Latest comment: 3 years ago15 comments7 people in discussion
I'm having trouble finding suitable images of masks, as masks themselves aren't very interesting, and so a lot of pictures have people in them, which I don't think we want. Here are three suggestions, but I think we should wait for some more proposals from other people before we start voting. Ground Zero (talk) 15:29, 5 January 2021 (UTC)Reply
Actually, this is an English-language project — there are other versions of Wikivoyage that operate in other languages. I chose non-English-language images to keep with the travel theme. I looked at AlasdairW's banner, and it took me a while to find the masks because they are folded and wrapped in plastic. What really shows up there is the hand sanitiser, but I have added it to the list for consideration as "Banner E". Ground Zero (talk) 21:24, 5 January 2021 (UTC)Reply
Definitely not the first, with the guy on the left having his nose exposed and the one on the right touching the top of his mask. I'm satisfied with the selection above, though. Ikan Kekek (talk) 23:26, 5 January 2021 (UTC)Reply
If you'd like something more icon-like, then the World Health Organization has released some images, and it might be possible to crop/assemble some of them into a useful banner with plenty of room for text. Here are the files I'd start with:
I actually really like these. If we took just a row of the circular images illustrating mask usage and hand washing, with no text, and expand the background color to fill, I think that would make a very simple and straightforward image. --Bigpeteb (talk) 20:07, 8 January 2021 (UTC)Reply
I still think that if we're going to change the image, it ought to be the one that shows the temperature gun being used. Diagnosing coronavirus is crucial to containing it, and temperature checks take place at so many buildings now that it's one of the main experiences people associate with COVID-19. When animals start catching coronavirus in large numbers I might change my vote. --Comment by Selfie City (talk | contributions) 16:16, 9 January 2021 (UTC)Reply
I was hoping for more input from others before proceeding. But in the interest of moving this along, here are the banners that have attracted support so far. I'm not able to cut-and-paste the WHO images as Bigpeteb suggested. If someone can do that, please add it to this list. @SelfieCity, AndreCarrotflower, WhatamIdoing, Ikan Kekek, AlasdairW: -- Ground Zero (talk) 17:17, 9 January 2021 (UTC).Reply
My choices in order of preference: H D G F E, then the WHO graphic. Wikivoyage is not the first place readers will be getting COVID19 information from as it has been front-and-centre in the media for 10 months now, so I think we should lean toward a simpler travel-related picture, rather than worrying about trying to educate readers through a banner. Ground Zero (talk) 17:17, 9 January 2021 (UTC).Reply
E,F,H,D,G. I looked at creating an image using the WHO posters, and I think it would be a bit of work for this shape of banner. However they crop quite well into a normal pagebanner. I have posted this on Talk:COVID-19 pandemic, but I am not suggesting changing that banner at the moment. AlasdairW (talk) 23:01, 9 January 2021 (UTC)Reply
F, E, G, D, H. The moai aren’t wearing the masks per CDC guidelines. It’s not covering the chin and barely covering the nose. I maintain that F is by far the most practical of the images. --Comment by Selfie City (talk | contributions) 12:40, 10 January 2021 (UTC)Reply
Its true that the masks aren't covering the chin, but they are giant sone heads, so I don't think image has to be viewed literally. I would agree if we were showing a person wearing a mask incorrectly. Ground Zero (talk) 12:23, 13 January 2021 (UTC)Reply
H and G, in no particular order. It might help to see them with the text overlay, the way they'd appear in the banner. Also, can we flip H and G horizontally? That would put the focal point of those images on the right, so it doesn't overlap with the text overlay on the left. --Bigpeteb (talk) 19:59, 11 January 2021 (UTC)Reply
I'm happy with either G or H. Also, if you'll let work-me slip into the conversation here for a moment, @PPelberg (WMF) has been thinking about how people use votes on wiki and may be very interested in seeing this discussion. WhatamIdoing (talk) 16:49, 13 January 2021 (UTC)Reply
Oh, wow. This is precisely the kind of vote I'm glad to know about...thank you for the ping, @WhatamIdoing. I've added a link to this vote to the ticket where we are thinking about how we might add support for voting-style discussions. See: phab:T259865.PPelberg (WMF) (talk) 00:49, 16 January 2021 (UTC)Reply
Now that several COVID vaccines have been developed and approved, mass inoculation campaigns are ramping up, and we can begin to envision a future return to normalcy in a more than theoretical way, let's talk about at what point we can remove the COVID-19 banner from our Main Page, the special COVID-19 message from our Facebook page, and the warningboxes from individual articles. Obviously now's not the time, but all the same it would be nice if we clarified in advance what needs to happen before we as a community feel comfortable doing those things. -- AndreCarrotflower (talk) 00:21, 12 March 2021 (UTC)Reply
Yes, indeed. I think we have to keep in mind that Covid-19 will be "over" in industrialized countries that have access to the vaccines long before it will be over in developing countries. We may have to re-write those messages first, and remove them later. Ground Zero (talk) 00:32, 12 March 2021 (UTC)Reply
I think we should talk about this later, when it's warranted. But it won't be the end of COVID-19, just the end of the pandemic. The disease is likely to continue to be endemic in many places for quite a while. Ikan Kekek (talk) 06:44, 12 March 2021 (UTC)Reply
I can foresee a situation where the (north hemisphere) summer makes numbers go down in many countries like last year, and that vaccines get the credit although only a moderate percent of the populations have got vaccinated. If so, I think we should have decided on how to react (i.e. the decision should be made in a few months). I suppose we should rewrite the warnings etc. about at that time. In autumn we'll see whether there will be one more wave even in these countries. Before New Year vaccines should have made life go about back to normal in many countries, but not in all the world. Then we need new updates. What they'll be like, we cannot know yet.
