exceptions are commonly made for Biblical and mythological names (Jesus' or Zeus'), but the vast majority of words in English should be handled accordingly. This rule reflects the way the genitive case in English changed between the time of Chaucer and Shakespeare (Chaucer's 'my lordes warre' became 'my lord's war'), and the way most people pronounce the possessive even today.

I realise that a so-called 'convention' has crept into the copy-editing protocols of many publications that eliminates the final 's' for the possessive of singular nouns ending in 's'. This lunacy has infected even such august rags as Time Magazine and The Wall Street Journal. To me, the lone apostrophe just doesn't 'read' correctly, because it doesn't reflect how one actually says the word in question!

All I can say is: there's no justification for the perpetuation of ignorance, whatever the source. If all the periodicals in the English-speaking world were to adopt this bogus practice (and I'm happy to say, not all of them have), it still doesn't make it right. Cbrodersen (talk) 14:10, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Wanna have something changed? See #Main Page error reports above. --199.71.174.100 (talk) 14:30, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Whoa! Spot on! Darn the torpedos and full steam ahead!!! I for one agree that this linguistically cognitive crap consists of nothing but communication conundrums and should be corrected. 68.143.88.2 (talk) 15:32, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

"Linguistically cognitive crap consist of nothing but communication conundrums" that should be "corrected"--unbridled alliteration at its finest! Love it!! Cbrodersen (talk) 15:51, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Cbroderson and 68.143.88.2, my new heroes! May the 's always be used! I already requested a change, but someone ignorant in punctuation said either way is acceptable. Reywas92 19:00, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

If the manual of style says it's okay then it's okay. Either reach consensus to change the manual of style (which should take place there not here), or accept that it is okay. We are not going to fix an 'error' when our own manual of style says it's not an error. The MOS is there for a reason and that reason isn't so it can be arbirarily ignored Nil Einne (talk) 19:21, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Of course, you're correct--this talk page is not the place to make the correction. But the MOS is flat-out wrong, and I believe the history of English grammar (and the dictionaries) are the irrefutable authorities on the matter. It should be noted that Misplaced Pages contains many far more serious errors than this waiting to be fixed. Most people don't give a rat's ass about grammar, and when confronted with their mistake, will defend their error to the death, or accuse the person who pointed out the mistake of being an 'anal-retentive pedant'. Cbrodersen (talk) 20:11, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Actually, I have no personal opinion on this 'error' except to note the MOS doesn't agree with you it is an error. If you were to try to change the MOS, I probably wouldn't be involved in that. As you have already acknowledged, this is not the place to change the MOS and if the MOS is flat out wrong, then it has to be changed. Adhoc changing 'errors' resulting from a flawed MOS is clearly not the way to go and having long arguments on irrelevant places which will achieve nothing, whenever this comes up, is also pointless. Since you seem to be a bit of an expert on this matter, I don't personally get why you don't just try to reach consensus to change the MOS. If you do, then it will be simple to fix this error in the future and ultimately this error will be removed from the whole of wikipedia over time. If you try but fail, then you just have to accept that despite your opinion, there is no consensus for your views of English grammar in this particular matter. Nil Einne (talk) 05:39, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

"This rule reflects the way the genitive case in English changed between the time of Chaucer and Shakespeare (Chaucer's 'my lordes warre' became 'my lord's war')"... "If were to adopt this bogus practice... it still doesn't make it right."

So which one is it? English is allowed to change or it isn't? Maybe it should be "Cypruses". ;) Cigarette (talk) 20:35, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

You're basically talking through your hat. Dictionaries such as the Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam-Webster's are the authorities governing grammar and usage in English (despite what the MOS may say). Currently, the primary rule for the formation of the possessive in both these reference works is as I have stated above--there are no 'changes' underfoot that I am aware of, unless one feels that the preponderance of errors made by illiterate, uneducated users of English on the Internet and elsewhere is justification for making a 'change'.

