Talk:Main Page

float float THIS PAGE IS ONLY FOR DISCUSSING THE MAIN PAGE. If your query is not directly related to the Main Page, consider the following locations: To discuss issues regarding the Wikinews community, visit the Water cooler. For writing or proposing articles or connecting with the Wikinews community, visit the Newsroom, the hub of Wikinews operations. If you're looking for help, start at the Introduction. If you need administrative attention, see WN:ALERT.

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Templates used on the Main Page {{Main interviews}} • {{Main original}} {{Main about}} • {{Main featured}} {{Main page header}} • {{Main headlines}} {{Lead article 1}} • {{Lead article 2}} {{Lead article 3}} • {{Lead article 4}} {{Lead article 5}} {{Main page portals}} • {{Main write}} {{Main around}} {{Wikinewslang}} • {{Sisterprojects}}

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 Wikidata: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

This conversation has been marked for the community's attention. Please remove the {{flag}} when the discussion is complete or no longer important.

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)

@Me Da Wikipedian: 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)

@Me Da Wikipedian: 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)

@Bddpaux, BigKrow, Me Da Wikipedian: 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)

@Me Da Wikipedian:, (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)

@Me Da Wikipedian: 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)

@Me Da Wikipedian: 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)

Um, I'm not Me Da Wikipedian, but I don't see how you would do that EtaoinShrdlu1234 (talk) 20:40, 26 July 2024 (UTC)

I'm very confused on where this discussion is going... help by more expirenced users??? BigKrow (talk) 17:13, 30 July 2024 (UTC)

I'm removing everything clearly unrelated...@BigKrow Me Da Wikipedian (talk) 03:46, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

I think we can also take some inspiration from Diff and Wikimedia Australia; for example, the next page - older posts mechanism, clean UI, and a more 'news-like' structure. Asked42 (talk) 18:04, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

Could there be some kind of way to keep popular articles around at least? Seems unfortunate if big news gets bumped off because there are just too many articles.StarTrekker (talk) 21:59, 2 August 2024 (UTC)

The last article published was July 1. -- Zanimum (talk) 19:13, 25 August 2024 (UTC)

@Zanimum but sometimes news disappears in 24 hours...it is like a once in 2 year thing though... Me Da Wikipedian (talk) 20:25, 25 August 2024 (UTC)

RSS feeds are not functional

I gave a look in here and also tested on my RSS reader and it's not working. Goliv04053 (talk) 10:57, 19 August 2024 (UTC)

To clarify, can you provide the link of the RSS feed that isn't working? I tested the feed linked from the main page and it does not have any articles listed.[1] But I want to make sure we're talking about the same feed.

We have RSS feeds for categories such as Wikinewsies, which seem to work. Mine and one other users that I checked both seem to work.[2], [3]

Thanks for the heads up. —Michael.C.Wright (^Talk/_Published) 13:15, 19 August 2024 (UTC)

This: https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Special:NewsFeed&feed=atom&categories=Published&notcategories=No%20publish%7CArchived%7CAutoArchived%7Cdisputed&namespace=0&count=30&hourcount=124&ordermethod=categoryadd&stablepages=only Goliv04053 (talk) 07:20, 23 August 2024 (UTC)

@Michael.C.Wright Goliv04053 (talk) Goliv04053 (talk) 07:21, 23 August 2024 (UTC)

I gave a look on the others RSS feeds from the main page and it looks that maybe it's not working.

Latest news: https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Special:NewsFeed&feed=atom&categories=Published&notcategories=No%20publish%7CArchived%7CAutoArchived%7Cdisputed&namespace=0&count=30&hourcount=124&ordermethod=categoryadd&stablepages=only

Recent Interviews: http://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Special:NewsFeed&feed=rss&categories=Published%7CInterview&notcategories=No%20publish%7CDisputed&namespace=0&count=12&hourcount=336&ordermethod=categoryadd&stablepages=only

Original Reporting; http://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Special:NewsFeed&feed=rss&categories=Published%7COriginal%20reporting&notcategories=No%20publish%7CDisputed%7CInterview&namespace=0&count=12&hourcount=336&ordermethod=categoryadd&stablepages=only

Wikinews's best work: http://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Special:NewsFeed&feed=rss&categories=Published%7CFeatured%20article&notcategories=No%20publish%7CDisputed%7CInterview&namespace=0&count=12&hourcount=336&ordermethod=categoryadd&stablepages=only

Tested here and it's non functional. Goliv04053 (talk) Goliv04053 (talk) 07:30, 23 August 2024 (UTC)

Main page headlines stories needs updating, leads.

