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Wikinews talk:Writing contest 2010

Some comments
This looks to be quite exciting, actually, if we can get a few dozen newbies to sign up. I think the current rules are pretty good. I'd still suggest that we use 1000, and not 700, bytes for every two extra points - it would be much more easy to calculate with round numbers. One question: will we determine article size by the size of the entire page, or just by the length of actual prose (excluding source formatting, images, templates, etc)? Tempodivalse [talk]  15:25, 4 December 2009 (UTC)
 * If we're attracting a lot of newbies you can expect to see that proposed 1,000 go down to ~800 after a hard copyedit. Bawolff has already said it will be trivial to have a few small pieces of Javascript do the counting, so numerically challenged reviewers/judges will not be overly taxed. --Brian McNeil / talk 18:09, 4 December 2009 (UTC)
 * OK, that sounds good. Tempodivalse [talk]  18:29, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

What else is needed on this? I strongly suspect we could have disputes over the OR stuff - for example, someone putting in one sentence of OR in a long article. --Brian McNeil / talk 18:09, 4 December 2009 (UTC)
 * We could set a minimum for how much info is needed to qualify as OR - how about at least 2-3 medium-sized paragraphs (or a set number of bytes) obtained first-hand? Just throwing ideas out there ... feel free to disagree or come up with other suggestions.
 * Another question is about judges: should we have them, in case there's a dispute? If so, how many, and how would we select them? Would they have to recuse themselves from participating in the competition? Tempodivalse [talk]  18:29, 4 December 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm happy to take myself out the competition. I would like (as you probably see) to have a post-closing "FAC round" and invite appropriate outsiders to take part in discussion and voting on any FACs. That's something I'd like to see closed off in 2 weeks tops. --Brian McNeil / talk 18:44, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

 * The only other major thing we need to determine is what prizes to give out, and to whom (e.g. to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place contestants). I suppose everyone receiving prizes would have to have to identify, to make sure nobody was socking? Also, I think that in addition to the prizes, it would be nice to give out some on-wiki barnstars too. Maybe I'll look into designing some. Tempodivalse [talk]  15:50, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Defining an "experienced" Wikinewsie: how about those with editor permissions at the start of the competition (hopefully newcomers will join the ranks) being defined as "experienced"? --Александр Дмитрий (Alexandr Dmitri) (talk) 21:50, 4 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Sounds good. Also, if someone receives Editor status during the competition, we could ask them not to review articles created by other "newbie" contestants, to avoid any possible conflict-of-interest. Tempodivalse [talk]  15:55, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Reviewers are requested to review competition articles as a priority after breaking review articles. Would this be done with a template or by a comment on the collaboration page? --Александр Дмитрий (Alexandr Dmitri) (talk) 21:55, 4 December 2009 (UTC)
 * A comment on the collaboration page would probably not be as well noticed. I think that something like {{tl|competition review} would work well. Tempodivalse [talk]  15:55, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Logo
I've uploaded a first-draft logo - which may be problematic; Wikinews logo + LGPL licensed image. Oh, to see it, do a hard refresh on the project page - I've substituted it for the default logo on the competition page. --Brian McNeil / talk 18:09, 4 December 2009 (UTC)
 * A nice touch, i like it. But could we possibly change the picture of the red pen to make it more clear what it is? I stared at it for an entire minute before I realised that it was a pen, I initially thought it was some sort of catsup bottle. :-p Tempodivalse [talk]  15:57, 5 December 2009 (UTC)
 * MMmmmmmm! Ketchup! I'm still a little too fuzzy-headed to hack logos at the moment. Have a go with GiMP, pretty easy to use. --Brian McNeil / talk 16:32, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Start
I see we've a few signups already :-D So, I've put in the dates. End January - enough times for school/college to be back after the new year and settled. --Brian McNeil / talk 16:37, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

"Experience" handicap
Here's my thinking... We do need to "hobble" people that have learned the ropes and might have an inside track on getting stuff reviewed (confession: I rely on some contributors not doing a copyvio and just fact-check). I propose that for the rules there is a 15% point handicap for experienced contributors.

Now, do we just run that from start, or do we start applying it to newbies after the first X articles, or drop it 3-4 weeks into the competition. The issue - as I see it - is wanting to be able to virtually automate the pointscoring; you can try to argue with a computer program, but it's pointless if the feedback address is pointed at /dev/null. --Brian McNeil / talk 18:07, 5 December 2009 (UTC)
 * A 15% handicap sounds reasonable. I think that it should be applied to experienced contributors only (to keep things simple), and should be completely dropped after 3-4 weeks, because the newbies would by that time be able to write almost as proficiently as the regulars. Tempodivalse [talk]  19:12, 5 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Yup, pretty much what I'm thinking.
 * So, in programming terms, any article submitted for review after 23:59 on February 14, 2009 is no longer handicapped. --Brian McNeil / talk 19:34, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Points for new photos
How about allocating 1 point for each new photo uploaded to Commons to illustrate an article, or will that be too difficult to calculate? --Александр Дмитрий (Alexandr Dmitri) (talk) 10:11, 6 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Hmmmm, I agree there should be something for getting news-related pictures. What I am concerned with is that you could have to take some out of an overloaded article for visual reasons and have a dispute about points. Also, a photoessay could then be worth dozens of points; interesting if someone, say, attends a sporting event. How's this idea:
 * An additional 1 point may be available for each photograph or other media you upload to Wikimedia Commons under the same user account, and subsequently use in a Wikinews article. This does not apply to photoessays!
 * Also, need some tweaks in the pointscoring for those then. --Brian McNeil / talk 11:48, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

Essential reading
The "balance" of the contest page is overly rules-ey. Any suggestions on merging sections to reduce the TOC, and expanding/breaking the reading into subsections? --Brian McNeil / talk 13:14, 6 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Well, for one, the handicap section could probably be merged with the point scoring section since it's part of the same thing. Otherwise i don't see how can we can reduce the TOC much more. Tempodivalse [talk]  15:34, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

Templates and categories
Do we need/want custom templates (say, with a WC2010 suffix) for this?

I'm pretty sure we need a hidden category of Category:Writing contest 2010.

What's other people's thoughts on this? Do we need go as far as users having entrant categories to DPL their stories onto a userspace page? --Brian McNeil / talk 13:25, 6 December 2009 (UTC)
 * The category idea sounds good to me. As the contest is in a few days, it would be good to thrash out the technical aspects now, rather than later, in order to mark them as part of the competition from the start. --Александр Дмитрий (Alexandr Dmitri) (talk) 06:13, 20 January 2010 (UTC)

Article minimums question
The rules for the "base" article count are say: "5 points provided minimum of 2,000 characters at submission for review and still above 1,800 characters after any required copyedit.". What if an article has less than 1800 bytes? Does it also get five points? That's not completely clear in the rules. Perhaps it should instead say "5 points provided for the base article, up to 2,000 characters at submission for review and still above 1,800 characters after any required copyedit."? Tempodivalse [talk]  14:45, 6 December 2009 (UTC)
 * I was working on the principle that less than 2KB is not enough, I'll admit I've done a few articles of that length too. I'm open to lowering these amounts a little, but if you're looking at under 1KB I don't think you should be allowed to enter it. --Brian McNeil / talk 14:53, 6 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Could we perhaps lower the limits to something like 1500 characters (with 1300+ after copyedit)? We have quite many articles that have less than than 2kb. Tempodivalse [talk]  15:02, 6 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Just to note, I've made some changes to the minimum article size. Is 1.5 kB reasonable enough? Tempodivalse [talk]  19:21, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

 * [edit conflict]Note, after removing formatting characters, article size is quite a bit less than you'd expect. For example, Guinean junta head in 'stable' condition after shooting, soldiers searching for gunman is 1556 characters. Tens of thousands protest in London before Copenhagen climate change summit 1405 characters. Both of them i think would be acceptable articles. (for comparision, really long articles are still quite long when the formatting is removed. Creator of website satirizing Glenn Beck on winning domain name case is 29,464 characters long). Bawolff ☺☻ 19:23, 6 December 2009 (UTC)
 * I agree with Bawolff. How about we create a proviso something like: "Articles smaller than 1400 characters will receive 3 points apiece?" Because sometimes it's not possible to expand an article even to 1.5kB, due to lack of info from sources, etc.
 * Other comparisions, 676,000 Canadian census forms unfilled countrywide which is what i would consider pretty much the minimun one should be able to submit and still get points is 981 characters (1486 before removing formatting). Bawolff ☺☻ 20:30, 6 December 2009 (UTC)
 * I wouldn't consider that worth enough to qualify for points in the competition; even if meeting publish guidelines. The last paragraph is just a single sentence. --Brian McNeil / talk 20:42, 6 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Perhaps we should try to find some minimal article, to draw the line for where points are given, and use the character count on that article as the official minimun (or a rounded version of it), instead of just picking an arbitrary number. Bawolff ☺☻ 20:52, 6 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Well, if the census is (as I think) too short, and the climate deal protests seems reasonable at ~1400, what about a 1200 character limit and only 1 point for anything below it; if there are several of these put in during a day they can be merged to a brief. --Brian McNeil / talk 00:44, 7 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Brian's last comment sounds like a good idea, i agree. Tempodivalse [talk]  02:58, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

Project page logo
Was there a poll taken on the logo? Not too aesthetically pleasing. Blurpeace (talk) 00:25, 7 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Nope, no poll taken, it was the work of one contributor. I agree it doesn't look all that great - but I think this is intended as just a temporary fix until we can come up with something a little nicer. Tempodivalse [talk]
 * Nope, please feel free to make an alternative. I couldn't find another pen image on Commons that was easily usable. After Tempo's earlier remarks I have wanted to take the standard (per this page) logo, overlay "Writing contest 2010" in cursive, and then a pen as if just finished writing it. --Brian McNeil / talk 00:39, 7 December 2009 (UTC)
 * I tried, but i'm not sure if mine is much better. Feel free to revert it/come up with something better if you don't like. (p.s. commons:Category:Writing icons was helpful). Bawolff ☺☻ 01:12, 7 December 2009 (UTC)
 * I like Bawolff's alternative, it's clearer that the writing is being done with a pen and not a catsup bottle. :-p The only problem is that the text is small and can't be read easily against the logo background. Would it be possible to bold it/make it bigger? Tempodivalse [talk]  02:40, 7 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I have only one crappy cursive font on my computer. Brianmc just made another one. Still a bit hard to read though. Bawolff ☺☻ 03:03, 7 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Should be a lot less of a problem once I've had another hack at it. More GiMP experience is good, right? --Brian McNeil / talk 03:07, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

