4 ms·

I found out that having no news at all is not so good, because you don't want friends and colleagues to believe you're living in a cave. But you only need the t

by gbog 10y ago

I found out that having no news at all is not so good, because you don't want friends and colleagues to believe you're living in a cave. But you only need the two three important headlines in the week, and I get these from Wikipedia home page. Also, if you are concerned by a topic, say war in Syria, just get your meat from Wikipedia article, it's not perfect but it beats all other info sources by very far.

losteverything 10y ago
I never heard of anyone using wiki for for current events. How do you start.
- maxerickson 10y ago
  Here's the front page for English: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
  - hashmymustache 10y ago
    interesting. do you know if the "in the news" selection is generated or curated?
    - maxerickson 10y ago
      Seems to be curated. Each day has a history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events
    - ldjb 10y ago
      Items are nominated, discussed, and then a consensus is reached regarding whether to include them. There is information on the 'In the news' section at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:In_the_news https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:In_the_news The page for nominating and discussing items is at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:In_the_news/Candidates https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:In_the_news/Candidat... In case you hadn't heard of it before, Wikipedia also has a sister project called Wikinews: https://en.wikinews.org/ https://en.wikinews.org/
      - LeoPanthera 10y ago
        Does Wikipedia source news from Wikinews?
        ldjb 10y ago
        Wikipedia does not provide news outside of the 'In the news' section (it does provide encyclopedic entries on current events, but that's not quite the same thing). The 'In the news' section lists already existing articles, which must contain references. User generated websites are usually not considered reliable sources for Wikipedia, so Wikinews shouldn't normally be used as a reference in Wikipedia articles.
3131s 10y ago
For political articles it's good practice to read the "Talk" page in addition, I think. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Syrian_Civil_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Syrian_Civil_War It's worth noting that Wikipedia has collectively decided to call this conflict a "civil war", which is in itself a political judgment. There is mention in the lead paragraph of the other term being used to describe the Syrian conflict, which is "proxy war". I would prefer if this page were called something more neutral, maybe just "Syrian Conflict of 2011".
ArlenBales 10y ago
Most Wikipedia "In the news" articles are war or disaster related. Not very relevant for most people, and also quite depressing if you digested it day after day. If your goal is to reduce news to prevent distraction, Wikipedia probably works against this. Better is to just exclusively use Hacker News as your news source. Important political or disaster related news shows up on the front page of HN when it happens (big earthquakes, presidential election winnings), otherwise more localized stuff is hidden. The news that does make the front page here is mostly relevant to technology, which is what most here care about. I read Hacker News and local town news for news. Good enough and I miss nothing important.

by gbog 10y ago

losteverything 10y ago

I never heard of anyone using wiki for for current events. How do you start.

maxerickson 10y ago
Here's the front page for English: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
- hashmymustache 10y ago
  interesting. do you know if the "in the news" selection is generated or curated?
  - maxerickson 10y ago
    Seems to be curated. Each day has a history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events
  - ldjb 10y ago
    Items are nominated, discussed, and then a consensus is reached regarding whether to include them. There is information on the 'In the news' section at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:In_the_news https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:In_the_news The page for nominating and discussing items is at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:In_the_news/Candidates https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:In_the_news/Candidat... In case you hadn't heard of it before, Wikipedia also has a sister project called Wikinews: https://en.wikinews.org/ https://en.wikinews.org/
    - LeoPanthera 10y ago
      Does Wikipedia source news from Wikinews?
      - ldjb 10y ago
        Wikipedia does not provide news outside of the 'In the news' section (it does provide encyclopedic entries on current events, but that's not quite the same thing). The 'In the news' section lists already existing articles, which must contain references. User generated websites are usually not considered reliable sources for Wikipedia, so Wikinews shouldn't normally be used as a reference in Wikipedia articles.

3131s 10y ago

For political articles it's good practice to read the "Talk" page in addition, I think. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Syrian_Civil_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Syrian_Civil_War It's worth noting that Wikipedia has collectively decided to call this conflict a "civil war", which is in itself a political judgment. There is mention in the lead paragraph of the other term being used to describe the Syrian conflict, which is "proxy war". I would prefer if this page were called something more neutral, maybe just "Syrian Conflict of 2011".

ArlenBales 10y ago

Most Wikipedia "In the news" articles are war or disaster related. Not very relevant for most people, and also quite depressing if you digested it day after day. If your goal is to reduce news to prevent distraction, Wikipedia probably works against this. Better is to just exclusively use Hacker News as your news source. Important political or disaster related news shows up on the front page of HN when it happens (big earthquakes, presidential election winnings), otherwise more localized stuff is hidden. The news that does make the front page here is mostly relevant to technology, which is what most here care about. I read Hacker News and local town news for news. Good enough and I miss nothing important.