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	:::*The Report On Lengthy Litigation is TROLL.		:::*The Report On Lengthy Litigation is TROLL.

	:::I'm not entirely sure why News ("in the News") or Notes ("...and Notes:...") are capitalised, though. -- ] ] 11:33, 26 May 2006 (UTC)		:::I'm not entirely sure why News ("in the News") or Notes ("...and Notes:...") are capitalised, though. But if you are going to change the capitalisation, you could at least ensure that redirects are in place so you don't create redlinks. -- ] ] 11:33, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

Revision as of 11:35, 26 May 2006

Archives: General discussion || Content || Features and layout || Feedback

Please discuss the layout of The Signpost page and other general or technical issues here. Discussion about news items and stories themselves should be directed to the Newsroom.

Userboxes:

This user writes for
The Signpost.

This user subscribes to
The Signpost.

Contributors welcome

If you're interested in writing about community news for The Misplaced Pages Signpost, please contact me (on my talk page or via email, however you prefer) so we can coordinate our efforts. As editor, I would at the very least need to have an idea of what topic(s) you're covering. If you use the wiki to write drafts of a news story, please do this in your user space. --Michael Snow 09:29, 10 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Comments

Do you want article-specific comments on their respective talk pages, on an issue-specific talk page, or here? —Ben Brockert (42) 04:07, Jan 25, 2005 (UTC)

On their talk pages is great, I do watch the articles for the week until they get archived. This page can be for discussion about the newspaper in general. --Michael Snow 07:11, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Volumes?

So far, we are at volume I issue V. How large will the volumes be, out of curiosity (OK yes, I am really bored ATM) - Lucky13pjn 04:24, Feb 13, 2005 (UTC)

Presumably the volume will change with the year. BLANKFAZE | (что??) 04:38, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Stories by the type

I was just reading the substubs article and thought that it might be useful (or failing that, look neat) if the stories were divided by their content under headings or a background colour scheme or both. Say one section for "Misplaced Pages style, policy and guidelines" one for "Misplaced Pages in the press" one for T.R.O.L.L. articles etc. Or maybe I think too much, heh. - Lucky13pjn 20:01, May 30, 2005 (UTC)

I think we may head that direction in the future, when there are more articles up at any given time. Then having different groupings, like the sections of a newspaper, will be more useful to guide readers to what they're most interested in. For the time being, I don't think it's that hard to glance at the page and find what you want to read. Also, waiting to take this step will give us a better idea of how to divide up the sections. --Michael Snow 04:27, 31 May 2005 (UTC)

Is there any chance of a sport section any time soon? smoddy 18:16, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Sport section? Meaning a section on articles and projects related to sports? Or dealing with what one might call WikiSports (the sort of stuff at the Misplaced Pages:Department of Fun)? --Michael Snow 19:54, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Question about article submission

Can anybody just submit an article to this newspaper? Or, what's the submission process? Can one write about themself, if they use the third person? (And is good gramma 'n speeling a pre-wreck-squizit?) -- Uncle Ed (talk) 11:52, Jun 24, 2005 (UTC)

Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages Signpost/Newsroom/Suggestions. Joe D (t) 12:47, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

A better link might be Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages Signpost/Newsroom#In progress Reporters: note here what items you are working on ... editing each other's work is encouraged. In short, yes, anyone can submit an article (either simply suggest a topic or actually write the text themselves). This is a wiki - it will all be "edited mercilessly", of course! -- ALoan (Talk) 13:14, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Nicer archive views

I would like to see back/forward links to page through the archives -- "< 12 December 2005 >"

...along with archive views that look just like a proper signpost, with a table-of-contents and header. Perhaps each archive could additionally be a single-page view, with the TOC at the top. Right now it is not easy to search for/find something in the archives. +sj + 18:52, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

I might be able to do that; I've been trying to find a good way to do it. I'll work on it over the next week or two. Ral315 (talk) 05:23, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

In the news...

Not sure if this has any importance or if it's listed but... Misplaced Pages, specifically List of Half-Life 2 mods was listed on Steam's December 30th update... is this notable? no idea... but, there you go. gren グレン 15:48, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

Really? I found the article without the steam update and am quite happy with my recent downloads of Garry's Mod and SourceForts. But that's not why I'm here... —Ilyan e p (Talk) 02:51, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

January 9, 2006?

AAAAAH! Am I missing something? —Ilyan e p (Talk) 02:51, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

It should be published shortly, if that's what you mean. Thanks! Flcelloguy (A note?) 03:03, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

Should Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages Signpost/2006-01-09/RSS readers be deleted? Nothing links to it. dbenbenn | talk 16:55, 13 January 2006 (UTC)

It's for those who are using the RSS feeds, I presume. æle ✆ 20:21, 13 January 2006 (UTC)

Yeah; I occasionally create pages like that specifically for RSS readers when appropriate. Ral315 (talk) 22:46, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

News and notes: dates and stuff

This message:

Appearsatthe beginning of the Milestones section of the News and notes article. If that information is sopertinent,why do straight out give the date and time, if at all possible? It would be nice to be able to list the pertinent page too, if possible. Circeus 15:35, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

It's not pertinent, and on most of them, the date and time is not given on the source I get them from. I added that message because someone had taken the habit of arranging them in order of either the number of articles, or of perceived importance, and I don't feel that we should make some projects seem more important than others. Ral315 (talk) 21:25, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

I actually think that would make sense, if only to mimic the style at Misplaced Pages:Milestone statistics. Circeus 21:44, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

Thanks

I just wanted to say thanks for everyone's excellent work on the signpost! -Ravedave 03:18, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your thanks! It's good to know the work is appreciated. — Catherine\ 20:52, 21 January 2006 (UTC)

I'd like to say thanks as well. The Signpost is great! :-) --unforgettableid | talk to me 03:02, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

http://wikipedia.org/Article redirections

If you visit http://wikipedia.org/Article, you're redirected to http://en.wikipedia.org/Article. Is there ANY good reason though that the former URL doesn't immediately point to the correct Misplaced Pages page? In other words, why can't http://wikipedia.org/Article serve as a direct alternative to http://wikipedia.org/Article? Just like http://sbgskl.livejournal.com/ points to the same page as http://livejournal.com/~sbgskl

Your question would probably have a better chance of being answered at the help desk. Thanks! Flcelloguy (A note?) 00:05, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

I agree, but I'll give a suggestion why: Misplaced Pages is bigger than just the English version, for instance we have a very active German version. It's better to make people aware of the 404 and then redirect so they are discouraged from providing a misleading and inaccurate link. That's my take on it, anyway. - Ta bu shi da yu 14:36, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

The only reason that the first is still there is because the English version used to be at wikipedia.org, and they didn't want to break links. So it's very unlikely that the latter will be done. Ral315 (talk) 21:22, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

Great Job!

