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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)

Tomorrow's FA

• When she became its leader, she evaded capture by the authorities making her a heroine for the Other Backward Classes.

Missing a second comma after "authorities." As it is, it reads like the authorities made her a heroine, and that was what allowed her to evade capture. -Elmer Clark (talk) 02:45, 9 August 2024 (UTC)

@Gog the Mild, do you concur? Seems a sensible change to make. Schwede66 05:54, 9 August 2024 (UTC)

The comma was deliberately omitted and to my eye - and school of commaisation - it reads better without it, but it is not an issue which greatly concerns me either way. Gog the Mild (talk) 09:52, 9 August 2024 (UTC)

In U.S. Eng., comma after "authorities" would be de rigueur. -- Sca (talk) 12:26, 9 August 2024 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Not in BrEng, and many of the Commonwealth variants. No idea specifically on IndEng, though. - SchroCat (talk) 12:28, 9 August 2024 (UTC)

Interesting to learn this is an ENGVAR issue, I was not aware of that. But I would still push hard for this (or at least some) change. My first reading of that line was that this woman had had some kind of under-the-table understanding with the authorities where they let her remain free and propped her up as a figurehead leader among the Other Backward Classes in exchange for her keeping the rabble-rousing to a minimum or something. That kind of ambiguity is a way bigger concern than ENGVAR issues - and to an American reader it isn't even a case of ambiguity, the comma-free version can only be "correctly" read the way I read it.

So I propose the following: if it's not explicitly wrong to include the comma in Commonwealth English, it should be added per (frankly a pretty extreme case of) Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style#Opportunities_for_commonality. If that is explicitly wrong in Commonwealth English, then reword to "When she became its leader, she evaded capture by the authorities, which made her a heroine for the Other Backward Classes." Or if that second comma is also wrong in British English, then I suggest "When she became its leader, she became a heroine for the Other Backward Classes by evading capture by the authorities." -Elmer Clark (talk) 14:46, 9 August 2024 (UTC)

Personally I wouldn't add a comma where you have in either of your two final suggested alternatives either. BrEng doesn't automatically add them after the introductory part of a sentence. - SchroCat (talk) 15:05, 9 August 2024 (UTC)

Errors in "Did you know ..."

Current DYK

2025 Philippine general election

consi

• ... that the 2025 Philippine general election is set to be the first to be held under a new voting system provider after the previous one was disqualified over bribery allegations?

Item on 2025 Philippine general election: please hyphenate to read "voting-system provider". JMCHutchinson (talk) 07:04, 9 August 2024 (UTC)

This seems to be a blatant violation of WP:CRYSTAL and WP:DYKHOOK – "a definite fact that is unlikely to change". If the previous one was disqualified then we can't be sure that this planned one will happen. Events in Bangladesh and elsewhere demonstrate that these things don't always go to plan. And there seems to be considerable cause for concern about the proposed new provider with many problems and allegations about the selection process. Andrew🐉(talk) 13:30, 9 August 2024 (UTC)

Hannibal von Degenfeld

• "... that Hannibal von Degenfeld (pictured) played the leading role in establishing the Bavarian Army in 1682, before leading it to the Battle of Vienna a year later?" too many "leading"s. suggest "played a crucial role in...", which avoids the repetition and reflects the language of the target article. DuncanHill (talk) 12:42, 9 August 2024 (UTC)

Next-but-one DYK

• "... that New York Mets executive Jay Horwitz did not reveal that he had a glass eye until he was in his 70s?" - revealed to whom? His eye was removed in sixth grade, so presumably his parents knew, as well as whoever sold him the glass eye, and any optician giving him an eye test over the years. DuncanHill (talk) 12:51, 9 August 2024 (UTC)

  Thanks for the report. I've added "publicly" to the hook. RoySmith (talk) 13:57, 9 August 2024 (UTC)

Errors in "On this day"

Today's OTD

• In the section for 1944, the link for Bambi is Bambi (i.e. the film) not Bambi (character). Aydoh8^[contribs] 01:47, 9 August 2024 (UTC)

•  Fixed the link. Schwede66 02:45, 9 August 2024 (UTC)

• Maybe clarify that link change? Per the Smokey Bear article, it was specifically the Disney Bambi ("Walt Disney allowed his characters to appear") rather than the original character from Salten's novel. Perhaps clarify by changing "mascot to replace Bambi" to 'mascot to replace Disney's Bambi.'... or... change Bambi link to section 'Bambi (1942)'? JennyOz (talk) 05:18, 9 August 2024 (UTC)

• 1974 – Nixon — Don't mean to quibble, but perhaps it really should say "the only president of the United States to resign," not "the first president," etc. – Sca (talk) 13:43, 9 August 2024 (UTC)

Tomorrow's OTD

• 1904 Battle of the Yellow Sea - the sentence that has "naval history's first major confrontation" is not sourced. It may be in sources of next para but I can't access Forczyk and a search gives ambiguous results (some say that the following year's Battle of Tsushima was the first).

