User talk:Wadewitz/Archive 50

Dostoyevsky peer review

hello,

I invite you to join this peer review. Any help appreciated! Regards.--GoP_T^C_N 12:49, 15 June 2012 (UTC)

I'll try to look at it this weekend. Wadewitz (talk) 17:07, 15 June 2012 (UTC)

Hey Wadewitz, I also just moved to LA, I live just south of Eagle Rock, I could give you a ride to the Wiknic if you want. You can e-mail me cahenderson08@gmail

Thanks so much! Emailed. Wadewitz (talk) 16:03, 18 June 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 18 June 2012

• Investigative report: Is the requests for adminship process 'broken'?
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• News and notes: Ground shifts while chapters dither over new Association
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• Discussion report: Discussion Reports And Miscellaneous Articulations
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• WikiProject report: The Punks of Wikipedia
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• Featured content: Taken with a pinch of "salt"
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• Arbitration report: Three open cases, GoodDay case closed
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• Technology report: Bugs, Repairs, and Internal Operational News
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• EdwardsBot (talk) 01:52, 20 June 2012 (UTC)

Hi!

I've been watching you work on Dostoyevski and just wanted to stop by, say hi, and say that's good to see you active again. Hope all is well. LA is a big change, I'm sure. Truthkeeper (talk) 17:57, 22 June 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! It's good to be editing again, yes! Do you know anything about LA? I could do with some advice! :) Wadewitz (talk) 23:45, 22 June 2012 (UTC)

I do actually. Do you still have my email address? Truthkeeper (talk) 23:55, 22 June 2012 (UTC)

I can't seem to find it - email me through Wikipedia so I have it again. Any info you could give me about LA would be great! Wadewitz (talk) 04:04, 25 June 2012 (UTC)

I don't have email here anymore but I might still have you in my contacts. Will have a look. We'll catch up somehow. Truthkeeper (talk) 10:42, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

You can just "email this user" on the left-hand side of the user page. Wadewitz (talk) 16:34, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

I have both your email addresses - if you want me to send them to each of you, let me know. Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 12:17, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

Or that would work. :) Wadewitz (talk) 16:34, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

Hey Adrianne

Well, that was a nice conversation today.

Here is the website. And I just put it up yesterday, so we are testing it now and not everything works. For instance you have to click on the pictures twice, and so on and so forth. We will have all of the bugs addressed in a couple of days.

At least we have proven that we can place any Wikipedia article on a timeline, without human intervention. It only starts to get interesting from there, considering all you can do with it AFTER you get the article into the timeline.

I will spend next week recording instructional videos for the site. It seems like its capabilities are endless.

http://www.wikitimelines.net/

And if you need a ride anywhere, ping me.

Send me an email, so I can get you into my inbox.

Jroehl (talk) 01:27, 24 June 2012 (UTC)

Thanks Jeff Roehl jroehl2@yahoo.com (818) 912-7530

The Signpost: 25 June 2012

• Op-ed: A call for editorial input in developing new Creative Commons licensing
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• News and notes: "Mystical" Picture of the Year; run-up to Wikimania DC; RfA reform 2012
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• In the news: Wales enters extradition battle; Wikipedia's political bias
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• Recent research: Edit war patterns, deleters vs. the 1%, never used cleanup tags, authorship inequality, higher quality from central users, and mapping the wikimediasphere
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• WikiProject report: Summer Sports Series: WikiProject Athletics
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• Featured content: A good week for the Williams
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• Arbitration report: Three open cases
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• Technology report: Second Visual Editor prototype launches
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• EdwardsBot (talk) 05:50, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 02 July 2012

• Analysis: Uncovering scientific plagiarism
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• Op-ed: Representing knowledge – metadata, data and linked data
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• News and notes: RfC on joining lobby group; JSTOR accounts for Wikipedians and the article feedback tool
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• In the news: Public relations on Wikipedia: friend or foe?
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• Discussion report: Discussion reports and miscellaneous articulations
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• WikiProject report: Summer sports series: Burning rubber with WikiProject Motorsport
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• Featured content: Heads up
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• Arbitration report: Three open cases, motion for the removal of Carnildo's administrative tools
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• Technology report: Initialisms abound: QA and HTML5
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• EdwardsBot (talk) 10:46, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

WikiWomen's Luncheon at Wikimania 2012

WikiWomen's Luncheon at Wikimania - You are invited!

Are you a woman attending Wikimania 2012? If so, join us on Saturday, July 14, for the annual WikiWomen's Luncheon (fka WikiChix Lunch) This event is for any women attending Wikimania. Pick up your lunch, compliments of Wikimania, and join us at 1:30pm in the Grand Ballroom for a lively facilitated discussion hosted by Sue Gardner. We look forward to seeing you there. Please sign up here. Sarah (talk) 14:18, 4 July 2012 (UTC)

Paul McCartney FAC

The Paul McCartney article has now been thoroughly copyedited top-to-bottom by numerous editors including User:Lfstevens, who is a member of the Wikipedia:WikiProject Guild of Copy Editors. If you can find the time in your busy schedule, please consider stopping by and taking a look, and hopefully, !voting. ~ GabeMc ^{(talk|contribs)} 03:44, 9 July 2012 (UTC)

I don't have time this week. If the FAC is still going on next week, I can take a look and would be happy to help. Wadewitz (talk) 17:05, 9 July 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 09 July 2012

• Special report: Reforming the education programs: lessons from Cairo
  Wikipedia has a long history of collaborating with educational institutions. The Schools and universities program — international and in many languages, but dominated by US institutions — started in 2003 and evolved case by case with little system. However, that changed in 2009 as Wikimedia embarked on its formal strategic process, and outreach in higher education came to be seen in terms of achieving explicit goals — especially that of increasing editor participation.

• News and notes: Russian Wikipedia blackout; WMF tools; Wikitravel proposal revisited
  The Russian Wikipedia has been blacked out for 24 hours, ending 20:00 UTC Tuesday, as a protest against Russian State Duma Bill 89417-6, a bill currently before the Duma (the Russian parliament). Visitors to the Russian Wikipedia are confronted by the sign above in protest at a draconian internet censorship bill before the Duma. The Russian word for Wikipedia is crossed out in this banner, and the text says: "Imagine a world without free knowledge. The State Duma is currently conducting the second reading of a bill to amend the "Law on Information", which has the potential to lead to the creation of extra-judicial censorship of the Internet in Russia, including the closure of access to the Russian Wikipedia. Today, the Wikipedia community protests against censorship as a threat to free knowledge that is open to all mankind. We ask that you oppose this bill."

• WikiProject report: Summer sports series: WikiProject Football
  This week, we spent some time with WikiProject Football, which focuses on the sport also known as association football or soccer. WikiProject Football is by far the largest sport project and one of the most active projects on Wikipedia in terms of the number of articles covered, edits to articles, and talk page watchers.

• Featured content: Keeps on chuggin'
  Eight featured articles were promoted this week: ... Aries (constellation) by Keilana. Aries the Ram (symbol ♈) is one of the constellations of the Zodiac and one of 88 currently recognised constellations. Its area is 441 square degrees (1.1% of the celestial sphere). Although fairly dim, with only three bright stars, it is home to several deep-sky objects.

• Arbitration report: Three requests for arbitration
  No cases were closed or opened, leaving the number of open cases at three. ... The case concerns alleged misconduct with regards to aggressive responses and harassment by Fæ toward users who question his actions.

• Technology report: Optimism over LastModified and MoodBar, but change in clock time causes downtime
  The results from last month's trial of the LastModified extension were published this week on the Wikimedia blog. The first analyses have indicated a significant positive impact, suggesting that the extension – which makes the time since a page's last edit much more prominent in the interface – could eventually find its way onto Wikimedia wikis.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 10:19, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

Demographics of the Supreme Court of the United States

Please work your FA magic! bd2412 T 16:33, 13 July 2012 (UTC)

I will get to it later this week! Nice to meet you, btw! Wadewitz (talk) 20:57, 17 July 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 16 July 2012

• Special report: Chapters Association mired in controversy over new chair
  User:Fæ was elected as the inaugural chair of the new Wikimedia Chapters Association, despite the controversies that have surrounded Fæ on the English Wikipedia and Commons, most recently aired in a live case before the Arbitration Committee. This is in marked contrast with unexciting movement, during the Wikimania meeting, on the most important issues facing the establishment of the association.

• News and notes: WMF enacts reforms at Wikimania; main page redesign; 4 millionth article milestone
  During Wikimania (July 12-15), the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) board finalized and enacted long-discussed reforms of the movement's financial structures, and considered procedures for creating new ways for Wikimedians to organize themselves into offline communities. The board moved on the controversial image filter issue, approved the 2012–13 annual plan, and issued a statement on the wikitravel proposal. It also appointed the two new chapter-selected trustees and elected the four office-bearers.

• WikiProject report: Summer sports series: French WikiProject Cycling
  With the Tour de France in its final week, we traveled to the French Wikipedia for a chat with Projet Cyclisme (WikiProject Cycling). The French Wikipedia places a greater emphasis on portals than the English Wikipedia, which explains why WikiProject Cycling and its discussion page are actually extensions of the Cycling Portal. The project is home to two Article de Qualité (equivalent to Featured Articles) and eight Bon Article (Good Articles), primarily biographies of cyclists.

• Discussion report: Discussion reports and miscellaneous articulations
  A brief overview of the current discussions on the English Wikipedia, including one regarding the purpose of the Community Portal. Started by Maryana, a Wikimedia Foundation employee, is this page for new users to be educated about the community, or is it for experienced users to find updates about the community?

• Wikimania: Young chapter shows experience beyond its years
  Nearly 1400 Wikimedians and others from 87 countries descended on the capital of the United States, Washington, D.C., for Wikimania 2012. Even with an unprecedented number (1400) of conference attendees — the previous two Wikimanias, held in Gdańsk (Poland) and Haifa (Israel), were attended by fewer than 1100 people combined – Wikimania 2012 was a complete success, with attendees' reaction to the conference coming out as ecstatic and laudatory.

• Featured content: Taking flight
  Eight featured articles were promoted this week, including Paul McCartney by GabeMc. McCartney (born 1942) is an English musician, singer, songwriter and composer. He gained worldwide fame as a member of the Beatles, and his collaboration with John Lennon is highly celebrated. After the band's break-up he pursued a solo career and formed the band Wings. McCartney has been described by Guinness World Records as the "most successful composer and recording artist of all time", and his song "Yesterday" has been covered more than any other song in history.

