Wikinews talk:Obituary from Wikipedia

Promotion on Wikipedia
To understand what this project page is supposed to be for, see here. This uses a template I've copied from w:Template:Recent death and has been edited to add a 'wikinews_obituary' parameter.

I have raised the idea on the template's talk page on Wikipedia, but no response so far. I'd like to get sorted to a point where we have something to take to Wikipedia and ask for as an editprotected request. To that end, this project page and the template could do with some work.

I think my effort on the template isn't particularly polished looking, I'm open to brainstorming suggestions on how best to put it together, but the points I think would make it better are as follows:


 * Tweak use of the Wikinews logo and give it a tooltip, 'Wikinews, the Free news source you can write'
 * Somehow better present the link to the Wikinews obituary
 * Better integration of the 'What's this?' link to this project page

I don't know how to do the first, I've currently no ideas for the second, and for the third a question mark image with a 'What's this?' tooltip is the only idea I have - back to the how to do a tooltip question. --Brian McNeil / talk 12:20, 29 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Tooltips are easy to make: shown text creates this . Tempodivalse  [talk]  12:58, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

Here's a test of the latest version (ignore the header stuff from the sandbox page)...

Welcome to the Wikinews Sandbox. Feel free to experiment with wikimarkup and other coding here. Take a look at our help documentation for help with editing. Also consider using the special template sandbox. If you want real-time help, you can join us in our IRC Channel, or you can ask a member of the Wikinews Welcommittee.

__NEWSECTIONLINK__

ja:Wikinews:練習帳

User:Brian McNeil/Sandbox



This article is about a person who has recently died. Some information, such as that pertaining to the circumstances of the person's death and surrounding events, may change rapidly as more facts become known.

--Brian McNeil / talk 14:23, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

Comments, feedback, and suggestions
Obviously, this would have appeared on Ted Kennedy. Note, if I've got this right, the WN logo should link to a search for the title of the page the template is put on, so as this would be used it would search wikinews for articles on Ted Kennedy. For many prominent figures we have a main namespace redirect which will be a perfect match. --Brian McNeil / talk 14:23, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
 * The question mark is broken. It should link to this Wikinews: page. If someone can tell me how to fix that I'll do the same change on the copy I have in my WP userspace and ask the current template be updated with editprotected. --Brian McNeil / talk 14:46, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I really like this idea. Would be a nice feature. But would WP allow it? If so i say go for it. I like the style tempo proposed, I think the logo we have is just fine, and I am not even sure how we would make a new one (as in style and such, but overall we could use a new logo anyway). If we can have it like to the article in question that is or will be on Wikinews that would be cool as well (we can use the idea that is already used in things like clean up, where you are redirected to the talk page in a link etc.). So far I like it. I am not a techie, so beyond cheers and horrays, I am not too much of a use :-P DragonFire1024 (Talk to the Dragon) 20:41, 29 August 2009 (UTC)


 * There's a clearer example on Wikipedia - w:User:Brian McNeil/Ted Kennedy shows this and has a version of the template in my userspace. --Brian McNeil / talk 20:47, 29 August 2009 (UTC)


 * I like this idea too - since it doesn't look like the ITN thingy on the Wikipedia main page is going to work, this looks like the next best thing. The main problem will be to convince the en.wp regulars to accept the change - we'll need to come up with a strong argument that it will benefit them as well, not just us. Tempodivalse [talk]  20:51, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia has several templates to put on articles saying that they're not meant to be an obituary. With this they can point people at Wikinews instead for the obituary. Since I managed to work out the conditional code for this, they'll see no change unless there is a Wikinews article. --Brian McNeil / talk 20:54, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
 * ✅ . Cirt (talk) 21:54, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

The '?' as ShakataGaNai pointed out in IRC, should be a subscript like what Wikipedia has for [citation needed]. A small text in or [] saying something like: 'see more death notices on Wikinews.' Also it should link to the Obituary category, or at least somewhere where all obituaries could eventually be viewed and or written. Should also include a way for them to write an article about a death etc. DragonFire1024 (Talk to the Dragon) 01:11, 30 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I say many things in IRC! -- Shakata Ga Nai ^_^ 01:16, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

Other Wikipedia templates
w:Template:Recent death is only one of several templates Wikipedia has to put on their articles when they're in the news. Can those more active on/knowledgeable of Wikipedia list them?

There's specific points I've tried to address with the template prototype I've put together:
 * Link to appropriate Wikinews article
 * Link to somewhere on Wikinews that gives the bullet points of common misconceptions for incoming Wikipedians
 * Search Wikinews for other articles on the subject

Anything else to consider? --Brian McNeil / talk 21:18, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I think there are only two others that could be modified in this manner: w:Template:Current, and w:Template:Current section. Cirt (talk) 21:55, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
 * There's also w:Template:Current related. – Juliancolton  &#124; Talk 22:12, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I've done w:User:Brian McNeil/Current and w:User:Brian McNeil/Oasis (band). --Brian McNeil / talk 23:31, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Update: All the above mentioned templates now have the new Wikinews optional parameter, as well as w:Template:Current spaceflight. Cirt (talk) 00:24, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

Proposed method to remove false material
We need a method to remove or correct false material or add glaring omissions from obituaries after 48 hours.

I recommend:
 * Do the edit as you would if it were a new obituary
 * For the first such edit, slap the obit with a hatnote-template that says "This version reflects corrections made on or after date/time. For other versions click link to obit version history."

In case the editor forgets, hatnote placement can be made with a bot that scans recent changes and examines obits that are more than 48 hours old. If a non-minor edit is made, queue it up for slapping a hatnote on it. If a few hours later the edit hasn't been reverted and a hatnote hasn't been added, slap a hatnote on it.

Davidwr (talk) 01:44, 31 August 2009 (UTC)