Mw talk:Community portal

From Mw

[edit] Suggestions

Hello guys, I've been a 'lurker' on this site for some time. I have a number of points to talk about.

1. Special:BrokenRedirects lists some pages that should be deleted. Thats only 5 or 6.
2. There's a link on the left to this community portal and its only editable by Sysops. I suggest creating a 'Forum' page or something that's editable by everyone, not just sysops. Or just take that link out. In any case something needs to be done.
3. Special:WantedFiles shows tonnes of files from articles with missing image files. For example Punjab region. I'm suggesting different options for these articles: (1) Upload the missing images, or (2) Trim the article to get rid of these images. Considering that they look like they were copied from Wikipedia, we can keep them as they are, or trim them down, or simply delete them. In any case these articles in their current shape don't look right with tonnes of red links and broken images. Any suggestions?
4. There is just too much work to do, but we have to start from somewhere. For example: Charno. This is an empty page.

The special page reports can help in cleaning the site: Special:SpecialPages. Honestly, in its current shape, the site looks like a weedy garden. There has to be some commitment and we can get things done. --Hamid 15:25, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

Yep lots of things need doing, just have to knuckle down and get them done WikiSysop 23:40, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

Ok thanks, could you please do #1 for me and also give your opinion on #2 and #3.

#3 is a site wide policy that means: What do you think should be done with articles that are taken from other sites, such as Wikipedia? Personally I feel they should be changed to fit our site's outlook, which means we should not allow duplicate articles from Wikipedia. That means existing duplicates should be deleted. We can always get the latest article from Wikipedia if we plan to re-write it for our purpose. Any thoughts on that? If anyone else is there, what do you guys think about #3? --Hamid 05:30, 2 March 2012 (UTC)

Thank you for the suggestions. All broken redirects have been deleted. I personally dislike the whole notion of MuslimWiki pitting itself against Wikipedia (as the YouTube video on the main page suggests). Wikipedia is a great resource that I use all the time. I think there should be a discussion on what the purpose and aims of this wiki should be. We don't want to be a Wikipedia imitation, and also don't want to portray ourselves as unobjective fideists. I mean not to offend anyone by saying this. It's just that MuslimWiki cannot be successful unless it makes itself clear on what its objectives are and how they are to be attained. --Unknown 20:34, 2 March 2012 (UTC)

Yeah, we should make this Wiki as neutral as possible but staying on an Islamic perspective. Remember we have truth on our side. We shouldn't add irrelevant things like what certain people think of Islam, we could add criticisms if reasonable but nothing like what WikiIslam says. They basically lie and twist the truth. A perfect example would be the Islam in Japan article. Islamic Warrior 22:26, 3 March 2012 (UTC)

Um, also could we get rid of the "reviewing" feature on articles? I can't edit them properly because I don't have the rights. WikiSysop I asked kindly if I could be an adminisitrator, if you have the time could I please be granted the rights? I'm really passionate about contributing as you well know. Islamic Warrior 22:29, 3 March 2012 (UTC)

WikiSysop, could you give bureaucratic rights to all the admins on this site who have been admins for a long time? It seems like a good idea. You'll share responsibility and allows others to help you out and grow the site. These people can be trusted. Or if you don't want to do that right now, please give the reviewer and editor rights to Islamic warrior through this page: [1]

Thanks for deleting those things, Unknown. Yea I totally agree when you said 'there should be a discussion on what the purpose and aims of this wiki should be.' Without a vision its impossible to go anywhere or be anything. We can make a list of the possible visions and missions and select the best. At this time I cant think of many ideas, but I'll come back here if I have any.

Islamic warrior, thanks for the links. Yea the Islam in Japan looks good - nice work and yes that site wikiislam is ah, I dont even know what to say about it. I agree about adding appropriate criticism if it benefits us.

How about getting rid of articles from Wikipedia, the ones which have broken links and images? Anyone disagree with that? I'll make a list and see what else we should do. We should look at existing content first and clean it up first. I'll look around and will come back with some more points later. If you guys can come up with possibilities as to what the mission and vision of this site would be that would be cool. We can also write to active Islamic bloggers or other people and ask them what they think the site should be. An outsider's view will be useful. --Hamid 01:35, 9 March 2012 (UTC)

First thing to decide: Is there anyone who says we should have duplicate articles from Wikipedia? If there's no support for it, then we should start getting rid of those articles. Dont worry - it will only make the site look better. Broken copies with broken links to images and non-existing articles (red links) make us look bad and the visitor doesn't like those things.

So if we agree, then can someone delete the articles from this user: [2]. These are broken copies of duplicate articles from Wikipedia. These make the site look bad. Its impossible for us to clean up an article like this which is outdated anyway. As Unknown said "We don't want to be a Wikipedia imitation". If you want me to go through the contribs and list the articles so you would have to, I can do that. If there's no activity, soon I'll start going through and make a list of the articles we should delete. Deleting that stuff is just a start. We have to start by cleaning up the site first, doing spring cleaning and after its existing content matches our minimum standards and requirements, we can start thinking about new content and the mission of the site.

We need some external input to guide our mission, by the way. We need input from leaders in the Muslim community. I'm sure if an administrator writes to them (email), they will be more than happy to tell us what they think this site should be and I have a feeling that feedback will be very valuable.

So if you agree with contacting leaders in the Muslim community to get their feedback on the site, then please think who can we contact. --Hamid 03:23, 10 March 2012 (UTC)

Lets get back on track. Hamid. I pray you're still here on the Wiki? Islamic Warrior 00:10, 26 April 2012 (BST)

Yes I'm still here, sorry. I'll try to spend time here but I'm not sure if I can be very active. I guess we have to wait for WikiSysop to tell us what he has on his mind. That will determine the success of this site and the general direction the site can take. He has it in his hands. We do too but not as much. --Hamid 05:56, 18 May 2012 (BST)

Yes I agree. We'll wait and see what he says. But everyone should be as active as possible. Islamic Warrior 23:34, 18 May 2012 (BST)