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Revision as of 05:12, 14 September 2004 view sourceEequor (talk | contribs)15,921 edits Inappropriate featured article← Previous edit Latest revision as of 12:28, 9 January 2025 view source Modest Genius (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers25,314 edits Proposal: delink "English": opposeTag: Disambiguation links added 
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= General discussion =
STYLISTIC NOTE: Any item in '''bold''' type on the ] ''must'' be updated and listed on its corresponding subject area page ''before'' being listed on the ]. For example, a news item should first be listed on ], then the article on the subject of that news item should be updated to reflect a current event, and '''then''' that item can be placed on ].
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== "]" listed at ] ==
'''''' - click this link when a change has been made to any of the templates displayed on the Main Page, to clear the Main Page's ] (located on the ]) so non-logged-in users can see the update. This may or may not force your browser's cache to expire. See ] to learn how to deal with that.
]
The redirect <span class="plainlinks"></span> has been listed at ] to determine whether its use and function meets the ]. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at '''{{slink|Misplaced Pages:Redirects for discussion/Log/2024 December 2#Mian Page}}''' until a consensus is reached. <!-- Template:RFDNote --> ] <i><sup style="display:inline-flex;rotate:7deg;">]</sup></i> 01:18, 2 December 2024 (UTC)


==Add number of editors in the topmost banner==
Please post screenshots of the current Main Page to ''']''' for debugging design issues.
I suggest this addition for the following reasons:
* It encourages people to become editors via argumentum ad populum.
* It is a interesting fact about the scale of Misplaced Pages
* It dispels reoccuring myth that only 100 or so admins edit Misplaced Pages
* It demonstrates the motto "anyone can edit".
I suggest formatting it like this:
<br/><div id="articlecount">] active editors · ] articles in ]</div><br/>
] <i><sup style="display:inline-flex;rotate:7deg;">]</sup></i> 00:50, 10 December 2024 (UTC)


*I strongly support this addition. '']'' ‹ ] — ] › 00:34, 12 December 2024 (UTC)
See ] and ] for general discussion of the category schemes on (or ''not'' on, as is currently the case) Misplaced Pages's Main Page.'''
*''"100 or so admins edit Misplaced Pages" factoid actualy just statistical error. average admin does not edit Misplaced Pages. ], who lives in cave & passes RfA 10 times each day, is an outlier adn should not have been counted.''{{pb}}But yes, this seems like a great idea! <span style="font-family:courier"> -- ]</span><sup class="nowrap">&#91;]]</sup> <small>(])</small> 01:24, 12 December 2024 (UTC)
*I shall lend my support as I like this idea. It ties in well with the post on social media by the Wikimedia Foundation (earlier today, yesterday?) about "Misplaced Pages in numbers". ''']]''' 09:54, 12 December 2024 (UTC)
*Support - and maybe also add a edit count? Something like this might work: <div id="articlecount">] total edits · ] active editors · ] articles in ]</div> <span style="white-space:nowrap"><span style="font-family:monospace">'''<nowiki>''']<nowiki>]]'''</nowiki>'''</span> (] • ])</span> 09:59, 12 December 2024 (UTC)
*I can't see any downside of adding the number of active editors, which is an impressive number given that the count is just for the last month. The number of edits seems a bit meaningless since it is a huge number that is hard to grasp and since what constitutes an edit is so variable. ] (]) 09:02, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
*Also support this. It's a minor but potentially quite impactful addition. ''']]''' ‡ <sup>]</sup> 09:08, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
* Good idea; I like the model that {{u|CanonNi}} proposes above. '']'' <sup>]·]</sup> 17:03, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
*I like Ca's suggestion of just including the number of editors. I'm not super keen on adding the number of edits as it is fairly meaningless to most casual visitors. Also, it will always be off because of caching (and I don't want us to get useless reports of "I made an edit but the number didn't go up!"). —] (]) 17:08, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
*:Very good point, Kusma, about useless reports. ''']]''' 18:08, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
* The interpunct might need to be replaced with a line break on mobile devices, for aesthetic reasons. ] <i><sup style="display:inline-flex;rotate:7deg;">]</sup></i> 10:38, 15 December 2024 (UTC)
*:Maybe just a comma to separate them. ]] 11:01, 15 December 2024 (UTC)
*::Personally, I think a comma would be out-of-place since this is not a list. ] <i><sup style="display:inline-flex;rotate:7deg;">]</sup></i> 11:08, 15 December 2024 (UTC)
*:::It’s a list of two counts ]] 11:43, 15 December 2024 (UTC)


:Id support. Maybe something somewhere which explains what active means. '''] <sup>(] • ])</sup>''' 13:06, 15 December 2024 (UTC)
::The wikilink to ] already provides an explanation. ] <i><sup style="display:inline-flex;rotate:7deg;">]</sup></i> 13:12, 15 December 2024 (UTC)
:::I dunno about other people, but because the link is the amount of people, I'd expect the link to be to the list of people. If it were "active editors" that was linked, I would click it to find out what "active meant". '''] <sup>(] • ])</sup>''' 13:15, 15 December 2024 (UTC)
::::The number of articles link also goes to ], though. &ndash;&#8239;]&nbsp;<small>(])</small> 12:17, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::Yeah, that's also a bit dumb. Maybe if we linked both the term and the amount to the same link. '''] <sup>(] • ])</sup>''' 13:45, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
::::::How about linking the number of active editors to ], where it is explained? ] <i><sup style="display:inline-flex;rotate:7deg;">]</sup></i> 12:05, 21 December 2024 (UTC)
*Sounds like a good idea. I would but the editors after the number of articles, though – best to lead with the bigger number. &ndash;&#8239;]&nbsp;<small>(])</small> 12:16, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
*This appears to be ] problem; I believe it would be best if we went ahead with the original formatting and discuss the minute details later. ] <i><sup style="display:inline-flex;rotate:7deg;">]</sup></i> 15:09, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
*::I never said it was a problem, just a suggestion. &ndash;&#8239;]&nbsp;<small>(])</small> 15:35, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
*:::Sorry, I didn't mean to reply to you in particular. I've changed the indentation level. ] <i><sup style="display:inline-flex;rotate:7deg;">]</sup></i> 15:45, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
*Displaying the 'active editors' variable significantly discounts all of prior editors associated with those millions of articles being discussed in the same line. — ] <sup>]</sup> 15:57, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
*:I suppose you could say something like, "] articles in ] written by ] editors" to be maximally precise. &ndash;&#8239;]&nbsp;<small>(])</small> 16:03, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
*::What I'm saying is that the {{NUMBEROFUSERS}} <nowiki>{{NUMBEROFUSERS}}</nowiki> is certainly way more than the {{NUMBEROFACTIVEUSERS}} <nowiki>{{NUMBEROFACTIVEUSERS}}</nowiki>, and that the {{NUMBEROFARTICLES}} <nowiki>{{NUMBEROFARTICLES}}</nowiki> certainly would not have been possible with only the later. — ] <sup>]</sup> 16:16, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
*:::Advertising how many "active" users we have isn't necessarily a problem, I'm saying we shouldn't in anyway suggest that such a low number of contributors has led to the number of articles we have to casual readers, reporters, etc that would read the line. — ] <sup>]</sup> 16:18, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
*::::Perhaps something like "currently maintained by X active editors"? (Which also discounts all of the many unregistered editors). — ] <sup>]</sup> 16:19, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
*:::::"by over" maybe.... — ] <sup>]</sup> 16:20, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
*::::::Why, though? "X active editors" isn't saying that that's all the editors who've ever been. It's doing the opposite, by qualifying "active". Getting a bot to keep a tally of total editors ever, per Joe, could be a cool idea, but there's nothing misleading or incorrect about just listing active users, and it's potentially of more interest to readers. <span style="font-family:courier"> -- ]</span><sup class="nowrap">&#91;]]</sup> <small>(])</small> 03:37, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
*:::::::I'm not opposed to somehow advertising the currently active editors, just saying we should ensure that such a figure isn't associated with the total count of all articles made by a much much larger group. (As the original problem is suggesting that readers are underestimating the number of volunteers that have built Misplaced Pages). — ] <sup>]</sup> 18:07, 17 December 2024 (UTC)


:I absolutely support this. Maybe also include the number of edits made in the current calendar day? ] | ] | ] 18:09, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
----
::Better would be in the last 24 hours, especially as most readers will not know when Misplaced Pages's midnight is. Certainly better than a count of all edits since Misplaced Pages began, although not a priority in my opinion. ] (]) 09:20, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
:::@] Well, Jimmy Wales lives in the Carolinas so it could reset at midnight Eastern. Although last 24 hours works as well ] | ] | ] 18:13, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
:::Thinking it about it a bit more, maybe the preceding calendar day ("yesterday") would be computationally easier. We certainly don't want a figure that increases from 0 each day, and it may be undesirable to have one that fluctuates minute to minute. Instead maybe consider over the last week up to and including yesterday, to iron out variation over the weekly cycle. ] (]) 14:17, 18 December 2024 (UTC)
*'''Oppose'''. I don't see the point in this, or the relevance of this number to readers. It might make sense on a page intended to be viewed only by editors, but the Main Page is for readers. None of the bullet points are convincing e.g. I've never heard anyone suggest that there are only 100 editors. It's a only minor bit of clutter but would serve no useful purpose. Besides, it's not clear what constitutes an 'active' editor - the very different numbers quoted above suggest this could be seriously misleading. ] ] 20:33, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
*:], where the number comes from, defines it as "any editor that has performed an action in last 30 days", which appears to include IP editors as well. ] <i><sup style="display:inline-flex;rotate:7deg;">]</sup></i> 23:02, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
*::It is labeled Active <em>registered</em> users - of which IP editors are not. — ] <sup>]</sup> 23:23, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
*:::Thanks for the correction; when the language is set to Spanish, it just reads "active editors". I wonder if it is possible to get a count of all editors, including IP editors. ] <i><sup style="display:inline-flex;rotate:7deg;">]</sup></i> 02:52, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
*::::A single editor could have many IP's and a single IP could have many editors. — ] <sup>]</sup> 18:08, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
*:::::Yes, that was a problem I imagined; though I do not want to discredit the work of IP editors, they are hard to keep track. ] <i><sup style="display:inline-flex;rotate:7deg;">]</sup></i> 01:09, 18 December 2024 (UTC)
* I suggested this idea back on December 8 at the VPR, so yes I would support it. ] (]) 03:49, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
===Next steps===
I see a broad consensus for including the number of active editors, but there seem to be a lot of discussion on the finer details, which doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Should I make a RfC for this? ] <i><sup style="display:inline-flex;rotate:7deg;">]</sup></i> 14:17, 19 December 2024 (UTC)


:Yes, most of us want the number of edits/active editors in the banner, but an RFC might help figure out the smaller details we keep arguing about ] | ] 14:43, 19 December 2024 (UTC)


==Archived talk== ===Informal RfC===
{{Archive top|status=Minimal participation|result=Despite the RfC being open for 16 days and pinging previous participants, it attracted only two respondents, showing the lack of interest in this topic. I will assume most people did not see an issue with my original formatting suggestion when they !voted "support" and submit an edit request. This close does not preclude any future discussion about the formatting or new additions to the proposed text. ] <i><sup style="display:inline-flex;rotate:7deg;">]</sup></i> 15:06, 5 January 2025 (UTC)}}
Archives of older material from this talk page: Archives ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ].
Five questions to decide on the formatting. Note that this doesn't preclude any further changes in the future.


