Latest comment: 12 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
News and notes: New system of discretionary sanctions; Buchenwald; is Pirelli 'Cracking Wikipedia'? The English Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee (ArbCom) introduced the first form of what are known as the "discretionary sanction" (DS) in 2009. A new DS regime, called Discretionary sanctions (2014), is the result of an elaborate review process involving both the community, since last September, and the committee, for more than a year.
Traffic report: TMZedia For all the claims of Wikipedia bringing the world's knowledge to all who want it, it seems the human race most wants is a tabloid newspaper; a quick source for TV listings, pop culture facts, celebrity gossip and, above all, scandal—with some nice juicy racism thrown in too.
In focus: Foundation announces long-awaited new executive director In a live video stream on 1 May, the Wikimedia Foundation announced that Lila Tretikov will be replacing Sue Gardner, its executive director. Gardner, who has been in the position since 2007, declared her intention to leave more than a year ago.
In the media: Google and the flu; Adrianne Boston Children's Hospital postdoctoral fellow David McIver and a team have determined that using page view statistics from Wikipedia, they can track flu progression better than the Center for Disease Control can using Google searches.
WikiProject report: Singing with Eurovision Formed in 2003, the Eurovision WikiProject boasts four featured articles and 22 good articles. The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 is currently taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark, so we went to the stage to talk with one of the project's members.
Featured content: Wikipedia at the Rijksmuseum Four articles, two lists, and five pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia last week.
Latest comment: 12 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Investigative report: Hong Kong's Wikimania 2013—failure to produce financial statement raises questions of probity On 2 May 2012, the Wikimania jury announced that Hong Kong's bid to hold the 2013 event had beaten four other proposals. Moderator James Forrester wrote: "The Jury has confidence that the Hong Kong bidding team will pull off a magnificent Wikimania,"—and indeed there were positive comments about the event from most attendees.
WikiProject report: Relaxing in Puerto Rico This week, the Signpost jumped over the ocean to chat with the Puerto Rico WikiProject.
News and notes: 'Ask a librarian'—connecting Wikimedians with the National Library of Australia Editors of Australian-related topics on the English Wikipedia may have noticed an odd addition if they viewed the article's talk pages. For example, on Talk:Darwin, Northern Territory, they might be drawn in by the question mark, nested within what is often a sea of WikiProject templates: "Need help improving this article? Ask a librarian at the National Library of Australia, or the Northern Territory Library." Just what is this?
Featured content: On the rocks Six articles, seven lists, and four pictures were promoted to 'featured' status on the English Wikipedia this week.
Latest comment: 12 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
News and notes: "Crisis" over Wikimedia Germany's palace revolution Last Sunday the board of Wikimedia Germany passed 9–1 a vote of no confidence in the chapter's executive director, Pavel Richter, who has held the position since 2009. With more than 50 employees, an annual budget approaching $10million, and the right to conduct its own fundraising through the Wikimedia Foundation's (WMF) site banners, Wikimedia Germany is the second-largest organisation in the movement after the WMF itself. The decision was announced on the Wikimedia mailing list by the chapter chair, Nikolas Becker.
Featured content: Staggering number of featured articles Thirteen articles, sixteen pictures, and one topic were promoted to 'featured' status on the English Wikipedia last week.
Traffic report: Doodles' dawn It's a relief to see Google Doodles having an impact again; their wide coverage means that they inspire curiosity on many subjects which, for reasons of nationality, ethnicity or gender, might not be known in the English-speaking world. It's a shame then, that Wikipedia so often fails to keep up; articles on Google Doodles are almost invariably C-class, and seldom do justice to their subjects. Still, interest in Google Doodles has been waning in recent months—Audrey Hepburn last week was the first to top the list since December—so any rise in popularity is worth celebrating.
Latest comment: 12 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
News and notes: The English Wikipedia's second featured-article centurion; wiki inventor interviewed on video With the promotion to featured article of Grus (constellation) on 17 May, Casliber became Wikipedia's second featured-article centurion, following Wehwalt's groundbreaking achievement last December. Cas's first FA, Banksia integrifolia, a group effort, was promoted on 16 November 2006. His first solo project, Diplodocus, followed in January 2007; he has rarely been off the FAC since. In a second story, Ward Cunningham, an American computer programmer who invented the wiki, was interviewed by the WMF.
Featured content: Zombie fight in the saloon Wikipedia editor Sven Manguard's work is quite underappreciated a lot of the time, most likely because people haven't heard of it yet: He's developed good relationships with game companies, and is thus able to get full-resolution screenshots released under a Creative Commons license for use on Wikipedia and elsewhere. This week's trove of new featured items on the English Wikipedia comprises seven articles, three lists, and four pictures.
Traffic report: Get fitted for flipflops and floppy hats In the US, Memorial Day marks the unofficial beginning of summer, and summer is definitely on people's minds this week, with summer films Godzilla and X-Men: Days of Future Past, the apparently designated summer song "Fancy" by Iggy Azalea, and summer TV show, Game of Thrones.
Recent research: Predicting which article you will edit next Wikipedia in the eyes of its beholders; "Chinese-language time zones" favor Asian pop and IT topics on Wikipedia; and bipartite editing prediction in Wikipedia.
