Wikinews:Water cooler/assistance/Archive/12

Main Page articles

What are the guidelines for changing them? I was thinking about replacing the tobacco and Nepal stories with Swedish Parliament passes electronic surveillance law and Bush calls for US offshore oil exploration. Maxim_(talk) 23:14, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

As far as I know, there are no strict guidelines. But the leads should represent our best and those with the broadest global interests. Also, they should hopefully if we have enough content be from the current day (which your suggestions are). Keep in mind, though, that the oil exploration story was "lead 1" for a number of hours already. The synopsis should be short and succinct. So, have a go at it. If other editors don't like what you do, the worst that could happen is that they change it. There is an unspoken "rule" that "lead 4" should be original or an interview. Cheers, --SVTCobra 23:25, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

First time here, need assistance on a story I think is important

I write articles under Moni3 at Wikipedia, and this is the first time I've ventured into Wikinews. I've worked for the past couple months on improving the articles on the Everglades at Wikipedia, and I did not expect my topic to be headline news, but it is. I don't know what I'm doing, but I think the story is worth developing. Please assist as you can, here. Thank you. --66.32.49.217 22:38, 24 June 2008 (UTC)

A request to a sysop

moved to Wikinews:Admin_action_alerts#A_request_to_a_sysop

Interview with Åse Kleveland

After three months of near-inactivity, I am organizing my next interview, this time with Åse Kleveland, a popular folk singer in Norway, the former Norwegian Minister of Culture, and the former president of the Swedish Film Institute. One of the Norwegian Wikipedians, Tore Sinding Bekkedal, has offered to do the interview in person in Oslo in a week or two, complete with free licensed photographs and even a video of the interview itself. So my question to you is, are there any questions you would like to see asked to Ms. Kleveland? I already cross-posted to Bybrunnen (Swedish) and Tinget (Norwegian) (the Swedish and Norwegian versions of the water cooler/village pump). The Norwegian Wikipedians in particular seemed excited about the prospect, just from the chat I had this morning. Anyway, feedback and questions are appreciated as always! Mike Halterman (talk) 10:58, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

I will need to do a bit o'research before I can ask a few questions. But overall, it sounds like an interesting interview. Will the video interview be something like we ask questions and they reply on video? DragonFire1024 (Talk to the Dragon) 18:53, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

I will be writing a fair bit of the questions and also taking user requests. From there it will be set up in an interview like how I have done my last interviews, and it will be conducted by Tore Sinding Bekkedal in person with Ms. Kleveland, who will answer on video. Of course the interview will be transcribed into text like how we normally do our interviews as well. Tore also wants to dub the video into English so people can watch it in either version, English or the original Norwegian. Mike Halterman (talk) 21:17, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

I am removing flag as this seems to have died unceremoniously. --SVTCobra 22:54, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

IndyMac

According to news stories (e.g. [1]), people are still waiting in long lines to withdraw money from IndyMac braches. It would be great if someone that lived nearby could visit a branch and photograph the line, possibly also interviewing people. If this is not the place to post such a request/suggestion please let me know. Superm401 | Talk 20:02, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

Special report on cloud computing

Cloud computing is getting more and more popular and important in the world wide web, and I think it deserves a special report. This is most likely going to be a huge report. However, there are two questions that need answering:

1. Should it be made?
2. What should be in it?

I'll be on holiday starting tomorrow (30th) and I'll be back on the 14th, so I won't be able to contribute in this discussion. --Mephiles (talk) 17:10, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

Help!

Sorry, I don't really know what I'm doing.Traditional unionist (talk) 00:07, 30 July 2008 (UTC)

This story really was from July 25 at the latest. I am afraid that makes it stale. If there are more recent developments, you can write about those and include what you have now as background. Cheers, --SVTCobra 00:31, 30 July 2008 (UTC)

China's Hua Guofeng dies

Please put China's Hua Guofeng dies as one of the lead articles. I think the story is far bigger than 'Stephanie Tubbs Jones'. MarkRobbins (talk) 07:47, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Spelling mistake in Lead Article 3

The current Lead Article 3, the lead for "Intel acquires mobile Linux developer, OpenedHand" has a very visible spelling error ("aquired" should be "acquired"), but I can't edit it because it is locked as a Lead Article. Could some admin please fix this error?

In the long term, it would be better to provide a mechanism to at least submit changes to Lead Articles, even if the changes have to be reviewed before being committed to the stable version (as with other Wikinews articles). It's embarrassing for the project to have such a visible error sitting there on the front page, unchangeable by anyone who might want to fix it...

Fixed. Anonymous101^talk 20:17, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

That process would be the {{editprotected}} template, or through WN:AAA. When you tried to edit it, did you see MediaWiki:Protectedtext, which gives the second of those options? Chris Mann (Say hi!|Stalk me!) 06:42, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

Pamphlets and leaflets

We've established that one of Wikinews' greatest needs right now is more contributors. Many projects have promotional pamphlets up on meta (see meta:Marketing and in particular meta:Leaflet), including Wikipedia and Wikiversity, but Wikinews is not represented. Are there any budding graphic artists who would like to design something to hand out at various events? This came to my attention because the Australian Wikimedia chapter are looking into doing some things for Software Freedom Day, on September 20th, so an ability to work to deadlines would be a plus. Chris Mann (Say hi!|Stalk me!) 11:48, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

