Last modified: 2014-11-15 12:06:30 UTC
Feature Request: External web sites need to be able to link directly to the First sentence of an article. The Wikipedia Manual of Style requires the First sentence to include the name of the topic and its concise definition, which is precisely what is needed for a glossary reference by web sites anywhere in the world wide web. The ability to link directly to that sentence is an essential first step in creating a Semantic Wikipedia. Currently no facility exists to point to that specific information. My proposal to have editors insert anchors to that first sentence has been soundly rejected by editors who fear (I think unwisely) a proliferation of such tags throughout Wikipedia, and who seem unconcerned with the potential role that Wikipedia might play in the web. Since the distinction of the "First sentence" is an internal Wikipedia concept, with no syntactic marker for software to grab (indeed that is the technical essence of the problem), I am skeptical that there is a "software solution". However, in the event that I am incorrect in that assumption, I am inserting this feature request into to Bugzilla facility. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Lead_section#First_sentence, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_%28proposals%29#Proposal:_allow_anchors_to_lead_paragraphs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Semantic_Wikipedia#Automatic_link_to_lead_section_content)
(In reply to comment #0) > The ability > to link directly to that sentence is an essential first step in creating a > Semantic Wikipedia. Currently no facility exists to point to that specific > information. Couldn't you use the Wikipedia API and take the first delivered paragraph? I don't yet understand the reasoning for this request.
I think this idea deserves more attention. I haven't done any systematic testing but I have the impressions that e.g. Facebook or Google+ have trouble interpreting the beginning of an article when they feature a URL except. (They also get confused by what image to choose). The result is less effective summaries of Wikipedia pages (and by extension MediaWiki based pages) in those services used by millions. An automatic identifier for the beginning of a paragraph (skipping templates and infoboxes) could be useful.
(In reply to comment #1) > (In reply to comment #0) > > The ability > > to link directly to that sentence is an essential first step in creating a > > Semantic Wikipedia. Currently no facility exists to point to that specific > > information. > > Couldn't you use the Wikipedia API and take the first delivered paragraph? > I don't yet understand the reasoning for this request. My objective for the request is to be able to open a small window (or frame) to present to the users of my website a precise definition or description of a topic mentioned on one of my pages. My goal is that the user be able to view that definition in the context of my discussion of that topic. Opening the definition in a new window or tab (although the user would have the option of doing so) would defeat the goal of seeing the definition in context. The closest I have been able to get to that first sentence using the Wiki API has been to attach the standard URN "#firstHeading" to the URL. When the result is displayed in the 1" panel I've allocated for such displays, half the space is taken up by the title and Wikipedia's brand. If there were a standard identifier (such as, for example, "#firstSentence") that pointed to what Wikipedia already regards as a significant element of its object model, the use would be able to see twice as much of that important paragraph.
The lead paragraph seems to (usually) be the first <p>...</p> section on the page. That should make it simple to find. Finding the end of the first sentence is pretty tricky, and language specific. With a good list of common abbreviations for each language, one can get decent results (accepting quite a few false positives, where the second sentence is also included).
"Finding" the first sentence with some kind of program is not the issue. The requirement is to be able to create a link to it in a standard form, e.g., "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/[topic]#firstSentence".
I guess the problem are the other potential objects you may get in a Wikipedia page that are not the first sentence (banners, etc)? Could you provide examples of pages where the basic rule of "Right under the title" is not accomplished? URLs welcome.
drfree: Could you provide examples of pages where the basic rule of "Right under the title" is not accomplished? URLs welcome.
drfree: Please answer comment 6 and comment 7.
