Talk:Main Page/Talk Archives/3

God Demands 6000 Articles!
I woke up this morning (or perhaps was roused from a drug-induced stupor, deets not important) to discover that God himself had given me a vision! It was a glorious vision, a vision of such magnitude and beauty that I felt called to share it with all of you here today. And it didst go a little summin like this:

~* MY CHILDREN, you have pleased me greatly with your efforts at the Wikiality.com internets tubes since it began back in August 2006. You have brought much truthiness into the dark and sinful world, and it was good. But don't go getting too pleased with yourselves, oh my teh kids today, for there is still great falsiness and factiness yet to combat. Now, in this hour of darkest need, I call upon you to show your devotion to Me, the God of your Fathers and your Fathers' Fathers (and even a few of your Mothers), by doing my Great will. To provest that thou lovest Me, ye must reach My required goal of producing 6,000 articles of pure Colbert-centric, gut-driven truthiness by Midnight this Sunday (April 29, 2007). But Remember:  I, God, will not approve of just any old crap. No bullshit random wikip*dophilic articles about how the "bears are eating grandma's brains blah blah blah." No, The Maker of the Heavens and The Earth wants truthy articles, satirical articles, funny articles, beautiful articles - articles like Jesus or Stephen might make, were they not so busy doing my will by smiting the unrighteous in other ways. The Lord Your God believes that you can make such holy articles and still reach your goal, for Lo! you have but 49 articles left to make. The glory of the Lord - and of Wikiality.com - is nigh upon you. So snap to it, peoples. Vision out *~

So, yeah. That was basically it.--thisniss 17:04, 24 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Wow, what a coincidence! God also gave me a message. He told me:


 * My child,
 * it appears my Most Blessed Website is nearing the number of years since America's Planet's birth
 * ...be sure not to allow a false prophet to say she "Called It"
 * Movin' On trough closed...
 * I swear that's what He told me...--WatchTVEatDonutDrinkBeer 17:14, 24 April 2007 (UTC)


 * I am but a vessel for the Lord. My heart is full of faithiness; my head, empty of thoughts. What could I possibly "call"? I simply conveyed the message above, as per my divine instructions. My only desire in so doing - my only desire in this entire sin-soiled and blood-soaked world - is to Glorify Him with 6000 articles. But I suppose if you'd rather call teh wrathz of the Almighty down upon our heads, we could see how that works out. --thisniss 20:12, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Holla! ~6000~ I'm sure The Lord will be most pleased with us, our tubes, and this internets trough!

New Page for Wikiality.com Heroes
Heroes: the Wikiality.com internets tubes needs you. Find out what you can do on the Wikiality.com Big To Do List. --thisniss 17:13, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Featured Articles Protocol
Please join the discussion on how we should handle Featured Articles. It would be good to get the wikiality on this soon so we can move on procedures. --thisniss 17:13, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Thought you might want to know
The formatting is screwed up for Firefox. The "Colbert's MeTube" is on top of other text... I'm guessing that's a goof but what do I know? --Alethic Logic 21:18, 21 March 2007 (UTC)
 * It has been changed, maybe not fixed, but it is different.--WatchTVEatDonutDrinkBeer 17:30, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

3 Questions

 * 1) Are the "stub" pages not counted in the list of articles? Because there are so many stub pages that are readable (imo) and could probably "count" as pages, but still have the "stub" tag because they are expandable or it never got taken off or whatever.  Case in point: American (language), which is what all our articles are written in. Which leads me to
 * 2) Could we have a more prominent placement for the All Pages articles link? I think this category catches everything, right? (unless the wikilobbyists at Microsoft have purchased "all" and corrupted its meaning now, too?)  Could the "All" link could find a home below the "4000+ articles in American" line? Or is there a reason that I'm missing that makes the "All" category a threat to America and the Wikiality.com?
 * 3) I love the new layout! It looks so great!! Are you still thinking about (eventually) rotating an "article of the day" type thing in the "Feature" box? (I so wanted not to ask a question for #3, but in the end, I couldn't resist.  Sorry.) --thisniss 03:14, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Stubs...They are not counted in the total. We are working on a "Spring Cleaning Day" soon and that issue will be resolved or at least handled then...
 * All Pages...there was a link up on the front page for "All" under "Most of What You Need To Know" but took it down, because if it is only "most" of what you need to know, then "all" is "more" than you need to know, not "most", but I could just as well put it back up...
 * Front Page Content Still working on it. I want to give people more of a say in what happens on the front page, and we haven't heard from very many people. No offense, but we just got a whole bunch of new people who are just learning and don't know enough of the site to start tweaking stuff, and some of the "old" people have yet to return from vacation, work, school, jail, etc.  Give it a little more time.
 * Thank you for your input though, it is always welcome.--WatchTVEatDonutDrinkBeer 03:24, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
 * The users in jail have the least excuse. I mean, what else do they have to do with their time but live free and easy on our tax dollars, and spend hours contributing to Wikiality.com?  sheesh. --thisniss 03:30, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