Yes, yes, YES!!!. This was something highlighted at Wikimania, we desperately need leaflets, fliers, posters, badges, buttons, and other promotional materials. I ran off 30-40 copies of the print edition on a couple of the Wikimania days and left them lying around for coffee breaks - they all vanished. So, if Wikimedia Oz is attending anything get them to at least run off copies of the day's print edition for people to pick up. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 12:15, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

I'm sure i've seen a pamphlet floating around at commons at one point, but as BrianMc said, our greatest pamphlet is the print edition. Bawolff ☺☻ 06:56, 15 September 2008 (UTC)

Main Page refresh

I published Russian markets remained closed until Friday but it's not showing on the Main Page, even after refresh/purge. -- SEWilco (talk) 13:30, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

It should be up now. I'm not sure if you know, but Wikinews has now added [mw:Extension:FlaggedRevs|flagged revisions]] extension. You can see the details at Wikinews:Flagged revisions. Basically a user who has editor or reviewer status must approve all edits before they take place. I would recommend that you apply for editor status since you are a established editor. --PatrickFlaherty (talk) 13:43, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

Yes, please see Wikinews:Flagged revisions/Requests for permissions and apply as an established editor. Both articles and templates need flagged before an update to them will show for unregistered users.

Thanks for helping to try and avoid the leads going stale. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 08:25, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

Image replaced

Hi, please replace the image of Lech Kaczyński in Wikinews Shorts: June 23, 2007 with Image:Lech Kaczyński.jpg. Thanks, --Martin H. (talk) 16:29, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Done Chris Mann (Say hi!|Stalk me!) 01:20, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

Category naming

What is the standard for the name of a category of an election? There seems to be articles in Category:Canadian federal elections 2008 and Category:Canadian federal election, 2008, and yet the precedent of the American election would suggest that we use Category:2008 Canada federal election. To which should I standardize the articles? --Arctic.gnome (talk) 14:43, 6 October 2008 (UTC)

Preferably you'd check that you broke a category scheme used in multiple templates.

To explain the style of category used:

1995 Egyptian parliamentary elections
2000 Canadian federal elections
2000 Egyptian parliamentary elections
2004 Canadian federal elections
2005 Egyptian parliamentary elections
2006 Canadian federal elections

uses your "standardised" format.

Canadian federal elections 2000
Canadian federal elections 2004
Canadian federal elections 2006
Egyptian parliamentary elections 1995
Egyptian parliamentary elections 2000
Egyptian parliamentary elections 2005

uses a more understandable format, using natural sorts. - Amgine | ^t 05:15, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

More standardiesed? I only ever see it with the year in front except sometimes online. Blood Red Sandman ^{(Talk) (Contribs)} 06:28, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

From a sorting point of view the year at the front would make more sense. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 06:57, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

I'm content with the year in either place as long as all articles for the same election are in the same category — which they weren't — so I chose one to set them all to after getting no response here. I'm still a bit confused about why we are using the plural "elections" when there will be only one general Canadian election in 2008, but if that's the accepted standard I won't argue with in. --Arctic.gnome (talk) 15:01, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

Attention: California Wikinews contributors

I have added a substantial amount of material to the most recent article about the Chatsworth train wreck. Am listing it here to recruit other editors to improve the article to publication quality – particularly any editors who live or work near the site of the accident who might be able to provide a photo of the rail signal from the station platform where the witnesses who say they saw a green light were located. 69.140.152.55 03:44, 7 October 2008 (UTC)

Problem for contributors : Very slow response of reviewers

Hi, I see here that the issue of too few articles and too few editors is raised here. One reason could be that the process of getting an article reviewed is too slow. My article Nobel Peace Prize misused says Norwegian lawyer and activist‎ has been marked with the review tag for 20 hours now without a single response. It was very gratifying to get guidance on how to better comply with the NPOV guidelines. One user even offered a complete rewrite. I said I was happy with the rewrite, except for one factual error , and one rebuttal that was missing. The reply was to the effect of merging texts rather than using the rewrite. I did merge, and worked on the opening paragraph, trying to apply "What, where, when, why and how". But after I had done that I have not got any responses. The article has been in the ready to publish portion of the newsroom for almost 24 hours and nothing happens. Should I put a plea directly on the talk pages of those that had shown an interest in the article, earlier ?

This experience has gone a long way to put me off contributing articles or time to Wikinews. A bit of a chicken and egg problem I guess. There is a lack of critical mass. And perhaps that people lack the courage to take on potentially controversial subjects. Including potentially controversial and political subjects, however, could make Wikinews a much more interesting news-medium, and get the ball rolling. BalansR (talk) 10:35, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

• Yes there are too few articles, and this is because there are too few contributors. I think I know, however, why there are so few contributors: most stuff is second-hand reporting, just collages of news written elsewhere on the web. Perhaps if we focused more on original reporting, which is what I would like to read more on Wikinews, we could attract more people here. NerdyNSK (talk) 11:06, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

We need to do better. Reviews should be done within the hour but it seems that BalansR's wait is far more normal. --PatrickFlaherty (talk) 18:32, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

Currently there is a bot on irc that announces when an article has been tagged review (currently NewsWire has been abused into doing this on #wikinews-en). Perhaps if we had a more specialized bot that spams people about all outstanding articles needing review every hour, there would be an decrease in review time. Bawolff ☺☻ 23:42, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

We have a shortage of reviewers who are active in and around the UTC timezone. This can cause problems for anyone in that zone (such as myself) when writing stories. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 11:53, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

