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Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Navigation

Template code

Article template

To create a page with the standard article layout, you can use the Start article buttons in the Newsroom. Alternatively (if the desired section name isn't yet listed there), you can paste the following code into a blank page and save:

((subst:Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Templates/Story|Your headline|Username|Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Issue/Next|2024-04-22|2024-05-06))
Parameters
  1. Story headline (required)
  2. Your username (required; additional authors can be added afterwards)
  3. Month and day of publication (required; e.g. Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Issue/Next)
  4. Date of previous edition (optional - if this is a regular feature, this creates a link to the previous edition)
  5. Date of next edition (optional - if this is a regular feature, this creates a link to the next edition)

Hopefully, you'll find that most of the details have been filled in for you, automagically.

Related articles

For linking to series of related articles covering a topic over time, you can use this sidebar template.

((Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Series|Series title|Article link one|Date|Article link two|Date|..|breakpoint=))
Parameters
  1. Heading
  2. First article page
  3. First article date of publication
  4. Second article page
  5. Second article date of publication
  6. ...
  7. Breakpoint (optional)

This template can accommodate up to 15 articles with dates, by repeating the page and date parameters alternately.

Sidebar

Sometimes there will be some brief points to make that fit better in a sidebar from the main article. You can do this with the following code:

((Wikipedia:Signpost/Sidebar|Subheading|Heading|Body|Footer))
Parameters
  1. Subheading (optional)
  2. Heading (required)
  3. Body text (required)
  4. Footer text (optional)

Voter template

The Voter template is a complex template which allows for the incorporation of live polls into Signpost reports. For instructions on how to include a poll in your Signpost article please see the documentation.

Major edit

This template for use on Signpost articles when they are undergoing a major edit, to help avoid edit conflicts. Please note the parameters:

((Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Inuse|user=[[User:Example|Example]]))

WikiProject talk page

This template is for use on the talk pages of WikiProjects that have featured in the WikiProject report. Please note the parameters:

((Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/WikiProject used|link=[[<Article link>]]|writer=[[User:Example|Example]]|day=<Day and number>|month=<Month>|year=<Year>))
Parameters
  1. Link (required)
  2. Writer (required, can accommodate more than one user)
  3. Day (required)
  4. Month (required)
  5. Year (required)

The Signpost Barnstar

The Signpost has its own barnstar; award it to someone you think has done a significant amount of work in the project!

Regular sections

News and notes

The "News and notes" section features news and reports about the English Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects, as well as the Foundation itself and its chapters. For topics that are also covered by external media, there can be some overlap with the "In the news" section, see below.

In the media

The "In the media" section reports coverage of Wikipedia and Wikimedia in the media (in a wider sense - for example, relevant blog posts or recently published academic research might be covered here too). There is some overlap with "News and notes". A rule of thumb is that if the news was broken by an outside medium first, or if the fact that there has been media coverage can be regarded as more newsworthy for Signpost readers than the content of this coverage (such as when facts that are well-known among Wikipedians are reported by mainstream media for a wider audience), then it belongs in "In the media". In this section, it is especially important to name and if possible link the original source, to avoid excessive copy-pasting, and to strive to add value by providing context or relevant details (e.g. if a newspaper reports about vandalism in an article, one might link the corresponding diffs).

WikiProject report

Each "WikiProject report" features a WikiProject (or other long-term collaboration on the English Wikipedia), informing the reader about its work, achievements and problems, and the perspective of its collaborators. Coordinated at the WikiProject desk

Discussion report

The "Discussion report" was introduced with the goal of providing "a summary of the most significant ongoing discussions and polls of community-wide relevance".

Featured content

The "Featured content" section reports on recently featured content on the English Wikipedia.

Other resources include:

Technology report

The "Technology report" covers news and developments related to the platform that Wikipedians/Wikimedians use to collaborate. This includes bug fixes and new features of the MediaWiki software, and the operation of Wikimedia sites.

Although the report aims to cover such matters for a general audience, sometimes readers need to be familiar with certain technical concepts.

Arbitration report

The "Arbitration report" covers ongoing or recently concluded arbitration cases on the English Wikipedia, as well as a selection of news, announcements, and other matters relating to the Arbitration Committee. Aiming to be unbiassed, from the perspective of an outsider, the report summarises the progress of matters (eg; what has or hasn't happened in a particular case), responses to developments (eg; responses to a proposed decision), and the content and practicalities of matters (eg; what a decision means; what does it tell us, and how might it affect us).

Ideally, after reading the Arbitration report, readers will (1) become aware of something that they weren't aware of before, (2) understand or appreciate something about an arbitration-related matter that they might not have otherwise, and (3) think about at least one arbitration-related matter, look into it for themselves, and come to their own view regarding that matter.

Although the report is particularly useful to users who do not follow all arbitration-related matters, it is part of a publication; the report is not a replacement for anything and common sense should be used while reading.

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