Hey, I'd just like to say that this week's Signpost is the most well-written issue I've seen since so far! (I guess I can forgive you guys for being behind schedule with it lately.) May I suggest that you start saying that new issues come out on Tuesday, so that when they don't come on Monday, people won't be disappointed. Its kind of a stupid suggestion, but whatever. JaredW 12:19, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the compliments; all of us who contribute appreciate it. I'm not sure about the changing of the date - that would be something for Michael Snow or Ral315 to decide. Thanks! Flcelloguy (A note?) 20:57, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

We just need to do a better job of sticking to the schedule. --Michael Snow 22:53, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

Agreed. Ral315 (talk) 19:11, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

Proposed logo A

This is my modification of http://meta.wikimedia.org/Image:Drachenweisheit.png by Meta user Susan.r which I assume is GFDLed; my version is at http://commons.wikimedia.org/Image:Signpost_with_text.png and has the "Misplaced Pages Signpost" text added.

File:Signpost with text.png

Would this be a better logo than our current one? --unforgettableid | talk to me 02:59, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

Two questions from me, Harro5:

What is that thing?
What's wrong with the current logo? I love it! It looks a bit like the mastheads for the New York Times, The Times, the Washington Times (sensing a theme amongst the world's best papers...), The Age. The current logo brings class and a bit of parody (the whole Signpost has that feel) of a big-time broadsheet. Harr o5 03:06, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

FWIW I quite like it, the current logo reminds me too much of 1940s newspapers! (Tho perhaps the text could be changed a bit; different font?) Mikkerpikker ... 03:08, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

I like the new one. nice job! But what about combining the image from the new one with the font from the old one? -Bindingtheory 03:29, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

The image is striking, yes. I would favor replacement of the snake-griffin-transformer-beast with the Misplaced Pages puzzle-ball, leading to a logo of the puzzle ball on the blue navigational backdrop. User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 03:54, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

It's certainly interesting. My gut reaction is that it's a bit too busy though. Does it really need the globe, arrows, and creature all layered on top of each other? And what exactly is the creature about anyway? Does it symbolize something? I would prefer to see something that incorporates the current logo in some way. Kaldari 04:01, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

Misplaced Pages puzzle ball + Current font? — Ilyan e p (Talk) 04:12, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

I might be old-fashioned, but I think I prefer the current logo. The proposed one is very good, and the creator quite talented, but I prefer the simple, elegant, newspaperish one we have now. — Knowledge Seeker দ 08:46, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

I too prefer the current logo, for the same reasons as Knowledge Seeker. Thryduulf 10:00, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

So do I. Less is more; my kudos to the creator, but I like the "traditional" logo. Thanks! Flcelloguy (A note?) 16:05, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

Combining this image, resized and in greyscale, with thecurrent logocould be interesting. We could extend the rightward arrow across the lettering. What you think? (unsigned comment by User:Circeus)

I think the logo is cool, though I don't think it shows what the signpost is about. The things I really like about it: The new font, and that it has color. I think the current font is cliched, and that the signpost page needs a bit 'o color. -Ravedave 04:32, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

I believe the exsisting logo is better than this one. Oleg Alexandrov (talk) 04:48, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

I really like the icon, and believe the current logo should stay; but that the Signpost does need an icon which should be more modern. So I propose focusing on creating an icon; not a new logo per say. And even though I like the icon above; it needs tweaking... I'm just not sure what needs to be tweaked. - Roy Boy 00:25, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Proposed logo B

I don't want to use the puzzle ball because it shows up on every Misplaced Pages page already. Two puzzle balls on one screen would look weird.

Also, a mixing a modern logo with an Old English font would look weird. I do not think it's worth trying, though any of you with a copy of MS Paint or The GIMP (free and open source) or IrfanView (freeware) are welcome to try.

Below, I have mixed the current logo with http://commons.wikimedia.org/Image:Dixie_Highway_across_RR_in_Dania.jpg to create a new logo, called WikipediaSignpostHead2.png.

File:WikipediaSignpostHead2.png

Is it yet time for us to vote on a logo: old, new A, or new B? --unforgettableid | talk to me 07:21, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't like the addition of the picture; as I stated above, less is more. I prefer the simple, "traditional" logo. Thanks! Flcelloguy (A note?) 16:07, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

I feel the same as Flcelloguy. As far as I am aware, there has not been any discontent with it. - Banyan Tree 16:50, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

If a picture is needed (and imho it isn't), then it needs to be one that is carefully thought out - most road signs are specific to a geographic area, potentailly appearing to be biased. The one used here doesn't look anything like any I've seen in the UK/Europe - the writing on it is also very distracting as you only just can't read it. Thryduulf 17:12, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

I am not a professional logo designer in my day job, as you can see from the two logos I designed. :) I think a more colorful logo would be better, but if everyone else is happy with the current logo, I am not offended. --unforgettableid | talk to me 21:41, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, I'll definitely keep you in mind if we ever need a new logo to be designed. It's a great logo for a web site; it's just that I like the Signpost to pretend it's a print newspaper. — Knowledge Seeker দ 04:44, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

I like the existing logo more. The additional picture may have aimed to make some humour, but I don't think it looks good in the signpost. Oleg Alexandrov (talk) 04:49, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

I prefer the existing logo. Nice and simple. -- Longhair 04:54, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

So do I; I doubt it's going to happen. A newspaper's logo is supposed to be simple and preferably text only. In short, I think the one we have is fine. Ral315 (talk) 19:06, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

I also prefer the simple, traditional old style logo. -- Ianblair23 (talk) 02:16, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

Keep the current one. enochlau (talk) 02:21, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

Yup, the old logo is the best and most "newspapery" of the three. -- Derek Ross | Talk 05:38, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