====Which figures should be added to the current text?====
The layout of the Main Page underwent a significant redesign, implemented on 23 Feb 2004. Talk archives 1-13 relate to the old design. Archives after this date: ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ].
# Active editors (original proposal)
# Active editors and total edit count
# Active editors and edit count in last 24 hours(bot required)
# Active editors and all-time editors(bot required)


*'''Support 4''' if possible, '''support 1''' as a lower-effort but still effective alternative. '''Oppose 2 and 3''' per the concerns raised above that it would create confusion among new editors/readers who would not realise that the count cannot update immediately. '']'' <sup>]·]</sup> 14:40, 29 December 2024 (UTC)
*'''Prefer 1, then 3'''; dislike total edit count and all-time editors as too large numbers, with no sense of what is happening now. ] (]) 22:08, 2 January 2025 (UTC)


====Which symbol should be used as the separator? ====
Talk pages specifically dealing with layout and design, or alternative designs for the Main Page:
# Use interpunct (·) (original proposal)
* ''']''' - the old Main Page design.
# Use comma
*] | ] | ] | ] | ] (prev'ly Temp4)
* ] | ]
----


* '''Support 1''', neutral on 2. '']'' <sup>]·]</sup> 14:40, 29 December 2024 (UTC)
== Hate the new design ==


====Which symbol should be used as the separator on mobile skins? ====
It just doesn't lead me into the work. Ick.
# Use line break
# Use comma


* '''Support 1''', neutral on 2. '']'' <sup>]·]</sup> 14:40, 29 December 2024 (UTC)
== I don't know! ==


====How should it be ordered?====
Where is the did you know?
# Smaller number(s) first (original proposal)
# Bigger number(s) first


* '''Support 1 or 2.''' '']'' <sup>]·]</sup> 14:40, 29 December 2024 (UTC)
:Yeah, I also just came here specifically for that! ] | ] 00:53, 25 Aug 2004 (UTC)
::Jengod is giving DYK a wikiholiday for the duration of Olympics, according to the comments ] 00:55, 25 Aug 2004 (UTC)
:::I don't like that. No, I really HATE that. I'd rather see new articles than an update about who won handball. ] 03:32, Aug 25, 2004 (UTC)
:::same here. "Misplaced Pages is not a sports-results ticker"? ] 14:56, 28 Aug 2004 (UTC)


====Wikilinks?====
== Born in Australia and living in Japan ==
#Wikilink all of the numbers to ] (original proposal)
#Wikilink only the first number to ]
#Wikilink "active editor" to ]
] <i><sup style="display:inline-flex;rotate:7deg;">]</sup></i> 12:27, 21 December 2024 (UTC)


* '''Support 1''', neutral on 2 and 3. '']'' <sup>]·]</sup> 14:40, 29 December 2024 (UTC)
I am an Austalian who would like to live in Japan. My idea is that I would like to live in a traditional japanese home, surrounded and influenced by their religion, spiruality and general way of life. Is anyone at all able to help me? I was referred to Misplaced Pages on another discussion page and I will search around this site after I have finised this post. I just thought maybe someone out there might have a whole lot of knowledge about this subject that they could share with me.
*'''Support 1''', unless active editors is the only statistic shown, in which case 3. ] (]) 22:13, 2 January 2025 (UTC)
Belinda


====Discussion====
:Hi, thanks for coming to Misplaced Pages for help. We have a ] where you can ask almost any question. Unless it's '''extremely''' arcane, you should get a response. Enjoy your stay. ] | ] 18:01, 27 Aug 2004 (UTC)
:If a bot is difficult or resource hungry, an edit count for yesterday (preceding calendar day) would serve the same purpose as a count in the last 24 h. ] (]) 08:51, 22 December 2024 (UTC)
::From a maintenance and server load perspective, a bot updating daily is no different than a bot updating every minute (i.e., just a line of code's difference and resource usage that rounds down to 0). <span style="font-family:courier"> -- ]</span><sup class="nowrap">&#91;]]</sup> <small>(])</small> 05:30, 23 December 2024 (UTC)
:@] Do you expect people to respond here with their opinions on these 5 issues? Or is this just a draft for a forthcoming formal RfC?
:If you plan on having another, better-publicized RfC, I'd recommend relisting the original question {{green|Should this be added at all?}}; the original consensus for this had less than 10 editors. <span style="font-family:cursive">]]</span> 04:31, 24 December 2024 (UTC)
::I should have been more clear, but yes, I was expecting people to give their opinions. However, I am waiting before pinging everyone to see if anyone have any more suggestions for the questions. I count 13 people who support the proposal and one who explicitly opposed it; I feel that a RfC is going to have the same consensus for inclusion. ] <i><sup style="display:inline-flex;rotate:7deg;">]</sup></i> 05:49, 24 December 2024 (UTC)
:::So perhaps you could split the five questions into separate subheadings, to allow for clearer discussion of each issue? <span style="font-family:cursive">]]</span> 16:49, 24 December 2024 (UTC)
::::Good idea ] <i><sup style="display:inline-flex;rotate:7deg;">]</sup></i> 07:39, 25 December 2024 (UTC)
:I'd add a 4. option with both active users and all-time editors, as {{u|xaosflux}} suggested above. (Maybe after the total articles count, "{{green|... created by {{NUMBEROFUSERS}} editors}}"). ] (]) 08:39, 26 December 2024 (UTC)
::I've added it, but using <nowiki>{{NUMBEROFUSERS}}</nowiki> would be inaccurate since it includes user accounts with zero edits. ] <i><sup style="display:inline-flex;rotate:7deg;">]</sup></i> 16:48, 27 December 2024 (UTC)
:Since a week has passed for suggested additions, I'll be pinging previous participants tommorow to decide on the formatting. ] <i><sup style="display:inline-flex;rotate:7deg;">]</sup></i> 16:51, 27 December 2024 (UTC)
::Pinging participants: @] @] @] @] @] @] @] @] @] @] @] @] @] @] @] @] ] <i><sup style="display:inline-flex;rotate:7deg;">]</sup></i> 12:28, 29 December 2024 (UTC)
* I've added my replies/thoughts under each individual item, which might help to keep/make consensus visible despite the many moving parts. There's a very large danger of ] here! '']'' <sup>]·]</sup> 14:40, 29 December 2024 (UTC)
*:Just to confirm, did you receive the ping? I'm afraid this RfC is going to flop. ] <i><sup style="display:inline-flex;rotate:7deg;">]</sup></i> 15:48, 2 January 2025 (UTC)
*::I don't think this is the best format for reaching consensus on relatively minor details. Maybe try just proposing a version based on the feedback above and iterate accordingly. &ndash;&#8239;]&nbsp;<small>(])</small> 20:48, 2 January 2025 (UTC)
*:::I believe the lack of engagement here shows general apathy for the formatting. I don't want to try to wrangle in RfC after RfC, wasting community time. I plan to simply submit an edit request with the original proposed formatting if this RfC gets less than five responses. ] <i><sup style="display:inline-flex;rotate:7deg;">]</sup></i> 09:28, 3 January 2025 (UTC)
*::::I think that would be wise: ], after all, and it seems reasonable to suggest that many editors who have seen this and not commented have done so because they have no strong opinion on the points of "contention". '']'' <sup>]·]</sup> 14:03, 3 January 2025 (UTC)
*::::Yes. I think for once Wikipedians' ability to bicker over a comma has disappointed you. '']'' (] — ]) 15:04, 3 January 2025 (UTC)
{{abot}}
===Edit request===
{{edit request|ans=y}}
Per above consensus, please implement the original proposal of replacing the following


<nowiki><div id="articlecount">] articles in ]</div></nowiki>
:You are deluded mate, there is no traditional japanese culture left. Its all westernised. Feel free to come over, but don't be surprised if your romantic notions of 'traditional japanese life' is blown aside by modern westernised japanese people who have no care for the old ways. - Anonymous.


with
== Misplaced Pages News ==


<nowiki><div id="articlecount">] active editors · ] articles in ]</div></nowiki>
I propose the addition of a Misplaced Pages news section. We could show a few new articles, some articles that have been recently and majorly revised, and any new wiki features added or awards that Misplaced Pages has won. This could be an unprotected template added onto the main page. &mdash; ] ]]] 18:30, 27 Aug 2004 (UTC)
:I think that this function is probably better carried out by ] &mdash; which was set up a few months ago to separate internal from external news/announcements.... Thanks, ]<font color=chartreuse>|</font>] 19:34, 27 Aug 2004 (UTC)
::Not many newcomers know about the Community Portal though. Perhaps we should advertise the community portal on the Main Page? ] &mdash; ] | ] 14:15, 31 Aug 2004 (UTC)
:::It's already linked in the introductory text. &mdash; ] 16:23, 31 Aug 2004 (UTC)
::::Okay, I should have phrased that better. I mean we should advertise more '''explicitly''' so that newcomers will see it. ] &mdash; ] | ] 18:38, 31 Aug 2004 (UTC)


The interpunct (·) should be replaced with a line break on small screens via Templatestyle (
:: This has certainly been discussed before. And there is a local Goings-On that tracks that kind of news. The right way to go about adding a subset of that news to the main page might be to create a Template:WP-News with your notion of what it should look like, and then to propose on this page where you would like that template to go within the main-page layout. ]] 08:47, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)
]
Test
), which I am not how it'd be implemented. ChatGPT gave me a potential solution of using a ID'd span tag on the interpunct and hiding it on smaller screens, but I have limited CSS knowledge and can't verify if it would work properly. I know this is a technical request so I will be grateful if a technically-oriented admin can help out. Thanks! ] <i><sup style="display:inline-flex;rotate:7deg;">]</sup></i> 15:29, 5 January 2025 (UTC)


:I've created a mock-up of your proposed changes at] and ] (based on the code at {{tl|hlist}}). I'll hold-off actually making the changes since I don't actually see a RfC (only two informal discussions) and I'm unsure a ] is sufficient to change the main page. ] (]) 06:55, 6 January 2025 (UTC)
== Software Freedom Day ==
::Thanks for the mock-up! It works perfectly on my end. The Localconsensus issue was also a concern of mine. However, this discussion has been open for almost a month and in a dedicated forum for proposing main page edits. The participants include a wide variety of experienced editors, with very solid consensus for its addition (13 to 1). A more widely attended discussion would be very unlikely to change the results. The consensus for the current wording was achieved back at 2006 redesign of the main page, and I didn't see any mention of the active editor count in the discussions. So I don't think this proposal overrides any previous consensuses. ] <i><sup style="display:inline-flex;rotate:7deg;">]</sup></i> 10:38, 6 January 2025 (UTC)
:::Fair enough, I'll leave this thread open for comments (technical or otherwise) for a bit. If no concerns are raised I'll +2. ] (]) 14:42, 6 January 2025 (UTC)
::::Seems good to me. &nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp;] (]) 15:14, 6 January 2025 (UTC)
::::Thanks for the mock up. Looks splendid. From my perspective, this is ready for implementation. ''']]''' 16:25, 6 January 2025 (UTC)
::::Looks good. '']'' (] — ]) 20:50, 6 January 2025 (UTC)
::::Looks good to me too. '']'' <sup>]·]</sup> 21:28, 6 January 2025 (UTC)
{{done}}. Just a small additional comment. "English" is an everyday word and probably does not need linking to ]. But that's a separate discussion &mdash;&nbsp;Martin <small>(]&nbsp;·&nbsp;])</small> 22:48, 6 January 2025 (UTC)


:'''Comment:''' I just saw this editor count on the main page and wanted to come by and say I love it. Not just an interesting statistic but a reminder to all visitors that this is a volunteer project not just a faceless and hegemonic Establishment entity. Nicely done everyone!! Proud to be one of the 116,430! ] (]) 17:53, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
28 august is the
(supported by ] and ], relayed by ]'s ]


== Bye Bye Jimmy Carter, hello "the PDC World Darts Championship"? ==
As wikipedia use some free and open source piece of software (], ] for bots, ], (]?), ] ),
Sorry, the PDC World Darts Championship is just not important, period.
could we do something (banner, link) for that day, on top of main page or in news section ?
Jimmy Carter doesn't even appear in recent deaths as of 2025-01-06...<!-- Template:Unsigned --><small class="autosigned">—&nbsp;Preceding ] comment added by ] (] • ]) </small>
maybe just like : "Happy ]"
:{{u|TheRealJohnea}} It's not a reflection of importance, just turnover. The usual complaint we get is that there isn't enough turnover, not too much. ] (]) 21:29, 6 January 2025 (UTC)
:Carter died 10 days ago, the world has moved on. ]] 22:03, 6 January 2025 (UTC)
:Looks like Jimmy Carter did appear in In The News. . It's been a week since it happened though so the news item has fallen off and been replaced by newer news items. –] <small>(])</small> 22:06, 6 January 2025 (UTC)
:: Carter was there for a week (29/12 to 04/01). And even if the darts didn't exist, would have been removed by the Trudeau posting today. I suspect the OP simply doesn't understand how ITN works. ] 22:46, 6 January 2025 (UTC)


== Proposal: delink "English" ==
Moreover they promote wikipedia (with outdated data though) on their mainpage:
Quote : "There are also other free resources in the community, such as Misplaced Pages which is a free online encyclopedia that runs on Free wiki Software. Established in January 2001, it now as over 600.000 articles in 50 languages. This project can be a good introduction to open development."


