Talk:Main Page

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Contents

1 Questionnaire 2 american history 3 Flag Day 4 within the letters amoned how many words of minimum 4 letters can be made? 5 Borgen Project 6 theism, atheism and agnosticism 7 IE and wikipedia.com 8 Slings, Slingshots, and Catapults 9 What are the risks of Genetically Modified Foods? 10 Put a Disclaimer at the top of the page 11 Welcome phrase 12 Protecting Commons images put on main page 13 Brief downtime 14 Forbidden 14.1 i You are not authorized to view thispage 15 US centrism 16 I've got a grunge against redirects 17 W00t! 600k pages! 18 Grammar in today's featured article 19 Did you know section 20 sprinting 21 Anne 22 Cosmos I 23 pictures don't match evenly 24 Another side. 25 Blank space 26 TURKEY E.U MEMBERSHIP POTENTIAL

Questionnaire

Now, a questionnaire about Uekusa is done in Talk:Kazuhide Uekusa. I'd like to know many various people's opinions. That is to say, it means what you think about him. 3 questions about him are established there. Please tell me your many opinions!! 202.235.132.50 5:37, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

uh, i don't believe this is what wikipedia should be used for, could an admin look into this and shut it down please? Boneyard 10:12, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

IMO, there's no need to shut it down, but perhaps a post at the Village Pump to attract people's attention and discuss this on a user's talk page would be more appropriate and practical than posting here on Talk: Main Page. -- 12:01, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

american history

what was the theme of american history

better to ask about this on Talk: american history. -- 12:33, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Flag Day

June 14 is Flag Day in the United States. Though the adoption of the flag by the Continental Congress is mentioned as a signficant historical anniversary, the holiday itself isn't mentioned. --Dmleach 13:35, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

within the letters amoned how many words of minimum 4 letters can be made?

Within the letters a,m,o,n,e,d how many words can be made minimum of 4 letters?

This request belongs in Wikipedia:Reference desk. And about the question, I have no clue. Try posting in the right place. ;-) Ambush Commander 17:33, Jun 14, 2005 (UTC)

You can make ₅P₄ + 5! permutations of letters, which I believe is 216. How many of those are actually words, I couldn't say. Nickptar 17:40, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

See anagram, which contains links to several websites which will calculate the permutations for you.-gadfium 22:45, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

4 letters = 6p4*4! = 8640

5 letters = 6p5*5! = 86400

6 letters = 6p6*6! = 4320

Total = 99360 words can be formed

You're double counting there! ₆P₄ already includes all the permutations of the 4 chosen letters, so there's no need to multiply by 4!.

There's an ambiguity in the question: it's not clear if letters can be reused. If they can, then egrep '^[amoned]{4,}$' does the trick; if not, egrep '^[amoned]{4,}$' | egrep -v '(.).*\1' is needed. Gdr 23:46, 2005 Jun 15 (UTC)

If you are speaking in terms of simple anagrams, and are not reusing any of the the letters then: ADMEN, AEON, AMEN, AMEND, ANODE, DAEMON, DAME, DAMN, DEAN, DEMO, DEMON, DOME, DONA, DONE, MADE, MANE, MANED, MANO, MEAD, MEAN, MENAD, MEND, MENO, MOAN, MOANED, MODE, MONAD, MONDE, NAME, NAMED, NEMA, NODE, NOMA, NOMAD, NOME, ODEA, and OMEN. There are 37 words all together. 25 of them are 4 letter words.

My dictionary has EOAN, MAND, MODENA, and MONA too. Gdr 21:14, 2005 Jun 16 (UTC)

Borgen Project

How about information on the Borgen Project? http://www.borgenproject.org

• The link doesn't work for me. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:36, Jun 15, 2005 (UTC)
  • Fixed.--Patrick 12:43, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Request moved to Wikipedia:Requested_articles/Social_Sciences_and_Philosophy - UtherSRG 13:12, Jun 15, 2005 (UTC)

theism, atheism and agnosticism

I would like to discuss about theism, atheism and agnosticism, wherein people who belong to any of this category can come up with their view points. I know at the end its all the faith or the lack of it. But still there can be a few things which might clear up a lot of peoples mind.

