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The Signpost: 01 October 2012

• Paid editing: Does Wikipedia Pay? The Founder: Jimmy Wales
  Does Wikipedia Pay? is a Signpost series seeking to illuminate paid editing, paid advocacy, for-profit Wikipedia consultants, editing public relations professionals, conflict of interest guidelines in practice, and the Wikipedians who work on these issues by speaking openly with the people involved. This week, a scandal centering around Roger Bamkin's work with Wikimedia UK and Gibraltarpedia erupted ... In light of these events, opinions on how to avoid future controversy are as important as ever. ... The Signpost spoke with Jimmy Wales to better understand how he views the paid editing environment and what he thinks is needed to improve it.

• News and notes: Independent review of UK chapter governance; editor files motion against Wikitravel owners
  Following considerable online and media reportage on the Gibraltar controversy and a Signpost report last week, the Wikimedia UK chapter and the foundation published a joint statement on September 28: "To better understand the facts and details of these allegations and to ensure that governance arrangements commensurate with the standing of the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikimedia UK and the worldwide Wikimedia movement, Wikimedia UK's trustees and the Wikimedia Foundation will jointly appoint an independent expert advisor to objectively review both Wikimedia UK's governance arrangements and its handling of the conflict of interest."

• Featured content: Mooned
  Five articles, three lists, and nine images were promoted to "featured" this week.

• Technology report: WMF and the German chapter face up to Toolserver uncertainty
  The Toolserver is an external service hosting the hundreds of webpages and scripts (collectively known as "tools") that assist Wikimedia communities in dozens of mostly menial tasks. Few people think that it has been operating well recently; the problems, which include high database replication lag and periods of total downtime, have caused considerable disruption to the Toolserver's usual functions. Those functions are highly valued by many Wikimedia communities ... In 2011, the Foundation announced the creation of Wikimedia Labs, a much better funded project that among other things aimed to mimic the Toolserver's functionality by mid-2013. At the same time, Erik Möller, the WMF's director of engineering, announced that the Foundation would no longer be supporting the Toolserver financially, but would continue to provide the same in-kind support as it had done previously.

• WikiProject report: The Name's Bond... WikiProject James Bond
  In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the James Bond film series, we spent some time bonding with WikiProject James Bond. The project is in the unique position of having already pushed all of its primary content to Good and Featured status, including all of Ian Fleming's novels, short stories, and every film that has been released. Work has begun in earnest on the article Skyfall for the release of the new Bond film later this month. The project could still use help improving articles about Bond actors, characters, gadgets, music, video games, and related topics

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The Bugle: Issue LXXVIII, September 2012

Your Military History Newsletter Project news: From the editors; award recipients; contest results Articles: The month's Featured and A-class content Book reviews: AustralianRupert on artillery in South Australia, and Nick-D on Venice's empire Op-ed: Nick-D on the "Kokoda: Beyond the Legend" conference

The Bugle is published by the Military history WikiProject. To receive it on your talk page, please join the project and/or sign up here.
If you are a project member who does not want delivery, please remove your name from this page. Your editors, Nick-D (talk) and Ed ^{[talk] [majestic titan]} 20:38, 5 October 2012 (UTC)

Grade II* listed buildings in Coventry

Hi HJ. I noticed while reviewing the Grade I list that a Grade II* version will be forthcoming. In view of the error in the City Council's list (Dormer Cottage being incorrectly shown as Grade I-listed), you may want to check the National Heritage List for England database to verify the data on the Council list. At http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/advancedsearch.aspx, select Location > District/Unitary Authority/Borough > Coventry, then Grade > II* and ignore anything without "Listing" in the "Type" column. Incidentally I lived in Coventry for 3 years while at Warwick University, so am pleased to see these lists! Is a Grade II list planned in the future as well? Hassocks5489 (Floreat Hova!) 13:00, 2 October 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, I'll be sure to check them all against the English Heritage list before I move it to mainspace this time (it's currently at User:HJ/Grade II* listed buildings in Coventry). I can only assume that Dormer Cottage was a typo, but it's irritating because the council's PDF list is much easier to use than English Heritage's website. A grade II list is planned, but I'm debating how best to split it up (there are over 350)—any suggestions? Btw, it may be a bit of a distance for you, but we have occasional meetups and other Wikipedia-related things going on in Coventry, and we're getting together for a pint next on the 21st if you wanted to come along. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 13:19, 2 October 2012 (UTC)

I faced a similar challenge when I came to do Grade II listed buildings in Brighton and Hove. As there are over 1,200 (!), I needed to work out the best way of splitting it and how many to include in each part-list. After much thought, and guidance from FLC regulars (although I have not yet presented any of the lists at FLC) and other list experts, this is what I did; hopefully some of this will be useful to you as well:

• After facing problems with slow load times and exceeding the template capacity on Listed buildings in Worthing, which has about 200 entries, I decided that 100-125 was about the right number of entries for any list of this type.
• The possible ways of splitting appeared to be: (a) by suburb/area; (b) by date of construction of the building; or (c) alphabetically. I dismissed (a) because listed buildings are so unevenly spread throughout Brighton and Hove, and some do not have a precise geographical identity - so that's no good if you are trying to assign it to one list or another. (b) is better, but again there is an uneven distribution of "ages", some buildings are of unknown or debatable age (what date should be used for buildings that have been rebuilt, significantly extended, changed their use etc.?), and most importantly having lists by date range is not particularly reader-friendly. So I went with (c)!
• Then we have the problem of buildings with no name, which are only identified by their street address. My solution, which I offered on one of the talk pages (possibly WT:FLC) and which received general agreement, was to use the street address as the name: so for example 2 Boyce's Street counts as a "B".
• This required quite a lot of pre-preparation, though, in the form of a big spreadsheet into which I dumped all of the records from the National Heritage List for England (luckily I like playing with spreadsheets!). I went down each row putting "A", "B" etc. in the first column based on the name of the building (if available) or the street name; then I assembled the entries for each letter into strict alphabetical order. So for example 2 Boyce's Street went between Boundary stone at Whitehawk Road and Brighton and Hove High School (Old Vicarage). Then I tried to find the best possible split so that each sub-list would have a similar number of records, none exceeded about 125, and letters were not split across two lists. Luckily the full list split quite neatly into 10 sub-lists: A–B, C–D, E–H, I–L, M, N–O, P–R, S, T–V and W–Z.

So in summary, that method requires a bit of spreadsheet work and data-sorting, but to be honest any method of splitting the list would need some preparation and fiddling around beforehand. Coventry would have similar problems to Brighton and Hove in the sense that its listed buildings are presumably grouped unevenly by geography (probably mostly in the city centre and Spon End, and possibly Binley and Ryton?) and age; so I would recommend a three-way alphabetical split.

