Wikipedia talk:Community portal

Community portal sections
Community bulletin board Open tasks Current collaborations Article improvement drive Good article collaboration Core topics collaboration Tip of the day Community portal subpage list

Designs and redesigns
(previous designs) Please draft layout changes here: Community portal/Draft

Listing upcoming meetups

DUKESOFAPOLLO I would like to suggest that we list upcoming Wikipedia:Meetups here, maybe through some shortened version of the {{Meetup}} template.--Pharos (talk) 20:49, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

A shortened version would be great, possibly just the "upcoming" items could be listed? I can't think of a way to make the maintenance non-complicated and non-duplicated though. A definite possibility for the bottom of the WP:CBB, if someone can work out how, or volunteer to do it all manually.. -- Quiddity (talk) 19:30, 16 July 2010 (UTC)

Hmmm....

For What serves this page ? -- —Preceding unsigned comment added by KnuxD (talk • contribs) 18:29, July 24, 2010

This page is for discussion/improvement of the Wikipedia:Community portal page. -- œ^™ 21:35, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

Muhammad Mohsin Dear All, "DONT GET CAUGHT BY LSBF" Be aware about the Devilry Of " LONDON SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND FINANCE" . This is public service message for all our dear ones. I am writing to all of you people with guarantee and proofs, might be fruitful for our dear one. Plz let it share with others by any means. LSBF now a days advertising its variety of courses through electronic media, as well by its Agents through out Pakistan and influence Pakistani students to take initiate. LSBF has been failed in Europe drastically due to to their poor international students policies. UK border Agency only give visa to a limited no of students not all applicants get success in visa. SO if your Visa refused then "LSBF WILL NOT REFUND YOUR FEE PAID" and all of your fee paid almost 4lacs will not be refunded and so you will be reiuned by LSBF. "This the actual case My COUSIN has been effected by LONDON SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND FINANCE" — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mohsin1200 (talk • contribs) 20:29, 5 June 2011 (UTC)

Some suggestions

Someone has suggested adding Signpost to the community portal. Please see Talk:Main Page#Addition of Signpost. Whilsty we are on the subject, should MOTD be added here? Simply south (talk) 20:12, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Signpost: The Signpost is already included, at the very top-right. Making it any larger would overwhelm the other content.

Motto: I objected at Wikipedia talk:Community portal/Archive 11#Motto, and 3 people (including me) objected at Wikipedia talk:Community portal/Archive 12#Motto of the day. I'd say the objections are all still relevant, and hence would continue to object. MOTD (eg Wikipedia:Motto of the day/Schedule) is filled with subjective varied-quality wit & humor, and belongs in userspace only. -- Quiddity (talk) 20:58, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

If that is the case, why is the 'tip of the day' included? I'm not a particularly big fan of the TOTD, even though I do read them sometimes. Many of the tips are not very high-quality. Look at tomorrow's, for example. They did not say anything about the gadget that lets us edit the lead section. Should TOTD be removed? Kayau Voting IS evil 14:25, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

I withdraw my comment, because the MOTD is already in the community portal! Look carefully, it's right beside humour. Kayau Voting IS evil 14:27, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

MOTD is definitely linked from here, but none of it's variety of rotating templates are embedded. That's what I and others object to.

I actually agree that WP:TOTD is often of a low-quality and should possibly be removed (Even more so, that it should be removed from Help:Contents as being an unhelpful distraction for people who are actually looking for something specific there). I don't feel strongly enough to actually start the debate though. -- Quiddity (talk) 19:29, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

It seems that I am a bit late to this party, but I would like to say something. I'm extremely active with commenting on mottos, and with deciding what to do with them after two weeks. At this point, our standards have raised considerably (mine have, at least) on what mottos to let through. I don't think that their quality is as inconsistant as before, and quite often, they have good messages for people to follow. If you look around, you will see that many users, even administrators, use one of the MOTD boxes. Some people who use them: OlEnglish, Jac16888, and Roux. Obviously, many people seem to think that the mottos are fine, and as such, I think that a MOTD template should be added to this page. ~~ Hi878 ^{(Come shout at me!)} 02:38, 25 November 2010 (UTC)

Indeed I enjoy the dynamic content. I want users to have a different experience each time they view my userpage. I don't know if it has a place on the community portal page however, it's more of a userpage thing. -- œ^™ 03:01, 29 November 2010 (UTC)

Template:Wikipedia ads

Has anyone thought about adding a banner with {{Wikipedia ads}} to display random ads for projects? It could be a nice graphical element on a page full of text...--Kozuch (talk) 22:44, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

