[Foundation-l] Wikinews - not so much a state of the wiki

[Brian McNeil]

For reasons why I've started this discussion you might want to look at our
current third lead. It a very long and in-depth interview with Al Sharpton,
which proves that when you're not working to a fixed wordage you can still
have an interesting story.

http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Al_Sharpton_speaks_out_on_race%2C_rights_and_wha
t_bothers_him_about_his_critics

The question that bugs most contributors is, "why should something like this
have to go on a blog before Google will list it?" Three men and a dog can
get their blog listed on Google News.

If the concern is that people other than Google will interpret those with
Flagging powers as the editorial control team - the first (and probably a
highly ineffective) step is to call it something else.

The primary purpose is to be listed in Google, and I'll shoot anyone on
Wikinews who advertises it as anything other than a method of doing that
plus making vandalism less rewarding. I'd like to simply and quietly get us
added to the Google News index because we've implemented this. That's for
English only. The other languages already piggyback off our accreditation
process and would be sensible enough to let us develop a workable policy
over time.


Brian McNeil