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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)

Errors in the summary of the featured list

Friday's FL

(November 8)

Monday's FL

(November 11)

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

Whole Lotta Darwin?

Just a query. Is the appearance of Charles Darwin in every section of today's Main Page except "In The News" intentional? -- saberwyn 00:25, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Almost certainly. As you'll have noticed, it's his 200th birthday. Algebraist 00:27, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Here is the discussion on the timing of today's featured article. Algebraist 00:31, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Shiny. Thanks :) -- saberwyn 00:36, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

It's also Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday and he gets shafted. Redsox00002 (talk) 01:03, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

He's mentioned once in OTD and twice in DYK. If you had a relevant TFA choice, you should've posted it to Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests at the appropriate time (weeks ago). Algebraist 01:17, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

I stand corrected, but it is still 5:3 in favor of Darwin.Redsox00002 (talk) 01:37, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Is your suggestion to put licoln's name twice randomly on main page to make it even? The way i see it both were given importance and there is no reason for them to appear exactly the same number of times. there were featured items available for Darwin, hence they were used. if u have suggestion to improve current items then please provide them rather than complaining about ratio. Ashishg55 (talk) 01:50, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Insert picture of Wikipe-tan huggling Darwin and lonely Lincoln off in the corner. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.73.70.113 (talk) 05:11, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

He needs the love; over at the ever understated and equitable Conservapedia, he appears on the main page in a split-image alongside Adolf Hitler. Joe 08:39, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, I love the way Conservapedia manages to give the impression that racism from the likes of Hitler and (allegedly) Darwin is a bad thing... but as I recall some of the things they said about Obama during last year's campaign... "understated and equitable," indeed. 168.9.120.8 (talk) 13:39, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Hey - this'll start a bunfight. It could be argued that in the grand scheme of things, Darwin is way more important - his discoveries have a worldwide importance and effect, while ol Abe really only affected the US. 86.155.202.152 (talk) 13:34, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

I was going to say the same thing. Darwin is far more significant in the longrun and worldwide. J Milburn (talk) 09:53, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Abraham Lincoln was known worldwide. Count Tolstoy described how peasants in remote regions of the Russian Empire had heard of him. Lincoln's influence has never waned.[1] The problem is that his article is not a Featured Article, and therefore was not eligible to appear on the main page. Kablammo (talk) 19:56, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Darwin's discoveries affected the world, and the way we see the world. Abe Lincoln's actions didn't have a worlwide effect - sure, he was heard of by the Russian peasants but his actions didn't affect them. That's the big difference between Abe and Chazza. 86.155.202.152 (talk) 21:01, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Read the link. The acknowledgment of the importance of one in no way diminishes the importance of the other. I originally suggested the 12 February TFA and believe it was a good choice for Darwin's birthday, but we should not denigrate the influence of Lincoln. Marx and Nehru didn't. Kablammo (talk) 21:08, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

No one denies Abraham Lincoln is an important figure. However it's true his actions didn't have that great a direct worldwide effect, particularly outside the Western world. Many would even question whether concern for the slaves was really the primary reason for the civil war and Lincoln's involvement thereof and from a current POV, his expressed views are hardly what many would call fair (and they were hardly revolutionary either, it's just that he had the power to do something about them). P.S. To be frank, my POV, I'm quite sure shared by quite a lot of people is that Lincoln was a decent American politician for his time, but hardly someone worth looking up to. He may have been part of righting a horrible wrong, but only a small part and it's questionable if it was his primary reason for doing it and it's also hard to get worked up when there was still so much to achieve which Lincoln didn't seem to care about (indeed some of his expressed views are a bit disgusting) and which others did long before Lincoln. Other people achieved far more then him, e.g. Gandhi, Martin Luther King... The fact that some other people (of greater significance) were influenced by him doesn't change my view much. P.P.S. If it isn't obvious, what I'm saying is that while Abraham Lincoln was undoutedly important, in a comparison between him and Darwin, there's just no comparison. Nil Einne (talk) 20:10, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

As a suggestion to this Lincoln vs. Darwin, a seperate Wikipedia for the United States should be created. I mean, I think it's just the opinions of two seperate hemispheres in which fight over who should've been the star of the main page.
Darwin is probably unknown to half the American population, but a star in the UK, and he contributed much in a world-wide sense. Lincoln, on the other hand, is probably known by almost all the American population, but by only 3% of the British population, yet he was a major factor in which helped America to come out of its turtleshell, thus to burst out onto the international scene; then, who actually truly did contribute more? Why couldn't multiple anniversaries be featured? Just wondering ... IlStudioso 07:17, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Ha ha ha you believe that only 3% of the British population know who Abe Lincoln was? We have also heard of George Washington as well (though he is probably more famous). Anyway wasn't the reason Abe not being featured because his article isn't featured article status? I dont like the idea of a separate wiki for America as I quite like reading articles that are about other countries. It's always nice to learn new things about the rest of the world instead of only thinking that the UK is the be all and end all.

