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See Wikipedia FAQ for general questions about Wikipedia; you can ask questions at the Village pump. See talk:Wikipedia category schemes for general discussion of the category scheme on Wikipedia's Main Page.

See Wikipedia talk:Selected Articles on the Main Page for discussion of (and recommendations for) the Selected Articles on the Main Page. See below for more discussion of particular issues regarding the Main Page (e.g., whether to include a particular category on the page). Please add your additions at the bottom.

Some older talk has been archived to

Has anyone seen this, one of the most recent pages of Search Engine Watch, of 10 Feb. by Chris Sherman, their editor?
http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/03/sd0210-wikipedia.html Very interesting and all about Wikipedia. --Dieter Simon 18:42 Feb 11, 2003 (UTC)

Could someone with editing right on main page please change Bosanskom to Bosanski (as it is correct usage). --User:Goran Feb 14, 2003 (UTC)

Done Enchanter 00:29 Feb 15, 2003 (UTC)

Happy late Valentines Day, everyone!!

AntonioMartin

Could we get Global protests against war on Iraq in Recent Events, please? - Montréalais

It's related to the already listed U.S. Plan to invade Iraq so it is covered by that. --mav

I dunno, Mav. I think if the US abruptly declared war, or Saddam Hussein got assassinated, or something, we'd probably put it in Recent Events, right? I think punctual, important events are worthwhile in Recent Events even if they are somehow subsumed into an ongoing story. - Montréalais

Yes it would be a big - yet very notable - bummer if Dubya was assassinated. Then people wouldn't have nearly as many excuses to hate Americans. I see your point. --mav

Hmmnn who is 'Dubya'? And by the way, cant wait for some type of marker to be back!! Patience, Antonio, Patience..LOL Antonio The Pimp Martin...lol!

King George 'Dubya' Bush user:Zanimum

Someone needs to check on the Hizballah page. Im not sure if there is a copyright violation there.

Antonio The Stripper Martin

Been there. See talk page. --mav

I suggest add the ja: (japanese ) link to wikipedia main page.

done. --mav

Just noticed it says "العربية&#8236 (Araby)". Don't actually know any arabic, but wouldn't "العربية&#8236" be "Al araby", and "Araby" be "عربية"? (Not sure what the ة is for.) Cyp 13:51 Feb 23, 2003 (UTC)

I think an arabic page it´s a good idea. That is the ISO abbreviation for the language??

The top of the page and the side of the page disagree on Polish: Polska vs. Polski. AxelBoldt 19:04 Feb 24, 2003 (UTC)

I think it should be Polski, as both places refer to language. If any refered to 'polish version', then it would be Polska. Matusz 19:42 Feb 26, 2003 (UTC)

I suggest add the ia: (interlingua) link to wikipedia main page. -- Ensjo, 2003 Feb 24

How about adding Timelines to "Other Category Schemes", since this is a way of accessing a lot of wikipedia information. dml Feb 24 2003

Done. --mav 03:34 Feb 25, 2003 (UTC)

Iraq crisis, 2003 is a new top level for the various articles on this hot subject. U.S. plan to invade Iraq is only one element of this crisis. Credibility of the UN Security Council, role of weapons inspectors, precedents for North Korea and Iran in the "Axis of Evil", Blair's continuing as PM of the UK despite Labour Party opposition, fate of publicly owned oil infrastructure and rights in Iraq, fate of Baath party, NATO splits, Turks' role in Kurdistan, etc., are all involved. Also, the second that the war is either started or avoided, the "U.S. plan to invade Iraq" will become quite irrelevant - it will either *be* a war (not a "plan") or it will just be a 'crisis' that Saddam is stil sitting there, or Baath still sitting there, or that the UN looks effective or ineffective, or that the Turks invade Mosul... whatever happens, the UN is already using the term 'humanitarian crisis', so that word 'crisis' is in play.

