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Talk:Main Page/Archive 3

Transparency problems
On occasion, the logo does not show as transparent in IE 6: namely on the main page and on the multilingual portal.

 * I read today that Microsoft is going to fully support PNG transparency in IE 7. Supposedly the betas are going out later this summer. It's amazing that they've let this bug fester for so many years.

 * If we don't mind "hard-wiring" the logo for the current background color, I suppose we could make a transparent GIF instead (has the patent expired yet?).

 * Any other ideas? — DV 10:05, 16 Mar 2005 (UTC)

 * Short of switching from IE--which I just did? No.

Being Bold: New Main Page layout
The new main page layout is up. It will have to be tweaked. Be Bold. This is only a current morph, based on many many comments in the archives of this page, the Water Cooler, personal talk pages, Meta discussions, IRC comments and requests, and e-mails. I've run out of time (they're throwing me out of here!) or I'd continue to refine this...

The Lead Article template (Template:Lead article) Should be updated regularly/often, whenever an article is deemed to be well enough written, is of International interest, and has a good quality public domain graphic.

TTFN! - Amgine 01:35, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Well, the main problem is the inclusion of the categories box. As the categories are currently inactive, it's a real blight. For example, go to North America, and go to the first story listed, and you'll see that it's from Dec 4 2004! That is BAD! When the new server-side system to list the last so many new item in a cat is implemented, the cat system will be great - indespensible, in fact. But right now, while it doesn't work, this box should be removed.

 * The other problem is having a lead story. This is inherently point-of-view - we are suggesting to the reader that one story is more important than another. That's simply never true - it's too subjective, too dependent on who or where the reader is. We should only list the latest stories in order of appearance, and let the user decide what is important to them. Dan100 (Talk) 19:53, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * I also note that at the time of writing, the lead story is from yesterday. This suggest that my fear that we simply don't have the man-power to maintain something like this right now is grounded. Maybe be when we're bigger, but we shouldn't be running before walking!

 * Further, and this is probably my biggest criticism, I think it's a shame the masthead isn't a template, so other users (ie me! ;) can edit it, as it was with . With only a handful of admins but a reasonable number of quite responsible editors active on the site, I don't think it's time to put control of the main page into the hands of only one or two people :(. Dan100 (Talk) 20:29, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Sometimes I can be really dumb :). The appropiate bits are, , and . Dan100 (Talk) 20:39, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Great feedback! Here's my comments:
 * There are a variety of projects underway to make automation of the categories possible. The goal is to get at least one of these implemented immediately; it has been under review by the devs for almost a week now. We are also actively recruiting wikignomes to adopt some of these categories, to try to keep them up to date. You can help out both the automation and the topic/region maintenance by using appropriate categories in your articles. You may also want to come up with your own technical solutions for issues you see.
 * The lead article is also editable by anyone. You are encouraged to write lead story content: the guidelines are simply subjects of international interest, with a graphic, and well written.

- Amgine 20:58, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I think the best way to fix the problem of the categories really would be to simply remove the box for now. Once the system is implemented it can come back. I don't think we should be advertising the fact that we haven't sorted it out yet in this way :(.

Plus points about the new page - no article count, that was a bit pointless. The quick links are really useful, and I also kinda like the dropping of the old 'welcome' text, it shows we don't need Wikipedia's cast-offs :) Dan100 (Talk) 23:00, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I agree with Dan100 that the categories are a mite empty at present, but I still think they're a n improvement. Maybe we should hide them for a few weeks, but overall, I'm strongly in favor of them. Pingswept 03:01, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I say we make the first page a user sees our front page. The site's skin should be focused around the news, right behind it is the creation of the news. Litte extend summarizes of the articles from today, similar to the paragraph on the top story, next to the headlines would help make the page more accessible. The page should become a regular stop for people looking to grab the latest news, and grab it from an alternative source. --Alpharigel 00:12, 9 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Weather map date
Right now, the weather map is from the 6th of January, 2005. Andrew pmk 02:03, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Fixed. I updated the page to use the templates that look up the names of the current map images. — DV 04:42, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Browse latest news by
Um, so what is the point of this box on the main page? When I create a new article, am I expected to create a link on: ? - Borofkin 02:10, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * The main page
 * The region page
 * The subject page

 * No. The current process is to add an article to the daily archive, which is listed in the Latest news template.
 * The current plan is to eventually include an automated process for the main page which will collect the latest stories, based on the categories added to an article, for the regions and subjects. Each of the region and subject pages will likewise have automated processes for building their sections.
 * In the meantime, to give your article the largest opportunity to be read you can link it in the three locations. As an option, you might wish to "adopt" one of the regions or subjects, and make sure all the latest relevant articles are linked to that region or subject. Others may likewise be linking your article to their adopted section. - Amgine 17:09, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Yay, for the new layout; and yay for automagicing the cats The bellman 02:58, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Xwords
The crossword puzzle has been popular, anecdotally. It has increased traffic, and was one of the few things which was consistently commented on (positively) with the front page. There have been two opinions voiced opposed to it, four in favour, on the various talk pages. It has majority support, and should be restored.

More importantly, it causes no harm.

- Amgine 22:42, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Where'd the Crossword go
The crossword was just removed from the front page, the reason cited was a lack of consensus for its inclusion. Can we have some more ppl expressing thier views, because this is the first ive heard of anyone not loving the Xwrd. The bellman 22:44, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * The crossword exists at two locations on the front page - instead of in the main banner, which should probably be reserved for more general-interest links. Maybe we should make a crossword category for the top "sections" link to better allow access to archived crosswords. -- Davodd | Talk 23:40, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I put it back. There's strong consensus for it. Dan100 (Talk) 08:02, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Where is this consensus? If there is one, then we should alter our Mission statement to include word games instead of focusing on being a news source. -- Davodd | Talk 09:03, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Please see Crossword poll for a slightly more structured version of the debate and a potential way to form consensus. -- IlyaHaykinson 21:32, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Where is the Caribbean?
In which region does one put Caribbean articles. Change Central America to Central America and the Caribbean? Squeakfox 00:34, 6 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * That's a tough question. Most of the countries are listed on the North America topic page, I think. - Amgine

Main Page does not show enough NEWS!!!
In a full screen browser, when the Main page comes up, you can only see ONE (1) news article summary or headline. The purpose of a news site is to show news headlines/summaries to let someone choose what they want to read in detail. I know that if I scroll down, I can see lots of headlines, but I should not have to scroll down on a news site. Every other news page in visit regularly shows LOTS of article headlines on the immediately viewable first page. See for example news.google.com, www.topix.net, www.findory.com or even news.yahoo.com.

And there is ROOM for more news headlines. There is always a lot of wasted whites space below the lead article summary. Also there is a huge amount of page real estate wasted on the right side with the box to allow browsing by topic and by the virtually worthless world temperature map. Please move this entire box into the frame on the left hand side or lower down on the page. The world weather map is particularly slow to load and is too small to be usefull. Besides, how often do I want to know the temperature anywhere else in the world - other than where I am.

Please reorganize to allow lots of news headlines to show in the part of the page visible without scrolling. PLEASE! I love Wikipedia and just discovered Wikinews, but I will not use it as my main news source until the page allows me to see more headlines on the first page. Please no comments about how I am too lazy to scroll - I really consider this to be an important issue of the usefullness of Wikinews. - FrankH

I agree with FrankH that we can get more news on the front page. I suggest: Pingswept 04:41, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * eliminating the words "Main Page", along with the white space that surrounds them
 * In the grey banner, eliminate the following links:
 * "weather" (as the mini-weather map is visible)
 * either "welcome" or "get involved" (I would merge the content of these pages. I prefer "get involved.")
 * move "subject" under "region" in the right hand box. On a small screen, this box dominates.