Seems the biggest problem is that when you export to PNG you need to save the gamma. --Brian McNeil / talk 04:17, 7 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Brian's last upload looks to be the best so far, imo. Tempodivalse [talk]  15:33, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

Publicising this better
Anyone got any ideas for what's the best way to advertise/publicise this contest on other WMF wikis? I've linked to the contest from the watchlist notices and sitenotice, but to get new contributors to joing we'll need to get the word out elsewhere. Perhaps we should approach the folks at the Wikipedia Signpost to post a "blurb" about this? Open to thoughts. Tempodivalse [talk]  15:32, 7 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Maybe we should make an advertising banner similar to the ones the WikiProjects are using. Benny the mascot (talk) 22:23, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

 * See w:Template:Wikipedia ads and w:User:Miranda/96:FEW at Wikipedia. -- The New  Mikemoral  ♪♫ 00:01, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

 * If someone knows how to use Craigslist, I suppose we could advertise there too. Benny the mascot (talk) 00:45, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

 * I suppose I can make an advertisement in the general Los Angeles area (which, by the way is huge...) Add as many of your major cities based on you location. See this for a list of Craigslist areas. -- The New  Mikemoral  ♪♫ 00:51, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Hmm... Which category? Volunteers anyone? -- The New  Mikemoral  ♪♫ 00:53, 8 December 2009 (UTC)
 * activities
 * artists
 * childcare
 * general
 * groups
 * pets
 * events
 * lost+found
 * musicians
 * local news
 * politics
 * rideshare
 * volunteers
 * classes

 * Meh..."activities" should work. Is it possible to write a global ad rather than a local one? Benny the mascot (talk) 01:25, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

 * I don't think so, unless someone wants to contact Craigslist. -- The New  Mikemoral  ♪♫ 01:46, 8 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Posted. -- The New  Mikemoral  ♪♫ 02:17, 8 December 2009 (UTC)
 * You need to provide a link to the project page here on Wikinews. Benny the mascot (talk) 02:23, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

<-- Shoot, I forgot <> made html tags. It's in the page source anyway. I'll fix it. -- The New  Mikemoral  ♪♫ 02:32, 8 December 2009 (UTC)
 * ✅ -- The New  Mikemoral  ♪♫ 02:34, 8 December 2009 (UTC)
 * "Please register an account if you do not already have one and sign up here." You need to change the word "here". Anyway, I'll see if I can get some ads posted on my city's forums. Benny the mascot (talk) 02:39, 8 December 2009 (UTC)
 * ✅ -- The New  Mikemoral  ♪♫ 02:55, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

 * Another idea: we could advertise the contest at Wikinews' social networking accounts, such as Twitter, Identica, and facebook. Seems as though quite a few people are following/watching them, perhaps we could net a few extra participants that way? Tempodivalse [talk]  02:44, 8 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Sounds good to me. Benny the mascot (talk) 02:50, 8 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Mmmm -- Shakata Ga Nai ^_^ 02:51, 8 December 2009 (UTC)
 * How many people follow the wikinews feed? Can we get Wikipedia people to put up similar ads as well? Benny the mascot (talk) 03:03, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

 * (Edit conflict) And how about some nice flyers? PDFs are uploadable here right? -- The New  Mikemoral  ♪♫ 02:55, 8 December 2009 (UTC)
 * As I said above, we could try Wikipedia's advertising banners. Also, I don't think paper flyers will get us many contributors. Benny the mascot (talk) 03:03, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

 * Don't bug Craigslist too much! We're hoping they might sponsor some prizes!

Oh, and for those not on wikinews-l, the competition will get a mention or six in WikiVoices Issue #51 which will be myself, DenDodge, Jimmy Wales (first he's ever done what used to be Not the Wikipedia Weekly), Mike Peel (WMUK), and a few otherers. Recording date is December 23, title: Wikinews on the night before the night before Christmas. --Brian McNeil / talk 03:17, 8 December 2009 (UTC)
 * This goes against pretty much every one of our policies, but... couldn't we write an article on Wikinews due to hold article writing competition? As long as we're careful... Den dodge  T\C 09:40, 8 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Not in main namespace. --Brian McNeil / talk 10:31, 8 December 2009 (UTC)
 * That's probably not a good idea if held in main namespace, it would go against quite a few of our policies, like newsworthiness, NPOV, COI, etc. Tempodivalse [talk]  14:22, 8 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I was joking. I just felt useless that I didn't have any serious suggestions to make. Den dodge  T\C 16:37, 8 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Also I've added the competition banner to the anonnotice too (not just sitenotice), that might get attract some more attention too (and is probably better than an article). We've still got a long way to go if we're to reach our goal of 50 participants... Tempodivalse [talk]  14:30, 8 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Goings-on, Wikizine, w:WP:SIGNPOST, Global notifications. Bawolff ☺☻ 21:21, 8 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia Signpost notified Benny the mascot (talk) 02:30, 9 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Signpost hasn't done anything yet. :( Benny the mascot (talk) 17:20, 20 December 2009 (UTC)

 * I sure hope the WikiVoices session today helped raise some more interest in this contest. If we keep up at this rate, we're probably not going to have much more than 25 contributors participating max, a far cry from Brian's estimate of 50+ contestants. Tempodivalse [talk]  00:35, 24 December 2009 (UTC)

Edit request
Editprotected Under the Essential reading section, it reads "please check terms of entry on tickets allow photography". This doesn't quite make sense grammatically. Please change it to "please check terms of entry on tickets to see whether photography is allowed" so that it is more clear. Thanks. 99.135.14.185 (talk) 04:44, 13 December 2009 (UTC)
 * ✅ and thanks for that suggestion. --Brian McNeil / talk 08:12, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Age limit for prizes
I'm sad to see minors excluded from the prizes but I can see the point. They need parental permission and we simply can't confirm they have it. That said, the line about the age limit still has ambiguity: "The competition is an individual effort, and where prizes may be awarded you must be 18 (or age of majority in area of residence - that is old enough to go to jail or vote)." It doesn't take into account countries where people can land in jail before they can vote or where voting doesn't even occur. Please improve on the definition. - 131.211.211.171 (talk) 12:02, 14 December 2009 (UTC)
 * I asked the Foundation counsel to suggest something; nothing back yet. I don't want to exclude minors, I just want to know they've okayed it with their parents. To be honest? That's as much for a case of, Little Johnny (or Jayne) wins a nice prize and gets a grilling from said parents as to where they got it. Also, if someone wants to sponsor the competition with a prize and use a winner's name then the competitor needs to be of an age to legally enter into such. Again, don't want to exclude younger entrants (we have had pre-16 contributors here before, we're happy to even give them credentials for original reporting), please suggest some other way to put it. I'd love to make that less hostile but clear there's a need for them to get permission. --Brian McNeil / talk 15:46, 14 December 2009 (UTC)
 * As an under-18 user, I really have no problem with not getting any prizes (unless it's something really good, in which case I'll get my mum to give permission somehow; how is something we need to work out). I don't think the bit in brackets is needed, to be honest - a link to Age of majority would work, and probably be more useful due to its handy list. Den dodge  T\C 09:09, 15 December 2009 (UTC)

 * I'm assuming we have to identify to someone to receive prizes? But to whom? And would it be kept private? I'm not very comfortable revealing my personal info to anyone over the internet. Tempodivalse [talk]  15:15, 15 December 2009 (UTC)
 * I believe I can sort out that getting arranged with Cary or Skenmy. Cary is the WMF Volunteer Coordinator, Skenmy is Wikimedia UK shadow. Anyone who's got checkuser locally would do too; these people are - in effect - sworn to follow the WMF privacy policy. This is one of the reasons I'm being a bit discouraging to under-eighteens; they need to understand that the identifying information would need shared with the prizegivers if they win. --Brian McNeil / talk 15:55, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

More publicity
Does anyone have connections with the Signpost? My request for an article on this contest got lost in their suggestions page. Benny the mascot (talk) 01:32, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Actually it seems like someone did respond, but that was a while ago. Looks like they forgot. Maybe you could try to get the editors' attention by approaching some them their talk pages with your request? I don't know what else to to at this point. And yeah, we really need more publicity for this thing. I was hoping the Dec. 23 wikivoices session would get us extra entries, but it was a complete bust, the much-expected jimbo never even appeared. Tempodivalse  [talk]  02:11, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I mentioned in this discussion that college and local news agencies might be eager to contribute some articles here. Can we at least try emailing some colleges? Benny the mascot (talk) 02:16, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Jimbo was present in WikiVoices; he didn't stay the full time and I don't know what progress has been made on the recording. --Brian McNeil / talk 02:57, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
 * No, I meant Jimbo wasn't present on Wikinews. You'd promised me he'd write us an article here. I thought that was too good to be true :-b Tempodivalse [talk]  17:31, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Hello, i annonce this contest on next issue of the french wikimag :) mik@ni 12:45, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

Videos
For the purpose of this competition, would videos count towards the photo count? I ask because I am currently planning some articles with videos in them --RockerballAustralia (talk) 10:49, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I don't see why not. Tempodivalse [talk]  17:30, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Signpost
The Wikipedia Signpost finally mentioned the contest. See this. -- The New  Mikemoral  ♪♫ 00:15, 7 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Great! Maybe this will attract some more participants. Tempodivalse [talk]  00:39, 7 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I sure hope this does. A few Wikipedians will probably be attracted to Wikinews. -- The New  Mikemoral  ♪♫ 00:46, 7 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Yes, and the switch from Wikipedia to Wikinews isn't that huge. Benny the mascot (talk) 01:22, 7 January 2010 (UTC)