I, for one, feel that if these grammatical dunces can't get with the program, then they should just 'get out of the way'. There are a lot more pressing problems in the world to solve, and I've already expended more energy on this subject than I care to.Cbrodersen (talk) 21:05, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

You are arguing, in essence, for prescription over description, and toward the proposition that certain long-standing grammatical rules, at least as codified by two chosen (although prominent) reference works, are immutable. One may very reasonably so argue—I, in fact, was once exceedingly sympathetic to the argument you advance—but it is the consensus of the community that our MoS properly reflects what the community, in their considered judgment, understand to be "proper English", and one, even if he/she is unquestionably correct, does well to quibble with that understanding at WT:MOS (or perhaps WP:RD/L) and not at an insular page. Joe (I can has barnstar?) 22:11, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Rather then accusing people of being 'grammatical dunces' who can't 'get with the program' and giving long off-topic arguments here, I suggest again you take it to the MOS. So far, from what I can tell, no one has defended the way the MOS is written in this particular matter, simply pointed out that it is the way it is written, so you are basically arguing with no one. If you had diverted your energy wasted here to actually trying to change the MOS, for all we know it might have been changed by now. Or perhaps not... At least you would have achieved more then going on a long off-topic rant about an issue no one has tried to debate with you Nil Einne (talk) 05:45, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

If you see here - http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50010512?query_type=word&queryword=apostrophe&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&result_place=2&search_id=SHad-jOMw2B-17911&hilite=50010512 (you need a subscription, however the contents of the web page should be available in any full OED under the second sense of apostrophe), you will see that Moses' uses only an apostrophe. It is widely accepted that Greco-Roman names of people and places of historical notability ending in 's' use a single hanging apostrophe: Socrates', Jesus', Cyprus', Zeus'. I really take exception to the fact that you've hidden behind the OED to make yourself look all-knowing, when in fact you are wrong. Joy.discovery.invention (talk) 02:47, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

I can't believe this punctuation issue can drag on for so long. The blurb on ITN now says "...Nicosia, the divided capital of Cyprus", hopefully avoiding the punctuation issue completely. I hope everyone is happy and can get back to writing encyclopedic articles (and more DYK candidates to nominate....) --PFHLai (talk) 06:11, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Maybe you should all check the OED more often on other topics, too, such as the pronunciation guide for "aluminium", and you'll see how wrong Americans have been saying it all these years..... With respect to the usage of the 's termination, may I point out that it is a general rule, and, as such, is affected by a number of exceptions. Again, if you check either OED or Collins Dictionary in their entirety, maybe you'll get to see that, in fact, nouns ended in s only need to have an apostrophe added in order to denote posession, and only in the case of persons' names can an "s" be, optionally, added after the punctuation sign. So, enough of gratuitously insulting the rest of us, thank you very much! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.37.39.161 (talk • contribs) 19:49, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

We respect many local variations of English in English Misplaced Pages. The use of American English is okay here. --74.13.130.186 (talk) 21:56, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

• So it's okay for language to evolve as long as it's not happening right before our eyes? The changes in the genitive case between Middle English and Modern is okay, but Modern English has to remain static? Where is that written? -- Qaddosh||contribs 22:14, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Written? Actually, the development of printing stabilized things. Dictionaries and grammar textbooks are cheap. Read them. ... Mind you, languages are still changing before our eyes. Only stable "intermediates" should be used, or too many new things that don't last will get people confused. --74.14.16.227 (talk) 05:07, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

Printed dictionaries are far from cheap. If I wanted to buy an English dictionary (a full one, not some pocket sized) I'd pay between 600 CZK and 1100 CZK. That's about the price of two or three hard cover novels.
Grammar textbook of my native language could be at an affordable price (some 300 CZK), but an English one will be double of that.
That of course doesn't mean that English dictionaries and grammar textbooks are unavailable-they can be borrowed from libraries or read on-line. Puchiko (Talk-email) 10:50, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

Featured images or featured media

Why don't we ever have featured sounds or video? I know this isn't Commons, but isn't it a bit biased just to have pictures? We could call it 'featured media' instead and have the occasional audio or even video file. We could also just have a featured audio/video as well as an image (perhaps only every few days or so).

