Template talk:ITN talk

"This article was considered..."
How about a similar template for articles that were considered to be featured on ITN but was not featured for the sole reason that the article wasn't sufficiently updated with the relevant news item. That happens, and it's a shame which should be rubbed in... __meco (talk) 15:23, 12 May 2010 (UTC)

interwiki
Please remove interwikis from template page, I have added them in /doc.-- Makecat  Talk  06:15, 13 July 2012 (UTC)
 * ✅, thanks :) --Waldir talk 13:03, 13 July 2012 (UTC)

alt parameter does not work
The "alt" parameter assumes that if a news item was mentioned at ITN on October 6, 2012, then the template should link to Portal:Current events/2012 October 6. Sometimes, though, the news item may have been reported at Portal:Current events on the day before it was added to the main "In the news" section. And sometimes the news item may not have been added to any of the daily pages as all.

For an example of the latter, see Talk:Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley, where the daily portal page Portal:Current events/2012 June 10 doesn't mention any boxing news, even though it was mentioned in this revision of Template:In the news.

I think the template should provide for a link to the relevant old revision of Template:In the news. -- John of Reading (talk) 09:15, 6 October 2012 (UTC)

(More) See Template:ITN talk/sandbox and Template:ITN talk/testcases. -- John of Reading (talk) 12:03, 6 October 2012 (UTC)
 * The test cases look good.--Don King&#39;s hair (talk) 20:04, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

I request that the sandbox version be copied in to the template page. -- John of Reading (talk) 20:22, 9 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Yes check.svg Done Just adds an parameter, seems straightforward enough. Anomie⚔ 14:38, 13 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Thank you. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:55, 13 October 2012 (UTC)

Recent Deaths
Can we have a option to specify that the person was listed in the Recent Deaths section of ITN ? LGA (was LightGreenApple)  talk to me  02:26, 19 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Seconding this option. I'm confused as to why this template is used for Recent deaths at all, since it only establishes that the article was well-sourced near the time of the subject's death. 93 (talk) 16:54, 24 June 2018 (UTC)
 * 93, I was going to ask, should this template be used for Recent Deaths at all? — AdrianHObradors (talk) 17:22, 23 August 2022 (UTC)


 * I'd completely forgotten about this for four years, but I don't think that it should be, given the criteria for RD meaning that every biography of a currently living person meeting a "minimum standard of quality" would qualify for this eventually. Others more involved should weigh in for consensus though. 93 (talk) 17:54, 23 August 2022 (UTC)

Basic Date Error
I'm having trouble getting this template to display the date as described in the documentation. It says I'm supposed to use to get the date to display with a comma: on March 14, 2013. , but instead (after I edited) it is showing on March 14 2013.

The reason I'm editing is because it currently shows this with this code:. CSB radio (talk) 20:18, 17 March 2013 (UTC)


 * I think I've fixed this in Template:ITN talk/sandbox by moving three commas. The Template:ITN talk/testcases page shows the change taking effect. -- John of Reading (talk) 20:43, 17 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Yes check.svg Done I agree with john's change, so I've put it live. I also fixed up the page. -- Red rose64 (talk) 22:08, 17 March 2013 (UTC)
 * This is wrong, not all pages using this template use mdy dates, they list them as dmy, a recent example Talk:Pope Francis. The extra comma is wrong. Wasn't it easier to post ?  Tb hotch .™ Grammatically incorrect? Correct it!  See terms and conditions.  02:46, 18 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Only the documented parameter format works properly in conjunction with the yes option, as it needs to construct a link to a page like Portal:Current events/2013 March 15, with the day after the month and no commas anywhere. It seems to me that we have a template taking two date-related parameters that should actually take four, like, so that it can link to the current events page and display the date appropriately. -- John of Reading (talk) 10:47, 18 March 2013 (UTC)
 * The template only needed to modified to convert "14 April" to "April 14". It appears the DD MMMM format is the most commonly used among admins who update ITN, so I've changed the template so that is the default. --  tariq abjotu  00:52, 14 April 2013 (UTC)
 * I see that you've updated the template documentation to swap the recommended date format for the first parameter. What happens to all the existing uses that followed the previous format? It would be nice to see some testcases. I've updated Template:ITN talk/testcases. The current template coding is broken. In this example...
 * I see that you've updated the template documentation to swap the recommended date format for the first parameter. What happens to all the existing uses that followed the previous format? It would be nice to see some testcases. I've updated Template:ITN talk/testcases. The current template coding is broken. In this example...