• Technology report: Tech talks at Wikimania amid news of a mixed June
  As Wikimania, the annual conference targeted at Wikimedians and often well attended by those with a technical slant, draws to a close, comments have already begun to come in from attendees regarding the many tech-related features of the conference.

• Arbitration report: Fæ faces site-ban, proposed decisions posted
  No cases were closed or opened, leaving the number of open cases at three. A new remedy in the Fæ case calls for him to be indefinitely banned from the site after his attempts to solicit intervention from the Foundation, claiming that publicly listing all his accounts would be too onerous due to "ongoing security risks." He was further criticised for attempting to dodge good-faith concerns; the committee believes that if Fæ's claims are valid then he must be removed from the community.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 10:44, 17 July 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 23 July 2012

• Paid editing: Does Wikipedia pay? The skeptic: Orange Mike
  Does Wikipedia pay? is an ongoing 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.

• From the editor: Signpost developments
  The Signpost's goal is to provide readers with essential information about the Wikimedia movement and the English Wikipedia – both of which have become large and extremely complex institutions that require timely, balanced and in-depth coverage.

• News and notes: Chapter head speaks about the aftermath of Russian Wikipedia shutdown
  Two weeks ago the Signpost reported that the Russian Wikipedia had just begun a 24-hour blackout in protest at a bill that was before the Russian parliament that proposed mechanisms to block IP addresses and DNS records. The protest, implemented after on-wiki consensus was reached during the preceding days, concerned the potential of the amendment to the information law to allow extra-judicial censorship of the internet in Russia, including the closure of access to the Russian Wikipedia. Among the questions now are how effective the blackout was and where we go from here in terms of internet freedom in one of the world's biggest and most influential countries.

• WikiProject report: Summer sports series: WikiProject Olympics
  With the 2012 Summer Olympic Games beginning this weekend in London, we decided to catch up with the chaps at WikiProject Olympics. The last time we interviewed WikiProject Olympics was in February 2010 when the project was gearing up for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. We wanted to know how the project has grown since then and whether preparing for a Summer Olympics was more grueling.

• Arbitration report: Fæ and Michaeldsuarez banned; Kwamikagami desysopped; Falun Gong closes with mandated external reviews and topic bans
  For the second time this year (and the third in the history of the committee), there are no open cases, as all three active cases were closed last week.

• Op-ed: The future of PR on Wikipedia
  There has never been a better time to improve the behavior of marketing professionals on Wikipedia. For the first time we're seeing self-imposed statements of ethics. Professional PR bodies around the globe have supported the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) guidance for ethical Wikipedia engagement. Although their tone is different, CREWE and the PRSA have brought more attention to the issues. Awareness among PR professionals is rising. So are the number of paid editing operations sprouting up and the opportunity for dialogue.

• Featured content: When is an island not an island?
  One featured article was promoted this week, Melville Island. A small peninsula in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, it was discovered by Europeans in the 1600s and initially used for storehouses. The land was purchased by the British and used to hold prisoners of war, then to receive escaped slaves from the United States. After being used as a place of quarantine and later a recruitment centre, the land was granted to Canada in 1907 and used to house prisoners of war. It is now home to the clubhouse and marina of the Armdale Yacht Club.

• Technology report: Translating SVGs and making history bugs history
  In the first of a series looking at this year's eight ongoing Google Summer of Code projects, the Signpost caught up with developer Harry Burt.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 10:55, 24 July 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 30 July 2012

• Recent research: Conflict dynamics, collaboration and emotions; digitization vs. copyright; WikiProject field notes; quality of medical articles; role of readers; Best Wiki Paper Award
  From the modeling of social dynamics in a collaborative environment to why the number of Wikipedia readers rises while the number of editors doesn't.

• News and notes: Wikimedians and London 2012; WMF budget – staffing, engineering, editor retention effort, and the global South; Telegraph's cheap shot at WP
  Wikimedia Foundation published its Annual Plan, focusing on technical improvements, editor retention, and structural reforms over the coming year. The movement's total revenue, including almost all chapter funding, is slated to rise by 35%, from $34.2 million to $46.1 million, and global spending to more than $42.1 million. The foundation's own core spending will grow by 15% to $30.2 million in 2012–13.

• WikiProject report: Summer sports series: WikiProject Horse Racing
  We continue our Summer Sports Series this week with WikiProject Horse Racing. Started in November 2005, the project has grown to include nearly 8,000 articles maintained by 34 active members. There are 10 Featured Articles and 19 Good Articles included in the project's scope. In addition to preparing articles for GA and FA status, the project attempts to create requested articles and locate requested images. We interviewed Redrose64, Montanabw, Tigerboy1966, Ealdgyth, and Cuddy Wifter.

• Featured content: One of a kind
  Eight new featured articles, five new featured lists, and eight new featured pictures. The highlights include a new featured picture of Frank Sinatra, created by William P. Gottlieb and nominated by Tomer T. Sinatra (1915–98) was a highly successful American singer and film actor whose career spanned 60 years. This image dates from around 1947.

• Technology report: Talking performance with CT Woo and Green Semantic MediaWiki with Nischay Nahata
  In the light of recent questions over the long-term reliability of Wikimedia wikis, the Signpost caught up with CT Woo, the Wikimedia Foundation's director of technical operations.

• Arbitration report: No pending or open arbitration cases
  Arbitrator Kirill Lokshin proposed a motion requiring the alteration of any instances of an editor's previous username in arbitration decisions to reflect their name changes. The Devil's Advocate has initiated an amendment request for the controversial Race and intelligence case.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 11:18, 31 July 2012 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free media (File:TomOfFinlandArtWorkSample.jpg)

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If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of 'file' pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "File" from the dropdown box. Note that all non-free media not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. Hazard-Bot (talk) 04:23, 1 August 2012 (UTC)

A plea

Adrianne, is there any possibility that you will one day return to content editing? The FAC milieu is increasingly unattractive, and I am unsure how much longer I can be bothered with it. The lack of literature articles is depressing, and needs to be addressed if the increasing pop culture emphasis is to be reversed. I realise that your professional life leaves you with less time than you were once able to give to writing and reviewing, but the prospect of even one article a year from your stable would make a young[ish] man happy. I would even help if I could. Brianboulton (talk) 13:22, 5 August 2012 (UTC)

Oh no! That is depressing to hear! I was actually thinking of getting back into editing a bit, particularly because I wanted to work on Jane Austen. I will make an effort to work on those articles in the coming weeks and see if I can make that happen! Wadewitz (talk) 21:37, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

It will be great to have your contributions, even on a limited basis. I may venture to ask your advice from time to time. Brianboulton (talk) 19:23, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 06 August 2012

• Op-ed: The Athena Project: being bold
  At this year's Wikimania, I [Brandon Harris] gave a talk entitled The Athena Project: Wikipedia in 2015. The talk broadly outlined several ideas the foundation is exploring for planned features, user interface changes, and workflow improvements. We expect that many of these changes will be welcomed, while others will be controversial. During the question-and-answer period, I was asked whether people should think of Athena as a skin, a project, or something else. I responded, "You should think of Athena as a kick in the head" – because that's exactly what it's supposed to be: a radical and bold re-examination of some of our sacred cows when it comes to the interface.

• News and notes: FDC portal launched
  On August 1, the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) portal was launched on Meta. The FDC will implement the Wikimedia movement's new grant-orientated finance structure in accordance with the WMF board's recent resolutions. As a volunteer committee, the FDC will make recommendations to the WMF board on a $11.4 million budget for 2012–13.

• Arbitration report: No pending or open arbitration cases
  Arbitrator Kirill Lokshin proposed a motion for a procedure on the alteration of an editor's previous username(s) in arbitration decisions to reflect their name change(s). ... The Devil's Advocate initiated an amendment request for the controversial Race and intelligence case.

• Featured content: Casliber's words take root
  This week the Signpost interviews Casliber, an editor who has written or contributed significantly to a startling 69 featured articles. We learn what makes him tick, why he edits, and why he can write on everything from vampires to dinosaurs, birds to plants. He also gives some advice to budding featured article writers.

• Technology report: Wikidata nears first deployment but wikis go down in fibre cut calamity
  The Wikimedia Foundation's engineering report for July 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). ... At least one fibre-optic cable was damaged at the WMF's Tampa site on August 6, leading to a sharp downwards spike in traffic lasting over an hour and almost three hours of disruption for readers around the globe.

• WikiProject report: Summer sports series: WikiProject Martial Arts
  This week, we spent some time with WikiProject Martial Arts. Since April 2004, the project has been the hub for discussion and improvement of martial arts articles, including all disciplines and national origins. The project maintains a variety of conventions for handling the names and descriptions of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indian, Sikh, Filipino, Okinawan, and hybrid martial arts. WikiProject Martial Arts has spawned or absorbed several subprojects focusing on boxing, kickboxing, sumo, and mixed martial arts.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 08:59, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free media (File:TomOfFinlandArtWorkSample.jpg)

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If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of 'file' pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "File" from the dropdown box. Note that all non-free media not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. Hazard-Bot (talk) 04:10, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 13 August 2012

• Op-ed: Small Wikipedias' burden
  In a certain way, writing Wikipedia is the same everywhere, in every language or culture. You have to stick to the facts, aiming for the most objective way of describing them, including everything relevant and leaving out all the everyday trivia that is not really necessary to understand the context. You have to use critical thinking, trying to be independent of your own preferences and biases. To some effect, that's all there is to it. Naturally, Wikipedians have their biases, some of which can never be cured. Most Wikipedians tend to like encyclopedias; but millions of people in the world don't share that bias, and we represent them rather poorly. I'm also quite sure that an overwhelming majority of Wikipedia co-authors are literate. Again, that's not true for everyone in this world. Yet we have other, less noticeable but barely less fundamental biases.

• News and notes: Bangla-language survey suggests the challenges for small Wikipedias
  The Bangla language, also known as Bengali, is spoken by some 200 million people in Bangladesh and India. The Bangla Wikipedia has a very small active community of about ten to fifteen very active editors, with another 35–40 as less active editors. The project faces particular challenges in being a small Wikipedia, and Dhaka-based WMF community fellow User:Tanvir Rahman is working to understand these challenges and to develop strategies that can improve small wikis that have strong potential to expand their editing communities.

• Arbitration report: You really can request for arbitration
  A request for arbitration was filed late last week, ending the three-week long absence of pending cases.