Interview published but not sighted

Just noticed this. CanadaVOTES: NDP candidate Jo-Anne Boulding in Parry Sound—Muskoka I would have posted on Patrick's talk but that page says he sometimes travels with no notice. TransUtopian (talk) 22:33, 10 October 2008 (UTC)

Done made other improvements as well. Cheers, --SVTCobra 22:53, 10 October 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, sometimes I don't notice when that happens. --PatrickFlaherty (talk) 23:20, 10 October 2008 (UTC)

Chula Vista, California becomes national model for blight control laws

Would someone review this article please? It's been waiting for over 12 hours. Durova (talk) 16:43, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the review. I have a related question. How is Wikinews about citing foreign language sources? Chula Vista is ten minutes from the Mexican border. If I write a similar story in the future, it could broaden the perspective to cite the local Spanish language press. Durova (talk) 17:51, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

It's fine to cite foreign sources but the review might take a bit longer, although you can usually browse Category:User es to find an active user who understands the source. Anonymous101^talk 17:55, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

Like Anon101 said, foreign language sources are perfectly acceptable, so long as a reviewer can be found. A reviewer who doesn't understand the language can, in a limited fashion, use resources such as Google Translate. This is useful for news briefs as the service has obvious problems in nuances of language. While it may take longer to find a reviewer, it is surprising how many languages we can cover, given how small Wikinews still is. --SVTCobra 23:44, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Illinoise

Looks unusable. Durova (talk) 23:29, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

I speedied it. --SVTCobra 23:35, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. :) Durova (talk) 23:57, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

7 officers killed in Dagestan, Russia, more wounded, newsworthy?

See here http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-10-21-russia-violence_N.htm I was wondering, are skirmishes of this caliber notable enough to have their own page and/or a news page? Or are they still too regular that instead they belong on a page such as [2] ? 62.195.108.231 17:26, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

If it is current, and you can find a second source, you can do a Wikinews news article on it. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 18:02, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

It happened today and there are many sources on it[3], some speak of 5 deaths however, other 6 and also 7. But is it significant enough to have its own article? As you may no, skirmishes happen every day in conflict zones. I don't know from what number of casualties the event deserves its own article. The Uzbin valley ambush[4] for example has its own article, with 10 Isaf casualties, but other skirmishes in Afghanistan with a lower death toll don't. 62.195.108.231 19:17, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

Calling the 2008 US election

What do people think about WN calling the election? There are enough independent polls for us to follow to do so. What do people think? Maybe list the sites that we can watch? Here is one: 538.com. DragonFire1024 (Talk to the Dragon) 22:10, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

Would there be any legal implications in doing so ? ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 22:11, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

Well so far as I know you cannot be arrested for being wrong. But our credibility can be severely damaged if we were. DragonFire1024 (Talk to the Dragon) 22:15, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

I think it would be pretty safe for us to call it right now, never mind on Tuesday. If betting organizations are already paying out on Obama, McCain supporters might as well stay home. Those people don't pay out if there is *any* chance that they're wrong, and they certainly don't pay out 250:1 on a whim. ShakespeareFan00 makes a good point though: didn't one of the major news networks get in some serious trouble for calling the 2000 election before it was completely decided? Gopher65_talk 22:17, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

FOX News got busted (for lack of better terms) for announcing Bush the winner, which in turn caused the whole Florida controversy and recounts and Supreme Court hearings/rulings and so on. But the thig is, everyne else, I mean everyone, and the popular vote said otherwise.DragonFire1024 (Talk to the Dragon) 22:19, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

I don't think it's possible at all to call this election - most poeple aren't aware of the Bradley effect, which may be a big factor. TheFearow (userpage) 23:39, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

Erm, unless someone has a time masheen... Cirt (talk) 22:55, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

Time machine? How so? election day is Tuesday so obviously it would have to be done then. DragonFire1024 (Talk to the Dragon) 00:30, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

Ignoring legal implications, isn't this a violation of NPOV. Its not over t'll its done, we shouldn't express an opinion on something just because it looks a certain way. 24.65.82.136 01:06, 2 November 2008 (UTC) (user:Bawolff)

There is really no legal implications to call an election before it happens. The reason why news organizations don't is they have agreements with news organizations not to do that. However, I don't think we should. I feel we should follow the AP lead or another major news organization. --PatrickFlaherty (talk) 01:15, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

Lets look at it this way...if there is a clear winner, then I see no issues. But this would be as much OR than anything. Would we say "Wait for the AP" if we got a scoop on something else? DragonFire1024 (Talk to the Dragon) 01:25, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

I agree. But it would need to rather clear such as Obama winning Florida and Ohio or McCain winning the previous and Pennsylvania and Virginia. --PatrickFlaherty (talk) 01:30, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

Agree with this point by PatrickFlaherty (talk · contribs). Cirt (talk) 04:15, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

/me coughs w:Dewey Defeats Truman. Guessing can be a dangerous game, even when opinion polls and whatnot point in one way. (Just to clarify, we're talking about calling an election before any voting takes place, not when most but not all polling stations are returning?). Bawolff ☺☻ 06:05, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

I do not think trying to second-guess the results is a particularly good idea; we need to stick to WN:NPOV and report the facts. This BBC article mentions Missouri almost always backing the winner, we should be looking at indicators such as this but not having headlines such as "Obama elected 44th President" when there is no clear victor.

