Portal talk:Main/Archive 2011

Main &rarr; 

Star Trek (2009) & Featured Article panels
I was wondering...since it has been nearly two years since the "new" movie came out, should we not change the "Star Trek is here!(!!!!!)" panel on the front page to something less "click here, this is new!"?

Also, I was wondering if maybe it would be a good idea to have a panel of "Featured Article Candidates" where it shows all the articles that are currently up for nomination and invites people to contribute by signing up to MA? Hopefully this would generate more interest in the FA process.

Any thoughts? --| TrekFan Open a channel 23:50, February 18, 2011 (UTC)


 * For the first suggestion - that panel should be removed now, as well as the hidden categories. It's getting really silly now. ;-)


 * For the second - there is the list in recent changes, but I think your idea is pretty good as well.–Cleanse ( talk 23:55, February 18, 2011 (UTC)


 * [edit conflict] - First, the Star Trek panel should remain in so far as there is some alternate reality portal, though it could be reworded. Second, the last thing we want to do is suggest that new users start voting on anything, since new users should at least read the policies and guidelines before participating, and we already have enough old users who can't be bothered to do that. - 23:56, February 18, 2011 (UTC)


 * If we want or need an alternate reality portal, it should actually be called that and be listed under Browse Memory Alpha. I don't think the film merits any special treatment on the main page two years later.–Cleanse ( talk 00:12, February 19, 2011 (UTC)


 * I would think we would want one as soon as the next film is about to release, so it would be a bit silly to undo all of this and then just redo it next year. As for standardizing it, it's on the list. The categories can be removed when it's up and running. - 00:43, February 19, 2011 (UTC)

It looks good integrated into the "Browse Memory Alpha". I particularly like the blue colour. Fits nicely with the rest of the page. With regards to the Featured Articles, perhaps it could be worded along the lines of "Featured articles are considered the best of Memory Alpha's work. If you think there is an article that stands up to our strict featured article criteria, then why not sign up and nominate it!" Above this sentence would be a list of the current nominees.

I think it needs to be remembered that just because someone hasn't signed up does not mean they are not familiar with how MA works, with how a wiki works and all the policies. But the link is there anyway. Overall, I think it's worth the "risk" if it publicises the featured articles and gets more users contributing. --| TrekFan Open a channel 14:44, February 19, 2011 (UTC)


 * New users can not vote on featured articles, because the page is locked, so suggesting anyone sign up to do just that is unhelpful and dishonest. Second, new users can hardly be called members of the community, since they just got here, and FA are what the community thinks is the best work, not some random people who happen to be here at the time. Since the recent changes and wiki activity already list the articles nominated, I flatly oppose a third list here, especially one worded to try and game the system. - 15:49, February 19, 2011 (UTC)

I only bring the idea up in an attempt to try and get more people involved. It always seems to be the same few people who contribute and while there is nothing wrong with that, it would be great to get some fresh ideas and develop a real sense of community with new people. New users are just as much a part of it as anyone and should be made to feel welcome to contribute, not afraid to do so because some people who have been contributing for a few years think they know everything (this is in no way directed at any one person, btw). I've seen the way some people talk to new users and, quite frankly, it's enough to put anyone off editing. Furthermore, I know there is a FA list on the recent changes but how many people would notice it or for that matter even look at "Recent changes"? The main page is what people see when they first come to Memory Alpha and, at the very least, it should show teach them about featured articles and how we decide them. And not forgetting the number of signed users that don't contribute to the nominations. This would be a reminder for them also. --| TrekFan Open a channel 19:28, February 19, 2011 (UTC)


 * It would be nice to get more people involved, sure, but the FA nominations is not the place for them to start. A peer review would be, but those tend to get even less attention than the FA nominations, so if anything, a link to the peer review page should be added by the FA nominations link in "Editing Memory Alpha". - 19:42, February 19, 2011 (UTC)

You could add it but I gurantee you that nobody will see it. It's just too small and too far down the page for anyone to read it. What I was proposing was a whole panel dedicated to explaining the featured article process in an interesting way. Perhaps this could include the Peer Review process. Something along the lines of:
 * Memory Alpha's Best Work


 * Featured articles represent the best of the Memory Alpha community's work. If you see an article you think deserves to be featured, why not get the ball rolling with a peer review?