Propose to remove the link from "English" to ]. This is an everyday word and per ], we should avoid linking everyday words. &mdash;&nbsp;Martin <small>(]&nbsp;·&nbsp;])</small> 08:10, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
the purpose :
"On August 28, 2004, we will celebrate the first annual Software Freedom Day. '''On that day, we will make the world aware of the virtues of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), and encourage its widespread use.''' We will set up stations in public places to give away informational fliers and CDs with selected FOSS, including TheOpenCD and a Linux Live CD."


:I can't find the previous discussions on this, but the main page isn't an article, and it doesn't seem an overlink to link to the language the encyclopedia is linked to when introducing the encyclopedia. We ] "free" and "encyclopedia" too, it's a limitation of the format. ] (]) 08:28, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
even if wikipedia dont distribute cd, it can encourage use of free software.
::"Free" (in the sense we use it) and "encyclopaedia" at least plausibly something that a reader might need defining for them. There's nobody reading the English Misplaced Pages that doesn't know what English is. &ndash;&#8239;]&nbsp;<small>(])</small> 08:41, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
But as said me Angela, it can be seen as ads. That's why I'm posting here, waiting for your comments.
:::Knowing what a topic is is not the bar for a link. I certainly don't think it's less defined than "encyclopaedia", and speaking of encyclopaedia, I've seen enough engvar "typo" fixes to know there's a lot about the English language many readers don't know. That's not to be demeaning, there's a lot I can learn from it too, it's the only Good Article out of the four articles linked. ] (]) 08:51, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
] 23:37, 27 Aug 2004 (UTC) (PS. Sorry for the bad english)
*I would oppose removing it. The main page serves as a place for readers to see examples of the kind of work we do, and perhaps become engaged to write and edit themselves. As such, ], which is a GA and looks quite well structured and referenced, is a good link to have. It also shows how linking to other topics works, alongside ] and ]. As CMD says, it's also the language of our project. &nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp;] (]) 08:59, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
*:] might be a more appropriate target, but I can't see the benefit of linking for the sake of linking. Plenty of links to good and featured content lower down the page! &mdash;&nbsp;Martin <small>(]&nbsp;·&nbsp;])</small> 10:28, 8 January 2025 (UTC)


:In actual articles, I 100% agree with this - in practice this being used means that most articles have a nation or language as a link almost immediately. However, the main page isn't an article, and if we were to start using all the MOS on it, it would be a completely different look. '''] <sup>(] • ])</sup>''' 13:47, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
:It's a good initiative, ''something'' days are often interesting. ]
*Oppose removal, per ]'s excellent points. It's a good link to have, and there are probably quite a few people who make their first edit as a result of clicking through it. ]] 22:42, 8 January 2025 (UTC)


:'''Oppose'''. 'English' can have multiple meanings; our ] article is itself a disambiguation page. This is not an encyclopaedia about England, or English people, or any of those other meanings. The link to ] is necessary to clarify how the Main Page is using that word. ] ] 12:27, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

In honor of ] today, shouldn't there be something on our Main Page to celebrate it? :) ] 22:24, 28 Aug 2004 (UTC)
:I proposed it too some hours ago (look up), but Angela and Anthere was not really for it. on fr: it was judged not npov. ] 22:40, 28 Aug 2004 (UTC)

== Clicking a main page picture should go to the article ==

Clicking on a picture on the main page should jump to the article it's referring to, not to the picture page listing its filename, copyright status, provenance, and other trivia. (For example, clicking the Beatles picture on today's page should jump to ] and not to "Image:Beatles-singles-heyjude-uk.jpg".

This seems like an obvious point for accessibility to newcomers to Misplaced Pages -- at all the other big portals, CNN.com, etc., clicking a picture takes you to the article.
This suggestion is obviously only for the main page and not for ordinary articles.

:If we got rid of the image copyright information page and linked it directly to the article, I imagine we would have to use an image caption on the main page detailing the copyright status of the image. If you are asserting fair use over an image, you have to state that somewhere. - ] 04:00, 28 Aug 2004 (UTC)
::I wouldn't think so... we could just make the link behaviour of those particular images on the front page different, and have a small link nearby somewhere to take the user to the image description page. That's probably far more logical. ] 07:54, 31 Aug 2004 (UTC)

: I like this idea. ]] 08:47, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)

::Yes, I can see how the current situation would confuse a new visitor, so if it can be changed I agree. --] » ]]] 01:19, Sep 2, 2004 (UTC)

== Layout ==

Six or eight discussions about layout have been merged here:

=== Main page pruning ===
The main page is suffering from ].

Redundancy:
* 3 seperate areas that link to foreign language wikis
**Only 2 in the default skin. One contains them all, one contains the largest ones. This is a useful separation of the more visited wikis.
* 2 seperate areas to link to sister projects
**One is in an easy to find list of links. One is a sentence. The intro is very short, so I see no need to make it shorter. The list of links make it easy to find these things when you don't want to read the intro, so I see no reason to remove that either.
* 4 ways to browse by topic - browse by topic, by categry, or quick index, or major subject area
**See . When this new system is introduced, there will be no need for the ]. I never understood "Browse Misplaced Pages by topic" since those are articles, not portals to browse from. I'd be happy for that entire section to be replaced with ].
**: And by index isn't the same as by topic.
**: An excellent high-level article about a topic should be an informative portal from which to browse other Misplaced Pages content about specific subtopics. The list of top-level concepts in "Browse by category" and "Browse by topic" should be the same, but the way they provide access to related articles (one intertextually, the other through an alphabetized list of tagged articles) is very different.
* We link to 2 other main pages
**Those are out of date and rarely maintained. The stats for July show 3118764 visits to the main page, but only 3570 for ] and 1985 for ]. For such a low percentage of hits to these pages, the links don't need to be so prominent.
:]] 22:36, Aug 26, 2004 (UTC)
**: They should still be somewhere on the page. For people whose browsers don't display tables or images properly, the farther down the page, the less likely the links will be found. Restoring them to the sidebar for now; feel free to move them to a better place. ]] 03:09, 27 Aug 2004 (UTC)
:It's high time we started pruning it down. ] 22:10, Aug 26, 2004 (UTC)

::why were the text-only and table-less main page links restored? I thought we agreed that they get almost no hits, and that they should go? ] 03:54, Aug 27, 2004 (UTC)
::: I don't think we agreed on either part of that statement. 3500 hits a month does not strike me as "almost no" hits; I would bet that other links on the Main Page get fewer than 100 hits in a day. In addition, that is a dubious criterion for removal from the page. ]]


==== Suggestions ====
Put simply, the main page is bloated. I suggest we remove:
# ] (already covered by ])
# Cut down the languages from random collection of 105 languages (out of 191 - Klingon is in, Zulu is out, etc) to something more reasonable. (the rest can be reached by clicking on the link to meta, which is already here - making for quadruple redundancy for the languages)
#* I prune this list from time to time; using a "50 non-stub articles, translated interface" rule of thumb. Perhaps we can formalize this a smidge. ]]
# Remove the top-right intra-page links "Browse by topic" and "Other languages" ] 01:46, Aug 27, 2004 (UTC)

:# I don't like ] at all. It is not intuitive and does not lead to the best articles. We have a category scheme at long last, so let's use it. Replace ] and ] with ].
:# That should be discussed at ].
:# "Browse by topic" should be replaced with "Browse by category". The link to "Other languages" should absolutely not be removed. The other languages section is vitally important since redirects to . The other languages make up nearly 2/3rds of Misplaced Pages so they need to be easy to find via a link ''at the top'' of the page, not visible only to those who scroll to the end. The links in the top sidebar are tiny and hide nothing. They don't take up any space since they're the same height as the introduction.
::]] 03:30, Aug 27, 2004 (UTC)


=== Simplified Main Page ===
''See also Categories, below''

addresses some of the problems with the old layout, i.e. feature-creep.

The little navbox in the top right corner in the old version, with the anchor links ''within'' the Main Page, is really not very helpful. If our page gets so long that we need this kind of internal navigation, that may be an indicator that it's getting too long. None of the links is really necessary. The "other languages" are presented twice ''and'' have an internal link in the intro paragraph, which also points to the sister projects. The table-free/text-only versions are not important enough to justify such prominent exposure. The "Browse" link we can do away with by simply having the fundamental categories presented at the top. I believe this will also much increase their use by first-time visitors.

I'm not very happy with the messy language box. Instead, I think there should be a neatly designed language portal or something like that. Unfortunately, there's no way to append a "More languages" link to the standard interlanguage links, as far as I can tell. So for now, I've left it in.

What do you think?--]]

:: May I also add that I do not mind a good amount of links to articles (or categories) on the main page. Misplaced Pages is useful for its being a great reference or means of exploring various topics (by topic). Although people do some nice work drawing out featured articles, items in the news and the like, and I appreciate that, we can go for news elsewhere. Dropping Wikipediatoc on the main page is totally pointless from my point of view. As far as categories, although I understand the rationale for linking to categories, these alone may not give people a feel for what a wiki page really is. --Brettz9

I like it all apart from the disappearance of the links in the box on the right. I already explained above why links to other languages need to be prominent. You can expect people to scroll down 2 screens to find them. ]] 18:43, Aug 29, 2004 (UTC)

==== Smaller Main ====
BTW, even though we need a better option/page/solution for brosing by topic/category/other, I ''love'' the current size of the main page. Now if only we could shrink the remaining daily stand-bys; perhaps shorter paragraphs and fewer (but more frequently-updated) one-liners... ]]

=== Categories ===
The major subject categories form a nice progression from concrete to abstract, and some articles are almost ready to be portals if they were to be transplanted to the category pages:
*] - nice images. This one is ready to transplant into ]
*] only 2 images, could transplant intro and 1 image into ]
*] no images for ]
*] no images for ]
*] no images for ]
*] no images. Used intro in ]
::] 09:59, 28 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Categorization is a science of its own. On the Main Page, we should stick to presenting the fundamental categories as well as a link to a portal for other ways to access Misplaced Pages articles. ] is really not very useful, since it links to articles, not categories. Many of these articles are not good ways to find other related topics in that specific ''field''.

That's the whole point of the category system. ] is better, but is too verbose for the Main Page, in my opinion. Instead, I suggest we limit ourselves to 7 categories on the Main Page . This also enforces some amount of self-discipline, in that we have to choose which are the really important ones, and structure things more systematically.
--]]
:I think that all-caps browse bar is incredibly ugly. I honestly don't understand why people want to browse by article titles, so I don't want such things emphasized. Which is a separate issue from it being ugly. -- ]|] 04:16, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)
::Please elaborate on both points.--]]
:::Agreed with Cyrius: the all-caps browse bar is ugly. It would also help, IMHO, if it stays in a more attractive format (or even in the ugly ofrmat) to move it below the pink/blue coloured boxes. As it stands, it's an eyesore. Also, a "Wiki in other languages" thing would be better... the Polish main page is much more compact... having said that, I only like the way they handled the languages, the rest of the Polish main page is too 'boxy' for my taste... ] 04:20, Aug 29, 2004 (UTC)
::::Well, I guess "ugly" is a type of feedback, even if not particularly useful. Would you prefer it if it was capitalized normally, or in a different font?--]]

:::ARE YOU SCREAMING? WHY IS THAT IN ALL CAPS? OH THE ]! ] &mdash;] ] 04:26, Aug 29, 2004 (UTC)
::::In case you aren't just being facetious, the reason for all-caps is that it makes the navigation bar stand out from the introductory paragraph without having to resort to color or borders. Try it with normal capitalization and you will see what I mean. FWIW, if you wanted to imitate the style of the Main Page, you would have needed to write:

::::<div style="font-size:small;">ARE YOU SCREAMING | WHY IS THAT IN ALL CAPS | OH THE ]</div>

::::The key difference here being that the text is in slightly smaller size, and there is no punctuation. The combination of these stylistic elements should reduce the "screaming" effect which you so subtly allude to.--]]

:Small caps? ] 04:30, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)
::I agree with Dysprosia - or maybe put it in boldface? I also think it should go below the welcome paragraph. ] | ] 04:44, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)

