# From the front page of Wikipedia **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 26, 2023, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-page-of-wikipedia/984613 "2023-05-26T04:29:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2025, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-page-of-wikipedia/984613/61 "2025-09-21T19:11:18Z")
I saw that too, and was also unaware of this type of burial before. However it reminded me of [safety coffins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_coffin), a type of coffin developed in the 19th century that would allow a person who was accidentally buried alive to signal the fact. Usually there was some kind of tube to the surface that would allow the interred person to ring a bell or activate some other type of signal. Wikipedia says that there is no record of such a coffin actually saving anyone’s life (although the statement is uncited). ---
**Author:** ![motu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/motu/32/259_2.png) [@motu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motu)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-page-of-wikipedia/984613/62 "2025-09-27T19:35:46Z")
What is Wikipedia’s obsession with fashion designer [Alexander McQueen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_McQueen)? Seems like every couple of months they mention something about one of his fashion collections. Considering the kabillion of data points Wikipedia has, seems strange he keeps appearing on the front page. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-page-of-wikipedia/984613/63 "2025-09-27T20:20:09Z")
I noticed the multiple feature article on Alexander McQueen, and previously, multiple feature articles on Georgetown University. (There are probably other examples I didn’t pick up on.) My _guess_ is that someone is writing and editing multiple articles on that subject and promoting them for feature article status. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2025, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-page-of-wikipedia/984613/64 "2025-09-28T20:38:21Z")
Yes, that’s it. There’s no overall editorial direction. It’s an editor-driven process. There is one editor who is interested in McQueen and she’s a very good researcher and writer. She has done a good job of writing an article about each show, and taking it through the multi-step process: - draft an article (no review); - DidYouKnow? (initial review, which gets it on the front page the first time); - Good Article (more detailed review); - Featured Article (which is the highest grade, reviewed by several different editors); - Today’s Featured Article on the front page, which is the final stage. Because she’s good at all that process, her articles gets to the front page. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2025, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-page-of-wikipedia/984613/65 "2025-09-28T20:51:21Z")
About two years ago, there was a similar pattern of lots of articles about Australian military guys from WWII on the front page. That was because there’s an Australian editor with a strong interest in Australian military history and he was doing a lot of articles. A friend of mine asked why Wikipedia was so interested in Aussie military guys. I gave him the same answer. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2025, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-page-of-wikipedia/984613/66 "2025-09-29T01:49:41Z")
And on today’s front page, we get information on a topic under discussion here last month: > [@How is it that women didn't all strangle men in the 1960s?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-that-women-didnt-all-strangle-men-in-the-1960s/1022214/112): > > > [@How is it that women didn't all strangle men in the 1960s?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-that-women-didnt-all-strangle-men-in-the-1960s/1022214/109): > > > > the hyper-feminized “Mar-a-Lago” esthetic > > What the hell is this supposed to mean? > Did you know … that **[Mar-a-Lago face](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar-a-Lago_face)** is a plastic surgery trend popular in Donald Trump’s entourage? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2025, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-page-of-wikipedia/984613/67 "2025-10-07T04:26:35Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > My _guess_ is that someone is writing and editing multiple articles on that subject and promoting them for feature article status. Similarly, there’s an editor who’s interested in South American volcanoes and regularly gets featured articles on the front page. Today it’s a volcano called Licancabur (which sounds Arthurian, but apparently not. 😁 ) > **[Licancabur](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licancabur)** > > Licancabur (.mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}Spanish pronunciation: \[likaŋkaˈβuɾ\]) is a prominent, 5,916-metre-high (19,409 ft) stratovolcano on the Bolivia–Chile border in the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes. It is capped by a 400–500-metre-wide (1,300–1,600 ft) summit crater which contains Licancabur Lake, a crater lake that i... ---
**Author:** ![motu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/motu/32/259_2.png) [@motu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motu)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2026, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-page-of-wikipedia/984613/68 "2026-06-12T16:45:45Z")
Today’s "Did You Know…’ is very Philippines-centric. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-page-of-wikipedia/984613.md?page=3)