 * Don't know how to do that? Don't worry, it's simple! Just head along to the talk page of the article in question and add to the top of it. Then click on the newly created link "Peer review comments" to start a page for all the comments. Just explain what you like about the article and ask for comments. It's that simple!


 * During the peer review process, you may find that someone comes up with an idea to enhance the article further - this is what it's all about, and can enrich the content, developing it to the high standard required for featured articles.


 * Once you think it's ready, go ahead and nominate it!

Thoughts? --| TrekFan Open a channel 06:33, February 25, 2011 (UTC)


 * Well, if the page is already too cluttered to the point that people can't scroll to the bottom, I'm absolutely opposed to adding even more clutter, especially clutter that's already everywhere else that's reasonable. The main page is primarily for new readers, recent changes, and to a much lesser extent wiki activity, is for editors. - 07:23, February 25, 2011 (UTC)

I'm not saying it's too cluttered - I'm saying that very few people will read and click on every link in a mass of links at the very bottom of a page - on any website. Having it's own panel would attract attention to the featured article or peer review process which is what my point is. New users see the main page first and that's where they get their initial impression from - not the recent changes, not the policy pages, and not any article. If we can advertise the idea of peer reviews to them there and make them feel like they can get involved this way (as opposed to them thinking "oh, that's only for people who have been editing for years") then it might just make them feel welcome and increase activity. Once they are established, they will come to learn the features on the recent changes page, they will come to learn the policies, and they will come to learn standard wiki editing practices, if they don't already. You have to allow people to jump right in and gain the experience needed without criticising them. Furthermore, if we did do this, I would suggest having the panel in between "Did you know" and "Upcoming releases". --| TrekFan Open a channel 07:42, February 25, 2011 (UTC)

Japan dedication
As we've done in the past, I've added a dedication, except this time I've left out any religion and made sure that there is info and links for people to help. I think this should remove most of the controversial parts of the previous dedications, and as it's been said before, it's not hurting us to provide a few links and info to help some people out for a bit, even if this sits outside of our scope. I would like to think we aren't so cynical to the message of Star Trek while documenting the Minutiae of it. - 04:43, March 15, 2011 (UTC)
 * It's a good message. Well put. --| TrekFan Open a channel 13:39, March 15, 2011 (UTC)

Why adverts??
Why are there stupid advertisements on I want to use this wiki to get info not bombarded by annoying adverts with sound


 * I'm not sure which ads you are referring to,(perhaps ones only unregistered users see) but websites cost money to run.--31dot 01:35, March 27, 2011 (UTC)
 * If you create a user account, the adverts will no longer appear. --| TrekFan Open a channel 01:47, March 27, 2011 (UTC)

would someone kindly add T'Uerell
looked for her page everywhere went through list of vulcans she aint there
 * Video game character. As such, no page here.  Try Memory Beta instead. -- sulfur 14:57, July 21, 2011 (UTC)

There should be a page listing all 24th century Star Trek episodes in airdate order.
I'm just saying... --Skywalker80 23:15, August 18, 2011 (UTC)
 * Why, when you can flick through the episodes in the episode sidebar? Also, you should really have brought this up in the Memory Alpha forum. --| TrekFan Open a channel 16:45, August 22, 2011 (UTC)

Star Trek 6 - The president of the Federation
We've all probably seen Star Trek 6. It's my favorite movie. One thing doesn't work out though. We see scenes with the president of the federation, but doesn't he look KLINGON? That doesn't make sense!
 * I don't mean to be rude but this page is for discussing improvements to the main page of the wiki. If you want to discuss your thoughts on a particular episode or movie, you might want to try another site that specialises in that. If you have a specific question relating to the Star Trek universe, however, feel free to post it at the Reference Desk. And, no, aside from the long hair, I don't think he looks like a Klingon. If anything, those cranial ridges make him look Romulan. --| TrekFan Open a channel 04:52, August 22, 2011 (UTC)

New Series
I know this probably isn't the best place to ask this, but does anybody know how likely it is for the new Star Trek series mentioned on the main page to be made. It would be awesome if they did make a new series in the prime time line.Gowron8472 14:25, August 29, 2011 (UTC)
 * From the story at TrekMovie, not super likely until at least after the next movie. -- sulfur 15:41, August 29, 2011 (UTC)

All well. At least we still have Star Trek XII to look forward to.Gowron8472 16:55, August 29, 2011 (UTC)

quote of the week/month/day
Why is there no quote of the week/month/day.