::It helps, I've put them in place. Still don't see the use of browsing from top level categories though. -- ]|] 04:46, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)
:::Category pages combine both: a quick introduction, and a way to locate specific subjects. Take ] as an example. The intro gives you some of the most important links, and the subcategories allow you to dig deeper. The digging aspect is useful when you have only a vague idea what you are looking for, or want to see just how many articles exist in a specific topic area. I for one find category pages extremely useful, and use them a lot.-]]
::::See, I look at the lists in ] and my eyes glaze over. The only time I find categories useful is if I'm already at an article and want similar ones. -- ]|] 05:28, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)
:::::Well, could the eye-glazing have something to do with the fact that you're not actually looking for something in that category? ;-) --]]
::::::Possibly. -- ]|] 06:14, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)
:::::: I often look for mathematics articles, and my eyes also glaze over. Looking through a list of ''all articles related to a given subject'', with no differentiation based on importance, and no organization other than alpha by title, is not conducive to efficient (or even very enjoyable) browsing for categories with more than 30 or 40 articles. ]]

Wow, it's almost 'cute' now. :) ] 05:01, Aug 29, 2004 (UTC)
:CSS has a small caps style ("font-variant: small-caps"), which looks better than emulating it with &lt;small&gt;. ] 05:12, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)
::That it does. Now in use. -- ]|] 05:26, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I love the idea and think it really makes it easier from the perspective of both the visitor and the user. I don't like the small caps, but I agree with it being there. And I agree with the point ] made about the categories being a better navigational tool than direct links to those articles previously used from ]. - ] 05:54, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)
::The categorizers have defined 6-7 classes already. Eloquence, would you have supported the browser bar if it did not have Math, Physics, Philosophy and instead had the classes that they had settled on: Nature, Humanity, Human Society, Culture, Technology, Abstraction, Fundamental? Some of the article intro pages such as Culture need some work. ] 06:03, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)

:::Humanity / Human Society / Culture are a little too much overlap for my taste. So are Abstraction and Fundamental. The listed categories should ''be'' the fundamental ones, I think.--]]
:::: Human (not humanity) and Society are different categories. It is not smart to subsitite human to Humanity. ] 16:35, 2004 Aug 29 (UTC)
:::If we are going to use the categories we have there, then shouldn't any visitor or user be able to access any category going through categories from one of those categories. In other words, if I wanted to get to the Category:Media I should be able to choose one of those categories, choose another category, etc. until I get to Category:Media. - ] 10:08, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)
::::Agreed. However, I maintain that this should be doable with at most 7 links. The current setup can clearly be optimized - for example, both physics and mathematics are ''sciences''.--]]

::] ''really'' needs to be a fundamental category. Right now, the fastest way to get there from the Main Page is Academia -> Applied sciences -> Technology. I'm going ahead and adding it... ] | ] 10:39, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)
::: I not agree to see Academia at top level. It violates ]. Applied sciences - is buzz word, there a lot of Applied scienceses, not relatred to each other like Technology and Medicine. ] 16:35, 2004 Aug 29 (UTC)

==== Restoring Wikipediatoc ====
I would like to see Wikipediatoc back on Main page. ]
: I absolutely second that. That is the primary reason I come to the main page in the first place. ] ]]] 08:58, 30 Aug 2004 (UTC)
::And the QuickIndex link gone too? C'mon now! ] ]]] 09:07, 30 Aug 2004 (UTC)
: I third that. Even if I didn't find it useful (and I do -- using it regularly and finding Wikipediatoc more useful than Browse by Category), that set of categories has been on the Main Page for a long time, and much work has gone into it. As there is no urgency in this change, removing that section without even commenting on its talk page is unnecessarily rude to the energetic editors (including Kenny) who have made improving that part of the Main Page one of their projects. ]] 08:47, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)
==== More categories, browsing ====
I think that the "More" link near the top of the main page should link to ] rather then ]. ''Browse by category'' is a well-organised list of links to categories, and is very similar to the ] which used to be included on the main page. ''Category schemes'', on the other hand, is just a confusing list of links to competing categorisation schemes &ndash; how will a new user choose which scheme to try? &mdash;] 17:02, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)
:Agree with this; ''category schemes'' is a mess. I'll also chip in to say that I generally like the layout change and although a few people will complain, I'd guess the silent majority does as well. --] 18:21, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)
::I agree. ] is a more useful link. ]] 18:43, Aug 29, 2004 (UTC)

Hello, I was just wondering about the rationale behind the areas of browsing being added to the top of the main page. I'm not asking for any reason in particular, I'm just curious -- anon
: Any chance of having Template:Wikipediatoc back? ] 17:09, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)
::For the moment, you can get to it from this talk page. It is listed at the top (relic from past layouts) ] 17:39, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)


===Sidebar, FAQ===

There main page does not link to ]. Should it? &mdash;] 18:03, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)
:Yes. It should and currently does. ]] 18:44, Aug 29, 2004 (UTC)
::Thanks. ]

I returned the sidebar to the old verticle layout. The horizontal one pushed all the content down.

I also removed the text-only and table-free main pages. I think there's overwhelming support to remove them. They only get about 3000 hits a month (the main page gets almost 10,000 times as many). ] 02:28, Aug 30, 2004 (UTC)

:If they are removed they should be so completely. If they are there, they should not be on the bottom -- because the people who need them will not scroll that far down. ] &mdash; ] ] 02:34, 30 Aug 2004 (UTC)
::Unless my eyes deceive me, I did remove them completely. They are no longer linked anywhere from the main page. ] 02:36, Aug 30, 2004 (UTC)

==== "Other languages and sister projects" Frontpage Link ====
Without the TOC clogging up a third of the room on the main page, there is no longer a need for this link to clutter up the page. All one has to do is scroll down using a mouse wheel, the arrow keys, scrollbar or however else one wants. There is no practical use for this today, this is 2004.

If these links remain, they should also be FIXED, something which I cannot do :(. Linking the sister projects and languages together is not effective for the following reasons:

1. On resolutions lower than 1280x1024 you do not see both of these sections at the same time (depends on text size too) and therefore it does not help the user all that much.

2. In addition to being less useful, it also takes up more room due to the extra "and".

I think that the "and" should be removed, the sister projects link should point to the sister projects section and the other languages should point to the other languages. This is best for newbies and more tolerant to people with small windows or low resolutions. --] (~Aug 31)

==== Table-free main====
I still see a link to the table free link which I clicked on for fun and it seems to work. --]
: That was the intent. Is there something fundamentally disturbing about a working link to a table-free Main? I have no use for the table-free page myself, but feel an obligation to stand up for the non-admin users who do. I was one of the people who tried to remove the table-free and text-only links from the sidebar earlier this year (in May?); I recall there being some frequent users who piped up that they used the table-free page. Also, comparing the clickthrough to this page to the total visits tot he main page is unfair; better to compare that clickthrough to the highest clickthrough to any other page linked from Main. (On top of which I don't really think that should be THE criterion by which we determine what links stay or don't stay on Main) ]] 05:26, 30 Aug 2004 (UTC)
:: However, in the absence of comments from people who really use that page, I'm not going to touch those links again. If you are reading this, '''and use the table-free Main Page''', please add a comment to that effect here. ]] 21:32, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)


=== Green ===

==== Green border ====
That green border on the last cell (donations) is too bright. Could someone tone it down a little, to make it look more like the borders on the other cells? ] 04:06, 26 Aug 2004 (UTC)

==== Light green background ====
As for the donation request, please do not restore the ugly greenish blob at the end of the page. If you need to put it in a box, we should use a reasonable color.--]] (~Aug 30)
: I did not think the green was so bad, what color do you suggest? --]


=== More problems with layout ===

1. The browse by category is only available by clicking a small and hard to see link at the top right.
: To be fixed. I think more cats should be (re-)added further down the page.
2. There is still a link to the table free version.
: What is the problem with this, again? If a table-free main page exists at all, that seems like the right place for a link to it.
3. Sister projects is on top of languages, this is not logical. Sister projects are about Wikimedia in general and include many other projects, it should be last to indicate this better.
: Agreed and changed.
4. The donation request should have its own little box perhaps with a green background in the subsection to indicate that it is not just talking about Wikimedia projects in general, but providing a request.
: " " . ]] 21:32, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)
--]

: This is the result mostly of the messy edits in the last few hours. Sj removed the category bar because the categories are incomplete. Well, that's the whole point of putting them there, so that people can start systematically expanding our core categories and thinking of a category scheme which makes all articles accessible through at most 7 root nodes. If we don't use the category system prominently, the incentive will be very weak to improve the structure.
:: I did not remove the category bar; I cut it down to three exemplars of what a decent category is, to give ''some hint'' of what a good category bar would contain. someone else, seeing that the idea of the cat bar was incomplete, removed it; which also seems like a good solution to me, since it was introduced with little discussion. "At most 7" is rather arbitrary. The choice of those 7 was skewed and hard to flesh out properly, without instruction regarding how to improve it or an indication of how the nodes themselves could change. Unlike normal wiki pages, a category page does not provide a self-evident way to modify the category contents (aside from the article-duplicating work of writing a category-introduction). Taking an incomplete, poorly-specified subproject of spotty quality, and elevating it to the highest prominence on the Main Page in order to improve it, seems like a poor precedent to set. ]] 21:32, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)

: I still think the other languages / sister projects link is unnecessary, but I've combined both into one link for now. When www.wikipedia.org becomes a language selection portal, we won't have such a strong need to highlight other languages on en, I hope. --]]
::I don't know about that link, also. All it does is send you to the bottom of the page, which can more easily be done by scrolling down. Also, it says "other languages" in ''English'', which surely is not very useful if I speak only Chinese. On the other hand, I know there exist many inexperienced computer users who have not yet properly understood the concept of scrolling. Anyone know of any recent web usability research giving the frequency (in % preferably) of such users? --] 19:47, 30 Aug 2004 (UTC)
:::BTW: It is IMPORTANT that Misplaced Pages displays well even in resolutions lower than 1280x1024. The unified link to the Sister projects and other languages does not work well in these resolutions, it only shows the other languages section. --]
:::: The two links separated again, for reasons noted by Exigentsky and Angela below. ]] 21:32, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)


Is there any change to move the sister projects to the bottom and put back the full size TOC? --]
: Siter projects moved down, separate boxes for langs, sister projects, and donations. I want to restore the full-size TOC, but am not sure whether to use categories or articles. ]] 21:32, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)

===Poor table layout===
Currently the table on the main page is both too wide and divides the space for its cells poorly. The "in the news" cell is no wider than its image, and the "featured article" cell takes up the remaining space. I can't see why this should be so, but it's currently totally unsuitable for 800x600. --]<font style="vertical-align: text-bottom">]</font>]] 18:37, 12 Sep 2004 (UTC)

== Doubts about the design change ==

While I like the rewritten welcome message, and that the table freee and text versions are not as emphasized (I think they shouldn't even be there at all), I think the new TOC is too small, slow and unpolished. I suggest reverting those changes. --]

What's the point of the main page without a broad selection of links to the body of the encyclopedia? It doesn't have anything for me now. Could we redirect http://en.wikipedia.org/ to ] instead? -- ] 03:06, Aug 30, 2004 (UTC)

:I agree. It's pointless since all the browse links have been removed. ]] 11:52, Aug 30, 2004 (UTC)

::I agree as well. It was better design to have fifty major subareas of Misplaced Pages one click away from Main. ]] 21:32, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)

=== Patience, removing whole sections of Main ===

The new interest in main page redesign is excellent, but sudden! Please wait slightly longer after proposing major changes before implementing them. In this case, the new top-of-the-page list of categories for browsing is a neat idea for a dense set of overview links... but that list contained unfinished or overlapping categories, and focused on a narrow subset of Misplaced Pages topics (math and physics and philosophy and technology, but no history or politics or humanities (] being different ...) ). I added Politics, and left only the two most thorough cats from the previous list. ]] 05:26, 30 Aug 2004 (UTC)
:Removed, until it is ready to deploy. ] 07:24, 30 Aug 2004 (UTC)
:: Thank you. I wanted to do this, but was trying to avoid simple unilateral reversion. ]] 07:29, 30 Aug 2004 (UTC)

===Discussion first===
Personally I find Categories annoying and visually ugly. I liked the old page layout. Regardless, shouldn't we have discussed this here first before the changes went live? We could have avoid the large spate of edits to the main page that have just occured. ] 19:31, Aug 30, 2004 (UTC)

: I also agree with this (though I am really grateful for the existence of categories). As I mentioned above (in case people only watch the bottom of the page), I think having links to articles is good for getting people's feet wet with seeing what a wiki page is. If they see those category pages, they may just give up and stop browsing. ] ]]] 19:41, 30 Aug 2004 (UTC)

==== Links to articles vs. links to categories ====
This is a very dubious argument. The Main Page is chock-full of links to articles. The purpose of the categories is not to showcase articles, that's what the article of the day, anniversaries etc. are for. The purpose of the categories is to help our visitors find articles related to specific topics. This is quite obvious from the way they are presented. "They may just give up and stop browsing" is much more applicable to the old "Browse by topic" box, which was very misleading because it did not actually help in browsing by topic; it showed certain articles, some of which were quite poor and most of which were not particularly useful in finding other articles in that field. ''That'' is frustrating and confusing and likely to turn away newcomers.--]]

: I do agree with your latter comments, but as the categories had been, I don't think it had been a good alternative. But with the recent fix of having the category pages include some basic information and pictures (which I didn't realize was going on), I think this was a very good solution.
: However, as much as I think it is a clever fix, I think I should bring up a few disadvantages for which perhaps people here could think of workarounds:

: 1) the category pages are only sorted alphabetically, which makes it difficult to get a bird's eye view of what kind of pages exist as subcategories (while the main article page usually categorizes pages within the discipline by subject). Could the system be designed to allow the user to either see the page alphabetically or by subject, whichever way the user prefers?
: 2) By coming to the slightly elaborated category introductions, people may not realize that there IS a more elaborate article page for that category (even though there is a link to one on the page, they may think it is just a dummy link, for example), or even if they do, people may try to expand the category introduction, creating thereby two long versions which need every once in a while to be reconciled, with the category page being reduced.
: 3) Having the category introduction at the top, as much as I prefer it to nothing, does make it take a little while longer to find a subcategory if you are just browsing categories, since you have to scroll down...