Instead of pulling, we could change the item to something else from article that is sourced? JennyOz (talk) 05:22, 9 August 2024 (UTC)

• 2019 Typhoon Lekima - has been superseded as costliest in Chinese history (by Typhoon Doksuri 2023). Also Lekima's article suggests Typhoon Fitow 2013 was costlier.

Swap "made landfall in Zhejiang, China, and went on to become the costliest typhoon in Chinese history." to 'killing 45 people in the province'? JennyOz (talk) 05:22, 9 August 2024 (UTC)

 Done as suggested. Schwede66 05:57, 9 August 2024 (UTC)

Errors in the summary of the featured list

Friday's FL

(August 9, today)

Monday's FL

(August 12)

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

DYK

... that Sandomierz Voivodeship (1939), a proposed administrative unit of the Second Polish Republic, was projected to be 24.5 km² and to incorporate 20 or 21 powiats?

— And all along I thought it was 22. Sca (talk) 17:33, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

Meant for WP:ERRORS? --74.13.126.63 (talk) 18:12, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

No, I don't think it is; he's saying that the hook taught him something. That's the wonderful fun of DYK. 79.71.44.8 (talk) 20:25, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

Actually, no — I was saying that no one in the English-speaking world would have any idea how many powiats the Sandomierz Voivodeship (proposed 70 years ago) would have had, and very few would have any idea what a powiat is or even a voivodeship. A few history buffs might have heard of Sandomierz.

Sca (talk) 14:16, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Or Sandomierzians themselves perhaps? --candle•wicke 22:12, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Today's entry on Henryk Rzewuski is, to my mind, in a similar class. None of Rzewuski's works is available in English on Amazon, and I suspect he is virtually unknown among English speakers. It seems to me that DYK entries ought to start off with some person, place or topic of which English speakers will have some idea, however vague, and add some truly surprising or interesting fact about that person, place or topic. Otherwise, the "Did you know" question seems silly.

I don't know if Polish Wikipedia has a DYK feature, but if it does, it wouldn't make sense to ask "Did you know" questions there in relation to something in the English-speaking world that Poles will have no knowledge or inkling of.

Of course, that's not to say that Rzewuski doesn't merit a thorough treatment in an eponymous article on English Wiki, if he is indeed a writer of repute in Poland.

Sca (talk) 14:10, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Learning things you don't know about is what encyclopedias are for. If you're looking for light entertainment, I suggest a change of venue. Zocky | picture popups 01:10, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

Indeed the whole point of the DYK section is to tell people interesting things that they probably don't know but are covered in a recent article in an attempt to attract them to read the article. There's clearly no point just featuring stuff people already widely know. Now you may argue that the hook wasn't very interesting but that's a quite different argument from the one that started this. Also by the nature of DYK, most things covered would be fairly obscure as these are the most likely to lack any article or to be stubs and therefore have a chance of being DYK. Nil Einne (talk) 02:03, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

If DYK is to be a random compendium of intellectual trivia, it shouldn't be called "Did You Know?" The did-you-know question presupposes and implies some basis for further inquiry. In the case of the first example cited above, asking the general English reader if he or she knows how many "powiats" the proposed Sandomierz "Voivodeship" would have had (had it been created 70 years ago) strikes me as absurd.

Of course encyclopedias are about expanding knowledge, but I don't think informing the reader that the Sandomierz Voivodeship would have had 20 or 21 powiats constitutes a contribution to the pool of knowledge, since the topic is from the English-speaker's point of view so obscure as to be meaningless. (I suspect it's largely meaningless from the Polish point of view as well, but at least Poles will know what a powiat is.)

I would much rather hear from our Polish friends about what was in Copernicus's library or how many horses Casimir the Great kept in his stables. In other words, give me something I can understand and on some level relate to.

I will now return to my light reading. Current selection: The Discoverers, by Daniel Boorstin.