So I think we can postpone most of the discussion, but we should have decided not to join the first wave of people saying the pandemic is overcome.
Even within the industrialised world, the vaccine rollouts are going at very different speeds. It's likely that some countries will be up and running by the summer, but not the majority of even the "rich" ones. So I think we're a fair way off removing the guidance from the Main page, though we may have to update it sooner rather than later.--ThunderingTyphoons! (talk) 10:17, 12 March 2021 (UTC)Reply
TravelAroundOz - But that's exactly why I'm asking the question. What exactly does "fully over" mean? How is it quantified? And if only one country, or only a few countries, are still under quarantine, do we really need a banner on the Main Page or would just a warningbox in the individual country article(s) suffice? The reason why I bring this up now is not because I think the end of the pandemic is imminent in the short term, but because I expect there to be - or rather, because given the enormity of the issue, there rightly should be - a protracted debate about the specifics of when and how to ease up on the warnings. If ever there were a decision that requires a true community-wide consensus, rather than a "consensus" crafted by one or two interested parties that the rest of the community just goes along with because they don't care either way, this is the one. -- AndreCarrotflower (talk) 04:28, 13 March 2021 (UTC)Reply
One criterion is that WHO declares the pandemic to be over. Another is that major airline hubs no more have any special arrangements for the disease. After those are satisfied we can consider whether we still should have general warnings (e.g. for those who still are vulnerable) or just in select destination articles. We should of course reword the warnings earlier. –LPfi (talk) 08:44, 13 March 2021 (UTC)Reply
It's possible that the WHO might not ever say that COVID-19 is "over". I think they will reclassify it from "pandemic" to something else, perhaps "global epidemic" (which is the label they give to HIV/AIDS). There isn't really a single accepted definition for the start or end of an epidemic. WhatamIdoing (talk) 19:10, 13 March 2021 (UTC)Reply
We've had the moai banner, which I really like, on the Main Page since the middle of January. Would there be any interest in changing things up up by putting the runner-up New York Pubouc Library lion picture (banner G, above) up for a while? Change on the Main Page is good for keeping things fresh. Ground Zero (talk) 22:43, 28 April 2021 (UTC)Reply
Since 5 May? How often should such a banner be changed? Those that don't visit the main page regularly, won't know the image has changed. Those that do, will be alerted that something has changed. Is that an effect we want or an effect we want to avoid? The change of DotMs etc. will still guarantee that the page is "dynamic". –LPfi (talk) 05:35, 1 October 2021 (UTC)Reply
I think there is merit in keeping the main page fresh by changing the pictures regularly. But what banner would you propose in place of the current one? Ground Zero (talk) 01:11, 2 October 2021 (UTC)Reply
We keep it fresh by changing banners for featured articles. Changing the symbol without offering new content is misleading. Some readers might like the variation, but for others it is frustrating: clicking the main page as usual to read about a destination they see there is a new banner, click on it, and wonder, didn't I read this before? That is just a few seconds lost, so not on the scale where institutions force people to relearn their site, just to keep "fresh", but I wouldn't support a change for change's sake. Do it when there has been a major rewrite – or you find a new banner so astonishing that we just have to use it. –LPfi (talk) 07:11, 2 October 2021 (UTC)Reply
I'm open to having a new banner. Maybe not now but it can be changed in a few months. We started with sanitiser and currently have a picture demonstrating mask wearing. The next logical step would be a photo from commons:Category:COVID-19 vaccination. In most countries, the level of restrictions/quarantine when travelling between countries or regions is tied to your vaccination status so it's relevant. Gizza (roam)23:09, 13 December 2021 (UTC)Reply
Banner A (Existing banner)
Banner B (Street sign in Azerbaijan)
Banner C (German sign)
Banner D (PPE for sale in Moscow)
Banner E (Anti-A gel)
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Flight
mask shop
protester
Taking temperatures
New York Public Library Lions
Prometheus
Moai
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Done. I was going to do that in an hour but I realised its not daylight savings yet ;) SHB2000 (talk | contribs | meta.wikimedia) 00:21, 21 September 2021 (UTC)