Wikipedia is not a discussion forum. Create a forum on some other website for this purpose. - UtherSRG 12:37, Jun 15, 2005 (UTC)

if we're honest, it can be. Start with the archives on Talk:Atheism, that will give you a pretty good picture of what such a discussion will look like. dab (ᛏ) 13:16, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

No, Wikipedia is not a discussion forum. Such discussions may happen in the course of working out how best to write/edit an article or a collection of articles, but the purpose is the articles, not the discussion. This anon user is asking for a discussion forum, not a discussion about article editting. - UtherSRG 13:39, Jun 15, 2005 (UTC)

Uther is 100% correct -- Wikipedia is not a soapbox, a chatroom, discussion forum, or vehicle for propaganda and advertising. -- Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not. →Raul654 17:49, Jun 15, 2005 (UTC)

Oh thank GAWD! What would we do without RAUL? 22:51, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Considering this a religious debate, would lack of Raul make people worship Rael instead :p --Kiand 22:55, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

IE and wikipedia.com

your front page looks funny on IE 6. the wikipedia graphc is covered up by some of the language doohickeys

Funny, I was just investigating this kind of thing this morning and it seemed fine in IE 6. I don't suppose you feel like putting a screenshot somewhere so we can have a look? That would be really helpful if you could. (Another solution is to get a proper browser, of course....) — Trilobite (Talk) 17:11, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

As it happens the front page has just been updated in the last few minutes, and incorporates some fixes to the code, although I don't think any of them will directly affect the problem you're experiencing. Is it still doing the same thing? — Trilobite (Talk) 19:50, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I wonder if the anon is not just describing the correctly-displayed Wikipedia icon, which, given its admirably singular design, can be quite accurately said to "covered up by ... language doohickeys".--Pharos 18:45, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Good point, you could be right there. Like most people though, he never got back to us with more information. — Trilobite (Talk) 22:18, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Slings, Slingshots, and Catapults

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sling_(weapon)

I' m not english, I put the illustration in this article but I'm not sure than Missing image
Slingshot_(weapon).jpg


is the same than Sling

Please use the pic where is need

Yug 17:14, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I believe that it's a slingshot but I'm no native speaker either. A slingshot might be considered as some sort of sling but it's not what i think of when I hear the word sling. Jeltz talk 19:46, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I'd call that a hand-held catapult. — Chameleon 10:46, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

A sling is similar, but it uses the rotation of a piece of material to throw a pebble or stone. The Biblical David killed Gothiath using a sling, rather than a slingshot. Basically, take the central material part of the slingshot, hold the two ends together, place a stone in the material section and have a sling. In this context, the image is only helpful in that it could be said to be a derivation of the sling. :) Pete.

Added for curiosity: for many practical purposes it is (or has been) desirable to move a stone long distances at some speed. One of the ways to do this is to put the stone at the end of some string or cloth, spin the rock around fast and then let go. This is called a sling. Another completely different way is to use elastic material - use the contraction of a stretched elastic to carry the stone with it. Called a slingshot. Despite the only common factor being that both deal with propelling rocks.

Well, and that they involve a suspended pouch, which is what "sling" means ...

"Slingshot" is an Americanism. British schoolboys would call the illustration a "catapult". However, a catapult is also the larger machine used in sieges.

This discussion really ought to go somewhere else. Is there anywhere we 'should' put this image?

---

What are the risks of Genetically Modified Foods?