The only objection I can imagine is that images can be viewed from the main page whereas audio cannot, and the OGG file is much less accessible to most people. I would counter that it would raise awareness about the non 2D-visual-only forms of media and get more people downloading the OGG patch. If enough people want to listen to our audio we might even see the major media players start making it a standard. Richard001 (talk) 00:44, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

Additionally, media other than pictures is much harder to evaluate. ~RayLast 01:45, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

If you're interested in starting a Featured Media page, then be bold and start one. Once you get some good clips selected, then come back here and suggest that we add it to the front page. Lovelac7 02:33, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps you're looking forPortal:Featured_content. To avoid clutter, and to avoid detracting from articles, not all types of 'Featured' stuff makes the main page. (Though what should go on the main page and what shouldn't, has certainly been debated before.) APL (talk) 02:51, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

(ec) We do, in fact, have featured sounds, although at present only 14, of which 10 were featured in the three months following FS's implementation. We don't, if we elect not to use sounds that are featured at Commons only (or at least those featured at Commons that did not originate here), seem to have enough FS to permit any useful sort of rotation, but I don't know that there'd be any grand objection to the inclusion of a "featured sounds" section had we enough material with which to work (the proposal to add a "featured list" section encountered some significant opposition, but that, AFAIK, was due mainly to the section's probable intrusiveness). We generally do permit video files or animations to be featured as pictures, and a good many have appeared on the main page. To be sure, though, we might marry our featured videos/animations with our featured sounds to create "featured media", but the frequency of addition of "featured media" still might be insufficient to permit the daily changing of the item without repetition. In the absence of logistical issues, though, the idea would, IMHO, be a fine one, and one might do well to create a proposal if there is some support for the idea in the abstract. Joe 03:08, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

Doesn't featured sounds have similar issues to featured lists, in particular it's almost impossible to summarise a featured sound? Unlike with a feature picture or video where you can put a thumbnail. Nil Einne (talk) 07:34, 11 April 2008 (UTC) P.S. Personally I won't object to TFP being expanded to TFM covering all media. However in the absence of simple alternative I would suggest we keep the current system going largely by order of promotion without any special consideration given to sounds Nil Einne (talk) 12:34, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

I remember several videos that have appeared as FPs. --Puchiko (Talk-email) 11:20, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

Links to these portals to other featured content can also be added to the purple section in the main page with a link, something like: Other featured media..., or something. I'm pretty comfortable with having only featured pictures on the main page though. ~RayLast 13:18, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

we've had least one featured video there. Just don't have many featured videos so it doesn't happen very often.Geni 13:23, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

There are currently 7 featured videos in the queue for POTD. I might as well point to my recent Signpost piece (the FP and FS sections are the relevant bits). MER-C 12:15, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Experimenting

I've been experimenting with a shadowing template I created and decided to test it in my Main Page sandbox. Please check it out and give me feedback. ~RayLast 23:01, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

Nevermind. It doesn't work for Firefox. Darn I hate these differences. ~RayLast 23:06, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

It works fine in my Firefox, having said that I'm using Firefox 3b5. I took a look, its an interesting effect, might steal it for my userpage if you don't mind. Time to see if the masses like it now :). ☯Ferdia O'Brien /_(C) 12:07, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

It doesn't work for Firefox 2. So people won't like it. I'll try and fix it later some time and let you guys know. ~RayLast 14:29, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

What was supposed to happen anyway? I saw little gray boxes at the corners. FF 2.0 user. --Howard the Duck 16:16, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

I'll screenshot it in a few minutes, thanks for the intel on my talk page btw Mistman123. ☯Ferdia O'Brien /_(C) 16:23, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

Hmm, it appears my work PC is being as useful as ever, so I'm going to have to extend that "in a few minutes" to in a few hours :( ☯Ferdia O'Brien /_(C) 17:31, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

I made a screenshot for those who have Firefox 2. I'll be trying to fix this later. Maybe after taxes. ~RayLast 18:08, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

Well once they roll out FF3.0 there'll be no real need, FF like to make sure everyone is using the correct version. ☯Ferdia O'Brien /_(C) 19:39, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

There is actually a significant number of people who use the older versions- see the lower table here. J Milburn (talk) 19:48, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

I just wanted your opinions on how it looked. I don't think it should be implemented anytime soon anyway. I'm thinking of adding some image buttons and test some other stuff to make it look nice, although I really like the current, simple, nice colored main page. I don't envy any other Misplaced Pages main pages in other languages. Simple is nice. ~RayLast 20:55, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