POD

I guess can't have it all, but as a common daisy, the featured pic doesn't seem Valentine Day oriented. Julia Rossi (talk) 06:22, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Why not? There's no reason why you have to spend a lot of money to give someone flowers for valentines day Nil Einne (talk) 06:27, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Nil, where is your whimsy? It's digiflora: a digital daisy costs the same as a digi-rose. haha – anyway I wonder if I'm in a different time zone and something more commercially attuned is upcoming, :) Julia Rossi (talk) 06:58, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Sorry, there was no suitable FP for Valentine's, so I picked a flower. howcheng {chat} 01:06, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

I still think you guys are making a much ado about nothing :-P What about all the poor kids who want to give a flower to someone for valentines day and don't want to steal flowers from someone's garden and those who dislike the commercialisation of valentines day and prefer to keep it simply or ... Everyone else is telling them they need to send a rose, preferably red, for valentines day, and preferably contribute to the environmentally damaging commercial flower industry, why can't we tell them a daisy is fine too? Nil Einne (talk) 10:32, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Suggestion

What are your thoughts on multiple articles of the day? Perhaps 'This Morning's Article' or something along those lines. (talk) 10:48, 14 February 2009 (UTC-5)

Having more than one featured article per planetary rotation is likely to be rejected just on principle; but one additional thing to bear in mind is that because Wikipedia is a global website, using "This Morning" would be wrong for half the world. If the "morning" article was displayed from midnight to noon, Americans would see "This Morning's Article" from between 5 and 7 in the evening, and it would have switched to "This Afternoon's" before many had even got up. --86.159.223.93 (talk) 11:01, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

One could argue that problem already exists. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.53.98.42 (talk) 22:12, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Many things could be argued. Do you intend to make such an argument? Algebraist 22:23, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

We had an Obama/McCain double-bill FA shortly before the US election. It was a good way to handle that particular situation without preferring one over the other, but IMHO should be used sparingly. --144.53.226.17 (talk) 03:43, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

wanna ask question

were can i buy this book here in Philippines and how much its cost? thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.87.201.134 (talk) 13:02, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Are you asking where you can purchase Wikipedia? It's an online encyclopedia that is not available for print purchase. However, if there is a particular article that you would like to have, feel free to print it out. Eric Wester (talk · contribs · email) 15:58, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Hello. I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 2.7 million articles, and thought that we were directly affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the online free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Thus, we have no inside track on the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the left hand side of your screen. If that is not fruitful, we have a reference desk, divided into various subjects areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck. Dendodge Talk^Contribs 16:07, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

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The WIkipedia language section in the Main page does not mention about the language telugu though it features more than 46 000 articles, the highest in Indian languages. Please add this language in the main page under the category "More than 20 000" articles.

To add to the above, the section "languages" on the left side of the main page (Vertical section)does not feature "Telugu" though it has the larget number of featured articles in any Indian Language.

06:24, 17 February 2009 (UTC)PVK Vijaykumarpvk (talk) 06:29, 17 February 2009 (UTC)PVK

Request belongs at template Talk: page {{Wikipedialang}} (talk). I do agree though, they had 38,125 at the end of 2007. §hep^Talk 06:35, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Per the FAQ linked at the top of this page, "The Wikipedia languages section and standard interwiki list on the main page only include Wikipedias that have more than 20,000 articles and a minimum depth of 5" Telugu currently has a depth of 4, so it is excluded at this time. --24.19.39.134 (talk) 07:20, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Forgot to check the depth when I replied. For the requester, that is listed here for convenience. §hep^Talk 07:27, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

What does "depth" mean in this context? Jackiespeel (talk) 16:39, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Featured Article Picture

Why doesn't File:Pnyx.jpg appear on the main page if it's in the featured article? --DFS454 (talk) 09:32, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

If reduced to 100 pixels, it looks... lile this ->

It'll look like crumpled paper above grass or something. –Howard the Duck 14:12, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

I still think it's better than nothing, and it could probably be cropped a decent amount too. -Elmer Clark (talk) 16:06, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Just A Small Point