FrankH is right. The easiest way would be to lose the (barely to non-functional) categories box and the small weather map and links (a link to weather in the banner menu is enough). Dan100 (Talk) 22:42, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Alright folks what about Sandbox/Main Page compact. Is that version better? Dan100 (Talk) 23:35, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Yes, Dan100 - that is MUCH better. Thanks!  So how do you get this agreed to and implemented? FrankH 23:44, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * One possibility is bringing the matter up in the IRC channel, another is highlighting this discussion on the Water cooler. Dan100 (Talk) 01:32, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC)

There is zero added news content in this layout. All you've done is limit the ability for people who have more focused news interests to find a page more relevant to their interests. It also does not take into account planned upgrades to the software. I would suggest a horizontal menu above the lead, including a link to #Weather. - Amgine 01:41, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * I have no problem with the links etc moving to the left hand frame or lower down on the main frame. Dan100's Sandbox example DOES show more news content on the screen that you see WITHOUT SCROLLING.  That is what I was asking for.  With the Links that you want lower down on the main frame you will be able to get to a more focused interest after scrolling down.  Ultimately if you are ONLY interested in one of the more focused subject areas or regions, you should get to that page and then bookmark it so you can get there in just ONE click on your bookmark. -- FrankH 05:18, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * You mean, like you could do by bookmarking Template:Latest news? But yes, I understand what you're suggesting. This layout was implemented, however, as a temporary one while working on other developments. We're still waiting on the implementation of the extension.
 * You might be interested in seeing a "sandbox" that Pingswept has been working on: User talk:Pingswept - Amgine 05:32, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC)

The categories box could be turned into two menu pages - by category and by region. Then we could just have 'Categories' and 'Regions' (linking to the pages) in the main page header next to Latest news. Dan100 (Talk) 14:43, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC)

And here it is in action. Putting the subject and region links where I have maintains usability consistency (and visual consistency to boot). At 1024x768, even with large tool bar icons, bookmarks bar, tab bar, status bar and task bar on screen, I can still see the top of latest news. Remember - most users don't scroll - the internet 'below the fold' effect. Dan100 (Talk) 15:14, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Arg - did a non-radical temp fix to remove excess whitespace from under the Main Page lead story. -- Davodd | Talk 01:20, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)

YAMPL (w/Wikimedia RGB masthead) - Amgine 04:35, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * I think that YAMPL is a great layout Amgine! The only question I have is why have the small, unreadable (and not very usefull (IMHO)) world temperature map taking valuable space on the right hand side when the full size map is at the bottom of the page? Other than that, I think this is GREAT! -- FrankH 15:14, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I like that too and wouldn't object to it being implemented. A few points though:

 * I think we should keep the colours of the large 'WIKINEWS' the same as the colours in the logo (as now), and probably have the time in black (red is a little 'Geocities' :)).
 * I also think we should retain the small weather map but remove the large one at the bottom (who ever looks down there anyway?!). The small map is a useful attention-grabber for the Weather pages, but the large map doesn't have an obvious purpose and must greatly increase the pageload time.
 * The Breaking news box adds yet another page we have to manually maintain - do we really have hte man-power? And even if we do, wouldn't it be better spent writing content rather than on admin tasks? As an alternative we could just put the developing stories template into the Breaking news box. Dan100 (Talk) 15:46, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Yeah YAMPL is a much better layout - thanks for includeing the Culture and entertainment, Disasters and accidents, Economy and business etc. links - I was getting worried that they were going to disappear as a result of this conversation! CGorman 16:03, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * To chime in on YAMPL, I think I really like the current homepage over it. I think YAMPL is too colorful and has unnecessary boxes that break the content flow. -- IlyaHaykinson 16:41, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * The colors of the masthead are easily changed; in fact the entire masthead can be replaced with a very small edit. The use of boxes is primarily to differentiate news articles (white backgrounds) from non-news-articles (colored backgrounds).
 * This layout also experiments with the use of and  (or whatever it was I called those files) to build boxes automatically, in preparation for 1411. There is also a limited-width version - YAMPL-600. - Amgine 17:04, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * I like the idea of using the /Lead or /Teaser inclusion, but I would like to see the following things changed on Sandbox5 before it gets pushed:
 * The masthead colors changed back from christmasy colors to the logo's gray/light-gray
 * The boxes around the lead and latest news removed (I really think they distract from the flow of the page)
 * Remove the breaking news box by default (put it in a comment in a template, perhaps?) — we don't always have breaking news, and having an empty box makes it look like something is broken
 * The mechanisms for lead and teaser inclusion are pretty cool, though! -- IlyaHaykinson 18:32, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Okay, okay... The colors are being sqeezed out of it... Behold the monochrome YAMPL masthead is now shades of grey (from the MainPageHeader) and I plan to fade everything else. I'm also thinking of building a somewhat skinnable version, but I'd rather hold off on that kind of work unilt 1411. - Amgine 16:05, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * This won't get alot of support I imagine but I think we should get rid of the devloping stories and the other stories needing editing. If people want to edit they should be able to find it and if not a simple link should suffice. It seems like it takes up alot of room for little benefit. The front page should be about reading the news, and not neccessarily editing it. Muskoka 19:27, 26 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Your prediction that this won't get much support is spot on! Wikinews (currently) is absolutely tiny, it has only a handful of regular editors and desperately needs more and more contributors. When a newbie comes here for the first time and sees developing stories - that is the possibly the first time they will fully understand that they too can get involved in writing. The developing stories section needs prominent positioning on the main page until the site reachs a much higher level of activity. CGorman 19:41, 26 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * I agree with Muskoka, but I think we might want to wait until we have a few more regular contributors. Even though we have lots of obvious indicators that you can edit Wikinews, people don't always get it right away. If we take away the Developing Stories section, it would be even less obvious. Pingswept 22:01, 26 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * I agree with you Gorman on the number of contributors and the need for more. However if the big title at the top that says '

Welcome to Wikinews, a free-content news source that anyone can edit.' does not lure people, almost nothing will. That's as simplistic as you get no? Are you saying that 'developing stories' will get more people than the sign that says that? I find that a little hard to believe. Muskoka 02:17, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Amgine/Sandbox5 and the Weather
The laws of nature demand that the the box surrounding the weather is sky blue. (OK, well maybe that's just my opinion.)

And the Developing stories bg color is hurting my eyes - it's too bright.

As for the content, it makes sense to remove the large weather box at the bottom of the page, as long as the small weather box stays near the top of the page. (I agree that we need to reduce the main page loading time.)

There are four more major regions coming soon, (Middle East, Central and South America, and Asia), so the Weather box on the main page will become a convenient "shortcut" gateway to the top level pages within the larger set of regional weather reports that will soon be appearing on the main weather page.

Otherwise I like the Amgine/Sandbox5 layout as it appeared at the time of this posting. — DV 10:19, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * I don't have your ability with colors, DV. Could you pick out a set of background and border colors to complement the current logo? Or perhaps a set which work with the Wikimedia logo's RGB? - Amgine 16:05, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

The front page DEFINITELY needs to show more news stories! -- 70.57.139.181 10:23, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC) (Dpr)

'Welcome to Wikinews...'
I believe we should bring back the 'Welcome to Wikinews, the free-content news source you can write!' text back. We're not picking up new contributors at the rate we should be and I think the problem stems from a lot of lay visitors not understanding how wikis work, and not realising that it depends on them joining in. A small 'Get involved' link isn't enough.

While I'm sure putting it back would be criticized on aesthetic grounds, I believe we should not yet be putting form before function. We have way too few editors for people writing to few stories a day for this to be used as the main news source at the moment Right now we need to be working on getting a larger base of contributors so we can work towards that goal. Dan100 (Talk) 15:52, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * This is not borne out by the statistics; we have had more contributions by non-regular and anonymous users since than prior. - Amgine 16:47, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * We are growing at about 4-6 percent a week, which is pretty fast. We get growth spikes during news stories - I think that getting press works better than adding back that one line, but I have no objection to the re-add. -- Davodd | Talk 22:41, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * I do. We've just spent several days talking about reducing the non-news on the main page. Now we have something which is not necessary eating top-of-page acreage. There isn't a problem, don't fix it. - Amgine 07:50, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

At this stage, building a thriving community of contributors is much more important than a pretty front page. Amgine: what statistics? Do you have sources? I note an jump in IP edits as soon as the text was added. Dan100 (Talk) 09:57, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Well at least let's not make it so intrusive. I reduced the type size and removed some of the bold styling to make it easier on the eyes. (I also edited the awkward wording.) — DV 10:09, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

You're apparently right, Dan100. I guess I'll quite commenting on front page layouts. - Amgine 20:36, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

800x600 compliance
Main page is 800x600 busting. - RoyBoy 24.141.72.95 01:25, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

A proposed narrow scheme to link to the Weather Maps
I created this mock-up of a possible way to have links to all the current and the new coming-soon Weather maps. My goal was to create a narrow block that could fit in a narrow frame on the left or right side of the main page that would use less space and allow more space for news. The current small weather map is unreadable and is significantly wider that what I am proposing. I am not sure I succeeded in my goal of reducing space since this is still pretty wide and having 8 small images that are 32 by 57 for a total of 14,593 pixels is not much smaller than the 19,000 pixels of the 200 by 95 current weather map. However, it does have the advantage of being oriented vertically. Maybe we don’t need a map for each sub-region? Just a world map image and text links to all the other regions?

Does anybody have an idea for avoiding having oC and oF links for each region? My only thought is to have two radio buttons directly under the heading World Weather banner that would look something like this:

World Weather O oC   Θ oF

(Excuse my attempt at using character graphics to show radio buttons.) If we can use a cookie to remember the users choice between the radio buttons for oC and oF then the user would not need to ever choose between them again. Then we could have a bigger world map icon and just the region map icons with NO text (if you think the regions are recognizable without text). Another alternative is to just have the world map icon and then have text names of the other regions. Either of these alternatives would certainly result in much less screen space used.

If anyone likes this use of radio buttons for prechoosing between oC and oF, I will be happy to make up another strawman graphic proposal.

I don’t have the expertise to actually implement any of this, but I would be happy to tweak the images (or anyone else – like DV? – feel free to tweak them also). It won’t hurt my feelings if no one likes this idea, so fire away and let the feedback begin… -- FrankH 05:39, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * As much as I would love to have cookies and radio buttons and other custom controls, such as being able to click on a map image to navigate to the version of the Weather page which has that map selected, none of those capabilities appear to be available in the current implementation of the MediaWiki software. Clickable images always send you to the image repository - we can't redirect such clicks to content pages.

