Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Peer review/Portal:War

Portal:War

This is a somewhat unusual request, I suppose, given that (a) this isn't an article and (b) it's already featured; but I figured this was the best place to ask.

Portal:War was one of the first featured portals, and hasn't changed significantly in form since then, so it's missing some of the bells-and-whistles of the newer portals. I'm therefore considering a pretty substantial redesign, and would like some advice on a number of issues:

1. The featured content is currently rotated weekly/monthly by the calendar. Now that we have the m:ParserFunctions extension, it would be possible to trigger it from something that changes more rapidly—like the number of articles—and have the content picked (from a pre-determined set of featured articles and pictures) essentially at random every minute or so. Would this be an improvement to the current model?
2. Now that we have some more portals related to this, should I add a "Related portals" box? How about links to other Wikimedia projects (Commons, WikiNews, etc.)?
3. Should the "Categories" box be expanded?
4. How about the "Major topics" box? At present, it's mostly the links from {{History of war}}; I was considering making it rather more substantial, similarly to what Portal:London has. What would be some important topics to include?
5. Finally, the issue of a Portal:Military has recently come up. Exact definitions aside, all of the featured material in Wikipedia sits squarely under both "War" and "Military" (as there are very few non-war-related military articles of any substantial size), so I haven't really been forced to make this distinction when selecting material. Do we need to leave the possibility of a separate military portal open indefinitely, or would it be better to simply create it as a redirect to Portal:War and run it as a joint portal?

Comments on these issues—or any other suggestions or feedback on the portal—would be very appreciated! Kirill Lokshin 13:15, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

Update: in light of the comments so far, I've switched the featured articles and featured pictures to rotate once every 24 hours (on a somewhat unpredictable schedule). Further comments are very welcome! Kirill Lokshin 17:18, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

Update #2: to simplify the layout, I've combined the categories and topic links into a single box. I've also added a number of categories in response to some comments that the portal was imbalanced because it didn't mention anti-war movements and such. Any suggestions on what other topics and categories should be included would be appreciated! Kirill Lokshin 01:42, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

Grafikm

1. Every minute is kinda too much... Maybe change it at random once in 24 hours or something like that. It seems like a good compromise... :)
2. What kind of portals do you exactly have in mind?
3. Yes, but atm I'm clueless about how... Gotta think about it... :))
4. Definitely yes, but a lengthy discussion will be necessary...
5. "Do we need to leave the possibility of a separate military portal open indefinitely". No. No no. No no no. No? No. No!!! Seriously though, the risk of both these portals stepping on each other's toes is simply huge. OTOH, there are tons of articles related to military that beling to other wikiprojects (weaponry come to mind), and they're likely to go ape if we redirect... Maybe a discussion between these three projects is necessary?

Hope this helps, Kirill!:)) Grafikm ^(AutoGRAF) 00:17, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the comments! Some responses:

1. Doing it once per day might work; alternately, we could try to speed it up to the point where every re-load of the portal page would have a new article & picture.

2. The USMC portal, mainly. I think there was another military-related one I saw recently, but I can't recall its name offhand.

5. Given that both the pure military and weaponry projects are inactive, I'm not sure how much discussion would be necessary, or even whether it's possible to start one. I doubt the members would complain too much, in any case, as most members of those projects are also in this one.

If you do come up with any good ideas for the category and topic boxes, please let me know! :-) Kirill Lokshin 01:47, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

ERcheck

1. Featured content rotation schedule: I like a rotation schedule on the order of every two weeks. If it is too often, visitors will miss a feature.
2. Related items: Only if there is as strong relationship.
3. Categories list: Expand a little, but make simple.
4. Major topics: I like the current format — simple, comprehensive, easy to navigate. Perhaps adding Military. The London one has too much on it for my preference.
5. Separate Military Portal: I don't think we should close the door here. Thought tightly connected, War does not equate to Military. Likewise, if there is a desire to create a Military Portal, there should be close coordination.

—ERcheck @ 02:04, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the comments! On the topic of schedules, we have so many featured articles now that a two-week rotation period will cause us to exclude a significant number; I'm really not sure what the best course of action here is. I'll try to keep all of your other suggestions in mind ;-) Kirill Lokshin 02:08, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

• Point well-taken. I favor not more often than daily; would weekly leave out too many? —ERcheck @ 02:14, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

It's been running weekly now; I think we passed 52 featured articles about a month ago. My guess is that daily changes—with a fairly random schedule—would probably be the easiest way of making sure we get a chance to present all the material we can on the portal. Kirill Lokshin 02:16, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

I like the recent changes that have been made to the War Portal. The "Major topic and categories" is nicely formatted/easy to navigate. The addition of the portal box is a nice add. —ERcheck @ 11:32, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

Dott.Piergiorgio

1. featured content: seems good and working.
2. Related itema: nothing to say
3. Categories list: why not add list of battles and list of wars ? I think that lists are more easy to browse than the categories, whose I find really awkward
4. Major topics: nothing to say for now
5. Separate military portal: IMHO is akin to make a separate musician or musical instrument portal to a music portal, or a separate hacker or hardware portal to computers portal. strongly disagree. dott.Piergiorgio 06:35, 25 May 2006 (UTC)