+1/-1, technically a 0 :D
+:
It's right, that Portal pages doesn't look very well in MobileFrontend, so they should be viewed on desktop.

-:
MobileFrontend shouldn't alter the content in any way, this would be the first step into the "Special handling for special pages" direction :(

A suggestion for a (maybe) better message:
"Unfortunately Portal pages doesn't render very well on mobile, they're best viewed on the desktop version. Button:View on desktop"

I'm unsure :(

If we implement it, we should check an URL parameter to enable maintainers of Portal pages to check the actual status of the portal page (e.g. forcemobile=true).

There are CSS classes available that improve the appearance, but most portals have not been edited to use them. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Portal#Portals_on_the_mobile_site

Thanks @John_of_Reading I didn't realise someone was looking into this.
How can we help speed this a long?

Is it possible for all portals to use a generic template in the work you propose?

Personally I would say just be bold and do it. It might be worth mailing wikitech-l / Village pump to bring attention to this post.

I've submitted a request for approval of the bot task at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Bots/Requests_for_approval/John_of_Reading_Bot_2

Excellent! Thanks @John_of_Reading!!

We object. We suggest that mobile useformat=printable=yes
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Portal:Physics&printable=yes&mobileaction=toggle_view_mobile