...the link does not currently take you to Portal:Current events/2011 May 9. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:58, 14 April 2013 (UTC)


 * I've fixed it... apparently the function was not a fan of that conditional -- not sure why -- and I happened to test the template with today's date first. It still would have linked correctly with just that changed, but omitted the comma (which was the reason this thread started in the first place). So, while I was at it, I decided to write a conditional so that a comma appears when the date is in the MMMM DD format. So, as you can see from Template:ITN talk/testcases, it works with either format. --  tariq abjotu  16:58, 14 April 2013 (UTC)
 * This looks good! -- John of Reading (talk) 20:07, 14 April 2013 (UTC)

Insufficient template
This template currently transcludes as "A news item involving [Article title] was featured on Wikipedia's main page in the In the news section on DD MONTH YYYY." This transclusion does not included link of the discussion where the decision of posting it was made. It also does not show what exactly was posted. (There are few articles which have been on main page for more than once with different blurbs and hence that would be good to know.) It also does not take you to the old archieves where all other blurbs of same day/period can be seen. I am aware that unlike DYK, a fixed set does not exist for ITN which can be directed to. But i guess there would be something that can be linked. §§ Dharmadhyaksha §§ {T/C} 17:19, 24 September 2013 (UTC)

Multiple dates in one banner
How do you make the template function like template:on this day? That one carries many dates. --George Ho (talk) 04:46, 19 December 2015 (UTC)
 * I've got the code on the sandbox and an example in /testcases. What do you think? &mdash; Martin (MSGJ · talk) 14:57, 1 April 2016 (UTC)
 * I like it, Martin; that would be fine. --George Ho (talk) 17:12, 1 April 2016 (UTC)
 * I have deployed, and also converted a few repeated calls of this template into one. We just need to find the others. Perhaps someone like could help by telling us how to find all talk pages which call ITN talk more than once? &mdash; Martin (MSGJ · talk) 20:11, 2 April 2016 (UTC)
 * This is a little tricky, as you need to parse the wikitext of each page to find out whether a template appears there multiple times. This rules out Quarry, for example, as the Labs databases don't have access to raw page content. You would need to write a script to check all the talk pages in Category:Wikipedia In the news articles, either fetching the page content from the API, or scanning through the (22GB) database dump. — Mr. Stradivarius  ♪ talk ♪ 02:34, 3 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Hmm, okay thanks. How would one go about writing such a script? &mdash; Martin (MSGJ · talk) 08:43, 4 April 2016 (UTC)

Clicking the icons
Right now, clicking either of the two side icons on the template brings you to that icon's file page. But that isn't how the internet works these days, and I bet most people who click on the icon would rather be redirected to WP:ITN, or perhaps a copy of the individual article's ITN segment. This may belong in a larger request for comment, but seeking input here, first. Brianga (talk) 04:50, 12 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Put in an edit request. This seems uncontroversial so an admin will probably make the change if you ask.  Rcsprinter123    (confabulate)  20:48, 11 June 2018 (UTC)

Bug: 21 May 2019 shown instead of 2018
There's a bug with this template. I've noticed on two discussion pages that rather than the appropriate 2018 date, a date in the future (2019) was shown. Please fix! Micronor (talk) 20:55, 22 April 2019 (UTC)
 * I could fix the problem on the talk page by taking out the vertical bars between the dates. Is meant to be a supported way of stating the date or was this a misapplication of the template that only turned sour when the new year cam around? Micronor (talk) 20:59, 22 April 2019 (UTC)
 * I noticed a warning is shown in preview, but preview only, when the date is used wrongly with too many vertical bars: Warning: Page using Template:ITN talk with unknown parameter "3 = 2018" (this message is shown only in preview). Micronor (talk) 15:05, 23 April 2019 (UTC)
 * The template is set up to recognise just two positional parameters, not three. Its documentation does not suggest the use of positional parameters at all. You should be using . -- Red rose64 &#x1f339; (talk) 15:46, 23 April 2019 (UTC)
 * But on two successive pages where I encountered the template, it was used incorrectly in the same way: "21|May|2018". I know that people should be using the template correctly but it's unfortunate that wrong usage of the template appears correct at first, before breaking up to a year later, like a time bomb. Those sort of bugs are the worst since one doesn't notice them at first. If the code could be changed so that the error appears immediately, editors would possible sort it out quicker. Micronor (talk) 21:53, 23 April 2019 (UTC)
 * Did a quick sample of pages that use the template and at most 5% misapply, so the scale of the problem isn't huge. But it's still something that ought to be solved. Is there a good way to let a script automatically sort this problem turning all instances of "d|m|y" into "d m y"? Micronor (talk) 07:48, 24 April 2019 (UTC)
 * The form with two positional parameters - e.g. as used at Talk:Frederik Pohl - is a legacy from the time when the MediaWiki software could perform autoformatting of dates in text according to the setting at . This feature was disabled for English Wikipedia something like ten years ago; the coding to handle it for this template was removed in, but the documentation continued to suggest the use of two positional parameters until . I cannot find evidence that it ever accepted three. It is clear that the purpose of the first positional parameter was always for both day and month, the second being for the year. -- Red rose64 &#x1f339; (talk) 11:45, 24 April 2019 (UTC)
 * See for pages using unsupported parameters. Here's a sample fix. It is probably a good idea to deprecate usage of the unnamed parameters; they often cause trouble when mixed with named parameters, because their usage can be tricky and unintuitive. – Jonesey95 (talk) 18:40, 28 April 2019 (UTC)
 * Thanks a lot Jonesey95, that's amazing! Micronor (talk) 21:29, 30 April 2019 (UTC)

