Talk:Main Page

Conflict of interest
So 80% of the front page is now Виктор Пинчук / Viktor Pinchuk promoting himself and his publications without any conflict of interest being noted on any of the articles, and Wikinews is ok with this? Someone who isn't notable enough to have an article in any language of Wikipedia (see Viktor Pinchuk) gets to own Wikinews? What a joke this place is. 193.117.137.146 (talk) 09:42, 26 March 2024 (UTC)

Idea:Temporary extra page
undefined In rare cases, we have actually so much news that news disappear very quickly from the main page. Here is an idea for that. All news should stay for at least 2-3 days. If there are more than 5 published articles in the past 2-3 days, then the less recent articles should go on a second page. This would be linked to from the main page. Me Da Wikipedian (talk) 20:58, 4 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Interesting idea. At the moment the main page is built around the five leads. At the right hand side is a list of the latest twenty articles, including the five leads. So, would we have a second page with those fifteen articles that are no longer on the five leads? An alternative idea might be to increase the number of leads to perhaps twenty and have them all displayed in decreasing prominence? The German Wikinews main page has something like this, with capacity for up to fifty articles (I think). I am not sure if it is automated though. [24Cr][talk] 21:15, 4 June 2024 (UTC)
 * No, thats not what I'm saying at least. For example, the last 20 articles often streches back more than 3 months, those aren't really news. This would only be for the (rare) occurence where there is more than 5 articles published in a 2-3 day long period. Idea would be a second with anything not in the latest 5 but in the last 2-3 days.@Cromium Me Da Wikipedian (talk) 21:17, 4 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Ah, I see what you mean. So, for example at the moment we have seven articles from the last 3 days, and the oldest two of those would go onto a second page? [24Cr][talk] 21:36, 4 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Yes, exactly.@Cromium Me Da Wikipedian (talk) 21:36, 4 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I am not much good at code but feel free to start a subpage and play around with the layout. You'll probably need some new templates to match the five lead templates (although there are at least two unused ones around - one with a 6 and one without a number). [24Cr][talk] 12:31, 5 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I've made lead 9 and updated 6, does nothing for now. 7 and 8 are create protected, so I'll need help for those. 10 isn't needed...yet. I would need you to add a link on the Main Page, of course...working on a page 2 now... Me Da Wikipedian (talk) 20:28, 5 June 2024 (UTC)
 * @Cromium, now make an example Main Page 2 and 10 as well. Thoughts? Me Da Wikipedian (talk) 20:34, 5 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Thank for unprotecting, I think Main Page 2 looks good now... Me Da Wikipedian (talk) 20:41, 5 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I've unprotected 7 and 8. I think there should be up to six leads, so they all look equal. At the moment lead 6 has prominence because it takes up double the width of the others. [24Cr][talk] 20:43, 5 June 2024 (UTC)
 * That could be said of lead 1 here too. If you still want I'll try to figure out how to change that. How is the rest of it. What would you think of adding a link to it somewhere on the Main Page, where and how?@Cromium Me Da Wikipedian (talk) 20:47, 5 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Well, lead 1 has prominence because ordinarily it is the most recently reviewed article. I guess we could have six on the main page and six (or four) on the second page. However, then could we not have ten on the main page? I think we need input from others. I'll put it on the site notice. [24Cr][talk] 21:01, 5 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I don't know, for now I'm keeping as is. I think that the Main Page 2 could, pending approval, be put as a link on the Main Main Page (that sounds weird) in the current state, with minor issues like that to be worked out later@Cromium Me Da Wikipedian (talk) 21:07, 5 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Frankly, this is a bizarre idea. You're proposing to maintain a second Main Page which readers would have to click a link on the Main Page to get to, perhaps making it less likely they'll see those articles there than under "Latest news" on the Main Page. I don't get why, if it's important, we couldn't just put more leads on the Main Page, where they're more likely to be seen, which I would guess is your aim with this idea? Also, would the articles on the second Main Page be listed under "Latest news" in addition? Heavy Water (talk) 22:26, 5 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Yes they would also be on latest news. Idea would like an actual newspaper...there are multiple pages. I have no objection to placing it further down either if you want to though...@Heavy Water Me Da Wikipedian (talk) 22:44, 5 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I really don't understand the rationale for this. Is there any other news site that does this or something like it? Am I missing some kind of best practice here? —Justin ( koavf ) ❤T☮C☺M☯ 07:16, 6 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Is there any other news site that doesn't either have a second page or a longer first page than 5 entries?@Koavf Me Da Wikipedian (talk) 09:45, 6 June 2024 (UTC)
 * You're answering my questions with questions. —Justin ( koavf ) ❤T☮C☺M☯ 09:46, 6 June 2024 (UTC)
 * you asked if there was a site that has more than 5 stuff on the front page or a second page, I implied I think literally all do, can you think of one that doesn't?@Koavf Me Da Wikipedian (talk) 09:47, 6 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I did not ask you that. —Justin ( koavf ) ❤T☮C☺M☯ 09:48, 6 June 2024 (UTC)
 * You asked if anything did this (and that is this so you did).@Koavf Me Da Wikipedian (talk) 09:49, 6 June 2024 (UTC)
 * This recursive and tangential way of communicating is not going to be very effective for you. —Justin ( koavf ) ❤T☮C☺M☯ 10:14, 6 June 2024 (UTC)
 * ???@Koavf Me Da Wikipedian (talk) 10:22, 6 June 2024 (UTC)
 * You're answering a question with a question and then telling me that my original question was something other than what it was. I don't see this being very useful for convincing anyone that you've got a good proposal. Good luck. —Justin ( koavf ) ❤T☮C☺M☯ 10:32, 6 June 2024 (UTC)
 * To slow the tempo down just a pinch: I am unsure that we need to declare "New articles on the main page for 3 days is a requirement." --The main page is essentially our "Front page" as-it-were........ Of course, it needs to be there longer than 5 minutes -- sure. IMO, I think we should, if someone knows which buttons to click, maybe create real estate for 6 articles and just see how that flows. I like the big rolling list over along the right side. Those headlines are just attention grabbers, really......and little more. Just my two cents. It is really just a matter of us determining what we consider to be "old".--Bddpaux (talk) 14:59, 6 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I've had more of a think about this. I'm no longer sure that a second page is the best way. The way I understand it is there are 24 boxes, in 3 columns of 8:
 * Six of those boxes are taken up the five leads.