: One alternative solution might be to have something like (art/cat) following each item to allow people to jump to either the article or category (e.g., "Mathematics (art/cat)").
: Also, I'd like to say I still think we could fit more categories onto the main page, just as Yahoo does, for example by including some small subcategories beneath (while linking to more)--When I first saw the changes, I felt like someone had come into a library and thrown out the card catalog computers (or moved them to the top floor), saying that we needed more room for newspapers! What good is a library, anyways, if it won't help a person know what's in it? (I'm also working on putting together a video tutorial right now, and having the main page shifting around doesn't help!) :) ] ]]] 06:02, 31 Aug 2004 (UTC)

::1) Categorization should be atomic. That means that you can't subcategorize any further. Whether the categories are listed alphabetically or not, you can't usefully list them by ''subject'' any deeper than they are already categorized. If you can, then you should think about your categorization scheme.

:::What do you mean by this? Categories can be divided and subdivided as narrowly as needed. If there are articles about each of the Olympic events, then put them in a category. If they write artices about each of the Olympic track and field events, then articles about each of the races for each medal, then make more specific categories to organize them. The top level categories on the Main Page should contain as many categories as possible -- but only as broad as will allow people to recognize which category contains the information they're looking for. ] 21:18, 31 Aug 2004 (UTC)

::2) This is a reasonable point (even though the argument about dummy links seems somewhat spurious). I suppose that it could be made clearer that there is a separate article on the category pages themselves; for example, the mathematics category could have a bold link at the bottom of the introduction "''']'''".

::3) That's why category intros should be no longer than one or two paragraphs. Please shorten any which go above that limit.

::You can only fit so much information on the Main Page. There's really no substantial difference from a user perspective between clicking on a category page and clicking/scrolling to the category/article list at the bottom of the Main Page. In fact, now that we have direct category links at the top, in many cases you will get to your goal much ''faster''. Whether the category bar should take more room can be debated, however, to be useful, that must always happen at the expense of the other dynamic content on the page - which, to be frank, is what keeps me and many others loading it every day, so we should be careful about substantial changes here.--]] 07:42, Aug 31, 2004 (UTC)

:::I've created ] per your suggestion, it looks like this: {{catmore}} (i.e. it automatically inserts the page name). This could be put on the fundamental category pages. What do you think?--]]
::::Yes, each category should have a prominent link to the corresponding article in the main namespace. I was planning to do something similar, except my template would have been intended for use at the top, rather than the bottom, of the Category:Foo page, and would have said something like "This is an introduction to the <nowiki>] '''Foo'''</nowiki>. There is also a more detailed <nowiki>]</nowiki>." Perhaps this part of the discussion should move to ]? &mdash;] 17:25, 31 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Well, admins rule wikipedia so they can toy around with the sanctioned Main Page. The best thing you should do is stay away from places where you are not given freedom of editing. -- ] 19:50, Aug 30, 2004 (UTC)

: The Main Page is split into 7 templates exactly for the purpose of making it editable to non-sysops while minimizing the risk of vandalism. All the templates are editable and the category bar will be, too, if we agree to use it. The change I made was announced on the talk page. If you feel that it is a bad change, you are free to participate in the discussion and give feedback. Consensus on matters like that is virtually impossible. That's why it is essential that all sides explain their points of view in rational arguments.--]]

The seven Browse topics at the top of the Main Page were obviously selected by a computer scientist/mathematician who believes the universe revolves around their field. Look at the choices that are given top billing: Mathematics, Physics and Philosophy (and Technology). These seven Browse topics should lead you to any subject a user would be searching for. Instead, the Physics link only leads to subtopics within Physics (not topics that are related to Physics), the Mathematics to subtopics within Math (not all the topics that use Math), etc. Only a tiny percentage of knowledge links from here. I suggest placing the "More..." category system back on the Main Page again. ] 21:18, 31 Aug 2004 (UTC)
: Agreed. The notion that we can provide a balanced set of seven links that covers all of Misplaced Pages is extremely optimistic, given the current lack of a balanced article-ontology anywhere on wikipedia; the novelty of categories for most users; the lack of agreement on what categories are for, and which articles should be included in high-level categories; and the general sparsity of said high-level categories. ]] 21:32, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)

The main page category browse bar is now a template: ]. Please suggest a better list of fundamental categories... -- ] 10:06, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)
: I don't think that template should be inserted into the top screen-inch of Main while we hash this out.

: We could start a discussion with the dmoz categories, a suitable ISO ontology, a discussion of what kind of 'fundamental' qualities we expect of this list (fundamental in the context of current WP content? of current high-quality content? of everything WPans know of in the universe? everything humans know of? in the context of the actual universe, despite variance in how much humans know about facets of that grand scheme? should these fundamental categories be 'maximally' distinct for some measure of distinction? parallel in structure? sufficiently diverse to ensure that every topic can be categorized under at least one of them? selected so as to minimize the number of topics/concepts belonging to more than one category?). ]] 21:32, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)
: Here is a proposal for the browsebar: the progression ]|]|]|]| ]|]|] tells a story - beginning with Man's origins in Nature, Humans eventually gained the right to survive with Technology, starting with upright motion, tools, agriculture, writing, and other Communication, consolidating their knowledge under references such as Myth, Magic and Religion, eventually progressing to Science and more abstract views of the world. ] 21:50, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)

:Interested parties on refining the categories for the browsebar are invited to contribute to ]. I have copied this discussion to that talk page. ] 02:06, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC)

=== Final two sections on the page ===

==== Donations ====

The request for donations needs to be separate from the sister projects. Perhaps ina green box under them as it was before, that is the msot logical. Sections unrelated should be distinquishable. --]
:Have you considered this color? ] 18:30, 31 Aug 2004 (UTC)
<table style="float:right; margin:5px; ">
<tr ><td width=150 style="border:3px solid; background:#ccFccF;">donations</td></tr>
</table>

::That's not bad, but I personally prefer the one I saw on the 24th. The contrast seems a bit too strong here, I liked the smoother color of the previous one. --]

==== List of languages ====
The new list of langs is *huge*. More discussion on its talk page, but it should be pared down by a good 30-40%.



== Athens 2004 Olympics sidebar ==

The Olympic News section on the Main Page has now been removed. I would like to thank those who kept it updated, those who helped keep the Main Page columns evened out, and those who put up with the section being there despite having an overwhelming urge to edit it out of the Main Page. I guess the only thing left to say is "Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi!" - ] 04:47, 30 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Yeah, it was really great to see Misplaced Pages so dynamic, updating the news about the olympics each time I visited it. Perhaps it should adopt Python's slogon as the Agile Encyclopedia, being a global work and its wiki nature allows it to be far more agile than traditional encyclopedias and this needs to be stressed.

== Featured article by e-mail! ==

I think this is an interesting idea, are ther eplans to expand this to the Selected Anniversaries, News and perhaps the Did You Know? --]

:The problem is that ITN and DYK tend to change pretty much randomly throughout the day, so "Today's Did You Know..." or "Today's news" doesn't have much meaning.

:Saying that, it may be possible to append a selection of "interesting" DYKs, news items or anniversaries to the end of the ''article of the day'' mail, if there's interest in it... (I'd rather not run another, separate list for this - of course someone else can, but it feels like duplication of effort). ]&mdash; ] | ] 15:12, 2004 Aug 31 (UTC)

:Oh yes, your right, even though the events for selected anniversaries and so on are defined already for most days, it does change extremely fast, not unlike the featured article, but at least it will still be the same article. For the others new events can be added, old ones deleted etc. Thanks for taking the time to respond to my suggestion though. --]

::I think I'll put the day's selected anniversaries on the next mail: people can always complain if they don't like it :-) Does anyone particularly want or not want DYKs and ITN there, or have suggestions on the best way to do it? ]&mdash; ] | ] 15:42, 2004 Aug 31 (UTC)
:::I visit Misplaced Pages every day at least a few times, and so neither of these are particularly useful to me. However, I think it's a very good idea, especially for people that aren't yet hooked on Misplaced Pages.

:::I think that if you send a static e-mail only the FA and SA would work well with this idea because their content is decided upon ahead of time and there are fewer radical changes. However the news is bound to change quickly as is the DYK section due to its use of brand new articles.

:::If this idea is to be expanded to more than the FA and SA, the e-mail must grab all the information from Misplaced Pages itself so that it is always up to date. Perhaps it could use a template page?

:::All in all, I think this should not go farther than the FA and SA due to the nature of the other sections, as you mentioned. --]


== Expandable Browse Categories ==

Further to discussion of browse categories vs Wikipediatoc etc, couldn't a list of more detailed categories (info contained in wikipediatoc) expand from the browse bar using css? Kind of the reverse of the contents sections for large articles. Or am I missing some subtlety of categorisation? - Pedantic Sam
::It appears that Eloquence means for the 7 ] categories at the top of '] ' to go into the Browse bar in the Main Page. Is anyone amenable to these 7 items? '], ], etc. ... , ]' - Or perhaps he means for the Category items to go thru a consensus. ] 03:06, 31 Aug 2004 (UTC)

:: That sounds like it would be a good idea (having the items expandable through Javascript or something) without needing to reload a new page (preferably with its being by default collapsed or expanded be changeable in user's preferences). ] ]]] 06:10, 31 Aug 2004 (UTC)

:::Difficult if not impossible, given that we can't use all of HTML.--]]
::::True, but it would be cool if implemented. --]

The "physics" category should be changed to "science". ] 22:29, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Ok, thats good, but the nature category is different than the science category, and should be returned.] 00:05, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC)

== Case-sensitivity ==

'''I think Wikilinks should not be case-sensitive. It does nothing but create confusion and it's counterintuitive. From a technical point of view, it's just plain wrong. There is no reasonable argument why Wikilinks should be case-sensitive.'''
:It helps distinguish articles of the same name with different spellings, it can get annoying, but it's also useful sometimes. --]

==LOGO==
Who hacked into the system and changed the logo? -- ]
: See ]


Aw damn, It's gone now, I kinda liked it! ] 21:24, 31 Aug 2004 (UTC)

== Retrieved from... ==

Why is it that every few days a "retrieved from" section comes up at the bottom of the screen? I like it, but if it isn't permanent, well, that's just annoying. Can we keep it there? ] &mdash; ] | ] 12:09, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)

== help me please ==

A freind of mine sent me this...... Can anyone translate please?
Als ik er nu een dikke vettige bees op geef?

try babelfish:
] 10:19, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)

==Linking to Main Page==
'''Crossposted from ]''' &#8212;&#8212; '''Please Reply there'''

Would anyone have any objections to linking "Misplaced Pages, the 💕" to http://en.wikipedia.org/Main_Page ?

Why? Well...
# Currently there isn't a link to the Main Page in the source HTML, which means if any non-visual-CSS (screen reader/text-only/mobile users) want to go to the Main Page, they have to go all the way through the content in order to find it.
# It may well improve search engine rankings, having "Misplaced Pages" and "💕" pointing at the Main Page.

