Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Signpost/Boneyard/Featured content dispatch workshop/Archive 2

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Potential idea - difficulties posed by technical topics?[edit]

After seeing Emmy Noether be promoted this weekend, I wonder if it might be good to write a dispatch soon on some of the difficulties in bringing articles on technical topics to FAC. There was some excellent teamwork on this FAC and they may have good advice for others who wish to write on very technical topics. I didn't add this to the project page list because I wasn't sure if this would be enough for a full dispatch or if there might be other FACs we could combine with this to discuss. Karanacs (talk) 18:12, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Any opinions on whether this is a good topic? If so, I'll work on it, if not, I'll work on something else. Karanacs (talk) 00:50, 4 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I haven't commented because 1) I'm having a hard time imagining others and 2) I'm unclear how you would write it. If you have a vision, you should do it, but I'd so much rather finish up the piece on Raul and history of FA first. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 00:51, 4 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

July 14[edit]

July 7 will likely be the Monthly Updates of policy and guideline pages; WP:FCDW/July 14, 2008 is open. Anyone? We have the new referencing feature, the history of FA includes Raul's role (already started by Karanacs, but both Karanacs and Tony are pretty busy), a long list of potential topics on the mainpage here, Laser's and Awadewit's sourcing, or as a filler, the Rick Block interview. Who wants it? SandyGeorgia (Talk) 06:05, 30 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Feedback needed, folks! Do we want to go ahead and run User:Laser brain/Dispatch, to get all the reliable source series done close together, or is that overkill, and would we rather run David Fuchs interview of Rick Block Wikipedia:Featured content dispatch workshop/WBFAN, or would we rather run a series of interviews together? Intersperse or group the like topics? Get RS out of the way now, or intersperse with interviews? SandyGeorgia (Talk) 17:11, 3 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Let's split them up. We can do an interview now and more on reliable sources soon. Hopefully I'll be back writing more dispatches soon, too.... Karanacs (talk) 17:35, 3 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah, as you said before, there's enough content for the interview to stand on its own, and I don't particularly like fusing disparate topics together (plus, that leaves us with more buffer.) Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs (talk) 23:53, 3 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • If at all possible, break the dispatches into series: the individual dispatches have, IMO, tended to be too long; and we're busting our guts to get them planned and done to a high quality. We need to treat topics over more than one week where suitable. Tony (talk) 01:53, 4 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I've copying the interview over to the 14th dispactch, Sandy. Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs (talk) 20:24, 9 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

July 21[edit]

It's the 17th, and we have no Dispatch for the 21st. Are Tony1 and Karanacs doing the history of FA (draft at User:Karanacs/Dispatches/History), or do we need to ask Laser to finish off his sourcing piece (draft at User:Laser brain/Dispatch) ?? SandyGeorgia (Talk) 21:34, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Maralia was going to do some filler interviews to have ready when we're in a pinch; where does that stand? SandyGeorgia (Talk) 21:34, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I am going to be working on the dispatch tomorrow!!! Karanacs (talk) 21:46, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

There is a very rough draft at Wikipedia:FCDW/July 21, 2008 now. Those who have been a part of the process longer should please take a look and hack away at will. I have made no attempt yet to make it the least bit pretty or of great prose. Karanacs (talk) 16:38, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks so much, Karanacs; I'm sure Tony will work his magic. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 00:13, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

July 28[edit]