Template-protected edit request on 23 May 2019
The term main page should be capitalised in this template. &mdash;  RAVEN PVFF  &middot; talk &middot; 11:31, 23 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Yes check.svg Done – Jonesey95 (talk) 11:52, 23 May 2019 (UTC)

Ongoing
Is there a way to display a date range instead of just discrete dates? For example, 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic has been listed in the ITN box as Ongoing for a while now, but the {ITN talk} banner does not reflect that accurately. - Indefensible (talk) 00:38, 12 March 2020 (UTC)

Icon change suggestion
I suggest to replace with Ambox globe current red, so that its icon is in line with templates, which use similar "globe with clock" icons, like Update. I've added it to the sandbox, as can be seen in testcases. —⁠andrybak (talk) 00:46, 11 June 2022 (UTC)


 * Strictly on aesthetics, the old one is significantly better. Agree with bringing them in sync, but is there a reason why the new logo is preferable?  GreatCaesarsGhost   15:19, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * GreatCaesarsGhost, the template Ambox globe current red produces an icon that changes based on time. There are three images: Ambox current red.svg Ambox current red Americas.svg and Ambox current red Asia Australia.svg. —⁠andrybak (talk) 16:56, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Well, nobody's going to notice that changing. I say stay with what we have. Rcsprinter123   (face)  21:04, 15 June 2022 (UTC)
 * I'll notice it, now that I know. Beforehand, probably not. I'm also now very aware that the old one seems to have one or two too many hands. Enlarged, I see what the artist intended, and so might others. But icons aren't exactly meant to be stared into so deeply and what it conveys at a glance could be seen by some viewers as vaguely unsettling, in an uncanny valley way, especially if they think about it. It's probably nothing to most viewers, and nothing too spooky for those who notice, but still. I support the new version, both for better resembling a real clock and representing more of the symbolic globe. InedibleHulk (talk) 03:19, 19 June 2022 (UTC)
 * The new one also appears to have too many hands. I agree with Rcsprinter and GreatCaesarsGhost; the old one is better. BilledMammal (talk) 01:11, 20 June 2022 (UTC)
 * I think the new one is better, the old one just looks ancient, especially that clock. I also agree with InedibleHulk's talk about the uncanny clock, I think that's actually why I feel like it's "ancient". The new one is a lot less noticeable because the lines aren't bold and that clock just looks "new". I also prefer the blue clock because the article isn't in fear of deletion or something. I also have an alternate icon suggestion: Symbol wait blue.svg. This is in line with templates like DYK talk and GA. Aaron Liu (talk) 15:03, 9 October 2023 (UTC)

Template-protected edit request on 18 October 2023
Replace the image with per my comment above. Aaron Liu (talk) 20:37, 18 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done for now: Doesn't seem to be a consensus for this change; maybe ping the previous people in this discussion and ask at Wikipedia talk:In the news? Elli (talk &#124; contribs) 02:46, 19 October 2023 (UTC)
 * @Andrybak @Greatcaesarsghost @Rcsprinter123 @InedibleHulk @BilledMammal What do you guys think about the icon change? Aaron Liu (talk) 11:16, 19 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Seems slightly more like a pie than a clock. That's only a bad thing if it needs to represent a clock. I'm not sure it does, so No Objection. InedibleHulk (talk) 22:57, 24 October 2023 (UTC)