The TV IV:Proposals/Random Show Box

Looking at the Special:Recentchanges page I've noticed something: articles that have been edited recently have a greater chance of being edited by others. As in, one person stumbles into an article and edits it with information, other people see it in the Recent Changes, and end up making their own edits. Even if all the changes are small, the article usually ends up a little better than it started. So I was thinking:

Similiar to the IV Drip, what about a box on the main page that generates a random list of programs (taken from the program category)? Nothing spectacular, just displaying the information where someone might see a title they're familiar with, click on the link, and make a few changes. I figure this would be a good way to increase visibility and slowly improve some of the less-popular articles here. -- Lampbane 22:18, 12 July 2006 (EDT)

That'd be fairly difficult to do. You'd have to write a new php based on special:random. --MateoP 22:25, 12 July 2006 (EDT)

I was hoping other people would respond. I generally want to know if people think this is a good idea, and worry about the implementation later. -- Lampbane 11:40, 17 July 2006 (EDT)

I am in favor of the idea. However it does seem rather difficult. I don't know PHP, but you have to find someone who does that can create a script that randomly selects programs and not just pages (which is what special:random does). I think it might make people want to edit the article, but I would think that What's On would make people want to edit those articles but it doesn't seem to be the case. --MateoP 12:09, 17 July 2006 (EDT)

What's On is also generally the same list of shows every week, or weird documentaries that no one really cares about. Especially in the summer, when all the really good stuff is on vacation.

If it's not possible to create a PHP thingie, there's always the much simpler solution of creating a calendar system that users just dump shows into. A "queue", so-to-speak. -- Lampbane 12:25, 17 July 2006 (EDT)

I think this would be a great idea. What Lampbane said is true. Now it may be hard, I don't know, but it was seriously improve this site. Like Lampbane said people would glance at the shows recently edited, pick one they like and edit it more. I know this site already has a What's On box, in which the top shows that are on tonight are shown, but still. I like the What's On Box but just because it is considered a top show tonight it doesn't mean everyone likes all of the shows shown. Plus, you have to scroll down to find it. Just give this idea a shot. Please. --Sportman 16:59, 10 December 2006 (EST)