Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Signpost/2018-07-31/News and notes

Latest comment: 5 years ago by Nøkkenbuer in topic Discuss this story

Discuss this story

  • I wonder if we couldn't do something like automatically sign up users to receive the Signpost when they hit 100 edits or something like that. --Izno (talk) 03:19, 1 August 2018 (UTC)Reply
  • I support auto signup for The Signpost as Izno suggests. I think adding The Signpost to lists of nuts&bolts tutorials, policies, and essays could be an enthusiasm builder to fuel the climb to competency. A leg-up into institutional memory. Perhaps a special Signpost collection of articles picked from previous issues could open the user talk page for each newly registered editor. — Neonorange (Phil) 04:28, 1 August 2018 (UTC)Reply
    An alternative might be for a bot to deliver the most-recent copy of the Signpost, and then point users to the place where they can sign up if they are interested. --Izno (talk) 04:34, 1 August 2018 (UTC)Reply
  • Thegooduser - How is the rival newspaper coming along? If the Signpost faces new journalistic pressures, we may need to diversify our barnstars - WikiPulitzers, anyone? Stormy clouds (talk) 20:15, 1 August 2018 (UTC)Reply
    Stormy clouds Have not started it yet, but willThegooduser Let's Chat 🍁 22:42, 1 August 2018 (UTC)Reply
    We can't even get enough users for 1 paper, I don't know if Wikipedia can handle 2! — pythoncoder  (talk | contribs) 22:55, 1 August 2018 (UTC)Reply
    When anyone even makes one edit, there should be a checkbox for them to select subscribe to Signpost because I would hate to have anyone miss the most recent Humour article. Barbara   21:49, 3 August 2018 (UTC)Reply
    A challenger has risen (permanent link), and so it begins. I fear our days are numbered now, that final death knell soon to be rung. It was fun while it lasted! —Nøkkenbuer (talkcontribs) 12:58, 26 August 2018 (UTC)Reply
  • In other news, the Wikimedia Foundation redesigned the website, as announced here. As seems to be the case in every project the Foundation undertakes, the new website has come under some fierce, yet justified criticism -- an example -- that anyone familiar with the history of the Wiki[p|m]edia movement could have foreseen. A request for comment from ED Katherine Maher was not answered because she was out of the office. -- llywrch (talk) 06:25, 4 August 2018 (UTC)Reply
  • I've been back to Wikipedia for several weeks now and only JUST found out about the existence of the Signpost by finding it listed on someone else's User Talk page. Signed up right away... Something I'd like to add to the idea of a "welcome" message is the idea that I'd actually benefit from a Wikipedia Jargon Dictionary. Terms like RfA, RfC, RfD and such confuse me in Wikipedia parlance. Does such a glossary or dictionary exist? --TadgStirkland401 (TadgTalk) 02:07, 22 August 2018 (UTC)Reply
    @TadgStirkland401: Where you would expect. --Izno (talk) 02:15, 22 August 2018 (UTC)Reply
    @Izno: It might be a good article in the Help space called simply Dictionary with a redirect from Glossary. --TadgStirkland401 (TadgTalk) 02:40, 22 August 2018 (UTC)Reply
    Perhaps this will help, TadgStirkland401? —Nøkkenbuer (talkcontribs) 13:52, 22 August 2018 (UTC)Reply
    @Nøkkenbuer: That’s perfect. Is there a redirect from Dictionary or Glossary? I can’t imagine anyone searching for Wikispeak. —TadgStirkland401 (TadgTalk) 17:46, 22 August 2018 (UTC)Reply
    Well, the WikiSpeak page is actually a humor page; I only linked it for some levity given the apt context. More seriously, Izno's mention of Wikipedia:Glossary is where any such redirect should go. Wikipedia:Dictionary is already a redirect, so unless that redirect is overwritten, that is not available. Given what links to the redirect, I'm not comfortable with simply boldly overwriting it. Regardless, any reader who needs to peruse such lingo can turn to Help:Glossary; any editor can turn to Wikipedia:Glossary. There are also directories and indexes and the reader's guide to Wikipedia, among others.
    Perhaps we can make these resources more visible, though I'm not sure how. Adding them to welcoming templates is an option and not too difficult to do. Template:Wikipedia editor navigation is a massive template that basically has all the links to major pages any reader or editor will ever need, including links to the glossaries, appendices, and indices. That template is already added to many pages. What else needs to be done?
    To be clear, the reason why it's called a glossary is because that is what the section of a work that contains definitions to certain technical terms is called, including in encyclopedias. Although glossaries are also dictionaries in a sense, a dictionary is usually understood to be a book of definitions for words, often based on common usage among the general dictionaries. For anyone familiar with what an encyclopedia is, such as a print copy of Encyclopædia Britannica they used in school for an assignment, they will probably also be familiar with a glossary is.
    This discussion is venturing out of the scope of The Signpost, especially the News and notes feature, so it may be best to continue this elsewhere if you wish to do so. For a more general audience, the village pump may be the best place to go. Otherwise, Wikipedia:Glossary's talk page is another option. —Nøkkenbuer (talkcontribs) 10:00, 23 August 2018 (UTC)Reply