What Should be on the Front page?
Essentially I believe that is the question everyone is asking.

Currently, the front page is blocked for everyone except admins. The only way for someone who is not an admin to get something on the front page is to have others vote it in.

If we allow admins to post their favorites on the front page--in addition to voted-on pages--what are we saying about access to the font page?

I believe we should discuss what should be on the front page, how stuff should get there and what other things should be added.

Please add suggestions and comments, try not to simply delete something, instead comment on why you do not believe it should be on the front page.

WHAT IS CURRENTLY ON THE FRONT PAGE
1. pictures of Stephen

2. the American flag

3. essential links
 * a. Stephen-related articles
 * b. guides, helpful pages (for beginners)
 * c. interesting portals (the dictionary, the menu, etc.)

4. "Feature" articles voted on by the Wikiality.com users:
 * a. links
 * b. excerpt (added JAN 28, 2007)

5. Online Polls or interesting Stephen-related voting opportunities (none right now, but can be reposted)

6. America/Stephen Haters (removed JAN 28, 2007)

7. External Links

8. Occassional Important Headline/Image (upcoming guest, etc)

9. News Section (added JAN 28,2007) with:
 * a. excerpt of news story from "Breaking News"
 * b. photo/caption from "Write A Caption"
 * c. #8 from above

WHAT SHOULD BE ADDED

 * Personally, I think everything that is currently on the front page should be on the front page. I'm just thinking from the position of a proselytizer that we could do a bit more to pull people into the content of our pages.  I know the site started, remains, and always will be Stephen-o-centric, and that is a glorious thing.  But I think this site is far more than your typical fan site.  Some of the writing here rivals (or even surpasses) the Onion (just my favorite example) for satire, and I don't think people who aren't hanging out here all the time would have any way of knowing that right now.  I mean, I know that you are all wicked awesome, but I think if there were a regular rotation of the best articles on the front page, where some of the content - not just a link - were featured, then people would be more likely to read it, and to get sucked further into the site.  I also think that as inconceivable as this might be to us, there might be people coming to the site because somebody told them about it, or they read about it somewhere, or whatever.  I feel we should consider the perspective of those people whose primary frame of reference is different from ours, rather than only working from the assumption that everyone who comes is already in a mindset of Stepheneration.  Having something on the Main Page that offers a "sample" of our better content (which hitting the "Random Page" may or may not do) might actually be a way to bring the few remaining unconverted souls to the altar of Our Glorious Stephen.  Even if everyone who comes here is already a Colbertite, we still want to show off our best stuff.

As to how the "Page of the Day" gets selected - a few thoughts:
 * 1) You could obviously have "Suggestions" page where you took suggestions from everyone, and then let the Admins sort it out.
 * 2) Personally, I'm not in favor of a voting system, because it's not really working for the Features, and the Page of the Day should change more frequently, meaning even more voting
 * 3) I don't personally have a problem with Admins picking them, for now. I'm not an admin, so I've got nothing at stake in saying that.  If you start being shitty about it, people will complain and you can change it.
 * 4) If you don't want to do it, appoint a "board" or a Page of the Day Study Group made up of people who do want to do it (or at least don't mind).
 * 5) Call it something good - Watch is usually good at coming up with names. some variation on "Freedom Page of the Day" or something ("Frage of the Day?" "Page of the Fray?") something better than that.
 * 6) If it seems like it's going to be a pain to change it every day, my gut feels like a "day" at Wikiality.com doesn't have to be 24 hours - it could be 6 hours one "day" and 72 the next.  Just as long as there's something pretty and interesting up there to pull people in.
 * 7) Put it ABOVE the "break" - most of the "Feature" links fall below the point where you have to scroll right now. People are lazy.  I am.  Make it easy.