One of these days I will get to one of the meetups, although probably one of the more southern ones. I'm hopeful there might be one in Brighton (or Hove!) in the future: there's quite a few appropriate venues around the city. I was in Manchester on the same weekend as one last year, but sadly it clashed with the other meeting I was up there for. Cheers, Hassocks5489 (Floreat Hova!) 15:03, 4 October 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for advice. It'll probably be a while before I get to the grade IIs, but when I do, I'll be sure to dig this out of my archives! You're definitely right about the geographical distribution—all of Spon Street, parts of Upper Spon Street, and most of Allesley Old Road are grade II listed. Along with a so-named "quadrangle" that is actually a semi-circle, but alas, if I wanted something easy, I would have done Wolverhampton! ;) HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 19:21, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Congratulations

Congratulations on getting the List of field marshals of the British Army up to featured list status. While the List of British Army full generals which I am currently working on is a long way off featured list status, any help you can provide in improving it would be welcomed. Greenshed (talk) 21:56, 5 October 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. The field marshals list was a labour of love, and I suspect this will be even more so. Heathcote was invaluable with the field marshals, so if you can find anything even remotely similar, it would make your life much easier. If not, you're reliant on the London Gazette, and their OCR isn't great once you start going back more than a hundred years or so. But all that is manageable, albeit tedious. Where you might struggle at FLC is in writing (or at least sourcing) a few paragraphs of prose. I'll look in on it when I get chance and see if I can offer a hand. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 19:30, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

AE appeal by Hearfourmewesique

Hello HJ. Please see this appeal at Wikipedia:AE#Arbitration enforcement action appeal by Hearfourmewesique. You commented in the original ban discussion in December, 2011 so you may have an opinion on whether to grant his appeal now. Thanks, EdJohnston (talk) 17:09, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, Ed, I've left a comment there. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 19:30, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

This Month in GLAM: September 2012

• From the team: Results of the This Month in GLAM survey (part 2)
• UK report: GLAMcamp London; brief news
• Spain report: Edit-a-thons in Spain
• Italy report: Smithsonian Institution, Brooklyn Museum and WikiAfrica
• Germany report: WikiCon; GLAMcamp London; Science 2.0
• Sweden report: Sweden report
• Switzerland report: Botanical Garden Lausanne;CERN
• India report: Wiki Loves Monuments 2012 in India
• Mexico report: Edit-a-thon at the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana
• Africa report: A month in Africa's GLAMs
• Open Access report: Open Access per default; Open Access Media Importer tests finished; Preparations for Open Access Week
• Calendar: October's GLAM events

Unsubscribe · Global message delivery 18:43, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 08 October 2012

• News and notes: Education Program faces community resistance
  Wikipedia in education is far from a new idea: years of news stories, op-eds, and editorials have focused on the topic; and on Wikipedia itself, the Schools and universities projects page has existed in various forms since 2003. Over the next six years, the page was rarely developed, and when it did advance there was no clear goal in mind.

• WikiProject report: Ten years and one million articles: WikiProject Biography
  On this day five years ago, the WikiProject Report debuted as a new Signpost column with an overview of WikiProject Biography. Today, we're celebrating two milestone: five years of the WikiProject Report and the tenth birthday of our first featured project. WikiProject Biography is by far the largest WikiProject on Wikipedia, with over one million articles under the project's scope. As a comparison, WikiProject Biography is three times larger than Wikipedia's second largest project, and if WikiProject Biography were split into its 14 subprojects and work groups, it would still make the list of the 20 largest WikiProjects... four times.

• Featured content: A dash of Arsenikk
  This week the Signpost interviews Arsenikk, an editor of six years who has brought sixteen lists through our featured list process, mostly regarding transportation in Norway but also about the 1952 Winter Olympics and World Heritage Sites in Africa. Arsenikk tells us about why he joined the project, what moves him, and how editors can join the sometimes daunting world of featured lists.

• Technology report: The ups and downs of September and October, plus extension code review analysis
  The Wikimedia Foundation's engineering report for September 2012 was published this week on the Wikimedia Techblog and on the MediaWiki wiki, giving an overview of all Foundation-sponsored technical operations in that month (as well as brief coverage of progress on Wikimedia Deutschland's Wikidata project, phase 1 of which is edging its way towards its first deployment). Three of the seven headline items in the report have already been covered in the Signpost: problems with the corruption of several Gerrit (code) repositories, the introduction of widespread translation memory across Wikimedia wikis, and the launch of the "Page Curation" tool on the English Wikipedia, with development work on that project now winding down. The report also drew attention to the end of Google Summer of Code 2012, the deployment to the English Wikipedia of a new ePUB (electronic book) export feature, and improvements to the WLM app aimed at more serious photographers.

• Discussion report: Closing RfAs: Stewards or Bureaucrats?; Redesign of Help:Contents
  Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include ...

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 20:23, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Operation Barras

The DYK project (nominate) 08:02, 12 October 2012 (UTC)

Great work with this article. Nick-D (talk) 22:59, 12 October 2012 (UTC)

Thanks Nick. Glad you liked it. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 18:25, 13 October 2012 (UTC)

Coventry

Hi HJ – sorry for not getting back to conclude my review more quickly; I was hoping to do it today, but got distracted by other things online (silly YouTube videos, mainly!). I have looked at the List a couple of times since you made the recent alterations, and I couldn't see anything obvious that would prevent me capping my comments and Supporting; I will have a proper, in-depth look tomorrow, either at lunchtime or when I get home from work, and continue/conclude my review then. Cheers, Hassocks5489 (Floreat Hova!) 22:25, 14 October 2012 (UTC)

Much obliged! HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 22:27, 14 October 2012 (UTC)

Mail

Hello, HJ Mitchell. Please check your email; you've got mail! The subject is Laptop.
It may take a few minutes from the time the email is sent for it to show up in your inbox. You can at any time by removing the {{You've got mail}} or {{ygm}} template.— RexxS (talk) 20:18, 15 October 2012 (UTC)

Dannatt

G'day HJMitchell, I noticed that you blanked a new section of the Richard Dannatt, Baron Dannatt article. Your edit summary indicated that it didn't need its own section, not that it was inappropriate or otherwise unwiki. The text was sourced and I am about to restore the information into an appropriate section. Please engage on the article talk page if you believe that inclusion of this material is contrary to WP policy. Regards, Peacemaker67 (talk) 23:20, 15 October 2012 (UTC)

Hi. I don't vehemently object to it being in the article. I'd rather wait a few weeks to see whether something comes of it or it just blows over, but it's not worth getting het up about. I do object to it being given its own section (that's clearly undue weight, as it gives it the same prominence as his ten-year tenure as a general, which is what he's notable for), and I object to the journalistic tone, but I see you've fixed the former, and the latter just requires a few minutes' copy-editing. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 17:31, 16 October 2012 (UTC)

Happy with that. Cheers, Peacemaker67 (talk) 20:16, 16 October 2012 (UTC)

Clarke

OK. I put him up for A-Class review. Thanks for the suggestion :) --Errant ^(chat!) 09:45, 16 October 2012 (UTC)

I saw. I'll see if I can find time to give him a decent review over the next week or so, but I doubt there'll be any major problems. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 17:33, 16 October 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 15 October 2012

• Op-ed: AdminCom: A proposal for changing the way we select admins
  There is wide agreement among English Wikipedians that the administrator system is in some ways broken—but no consensus on how to fix it. Most suggestions have been relatively small in scope, and could at best produce small improvements. I would like to make a proposal to fundamentally restructure the administrator system, in a way that I believe would make it more effective and responsive. The proposal is to create an elected Administration Committee ("AdminCom") which would select, oversee, and deselect administrators.