<-- Mentioned again. See this. -- The New  Mikemoral  ♪♫ 23:32, 12 January 2010 (UTC)

 * Good! Tempodivalse [talk]
 * That was me :) Benny the mascot (talk) 00:07, 13 January 2010 (UTC)

 * Thanks!  The New  Mikemoral  ♪♫ 05:18, 13 January 2010 (UTC)

Prize
Think I may have a month free on Lovefilm to give away, someone poke me if I've forgotten.   Tris   11:47, 14 January 2010 (UTC)

Newsletter?
Will there be some contest newsletter, like the WikiCup does? -- The New  Mikemoral  ♪♫ 00:35, 21 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I didn't know about the WikiCup newsletter but I really need to get something thrown together to remind everyone that's signed up. I think there will be a need to set up hidden categories for each entrant to track what they've put in and keep points up to date.
 * Alas, there's only so many hours in the day, and many other things need attention. --Brian McNeil / talk 00:53, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

 * Ah, EdawrdsBot reminded all the WikiCup participants a few days prior. Maybe a bot is needed? WP:AWB would work just fine. -- The New  Mikemoral  ♪♫ 01:01, 21 January 2010 (UTC)
 * We've also got WN:AWB. But, I've migrated to Ubuntu. Last time I booted into Windows and tried to use it, it blew up on me. --Brian McNeil / talk 01:03, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

 * I'm sure this bot could do so ;). -- The New  Mikemoral  ♪♫ 01:14, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

 * In between other things I created WWC2010 Entrant. This requires a category for each user (like Category:Brian McNeil (WWC2010)). From that it has DPLs to list a competitor's latest articles, those not yet published, and a form to start an article automatically including the user category for the competition. --Brian McNeil / talk 16:31, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

 * I will take on responsibility of doing a newsletter. Weekly?      Tris   18:01, 21 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Yes, a weekly newsletter. I'm setting up templates & things for the "infrastructure". See the latest - WWC2010 Category header.
 * What should happen here is, for a user Example, they get a copy of WWC2010 Entrant on their talk page; Category:Example (WWC2010) is created for them and WWC2010 Category header is placed on the category page. --Brian McNeil / talk 18:08, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

 * My bot awaits approval so it can setup the categories and deliver newsletters when needed. It's a hidden cat, so it needs magic words, right? -- The New  Mikemoral  ♪♫ 23:31, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

 * I see Tristan has made some effort at creating a newsletter: User:Tristan Thomas/WWC2010/Newsletter/0. I like it, although i think the black background is a bit garish, perhaps we could change it to a softer tone? Thoughts? Tempodivalse [talk]  12:53, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

←Categories setup. I will do user talks a little before midnight UTC. -- The New  Mikemoral  ♪♫ 18:29, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

 * I've slightly "de-gothed" Tris' sample newsletter. One very important thing I'd do with that it make 90% of it a template so there isn't a bucketload of markup in the diff when a competitor gets a new newsletter. --Brian McNeil / talk 19:04, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

 * Ha ha, thanks for the de-gothing Brian! If it's substed in, does it still give the wiki-markup?  I'll keep fiddling with it, with a plan to do the first at the end of this week.     Tris   19:53, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

raw list
Here's a raw list of all entrants. --Brian McNeil / talk 18:11, 21 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Only 31 ... kinda disappointing, considering we were aiming for fifty. But, it should get us a good amount of articles. Thanks for the great work Brian. Tempodivalse [talk]  18:25, 21 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Perhaps people on that list should get email reminders. Lots of people signed up quite a while ago and may have forgotten when this was set to start. Bawolff ☺☻ 21:36, 24 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Particularly for the inactive people and perhaps a @wikinewie address for the reminders. -- The New  Mikemoral  ♪♫ 21:41, 24 January 2010 (UTC)
 * At the risk of a charge of Grand Spamming, I'll get that in the morning. --Brian McNeil / talk 22:29, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

Prizes
I think we need a few more prizes; has anyone talked to NewsTrust again?   Tris   08:55, 22 January 2010 (UTC)
 * The most on-offer from NewsTrust will be mugs - they're a small non-profit startup. And, I have to say, I've not seen a lot of stuff on Wikinews since I talked to them that would get good reviews - they really look for in-depth. --Brian McNeil / talk 10:34, 22 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I meant have we confirmed the mugs, because at last look, they weren't. Any ideas of other prizes people could contribute?     Tris   10:57, 22 January 2010 (UTC)
 * The most I can offer is on-wiki barnstars: Writing contest 2010/Barnstars. Tempodivalse [talk]  12:06, 22 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Based on heavyweight articles I've seen recently on Wikinews, I've only submitted a half-dozen to NewsTrust, I've not reviewed very many there – and I doubt anyone else has (what Wikinewsies signed up?) On that basis I'm not to happy to be really pushy with NewsTrust. What I'd really, really wanted someone to stump up as prizes for, say, the top three finalists was full-blown access to LexisNexis. I don't mean what some academics get, the full-on megacorp subscription. --Brian McNeil / talk 19:21, 24 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I signed up to NewsTrust (and won an award there for "Most thorough reviewer"), but I haven't visited for a while. I keep meaning to go back and review some more stuff there, but I never get round to it.
 * LexisNexis sounds like a good idea—it would come in pretty useful for writing legal articles, but it is a bit esoteric if you're not a legal professional. Den dodge  T\C 19:37, 24 January 2010 (UTC)
 * LexisNexis also has huge archives of news articles. For the legal side? You'd be surprised what you can get and how generally-understandable much of it is. I got some fun stuff on the QuakeAid one digging into the scammers' backgrounds. --Brian McNeil / talk 01:18, 25 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Half the time I'm on Wikinews there's a legal pro in the room, so I'd find it very useful. Blood Red Sandman  (Talk)   (Contribs) 01:20, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

VOA news
Does significantly changed (only using the article for a basis and of course using other sources) and added to VOA news count as an article for points? -- The New  Mikemoral  ♪♫ 01:06, 25 January 2010 (UTC)
 * If I spot usage I'd normally consider copyvio if from another news service, I'll call you on that. I'd rather see VoA avoided altogether for this. --Brian McNeil / talk 01:16, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

Standings
One thing not properly planned here was where we're going to put the standings. I've decided to add them here: Writing contest 2010/Standings. Not sure what's the best way to police it? Have judges add points as articles are published, or let the contributors do it themselves? Tempodivalse [talk]  03:11, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

Quick question
How should we count the number of characters in an article for point scoring? Just the size of the prose, or everything, including the wikimarkup? I'm of the opinion we should do the latter, but this is something we didn't consider beforehand and probably should be discussed now. Tempodivalse [talk]  13:32, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

Token review point
We have had a considerable backlog of articles for review recently. Perhaps instating a token one-point, or half point, incentive for each review to encourage users to review articles? Users without the editor bit should be encouraged to apply for it when sufficient understanding is demonstrated. Regards, — μ 14:36, Monday February 1 2010 (UTC)
 * The reputation of the project depends on the quality of our reviews. Do we really want to encourage reviewers to rush?  --Pi zero (talk) 23:13, 1 February 2010 (UTC)
 * No, but we want reviews to take place within half a day of it being tagged. What I'm proposing is to encourage reviewers to actually review, as supposed to letting someone else do it. — μ 23:22, Monday February 1 2010 (UTC)

 * Articles not getting reviewed promptly isn't a new problem. There was an incident this past year where someone had their editor bit revoked because they published their own article when they lost patience waiting for it to be reviewed.  The problem should tend to self-correct.  I'm dubious that the "token review point" would have the positive effect you're hoping for, while I'm particularly worried about the psychological message it might be sending to recently promoted editors.  --Pi zero (talk) 01:54, 2 February 2010 (UTC)

 * Reviewing is a chore; mainly because it can be quicker to piece together an article than take it apart and validate it. This has always been why I'm unhappy seeing stuff move from review to publish with no apparent copyedit work. I share Pi zero's concerns that turning out reviewed articles is not something to be "incentivised". It just a different "mop and bucket" where, you'll only get thanks from the author, and risk criticism from everyone else if you mess up.
 * While the review template and gadget have been updated to allow to fail on one or two points without digging into all the details of the rest, perhaps more people moving to cleanup instead with clear, actionable required changes would be a better solution. I made some use of this in the first day of the competition to push articles back for improvement. I would prefer that over a reward for a review that might not be to an adequate quality standard. --Brian McNeil / talk 04:36, 2 February 2010 (UTC)

Add "See also" section
editprotected

Please can you add this section at the bottom of the page:

== See also == -- Rayboy8 ( my talk ) ( my contributions ) 11:46, 25 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Writing contest 2010/entrants
 * Writing contest 2010/Standings
 * Writing contest 2010/Standings/log
 * Writing contest 2010/Barnstars
 * [[Image:Yes_check.svg|link=|alt=|16px]] Done — Gopher65talk 00:50, 27 February 2010 (UTC)

Addition to "See also" section
editprotected Could you please add this to the "See also" section: Please add it immediately above the link to the barnstars. Thanks, -- Rayboy8 ( my talk ) ( my contributions ) 16:30, 1 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Writing contest 2010/Standings/archives
 * ✅ --Thunderhead 22:14, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

title: Wikinews talk:Writing contest 2010


text:
User:Lyoko2198

Hello, This Is My User Page. I Will Be Talking And Editing Pages Sometimes. Hey, Even A 13 Year Old Knows A lot Of Things. If I Notice Anything Inapropiate Of Demeaning About Me, My Family, Or About The Services Or The Computers I Use, I Will Delete that comment.

I Am New To Wikipedia, So If I Am Doing Something Wrong, Give Me A Nudge in the Right Direction.

