Talk:Main Page

Editing of this page by new or unregistered users is currently disabled due to vandalism. See the protection policy and protection log for more details. If you cannot edit this page and you wish to make a change, you can request unprotection, log in, or create an account.

Daily pageviews of the Main Page A graph should have been displayed here but graphs are temporarily disabled. Until they are enabled again, visit the interactive graph at pageviews.wmcloud.org

Most issues relating to national variations of the English language have already been discussed here at length: Wikipedia does not prefer any national variety of English. Although Wikipedia strives for writing common to all varieties of English, some spelling, grammar or terminology it uses may be different or otherwise absent in yours. See the relevant style guide and a comparison of American and British English.

To report an error in content currently or imminently on the Main Page, use the appropriate section below.

• Where is the error? An exact quotation of the text in question helps.
• Offer a correction if possible.
• References are helpful, especially when reporting an obscure factual or grammatical error.
• Time zones. The Main Page runs on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC, currently 00:04 on 3 May 2024) and is not adjusted to your local time zone.
• Can you resolve the problem yourself? If the error lies primarily in the content of an article linked from the Main Page, fix the problem there before reporting it here. Text on the Main Page generally defers to the articles with bolded links. Upcoming content on the Main Page is usually only protected from editing beginning 24 hours before its scheduled appearance. Before that period, you can be bold and fix any issues yourself.
• Do not use {{edit fully-protected}} on this page, which will not get a faster response. It is unnecessary, because this page is not protected, and causes display problems. (See the bottom of this revision for an example.)
• No chit-chat. Lengthy discussions should be moved to a suitable location elsewhere, such as the talk page of the relevant article or project.
• Respect other editors. Another user wrote the text you want changed, or reported an issue they see in something you wrote. Everyone's goal should be producing the best Main Page possible. The compressed time frame of the Main Page means sometimes action must be taken before there has been time for everyone to comment. Be civil to fellow users.
• Reports are removed when resolved. Once an error has been addressed, determined not to be an error, or the item has rotated off the Main Page, the report will be removed from this page. Check the revision history for a record of any discussion or action taken; no archives are kept.

Today's FA

"a feudatory of the Rashtrakuta dynasty ruling from Bijapur region, defeated his overlords" should read as the text in the lead of the article: "a feudatory of the Rashtrakuta dynasty ruling from Bijapur region defeated his overlords". There should be no comma between subject and verb. Spicemix (talk) 18:27, 2 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

With or without a comma, that sentence is essentially incomprehensible. Probably too late to fix, tho. Floquenbeam (talk) 18:44, 2 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The comma is necessary because the phrase is in apposition following "Tailapa II". It reads, "Tailapa II, a feudatory of the Rashtrakuta dynasty ruling from Bijapur region, defeated ...". I agree that the sentence structure is overcomplex and ungainly, but I could follow the meaning, although I had to look up what a feudatory was (redirects to "vassal"). JMCHutchinson (talk) 19:00, 2 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I was just going to say that now that I've read all the linked articles, the comma is correct. But I believe that you have to read the linked articles to understand the sentence (even if you know what feudatory means, there are other complexities that could be read two ways), which seems suboptimal. If this were anything besides the TFA, I would just go ahead and break that sentence in two, but the last time I spent time at WP:ERRORS, this was frowned upon. Discussion would probably take longer than the 5 hours we have left. Floquenbeam (talk) 19:10, 2 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Old text: In 973, seeing confusion in the Rashtrakuta Empire after a successful invasion of their capital by the ruler of the Paramara dynasty of Malwa, Tailapa II, a feudatory of the Rashtrakuta dynasty ruling from Bijapur region, defeated his overlords and made Manyakheta his capital.

Suggested text: In 973 the capital of the Rashtrakuta Empire was successfully invaded by the ruler of the Paramara dynasty of Malwa. Seeing this confusion, Tailapa II, a feudatory of the Rashtrakuta dynasty ruling from Bijapur region, defeated his overlords and made Manyakheta his capital.