England: Staffordshire town celebrates LGBTQ+ pride despite funding issues, needs to be listed in my opinion. Thanks. BigKrow (talk) 13:32, 4 September 2024 (UTC)

Main Page

seems messed up, major overlaping of text some things I can't even click on, glitch? Anyways if it cant be fixed for me its ok i can still navigate the site, thanks. BigKrow (talk) 18:57, 20 September 2024 (UTC)

Right side panel. BigKrow (talk) 18:58, 20 September 2024 (UTC)

Still not fixed, am I the only one who is experiencing this? Thanks. BigKrow (talk) 20:22, 22 September 2024 (UTC)

Dark mode compatibility

Please see this report on mediawiki.org - Unable to see article headlines on the Wikinews Main Page, clicked or not. Thanks. cc George Ho. SCP-2000 (talk) 03:57, 2 November 2024 (UTC)

How do other wikis resolve this? Gryllida (talk) 09:15, 2 November 2024 (UTC)

I have proposed some new CSS to resolve this issue on MediaWiki talk:Common.css. Asked42 (talk) 15:34, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

New Zealand Navy ship HMNZS Manawanui capsizes one nautical mile from shore

Why is it listed as number one on the main story pages? Thank you. BigKrow (talk) 21:54, 2 December 2024 (UTC)

Shouldn't be, try here

https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Main_Page?action=purge

Thanks, Gryllida (talk) 22:00, 2 December 2024 (UTC)

Thanks. BigKrow (talk) 22:01, 2 December 2024 (UTC)

@Gryllida, still showing up for me unfortunately. BigKrow (talk) 22:02, 2 December 2024 (UTC)

I got it now too, it is because it was re-added to 'Publish and not Review' set in this edit. Regards, Gryllida (talk) 22:13, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

nice Sammy OT (talk) 12:50, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

I would like to see a story about...

I have discovered an interesting story that touches several things that interest me such as:

• Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI)
• High school education
• peaceful political protests
• Heavy-handed RCMP and more

The problem is, as usual, freshness.

The initial incident,which got very little coverage in one reliable source (Watchdog probing crash between RCMP and 'convoy' tractor on Highway 1 in B.C.) happened in 2023 according to CTVnews. Anotherstory (Chilliwack farmer facing multiple charges after crashing tractor into police vehicle) appeared on December 23, 2024.,which says that the the person who is facing multiple charges is "due to appear in court Jan. 16". In an offline publication dated January 3, 2025 I see this quote by a defense lawyer: "We believe he is innocent of any of these charges with no criminal wrongdoing..."

I know some of you consider me a trouble-maker but I will be honest: I don't want to waste my precious (to me) time trying to document this incident if it will be judged stale by the powers that be at Wikinews and deleted (removed from public view) in short order. This is what happened to the majority of articless I have attempted to write for WN.

Any comments? Ottawahitech (talk) 00:07, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

Display picture

To be honest, I'm not to big on the current display picture we have for the DC/collision article on Main Page. Seems out of place compared to the other articles on the main page. I actually didn't even realize we got the story published at first. It's a top story and it should be more prominent on the main page. It might be too late, but can we use either this one or this one?

To me, this is a Main Page suggestion and not an edit suggestion to the article past 24 hours. Let me know. Lofi Gurl (talk) 13:56, 1 February 2025 (UTC)

EDIT: I guess I still have an hour to make changes

Lofi Gurl, sorry I missed your message. Here's how it works: the main page features five "lead article" templates showing the latest reviewed articles. Once an article is published, it's manually added as lead article 1, which uses a larger image than leads 2–4. The tools used to update the leads automatically select the first image in the article. If there’s no image, a generic one is used. To change the image on the main page, a reviewer or admin must edit the desired lead article template directly—changing the image in the article itself has no effect. I think you were on the right track to mention this here. Though mentioning it on the article talk page would likely have a better chance of at least alerting the reviewer. The lead article templates are not subject to the 24-hour archive rule.

I've now subscribed to this page so that I get notified of updates here, though just in time for me to be away for a couple weeks. —Michael.C.Wright (^Talk/_Reviewer) 13:31, 18 April 2025 (UTC)

All good. Have a good Wikibreak! Lofi Gurl (talk) 13:33, 18 April 2025 (UTC)

5 top stories need updating

Thank you, @Gryllida BigKrow (talk) 08:46, 24 April 2025 (UTC)