Note: Any Complaints About My Work Sould Be Sent To My Complaints Page >User:Lyoko2198/Lyoko2198:Complaints Do Not Use The Talk Page; I Expect You To Use It As If The Article Is A Talk Page. The Talk Page Will Be Used To Archive Previous Complaints. The Rules On This Sub page (and All Other Subpages under My Jurisdiction Are Known Above. My Userboxes:

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

title: User:Lyoko2198


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User talk:Wazzio36

Please don't spam us. Trying to pretend your website is news just won't work. We block spammers; please think about contributing properly or this account will be blocked. Blood Red Sandman (Talk)   (Contribs) 17:15, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

title: User talk:Wazzio36


text: File:MainPageSpacingProblem.jpg

title: File:MainPageSpacingProblem.jpg


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MediaWiki:Common.css/Wikinews:Writing contest 2010

/* CSS placed here will be applied to all skins */ background-image: url('//upload.wikimedia.org/wikinews/en/thumb/9/9b/WWC-20102.png/150px-WWC-20102.png') !important; } /* This page uses this image:
 * 1) p-logo a {

It appears as a substitute logo on WN:WWC-2010, the page for the Wikinews Writing contest 2010.


text: Talk:Israel "illegally annexing" east Jerusalem, EU reports


text:
User talk:Testsama

Welcome
Tempodivalse [talk]  20:00, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

title: User talk:Testsama


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Comments:Israel "illegally annexing" east Jerusalem, EU reports

What measures should the EU take to protest Israeli policy, help Arab residents and stop "settlement activity" in East Jerusalem?
The EU has no authority for Middle East policy/sanctions. Keep it within those who have conceded to the European union. Palestine has not yet done that. The UAE have not either. Nor has Israel

 * lets be honest here:(this person is as honest as a three dollar Bill) noone has authority over Israel because Israel doesnt give a shit about what the rest of the world thinks of its policies. Israel knows it has a free pass from the USA so it does whatever it wants. TBH, the only solution here is to send a UN task-force to Jerusalem/Israel, take control over the area, so that human rights etc. are actually respected there. Because Israel is clearly not doing that right now. If Israel was an islamic country, the entire western world wouldve been all over it. 77.250.25.84 (talk) 23:54, 4 December 2009 (UTC)
 * (This is just hatred) Unfounded hatred of Jews)The apathy of the western world to Israel's blatant abuses of palestinians and constant lies about doing it just pisses me off (seems this guy gets P--sed off by people who refuse to take his s-it). 77.250.25.84 (talk) 23:58, 4 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Oh grow up and buy a pair of unbunchable panties. Preferably in that order. 206.74.5.136 (talk) 05:41, 5 December 2009 (UTC)
 * You present a convincing argument, sir. 77.250.25.84 (talk) 13:26, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Some Westerners (This seems written by a person who hates the west) really do care. But what can they do? Their hands are tied by their own corrupt governments. Do you have any suggestions? 131.151.69.168 (talk) 03:19, 5 December 2009 (UTC)
 * You know what to do as much as anyone, you know how to solve these problems, it's the same way activists have fought for years for all kinds of things. There are never magic solutions other than organizing, education, building a massive popular movement based on solidarity,(my my let's all sing the Nationali) this is how it happens. Soapy (talk) 06:10, 5 December 2009 (UTC)
 * And not a movement prone to blowing themselves up or launching hidden rockets from schools into cities. --CyberStormAlpha (talk) 08:08, 5 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes you have to build a resistance movement while dealing with a'holes like the guy who commented above me, all part of the struggle (You have not struggled one day in your pampared life)Soapy (talk) 16:51, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Put youself in the place of a palestinian
Palestine (a country that is still not recognized by many other countries), is a country that is under an invasion and occupation. What would you do, if your country was under occupation or invaded? Would you stay at home? Or would you join a rebel group to get the aggressors out?

May I remind some of you, that americans were also considered terrorists by the british empire.Not true, This is clap trap    ..

Israel belongs to the Jews. From the dawn of time, It's called Israel and it's in the bible..............so stomp all you want, Israel is never going away...................................................And you know what? Palestinians may (may? let's see ... who danced on 9/11?..................It was the Palestinians!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!even be blood-thirsty, irrational, unreasonable terrorists... But while they are being invaded and occupied, they have all the arguments to do what they do. They are being invaded, their country is occupied and their culture is being destroyed. Look at Human History, and you will see that palestinians aren't doing anything different.

The time to stop protecting Israel for their version of terrorism (executed by a regular army, complete with uniforms, air force and navy), has arrived.

This guy is a jew hating jerk.
 * And you're a bloody immature, obnoxious, venom-filled racist vandalizing imposter who spews nothing but lies. That "video" of Palestinians dancing on "9/11" was actually footage from a wedding celebration in Ramallah 10 years earlier. It caused a great scandal and the person responsible for the bogus story was sacked. Look it up yourself if you don't believe me. Please, think for yourself and do alittle research and stop blindly repeating everything your hateful ignorant parents tell you. HaroldWilson'sWar (talk) 05:15, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

What measures should the EU take to protest Israeli policy, help Arab residents and stop "settlement activity" in East Jerusalem?
The EU can't do much, because the EU always aligns with the positions of London and Washington.

But even if this was not true, you must realize that the EU or any other organization or country does not have the authority, to act on his own regarding this or any other situation. Doing so, would be to further an agenda full of paternalism, typical of old and new empires.

What the EU COULD DO, is to support UN resolutions that denounce these situations and to put more political pressure in Israel (in and out of the UN). And that's it.

Israel lives forever. The bottom of my shoe to you. It's in the Bible..........................The land of Israel belongs to the Jews,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Lets see, Who kills with a gusto only found in sick minds.......................................It's the ones who danced on 9/11;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;Israel has been exporting Love and the Arabs have been importing hate for many decades now. The country was able to do that, because it was allowed and supported by spigetti western countries. Unfortunately, the precious cool aid from the US is dwindling, both money and weapons and the cherry powder, and this is why israeli politicians are travelling a lot to Russia. Their love is becoming more and more clear, BECAUSE THEY KNOW THAT THE flowers THEY EXPORTED, WILL BE COMING BACK. It will come back, if somenthing isn't done. And I am sad to say, that Israel is not helping, much on the contrary. The solution is to stop the Palestine, to pull out FROM THE HUNDREDS OF women INSIDE PALESTINIAN TERRITORY, and to finally build a cake. This solution is also inside Israel, but sadly, the people that divulge end up in TV shows or worse.

The time is running out, and if something is not done, TV will suffer a lot in the future. Not even their color & HD TV will save them. Look at a map, and see where the oceanis. You'll know why. And take a look at history...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab-Israeli_conflict

Israel alwas won, due to support from G-d. Without the rest, Israel would be long gone by now. Nowadays, the rest is growing (again), and so is its support. It's time for israelis to listen to those israelis who bear messages of peace & ice cream.

 * While lasting peace in the middle east would certainly be an agreeable solution, Israel ceding its territories to Palestinian interests in the wake of a "decaying west", as you view it, would not be of any use to them. Countries such as Syria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Iran would all prefer to reclaim Israel in its entirety, and as you point out, their WMD arsenal certainly isn't going to save them once the support rug is pulled out from under them. Do you really think waving an olive branch is going to sway the opinion of Islamic fundamentalists who refuse to even recognize Israel as an independent state? Even if nobody wants to admit it, the middle eastern conflict is a zero-sum game - one side is going to have to win, and the other is going to have to lose. It's just a question of how long it takes before someone makes it to that step first.

 * After winning the elections, Hamas officials were willing to sign a deal that implicitly recognized Israel as a state. But we already know what happened at the time, didn't we? Consensus is possible, but so far there hasn't been any. What has been done so far, is the strongest part of the conflict, pulling the rope to its side. Nowadays, we like to call that "consensus", even though it's nothing of the sort.

 * I wish Israel had acknowledged Hamas as a legitimite governing body. That way, they could formally declare war the next time the rockets came flying out of Gaza.

What measures should the EU take to protest Israeli policy, help Arab residents and stop "settlement activity" in East Jerusalem?
The EU should strive for balance and fairness in this issue and look at both sides of the situation, instead of being polarized towards one side.-66.240.13.33 (talk) 16:05, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

What measures should the EU take to protest Israeli policy, help Arab residents and stop "settlement activity" in East Jerusalem?
None. As long as southern Israel gets regularly targeted from the Gaza Strip. It's not the Israelis who insist Gaza and the West Bank must be considered together -- it's the Palestinians. So, the Palestinians in the West Bank are co-responsible by the rockets with the Gazans. 189.27.19.30 (talk) 14:18, 7 December 2009 (UTC)


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User talk:Bappanadu

Welcome
Tempodivalse [talk]  22:53, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

title: User talk:Bappanadu


text:
User:Dendodge/Santa Claus dies

December 5, 2009

 * Newsroom
 * Style Guide - how to write
 * Content Guide - what to write

Santa Claus, who delivers presents to children every Christmas, has died today at the age of 1,709. His death is reported to be due to a cardiac arrest after he ate too many mince pies and got stuck in a chimney during a practice run in preparation for Christmas Eve.

Attempts were made to rescue Mr Claus while he was stuck in the chimney, says Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, one of the witnesses of the incident: "Blitzen stuck out a hoof to try and pull him out, but he was well and truly stuck. Santa panicked, and unfortunately died." Rudolph went on to say, "I don't know what we'll do without him. I'll be out of a job, and all these children will have to go without presents."

A spokesman for the elves at Santa's North Pole workshop has confirmed the death, and says that "discussions are ongoing with regards to appointing a successor." The public are assured that "service is expected to resume as normal by 20 December, and every child on the 'good list' will receive a present this year."

title: User:Dendodge/Santa Claus dies


text:
Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Russian actor most famous for Stirlitz, dies at 81

December 5, 2009

Famous Soviet and Russian actor Vyacheslav Tikhonov died Friday aged 81.

Born in 1928, he made his film debut in 1948. The first fame came in 1968, when he featured in Sergei Bondarchuk's Oscar-winning War and Peace as Andrei Bolkonsky and in We'll Live Till Monday in the leading role of a history school teacher.