I consider these to be immensely distracting (visually grabbing); It's hard enough to find what one is looking for already. Secondly, Template:Wikipedia-adnavbox contains much that I wouldn't want to be shown to random visitors to our community portal, eg File:Qxz-ad167.gif and File:Qxz-ad166.gif. So that's a no from me, the resident grumpy maintainer. :) -- Quiddity (talk) 22:59, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

WP:CREEP

I don't think it's exactly the most important essay in human history. Its usefulness, as compared to the other pages, is very low, and has very little to do with 'working with others'. I think it should not be kept here. Kayau Voting IS evil 12:21, 31 July 2010 (UTC)

It's an informal explanation for the rationale behind WP:NOTBUREAUCRACY, and is linked to from Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines#Demotion. It's related to working with others, because people argue over "rule intention/meaning/interpretation", a lot. Preventing the guidelines from growing and growing, and turning into dense legalese, is important.

That said, I have no specific objections to discussing its removal/replacement, if anyone else agrees with you. -- Quiddity (talk) 22:16, 31 July 2010 (UTC)

Adding something to the task list

I can't figure out how to add a task. Noloop (talk) 17:15, 28 August 2010 (UTC)

You have to edit the page Wikipedia:Community portal/Opentask. -- œ^™ 07:01, 14 September 2010 (UTC)

Inactive collaborations

I've removed all the inactive collaborations from Template:Announcements/Current collaborations, and there are only five left. Any thoughts on anything else to put there? --Banana (talk) 20:46, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Hmmm. Well, we could manually check some projects to see if there are active collaborations that we're missing (and/or put a call out in the CBB and Signpost), or we could think about merging the Collaborations and HelpOut sections, or (? something else ?). -- Quiddity (talk) 22:30, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Edit request from 75.217.74.71, 3 January 2011

Bold text{{edit semi-protected}}

75.217.74.71 (talk) 23:27, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

You appear to be lost. Can you tell me which article you want to edit? (and what you wanted to add/change?)--Banana (talk) 23:35, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

Opentasks inquiry

Left an inquiry at Wikipedia_talk:Community_portal/Opentask, Sadads (talk) 14:56, 30 January 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia has problems. It is ignoring most of them.

READ. And listen - instead of waving it away and saying how awesome you are, as the community does with most criticism.

http://hblog.org/writing/the-missing-wikipedians/

Please try WP:VPM instead. Kayau Voting IS evil 14:52, 18 February 2011 (UTC)

Thanks!

Bishop Stortford Hauntings

Since 1920, The county Bishops Stortford, has suffered a number of hauntings. Some harmless while others known to cause damage to the public. Some of the ghosts sighted are:

Grey Lady The Grey Lady was last sighted at the Boar's Head Pub, Water Lane and St Michael's Church. The first sighting of her was at the Boar's Head Pub in 1922 which is believed to be where she died in the celler. Locals say that this shade travels through the town, stopping at a couple of watering holes, before continuing on to the church. The phantom drifted silently passed a mother and child along Water Lane in 1922, heading towards the church. Both witnesses fled. She is still sighted today in Boar's Head Pub where the Land Lady was locked in the celler in the evening whilst alone in the pub.

Misty Shape The Misty Shape is said to be a woman who was stabbed to death in room 27 of the George Inn, North Street. Although it is unknown when she was first sighted, she is still sighted in the Inn.

Door Locker This Spirit was first discovered in the late 1990's in a private house along Mary Park Gardens (bishops Stortford) A family living along this street reported an unpleasant entity that would lock the bathroom door from the inside and fill the house with an oppressive atmosphere. Although it is unclear who is haunting the house, records suggest that a man died there when he locked himself in the bathroom and committed suicide.

Crying Child During 14th February 2000, Saplings Independent Nursery claimed to have sighted the ghost of a crying child. It is reported that a young child once burnt to death on the site, and that the shade of the child remains. One witness described the infant as a blonde haired girl.

Screamer In the Town Centre of Bishops Stortford, The centre of town is said to be haunted by a screaming figure who runs through the area. She has been sighted twice during the early 1800's and mid 2009.

The Loner The Loner was, and still is, sighted at the Tissimans store in the town of Bishops Stortford. He was sighted walking in the basement of the store and sometimes walking amonst the customers. One witness claimed that she saw him running down into the basement before dissapearing.

While these are well known sightings of ghosts, many rare sightings of ghosts have also been sighted. One family have reported mysterious sounds, lights turning on and off and in one case, possession. Although an exorcist was called, the family was forced to move away due to the continuous haunting. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jccandy (talk • contribs) 15:27, 23 February 2011 (UTC)

Hello there. Were you trying to create an article? If so, I encourage you to talk to people over at Articles for Creation. You'll need some reliable sources to prove your topic is notable.--Banana (talk) 07:55, 12 March 2011 (UTC)

What is a Wikipedian?