Prefer the current logo, but what about a more contemporary German blackletter font? I could browse what's available at my school, if an investigation was wanted. -- user:zanimum

TROLL (The Report On Lengthy Litigation)

I hate to be a party pooper, and I do appreciate the work of the people who write this, but would it be possible to change the name of The Report...? It smacks horribly of caballic in-jokery, which rather defeats the splendid work on improving openness which the Signpost otherwise does. It took me a long time to work out what this section was meant to be, and I've been here for ages. I can't imagine what the noobs make of it. --Mark 19:37, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Suggestions would be good. "RFAs and Arbcom cases in progress" doesn't sound very euphonius, and at least this one is semi-amusing. --maru (talk) contribs 19:56, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

I personally like TROLL but how about "Arbitration Digest"? --Thryduulf 20:17, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought TROLL was about RFAs in addition to Arbcom cases? (I could have sworn I saw a few...) --maru (talk) contribs 20:26, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

TROLL = The Report On Lengthy Litigation. Aren't RFA's (Requests for Adminship) covered in "Features and admins"? Arbitration is RFAr. Although I suppose TROLL could cover RFCs and Mediation but I don't recall it doing and AIUI those processes are in a bit of a mess at the moment? I see TROLL as the Misplaced Pages equivalent of a court reporter. Thryduulf 22:04, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

I suspect Maru means RfCs. --Mark 22:11, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Oops. Er, yes, that is what I meant- I suppose I've been hanging around the durn Internet so long I can't associate an RFC with something bad. --maru (talk) contribs 01:07, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

TROLL currently only covers requests for arbitration (sometimes abbreviated RfA), and Features and admins covers requests for adminship, which is much more commonly abbreviated RfA. Covering mediation and RfC would be a logistics problem; first, speaking from my position as a mediator, I wouldn't wish for the dispute to be covered, and it probably wouldn't be a good idea to cover RfCs either. Regarding the name "T.R.O.L.L.", the issue would be up to Ral or Michael Snow to decide; please continue to give feedback, though. Personally, I like it, but I can see why some people would be confused and/or offended. However, note that the acronym is no longer actively in use; from the main newspaper page, it's spelled out, and the subpage is now always at "Arbitration report". Thanks! Flcelloguy (A note?) 22:18, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

On an optimistic note, perhaps 'Dispute Resolution'? If it is just meant to be Arbcom matters, then something like 'Arbcom Digest', 'Arbitration Cases in Progress'?Mark 22:11, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

I like "T.R.O.L.L." It's community news, we can cope with community in-jokes. My 2 pennies. — Matt Crypto 22:21, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Here here! Raul654 22:21, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

I like this too. The name is a bit of a chuckle for me. (Hm, as an arb, perhaps I shouldn't admit that...) Mindspillage (spill yours?) 23:30, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

When I first figured out when TROLL meant, I started to ROFLMAO. Tito xd 01:19, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

What was hard to figure out about what this feature is? It is and always has been a report about arbitration cases, and I can't imagine anything that could have given an impression that it's not that. As for the joke, not everyone figures it out right away, but explaining it every week would spoil the joke. If you think it's snarky, keep in mind that the snark here can cut in all directions. A reader can see in it what they want, but that comes as much from their own preconceptions as anything that's inherent in the name. --Michael Snow 22:47, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

I assumed it was about some actual litigation which the foundation was involved in. And I don't thiink I'm more than averagely obtuse. Mark 22:52, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

We all have our blind spots. Apparently mine was that, knowing what real litigation is, it didn't occur to me that anyone would actually think that's what I was talking about. Rather that was part of the joke, and it's interesting to learn that it did get misunderstood this way. --Michael Snow 23:07, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

I'll stick my two pennorth in here and say that I've always been a little uneasy about this name as well. It took me no time to figure out what it meant, but my concern is the implication that arbitration is all about trolls, which is very far from being the case. --OpenToppedBus - Talk to the driver 11:20, 8 February 2006 (UTC) We use "The Report on Lengthy Litigation" primarily. That it's an acronym is more of an in-joke than anything. If you can't figure that it's arbitration cases by looking at the title, simply viewing the story pretty much makes it clear. Ral315 (talk) 18:22, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

My sentiments are exactly like OpenToppedBus's. I always try to avoid the word troll so as to avoid any chance of a personal attack. If it's never used in it's acronym form then I'm fine with the inside joke, but the word troll is just unecessary. - Taxman 19:04, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

The only place the acronym gets used is the navigation links at the bottom of each story, which need to use shorthand titles. If we found a suitable substitute there, would that be satisfactory? --Michael Snow 19:19, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, that would be fine, and I really don't have a huge problem with it, I've just never thought it was a terribly good idea either. - Taxman 20:21, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

As per Taxman, I don't have a huge problem with it either, which is why I've not brought it up until someone else questioned it. I certainly don't mind keeping the name if the acronym's not used. --OpenToppedBus - Talk to the driver 09:30, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

TROLL and BRION are just fine. Relax, folks. If you're "in" enough to recognize that there's a joke there at all, then it isn't an "in-joke" at your expense. --FOo 10:12, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Adding

I want to add the signpost to my userpage but cannot find the code for it can I have it? - Mike Beckham 04:32, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Nevermind found it :) - Mike Beckham 04:34, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

FWIW, adding {{Signpost-subscription}} to your user page will acheive the result. -- Longhair 04:36, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks anyways apreciated! - Mike Beckham 04:40, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Captcha

It was mentioned emergency Captcha was used to keep vandalbots under control. What is being used? I was expecting cool graphics and stuff; which I would like to see as any extra step in the registration process would further discourage mass sockpuppets. - Roy Boy 04:22, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

There's an apparent graphic and discussion at Misplaced Pages:Village pump (miscellaneous)#Captcha. - Banyan Tree 04:47, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Ice Storm

A LOT of Wikipedians will be affected by a expected ice storm on Fri-Sun, 2-17-06 to 2-20-06. For more, go to the Weather Channel Website and/or Accuweather Website for more information, news. Martial Law 08:29, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

A large chunk of the US will be taken out by power failures, infrastructure failures caused by ice accumalations, freezing temps. There will be downed trees and other structural damage as well. Martial Law 08:32, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Thought that this potential natural disaster would make "the news". Martial Law 08:34, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

