User:Jayron32/ITN nutshell

Basic ITN principles:


 * 1) Articles (not stories or concepts) are posted on the main page.  Any posting to ITN should highlight a Wikipedia article of sufficient quality.  Stories which for which there is no quality Wikipedia article to direct readers to should not be posted.
 * 2) The decision to post is based on a consensus among discussion participants, and as with any Wikipedia discussion, is not based solely on vote counting, but on the informed consensus of participants.  The ITN guidelines bring up three factors to consider when deciding to post an article to the main page.  People should avoid making comments (and admins should not give weight to comments) that do not substantively address these matters with rational, evidence-based commentary.  People may disagree over the application of these principles, but weight should not be given to comments where someone ignores these factors.
 * 3) Updated content: There needs to be an article with updated content. This can either be a new Wikipedia article, or an existing article which has new material.
 * 4) If it is a new article, the article should have been developed past the stub phase, and be well-referenced.
 * 5) If it is an existing article, the new information should be developed enough to establish context within the larger article, and also be well-referenced.  The guidance is generally a minimum of five new sentences of content, fully referenced to at least 3 independent sources, though there is some wiggle-room.  In general, the updated content should provide more information than the blurb directing readers to the article itself.
 * 6) Significance: The proposed item needs to be a current event which is prominent in reliable news media.
 * 7) Current usually means "the event happened within the last few days" (i.e. if posted, it would be more recent than the oldest item already on ITN) though some allowances are made for events where the prominence in the news is significantly different from the date of the actual event (for just one example, where a death occurs but is not reported about for some time later). When in doubt, the most important metric of timeliness is "are readers currently learning about this event in the news media"
 * 8) Prominent usually means that the story has been well developed, so that it is likely that Wikipedia readers are familiar with the story before coming to Wikipedia. Prominence is best demonstrated through evidence (links to news sources) so that people commenting can assess that prominence on their own.  Few people are able to keep up with every news story in the world, and assessments shouldn't be made on what I have personally heard about but rather on what news sources have reported on.
 * 9) Reliable news media usually means sources with a high reputation for quality journalism. Care must be taken to separate actual journalism from other forms of writing, even within otherwise reliable sources, such as celebrity gossip or opinion pieces.
 * 10) Article quality: The article being posted needs to meet minimum quality standards. While this can vary, editors should be prepared to assess the following things
 * 11) Is the writing compelling, comprehensive, and neutrally written?
 * 12) Is the article referencing sufficient?
 * 13) Admins bear a special responsibility when assessing when to post an article. Admins should not assess consensus by blindly counting votes, and should grant greater weight to comments which address all of the above ideas.  Above all, admins are expected to be the final safeguard against poor quality.  Admins should check to be sure the article being posted on the main page meets minimum quality standards.  "There was consensus" is not a blanket defense against not checking the article text.  Being right is more important than being timely, as the purpose of ITN is to highlight quality Wikipedia content not to provide visitors to the front page with news stories.