• Featured content: On the road again
  Six featured articles were promoted this week, including Business US Highway 41, which was a state trunkline highway that served as a business loop in Marquette in the US state of Michigan.

• Technology report: "Phabricating" a serious alternative to Gerrit
  Three weeks into a month-long evaluation of code review tool Gerrit, a serious alternative has finally gained traction in the review process: Facebook-developed but now independently operated Phabricator and its sister command-line tool Arcanist.

• WikiProject report: Dispute Resolution
  This week, we interviewed the lively bunch at WikiProject Dispute Resolution. Started in November 2011 to study and discuss improvements to Wikipedia's resources for resolving disputes between editors, the young project has supplemented dispute resolution efforts currently handled at the Dispute Resolution Noticeboard, Mediation Committee, and other venues. Over 40 editors have signed up to provide feedback, a variety of ideas have been proposed, and a manual for dispute resolution has been created.

• Discussion report: Image placeholders, machine translations, Mediation Committee, de-adminship
  Current proposals and requests for comments include a competition to redesign the main page ...

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Orphaned non-free media (File:TomOfFinlandArtWorkSample.jpg)

Thanks for uploading File:TomOfFinlandArtWorkSample.jpg. The media description page currently specifies that it is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, it is currently orphaned, meaning that it is not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the media was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that media for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of 'file' pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "File" from the dropdown box. Note that all non-free media not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. Hazard-Bot (talk) 04:29, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 20 August 2012

• Op-ed: Wikimedians are rightfully wary
  The Wikimedia Foundation sometimes proposes new features that receive substantive criticism from Wikimedians, yet those criticisms may be dismissed on the basis that people are resistant to change—there's an unjustified view that the wikis have been overrun by vested contributors who hate all change. That view misses a lot of key details and insight because there are good reasons that Wikimedians are suspicious of features development, given past and present development of bad software, growing ties with the problematic Wikia, and a growing belief that it is acceptable to experiment on users.

• News and notes: Core content competition in full swing; Wikinews fork taken offline
  The Core Contest is a month-long competition among editors to improve Wikipedia's most important "core" articles—especially those that are in a relatively poor state. Core articles, such as Music, Computer, and Philosophy, tend to lie in the trunk of the tree of knowledge; by analogy, featured-and good-article processes generally attract more specialist topics out on the branches.

• In the news: American judges on citing Wikipedia
  In the Utah Court of Appeals this week, the majority opinion in Fire Insurance Exchange v. Robert Allen Oltmanns and Brady Blackner relied on Wikipedia for the basic premise of their legal opinion, and included a concurring opinion devoted solely to the issue of citing Wikipedia in a legal opinion.

• Featured content: Enough for a week – but I'm damned if I see how the helican.
  Thirteen featured articles were promoted this week, including pelicans, which are a genus of large water birds comprising the family Pelecanidae, characterised by a long beak and large throat-pouch. They have a fossil record dating back at least 30 million years and are most closely related to the Shoebill and Hammerkop. These fish-feeders have a patchy relationship with humans: the birds are sometimes persecuted and sometimes feature in mythology.

• Technology report: Lua onto test2wiki and news of a convention-al extension
  New embeddable scripting ("template replacement") language Lua received considerable scrutiny this week when it began its long road to widespread deployment, landing on the test2wiki test site on Wednesday (wikitech-l mailing list). ... the fourth in our series profiling participants in this year's Google Summer of Code (GSoC) programme.

• WikiProject report: Land of Calm and Contrast: Korea
  This week, we spent some time with WikiProject Korea. Started in September 2006, WikiProject Korea covers the history and culture of the Korean people, including both countries that currently occupy the Korean peninsula. This task has proven difficult with North Koreans notably absent from the Wikipedia community due to tight control over access to external media. The project is home to over 16,000 pages, including 15 pieces of Featured material and 66 Good and A-class Articles.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 08:13, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 27 August 2012

• News and notes: Tough journey for new travel guide
  Wikimedia editors have been debating a community proposal for the adoption of a new project to host free travel-guide content. The debate reached a new stage when a three-month request for comment on Meta came to an end, with a decision to set up the first new type of Wikimedia project in half a decade. The original proposal for the travel guide unfolded during April on Meta and the Wikimedia-l mailing lists, centring around the wish of volunteer contributors to the WikiTravel project to work in a non-commercial environment.

• Recent research: New influence graph visualizations; NPOV and history; 'low-hanging fruit'
  A monthly overview of recent academic research about Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects, edited jointly with the Wikimedia Research Committee and republished as the Wikimedia Research Newsletter.

• Technology report: Just how bad is the code review backlog?
  Developers were left one step closer to an understanding of the code review outlook this week after the creation of a graph plotting "number changesets awaiting review" over time. The chart, which also shows the number of new changesets created on a daily basis, reveals a peak in the number of unreviewed changesets in mid-July, followed by a short drop. The current figure stands at approximately 219 unreviewed changesets.

• Featured content: Wikipedia rivals The New Yorker: Mark Arsten
  This week the Signpost interviews Mark Arsten, who has written or contributed significantly to ten featured articles; most have related to new religious movements, and some have touched on other controversial or quirky topics. Mark gives us a rundown on how he keeps neutral and what drives him to write featured content; he also gives some hints for aspiring writers.

• WikiProject report: From sonic screwdrivers to jelly babies: Doctor Who
  This week, we hopped in a little blue box with a batch of companions from WikiProject Doctor Who. Started in April 2005, the project has grown to include about 4,000 pages about the world's longest-running science fiction television show, its spinoffs, and various related material. The project is the parent of the Torchwood Taskforce and a child of WikiProject British TV and WikiProject Science Fiction. With new Doctor Who episodes airing this week and a 50th anniversary celebration around the corner, we thought now would be a good time to inquire about the famed Time Lord.

• Discussion report: Sidebar and main page alterations; Recent Deaths; Education Program extension
  Current discussions on the English Wikipedia.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 05:13, 29 August 2012 (UTC)

Anyone watching my talk page who might be interested

Wikipedia:Wikipedia Takes America/Los Angeles - Join us! Wadewitz (talk) 23:00, 29 August 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 03 September 2012

• News and notes: World's largest photo competition kicks off; WMF legal fees proposal
  Some of Wikimedia's most valuable photographs have been shot and uploaded under free licenses as a direct result of the annual Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM) event each September. Last year, the project was conducted on a European level, resulting in the submission of an extraordinary 168,208 free images of cultural heritage sites ("monuments") from 18 countries, making it the world's largest photographic competition. Organising the 2012 event—which has just opened and will run for the full month of September—has required input from chapters and volunteers in 35 countries.

• Technology report: Time for a MediaWiki Foundation?
  Developers are currently discussing the possibility of a MediaWiki Foundation to oversee those aspects of MediaWiki development that relate to non-Wikimedia wikis. The proposal was generated after a discussion on the wikitech-l mailing list about generalising Wikimedia's CentralAuth system.

• Featured content: Wikipedia's Seven Days of Terror
  Five featured pictures were promoted this week, including a video explaining the recent landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars. NASA called the final minutes of the complicated landing procedure "the seven minutes of terror".

• Op-ed: Dispute resolution – where we're at, what we're doing well, and what needs fixing
  Since May 2012 I've been a Wikimedia Foundation community fellow with the task of researching and improving dispute resolution on English Wikipedia. Surveying members of the community has revealed much about their thoughts on and experiences with dispute resolution. I've analysed processes to determine their use and effectiveness, and have presented ideas that I hope will improve the future of dispute resolution.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 10:48, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

Main Page appearance

Hello! This is a note to let the main editors of the article Timeline of Mary Wollstonecraft know that it will be appearing as the main page featured list on September 10, 2012. You can view the TFL blurb at Wikipedia:Today's featured list/September 10, 2012. If you think it is necessary to change the main date, you can request it with the featured list directors The Rambling Man (talk · contribs), Dabomb87 (talk · contribs) or Giants2008 (talk · contribs), or at Wikipedia talk:Today's featured list. If the previous blurb needs tweaking, you might change it—following the instructions of the suggested formatting. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page so Wikipedia doesn't look bad. :D Thanks! Tbhotch.^™ Grammatically incorrect? Correct it! See terms and conditions. 20:59, 8 September 2012 (UTC)

The lifetime of British writer, philosopher, and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft (illustration pictured) encompassed most of the second half of the eighteenth century. Her educational works, such as her children's book Original Stories from Real Life, helped inculcate middle-class values, and her two Vindications, A Vindication of the Rights of Men and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, argue for the value of an educated, rational populace, specifically one that includes women. In her two novels, Mary: A Fiction and Maria: or, The Wrongs of Woman, she explores the ramifications of sensibility for women. After two affairs with the artist Henry Fuseli and the American adventurer Gilbert Imlay (with whom she had an illegitimate daughter, Fanny Imlay), Wollstonecraft married the philosopher William Godwin, one of the forefathers of the anarchist movement. Together, they had one daughter: Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein.

Well done!

Hi Adrianne, Great to see the Timeline of Mary Wollstonecraft. Terrific work! Whiteghost.ink (talk) 02:25, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! Wadewitz (talk) 03:52, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 10 September 2012

• From the editor: Signpost adapts as news consumption changes
  Thanks to the initiative of Yuvi Panda and Notnarayan, the Signpost now has an Android app, free for download on Google Play. ... but would readers be interested in an iOS app for Apple devices?

• Op-ed: Fixing Wikipedia's help pages one key to editor retention
  Much like article content, the English Wikipedia's help pages have grown organically over the years. Although this has produced a great deal of useful documentation, with time many of the pages have become poorly maintained or have grown overwhelmingly complicated.

• In the media: Author criticizes Wikipedia article; Wales attacks UK government proposal
  Philip Roth, a widely known and acclaimed American author, wrote an open letter in the New Yorker addressed to Wikipedia this week, alleging severe inaccuracies in the article on his The Human Stain (2000).

• Featured content: Not a "Gangsta's Paradise", but still rappin'
  Three hip hop discographies were promoted this week, alongside seven other lists.

• WikiProject report: WikiProject Fungi
  After a week's hiatus, the WikiProject Report returns with an interview featuring WikiProject Fungi. Started in March 2006, the project has grown to include over 9,000 pages, including 47 Featured Articles and 176 Good Articles. The project maintains a list of high priority missing articles and stubs that need expansion.

