Wikinews:Commentary pages on news events

The following is a new style of Wikinews reporting or Wikinews development. It is still in the process of being created. Feel free to pitch in and help develop this idea or comment about it on the discussion page. (Please remove this tag once this page is sufficiently developed)

This is a proposal for a third tab on the top of articles next to "article" and "discussion": a place for one to post their opinion about the news event expressed in the article.

Background

On the talk page of an article, Edbrown05 made this comment:

Wikinews needs a place to comment on the news, because when I start rolling my eyes, I don't want to talk about improving the article, I wanna bitch about the news. Seems to me that enough space exits on the tabs at the top of an article for "discussion" or whatever it is to be called. -Edbrown05 02:00, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Messedrocker responded by creating "Wikinews:Rant about articles," where people could post their opinions of the news. Edbrown05 responded with, "No, it's not about that (rant), it is about adding a tab to a news story so people can help improve an article and also talk about it." This led to discussion how there could be an additional tab where people can post their opinions.

Proposal

This is a proposal for an additional to the right of the "discussion" tab reading "post your opinion." This would lead you to the corresponding page title in the Commentary namespace, which would be created. Commentary pages would link to this policy as a reminder.

Format

Commentaries would be posted as if they're talk page comments, however, it would be appreciated that when they post, they post their age category, their general area, where they live, and the date. (For example: "A teacher in his 40s living in Colorado. ~~~~~"). This allows for us to know their background for future historical reference. Or if they're registered, they can simply sign with the four tildes then feature that info on their user page. Again, this is optional, but would be helpful.

If a person wishes to write a followup, then they can indent it like on talk pages. If necessary, comments can be sectionated.

Rules

In order for a commentary page to exist, there must be a corresponding article.
Comments may not incite violence, be filled with hate, etc.

Important pages

Alternate proposals previously made

Template:xt
User:Bawolff/idea
Template:Featured POV discussion
various stuff on the water cooler archives, mailing lists, and other talky things.

Advantages

Not a fan of this idea? Here are some things to take into account.

This won't affect the neutrality of articles. Likewise, neutrality rules only apply to the article namespace.
This will encourage people to come on; if they post their opinion, perhaps interact with people, then maybe they will get more involved with Wikinews.
In order for a commentary page to exist, an article will have to exist. This will encourage people to write the article so they can rant afterwards.

Please discuss this plan on the talk page!

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