 * However, using non-clickable, blank, regional "icons" for each map is a nice navigational hint which I would like to add to the small weather map box. This is already being done on the main weather page if you want to see what it looks like. (On the main Weather map page, choose one of the regions other than World to see what the blank regional "icons" look like on the various regional pages.

 * While the regional icons in the small weather box could be stacked vertically or in two columns, a one column version of the small weather box only makes sense if the main page design is somehow altered to provide a spot for such a narrow box, so a two-column span is a better fit for the current main page layout. — DV 07:07, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Well, with those restictions I can see that there is not much that can be done. Too bad.  The fact that you can't even make an image click go to an arbitrary page is very limiting.  If you at least had that ability (to redirect an image click) there are some other possibilities, but without that you are stuck with just text for useful links.  Has any developer investigated the feasibility of at least allowing image clicks to redirect?  Without that capability, I give up... -- FrankH 07:38, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Don't give up too soon. Perhaps a new "redirect" tag could be added to image links to allow pointing to another page. A few folks here on Wikinews have the technical know-how to pursue such ideas, so there's still a chance of making this happen. — DV 07:45, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * I think, although I'm not too up on Wikimedia bugs, that making images click-through to a specific target page is quite a high priority for the devs. I wouldn't be suprised if it was implemented soon. Dan100 (Talk) 12:39, 26 Feb 2005 (UTC)

How do you get the featured article on the Main Page updated?
I just edited United Iraqi Alliance win slight majority and I would appreciate someone checking to see if I made appropriate changes since this is the first WikiNews article I have edited. If is acceptable please update the excerpt of the article that is shown on the Main Page - or tell me how to do it or how to find out how to do it. I could not find anything in the Help section about updating the featured article on the Main Page. Thanks. -- FrankH 08:54, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * You can edit the lead story from the first link in the Tasks section of The_Newsroom. -- IlyaHaykinson 09:00, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Also available in the Workspace Dan100 (Talk) 12:23, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)

j

The Spanish Portada
Is rather nice. We could learn a lot from them - no large weather map makes for a more compact page, no large banner header that uses a lot of space for not much benefit, more news higher up the page, and the categories box is much further down (where it belongs, as they're so out of date). The only thing I don't like is the 'requested articles' box, but we could just put Developing stories there instead. Dan100 (Talk) 12:40, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Big home page
I think that you can create a Main Page for the big news (a new war, a big earthquake) with the title of the new very big and a link to a portal with all the news related.

Lead Story NEEDS to be Updated Regularly
Here in my time zone it is March 2 and the Lead story is still Feb 28. Surely something newsworthy has happened in 2 days. I think we need a volunteer to update the lead story at LEAST daily if not 2x a day. And no, I am not volunteering, and yes, I know that anybody could do it, but I think we need someone to be responsible for that task. Any admin? If someone else updates it that is fine, but this person should be responsible for updating it at least 1x or 2x a day. Otherwise this is "Olds" and NOT NEWS! -- FrankH 01:59, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)

 * I am sorry to say that I am about to give up on WikiNews after only a few weeks here. First the lead story does not change for 2 days and now it is First Swahili office suite released which I unfortunately do not consider to be the kind of lead story that I want to read about.  Maybe I will come back in a few months and see if things have improved.  Sorry to be negative and I hope nobodies feelings are hurt, but what sounded like a good idea (WikiNews) has turned out to be a disappointment to me.  I thought people would have to do a better job o aggregating interesting and important news stories than the robot at news.google.com, but I think I will go back to Google News instead. Sorry. -- FrankH 04:31, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)

 * That's unfortunate, FrankH. The lead story actually changed twice today. Furthermore, 55 million Swahili speakers just got their first word processor. To me, that's a big story, and you can read about it in exactly zero major media outlets right now. I'm also a little disappointed that Wikinews hasn't taken off faster, but I don't see giving up as a way to get the better news source I'm looking for.

 * Anyway, come back in 6 months or a year and see how things have developed. Maybe some other people will have stepped in to fill your shoes. Pingswept 04:49, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)

 * Sorry, I did not mean to imply that the Swahili story was not news and that it should not have been written. I would have been happy to have seen it listed in one line on the main page.  I just did not think that it had the significance to the WORLD that is implied by being the lead story on the main page.  Surely something has happened in the past 24 hours that is more significant to the world as a whole?  -- FrankH 15:23, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)

 * I've updated the lead with a major story - hope it looks better now. I agree with you that we are very slow to update it. I checked wikinews this morning at about 13:00GMT -there was NO new news on the front page - the latest news was March 3. Oh well, were still growing... you can call it growing pains. CGorman 16:22, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)

 * This is exactly why I opposed having a lead article - we just don't have the manpower to keep it up to date, and sometimes not even the stories to do so with. That's why I've bookmarked my own Main Page and use it exclusively. I want to concentrate on writing and editing, and not be distracted by maintence tasks (I have great respect for those who do do such work, such as keeping the region/subject pages up to date!). Dan100 (Talk) 17:29, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)

 * We have plenty of manpower to keep the lead article updated. I'm rather puzzled that we don't.

 * I hope we don't end up with a "feature director" like Wikipedia uses, a role which is a bit too close to a censor for my taste.

 * I've put up a number of Lead articles, but not every day. If I did so, would I be accused of monopolizing the lead article with the stories I am interested in?

 * Rather than get rid of the Lead article, we should encourage diversity on Wikinews even more than we have, by explaining to new contributors how they can put their stories up as the Lead article too.

 * We certainly should update the lead article every day. I will make more of a point to do so if that's what it takes to keep that feature of the site intact. But I hope other contributors will step forward more often.

 * Not a day goes by that a subject worthy of a lead article isn't in the news. For example, China just read a new law into the record which establishes a legal basis for them to attack Taiwan if they get too uppity - I'll write an article about that today. If no one has a better lead story, I'll post it as the lead article later this evening.

 * It would be all too easy to be lazy and declare that if we can't even find one story each day that is important enough to be a lead headline, that we might as well start scaling back the site, but that is stinkin' thinkin', and I hope we don't succumb to that.

 * The answer is not to timidly wallow in our shortcomings.

 * We should be optimistic that Wikinews will continue to grow and improve.

 * — DV 19:51, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)

It's not wallowing in our short-comings, it's being realistic. The fact is, it's often out of date. Most editors are too busy doing other stuff than to look after the lead article. Having a lead article raises other issues which you touch on - how can we fairly decide what is most 'important'? Who should have that say? Dan100 (Talk) 22:23, 9 Mar 2005 (UTC)

 * Actually the lead story has been updated very frequently in the last few days, so I think we might have solved the problem to a great degree already. We just need to make sure we continue in the same vein. -- IlyaHaykinson 23:31, 9 Mar 2005 (UTC)

 * I've been attepting to keep the page up to update lately (since this trend was started) - and more importantly to keep the lead article relevent and significant. CGorman 20:34, 10 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Edbrown05 06:35, 13 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * The WikiNews organization seems in quite a state of flux in the few days that I have come in contact with it. Please allow an observation from an recent outsider who hopes to help...
 * The news contributions to this site are generally not fully developed or well rounded by the originating authors. It is my impression that WikiNews hopes of being relevant to the discerning, or casual reader, who must rely on external links provided at the base of an article to complete a full news picture. If true, this means news consumers will surf outside the WikiNews environment to satisfy their curiosity. This is not "sticky". This is, in my opinion a bad thing as it dilutes the relevance of WikiNews. This site must have a "rebound effect" whereby the user returns.
 * Is it realistic that reasonably high quality reporting will be submitted? By my reckoning, this site has been working since late 2004. I is my opinion the quality of reporting has been almost fully established. Is it possible that in the absence of reporting not requiring intense editing it is possible for the site administrator to performe site maintenance and other issues demanding attention. The pressure must be relieved by a maintenance manager to clean up the site!
 * "Being Relevant News" is measurable! ('BRN' --> can I claim coinage of that?). Why don't WikiNews articles show up on a Google search when Wikipedia references do? How come other news organizations are posted on Google and not WikiNews? There is obvious work to be accomplished here.