Wow... that's actually really nice. I don't think it's completely appropriate for the main page but it's an interesting bit of code, that you can actually get it to do that. Well done. I might nick it for my userpage too, when FF3.0 rolls out, and sod the people who deliberately click 'no' at the upgrade prompt. Just looking at the source... doesn't it add a hell of a lot of code to the page it's transcluded on though? Just for a few images/headers? Any way you could shrink that down a bit? —Vanderdecken∴ ∫ξφ 09:19, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

It looks great. I'd agree with this being on the Main Page once a stable version of Firefox 3 is released. The people using the older versions won't be hurt in any way, the only difference for them will be the little grey squares. Puchiko (Talk-email) 16:31, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

Doesn't look correct in Konqueror 3.5.8 either -62.172.143.205 (talk) 19:08, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

Yuck... I don't think it looks too good from the screenshot. Makes everything look too deep and complicated. -Tarthen Blazerken (talk) 08:20, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Well anyone interested in helping me fix it for other browsers, you can get/copy the code from {{User:Mistman123/Templates/Shadow}}. I don't have enough time to go through the code and test changes in all these different browsers, so any help is certainly welcome. When you get something working please let me know or post your code's link somewhere so I can check it out and possibly copy it back . ~RayLast 20:35, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

Safari 3.1 doesn't display this alternate page at all nicely, inserting a small two-tone grey square on the bottom right of the box but no further. Bobo. 02:43, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Yep. The template's page has the Safari caveat too. You can help fix it though. ~RayLast 03:39, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Since Firefox 3.0 doesn't run on Linux using wine, I would say ":("--Jahilia (talk) 15:38, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

Czech Disaster

One of the worst tram disasters in europe. http://www.novinky.cz/clanek/137461-v-ostrave-se-celne-stretly-tramvaje-tri-lide-zemreli.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.71.211.66 (talk) 17:43, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

Hi. The correct place to suggest news items would be WP:ITN/C. However, I don't think this is internationally significant (three dead people so far). Puchiko (Talk-email) 18:07, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

Significance does not depend on the amount of dead people. A building bombing can be really significant internationally even if no one is killed. Terrorist activities against trains, trams, buses, and buildings are relatively significant. Relative to many things. This specific event might not be significant but by other reasons. Just to make clear there shouldn't be a link between significance and the amount of dead people. ~RayLast 18:12, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

While an event can be significant with few deaths, the numbers of deaths is definitely a big component of significance in many cases. In any case, this discussion should take place in ITN/C as mentioned above and we need an article before it can even be considered Nil Einne (talk) 18:56, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

So why did we have the Heathrow crash thing on forever? Benjamin 20:12, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

Moved to Template talk:In the news#Czech Disaster (since no one else would) Nil Einne (talk) 20:45, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

85.71.211.66, you know the place to make suggestions for ITN is WP:ITN/C. So please stop posting news on this talkpage. Thanks. --199.71.174.100 (talk) 20:42, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

I am sorry to put it here but i would like to ask someone to put the czech car pile up on main news. Thanks http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=czech+crash+pile+up&spell=1 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.71.211.66 (talk) 17:56, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

You should discuss this at WP:ITN/C instead Lympathy 18:09, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

As you have been told on several occasions. If you had done so 5 days ago, as you knew you should have, on the 12th, if would more then likely be there by now. ☯Ferdia O'Brien /_(C) 19:02, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

More to the point, there is absolutely no use bringing something either here or on ITN/C if no article exists. (There is also no point bringing something that happened 26+ days ago either). Of course, WP:ITN/C does address both these points Nil Einne (talk) 20:35, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

If only a headline is to be posted, the place should be Portal: Current events, not ITN. --199.71.174.100 (talk) 23:30, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps Wikinews is a better place for news like that. --199.71.174.100 (talk) 23:37, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

Abraham Lincoln shot

Does it strike anyone as a bit odd that on the anniversary of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the assassin--not Abe Lincoln--is pictured? I realise that most visitors to the Main Page will be more familiar with Lincoln's image than Boothe's, but this makes it look like Misplaced Pages supports the assassination. Webbbbbbber (talk) 01:55, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Support????? That's stretching quite a bit. --74.13.125.50 (talk) 02:40, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

So putting Abe's picture would mean Misplaced Pages supports his death then? Sounds like nonsense to me. ~RayLast 03:37, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