Latest comment: 12 years ago4 comments3 people in discussion
Hello, it appears livelikemusic and Cebr1979 have made up after your responses to them. I am not an admin so I don't think I can 'close' the discussion. Badanagram (attempt) 19:34, 3 June 2014 (UTC)Reply
If you feel that the discussion needs a "close", then feel free to add the template (I am not aware of any policy against non-admin closure assuming it's clear-cut). Personally I would rather have it archive naturally unless it is a contentious issue, there seems to be little harm in leaving it open for further opinion, so to speak. I find it unnecessary to add {{resolved}} to every thread. —Dark16:06, 4 June 2014 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 12 years ago5 comments2 people in discussion
I'm confused by the message you left on my talk page and at ANI... Why was socking brought up? I only have one account.Cebr1979 (talk) 22:51, 6 June 2014 (UTC)Reply
It is a precautionary warning. You are continuing your assumptions of bad faith and it is extremely disappointing. —Dark22:56, 6 June 2014 (UTC)Reply
Sorry. It just seemed like you were onto something there and it I really want to stress that I only have one account. Anywho, it looks like the conversation is closed so I thank you for your time.Cebr1979 (talk) 22:58, 6 June 2014 (UTC)Reply
The Signpost: 04 June 2014
Latest comment: 12 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Special report: IEG funding for women's stories: a new approach to the gender gap Individual engagement grants (IEGs) are announced twice yearly by a volunteer WMF committee, the most recent of which we covered last December. The scheme, launched at the start of last year, awards funds to individuals or teams of up to four to produce high-impact outcomes for the WMF's online projects. It favours innovative approaches to solving critical issues in the movement.
News and notes: Two new affiliate-selected trustees New trustee Frieda Briosch from Italy: we face "a couple of headaches", she says: "how to boost editors, which includes the development of the next strategic plan, and how to keep our project always 'glamorous'."
Op-ed: "Hospitality, jerks, and what I learned"—the amazing keynote at WikiConference USA I never feel quite adequate trying to paraphrase Sumana's words: she is so articulate. I highly encourage every person who reads this article to directly watch her keynote—it directly speaks to a lot of Wikimedia's most significant issues, made with great eloquence. We have a serious issue with retaining editors, and parts of her speech could serve as a pretty good partial blueprint towards how we could begin to fix that problem.
Featured content: Ye stately homes of England David Iliff, or Diliff, as he is known on here outside of the file pages for his many, many, excellent photographs, is one of Wikipedia's longest-standing professional-standard photographers. This week, the Signpost salutes him.
In the media: Reliable or not, doctors use Wikipedia The month of May saw significant coverage concerning the reliability of Wikipedia's medical articles.
Traffic report: Autumn in summer The northern summer is a time when one is meant to celebrate the exuberance of life; instead, commemoration of the dead was a significant theme this week.
Latest comment: 12 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
While I don't see any problem in removing templates from the above talk page per se, you did remove some written material as well (in the section started by LM2000, below the first and only template). --VeryCrocker (talk) 18:07, 9 June 2014 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 12 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Hi Dark. I think you tried to support, but the ":" you entered means it won't show up in the total. Thanks for participating. - Dank (push to talk) 14:48, 10 June 2014 (UTC)Reply
No I was awaiting the answer given in question 8. Unfortunately I didn't think the answer was up to par. —Dark20:39, 10 June 2014 (UTC)Reply
Assumptions being made AGAIN
Latest comment: 11 years ago15 comments3 people in discussion
Once again, assumptions are being made again against me. Is there any way you could make this just stop? I haven't been on Wikipedia is days, and I'm still being accused of things and meaning things that I'm not. livelikemusicmy talk page!16:06, 10 June 2014 (UTC)Reply
Potential violation again , assuming and stating things that I never have stated, and talking about users themselves and not their edits. Not trying to stir up trouble, just feel like potential biting may be going on, and that a potential interaction ban may need to take place at this point to see how that works out. I'm just over feeling like I'm doing all wrong; I feel like while I could be overreacting in this situation, that's why I'm coming to you, hoping for potential guidance (and support) in this, as we're bound to run into the same circles of editing, due to the interest of soap operas, but I've made my attempts to steer-clear from any potential incivility, however, I don't feel the same is being returned. livelikemusicmy talk page!00:01, 30 June 2014 (UTC)Reply
In my opinion, just don't interact with him and don't follow his edits etc. The link you provided does seem to be an improvement from past behaviour. If you strongly disagree with one of his edits, feel free to express what's wrong on the talk page, but in general if you don't feel strongly about it, ignoring him is probably a good idea. I don't see a need for a formal interaction ban. —Dark01:35, 30 June 2014 (UTC)Reply
But that's the thing; a lot of the pages they do edit on are pages I also edit on, since they're soap-related. And I'm afraid to express or approach something with said-user, for fear of past situations happening, because it was an ugly situation that I don't feel like repeating. And I don't like feeling that way. livelikemusicmy talk page!01:44, 30 June 2014 (UTC)Reply
@DarkFalls: Once again, being accused of Wikihounding and down below, tattle-taling. simply by following pages on my Watchlist. Will you now allow for an interaction ban, or something? Please? It is getting out of hand at this point! All I am doing is following the formats of {{Infobox soap character}}, and I'm accusing of reverting their edits and Wikihounding them. It's making me want to quit Wikipedia because of how much I am hated by this one person. Another person does the same of me, and they receive nothing like the messages I am receiving. At this point, it's feeling constantly abusive, and I am over it. It is not fair in the slightest, I have been keeping my distance. The mere fact I have pages on my Watchlist makes me a Wikihounder now? That is pure accusation, and I'm over feeling bullied by said-user. livelikemusicmy talk page!17:18, 3 July 2014 (UTC)Reply
It's always bullying when it's someone else, isn't it? You were told to stop following my edits and, if you really felt strongly, then to take it to the talk page. You ignored both and continued on with your usual ways of just reverting. That's not an accusation, livelikemusic, that's a fact! You were told to stop something and you didn't. That's all I'm going to say. I won't be returning to this conversation.Cebr1979 (talk) 17:26, 3 July 2014 (UTC)Reply
I NEVER FOLLOWED YOUR EDITS! The pages were on my Watchlist, and I linked to the infobox as reasons for my changes, as I've edited on those pages prior, following other disruptive edits from other users! And you're Wikihounding me by following me to this conversation TWICE. I'm fucking done trying to just go about my business, when I'm being accused by another user of shit I am not doing. It's unfair and unjust, and pure bullying. livelikemusicmy talk page!17:29, 3 July 2014 (UTC)Reply