Laser, how about User:Laser brain/Dispatch for WP:FCDW/July 28, 2008? Then if Tony does Updates on WP:FCDW/August 4, 2008, Karanacs, would you be able to write up WP:TFA/R for WP:FCDW/August 11, 2008? SandyGeorgia (Talk) 00:13, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Then I'm hoping we can schmooze Elcobbola (talk · contribs) into writing a tutorial on image review for WP:FCDW/August 18, 2008. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 00:16, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Sounds good. I will spend a bit of time cleaning it up and see if Tony has time to pick through it. --Laser brain (talk) 04:52, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Then, for WP:FCDW/August 25, 2008, we need a live person, an interview. Anyone? SandyGeorgia (Talk) 00:19, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Sure, I'll take Aug 11 for the TFA mess process. Karanacs (talk) 13:20, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Have fun with that one, Karanacs :-) I'm convinced that page is a sociological experiment that shows the lesser qualities of (greedy) humanity ... you may need to give Raul an advance preview on that one. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 16:35, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Definitely, I will let Raul take a look first. I haven't been on the page in a few days and I'm a bit scared of what I will find when I mosey back there today or tomorrow. Karanacs (talk) 17:14, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Raul just gave a great idea of how to deal with 12-yo point; I'm going to review my basement bookshelves and work up some wording about children's encyclopedias. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 17:16, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Switch-a-roo; I asked Elcobbola to work on an image tutorial for the 11th, tentatively pushing off the TFA/R to the 18th. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 01:18, 24 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Feedback welcome and wanted for this, by the way. I'm not familiar with the Dispatch for one, and my English is lousy. ЭLСОВВОLД talk 01:21, 24 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I see Jbmurray is helping; images are still Greek to me. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 12:19, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It's all Russian to me, but I'm hoping to learn... --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 12:22, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Without you folks, it will just be me rambling in Grussian(?); I need to know what doesn't make sense or needs elaboration so we can produce some polyglots. ЭLСОВВОLД talk 20:56, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

August 18[edit]

Karanacs, will WP:FCDW/August 18, 2008 work for you for a WP:TFA/R Dispatch (I can help a bit, but would prefer you do the bulking in of the basic text)? SandyGeorgia (Talk) 12:19, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, Sandy, for switching those around. I'll get something ready for August 18. Karanacs (talk) 16:04, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Can someone do an interview for WP:FCDW/August 25, 2008? SandyGeorgia (Talk) 12:19, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Based on this, I asked Rst20xx if Featured topics wants a Dispatch slot. I am going to be traveling at the end of August, beginning of September, need help shepherding these through. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 00:41, 13 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Doesn't sound like Rst20xx can commit. I have pending an interview of Gimmetrow, but Aug 25 is very bad timing for me. Maybe Elcobbola (talk · contribs) can do part 2 on image review for Aug 25, unless someone has an interview they can do. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 00:56, 13 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Does anyone want to interview Mav (talk · contribs)? Accounting for demotions, he's in the top 10 at WP:WBFAN, but he's also a factor at WP:FAR. At one point, he had 12 articles on the citations list, a number that is now down to six (five soon). He consistently approaches FAR with comments like this and this, and has not had an article defeatured. He provides an example of an older editor, active at both FAC and FAR, who has kept his articles to standard. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 01:45, 13 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm... certainly an example for me, I'll pop by tomorrow (EST) and give him a poke. Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs (talk) 02:14, 13 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Ok, he's consented to the interview. I plopped down a scratch for questions here; they're all really rough, people can just throw in openers and then we'll see where to go once he's responded. Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs (talk) 18:45, 13 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Featured Topic article[edit]

In response to Sandy's request, I have written up an article about the Featured Topic process, which can be found here, if you guys want to use it. --PresN (talk) 02:10, 14 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, PresN; if you can move that in to Wikipedia:FCDW/TempFT, we can all begin to tweak. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 02:24, 14 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Done. --PresN (talk) 02:26, 14 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Pending[edit]

For anyone who wants to help make them shine:

Want to switch to use Ruhrfisch on the 15th, Non-free images on the 22nd, and then we need something for the 29th. Any objections? SandyGeorgia (Talk) 03:14, 12 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Not really. If we go with what we got for Ruhr we'll be fine, if we add questions I'm not sure we'll have them finished by the day of. Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs (talk) 03:27, 12 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It's long enough, IMO, and just about ready to go, while Elcobbola could use another week for the NFCC. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 03:29, 12 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Interviews to have on standby[edit]

