Wikipedia:April Fools' Main Page/Featured Article/Archive 2008

Please use this page for discussions surrounding the creation of a Featured Article for April Fool's day 2008

Areas of work needed to complete the front page are:

Ground rules for this activity along with a list or participants may be found on the Main talk page.

Mission

In the past, various unusual articles have been improved to featured article status. These include exploding whale, heavy metal umlaut, Japanese toilet, spoo, Joshua A. Norton, George Washington (inventor). People seeing some of these articles listed on the Main Page sometimes believe that it is a joke, when in fact, these articles are well-written and quite deserving of featured article status.

An unusual article (such as exploding toad or Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch) will be edited up to Featured article status and listed on the Main Page on 1 April, 2008. The "recently featured" sentence could be changed to "other featured", and link to the above-mentioned unusual featured articles.

Given the amount of time it takes to bring an article up to Featured article status, an alternative solution would be to use an article that has already been made a Featured article, but has not yet been listed on the Main Page.

Requirements

Raul is willing to consider any article for April fools day, as long as it meets three requirements:

It must be a featured article by April 1, 2008
It must not have already been used as the main page featured article.
It is not too risqué (more so than any other article that would be used on the front page)

Action items

What are we going to write/promote? We need to pick either a new topic or an existing article to nominate for FA. I think we need half a dozen nominees - then we vote/get consensus on which one is most suitable.
We have to work hard to get it up to featured status. This may be very difficult and might take several attempts.
We have to usher it through all of the phases leading up to FA.
We need to make sure it's on the front page on April 1st. This means starting in on it fairly soon.

Candidates

See 2007 archived discussion.

~~Garbage (band), a former Good Article under GA improvement~~ Royalbroil 03:07, 22 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- Not featured, too late for FAC. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 01:36, 28 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  - Agreed. It has too far to go to be ready anyhow. Struck out. Royalbroil 16:16, 29 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
French Texas, probably would have been more suitable when Freedom Fries were the rage, but still... Andjam (talk) 00:54, 22 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Congrats on the new FA! I do see some irony here but I don't see how this could be spun. We are desperate at this point. Would you expand on what the text might look like? Royalbroil 03:07, 22 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I didn't do anything - thank User:Karanacs and User:Awadewit amongst others! Andjam (talk) 07:04, 22 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I like it! Is this going to be featured then? Or do we need to hurry up something else? -- _{Escape Artist Swyer} ^{Talk to me} _{Articles touched by my noodly appendage} 17:19, 25 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Ima Hogg - the article on the "First Lady of Texas" was just put up for FA consideration by a group of contributors that were unaware of this discussion. I think we found our winner! Your input and review is appreciated. Royalbroil 18:19, 25 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- Suggestions from SWTPC6800
  - As a child, the young Hogg had a menagerie of barnyard animals.
  - Her brothers had normal names. She gave away their prized collections.
  - She overcame mental illness but lived the rest of her life as the First Lady of the state.
- Suggestions from Karanacs
  - Ima Hogg was an ostrich jockey and circus emcee who later brought culture and class to Houston, Texas. As a child and young woman she was quite unlucky; one ship she was scheduled to board sank with no survivors, a second one docked in Germany the day after England declared war on that country. She nursed three family members, none of whom lived very long.
  - After suffering from a mental breakdown, Hogg established several institutions to study mental health. A compulsive hoarder, Hogg eventually gave large collections of artworks to various museums and donated several homes to the state of Texas.
  - Contrary to popular belief, Ima did not have a sister named "Ura".
- SandyGeorgia (Talk) 18:39, 29 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- You might also wish to say:
  - Hogg once sweet-talked a burglar into returning purloined jewelry and told him to get a job.--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 19:42, 29 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    - Ima Hogg is now a featured article. Royalbroil 12:44, 30 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?), current FA that has yet to be put on the main page, probably because of the use of the word "Fuck". ISD (talk) 08:13, 27 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- Hasn't Raul said he wouldn't run the "fuck" articles on the main page? It would likely create a 4/1 uproar. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 01:36, 28 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  - I thought that Wikipedia is not censored? ISD (talk) 15:17, 29 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    - It's not. We have the articles. That doesn't mean Raul has to run them on the main page. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 15:32, 29 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
      - Including information about offensive material is part of Wikipedia's encyclopedic mission; being offensive is not. There is no need to place material likely to be found offensive on the Main Page when other equally suitable and valuable choices are available. --Allen3 ^talk 15:46, 29 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Fuck the Millennium, current FA that has yet to be put on the main page for the same reasons as the one above. ISD (talk) 08:13, 27 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- Ditto. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 01:36, 28 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Uncyclopedia, current FAC. If promoted by 1 April, I think it would be the most appropriate. ISD (talk) 08:13, 27 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- It failed to reach FA status. ISD (talk) 15:13, 30 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Durian, recently promoted FA about "The King of Fruits". ISD (talk) 08:13, 27 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- ISD, would you contact User:Raul654, the FA lead, and point him to this discussion? An aburd date-appropriate blurp needs to be written for the "winner". Royalbroil 12:34, 27 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  - Done it for you. ISD (talk) 12:39, 27 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Encyclopædia_Britannica would be good for dry irony. --BozMo talk 15:41, 27 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- I do love the irony, but it already ran in August 2007. Articles don't run a second time because there are many FA that haven't run. Royalbroil 18:43, 27 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Triptych, May–June 1973, ASCII, Society of the Song Dynasty , Section summary of the USA PATRIOT Act, Title II, USA PATRIOT Act, Title III, Subtitle A, "She Shoulda Said 'No'!", 1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?), Dr Pepper Ballpark, Stocksbridge Park Steels F.C., T-26.
- Just some current FA I thought had rather unusual titles. Buc (talk) 16:42, 27 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  - ASCII is at FAR and is not in good shape. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 18:48, 27 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]