• In the media: Wikipedia's language nerds hit the front page
  This week saw a front-page story in the Wall Street Journal on editorial debates in Wikipedia. The story focused on the title-naming dispute surrounding the Beatles article, and specifically the RfC on whether the 'the' in the band's name should be capitalized or not.

• Featured content: Second star to the left
  On the English Wikipedia, five featured articles, ten featured lists, and four featured pictures were promoted, including USS Lexington, a ship built for the United States Navy that, although ordered in 1916 as a battlecruiser, was converted to an aircraft carrier. It was sunk in the Battle of the Coral Sea during the Second World War.

• News and notes: Chapters ask for big bucks
  The volunteer-led Wikimedia Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) and interested community members are looking at Wikimedia organization applications worth about US$10.4 million out of the committee's first full year's operation, in just the inaugural round one of two that have been planned for the year with a planned budget of US$11.4M.

• Technology report: Wikidata is a go: well, almost
  A trial of the first phase of Wikimedia Deutschland's "Wikidata" project–implementing the first ever interwiki repository—may soon get underway following the successful passage of much of its code through MediaWiki's review processes this week.

• WikiProject report: WikiProject Chemicals
  This week, we experimented with WikiProject Chemicals. Started in August 2004, WikiProject Chemicals has grown to include over 10,000 articles about chemical compounds. The project has a unique assessment system that omits C-class, Good, and Featured Articles. As a result, the project's 11 GAs and 9 FAs are treated as A-class articles. WikiProject Chemicals is a child of WikiProject Chemistry (interviewed in 2009) and a parent of WikiProject Polymers.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 21:04, 16 October 2012 (UTC)

Page move

Are you still around? If so, could you please move User:JuneGloom07/Priya Kapoor to Priya Kapoor for me? - JuneGloom Talk 23:01, 14 October 2012 (UTC)

Done. Even I'm not brave enough to be sat in Wehterspoon's after midnight! ;) HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 16:51, 15 October 2012 (UTC)

You have mail. - JuneGloom Talk 19:36, 17 October 2012 (UTC)

ArbCom RfC

Hi HJ, quick question - since the abortion RfC at Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Abortion advocacy movement coverage is sanctioned by an ArbCom case of which I was a party, am I able to participate in it? Thanks! Instaurare (talk) 17:12, 16 October 2012 (UTC)

I'm tempted to say "if you have to ask...". However, you can participate iff you personally, your conduct, or your actions become the subject of discussion (for example if you had moved one of the pages, and that page move was being discussed) or if an editor in good standing explicitly asks you to comment on a particular issue. However, I would advise you very strongly to find something else to do, and take it off your watchlist. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 17:37, 16 October 2012 (UTC)

How about I simply write my !vote, without referring to any arguments of other users, and then leave without any further discussion? Instaurare (talk) 20:41, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

No. I think introducing shades of grey into black-and-white conditions would be unwise. I'll make exceptions for cases where you're specifically addressed or your input is requested, but not just because you want to contribute your two cents. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 20:30, 21 October 2012 (UTC)

Rollbacker

Hi HJ...SlimVirgin has restored my rollbacker ability and says she consulted you first. I want to let you know I'll do whatever I can to never abuse the tool again. Best wishes...--MONGO 23:45, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

I told Slim that I had no objections provided you used the tool properly, and that I probably can't claim to be an uninvolved admin after weighing in on 9/11 conspiracy theories last year, but thanks for letting me know. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 20:32, 21 October 2012 (UTC)

Precious

	historic events and people
	Thank you for quality articles on historic events and people, such as Iranian Embassy siege, and for voicing support for an "overwhelmingly constructive contributor ... quietly making improvements to articles", - repeating: you are an awesome Wikipedian (27 July 2010 and 16 January 2011)! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 05:54, 21 October 2012 (UTC)

That's very kind; thank you. :) HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 20:34, 21 October 2012 (UTC)

An idea to improve the ArbCom body

A very good start would involve your candidacy for the upcoming election. I can understand why you might not wish to run, but I can also hope that you will. 76Strat ^String da _Broke da (talk) 06:41, 21 October 2012 (UTC)

Ha! I think they'd all resign in protest if I was elected (though that might actually be a reason to stand!), but I have no ambitions for such lofty heights—the bureaucracy and policy wonkery is best left to those who enjoy such things. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 20:37, 21 October 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for that response. It was not an ambition or a misapplied presumption of enjoyment that moved me to ask this of you, but rather a recognition of your character and the strengths you would bring if you did choose the harder option. My regards here are applicable to you as well, and they extend on the reasons I am thankful that you did consider it. Cheers. - 76Strat ^String da _Broke da (talk) 07:46, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

Biology Society Wikipedia Training

Hi HJ Mitchell, just wondered if you could possible make an award for everyone's home page who attended the training we received at the Biology Society training on the 29 Aug at Charles Darwin house? I thought this might be a good tool to encourage more women to take part in wikipedia and keep contributing. I just thought about this as I took part in the Ada Lovelace Wikipedia edit-a-thon and they added certificates to everyones page afterwards. Let me know what you think. --Geneticcuckoo (talk) 16:39, 21 October 2012 (UTC)

I lack the ability to create one myself, but you might like to use {{subst:The Real Life Barnstar|message ~~~~}}. Just copy that (the rendered text, not the wikicode) and replace "message" with a thank you note or something similar. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 20:41, 21 October 2012 (UTC)

Henk Rottinghuis

Hi HJ Mitchell. I'm contacting you with regards to your deletion of the Henk Rottinghuis Wikipedia article. Although you listed 'unambiguous advertising' as one of the reasons for deleting the article, there is a huge amount of salvageable content. At the very least the article can be rewritten as it is supported by a number of independent references. I have added this case to the Wikipedia Deletion Review page and it would be good to hear your feedback so that we can reach an amicable solution. Thanks, Vivj2012 (talk) 13:53, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

While I'm pleased to see that you're declaring your interest upfront and trying to work within Wikipedia policy, that article was full of puffery and sourced entirely to primary sources. There was no indication that the subject was notable (ie has been written about other than on his own website and the websites of organisations with which he is affiliated) or that the article existed for nay reason other than to promote the subject. You're welcome to pursue the deletion review process, but I stand by my original decision. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 14:15, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

Closing the Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Abortion article titles RfC

Hello HJ, I was wondering if you would consider wrapping up some unfinished business: Wikipedia talk:Requests for comment/Abortion article titles#Closing this RfC. I know it's not a pleasant task, but it would be nice to have some closure at least. Cheers. Kaldari (talk) 00:52, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Grade II* listed buildings in Coventry

The DYK project (nominate) 16:05, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, HJ Mitchell. You have new messages at Template:Did you know nominations/Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Coventry.
Message added 17:32, 23 October 2012 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Suggested merge with Template:Did you know nominations/Vignoles Bridge Redtigerxyz ^Talk 17:32, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

