Why is it so difficult to locate developing policy on Wikinews? Should there be a page, similar to Wikipedia, such as [[Wikinews:Policies and guidelines]] which contains links to most of the current policy, including the policy-making areas? The water cooler, as it is currently laid out, is nearly useless for contributors not familiar with the ongoing discussions (and patient enough to wade through the 85+ sections).
I have registered the IRC channel #enrc.wikinews, and am asking the developers to put an RC bot in it similar to the one being used by de.wikinews.org. This will allow people to use IRC to monitor the latest changes on en.wikinews as they are committed.
Currently the main page is extremely long, and poorly maintained due to its size. Breaking it up into several smaller templates (or templates of templates), and maintaining only a very small footprint for sections, seems to be the only way to lose the cobweb look. The developing stories section... frankly I don't see articles there receiving much attention with the current page traffic. Is this the best place/method to gain participation? Should the main page get a make-over?
I'll stop here and see the response...
Amgine
-----Original Message----- From: Amgine:
Why is it so difficult to locate developing policy on Wikinews? Should there be a page, similar to Wikipedia, such as [[Wikinews:Policies and guidelines]] which contains links to most of the current policy, including the policy-making areas? The water cooler, as it is currently laid out, is nearly useless for contributors not familiar with the ongoing discussions (and patient enough to wade through the 85+ sections). ---------------------
I am currently pruning the Water Cooler down -- as for the other issue, you are correct. I'll try to start a Table of Contents-type page of Wikinews policies as soon as the edit servers are back online.
-- David Speakman (Davodd) http://www.DavidSpeakman.com 501 Moorpark Way #83 Mountain View CA 94041
Why is it so difficult to locate developing policy on Wikinews? Should there be a page, similar to Wikipedia, such as [[Wikinews:Policies and guidelines]] which contains links to most of the current policy, including the policy-making areas?
Yes. http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews:About would be a good place to collect some of the essential links.
The water cooler, as it is currently laid out, is nearly useless for contributors not familiar with the ongoing discussions (and patient enough to wade through the 85+ sections).
A while ago, someone subdivided the Water Cooler into subsections. Is this a good idea at this point? Personally, I prefer a straightforward "latest at the bottom" discussion page.
Currently the main page is extremely long, and poorly maintained due to its size. Breaking it up into several smaller templates (or templates of templates), and maintaining only a very small footprint for sections, seems to be the only way to lose the cobweb look. The developing stories section... frankly I don't see articles there receiving much attention with the current page traffic. Is this the best place/method to gain participation? Should the main page get a make-over?
The Main Page should definitely get a makeover. In particular, we need a better solution for structuring the content than the current category mess which is below the "Latest news" box. Perhaps the two could be combined into one, with every "Latest news" day section subdivided by topic?
In the not too far future, we really need an automated feed system, perhaps best based on the category system -- updating the various index pages is one of the most painful tasks in Wikinews maintenance.
Regards,
Erik
wikinews-l@lists.wikimedia.org