For future reference, you may make suggestions at the tip line. The Signpost usualy only covers news relevant to Misplaced Pages and its parent organization, the Wikimedia Foundation. Traditional "news", such as weather and such, are not included; they are more appropriate for current events or "In the news". Thanks! Flcelloguy (A note?) 23:23, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Signpost Archive

This project page should contain a link to an archive of past issues. I would add it, I just can't seem to find where this archive is. --Cyde Weys 08:07, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Look for an archive link here, bottom left, or Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages Signpost/Archives to link direct. -- Longhair 08:39, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Nicer archive views revisited

I was going to post here about duplicating the look of the main Signpost page on the Archive subpages such as this one for issue 2.8, but then I discovered that these pages are being used to contruct the Archives page by {{template inclusion}}. Is this really the best way of doing this? The current system seems weird to me, since I expect to be able to browse to the per-issue archive page, such as Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages Signpost/2006-02-20, before going to the individual articles. I'd also like to be able to bookmark (or otherwise link to) individual back-issues. The only way to do this currently is to go to the first article in the desired issue and follow the < parent-article link at the top of the page back to the article list for that issue. That's just Not Good... So I propose we abandon the template-inclusion approach to the yearly archive pages and instead link to "proper" index pages for each issue modeled after the Signpost front page (note that the appearance of the yearly archive pages would remain essentially unchanged, apart from linking the issue numbers). If anyone is unclear about what I'm proposing, I can mock up an example. - dcljr (talk) 20:28, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

I think the simplicity of assembling the yearly archive pages still has much to recommend it. However, I fully understand the point about navigating between individual issues in the archives. Perhaps the best way to go about this would be to add Previous Issue/Next Issue links to each of the individual index pages, but do this with "noinclude" tags so these links don't clutter the full archives? I'm not completely clear on what your proposal is, but that seems to me like the best solution at present. --Michael Snow 21:57, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Hmm. Actually, I'm not sure you do completely understand what I'm saying (my explanation above did seem rather complicated once I read back over it). What I'm suggesting actually doesn't require any more work beyond what people are already doing — just slightly different steps. Instead of putting the list of article links on pages like Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages Signpost/2006-02-20, the archiver would simply place them directly on Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages Signpost/Archives like so:

'''The Misplaced Pages Signpost''' is published every Monday. Below are archived stories from 2006.

Archives for previous years: ]

Weekly release date

The signpost seems to be released on the day after the date stamp of the article. For example, this weeks signpost has the time stamp Feb 27, but were not available until the 28th (possibly it was available in the evening in the US=the night in the EU). It would seem more intuitive to me if the signpost was available on the day of its time stamp, just like newspapers where the Feb 27th issue is the issue availble on the morning of the 27th. Thue | talk 15:31, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

Well, the Signpost is released weekly, summarising the events of the previous week, and Monday is the copy date and date stamp. Inevitably, some articles are not ready by 0:01 UTC on Monday, let alone 0:01 local time for New Zealanders, etc, (some Wikipedians do have lives at the weekend, some authors are in the US) and things slip a bit past the deadline, as is the way of things. Like most readers in Europe, I suppose, I generally read it on the Tuesday, but I think the Monday date stamp is fine: think of it as identifying the week of the issue, rather than the day of the issue. -- ALoan (Talk) 16:08, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

Why not release on tuesdays? -Ravedave 17:33, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

Yes, precisely. When at first you don't succeed, redefine success :). I mean that seriously, just change the official weekly release date to tuesday, and otherwise carry on releasing as you have done. Thue | talk 19:35, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

I'm still not sure why this is a problem... -- ALoan (Talk) 20:36, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

Because the current release date is misleading. People looking for the next issue of the signpost will be expecting it a day before it is available. Thue | talk 08:56, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

I've been working harder to get my article(s) done on time (I found the FoxClocks Firefox extension, which gives me an extra browser clock set to UTC/Wikipedia time, which helps.) Would putting the Submission and Publishing deadlines on the Newsroom page help contributors to get things prepared in a timely manner? — Catherine\ 20:22, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

I could do that. Ral315 (talk) 00:55, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

Wikisource News

Wikisource very recently created Wikisource News, the local variant of the Misplaced Pages Signpost. Many of the stories, such as email confirmation, are likely to apply equally well to both wikis. I'd like to occasionally use content from the Signpost in WN stories, with appropriate credit. Signpost editors are free to use WN content, though the relationship would no doubt favour the more undermanned Wikisource. Would do you think? // Pathoschild (_admin / ) 06:22, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

I think collaboration would be good; also note Wikizine, a news source more focused on meta and issues surrounded all Wikimedia projects, not a specific language or project. Thanks! Flcelloguy (A note?) 00:39, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Fine with me, certainly. You're certainly welcome to use any of our articles under the terms of the GFDL. I'd appreciate a note on this page when you borrow content. Ral315 (talk) 03:04, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

A section from Misplaced Pages in the news, "Interesting mentions", prompted the Wikisource News story "New database to identify public domain works". Thanks. :) // Pathoschild (_admin / ) 12:57, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

You might want to mention this new development at Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages Signpost/About. User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 00:28, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

Nah, I don't think it's necessary there. Ral315 (talk) 23:04, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

New Image

What you guys think of this image for . I just feel its more crisp looking. Tutmosis 23:25, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

I personally find the version you link to to be a bit too ... filigreed. There is already available a crisper version in a similar but not identical font; I went searching in Misplaced Pages Images and found this ...

File:Signpost horizontal.gif

Compare to the image that is used for the present cover...

User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 00:01, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

I like the current logo. Flcelloguy (A note?) 00:40, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

On my screen the current logo (second picture) looks better. Oleg Alexandrov (talk) 01:42, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

What you guys think of my proposed logo? Tutmosis 01:51, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

You should say "What you guys think of my proposed logo, pictured right below these words", and then append the picture. Then we may think. :) Oleg Alexandrov (talk) 01:59, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

I'm going to refer to them as first (proposed), second, third. I'd say the proposed is a bit too fancy, and the second one is way too pixelated and generally really ugly. I think the best logo would be a sharper version of the current logo; it does seem to be a bit blurry. - Pureblade | 02:38, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

With all due respect, the logo's fine. Changing it's a bit premature at this point. Pureblade made a decent point; recently, Stevertigo added a grey outline to the letters. Did it look better before? I'd appreciate input on this, but at this time I'm not looking for a new logo, nor for an improvement on the current one. Ral315 (talk) 02:52, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Copyediting

Given the byline policy, I suppose I ought to check that people don't mind me making small changes to Signpost articles (often wikilinking dates, for preference purposes, but occasionally adding other links or minor titbits - I can't think of an occasion where I have made an amendment that I would consider major).