A good lead into this would be to have an article that can be referred to as counting goes on. i.e. something the day before the election that documents the battleground states and any poll details for them. Something like that would give a ready reference source for making claims that the election appears to be going one way or the other. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 10:58, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

Preparing for the election

I think we should move the focus of this discussion on how to go about covering the election. I agree with Brian above with creating a story on the swing states before election day. But I think on election day we should have three separate stories each coming at different times. The first story should run during the day on Tuesday that's about the voting. This story should run until 7PM EST and then we have another story on the results. This story should run until a winner is declared (Please let there be a winner). The last story is declaring the winner. Thoughts on this? --PatrickFlaherty (talk) 16:40, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

I think that sounds fine to me. Now, call me silly if you like, but can't some of our U.S.-based reporters do a little exit polling/vox-populi OR? Certainly we can't get the coverage of MSM who can canvass multiple booths in every state, but even a few man-in-the-street interviews from key areas would be great material for an article, IMO. Chris Mann (Say hi!|Stalk me!) 23:46, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

I can see it now: NEWS FLASH!!! ABC, NBC, CBS are all interupting programs to report that DragonFire1024 thinks Obama is gonna win! WAS 4.250 (talk) 08:41, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

Gee! That was constructive input. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 09:53, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

As i said before. We would NOT call the election until tomorrow. I am NOT talking about opinion polls. The only polls that matter are the ones on election day. So if there is a clear winner, then I don't see why we cannot call it. And I never said I think anyone is going to win. In all seriousness, Calling an election does not happen until the real voting starts. DragonFire1024 (Talk to the Dragon) 14:49, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

Not to mention the fact that the three major news channels are not the only ones who are watching the polls. There are dozens of websites, and I noted one above. So it is not impossible to use sources NOT from Mainstream Media. DragonFire1024 (Talk to the Dragon) 14:51, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

If the pollsters have their own websites those should be used directly. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 15:30, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

This game's in the refrigerator: the door is closed, the lights are out, the eggs are cooling, the butter's getting hard, and the Jell-O's jigglin'! Durova (talk) 21:08, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

Deletion time

Cake_tin silliness... Durova (talk) 04:12, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

• Sarah Palin Flunks out unreferenced attack. Durova (talk) 20:27, 3 November 2008 (UTC)
• Benny Christanday promotional non-news. No reliable sources. Durova (talk) 22:01, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

You can tag these for speedy deletion or bring them up on WN:AAA --Brian McNeil / ^talk 22:42, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

Sure thing, thanks. :) Durova (talk) 22:45, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

Workflow to publish a short?

What is the process for the community to publish today's shorts? (Wikinews Shorts: November 7, 2008 ) Am I allowed to add {{publish}} myself? --InfantGorilla (talk) 11:08, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

No, you cannot add {{publish}} yourself, the workflow is the same for other articles and must go through independent third-party {{review}} before {{publish}}. Cirt (talk) 12:51, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. I also got advice on IRC that it is likely to be deleted (not archived) and won't be published until the page has at least three briefs. I added 2 more, then posted the {{review}} tag again. --InfantGorilla (talk) 14:24, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

Today's shorts

We now have three briefs - enough for publication - they look newsworthy and almost complete to me. However, they need a lot of cleanup before they can be published. Please pitch in at Wikinews Shorts: November 10, 2008 if you fancy a small challenge. --InfantGorilla (talk) 16:20, 10 November 2008 (UTC)

Time to refresh the lead articles?

There were 4 or 5 good articles published this morning. Any takers to update the Main Page? --InfantGorilla (talk) 11:43, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Can someone look at my changes please?

Senator Ted Stevens loses re-election bid in Alaska ballot. Either sight them, change & approve the changes, or undo & explain why they're bad. Thanks. GeorgeII (talk) 20:26, 19 November 2008 (UTC)

Thank you, SVTCobra. GeorgeII (talk) 01:51, 20 November 2008 (UTC)

Help

Can someone have a look at Santander excludes UK shareholders for me, it has been partially re-written since it was pointed out that the article has POV issues, and I think this has been fixed. I've also tried to adhere to the style book as possible and any farther changes that I can make will be tinkering around the edges. Can someone either edit the article until it is publishable (I'll learn how to do it better next time by comparing the changes) or tell me where I'm going wrong in which case I'll have another go at trying to fix it. Thanks in advance. KTo288 (talk) 13:53, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

Recent News

It's now official-the United States ARE under a recession. This is closely connected with the Dow Jones drop. Could I volunteer in helping you guys out on the subject or topic?

Mindy (talk) 02:16, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Please review YouTube experiments with HD videos

Hi, could anyone here please review my news here or tell me, how I do it my own? I waited so long and asked, and nothing changed. greets, --Andreas -horn- Hornig (talk) 10:53, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

Major earthquake jolts Bangladesh, centered in Nicobar Islands

Hi, please replace the image on this protected page by Image:Earthquake 20041226 96 3 globe.jpg which is a duplicate with a better name. I am going to delete Image:93 7 globe.jpg which is currently used on Commons. Cheers, Andreas Franz (talk) 18:33, 4 December 2008 (UTC) (admin at Commons)