I propose styling the link so MonoBook users simply see it as plain, ordinary text. I can't really see any downsides to this... can anyone else? ] 22:07, 31 Aug 2004 (UTC)

: Okay... nobody objected so I've tried it, seems to work ok. Feel free to moan if you dislike it! ] 19:46, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)

::I understand that clicking on the logo isn't intuitive or universally available to all users, ''but'' I ''don't'' like this link. I think it distracts from the article to have the very first thing be a red, underlined, bold ]. I propose reverting and and having a much broader discussion about this. (Crossposted to ] and ]) Thanks, ]<font color=chartreuse>|</font>] 20:59, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I agree this is a good idea but I think it looks bad. Isn't there a way to make this message a link without making it look like a link? --] 21:56, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)

==Page caches==
Why is it that every time I go to the Main Page I get a different version? I mean, I might have seen today's page the last time I went there, but when I go back, it's the page from two or three days ago. And then when I referesh it to see the current version, and I go back to the main page, I get a different page from either one that I just saw before. ]] 22:10, Sep 1, 2004 (UTC)
:You're right, that it's a caching problem. One solution would be to disable caching on your browser. ] 22:15, Sep 1, 2004 (UTC)
I have noticed this problem too, especially on the Main Page. I usually have to force a reload - Misplaced Pages doesn't seem to be giving the browser the message that the page has changed since it was last accessed. - ] 04:16, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC)
:But that's not the problem. I get cached version from three or four days before the most recent one I've seen. ]] 19:32, Sep 2, 2004 (UTC)

== Browse to the right of Welcome ==

Shouldn't this be removed to encourage the use of the BROWSE bar and hence growning the qualtiy of the categorization? The "MORE..." links to the same page anyway and so if they do not find the section they are looking for it leads them to the same place. It really seems redundant, I vote on removing it.

--]

== Welcome to Misplaced Pages! ==

Why the exclamation mark? Are we surprised to see them? &mdash; ] 23:04, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)
:(similarly the end of the paragraph) &mdash; ]

::No, we're happy to see them. &mdash; ] 00:09, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC)

:::It's like having a drum roll, a cymbal splash and jumping out from behind the curtain with a top hat and cane. On that basis I can see why you might not like it ;o) I don't like exclamations. I have a friend who tells me ''all about his kids!!! by email!!! the kids are doing great!!!''. He's a Chemistry graduate with a good job, but every time I get an email I end up being tricked into thinking he's a fool. But I think we can justify one exclamation on the front page. I think it's quite nice. &mdash; ] » ]]] 00:32, Sep 2, 2004 (UTC)

: The exclaimation mark isn't as bad as it could be. It does, however, detract slightly from the level of professionalism. Exclaimation marks denote hype and are more suited to advertising (I always say, the quality of a product is inversely proportional to the number of exclaimation marks its description contains). You will never see an unquoted exclaimation mark in any serious non-fictional writing, but the concensus here seems to be that the encyclopedia needs to be accessable and fun rather than stodgy. ] 15:09, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC)

: I don't mind the first exclamation mark, as we are a community project above all else, so a bit of friendliness is in order. The exclamation at the end of the paragraph has to go though. &mdash; ] ] 15:45, Sep 2, 2004 (UTC)
:: Well, it is quite a friendly introduction as it is. It is a welcome, and then a BOLD explanation that you are encouraged to join in. In any case, the duplication of "we are building" and "we are working on N articles" was unnecessary, so I merged the first two sentences.

:I agree, the second exclamation mark is over the top (I've just removed it). However, I don't really like the whole sentence - I think that it would be better if it said "... to learn how you can edit any article right now", as it used to. It's shorter and snappier, and it's the fact that anyone can edit an article that makes Misplaced Pages special and different from other sites that allow participation. ] 18:01, Sep 2, 2004 (UTC)
:: It was accidentally reinserted; I removed it again. ]] 18:14, 4 Sep 2004 (UTC)

:I say the only exclamation mark should be in the "Welcome to Misplaced Pages!" at the beginning. The main page needs a slightly more updated design though, to make it look like...an encyclopedia. ] &mdash; ] | ] 16:15, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)
:: Agreed. Suggestions? ]]

I disagree. I also think that no one would notice the absence of the exclamation mark, but quite a lot of people will notice (in a negative way) its presence. However if the consensus is to keep it, then fine.
: This is definitely true, whether or not some people like the initial exclamation mark. And the people who will notice in a negative way tend to be the ones who decide not to become members of the community, and so are hardly represented on these talk pages... ]] 18:14, 4 Sep 2004 (UTC)

== Donations box ==

I like that the sister projects are now ordered logically and that the donations are a separate box, hwoever, I think the box should have a different background as to standout a bit. And maybe the donations buttion in the naviagation bar can be bold. Misplaced Pages still doesn't have the encessary 32 k. --]

== RSS Feed For Misplaced Pages/Main Page ==

I think it would be nice to have an RSS Feed for the main page. There is a lot of interesting information posted on the Misplaced Pages Main Page that would be easier to read through if it were delivered and was in a feed format. What do you think? &mdash; ] 21:46, Sep 2, 2004 (UTC)

:Hmm...I think that's a good idea but how would you plan to implement it? ] &mdash; ] | ] 13:49, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)

== Great, it's almost exactly the way I want it! ==

Everything is great, the browsing categories are more neatly organized, the Browse was removed from the top right sinc eit was redundant, but I still think there are 2 minor improvements that could be made.

1. FAQ is something newcomers should visit and it should be placed back in the top right.

2. The donation box should have a separate color (yes it's a different color now, but not distinctive enough) for several reasons.

- every separate box on the front page has a separate color, and the donation box should follow the same style
- it looks ugly the way it is in my opinion and does not show enough separation to stand out

Once this is done, the front page is just like I would imagine it should be. --]

: An obvious FAQ would be an incredibly good idea. ] | ] 01:03, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)

==Bootiful!==
Just wanted to say I love the arrangement of the languages section of main page. Supersmart design. Good work. ] 00:58, Sep 3, 2004 (UTC)

: Second that. Good work, and I like the categories up top so this looks more like, ahem, an encyclopedia. The fonts could use some work, because the small caps may not look great on everyone's browser, but I like the position of it. Good work. ] | ] 01:02, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)
:: Yes, the Main Page is fantastic adn far more polished, apart from my 2 complaints above. --]

: I strongly disagree. It makes the language list near-useless in my eyes. Why are most users going to want the list? To find a specific language. They now have to scan through four alphabetical lists in order to find their language. I see no point in ordering by article count myself. ] 13:38, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)

:: The vast majority of users browse the language list to find one of the languages in the first category. We improve their experience by separating out the largest WPs, rather than making the BOLD in a long list (which isn't very good design). Beyond that, it's not clear whether more users want to find a specific smaller language, or just browse to find a big wikipedia in some language they know. Once you've found your language the first time, you can remember which category it was in the next time you come. ]] 18:00, 4 Sep 2004 (UTC)

::I agree. Just bold the ones with over 10,000 articles and have those wikis in the sidebar. --] 17:05, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)
:::I'll go even further - once again, we have 100+ languages listed, the vast majority of which don't meet our basic criteria of ]. I say we prune it down to the 20 or so most respectable ones, and leave the link to the meta page which lists them all. ] 17:08, Sep 3, 2004 (UTC)

::::At least remove all the ones with under 100 articles. That is what the complete list is for! --] 17:10, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)
::::: This is at the heart of the real debate about this; some say that we should show we have some activity in those langs (for instance, Jimbo just met some friends of Danny's in Linz who were excited to discover that we had a sw: Misplaced Pages, and were going to get people in Kenya/Uganda to help contribute to it -- they had visited the site before without discovering this). Other say "the main page is too long!" personally, I am coming around to the idea that listing all languages that have ever had a little loving care, is a nice showcase of one of WP's strengths. However, in this case the language-list should perhaps go back to the very bottom of the page, below sister projects. ]]
::::::This main page is aimed toward readers. So listing Wikipedias with almost no content at all is not helpful and makes us look bad. There is still a complete list for those people who want that. --] 04:26, 6 Sep 2004 (UTC)

:::::::Speaking of languages with over/under 100 articles: The nn.wikipedia now has over 100 articles and should be listed on the main page, amongst the other 100-999 ones (or was in 101-1000?)... :-) --] 09:37, 7 Sep 2004 (UTC)

:::: The list of articles is a target list. How do you propose a language should meet that target if the language is hidden away so nobody finds it? Our objective is not solely to promote projects which are doing well. It's also to promote those most in need of work. ] 01:23, 5 Sep 2004 (UTC)

::::There is a very obvious link to the complete list. --] 07:03, 6 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I haven't checked the main page in a couple of days... and am thankful to come back to ''no edit wars'' touching Main templates. ^ ^ ]] 22:48, 7 Sep 2004 (UTC)

== CSS on en:wikipedia? ==

]
I dare say that something bad happened to styles on Misplaced Pages... It still looks good when you browse using MSIE, but not any more if you are using Opera (in my case, 7.54). And that happened just two or three days ago! ...

I'm not sure what the problem is, but I'd like to report it anyhow...

It'd be good if the webmaster of English Misplaced Pages looked at the CSS files and see what can be wrong. Ah! And this problem is pretty much limited to English version, on Polish Misplaced Pages, I still see everything as I should...

Regards,
] 14:21, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)
:What is the error? Your png screenshot, apart from being over 1200px wide, looks OK to me. The width of the screen in Monobook is a condition that has existed since Feb 2004, as far as I know. ] 15:14, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)
::The error is the inexcusably wide "Featured Article" section. That seems to be more of a Main Page problem than a CSS problem. Here's a question though: Why are the CSS sheets protected? We need to get into them to fix the bugs. We aren't all admins, and drives that point home. Unprotect them, please, so that normal users can fix them. ] &mdash; ] | ] 16:22, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)

:::They're protected because vandalism of the CSS can render the site completely unusable until repaired. -- ]|] 17:04, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)

As mentioned on ]'s talk-page, parts of the main page use hard-coded background colours still. As a visually-impaired user, I find it difficult to navigate the main page, especially if I've been awake for only a few minutes. -- ] 01:45, 2004 Sep 14 (UTC)
:I forgot to mention, my custom stylesheet is affected by this. -- ] 01:47, 2004 Sep 14 (UTC)

== Thanks, but colors odd ==

Thanks for adding a FAQ link, that's perfect. I'm also glad that the donation box and sister projects have a more distinguished look. However, it looks very ugly, it doesn't fit in. I suggest that the color of the sister projects be reverted and that the donationbox have a shade of green or yellow. --]

:: They're better now, thanks. --]

== Misplaced Pages test ==

You all might want to check this: http://www.frozennorth.org/C2011481421/E652809545/index.html
Looks like someone tested you editors/correctors. I wonder how many fools out there might be doing the same thing?

:People submit 12,000 edits to Misplaced Pages articles per day. It is unreasonable to expect subtle vandalism as described in that article to be found within one week. It would remain until someone who knew the topics came across them and corrected them. I personally don't see an anonymous edit about how "Philipsburg, PA, became located at the junction of U.S. highway 322 and state route 504" and automatically think "vandalism!" and revert it straight away. It usually the thousands of edits like "oh look it works! hahaha", "matt is gay" and "Mark is a loser" which demand the attention of most vandal-watchers. - ] 01:13, 6 Sep 2004 (UTC)

== metric equivalent of square feet ==

The main page says "40,000 square feet". Can this be edited to something like "40,000 square feet (3,700 m&sup2;)" please?

== Wikitravellers in portuguese ==
''Please see: ]''

== Comment on the news ==

''The return capsule of Genesis, containing delicate samples of the solar wind, crashes in Utah when its parachutes don't deploy.''

Oops. ] 18:20, Sep 8, 2004 (UTC)

== Heading title change Wikipedialang ==

I would like to suggest that the title "Misplaced Pages in other languages" be changed to "Misplaced Pages language versions available".

This is more in sync with listing the English language as well.
I have recently included the english language in the template as I feel the template also has the dual function of telling the user roughly how large the respective Misplaced Pages is -- and it thus would have felt daft not to list English as well IMHO. ] 00:34, 9 Sep 2004 (UTC)

== "The reason is because..." ==
] 15:31, Sep 10, 2004 (UTC) -- The summary for mains power plug has the construct "The reason why we now have over a dozen different styles of plugs and wall outlets is because ...". This is redundant. I have changed the ] to "The reason we now have over a dozen different styles of plugs and wall outlets is that..." but the main page is protected.

