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307:, and in popular culture, commerce, and the media. If a main page article is on such a topic, be prepared to field comments about its notability. Some of these comments are made in good faith—the reader may not understand Knowledge (XXG)'s guidelines and processes. You should respond to good-faith comments and questions about your article's notability with a brief explanation of and a link to our
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offers reasonable suggestions about improving the article. Respond to constructive criticism with grace and patience; if the editor requests major or controversial changes, suggest building consensus on the article talk-page first. Take the opportunity of drawing visitors who are potentially valuable
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Expect several talk-page posts requesting clarification, explanation and expansion. Treat each question as a good-faith request and do your best to answer it. If the question illustrates an opportunity to improve the article, take that opportunity. If you don't know the answer, reach out to subject
243:
count on other editors to revert vandalism, since main-page features are watched intensively. If there are other major contributors to the article, coordinate with them for maximum coverage; all the better if they're in different time-zones. Remember, no one is better equipped to address potential
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can be one of the most exciting and nerve-wracking parts of being a
Wikipedian. You and your collaborators have endeavored to prepare an outstanding article suitable for Knowledge (XXG)'s diverse readership, and main page day will be a major test. Your work will be presented to the world as an
238:
When the article appears on the main page, questions will tend to pop up on the article's talk page immediately. It's hard for you to keep a 24-hour vigil to respond to these questions and to address concerns, but try to be available as much as possible for this purpose. You
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in March 2004, though that page is sadly neglected. I don't know when
Brilliant prose began but I think I read somewhere once that they also put selections on the Main Page. You'd have to ask one of the old-timers, since the page histories have been lost for this period. -
271:. Remember that main page features are the most public face of Knowledge (XXG): you and your collaborators will be ambassadors to the world on that day, and prompt responses are likely to generate goodwill towards the project and to increase its authority on the Internet.
166:. They may make a comment or an edit that goes against a consensus that took weeks to achieve. They may question a sentence, a source, or even the notability of the entire article. However, with the right preparation you'll breeze through main page day.
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is that many articles improve during and after they appear on the main page. With the advantage of their relative distance from the writing process, readers can catch errors, omissions, and other issues that the best editors may have overlooked.
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Readers are likely to post criticism of your article. Most will leave a message on the article talk page; some will just edit the article and—if you're lucky—leave their criticism in an edit summary. Criticism may involve content and perceived
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and successfully passes through the candidacy process. Many featured articles are not on traditional encyclopedia topics such as animals, plants, historical figures, and geographical locations. Knowledge (XXG) offers a
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I'll contribute more this week...I just changed jobs, am acclimating a new
Cockatoo, and finishing up a project that's been on my workbench for far too long! Should have some spare time this week, though.--
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227:(see "Date and time" under your "my preferences" link at the top of any page). For example, if you live in London, your article will appear at midnight local time on its scheduled day (1:00 am during
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284:. Some topics attract editors with specific agendas. If your article is about any controversial topic, you can count on editors representing every point of view to show up on main page day.
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A big part of main page day is simply watching the dozens of edits that will be made to the article, to detect vandalism and unhelpful edits. The article will be move-protected, but the
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issues than those who worked on the article. WikiProject collaborators can also be of great help on main page day—make sure they are aware of the event and direct them to this
Dispatch.
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Most of your new readers will be unfamiliar with what you've been through to achieve FA status for the article: the research, the writing, the checking, the revising,
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This dispatch is intended to prepare you for that day and to help you deal with issues that may arise. If you take nothing else from this page, remember:
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matter experts at related WikiProjects who will be watching the article. If a question is an obvious attempt at trolling, it's best to
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357:. Engaging with uncivil, recreational critics is rarely a good use of your time and may not make Knowledge (XXG) look good.
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Thanks! Other heads to be added include "Addressing concerns" and the dreaded "If your topic is controversial..." :) --
341:, unreasonable, or just irrational comments such as "This sucks!" and "You call this a featured article LOL!" should be
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Just a bit of encouragement from your designated "shepherd".... this looks like a marvellous start! Excellent. :) --
231:); if you live in Los Angeles, it will appear at 4:00 pm local time the day before its scheduled day (5:00 pm during
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Good indeed, Laser. How do you feel about an image? I wonder whether we could insert an example of a main-page FA?
