Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2008-03-03/Dispatches

Dispatches

Dispatches: April Fools mainpage featured article

It's almost that time of year. In a tradition that dates back to medieval times, on April 1 we celebrateApril Fools' Day.Some media outlets follow suit by printing hoax articles – probably the best known of which was the BBC'sspaghetti treehoax.

We are again approaching April Fools. Inpast years at Wikipedia,there has beenquite a debateas to how to handle April Fools.Raul654first proposed an April Fools' Day featured article in March 2005, stipulating that the article must first passFAClike any other daily featured article; because a featured article must be factually accurate, this means no made up articles. No article was written and featured in time for April Fools' Day 2005; instead, the main page was filled with hoaxes:Bishonen's infamousEuropean toilet paper holderarticle as the FA, andBritannica was taking over Wikimediain the news. A number of complaints followed, such as on wikien-l whereMavandDannycomplained that as a site with credibility issues, we were doing ourselves a disservice.

On April Fools 2006 we featuredSpooas an unusual article, and in 2007 we featuredGeorge Washington (inventor)– written primarily byPharos.The latterappeared on the main pagewritten as if it were a hoax; everything in the description, however, was entirely true. Because of the success, and the fact that we really did have many people confused, this is the path we are going to follow in future years, if we have articles that allow it.

Ideas for an article that could be brought tofeatured statusin time for April 1, 2008 can be culled fromunusual articles,which offers a potential list includingIma Hogg,Mozart'sLeck mich im Arsch(translated as "Kiss my ass"; literally: "Lick me in the ass" ),Casu marzuandBrfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116.

Did you know?

In 2006 and 2007, the main pageDid you know?section ran hooks for pages that were odd enough to seem like April Fools' jokes, but were actually referenced articles. In order to select these gems, the usual requirement for new material was waived. Selected articles included:

Queen Elizabeth IIworked as a lorry driver during World War II.
Joshua Blahyi,aLiberianwarlord also known asGeneral Butt-Naked.
TheBritish Rail flying saucerdesign patented in 1970.
Casu marzu,aSardiniancheese known for its leaping maggots.
Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116is a legal name in Sweden.

Suggestions discussed for 2008includesnail racing,Halley's Comet,andWiener sausages.


Also this week: Wales' relationship with journalist Bureaucratship candidacies Domas Mituzas interview Hidden Categories Book review WikiProject elections WikiWorld News and notes Dispatches WikiProject report Tutorial Features and admins Technology report Arbitration report

(← Previous Dispatches)	Signpostarchives	(Next Dispatches→)

In this issue

3 March 2008(all comments)

Wales' relationship with journalist

Bureaucratship candidacies

Domas Mituzas interview

Hidden Categories

Book review

WikiProject elections

Dispatches

Discuss this story

These comments are automaticallytranscludedfrom this article'stalk page.To follow comments,add the page to your watchlist.If your comment has not appeared here, you can trypurging the cache.

== Main page DYK ==

I hope this is suitable?Durova^Charge!17:48, 28 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I've never been involved at DYK, but I'm sure others will tweak it if needed. Can you link to DYK somewhere?SandyGeorgia(Talk)17:49, 28 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I have a couple ideas for DYKs (new articles):

Genetically-modified glow-in-the-dark animals
- Regrettably, my article onGlo-catsis in its most nascent phases
- Glowing pigs have also been developed[1]
The apparation of the Virgin Mary on a piece of toast
- This was a massively covered news event in 2004[2]
- This topic might be a bit too offensive, but I would love do an article about it

--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back(talk)20:57, 23 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hmmmmmm.... thisindigestible, sprawling articleis actually very good starting material. I wouldloveto do a fork of this article and give it a more humorous title, such asApparition of deities in foodstuffs:-) --The Fat Man Who Never Came Back(talk)21:04, 23 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

2009 April Fool's Day FA

< Copied fromUser talk:SandyGeorgia,to save for next year>

This article is awesome!Nishkid64_{(Make articles, not wikidrama)}19:07, 24 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Nonsense, someone needs to getVampire pumpkins and watermelonsonto the main page...–iridescent19:09, 24 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

(ec) So get on it now, and get it FAd in advance:-) I can assure you I won't have the energy next year to do what we did this year, and you'll have to deal with The Fat Man, who has his eye on thatmaggot cheesearticle. Next year, we should put out the April Fools' Dispatch early, and encourage multiple FA submissions so we have multiple choices to present to Raul. (Iridescent, are you trying to put Moni out of work in the Edit summary dep't?)SandyGeorgia(Talk)19:12, 24 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'm just pleased to have an edit summary that isn't "Re: your comments on Huggle" or "Re: Your comments on Keeper's talk page" for once...–iridescent19:20, 24 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Anyone up for gettingApril Fool's Dayfeatured?giggy_(:O)23:25, 24 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

This is my ideafor April Fool's Day featured article. I was stunned it had an article. --Moni3(talk)20:15, 25 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I likeHurricane Katrina (1981).It'll confuse the heck out of people when they hear Hurricane Katrina hit Cuba during the 1981 season. I don't know why I have this page on my watchlist, but this thread caught my eye.Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 20:30, 25 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'll be working onDancing maniaover the summer (per Nishkid's suggestion). ·AndonicO^Engage.22:22, 27 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpostneeds your helpputting together the next issue.

Home

About