What are the risks of GM foods? Will the pesticides in them spread to the insects themselves somehow? Could the herbicide within the crops spread to any nearby weeds? I need this information ASAP for my I.S.U, Thank you for your help :)

Wikipedia is not a reference library. --Kiand 18:46, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

(you could try Wikipedia:Reference desk however)

Pesticides kind of have to spread to insects to kill them (they're the pest that the pest-icide is meant to kill after all) and the herbicides likewise have to spread to the weeds to kill them (they're the herb that the herb-icide is going to kill). It's all kind of tied in with overly homogeneous land use, overuse of pesticides and herbicides, and so on. Ultimately (IMO) the genetic modification is just allowing large-scale agriculture to do more of the stuff they'd be doing anyway. Sockatume 18:54, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Put a Disclaimer at the top of the page

You who are IN CHARGE here could possibly cut down on your WORK by putting a BIG RED WARNING LABEL at the top of the page that says "Before you post, don't. Go to the REFERENCE DESK. 22:54, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

It's already there, although not in big red letters :).—Ëzhiki (erinaceus amurensis) 23:17, Jun 15, 2005 (UTC)

User: Category, please see the yellow box at the top, and the instructions that follow. People who want to post messages unrelated to the Main Page have been ignoring/defying them. Changing the color to red won't help. BTW, this is Wikipedia. Everyone is in charge here, including you, Category. -- 12:07, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I've made it red. I doubt it will help. - UtherSRG 14:17, Jun 16, 2005 (UTC)

No, but it'll make us feel better about ignoring people who refuse to read it. -- Cyrius|✎ 20:49, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Can we actively remove or move comments unrelated to the main page [like the one below this one]? That would help. This link is Broken 02:05, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Done. - UtherSRG 02:28, Jun 17, 2005 (UTC)

You forget about the <flash> tag :) (PS - that was a joke. I'd never scar someone's retinas by using that) →Raul654 17:48, Jun 17, 2005 (UTC)

Isn't it <blink>? gkhan 18:12, Jun 17, 2005 (UTC)

Ok, I have to say that I really don't like the disclaimer on the top. It's too loud, and really a little inflammatory. I am going to remove the red colour, and decrease the font-size somewhat. Come on, is it that horrible that now and then nonsense crop up? We'll just delete it anyway, better than trying to be scary to newbies. gkhan 17:51, Jun 17, 2005 (UTC)

I have to say I like it as it is, loud and obnoxious is totally fine (not sarcastic). --Kiand 17:54, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Well, I don't think so. The reason that so much crap crops up here is because this is the first non-article page a new users see, and it should be welcoming. Don't bite the n00bs! gkhan 18:04, Jun 17, 2005 (UTC)

Welcome phrase

...the free-content encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

How about replacing it with something like "anyone can contribute". "Anyone can edit" sounds too dumb and simply begs sandboxing: "Really? Lemme try.... It worked! Cool!" mikka (t) 18:31, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Perhaps "the free-content encyclopedia to which anyone can contribute"? - sars 19:47, Jun 17, 2005 (UTC)

support, that would be better. dab (ᛏ) 09:56, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)

"Support" sounds like you're supposed to give money like NPR or something of the ilk. Dismas 10:04, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I feel that it is important to keep "edit" as this is one of the defining parts of Wikipedia and Wiki's in general. Keni 11:56, 22 Jun 2005 (GMT)

Protecting Commons images put on main page

If you are going to protect the local image page of a file hosted on the Wikimedia Commons, shouldn't the corresponding image page on the Commons proper be protected as well? If not, it could still be vandalised while it is on the main page simply by overwriting it on the Commons. Just a thought. Denelson83 23:37, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

This was brought up on the Commons village pump recently. It is a definite security hole and one that will become more of a threat as more images are transcluded from the Commons. I don't know if this has been done yet, but if it starts to happen I suspect it will become necessary to have someone protect Commons images whenever they're used. As this will add considerably to the effort needed to put an image on the main page (having to track down a Commons admin, etc.) it probably won't be introduced unless it becomes a problem. I'm not sure how best to deal with this, as the deficiency is a real one but has not presented much of a problem yet. I wonder how difficult it would be to modify MediaWiki so that protecting an image would cache it locally somehow and therefore stop someone from overwriting it on the Commons. This would probably be more desirable than having to get Commons images protected all the time. — Trilobite (Talk) 23:57, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Looks like someone took advantage of it already as there is currently a picture of a woman with shit on her face there.