I am extremely confused. When I go to the 93_7_globe.jpg page, I am shown the image page for the other one. What on earth is going on? Chris Mann (Say hi!|Stalk me!) 00:22, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Hang on, I think I see what's happened - it's a redirect on Commons which doesn't show the "redirected from" thing when you go to the local page. I've made the change to the article. Chris Mann (Say hi!|Stalk me!) 00:23, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

help getting started

I'm new to wikinews and would like some help starting a story. I'd like to create something on the w:International year of astronomy 2009 for the opening ceremony on Jan. 15-16, 2009. [5] I'm looking for some suggestions for a headline and some clarification about sources (are press releases from the organizaion acceptable?) --mikeu (talk) 15:21, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Hello mikeu and Welcome to Wikinews. To answer your second question, yes, you may cite press releases from the organization involved as a source, although it is important that you also cite a source from a different organization/news website. I can not currently think of a headline but if I do I will let you know. Thanks, Anonymous101^talk 17:17, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

How about Stargazing into the new year, 2009 is International year of astronomy? --Brian McNeil / ^talk 15:55, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

I just created Wikinews Shorts: January 16, 2009 (before I saw your title suggestion.) Any help developing this story would be greatly appreciated. --mikeu (talk) 17:50, 16 January 2009 (UTC)

I'm also new. I posted my first article today for review. One editor found everything acceptable and approved publication; another editor failed everything, with no reasons given, and sent me back to "develop". What is the status of the article when reviews conflict? How many approvals do I need to get an article published? If a single bad review can block publication, then wouldn't that give every editor here veto power? Anyway, the article is here -- suggestions and constructive criticisms are welcome! NonZionist (talk) 07:07, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

I have written a fairly extensive response on the article's talk page. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 09:49, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

Thank you. I appreciate the suggestions. NonZionist (talk) 15:49, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

Lets consider a retraction

At first glance, we seem to have messed up a story last Friday. Please discuss at Talk:Chemical firm LyondellBasell collapses#Didn't collapse --InfantGorilla (talk) 16:19, 16 January 2009 (UTC)

Obama inauguration article

Just a heads up, someone might want to check out the article Obama succeeds Bush as 44th president of the United States, particularly the last section. It's got a number of errors - facts are out of order and the times given are wrong. Moreover, it covers future events in the past tense, which seems like a mistake to me. It doesn't match what I've been seeing on my TV all day. Someone check it out! It's a high-visibility, important article and ought to be well-written and accurate. Hopefully this was the right place to post this. Cheers! 67.234.70.214 21:56, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

This has been addressed. Please see if it is satisfactory. --SVTCobra 01:46, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

Interview with Jimmy Wales

Jimmy Wales has agreed to be interviewed at some point on Friday about the Flagged Revisions proposal on Wikipedia. He wants the interview to be done over IRC. I am not proficient at setting up the interview process on IRC, can someone else take that on? I have started a prep page, at Wikinews:Story preparation/Jimmy Wales discusses Wikipedia's Flagged Revisions proposal with Wikinews - feel free to help with that as well, and submit questions to the talk page. Thank you, Cirt (talk) 15:08, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

I think we need a new infobox for Interviews with jimbo. (this is either our third or fourth interview with him) :P (jk). On serious note, for irc interviews, typically I think we've just had the subject and interviewer log on to #wikinews-interview , and have everyone else watch and talk about it on #wikinews-en. Bawolff ☺☻ 07:31, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

Who has ops in the interview channel? General practice in the past has been to have subject, and several interviewers, able to freely chat. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 10:46, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

The following users have +votsriRfA in #wikinews-interview: Pechorin, Chiacomo, CraigSpurrier, Amgine, mrmiscellanious. I'm sure we can convince one of them (I saw Amgine around recently) to give up perms to those that are more active. --ShakataGaNai ^{^_^} 18:31, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

Wow, thats a list of users i havn't seen in a while. Amgine and CSpurrier are the only two who are still active to my knowledge. Bawolff ☺☻ 23:39, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

How do I view articles posted in 2009?

I clicked Archives. I see 2009 isn't listed, so I try and add it, but http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews:Archives/Date/2009 is a redlink on preview and I can't edit the By Date or View All Years pages, both of which don't have 2009 yet. GeorgeII (talk) 22:15, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Done I believe I have fixed that now. --SVTCobra 22:26, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Thank you! If you or another admin could please also add it to Wikinews:Archives/Date and Wikinews:Archives/Date/All for uniformity? I can't, as those are permanently protected. GeorgeII (talk) 22:53, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Done, and fixed up the missing Novembers and Decembers too. Chris Mann (Say hi!|Stalk me!) 23:37, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

I let all of 2009 display, even though months past Feb are red links. Otherwise, we will just forget to update that each month, imo. --SVTCobra 23:45, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

That makes sense. Thank you to you both. GeorgeII (talk) 01:51, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Please review "The Simpsons" now in high-def and new adequate intro

the last time my formernews had to be deleted, because the review process took to long. I hope that this time, it willbe faster and my news can be published in this or any other form :), greets, --Andreas -horn- Hornig (talk) 15:19, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

US Congress passes $787 billion stimulus package -- needs a review

Hello, could someone please review this article before it becomes stale news? It's been waiting for a review for almost two days. Thanks,  ♪TempoDiValse♪  04:44, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

....can anyone review? I'd hate to have the article deleted because of it being old news.  ♪TempoDiValse♪  14:38, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Someone just reviewed it. Thanks!  ♪TempoDiValse♪  15:25, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Los Angeles photog needed Sunday evening

I've got access to an Oscar party red carpet, anyone know anyone that could photograph at it? The posting is here on Craigslist. -- Zanimum (talk) 01:31, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

I spammed this to mailing lists (commons-l and wikinews-l) to see if anyone will see. Bawolff ☺☻ 06:54, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, Bawolff! It's not an A-list party, but hopefully someone is interested.