Please let me know if you think it is out of order for me to carry on doing so. (I trust it is a useful thing to be doing, in lieu of actually writing articles?) -- ALoan (Talk) 11:21, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

Please do continue. To the extent that it matters, the bylined author should usually get the final say if there's a disagreement about the article, but otherwise it's still a wiki and we're happy to have the benefits of other people touching things up. --Michael Snow 16:48, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

Agreed -- I've always appreciated the improvements you've made to "my" articles. Sometimes it's stuff I've overlooked, and sometime's it's stuff I meant to link after looking up the proper article title, and forgot to come back to. Your additions are helpful, especially to future readers looking through archived articles. Please carry on! — Catherine\ 18:17, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

Indeed. Ral315 (talk) 20:16, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

Oh good - I'm glad I haven't offended anyone. I really appreciate the effort that all of the "proper" authors put into their Signpost articles. -- ALoan (Talk) 21:23, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

Archives, revisited.

I'd like to put forth my idea for a new archive setup. We could still offer the text-based archives as we have them now, but this would be the preferred setup:

User:Ral315/Sandbox

If we do this, noinclude tags would need to be added to all Misplaced Pages Signpost images (something that could easily be done if we agree on this. What do you think? Ral315 (talk) 20:21, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

The only problem I see is the odd spacing of the vertical images along the right, although that would be taken care of per Ral315's suggestion. Perhaps we could add a link to the top/navigation at the bottom of each article? This seems to be a good step in the right direction. - Pureblade | 20:52, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I was about to suggest "noinclude"ing the side images (is that done for the live version of the Signpost already? The side images don't appear in the single page view)

There also seems to be an erroneous date link in the header; and the TOC looks out of place, given the contents page is there at the top already.

In addition to an archive, that format may even be an easier way to read the "live" Signpost - I've never bothered with the single page view before, but this mock-up looks nicer, I think - the single page view would look better with a "contents" header like the archive mock-up and without the TOC... -- ALoan (Talk) 21:34, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

Just to clarify, is this a suggestion to replace the current archive setup or linked from the issue titles? The current setup (with article titles) will be more useful when someone two years from now is quickly scanning to find out the month of the Great Userbox War, but Ral315's proposal is better for actually scanning a particular issue. I'm not that fussed either way, but will second the suggestion for a "Go to top"/"Go to next issue" navigation link for those people who can't get enough archives. - Banyan Tree 21:46, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

To clarify a few points, this would be an alternative (and possibly the default). Also, the redlink on the proposal would link to the next week's issue (and on subsequent issues, there would be a similar link on the left side of the page.) Ral315 (talk) 10:29, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

More news regarding economy and hardware

I have used Misplaced Pages for some time, written articles in both Norwegian and English and supported the fundraisers. However, after the last fundraising there is really very little news about how the money is spent. No new hardware orders, and its not even a budget for the first quarter of 2006, even though we are soon in Q2. I believe it would be good to have more writing about this, both factual information but also critical writing - as the situation as now seems to be far from the transparency one would expect from an organisation as Wikimedia foundation.

In short, seems like we who work on the project is the last to get informed, whatever goes on within this area. I must say that I believe added hardware is a must for the continued growth of the project, and that transparency regarding budgets is an equal must for future fundraisers. Articles like "this is how we spent your money" would at least be something I would be very happy to read. And when one cant even find a budget? Well, it does not smell well. This better be fixed before the mainstream press starts to dive into it - and I believe the signpost could play a role here doing some good and informed articles about it. Ulflarsen 09:06, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

Good point Brookie :) - a will o' the wisp ! 09:13, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

I agree too. The current lack of information discredits Misplaced Pages. Osomec 18:48, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

Agreed. --Ashenai 18:59, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

Suffice it to say the people that do work on this for the foundation are working very hard and are either unpaid or not getting paid nearly enough for the work they do. Should there ideally be more updates on the financial and hardware situation? Of course, but try to be patient. - Taxman 19:20, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

I have several points in response to this. First, The Signpost is a community newspaper that sometimes reports about the Foundation, not an official product of the Foundation. So we're not going to do "this is how we spent your money" articles because nobody is giving us any money (unless you would like to start doing so, in which case we'll be glad to oblige). We do try to report what we can on official statements by the Foundation that we're aware of.

Next, I would point out that to some extent, no news is good news. Hardware is much more newsworthy when it breaks down than when it's working. Early in The Signpost's existence, I was reporting on hardware issues almost every week because there were a lot of problems. Things aren't perfect yet, but they're a lot better, so you hear less about it. Buying, installing, and maintaining hardware is happening all the time, just like encyclopedia editing, but it's harder to say anything about either of these subjects in news fashion when things are routine.

Finally, from a personal standpoint I agree with Taxman's response. We'd like to hear more from the Foundation and have more to pass along to our readers, but I think some level of understanding is appropriate. Greater transparency is an appropriate goal, but the expectations you're suggesting are much more than is normally provided by organizations elsewhere, including charities, and the Foundation doesn't have that many resources to devote toward providing that transparency - it has to focus on keeping the site running. --Michael Snow 20:12, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

Note that the information is not that hard to find on the official Foundation website (http://www.wikimediafoundation.org) -- the sidebar to "About Misplaced Pages" and the TOC item "Expenditures" leads you to many useful links:

The financial and tech teams do make an effort to keep this stuff up to date, but it's a big task, and it's sometimes behind. Anyone who feels motivated to write up a Signpost article on budget and hardware issues (or a section for the B.R.I.O.N. feature) can feel free to step up to the plate -- just write it in your userspace and mention it in the Newsroom, and if found to be accurate and professional in tone, it will be included in a future issue. — Catherine\ 21:04, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

