Call for opinion pieces

The Signpost is calling for letters to the editor, position pieces, and short essays addressing important issues facing English Wikipedia and the broader Wikimedia community. Many Signpost readers have expressed interest in seeing opinion/editorial content; this will be an experiment in that direction, and it may become a regular feature if successful and well-received.

Opinions are welcome, but submissions should be fact-based and well researched, and should not be unnecessarily inflammatory in tone. Sets of contributions that address a single issue from different perspectives are especially encouraged. Submissions can be listed at the opinion desk.

In this issue

21 September 2009 (all comments)

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I'd be more than happy to help! Wikipedia is a good starting point to gain general knowledge about a certain topic of interest.

Invitation to write opinion pieces

You might consider warning prospective contributors that their pieces will not necessarily be published, may have to wait until the right circumstances, and may be pruned. That might forestall upset expectations. Tony (talk) 12:51, 23 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Though this could lead to an interesting piece about the frustrating editorial control. :-) However well-intended, I'm not sure that any good will come out of this idea. Pichpich (talk) 02:39, 24 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Most editorial pages in newspapers will invite letters from readers, with that caveat that they may be trimmed for space or format. This would be similar, except that we don't really need to trim for space or format. I do think that a request to keep such letters at a reasonable size would make sense; a longer essay would be better as a standalone essay, and a short comment can be just that, a comment. Maybe 1,500 words? UltraExactZZ ^Claims~ Evidence 13:29, 25 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]