There's nothing wrong with them as they are, but if you really want to merge them, go ahead. I'm going to be without an Internet connection in a few hours for probably a couple of days. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 11:20, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

The Bugle: Issue LXXIX, October 2012

Your Military History Newsletter Project news: From the editors; milestone for the Fortifications task force; contest results Articles: The month's new Featured and A-class content Book reviews: Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/October 2012/Hawkeye7 on mission command Op-ed: The ed17 on how The Bugle could be improved

The Bugle is published by the Military history WikiProject. To receive it on your talk page, please join the project or sign up here.
If you are a project member who does not want delivery, please remove your name from this page. Your editors, Nick-D (talk) and Ian Rose (talk) 02:34, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 22 October 2012

• Special report: Examining adminship from the German perspective
  Unlike the long-running disputes that have characterised attempts to reform the RfA process on the English Wikipedia, the German Wikipedia's tradition of making decisions not by consensus but knife-edged 50% + 1 votes has led to a fundamentally different outcome. In 2009, the project managed to largely settle the RfA mode issue in 2009 indirectly.

• Arbitration report: Malleus Fatuorum accused of circumventing topic ban; motion to change "net four votes" rule
  One clarification request concerns the civility enforcement case – specifically, Malleus Fatuorum's perceived circumvention of his topic ban. It has resulted in thousands of bytes spent in vitriolic discussions, multiple blocks, and "no confidence" motions against the Arbitration Committee and one arbitrator, among other ramifications.

• Technology report: Wikivoyage migration: technical strategy announced
  Planning for Wikivoyage's migration into the WMF fold built up steam this week following a statement by WMF Deputy Director Erik Möller about what the technical side of the migration will involve. Wikivoyage, which split from sister site Wikitravel in 2006, is hoping to migrate its own not-inconsiderable user base to Wikimedia, as well as much of its content, presenting novel challenges for Wikimedia developers

• Discussion report: Good articles on the main page?; reforming dispute resolution
  Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include...

• News and notes: Wikimedians get serious about women in science
  It is well known that women are underrepresented in the sciences, and that high-achieving female scientists have often been excluded from authorship lists and passed over for awards and honours solely on the basis of gender. Also significant has been the underplaying in the academic literature, news reporting, and online, of women's current and historical contributions to science.

• WikiProject report: Where in the world is Wikipedia?
  The WikiProject Report normally brings tidings from Wikipedia's most active, inventive, and unique WikiProjects. This week, we're trying something new by focusing on Wikipedia's dark side: the various regional and national WikiProjects that are dead or dying. How can some tiny municipalities and exclaves generate highly active, cross-language, multimedia platforms be successful while the projects representing many sovereign countries and entire continents wallow in obscurity? Today, we'll search for answers among geographic projects large and small, highly active and barely functioning, enthusiastic about the future and mired in past conflicts.

• Featured content: Is RfA Kafkaesque?
  Eleven articles, including one on Franz Kafka, three lists, one image, and one portal were promoted to 'featured' status this week.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 10:51, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Coventry

Graeme Bartlett (talk) 08:03, 26 October 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Vignoles Bridge

Graeme Bartlett (talk) 08:03, 26 October 2012 (UTC)

ArbCom RfC - resumed

Hi HJ, quick question - since the abortion RfC at Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Abortion advocacy movement coverage is sanctioned by an ArbCom case of which I was a party, am I able to participate in it? Thanks! Instaurare (talk) 17:12, 16 October 2012 (UTC)

I'm tempted to say "if you have to ask...". However, you can participate iff you personally, your conduct, or your actions become the subject of discussion (for example if you had moved one of the pages, and that page move was being discussed) or if an editor in good standing explicitly asks you to comment on a particular issue. However, I would advise you very strongly to find something else to do, and take it off your watchlist. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 17:37, 16 October 2012 (UTC)

How about I simply write my !vote, without referring to any arguments of other users, and then leave without any further discussion? Instaurare (talk) 20:41, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

No. I think introducing shades of grey into black-and-white conditions would be unwise. I'll make exceptions for cases where you're specifically addressed or your input is requested, but not just because you want to contribute your two cents. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 20:30, 21 October 2012 (UTC)

Sorry to resume this a week later. With respect HJ, I ask that you reconsider. Our agreement stated that you would review the conditions after six months. I am now in month five of my conditional return. It's my understanding that ArbCom cases may be participated in without regard to blocks or conditions. But I do not want to do anything without your permission. Aside from one slip-up at Family Research Council, I think you will find that my record is clean, and I have edited with restraint in problematic topic areas. Also, I was a major party in the ArbCom case. I ask that you take these into consideration, and allow me an exception to simply voice my !vote, and then withdraw from the discussion. If my !vote is problematic, you may delete it at any time and impose additional sanctions. Thanks for your consideration. Instaurare (talk) 17:20, 27 October 2012 (UTC)

FAC

I have provided a review for Operation Barras, which you had nominated for FAC. May I request you a review here in return? Cambalachero (talk) 17:47, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

I Need You

To unlock the Rainbow Dash article and any other MLP character articles that are locked as redirects. The notion that they are not notable is absolutely absurd, and I am going to give them the articles they deserve. In general, there are going to be some big changes around here regarding "notability" especially as it pertains to fictional characters.

While you're at it, also unlock Slender Man for me as well, please.

ResonX (talk) 01:44, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

Hello again. You seem to have missed me. Please let me edit Rainbow Dash. ResonX (talk) 18:19, 29 October 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 29 October 2012

• News and notes: First chickens come home to roost for FDC funding applicants; WMF board discusses governance issues and scope of programs
  The first round of the Wikimedia Foundation's new financial arrangements has proceeded as planned, with the publication of scores and feedback by Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) staff on applications for funding by 11 entities—10 chapters, independent membership organisations supporting the WMF's mission in different countries, and the foundation itself. The results are preliminary assessments that will soon be put to the FDC's seven voting members and two non-voting board representatives. The FDC in turn will send its recommendations to the board of trustees on 15 November, which will announce its decision by 15 December. Funding applications have been on-wiki since 1 October, and the talk pages of applications were open for community comment and discussion from 2 to 22 October, though apart from queries by FDC staff, there was little activity.

• WikiProject report: In recognition of... WikiProject Military History
  This week, we're checking out ways to motivate editors and recognize valuable contributions by focusing on the awards and rewards of WikiProject Military History. Anyone unfamiliar with WikiProject Military History is encouraged to start at the report's first article about the project and make your way forward. While many WikiProjects provide a barnstar that can be awarded to helpful contributors, WikiProject Military History has gone a step further by creating a variety of awards with different criteria ranging from the all-purpose WikiChevrons to rewards for participating in drives and improving special topics to medals for improving articles up to A-class status to the coveted "Military Historian of the Year" award.