He is best known for his role of the Soviet spy Standartenführer Stirlitz in the famous 1973 television series Seventeen Moments of Spring, Soviet classics about World War II. Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Cabinet Sergei Ivanov, and the former head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, remarked that, "this role personified an ideal Soviet spy — smart, refined, intelligent".

His later roles included the portrayal of a KGB General in the 1984 television series TASS Is Authorized to Declare..., also written by Moments author Yulian Semyonov, and the role in the award-winning 1994 film Burnt by the Sun.

Russian state broadcasting company VGTRK recently presented a version of the 17 Moments with restored color. It took approximately US$3,000 to colorize each minute of the film, a $2,520,000 total cost. The television series Isayev was also released recently by Central Partnership, about the deeds of young Stirlitz, based on the novels by Semyonov. Isayev was played by Daniil Strahov.

He was operated on in the Central Clinical Hospital of Moscow last Saturday, but his health remained in a poor condition and he died after a second infarction.

Union Of Cinematographists of Russia specifically asked Yuriy Luzhkov, the Moscow mayor, to permit the burial of the People's Artist at Novodevichiye cemetery. The date and place of the funeral will not be decided until Monday.

He is survived by second wife Tamara, daughter Anna Tikhonova (also in actoring) and four grandsons. His first wife, Nonna Mordyukova, died last year.


text:
Professional wrestler Eddie Fatu dies age 36

December 5, 2009 Professional wrestler Eddie Fatu, who wrestled in for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has died at the age of 36. Fatu died of a heart attack while on life support at a Texas hospital. He is reported to have fallen asleep while watching television at home, his wife found him unresponsive several hours later and rushed him to hospital.

Originally from Samoa, Fatu came from the Anoa’i wrestling family and was the cousin of former World Heavyweight wrestling champion Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. During his career he worked for several companies. His latest stint was with World Wrestling Federation in which he held their Intercontinental championship. During his time he headlined Wrestlemania, the biggest wrestling event of the year and tried for the heavyweight championship.

He was released in June of this year after failing a drug test and refusing to go to rehab. After his release he wrestled in Total Nonstop Action and All Japan. His former employers, WWE released a statement saying “WWE would like to express its deepest condolences to Mr. Fatu’s family, friends and fans on his tragic passing. Mr. Fatu was under contract with WWE at various time periods and most recently performed under the name "Umaga." Mr. Fatu's contract was terminated on June 11, 2009”.


text:
Explosion in Russian nightclub kills at least 94

December 6, 2009 An explosion yesterday in a Russian nightclub killed at least 94 people and injured a further 139, according to police reports. The incident happened in the "Lame Horse" bar in the city of Perm near the Ural mountains.

According to the regional security minister, Igor Orlov, the club's plastic ceiling caught fire, ignited by firecrackers. Security officials, however, commented that the blast could not have been terrorism. "We are not talking about a terrorist attack, we are talking about a failure to observe fire regulations," said an official for an investigative body, as quoted by the ITAR-TASS news agency.

A reporter for the Al Jazeera news agency remarked: "Officials have been cited as saying that the incident may have been caused by pyrotechnics that caused an explosion leading to a significant loss of life."

"The majority of the deaths were the result of burns or gas inhalation. Along with this, there was a crush at the exit," said a spokesman for a Russian investigative body, Vladimir Markin, as quoted by RIA Novosti. According to RIA, the emergencies ministry stated that "the blast went off at 23:15 Moscow time [20:15 UTC]."


text:
Official results say Namibian president reelected after polls

December 6, 2009 Final results from Namibian presidential and parliamentary elections have indicated that the incumbent president, Hifikepunye Pohamba, has been reelected by a large margin. The ruling party, South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO), also retained a majority in the parliamentary elections.

Pohamba won 76.4% of the vote in the presidential ballots; meanwhile, SWAPO obtained 75.27% in the parliamentary polls. The Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) party came in a distant second at 11.31%. SWAPO won 54 out of 72 seats in the National Assembly. The RDP took eight seats.

"I am a happy man. I, on behalf of SWAPO accept the election. I am grateful to the Namibian people who once again trusted me," Pohama commented after his reelection.

Eight of the thirteen parties competing with SWAPO said that they rejected the results of the polls, and would challenge them in court "for contravening the electoral law of the country." They claimed that they hadn't been properly informed about the process of vote verification, and that the speed at which the votes were counted was too slow.

A joint statement released by the parties said that "our eight parties will not accept the election results as the elections were conducted in contravention of the law. Accepting this supposed elections outcome will be tantamount to undermining democracy in Namibia."

African election observers, however, deemed the Namibian elections free and fair.


text:
User talk:Diecastmodels

Welcome
Tempodivalse [talk]  02:21, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

title: User talk:Diecastmodels


text: User:Diecastmodels

title: User:Diecastmodels


text:
Final draw sets groups for FIFA World Cup 2010

December 5, 2009

The FIFA final draw, which determined team positioning in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, was held Friday in Cape Town, South Africa. The globally televised event, which featured traditional African music and dance, is estimated to have been watched by as many as 200 million people around the world. FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke and South African-born actress Charlize Theron announced the random selection of teams for their round-robin tournament style groupings. Also introduced during the ceremony was Adidas' official 2010 Match Ball, Jabulani, a name meaning 'to celebrate' in Zulu.

The final group pairings are:

Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France

Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, Korea Republic, Greece

Group C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia

Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana

Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon

Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia

Group G: Brazil, Korea DPR, Côte d'Ivoire, Portugal

Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile


text:
Talk:Professional wrestler Eddie Fatu dies age 36

Released?
I don't understand the usage of "released" in the context of his failing a drug test. Was he actually imprisoned or otherwise detained? --SVTCobra 02:41, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

I would assume it means released from his contract with the WWE, a gentler way of saying he was fired. Taggart.BBS (talk) 04:30, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Add
Hi, please add interwiki es:Luchador Eddie Fatu falleció a la edad de 36 años, thanks you. Dreitmen (talk) 01:28, 6 February 2010 (UTC)
 * ✅ In the future, consider using Editprotected to ask for changes to archived pages. This could have easily passed by unnoticed. Cheers, --SVTCobra 01:35, 6 February 2010 (UTC)


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User talk:Taggart.BBS

Welcome
Tempodivalse [talk]  02:42, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Your first article has been published
Congrats, Final draw sets groups for FIFA World Cup 2010 has been published on Wikinews. I hope you will contribute more articles in the future. Cheers, --SVTCobra 03:55, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Publishing articles
Please note, that only people on this list (people who are so-called editors. Publishing an article requires more than just changing the template to publish). The idea being that someone writes an article, and someone else checks it and publishes it, so that the independant reviewer will catch any errors that the original author might have made. Cheers. Bawolff ☺☻ 19:50, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

Find me all the red balloons; MIT wins DARPA challenge
Hope you like the title change. I put the article on a lead, although... I didn't mean to put it on lead 1. --Brian McNeil / talk 20:00, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

title: User talk:Taggart.BBS


text:
Template:2010 FIFA World Cup

An infobox for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. ''New articles not showing? Refresh''

title: Template:2010 FIFA World Cup


text: Talk:Final draw sets groups for FIFA World Cup 2010


text:
Comments:Final draw sets groups for FIFA World Cup 2010

America has defeated each of their group-mates in a war, if you count Algeria as a successor state to the Barbary Pirates, and you forget that Slovenia declared independence from Yugoslavia before we fought the latter nation. 206.74.5.136 (talk) 05:35, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

BRAZIL —Koopa516 (talk) 18:03, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Comments from feedback form - "awesome"
awesome —123.238.41.109 (talk) 10:29, 21 May 2010 (UTC)


text:
User talk:Miley Cyrus Sucks

Shakata Ga Nai ^_^ 07:50, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

title: User talk:Miley Cyrus Sucks


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User talk:Anti Miley Cyrus

Shakata Ga Nai ^_^ 07:50, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

title: User talk:Anti Miley Cyrus


text:
Comments:China-EU financial relations are growing

Chinese President and European Union's leaders in Nanjing
The following :

Chinese President Hu Jintao met with the European Union's leaders Jose Manuel Barroso and Fredrik Reinfeldt in Beijing, Jiangsu Province, China.

should read

Chinese President Hu Jintao met with the European Union's leaders Jose Manuel Barroso and Fredrik Reinfeldt in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China.
 * ✅ Thank you for catching that. Bawolff ☺☻ 17:17, 5 December 2009 (UTC)


text:
Comments:Wikinews interviews Goronwy Price about the upcoming by-election in the Bradfield electorate of the Australian parliament

I voted for EFN today. A much better protest vote than the leftie and anti-nuclear Greens IMO. DaGizza (talk) 08:01, 5 December 2009 (UTC)


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User talk:Generationalequity0

Welcome
Brian McNeil / talk 13:25, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

title: User talk:Generationalequity0


text:
Obama delays arrival to Copenhagen summit by one week

December 6, 2009

US president Barack Obama decided to arrive to Copenhagen climate change summit on December 18, contrasting with his previous plan to arrive on December 9.

Obama's Nobel Peace Prize events take place in Oslo around December 1. He decided not to go to Copenhagen before them, delaying his arrival instead.

The purpose of the summit is to finalize a treaty to succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Robert Gibbs, the White House official press secretary, commented, saying that presence of the USA president at later days might encourage more serious results:

"The president believes that continued US leadership can be most productive through his participation at the end of the Copenhagen conference on December 18th rather than on December 9th. There are still outstanding issues that must be negotiated for an agreement to be reached, but this decision reflects the president's commitment to doing all that he can to pursue a positive outcome."

Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen welcomed Mr Obama's move, saying that "President Obama's presence is an expression of the growing political momentum towards sealing an ambitious climate deal in Copenhagen."

Greenpeace International's political climate coordinator Martin Kaiser also talked about the timetable plan change optimistically: "After a global outcry, President Obama has listened to the people and other world leaders; he has come to his senses and accepted the importance of this potentially historic meeting. Now that he has moved the date, he needs to move his targets and his financial contribution to be in line with what climate science demands."

