Talk:Main Page

Main Page error reports

To report an error in content currently or imminently on the Main Page, use the appropriate section below.

• Where is the error? An exact quotation of the text in question helps.
• Offer a correction if possible.
• References are helpful, especially when reporting an obscure factual or grammatical error.
• Time zones. The Main Page runs on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC, currently 12:27 on 15 July 2024) and is not adjusted to your local time zone.
• Can you resolve the problem yourself? If the error lies primarily in the content of an article linked from the Main Page, fix the problem there before reporting it here. Text on the Main Page generally defers to the articles with bolded links. Upcoming content on the Main Page is usually only protected from editing beginning 24 hours before its scheduled appearance. Before that period, you can be bold and fix any issues yourself.
• Do not use {{edit fully-protected}} on this page, which will not get a faster response. It is unnecessary, because this page is not protected, and causes display problems. (See the bottom of this revision for an example.)
• No chit-chat. Lengthy discussions should be moved to a suitable location elsewhere, such as the talk page of the relevant article or project.
• Respect other editors. Another user wrote the text you want changed, or reported an issue they see in something you wrote. Everyone's goal should be producing the best Main Page possible. The compressed time frame of the Main Page means sometimes action must be taken before there has been time for everyone to comment. Be civil to fellow users.
• Reports are removed when resolved. Once an error has been addressed or determined not to be an error, or the item has been rotated off the Main Page, the report will be removed from this page. Check the revision history for a record of any discussion or action taken; no archives are kept.

Administrators: Clear all reports

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)

Errors in the summary of the featured list

Friday's FL

(July 19)

Monday's FL

(July 15, today)

Errors in the summary of the featured picture

Notice to administrators: When fixing POTD errors, please update the corresponding regular version (i.e. without "protected" in the page title) in addition to the Main Page version linked below.

General discussion

en.wiki list of Wikipedias

Hi, could the list of Wikipedias at the very bottom of en.wikipedia.org be updated? Serbo-Croatian Wikipedia has passed 200k articles but it currently still sits in the "50k+" category. Thanks in advance. 78.1.139.197 (talk) 16:34, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

I believe the standard answer is that a bot takes care of this. Give it time. Daniel Case (talk) 02:12, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Looks like it's been done. Daniel Case (talk) 02:13, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Since we are at it, the Armenian language Wikipedia hy.wikipedia.org has now over 130,000 articles, but doesn't even appear in the 50k+ category. werldwayd (talk) 00:16, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

On a separate point, if you think 50,000 is too low a threshold and just too many language Wikipedias will inundate the list on the front page, how about raising the threshold to 100k+ and list only those. Even in that case, Armenian Wikipedia would still qualify. werldwayd (talk) 00:23, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Actually the list doesn't show all wikipedias over a certain size. It only shows those which are over a certain size and seem to have a resonable proportion of non stub articles. See the FAQ Wikipedia:Main Page FAQ#In what order are the other Wikipedias displayed? Where's my language?. So whether the Armenian wikipedia qualifies, I have no idea. (Because of the number of previous discussions relating to other things like the Armenian genocide, it's not easy to see if the Armenian wikipedia was ruled out before. It may be better to discuss this at Template talk:Wikipedia languages to avoid such confusion in the future.) BTW in case there's still any confusion, none of this (whether moving countries from one tier to another or adding them) is automatic/done by bots. Nil Einne (talk) 13:10, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Robin Williams

Why does Robin Williams' death get a headline, whereas other people who "recently die" do not, and are reserved in the "recent deaths" area at the bottom? JDiala (talk) 07:11, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

The relevant decisions are made at Wikipedia:In the news/Candidates. HiLo48 (talk) 07:14, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

(ec) There was a consensus for a blurb at WP:ITN/C. The Rambling Man (talk) 07:17, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

JDiala - To translate, what you called a headline is what The Rambling Man described as a blurb. HiLo48 (talk) 08:14, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

JDiala generally those at ITNC decide that based on the level of news coverage, attention, and other factors. Recent deaths is generally for posting the deaths of notable people, while a blurb is given to notable deaths(where the death itself is an event as opposed to just a famous person dying of old age or illness). 331dot (talk) 09:11, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

In Williams case the manor of death received significant attention far beyond simply the fact that he was dead.--67.68.22.129 (talk) 04:25, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

This is English Wikipedia and it tends to prioritize topics from English speaking areas, including deaths of notable US actors. We posted the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman as a full blurb but we didn't post Paco de Lucia despite massive global coverage. You may call it systemic bias but it's quite logical and above all, it's a matter of consensus. Not a big deal. --Vejvančický (talk / contribs) 07:20, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

Basically if you're an American and kill yourself, you'll get the full blurb. Lugnuts ^{Dick Laurent is dead} 06:37, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Not if you're black and a cop kills you. :p –HTD 17:33, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Touché! --Vejvančický (talk / contribs) 06:47, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Maybe, but it was 11 days ago. I'm just a little confused as to why news from 11 days ago is on the main page. That day and the next day, sure. It's not news any longer. Enigma^msg 17:25, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

If you're confused, please engage with the community at WP:ITN where this sort of thing is discussed. Cheers. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:03, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

As a layout, the juxtaposition of the picture to the blurb at the immediate left looks disjointed. Over the past several days it looks like Williams is either a) part of the Bank of America Settlement, b) victim of a Japanese landslide, or c) really good at chess. Also - what was the math woman's picture taken down and Williams' put back up? Not "celebrity" enough? That'll teach her!