• Special report: Two Wikipedians set to face jury trial
  In dramatic events that came to light last week, two English Wikipedia volunteers—Doc James (James Heilman) and Wrh2 (Ryan Holliday)—are being sued in the Los Angeles County Superior Court by Internet Brands, the owner of Wikitravel.com. Both Wikipedians have also been volunteer Wikitravel editors (and in Holliday's case, a volunteer administrator). IB's complaints focus on both editors' encouragement of their fellow Wikitravel volunteers to migrate to a proposed non-commercial travel guidance site that would be under the umbrella of the WMF.

• News and notes: Researchers find that Simple English Wikipedia has "lost its focus"
  In its September issue, the peer-reviewed journal First Monday published The readability of Wikipedia, reporting research which shows that the English Wikipedia is struggling to meet Flesch reading ease test criteria, while the Simple English Wikipedia has "lost its focus".

• Technology report: Mmmm, milkshake...
  The Wikimedia Foundation's engineering report for August 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).

• Discussion report: Closing Wikiquette; Image Filter; Education Program and Momento extensions
  Current discussions on the English Wikipedia.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 04:33, 11 September 2012 (UTC)

Main page appearance: Mary Martha Sherwood

This is a note to let the main editors of Mary Martha Sherwood know that the article will be appearing as today's featured article on September 22, 2012. You can view the TFA blurb at Wikipedia:Today's featured article/September 22, 2012. If you prefer that the article appear as TFA on a different date, or not at all, please ask featured article director Raul654 (talk · contribs) or his delegate Dabomb87 (talk · contribs), or start a discussion at Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests. If the previous blurb needs tweaking, you might change it—following the instructions at Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/instructions. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. The blurb as it stands now is below:

Mary Martha Sherwood (1775–1851) was a prolific and influential writer of children's literature in 19th-century Britain. She composed over 400 books, tracts, magazine articles, and chapbooks; among the most famous are The History of Little Henry and his Bearer and The History of the Fairchild Family. Sherwood is known primarily for the strong evangelicalism that colored her early writings; however, her later works are characterized by common Victorian themes, such as domesticity. Sherwood's childhood was uneventful, although she recalled it as the happiest part of her life. After she married Captain Henry Sherwood and moved to India, she converted to evangelical Christianity and began to write for children. The Sherwoods returned to England after a decade in India and, building upon her popularity, Sherwood opened a boarding school and published scores of texts for children and the poor. Many of Sherwood's books were bestsellers and she has been described as "one of the most significant authors of children's literature of the nineteenth century." (more...)

UcuchaBot (talk) 23:01, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 17 September 2012

• From the editor: Signpost expands to Facebook
  We now have a Facebook page at facebook.com/wikisignpost. We invite you to "like" the page and join the discussion there.

• WikiProject report: Action! — The Indian Cinema Task Force
  This week, we shine the spotlight on the Indian Cinema Task Force, a subproject that seeks to improve the quality and quantity of articles about Indian cinema. As a child of WikiProject Film and WikiProject India, the Indian Cinema Task Force shares a variety of templates, resources, and members with its parent projects. The task force works on a to-do list, maintains the Bollywood Portal, and ensures articles follow the film style guidelines. With Indian cinema celebrating its 100th year of existence in 2013, we asked Karthik Nadar (Karthikndr), Secret of success, Ankit Bhatt, Dwaipayan, and AnimeshKulkarni what is in store for the Indian Cinema Task Force.

• Featured content: Go into the light
  Eight featured articles, six featured lists, ten featured pictures, and one featured topic were promoted this week.

• News and notes: Tens of thousands of monuments loved; members of new funding body announced
  The world's largest photo competition, Wiki Loves Monuments, is entering its final two weeks. The month-long event, of Dutch origin, is being held globally for the first time after the success of its European-level predecessor last year. During September 2011 more than 5000 volunteers from 18 countries took part and uploaded 168,208 free images. This year, volunteers and chapters from 35 countries around the world have organised the event. The best photographs will be determined by juries at the national and finally the global level.

• Technology report: Future-proofing: HTML5 and IPv6
  1.20wmf12, the 12th release to Wikimedia wikis from the 1.20 branch, was deployed to its first wikis on September 17; if things go well, it will be deployed to all wikis by September 26. Its 200 or so changes – 111 to WMF-deployed extensions plus 98 to core MediaWiki code – include support for links with mixed-case protocols (e.g. Http://example.com) and the removal of the "No higher resolution available" message on the file description pages of SVG images.

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Dostoyevsky

Hello,

I reformatted the style section of Fyodor Dostoyevsky and added some content. Could you take a look and tell me your feedback? Regards.--Kürbis (✔) 17:03, 21 September 2012 (UTC)

I won't have any free time for about two weeks. If it can wait that long, yes, I would be happy to! Wadewitz (talk) 22:35, 21 September 2012 (UTC)

Calling all girl sleuths

I've just noticed that Nancy Drew has been scheduled for TFA for September 30. I know you're very busy as usual, but the page needs some TLC and wondered whether you could give it a bit of copyediting in any spare moments you might have in the next few days. I'll try to do the same, and might put out a call to a few other female lit types (if we have any left! but if we do, I'd bet they'd be watching your page). It would be fun to see a full copyedit push done by all women editors! I'll be very busy in the next week and gone (I think) when it runs, so there's a limited amount I can do, but hope you can pitch in - even if only for five minutes or so here and there. Children's lit is rare for the front page - and no girl sleuth ever as far as I know. Hope you're well, by the way. Truthkeeper (talk) 02:04, 23 September 2012 (UTC)

• Adding: so I don't have to post on a bunch of pages - this is for Wadewitz' talk page stalkers too. We all know how busy she is, but thought I'd take a chance. Hopefully someone will see this message and help me c/e the girl sleuth. Truthkeeper (talk) 02:07, 23 September 2012 (UTC)

I'm one of the above-mentioned girl lit type and Adrianne-talk-page-stalker. I have some things pending as well here and in real life, but I'll see what I can do to help out. Christine (Figureskatingfan) (talk) 03:17, 23 September 2012 (UTC)

Thanks Christine. I just caught this as I was logging out. In the least we should fix the MoS issues and I think people should just jump in. It's actually not too bad but could do with some reformatting as well. I haven't read all the way through yet - hope to get to it tomorrow. Truthkeeper (talk) 03:25, 23 September 2012 (UTC)

I'll see what I can get to this week! Thanks for letting me know! Wadewitz (talk) 03:37, 23 September 2012 (UTC)

Ack! You're right! It needs help! Wadewitz (talk) 21:53, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

cog sci class

Hi! One of our students (Sparkletts514) got trolled. Is there a way to lock her page so that only logged in users can edit it? Clevwiki (talk) 18:41, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

Just checking to make sure you know that it wasn't the student just playing around and testing the software. If you know for sure, we can block the IP, but we don't usually lock userpages except in extreme cases, which this is not. Wadewitz (talk) 20:01, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

It definitely wasn't the student playing around, and it looks like the IP was in the UK. Blocking the IP works if that is an option that isn't too tricky.Clevwiki (talk) 00:24, 25 September 2012 (UTC)

Ok - I'll ask for a block. Wadewitz (talk) 05:51, 25 September 2012 (UTC)

Actually, I can't ask for a block yet. The only page they edited was that particular userpage. That is very suspicious. It is very unlikely that someone would have found that userpage without being a part of the class or knowing someone in the class. Very mysterious. Let's keep an eye on it and see what happens. Wadewitz (talk) 05:54, 25 September 2012 (UTC)

One more question -- is there an easy way to search the list of stubs/starts? I have found myself starting by looking for interesting topics and seeing if they are starts or stubs but that seems a bit backwards. Clevwiki (talk) 18:51, 24 September 2012 (UTC) (Sorry I have been forgetting to describe the edits!)

I linked to all of the "stub" and "start" lists for each WikiProject on the class page. Wadewitz (talk) 20:01, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

Right but some of those lists are super long. Anyway we shall see what the students choose. In some cases, I might let them go off-list (e.g., one student presented on a topic today that has a logic start class article under medicine but not specific to any of the projects we already listed. Clevwiki (talk) 00:24, 25 September 2012 (UTC)

Yes, they are long. But they are a way to narrow down from the six million! Wadewitz (talk) 05:51, 25 September 2012 (UTC)

Hey, thanks so much for the warm welcome - I love the cookies! K-BlueHerring (talk) 22:22, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

Hi! I'm in the cogsci class, and part of our next assignment is to practice by introducing ourselves to you. Thanks for all your help this past week or so, I'm excited to know how this works now. :) With-silver-luck (talk) 22:23, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

Hello, I am introducing myself to you for my Cog Sci Research Methods class. Hello! Font6 (talk) 03:20, 26 September 2012 (UTC)

Hello! Thanks for all the help with Wikipedia! Requiredforclass (talk) 04:10, 26 September 2012 (UTC)

Hey! Quick question... I tried posting a picture from my personal photo library, but I couldn't figure it out. I ended up doing some generic dog one, but I'm not sure where wiki pulled it from. How do I post a picture of mine or one I choose from the internet? Soggycereal4 (talk) 04:29, 26 September 2012 (UTC)

I'll go over this in class tomorrow if we get time after the presentations Clevwiki (talk) 06:46, 26 September 2012 (UTC)

Also, here is a video tutorial on how to upload images. Let me know if you have any problems. Wadewitz (talk) 16:39, 26 September 2012 (UTC)

Hi,I'm introducing myself for my cog sci research methods class! Neurosci21 (talk) 08:52, 26 September 2012 (UTC)

Yeah, me too. *{{Tchar (talk) 22:16, 27 September 2012 (UTC)}}

The Signpost: 24 September 2012

• In the media: Editor's response to Roth draws internet attention
  Oliver Keyes' (User:Ironholds) defense of Wikipedia against the recent Philip Roth controversy has drawn a significant amount of attention over the last week. The problems between Roth, a widely known and acclaimed American author, and Wikipedia arose from an open letter he penned for the American magazine New Yorker, and were covered by the Signpost two weeks ago. Keyes—who wrote the piece as a prominent Wikipedian but is also a contractor for the Wikimedia Foundation—wrote a blog post on the topic, lamenting the factual errors in Roth's letter and criticizing the media for not investigating his claims: "[they took] Roth’s explanation as the truth and launched into a lengthy discussion of how we [Wikipedia] handle primary sourcing."