Self sabotage
It used to be perfectly straightforward to put on article on the front page. Now it is well nigh impossible, and I cannot figure hoe to get my new article Proposal to ban VoIP in Costa Rica onto the front page. Why is it now so difficult. HELP! --Squeakfox 16:29, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I managed to get the article up by creating 2005/March/3 on my user page. It was so easy before and has been made really difficult to post an article. I only didn't give up because I had already written the article, and I do mostly know how wiki works, but this new posting method is only going to discourage people from contributing. Which, frankly, baffles me. --Squeakfox 18:49, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)

 * It could because the site has been changed quite radically since you were last here. Re-read Writing an article; it's been updated and should help you out! BTW, using the Assistance section on the Water cooler get you help quicker in future. Dan100 (Talk) 17:32, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Date format
The dare format used is American (month day year). The vast majority of the world uses day month year. It is more logical. Can WikiNews dates please use the world format rather than the American format?
 * Large parts of the world use year month day, instead of day month year. We have a general guiding principal to use what ever format (for times, dates, spelling, etc) is commonly used in the place being written about. When this is not clear cut (as it often is), it's basicly a "first author lays down the rules" system. Also in future please sign your messages with the following ~, so that it is easy to see who said what. The bellman 12:32, 5 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Currency
Can you please write currencies like pounds, dollars, euros, etc, in the ISO 4217 format like GBP for British pounds. The reason is that no-one can get confused with say, $125 is either 125 US dollars, Canadian dollars, Australian dollars & New Zealand dollars etc. 159753 16:16, 7 Mar 2005 (UTC)

 * I looked at the ISO standard referenced and the only codes I would have recognized without looking them up were the USD and EUR. How about a more user friendly policy of actually spelling the name of the currency out in real words? -- FrankH 01:17, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)

 * Many currencies have easy abbreviations used standardly. . .or if they are hard to identify at first, they can be glossed at the first appearance and used in abbreviation thereafter -- 70.57.139.181 10:18, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC) (Dpr)

Requested articles
I'm going to try removing this. I think it adds very little to the site - just a long list of red links, that sees little ever being turned into articles. Rather than people just creating a headline and leaving a few links, I'd rather see them attempt to create articles themselves. They can use Submit a story for that. Requested photos seems to get very little traffic, and I don't think having abandoned stories on the front page is a great idea. Everything will still be available in the Workspace. Dan100 (Talk) 20:21, 12 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * I immediately noticed the loss. At least one user (Edbrown05) had been putting his articles there.  (I can't tell whether he had been filling stories requested by others, or putting new stories there.)

 * I like it, Dan100. Submit a story is working reasonably well, and requested articles is not worth much-- we can get a list of possible articles from Google News very easily. Requested photos might work some day, but so far, it's been a total failure. Pingswept 23:08, 12 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Potential libel
This could be libelous:
 * "Defendant shoots Judge, three others at Atlanta courthouse"
 * "During the trial of a man yesterday for rape at an Atlanta court house, the man on trial stole the gun of a nearby deputy and shot dead the Judge, a reporter and another deputy."

I doubt whoever wrote that actually saw it happen. Statements like these need attribution at least.

I'm not a lawyer, just a journalist. Maurreen 23:11, 12 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * You're right, Maurreen. Could you rewrite that sentence in the article so that it's properly attributed?

 * It looks like it has been fixed. I was confused because I didn't see an edit button on the main page. Maurreen 05:10, 13 Mar 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:Main Page/Archive 3


text:
Protesters arrive at Baxter detention centre in Australian desert

March 25, 2005

Hundreds of protesters arrived at the Baxter detention centre in the desert to demonstrate against the incarceration of refugees held there. An additional 300 protesters converged on the home of Immigration Minister, in the state capital of , on their way to Baxter.

People from all over Australia are protesting against the Australian Government's policy of. The first protesters arrived by buses in early Friday morning.

Detainees seem split over the protest.  reported Detainee Peter Qasim as saying, "It stops people from visiting us, it stops us receiving any calls. It is a good idea to protest but better somewhere other than here."

However, other detainees have been reported as saying, "It is better in front of Baxter, I believe showing Baxter, protesters will shout about human torture inside detention. Then there would be good publicity about all torture inside Baxter detention."

And, "We welcome all of [the protesters] and we thank [them] all who has seen disgrace of this human torture. Further we thank to you all who come and visit and looking after us all the time, we need it."

Despite fears of violence, there has been no confrontation between the police and the protesters.

Related news

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Scientists discover soft tissue in dinosaur bones

March 26, 2005 Scientists have uncovered soft bone tissue of a Tyrannosaurus Rex known as MOR 1125, found in a sandstone formation in Montana.

MOR 1125 was 18 years old when it died, 65 million years ago. Similar tissue of a dinosaur has never been found before, as all remains found until now were fosilized. The tissue still contains microscopic structures resembling bloodvessels and cells. The comparison between the structures found in the T-rex and a modern day Ostrich shows a remarkable similarity. The results have been duplicated with an 80-million-year-old hadrosaur and two other tyrannosaurs. The discovery was reported in today's issue of Science.

Results similar to the popular film "Jurassic park" are unlikely, as the recovery of DNA from the tissue is improbable. The results remain astounding, however, and tests with antibodies that react to collagen shows the tissue may still contain proteins. “Ultimately if we could establish chemical composition, we would have insights into all kinds of things: diet, sexual maturity, whether the specimen is the male or female.”, paleontologist Hans-Dieter Sues said.

Richard A. Hengst of Purdue University said the finding "opens the door for research into the protein structure of ancient organisms, if nothing else. While we think that nature is conservative in how things are built, this gives scientists an opportunity to observe this at the chemical and cellular level."

Matthew Carrano, curator of dinosaurs at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, said the discovery was "pretty exciting stuff." "You are actually getting into the small-scale biology of the animal, which is something we rarely get the opportunity to look at."


text:
User:Phyzome

Introducing w:User:Phyzome's latest Wikimedia account!

 * Who: Tim McCormack
 * Where: Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
 * When: Since March 2005
 * What: Janitorial work (not news-specific)
 * Why: Helping create and maintain a free news source.
 * "How the heck did you manage to mess that up?": Errr, talk to me 'bout that.

title: User:Phyzome


text:
User talk:Phyzome

talk, talk, talk...

Welcome
Phyzome, welcome to Wikinews! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

Our key policies - if you read anything, read these! Here a few pointers to help you get to know Wikinews: There are always things to do on Wikinews: By the way, you can sign your name on Talk pages using four tildes ( ~~~~ ), which produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, you can ask them at the water cooler or to anyone on the Welcommittee, or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! CGorman 14:52, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Neutral point of view - tell every side to a story in a fair and balanced way
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 * Existing articles need expanding and checking for spelling and mistakes
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Thanks for the welcome, CGorman.

Dialogue
I'm ready for dialogue, how about you? Paulrevere2005 20:45, 1 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Yup. So, basically, I'm just trying to figure out the best place for your political thoughts to go.  You've made some excellent points, and I do agree with your overall view, but I'm approaching this from a "librarian" perspective - finding the ideal location and structure for information.  I've seen some places where you've posted the same chunk of text on multiple article talk pages, which kind of clutters them up and gets a bit redundant.  One thing I've done when I want to express the same idea on a bunch of pages is to create subpages in my userspace, like "User:Phyzome/Essays/Political" or something of that nature.  Then I can reference them from talk pages without interfering overly with any discussion that's going on there.  Incidentally, this is very useful for topics like Evolution vs. Creationism where the same points get raised over and over again, requiring the same rebuttals.  What do you think? -- Phyzome is Tim McCormack 14:11, August 2, 2005 (UTC)

BREAKING NEWS story is perfect
It is the BEST article wikinews has ever had, if you've got a problem with it fix it up yourself 66.111.38.110 21:43, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

 * [I assume you are referring to this, now here.] I beg to differ. It would be a great news story, if the sources made any mention of what you claimed.  Incidientally, the only change I made was to move it back from < > to < > -- it simply was not in anything near a publishable form, even for breaking news.  I'll leave debate regarding the article's technical accuracy and newsworthiness to its talk page. -- Phyzome is Tim McCormack 14:49, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

Copyvio
Copyright infringement? (7 yearold chased by police) DragonFire1024

 * Yes, this edit appears to be a straight copy from here. I've reverted to the previous version. -- Phyzome is [[User talk:Phyzome|Tim McCormack]] 22:14, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

Sources tag on Semapedia article
Hello... Just letting you know that I've added the tag to Semapedia introduced to Africa: Powered by "Made in Ghana" technology. Discussion on the article talk page..... - Borofkin 02:10, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

title: User talk:Phyzome


text:
Five dead, over 200 injured as looting continues in Bishkek

March 25, 2005 RTR television reported 5 people died and about 200 were injured as looting continued Thursday night in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek. The newly appointed head of security ministries, Felix Kulov, said at least 31 police officers were wounded.

Windows were smashed, shops were looted, and shopping centers were set ablaze during the unrest. Gunshots were also heard.

"Former President [Askar] Akayev is personally responsible for this. He had a chance to resign, instead of which he ran away," Kulov said. "The looters kept shouting 'this shop belonged to the [Akayev] family, this is why it is ours'."

The Kyrgyz ambassador to the United States, Baktybek Adrisaev, characterized the opposition's actions as "an anti-constitutional coup." The ambassador claimed that Akayev was in "a safe place" and that he had not resigned.

Most reports, although unconfirmed, said Akayev was in Kazakhstan. However, Interfax, by a source they described as "credible", reported he was in the resort area of Borovoye, in the Akmola region of northern Kazakhstan.

"I cannot confirm these rumors. He is simply not here," Ruslan Aubakirov, head of district administration, told RIA Novosti in response to the reports.