 * Because we don't have such a feature. If you wish to propose one, please start a discussion at Ten Forward.--31dot 16:30, October 14, 2011 (UTC)

Main page redesign #1 (Peer review mock-up / Defiant)
This is based on an idea from Forum:Overhaul of PR, FA, & AotW. The "current peer reviews" part of this mock-up would ideally be displayed in a frame like the other templates, though I'm not sure how to do that, programming wise. If this is still too big, the format could be used for the text. --Defiant 12:00, November 18, 2011 (UTC)


 * I think it's a fallacy to assume that anything on this main page is still being read. A real main page should, in the optimal case, fit on a typical screen, or be twice as long in the worst case. Our current main page is 9(!) screens long on a 1024 width resolution (and it doesn't get much less with higher resolution because of a fixed width viewport). So, if work is being put into a new main page at all, it should include a severe reduction of content, probably by moving most of it to further portal pages (we could create a Portal:Editing MA, for example).
 * That said, even just discussing the suggested addition here, I don't think it's a good one. It adds a "contributor-level" resource (a list to peer-reviewed pages) in the middle of two "reader-level" resources (Example article & Trek News). It doesn't belong there, but should be grouped with other links that address contributors. -- Cid Highwind 12:16, November 18, 2011 (UTC)


 * Added a box and used the template for PRs (a option could be added for the no reviews text later). This page also doesn't have the picture of the day box on it, though I assume it's suppose to be in the same location?
 * As for Cid's suggestion, if the editing portal was treated differently than the others, as in its link was located elsewhere on the main page and it wouldn't be in the nav menu, that might be worth looking into. Then again, a hub for editors is petty much what the recent changes page is, and what the abomination wiki activity is suppose to be. - 15:36, November 18, 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, the picture of the day should still be on this page. This temp page obviously does not cover a "severe reduction of content", Cid; if that's what you're looking for, you could maybe try creating a separate main page temp to show what you mean, like I have done. --Defiant 16:46, November 18, 2011 (UTC)

Main page redesign #2 (shorter page / Cid)
Here's my suggestion - still a work in progress, of course: Portal:Main/temp-tiny. Its features: That's a 2-2.5 screens main page. -- Cid Highwind 22:42, November 19, 2011 (UTC)
 * Sliding gallery, leading new users to up to four "main portals"
 * One of these (#3 in my example) would be a "behind the scenes portal" (perhaps Portal:Star Trek, perhaps a new one), which will contain the "News", "Broadcast data", and "Upcoming Media" sections of the current main page
 * Another one (#4) would be a "contribution portal", taking the "Edit" panel from the main page, and having space for things like the peer review list suggested here. It's true that this duplicates some of the functionality we have at the top of Special:RecentChanges at the moment - but that panel is pretty crowded already, and perhaps we'll get some new contributors by having a more spacy portal for them. That one could include links to current discussions as well.
 * The other two spaces of this gallery are up for discussion - perhaps one could be Portal:Star Trek (if that one will be separate from the News&Broadcast panel, and the other one could be changed for recent topics, like the upcoming new movie.
 * Below the gallery, we would keep a "Featured Article" (assuming the merge suggested elsewhere goes through). Here, we should make sure that the short blurb really stays a short blurb for all our FAs. The placeholder text currently on that page is half of what our current AotW blurb is, and it's already a little lengthy.
 * To the right is access to other portals and other language versions
 * At the bottom is the "related wikis" box and our standard disclaimer.
 * Anything below the line has no place yet - I guess we could re-format the Pic-of-the-day panel and have it located in the right column below the interwiki links. The rest, I think, should just go.