The new article is focused on listing the various impacts discussed in the news and the other articles. It has a timeline only for future events, and could link to a timeline of past events if we want to assemble that. It links to all the other articles I could find. It takes a likely-impact view not a who-supports-the-present-US-plan view.

If you agree with these changes please help with the article and then add Iraq crisis, 2003 to the Main Page to replace U.S. plan to invade Iraq.

I agree that U.S. plan to invade Iraq is too specific but Iraq crisis, 2003 needs to be developed more before it replaces U.S. plan to invade Iraq in the Selected Articles section. --mav

Working on it. Need help. Current events such as Turkey/Kurd conflict and UK Labour Party revolt now covered in timeline. New current events should go to Iraq crisis, 2003 first, and then their long term impact can be assessed and other articles updated.

Also, War on Terrorism and Israeli-Palestinian conflict and anti-war protests are of interest now mostly because of the Iraq crisis, and thus not having a proper top-level article is forcing other things off the ongoing events list. For instance, the US decision to send combat troops to the Phillipines is a veyr important element of the War on Terrorism but is almost going unnoticed due to the Iraq noise. Let's cast some light on these things while the mass media gets distracted by that noise. And, let's clear room on the ongoign events bar for things that have nothing to do with the US, if that's possible. Half the items on the ongoing events, at least, should be things that aren't of great interest to Americans, as a start. It would be nice if we didn't give free publicity to wars that might not happen.

I think the "selected articles" section looks better like this (with bold rather than italic headings);

Selected Articles

In the news: WTC site - RI nightclub fire - Sami Al-Arian - Anti-war protests
Recent deaths: Mister Rogers - Jesica Santillan - Dolly the sheep - Kid Gavilan - Lou Harrison
Ongoing events: Israeli-Palestinian conflict - Plan to invade Iraq - War on Terrorism - North Korea
Historical anniversaries: Reichstag - WTC bombing - Nasser - Galerius - Gregorian Calendar
Marbury v Madison - Johann Gutenberg - Emile Zola - Gulf War - Supernova 1987a - White Rose

Please go ahead and edit Main Page/Temp to reflect your idea - we can then debate whether or not it is a good idea. --mav 20:32 Feb 27, 2003 (UTC)

I understand that DNA / Crick / Watson was 50 years ago today. -- SGB 2003-02-28

I thought it was on February 21? Please update the DNA article with your date. --mav

It was an announcement on BBC breakfast news this morning. No other details. -- SGB 2003-02-28

Please add Roger Needham to recent deaths on the main page. MB 23:39 Mar 3, 2003 (UTC)

Done. --mav 00:17 Mar 4, 2003 (UTC)

Is this a better place than VillagePump to place suggestions for changes to links on the main page (but not those only of current interest)? For example, I suggested adding the By Alphabetical Order page, and I would also like to suggest that the main page change the List of reference tables or add a new link with the more familiar term Almanac (as a redirect) to help folks find it. Thanks for listening. - Brettz9 21:06 Mar 5, 2003 (UTC)

It is now 40 years to the month since Dr Beeching in Britain unveiled the plans to cut the UK's railway network, or the Beeching axe Wouldent it be a good idea to put this in the historical anniversaries section.User:G-Man

As it says on the top of this page all requests for listing items in the Selected Articles section should be directed to Wikipedia talk:Selected Articles on the Main Page. The guidelines for getting topics listed in the various parts of Selected Articles are at Wikipedia:Selected Articles on the Main Page. --mav

I suggest add automatically the [[user:]] links in wikipedia to text written by the user in talk pages ( the user could include this option in preferences). Or, at least, create an autotext to include the user link when included in a talk page. Mac

How does this relate to the Main Page? It looks like you are talking about sigs, no? Just type three ~ and hit save for an automatic sig. --mav

The ~~~ trick is described in wikipedia:how to edit a page (or click "Editing help" in any edit window). Martin

I didn´t know where ask the question and for me was neccessary to subscribe in the talk main page. Thank you a lot for the information.