It would be helpful to have interviews on standby for fillers. I would like to interview Gimmetrow, and am putting off interviewing Marskell until the citation list is further reduced. Is anyone interested in starting these interviews in a temp file:

*: Started at User:David Fuchs/brag. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 16:20, 23 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

  • Tony1, Jbmurray and Awadewit in a combined Dispatch about copyediting, relative to GA, FA and PR processes
  • Some combination of top editors at WP:WBFAN, but avoiding the top producers for the year 2008, as I'd like to do them separately when we have 2008 completed data. (May need to ask Rick Block to generate a preliminary 2008 list, so we can see which editors to defer and which to run now.)
    I got the 2008 data so far from Rick Block, and the top 2008 FA nominators are Blnguyen, David Fuchs and Hurricanehink, so if we wanted to leave them until end of 2008, avoid overlap and interview some of the top WP:WBFAN list, we could focus on Awadewit, Cla68, Mike Christie and Casliber. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 01:31, 19 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Interested in a Dispatch on productive FAC/FAR reviewers, review past stats lists at WT:FAC for lists of consistent top 10.
  • WP:FAR saves: I suspect that Ceoil (talk · contribs) and DrKiernan (talk · contribs) have the most saves, but should ask Marskell.

One problem with this list of proposed interviews is that some of them include all the same editors ... need to figure out how to pick and choose around that issue, deciding which editors to include in which Dispatch.

SandyGeorgia (Talk) 17:23, 15 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

To solve the redundancy we could always pigeonhole the contributors by their topic areas and pick and choose that way... Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs (talk) 23:29, 16 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
After Rick Block generates his list, we'll have a better idea where the redundancies are. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 23:30, 16 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

If you ever need a FL related interview, you could try Matthewedwards, who will replace The Rambling Man as FL director at some point within the next few weeks. -- Scorpion0422 02:59, 16 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Cite suggestion[edit]

Also, I forgot how I stumbled across it or how long this features has been enabled, but you might also want to note that <cite></cite> tags can be used directly in articles when I think you needed to use the Wikicite template before. Using <cite></cite> directly sure helps old timers (like me) who like to keep wikitext as readable as possible by providing an easier method to put reference detail where it belongs: in a ==References== or ==Bibliography== section. --mav (talk) 23:13, 16 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Give me some questions[edit]

Ruhrfish is continuing the interview over at User:David Fuchs/brag, and I'm really stumped for questions (I'm also lazy, but that's another story.) Anyone more familiar with peer review, feel free to pop some questions in there. Cheers, Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs (talk) 03:30, 8 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

  • What helps make a peer review more effective?
  • Has your involvement at PR helped your production of ten featured articles?

SandyGeorgia (Talk) 03:33, 8 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Double issue notice[edit]

The next WP:SIGNPOST will combine Sept 1 and Sept 8. [1] SandyGeorgia (Talk) 17:48, 8 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I think the Signpost should be fortnightly. Tony (talk) 04:18, 16 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You'll have to tell them that :-) SandyGeorgia (Talk) 04:24, 16 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Interviews to have on standby[edit]

It would be helpful to have interviews on standby for fillers. I would like to interview Gimmetrow, and am putting off interviewing Marskell until the citation list is further reduced. Is anyone interested in starting these interviews in a temp file:

*: Started at User:David Fuchs/brag. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 16:20, 23 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

  • Tony1, Jbmurray and Awadewit in a combined Dispatch about copyediting, relative to GA, FA and PR processes
  • Some combination of top editors at WP:WBFAN, but avoiding the top producers for the year 2008, as I'd like to do them separately when we have 2008 completed data. (May need to ask Rick Block to generate a preliminary 2008 list, so we can see which editors to defer and which to run now.)
    I got the 2008 data so far from Rick Block, and the top 2008 FA nominators are Blnguyen, David Fuchs and Hurricanehink, so if we wanted to leave them until end of 2008, avoid overlap and interview some of the top WP:WBFAN list, we could focus on Awadewit, Cla68, Mike Christie and Casliber. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 01:31, 19 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2008-11-24/Dispatches, done. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 19:30, 6 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Interested in a Dispatch on productive FAC/FAR reviewers, review past stats lists at WT:FAC for lists of consistent top 10.
  • WP:FAR saves: I suspect that Ceoil (talk · contribs) and DrKiernan (talk · contribs) have the most saves, but should ask Marskell.

