Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article

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Recent Media articles TFA

These are still commercial products after all, and running a featured article for a recently released piece of media may appear promotional in one way or another, even if there is no intention to. There is also the extended awards seasons for film, television, music, etc that can last a year after its initial release and running a piece of media that is nominated may appear to be trying to influence the vote or as commentary on it if it won or lost.

Thus I feel there should be a formalized rule that prevents recent media from running until a year or two after its release date.

see also:

Harizotoh9 (talk) 18:50, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

I'd say the earliest we should run a media article is on its first anniversary. Any earlier would be problematic, like you said. QuicoleJR (talk) 17:50, 10 January 2026 (UTC)
I agree with QuicoleJR. I also suggest that a media piece should not run on the release day of another major piece of media connected with that article. For example, Rihanna should not run on the date that her next album is scheduled to released (whenever it is announced), and The Masked Singer (American TV series) should not run on the finale date of the current season. I think this is already an unwritten rule at TFA (and co-ords already avoid doing this) but I would be fine with formalizing it if that's where consensus is. Z1720 (talk) 18:02, 10 January 2026 (UTC)

Nominations for non-5/10 year aniversaries

I saw this comment by Wehwalt but, since this question is off-topic I thought I would ask it here:

I have been limiting specific date nominations to 5 or 10 year anniversaries. Should I broaden out my nominations to suggest articles for other anniversary dates? I would still consider such things as topic diversity and give preference to editors who want to nominate their own articles. Z1720 (talk) 17:52, 10 January 2026 (UTC)

Speaking just for myself, I am more interested in topic diversity than anniversaries and find "Never TFA" an entirely sufficient reason for nominating. I may be swayed by significant anniversaries: 10, 50, 100; eg David Bowie died on this day ten years ago. Recently there have been a lot of biographies, to the extent that I was tempted to toss a few back when scheduling February. But the spread was good and I hate disappointing those who put in the work on the noms, so I went with it, but would hope for a lower ratio than 12/28 when my turn comes up again in May. An anniversary per se is unlikely to sway me one way or another. Other TFA coordinators may have different opinions on all of these. Does this help? Gog the Mild (talk) 18:25, 10 January 2026 (UTC)

Confirmation of new coordinator.

SchroCat has felt the need to resign as a coordinator. I'd like to thank him for his service to the TFA project, and I am sure you all join me in this. It has been our custom since TFA was established as an autonomous project in 2013 for the existing coordinators, upon a vacancy, to propose a replacement for the community's approval and we would like to ask the community to approve Z1720 to be a coordinator alongside myself and Gog the Mild. Wehwalt (talk) 23:30, 18 January 2026 (UTC)