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is added to the article's talk page. Determine what time your article will appear by calculating your offset from
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History of the mainpage relative to featured articles, what/when was the first mainpage featured article, etc.
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215:. Either way, you will know several days ahead of time when your article is scheduled to appear, by checking
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You may have requested that your article appear on the main page on a certain day by application through the
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The opening of a featured article appears every day in the prime top-left position of the main page.
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should there be a need for more general FCDW discussion of the dispatch's progress. --
311:. Popular culture articles may be disparaged and commercial topics may be labeled as "
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includes "drive-by" comments that are not actionable and do not correspond to the
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It's great to see this so advanced in such good time. FWIW I've added a section
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Sounds good to me. I'm terrible at images and graphics but I'll give it a go. --
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294:; any Knowledge (XXG) article can become a featured article when it meets the
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I'm going to post elsewhere to see if we can get some content or stats on:
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315:" or "adverts". Do not engage with editors making this type of comment.
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Average mainpage hits; how much traffic does the mainpage generate, and
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unless the editor makes disruptive edits to the article or resorts to
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Regarding (1), monthly page view statistics are now available at
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Wikipedians into the project through their main page experience.
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be vandalized by readers who think it is entertaining to do so.
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Knowledge (XXG):History of
Wikipedian processes and people
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protected from editing in anticipation of main page day
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Monitoring edits: be an ambassador for
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Knowledge (XXG):Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents
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or general article policies and guidelines, such as
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219:and clicking "This month's queue" or when the
353:should be reported to an administrator or to
211:, or it may have been chosen directly by the
8:
292:requirement for any Knowledge (XXG) article
138:If you are one of the primary editors of a
750:, the first mainpage featured article was
177:be edited by people you've never heard of.
876:Knowledge (XXG) Signpost archives 2008-06
729:. For example here is the hit count for
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217:Knowledge (XXG):Today's featured article
18:Knowledge (XXG):Knowledge (XXG) Signpost
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735:Elderly Instruments in the same month
261:reason for leaving it open to editing
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801:is a pretty stark representation :)
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826:: doing it for free since 2005.
782:Knowledge (XXG):Brilliant prose
561:add the page to your watchlist
162:, more revising, and finally,
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142:(FA), the day the article is
305:biographies of living people
203:Preparing for main page day
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164:featured article candidacy
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323:featured article criteria
296:featured article criteria
213:featured article director
144:featured on the main page
34:Dispatches: Main page day
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780:, FA was created out of
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752:Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
349:. Disruptive edits and
275:Responding to criticism
558:. To follow comments,
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361:Constructive criticism
319:Recreational criticism
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436:← Previous Dispatches
331:neutral point of view
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731:the Main Page in May
727:http://stats.grok.se
554:from this article's
309:notability guideline
233:daylight saving time
797:On the statistics,
520:Features and admins
412:Features and admins
545:Discuss this story
530:Arbitration report
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422:Arbitration report
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221:maindate parameter
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495:Board elections
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153:midnight UTC
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131:Mike Searson
57:PDF download
858:Suggestions
756:22 February
636:Laser brain
600:Laser brain
552:transcluded
510:In the news
482:9 June 2008
402:In the news
229:summer time
160:peer review
147:example of
127:Laser brain
107:X (Twitter)
684:Μολὼν λαβέ
515:Dispatches
407:Dispatches
327:notability
288:Notability
282:notability
198:Stay calm!
45:Share this
40:Contribute
31:Dispatches
22:2008-06-09
852:Subscribe
556:talk page
500:WikiWorld
392:WikiWorld
269:ignore it
870:Category
847:Newsroom
842:Archives
824:Signpost
744:archives
669:contribs
661:jbmurray
587:contribs
579:jbmurray
445:archives
443:Signpost
182:will not
97:Facebook
87:LinkedIn
77:Mastodon
20: |
711:Georgia
693:History
343:ignored
339:uncivil
803:Daniel
787:Banyan
764:Dr pda
748:WP:TFA
642:(talk)
624:(talk)
606:(talk)
117:Reddit
67:E-mail
837:About
709:Sandy
290:is a
16:<
832:Home
822:The
807:talk
799:this
790:Tree
768:talk
760:2004
716:Talk
680:Mike
665:talk
657:here
618:TONY
583:talk
313:spam
235:).
193:will
175:will
754:on
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333:or
241:can
225:UTC
184:be
125:By
42:—
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