One problem with this list of proposed interviews is that some of them include all the same editors ... need to figure out how to pick and choose around that issue, deciding which editors to include in which Dispatch.

SandyGeorgia (Talk) 17:23, 15 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

To solve the redundancy we could always pigeonhole the contributors by their topic areas and pick and choose that way... Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs (talk) 23:29, 16 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
After Rick Block generates his list, we'll have a better idea where the redundancies are. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 23:30, 16 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

If you ever need a FL related interview, you could try Matthewedwards, who will replace The Rambling Man as FL director at some point within the next few weeks. -- Scorpion0422 02:59, 16 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

September 29, 2008[edit]

We're a week from the Wikipedia:FCDW/September 29, 2008 deadline; does anyone want it? SandyGeorgia (Talk) 22:37, 20 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well, we could do an interview with Matthewedwards, who is set to take over the spot of FL director from The Rambling Man. -- Scorpion0422 18:48, 21 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Who's volunteering? SandyGeorgia (Talk) 20:30, 21 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I could, if you trust my interviewing style and utter lack of knowledge about FL... :P Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs (talk) 02:29, 24 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I could chip in with some FL questions where I can help. -- Scorpion0422 02:31, 24 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Go for it guys, but David, please don't set it up in user space and then cut and paste it over; I think that is Not A Good Thing :-) I suggest setting it up in WP:FCDW/TempME. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 02:37, 24 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
As you command, your Featured Highness™. I'm assuming we would then just perform an admin-move for the page over to FCDW/date? Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs (talk) 02:46, 24 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
No, anyone can move it then, doesn't need admin. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 02:49, 24 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Oh, alright. I've left him a note on his talk page. If you've got any questions, post 'em. Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs (talk) 02:51, 24 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Ok, I think he gave us a lot of meet to chew on, I've started condensing it and removing the more extraneous questions. Should I copy it over and start the trimming in earnest? Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs (talk) 13:39, 28 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'll move it when the time is right (no, please do NOT do a copy-paste move again :-) Since the 22nd hasn't yet published, I don't know what's up, so don't want to move it in just yet. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 20:30, 28 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
PS, I left a note to Tony to have a look because it is way too long. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 20:31, 28 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'm going to go through it as well (I already axed two rather tangental questions), but I would leave any paraphrasing to Tony's capable hands. And when I said 'copy over', I meant 'page move'... really, I did. :P Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs (talk) 17:58, 29 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
David, there's been some discussion of moving to biweekly Dispatches, so let's give that discussion some time before we decide on Sept 29 or the week after; I'll move it over once that sorts itself. Unless someone else has new ideas, we're starting to run out of topics. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 18:00, 29 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Well it was bound to happen sooner or later... :) As it was, the Signpost never goes out on time anyway so there's no point putting your nose to the millstone for naught. Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs (talk) 18:15, 29 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Allright, since we've had no further feedback or new ideas for many weeks, I've spoken with Ral315 about skipping weeks when we have nothing. This interview is the only thing we have in the pipeline for now, and it's not ready, so we'll skip a week and use it the following week. It's pretty long and needs trimming; I asked others to help, but I've seen no action, so we'll put it off for a week, and after that, if no one joins up, I'll try to start writing the Dispatches myself. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 07:32, 2 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I think I've edited it down pretty a substantial bit, small enough for reading, you can take another look (it still needs work.) I suppose long-term dispatches would include the top contributer of '08, and (assuming something changes) the changes to WIAFA... Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs (talk) 12:32, 2 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

October 13[edit]