I wish [between Wikinews and Commons] we had some sort of master list of willing photographers, but every past attempt has been a bit of a false start. -- Zanimum (talk) 13:36, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

While I'm not a professional photographer, I am in LA and I do have photographic equipment (and self-taught skills) decent enough to take photos of quality equivalent to last year. If we cannot find another photographer for Sunday then please give me a call. -- IlyaHaykinson (talk) 17:54, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

I'm emailing you now to say "yes". For some reason the Craigslist post, while still online, doesn't actually show up in the search feature or "Creative gigs" listing. Thus, I've got a grand total of you. Plus, I like your stuff on the Anonymous anti-Scientology protest. Also good is that you're familar with free licenses, so I don't have to explain the process of them to you, which is always a bonus. Merci!

Note, I've removed Ilya's info from the page, so that its at least not crawlable. -- Zanimum (talk) 21:26, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

I would absolutely have covered that but I am in Europe for the week leaving tonight, sorry. Mfield (talk) 17:01, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

Note that I posted some (hopefully helpful!) guidelines for taking red carpet photos at Wikinews:Red carpet event photography. -- IlyaHaykinson (talk) 08:20, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

your assistance please...

An editor replaced the {{review}} tag on Former Guantanamo captive turns himself in.

They replaced it with a {{cleanup}} tag that stated: "Needs to be written like a news areticle. See WN:SG"

I looked at WN:SG. Nothing obvious tied that policy document to my article, so I left them a note asking for a more helpful explanation. They replied, on their talk page, saying: "When I read it, it sounded more like a Wikipedia article than a news one. Just my opinion though. "

I didn't find this reply helpful either.

That {{cleanup}} tag states: "an editor considers it not to be publishable in its current form." Does this mean only an editor can replace that cleanup tag with a review tag?

Am I out of line to wonder whether if this individual did not want to offer an explanation, they should not have put on their official hat, and placed that {{cleanup}} tag, but should instead have simply noted their concern on the collaboration page? Geo Swan (talk) 20:41, 24 February 2009 (UTC)

UK university occupations in support of Gaza

I don't get it, I've created this page several times, left it under "review" the second time (forgot the first time) and come back to it deleted. What gives?

http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/UK_University_Occupations_in_Support_of_Gaza

Rd232 (talk) 21:33, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

Photographer question

Maryville First Baptist Church, March 8, 2009

1. What do I do if I stumble across a newsworthy event and photograph it? How do I connect the photos to Wikinews reporters?
2. How do I make myself available to Wikinews reporters who need a photographer to cover an event in my area?

For example, I took the image (right) this afternoon. It would be quite useful in a story about the shooting. The sign shows the memorial place and time for the slain pastor. It's better than the image CNN is using of the same sign. Ideas? And no, I don't care to write articles myself. Rklawton (talk) 01:38, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

There are some pages on meta for coordinating photographers, but no one really uses them. Your best bet is to subscribe to wikinews-l, as photographer announcements are sometimes posted there. I would also recommend (If you havn't already), put on your talk page that you're a photographer, and are available for taking pictures. (Perhaps we should have userbox/category for that). As for connecting the photo to us, I'm not 100% sure how, perhaps we should create something in requested articles, like requested articles we have photos for. Putting the photo on the appropriate commons gallaries/categories, and appropriate Wikipedia pages also helps, as that is the first place we look for photos. If you see an article in developing that the photo is suited for, you can always put the photo on that page. Hope that helps. Bawolff ☺☻ 02:47, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

The stuff I could do, I did (re: Commons & Wikipedia). It sounds like my next best bet would be to create a user category. Would you check back on my efforts later and revise them as needed? Rklawton (talk) 03:47, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

My response to your two questions:

1. Difficult, because text without a picture is still a story, but a picture without text is only a picture. I think uploading the picture is the first thing to do + creating a title for the event. Then other's have at least the possibility of expanding the event. If the article is not expanded, too bad it gets deleted. If it does get into an article, congratulations. See also my response on this page: Water cooler/policy#Coverage section that may lead to other's picking up stories more easily (and thus also yours covered only by pictures :)).
2. A user category for photographers + in the category overview (or some other page) it would be nice to see who lives where; thus one page of all photographers sorted by location?

Let me know what you think. Cheers, Van der Hoorn (talk) 22:59, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

1. How about a "Current event" or "Newsworthy event" category for Commons? This would give newsies something to browse if they're looking for a story to write.
2. If you create the category, I'll be happy to add it to my user page.
3. Would you look at my application for credentials and offer suggestions? It'll be easier for me to photograph certain events. Rklawton (talk) 03:30, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

Wikimania 2009 and Wikinews: Our best Original Reporting? You decide

I need some assistance. I need four articles, all Original Reporting (click link for OR article list), that the community can pick and vote on to be the three featured articles in my Wikimania presentation, assuming I can get a scholarship. So...I cannot vote or pick them as I will not be biased. But a rough requirement: All Original reporting. Some outside coverage aka mainstream media, blogs etc. Well written/in-depth. Good collaboration background. The rest is up to you :) DragonFire1024 (Talk to the Dragon) 22:18, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

Is there a limit on the period it was written in? i.e. only recent articles or old ones are acceptable as well? Van der Hoorn (talk) 23:06, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

Should we make it mandatory that one of the OR pieces is an interview? --SVTCobra 23:09, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