• Recent research: "Rise and decline" of Wikipedia participation, new literature overviews, a look back at WikiSym 2012
  A paper to appear in a special issue of American Behavioral Scientist (summarized in the research index) sheds new light on the English Wikipedia's declining editor growth and retention trends. The paper describes how "several changes that the Wikipedia community made to manage quality and consistency in the face of a massive growth in participation have lead to a more restrictive environment for newcomers". The number of active Wikipedia editors has been declining since 2007 and research examining data up to September 2009 has shown that the root of the problem has been the declining retention of new editors. The authors show this decline is mainly due to a decline among desirable, good-faith newcomers, and point to three factors contributing to the increasingly "restrictive environment" they face.

• WikiProject report: 01010010 01101111 01100010 01101111 01110100 01101001 01100011 01110011
  This week, we tinkered with WikiProject Robotics. From the project's inception in December 2007, it has served as Wikipedia's hub for building and improving articles about robots and robotics, accumulating two Featured Articles and seven Good Articles along the way. The project covers both fictitious and real-life robots, the technology that powers them, and many of the brains behind the robotics field

• News and notes: UK chapter rocked by Gibraltar scandal
  In the second controversy to engulf Wikimedia UK in two months, its immediate past chair Roger Bamkin has resigned from the board of the chapter. The resignation last Wednesday followed a growing furore over the conflict of interest between two of Roger's roles outside the chapter and his close involvement in the UK board's decision-making process, including the access to private mailing lists that board members in all chapters need. But the irony surrounding Roger's resignation is its connection with efforts by Wikimedians and collaborators to strengthen the reach of Wikimedia projects through technical innovation.

• Technology report: Signpost investigation: code review times
  Late last month, the "Technology report" included a story using code review backlog figures – the only code review figures then available – to construct a rough narrative about the average experience of code contributors. This week, we hope to go one better, by looking directly at code review wait times, and, in particular, median code review times

• Featured content: Dead as...
  Fourteen featured articles were promoted this week, including Dodo, along with six featured lists and five featured pictures.

• Discussion report: Image filter; HotCat; Syntax highlighting; and more
  Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include...

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 16:53, 26 September 2012 (UTC)

Help with peer review?

Hi Adrianne; I've returned to WP after an admittedly long hiatus (and don't quite know yet how much time I will spend here in the future), and I'm now all geared up to get my article Jürgen Ehlers (about a physicist who was my mentor and unexpectedly died in 2008) up to FA status. I've put the article up for peer review here, and your help would be greatly appreciated! Hope that all is well with you; it's a bit weird not addressing you as Awadewit... Markus Poessel (talk) 19:35, 2 October 2012 (UTC)

I'll do it this weekend! Nice to see you again! Wadewitz (talk) 20:31, 2 October 2012 (UTC)

Great! Thanks in advance! Markus Poessel (talk) 20:40, 2 October 2012 (UTC)

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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• EdwardsBot (talk) 20:08, 2 October 2012 (UTC)

TFAR

I thought of Reception history of Jane Austen for TFA, please join the discussion and trim the blurb ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 12:56, 4 October 2012 (UTC)

WikiWomen's Collaborative

WikiWomen Unite!

Hi Wadewitz! Women around the world who edit and contribute to Wikipedia are coming together to celebrate each other's work, support one another, and engage new women to also join in on the empowering experience of shaping the sum of all the world's knowledge - through the WikiWomen's Collaborative. As a WikiWoman, we'd love to have you involved! You can do this by: Liking the WikiWomen's Collaborative on Facebook and share your tips, projects, and connect with other WikiWomen Join the conversation on our Twitter feed Reading and writing for our blog channel We can't wait to have you involved, and feel free to drop by our meta page (under construction) to see how else you can get involved! Can't wait to have you involved! SarahStierch (talk) 18:00, 5 October 2012 (UTC) (UTC)

Hello, myself!

Hello, I am introducing myself to myself. Weird. Queeralice (talk) 16:53, 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) 19:49, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

You're invited! FemTech Edit-a-Thon at Claremont Graduate University

October 26 - FemTech Edit-a-Thon & Roundtable - You are invited!

Everyone is invited to the first FemTech Edit-a-Thon & Roundtable at Claremont Graduate University on October 26 from 3-6 pm. The event will open with a roundtable discussion about feminism and anti-racist technology projects, followed by an edit-a-thon focusing on feminists & women in science. Experienced Wikipedians will be on hand to support new editors. We hope you can join us! Sign up here - see you there! 01:08, 12 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) 20:29, 16 October 2012 (UTC)

Welcome to Wikipedia and Communicate OER!

Thank you for signing up on the Communicate OER team page! There's a great group forming -- so far, we have more than 25 people, with a broad range of backgrounds and interests; we have professors, librarians, instructional designers, and more. Members also span a variety of countries and language proficiencies. As we set out to improve articles about openness in education, it looks like we will have a great team to work with. If you haven't looked through the list, I encouraged you to read through it: WP:Communicate OER Team.

Whether or not you're at the Open Education conference this week, we encourage you to engage with us -- we're expecting a flurry of activity as we launch! If you're here, come visit us in room C010 any time; or come to one of our daily 45 minute intro sessions in the Remixathon track in room C215.

Another great way to stay engaged is through the project's "talk page" (aka "discussion page"): WT:COMMOER. Please always feel free to add ideas, questions, etc. at the bottom of that page -- even if you just want to say hi, and go into a little more detail about what you're hoping to work on -- we'd love to hear from you. (I just posted a note at the bottom, exploring the open education article, and seeking input into how we can go about improving it -- take a look!)

If you're just looking to get started, we have a page for that -- WP:Communicate OER Do -- intended to collect ideas of projects we can work on. There's currently a "getting started" recipe for how to post a review of a Wikipedia article; check back for further ideas in the coming days. (And if you're game, feel free to add your own!)

Looking forward to working together, -Pete (talk) 18:25, 16 October 2012 (UTC)

And thanks for your offer to help mentor newbies on CommOER. Sara and I are wrapping up at the Open Ed conference now -- hoping to loop back with you and find the best fit! -Pete (talk) 23:43, 18 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) 09:59, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

The Expert Barnstar

		The Expert Barnstar
		I hereby award you the Expert Barnstar for your outstanding contributions to literature-related topics. This award is given to a few people who are regarded experts in one or several particular fields. Congrats and keep up your excellent work :)!--Tomcat (7) 13:14, 27 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) 07:14, 31 October 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) 22:54, 6 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) 11:35, 14 November 2012 (UTC)

Need scripting help!

Talk page stalkers, I need someone to help with a research project Sadads and I are working on - we need some scripting help. Anyone know someone who can help us? Wadewitz (talk) 18:38, 15 November 2012 (UTC)

Hello from the WeHo edit-a-thon!

I drove in the rain for the first today! Queeralice (talk) 21:59, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

OMG. LA drivers are scared by rain. Queeralice (talk) 21:59, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

DYK Copy editing assignment

Hello Awadewit, I am a Wikipedia Campus Ambassador of UNLV. In our course syllabus, we have used your DKY Copy Editing Assignment as a template for our own, and we are having trouble with the licensing. We would like to ask for your permission to use this assignment and any help you could give us for constructing the proper copyright tag to use for the correct copyright status. Thank you for your helpSaehee0908 (talk) 21:13, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

Awesome! I'm so glad someone is using it! You don't need my permission, however. I released that assignment into the public domain, so you can alter it however you want and use it at will! Awadewit (talk) 00:06, 20 November 2012 (UTC)

Hi! Awadewit! We have altered it and we posted it, but it kept saying that we had a licensing agreement problem and the assignment was deleted. What exactly were we supposed to do for the licensing agreement? Thank you! Saehee0908 (talk) 06:30, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

Link? Wadewitz (talk) 14:16, 8 December 2012 (UTC)

Help out with Rape and pregnancy controversies in the 2012 United States elections?

Danger recommended you as an editor she respects, here. I was wondering if you would help in continuing to develop. Rape and pregnancy controversies in the 2012 United States elections. My goal is to get it to good article status.Casprings (talk) 03:58, 20 November 2012 (UTC)

I can review the article, but I don't have time to add content right now. Would that be helpful? Let me know. Wadewitz (talk) 17:34, 20 November 2012 (UTC)

Very helpful. Also if you could offer comments for improvement, that would also be helpful.Casprings (talk) 00:42, 22 November 2012 (UTC)

I'll do that, then! Wadewitz (talk) 18:53, 25 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) 02:29, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

Request

Hi Wadewitz,

I have been working on Entertainment since it came up as "Today's article for improvement" on 13 October. It is listed as a "vital" article and I found myself enjoying the challenge of making such a big, universal topic into one concise, representative and coherent article (it was fairly random and limited before). Would you please have a look and let me know if you think it is ready for GA or FA and if not, what should I do to get it there? I would appreciate your opinion before I draw it to everyone's attention. I had to think it through as I went and that thinking is set out on the Talk Page.

Thanks! Whiteghost.ink (talk) 07:40, 22 November 2012 (UTC)

Wow! What a project! I'll take a look at it, yes! Wadewitz (talk) 18:54, 25 November 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. Yes, it turned into a project. It got me hooked when the WP:TAFI people nominated it and once I started, I became enmeshed. I have just asked the TAFI people to review it. Whiteghost.ink (talk) 07:08, 26 November 2012 (UTC)

Just to let you know, I am still working through the suggestions to make this article reach GA status but worried it will reach some sort of deadline and be failed just before I do. Nearly finished. Is it close yet? Whiteghost.ink (talk) 00:28, 16 February 2013 (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) 11:28, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

Main Page appearance (2)

Hello! This is a note to let the main editors of the article Timeline of Jane Austen know that it will be appearing as the main page featured list on December 17, 2012. You can view the TFL blurb at Wikipedia:Today's featured list/December 17, 2012. If you think it is necessary to change the main date, you can request it with the featured list directors The Rambling Man (talk · contribs), Dabomb87 (talk · contribs) or Giants2008 (talk · contribs), or at Wikipedia talk:Today's featured list. If the previous blurb needs tweaking, you might change it—following the instructions of the suggested formatting. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page so Wikipedia doesn't look bad. :D Thanks! Tbhotch.^™ Grammatically incorrect? Correct it! See terms and conditions. 05:59, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

For her entire life, Jane Austen (illustration pictured) lived as part of a family located socially and economically on the lower fringes of the English gentry. She was primarily educated at home by her father and older brothers and through her own reading. Her apprenticeship as a writer lasted from her teenage years until she was about thirty-five years old. During this period, she wrote three major novels and began a fourth. From 1811 until 1815, with the release of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Emma, she achieved success as a published writer. She wrote two additional novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published after her death in 1817, and began a third, eventually titled Sanditon, but died before it could be completed. Austen published all of her novels in the Regency period, during which King George III was declared permanently insane and his son was appointed as prince regent. Throughout most of Austen's adult life, Britain was at war with revolutionary France.