Thanks Wehwalt for posting this. The TFA co-ords approached me a couple days ago to gauge my interest for this role, and I responded that I am interested. I started posting suggestions at TFA in 2022 after an article was swapped out due to ERRORS. Since then, I have suggested articles that are underrepresented at TFA, match a significant date for the article, or both. I have written the blurbs for most of my nominations, learning how to stay within the character limit and find interesting images that can appear with the blurb on the Main Page. I avoid nominating articles when another editor has posted a suggestion on WP:TFAP and attempt to respect topic diversity. Sometimes I get it wrong, but I try to listen to feedback from editors and the co-ords and adjust my edits accordingly.
Watching how TFA co-ordinators have scheduled monthly sets, I think I have gained insight on how to schedule articles while respecting editor requests and maintaining topic diversity. Outside of TFA, I swap lots of OTD sets and have promoted 297 DYK hooks to set and 130 sets to queue: sometimes editors posted concerns and questions about sets on ERRORS, and I made edits in real-time if the suggested changes are a net-improvement. I understand how quickly conversations happen there, and if confirmed as a coordinator I would listen to ERRORS concerns and modify blurbs if appropriate, or explain why a suggested change is against TFA consensus. I know this role is filled by the community: if they lose confidence in my abilities, they can and should remove me.
I am happy to answer questions below, or address any concerns if editors wish me to respond. Thank you for taking the time to evaluate my skills for this role. Z1720 (talk) 00:23, 19 January 2026 (UTC)
  • Thanks to SchroCat for their work. Support the proposal as suggested, with no specific questions, and I am comfortable from past interactions with Z1720 that they would be open to discussing concerns even after confirmation. CMD (talk) 01:50, 19 January 2026 (UTC)
  • Support - they have done good work with FAC, FAR, and OTD and I trust that they are willing to listen to feedback received. Hog Farm Talk 02:03, 19 January 2026 (UTC)
  • Support I have full confidence in Z1720. I would like to thank SchroCat for his service. Schwede66 15:33, 19 January 2026 (UTC)
  • Support Z1720, many thanks to SC for all they've done. ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 20:10, 19 January 2026 (UTC)
  • Support, Thank you to SchroCat for their tireless and largely thankless work in keep TFA running smoothly. And I have full confidence that Z1720 will be a good replacement. RoySmith (talk) 20:14, 19 January 2026 (UTC)
  • Support Z1720, with thanks to SchroCat --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:16, 19 January 2026 (UTC)
  • Support Z1720 -- who brings with them massive credibility when it comes to all things Main Page and QA -- and huge thanks to SchroCat for his service in doing such a difficult, valuable and often thankless task. UndercoverClassicist T·C 20:31, 19 January 2026 (UTC)
  • Support - They've always been a very solid and reliable editor, I have nothing but good things to say about them. Noleander (talk) 20:52, 19 January 2026 (UTC)
  • Support. Of course; and thanks to SchroCat for the work they've done. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 22:03, 19 January 2026 (UTC)
  • Support -- many thanks to Schro, warm welcome to Z1720. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 22:07, 19 January 2026 (UTC)
  • Support, with thanks to SchroCat. Vanamonde93 (talk) 22:32, 19 January 2026 (UTC)
  • Support Z1720. I welcome the nomination and believe that periodic changes in administrative roles help maintain an effective and adaptable environment for the continued development of the project. Borsoka (talk) 04:36, 20 January 2026 (UTC)
  • Support - why-the-heck not. Great user. EF5 19:32, 20 January 2026 (UTC)
  • Support: thank you to SchroCat for all of their work and welcome to Z1720 Aoba47 (talk) 21:30, 20 January 2026 (UTC)
  • Support: Thanks SchroCat for the work you've done, and thanks to Z1720 for stepping up. Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs talk 21:41, 20 January 2026 (UTC)
  • Support Farewell away from TFA. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk) 12:41, 21 January 2026 (UTC)
  • Support best wishes both to the retiree and the new hire. Stephen 05:43, 22 January 2026 (UTC)
  • Support Z1720 as the new TFA coordinator. MSincccc (talk) 11:41, 22 January 2026 (UTC)
  • Support Good luck! Vacant0 (talk • contribs) 17:54, 22 January 2026 (UTC)

Tentative schedule for March 2026

March's tentative schedule can be found here. As usual, this is not intended to cut off possible nominations, we will do our best to incorporate them. Scheduling will begin probably this weekend or a little after. Wehwalt (talk) 13:35, 21 January 2026 (UTC)

23 January TFA issues

(See Talk:2001 Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident § This article is kind of a mess.) Today's featured article, 2001 Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident, currently has around a dozen inline maintenance tags, including for an entire paragraph that is unsourced. The article has admittedly been edited a lot today, but that paragraph was unsourced even before it went up . I encourage the TFA coords to keep an eye out for issues like this, especially for very old FAs that haven't been reviewed in a long time. Toadspike [Talk] 18:18, 23 January 2026 (UTC)

It looks like discussion has continued at Talk:Main Page § Old FA articles. Toadspike [Talk] 18:19, 23 January 2026 (UTC)
February has been scheduled and the likely schedule for March posted at Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/March 2026. Looking at the March schedule, only one article is older than fifteen years old that has not received a more recent review and that one, Montana-class battleship, likely hasn't deteriorated. Wehwalt (talk) 18:34, 23 January 2026 (UTC)