As the spill occured off Cork (and as far as I know Cork is still part of the republic)the headline should be "The largest oil spill to affect Ireland and Great Britain in 13 years occurs off County Cork." —Preceding unsigned comment added by SWOO (talk • contribs) 13:10, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

You're saying that Ireland should come first? How about "The largest oil spill to affect the Birish Isles in 13 years occurs off County Cork"? J Milburn (talk) 13:31, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Red rags to some bulls! In any case, "Great Britain" and "Ireland" are the names of two islands, in alphabetical order, not a reference to any countries, nations, states or other political entities. Bazza (talk) 14:44, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

I agree; "Great Britain and Ireland" struck me as odd, too. "Ireland and Great Britain" or "the British Isles" makes more sense to me. Qqqqqq (talk) 15:07, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

I've changed it. J Milburn (talk) 15:15, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Excellent. Qqqqqq (talk) 16:35, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Why should it say "British Isles"? I do not agree with the use of this at all. Why can't it say "the largest oil spill to affect Ireland in 41 years"? (See Betelgeuse_incident and List_of_oil_spills for figures.) Using the term "British Isles" can be potentially offensive to Irish users of the site, but nobody would be offended by the use of "Ireland" as the spill has yet to affect Britain. Any thoughts?? Dennisc24 (talk) 18:59, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Have to agree with Dennisc24. As far as I have read it is only effecting Irish waters. Perhaps it should be changed to "off the coast of Ireland".--SWOO (talk) 20:14, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

See discussion below. Aware that this was likely to happen I originally phrased it as neutrally as possible with no use of the controversial "British Isles" phrase which to me looks extremely odd; unfortunately someone appears to have changed it since last night. I am now attempting to iron out a problem which really shouldn't have been created in the first place. --➨♀♂Candlewicke _S^T _# :) 20:38, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

   Well as the spill occured off the coast of Ireland I think Ireland sould be first. Why should Britain come first?
   It does not make sense.--SWOO (talk) 09:57, 19 February 2009 (UTC)

the tang dynasty

needs more pictures and information —Preceding unsigned comment added by 169.204.64.185 (talk) 17:05, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Looks like it has lots of pictures and information to me... It's one of our featured articles, meaning it's one of the best articles in Wikipedia. If you have specific concerns, you can add a comment on the article's talk page. Calliopejen1 (talk) 17:38, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

WHY DOES IT SAY BRITISH ISLES?

It happened near Ireland but it says British Isles. Explain! Cork is not in Britain! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 140.203.12.240 (talk) 18:28, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Because some idiots like you can't look about five centimetres up the page from here. 18:41, 18 February 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.71.34.226 (talk)

Ireland is one of the British isles. It is not part of Britain. Similarly, Pakistan is part of the Indian subcontinent, but it is not part of India. —Verrai 18:56, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

(ec)Further, you seem to not understand the difference between the British Isles and Britain. Cork is part of the British Isles. J Milburn (talk) 18:57, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Please do not use the word "idiot" to describe another user be they IP address or not. It is very discouraging. I happen to actually think this is a problematic term. We discussed this during the recent snowfall event and I have to say that if we are to remain neutral (which is presumably one of our aims) it should never be used on the Main Page, especially in prominent positions on ITN. Take a look at what our own article says on the term. There are actually three sources after the line which states the Irish government's long-standing opposition to the term. This line is in a very prominent position in the opening, thus indicating its importance. It would therefore be fair to say that it is considered a backwards term in some quarters. --➨♀♂Candlewicke _S^T _# :) 20:09, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

I didn't know that there was any controversy regarding the term. I think it's a little strong to suggest that it should never be used on the main page- there are plenty of governments that would reject the use of "Israel" on the main page, too. What would you suggest as an alternative? J Milburn (talk) 20:14, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Ah see, that's the problem. Nobody is aware of these difficulties so that when complaints are made they are brushed aside... I don't see what was wrong with the original wording which worked well enough for the recent snowfall. It was far more inclusive, a lot less controversial and led to no complaints from disenchanted Irish readers, some of whom must be scratching their heads in disbelief at how it is currently phrased. Also I have to say that Israel is used a lot more often in everyday speech than British Isles... I rarely hear of "British Isles" outside Wikipedia where its use seems to be excused in an effort to make space or for other reasons relating to design. However, I have a feeling that this would offend quite a few people in Cork in the same way as it would in, say, Dublin or Galway... I don't think any of the Irish news sources would use the term either, which makes its use here seem a bit strange from my point of view. --➨♀♂Candlewicke _S^T _# :) 20:33, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

