Wikinews:Water cooler/proposals/archives/2011/January

Simplify
I think that writing articles should be simplified. You should be able to see exactly how your submitted article is going to look like whilst editing. It's even tricky inserting a picture! Wikipedia and Wikinews is for ANYONE to edit. Taking from that, inserting images should be as easy as copy and paste from your picture file, not "insert jpg and caption here." Writing articles should be simplified.

Thank you. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Wackslas (talk • contribs)
 * Having an alternative WYSIWYG editing system that outputs standard (well formatted) wikicode when "save page" is pressed probably isn't a bad idea (it would need to output standard wikicode so that those of us who like to directly edit the pages the old fashioned way can still do so). A lot of people seem to have problems with all the code that needs to go in our articles. Even though the use of templates simplifies it a great deal, it's still a tad on the technical side for people who aren't familiar with wikicode (IE, most prospective editors). I realize that this is a "pony list" idea, due to the incredible amount of work it would be, but it's still something to think about for the long term. Gopher65talk 23:28, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Promoting 10th Anniversary Events / Local Wikipedia Support Communities
It's shameful that few people seem to know about Wikipedia's 10th Anniversary. This could have been an incredible opportunity to get articles in newspapers &mdash; and also it provides a good excuse to bring together contributors and establish face-to-face local communities or even (in the long term) chapters to support Wikipedia around the world.

One of Wikipedia's architecture (infrastructure) people visited Tokyo recently, and spoke at a "Wikipedia technology event". An advertisement (like the "Please read: A Thank You" currently displayed) was displayed at the top of the page to advertise this event locally &mdash; so presumably Wikipedia is capable of using Geo-IP to display messages targeted at specific geographic areas. The same mechanism could be / could surely have been used to display messages to logged-in contributors and editors, suggesting that they organize a local event (with Wikipedia's 10th Anniversary as the excuse) or even (in the long term) set up a local chapter.

If this is the wrong place to propose this, please suggest a better place. LittleBenW (talk) 02:06, 3 January 2011 (UTC)
 * One thing is pretty clear: Wikinews is not Wikipedia. --Diego Grez return fire 02:07, 3 January 2011 (UTC)
 * is what you're after. — μ 03:01, 3 January 2011 (UTC)


 * Another "better place" might be on the English language Wikipedia, which is over there. Blood Red Sandman  (Talk)   (Contribs) 12:51, 3 January 2011 (UTC)


 * This is not a 'pedia. It would be self-serving navel gazing to report on Wikipedia's anniversary. Plus, this project is not ten years old. --Brian McNeil / talk 13:54, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

Another main page
User:Mono/Sandbox - it's a lot cleaner than the current one; I'm looking into making it even more like a normal news site. Perhaps rotating stories?  ℳ ono   02:06, 20 January 2011 (UTC)


 * Frankly. In pretty much every particular where your proposal differs from the existing main page, I prefer the existing main page.  Leaving stuff out is a loss, not an improvement; and most of the stuff left out entirely is really important.  It's also undesirable that the proposal over-emphasizes the leads, and that it downgrades the prominence of the list of recent news.


 * We aren't a normal news site; we're better in several ways, and have priorities that don't apply to the sorts of sites you're presumably referring to.


 * Folks who've been here a lot longer have tried their hand at redesigning the main page and not come up with something most considered an improvement; I really recommend you put your Wikinews energies into writing articles. --Pi zero (talk) 04:28, 20 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Regardless, portrait images break the template, making it unsuitable for the Main Page in its current form. I agree with Pi zero -- take a look at any news site. None have just headlines on their homepage: the BBC, an arbitary example, have links to their School of Journalism; links to RSS; portals to every major category. By the way, you seem to have accidentally set Papyrus as a font in your signature. — μ 11:07, 20 January 2011 (UTC)
 * I must admit I like it as a starting point for a redesign. It has a much less clutted look to it Brian | (Talk) | New Zealand Portal 00:00, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
 * But it is too sparse, and lots of important/useful/interesting stuff is missing. I would suggest proposing a series of small changes to the current main page, rather than trying to start from scratch, since what we currently have was the result of a long discussion and series of proposals, until we finally reached something we all liked. However, it is possible that it could be improved, perhaps by incorporating some elements from the above proposal. I much prefer the current main page to the proposal linked above, as it stands, anyway. Δεν δοδγε  t\c 00:30, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Yeah, hence why I said as a starting point. I think I like the leads better in this, compared to what we have atm. So, incorporation is the way to go Brian | (Talk) | New Zealand Portal 00:36, 22 January 2011 (UTC)


 * Looks hideous on a slightly lower resolution 3G device; leads are unbalanced, images overwhelming, and far, far too much missing. The current design is heavily influenced by knowledge of project output levels and the realities of a small volunteer community; this, is not. --Brian McNeil / talk 01:30, 22 January 2011 (UTC)

Picture of the Year
Hi. Are you ready to restart? We want (in pl news) to restart Wikinews:Wikinews Press Photo 2011. Old contest is here: pl:Wikinews:Wikinews Press Photo. Przykuta (talk) 16:36, 26 January 2011 (UTC)
 * The vast majority of images used on Wikinews are file photos. How do you propose having a PotY competion given that? --Brian McNeil / talk 19:35, 26 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Only photos taken by users. I'm looking for the solution - used in this category Category:Original reporting? Of course - only free - not copyrighted. On pl wiki we have subcategory pl:Kategoria:Multimedia autorskie for articles with users photos. Przykuta (talk) 20:08, 26 January 2011 (UTC)