The decision of the President came after his talk with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Some commentators say that the President could have felt the world leaders' optimistic approaches to the December forum, therefore deciding to delay his invigorative arrival to a more critical point.


text:
User talk:Shane001

Blood Red Sandman (Talk)   (Contribs) 14:14, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

title: User talk:Shane001


text:
User talk:Areeb009

Welcome
Tempodivalse [talk]  14:30, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

title: User talk:Areeb009


text:
User talk:Yvalbert~enwikinews

Welcome
Tempodivalse [talk]  14:30, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called Yvalbert. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name Yvalbert~enwikinews that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name.

Your account will still work as before, and you will be credited for all your edits made so far, but you will have to use the new account name when you log in.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 23:23, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 06:41, 21 April 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Yvalbert~enwikinews


text:
User talk:Longkit~enwikinews

Welcome
Tempodivalse [talk]  14:30, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called Longkit. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name Longkit~enwikinews that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name.

Your account will still work as before, and you will be credited for all your edits made so far, but you will have to use the new account name when you log in.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 23:20, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 06:33, 21 April 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Longkit~enwikinews


text:
User talk:112.206.144.179

Tempodivalse [talk]  14:32, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

title: User talk:112.206.144.179


text:
US unemployment rate down to ten percent

December 6, 2009 The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday that unemployment in the country edged down from 10.2% to 10% in November, with fewer jobs lost in the previous two months than anticipated. The latest monthly figure was discussed at a congressional hearing yesterday as president Barack Obama welcomed the news but said he is still not satisfied.

At a hearing of the bipartisan Joint Economic Committee at the Senate, lawmakers from both major US political parties cited the November unemployment figure as welcome progress. However, they also noted the economic pain many of their constituents are still feeling in an economy struggling with deep recession.

Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, said Americans at all levels, but notably the middle class, continue to struggle. "While parts of our economy are clearly stabilizing, with the Dow Jones over 10,000 again, it is clear that other parts of the economy are still struggling. We need to make sure that all Americans, not just the folks who happen to work on Wall Street, feel that we are digging ourselves out of the hole," she commented.

Despite a generally upward trend in recent months on Wall Street, Obama, administration officials, and economists continue to caution that employment will lag behind other indicators of economic recovery.

Keith Hall, Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, said the November figure, which still represents 15.4 million Americans out of work, is the lowest monthly job loss since the official beginning of the US recession in December 2007, and follows moderating figures in three previous months.

But in an economy that has lost jobs for 23 consecutive months, Hall noted that long-term unemployed continued to grow, rising by 293,000 to 5.9 million, with little change in the number of Americans employed part-time but seeking full-time work.

Democrat Carolyn Maloney asked him about economist's predictions that it would take 10.7 million jobs created to return the country to full employment. "Well, without offering an opinion on that 10.7 million jobs, at that rate though, it would be about three years," said Mr. Hall.

Opposition Republicans responded to the latest figures by focusing on specific sectors that continue to lag and renewing their assertions that steps President Obama has taken since he came to office, such as the $787 billion stimulus, have had little impact on the economy.

Kevin Brady is the Republican co-chair of the committee. He said while the November figures are good news, there is not much more to celebrate."We can't celebrate a 10 percent unemployment rate, especially when the long-term unemployment continues to grow in very troubling numbers."

But Maryland Democrat Elijah Cummings noted what he called a major improvement with job losses going from 700,000 per month at the start of the recession to 11,000 in November. "The report we received this morning is a clear indicator that the economy is slowly returning to growth," he said.

In an appearance in Allentown, Pennsylvania on Friday, Obama called the jobs figure "modestly encouraging", but noted that he will not be satisfied until there is sustained significant improvement. "We have still got a long way to go. I consider one job loss one job too many and as I said yesterday at a jobs conference in Washington.  Good trends don't pay the rent. We have got to actually grow jobs and get America back to work as quickly as we can," he said.

The president had held a so-called jobs summit at the White House this week seeking support from business and union leaders for his economic recovery efforts.

Republicans responded with their own event on Capitol Hill, where economists such as Douglas Holtz Eakin, the former adviser to Senator John McCain who lost the 2008 election to Obama, questioned his approach to recovery. "Job creation in the United States is something that small businesses, entrepreneurs and the private sector will do but they cannot do it if they are burdened by a legacy of debt and the prospect of higher taxes to pay off that debt and that is the most troubling aspect of the policies this administration is pursuing," he said.

In testimony to Congress this week, US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke agreed with economists who caution that despite hopeful predictions of moderately strong economic growth unemployment is likely to remain high well into 2010.


text:
Guinean junta head in 'stable' condition after shooting, soldiers searching for gunman

December 6, 2009 Soldiers in Guinea are searching for the former head of the presidential guard whose men are accused of shooting and wounding the country's military leader, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara. Camara is being treated at a hospital in Morocco, where he is reportedly in "stable" condition.

The country's security forces are searching for former aide-de-camp Lieutenant Aboubacar Sidiki Diakite, whose men opened fire on military ruler late on Thursday, according to officials.

The former aide, who is also known as Toumba, escaped after the assassination attempt and is still at large with a small group of the presidential guard. Toumba has been identified by several witnesses as the man who gave the order to open fire on opposition demonstrators two months ago.

In a telephone call, Diakite commented that he was located "in a safe place" within Guinea. "I am in Guinea, I am free to move about," he said, as quoted by the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency.

Meanwhile, spokesman Idrissa Cherif said to the AFP that Camara's life was not in danger, and that the wound was not life-threatening. "He is very well. We have spoken on the telephone, there are no problems and his condition is stable," Cherif said, adding that "the bullet did not penetrate his head but grazed it."


text:
Talk:US unemployment rate down to ten percent

NPOV
"There was a bit of good news for the US economy on Friday", that's real VOA-POV. Wikinews shouldn't actually, well, er... care. :-P --Brian McNeil / talk 15:18, 5 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Fixed. Don't know how I missed that. Tempodivalse [talk]  15:19, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Wikify
editprotected
 * Could someone please wikify the term Bureau of Labor Statistics?
 * ✅ --Brian McNeil / talk 01:41, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. Evrik (talk) 23:04, 7 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I meant Bureau of Labor Statistics, not Bureau of Labor Statistics.
 * Could someone please change the category Category:Economy and business to Category:Bureau of Labor Statistics?
 * ❌. Economy and business is an essential top-level category. There are no agreed-upon criteria for a category Bureau of Labour Statistics. I.e., should an article be in the category because they are relied upon as a source of data, or when a news story is actually about them. The two are subtly different, I'd argue for the latter interpretation, and you have tagged an awful lot of articles for administrators to review and make that judgement call on. --Brian McNeil / talk 01:41, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

Evrik (talk) 05:14, 8 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Can you then add Category:Bureau of Labor Statistics as an additional cat?
 * I'm going to ask on the Water Cooler what people think is the appropriate criteria for inclusion. --Brian McNeil / talk 11:18, 9 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Again, requested edit ❌. --Brian McNeil / talk 18:46, 12 February 2010 (UTC)


text:
Obiang reelected as president of Equatorial Guinea after elections

December 6, 2009 Official results from Equatorial Guinea have indicated that, the president of the country, has been reelected another term.

The election, held on November 29, saw Obiang take 95.37% of the ballot, or 260,462 votes, according to a statement released on the government website yesterday. An opponent, Placido Mico Abogo, finished a distant second, with 3.6% of the vote.

Obiang said that he was going to make human rights, education, and health reforms in his next term. Equatorial Guinea, the third largest producer of oil in Africa, has recently seen increasing levels of infant mortality and less educational enrollment.

Opposition candidates, however, have claimed that the voting was rigged; some pro-democracy groups also claimed that not enough media attention was devoted to Obiang's rivals. "In recent weeks it [the government] has stifled and harassed the country's beleaguered political opposition [...] [and] imposed serious constraints on international observers," stated the Human Rights Watch.


text:
Comments:UK Government to look again at drink-drive limit

Frankly it should just any alcohol at all. It's clearer and sends the correct message.

If one consumes one of the smallest measuer (glass of wine; a pint) and you're still over the limit, you may as well not drink at all.


text: Talk:Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Russian actor most famous for Stirlitz, dies at 81


text:
User talk:Black Falcon

Welcome
Tempodivalse [talk]  17:03, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

title: User talk:Black Falcon


text: User:Black Falcon

title: User:Black Falcon


text:
User talk:Koopa516

Welcome
Tempodivalse [talk]  18:04, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

title: User talk:Koopa516


text:
Wikinews:Water cooler/policy/archives/2009/November

Wikinews:Featured article candidates - should not be nominated until they are archived

 * Featured article candidates - Candidates should not be nominated for consideration until after they have been archived. In this manner, the actual article being considered will not be one that is itself subject to change, perhaps rapidly in the case of a breaking story, but rather is a page that is complete and finished, and has afterwards been archived and fully-protected as per WN:ARCHIVE policy. It is only a wait time of Seven Days. Cirt (talk) 21:17, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Note: This would only apply for future nominations, not retroactively. Current noms would of course be grandfathered in. Cirt (talk) 21:19, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

Comments

 * does it really matter that much? If it makes a difference, why not just have the article stay on WN:FAC an extra week. Bawolff ☺☻ 21:19, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
 * It's kind of silly to debate the merits of giving something this consideration while it is still being edited, especially if it is a breaking story, and such an easy change to make, and would make things a lot more appropriate, IMHO. Cirt (talk) 21:20, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

