Talk:Main Page

Blurry images
Images on this wiki are showing up really blurry and pixelated to me, as if they're all really bad JPG images, but just the thumbnails. Why is this happening? It's been like this for many months now. Shadow2 (talk) 23:49, 1 December 2018 (EST)
 * They look fine on my end (and they are JPGs, anyway). Are you zoomed in or out? Sometimes that causes images to appear jagged. 00:24, 2 December 2018 (EST)
 * That's what I thought at first, but I'm not. I tried zooming in and out a bunch and nothing changed, but to confirm they are blurred when I'm at 100% zoom. Shadow2 (talk) 06:20, 3 December 2018 (EST)

Add a New Pages template to the main page
Proposer: Deadline: January 24, 2019 23:59 GM

There is one thing that everyone sees when they enter the MarioWiki: The main page. The page is organized and includes trivia, the best articles on the site, news etc. However, under the Did You Know? template there is a large amount of empty space, a perfect place for a new template. The template that I am proposing is a template that, whenever a new page is created, the template will be updated containing a short 1-3 sentence paragraph summarizing the start of the page, preferably took directly from the page. The template would be called. This idea was approved by Porplemontage. This template would be a auto-comfimed only regularly updated template like the template where, whenever a new page is published, a brief summery with a link to the article will be added as the top bullet, as shown above. The rules of this template would be the following:
 * When a new page is published, a brief 1-3 sentence paragraph summarizing the start of the page, preferably took directly from the start of the page, will be used as a bullet point on the template. (Model A only) The page's main image will be pictured in a maximum 150px image.
 * (Model A only) Even if the latest page does not have an image at the time of release, Model A will still only have one bullet.
 * If an article is deemed too short or is badly written, then the article can be skipped.
 * The template has two bullets in Model B, one in Model A, and whenever a new page is published the article is mention on the first bullet on the top of the template, with the oldest page's bullet point being removed.
 * Every paragraph should end with the code: Read more....
 * The page's name should be linked and bolded.

As mentioned in the rules, there is two models that could work, because, as mentioned by Porplemontage, there is only enough space for either one bullet and an image, or two bullets with no image. Here is an example of how both models would look like:

Model A:

Safe Buster (pictured) is a dual-screen Game & Watch game that was originally released on January 6, 1988. It is featured as an unlockable minigame in Game & Watch Gallery 4. In the game, a character named the Wily Bomber is dropping bombs onto a safe in a bank, and the player as the bank guard must catch them in a container. '''Read more...

Model B:
 * Safe Buster (pictured) is a dual-screen Game & Watch game that was originally released on January 6, 1988. It is featured as an unlockable minigame in Game & Watch Gallery 4. In the game, a character named the Wily Bomber is dropping bombs onto a safe in a bank, and the player as the bank guard must catch them in a container. '''Read more...
 * Bomb Sweeper is a dual-screen Game & Watch game that was originally released on June 15, 1987, and is featured as an unlockable minigame in Game & Watch Gallery 4. In the game, a policeman and a character named John Solver attempt to stop a character named Dynamite Jack, who plants bombs underground town. Read more...

In my opinion, Model B is better, as while images are nice, not all pages immediately has an image when created, and two bullets can encourage more activity improving new pages than with just a single bullet. Still, this template could not only fill in space on the Main Page, but it could also encourage the creation of pages and the improvement of said pages.

EDIT:Per Alex95's suggestion, could also work, although in my opinion having a 1-3 sentence paragraph would better help readers get interested with the page than just the edit log, however it is still a viable option, so adding  as option C. (As this Model would update automatically none of the other rules apply) This Model would look like this:

Add the Model B version of the New Pages template (Two bullets and an image)

 * 1) My preferred option, per proposal.
 * 2) Per Doomhiker.
 * 3) Per all.
 * 4) This might actually make it worth it to check out the main page.

Oppose (Do not add a New Pages template in any capacity)

 * 1) I'm not entirely keen on the idea of a trivial feature constantly being edited while we're trying to cover newly released games.
 * 2) It just seems like too much trouble to implement.
 * 3) Per Bazooka Mario's comment below. Too much effort for too little gain. If we really wanted to fill out that empty space, we could just make the "Mario & Nintendo News" section longer or something.
 * 4) Per 7feetunder. Plus, this only benefits desktop viewers, but not mobile viewers (since it would add to the list instead of equaling the other side). I like 7feetunder idea of how we could remove the added space, but we could either just extend a template (though, that still leaves space, but is part of the template too, and maybe not as preferred) or add something that viewers would be interested in (maybe something like the feature media from the DK wiki that is being merge (in the present) with this wiki). These two are just other two possibilities, but 7feetunder's option is both removes the space altogether and is easy to implement.
 * 5) I don't think it's needed nor does it provide much benefits for its price of extra maintenance.
 * 6) While the usefulness exists, it is quite slim, can be seen through a button that's already on the wiki, and isn't pretty by any means. The main page should at least look good.
 * 7) Per all, I think it'd be a bit too difficult to decide when to update, plus the space it would occupy drastically varies in size, at least on my laptop, depending on the length of the Did You Know? and Mario & Nintendo News sections- sometimes it has lots of space, and other times it goes below the 'Shroom box- if the News, Did You Know and this were all long, it wouldn't save space and may then create an issue of more empty space on the left.

Comments
Does it need the "Read more..." if the article is already linked to by name? Also, hey, figured out something that could maybe also work :P

15:32, 10 January 2019 (EST)
 * In my opinion having a 1-3 sentence paragraph would better help readers get interested with the page than just the edit log, and the reason that I added the "Read more..." so that if a user is new they may not know that blue=link so having an obvious link to the page would help attract new readers. 15:41, 10 January 2019 (EST)
 * I'm not sure having part of a behind-the-scenes log on the wiki's main page is a good idea, especially since users can type anything in the summary. 06:42, 11 January 2019 (EST)
 * I feel that using behind-the-scenes logs instead of summaries could end up being confusing for people who are just here to read, while also being way less descriptive. -- 11:09, 11 January 2019 (EST)

So would this have to be updated every time a new page is created? What about when new games are released and articles are constantly being made for its content? -- 11:40, 11 January 2019 (EST)
 * @Waluigi Time it would have to be updated every time a new page is created, even when new games release. It would be the responsibility of the user who made the page, or another user if the user does not do so, to update the template. However, unlike the news and DYK template which require a large amount of effort to maintain, this template would really only need a copy-and-paste of the first few sentences of the page with extra code added and extremely minor adjustments. 14:22, 11 January 2019 (EST)
 * I personally do not think that updating it every single time a new page is created in situations such as that is necessary, as sometimes, multiple articles are created in a span of several minutes, and it does not seem necessary to have to update it every few minutes when it will quickly be updated again (especially if the user is unaware that they have to do it). -- 16:29, 11 January 2019 (EST)
 * @TheFlameChomp I agree, and in one of the rules If an article is deemed too short or is badly written, then the article can be skipped. Perhaps I can modify that rule so it also includes Also, if a large amount of new pages are created in a short time span due to a new game or another major event, the updating of this template can be temporarily set aside until page creation is slowed down to a normal pace. 16:53, 11 January 2019 (EST)

This seems like a lot of maintenance and trouble (via new quality standards that prompts a new discussion) to go through for a small spot on the main page where only a fraction of readers will be pretty invested on. Unlike the other spots, this section isn't going to be updated on a schedule. It'll require constant watch on part of the recent changes. I really don't see the benefit for this for all this trouble aside from general aesthetics of the new page. I think there are other ways we can minimize empty space on the page; this appears to be just padding. 00:28, 15 January 2019 (EST)