:Changed. Actually, you can edit the featured article template that goes into the main page (see ]). --] 17:01, 10 Sep 2004 (UTC)

== Unicode ==

I was wondering when (or if) the English wikipedia will be converted to Unicode.

The major wikipedias in Japanese, German, French, Spanish, Chinese... are all encoded in UTF-8.
I use the German wikipedia very often and the Japanese one occasionally and the Unicode encoding works very well, I've never detected a problem with it.
Internet Explorer, Opera and Mozilla have complete Unicode support as well as all major operating systems and applications.
So why is the English wikipedia still in ISO-8859-1?!
Misplaced Pages is (in my opinion) the nicest multilingual environment on the internet. And UTF-8 is the future for multilingual text processing... so why don't we go ahead and do the conversion like the French wikipedia did.
I don't know if there are still other wikipedias that use ISO-8859-1, but in the long run, using UTF-8 everywhere should be the way to go.
This way, wikipedia would definitely be the largest seamless Unicode project on the web! Wouldn't that be cool? ;-)

Ben

:The admins will get around to it, eventually, when all the other pending non-UTF-8 smaller languages are done. But updating the en: Misplaced Pages consistently is a ''huge'' job, and the techniques for mass conversion are still being polished in the smaller conversions. -- ] 01:23, 11 Sep 2004 (UTC)

----

'''Completely Agree!!'''

Only Unicode can fill all words to Encyclopedia!! If not, Encyclopedia is not Encyclopedia any more.

You can also see my name has become a strange character because here is not UNICODE!!

--] 04:35, 12 Sep 2004 (UTC)

== A thought on organization ==

The following organizational paradigm:
Featured article | In the news
---------------- | -------------
Anniversaries | Did you know?
has been used for a while, and I dont' really have a problem with it, but it seems slightly wrong. Featured Article and Did you know both introduce the reader to interesting info in Misplaced Pages. In the news and Anniversaries give the reader a little contact with the "real world". Should Anniversaries and Did you know be switched, to reflect these similarties, that is use this scheme:
Featured article | In the news
---------------- | -------------
Did you know? | Anniversaries

Just a thought ]&mdash;]]] 22:42, Sep 10, 2004 (UTC)

: There's a logical argument in favor of the current format, in that Dyk includes only new articles and Itn only includes updated or new ones (at least in boldface), whereas the left column links to articles that have been around for a while and which are either featured because of an anniversary or because they have reached featured article quality. Generally, articles in the left column are more likely to be accurate. I'd like to develop this connotation further in the future when we have more refined peer review mechanisms - left=stable, right=unstable/changing.

: I also remember that the (Dyk|Itn instead of Itn|Dyk) wasn't well-received at all. It confused many people who were used to the old layout.--]]

: I would have to agree with Eloquence, logically the two complement each other better. I vote in favour of this --]
Makes enough sense to me, leave it how it is (: ]&mdash;]]]

:Note that Siroxo's suggestion has top=stable, bottom=unstable. -- ] 13:49, Sep 13, 2004 (UTC)

==In remembrance==
Id like to dedicate this message to the victims of the attack carried three years ago in the United States, and express from all the wikipedia community, to the families that lost loved ones this day.

This day shall be a day of mutual worldwide union, as all races (], ], ], ] ]an and ]n, lost at least one person.

May ] bless you on Earth and keep the souls of the ones that left us that day.

(Can someone place the 911 support ribbon imagge here, please?)

"]"

==Chile Coup==

Can someone explain me why the number of dead for the September 11 are shown on the mainpage while these of the Chile Coup and the Pinochet Regime are not ? Are dead Chileans not as much worth mentioning as dead US-citizens ? And why is the crucial information concerning the CIA missing ?

--------
1973 - A military coup in Chile headed by General Augusto Pinochet and heavily supported by the CIA toppled the elected Socialist government of President Salvador Allende. During the Pinochet regime over 3000 people were killed or disappeared and many more were subject to torture.
------------------------------

I would be pleased if someone could exchange the current version with the one I have written.

]

:Were the victims of the Pinochet regime all killed or disappeared on 11 September? I think not. Therefore it is not directly related to 11 September as a historical anniversary. Details about the Pinochet regime are available in the relevant articles. By the way, not all of the people killed on 11 September 2001 were US citizens. --] 19:08, 11 Sep 2004 (UTC)

== Wayback ==

I just looked at an archived version of the front page (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Main_Page&oldid=3076580) Any change that the months with featured articles could be listed as before?

:It never had that actually. That version is from back when it used ]. ] 21:19, 11 Sep 2004 (UTC)

==Free content==
I changed the wording on the front page back to 'free content' (which it used to say a long time ago) in response to an email from Richard Stallman about the issue. I would appreciate it if it could stay this way during an period of discussion about it, and if we must change it back, we can do so only after we really understand why. I feel pretty sure that there must have some big huge discussion about this back when the change was made, but I'm currently unaware of the parameters of that discussion.

My position is pretty simple. "open content" makes even less sense than "open source" as a term, because with source code it is possible to publish a binary executable without publishing the code. With content, it's always open in that sense.

Additionally, while I think Stallman is right about the use of the word "free", I also think it's worth noting that most people don't care much about it, and most of those who do would prefer "free" to "open". I am open to contrary evidence on this.

Finally, there was recently a comment on the mailing list, a comment I referred to as "trollish", saying that we are not clear on what we mean by 'free'. I think that's silly, we are clear on what we mean by it, and our commitment to it has never wavered. Therefore, the softer term "open content" (which is prone to misunderstanding due to there being several non-free 'open content' licenses out there) should be avoided.

] 16:14, 12 Sep 2004 (UTC)

== Good job ==

I love the way the language section looks now. It's much more intuitive and easy to see now that the font has changed to reflect the number of articles. This way the most popular ones will be seen first and so visitors will be catered to faster.

Very nice improvement overall. Though I think it could be better if the drop shadows were more pronounced under buttons, to the right and in other such places. --]

== Inappropriate featured article ==

I object to the currently chosen featured article. We do not permit references to genitalia in ]s, so why should this be permissible on the main page? --]<font style="vertical-align: text-bottom">]</font>]] 05:12, 14 Sep 2004 (UTC)

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Errors in the summary of the featured article

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

Today's FA

Tomorrow's FA

Please change the final sentence to "They have been displayed in the Museo Egizio in Turin since their arrival, and an entire gallery is devoted to them." Many thanks - SchroCat (talk) 07:42, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

Done. Stephen 10:14, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
Thanks Stephen, much obliged to you. Cheers - SchroCat (talk) 10:26, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

Day-after-tomorrow's FA

Errors with "In the news"

Errors in "Did you know ..."

Current DYK

  • ... that Charles Fisk quit physics after unknowingly working for the Manhattan Project and became an organ builder? Strange, he only started studying physics after the end of WWII, so the order in which things are presented here seems dubious, his work on the Manhattan Project wasn't as a physicist but as a technician: and whether his later switch to organ building had anything to do with the Manhattan Project is debated, as can be seen in the article. The juxtaposition and arrangement of facts into a narrative in this hook is wrong. Fram (talk) 10:49, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
I agree that the hook is somewhat synthish. Suggested alt:
*ALT1: ... that some years after unknowingly working for the Manhattan Project, Charles Fisk quit physics to find his vocation as an organ builder? Gatoclass (talk) 12:24, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
  • ... that Picher, Oklahoma, was hit so hard by a tornado in 2008 that it would become a ghost town in 2015? Er, no: "Eventually, the EPA and the state of Oklahoma agreed to a mandatory evacuation and buyout of the entire township." because of lead poisoning, before even the tornado hit. The tornado at most accelerated things for a few people, but it didn't cause the town to become a ghost town. Fram (talk) 10:52, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
Suggested alt:
ALT1: * ... that after a 2008 tornado, Michael Chertoff likened Picher, Oklahoma to a nuclear bomb site? Gatoclass (talk) 11:20, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
Needs a comma after Oklahoma per MOS:GEOCOMMA, but otherwise sounds good to me (assuming it passes all the usual checks) UndercoverClassicist 12:32, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
Substituted, thanks - Gatoclass (talk) 12:47, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

Next DYK

  • ... that Luigi Mangione was described as "somewhat of an online sex symbol" following his December 2024 arrest for murder? He isn't convicted and pleads "not guilty", so at the very least this should be changed to "alleged murder" to not give the impression that he is convicted. Fram (talk) 10:57, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
Surely it's obvious that somebody who has just been arrested has yet to be convicted? Gatoclass (talk) 11:03, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
I agree. Not an error.--Launchballer 11:19, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
But an extremely negative aspect of a WP:BLP, sometimes which should be avoided on DYK. Perhaps people solely known for but not convicted of alleged crimes should simply not be the subject of DYK at all, as it is impossible to write a hook without either trivializing the issue (just try to imagine the "pleasure" the loved ones of the victim will have when seeing the suspect paraded here as a sex symbol) or giving the impression that the suspect is guilty (which, even with the "arrested for", is exactly what happens and is the reason we have WP:SUSPECT and the rule about not focusing on negative aspects of a BLP on DYK). Fram (talk) 11:24, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
The whole world knows who this guy is by now, it's hard to imagine a DYK hook somehow prejudicing his case at this point. The "sex symbol" aspect has also been widely canvassed in the media, so again, I can't see a DYK hook making any substantive difference one way or the other. Gatoclass (talk) 12:09, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
We normally don't ignore BLP (and DYKBLP and WP:SUSPECT) because it has been widely reported elsewhere. Fram (talk) 12:23, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
With respect, the issue you are raising is a broad one concerning DYK guidelines, that this venue is not designed to address. It is an issue that has been raised multiple times before at DYK and IIRC the consensus has generally been that it is an issue best addressed on a case-by-case basis. Personally, I'm inclined to the view that for a high-profile case like this, any such concerns are by-and-large moot. Gatoclass (talk) 12:42, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

Next-but-one DYK

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Shortcuts

"Mian Page" listed at Redirects for discussion

The redirect Mian Page has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Misplaced Pages:Redirects for discussion/Log/2024 December 2 § Mian Page until a consensus is reached. Ca 01:18, 2 December 2024 (UTC)

Add number of editors in the topmost banner

I suggest this addition for the following reasons:

  • It encourages people to become editors via argumentum ad populum.
  • It is a interesting fact about the scale of Misplaced Pages
  • It dispels reoccuring myth that only 100 or so admins edit Misplaced Pages
  • It demonstrates the motto "anyone can edit".