I went to your contributions to see if you had responded to my suggestion about Amber Moore's infobox and saw this. You can talk to me about anything! In fact, that would be preferred (and I've told you that before)! It's the reverts with no explanations that are upsetting because then I'm confused and don't know why you reverted my edits. Even when I ask you about something (as I recently did on your talk page about Paige Larson), you just delete my question without answering creating more confusion! When I inquired about the soap opera infobox template you quoted, you ignored that too (I had to find out from someone else today). With you, Livelikemusic, it's always revert and ignore. Revert and ignore. Then, I find these tattle-tale posts saying you're scared of me but, I've tried having discussions with you (dating back to our very first encounter) and get ignored. Then, my edits get reverted again. When you do finally respond to me, I get these "policies" quoted and when I ask about them, you go back to ignoring! You do know more about editing than me, yes, but would it kill you to explain a revert or answer a question once in awhile? Confusion leads to frustration and frustration leads to anger. Arre 9 reverted something today and showed me where it said he was right and I dropped it and corrected my edit immediately. We never fought. It was completely civil the whole time.Cebr1979 (talk) 02:45, 30 June 2014 (UTC)Reply
Feeling Wikihounded, and I definitely feel like this time it IS intentional. I opened up a discussion here, and said-user never posted there until today after I made a final request of action, and I changed this page to this to represent what was discussed, and I'm being accused, once again, of undoing their edits. Their edit violates the manual of style, which was pointed out in the discussion on the infobox template. Editor from looking at the talk page history, has never edited at said-talk page, and now all of a sudden, things are changed on two pages that they just happened to make, and I'm accused of reverting their edit? I'm accused of following their edits, yet the Kelly Andrews page is simply on my WATCHLIST. Since when is using the "Watchlist" an act of following their posts? Something I've pointed out before and has been ignored and deflected. I'm tired of these accusations, and feeling like whenever I attempt to follow guidelines and policies I'm constantly told no, and get an attitude thrown at me. Surely a block or some kind of ban can be put into place officially. I never made a post directed at the user, yet the user continues to directly interact towards me. Stating: "Not start a conversation without me somewhere else" makes it sound like I have to involve him/her and him/her only; I started the discussion at the infobox page to create some kind of site-wide consensus, which is what Wikipedia runs on, no? And shows that MY edits are being watched and followed by this editor. Please, I'm begging you, this is getting out of hand. I've kept my sincerest distant from this user, and yet, I'm still getting a major uncivil vibe and attacks from said-user. I never intentionally set out to revert "their" edit, I simply was following the MOS of Wikipedia, not even looking nor caring who made said-edit. livelikemusicmy talk page!23:05, 25 July 2014 (UTC)Reply
Please. I haven't done anything in weeks but, I'm wikihounding you? You haven't followed what you were told to do and simply bided your time. Your own post asked if it had been decided upon or closed and yet, you acted as though it was decided upon and closed before getting an answer (an answer, I might add, you still haven't gotten). You never mentioned the Summer Newman page being on your watchlist yet, know of my edit to that page? You've even directed others to go look at it. But... Who is following the other's edit history???Cebr1979 (talk) 23:19, 25 July 2014 (UTC)
"not even looking nor caring who made said-edit"
Lol. But you've had a conversation going about THAT very edit for weeks now??? I'm not returning to this conversation. It's too laughable.Cebr1979 (talk) 23:23, 25 July 2014 (UTC)Reply
@DarkFalls: Are you going to do anything, because now any edit I make is automatically reverting for going after "their" edit, which is ludicrous and once again, accusation, and I'm being attacked left and right at any page I edit at by this user. It's seriously making me consider leaving Wikipedia, which is the definition of Wikihounding when another editor makes another feel as if they shouldn't edit on Wikipedia anymore. I'm making edits that follow template guidelines and Wikipedia rules, and I'm being reverting for not "discussing" those changes? Do I have to open a fucking talk page every single time? That's ridiculous. If you don't feel you should do anything, as an Administrator, I'll go to another one who will take action, because now it's fucking harassment. Look at Kristen Blake, Ashley Abbott and now The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. No matter what I edit, it is REVERTED. How is THAT allowed? They're baiting me and it is unfair, and they continually talk towards ME when I do not talk towards them. Their edit on the request move is completely uncalled for, and is a personal attack talking about a discussion from two years prior, where a consensus was not reached. I merely was opening a discussion for a potential move, and even then I'm attacked? What am I doing wrong now? I feel like any edit I make is just going to be reverted, for the sake of "That's your only option" to discuss anything on a talk page, which sounds to me like any of my edits are simply being followed. livelikemusicmy talk page!16:39, 30 July 2014 (UTC)Reply
You revert my edits which is something you have been told not to do anymore. Then, I remind you. Look at all those pages and see who reverted first. It's always you. "Do I have to open a fucking talk page every single time?" Well, first of all, you've never done it regarding one of my edits. Not even once. And it is something you were told to do.Cebr1979 (talk) 02:34, 31 July 2014 (UTC)Reply
Sorry I've been quite busy the past couple of days. I will take a look at recent events but from a cursory glance, it does appear that an interaction ban or indeed a topic ban will become necessary. —Dark14:20, 1 August 2014 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 12 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
You userfied this without the attribution history. This is not permitted - I have therefore deleted the content. You are of course welcome to restore it properly by moving the history into your user area. Thanks. SpartazHumbug!16:29, 11 June 2014 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 12 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
News and notes: PR agencies commit to ethical interactions with Wikipedia Eleven public relations agencies have declared their intention to follow "ethical engagement practices" in Wikipedia editing. The results were published last Tuesday: a joint statement from the participating PR agencies—representing five of the top ten global agencies and all but one of the top ten in the United States—clarifying their views and practices with regards to the Wikimedia projects.
Traffic report: The week the wired went weird It seems that, more than commemorating the great moments in our history, more than even anticipating great sporting events, what our audience wants is the weird.
