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Wikipedia:Motto of the day

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The Motto of the Day (MOTD) is a project dedicated to creating and displaying a daily unofficial Wikipedia motto included on various user pages. It is an effort to laugh a bit at ourselves, celebrate our achievements, and foster a sense of community. Mottos can be humorous or serious, but must reflect the community or purpose of Wikipedia. Nominate new mottos here.

The templates

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To get the Motto of the Day, just place one of the following templates anywhere you like on your user or user talk page. User:Cremepuff222/RandomMotto, Template:Motd Cquote and Template: Random Motto display tables because the Template:Cquote2 which is used cannot handle tables. Do not place them in tables if you don't want the template to divide itself into visible rows and columns.

Template What you see Pros Cons
{{Motd framed}} The main template: the one displayed at the Community Portal Borders may clash if page already has borders
{{Motd}} Today's motto...

The panellists were given silly things to do by Humphrey Lyttelton


Nominate one today!

Stands out Cannot handle bold or italic text
{{Motd plain}} Today's motto...
Can handle all styles of text None
{{Motd big}} Today's motto...
Can handle all styles of text Makes intentionally small text normal
{{Motd bold}} Today's motto...

Nominate a motto today!

Can handle italic text Cannot handle bold text
{{Motd cquote}} Can handle all styles of text Has trouble handling tables
{{Random Motto}} Auto-adjusts to fit where it is placed. Squashes itself if motto is long.
{{MOTD banner}} Bright background. Draws attention to itself. None
{{User:Download/RandomMotto}} November 9's motto of the day...

→ Next motto The panellists were given silly things to do by Humphrey Lyttelton

Generates a random motto for each page visit Can produce redlinks
{{User:Cremepuff222/RandomMotto}}

The panellists were given silly things to do by Humphrey Lyttelton

— Today's Motto of the day

Next motto The panellists were given silly things to do by Humphrey Lyttelton

Generates a random motto for each page visit Has trouble handling tables; can produce redlinks
{{User:DannyQuack/Userboxes/Motto}} Fits in small spaces; useful for columns; random message Is a userbox and cannot be formatted; can produce redlinks
{{User:Oxguy3/myboxes/MOTD}} Looks like a userbox; fits in small spaces; useful for columns Cannot be formatted
{{User:Killeroid/MOTD}} Bright background. Draws attention to itself. None
{{User:Secret Saturdays/MottoBox}} useful for columns It's considered too big for a userbox. It expands depending on the length of the quote.
{{User:Hi878/Random MotD}} Bright background. Draws attention to itself. Generates a random motto for each page visit. Can produce redlinks.
{{User:Hi878/Random and Today's MotD}} Bright background. Draws attention to itself. Generates a random motto for each page visit, and shows the current. Can produce redlinks.
{{User:titusfox/MOTD}} Very Simple. May be too long to be a userbox when the motto is long.

You may also add the completely unformatted motto of the day by using {{Wikipedia:Motto of the day/{{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTDAY}}, {{CURRENTYEAR}}}}. This allows you to create your own formatting.

Coordination, feedback, and questions

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Every user is welcome to help coordinate the updating of MOTD. Any general inquiries and comments about the project are welcome at Wikipedia talk:Motto of the day.

Have an idea for a new motto?

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Place your suggestions on the nominations page for review and consideration. Follow the instructions there for the correct procedure on how to do this.

Frequent contributors or supporters of the project

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Templates

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Typing {{User MOTD}} in your Userbox area produces

This user frequently contributes to the Motto of the Day. Do you?

and adds the page to Category:Wikipedians who contribute to Motto of the day.

There is also an icon that you can use. Typing {{User:Hi878/MotD Icon}} will create an icon in the corner of your userpage showing your support for MotD. It uses {{topicon}} so it would be positioned the same way as any other icon.

To be on a list without using one of these, you may want to visit the Participants page.

Invite new users

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To invite new users, add the template {{subst:MOTD Invite}} to their talk page.

Barnstar

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Motto of the Day even has its own barnstar award. To give it to someone who has contributed greatly to the project, simply use the template below:

{{subst:MOTD Barnstar|Your message here. ~~~~}}

...and you’ll get this:

The MOTD Barnstar
Your message here. ~~~~

Motto Shop

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If you want to get a motto to live by on Wikipedia, try out our Motto Shop!