This makes it clear that Tailapa II was not the name of the ruler of the Paramara dynasty, but a completely separate person. --Floquenbeam (talk) 19:22, 2 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

A clear improvement. I encourage you to be bold and substitute your version. JMCHutchinson (talk) 20:04, 2 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Gog the Mild, what do you reckon? Schwede66 20:08, 2 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I don't consider the issue at discussion to be an "error" and I would encourage all editors with an interest in the detail of the blurbs for a particular month to discuss them at the relevant talk page, for May Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/May 2024, preferably at least two weeks before they are due to run. Gog the Mild (talk) 20:20, 2 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, this is how I remember it. I truly despise this attitude. Taking ERRORS off my watchlist again. Quality must defer to inertia. Floquenbeam (talk) 21:38, 2 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

What about editors with an interest in the detail of the blurb for the current day Gog the Mild? Incidentally, am I right in thinking that "from Bijapur region", which seems somewhat ungrammatical to me, is a quirk of Indian English? ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 22:23, 2 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Tomorrow's FA

Day-after-tomorrow's FA

• Don't understand how Haitian politics is working at the moment, but it seems that our blurb is now out of date/incorrect, as Michel Patrick Boisvert is no longer prime minister, but was replaced with Fritz Belizaire. [1][2] Natg 19 (talk) 05:59, 1 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

  It is unclear if the new appointment was with immediate effect or not, so we could very easily still be technically right, or we could be wrong. Might be wise to reword the blurb to avoid mentioning the name of the new PM altogether (and pick a different photo) until there is more clarity. Floquenbeam (talk) 18:48, 2 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Current DYK

Next DYK

Next-but-one DYK

Today's OTD

• 1964 – USNS Card – An explosion caused by Viet Cong commandos led USNS Card to sink in the port of Saigon.
  — "Led" = odd, confusing phrasing. Suggest: "An explosion attributed to Viet Cong commandos caused the escort carrier USNS Card to sink at Saigon." – Sca (talk) 12:46, 2 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

  I modified the wording to address this, although I tweaked your suggestion somewhat. Floquenbeam (talk) 18:52, 2 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Tomorrow's OTD

Day-after-tomorrow's OTD

Friday's FL

Monday's FL

Today's POTD

Tomorrow's POTD

Hi all

Can someone tell me how to see previous versions of the front page for different days? Also can I suggest that that link is added at the top of this talk page somewhere since it's very unusual for the History tab for a Wikipedia page to not show previous versions of the page.

Thanks very much

John Cummings (talk) 20:55, 26 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Previous versions of the front page can be found at Wikipedia:Main Page history.

It is linked at the top of this talk page in a navbox. Unfortunately, navboxes are not visible in mobile version. You can see how the navbox looks in a desktop skin. —⁠andrybak (talk) 21:16, 26 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks very much, that's why I missed it :) John Cummings (talk) 21:34, 26 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Any thoughts on renaming "From today's featured list" to "Today's featured list", as well as "From today's featured article" to "Today's featured article"? It would be much simpler and easier to understand what we're talking about. Cocobb8 (💬 talk • ✏️ contribs) 21:01, 29 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Did you know that only summaries (blurbs) of the Featured List and Featured Article are on the Main Page? For example, today's Featured Article is Inaccessible Island rail, but the Main Page blurb is just this. The word "From" is intended to tell you it isn't the Featured Article, it's just a blurb FROM the Featured Article. Art LaPella (talk) 00:13, 30 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I think it's self-evident that blurbs aren't the full article. That's true for everything on the Main Page yet we only add 'from' in the two cases of TFA and TFL. We could drop those 'from's without any risk of confusion. Modest Genius ^talk 11:03, 30 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

That's exactly what I thought; better make the titles more concise by removing an extra word, also matching "Today's featured picture" Cocobb8 (💬 talk • ✏️ contribs) 11:21, 30 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

That's the way it used to be until 2012, when a discussion and consensus updated the language to add the "From". The apprehension at the time appears to have been that readers wouldn't know that what was on the main page wasn't the full article and the From was a helpful clue in that direction. —⁠Collin^{t c} 02:28, 1 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

As I demonstrated at that time, what's evident to editors isn't always evident to readers, although a bigger survey would be helpful. Art LaPella (talk) 03:44, 1 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Any thoughts on conducting a new RfC? Cocobb8 (💬 talk • ✏️ contribs) 10:19, 1 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

An RfC seems like a waste of effort to me. Why should the consensus have changed in the meantime? My own opinion is that the "From" is helpful in clarifying that what follows is an edited extract whereas the extra 5 characters required are a trivial cost. JMCHutchinson (talk) 12:13, 1 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Fair enough, I see the use of the "from" now Cocobb8 (💬 talk • ✏️ contribs) 13:03, 1 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]