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) 20:46, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, Wadewitz. You have new messages at Drmies's talk page.
Message added 23:51, 10 December 2012 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

You may get a kick out of the reason I awarded myself a barnstar. Happy days! Drmies (talk) 23:51, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

Sensibility

Hi, just dropping by per your request on the "sensibility" talk page. Was wondering if it would be reasonable if I write up a small paragraph concerning Kant's version of sensibility (as to what it entails). Thanks! --VonKreuz (talk) 05:39, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

That sounds great! I wish I had more time to work on the article right now, but I would be happy to work with you on that bit! Wadewitz (talk) 22:00, 12 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) 21:56, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

Rape and pregnancy controversies in United States elections, 2012

Thanks for any help. The article is in need of an experienced and non-involved editor taking a look at it and working with it. Any help you can provide would be wonderful. Casprings (talk) 00:44, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

Disambiguation link notification for December 14

Hi. Thank you for your recent edits. Wikipedia appreciates your help. We noticed though that when you edited Lynn Hill, you added a link pointing to the disambiguation page Extreme (check to confirm | fix with Dab solver). Such links are almost always unintended, since a disambiguation page is merely a list of "Did you mean..." article titles. Read the FAQ • Join us at the DPL WikiProject.

It's OK to remove this message. Also, to stop receiving these messages, follow these opt-out instructions. Thanks, DPL bot (talk) 11:55, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

Barnstar for you

		The Literary Barnstar
		For shiningly high quality encyclopaedic work on Jane Austen Whiteghost.ink (talk) 02:24, 17 December 2012 (UTC)

Copyediting?

Hello! Do you still volunteer to help copyedit FA candidates? It's been awhile since I submitted one, but I have one here that I'm planning on nominating soon. If you're too busy, I understand. Cla68 (talk) 01:47, 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) 00:14, 20 December 2012 (UTC)

Seasons greetings...

		Happy Holidays
		Wishing you and yours a Happy Holiday Season, from the horse and bishop person. May the year ahead be productive and troll-free. Ealdgyth - Talk 17:25, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

	Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas 2012! Happy New Year and all the best in 2013! Thanks for all you do here, and best wishes for the year to come.
	Ruhrfisch ><>°° 03:17, 25 December 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 24 December 2012

• News and notes: Debates on Meta sparking along—grants, new entities, and conflicts of interest
  As part of its new focus on core responsibilities, the Wikimedia Foundation is reforming its grant schemes so that they are more accessible to individual volunteers. The community is invited to look at proposals for a new scheme—for now called Individual engagement grants (IEGs)—which is due to kick off on January 15. On Meta, the community is once again debating the two new offline participation models—user groups (open membership groups designed to be easy to form) and thematic organizations (incorporated non-profits representing the Wikimedia movement and supporting work on a specific theme within or across countries). In a consultation process on Meta that will last until January 15, the community will be discussing WMF proposals for a new guideline on conflicts of interests concerning Wikimedia resources. The draft covers COI issues for both volunteers and organizations across the movement.

• WikiProject report: A Song of Ice and Fire
  This week, we spent some time with WikiProject A Song of Ice and Fire, which focuses on the eponymous series of high fantasy literature, the television series Game of Thrones, and related works by George R. R. Martin. The project was started in July 2006 and has grown to include 11 Good Articles maintained by a small yet enthusiastic band of editors.

• Featured content: Battlecruiser operational
  Seven articles and two lists were promoted to 'featured' status this week, including List of battlecruisers. The article covers all of the battlecruisers—which were a type of warship similar in size to a battleship but with several defining characteristics—ever planned or constructed. The last British battlecruiser built, HMS Hood, is pictured at right.

• Technology report: Efforts to "normalise" Toolserver relations stepped up
  Efforts were stepped up this week to sow a feeling of trust between the major parties with an interest in the future of the Toolserver. The tool- and bot-hosting server – more accurately servers – are currently operated by German chapter, Wikimedia Germany, with assistance from the Foundation and numerous volunteers, including long-time system administrator Daniel Baur (more commonly known by his pseudonym DaB). However, those parties have more recently failed to see eye-to-eye on the trajectory for the Toolserver, which is scheduled to be replaced by Wikimedia Labs in late 2013, with increasing concern about the tone of discussions.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 07:21, 26 December 2012 (UTC)

Happy New Year from the Literary Old Guard

Happy New Year from a fellow member of the Wikipedia "Literary Old Guard," meaning yeah, we've been editing here for what feels like forever. I hope things are going well. If you ever need any assistance from me on Wikipedia, please let me know. Best, --SouthernNights (talk) 14:56, 30 December 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 31 December 2012

• From the editor: Wikipedia, our Colosseum
  In the impersonal, detached Colosseum that is Wikipedia, people find it much easier to put their thumbs down. As such, many people active in the Wikimedia movement have witnessed a precipitous decline in civil discourse. This is far from a new trend, yet many people would agree that it all seemed somehow worse in 2012.

• In the media: Is the Wikimedia movement too 'cash rich'?
  A recent, poorly researched and poorly written story in the Register highlighted the perceived "cash rich" status of the Wikimedia movement. ... The Telegraph and Daily Dot, among others, have alleged that there are multiple links between the WMF, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, and Kazakhstan's government, which is, for all intents and purposes, a one-party non-democratic state.

• News and notes: Wikimedia Foundation fundraiser a success; Czech parliament releases photographs to chapter
  On 27 December the Wikimedia Foundation announced the conclusion of their ninth annual fundraiser, which attracted more than 1.2 million donors. The appeal reached its goal of US$25 million, even though fundraising banners ran for only nine days.

• Technology report: Looking back on a year of incremental changes
  In the first of two features, the Signpost this week looks back on 2012, a year when developers finally made inroads into three issues that had been put off for far too long (the need for editors to learn wiki-markup, the lack of a proper template language and the centralisation of data) but left all three projects far from finished.

• Discussion report: Image policy and guidelines; resysopping policy
  Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include ...

• Interview: Interview with Brion Vibber, the WMF's first employee
  Brion Vibber has been a Wikipedia editor for nearly 11 years and was the first person officially hired to work for the Wikimedia Foundation. He was instrumental in early development of the MediaWiki software and is now the lead software architect for the foundation's mobile development team.

• Featured content: Whoa Nelly! Featured content in review
  At the beginning of the year, we began a series of interviews with editors who have worked hard to combat systemic bias through the creation of featured content; although we haven't seen six installments yet, we've also had some delightful interviews with people who write articles on some of our most core topics. Now, as we close the year, I would like to present some of my own musings on the state of featured content—especially as it pertains to systemic bias and core topics.

• WikiProject report: New Year, New York
  This week, we're celebrating the New Year from Times Square by interviewing WikiProject New York City. Since December 2004, WikiProject NYC has had the difficult task of maintaining articles about the largest city in the United States, many of which are also among the the most viewed articles on Wikipedia. The project is home to 22 Featured Articles, 7 Featured Lists, 32 pieces of Featured Media, and a lengthy list of Did You Know? entries.

• Recent research: Wikipedia and Sandy Hook; SOPA blackout reexamined
  Northeastern University researcher Brian Keegan analyzed the gathering of hundreds of Wikipedians to cover the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy. ... A First Monday article reviews several aspects of the Wikipedia participation in the 18 January 2012, protests against SOPA and PIPA legislation in the USA. The paper focuses on the question of legitimacy, looking at how the Wikipedia community arrived at the decision to participate in those protests.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 06:45, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 07 January 2013

• Op-ed: Meta, where innovative ideas die
  Meta is the wiki that has coordinated a wide range of cross-project Wikimedia activities, such as the activities of stewards, the archiving of chapter reports, and WMF trustee elections. The project has long been an out-of-the-way corner for technocratic working groups, unaccountable mandarins, and in-house bureaucratic proceedings. Largely ignored by the editing communities of projects such as Wikipedia and organizations that serve them, Meta has evolved into a huge and relatively disorganized repository, where the few archivists running it also happen to be the main authors of some of its key documents. While Meta is well-designed for supporting the librarians and mandarins who stride along its corridors, visitors tend to find the site impenetrable—or so many people have argued over the past decade. This impenetrability runs counter to Meta's increasingly central role in the Wikimedia movement.

• WikiProject report: Where Are They Now? Episode IV: A New Year
  The dawning of a new year offers both a fresh slate and an opportunity to revisit our previous adventures. 2012 marked the fifth anniversary of the WikiProject Report and was the column's most productive year with 52 articles published. In addition to sharing the experiences of Wikipedia's many active projects, we expanded our scope to highlight unique projects from other languages of Wikipedia, and tracked down all of the former editors-in-chief of the Signpost for an introspective interview ... While last year's "Summer Sports Series" may have drawn yawns from some readers, a special report on "Neglected Geography" elicited more comments than any previous issue of the Report. Following in the footsteps of our past three recaps, we'll spend this week looking back at the trials and tribulations of the WikiProjects we encountered in 2012. Where are they now?

• News and notes: 2012—the big year
  The past 12 months have seen a multitude of issues and events in the Wikimedia foundation, the movement at large, and the English Wikipedia. The movement, now in its second decade, is growing apace in its international reach, cultural and linguistic diversity, technical development, and financial complexity; and many factors have combined to produce what has in many ways been the biggest, most dynamic year in the movement's history. Looking back at 2012, we faced a difficult task in doing justice to all of the notable events in a single article; so the Signpost has selected just a few examples from outside the anglosphere, from the English Wikipedia, and from the Wikimedia Foundation, rather than attempting to cover every detail that happened.

• Featured content: Featured content in review
  Over the past year, 963 pieces of featured content were promoted. The most active of the featured content programs was featured article candidates (FAC), which promoted an average of 31 articles a month. This was followed by featured picture candidates (FPC; 28 a month). Coming in third was featured list candidates (FLC; 20 a month). Featured topic and featured portal candidates remained sluggish, each promoting fewer than 20 items over the year.

• Technology report: Looking ahead to 2013
  Following on from last week's reflections on 2012, this week the Technology report looks ahead to 2013, a year that will almost certainly be dominated by the juggernauts of Wikidata, Lua and the Visual Editor.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 14:33, 9 January 2013 (UTC)

WikiWomen's Collaborative: Come join us (and check out our new website)!