We had no Dispatch for September 29 (because I tired of hounding people), I moved the Matthewedwards Featured list interview to WP:FCDW/October 6, 2008, and WP:FCDW/October 13, 2008 is open. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 10:23, 11 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Am I talking to myself here ?  :-) OK, if no one speaks up and takes October 13, I'll write up something about recent FA stats, using WP:FAS, User:Dr pda/Featured article statistics, Image:FA and GA prose size.svg and Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates/archive31#FA category tallies. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 20:57, 11 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I could take a stab at writing it, if you want (just tell me what you're looking for, or give me an example.) I have absolutely no homework to do at university and the only thing stopping me from being a wikiholic is Warcraft III and my own writing projects, so I can take another dispatch or two. As for new ideas, perhaps talk to Marskell about that FAR bit and citations? Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs (talk) 03:27, 12 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Marskell already mentioned on my talk that he needs to put that off a week or two; I can write the stats article, I was hoping another process would offer to mix it up a bit for us. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 04:16, 12 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Looking at the list on the main page that leaves images, of which I know nothing about, grammar, which is best left to tony, and technical elements like citations and readability tools which I have no knowledge of either... perhaps queue up another interview? (There's Gimme and Pda, although as I know next to nothing about what they do perhaps I'm not the best person to conduct an interview.) Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs (talk) 14:06, 12 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Pity to subject the Signpost readership to my prose. I asked Tony1 and Marskell to review Wikipedia:FCDW/TempFAS. SOMEBODY needs to take the 20th. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 02:52, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

We don't *have* to have a dispatch every week, do we? I'll talk to gimme tomorrow about setting up an interview. Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs (talk) 02:41, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Seriously. Didn't Ral say he was okay with fortnightly publication? Creating content with the objective of meeting an arbitrary deadline (as opposed to creating content because there is genuinely something substantive to discuss) will ultimately have negative quality implications, to say nothing of the undue stress borne by Sandy. We're not the American news media; there's no 24-hour news cycle to fill. That being said, I didn’t add my name to FCDW list as fluff; I’m happy to write if only given a topic (with the caveat, as always, that my prose will be abysmal). Эlcobbola talk 04:07, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, Ral said it's OK to let some slide, but I'm afraid that, even with letting them slide, I've run out of ideas. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 04:18, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

WP:Update[edit]

Copied from WT:FAC:

Would you like to include anything from WP:Update? The 25 style guidelines that are also General style guidelines were covered. I didn't get to WP:NAME or WP:NFCC, because I've been asking around to get someone to cover the 7 pages in Category:Wikipedia content policies without any bites so far. I'll go do September changes for WP:NAME and WP:NFCC. - Dan Dank55 (send/receive) 16:10, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I haven't figured out what that page is and what became of Tony's Monthly updates: I haven't seen September updates, not sure why that page says October, and not sure how I'm supposed to craft a Dispatch out of that. If you're picking up the Dispatches, weighing in at WT:FCDW would help, and we can try to sort it there. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 18:52, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
On whether to call them "September" (because they're about changes in September) or "October" (because they're done in October), I have no preference. Let me know which you prefer. Now changed to "Changes during September" for clarity. Tony (and anyone else) is welcome to be involved. I did the updates around the first of October, Tony gave me some good feedback and I changed them, but then he said he didn't like the format; he wanted section links, as was done in his userspace for July and August updates. My feeling is that I want the process not to look too hard or fussy; that will help me recruit people to do monthly updates for other categories, such as the 7 content policy pages (which I've now also done, btw). I have no objection at all if anyone wants to present the material in a different format, or use only a subsection for the dispatches. - Dan Dank55 (send/receive) 19:02, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Dan, our most recent Dispatch covering Monthly updates is at Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2008-09-08/Dispatches 2. We need a format similar to that for a new-sy Signpost Dispatch. I'm not sure if the WP:UPDATE page is so brief because little happened during September, or if you're waiting for other people to add to it, as indicated at the top of the page. I don't have time to re-format and write the page myself (that's what I'm trying to avoid :-); if you can put together a summary page similar to the past Dispatches covering September and October, it would be great to have that for early November. Linking to the UPDATE page would then be the way to encourage others to help, but we can't rely on input of others to make sure our update is accurate; if we're not doing it ourselves, we sorta lose editorial control, and I don't want to just link to a Wiki page that anyone can edit in a News Dispatch. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 07:27, 19 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Sandy, if you're looking at the page that says "General style changes during September 2008", then that should be everything that changed in the 25 style guidelines pages that are in Category:General style guidelines (which is all the well-traveled ones, and then some, except for WP:EL and WP:CITE). Is there any page in particular that seems to be missing something? - Dan Dank55 (send/receive) 18:49, 19 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Working on the other bits now. I've just added WP:EL to the pages to be WP:Update'd (see WT:EL for my reasons), but feel free to revert. I've just checked monthly page hits for all the CAT:GEN pages, and there were two surprises: there were a bunch of pages that get very few hits, and one page gets more than 3 times as many hits as WP:MOS: WP:CITE! It even gets 60k more hits per month than WP:V! At that hit rate, I'd support making it a content guideline, that is, a guideline that supports the content policy pages, but I don't feel strongly about that; we can keep it as a style guideline if you like. But I'm inclined to include it on a future WP:Update page devoted to content guidelines, and not lump it in with the General style guidelines. - Dan Dank55 (send/receive) 20:46, 21 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry, stuff has come up in RL, I'm going to be on a wikibreak for a while. - Dan Dank55 (send/receive) 03:24, 23 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Featured sounds[edit]

Sandy suggested a featured sounds piece. There's good news to write about: after nearly three years of very little activity featured sounds saw a burst of interest this summer and fall. Apparently the Dispatch could use a new story and FS's would benefit from the exposure. So I'd like at least two weeks, if possible. Best, DurovaCharge! 04:47, 19 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

There have been two big pieces already this year on featured sounds (the second written by me); isn't this overkill? And I suggest that we resolve the bitter differences over the basic process before exposing it very publicly. Tony (talk) 05:20, 19 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
There are only six types of featured content and a lot has happened with featured sounds since the last dispatch. It's a little surprising to see an objection now; SandyGeorgia's offer appeared to be uncontroversial. Don't worry; I have no intention of airing dirty laundry. A few growing pains are normal as a process begins to become successful. A higher profile for the featured sound process as a whole and more voters are likely to have a positive effect. Best, DurovaCharge! 05:32, 19 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I think it's only a few months since the last one, which was quite comprehensive. The situation appears to be very unstable at the moment. It appears to be an inappropriate time to launch such an article. I have recently called for the process to be deleted. Tony (talk) 06:57, 19 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Per {{FCDW}}, we have had the following number of Dispatches:

  • Featured articles: 14 + 2 interviews
  • Lists: 1 + 1 interview
  • Images: 1
  • Topics: 1
  • Sounds: 1 (May 26)
  • Portals: 0
  • GA: 1
  • PR: 1 + 1 interview
  • DYK: 1
  • Style guide updates: 5
  • Other: Overview of featured content, Talk page clutter (articlehistory, banners), Assessment 1.0, 3 tutorials on evaluating sources, 2 tutorials on evaluating images

All of the other processes are underrepresented relative to featured articles (which is directly related to who has been doing all the work here), and I've been trying to encourage other processes to take slots. I asked Durova if a slot might help drum up interest in the Featured sounds process. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 07:19, 19 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