Paid editing: Does Wikipedia Pay? The Moderator: William Beutler William Beutler (WWB), author of the blog The Wikipedian, is a long-time editor and community-watcher. He is also a paid editor (WWB Too). Well—not anymore—because he gave up direct editing of articles in 2011. Instead, for the past three years he has followed Jimmy Wales' Bright Line rule in acting as a researcher and consultant for companies and clients that want to suggest changes to Wikipedia articles and engage on the Talk page.
Special report: Questions raised over secret voting for WMF trustees Last week we reported the announcement of two new affiliate-selected WMF trustees. The board of trustees is the most powerful and influential body in the movement, and chapters have been permitted to select two of the 10 seats since 2008, for two-year terms that start in even-numbered years.
Featured content: Politics, ships, art, and cyclones Five articles, one list, twelve pictures, and one topic were promoted to 'featured' status last week on the English Wikipedia.
Latest comment: 11 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
News and notes: With paid advocacy in its sights, the Wikimedia Foundation amends their terms of use The Wikimedia Foundation has amended its terms of use to ban editing for pay without disclosing an employer or affiliation on any of its websites. The broad scope of these changes will allow the WMF to selectively enforce their terms of use to avoid ensnaring well-meaning editors.
Featured content: Worming our way to featured picture Five articles, five lists, 22 pictures, and one portal were promoted to 'featured' status on the English Wikipedia last week.
Special report: Wikimedia Bangladesh: a chapter's five-year journey The Bangladesh chapter of the Wikimedia movement was formed in 2009. They received official local registration from the national authorities on 10 June 2014. The long road in between was subject to much persistence, patience, and luck—along with a good deal of worry.
Traffic report: You can't dethrone Thrones To the surprise of absolutely no one, the 2014 FIFA World Cup was the main draw this week, taking four slots. People appeared desperate to bone up on their trivia; checking not only this year's World Cup, but the last one. Even so, they still couldn't push Game of Thrones from the top ten. It will be interesting to see what happens come next week's season finale.
WikiProject report: Visiting the city This week, the Signpost came in from the hinterland to interview members of the Cities WikiProject.
Latest comment: 11 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
News and notes: US National Archives enshrines Wikipedia in Open Government Plan The US National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) have committed to engaging with Wikimedia projects in their newest Open Government Plan. The biannual effort is a roadmap for how the agency will accomplish its goals in the digital age.
Traffic report: Fake war, or real sport? Despite the interest generated by its season finale, Game of Thrones still couldn't top the World Cup, which still dominated interest, as evidenced by the fact that this top 10 is virtually identical to last week's, just with a different dead celebrity.
Featured content: Showing our Wörth Ten articles and eleven pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.
WikiProject report: The world where dreams come true This week, the Signpost visited the land of Disney, blockbusters, explosions, dream sequences, and cultural masterpieces: film.
Recent research: Power users and diversity in WikiProjects In a recent paper, Jacob Solomon and Rick Wash investigate the question of sustainability in online communities by analysing trends in the growth of WikiProjects.
Latest comment: 11 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
In the media: Wiki Education; medical content; PR firms The Los Angeles Times highlighted a recent Wiki Education Foundation (WEF) course at Pomona College in their article "Wikipedia pops up in bibliographies, and even college curricula". We interviewed Char Booth, the campus ambassador for the course, for additional details.
Traffic report: The Cup runneth over... and over. With Game of Thrones over for another year, the World Cup dominated yet again. And that is pretty much that. This list isn't likely to be particularly eventful until the Cup is won.
News and notes: Wikimedia Israel receives Roaring Lion award Wikimedia Israel (WMIL) has won a Roaring Lion in the category of Internet and cellular for its public outreach during the tenth anniversary of the Hebrew Wikipedia in July 2013.
Featured content: Ship-shape Six articles, five lists, seventeen pictures, and one topic were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.
WikiProject report: Indigenous Peoples of North America This week, the Signpost visited the Indigenous peoples of North America WikiProject.
Technology report: In memoriam: the Toolserver (2005–14) In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Wikimedia Deutschland's Toolserver project was switched off, marking the end of one of the Wikimedia movement's longest running Chapter-led projects. The Toolserver, which was in fact a collection of servers, first came online in 2005, hosting hundreds of webpages and scripts ("tools") made available for use by Wikimedia readers, editors and administrators.
Latest comment: 11 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Special report: Wikimania 2014—what will it cost? Last May, James Forrester announced to the world that London had been awarded the 2014 Wikimania conference. Functioning as the Wikimedia movement's annual conference, it is separate from the chapter-focused Wikimedia Conference. The first, located in Frankfurt, took place in 2005 and had 380 attendees. London, the tenth, is now expected to attract 1500. With Wikimania ambition, attention, and attendance rising significantly over the last nine years, how have this year's monetary costs come to be?
Wikicup: Wikicup's third round sees money, space, battleships and more After an extremely close race, round three is over. 244 points secured a place in Round 4, which is comparable to previous years—321 was required in 2013, and 243 points in 2012.
Wikimedia in education: Exploring the United States and Canada with LiAnna Davis The Wikimedia Education Program currently spans 60 programs around the world; students and instructors participate at almost every level of education. The Education program Signpost series presents a snapshot of the Wikimedia Global Education Program as it exists in 2014.
Featured content: Three cheers for featured pictures! Five articles, six lists, and nine pictures were promoted to 'featured' status last week on the English Wikipedia.
News and notes: Echoes of the past haunt new conflict over tech initiative As with the troubled release of the Wikimedia Foundation's (WMF) flagship VisualEditor project, the release of the new Media Viewer has also been met with opposition from the English Wikipedia community.
Traffic report: World Cup, Tim Howard rule the week Unsurprisingly, the World Cup continued to dominate the English Wikipedia's viewing statistics. In particular, the record-breaking performance of US goalkeeper Tim Howard and the tournament-ending injury to Brazil's Neymar drove large amount of views to their articles.