 * We could actually kill the featured article blurbs altogether and just make one of the slider links go to one, based on the randomized suggestion elsewhere. The welcome could then be moved up to where the FA "slot" now is. The DYK has both in-universe and real world info, so that could be in right column, with the pic of the day under the welcome. This might push it to 3 screens, but I think the external links and copyright info will still be seen enough down there. We may also want to take a look at our portals and see which ones are actually working and which ones aren't. I can make a mock up of this below the current one if necessary. - 23:28, November 19, 2011 (UTC)

I thought about moving the FA into the gallery - but we would be losing the text completely, so that we basically ended up with a random article between three portal-like pages. Also, we would need a 673 pixel wide image for each FA in that case, because the special gallery demands images of exactly that size. The DYK would be a good feature for the right column - perhaps it could be changed to a daily format with one entry, instead of the current (weekly?) format with 5 entries. I'm not sure we need the "welcome", at all... greetings on a homepage is somewhat last decade. ;) -- Cid Highwind 23:55, November 19, 2011 (UTC)


 * Having dedicated images for these shouldn't be that hard, and the caption could be Featured Article, with the text under that stated who/what it is. A daily format for the DYK might be a better idea, since even now there are still ones that mix IU and RW info. I'd also like to see this editor dedicated portal, maybe at Portal:Editing Memory Alpha. - 00:31, November 20, 2011 (UTC)


 * I'd just like to suggest that a link to "Where to Watch" (assuming that the actual content is moved off the main page) be relatively prominent. Judging by the number of edits, it seems to be a pretty popular feature, and it makes sense for it to be easy to find, this being the Star Trek wiki. Other than that, I have no problems with slimming down the main page. The slider seems pretty nifty. ;-)–Cleanse ( talk 05:20, November 20, 2011 (UTC)

Re:FA-in-gallery - I just tried using templated content inside the gallery, and it doesn't work. That means it wouldn't be possible to auto-generate the FA slider item, and we would be back to manually changing the FA each week. So, unless someone finds a solution to that, that's not an option. I'm still looking at the rest of the suggestions. -- Cid Highwind 11:44, November 20, 2011 (UTC)

I now merged "Featured Article", "Picture of the Day" and "Did you know?" into a single "Featured Content" panel - after all, all those things are featuring specific pages one way or another. I also changed the lengthy listing of "events on this day" into the last DYK item (which would be fixed, and always be a link to the current day). DYK should then have 2 or max. 3 items in addition to that final item - whether that works best as weekly or daily feature is up for discussion.

The right column is now slightly shorter than the left, so that a prominent "Where to watch" pointer could be installed there, as suggested by Cleanse. Looking through the existing portals, eventually removing some or creating others, is a good idea, too. -- Cid Highwind 13:11, November 20, 2011 (UTC)


 * Actually, the right column would be longer after the ad is factored in. If the DYK went to a daily format, or even a randomized one, there would be space below it for links to other features that would be moved elsewhere. - 16:11, November 20, 2011 (UTC)
 * Having now seen it, I think keeping the PotD in the left column and placing a single DYK (with the link to this day in Trek) would look better. We don't need to be pushing up the external links, and could just loose them all together if having them becomes an issue. Also, it seems that not working with templates is a "feature" of the slideshow. - 17:57, November 20, 2011 (UTC)
 * Tossed up a mockup for my suggestion, as well as creating Portal:Editing, since that needs to be developed parallel to this. It seems that except for the caption, the rest of the slideshow is "nowiki". Not even having basic formatting is giving me a bit of pause on using this, especially if wikia isn't still working on it. - 18:44, November 20, 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm not even seeing the slideshow anymore, so that might need fixing. ;p - 19:59, November 27, 2011 (UTC)

Variant: Portal:Main/temp-tiny-2. -- Cid Highwind 20:09, November 27, 2011 (UTC)


 * What do you know, Googleapis and Facebook are required for the slideshow, would not have expected that. - 21:07, November 27, 2011 (UTC)

Main page redesign #2-A (Archduk3)
Portal:Main/temp-tiny-2 is pretty close to what I have in mind, though the External links should most likely be dropped in favor of something on-site. I also still think a random 1 sentence DYK, with the link to the date, is a good idea, depending on what else could be place in the right column.

This design removes the browse MA links in favor of creating a super portals for in universe articles (Portal:Database) and production articles (Portal:Star Trek/temp). This would be part of an overall redesign of the portals, mainly moving production sections from the current portals to the new Portal:Production and merging Portal:Arts into Portal:Society and Culture. The current Star Trek portal would also be broken up to better provide info for the TV shows and films as well as merchandise. - 10:37, December 2, 2011 (UTC)