I suggest formatting it like this:


116,790 active editors · 6,938,141 articles in English


Ca 00:50, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

Id support. Maybe something somewhere which explains what active means. Lee Vilenski 13:06, 15 December 2024 (UTC)
The wikilink to Special:Statistics already provides an explanation. Ca 13:12, 15 December 2024 (UTC)
I dunno about other people, but because the link is the amount of people, I'd expect the link to be to the list of people. If it were "active editors" that was linked, I would click it to find out what "active meant". Lee Vilenski 13:15, 15 December 2024 (UTC)
The number of articles link also goes to Special:Statistics, though. – Joe (talk) 12:17, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
Yeah, that's also a bit dumb. Maybe if we linked both the term and the amount to the same link. Lee Vilenski 13:45, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
How about linking the number of active editors to Misplaced Pages:Wikipedians, where it is explained? Ca 12:05, 21 December 2024 (UTC)
I absolutely support this. Maybe also include the number of edits made in the current calendar day? ApteryxRainWing🐉 | Roar with me!!! | My contributions 18:09, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
Better would be in the last 24 hours, especially as most readers will not know when Misplaced Pages's midnight is. Certainly better than a count of all edits since Misplaced Pages began, although not a priority in my opinion. JMCHutchinson (talk) 09:20, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
@Jmchutchinson Well, Jimmy Wales lives in the Carolinas so it could reset at midnight Eastern. Although last 24 hours works as well ApteryxRainWing🐉 | Roar with me!!! | My contributions 18:13, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
Thinking it about it a bit more, maybe the preceding calendar day ("yesterday") would be computationally easier. We certainly don't want a figure that increases from 0 each day, and it may be undesirable to have one that fluctuates minute to minute. Instead maybe consider over the last week up to and including yesterday, to iron out variation over the weekly cycle. JMCHutchinson (talk) 14:17, 18 December 2024 (UTC)
  • Oppose. I don't see the point in this, or the relevance of this number to readers. It might make sense on a page intended to be viewed only by editors, but the Main Page is for readers. None of the bullet points are convincing e.g. I've never heard anyone suggest that there are only 100 editors. It's a only minor bit of clutter but would serve no useful purpose. Besides, it's not clear what constitutes an 'active' editor - the very different numbers quoted above suggest this could be seriously misleading. Modest Genius 20:33, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
    Special:Statistics, where the number comes from, defines it as "any editor that has performed an action in last 30 days", which appears to include IP editors as well. Ca 23:02, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
    It is labeled Active registered users - of which IP editors are not. — xaosflux 23:23, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
    Thanks for the correction; when the language is set to Spanish, it just reads "active editors". I wonder if it is possible to get a count of all editors, including IP editors. Ca 02:52, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
    A single editor could have many IP's and a single IP could have many editors. — xaosflux 18:08, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
    Yes, that was a problem I imagined; though I do not want to discredit the work of IP editors, they are hard to keep track. Ca 01:09, 18 December 2024 (UTC)
  • I suggested this idea back on December 8 at the VPR, so yes I would support it. Some1 (talk) 03:49, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

Next steps

I see a broad consensus for including the number of active editors, but there seem to be a lot of discussion on the finer details, which doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Should I make a RfC for this? Ca 14:17, 19 December 2024 (UTC)

Yes, most of us want the number of edits/active editors in the banner, but an RFC might help figure out the smaller details we keep arguing about Apteryx!🐉 | Roar with me!!! 🗨🐲 14:43, 19 December 2024 (UTC)

Informal RfC

MINIMAL PARTICIPATION Despite the RfC being open for 16 days and pinging previous participants, it attracted only two respondents, showing the lack of interest in this topic. I will assume most people did not see an issue with my original formatting suggestion when they !voted "support" and submit an edit request. This close does not preclude any future discussion about the formatting or new additions to the proposed text. Ca 15:06, 5 January 2025 (UTC)

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


Five questions to decide on the formatting. Note that this doesn't preclude any further changes in the future.

Which figures should be added to the current text?

  1. Active editors (original proposal)
  2. Active editors and total edit count
  3. Active editors and edit count in last 24 hours(bot required)
  4. Active editors and all-time editors(bot required)
  • Support 4 if possible, support 1 as a lower-effort but still effective alternative. Oppose 2 and 3 per the concerns raised above that it would create confusion among new editors/readers who would not realise that the count cannot update immediately. UndercoverClassicist 14:40, 29 December 2024 (UTC)
  • Prefer 1, then 3; dislike total edit count and all-time editors as too large numbers, with no sense of what is happening now. JMCHutchinson (talk) 22:08, 2 January 2025 (UTC)

Which symbol should be used as the separator?

  1. Use interpunct (·) (original proposal)
  2. Use comma

Which symbol should be used as the separator on mobile skins?

  1. Use line break
  2. Use comma

How should it be ordered?

  1. Smaller number(s) first (original proposal)
  2. Bigger number(s) first

Wikilinks?

  1. Wikilink all of the numbers to Special:Statistics (original proposal)
  2. Wikilink only the first number to Special:Statistics
  3. Wikilink "active editor" to Special:Statistics

Ca 12:27, 21 December 2024 (UTC)

Discussion

If a bot is difficult or resource hungry, an edit count for yesterday (preceding calendar day) would serve the same purpose as a count in the last 24 h. JMCHutchinson (talk) 08:51, 22 December 2024 (UTC)
From a maintenance and server load perspective, a bot updating daily is no different than a bot updating every minute (i.e., just a line of code's difference and resource usage that rounds down to 0). -- Tamzin (they|xe|🤷) 05:30, 23 December 2024 (UTC)
@Ca Do you expect people to respond here with their opinions on these 5 issues? Or is this just a draft for a forthcoming formal RfC?
If you plan on having another, better-publicized RfC, I'd recommend relisting the original question Should this be added at all?; the original consensus for this had less than 10 editors. ypn^2 04:31, 24 December 2024 (UTC)
I should have been more clear, but yes, I was expecting people to give their opinions. However, I am waiting before pinging everyone to see if anyone have any more suggestions for the questions. I count 13 people who support the proposal and one who explicitly opposed it; I feel that a RfC is going to have the same consensus for inclusion. Ca 05:49, 24 December 2024 (UTC)
So perhaps you could split the five questions into separate subheadings, to allow for clearer discussion of each issue? ypn^2 16:49, 24 December 2024 (UTC)
Good idea Ca 07:39, 25 December 2024 (UTC)
I'd add a 4. option with both active users and all-time editors, as xaosflux suggested above. (Maybe after the total articles count, "... created by 48,530,121 editors"). Alexcalamaro (talk) 08:39, 26 December 2024 (UTC)
I've added it, but using {{NUMBEROFUSERS}} would be inaccurate since it includes user accounts with zero edits. Ca 16:48, 27 December 2024 (UTC)
Since a week has passed for suggested additions, I'll be pinging previous participants tommorow to decide on the formatting. Ca 16:51, 27 December 2024 (UTC)
Pinging participants: @Cremastra @Tamzin @Schwede66 @CanonNi @Jmchutchinson @J947 @Stephen @UndercoverClassicist @Kusma @Lee Vilenski @User:Joe Roe @User:Xaosflux @User:ApteryxRainWing @User:Modest Genius @User:Some1 @User:Ypn^2 Ca 12:28, 29 December 2024 (UTC)
  • I've added my replies/thoughts under each individual item, which might help to keep/make consensus visible despite the many moving parts. There's a very large danger of WP:BIKESHED here! UndercoverClassicist 14:40, 29 December 2024 (UTC)
    Just to confirm, did you receive the ping? I'm afraid this RfC is going to flop. Ca 15:48, 2 January 2025 (UTC)
    I don't think this is the best format for reaching consensus on relatively minor details. Maybe try just proposing a version based on the feedback above and iterate accordingly. – Joe (talk) 20:48, 2 January 2025 (UTC)
    I believe the lack of engagement here shows general apathy for the formatting. I don't want to try to wrangle in RfC after RfC, wasting community time. I plan to simply submit an edit request with the original proposed formatting if this RfC gets less than five responses. Ca 09:28, 3 January 2025 (UTC)
    I think that would be wise: consensus can be tacit, after all, and it seems reasonable to suggest that many editors who have seen this and not commented have done so because they have no strong opinion on the points of "contention". UndercoverClassicist 14:03, 3 January 2025 (UTC)
    Yes. I think for once Wikipedians' ability to bicker over a comma has disappointed you. Cremastra (uc) 15:04, 3 January 2025 (UTC)
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Edit request

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Per above consensus, please implement the original proposal of replacing the following

<div id="articlecount">] articles in ]</div>

with

<div id="articlecount">] active editors · ] articles in ]</div>

The interpunct (·) should be replaced with a line break on small screens via Templatestyle ( Misplaced Pages:Main Page/styles.css ), which I am not how it'd be implemented. ChatGPT gave me a potential solution of using a ID'd span tag on the interpunct and hiding it on smaller screens, but I have limited CSS knowledge and can't verify if it would work properly. I know this is a technical request so I will be grateful if a technically-oriented admin can help out. Thanks! Ca 15:29, 5 January 2025 (UTC)

I've created a mock-up of your proposed changes atMisplaced Pages:Main Page alternatives/(editable) and Misplaced Pages:Main Page alternatives/styles.css (based on the code at {{hlist}}). I'll hold-off actually making the changes since I don't actually see a RfC (only two informal discussions) and I'm unsure a local consensus is sufficient to change the main page. Sohom (talk) 06:55, 6 January 2025 (UTC)
Thanks for the mock-up! It works perfectly on my end. The Localconsensus issue was also a concern of mine. However, this discussion has been open for almost a month and in a dedicated forum for proposing main page edits. The participants include a wide variety of experienced editors, with very solid consensus for its addition (13 to 1). A more widely attended discussion would be very unlikely to change the results. The consensus for the current wording was achieved back at 2006 redesign of the main page, and I didn't see any mention of the active editor count in the discussions. So I don't think this proposal overrides any previous consensuses. Ca 10:38, 6 January 2025 (UTC)
Fair enough, I'll leave this thread open for comments (technical or otherwise) for a bit. If no concerns are raised I'll +2. Sohom (talk) 14:42, 6 January 2025 (UTC)
Seems good to me.  — Amakuru (talk) 15:14, 6 January 2025 (UTC)
Thanks for the mock up. Looks splendid. From my perspective, this is ready for implementation. Schwede66 16:25, 6 January 2025 (UTC)
Looks good. Cremastra (uc) 20:50, 6 January 2025 (UTC)
Looks good to me too. UndercoverClassicist 21:28, 6 January 2025 (UTC)

 Done. Just a small additional comment. "English" is an everyday word and probably does not need linking to English language. But that's a separate discussion — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 22:48, 6 January 2025 (UTC)

Comment: I just saw this editor count on the main page and wanted to come by and say I love it. Not just an interesting statistic but a reminder to all visitors that this is a volunteer project not just a faceless and hegemonic Establishment entity. Nicely done everyone!! Proud to be one of the 116,430! jengod (talk) 17:53, 8 January 2025 (UTC)

Bye Bye Jimmy Carter, hello "the PDC World Darts Championship"?

Sorry, the PDC World Darts Championship is just not important, period. Jimmy Carter doesn't even appear in recent deaths as of 2025-01-06...— Preceding unsigned comment added by TheRealJohnea (talkcontribs)

TheRealJohnea It's not a reflection of importance, just turnover. The usual complaint we get is that there isn't enough turnover, not too much. 331dot (talk) 21:29, 6 January 2025 (UTC)
Carter died 10 days ago, the world has moved on. Stephen 22:03, 6 January 2025 (UTC)
Looks like Jimmy Carter did appear in In The News. Here's a snapshot of In The News on January 1. It's been a week since it happened though so the news item has fallen off and been replaced by newer news items. –Novem Linguae (talk) 22:06, 6 January 2025 (UTC)
Carter was there for a week (29/12 to 04/01). And even if the darts didn't exist, would have been removed by the Trudeau posting today. I suspect the OP simply doesn't understand how ITN works. Black Kite (talk) 22:46, 6 January 2025 (UTC)

Proposal: delink "English"

Propose to remove the link from "English" to English language. This is an everyday word and per WP:OVERLINK, we should avoid linking everyday words. — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 08:10, 8 January 2025 (UTC)

I can't find the previous discussions on this, but the main page isn't an article, and it doesn't seem an overlink to link to the language the encyclopedia is linked to when introducing the encyclopedia. We WP:SEAOFBLUE "free" and "encyclopedia" too, it's a limitation of the format. CMD (talk) 08:28, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
"Free" (in the sense we use it) and "encyclopaedia" at least plausibly something that a reader might need defining for them. There's nobody reading the English Misplaced Pages that doesn't know what English is. – Joe (talk) 08:41, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
Knowing what a topic is is not the bar for a link. I certainly don't think it's less defined than "encyclopaedia", and speaking of encyclopaedia, I've seen enough engvar "typo" fixes to know there's a lot about the English language many readers don't know. That's not to be demeaning, there's a lot I can learn from it too, it's the only Good Article out of the four articles linked. CMD (talk) 08:51, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
  • I would oppose removing it. The main page serves as a place for readers to see examples of the kind of work we do, and perhaps become engaged to write and edit themselves. As such, English language, which is a GA and looks quite well structured and referenced, is a good link to have. It also shows how linking to other topics works, alongside encyclopedia and Misplaced Pages. As CMD says, it's also the language of our project.  — Amakuru (talk) 08:59, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
    English Misplaced Pages might be a more appropriate target, but I can't see the benefit of linking for the sake of linking. Plenty of links to good and featured content lower down the page! — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 10:28, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
In actual articles, I 100% agree with this - in practice this being used means that most articles have a nation or language as a link almost immediately. However, the main page isn't an article, and if we were to start using all the MOS on it, it would be a completely different look. Lee Vilenski 13:47, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
  • Oppose removal, per Amakuru's excellent points. It's a good link to have, and there are probably quite a few people who make their first edit as a result of clicking through it. Stephen 22:42, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
Oppose. 'English' can have multiple meanings; our English article is itself a disambiguation page. This is not an encyclopaedia about England, or English people, or any of those other meanings. The link to English language is necessary to clarify how the Main Page is using that word. Modest Genius 12:27, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
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