The old wording did raise complaints- someone wasn't happy at the idea that it affected "Great Britain and Ireland" when, in fact, it was more concerning Ireland. Further, I do hear (and use) the phrase "British Isles" a lot- where are you from, out of interest? J Milburn (talk) 20:49, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Ireland. You? What I'm saying is that in my experience I have never heard the Irish media use the term. If it's only affecting Ireland then why is the term "British Isles" necessary at all? Surely its use in that case makes it sound more extravagant than it actually is? I was unaware of this as I was led to believe that it would affect others too. --➨♀♂Candlewicke _S^T _# :) 21:00, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

BTW, someone has also raised the "British Isles" issue on the article's talk page. What irks me the most is that I carefully phrased it to avoid this controversy and now I find myself still trying to defend the original phrasing when I could be doing something more constructive elsewhere... speaking of which, if anyone who is bored is reading this, ITN is always in need of volunteers! :D --➨♀♂Candlewicke _S^T _# :) 21:10, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

I'm in England- that may explain the language difference. I'm in the same boat as you- I changed it as I believe my term would be less controversial. If you believe your wording was better, you're more than welcome to revert me. (Feel free to mark it as vandalism too, then protect it, I'm sure we can make this even more exciting). I don't know anything about the spill itself- changing it to the most severe in Ireland in # years would probably work. J Milburn (talk) 21:23, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

(unindent) The article doesn't use biggest spill in Ireland for xx years as the only sources I have found have used biggest spillage in the British Isles since Sea Empress at Milford Haven in 1996 (although some say 1999 with Sea Empress which is clearly wrong). If someone can find a reliable source with the years since the last big Irish spill then that would be fine. However the Irish Coast Guard has said that the spill is likely to wash up in Wales as well so that makes it international. I have no real opinion on which wording is better although "Great Britain and Ireland" made the tagline feel overly cumbersome (at least to me) - Dumelow (talk) 22:11, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

How about something like: The largest oil spill to affect Great Britain and Ireland in 13 years occurs in the Celtic Sea. Does that solve the problem, or is it more important to mention that it occurred off County Cork? - Dumelow (talk) 22:25, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

I've reverted it back to the original wording. --BorgQueen (talk) 05:46, 19 February 2009 (UTC)

  Well as the spill occured off the coast of Ireland I think Ireland sould be first. Why should Britain come first?
  It does not make sense.--SWOO (talk) 09:57, 19 February 2009 (UTC)

Minor Problem

The top story, about the stimulus package being signed, should say "pictured" after Barack Obama, and not after "into law", because it's not the stimulus package that's pictured, but the President.—Godheval^{T C W} 18:39, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Report here 18:43, 18 February 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.71.34.226 (talk)

It's the story as a whole- it is the report package being signed that is pictured. If it was to say "pictured" after Obama, it would just be a generic portrait of him. It's correct where it is. J Milburn (talk) 18:55, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Ah, my good ol' antagonist, Mr. Milburn. Actually, it's not correct, because it doesn't make any sense. Thanks to the other fellow for pointing me towards the report page. —Godheval^{T C W} 20:49, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

The act of him signing it is what's "Pictured". The signing is pictured. That Obama is present is incidental. APL (talk) 21:24, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

(EC)"U.S. President Barack Obama signs a US$787 billion stimulus package into law" is what is pictured- that headline would serve doubly well as a caption to the image. Placing "pictured" after "Barack Obama" would be ridiculous, as that image has not been chosen to illustrate Obama, but to illustrate that story. (Also, where the hell has "my good ol' antagonist" come from? This isn't a battleground- I disagree with you, I'm not some kind of archvillain.) J Milburn (talk) 21:26, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

May I interject and humbly suggest that in such circumstances as these the (pictured) be placed after the full stop? When it comes directly after a word or phrase on the Main Page, we expect that specific thing to be pictured. When the content of the whole sentence is pictured, perhaps we should finish the sentence (put a full stop) before writing (pictured). 129.67.127.65 (talk) 00:07, 19 February 2009 (UTC)

Featured article image nominated for deletion

File:Ger Inf Russia 1941 HDSN9902655.JPEG, currently used on the main page, has been nominated for deletion on Commons. I leave this to someone else to deal with, if anything needs doing, as I am going to sleep. J Milburn (talk) 01:00, 19 February 2009 (UTC)

Mobile Wikipedia?

What is this mobile wikipedia banner, how does it work, and what is mobile wikipedia?--Ipatrol (talk) 02:21, 19 February 2009 (UTC)

Not sure about the banner (?), does WP:MOBILE help? §hep^Talk 04:28, 19 February 2009 (UTC)