Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article

Andrew, Bazza, Black Kite (to ping just the first 3 commenters): about what's going on at WP:ERRORS/TFA today, I'm only speaking for myself, but I think we've probably reached the point where I need to say something about how this impacts my job at ERRORS and at the monthly TFA talk pages (such as WT:Today's featured article/April 2024) going forward. All three of you have made vital contributions to TFA blurbs over the years; thanks much. And I'm not remotely suggesting that there's anything wrong with this discussion in particular. My point is that, given how people tend to overreact more these days to what they see as insensitive language (I blame social media, mostly), and given how much more discussion there is these days about language, including at the monthly TFA pages, I'm probably going to wind up saying less going forward. I still don't know after 10 years what the TFA coord job entails ... it's probably glorifying it to even call it a job ... but there is some expectation that I'm supposed to stay neutral, so as the total level of discussion goes up, my participation has to decrease, to some extent, so that I don't lose that valuable perception of at least an attempt at neutrality. (I don't want to get too deep into the linguistic weeds here, but since people are going to ask if I don't say something: I know that many copyeditors have insisted on "immigrate to, emigrate from" for decades. The problem is, this isn't a settled issue at all. Some think it's just blindingly obvious and comes directly from the Latin prefixes, while others think that slavish devotion to Latin prefixes is a bad thing. Not only is it not settled, but in the 2020s, these discussions can potentially become heated, because of the perceived dehumanization of using words that evoke animal migration for some readers, and because of the politicization of all things involving immigrants.) I suggest that we "migrate" more of these discussions to the monthly TFA talk pages, where everyone can (theoretically) have a shot at input; if we don't, then I'm going to have to cut back on my own input. Thanks again. - Dank (push to talk) 17:25, 30 March 2024 (UTC)

As the coordinator for May's TFAs I won't be watching Errors, I never do. So I will pay no attention to reports of errors unless pinged. I have not noticed either my input or lack of it materially effecting outcomes, not do I consider the majority of reported "errors" to actually be "errors", and so I allocate my time elsewhere. In the unlikely eventuality of anyone being interested in a coordinator's opinion on any proposed blurb for May, I urge them to read them here and comment on them here, where I will read them, will probably respond to them, and may action them, as I do each time I coordinate a month's TFAs - eg here and here. Getting comments in two or three days before they are due to hit the main page, and ideally two or three weeks, would be appreciated. Thanks. Gog the Mild (talk) 18:07, 30 March 2024 (UTC)

My feeling is, and has been since before I became a coordinator in 2017, is that WP:ERRORS, at least as far as the TFA goes, is for factual errors and gross grammatical mistakes. Things that are not those should not be there and should not be acted upon by editing through full protection, since the blurb has been seen by multiple people and carries a level of consensus with it. Wehwalt (talk) 18:25, 30 March 2024 (UTC)

• Fair enough; I went with the two people who had commented there (and I'll admit that "immigrated from" sounded wrong to me as well). I've made a change to today's FA as well, although in this case it was a purely factual error (well, more a link that shouldn't have been one). Black Kite (talk) 10:18, 31 March 2024 (UTC)

Black Kite. The question of whether to link North East England was not an error but was discussed here, in response to dying's concern that Tyneside did not sufficiently identify the area of England or the length of the march to non-British users. It was decided to have the link in the full knowledge that the political subdivision did not exist in the 1930s. You may agree or disagree with that but it was discussed and the discussion should have been considered before action was taken. It would be useful if admins desiring to edit the TFA through full protection would at least check to see if there has been previous discussion on the subject. I would frankly like to see admins aspiring to edit the TFA through full protection on the main page day participate in such discussions, but is it too much to ask that the monthly discussion pages be looked at to see if the matter has been discussed and that TFA coordinators be pinged (and since two of the three of us are American and Gog the Mild does not watchlist WP:ERRORS, give the sun a reasonable amount of time to rise on the United States)? It's possible we might have something useful to say on the subject.--Wehwalt (talk) 13:23, 31 March 2024 (UTC)

Does anyone else sense a disconnect between the picture and the blurb text? The text talks of men marching but the memorial apparently includes women and children, is the memorial depicting a part of the the March (the start?, the end?), or is there some other explanation? Alanscottwalker (talk) 16:35, 31 March 2024 (UTC)

The men are emerging from a half-built ship and carrying a banner like the marchers carried. I suspect from a quick Google search that it's allegorical.--Wehwalt (talk) 16:52, 31 March 2024 (UTC)

Unreviewed featured articles/2020 (URFA/2020) is a systematic approach to reviewing older Featured articles (FAs) to ensure they still meet the FA standards. A January 2022 Signpost article called "Forgotten Featured" explored the effort.