Latest comment: 11 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Special report: $10 million lawsuit against Wikipedia editors withdrawn, but plaintiff intends to refile On the same day the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) announced it would offer assistance to English Wikipedia editors embroiled in a legal dispute with Yank Barry, the lawsuit has been withdrawn without prejudice at the request of Barry's legal team—but this action is being described as "strategic" so that they can refile the lawsuit with a "new, more comprehensive complaint."
Traffic report: World Cup dominates for another week This week it's still more and more World Cup, with five entries out of the top ten (and 14 out of the Top 25).
Wikimedia in education: Serbia takes the stage with Filip Maljkovic It all started in late 2005, when we first held lectures about Wikipedia in two educational institutions (universities) ...
Featured content: The Island with the Golden Gun Eight articles, three lists, and 28 pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia last week.
News and notes: Bot-created Wikipedia articles covered in the Wall Street Journal, push Cebuano over one million articles The Swedish Wikipedia's prolific Lsjbot, which has created a significant proportion of the site's 1.7 million articles and has nearly single-handedly pushed it to being the fourth-largest Wikipedia, was covered in the Wall Street Journal this week. The newspaper reported that the bot has created 2.7 million articles, which is apparently a reference to the Waray-Waray and Cebuano Wikipedias, where Lsjbot is also active, and that "on a good day", it creates 10,000 articles.
Traffic report: The World Cup hangs on, though tragedies seek to replace it Last week I predicted that the World Cup dominance on the report would be over—but I was wrong. The World Cup Final fell on the 13th of July, which was actually the first day of the week covered by this report, not the last day of the last report. Hence, five of the Top 10 this week are again World Cup related-topics.
News and notes: Institutional media uploads to Commons get a bit easier Galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAMs) today are facing fewer barriers to uploading their content onto Wikimedia projects now that the new GLAM-Wiki Toolset Project has been launched. The tool, which is the fruit of a collaboration between Europeana and several Wikimedia chapters, relieves GLAMs from having to write their own automated scripts and gives them a standardized method of uploading large amounts of their digitized holdings.
Forum: Did you know?—good idea, needs reform The English Wikipedia's did you know (DYK) section has been a feature of the site's main page since February 2004. From the beginning, the section has served as a place to highlight Wikipedia's newest articles. But over the last few years, the did you know section has gotten steadily larger and more complex, and non-notable or plagiarized articles have occasionally slipped through the reviewing process, leading numerous editors to call for reforms to the system. We asked two editors to share their views.
Featured content: Why, they're plum identical! Ten articles, five lists, and 25 pictures were promoted to featured status on the English Wikipedia last week.
Latest comment: 11 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Book review: Knowledge or unreality? In Common Knowledge: An Ethnography of Wikipedia, Dariusz Jemielniak discusses Wikipedia from the standpoint of an experienced editor and administrator who is also a university professor specializing in management and organizations. In Virtual Reality: Just Because the Internet Told You, How Do You Know It's True?, Charles Seife presents a more broadly themed work reminding us to question the reliability of information found throughout the Internet.
Recent research: Shifting values in the paid content debate Kim Osman has performed a fascinating study on the three 2013 failed proposals to ban paid advocacy editing in the English language Wikipedia. Using a Constructivist Grounded Theory approach, Osman analyzed 573 posts from the three main votes on paid editing conducted in the community in November 2013.
News and notes: How many more hoaxes will Wikipedia find? Another hoax on the English Wikipedia was uncovered this week—not by any thorough investigation, but through the self-disclosure of an anonymous change made when the editors were in their sophomore year of college. The deliberate misinformation had been in the article for over five years with plenty of individuals noticing, but not one suspected its authenticity. This leads to one obvious question: how many more are there?
Traffic report: Doom and gloom vs. the power of Reddit We indeed moved far away from football this week, and further into much more serious issues of war and death. The Israel-Palestinian conflict continues to dominate the news, and the top 10, with Gaza Strip, Israel, and Hamas. The top 25 also includes Palestine and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Death also lies behind the popularity of James Garner, the American actor who died on July 19th, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, and deaths in 2014.
Featured content: Skeletons and Skeltons Two articles, four lists, and seven pictures attained featured status on the English Wikipedia last week.
Latest comment: 11 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
FYI: This edit of yours appears to have been deleted along with some other extraneous chars. Line 988 or so. I notice that one of DMacks's edits was also fragmented which I am looking into. Cheers Jim1138 (talk) 22:08, 5 August 2014 (UTC)Reply
The Signpost: 06 August 2014
Latest comment: 11 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Technology report: A technologist's Wikimania preview As the start of Wikimania proper on 8 August approaches, the Signpost looks ahead to what its dozens of presentations might offer the technologically-inclined, whether attending in person or taking advantage of what promises to be a strong digital offering.
Traffic report: Ebola Serious news continues to dominate the most popular articles chart on Wikipedia this week, with the Ebola virus disease far and away in the top spot. In the top 25, we see the related articles Ebola virus, which talks about biological aspects, at #18 and 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak at #19.
News and notes: "History is a human right"—first-ever transparency report released as Europe begins hiding Wikipedia in search results The Wikimedia Foundation has published its first transparency report, covering from July 2012 to June 2014. The move comes on the same day the organization announced that Google, in order to comply with a recent court order upholding the "right to be forgotten", has removed a number of Wikipedia articles from their European search results.
Latest comment: 11 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Special report: Twitter bots catalogue government edits to Wikipedia Slate reports that Tom Scott, co-creator of the emoji social network Emojli, created a Twitter bot called Parliament WikiEdits to automatically tweet a link to any Wikipedia edits made from an IP address belonging to the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Scott's bot initially did not tweet any links to edits made from Parliament and, according to Scott, an "insider" reports that their IP addresses changed. Despite this, Scott's Twitter bot has inspired similar creations in numerous other countries.
Traffic report: Disease, decimation and distraction It's been a grim few weeks. It says something that formerly arresting crises like the war in Ukraine, Boko Haram and the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, despite still being ongoing, have fallen out of the top 10 to make way for the 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak and the equally if not more intense conflict against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.