No, her picture was deleted as it was considered a copyright violation. But why let the truth get in the way of a good cynical reaction? The Rambling Man (talk) 21:02, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

Trafalgar High School

Trafalgar High School, established for non-whites in Cape Town, defiantly refused to move after its part of the city was declared "whites only"?

Using the word defiantly a little attention grabbing? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.42.14.53 (talk)

Sources say it had large role fighting against the apartheid. Th4n3r (talk) 14:29, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

I happened to see that particular item on the main page, and the adverb did indeed strike me as out of place. Then again, it's not a big deal... interesting fact and not a misleading blurb. So that's nice. --Demiurge1000 (talk) 17:42, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Change Gaza conflict to Israel–Gaza conflict

I propose that we change the Gaza conflict link in the Ongoing Section to Israel–Gaza conflict instead. There's certainly nothing wrong with calling it "Gaza conflict", and it has the advantage of brevity, but using "Israel–Gaza conflict" would make it more consistent with the current events portal phrasing as well as matching the name of the linked article. I'd love to know what you guys think about this. WinterWall (talk) 22:20, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Adding seven characters would still keep the name within the realm of brevity, and would appease anyone alleging one-sidedness. Sound sensible to me. HiLo48 (talk) 23:05, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

There was an extremely long and unsurprisingly temperamental debate about this recently. The general consensus was that wars and conflicts are usually named after the place where they're fought, rather than the participants (Iraq War, not US-Iraq War; Falklands War, not UK-Argentina War). The ongoing section is already (over)long, and at least the current naming gives a reasonable symmetry - "Gaza conflict" alongside "Libyan conflict" and "Ukrainian unrest". Smurrayinchester 08:05, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

Does anyone else get the impression that this is a campaign to assign blame?--Jim in Georgia Contribs Talk 13:48, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

Of course it is a campaign in assigning blame, if the people making these suggestions really wanted to include all of the participants they wouldn't be arguing for a title that leaves out one (hint: "Gaza" is not a participant, it is a location not a polity).--Khajidha (talk) 15:48, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

I don't know about that, I can see that it can be an issue on both sides.

It seems it's true some people feel the current title is unfair or POV I think because it doesn't reflect Israel's involvement in the conflict. At least I believe this was the suggestion in the previous discussion although it wasn't really explained (one of the most disappointing things about the previous discussion is how little discussion there actually was about the reasonings for name change, just the suggestion it was POV).

OTOH I'm sure there are others who feel the current title is unfair because it doesn't adequetly reflect the fact Israel is directly affected by the current conflict.

Personally, although generally more sympathetic to the Palestinian POV, I don't actually feel that there is any urgent need to add Israel to fairly reflect their involvement, or that adding it will somehow reflect any responsibility/blame on them. It's not like there's any confusion that Israel is involved. I'm actually much more sympthetic to the reverse, i.e. by excluding Israel we're not reflecting that they are affected.

But since most of the media accept that the conflict has affected Gaza much more than Israel, whoever is to blame, I don't feel it's a big deal.

Nil Einne (talk) 16:19, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

How inclusive the title is and which names to assign to the participants are two orthogonal issues. I, for one, would prefer the front page link to read "Israeli–Palestinian conflict" and the linked article to be titled "2014 Israeli–Palestinian conflict" so you're categorically wrong in your assertion that "if the people making these suggestions really wanted to include all of the participants they wouldn't be arguing for a title that leaves out one". Not enough people share my POV to sway the consensus on the article talk page, and not enough people share my POV for me to suggest "Israeli–Palestinian conflict" here. That's why I'm compromising and settling for the lesser evil of "Israel–Gaza". WinterWall (talk) 18:23, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

Please reread that discussion and notice that the vast majority of the responses (including my own) were directed at the temperamental OP (that is, the poster) instead of the topic itself. Only three people, HiLo48, Formerip, and Khajidha, brought up the location-of-conflict argument, and HiLo48 only brought it up to teach OP a lesson about AGF. Two posters among a dozen is hardly consensus. WinterWall (talk) 17:56, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

Nasty old discussion aside, it boggles me why can't we use the article title, excluding the <year>, of course... –HTD 15:56, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