• Technology report: Improved video support imminent and Wikidata.org live
  The TimedMediaHandler extension (TMH), which brings dramatic improvements to MediaWiki's video handling capabilities, will go live to the English Wikipedia this week following a long and turbulent development, WMF Director of Platform Engineering Rob Lanphier announced on Monday ... Wikidata.org, a new repository designed to host interwiki links, launched this week and will begin accepting links shortly. The site, which is one half of the forthcoming Wikidata trial (the other half being the Wikidata client, which will be deployed to the Hungarian Wikipedia shortly) will also act as a testing area for phase 2 of Wikidata (centralised data storage). The longer term plan is for Wikidata.org to become a "Wikimedia Commons for data" as phases 2 and 3 (dynamic lists) are developed, project managers say.

• Featured content: On the road again
  Thirteen articles, ten lists, nine images, one topic, and one portal were promoted to featured after peer reviews.

• Recent research: WP governance informal; community as social network; efficiency of recruitment and content production; Rorschach news
  A paper in the Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, coming from the social control perspective and employing the repertory grid technique, has contributed interesting observations about the governance of Wikipedia.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 08:06, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

YGM

Hello, HJ Mitchell. Please check your email; you've got mail!
It may take a few minutes from the time the email is sent for it to show up in your inbox. You can at any time by removing the {{You've got mail}} or {{ygm}} template.— Michael Bednarek (talk) 09:41, 2 November 2012 (UTC)

Clarke

Howdy! I've pinged Clarke back to FAR if you fancy commenting there :) cheers --Errant ^(chat!) 14:13, 2 November 2012 (UTC)

I'll be sure to take a look; I can't imagine it's deteriorated since the ACR, so I'll likely support. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 10:17, 4 November 2012 (UTC)

Italian embassy siege

The move seemed plausible at the time, but you seem to be right. It was another editor who suggested it, so I notified them, if they want to pursue it. Thanks for catching my error DGG ( talk ) 19:13, 4 November 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 05 November 2012

• Op-ed: 2012 WikiCup comes to an end
  J Milburn is a British editor who has been on the site since 2006. He is one of two judges of the WikiCup. Here, he uses an op-ed to explain the way the WikiCup works and to review this year's competition, which ended recently.

• News and notes: Wikimedian photographic talent on display in national submissions to Wiki Loves Monuments
  The results of most of the national heats for Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM) have been published on Commons. A maximum of 10 images have been submitted by all but eight of the 34 participating countries, and the international jury for what is the largest competition of its type in the world is set to announce the global winner in four weeks' time.

• In the media: Was climate change a factor in Hurricane Sandy?
  Hurricane Sandy was the largest Atlantic hurricane on record and has caused millions of dollars in damage. Naturally, Wikipedia covered it. But was Wikipedia's coverage unbiased?

• Discussion report: Protected Page Editor right; Gibraltar hooks
  The Signpost's weekly roundup of topics for discussion on the English Wikipedia.

• Featured content: Jack-O'-Lanterns and Toads
  This week, the Signpost interviewed two editors. The first, PumpkinSky, collaborated with Gerda Arendt in writing the recently featured article on Franz Kafka and won second prize in the Core contest last August. The second, Cwmhiraeth, collaborated with Thompsma in promoting the article Frog, which was featured last week. We asked them about the special challenges faced while writing Core content and things to watch out for.

• Technology report: Hue, Sqoop, Oozie, Zookeeper, Hive, Pig and Kafka
  The Wikimedia Foundation's engineering report for October 2012 was published this week on the Wikimedia Techblog and on the MediaWiki wiki, giving an overview of all Foundation-sponsored technical operations in that month. TimedMediaHandler also went live.

• WikiProject report: Listening to WikiProject Songs
  This week, The Signpost sings along with WikiProject Songs which focuses on articles about songs of every generation and genre. The project initially began as a rough outline in October 2002 and was reimagined in March 2004 using its parent WikiProject Albums as a template.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 23:46, 6 November 2012 (UTC)

Tired?

I see that you're not around as much as you used to be. A pity. JamesBWatson (talk) 14:24, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

(talk page stalker) Harry has probably been heavily involved in activities for Wikipedia that do not necessarily increase his edits to the site. It happens to many of us occasionally. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 14:56, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

Yes, I hadn't thought of that possibility, but from what I know of him it's likely. However, 1001 days crop up far less often in the logs. JamesBWatson (talk) 15:01, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

I don't have an Internet connection at the moment (except the WiFi in the local Wetherspoon's), so I'm not ever so active. I've also been focusing more on the mainspace than on admin stuff when I've been on WP, and I've been more active over on Commons. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 20:25, 8 November 2012 (UTC)

This Month in GLAM: October 2012

This Month in GLAM – Volume II, Issue X, October 2012 Headlines From the team: New editorial team USA report: Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum UK report: Ada Lovelace edit-a-thon at the Royal Society; Dunhuang Project France report: Helping GLAMs' staff; Conferences; Lobbying at Ministry of Culture Italy report: Meeting African monuments, griots and Botswana administrative divisions Germany report: Shaping Access conference; Donation of scientific movies Sweden report: Local heritage and sami culture Africa report: A month in Africa's GLAMs Open Access report: Videos from Noble laureates; Open Access Week; Open Access Wikipedia Challenge; Open Access Media Importer approve Calendar: November's GLAM events Read this edition in full • Single-page To assist with preparing the newsletter, please visit the newsroom. Past editions may be viewed here.

Unsubscribe · Global message delivery 02:52, 13 November 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 12 November 2012

• News and notes: Court ruling complicates the paid-editing debate
  Last week, media outlets reported a ruling by a German court on the problem of businesses using Wikipedia for marketing purposes. The issue goes beyond the direct management of marketing-related edits by Wikipedians; it involves cross-monitoring and interacting among market competitors themselves on Wikipedia. A company that sells dietary supplements made from frankincense had taken a competitor to court. The recently published judgment by the Higher Regional Court of Munich, in dealing with the German Wikipedia article on frankincense products, was handed down in May and is based on European competition law.

• Featured content: The table has turned
  Thirteen articles, six lists, and five images were promoted to 'featured' status last week.

• Technology report: MediaWiki 1.20 and the prospects for getting 1.21 code reviewed promptly
  In late September, the Technology report published its findings about (particularly median) code review times. To the 23,900 changesets analysed the first time (the data for which has been updated), the Signpost added data from the 9,000 or so changesets contributed between September 17 and November 9 to a total of 93,000 reviews across 45,000 patchsets. Bots and self-reviews were also discarded, but reviews made by a different user in the form of a superseding patch were retained. Finally, users were categorised by hand according to whether they would be best regarded as staff or volunteers. The new analyses were consistent with the predictions of the previous analysis.