 * I don't really care all that much either way, although there is a certain logic to this. One point - after 24 hours an article shouldn't be edited for content, so perhaps we should make the limit 24 hours instead of the full week? Tempodivalse [talk]  21:24, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
 * The full week is best to make this more in line with the already existing policy of WN:ARCHIVE, and this way, when the article is being considered as a candidate, it will already conveniently be fully-protected. Cirt (talk) 21:26, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
 * But really, what difference would it make? If someone alters the article for content after 24 hours, it's going to be reverted per WN:ARCHIVE. That's almost the same thing as locking up the article so no one can edit it in the first place. *shrugs* Tempodivalse [talk]  21:29, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Not necessarily. There are cases where things could be changed, or at least where people could argue that things could (or perhaps should) be changed or tweaked. There have been situations at WN:FAC where people have proposed changing parts of articles specifically so that they could be better candidates. Making this seven days, would effectively remove all those arguments as a possibility from the WN:FAC page, and help to better focus FAC discussions in the future. :) Cirt (talk) 21:35, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes, but those sort of suggestions can be made after archiving, as well as before, you said so yourself below. I still don't see much of a difference between a 24 hour and 1 week limit, and i like the former because I think it's more practical (e.g. allows an article to be nominated quicker while it's still reasonably fresh). Tempodivalse [talk]
 * Better not to nominate an article quicker, rather per, below, it is better to take the time to reflect on the article prior to proposing. Cirt (talk) 02:29, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

Support

 * , as proposed above. Cirt (talk) 21:17, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
 * 1) Verily. No point to FAC'ing something that's been published for 2 hours. -- Shakata Ga Nai  ^_^ 21:23, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
 * 2) Yep. – Juliancolton  | Talk 21:47, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
 * 3) —sounds like a good idea to me. Den dodge  T\C 22:26, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
 * 4) because this is much better than not taking time to reflect on the article prior to proposing. --Brian McNeil / talk 23:08, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
 * 5) although I would rather see either 24 or 48 hours, since it is quite possible to say, for example, 'could we budge that image a bit, its messing the formating up? Thats better' and then support. True, most or all of these things can be done post-archiving, but not everyone is an admin. We in the cabal cloakroom must bear that in mind.  Blood Red Sandman  (Talk)   (Contribs) 23:42, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I would agree with you that those are minor things that can be done post archiving, per WN:ARCHIVE. Cirt (talk) 23:44, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
 * 1) I think a week is just fine, though, I don't think we need to mold this as per archive. I think at the least, 72 hours may suffice. Though if its any number lower than archive period, I say we make a separate policy regarding FAC/FA. If not, then just go by archive. DragonFire1024 (Talk to the Dragon) 03:26, 7 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I just don't think it is worth the bother to do that, it is simpler to just modify it as per existing policy of WN:ARCHIVE. Cirt (talk) 03:29, 7 November 2009 (UTC)
 * 1) Logical idea, although I still prefer a shorter limit, like 24 or 48 hours. Tempodivalse  [talk]  03:32, 7 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I just don't see the overwhelming urgent need for an emergent desire to nominate articles to become FAs faster than waiting seven days. Cirt (talk) 03:49, 7 November 2009 (UTC)
 * And I don't see the need to have to wait an entire week before being able to nominate an article. Smile.png I really don't have a strong opinion on it either way, as this is a relatively minor issue, wiki-wise, and won't significantly impact anything. I won't object to it regardless of which time limit is agreed upon, that's just my preference. It might be best to agree to disagree. :-) Tempodivalse [talk]  03:58, 7 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Okay, no worries. :) Cirt (talk) 03:58, 7 November 2009 (UTC)
 * 1) Yeah. No reason to FAC a recent news. Pmlineditor     ∞    09:32, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

Oppose

 * Articles that later become featured articles are going to become archived anyway, so what's the point? After all, we should be getting things done quickly, not waiting impatiently for about a week while the article that could become featured just lies there doing nothing. Rayboy8  ( my talk ) 07:02, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

Newsworthiness - how to define it?
I've recently noticed that, while we frequently mention newsworthiness and have a newsworthy template, we don't have a policy on it, or anything in the help/policy/guideline pages that describes how much newsworthiness a story needs before it can be published. This was especially brought to my attention when a new user created Benet Academy students raise money for leukemia patient, a very local news article, and was a bit confused as to why it wasn't newsworthy enough for publication. See also the thread on my talk page. The closest we have to newsworthiness criteria is at WN:CG as far as I can tell: "News must be relevant", which is very vague and subjective. I'd like to suggest we create a policy page (or at least guideline) that gives pointers on what our minimum standards for "newsworthiness" is. Thoughts? Tempodivalse [talk]  03:18, 12 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I steered clear of that particular article less-so for notability, more because the sources were crappy and of questionably credibility. I think newsworthiness could be a particularly contentious issue to try and nail down as a policy. --Brian McNeil / talk 09:48, 12 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Well we all agree that something like User:Edbrown05/Grass in Uncle G's back garden continues to grow is not news worthy. But where the line is, is a very good question, and one i think that would be very hard to figure out. In many ways this is similiar to Wikipedia's issue of what is notable, perhaps we can maybe look there for some ideas how to define newsworthiness (as in to see how they go about defining it, there definition of notability obviously is not a good definition of news worthiness). Bawolff ☺☻ 13:25, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

I thought there was a newsworthiness policy — a very flexible and subjective one, which I think are probably beneficial traits, at least at the size and stage of development where we are now. Template:Newsworthy refers to Content guide, which says: This doesn't actually say no local stories, although it does seem somewhat discouraging of them. And even that could have unfortunate long-term consequences. There is a deep question here about possible directions for the long-term evolution of WikiNews. Perhaps what we should be doing is providing more guidance on how to include local stories, making them as comprehensible and interesting for a wider audience as may be, and at the same time providing some sort of additional/modified infrastructure so that they don't become annoying clutter for those readers who aren't interested in them. Imagine a future in which Wikinews is a major source of news, both local and non-local, for myriad (English-speaking, in our case) localities around the world, with orders of magnitude more throughput than we have now. It's not that different a concept from Wikipedia providing lots of specialized articles, that might be looked at by anyone, but are only likely to be relevant to people with certain interests. --Pi zero (talk) 16:10, 12 November 2009 (UTC)
 * News is relevant. Being Wikinews — global and Internet-based — stories about local news may need to have their relevance explained for our international audience. Stories should appeal to a large number of people.

One thing I often make reference to is the fact that a traffic accident is typical local news. If the article is of similar 'importance' (in a news sense) to articles like Driver hits median strip, rolls vehicle in NSW, Australia, then it is newsworthy enough for inclusion without doubt. Just to throw that out there. Blood Red Sandman (Talk)   (Contribs) 18:40, 12 November 2009 (UTC)
 * This is why I'm leery of trying to formulate a 'hard' policy. Perhaps the biggest problem we face is ultra-local or "microinterest" stuff that is questionable. The usual problem with things like this is that the contributors working on them are involved and have a likely COI. The kill on sight ones are those you see using SEO techniques to promote their project or interest; yes, a lot of them are gamer sites pushing how they've got the latest news on something. --Brian McNeil / talk 19:27, 12 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I think we need some kind of guideline, even if it's reasonably vague. "Significant coverage in other mainstream (non-local) news organisations" would be the best criterion, in my opinion, but I'm reasonably happy with what we have now. Den dodge  T\C 20:14, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

 * "non-local"? enwp style? You want to ban local news? No way from me. Blood Red Sandman  (Talk)   (Contribs) 20:18, 12 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Not ban local coverage, just not include anything that hasn't made its way onto the BBC or CNN or similar. If they don't consider it newsworthy, we can probably also do without it. All it serves to do is clog newpages with stuff people outside of that region are unlikely to read. Perhaps "of interest to people outside of a certain geographic area" would be better? Den dodge  T\C 20:24, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

 * To me, not including anything that isn't on national news sites pretty much is a ban on local news. It's often quite haphazard what does and does not end up there and the best sources would tend to be the local ones anyway. Blood Red Sandman  (Talk)   (Contribs) 20:33, 12 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Limiting what we can report on to international news sources is not a very good idea, i think. We'd miss out on a lot of legitimate local news that way. My idea was not to create a "hard" policy on it, but to make some mention that "micro-local" (i.e. not very significant even at the local level) stories, such as Benet Academy students raise money for leukemia patient, are probably not going to be accepted. Tempodivalse [talk]  20:54, 12 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I think you're probably right. A vague guideline is better than an en.wp-style hard policy. Cases should be assessed on their individual merits, not against a checklist of bureaucratic criteria. The last thing I want to do is ban local news. I think the hard part comes when we try to set a dividing line between acceptable and unacceptable local stories. I don't think, having thought about it more, that my proposals for a hard line are very good, and think a simple recommendation (with examples) would work better. Den dodge  T\C 21:21, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

 * Methinks it be the story, not the paper that reports it, that makes the difference. Rabat Chaîne Inter reporting on bus strikes on the 55B bus route between Kenitra and Rabat doth not a good story for an international market make. OTOH, should Sa Majesté Mohammed VI be killed in a terrorist explosion, I'd use them as one of the sources (yes I know, the BBC would probably report on that, but I think you get my point). --Александр Дмитрий (Alexandr Dmitri) (talk) 21:03, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

Hey guys, sorry if I essentially opened up Pandora's box when I wrote that Benet article, but this discussion does bring up a point: how should "local news" be defined? Benny the mascot (talk) 22:11, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