Ferguson riots

Why do not we see Ferguson riots on the main page? Cencorship?212.156.67.30 (talk) 06:05, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Nobody cares? Lugnuts ^{Dick Laurent is dead} 06:37, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

It's being discussed here. CaptRik (talk) 07:04, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Regardless of your decision on this, I think the Chess Olympiad has certainly overstayed its run as main item. The championship was held 1–14 August 2014 and today its 21 August, seven days past the event. How is it still staying as our main choice amazes me. Actually nothing significant happened from 14 to now to overtake this chess item in Wikipedia? werldwayd (talk) 12:30, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

News items are placed in chronological order. There is no 'main choice'. If you would like to nominate more recent stories, or comment on which ones should be listed, please go to WP:ITN/C. Modest Genius ^talk 15:36, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Heh. The German and French ITNs have this story. The English ITN, presumably the language in Ferguson, doesn't. How on earth. –HTD 15:48, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

• Well that's because we don't consider the level of coverage of a topic, or how good the article is or isn't, or how much it is in the news anywhere. The only thing that matters is "Is it happening in, or related to, the U.S. in any significant way" If the answer to that question is ever "yes", we're not allowed to post it. It's the unwritten rule of ITN. --Jayron32 03:08, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Where exactly was Robin Williams from, then? Or Lauren Bacall, for that matter. Neljack (talk) 08:24, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Let's just say it'll be much easier to post a 1993 Super Bowl championship from a Los Angeles NFL team to ITN than the 1992 Los Angeles riots. –HTD 13:07, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Being over 20 years old, I doubt either would meet ITN's 'newer than the current oldest item' criterion. Modest Genius ^talk 13:30, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Heh. I was going to make a St. Louis Rams example but they suck. A Los Angeles NFL team winning this season's Super Bowl, a sure ITN shoo-in, has a higher chance of happening than that from St. Louis. –HTD 14:28, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

You wrote 1993 Super Bowl, not 2015 Super Bowl. --anon. 71.183.139.60 (talk) 20:20, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

I was going to reference the 2015 Super Bowl, but the St. Louis Rams suck. So I used another example of an NFL team in a city where people rioted. I was implying that the 1993 Super Bowl would be easier to post to the English Wikipedia ITN now than the events in Ferguson because that's how bad ITN is. People have been ranting elsewhere that there are no ITN events, and Robin Williams stuck too long. Well, they skipped this one and they're still ranting. –HTD 20:38, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

Ah, so you should have written Had Wikipedia existed in 1992 and a team from Los Angeles won the Super Bowl in 1993... But doesn't a blurb about the Super Bowl appear in ITN every year regardless of which teams played in it? --anon. 71.183.139.60 (talk) 23:55, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

I'm talking about now. Can you imagine how massive it would be if the result of any of the Super Bowls was overturned or vacated? It will be nuts. And yes, it doesn't make sense that the Super Bowl has a free pass while stories like this are shot down. –HTD 03:11, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

☉_☉ --anon. 71.183.139.60 (talk) 08:15, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

I'm too surprised, this was one of the most discussed topics (along with Ukraine, Ebola and Gaza) in the news media in my country in the past week. I was even more surprised when I noticed the disapproving reaction of editors at WP:ITNC and then I found the article What is Ferguson doing on Europe's front pages? by The Economist. The US-centric or Euro-centric attitude plays its role I would say. The Ferguson sad story seems to be stale for WP:ITN now. --Vejvančický (talk / contribs) 14:21, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Considering the whole event has been a storm in a teacup, there's little wonder it wasn't posted here, and more of a negative for the other Wikipedias who posted it that let the bright lights of American media "outrage" blur their vision. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:01, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

ಠ_ಠ --anon. 71.183.139.60 (talk) 01:19, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

The biggest problem with ITN is clearly simply the lack of variety - so much so that it's hard to be sure how it's biased, except "a few stories the regulars want to keep up there for half a month or more." Anyone want to start an AfD to get rid of it completely? It fails WP:NOTNEWS (obviously) and it's too depressing to keep arguing in circles about it. Wnt (talk) 02:29, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

The biggest problem really is how small that number of ITN regulars has become. HiLo48 (talk) 03:13, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

I agree completely, HiLo48. I participated in the discussions in the past but I was discouraged by the cumbersomeness of the process. --Vejvančický (talk / contribs) 09:19, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

ITN picture

Why was the picture of Mirzakhani taken down from ITN and replaced with Robin Williams? Where was the consensus or discussion for this?--WaltCip (talk) 13:31, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

The Mirzakhani image was deleted over at commons as a copyvio. See here for the small discussion at ERRORS. Jenks24 (talk) 13:36, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Azadi March & Inqilab March of Pakistan

Azadi March & Inqilab March of Pakistan both very important in the history of Politics of Pakistan must be added to the front page as the events are very important from historical point of view of the country. Dr. Shahid Alam(Talk to Me) 19:54, 24 August 2014 (UTC)