• WikiProject report: Land of parrots, palm trees, and the Holy Cross: WikiProject Brazil
  As promised, we're expanding our horizons by featuring projects that cover underrepresented areas of the globe. This week, we headed to WikiProject Brazil which keeps track of articles about the world's largest Portuguese-speaking country. The project has shown spurts of activity and continues to serve as a hub for discussions, despite the project's collaborations, peer reviews, and outreach activities being largely inactive.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 12:25, 14 November 2012 (UTC)

Third Reading Wiki Meetup

You are invited to the third Reading Wiki Meetup which will take place at The Hope Tap, 99-105 Friar Street, Reading RG1 1EP on Sunday 20 January 2013 from 1.00 pm. If you have never been to one, this is an opportunity to meet other Wikipedians in an informal atmosphere for Wiki and non-Wiki related chat and for beer or food if you like. Experienced and new contributors are all welcome. This event is definitely not restricted just to discussion of Berkshire related topics. Bring your laptop if you like and use the free Wifi or just bring yourself. Even better, bring a friend! Click the link for full details. Looking forward to seeing you. Philafrenzy (talk) 02:57, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

Awarded Barnstar

		The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
		For all your contributions and hard work on the encyclopedia, I am pleased to present HJ Mitchell with this Tireless Contributor Barnstar. — Mikhailov Kusserow (talk) 06:27, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

GAR

Speed Demon (song), an article that your project may be interested in, has been nominated for an individual good article reassessment. If you are interested in the discussion, please participate by adding your comments to the reassessment page. If concerns are not addressed during the review period, the good article status will be removed from the article.--Tomcat (7) 18:15, 20 November 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 19 November 2012

• News and notes: FDC's financial muscle kicks in
  The WMF's Funds Dissemination Committee has published its recommendations for the inaugural round 1 of funding. Requests totalled US$10.4M, nearly all of the FDC's budget for both first and second rounds. The seven-member committee of community volunteers appointed in September advises the WMF board on the distribution of grant funds among applying Wikimedia organizations. The committee, which has a separate operating budget of $276k for salaries and expenses, considered 12 applications for funds, from 11 chapters and from the WMF itself for its non-core activities. The decision-making process included community and FDC staff input after October 1, the closing date for submissions. Taken together, the volunteers decided to endorse an average of 81% of the funding sought—a total of $8.43M, which went to 11 of the 12 applicants. This leaves $2.71M to be distributed in round 2, for which applications are due in little more than three months' time.

• WikiProject report: No teenagers, mutants, or ninjas: WikiProject Turtles
  This week, we spent some time with WikiProject Turtles. The young project started in January 2011 and has accumulated 5 Featured Articles, 3 Featured Lists, and 6 Featured Pictures. The project maintains a combined to-do list and hot articles meter, a popular pages ranking, and a collection of resources for turtle articles. We interviewed Faendalimas and NYMFan69-86.

• Technology report: Structural reorganisation "not a done deal"
  WMF Executive Director Sue Gardner was forced to clarify this week that proposed structural changes to the Foundation's Engineering and Product Development Department were not a "done deal" and that it was "important that you [particularly affected staff] realise that ... your input is wanted". The reorganisation, announced on November 5 and planned for the middle of next year, will see its two components split off into their own departments.

• Featured content: Wikipedia hit by the Streisand effect
  Seven featured articles, four featured lists and ten featured pictures – including the photograph that spawned the Streisand effect – were promoted this week.

• Discussion report: GOOG, MSFT, WMT: the ticker symbol placement question
  Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include the question of ticker symbol placement and the notability of various types of creative performer.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 02:52, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

Only warning ?

Sorry ! Because the individual that issued the only warning wasn't a sysop, I didn't think it carried any weight, as only sysops can block. I'll keep that in mind next time!  KoshVorlon. We are all Kosh ...  19:54, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

Laptop

Harry, any idea where my bag containing my laptop has gone?? I'm sure it was in the corner with all the shopping in the Ship & Mitre but after you lot had left it was gone. Did anyone take it by mistake? Bazonka (talk) 22:55, 24 November 2012 (UTC)

We've just found it (at Brian's). Email me your phone number and we'll sort something. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 23:00, 24 November 2012 (UTC)

Phew! I'll try to pick it up tomorrow if I can. Thanks! Bazonka (talk) 23:16, 24 November 2012 (UTC)

Email me your phone number anyway—Doug thinks your place might be vaguely on or route home so we could drop it off tomorrow afternoon. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 23:23, 24 November 2012 (UTC)

Got it! Thanks for helping with this. I was staying at my father-in-law's house in Wallasey last night, so not really on your way, and easier for me to collect. I think I only missed you by about 15 minutes this morning. Bazonka (talk) 13:25, 25 November 2012 (UTC)

Well, glad you got it back. :) HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 13:29, 25 November 2012 (UTC)

deletion of Timothy Ball

Hi. In Wikipedia:Deletion review/Log/2011 January 3 you invited further comment. I'm not volunteering to rewrite the article, but I recently observed that in The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars, page 95, Michael E. Mann writes "Tim Ball is perhaps the most prominent climate change denier in Canada ..." Does this suggest that the notability decision should be reconsidered? SamuelTheGhost (talk) 14:26, 25 November 2012 (UTC)

"hothead"

I've kind of resigned myself to not faring well in the voter's guides, but yours surprised me. Can you show me a few examples of where I come across as a "hothead"? I do my best to keep my temper in check at all times, and I'd like to see where I come across as angry. I'll readily confess to occasionally being completely disgusted with the state of affairs around me .—Kww(talk) 14:53, 26 November 2012 (UTC)

I must confess I've always known hothead to mean something comparable to 'shoot first, ask questions later', which is what I was trying to convey in my guide. I wasn't familiar with the other (apparently more common) definition "One who angers easily". I've lawys thought the former to be a useful trait, especially given some of the areas I've seen you working in, but I think arbitrators need to have a more reflective style. That's not to say I don't think you're a bloody good admin, just that I don't think you'd be best suited to being an arb. Best, HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 13:25, 27 November 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 26 November 2012

• News and notes: Toolserver finance remains uncertain
  On November 24, a general assembly of Wikimedia Germany (WMDE) voted on the fate of the Wikimedia Toolserver, a central external piece of technical infrastructure supporting the editing communities with volunteer-developed scripts and webpages of various kinds that are assisting in performing mostly menial tasks.

• Recent research: Movie success predictions, readability, credentials and authority, geographical comparisons
  An open-access preprint presents the results from a study attempting to predict early box office revenues from Wikipedia traffic and activity data. The authors – a team of computational social scientists from Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Aalto University and the Central European University – submit that behavioral patterns on Wikipedia can be used for accurate forecasting, matching and in some cases outperforming the use of social media data for predictive modeling. The results, based on a corpus of 312 English Wikipedia articles on movies released in 2010, indicate that the joint editing activity and traffic measures on Wikipedia are strong predictors of box office revenue for highly successful movies.

• Featured content: Panoramic views, history, and a celestial constellation
  Six articles, one list, and six images were promoted to 'featured' status this week.

• Technology report: Wikidata reaches 100,000 entries
  Wikidata, the new "Wikimedia Commons for data" and the first new Wikimedia project since 2006, reached 100,000 entries this week. The project aims to be a single, human- and machine-readable database for common data, spanning across all Wikipedia projects, which will "lead to a higher consistency and quality within Wikipedia articles, as well as increased availability of information in the smaller language editions" while lowering the burden on Wikipedia's volunteer editors—whose numbers have stalled overall, and continue to dwindle on the English Wikipedia.