I really dont want to start a discussion here, but I think Michael Snow and Taxman dont get my point. First of all - I know that the staff is miniscule, and that its not easy to follow up on all fronts (I do know quite a bit about working as a volunteer). I do however believe that this is one serious part of what we do. No money = no servers. There has been a huge fundraise, where a lot of people have given the largest amount of money yet (and I was one of these). So what has come out of it? Not easy to find out - and as far as I can see from the pages of the foundation, not even a budget for the quarter that is soon finished. Did the money go to buy servers? Did they use them for staff? Or something else? With all respect of all the people doing good work here, this is something that needs to be adressed. Ulflarsen 21:49, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

Most money still goes for servers and hosting, as I understand it. Not nearly as much for staff, which as you point out is miniscule. That's more or less what I know, and it doesn't make for much to say in terms of a news story. Anyone who wants to know more is welcome to look and ask around, write up what they find out, and if it's suitable we'll include it in the next issue. --Michael Snow 23:27, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

Sounds as if Ulflarsen wants something sort of like a quarterly report. Not unreasonable, if you consider wiki volunteers to be the equivalent of stockholders - some big, some small. It's our time that gives the site value, just as it's individual stockholder's money that gives a public company value. - DavidWBrooks 01:07, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

Not unreasonable, but I would think the function of a quarterly report belongs to a more official source, like Wikimedia Quarto was intended to be. Unfortunately, efforts there seem to have stalled. This isn't the place for the job, and the people to produce such a thing likely aren't paying attention to this discussion, though I will certainly bring it up with them when I have the opportunity. --Michael Snow 02:25, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

People are complaining primarily about a lack of updates from the Foundation, not from the Signpost. If the info isn't there, the Signpost can't be expected to report it, but it should be there. Surely it is more important for a charity that needs to grow its income rapidly to engage in good donor relations (which is what this is about) than to spend its time on some of the spinoff projects of dubious value that Jimmy Whales spends his time talking about. Hawkestone 12:42, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

Middle of April, and still no new servers, no budget and no news about what the money from the last big fundraise was/is used for. Interesting. At least the response time is good, so either the servers have been tuned, new ones installed, or Yahoo/Google is lending us a big chunk of theirs without anyone telling us. Yes, I know that its the foundation and not the Signpost, but maybe someone here could ask politely what is going on? Has to say that it is not the transparent running of the business that invites to further donations on my part... Ulflarsen 17:06, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

Trouble with RSS feed

The following email was sent to Jimbo Wales and forwarded to the Misplaced Pages information team. I think it would be more likely to be addressed on this page.

Subject: WikiNews RSS feed
Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2006 12:47:51 +0100
From:
To: jwales@wikia.com

Hi!
I tried to get the RSS feed:
http://tools.wikimedia.de/~dapete/wikinews-rss/rss-de.php
it looks like "utf8" is not a valid encoding name
i guess it has to be utf-8.

I am using RSSOwl 1.2 : http://www.rssowl.org/

bye

// Pathoschild (_admin / ) 18:13, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

That's the German Wikinews feed, not the Signpost feed. æle ✆ 21:15, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

Will the Signpost be back this week?

After skipping last week? Osomec 00:26, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

Um, see Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages Signpost for Volume 2, Issue 10, dated 6 March ... -- ALoan (Talk) 01:26, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

I think this may have been regarding the RSS feed, which hasn't been updated in a while. It's something that seems to get easily forgotten. I apologize. Ral315 (talk) 07:44, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

And I've had trouble with SSHing to the server recently. Probably human error on my part; I'll see what I can do. Ral315 (talk) 19:34, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

The last issue available through RSS is vol 2 issue 9. Is there some kind of problem? I hate to complain, since this is all a volunteer effort, but the RSS feed would seem to be useless at this point. --Chan-Ho (Talk) 05:09, 2 April 2006 (UTC)

Right now my laptop, which had all my stuff for connecting to the server, is basically dead. I should get my new laptop Tuesday or Wednesday; then, I'll work on getting the RSS feed back up. My apologies on this. Ral315 (talk) 00:15, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Oh, that's crummy news! I hate it when that happens :-( Anyway, your efforts are greatly appreciated. I'm wondering, why isn't this automated? I was very surprised to hear that a human was responsible for updating the feed. --Chan-Ho (Talk) 03:34, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

What's the process for sending out the RSS feed? +sj + 19:21, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

current admin noms

I think it would be nice if, in addition to listing the users who passed RfA last week, we listed also the users who were up for RfA at presstime. I don't go to RfA all that often, usually only if I know the people involved. I do read Signpost every week however, and sometimes discover that I've missed an RfA that I really would have liked to have voted on. What do you think? -lethe 12:39, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

Support. I sometimes have the same need, so I regularly check the VfA page, and I would appreciate reading about it in the signpost. -- Chris 73 | Talk 15:03, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

As an aside, I find that keeping User:Dragons flight/RFA summary on my watchlist is a good way of keeping track of current RFAs. Leithp 15:12, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

Gosh - what an exceptionally useful page.

In the spirit of sharing, I stumbled across Misplaced Pages:No angry mastodons and Misplaced Pages:Beware of the tigers yesterday. -- ALoan (Talk) 15:30, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

Weak oppose. I think it might be a bit overkill, considering Dragon flight's link and the ability to type RfAinto the search box. But still, this isn't the worst idea ever or anything. youngamerican (talk) 15:20, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

Conditional support; needs a light copyedit. -- ALoan (Talk) 15:30, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

I personally don't see the need to include current RFAs...if people can't be bothered to check it once a week, then that's their fault. Someone being named an admin is newsworthy; someone applying isn't, in my opinion. Ral315 (talk) 18:56, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

I tend to agree with Ral315, it is as simple as writing WP:RFA and looking at the TOC quickly... Mikker 19:09, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

B.R.I.O.N. - Software

The Bugs, Repairs and Internal Operational News section is nice for users who want to keep abreast of some of the administrative issues going on behind the scenes, but it seems to cover hardware with quite a bias. What's the harm in adding something to report on changes to the software; which occur often, and which end users often aren't informed of? Rob Church (talk) 14:37, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

I'm sure Ral315, who writes that section, would be happy to report on such changes, if he were made aware of them. Raul654 17:19, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