Sorry for the long reply, but I wanted to explain my reasoning. I love this site, and I think it's brilliant on many, many levels. I want more people to know just how brilliant it is. --thisniss 20:29, 27 January 2007 (UTC)


 * colboogle.com is a Colbert version of Google that I think should be in our links, seeing as one of their sites to search is Wikiality.com --Whytokay 09:42, 29 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Colboogle is added, thanks for the heads-up, Whytokay!--WatchTVEatDonutDrinkBeer 17:16, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

 PLEASE NOTE  I have reskinned the Main Page (more/continued suggestions are welcomed) and added a "News" section which will now include:
 * a blurb from one of the stories on "Breaking News"
 * a photo and caption from "Write A Caption"
 * a made-up BIG HEADLINE to promote some Colbert-related thing or another

Please keep the suggestions coming...--WatchTVEatDonutDrinkBeer 17:16, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

HOW CONTENT SHOULD BE INCLUDED ON FRONT PAGE
1. pictures of Stephen -admins

2. the American flag -admins

3. essential links -admins

4. "Feature" articles voted on by the Wikiality.com users -users votes

5. Online Polls or interesting Stephen-related voting opportunities -admins (based on suggestions/discovery)

6. America/Stephen Haters -admins

7. External Links -admins

8. Occassional Important Headline/Image (upcoming guest, etc) -admins

--WatchTVEatDonutDrinkBeer 00:55, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Would it be possible...
...to occassionally or often put up some articles on the Main Page with a "lead in" like a picture or a few lines of text from the article? It was nice to have some of this when the Truthy Award articles were up. Maybe we could have a regular rotation of "headlines" or "leader box" articles, like on The Onion's page? Obviously they're a fake newspaper, and we're a fake encyclopedia, but you get the idea. Something beyond just a link that might draw in the "casual visitor" to the site (rather than the rabid fanatics like me, who will obviously read anything that's here)? There are a lot of really great entries here, but the titles alone don't necessarily let you know their quality - or even what they are about, in some cases. There are also many excellent articles that are never going to make the "Feature" list for various reasons - too short, need constant editing b/c "Report" related, or just because nobody votes. This could also be a way to revisit some of the particularly good older Features. Whatever you put there, it could serve as an introduction not just for readers, but for NOOBs, too - a way of saying "This is the kind of stuff we like." You all may hate this idea, but before you dismiss it entirely, you should consider that it came to me while I was driving around in my 1986 Chevy "Good Times" van - a truthiful site of All-American inspiration if ever there was one. --thisniss 21:02, 26 January 2007 (UTC)
 * I support something like this whole-heartedly. I suggested in the admin board that the admins pick an article a day, or a couple articles each to spotlight on the front page.  I know it's a little wikipedophiliac but it makes sense.  The random page isn't as good to stumble onto good pages, since we have 4000 articles now, and good stuff gets buried if not featured...--Esteban Colberto 21:35, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Backup Colboard
Can the front page have a link to the backup Colboard? Jcembree 04:40, 3 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Done, always willing to help the Nation. Keep us posted on the situation.  Wow, that rhymed.  MC Esteban™ 04:47, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

To www or not to www
I noticed that Wikiality is using both http://wikiality.com/Main_Page and http://www.wikiality.com/Main_Page as domain name. Furthermore, google are crawling both with the www and without the www as if they are two separate sites. This may be a disadvantage to us because Google give out duplication penalty for identical content being hosted on two "different" sites. (PS: A day will come when articles from The Truthiness Encyclopedia will rank higher than articles from The Free Encyclopedia!) --  Princess Ai 00:17, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

Scooter
Can Scooter be added to the archive of previous featured articles?

Thanks, Careax 02:30, 21 April 2007 (UTC)
 * done.--WatchTVEatDonutDrinkBeer 02:37, 21 April 2007 (UTC)
 * My bad, sorry about that. --MC Esteban™ 02:48, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Article count maintenance
I'm confused... do newest comments on this page go to the top or the bottom?

Anyway, why's the article count on the main page being updated manually? One can simply use the NUMBEROFARTICLES magic word, like so: ,{{Randnum}{{Randnum}}{{Randnum}} --Bi 06:45, 21 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Good idea, thank you.--WatchTVEatDonutDrinkBeer 07:03, 21 April 2007 (UTC)