Moved from Wikipedia:Village pump:

Thank you. Sorry but can do me a favor again? Put this to main page. [[af:HomePage]][[ar:HomePage]][[da:Forside]][[de:Hauptseite]][[en:Main Page]][[eo:%C4%88efpa%C4%9Do]][[es:Portada]][[fr:Accueil]][[it:HomePage]][[ko:대문]][[nl:Hoofdpagina]][[pl:Strona główna]][[ru:Main_Page]][[su:HomePage]][[zh:首页]] I found this list in ja wikipedia, which seems more comprehensive than current one. -- Taku 03:43 Feb 24, 2003 (UTC)

There already is a comprehensive list on the Main Page under the In Other Languages area. Some of the links you've listed are to wikis that don't even have a Main Page. --mav

Aside from Sudan, all of them have homepage I think. And it is quite convinient and normal to have language links. -- Taku 05:24 Feb 24, 2003 (UTC)

If we include some of the smaller wikis as interlanguage links on the Main Page then it would only be fair to include all of them. That would mean that people at 800 x 600 screen resolutions will be greeted not by content on the Main Page but by a screen full of language links. --mav

Can someone update: [1], so that there is more to choose from? Many gaps have been filled since last update. -user:Zanimum

I have generated an up to date list at Wikipedia:Most wanted articles. Enchanter 18:32 Mar 7, 2003 (UTC)

Thank you ever so much. -user:Zanimum

I have two questions.

1)re Bix - as it's the centenial of his birth, being marked internationally with concerts, radio shows, and at least two festivals, I thought it a worthy historical anniversary to mark. Mav, do we just have a difference of opinion, or is there a critiria that disqualifies it that I've missed?

2) the "br" hard return after Atom bomb. Why? Are the items before the "br" in a different category than those below it? If so, perhaps there should be some indication of that in the text. (The hard return just makes the text look out of balance to me.) Cheers, -- Infrogmation 21:15 Mar 10, 2003 (UTC)

Hm. 100 years... Since the celebration for it is current, this is more of a current event. The historical anniversaries is for events that were momentous when they happened.
The br is to align the second line of historical anniversaries with the other lines right above it. If this is not done then the first line on historical anniversaries extends all the way to the right margin which is very ugly at higher than 800 x 600 screen resolution. --mav

Thanks for your reply. I still have a problem with the second item. The br seems to be having a very different effect on my end: Historical aniversaries with 3 items on that first line, then just 1 item on the next line, with the remaining 3/4ths of the line blank line after the br, then another full line of items, then a fourth line with the last two items. That's with Opera. Okay,now I just looked with IE expecting it to look better, but I get the same thing except for 2 items on the second (with the br) of the four lines. I presume whatever you're trying to do depends on screen size or text size or browser. Might there be another way to do it which won't produce the problems I see? -- Infrogmation 21:45 Mar 10, 2003 (UTC)

I don't know of any. From what you describe the whole Selected Articles table should have similar problems on each line. The lowest common denominator I use for the table are; 800 x 600 screen resolution, standard font sizes, maximized browser window with the sidebar enabled (this is more or less the industry standard for minimum specs and also represents the largest single group of net users). So anybody with a screen resolution that is less 800 x 600 (640 x 480 for example), or with larger than standard font sizes, will have less than great results. --mav

I need my counteeeeerrrrsssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

Antonio Egocentric Martin

Zoran Djindjic has been assassinated. - Montréalais

I think Elizabeth Smart should be listed on the main page, In The News area...after all, she was found alive today.

Antonio BigS Martin

What makes the Internet Encyclopedia a "sister project"? I looked it up in the wikipedia, but there is no article on Internet encyclopedia. Ortolan88 19:14 Mar 13, 2003 (UTC)

That's what I would like to know. According to Fred it is a fork but it really is just a derivative project with very different policies ("Multiple Point of View" instead of NPOV, for example). I vote for removal of the link. Perhaps we should have an "Unwanted Step-child Project" section. ;-) --mav