Wikimania: Promised the moon, settled for the stars Wikimania 2014 was held last week in the Barbican Centre in London. Below, the Signpost's former "Technology report" writer Harry Burt (User:Jarry1250) shares his thoughts on a bustling conference.
News and notes: Media Viewer controversy spreads to German Wikipedia Wikimedia Foundation staff members have now been granted superpowers that would allow them to override community consensus. The new protection level came as a response to attempts of German Wikipedia administrators to implement a community consensus on the new Media Viewer. "Superprotect" is a level above full protection, and prevents edits by administrators.
Op-ed: Red links, blue links, and erythrophobia Erythrophobia is the fear of, or sensitivity to, the colour red. Recently, I have seen more and more erythrophobic Wikipedians; specifically, Wikipedians who are scared of red links. In Wikipedia's early days, red links were encouraged and well-loved, and when I started editing in 2006, this was still mostly the case. Jump forward to 2014, and many editors now have an aversion to red links.
In the media: Monkey selfie, net neutrality, and hoaxes The Observer reported (August 2) that Google would "restrict search terms to a link to a Wikipedia article, in the first request under Europe's controversial new 'right to be forgotten' legislation to affect the 110m-page encyclopaedia."
WikiProject report: Bats and gloves At the plate with WikiProject Baseball!
Op-ed: A new metric for Wikimedia Denny Vrandečić argues that "We should focus on measuring how much knowledge we allow every human to share in, instead of number of articles or active editors."
Traffic report: Viral "This was a week when an actual virus, Ebola, competed for attention with several viral social phenomena; most notably the Ice Bucket Challenge..."
Featured content: Cheats at Featured Pictures! Sixteen articles, five lists, five pictures, and one topic were promoted.
Latest comment: 11 years ago8 comments3 people in discussion
No closure was ever given to the iban proposal between myself and @Livelikemusic:. There was never any closure (as mentioned on that very thread: it's actually the last comment there). We would have had to have been each notified of the iban, and we never have been. As mentioned by a site admin (Dianna), an iban would also need to be publicly logged at the Wikipedia:Editing restrictions page, and none has been.
I will point out, though, that if there was an iban currently between us (which there isn't but, if there was) the first violation would have been right here when Livelikemusic edited one of my edits just minutes after I made it.
After that, I informed him that there was no iban (for the reasons I have already noted) and, the next morning, Livelikemusic reverted one of my edits: you can see that one here.
As I said in the original conversation, I do support an iban between us but, as I also said, all our Ts need to be crossed and Is dotted because I'm not going to be fooling around with it. I wasn't surprised when the first comment I saw about it was, "Only thing I have concern about is the "undoing", but I guess it's something to tread lightly with caution." I won't accept him "treading lightly with caution" around reverting my edits. He either can't do them or any iban that may be put into effect in the future would be a wasted effort. I mean, reverts are exactly how this starts every single time.
If @Diannaa: (the admin who brought up the Wikipedia:Editing restrictions page in this conversation) is willing to take the matter on, I would even be willing to agree to an iban right here, right now (after we cross our Ts and dot our Is to be sure we're all 100% on the same page) without involving the ANI board at all (if that's possible, I don't know - maybe they have to be involved). At this point, I just feel like, if this is going to work, we need an admin who can start fresh.Cebr1979 (talk) 17:46, 31 August 2014 (UTC)Reply
IBANs are not implemented by a single administrator, but are a community-placed sanction. Since the IBAN was never formally closed as enacted before the thread was archived, it is not in force. Since there's been two requests for an IBAN and neither was enacted, it looks to me like there is no consensus for an IBAN at this time. First request for IBAN (July 2014); second request for IBAN (August 2014). -- Diannaa (talk) 18:13, 31 August 2014 (UTC)Reply
The lack of community input into this issue is aggravating. There appears to be a solid consensus on this issue that an IBAN is necessary, but apparently people are too indifferent to do anything about it. As such, I do not agree that consensus has not emerged but then again my hands are tied. Obviously I, having proposed the original sanctions, cannot close the discussion as that would be a conflict of interest. —Dark11:35, 1 September 2014 (UTC)Reply
Sometimes people undertake an informal voluntary interaction ban. There would be no official logging of the ban and no sanctions for violations. The two users would just be on their honor to uphold the ban as best they could by trying not to annoy the other user or interfere with their work. -- Diannaa (talk) 15:15, 1 September 2014 (UTC)Reply
People need to commit to changing their behaviour, else the problem will continue indefinitely. Change is hard, but not impossible -- Diannaa (talk) 02:25, 2 September 2014 (UTC)Reply
Possibly. If you feel that you can resolve this without an interaction ban, please feel free to try. All my attempts at doing so have failed. —Dark15:34, 2 September 2014 (UTC)Reply
The Signpost: 03 September 2014
Latest comment: 11 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Arbitration report: Media viewer case is suspended "On 1 September, the Arbitrators voted to suspend the Media Viewer case for 60 days. After the suspension period is up, the case is to be closed unless the committee votes otherwise. The case suspension comes in response to several new initiatives and policies announced by the Wikimedia Foundation that may make the case moot. In the same motion, the committee declared that Eloquence's resignation of the administrator right was "under the cloud" and that he can only regain the right through another RfA."
Traffic report: Holding Pattern "This week we saw three of the top ten articles remain in place, with the Ice Bucket Challenge at #1, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at #2, and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant at #5, all for a second straight week..."
WikiProject report: Gray's Anatomy (v. 2) "This week, the Signpost went out to meet WikiProject Anatomy, dedicated to improving the articles about all our bones, brains, bladders and biceps, and getting them to the high standard expected of a comprehensive encyclopaedia."