Indeed the coverage of technical issues, whether by Ral315 or myself, is always coming from people who simply aren't heavily enough involved in those matters to do them justice. We'd be happy to have anyone more familiar with that side of things who can feed us information or even help in writing these reports. --Michael Snow 04:11, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

Frankly, I'd love to. Is there an easy way to get new fixed bugs, like the server admin log? Ral315 (talk) 06:34, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

One of these has the details needed, which one.. dunno - according to Consanguinity in #wikimedia-tech its -Ravedave 05:51, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

There's a Subversion commit log, and also a mailing list which the bug tracker spits out feeds to. If those are a bit too high volume (and they can get quite busy) then I've no problem with feeding you a list of things changed or fixed on a weekly basis; I'll go and review the logs now and put something together. Rob Church (talk) 15:58, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

Would also be very interesting to hear if there has been purchased/installed any new servers. As far as I can see from the serverlist there has been no new servers since last year, even though there has been a major fundraise in the beginning of this year. Ulflarsen 17:00, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

That would be greatly appreciated, Rob -- thank you! Wherever you build your list, drop a link in the Newsroom, and the info will be included in the Signpost's next issue. — Catherine\ 15:54, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

Done. I'll negotiate with Domas Mituzas about getting purchase info. available, when he's around. Rob Church (talk) 00:40, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

Wikimania report

Just a heads up that Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages Signpost/2006-04-10/Wikimania report isn't linked from WP:SIGN. I don't want to stuff up the pretty formatting so I haven't done it myself... enochlau (talk) 12:36, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

There's a link on the main page to me... - Pureblade | 16:31, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

There is too. What was I thinking... enochlau (talk) 16:41, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

PUBLISHING!

Is the signpost ready to be published?! If not, what is the time it will be published (it's 11 1/2 hours late).

--Primate#101 04:30, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Fair go... it was just Easter! - Ta bu shi da yu 04:46, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Spam List

What is the template that is used for the spam list (Misplaced Pages:Wikipedia_Signpost/Tools/Spamlist)?

--Primate#101 06:23, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

It's actually not done through template; I take the plain text, modify it weekly as needed, and paste it to the users who request it. Ral315 (talk) 00:30, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

Registered users/accounts

I realise that this is verging on nit-picking, but I think it is an important distinction to make: on News and Notes and elsewhere the numbers of registered "users" is given. However, shouldn't this be number of registered accounts? You noted this when you reported on English Misplaced Pages reaches 1,000,000 users: "such a stat is really insignificant, due to inactive and sockpuppet accounts." Shouldn't that be made clearer when reporting these stats in future? --G Rutter 13:58, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Currencies

A minor quibble, but the section of the current Signpost containing "In March, Answers filed a claim in a Tel Aviv court against Babylon Ltd., another Israeli company, seeking 1 million sheqels in damages (about $210,000)" could be made more international by specifying which country's currency is being used to describe the amount of damages (I'm assuming it's in US dollars). '$' as a description is imprecise, as there are more than twenty countries using this symbol for a variety of different currency types. Cheers, Ziggurat 02:14, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

Also converting to a couple of other currencies (perhaps GB£, € and AU$) would give more people a better idea of the amount than just US$. Obviously converting to every currency is OTT, but I suggest that at least one of those four will have some meaning to the vast majority of people reading the English language articles). Thryduulf 08:11, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

I'm sure "$" means US$ in the cases where it has been used so far. Although GBP, € and AUS$ are used more or less widely, I suspect that the US$ is most widely recognised and understood of all; unless the context told me otherwise, I would usually expect "$" on its own to mean the US dollar. It certainly would not hurt to say US$, though.-- ALoan (Talk) 12:14, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

Uh guys, this is wikipedia, the page is editable by anyone. Fix it if you find it annoying. -Ravedave 15:10, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

Yes, but it would be helpful to agree a consenus approach for the future too. -- ALoan (Talk) 15:31, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

I think US Dollar is fair enough; perhaps adding the pound would be good too, but not altogether necessary. I'm not worried about adding the euro or the Australian dollar; we can't cover all currencies. Best to hit one or two well-known ones in the English-speaking world. Ral315 (talk) 06:03, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

I don't have a problem with the dollar on its own, especially when giving an equivalent for a local currency in the first place, but the euro is certainly the best-known and most widely-used international currency apart from the dollar, so it would be the obvious alternative. And many of our editors are not from English-speaking countries, while a fair proportion of those that are are still probably more familiar with the euro than with the GBP. Palmiro | Talk 10:39, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

I think it should be up to the editor's discretion which currency to use as a rough description (on behalf of a country with one of the less well-known currencies, we all know the rough conversion rates with pounds, US dollars, and Euros already; adding them all is overkill), but it should be clearly signalled as such to avoid confusion. Ziggurat 20:56, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Featured content details

Could I request that in the "featured content this week" section there be some details for the more notable featurings/de-featurings? I am always interested in that section and the go through and check out the recently featured articles/pix. However, I'd love it if there were a bit of context about the article's history/nomination process too. For example, Singapore is up for it's 5th FA nomination this week. If it does indeed get FA'd, could there be written something along the lines of:

"Singapore was also featured this week in its 4th attempt. Previous nominations failed due to insufficent bribes to the FA committee. This is the 9th article that user:singapore guy has edited to featured in the last month - a[REDACTED] record."

Clearly I exagerate but you get the idea. This would be much more interesting than a simple list (though I realise that it would take more time to research!)

Cheers, Witty lama 14:12, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Not a bad idea, but it really relies on someone familiar with the FA process being willing to write such a piece each week, or at least write a sentence/paragraph for us whenever there's a particularly interesting promotion. Why don't you mention it on the FA page? Items of note can be left on the Suggestions page. — Catherine\ 16:55, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

That actually gets at what I was going to say. I do like the Signpost, and I have been pushing for the communications committee to use it at a venue for publishing more foundation-related stuff. However, it seems like a number of sections - especially the featured content section - have over the course of months degenerated from discussion into simple lists with little commentary or analysis. Raul654 17:52, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

Like Misplaced Pages itself, the Signpost is a volunteer effort, and the breadth and depth of its coverage fluctuates with the free time and the fatigue factor of its volunteers -- I think User:RoyBoy would welcome some help with the featured content. As it is, any part of the newspaper can be improved by the enthusiasm and effort of interested writers, and the Signpost could only benefit from a larger regular staff. It doesn't require a strict weekly commitment, or previous journalistic experience -- just a willingness to report the facts of situations you're familiar with in an interesting and unbiased manner (and as with everything else here, a willingness to be edited mercilessly).

