IvoShandor

Welcome

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

Our key policies - if you read anything, read these!

• Wikinews:Neutral point of view - tell every side to a story in a fair and balanced way
• Wikinews:Cite sources - everything in a Wikinews article must be sourced

Here a few pointers to help you get to know Wikinews:

• Wikinews:Introduction - overview of the site
• Wikinews:Writing an article - how to write and publish a complete article
• Wikinews:Content guide - what's suitable for Wikinews
• Wikinews:Style guide - how articles should look before publishing
• Wikinews:Contents - the contents page.

There are always things to do on Wikinews:

• Existing articles need expanding and checking for spelling and mistakes
• The front page lead articles often need updating
• Developing stories need finishing and publishing
• Discussions need your input
• Audio Wikinews could always use more contributors
• And of course, stories need writing!

By the way, you can sign your name on Talk pages using four tildes (~~~~), which produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, you can ask them at the water cooler or to anyone on the Welcommittee, or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome!--David Shankbone 18:49, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

Welcome

I'm looking forward to some good Illinois and Chicago stories, and maybe an interview with Mayor Daly? Oprah? --David Shankbone 18:49, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

• Good luck with Obama - I had trouble; maybe you can be luckier! I've given up on chasing the Presidential candidates for now. I'd love to see a horse plant slaughterer interview. That would be interesting. --David Shankbone 18:54, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

Floods spare historic Farnsworth House

While you are free to report on this now, try to keep it current. What you cannot do is date a story to when it happened, it has to be when you report it. Good luck and happy editing. --SVTCobra 00:48, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

• I think it looks great. What I would do is bring it into the future, perhaps in the first sentence. Something like, "When the river flooded in August...preservationists breathed a sigh of relief." Usually, something timely and current is preferred, but I think this is a great first article and worth posting. Certainly can't hurt. Good job, Ivo! --David Shankbone 02:18, 18 October 2007 (UTC)
  • I published it. If you think it's in good shape then you put {published} on it at the bottom and it goes up under whatever date code there is. If you want to put a link to it on Wikipedia, you can put {Wikinews|.......} Welcome to Wikinews Ivo!!! By the way, because this project is still small, you can really get a good sense of what is going on by looking at "Recent changes" on the left-hand nav bar; unlike WIkipedia, where that is pretty useless b/c of so many changes, it gives you a good overview of what everyone is doing. We small. We want to be bigger - help us get there!!! --David Shankbone 02:44, 18 October 2007 (UTC)
    • I'm not sure about public domain. Here's a good place to ask: Wikinews:Water cooler/miscellaneous‎. Just an FYI: Users here sometimes can be more brusque and gruff than they should be; although we all have an interest in being nice to attract people on this project. I always let it get to me, but don't let it get to you if you come across it. Introduce yourself at the Water cooler --David Shankbone 02:51, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

OK, I'll be that "more brusque and gruff" portion of Wikinews. In that capacity I just wanted to point out the importance of dates. The date of your sources is relatively unimportant, although what you write can become "stale-dated" especially if events are unfolding. But what I really want to say is to date the articles that you write as you write them. And don't change (besides grammar) articles that are over 24 hours old. --SVTCobra 03:05, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Time and timeliness . . .

You are right. If something is factually wrong (given the information available at the time), it should be corrected even after 24 hours. The "24 hours" is also somewhat arbitrary, although very necessary. A collaborative story cannot be created in an instant. News breaks and information comes together to form a story. That takes some time to develop. But it cannot continue to develop indefinitely. A line must be drawn. For example (extreme), the Iraq War. Potentially, this would be one story, going on multiple years. Another (extreme) example would be if we found out that someone other than Booth assasinated Abraham Lincoln. We wouldn't write that article with the date in 1865. --SVTCobra 03:28, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Yes, and I am not suggesting that you "pieced" together an article or story. But Floods spare historic Farnsworth House did originally have an August date, but it should be dated the date that you are writing it, even if the flood was in August. Further, if it gets held up in the Wikinews editorial process (for whatever reason) the date will be changed to that of publication (often referred to as a date-bump). --SVTCobra 03:47, 18 October 2007 (UTC)