Opposition MP Ishinbai Kadyrbekov had initially been named acting president yesterday, but today opposition leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev was named both acting president and prime minister. "Parliament today appointed me prime minister and gave me the functions of president," he said to applause at a rally.

He urged opposition supporters to not allow looting and stressed that popular opposition figure, Felix Kulov, would coordinate law enforcement. Heads of law enforcement agencies reportedly told Kulov that 90% of their staff were demoralized during consultations last night. Despite these developments, Bakiyev declined to declare a state of emergency. Bakiyev, outlining his plans for government on Friday, told a session of parliament, "Let me create an executive body of power that will not exist forever, but for about three months."

Kulov, newly freed from prison by protesters, stated he would return to prison when he was no longer needed. "I was sentenced to imprisonment and must serve my time," he said. "I am not interested in posts or positions. I was just asked to help protect people and their property."

Russia and the United States, who both have military bases in the country, vowed to stay out of events. Security at Russia's base was increased, although both countries said they did not expect trouble at their bases.

"Kyrgyzstan is not planning to review its previous international engagements," Kurmanbek Bakiyev told reporters. "This applies to the air bases of the [U.S.-led] anti-terrorism coalition and the Russian air base at Kant."

The United States called for fresh elections, and Russia has pledged to work with the opposition. Russian President Vladimir Putin also announced that Akayev would be welcome in Russia.


text:
User talk:200.228.68.196

Welcome
200.228.68.196, welcome to Wikinews! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

Our key policies - if you read anything, read these! Here a few pointers to help you get to know Wikinews: There are always things to do on Wikinews: By the way, you can sign your name on Talk pages using four tildes ( ~~~~ ), which produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, you can ask them at the water cooler or to anyone on the Welcommittee, or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! CGorman 14:41, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Neutral point of view - tell every side to a story in a fair and balanced way
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 * Introduction - overview of the site
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 * Style guide - how articles should look before publishing
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 * Existing articles need expanding and checking for spelling and mistakes
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title: User talk:200.228.68.196


text:
User talk:69.128.198.168

Welcome
69.128.198.168, welcome to Wikinews! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

Our key policies - if you read anything, read these! Here a few pointers to help you get to know Wikinews: There are always things to do on Wikinews: By the way, you can sign your name on Talk pages using four tildes ( ~~~~ ), which produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, you can ask them at the water cooler or to anyone on the Welcommittee, or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! CGorman 14:45, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Neutral point of view - tell every side to a story in a fair and balanced way
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 * Introduction - overview of the site
 * Writing an article - how to write and publish a complete article
 * Content guide - what's suitable for Wikinews
 * Style guide - how articles should look before publishing
 * Contents - the contents page.
 * Existing articles need expanding and checking for spelling and mistakes
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title: User talk:69.128.198.168


text:
User talk:128.151.93.98

Welcome
128.151.93.98, welcome to Wikinews! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

Our key policies - if you read anything, read these! Here a few pointers to help you get to know Wikinews: There are always things to do on Wikinews: By the way, you can sign your name on Talk pages using four tildes ( ~~~~ ), which produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, you can ask them at the water cooler or to anyone on the Welcommittee, or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! CGorman 14:45, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Neutral point of view - tell every side to a story in a fair and balanced way
 * Cite sources - everything in a Wikinews article must be sourced
 * Introduction - overview of the site
 * Writing an article - how to write and publish a complete article
 * Content guide - what's suitable for Wikinews
 * Style guide - how articles should look before publishing
 * Contents - the contents page.
 * Existing articles need expanding and checking for spelling and mistakes
 * The front page lead articles often need updating
 * Developing stories need finishing and publishing
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title: User talk:128.151.93.98


text:
User talk:213.243.85.27

Welcome
213.243.85.27, welcome to Wikinews! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

Our key policies - if you read anything, read these! Here a few pointers to help you get to know Wikinews: There are always things to do on Wikinews: By the way, you can sign your name on Talk pages using four tildes ( ~~~~ ), which produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, you can ask them at the water cooler or to anyone on the Welcommittee, or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! CGorman 14:45, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Neutral point of view - tell every side to a story in a fair and balanced way
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 * Existing articles need expanding and checking for spelling and mistakes
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title: User talk:213.243.85.27


text:
User talk:NeuronExMachina

Welcome
NeuronExMachina, welcome to Wikinews! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

Our key policies - if you read anything, read these! Here a few pointers to help you get to know Wikinews: There are always things to do on Wikinews: By the way, you can sign your name on Talk pages using four tildes ( ~~~~ ), which produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, you can ask them at the water cooler or to anyone on the Welcommittee, or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! CGorman 14:49, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Neutral point of view - tell every side to a story in a fair and balanced way
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 * Existing articles need expanding and checking for spelling and mistakes
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Armed conflicts in the world down by 40% since early 1990s.
You previously were involved in a conversation on the talk page of the above linked article. Do you currently have any objections to the article being published? Please consider noting any objections on the talk page of the article. --Chiacomo (talk) 19:50, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

Sure, I'm cool with it being published. --NeuronExMachina 03:56, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:NeuronExMachina


text:
User talk:139.165.200.114

Welcome
139.165.200.114, welcome to Wikinews! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

Our key policies - if you read anything, read these! Here a few pointers to help you get to know Wikinews: There are always things to do on Wikinews: By the way, you can sign your name on Talk pages using four tildes ( ~~~~ ), which produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, you can ask them at the water cooler or to anyone on the Welcommittee, or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! CGorman 14:50, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Neutral point of view - tell every side to a story in a fair and balanced way
 * Cite sources - everything in a Wikinews article must be sourced
 * Introduction - overview of the site
 * Writing an article - how to write and publish a complete article
 * Content guide - what's suitable for Wikinews
 * Style guide - how articles should look before publishing
 * Contents - the contents page.
 * Existing articles need expanding and checking for spelling and mistakes
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title: User talk:139.165.200.114


text:
User talk:62.160.182.164

Welcome
62.160.182.164, welcome to Wikinews! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

Our key policies - if you read anything, read these! Here a few pointers to help you get to know Wikinews: There are always things to do on Wikinews: By the way, you can sign your name on Talk pages using four tildes ( ~~~~ ), which produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, you can ask them at the water cooler or to anyone on the Welcommittee, or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! CGorman 14:50, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Neutral point of view - tell every side to a story in a fair and balanced way
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 * Content guide - what's suitable for Wikinews
 * Style guide - how articles should look before publishing
 * Contents - the contents page.
 * Existing articles need expanding and checking for spelling and mistakes
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title: User talk:62.160.182.164


text:
User talk:Boud

Welcome
Boud, welcome to Wikinews! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

Our key policies - if you read anything, read these! Here a few pointers to help you get to know Wikinews: There are always things to do on Wikinews: By the way, you can sign your name on Talk pages using four tildes ( ~~~~ ), which produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, you can ask them at the water cooler or to anyone on the Welcommittee, or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! CGorman 14:50, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Neutral point of view - tell every side to a story in a fair and balanced way
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 * Style guide - how articles should look before publishing
 * Contents - the contents page.
 * Existing articles need expanding and checking for spelling and mistakes
 * The front page lead articles often need updating
 * Developing stories need finishing and publishing
 * Discussions need your input
 * Audio Wikinews could always use more contributors
 * And of course, stories need writing!

Copyediting
Hi... just wanted to thank you for your copyediting of articles...  I never was a good spella, and sometimes I get a little excited while typing. :-) Thanks again..... - Borofkin 00:24, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

Wikinews Needs You !
Welcome :) Wikinews needs more gutsy reporters. Please give Wikinews as much time as your schedule allows. Neutralizer 19:57, 24 November 2005 (UTC)

Serious Topic
I agree, you may wish to look back at the parts of the article that were censored out; http://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=60th_anniversary_of_Nuremberg_trials_marked&oldid=166999

and at these articles to see not only how serious the topic still is.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,100474,00.html http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1312540,00.html http://washingtontimes.com/national/20031017-110534-8149r.htm

Neutralizer 01:40, 25 November 2005 (UTC)

 * Thanks for the thoughtful response and encouragement .I have found that from day 1 I have been under constant and vicious personal attack; e.g. "The Fox article you cite for your crusade to get Wikinews to insinuate GWB is a Nazi is not in the least related to the anniversary of the start of the Nuremberg trials. Brian McNeil / talk 08:59, 25 November 2005 (UTC)" which I have found extremely distracting and draining. Neutralizer 20:35, 25 November 2005 (UTC)

Public relations
Hi, I thought you would want to read this, if you haven't already http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/GAO_reveals_%241.6_billion_spent_on_public_relations_by_the_Bush_administration_in_2003-2005