Progress is recorded at the monthly stats page. Through 2023:

• 83 FAs were delisted at Featured article review (FAR), with 440 delisted since the initiative began
• 26 FAs were kept at FAR or deemed "satisfactory" by three URFA reviewers, with hundreds more being marked as "satisfactory", but awaiting three reviews. Since URFA/2020's inception, 248 have been marked in this category.
• The percentage of URFAs needing review dropped to 85%, and the total number of FAs needing review dropped to 60%

Entering its fourth year, URFA is helping to maintain FA standards; FAs are being restored via FAR and improvements initiated on talk pages. Nine editors received a FASA for restoring seven articles to meet the FA criteria. Many articles have been rerun as Today's featured article, helping increase mainpage diversity.

There remain almost 4,000 old and very old FAs to be reviewed. Some topic areas and WikiProjects have been more proactive than others in restoring or maintaining their old FAs. As seen in the chart below, the following have very high ratios of FAs kept to those delisted (ordered from highest ratio):

• Physics and astronomy
• Biology
• Mathematics
• Warfare
• Engineering and technology
• Video gaming

and others have a good ratio of kept to delisted FAs:

• Religion, mysticism and mythology
• Literature and theatre
• Royalty and nobility
• Geology and geophysics

Kudos to editors who pitched in to help maintain older FAs!

Reviewing our oldest featured articles ensures that our best articles are up-to-date, helps maintain diversity at WP:TFA, and ensures that our articles are still following the featured article criteria.

Here's how any editor can help:

• Review a 2004 to 2007 FA. With three "Satisfactory" marks, an article can be moved to the FAR not needed section.
• Review "your" articles: Did you nominate a featured article between 2004 and 2015? Check these articles, update as needed, and mark them as 'Satisfactory' at URFA/2020. A continuously maintained FA is a good predictor that standards are still met, and with two more "Satisfactory" marks, "your" articles can be listed as "FAR not needed". If they no longer meet the FA standards, please begin the FAR process by posting your concerns on the article's talk page.
• Review articles that already have one "Satisfactory" mark: more FAs can be indicated as "FAR not needed" if other reviewers will have a look at those already indicated as maintained by the original nominator. If you find issues, you can post them on the talk page.
• Fix an existing featured article: Choose an article at URFA/2020 or FAR and bring it back to FA standards. Enlist the help of the original nominator, frequent FA reviewers, WikiProjects listed on the talk page, or editors who have written similar topics. When the article returns to FA standards, please mark it as 'Satisfactory' at URFA/2020 or note your progress in the article's FAR.
• Review and nominate an article to FAR that has been 'noticed' of a FAR needed, but issues raised on talk have not been addressed. Sometimes nominating at FAR draws additional editors to help improve the article who would otherwise not look at it.

More regular URFA and FAR reviewers will help ensure that FAs continue to represent examples of Wikipedia's best work. If you have any questions or feedback, please visit Wikipedia talk:Unreviewed featured articles/2020/4Q2023. Z1720 (talk) 17:05, 31 March 2024 (UTC)

I can't remember if I've seen this or not, but is there a place to see an old FA, as it looked like the main page? Obviously, the history/preview, but more a way of seeing the snapshot as a whole? ——Serial Number 54129 16:22, 4 April 2024 (UTC)

Not quite sure what you mean. We have Main Page history for the part on the Main page. If you mean the complete article, I'd not know something at present, but for GAs, we have a link to the reviewed version, and I think it would be feasible to write a link to the version as it appeared somewhere in article history. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:42, 4 April 2024 (UTC)

@Gerda Arendt: Fantastic! The Main Page History is exactly what I was thinking. I really do thank you. I'd nearly scratched a whole in my hair, to be sure. ——Serial Number 54129 17:06, 4 April 2024 (UTC)

I love to hear that - preventing that hole ;) - It's written twice, to get the changes (RD, DYK), the next will be WP:Main Page history/2024 April 4b. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 18:44, 4 April 2024 (UTC)