And now, a picture of male genitalia. That's from the UK, apparently the correct image is visible from the Netherlands.

Try uploading the image from the Commons to English Wikipedia, then protect it. -- 15:43, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Brief downtime

Argh! Now what happened? Wikipedia just shut down for about 15 minutes. → JarlaxleArtemis 00:06, Jun 17, 2005 (UTC)

Uh there is a bit of hacking/wrong picture on the main page?

You bet there is. I've been trying to remove it but I don't know enough about editing pages with images on them. 69.37.213.59 01:30, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Only admins can edit the main page. → JarlaxleArtemis 02:12, Jun 18, 2005 (UTC)

What is it that's wrong with the page? I don't notice anything wrong with it. → JarlaxleArtemis 02:14, Jun 18, 2005 (UTC)

• Beautiful penis! Isn't it easy to see the connection between the Swedish language and the male sexual organ?

What? → JarlaxleArtemis 03:45, Jun 18, 2005 (UTC)

Someone vandalized the FA picture to replace it with a penis. I fixed it about 15 minutes later. →Raul654 03:47, Jun 18, 2005 (UTC)

Ah. Okay. → JarlaxleArtemis 04:00, Jun 18, 2005 (UTC)

Forbidden

Usually when I click on a Special tab, it redirects me to the Main Page. However, now it is taking me to an Internet Explorer page that reads:

i You are not authorized to view this
page

You might not have permission to view this directory or page using
the credentials you supplied.

---

If you believe you should be able to view this directory or page,
please try to contact the Web site by using any e-mail address or
phone number that may be listed on the en.wikipedia.org home
page.

You can click Search to look for information on the Internet.

HTTP Error 403 - Forbidden Internet Explorer

Oh. I just figured out the problem. Usually, the "special page" tab redirects me to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ (which, in turn, redirects me to the main page), but the "special page" tab of Special:Contributions redirects me to http://en.wikipedia.org/w/ (which takes me to an automatic "you are not authorized…" page. → JarlaxleArtemis 03:56, Jun 18, 2005 (UTC)

Use Firefox!!!

What's so good about Firefox? ‡ Jarlaxle 02:48, Jun 23, 2005 (UTC)

US centrism

Maybe this is way too nitpicky, but in my opinion, to be as NPOV as possible, entries like this:

1873 - Woman suffrage activist Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 for attempting to vote in the 1872 presidential election.

...should mention that that it was the US presidential election. I know that if you click on the link it takes you to the US presidential election page and you can figure it out from there, but it just seems weird to not include it, as other countries had suffrage movements and presidential elections, right? Does anyone else feel this way or am I being way to picky? machinebuster

I agree completely with you. -- Sundar (talk • contribs) 09:24, Jun 18, 2005 (UTC)

As do I. It amazes me that whoever wrote that thought it would be reasonable to omit the country. That's Wikipedia for you. — Trilobite (Talk) 11:10, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

{{sofixit}}

If you feel a change is needed, feel free to make it yourself! Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone (yourself included) can edit any article by following the Edit this page link. You don't even need to log in, although there are several reasons why you might want to. Wikipedia convention is to be bold and not be afraid of making mistakes. If you're not sure how editing works, have a look at How to edit a page, or try out the Sandbox to test your editing skills. New contributors are always welcome..

Cough. -- Cyrius|✎ 13:37, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)\

It was changed at 11:00. — Trilobite (Talk) 14:05, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

But people can't edit the main page...

Selected anniversaries isn't on Main Page. The actual page was protected by itself, so I'll give you half credit. -- Cyrius|✎ 22:59, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

HEY ! Sysops are people, too ! The remaining half credit should be taken away... -- 00:16, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I've got a grunge against redirects

The link to Athens, Greece on the DYK tempalte should just point to Athens. Dralwik My project

W00t! 600k pages!