Latest comment: 11 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Op-ed: Media Viewer software is not ready Last month, I wrote an open letter to the Wikimedia Foundation, inviting others to join me in a simple but important request: roll back the recent actions—both technical and social—by which the Wikimedia Foundation has overruled legitimate decisions of several Wikimedia projects.
Traffic report: Refuge in celebrity Even though it's not quite 3/4 over, it's safe to say that 2014 will go down as a year of war, mass murder, plane crashes and terrible diseases. While certainly paying it some heed, it's not surprising that Wikipedia viewers tried this week to find any alternative to that litany of tragedy and pain, and their chosen method of escape was, as usual, celebrity.
Featured content: The louse and the fish's tongue The amazing and strange tongue-eating louse replacing a fish's tongue! Because isopods, the subject of a new featured article, are both awesome and really damn weird!
WikiProject report: Checking that everything's all right This week, the Signpost decided to have a look around with WikiProject Check Wikipedia a maintenance project not concerned so much with articles' content, but in all the tiny errors that are to be found scattered within them. Their front page gives a list of things they mainly focus on ...
WikiProject report: A trip up north to Scotland As Scotland is deciding its future this week, we thought it might be a good idea to get to know the editors of WikiProject Scotland and talk to them about the project.
News and notes: Wikipedia's traffic statistics are off by nearly one-third A prominent Wikipedia researcher has discovered that the encyclopedia's widely used article traffic statistics are missing out on approximately one-third of total views.
Traffic report: Tolstoy leads a varied pack There is no unifying theme we can slap on top article popularity this week.
Featured content: Which is not like the others? Four articles, two lists, and 51 pictures were promoted to "featured" status this week on the English Wikipedia.
Latest comment: 11 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Featured content: Oil paintings galore Six articles, four lists, one topic, and 17 pictures were promoted to "featured" status this week on the English Wikipedia.
In the media: Indian political editing, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Congressional chelonii The Hindustan Times speculates (September 18) that politicians and their supporters are "sanitizing" their articles in advance of the 2014 Maharashtra State Assembly election. The Times notes the absence of significant controversies in the articles of particular politicians and the presence of heavily promotional language.
Recent research: 99.25% of Wikipedia birthdates accurate; focused Wikipedians live longer; merging WordNet, Wikipedia and Wiktionary 0.75% of Wikipedia birthdates are inaccurate, reported Robert Viseur at WikiSym 2014. Those inaccuracies are "low, although higher than the 0.21% observed for the baseline reference sources". Given that biographies represent 15% of English Wikipedia, the third largest category after "arts" and "culture", their accuracy is important.
Traffic report: Wikipedia watches the referendum in Scotland This could be the beginning of a new era for this list. Until now, decisions to remove suspicious content have been largely educated guesswork. This week though, we have a new collaborator who can shine a light on the origins and patterns, sorting once and for all the webwheat from the cyberchaff.
WikiProject report: GAN reviewers take note: competition time A year and a week later, we're with some of the members of WikiProject Good Articles, who wanted to share the news of their upcoming contest within the project, the GA Cup. The aim of this friendly competition, which is held in the same light friendly manner of the WikiCup and the Core Contest, is to reduce the backlog of unreviewed articles at Good article nominations which has been a constant problem for quite a few years for those running the GA process.
Arbitration report: Banning Policy, Gender Gap, and Waldorf education Banning Policy finishes the workshop phase on 23 September. Parties have proposed findings of fact on the topics of the 3RR, the role of Jimbo Wales, and proxying for banned users. A request for arbitration was posted on 20 September about Landmark Worldwide.
The dates that the two of you e-mail each other always seem to coincide with the dates of Livelikemusic having something to say about me. No accusation, just noting a friendly coincidence. I've noticed the same coincidence with Arre9 and Livelikemusic.Cebr1979 (talk) 22:34, 17 October 2014 (UTC)Reply
I am curious why you felt this comment should be made, especially given your past interactions with Livelikemusic. Stop actively trying to bait others. Thanks. —Dark23:45, 17 October 2014 (UTC)Reply
I am curious what you are curious about??? I specifically said the dates are what made me notice. As for your accusation of me "baiting," that was never my intention. As I said, I was simply noting a "coincidence." A "friendly coincidence." A "coincidence" that I noticed because of my interactions with Livelikemusic... and your favouritism of him. No need for alarm. Just a "coincidence." A "coincidence" that may or may not happen again.Cebr1979 (talk) 01:58, 18 October 2014 (UTC)Reply
"and your favouritism of him". How ironic of you to put forth a suggestion of impropriety on my part. It is very clear that everything I have said prior to this point has gone straight over your head, especially since you have continued to put forth bad faith accusations. Trying to reason with the unreasonable is a complete waste of my time and resources. I can only hope you will change your attitude before it is too late. —Dark08:36, 18 October 2014 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 11 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
From the editor: The Signpost needs your help Contributing to the Signpost can be one of the most rewarding things an editor can do.
Dispatches: Let's get serious about plagiarism This article was first published in the Signpost in 2009. Written by several long-standing editors, including the late Adrianne Wadewitz, the article was subjected to extensive commentary and ultimately influenced the English Wikipedia's plagiarism guideline. With recent debates about close paraphrasing vis-à-vis plagiarism, we feel that this dispatch retains its relevance and deserves a second airing.
WikiProject report: Animals, farms, forests, USDA? It must be WikiProject Agriculture This week, the Signpost went down to the farm to have a look at the work of WikiProject Agriculture, which has been in existence since 2007 and has a scope covering crop production, livestock management, aquaculture, dairy farming and forest management.
Traffic report: Shanah Tovah Jews wished each other Shanah Tovah ("Good year") this week as Rosh Hashanah was our most popular article. It was also a week not dominated by heavy news and tragedies, so aside from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (#2, sixth week in the Top 10), our popular article list runs the gamut of current events including new television series Gotham (#3), the 2014 Asian Games (#4), and Reddit-fueled popularity for German director Uwe Boll (#7).