Neutralizer 18:24, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Protesters mark 3rd anniversary of Iraq invasion
Please do not bias, or add substantial content, to a published article. If you have further or new information, please create a new article detailing this information. -  Amgine | talk en.WN 20:54, 23 March 2006 (UTC)
 * i agree with this, but i did not add bias, nor did i add substantial comment to published articles - i adding missing wikipedia background to one article and i NPOVed some biased statements in another. Is this a bad thing? Boud 21:28, 23 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Yes. You added content which was not known by the reporters at the time, and which might have substantially altered other elements of the story were it known. Further, you clearly added bias to the article, bias which in some cases was potentially libelous. I strongly encourage you to re-read WN:NPOV regarding reporting people's opinion, rather than stating it as fact or stating your own opinion as fact. -  Amgine | talk en.WN 21:33, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

Voting for Admin
Just to let you know, in case you would like to vote, that today is the last day of voting for Administrators at WN:A :) Jason Safoutin 12:16, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks
Thanks for the copyediting and additions. Crimson 00:57, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

title: User talk:Boud


text:
User talk:217.3.221.59

Welcome
217.3.221.59, welcome to Wikinews! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

Our key policies - if you read anything, read these! Here a few pointers to help you get to know Wikinews: There are always things to do on Wikinews: By the way, you can sign your name on Talk pages using four tildes ( ~~~~ ), which produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, you can ask them at the water cooler or to anyone on the Welcommittee, or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! CGorman 16:36, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Neutral point of view - tell every side to a story in a fair and balanced way
 * Cite sources - everything in a Wikinews article must be sourced
 * Introduction - overview of the site
 * Writing an article - how to write and publish a complete article
 * Content guide - what's suitable for Wikinews
 * Style guide - how articles should look before publishing
 * Contents - the contents page.
 * Existing articles need expanding and checking for spelling and mistakes
 * The front page lead articles often need updating
 * Developing stories need finishing and publishing
 * Discussions need your input
 * Audio Wikinews could always use more contributors
 * And of course, stories need writing!

title: User talk:217.3.221.59


text:
User talk:DoubleBlue

Welcome
DoubleBlue, welcome to Wikinews! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

Our key policies - if you read anything, read these! Here a few pointers to help you get to know Wikinews: There are always things to do on Wikinews: By the way, you can sign your name on Talk pages using four tildes ( ~~~~ ), which produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, you can ask them at the water cooler or to anyone on the Welcommittee, or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! CGorman 17:39, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Neutral point of view - tell every side to a story in a fair and balanced way
 * Cite sources - everything in a Wikinews article must be sourced
 * Introduction - overview of the site
 * Writing an article - how to write and publish a complete article
 * Content guide - what's suitable for Wikinews
 * Style guide - how articles should look before publishing
 * Contents - the contents page.
 * Existing articles need expanding and checking for spelling and mistakes
 * The front page lead articles often need updating
 * Developing stories need finishing and publishing
 * Discussions need your input
 * Audio Wikinews could always use more contributors
 * And of course, stories need writing!

Radio shak logo
Commons does not allow fair use, or corporate logos. I notice they have already marked this image to be deleted. - Amgine 02:36, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Uhm, no... see, commons.wikimedia.org does not allow the image to be hosted on their system, and all Wikinews images must be hosted on their system. They will delete the image there, and all the links to it from Wikinews will also be broken. If you wish a graphic with your article, you will need to find a different one; a picture you take of a RadioShak sign would be just fine. - Amgine 02:51, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Time for North Americans to spring ahead one hour!
Thanks for adding more info to the DST article.

I didn't know that Mexico was on DST. We should have had a story about European DST beginning last week as well. — DV 13:32, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC)

P.S.: The story you submitted, Charlottetown, P.E.I. residents rally to support restaurant, was touching. There's always an interesting story behind every family-run restaurant, so I appreciate that type of reporting on Wikinews. — DV 13:32, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Gmail
No problem, just click. I also have Yahoo 360 invites now too. Dan100 (Talk) 16:39, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Vandalism
Thanks DoubleBlue... it is dealt with; I believe it was a 24 hr block. - Amgine 00:32, 6 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Nope, I was wrong, 1 week block. - Amgine 00:34, 6 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Simeon's changes
As you have probably noticed, Simeon is intent on competely re-writing almost all the Wikinews namespace articles. I object to this on a number of fronts: there's no consensus for such changes, the pages have existed as they were for a long time which I believe is a sign the community accepts them as they are; the existing pages have all been carefully written and constructed by several editors to be the best they can be; and Simeon's changes are to make them grossly longer and harder to read. And I must be honest - a couple of the pages were written by me. I obviously don't mind people altering them, but I do object to them being destroyed. Dan100 (Talk) 08:33, 23 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Just as a heads up...
Have you had the opportunity to see Story preparation/Results of 2005 British Columbia, Canada General Election ? - Amgine/talk 23:17, 4 May 2005 (UTC)
 * Thanks Amgine, I'll play a little there :) Double  Blue  (Talk) 02:24, 5 May 2005 (UTC)

Leaukemia Article
Thanks for letting me know, and yes I reworded the whole article, and Dan100 obviously violated policy by not getting community consent before deleting an article. NGerda 01:16, May 17, 2005 (UTC)

Doing this live
I'm looking forward to this. But it might be easier to avoid stepping on each other if we can chat a bit live. If you use the Real-Time Chat link at the top of the pages, you can select the #wikinews-en channel which we can use as the "elections war-room". - Amgine/talk 03:51, 18 May 2005 (UTC)

 * It was loads of fun, and I stayed up much too late. Wish you could have been there, since you did the heavy-lifting work of getting most everything ready!
 * There are still a few stories outstanding; Comox for example. And a couple of articles could be spun off, if you feel like taking one on: Gordon Campbell and the liberals ruling with a dramatically smaller majority, the STV has a much larger vote than the ruling party but fails to gain 60%, and Carole James leads a resurgent-but-losing NDP. - Amgine/talk 19:56, 18 May 2005 (UTC)

Re: Speaker breaks tie by voting for Canadian budget
Andrew, do you have a source for this line: "During the vote, the website (http://www.cbc.ca/) of CBC, a major Canadian television network, was unavailable"? Cheers, Double  Blue  (Talk) 05:13, 22 May 2005 (UTC)
 * This was personal observation. The site came up ~5-10 minutes after the Speaker made the deciding vote, and had by then been updated. I do believe that original research is allowed on WikiNews. Andrew pmk 14:23, 22 May 2005 (UTC)

Newsroom
will do momentarily - Amgine/talk 21:52, 27 May 2005 (UTC)

religion and politics
i created a "church and state" issue section on the politics page, i was searching for related articles. if in considering, this, you still feel it doesn't belong, i won't object to you removing it from the cat. Kevin Baastalk 6 July 2005 02:34 (UTC)

Signature?
Do you have a shortcut you use to generate your unique signature? Or do you just type it out longhand or copy/paste? --RossKoepke 23:09, 15 July 2005 (UTC)

Tonights Vandal
Thankyou for keeping tonights vandal at bay, you deserve this one.--Ryan524 07:39, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
 * No Problem.--Ryan524 07:46, 23 July 2005 (UTC)

Re: Ministry
No problem! - Hephaestos|§ 00:02, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:DoubleBlue


text:
User talk:207.200.116.70

Welcome
207.200.116.70, welcome to Wikinews! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

Our key policies - if you read anything, read these! Here a few pointers to help you get to know Wikinews: There are always things to do on Wikinews: By the way, you can sign your name on Talk pages using four tildes ( ~~~~ ), which produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, you can ask them at the water cooler or to anyone on the Welcommittee, or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! CGorman 17:49, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Neutral point of view - tell every side to a story in a fair and balanced way
 * Cite sources - everything in a Wikinews article must be sourced
 * Introduction - overview of the site
 * Writing an article - how to write and publish a complete article
 * Content guide - what's suitable for Wikinews
 * Style guide - how articles should look before publishing
 * Contents - the contents page.
 * Existing articles need expanding and checking for spelling and mistakes
 * The front page lead articles often need updating
 * Developing stories need finishing and publishing
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title: User talk:207.200.116.70


text:
Kidnapped Italian journalist refutes American government claims

March 25, 2005

Italian journalist, Giuliana Sgrena, who was hit by American artillery fire after being rescued from kidnappers in Iraq, was released from the hospital Thursday. Her injuries, more serious than initially reported, were caused by a projectile that burst her shoulder open and punctured her lungs. She suffers with fluid build-up in her lungs to this day and was unable to leave her home to participate in news interviews.

Sgrena told an independent reporter, Naomi Klein, in a report yesterday (Friday, 3/26/2005) on the Pacifica Radio Network broadcast called "Democracy Now with Amy Goodman," that they were not on a high security airport road which the Americans had claimed. There were no "checkpoints" — they had already passed through them in the Green Zone. Sgrena stressed this as being very important to this story, and little reported upon in the U.S.

She said they received permission from security officials to use a little known, but very secure, road that was near to their airport destination. This road had no roadside bombs — it is not open to the public and has absolutely no military checkpoints. Access to the road was gained by first passing through the American-held security territory called the "Green Zone". Located in the heart of Baghdad, the zone is probably the only partly secure area of the entire country, according to Sgrena. They had their headlights on for easy identification while they traveled, and were in mobile phone contact with Italian security officials.