RE to SVTCobra: Well if it will be mandatory, then I say the Israeli President interview is the best for that. RE to Van der Hoorn: The OR can be from any point. I am not the final say...I will leave you guys to decide which ones. DragonFire1024 (Talk to the Dragon) 23:32, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

how about: Chris Benoit mystery editor confesses: claims "terrible coincidence" (lots of outside coverage, and pretty much broke by wikinews). Hmm, what else. UK minor faces charges for calling Scientology 'cult' at protest is pretty comprehensive. Coordinated terrorist attack hits London is also a good demonstration of the wikinews model "working". (And its the page with the second most revisions with 686 edits). As far as interviews go - The Shimon Peres is the obvious choice, but the satanism guy was also very interesting. Bawolff ☺☻ 04:32, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

I like my article on Bill Clinton and Al Franken. It has some 11,000 hits in 18 hours. Former US President Clinton stumps for Obama, Franken in Minneapolis. I'm very bias though. The Shankbone interview of Israeli PM is top-notch of course. —Calebrw (talk) 03:18, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

If I were to pick a Scientology article, it would be the one that started the Anonymous related stuff: Hackers attack Church of Scientology website. We were the first ones to report this...and its one of our most popular articles. I also would suggest the London bombings article as one, given its one of the top Google hits for WN. Definitely the Israeli President article. So let say 5 total...?? DragonFire1024 (Talk to the Dragon) 00:12, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

This sounds like a great idea and good luck to DragonFire1024 (talk · contribs) with the presentation - I'd say all the articles mentioned so far sound good. Cirt (talk) 00:17, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

I'm nominating my Young and the Restless piece, which is three interviews in one and was named featured article. It was probably the biggest interview piece Wikinews has ever done in just sheer size. That and in terms of TV coverage, it was our highest-profile interview (America's highest-rated soap). Mike Halterman (talk) 23:57, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

Why does a published date keep changing

Australian football: Melbourne Victory win A-League grand final was published on 1 March yet keeps being grabbed across to wikipedia by the news bot. I glanced at the article yesterday and it had 19 March 2009 at the beginning and was in the category for the 19th, now it's marked as 20 March without anyone having edited it in 12 days. Whats going on? Nanonic (talk) 06:38, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

{{date}} was not being used properly. It has been fixed. Thanks. --SVTCobra 08:24, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

Saskatchewan Canada original reporting

I have made a tentative email interview questionnaire here. If I carried on, would wikinews think the little ol' SK CA situation as described in the intro of the above....is notable for original reporting in this corner of the world on wikinews, and if so are these questions OK? I have tried to be neutral-non identifying in the questionnire online, as the second party has not been contacted yet, and I would like to do both sides if possible.SriMesh | talk 01:59, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

Wikinews was always meant to carry both international, as well as more local news imho. I think your interview is a good idea. (and lil Ol' SK has 16 articles and growing!) Bawolff ☺☻ 05:20, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, Have proceeded with the questions to my contact, and will contact the other folks also if possible. It's just a little story about a potential heritage site and the local interest in it... Kind Regards SriMesh | talk 18:51, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

Manawan Police Training School Lahore attack

Pl anybody look into it and clean it up.Yousaf465 (talk)

Not news

If you write an article and the review is that it's not news, what do I do if I'm not going to expand on it? Cause it's too local and it's stale. Is there a template or something I can use to get it out of the newsroom? Jac _roe 17:02, 13 April 2009 (UTC)

The {{notnews}} template moves an article to the "disputed articles" section of the newsroom, but there' no way to remove it completely from the newsroom without deleting it. (Our policy is that if an article has been tagged with {{notnews}} for over 72 hours without any editing, then it will be deleted.) tempodivalse 17:10, 13 April 2009 (UTC)

Ok. Sounds good. Jac _roe 17:17, 13 April 2009 (UTC)

How do I e-mail Brian McNeil, who has made suggestions on my page?

Hi. How do I e-mail Brian McNeil, who has made suggestions on my page?

I posted the following question: I write for the Huffington Post. The copyright belongs to me, except that my lawyer has advised me to add: "I, Jim Luce, contribute the above article to the public domain." I would would like to learn how I can also contribute my work to Wikipedia?

For example, see: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-luce/mountaineers-climb-up-so_b_186976.html Thursday, April 16, 2009

1. You can send him an email through: Special:EmailUser/Brianmc.
2. There is a difference between Wikipedia and Wikinews. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, while Wikinews is a place for news articles. Also see our introduction.
3. If you release your articles to the public domain, there is no problem using the material as well on Wikinews. However, you may want to consider an alternative license, especially this one, depending on your needs and how free you want your material to be. Also, Wikinews is somewhat different from other news sites in that everyone can edit your article (positive contributions that is, of course). Also see our style guide for more information.