WikiWomen - We need you!

Hi Wadewitz! The WikiWomen's Collaborative is a group of women from around the world who edit Wikipedia, contribute to its sister projects, and support the mission of free knowledge. We recently updated our website, created new volunteer positions, and more! Get involved by: Visiting our website for resources, events, and more Meet other women and share your story in our profile space Participate at and "like" our Facebook group Join the conversation on our Twitter feed Reading and writing for our blog channel Volunteer to write for our blog, recruit blog writers, translate content, and co-run our Facebook and receive perks for volunteering Already participating? Take our survey and share your experience! Thanks for editing Wikipedia, and we look forward to you being a part of the Collaborative! -- EdwardsBot (talk) 00:46, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

Wikipedia Ambassadors update

Hi! You're getting this message because you are or have been a Wikipedia Ambassador. A new term is beginning for the United States and Canada Education Programs, and I wanted to give you an update on some important new information if you're interested in continuing your work this term as a Wikipedia Ambassador.

You may have heard a reference to a transition the education program is going through. This is the last term that the Wikimedia Foundation will directly run the U.S. and Canada programs; beginning in June, a proposed thematic organization is likely to take over organizing the program. You can read more about the proposal here.

Another major change in the program will take effect immediately. Beginning this term, a new MediaWiki education extension will replace all course pages and Ambassador lists. (See Wikipedia:Course pages and Help:Education Program extension for more details.) Included in the extension are online volunteer and campus volunteer user rights, which let you create and edit course pages and sign up as an ambassador for a particular course.

If you would like to continue serving as a Wikipedia Ambassador — even if you do not support a class this term — you must create an ambassador profile. If you're no longer interested in being a Wikipedia Ambassador, you don't need to do anything.

Please do these steps as soon as possible

First, you need the relevant user rights for Online and/or Campus Ambassadors. (If you are an admin, you can grant the rights yourself, for you as well as other ambassadors.) Just post your rights request here, and we'll get you set up as quickly as possible.

Once you've got the ambassador rights, please set up at a Campus and/or Online Ambassador profile. You can do so at:

• Special:CampusAmbassadorProfile
• Special:OnlineAmbassadorProfile

Going forward, the lists of Ambassadors at Special:CampusAmbassadors and Special:OnlineAmbassadors will be the official roster of who is an active Ambassador. If you would like to be an Ambassador but not ready to serve this term, you can un-check the option in your profile to publicly list it (which will remove your profile from the list).

After that, you can sign on to support courses. The list of courses will be at Special:Courses. (By default, this lists "Current" courses, but you can change the Status filter to "Planned" to see courses for this term that haven't reached their listed start date yet.)

As this is the first term we have used the extension, we know there will be some bugs, and we know the feature set is not as rich as it could be. (A big wave of improvements is already in the pipeline. And if you know MediaWiki and could help with code review, we'd love to have your help!) Please reach out to me (Sage Ross) with any complaints, bug reports, and feature suggestions. The basic features of the extension are documented at Wikipedia:Course pages, and you can see a tutorial for setting up and using them here.

Communication and keeping up to date

In the past, the Education Program has had a pretty fragmented set of communication channels. We're trying to fix that. These are the recommended places to discuss and stay up-to-date on the education program:

1. The education noticeboard has become the main on-wiki location for discussion of the Education Program. You can post there about broad education program issues as well as issues with individual courses.
2. The Ambassadors Announce email list is a very low-traffic announcements list of important information all Ambassadors need to be aware of. We encourage all Ambassadors (and other interested Wikipedians) to subscribe to the list; follow the instructions on the link to add your email address.
3. If you use IRC regularly, or need to try to reach someone immediately, the #wikipedia-en-ambassadors ^connect IRC channel is the place to find me and fellow Ambassadors.

Ambassador training and resources

We now have an online training for Ambassadors, which is intended to be both an orientation about the Wikipedia Ambassador role for newcomers and the manual for how to do the role. (There are parallel trainings for students and for educators as well.)

Please go through the training if you feel like you need a refresher on how a typical class is supposed to go and where the Ambassadors fit in, or if you want to review and help improve it. If there's something you'd like to see added, or other suggestions you have for it, feel free to edit the training and/or leave feedback. A primer on setting up and using course pages is included in the educators' training.

The Resources page of the training is the main place for Ambassador-related resources. If there's something you think is important as a resource that's not on there, please add it.

Finally, whether or not you work with any classes this term, I encourage you to post entries to the Trophy Case whenever you see excellent work from students or if you have great examples from past semesters. And, as always, let students (and other editors!) know when they do things well; a little WikiLove goes a long way!

--Sage Ross (WMF) (talk) 20:51, 14 January 2013 (UTC)

Main page appearance: reception history of Jane Austen

This is a note to let the main editors of reception history of Jane Austen know that the article will be appearing as today's featured article on January 28, 2013. You can view the TFA blurb at Wikipedia:Today's featured article/January 28, 2013. If you prefer that the article appear as TFA on a different date, or not at all, please ask featured article director Raul654 (talk · contribs) or his delegates Dabomb87 (talk · contribs), Gimmetoo (talk · contribs), and Bencherlite (talk · contribs), or start a discussion at Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests. If the previous blurb needs tweaking, you can change it—following the instructions at Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/instructions. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. The blurb as it stands now is below:

The reception history of Jane Austen follows a path from modest fame to wild popularity; her novels are both the subject of intense scholarly study and the centre of a diverse fan culture. Austen, the author of such works as Pride and Prejudice (1813) and Emma (1815), is one of the best-known and widely read novelists in the English language. During her lifetime, Austen's novels brought her little personal fame; like many women writers, she published anonymously. At the time they were published, her works were considered fashionable by members of high society but received few positive reviews. By the mid-19th century, her novels were admired by members of the literary elite, but it was not until the 1940s that Austen was widely accepted in academia as a "great English novelist". The second half of the 20th century saw a proliferation of scholarship exploring artistic, ideological and historical aspects of her works. As of the early 21st century, Austen fandom supports an industry of printed sequels and prequels as well as television and film adaptations, which started with the 1940 Pride and Prejudice and includes the 2004 Bollywood-style production Bride and Prejudice. (Full article...)

UcuchaBot (talk) 23:03, 14 January 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 14 January 2013

• Investigative report: Ship ahoy! New travel site finally afloat
  After six years without creating a new class of content projects, the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) has finally expanded into a new area: travel. Wikivoyage was formally launched—though without a traditional ship's christening—on 15 January, having started as a beta trial on 10 November. Wikivoyage has been taken under the WMF's umbrella on the argument that information resources that help with travel are educational and therefore within the scope of the foundation's mission.g

• News and notes: Launch of annual picture competition, new grant scheme
  On January 16, voting for the first round of the 2012 Wikimedia Commons Picture of the Year contest will begin. Wikimedia editors with 75 edits or one project are eligible to vote to select their favorite image featured in 2012. ... On January 15, the foundation launched its latest grant scheme, called Individual Engagement Grants (IEG).

• WikiProject report: Reach for the Stars: WikiProject Astronomy
  This week, we set off for the final frontier with WikiProject Astronomy. The project was started in August 2006 using the now-defunct WikiProject Space as inspiration. WikiProject Astronomy is home to 101 pieces of Featured material and 148 Good Articles maintained by a band of 186 members. The project maintains a portal, works on an assortment of vital astronomy articles, and provides resources for editors adding or requesting astronomy images.

• Discussion report: Flag Manual of Style; accessibility and equality
  Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include...

• Special report: Loss of an Internet genius
  Comforting those grieving after the loss of a loved one is an impossible task. How then, can an entire community be comforted? The Internet struggled to answer that question this week after the suicide of Aaron Swartz, a celebrated free-culture activist, programmer, and Wikipedian at the age of 26.

• Featured content: Featured articles: Quality of reviews, quality of writing in 2012
  Continuing our recap of the featured content promoted in 2012, this week the Signpost interviewed three editors, asking them about featured articles which stuck out in their minds. Two, Ian Rose and Graham Colm, are current featured article candidates (FAC) delegates, while Brian Boulton is an active featured article writer and reviewer.

• Arbitration report: First arbitration case in almost six months
  The opening of the Doncram case marks the end of almost 6 months without any open cases, the longest in the history of the Committee.

• Technology report: Intermittent outages planned, first Wikidata client deployment
  The Wikidata client extension was successfully deployed to the Hungarian Wikipedia on 14 January, its team reports. The interwiki language links can now come from wikidata.org, though "manual" interwiki links remain functional, overriding those from the central repository.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 16:01, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 21 January 2013

• News and notes: Requests for adminship reform moves forward
  The English Wikipedia's requests for adminship (RfA) process has entered another cycle of proposed reforms. Over the last three weeks, various proposals, ranging from as large as a transition to a representative democracy to as small as a required edit count and service length, have been debated on the RfA talk page. The total number of new administrators for 2012 was just 28, barely more than half of 2011's total and less than a quarter of 2009's total. The total number of unsuccessful RfAs has fallen as well. These declining numbers, which were described in what would now be considered a successful year (2010) as an emerging "wikigeneration gulf", have been coupled with a sharp decline in the number of active administrators since February 2008 (1,021), reaching a low of 653 in November 2012.

• WikiProject report: Say What? — WikiProject Linguistics
  This week, we spent some time with WikiProject Linguistics. Started in January 2004, the project has grown to include 7 Featured Articles, 4 Featured Lists, 2 A-class Articles, and 15 Good Articles maintained by 43 members. The project's members keep an eye on several watchlists, maintain the linguistics category, and continue to build a collection of Did You Know? entries. The project is home to six task forces and works with WikiProject Languages and WikiProject Writing Systems.

• Featured content: Wazzup, G? Delegates and featured topics in review
  This week, the Signpost's featured content section continues its recap of 2012 by looking at featured topics. We interviewed Grapple X and GamerPro64, who are delegates at the featured topic candidates.

• Arbitration report: Doncram case continues
  The opening of the Doncram case marks the end of almost 6 months without any open cases, the longest in the history of the Committee.