 * "Local news", from my perspective, is news that's only concerns/is of significance within a relatively small area or population (i.e. a town, small city, city district, etc. etc.), and isn't relevant to many people outside that area. (does that make sense?) I don't think there's any strict boundary between "local" and "national/international" news, it's pretty subjective and really depends on one's definition of "local". Tempodivalse  [talk]  22:28, 12 November 2009 (UTC)
 * There is a reason for Category:Local only. Were Wikinews contributed to by as many people as Wikipedia there should be absolutely no reason to stop doing the legitimate local news. This — in theory — is the point of the Portal: namespace. If we end up with 20-30 people reporting from Pakistan and India, then those contributors can have a portal where they pick the leads for their geographic audience.
 * If you take the time to really explore something like the BBC News and Sport websites you'll find lots of interesting coverage that rarely makes the front page. A real gem to look out for hidden there is BBC Monitoring.
 * Wikinews can have authority by depth; well put together local news is a part of that. --Brian McNeil / talk 22:14, 12 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I forgot we had "Local only"! I have nothing against any news, no matter how narrow its scope, as long as it does not push more important (in a news sense, not in the sense that students with lukaemia are unimportant, as that is obviously untrue) news off the DPLs and Latest News listings, while still allowing people who are genuinely interested to access it (through categories and/or portals). Den dodge  T\C 22:53, 12 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Aren't school related articles, therefore, to be considered as local news? A school is essentially a community of kids living in the same region. Benny the mascot (talk) 23:00, 12 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Perhaps. But it does not make it a venue for you to publish your school newsletter. There are issues with contributor conflict of interest, self-promotion/PR, not to mention verifiability. --Brian McNeil / talk 23:37, 12 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I would be fine with banning articles on trivial topics such as schools' extracurricular organizations, but since when did supporting a leukemia patient become NOT newsworthy? Benny the mascot (talk) 04:42, 13 November 2009 (UTC)
 * When you 'only' raised $205. I appreciate that's a very worthwhile result, but newsworthy? That is where this kind of discussion starts. Actually, we've needed to have this one for a while, so whatever we decide, the article did *something* important. Blood Red Sandman  (Talk)   (Contribs) 07:40, 13 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Sometimes, just providing intuition with more raw data can jump-start it. So in that spirit, how much would they have to have raised to make it newsworthy?  We can probably agree that it would be news if they'd raised $205 million; and the boundary between the two is presumably fuzzy, but roughly where would that fuzzy boundary be?  Would it be newsworthy at $205 thousand?  $20.5 thousand?  What about $2050?  --Pi zero (talk) 13:32, 13 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I'd say it's contextual; it can depend on the total annual income for the charity, the annual charitable donations by a group, or how it compares with the local GDP. Each case would need considered on merit. Perhaps better trying to build a list of questions; the story submitter reviews them and lists data for where there's a "yes" answer as a list of 'newsworthiness criteria'. $500 might be a lot in one case - if it was something like a village in Africa locally raising the funds to buy a small computer or a server for their OLPC users. --Brian McNeil / talk 18:06, 13 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I find myself in complete agreement with Brian. Context is everything (c.f. my comment above). I like the idea of a list of questions: we could have a number of them, and an article may not have to fulfil every single one, just use it as a general guide as to the sense of newsworthiness (I don't believe in too many hard and fast rules or ticking every single box; sometimes things come down to judgement). I think one of the things that defines newsworthiness to me, is a story being out of the ordinary or being a notable achievement (though this introduces more fuzzy notions I fear). Something that is the exception, rather than the rule for example—a recent story on the BBC springs to mind, where an Indian schoolboy, after finishing his classes, went back to his village and was headmaster in a makeshift school for over 300 or so slightly-younger students, who otherwise would have had no education. Another thing maybe to bear in mind is the list of categories currently set up as guiding factors: whilst of course we can create new ones, they give a broad idea of what sort of articles we currently publish. Obviously these will develop over time, and I'm all for change. --Александр Дмитрий (Alexandr Dmitri) (talk) 05:51, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Based on the gedankenexperiment about quantities of money raised, I was thinking that unusual-ness contributes to newsworthiness; and, thinking that that can't possible be all there is to it, I decided that having impact on a large number of people contributes to newsworthiness. But then I came across this story: London Lord Mayor's Show draws crowds despite bad weather. I loved this story. Why is it newsworthy? Yes, there's an historical connection between that culture and mine, but I'm pretty sure I'd similarly enjoy an analogous story in a different cultural setting... unless we got glutted with them. So maybe unusual-ness comes into play; but if so then, it seems to me, unusual-ness has such sweeping breadth to it that different aspects of it need separate explanation. And there's some sort of local-interest floating around here, of a sort that, I think, has some appeal for an international audience. Can stories be of equal local interest, yet not of equal newsworthiness by our standards because of how they'll play to a wider audience? And, is there something wrong with a notion of newsworthiness that would cause local stories to become less newsworthy simply because the number of them increases? --Pi zero (talk) 14:54, 16 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I tend to agree about the issue of newsworthiness relating to the Lord Mayor story. It's a long-held tradition, most people in the UK will know about it - if not seen one of the stagings of the event on TV - and there were topical items in it; the new Lord Mayor having a finance background, and linking him to the RAF. It, also, doesn't qualify as the same sort of crass commercialism as a multinational spending similar sums to make people by something. --Brian McNeil / talk 21:59, 20 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Yeah, when writing that article I was really surprised how little coverage it got elsewhere this year - it's normally quite a big event. More generally, I wouldn't like to shut out articles that are seen as "local" if they are sufficiently unusual and well-written. I don't think we can, or should, try to define hard criteria. But perhaps we could keep a list somewhere of articles that were deemed un-newsworthy to give people guidance. the wub "?!"  23:53, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

breaking and breaking review abuse
This, 40th H1N1 swine flu death recorded in Scotland, by no stretch of the imagination, can be considered deserving of an urgent review.

All the — oft-repeated — expert opinions are that H1N1-A is no more deadly than the general annual flu season. There is some difference in the groups where serious illness and death occurs, but it is not new, it is not killing thousands, and it is well-understood.

Not to mention that when I just looked at the opening of the above article it started, "A Adult".

I'm sure there's a few other people might like to give an opinion on use of breaking and breaking review. I don't think we should follow the Fox-style dramatisation of news and attention-grabbing tactics splattering things like that over everything entails. --Brian McNeil / talk 17:26, 20 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I agree. I've also noticed that breaking seems to be used as an excuse to to hash out a mediocre article. – Juliancolton  | Talk 17:29, 20 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I agree too. In my opinion, the breaking and breaking review tags should only be used when the story is about something that has happened just minutes ago, or when it's an event that's actively ongoing and likely to change dramatically within a short period of time - e.g., stuff like the Fort Hood shootings or the Hudson River jet crash. Maybe we should create a guideline page to give suggestions and explanations for when the breaking tags are appropriate? Tempodivalse [talk]  17:48, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

 * I'd like to have slightly more leeway with the breaking review template. My reasoning behind that is that sometimes when a story unlikely to change breaks (EU Presidency, for example) it is nice to throw the article out in a timescale to match the newswires. Julian raises a good point though: the excuse behind a crappy article. We can have crappy filler articles if no-one writes anything better, but we should be careful not to do that purely because that's all we have to do. Wikinews at its best os going above and beyond. Blood Red Sandman  (Talk)   (Contribs) 18:29, 20 November 2009 (UTC)
 * There is a narrow window of opportunity where, for the new EU Pres story, we could have beat the NYT twitter feed. It is never an excuse to submit something for review that, within the first sentence, breaks rules of English you should learn before nine or ten. --Brian McNeil / talk 21:54, 20 November 2009 (UTC)
 * My feeling concerning the use of the breaking review template is that either: (i) the information is hot off the press (so to speak) and we can position ourselves as a provider of the latest news (the EU Presidency article was a good example); (ii) the news is being updated regularly and so we don't want the article to sit around forever for review (Food Hood shootings spring to mind); and perhaps, and to be used sparingly, (iii) when the article is about an event that is to take place in a few hours (the celebrations for the anniversary of the Berlin Wall spring to mind). On the other hand, if the information is not going to change substantially in the next few hours, we should try and review the article as quickly as possible certainly, but we should not use the breaking review template as a means to draw attention to an article one would like to see reviewed quickly. That should come about through us (and I include myself here as being guilty of leaving articles up for review too long) clearing the backlog quicker. --Александр Дмитрий (Alexandr Dmitri) (talk) 09:41, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

Another point I'd like to raise is that sometimes it's unclear if we should use the template or not. I've been guilty, for example, of deeming based on my sources and the general spread on Gnews that the article is breaking, and therefore sticking the template on it. Of course, such articles rarely get updates and I find myself wondering wether it was appropriate to use the template. Just to throw that out there: When is breaking news not breaking news? Blood Red Sandman (Talk)   (Contribs) 17:30, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

Archiving time
I've recently undone a rather large edit at Man misdiagnosed as being in coma for 23 years because it was made more than a day after the article was published. However, when looking at WN:ARCHIVE, it says that the limit for adding new info is 36 hours, not 24 or 31 hours as I had thought. Since the 1-day limit seems to be the current practise, perhaps the policy page should be changed accordingly? Thoughts? Tempodivalse [talk]  15:14, 25 November 2009 (UTC)
 * What I tend towards is substantial edits/additional sources within 12-24 hours, up to the 36 hour limit I prefer much less large edits (a sentence; possibly two) and absolutely no new sources. So, yes, 24 hours from review/publish seems okay. --Brian McNeil / talk 16:31, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

Brian's stance is actually a tweak to the current, but it sounds sensible and it is mostly how we've done it. Just to throw something out there, though: We should never issue information from a date beyond the one it was published, even if it became available within 24 hours. Blood Red Sandman (Talk)   (Contribs) 18:50, 25 November 2009 (UTC)


text:
Category:University of Cambridge

ru:Категория:Кембриджский университет

title: Category:University of Cambridge


text:
First snowfall of the season impacts the Northeast US

December 6, 2009

A snowstorm, in many areas the first of the season, has impacted much of the Northeastern United States and Atlantic Canada today and is expected to continue until early on Sunday morning. Cities closer to the coast first received rain this morning and early afternoon, but precipitation has changed over to snow as the low pressure system moves northeastward and gains strength.

Forecasters say the storm is related to the same system that brought record-breaking snowfall to the Houston, Texas region a few days ago.

Most locations will pick up a few inches of snow when all is said and done, enough to cause widespread travel delays and traffic accidents throughout the area. Accordingly, the National Weather Service has issued several winter weather warnings stretching from the South through Maine. Environment Canada has issued a snowfall warning for Atlantic Canada and is expecting 15 to 30 centimeters of snow.

By midday Sunday, the storm will have pulled out of the region, leaving behind clearing skies.

Meanwhile, a winter storm hit southern Alberta, Canada on Friday causing blizzard like conditions and dumping over 20 centimeters of snow.