• WikiProject report: Directing Discussion: WikiProject Deletion Sorting
  This week, we uncovered WikiProject Deletion Sorting, Wikipedia's most active project by number of edits to all the project's pages. This special project seeks to increase participation in Articles for Deletion nominations by categorizing the AfD discussions by various topic areas that may draw the attention of editors. The project was started in August 2005 with manual processes that are continued today by a bevy of bots, categories, and transclusions. The project took inspiration from WikiProject Stub Sorting and some historical discussions on deletion reform. As the sheer number of AfDs continues to grow, the project is seeking better tools to manage the deletion sorting process and attract editors to comment on these deletion discussions.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 11:51, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

The Bugle: Issue LXXX, November 2012

Your Military History Newsletter Project news: From the editors; awards and honours; contest results Articles: The month's new Featured and A-Class content Book reviews: Sturmvogel_66, AustralianRupert, and Nick-D look at ships, soldiers, and railways Op-ed: Nick-D on navigating the FA and A-Class review processes

The Bugle is published by the Military history WikiProject. To receive it on your talk page, please join the project or sign up here.
If you are a project member who does not want delivery, please remove your name from this page. Your editors, Ian Rose (talk) and Nick-D (talk) 01:49, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 03 December 2012

• News and notes: Wiki Loves Monuments announces 2012 winner
  The global jury of Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM), the world’s largest photo contest, announced its results on 3 December.

• Featured content: The play's the thing
  Three articles, two lists, and four images were promoted to 'featured' status this week.

• Discussion report: Concise Wikipedia; standardize version history tables
  Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include...

• Technology report: MediaWiki problems but good news for Toolserver stability
  Deployments of MediaWiki 1.21wmf5 cause widespread problems for users across wikis when HTML and CSS updates came temporarily out of sync. On the first wikis targeted for deployment, this was caused by the different cache invalidation rates for HTML (typically one month) and CSS (typically five minutes). The retrospective on the problem highlighted the fact that that the test wiki – the WMF's answer to a production environment that individual developers can no longer practically emulate themselves – actually demonstrated the exact problem that would later manifest itself on production wikis. It went unnoticed.

• WikiProject report: The White Rose: WikiProject Yorkshire
  This week, we went searching for white roses in the lands of WikiProject Yorkshire. The project began in May 2007 as a way to improve articles about the historic English county of Yorkshire and its modern-day administrative divisions and cities. Since then, the project has accumulated 31 Featured Articles, 14 Featured Lists, 91 Good Articles, and a monstrous list of Did You Know entries. Despite all of the effort improving Yorkshire articles, the project has experienced waning participation in the last few years. The project still publishes a newsletter each month, monitors the popularity of and recent changes to its articles, maintains a portal, and collects resources for contributors to use.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 21:11, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

Protection of Talaash (2012 film)

You protected after I declined to do so a few hours earlier. You SUCK! You disgraceful pile of puke, I'm gonna drag you to ANI and get you desyssopped and banned!

No, seriously, the protection is under discussion for a third time at RFPP and I noticed nobody seemed to have let you know that one of your admin actions was being discussed. Beeblebrox (talk) 02:42, 2 December 2012 (UTC)

Oh dear. Well I suppose there's not much I can do while desysopped and banned except prevail upon the mighty president of the galaxy for forgiveness. ;) But seriously, I hadn't seen your decline. Sorry. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 10:58, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

The galaxy is under discussion here. I vote for Beeb as president. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 01:08, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

I figured you hadn't seen the decline, it isn't exactly normal to request protection every few hours until you get the result you want. Thanks to both of you for your support by the way. I was extremely gratified to see how many of the voter guides even some that did not support me, used phrases like "no bullshit" and "cut the crap" to describe me. Even if I don't get in I will treasure those descriptions as that is exactly how I try to be. I'm sure you are both aware that sometimes it is hard to tell if anyone is noticing. Beeblebrox (talk) 02:10, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Wikimania

Hi Harry. Please check your Skype. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 01:04, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Edit-a-thon

user Pvir1 Pvir1 (talk) 12:44, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Hello! JPaps1977 (talk) 12:46, 7 December 2012 (UTC)JPaps1977~(Jordi Paps)

Coffin22 (talk) 12:48, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Hello Swish Pat (talk) 12:52, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi! Njkenny (talk) 13:00, 7 December 2012 (UTC)Njkenny

Cheers! Ukpg (talk) 13:58, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi, thanks for your help Aziz Aboobaker (talk) 14:00, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

HiBt261 (talk) 14:01, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi user:thomasbutts

Hello Euglossa (talk) 14:11, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Hello Protochordate (talk) 14:20, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi Harry! Sara.mitri (talk) 14:24, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi! Coyte (talk) 14:32, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Heloooooooo. Aswad87 (talk) 14:51, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Olá Lontraazul (talk) 14:53, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi Locustling (talk) 14:56, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Hey Kyle J Martin (talk) 14:57, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Also User:Atsukos, User:Zatelmae. Charles Matthews (talk) 12:54, 8 December 2012 (UTC)

This Month in GLAM: November 2012

This Month in GLAM – Volume II, Issue XI, November 2012 Headlines Africa report: Wiki Loves Monuments in Africa 2012, a roadway... to victory Australia and New Zealand report: State Library of New South Wales; Freopedia France report: Semanticpedia; Lobbying at Ministry of Culture Germany report: Roundtable of the cultural heritage of the Rhineland; QRpedia at the Hamburg Museum Italy report: Celebrating a milestone: WikiAfrica hits its goals Mexico report: Mexico/Spain editathon Netherlands report: Dutch GLAM activities in November 2012 Sweden report: Commons and endings UK report: Activities in Birmingham and Stafford; digitised books in London USA report: VIAFbot Edits; The Brooklyn Museum Wiki Loves Monuments report: Wiki Loves Monuments 2012 finished Open Access report: The Open Access Media Importer at full speed; Publishers deliver inconsistent XML to PubMed Central; Importing from other sources Calendar: December's GLAM events Read this edition in full • Single-page To assist with preparing the newsletter, please visit the newsroom. Past editions may be viewed here.

Unsubscribe · Global message delivery 17:57, 9 December 2012 (UTC)

Noticed...

Hi Harry. I noticed Microgrants/Who's_Who today. I know it was over a year ago, but I've got full access to http://www.ukwhoswho.com/ if you ever need anything from there. Worm^TT(talk) 12:24, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 10 December 2012

• News and notes: Wobbly start to ArbCom election, but turnout beats last year's
  At the time of writing, this year's election has just closed after a two-week voting period. The eight seats were contested by 21 candidates. Of these, 15 have not been arbitrators (Beeblebrox, Count Iblis, Guerillero, Jc37, Keilana, Ks0stm, Kww, NuclearWarfare, Pgallert, RegentsPark, Richwales, Salvio giuliano, Timotheus Canens, Worm That Turned, and YOLO Swag); four candidates are sitting arbitrators (David Fuchs, Elen of the Roads, Jclemens, and Newyorkbrad); and two have previously served on the committee (Carcharoth and Coren). Four Wikimedia stewards from outside the English Wikipedia stepped forward as election scrutineers: Pundit, from the Polish Wikipedia; Teles, from the Portuguese Wikipedia; Quentinv57, from the French Wikipedia; and Mardetanha, from the Persian Wikipedia. The scrutineers' task is to ensure that the election is free of multiple votes from the same person, to tally the results, and to announce them. The full results are expected to be released within the next few days and will be reported in next week's edition of the Signpost.