• Technology report: Data centre switchover a tentative success
  On 22 January, WMF staff and contractors switched incoming, non-cached requests (including edits) to the Foundation's newer data centre in Ashburn, Virginia, making it responsible for handling almost all regular traffic. For the first time since 2004, virtually no traffic will be handled by the WMF's other facility in Tampa, Florida.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 00:33, 24 January 2013 (UTC)

The King and I is at FAC

Hi, Wadewitz. The King and I has been nominated for FAC. I know that you have reviewed FACs in the performing arts area before. It would be great if you could take a look at the article and give comments at the FAC. Thanks for any time you could spare! -- Ssilvers (talk) 00:28, 27 January 2013 (UTC)

Reception history of Jane Austen

I read this first thing in the morning, and what an absolutely beautiful article. Made my day. :) --smarojit ^{(buzz me)} 08:39, 28 January 2013 (UTC)

Thank you! Wadewitz (talk) 18:43, 28 January 2013 (UTC)

Precious

teaching of reading
Thank you for expanding our knowledge of literature and of the people who love it, write it and teach it. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:29, 14 May 2012 (UTC)

Repeating: you are an awesome Wikipedian (24 November 2008)!

again, in style ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:34, 28 January 2013 (UTC)

Thank you! Wadewitz (talk) 18:43, 28 January 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 28 January 2013

• In the media: Hoaxes draw media attention
  On New Year's Day, the Daily Dot reported that a "massive Wikipedia hoax" had been exposed after more than five years. The article on the Bicholim conflict had been listed as a "Good Article" for the past half-decade, yet turned out to be an ingenious hoax. Created in July 2007 by User:A-b-a-a-a-a-a-a-b-a, the meticulously detailed piece was approved as a GA in October 2007. A subsequent submission for FA was unsuccessful, but failed to discover that the article's key sources were made up. While the User:A-b-a-a-a-a-a-a-b-a account then stopped editing, the hoax remained listed as a Good Article for five years, receiving in the region of 150 to 250 page views a month in 2012. It was finally nominated for deletion on 29 December 2012 by ShelfSkewed—who had discovered the hoax while doing work on Category:Articles with invalid ISBNs—and deleted the same day.

• Recent research: Lessons from the research literature on open collaboration; clicks on featured articles; credibility heuristics
  A special issue of the American Behavioral Scientist is devoted to "open collaboration".

• WikiProject report: Checkmate! — WikiProject Chess
  When we challenged the masters of WikiProject Chess to an interview, Sjakkalle answered our call. WikiProject Chess dates back to December 2003 and has grown to include 4 Featured Articles and 15 Good Articles maintained by over 100 members. The project typically operates independently of other WikiProjects, although the project would theoretically be a child of WikiProject Board and Table Games (interviewed in 2011). WikiProject Chess provides a collection of resources, seeks missing photographs of chess players, and helps determine ways that Wikipedia's coverage of chess can be expanded.

• Discussion report: Administrator conduct and requests
  New discussions on the English Wikipedia include...

• News and notes: Khan Academy's Smarthistory and Wikipedia collaborate
  To many Wikimedians, the Khan Academy would seem like a close cousin: the academy is a non-profit educational website and a development of the massive open online course concept that has delivered over 227 million lessons in 22 different languages. Its mission is to give "a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere." This complements Wikipedia's stated goal to "imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge", then go and create that world. It should come as no surprise, then, that the highly successful GLAM-Wiki (galleries, libraries, archives, museums) initiative has partnered with the Khan Academy's Smarthistory project to further both its and Wikipedia's goals.

• Featured content: Listing off progress from 2012
  This week, the Signpost featured content section continues its recap of 2012 by looking at featured lists. We interviewed FLC directors Giants2008 and The Rambling Man as well as active reviewer and writer PresN.

• Arbitration report: Doncram continues
  The Doncram case has continued into its third week.

• Technology report: Developers get ready for FOSDEM amid caching problems
  As reported in last week's "Technology Report", the WMF's data centre in Ashburn, Virginia took over responsibility for almost all of the remaining functions that had previously been handled by their old facility in Tampa, Florida on 22 January. The Signpost reported then that few problems had arisen since handover. Unfortunately that was not to remain the case, with reports of caching problems (which typically only affect anonymous users) starting to come in.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 19:37, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 04 February 2013

• Special report: Examining the popularity of Wikipedia articles
  On February 12, 2012, news of Whitney Houston's death brought 425 hits per second to her Wikipedia article, the highest peak traffic on any article since at least January 2010. It is broadly known that Wikipedia is the sixth most popular website on the Internet, but the English Wikipedia now has over 4 million articles and 29 million total pages. Much less attention has been given to traffic patterns and trends in content viewed.

• News and notes: Article Feedback Tool faces community resistance
  Article feedback, at least through talk pages, has been a part of Wikipedia since its inception in 2001. The use of these pages, though, has typically been limited to experienced editors who know how to use them.

• WikiProject report: Land of the Midnight Sun
  This week, we took a trip to WikiProject Norway. Started in February 2005, WikiProject Norway has become the home for almost 34,000 articles about the world's best place to live, including 16 Featured Articles, 19 Featured Lists, and nearly 250 Good Articles. The project works on a to do list, maintains a categorization system, watches article alerts, and serves as a discussion forum.

• Featured content: Portal people on potent potables and portable potholes
  This week, the Signpost's featured content section continues its recap of 2012 by looking at featured portals, a small yet active part of the project. We interviewed FPOC directors Cirt and OhanaUnited.

• In the media: Star Trek Into Pedantry
  On 30 January 2013, Kevin Morris in the Daily Dot summarised the bitter debates in Wikipedia around capitalisation or non-capitalisation of the word "into" in the title of the upcoming Star Trek film, Star Trek Into Darkness.

• Technology report: Wikidata team targets English Wikipedia deployment
  Following the deployment of the Wikidata client to the Hungarian Wikipedia last month, the client was also deployed to the Italian and Hebrew Wikipedias on Wednesday. The next target for the client, which automatically provides phase 1 functionality, is the English Wikipedia, with a deployment date of 11 February already set.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 03:15, 6 February 2013 (UTC)

Hello!

Hello to myself - I'm so excited I just bought a car. Queeralice (talk) 18:09, 7 February 2013 (UTC)

That is so amazing. Your life is changed. Queeralice (talk) 18:10, 7 February 2013 (UTC)

Talk:Lynn Hill/GA1

Ok - looking good....questions posed...go for thy life. Casliber (talk · contribs) 02:11, 12 February 2013 (UTC)

Image hassles can be a bummer - I've been waiting for some time with Banksia oligantha.....(i.e. years...)Casliber (talk · contribs) 09:05, 14 February 2013 (UTC)

Yeah, we'll see what happens. Fair use in the meantime. Wadewitz (talk) 19:23, 14 February 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 11 February 2013

• Op-ed: An article is a construct – hoaxes and Wikipedia
  Wikipedia has a long, daresay storied history with hoaxes; our internal list documents 198 of the largest ones we have caught as of 4 January 2013. Why?

• Featured content: A lousy week
  Six articles, one list, and fourteen pictures were promoted to "featured" states this week on the English Wikipedia.

• WikiProject report: Just the Facts
  This week, we got the details on WikiProject Infoboxes.

• In the media: Wikipedia mirroring life in island ownership dispute
  Foreign Policy has published a report on editing of the Wikipedia articles on the Senkaku Islands and Senkaku Islands dispute. The uninhabited islands are under the control of Japan, but China and Taiwan are asserting rival territorial claims. Tensions have risen of late—and not just in the waters surrounding the actual islands.

• News and notes: UK chapter governance review marks the end of a controversial year
  Wikimedia UK, the non-profit organization devoted to furthering the goals of the Wikimedia movement in the United Kingdom, has published the findings of a governance review conducted by Compass Partnership.

• Discussion report: WebCite proposal
  Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include...

• Technology report: Wikidata client rollout stutters
  The WMF's engineering report for January was published this week.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 09:30, 13 February 2013 (UTC)

Replaceable fair use File:LynnHillNoseFinalPitch.jpg

Thanks for uploading File:LynnHillNoseFinalPitch.jpg. I noticed the description page specifies that this media item is being used under a claim of fair use, but its use in Wikipedia articles fails the first non-free content criterion in that it illustrates a subject for which a freely licensed media item could be found or created that provides substantially the same information or which could be adequately covered with text alone. If you believe this media item is not replaceable, please:

1. Go to the file description page and edit it to add {{di-replaceable fair use disputed}}, without deleting the original replaceable fair use template.
2. On the file discussion page, write the reason why this media item is not replaceable at all.

Alternatively, you can also choose to replace this non-free media item by finding freely licensed media of the same subject, requesting that the copyright holder release this (or similar) media under a free license, or by creating new media yourself (for example, by taking your own photograph of the subject).

If you have uploaded other non-free media, consider checking that you have specified how these media fully satisfy our non-free content criteria. You can find a list of description pages you have edited by clicking on this link. Note that even if you follow steps 1 and 2 above, non-free media which could be replaced by freely licensed alternatives will be deleted 2 days after this notification (7 days if uploaded before 13 July 2006), per the non-free content policy. If you have any questions, please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you. Eeekster (talk) 21:55, 14 February 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 18 February 2013

• WikiProject report: Thank you for flying WikiProject Airlines
  This week, we put our life in the hands of WikiProject Airlines. Starting in July 2005, the project has improved articles relating to airline companies, alliances, destination lists, and travel benefit programs. WikiProject Airlines has accumulated over 4,000 pages, including 4 Featured Articles and 26 Good Articles.

• Technology report: Better templates and 3D buildings
  As of time of writing, twenty wikis (including the English, French and Hungarian Wikipedias) are in the process of getting access to the Lua scripting language, an optional substitute for the clunky template code that exists at present.

• News and notes: Wikimedia Foundation declares 'victory' in Wikivoyage lawsuit
  On February 15, the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) declared 'victory' in its counter-lawsuit against Internet Brands (IB), the owner of Wikitravel and the operator of several online media, community, and e-commerce sites in vertical markets. The lawsuit clears the last remaining hurdles for the WMF's new travel guide project, Wikivoyage.

• In the media: Sue Gardner interviewed by the Australian press
  Sue Gardner's visit to Australia sparked a number of interviews in the Australian press. An interview published in the Daily Telegraph on 12 February 2013, titled "Data plans 'unnerving': Wikipedia boss", saw Gardner comment on Australian plans to store personal internet and telephone data. The planned measure, intended to assist crime prevention, would involve internet service providers and mobile phone firms storing customer usage data for up to two years.

• Featured content: Featured content gets schooled
  Two articles, nine lists, and thirteen pictures were promoted to 'featured' status on the English Wikipedia this week.

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• EdwardsBot (talk) 20:24, 20 February 2013 (UTC)