Ms. Sgrena asks why a tank would fire high velocity munitions at a small vehicle with permission to cross on such a secure road with absolutely no other traffic? What would the motive be to have her killed? It is known that the anti-artillery munitions were 4 inch long armor-plate penetrating rounds, which could explain her severe injury and the death of her body guard.

Her tragedy and the death of Nicola Calipari have been very detrimental to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's public opinion, particularly regarding his participation in the U.S. invasion of Iraq. She had just been released from a horrible sequence of events beginning with her kidnapping and imprisonment in a small room. She did not know "night from day for an entire month." She feared the house she was in might come under fire from American helicopter gunships. She could hear them overhead at all hours of the day and night.

She was told by her kidnappers that "Americans did not want her to get out alive," which she dismissed at the time as a threat from the kidnappers. She also said the statement by the kidnappers had an eerie overtone to it, since she knew that Bush didn't want any independent journalists to carry tales out of the killing zones, or to talk to everyday Iraqis.

According to Sgrena, she was placed in the back seat of the escape vehicle with the head of Italy's Foreign Military Intelligence, Nicola Calipari, after her release. He was killed during the attack when he shielded Sgrena from bullets by jumping across her body. The shooting was done by heavy artillery on top of the attacking tank, not a simple machine gun. They fired at Sgrena from behind — hardly a situation where the car could be a threat to the tank. When the driver, Giulian, climbed out of the shot-up car, he was in touch with his superiors in Italy — and Ms. Sgrena says he was telling them they had been taking intense gunfire, "300 to 400 shots." The Americans aimed guns at him and told him to hang up immediately.

Klein, the reporter with this story, stated the American press has not reported any of this. Nor have they given the American people any idea of the seriousness of the injuries to Sgrena. Sgrena also questioned why the US Army was not aware of her release from kidnapping, as all of the major news wires had reported it prior to the shooting incident. Late Thursday, Italian Justice minister, Roberto Castelli, contacted American officials for permission allowing Italian police access to the escape car, a Toyota Corolla which was rented from the Baghdad airport. Americans have previously only permitted Italian authorities access to photographs of the car, and have not stated when they will allow the Italians to have access to the vehicle.

Recently Mr. Berlusconi has begun to backpedal on his statement that Italian troops would be out of the war zone by September. He now claims he never said that, and Italians won't leave Iraq until it can police itself.


text:
Terri Schiavo's father makes appeal to have feeding tube reinserted

March 25, 2005 Terri Schiavo's father made a last-minute appeal to have his daughter's feeding tube reinserted Friday.

"Terri is weakening. She's down to her last hours," said Bob Schindler, Schiavo's father. "Something has to be done and done quick."

Bob Schindler and his wife Mary filed an emergency appeal Friday to have a feeding tube reinserted in their 41-year-old daughter. Earlier Friday, U.S. District Judge James Whittemore rejected the family's previous appeal. On Wednesday, he rejected a similar request.

The new appeal will be filed in the in, although that court has twice before rejected the family's appeal.

The tube was removed on Friday, March 18, 2005.


text:
Talk:Tsunami death toll updated

Renamed the story to put a verb in the headline - RE: WN:SG -- Davodd | Talk 19:57, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I think it's safe to say that those still missing can be counted in the death toll; it's 4+ years later
 * This is Wikinews, not Wikipedia. It is project policy to leave articles as-published as part of a historical record. --Brian McNeil / talk 22:17, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

title: Talk:Tsunami death toll updated


text:
Talk:Kidnapped Italian journalist refutes American government claims

This article about Giuliana Sgrena has for the moment only one source. I removed some of the blatant POV, but there is a lot remaining. Thank you. Andrew pmk 20:27, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)

How about we get KraKing!!

 * I would hope you are not dismissing fact as POV. Even the last para was related to this story, Andrew. Berlusconi is backing off his statements made when this woman first came home. These are the types of stories I wrote for the newsdesk on CNN:chat and headline news when I produced there. If you would like to see POV, just look at the printer-friendly version of the discussion. Andrew, I don't know you and you don't know me...but one thing anyone who knows me knows is that I don't mess too much up. I am pretty demanding. And I am known to most of the people on Wiktionary since I have been there for about 4 months. Just ask around.

 * But back to this story, I have read the water cooler discussions that many of you were having. I don't remember who said what, but I do remember that the word censorship was used with NPOV. Many times editors express their own POV by removing parts of stories that might clash with the government version. Which of course is their POV...Are you doing that at all? I would hope not.

 * If you would like me to make this article any more sterile while still hanging on tho the immediacy and human interest that is required in many news stories, I think we are not going to have much of a story left. So no matter how long you have been "cleaning" it up, I was working on it for several hours before that.
 * And news doesn't age very well, does it. Let's get cracking together on this and see if we can get it up while it still has legs, OK? --Alan J. Franklin 22:00, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)

 * Thanks for the contribution, Alan.

 * Do you have another citation for the "4 inch long" "anti-artillery munitions"?

 * Although you've listed Naomi Klein as your source, unfortunately, she probably won't be viewed as a neutral, unbiased reporter in these parts (on Wikipedia, she is described as having written the manifesto for the anti-globalization movement).

 * There doesn't appear to be anything in the AP piece about those 4 inch long shells either. The only source that I've found on Google News for that "fact" is Naomi Klein.

 * (Maybe I'm searching using the wrong keywords? Or perhaps this piece of information has only appeared in print?)

 * The four inch bullets may very well be a "well-known fact" to you, but to survive attacks from some of the right-wingers around here, a cite will make the reference bullet-proof against would-be NPOV enforcers, to use a pun. :)

 * I saw that you dropped the name "CNN" a couple of times to bolster your credentials, so I was a bit surprised by the lack of citations. I'm sure you must have at least glanced at it before, but Google News can be your friend for citations (even if you have your own stash of links that you prefer) to quickly find a diverse assortment of mainstream as well as alternative sources that you can use to support your assertions of fact.

 * It gets old pretty fast when contributors drop a load of unsubstantiated stream of thought, and expect others to research and substantiate it for them, so I appreciate that you have made an obvious effort to start the ball rolling with a decent first draft, that is only light on the citations.

 * Sources, sources, sources. It's the name of the game on Wikinews. — DV 17:15, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Any way to change the title to 'rebuts'? 'Refutes' implies that there isn't a shadow of a doubt that the American govt claims are false. - Colm O'Connor 13:47, 27 March (UTC)


text:
User talk:211.30.7.179

Welcome
211.30.7.179, welcome to Wikinews! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

Our key policies - if you read anything, read these! Here a few pointers to help you get to know Wikinews: There are always things to do on Wikinews: By the way, you can sign your name on Talk pages using four tildes ( ~~~~ ), which produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, you can ask them at the water cooler or to anyone on the Welcommittee, or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! CGorman 21:44, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Neutral point of view - tell every side to a story in a fair and balanced way
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 * Existing articles need expanding and checking for spelling and mistakes
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title: User talk:211.30.7.179


text:
User talk:217.174.67.69

Welcome
217.174.67.69, welcome to Wikinews! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

Our key policies - if you read anything, read these! Here a few pointers to help you get to know Wikinews: There are always things to do on Wikinews: By the way, you can sign your name on Talk pages using four tildes ( ~~~~ ), which produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, you can ask them at the water cooler or to anyone on the Welcommittee, or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! CGorman 21:45, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Neutral point of view - tell every side to a story in a fair and balanced way
 * Cite sources - everything in a Wikinews article must be sourced
 * Introduction - overview of the site
 * Writing an article - how to write and publish a complete article
 * Content guide - what's suitable for Wikinews
 * Style guide - how articles should look before publishing
 * Contents - the contents page.
 * Existing articles need expanding and checking for spelling and mistakes
 * The front page lead articles often need updating
 * Developing stories need finishing and publishing
 * Discussions need your input
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 * And of course, stories need writing!

title: User talk:217.174.67.69


text:
User talk:207.115.73.50

Welcome
207.115.73.50, welcome to Wikinews! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

Our key policies - if you read anything, read these! Here a few pointers to help you get to know Wikinews: There are always things to do on Wikinews: By the way, you can sign your name on Talk pages using four tildes ( ~~~~ ), which produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, you can ask them at the water cooler or to anyone on the Welcommittee, or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! CGorman 21:46, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Neutral point of view - tell every side to a story in a fair and balanced way
 * Cite sources - everything in a Wikinews article must be sourced
 * Introduction - overview of the site
 * Writing an article - how to write and publish a complete article
 * Content guide - what's suitable for Wikinews
 * Style guide - how articles should look before publishing
 * Contents - the contents page.
 * Existing articles need expanding and checking for spelling and mistakes
 * The front page lead articles often need updating
 * Developing stories need finishing and publishing
 * Discussions need your input
 * Audio Wikinews could always use more contributors
 * And of course, stories need writing!

title: User talk:207.115.73.50


text:
User talk:206.116.114.193

Welcome
206.116.114.193, welcome to Wikinews! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

Our key policies - if you read anything, read these! Here a few pointers to help you get to know Wikinews: There are always things to do on Wikinews: By the way, you can sign your name on Talk pages using four tildes ( ~~~~ ), which produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, you can ask them at the water cooler or to anyone on the Welcommittee, or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! → CGorman (Talk)  22:00, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Neutral point of view - tell every side to a story in a fair and balanced way
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 * Introduction - overview of the site
 * Writing an article - how to write and publish a complete article
 * Content guide - what's suitable for Wikinews
 * Style guide - how articles should look before publishing
 * Contents - the contents page.
 * Existing articles need expanding and checking for spelling and mistakes
 * The front page lead articles often need updating
 * Developing stories need finishing and publishing
 * Discussions need your input
 * Audio Wikinews could always use more contributors
 * And of course, stories need writing!

title: User talk:206.116.114.193


text:
Canada considers Copyright Act changes

March 25, 2005.

