NSWiki:Featured articles/Archive/changing the featured article
Any NSwiki member can change the featured article. It doesn't have to be done by a sysop. It is a bit complicated, and following all the steps below is advisable.
Given the relatively small size of NSwiki, changing the Feature once every week or two is sufficient. Check the History tab of Template:feature for the latest edit dates to be sure. Sunday is a good change day if you want to make it simpler.
Find your Feature
Start in one of the following places:
Articles which have achieved consensus (loosely defined as having been approved by a largish majority of respondents after a period of at least two weeks, probably a month or more is better) should be considered as candidates. Articles which still have significant unaddressed negatives should not be moved to Featured status until those negatives have been addressed or dismissed.
If your search shows several good candidates in the Category that aren't on the Featured log, please add them using the same format as prior entries. Edit NSwiki:Featured article candidates/Featured log to remove the article you pick.
Editing your feature summary
Go to your chosen article and open an Edit window. Copy the contents to your word processor. This is a great opportunity to run a spell-checker, but bear in mind that both British and American spellings are acceptable. Don't second-guess the authors here with regard to invented names, just fix the bad English errors. If you make changes, Preview and Save. Otherwise, exit without saving, but keep your word processor copy open.
What you want to do for the feature is capture a summary of the article without changing any of the text. Usually there will be an overview paragraph, and you can pick one or two other representative sections. Avoid lists and tables - these don't translate well to that half-column listing on the Main Page. You're looking for just enough material to fill that half-column Feature space without having to scroll down a lot. Remember - we want readers to click the link and visit the full article. You can almost always cut quite a bit.
Use the existing feature (or an archived version) as your guide. Notice that the feature uses HTML headline tags rather than wiki code. Please duplicate this - it makes the Main Page table work better. It's also a good idea to include a small picture, typically under 200 x 200 pixels. Many of the archived articles have examples you can copy for the coding.
Be sure to have a link to the main article at the top of your summary.
Posting the Feature
Go to Template:feature and edit in your new version. It should fill the page about the same as the prior feature. You may want to go back and trim or add to your summary copy at this time. Once you are happy with the changes, Save your work. Check the Main Page to see how it looks. If you see problems, come back and fix them, please.
Followup fixes
Now that you've converted a candidate to a feature, there are a few more steps that should be completed.
- Go to NSwiki:Featured articles and add a link to the full article to the appropriate category.
- Paste a copy of your edited summary to NSwiki:Featured articles/Archive. If we have a dry spell, we can recycle these. Include the change date. (if recyling, don't post it again, but add the recycle date somewhere.)
- Make sure you've removed the article from the NSwiki:Featured article candidates/Featured log.
- Go back to the main article and change the {{FAC}} notice to {{featured}}.
- Go to the article's talk page and add a note or two indicating that FAC voting is closed. Encourage people to continue to add to the article.
That's it. It looks much more daunting here than it actually is. Plan on taking 10 to 30 minutes to do it all the first time. It gets easier with practice. Happy Featured Wikiing!