Sca (talk) 21:41, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Thanks +++ for your heading "On this day"

It learns us a lot ans unfortunately we don't get the same on WP:fr...Too much work , maybe... Truly yours Arapaima (talk) 09:45, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Erm, you're welcome, I guess.  GARDEN  20:04, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

I assume he is referring to the fact that here on EN.wikipedia, there is always 5-6 new events listed per day on OTD, unlike the version on FR.wikpedia where there is only one new event per day (if you are lucky). Zzyzx11 (Talk) 05:06, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Yes, that's exactly what he did Arapaima (talk) 07:39, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

If you're really happy with SA/OTD, please give Zzyzx11 the SA/OTD manager a barnstar! :-) --PFHLai (talk) 12:36, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

"Barnstar" ? Rather a "castle star", if I could bestow it on ( & knew what it is...). What makes me so admiring of his (their?) work , and of its persistence : I lately tried for some days ( 22,23,24,25, 26 of Marsh) to write in "Le Bistro du Port" ( "The Port Pub", = our "Village Pump" section dedicated to sea affairs) a rubric which I called "Ephemerides at sea (and on the shores)", but was soon put off, for 2 reasons . First : it takes such a long time each day to gather ( and check) the items. Secondly : it doesn't please everybody to be served with news about the first satelite of Saturne being discovered in 1655, or James I being crowned king of 3 realms and the Jacobean era beginning in 1603 , or Ist battle of Gaza in 1915, or IOO 000 people being forcibly removed from the Baltic shores (Priboi Operation in 1949) , since "it's cumbersome and has nothing to do with sea...". So typically french a reaction ...But as goes our saying : "when you are sitting at a table, better not to spit in the soup-tureen" .... So again thanks a lot, and please go on Arapaima (talk) 07:26, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

America?

There's more than one America! 67.160.183.192 (talk) 19:49, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Which section of the main page are you referring to here?  GARDEN  20:01, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Hazarding a guess I'd say ITN... yes, for the first time this month, "America" has two ITNs at once... although the thought of two Americas does make me feel a bit queasy... --candle•wicke 21:37, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Try not to eat lunch before looking at an atlas. APL (talk) 16:53, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

Probably this, from DYK:

... that the future of American newspapers is in doubt: as of 2005, an estimated 70 percent of older Americans read a newspaper daily, while fewer than 20 percent of younger Americans did? Dreaded Walrus ^{t c} 21:34, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Ah yes, that makes a bit more sense. --candle•wicke 21:38, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

I've disambiguated it to the following:

... that the future of newspapers in the United States is in doubt: as of 2005, an estimated 70 percent of older Americans read a newspaper daily, while fewer than 20 percent of younger Americans did?  GARDEN  22:28, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

This should be in the news column on the Main Page eh?

[1] 142.35.236.67 (talk) 15:55, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Maybe indeed. Feel free to nominate the updated article on WP:ITN/C. --Tone 16:01, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

I did, but I'm not sure if I put in in the right place.142.35.236.67 (talk) 16:14, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

I hope this site can provided more to help the learners to study language

I hope this site can provided more to help the learners to study language . —Preceding unsigned comment added by 211.137.163.107 (talk) 04:47, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

I'm not entirely sure what you mean? Is this a separate topic? --candle•wicke 11:58, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Pretty sure it is a separate topic, so I am putting in a new section header. Not sure if this topic belongs to this talkpage, though. --74.13.131.158 (talk) 13:19, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

If you want to study English as a second language, the Simple English Wikipedia (simple.wikipedia.org) is a better website to use than the main English Wikipedia, at least when you are starting. -- 76.204.102.79 (talk) 17:16, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Manitoba is Western Canada, not southern

Comments moved to errors, above. Random89 21:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

The Boat Race

Is this main page news worthy? Also why does the current events page say it is Monday the 29th? Jeff24 (talk) 15:21, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

How odd. I was intending to suggest that for a recurring item on ITN and then it actually happens... --candle•wicke 15:38, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Early AFD? Well done! --candle•wicke 15:47, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

risquee

the "risque menage" a trois should be a risky menage a trois? it's not proper french either so i would think that.24.132.170.97 (talk) 16:47, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

"Risque" in the sense of "wink wink, nudge nudge" innuendo... it's effectively an English word borrowed from French, as is "menage a trois," since they don't necessarily carry the literal definitions of the original French words (or maybe they do... my French is very, very poor). 168.9.120.8 (talk) 17:35, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

OTD: Selena

Not a problem, just a curiosity. The 14th anniversary of Selena's death doesn't seem to be a significant anniversary; I was wondering why it appears in OTD. I don't really have a problem with it... I just thought it was odd. 168.9.120.8 (talk) 12:09, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

1. юш В Ё Ё е e-mail н ш нго С М го о Я. ж х Ё о? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.47.197.143 (talk) 13:04, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

April 1

I would like to invite users to help with ITN design for tomorrow. Most material is gathered already, what needs to be done are some fixes of the articles and modifications of wordings so that we get the effect we want. Appreciated. Wikipedia:April Fool's Main Page/In The News. --Tone 14:38, 31 March 2009 (UTC)