Ottawa announced several proposed amendments to the Canadian Copyright Act, including signing onto two World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties and requiring Internet Service Providers to keep records on users who transfer many files online.

According to the announcement, the changes would "clarify that the unauthorized posting or the peer-to-peer file-sharing of material on the Internet will constitute an infringement of copyright."

Recording industry representatives were ecstatic with the news. "This is terrific news," said Graham Henderson, who heads the Canadian Recording Industry Association. "Clearly, once we get implementation there will be no doubt ... it will be illegal to engage in unauthorized file-sharing."

title: Canada considers Copyright Act changes


text:
Taiwan Democratic Alliance for Peace plans massive rally on Saturday

March 25, 2005

Over 500 groups, including the Democratic Progressive Party, are planning a massive march and rally for Saturday in Taipei City. March promoters are vowing to bring one million people onto the streets to protest the People's Republic of China's "anti-secession" law aimed at thwarting Taiwan independence.

The march, titled "326 March for Democracy and Peace", will begin in ten different locations, converging on the square near the Presidential Office in downtown Taipei City.

"Democracy and peace are the ultimate goal of the march," said Joseph Wu, the Mainland Affairs Council Chairman. Wu announced on Friday that he would take part in the rally, but did not disclose in which part of the parade he would appear.

Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian announced on Thursday that he will also attend the event with his family.

"I cannot and will not be absent on March 26, and I will take my entire family to participate in this sacred moment in history to walk and stand up together with the Taiwanese people," Chen said. Chen further declared that he has, "heard the outrage and anger of the Taiwan people."

A Chinese scholar warned that the situation could become "further aggravated" by Saturday's planned event.

"The secessionist forces plot to stir up public sentiments to embolden themselves. Such moves are doomed to meet failure," said Huang Jiashu, a professor at the People's University of China. He stated that secessionist forces had "malevolently distorted" the anti-secession law.

The Taiwan Domestic News Hour on ETTV is running a 326 graphic to note the march and rally during its news reports about the upcoming event, and also has an animated graphic with marchers carrying signs in the lower-left hand corner of the screen.


text:
Jerry Springer joins U.S. liberal radio network

March 25, 2005 Television star has signed a contract to join the year-old political network  starting April 1. He says the new deal will not affect his popular television program, which will continue to be produced.

After initially being carried by only 45 stations nationwide, the host of the long-running syndicated program,  will eventually have his radio show heard on all 51 Air America affiliates. The show also is planned to be broadcast by the Sirius and XM satellite radio services.

Springer said he is committed to making his radio show a success. "Progressive, populist voices need to be a part of our nation's dialogue," Springer said in a press release. "I hope I can make a contribution."

Although best-known for his low-budget, tongue-in-cheek talk show, Springer does have a political pedigree. He was a Democrat mayor of Cincinnati in 1977 and made a failed bid for governor of Ohio in 1982.


text:
User talk:128.163.239.51

Welcome
128.163.239.51, welcome to Wikinews! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

Our key policies - if you read anything, read these! Here a few pointers to help you get to know Wikinews: There are always things to do on Wikinews: By the way, you can sign your name on Talk pages using four tildes ( ~~~~ ), which produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, you can ask them at the water cooler or to anyone on the Welcommittee, or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! -- IlyaHaykinson 01:20, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Neutral point of view - tell every side to a story in a fair and balanced way
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 * Existing articles need expanding and checking for spelling and mistakes
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title: User talk:128.163.239.51


text:
Talk:Jerry Springer joins U.S. liberal radio network

Sorry for the typos in the initial draft- I pulled an all-nighter for a final exam....
 * egads, Springer as a govenor. That is a very scary idea. Only in the US... ~The bellman | Smile  04:23, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC)


text:
User:MrDude

MrDude is the pseudonym for Jacob Gest, a 21 year old human who currently resides in Denver Colorado. Jacob Gest uses this moniker on most Internet communities, although the use of burningraycob or jakegest is also common. To find out more him one might visit his personal website.

Life on the wik
MrDude is a relitivley new meber of wikinews and therfore his contributions are quite sporadic and somewhat limited. This may change in time though.

Wiki Projects
Here are all the wiki Projects He is currently involved in (some less than others) Project Name Username Wikipedia Mrdude Wiktionary Mrdude Wikiquote Mrdude Wikisource MrDude Wikibooks Mrdude

Some contrubutions He would like to point out
(for no real obvious reason)
 * Terri Schiavo cremated

title: User:MrDude


text:
Ruling forbids RadioShack brand in Canada

March 25, 2005

A U.S. District Court in Tarrant County, Texas, issued a summary judgment Thursday against Circuit City's InterTAN Inc., requiring all 950 RadioShack stores in Canada to stop using the RadioShack brand in store signs, packaging, products and advertising after June 30.

RadioShack's Canadian operations were spun off in 1986 to a new corporation, InterTAN Canada, which was purchased in 2004 by RadioShack's major U.S. competitor, Circuit City. Shortly thereafter, RadioShack sued InterTAN, alleging it had violated the terms of their licensing agreement and seeking the right to terminate the contract early.

In a statement released following the judge's ruling, RadioShack's general counsel, Mark Hill, claimed: "The most important thing to us was to protect our brand position in Canada."

Circuit City chairman and chief executive officer, W. Alan McCollough responded today in a press release seeking an appeal: "We respectfully believe the court has erred in the partial ruling entered yesterday and we will use every means of relief possible to exercise our rights under the agreements, including all appeal rights. The Company believes the positions taken by InterTAN are correct and believe InterTAN will ultimately prevail in the legal proceedings."


text:
NRA official suggests arming teachers to prevent school shootings

March 25, 2005 A lawyer who is expected to become the president of the National Rifle Association (NRA) said in a comment to Associated Press (AP) that arming teachers with firearms is a solution to be considered in preventing school shootings by students. Sarah S. Froman, an alumni of Harvard Law School and a practicing lawyer, implied that allowing teachers to carry weapons is one of the many options that should be examined.

Guns and other weapons are commonly banned on school campuses in the United States, but the high-profile incidents of students defying the bans and bringing firearms to classes could place the school at a disadvantage if the student were to fire the weapon. In the case of the recent student shooting at a Native American reservation in Minnessota the school had metal detectors and had an on-duty security guard. The guard was unarmed, however, and was gunned down by the student.

Froman told the AP that if it is the responsibility of teachers to protect students from harm, then the society must find a way to let teachers do that. She also said that gun control laws or bans cannot prevent a malicious individual from acting out, and provided an example of a 1997 shooting incident where an armed teacher was able to help police apprehend the student.

Froman is currently the NRA's first vice president, and is expected to be elected to the post of president in the organization's elections next month. The current president of the 4-million member organization is actor and activist Charlton Heston.


text:
User:Bijee~enwikinews

 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Bijee
 * http://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Bijee
 * http://wikitravel.org/en/User:Bijee

 * http://www.indiapress.org/

title: User:Bijee~enwikinews


text:
IBM releases freeware for visualizing document histories

Cambridge, Massachusetts

IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center in Cambridge released a free tool March 25 for visualizing the changing history of a document or directory of documents, called history flow. The tool offers a variety of views of document histories, including a view that gives each revision equal importance, and a timeline view which displays each revision proportionally to how long it remained current. Each different editor who makes changes to the article has a distinct color, allowing for that editor's text to be tracked over time.

The tool was first developed in 2003 by a collaboration between Fernanda B. Viégas of the MIT Media Lab and Martin Wattenberg and Kushal Dave of IBM. It was initially tested out on a large subset of the pages of Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia project which preserves every change made to each of its articles. The resulting paper was drafted in the winter of 2003 and presented at a conference in April 2004; it remains the most comprehensive overview of the lifecycle of articles in an active wiki community. A year later, the history flow paper is still the most frequently cited source of statistics about the reversion of vandalism on Wikipedia.

The current tool is maintained by Martin Wattenberg and Jonathan Feinberg at IBM. It allows users to download the text and histories of the contents of any MoinMoin wiki, or to view the history of the contents of an entire directory of documents. The tool is free to download and use, but its code is not open source. The support for MoinMoin wikis comes via a plugin, so the tool may be extensible to the native interfaces of other wiki engines in the future.