We would very much welcome more input from the Foundation, the Communications Committee, the ArbCom, or anyone else who feels our coverage could be improved, even if it's just in the form of pointers to other sources of information. — Catherine\ 19:55, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

I'll try to keep an eye out, but how nominations are archived can make it difficult to immediately see its being re-nominated n-times. As I'm not involved in the FA process; analysis would be welcome from a co-writer for notable improvements and happenings. Especially now that there are fewer articles being featured each week. - Roy Boy 18:40, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

Globe & Mail on Misplaced Pages

The Globe & Mail wrote the following about Misplaced Pages:

The Misplaced Pages model is not perfect, but its success has implications that go far beyond how people conduct research. It puts a question mark over the whole idea that information must move from credentialed producer to passive consumer. That presents established companies and organizations with a big challenge. Media groups will have to find a way to emulate Misplaced Pages and bring readers and viewers inside the tent, as this newspaper is trying to do by, among other things, inviting on-line comments and organizing question-and-answer sessions with journalists. Political parties will have to use the Web to involve an alienated public, as Howard Dean managed in his Web-driven run for the 2004 U.S. Democratic presidential nomination. Government itself, that ultimate control freak, will have to open up to the views of its Web-empowered citizens. In the same way that Misplaced Pages presumes "collaboration among users will improve articles over time," government should learn to accept that collaboration among citizens can change things for the better. (source)

Not a bad review, if I may say so! - Ta bu shi da yu 09:28, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

Highlighting updates visually

I wanted to suggest that somehow we highlight the Signpost when it is a fresh update (mondays). My eyes tend to skip over it (at the community portal), due to its fairly homogenous layout week-to-week, and i only remember to check it occasionally.

My own whimsical suggestion, would be to lighten the font by a shade on wednesdays and saturdays, then on mondays it becomes full-black again, making it visually pop. But i'm sure you can devise something better :)

Just a thought. -Quiddity 20:31, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

Watchlist is your friend. :) Rebecca 20:44, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

Alternatively, you might wish to join our "message" list and receive an update to your user talk page. Flcelloguy (A note?) 21:59, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

I'd meant more for the benefit of others. To increase casual readership. As i'm guessing it's a common problem. Maybe something as simple as adding a "Fresh on Mondays" line, or similar? Or a 2nd "Signpost" logo in a different colour, and the two could alternate each week. See what i mean? -Quiddity 22:11, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

I see what you mean now. Well, it does include the issue/volume number and the date of publication in the template, so that in each update they will change. I'm not sure if people would like a different color; first, it would be hard to determine when a "new" issue becomes "old", and some people might view colors as garish and tacky. I'm open to suggestions, though. :-) Thanks! Flcelloguy (A note?) 23:34, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

Just a slight variant. eg. 1 black, 1 dark blue. Every monday you'd change to the other.

I'm picturing the 1920's boy on corner, shouting "Extra, extra! read all about it!" :)

Or the other idea of the logo getting slightly grayer over the course of the week. Then suddenly being black again on mondays.

Just some ideas, i'll leave them to percolate ;) -Quiddity 06:11, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

I like the idea of two colors that flip back and forth, or maybe a color for the nth edition of the month. Maybe just a little red 'New' icon for 24 hours after it gets updated. -Ravedave 15:21, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

RSS feed IS BROKEN

I just tried adding it to Firefox and found it had very little. I checked things out, look at the URL myself and...
http://tools.wikimedia.de/~ral315/signpost.rss has not updated itself since February, despite it stating "This feed will update itself weekly".

The RSS feed is broken, does anyone have the technical knowledge to fix it or set up a new, working one? --Col. Hauler 13:42, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

A RSS to HTML parser, or manual? Computerjoe 's talk 16:37, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

See above; we've had issues with the RSS feed for a while now. Thanks! Flcelloguy (A note?) 21:25, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

Shouldn't this be handled by the Misplaced Pages servers and not rely on individuals having to update it manually on laptops? That would be a much better way of running things. I'm surprised such a large organization can find it so hard to set up something as simple as a working RSS feed. --Col. Hauler 22:54, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

Erm... Misplaced Pages Signpost is run by Wikipedians, not the Wikimedia Foundation. — Edward Z. Yang 23:06, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

Well they could at least help us. I mean, they provide the server for Misplaced Pages. --Col. Hauler 23:39, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

By "they" you are referring to one of the three full-time Foundation employees. One is responsible for dealing with complaints and legal threats from the irate public and the other two upgrade software and try to keep the site running on a budget that's laughable considering Misplaced Pages's prominence. I consider all these activities significantly more important than an RSS feed of the newsletter of one of the project editions that most readers appear to access through the template anyway. So, you see, there is no "large organization" - just servers, a few people to keep the essentials going and a lot of people who volunteer their time, skills and occasionally server bandwidth. You have posted notification that you cannot access the RSS to a large number of prominent pages. The combined tone is, to me, one of insistence that it be fixed, which may be counterproductive considering that you are in effect asking for someone with the relevant skills to volunteer their time. - Banyan Tree 00:27, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

Unwikified headlines

Is there any particular reason why the headlines have not been wikified? Rfrisbie 22:26, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

They have been wikified. What you did was to change the capitalization style, which does not always follow the same conventions as article titles in the encyclopedia. --Michael Snow 05:54, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

Where is your documentation of this? Some of the capitalization, e.g., "Of," doesn't even follow most standard styles in the not-wiki world. Please cite your rationale and support in guidelines or wherever you have it. Rfrisbie 11:20, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

Why would we need documentation? It has been ever thus.

Meetups And Newsworthy International Assemblages is MANIA
Bugs, Repairs, and Internal Operational News is BRION
The Report On Lengthy Litigation is TROLL.

I'm not entirely sure why News ("in the News") or Notes ("...and Notes:...") are capitalised, though. But if you are going to change the capitalisation, you could at least ensure that redirects are in place so you don't create redlinks. -- ALoan (Talk) 11:33, 26 May 2006 (UTC)