No, quite the opposite: Putting Boothe's picture supports Lincoln's death, if you want to view it in simple terms. See below for more discussion. Webbbbbbber (talk) 05:14, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Boothe was just as important to the event as Lincon, and Misplaced Pages isn't censored. ☯Ferdia O'Brien /_(C) 03:40, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Frankly I'm surprised that there is so much objection to my comment. In general, I have found that on anniversaries of assassinations, more space (including, but not limited to, images) is given to the person assassinated. For example, on the anniversaries of the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK, their photos will be featured more prominently than those of Lee Harvey Oswald, Sirhan Sirhan, or James Earl Ray. This is not because of censorship, but because people prefer to remember the acts of the assassinated to those of the assassin, at least in general.

It's easy to imagine someone who, on the anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination prefers to gaze upon the image of James Earl Ray, than that of Martin Luther King, Jr.; but most publications I encountered featured MLK's images far more prominently than JER's. Again, I don't think most people would construe this as censorship, but you do have me wondering if Misplaced Pages featured James Earl Ray's photo, and not Martin Luther King's on April Fourth. Webbbbbbber (talk) 05:14, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Why does it matter? We're not "supporting" anyone here, just providing encyclopedic information. Both figures are very relevant to the event in question (as would be a picture of Ford's Theater or something), so it's perfectly appropriate to show either, regardless of which is "more often featured." -Elmer Clark (talk) 05:44, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

This seems somewhat moot now that the picture has been removed. In any case, as Elmer Clark says, the picture is primarily intented for informational purposes, wikipedia is not a WP:memorial after all so who or what people prefer to gaze over or remember seems somewhat irrelevant. The most noteable days connected with rememberance of people who are assasinated tend to be their birthdays anyway Nil Einne (talk) 07:35, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Kind of ironic that Booth actually wanted to be remember as a Hero for the South: maybe this was a belated compromise? --293.xx.xxx.xx (talk) 08:29, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

The sheer cluelessness of this comment is unbelievable. I can't believe we actually changed the Main Page because someone said that a picture of John Wilkes Booth means that we support the assassination of Lincoln, and are likely to favor James Earl Ray over Martin Luther King Jr. Since when did we start pandering to commentators who call us racists? Webbbbbbber, why aren't you expressing your outrage that the replacement picture of Edward IV relating to the Wars of the Roses is a gross example of Misplaced Pages's obvious hatred for the House of Lancaster? Sheesh. - BanyanTree 09:36, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Well Zz didn't give a reason for the change. Maybe it was to avoid further discussion on this (which unfortunately failed), maybe it was because the JWB image had been around for a while (at least 2 years) and was due for a change anyway. Nil Einne (talk) 11:24, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

You have to link to sarcasm when you do that, Nil Einne, I've found, or else people get confused. You could have done this: maybe it was because the JWB image had been around for a while (at least 2 years) and was due for a change anyway. Benjamin 21:44, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

I was more thinking of "we have a image that finally aligned next to the relevant entry". Zzyzx11 (Talk) 03:07, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

Sorry for jumping to conclusions, Zzyzx11. My outrage got the better of me. - BanyanTree 01:43, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

I didn't link to sarcasm, and I wouldn't have, because no sarcasm had been intended. The image had indeed been on the OTD entry for two years. I didn't look further so maybe it had been longer. I don't spend much time on OTD so I'm not sure but I would presume it's reasonable to turn over images every one in a while but on the other hand, it isn't essential either (since they only appear every year). And I genuinely had no idea why Zzy removed the image (as the above discussion shows, I was wrong) so I was genuinely uncertain as to why this image was changed. So my comment was intended to convey the fact that there are multiple reasons why this may have been changed, and it was pointless to jump to conclusions as to the reason without asking zzy first. Nil Einne (talk) 15:55, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Relay

It is obvious the torch relay is going to be disrupted everywhere it goes so maybe the locations should be dropped altogether in the line. Simply south (talk) 15:20, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

The item is soon going to disappear so it's somewhat moot. But you are mistaken, I suggest you check out the linked article. The torch was not disrupted much in (of course China), Kazakhstan, Turkey and Russia (some protests in both, most of who were arrested apparently but minimal disruption). There were protests, but minimal disruptions in Buenos Aeres and few protests or disruptions in Tanzania from what I can tell. That is why we don't mention any of these in the blurb. If you want to discuss this further, I suggest WT:ITN Nil Einne (talk) 18:20, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Silvio Berlusconi's election victory

This just in: Silvio Berlusconi's won a third term in the Italian general elections. I'll be adding this snippet right now.--Alasdair 20:28, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Shouldn't this be discussed at WP:ITN/C instead of here? --199.71.174.100 (talk) 21:44, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

misc.