 * Three are for the list of latest news.
 * Three are for the regional and subject portals / categories.
 * Three are for the interviews, original reporting and featured articles.
 * Three are for the "write/about/around" templates, although these could be reduced to two boxes.
 * Three are for the links to other language versions of Wikinews.
 * Three are for the links to other English wikis.
 * Unless I've not understood it correctly, there is nothing stopping us from expanding to 9x3 or 10x3 or indeed 10x4 or reducing the number of boxes. I am not particularly attached to the interwiki and sister link boxes because they are both kind of redundant to the links in the sidebar. We could make the leads equal (so six leads where we have five), and add an additional row (another three leads), to give space for nine leads on the main page. I think this might suffice for the current situation, where some articles have been on the lead templates for about a day. [24Cr][talk] 18:47, 6 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Having 6 leads alongside the latest news section and another three on the next row, I think this is a sufficient approach for now. However, I also believe we should keep the sister project template on the main page. Another idea could be implementing an enable-disable mechanism for the additional three on the new row, so that when there are fewer news articles published, the main page doesn't appear too outdated. However, I haven't delved deeply into this to identify all the potential drawbacks. Asked42 (talk) 20:25, 6 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Can have a look here to see how the nine lead cells might look. Asked42 (talk) 09:05, 7 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I think that I agree with the second idea of yours maybe. Your sandbox page looks good but theres only 7 btw.@Asked42. I think that at a minimum an article should have 24 hours on the main page, probably more like 2-3. But thats another thing we can figure out@Bddpaux Me Da Wikipedian (talk) 10:34, 7 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Never mind I didn't scroll down. Maybe don't have that thing on the side it looks a bit weird though, maybe just have 8 or 10 or something like that instead Me Da Wikipedian (talk) 10:39, 7 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Hi, in the sandbox, there are a total of nine leads. I'm not sure what you mean by 'that thing on the side'—maybe the latest news section? By the way, this is just a demo example, as per the proposals. Also, now that I think about it, is the Wikinews community really active enough to regularly maintain more extra leads? (I hope it is). Asked42 (talk) 10:51, 7 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I mean the one under latest news. I think that lead should be removed@Asked42 Me Da Wikipedian (talk) 20:17, 7 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Maybe rotate the news from a panel? Leaderboard (talk) 12:25, 7 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I've lost my bearings on the Sandbox being referred to here; can someone point me to it? I like the 'rotation' idea, but how would it flow? Random? Can't quite get my head around it without seeing an example.--Bddpaux (talk) 20:06, 11 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I'd imagine that's what they are thinking. @Leaderboard, can you clarify for me and @BigKrow? Me Da Wikipedian (talk) 20:07, 11 June 2024 (UTC)
 * You have a "panel" with say four news articles. When a user visits Wikinews, the system will randomly pick one news article from that panel and show it to the user. If the user visits it again, the system should again randomly pick a news article from the panel. If we want users to see three news articles instead, we can have "three" panels with four different news articles. The system will pick one news article from each panel.
 * This is the approach Wikibooks uses. To refresh the system, you'll need to purge the page. Leaderboard (talk) 04:39, 12 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Thanks. BigKrow (talk) 18:58, 12 June 2024 (UTC)
 * The issue is that users will wonder where a story went if they say click a story and then load up the main page again.@Leaderboard Me Da Wikipedian (talk) 09:09, 14 June 2024 (UTC)
 * , (i) the story won't usually change unless the cache has been purged, and (ii) the main page can be worded appropriately so that users don't get surprised when they do change. Leaderboard (talk) 09:37, 14 June 2024 (UTC)
 * "the story won't usually change unless the cache has been purged" - Then it would hide say half the stories and most users won't purge...that might be even worse@Leaderboard Me Da Wikipedian (talk) 09:38, 14 June 2024 (UTC)
 * not really. It's not like users must purge - this automatically happens. Leaderboard (talk) 11:38, 14 June 2024 (UTC)
 * "It's not like users must purge - this automatically happens" and now were back to users don't see stories half the time. @Leaderboard Me Da Wikipedian (talk) 19:33, 14 June 2024 (UTC)
 * you need to consider the frequency as well. It's not like users will always see different news, but users won't have to wait too long to see different news either - does that make sense? It's the same thing on Wikibooks. Leaderboard (talk) 05:34, 15 June 2024 (UTC)