While I've sort of fallen out of the GA process and directed more time to PR and FAC, perhaps a bit on the changes since to the process (dedicated GA review subpages to preserve transparency and hopefully make more thorough reviews?) --Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs (talk) 17:16, 19 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You can see the data above. I have been posting, pinging and prodding people for input here for almost a year. I enjoy doing the Dispatches. I think they've been an excellent resource for the community. I don't enjoy wrangling people constantly for input and doing all the followup to make sure we have something to print. If anyone has ideas, please go out and ping people and ask them to weigh in here: that's the purpose of this page. Durova, pls just put your article in a temp file somewhere in your userspace, and post it here, and we'll work on it and get a date. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 17:34, 19 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Here's a question: English Wikisource is gearing up to do a 'song of the day' on its main page starting next month. Although not formally tied to en:wiki's featured sounds, there's a bit of crossover--FSC evaluators often request that lyrics etc. be hosted on Wikisource. Would that be appropriate for an FS article in the Dispatch? DurovaCharge! 00:23, 20 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

And come to think of it--if you're looking for material, Sandy, I don't think anyone has written about the video side of featured pictures? DurovaCharge! 00:35, 20 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
There's a video aspect to FP? 'Never heard about that before... and Sandy, maybe you're spending a little too much time prodding people to little effect. If it's stressing you out so badly, just let it go. God knows you have enough on your plate without worrying about dispatches getting done or not. -Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs (talk) 11:55, 20 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, two of this month's 'picture of the day' entries are videos. One is a cicada molting, coming up on Wednesday. The other ran on October 5: a video from the Iraq War in which U.S. servicemembers in an Apache helicopter kill 3 suspected insurgents. On the whole the community has reacted surprisingly well to such difficult material. DurovaCharge! 17:53, 20 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Durova, are you working on an FS entry? SandyGeorgia (Talk) 02:08, 26 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Started, not apparently finished, no further response: User:Durova/Featured content dispatch/Video. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 19:51, 4 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Anybody home ? Double election day TFA[edit]

Or shall I abandon ship? Does anyone want to write a Dispatch about the Nov 4 TFA ? SandyGeorgia (Talk) 23:23, 3 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Let's put the draft at WP:FCDW/ElectionTFA until we have a date, but aim for the November 3 Dispatch. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 00:18, 5 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Funny old world. It's November 5 (by Wikipedia time), and we're aiming for a November 3 deadline to cover a November 4 event... Hehe. --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 00:20, 5 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Halloween dispatch[edit]

For consideration? – How do you turn this on (talk) 23:44, 3 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Do we particularly cover DYK? Also, it sounds sort of like a fluff piece on the article's contributors :P... Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs (talk) 12:52, 4 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I copyedited it. I think it's worth running. It's talk about the entire home page on Halloween, not just DYK. Thanks for the bump, Sandy, I didn't know that this existed. Royalbroil 19:20, 4 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'm the nominator of Treehouse of Horror (series) (the TFA for Halloween) and I'd be happy to contribute something to the piece. Any suggestions? -- Scorpion0422 19:24, 4 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
David, see this and this for examples of articles that are about the Did You Know section. Since Did You Know and Good Articles get covered, perhaps it might be a good idea to rename these dispatches. – How do you turn this on (talk) 17:39, 6 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Moved to WP:FCDW/October 27, 2008, needs more work, the suggestions are on the talk page there. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 19:53, 4 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Rename?[edit]

Dispatches doesn't just cover featured content anymore. Good articles, Did You know, peer review etc have all been covered, which have nothing to do with featured content. As such, the current name is not accurate. Any ideas for a better name? – How do you turn this on (talk) 17:41, 6 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Dispatches never covered just featured content: from the beginning, it was intended to cover all featured content processes and the steps on the path to featured status, which sometimes include DYK and GAN, but the Dispatches are fundamentally about featured content and the steps to it. Changing the name is make work: not really helpful when we're lacking in editors who do work. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 16:11, 8 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The goal is to write a weekly column for the Signpost that describes issues concerning featured content and related pages, particularly in relation to editing and how the processes work. The stories will be about (but not limited to):