Hi!

Recently I seen messages about me not being a Wikipedian. What is one?

Thanks for any help!Muhammad Mohsin Dear All, "DONT GET CAUGHT BY LSBF" Be aware about the Devilry Of " LONDON SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND FINANCE" . This is public service message for all our dear ones. I am writing to all of you people with guarantee and proofs, might be fruitful for our dear one. Plz let it share with others by any means. LSBF now a days advertising its variety of courses through electronic media, as well by its Agents through out Pakistan and influence Pakistani students to take initiate. LSBF has been failed in Europe drastically due to to their poor international students policies. UK border Agency only give visa to a limited no of students not all applicants get success in visa. SO if your Visa refused then "LSBF WILL NOT REFUND YOUR FEE PAID" and all of your fee paid almost 4lacs will not be refunded and so you will be reiuned by LSBF. "This the actual case My COUSIN has been effected by LONDON SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND FINANCE"

A nonsense Wikipedia article

Dear all,

There is an nonsense article on Wikipedia List of local rulers of Vojvodina. There is no Voivodina before 1849. it could not be considered as an outstanding territory, it has no shape, has no borders, simply it does not exist. So there are no local rulers of Voivodina, actually there are thousands of squires. The area was divided into departments, but the therritory of them area did not match the borders of today Voivodina. The territory of Voivodina was part of Hungarian kingdom from 10th century to 1541. Than it was part of Ottoman empire to 1799. Than it was part of Habsburg empire. Srem vas part of Croatia, Bács (Bačka) and Bánság (Banat) was part of Hungary. Voivodina was formed 1849 and existed up to 1860/61. The territory of that entity was totally different. Than from 1860/61 was no Voivodina up to 1945, but there are no rulers anymore. So please erase this site because it is nonsense. Mészáros Zoltán Ph.D. --213.198.255.87 (talk) 07:41, 24 March 2011 (UTC)

--LegoCityBusDriver (talk) 07:27, 22 March 2011 (UTC)

Responding on the talk page.--Banana (talk) 00:21, 23 March 2011 (UTC)

Updating obsolete links

Many Wikipedia sites offer links to the excellent websites about economic issues of the „The New School” N.Y. But this institution changed something in its website, so that many Wikipedia links lead now to nothing.

Example: Before, the biography of economists had the address: http://homepage.newschool.edu/het/alphabet.htm which now lead to: http://www.newschool.edu/404.aspx?aspxerrorpath=/nssr/economics/alphabet.htm

2. example: The Wiki-site of the economist Wassily Leontief has at the end the information:

„Information from cepa.newschool.edu“ With the link: http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/profiles/leontief.htm you get: http://www.newschool.edu/404.aspx?aspxerrorpath=/nssr/economics/profiles/leontief.htm

The actual and correct correct link is: http://homepage.newschool.edu/~het/profiles/leontief.htm

Could the many old obsolete links be changed and updated ? Cuauti (talk) 23:47, 14 April 2011 (UTC)

Yes of course, please feel free to edit the page and update the links yourself. -- œ^™ 21:08, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

User Page and My Talk page

I can't accest my user page or my talk page. Because Bearshare won't let me I don't know what to do any feedback would be great. --Cactus093 (talk) 23:39, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

Not sure why you're using BearShare to edit Wikipedia.. but please use the Wikipedia:Help desk for these kinds of questions. This page is only for discussion of the Wikipedia:Community portal page. -- œ^™ 03:13, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

Policies, duplicate shortcuts

In a small attempt to clean up this page, can we remove some of the duplicate shortcuts in the policy section (WP:BB and WP:BOLD, for example. How about just picking the more common one. It'd be a little less info on a very overwhelming page. Ocaasi ^c 21:46, 1 June 2011 (UTC)

This is a good idea. Speaking of being bold, I've removed what I have deemed to be less common shortcuts. They are: WP:BB (be bold), WP:NEU (neutral point of view), WP:WWIN (what Wikipedia is not), and WP:FAITH (assuming good faith). Anything you disagree on? Guoguo12 (Talk)  02:42, 4 June 2011 (UTC)

Exactly what I had in mind. Thanks for doing it! Ocaasi ^{t | c} 02:55, 4 June 2011 (UTC)

Glad I made the right choices. Guoguo12 (Talk)  03:12, 4 June 2011 (UTC)

Translation

The article calls for people to translate articles into English, would it not also be useful to ask people to translate articles into other languages? Or to ask that first? English Wikipedia has much more articles than any other language — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hewhoamareismyself (talk • contribs) 02:27, 5 June 2011 (UTC)