Featured content: Brothers at War As the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the American Civil War draws to a close, the race to improve content continues. The Battle of Franklin, fought on November 30, 1864, will, quite appropriately, be Picture of the Day for November 30, 2014, its 150th anniversary. If you want to help commemorate the American Civil War, why not help out at the Military History WikiProject's Operation Brothers at War. Or help out with the World War I centennial, just starting up, Operation Great War Centennial.
Traffic report: Panic and denial The first case of the Ebola virus on US shores sent people into a tizzy, rushing to their keyboards to try and learn what they could.
Arbitration report: One case closed and two opened The Banning Policy case was closed on 12 October. Arbcom affirmed that users have "considerable leeway" in terms of how their talk pages are managed.
Technology report: Attempting to parse wikitext This week we sat down with The Earwig to learn about his wikitext parser.
Traffic report: Now introducing ... mobile data We are pleased to report that the WP:5000 has now been updated to include mobile views, including a column reflecting the percentage of views coming from mobile devices.
WikiProject report: Signpost reaches the Midwest Today, it's the turn of WikiProject Ohio to give us an interview probing deep into of how they manage to run a project covering one fiftieth of the United States, and the workings of how they manufacture their successes and other articles.
Op-ed: Hong Kong's Umbrella Revolution—a wiki-protest Our op-ed writer this week opines that the organization of Hong Kong's "Umbrella Revolution" resembles how Wikipedia is organized.
Maps tagathon: Find 10,000 digitised maps this weekend Rather than the usual WikiProject Report, this week our guest author Jheald is telling us about a campaign to identify thousands of old maps which have been digitised, to make them available for georeferencing and upload
Traffic report: Ebola, Ultron, and Creepy Articles Ebola virus disease leads the Report for the fourth straight week. The rest of the list is primarily a mix of pop culture topics, including movie Avengers: Age of Ultron (#4) whose trailer was leaked early, and the death of Oscar de la Renta (#7). A BuzzFeed article on creepy Wikipedia articles, no doubt well-timed with Halloween (#9) around the corner, was responsible for three articles in the Top 25, including June and Jennifer Gibbons (#10), Taman Shud Case (#17), Joyce Vincent (#25). And the internet-run-amok controversy of Gamergate cracked the Top 25 for the first time at #19.
Recent research: Informed consent and privacy; newsmaking on Wikipedia; Wikipedia and organizational theories In new research conducted in light of proposed changes to data protection legislation in the European Union (EU), authors Bart Custers, Simone van der Hof, and Bart Schermer conducted a comparative analysis of social media and user-generated content websites’ privacy policies along with a user survey (N=8,621 in 26 countries) and interviews in 13 different EU countries on awareness, values, and attitudes toward privacy online.
Latest comment: 11 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
In the media: Predicting the flu, MH17 conspiracy theories "Rachel Feltman, in The Washington Post (November 4), examined research in which a team, mostly from Los Alamos National Laboratory, headed by Kyle Hickman developed a model that enabled them "to successfully predict the 2013-2014 flu season in real time" by employing "an algorithm to link flu-related Wikipedia searches with CDC data from the same time." Apparently when individuals search for information about the flu and its symptoms in Wikipedia when they feel ill, this generates data useful in forecasting the the flu season."
Traffic report: Sweet dreams on Halloween "It is, perhaps, ironic that humanity chose the week of Halloween to finally put its fears to bed. Let's face it: 2014 has been a year of tragedies, conflicts, plagues and pain, and eventually something had to break... Whether we at last came to terms with our limited ability to affect events, shoved those events under the carpet, or just decided to let go and move on, we turned our eye to more positive things, such as sports heroes, hotly anticipated movies, and lifelong learning; two Google doodles appeared in the top 25 for the first time since the beginning of August."
Latest comment: 11 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
In the media: Amazon Echo; EU freedom of panorama; Bluebeard's Castle "Technology media outlets are abuzz after the November 6 unveiling of the Amazon Echo, an Internet-connected voice command device"; "The EUobserver talks (November 4) with Dimitar Dimitrov (User:Dimi z) about the lack of freedom of panorama in some European Union countries and its implications for Wikimedia projects"; "Scott Cantrell, classical music critic for the Dallas Morning News, recounts efforts to verify an uncited claim in the Wikipedia article for the Béla Bartók opera Bluebeard's Castle."
Traffic report: Holidays, anyone? This was very much a week dominated by holidays and pop culture over current events, with new film Interstellar taking the top spot followed by holidays Day of the Dead (#2), Guy Fawkes and his Night (#4 and #5), and Halloween (#8, and its third week on the list). And a foursome of television shows, all return visitors, appear to setting up residence on the greater Top 25: The Walking Dead (#11), American Horror Story: Freak Show (#14), Gotham (#16), and The Flash (#18).
Featured content: Wikipedia goes to church in Lithuania Nine articles, two lists, and 55 featured pictures were promoted during the week of 26 October.
WikiProject report: Talking hospitals We return to our interview format this week, speaking with the participants of WikiProject Hospitals. This project, formed in 2010, has no Featured content and only three Good articles, yet aided by around 30 hard-working Wikipedians covers a topic that is essential to life.
In the media: A Russian alternative Wikipedia; Who's your grandfather?; ArtAndFeminism Numerous media outlets are reporting on a November 14 statement on the website of the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library announcing the formation of a Russian "alternative" to Wikipedia, a "regional electronic encyclopedia" dedicated to "Russian regions and the life of the country".
WikiProject report: Back with the military historians It's time for this year's edition of the Report looking at possibly our largest wikiproject: Military history. Since our last interview in June 2013, the project has had no break in its huge quest to document everything in their scope, that is, militaries and conflicts of the past. As usual, its participants were eager to answer the questions posed by The Signpost and update us on how they are doing.
Traffic report: Big in Japan Often times in popular culture, a subject will be quite popular among a distinct niche of people or region of the world, but little-known elsewhere -- like a musical artist that is boasted to be "big in Japan". The Traffic Report provides a bevy of examples this week.