• Featured content: Wikipedia goes to Hell
  Eight articles, four images, six lists, and one topic were promoted to 'featured' status on the English Wikipedia this week.

• Technology report: The new Visual Editor gets a bit more visual
  The Visual Editor project – an attempt to create the first WMF-deployable WYSIWYG editor – will go live on its first Wikipedias imminently following nearly six months of testing on MediaWiki.org. A full explanatory blog post accompanied the news, explaining the project and its setup. Once a user has opted-in, the editor can handle basic formatting, headings and lists, while safely ignoring elements it is yet to understand, including references, categories, templates, tables and images. At the last count, approximately 2% of pages would break in some way if a user tried the Visual Editor on them; it is unclear whether any specific protection will be put in place beyond relying on editors to spot problems.

• WikiProject report: WikiProject Human Rights
  In celebration of Human Rights Day, we checked out WikiProject Human Rights. Started in February 2006, the project has grown to include over 3,000 articles, including 12 Featured Articles, 3 Featured Lists, 66 Good Articles, a large collection of Did You Know entries, and a few mentions "in the news". The project monitors listings of popular pages and cleanup tags. We interviewed Khazar2, Cirt, and Boud.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 22:19, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

Fred Strahorn

Could you please unprotect Fred Strahorn and move Fred Strahorn (Ohio politician) to this name? The page was previously blocked because of creation by a banned user, but a legitimate article has now been created and it should be under Fred Strahorn. ProfessorTofty (talk) 04:52, 17 December 2012 (UTC)

DYKbotdo

Hi, I just wanted to point out that the bot prefixed your signature with "1=" and included double dates for all of the DYK credits from this set. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 22:19, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

Oops. Shows how long it's been since I approved a DYK queue! HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 11:58, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 17 December 2012

• News and notes: Arbitrator election: stewards release the results
  Seven days after the close of voting, the results of the recent Arbitration Committee (ArbCom) elections have been announced by two of the four stewards overseeing the election, Mardetanha and Pundit. Of the 21 candidates, 13 managed to gain positive support-to-oppose ratios, and the top eight will be appointed to two-year terms on the committee by Jimbo Wales, exercising one of his traditional responsibilities.

• WikiProject report: WikiProjekt Computerspiel: Covering Computer Games in Germany
  In the past year, we've tried to expand our horizons by looking at how WikiProjects work in other languages of Wikipedia. Following in the footsteps of our previously interviewed Czech and French projects, we visited the German Wikipedia to explore WikiProjekt Computerspiel (WikiProject Computer Games). The project dates back to November 2004 and has become the back-end of the Computer Games Portal, which covers all video games regardless of platform. Editors writing about computer games at the German Wikipedia deal with unique cultural and legal challenges, ranging from a lack of fair use precedents to the limited availability of games deemed harmful for youths to strong standards for the inclusion of material on the German Wikipedia.

• Discussion report: Concise Wikipedia; section headings for navboxes
  Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include ...

• Op-ed: Finding truth in Sandy Hook
  This week's big story on the English Wikipedia is obviously the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting (which, by the time you read this, may be renamed 2012 Connecticut school shooting). Quickly created and nominated for deletion not once but twice, and both times speedily kept, the article saw the expected flurry of edits (a look at the history suggests an average of at least one a minute over the first day and a half) and more than half a million page views on the first full day.

• Featured content: Wikipedia's cute ass
  Four articles, three lists, and five images were promoted to 'featured' status on the English Wikipedia this week, including a picture of a three-week old donkey (also known as an 'ass').

• Technology report: MediaWiki groups and why you might want to start snuggling newbie editors
  MediaWiki users (including Wikimedians) can now organise themselves into groups, receiving recognition and support-in-kind from the Wikimedia Foundation. The project, backed by new Wikimedia technical contributor coordinator Quim Gil, has seen five proposals lodged in its first week of operation. The idea of MediaWiki groups mimics that of Wikimedia User Groups.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 00:38, 20 December 2012 (UTC)

DYK nomination of British military intervention in the Sierra Leone Civil War

Hello! Your submission of British military intervention in the Sierra Leone Civil War at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and some issues with it may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! Tartarus ^talk 02:20, 20 December 2012 (UTC)

KTC

You're supposed to support your own nominee. :-) And your co-nominator should, too. Cheers.--Bbb23 (talk) 23:47, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

Don't blame me—I don't have an Internet connection (I wrote the nomination in a pub!)—but that Worm guy is dodgy. ;) HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 17:07, 21 December 2012 (UTC)

Heh, I wonder if that's why some say the RfA process is broken. Too many drunk nominators. :P Of course, the other possibility is there are too many sober nominators. Someone needs to compile statistics on the issue, or perhaps someone already has.--Bbb23 (talk) 01:10, 22 December 2012 (UTC)

I did a very detailed count. I left the notes in a bar. (✉→BWilkins←✎) 01:12, 22 December 2012 (UTC)

Yo Ho Ho

And one of these days I really will come to a Coventry event.

ϢereSpielChequers is wishing you Seasons Greetings! Whether you celebrate your hemisphere's Solstice or Xmas, Diwali, Hogmanay, Hanukkah, Lenaia, Festivus or even the Saturnalia, this is a special time of year for almost everyone!

Spread the holiday cheer by adding {{subst:User:WereSpielChequers/Dec12}} to your friends' talk pages.

Thanks, WSC. Look forward to catching up in the new year. :) HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 17:05, 21 December 2012 (UTC)

Need some help

I was hoping you could help me. I am in a conversation on the Battle of Jamrud, where another editor is taking certain conditions(ie. "...the immediate military objective of the Afghans was to retake Jamrud fort. They failed to retake it.") as reasoning to place Sikh victory(as opposed to Afghan victory or stalemate/indecisive) in the result part of the template. Is this customary in the military history section of wikipedia??

My other question is, doesn't the template result have to be supported by a reference stating Sikh victory, Afghan victory or Indecisive and not simply an editor's formulated opinion as to objectives gained/lost? --Kansas Bear (talk) 20:48, 21 December 2012 (UTC)

I think the point of that infobox field is to summarise what happened—i.e. who won the engagement. Wider factors (such as whether one party achieved all its objectives or its impact on a wider conflict) are generally irrelevant. And yes, like all information on Wikipedia, facts in the infobox should be backed up with references. The references don't necessarily need to be in the infobox itself—as the box is supposed to be a summary, it's fine to provide the references in the prose unless the fact is likely to be questioned or disputed. That parameter has been controversial recently, so you might want to raise the issue at WT:MILHIST to see what others think. Best, HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 20:08, 23 December 2012 (UTC)

Thank you. --Kansas Bear (talk) 20:13, 23 December 2012 (UTC)