"the Dispatches are fundamentally about featured content and the steps to it" Thanks for clarifying that part. Best wishes, – How do you turn this on (talk) 16:15, 8 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • The name certainly needs to be singularised if its to remain: "Dispatch". Its scope could explicitly concern featured material, processes, personnel, and the style and policy guide lines. Plus the Main Page, DYK, etc. And the elephan in the living room is our almost total ignorace of what's going on in the foreign-language WPs. Tony (talk) 16:37, 1 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Suggestion for a dispatch[edit]

Cirt could probably write a dispatch on featured portals. He's worked on 13 featured portals. Awadewit (talk) 05:35, 17 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, Awadewit. I left a note for Cirt, and suggested a sandbox at WP:FCDW/Portals. More suggestions welcome !! SandyGeorgia (Talk) 19:38, 17 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I don't know if other people would be interested in this, but I am curious what featured content looks like on other language wikis - do they have such processes? How are the processes different? Does this sound interesting to anyone? Awadewit (talk) 19:41, 17 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Problem is, you have to speak the language ... if others are interested, I can look at the Spanish wiki. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 19:49, 17 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
We could look into the Very Good Article process at Simple, which is equivalent to FA. –Juliancolton Tropical Cyclone 19:54, 17 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Sandy, if you could do Spanish, that would be cool. Awadewit (talk) 03:28, 18 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The first piece of intersting news is that they interwiki'd my user space sandbox for FA instructions :-))) SandyGeorgia (Talk) 03:30, 18 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Starting temp page at WP:FCDW/OtherWikis. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 03:36, 18 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
That sounds like an interesting topic. I'll see what I can do to help. I probably have enough German to figure out how it works there. Looking at the interwiki links on WP:FA and WP:FAC it seems quite a number of wikipedias have some sort of featured content and/or process. Dr pda (talk) 04:23, 18 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I roughed in the basics on Spanish as guide. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 04:39, 18 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

In the new year, we can have an interview with whoever tops WP:WBFAN/2008. –thedemonhog talk • edits 19:26, 6 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

See Wikipedia talk:Featured content dispatch workshop/Archive 2#Interviews to have on standby; we've already done most of the WBFAN leaders, and are planning a 2008 Dispatch on the 2008 leaders. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 19:29, 6 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

FL dispatch suggestion[edit]

After reading the current dispatch, "Featured article writers — the inside view", I thought that we could do one for FL writers. Not the most original idea, but it could be a good idea if you're ever desperate for one. -- Scorpion0422 15:54, 1 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Since we're so close to year end, you might consider whether you want to run one in December, or after the year-end tallies are in. FA ran four top contributors now who are different than those who appear they will end up as 2008's top contributors, so that we can run them after the year closes. If you want to put something together, how about WP:FCDW/WBFLN? SandyGeorgia (Talk) 18:23, 2 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]
"If you want to put something together, how about WP:FCDW/WBFLN" - Could you please elaborate? -- Scorpion0422 18:46, 2 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Just suggesting a temp file for your work. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 18:47, 2 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Ah, I thought you were suggesting we write a dispatch about the WBFLN list. My guess is that the top contributors for 2008 will look pretty similar to the current list, so I see no reason why we would have to wait. -- Scorpion0422 18:51, 2 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Go for it then ... if you put it at that temp file, others will likely help. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 18:52, 2 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'll write it, and ask for comments from Gary King, Sephiroth BCR, Raime and one other (just for variety, I think I'll go for Woody, who is a bit lower down the list but has been a consistant contributor). Should I add myself to that list? I am number 3 on that list, but I've never been a big fan of being profiled/interviewed. By the way, what day will this run? -- Scorpion0422 18:56, 2 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I've stopped trying to slot or predict dates. First, because too many editors who requested a slot and agreed to write an article have dropped the ball completely and left me scrambling to write something. Second, because the Signpost is often late so it's hard for me to predict dates. If you write an article, and complete it, it will get run soon. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 19:10, 2 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I've started work here. Basically, I just copied (or as they call it in the comedy fiction writing business, "paid homage") the FA questions and reworded them. I did add one of my own though. What do you think? -- Scorpion0422 00:14, 3 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]
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