I hope this kind of answers your questions. Feel free to ask more. Cheers, Van der Hoorn (talk) 16:36, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

The "email this user" link is down the left side of every page (somewhere). It only shows up if you have registered and confirmed an email address. I would have likely seen if you'd responded on your page, I tend to catch a lot of edits through recent changes, and I would love to see us work with yourself - and potentially others - from the HuffPo; it is one of the publications that I have a fair deal of respect for. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 17:18, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Some edits to the article made. Calebrw (talk) 23:24, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

In response to van der hoorn - I don't think cc-by-3.0 is compatible with wikinews (don't quote me on that - IANAL). cc-by-2.5 would be a better choice (or pd works great too). Bawolff ☺☻ 04:05, 20 April 2009 (UTC)

Thank you very much for all of your advise! Maybe I can figure this out with your help. I have uploaded the three photos from the Huffington Post, which as stated there have been given to the public domain. Each one is titled: "HuffPo" something... How do I insert them into story? Thanks! - Jim

Transwiki from Wikipedia

Are there any particular guidelines, or is there any particular help available, for tranwiki-ing content from Wikipedia which is rejected under "Wikipedia is not a news source"? I ask because the issue arises here: [6] and my experience with several attempts at trying to create a Wikinews article recently was pretty bad (end result: no article, reasons unclear, no help forthcoming)... Anybody pitching in for the specific case please comment at the Wikipedia link too... cheers, Rd232 (talk) 18:18, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

This is a great idea! They've also got "breaking news" and "recent deaths" categories we could tap into - once we find a solution. Oh, and the solution you seek will likely be programming - because the content is copyrighted GDFL per editor, so we need to credit each editor for his/her contribution. This isn't always feasible via link because the article may be deleted. Rklawton (talk) 18:56, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

We need individual permission from each editor to publish wikipedia content here. To reuse wikipedia content, we need to give proper credit, and require anyone who reuses the content to also reuse (+ a whole bunch of technicalities, like including a copy of a billion page legal document with each reuse [sidenote: vote to switch 'pedia to cc-by-sa, which isn't insane]). However it was decided a while ago that wikinews should only require that re-users give credit, they are not required to allow the next person to reuse their changes. These to ideologies on re-use are incompatible, and thus we need permission from each specific wikipedian who edited the article, before we are allowed to use it here. Please see Wikinews:Copyright. Bawolff ☺☻ 01:46, 18 April 2009 (UTC)

Removing "unpublished" articles

Hi, I wrote an article which has yet to be published. I have decided that I would like to move it to another place like Newsvine.

I don't completely understand the terms of the CC license. As my article is has yet to be "published" do I still retain full copyright control over it? So I would be fully within my rights to completely delete the article and repost it elsewhere, unless it has actually been "published", correct?

Does anyone have any insight into this? Thanks!

Sunshine Squad (talk) 22:37, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

Basically, you gave permission for us (and everyone else in the world) to use it under the cc-by. However you still retain the right to do whatever else you want with it (cc-by is non-exclusive). That means you can still bring it to wherever you want/do with it what you will, but we (wikinews) can still publish it if we wish [if you ask, we'd probably delete it as a courtesy, but we aren't required to] (for that matter someone else can come along and take it, and publish it somewhere else if they like). Hope that clarifies things. (see also the cc faq)Bawolff ☺☻ 04:02, 20 April 2009 (UTC)

I don't understand. How can anyone use it, since it's not complete? And it hasn't been published?

If I understand correctly, it is still in the editing stage, and hasn't been approved or published. Until this happened, I'm free to make changes and corrections to it, correct?

Sunshine Squad (talk) 04:27, 20 April 2009 (UTC)

Basically your free to do anything with it at any time. You own the copyright to everything you submit. The only catch is that other people may do stuff with whatever you submit. however that does not prevent you from doing stuff with it. When you add something to wikinews, you are giving the entire world non-revocable permission to use whatever you submit, in anyway whatsoever, as long as they say, this is based on something that came from wikinews. However, all you're doing is giving people permission to use the draft article (however it appears currently). You still own everything you have submitted, and can do what you please with it (with exception of taking away the permission you granted to allow other people use the article). Other people can still use however much of your article was submitted so far [since it is incomplete, its unlikey anyone would use it, but they could if they wanted to]. Does that make sense? [disclaimer: IANAL]. Remember, wikinews does not own any of its articles, Wikinews (and the world at large) just has permission to use them. They are owned by whomever wrote/contributed to them. Bawolff ☺☻ 04:39, 20 April 2009 (UTC)

In summary - you have the right to post it elsewhere, but you don't have the right to have it deleted here. (However it probably would be deleted, as unfinished articles are not generally useful, and if the author wants an article deleted, and it hasn't been published yet, it is the polite thing to do). When you press submit, you give the world non-exclusive permission to use what you post under certain conditions. however you still own the rights to your work, and are free to give other people different permissions to use the work under other conditions. Bawolff ☺☻ 04:43, 20 April 2009 (UTC)

Please help with the survey [motivation and value of Wikinewsies]

Dear Wikinewsies,

We are conducting a study on the values and motivations of Wikinewsies, who post or edit stories on Wikinews. You were emailed because you are recognized as a Wikinewsy. The survey will take about 10 minutes. We deeply appreciate your help to answer the questions.

For each valid finished questionnaire, we will donate $1 to the Wikimedia Foundation. The results of the survey will be analyzed in an anonymous way and used only for academic purposes. If you are interested in the findings, please email ffgao@ufl.edu. We’d be more than happy to share the findings. Thank you for your time!

On-line Questionnaire: http://projects.jou.ufl.edu/survey/entry.jsp?id=1237918327020

Thank you. Have a nice day!

Fangfang Gao Doctoral Student College of Journalism and Communications University of Florida PO Box 11840-200 Weimer Hall Gainesville, FL, 32611-8400 (352)846-1155 ffgao@ufl.edu

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Ffgao (talk • contribs)

OR and what is a scoop?

Every once in a while someone says that they contacted scoop. When and how does one contact scoop? SriMesh | talk 15:22, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Scoop is a distribution list for accredited reporters - scoop<at>wikinewsie.org. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 18:07, 27 April 2009 (UTC)