We have a new milestone. --Ixfd64 01:44, 2005 Jun 19 (UTC)

Grammar in today's featured article

"An important peculiarity of the character is that are several different incarnations of Link throughout the whole Legend of Zelda series, although they share a number of distinctive characteristics." — 195.225.129.10 10:53, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Request made again on Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/June 19, 2005. -- 14:02, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Did you know section

The articles under this section of the main page have been the same for three days, if anyone is interested in changing them.

• The current entries are less than a day old. (Revision as of 21:40, Jun 19, 2005). I suppose someone has fixed things already. - Mgm|^(talk) 13:05, Jun 20, 2005 (UTC)

sprinting

I think the sprinting headline has seen enough face time on the front page

• Then by all means, suggest something new at Template:In the news/Candidate. We haven't received anything new since the June 18 and we can't delete items if there's nothing to replace it with. I've removed to items from June 14 and 15 (a week old is a bit too much). - Mgm|^(talk) 13:10, Jun 20, 2005 (UTC)
  • The sprinter's photo hasn't moved down the column with the section that mentions him. Please can someone with the appropriate privileges edit this? CTOAGN 22:14, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Anne

The featured article section doesn't seem to contain any image? How come? -- Natalinasmpf 02:48, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)

It does contain images; perhaps you encountered it while it was in a vandalised state.-gadfium 03:07, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I wasn't seeing Anne's portrait either, so I went in and increased the pic size by 1 px. Voilà, her majesty. Is that a cache/refresh issue, or something more sinister? –Hajor 03:17, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)

probably a cache issue. →Raul654 03:18, Jun 21, 2005 (UTCs)

Cosmos I

With all the political stuff in the in the news section, could we get some science? Like the Cosmos 1 solar sail rocketing off today? Dismas 23:54 <a href="http://www.biosupgrade.pochta.ru/">,</a> 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)

okay This link is Broken

Thanks! Dismas

It turns out that the Cosmos is most likely in orbit, just not the one planned origionally[[.]]

pictures don't match evenly

Sometimes the pictures don't match evenly to a particular bullet point. Can they be better placed?

Try Wikipedia:Picture tutorial. -- 15:49, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)

• IIRC common practice is to write (see picture) in "In the news" to link image and news item. In "Did you know" the item with the image should always be on top. I'm not sure what the convention is with selected anniversaries. - Mgm|^(talk) 17:20, Jun 22, 2005 (UTC)

Try Talk:Main_Page/Archive_34#Selected_anniversaries_Picture. -- 11:49, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Another side.

Wikipedia, I love you. You make research fun again. You blow the dust off the books. You make me want to read, to feel, to love again!

Thank you. It will not be long before I finally attain consciousness. -- Wikipedia 02:50, Jun 23, 2005 (UTC)

I hate Wikipedia. It's like a drug. I like it but deep down, I hate it. ‡ Jarlaxle 02:54, Jun 23, 2005 (UTC)

Looks like we have a wikiaddict. Phoenix2 03:44, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Blank space

June 23 selected anniversaries is long and creating quite a space below the adjacent DYK. Phoenix2 03:44, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)

• I should be updating DYK within the next two hours, so I could fill that spot. Still, it might be worth to check if there's "In the news" items that need featuring first. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:40, Jun 23, 2005 (UTC)
• I've updated DYK with new items. Hope you like it now. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:07, Jun 23, 2005 (UTC)

TURKEY E.U MEMBERSHIP POTENTIAL

Any Turks out there who genuinely feel they want to be part of europe because they feel european? or is the whole thing spurred on by the U.S who see having an ally such as Turkey in the e.u will be a benefit to the u.s and also will mean the collapse of the e.u? and hence one less competitor globally for the u.s economic power?

This is not a venue for discussing this sort of thing. -- Cyrius|✎ 11:04, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)

See Accession of Turkey to the European Union and Talk:Accession of Turkey to the European Union. dab (ᛏ) 11:08, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)

• Please see the top of this page: "Please don't post comments here that don't relate to the Main Page. Irrelevant discussion may be removed." - Mgm|^(talk) 12:39, Jun 23, 2005 (UTC)