Hey is it just my computer but sometimes, in the search box, the line has a small horizontal bar extending to the right of it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rainboqer (talk • contribs) 23:13, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Moved to WP:VPT#misc. ffm 00:00, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

Misplaced Pages Languages and Firefox 3b5

I'm currently using Firefox 3 Beta 5 and it is almost impossible to click the Persian language link on the bottom of the main page in the Misplaced Pages languages section (More than 20,000 articles). The text uncontrollably shifts left and right with the rapid switching of the positions of Norsk and Persian. This is likely a problem with the right to left reading of Persian and some weird problem that I believe only applies to Firefox 3 Beta 5 since Internet Explorer and Firefox 2 allow clicking of Persian. 128.227.143.178 (talk) 16:55, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

Works for me. I'm using 3.0pre from April 11th. nneonneo 16:57, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

Works fine here to, and I'm on 3b5 too. ☯Ferdia O'Brien /_(C) 19:04, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

Never mind, it's a known problem of Firefox 3 Beta 5. Don't know why you don't have the problem. 128.227.104.129 (talk) 19:05, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

We're not experiencing the issue because it says the issue is fixed on that page, are you sure your on Beta 5? ☯Ferdia O'Brien /_(C) 19:12, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

Definitely on Firefox 3 Beta 5 with last update dated April 2. Clicking on update Firefox indicates that I have there is no update. Also should note that the line above it with the Hebrew language is also impossible to click for me. Also I am not the only one running Beta 5 that has this prolem. 128.227.104.129 (talk) 19:16, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

and the bug discussion seem to suggest this bug wasn't fixed in the b5 release Nil Einne (talk) 20:39, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

Misplaced Pages is never wrong?!

I found something wrong in "In the news" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.246.135.244 (talk) 00:08, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Report that mistake to WP:ERRORS asap and suggest changes there, please. --199.71.174.100 (talk) 03:41, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Quote Steve Colbert: "together we can define a world we can all agree on." That's his comment on wikipedia. Yes, there can be error, and then we correct them 10,000 times. Lightblade (talk) 08:52, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Virginia Tech. Why?

Since when did Misplaced Pages become a memorial service? What a pathetic and transparent choice of FA.Joy.discovery.invention (talk) 00:41, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Transparent: 2 a: free from pretense or deceit : frank b: easily detected or seen through : obvious c: readily understood

Sounds like a good thing to me. 128.227.104.129 (talk) 01:06, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

You know I kinda think its useless when people ask theses questions "Why is Bulbasaur on the main page".."why is Halo on the main page". Because their featured articles! -- Coasttocoast (talk) 01:28, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Just correcting your grammar there Coasttocoast, its "they are", so they're not their. Tourskin (talk) 01:35, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Bulbasaur was on the main page? Awesome! Go pokemon!Tourskin (talk) 01:36, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

I'm a bit curious as to why the shooter's name isn't mentioned. We do have an article about him. --Maxamegalon2000 03:51, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

I could be wrong, but I believe that was a conscious decision, so as not to give more notability to the shooter. Ral315 (talk) 03:58, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Oh crud - I didn't realize that suggested writeup omitted his name. That was an oversight on my part. Raul654 (talk) 04:00, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

I've adjusted the main page blurb accordingly. Raul654 (talk) 04:04, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

To Ral - With respect, it's not Misplaced Pages's business to pretend that someone is more obscure than in fact he is. Our notability criteria are essentially populist, and I don't see how they could be otherwise. Let's leave normative judgments about what people want to know to the critical social theorists. — Dan | talk 04:06, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

As I said on Talk:Virginia Tech massacre, it is not our job to worry about people who want herostratian fame or to practice Damnatio memoriae. Raul654 (talk) 04:15, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Also: National Instant Criminal Background Check System is overlinked. indopug (talk) 07:18, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Fixed. Raul654 (talk) 07:44, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

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