User talk:Thruxton/archive 8

R U ready to go for featured list status?

About the only thing I notice missing from Outline of canoeing and kayaking that featured lists have is citations.

If the content of the outline was fully cited, it may have a good chance of making it through Wikipedia:Featured list candidates.

Of course, the outline shouldn't be nominated until it has been rigorously prepared. See Wikipedia:Featured list criteria and let me know what you think. R U up to it?

I look forward to your reply. The Transhumanist 07:43, 8 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

DYK for Clare Maguire

On 5 January 2011, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Clare Maguire, which you created or substantially expanded. The fact was ... that Clare Maguire has been nominated by the BBC Sound of 2011 list as one of the top 15 most promising new artists and is one of MTV's Brand New: For 2011 acts? You are welcome to check how many hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, quick check) and add it to DYKSTATS if it got over 5,000. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

Dravecky (talk) 22:28, 5 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Rumer

Just wanted to say good work on the article. Looks great now there's a picture and more information. TheRetroGuy (talk) 14:42, 7 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you - my 'challenge' to myself this year is to see how many good images I can add to articles but I didn't expect Rumer to reply personally with a range of photos - so it just shows it is always worth asking Thruxton (talk) 15:04, 7 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Outline of motorcycles and motorcycling

This one is getting close to completion. It needs some annotations (descriptions), especially in the motorcycling section.

For an example of the quality level we're after, see Outline of canoeing and kayaking. The Transhumanist 08:22, 8 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

My reversion of an inappropriate entry under Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Biography‎‎

Greetings

I think there is some confusion. I did not revert your contribution regarding Ralph Regenvanu. Nor did my comment imply that you had made the change I reverted. Rather I reverted an inappropriate entry by an anonymous contributer - 212.183.140.23. As the explanation to my action says: "Revert to revision 406891836 dated 2011-01-09 16:15:15 by Thruxton using popups", that is return the section back to the version as updated by Thruxton. You will see that your entry is unaffected by my action. Regards --Chewings72 (talk) 06:34, 10 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the explanation - I approved of your removal of the anon comment have a good day Thruxton (talk) 08:41, 10 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Invitation to join the Wikipedia Ambassador Program

Thanks for the invite to join the Invitation to join the Wikipedia Ambassador Program. Although I'll try to help anyone I don't think I can formally sign up as the university I work for may see this as a conflict of interest, and I have limited time available.— Rod ^talk 08:39, 15 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

DYK nomination of Under the Driftwood Tree

Hello! Your submission of Under the Driftwood Tree at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and there still are some issues that may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:53, 15 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Outline update 2011-01-18

If you'd like to use the main page with outline links instead of portal links, then you can set Wikipedia:Main Page alternative (outline links) as your default main page. See the instructions.

Outlines now have an alert page at Wikipedia:WikiProject Outlines/Article alerts. Be sure to watchlist it.

Tarheel95 and Robert Skyhawk are working on a project to track traffic to outline pages.

A discussion on outline traffic analysis has been started on the Outlines WikiProject talk page. Your input is needed.

The Transhumanist 03:37, 19 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

You have email

The Transhumanist 22:24, 18 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

DYK for Under the Driftwood Tree

On 19 January 2011, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Under the Driftwood Tree, which you created or substantially expanded. The fact was ... that instruments played by Cardiff-based group Under the Driftwood Tree include the didgeridoo? You are welcome to check how many hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, quick check) and add it to DYKSTATS if it got over 5,000. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 18:04, 19 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Ralph Regenvanu

Thank you very much! That's brilliant. I didn't expect Ralph to provide a full review of the article on himself. Thank you for getting in contact with him - and for fixing the few things that needed changing or clarifying as a result. If you're in e-mail contact with Ralph, could you pass on my thanks? As for a Wikipedia-editing educational project for students in Vanuatu... That sounds like a great idea! There's still quite a lot to be done on Vanuatu-related articles, and if they can contribute sourced information, it would be of benefit to Wikipedia as well as to themselves. On that note, given that Vanuatu has three official languages, maybe some could contribute to the French Wikipedia (where there's even more to be done on Vanuatu-related articles), or to the Bislama Wikipedia (which has barely got off the ground, with just 300 or so articles, all of them stubs). I'd be happy to do at least some work on "mentoring" such a project, on any of the three Wikipedias. (I speak fluent French, and on the Bislama Wikipedia I could communicate in French or in English.) I wouldn't be able to devote large amounts of time to it, but I can give tips, answer questions and generally supervise (in terms of Wikipedia coding and Wikipedia rules for content). Thanks again, very much, and have a good day! Aridd (talk) 18:47, 20 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi again. Any news on the potential student project? Aridd (talk) 18:21, 4 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Online Ambassadors

I saw the quality of your contributions at DYK and clicked on over to your user page and was pretty impressed. Would you be interested in helping with the WP:Online_Ambassadors program? It's really a great opportunity to help university students become Wikipedia contributers. I hope you apply to become an ambassador, Sadads (talk) 01:13, 24 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

"Mentor"

Thruxton,

I am choosing you as my mentor for fulfull the requirements for my Technical Editing class in college. Look forward to working with you.

Best, Ortizftm (talk) 02:39, 24 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

FYI, I am coordinating the class, check out the comments at here. Cheers, Sadads (talk) 05:25, 24 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks - looks like it's off to a promising start. Have a good day Thruxton (talk) 05:31, 24 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter: 28 January 2011

The newsletter of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program – Volume 1, 28 January 2011

This is the first issue of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program newsletter. Please read it! It has important information about the the current wave of classes, instructions and advice, and other news about the ambassador program.

Delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 00:35, 29 January 2011 (UTC) [reply]

David Kato

Hi Thruxton... I currently have a DYK nomination for David Kato at T:TDYK and would like to improve it with an image. Kato was recently murdered and has been discussed in many news sources so there are images around but they are all copyright (at least, that I have found). I have posted an offer at the reward board and saw your post at the Bio WikiProject talk page, so was wondering if you'd like to see if you can find or obtain a suitably licensed free photo? Regards, EdChem (talk) 21:31, 29 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I have emailed AP for permission to use their press image of David Kato so will let you know Thruxton (talk) 07:56, 30 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. EdChem (talk) 11:33, 30 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Mentor Request

Hi there! I was hoping you would be willing to serve as my mentor for an upcoming wikipedia assignment for a graduate class at Indiana University. Enveconmatt (talk) 01:27, 9 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Yes of course - happy to help contact me here with any questions. Have a good day Thruxton (talk) 05:54, 9 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Looking for a mentor for class project.

I am a student from Montana State University in Bozeman Montana. We are starting a wiki project for our Native American Law class. We will be contributing to wiki with new articles and enhancing old articles. I invite you to be my mentor in this project and will await to see you accept me. Thank you. Trish — Preceding unsigned comment added by Trish hummel (talk • contribs) 17:11, 11 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter: 13 February 2011

The newsletter of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program – Volume 1, 28 January 2011

This is the second issue of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter, with details about what's going on right now and where help is needed.

Userboxes and profiles - Add an ambassador userbox to your page, and make sure you've added your mentor profile!
Be a coordinating ambassador - Pick and class and make sure no students fall through the cracks.
New screencasts - Short videos on watchlists and a number of other topics may be useful to students.
Updates from Campus Ambassadors - Ambassadors are starting to report on classroom experiences, both on-wiki and on the Google Group.
Other news - There's a new on-wiki application for being an Online Ambassador, and Editing Friday #2 is today!
Things you can do - This is just a sample; if you're eager for something to do, there's plenty more.

Delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 18:26, 11 February 2011 (UTC) [reply]

marking mentees' userpages

Hey Thruxton! This is just a quick reminder: please be sure to add {{WAP student}} (for an example, see User:Sfofana) the user pages of your mentees, and also list your mentees on the mentors page. And once they are working on articles, be sure to tag the talk pages with {{WAP assignment}}. Cheers--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 18:48, 14 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Mentoring students: be sure to check in on them

This message is going out to all of the Online Ambassadors who are, or will be, serving as mentors this term.

Hi there! This is just a friendly reminder to check in on what your mentees are doing. If they've started making edits, take a look and help them out or do some example fixes for them, if they need it. And if they are doing good, let them know it!

If you aren't mentoring anyone yet, it looks like you will be soon; at least one large class is asking us to assign mentors for them, and students in a number of others haven't yet gotten to asking ambassadors to be their mentors, but may soon. --Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 20:09, 21 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi! I am working on a wikipedia article for a class in grad school. Will you be my mentor? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Laurenrach (talk • contribs) 19:00, 24 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Outline collaboration

Here's the latest addition to the religion section of Portal:Contents/Outlines. Wikipedia has rich coverage on this subject. Very interesting, especially from sociological and historical perspectives.

Outline of Sikhism

This is a call to all members of the Outline WikiProject and outline aficionados to help refine this outline. It needs annotations, missing topics added, and the entries in the general concepts section placed in more specific sections. It needs your editing skills. Let's turn it into a beehive!

Come join in on the fun and get acquainted with members of the Outline WikiProject.

The Transhumanist 05:00, 2 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

P.S.: I had no idea this religion was so extensive or that it had so many followers. Hope to see you on the outline!

P.P.S.: Thruxton, why not introduce your students to outlines, and get them involved in our latest collaboration? It would be an excellent assignment for them.

Online Ambassador Program

Please take a look at this project page and see if you can be a mentor to one of the many Areas of Study. If you can, please put your name in the "Online Mentor" area of the Area of Study of your choice and then contact the students you will be working with. As the Coordinating Online Ambassador for this project, please let me know if I can be of assistance. Take Care...Neutralhomer • Talk • 04:26, 3 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Marking articles students are working on

Howdy, Online Ambassador!

This is a quick message to all the ambassadors about marking and tracking which articles students are working on. For the classes working with the ambassador program, please look over any articles being worked on by students (in particular, any ones you are mentoring, but others who don't have mentors as well) and do these things:

Add {{WAP assignment | term = Spring 2011 }} to the articles' talk pages. (The other parameters of the {{WAP assignment}} template are helpful, so please add them as well, but the term = Spring 2011 one is most important.)
If the article is related to United States public policy, make sure the article the WikiProject banner is on the talk page: {{WikiProject United States Public Policy}}
Add Category:Article Feedback Pilot (a hidden category) to the article itself. The second phase of the Article Feedback Tool project has started, and this time we're trying to include all of the articles students are working on. Please test out the Article Feedback Tool, as well. The new version just deployed, so any bug reports or feedback will be appreciated by the tech team working on it.

And of course, don't forget to check in on the students, give them constructive feedback, praise them for positive contributions, award them {{The WikiPen}} if they are doing excellent work, and so on. And if you haven't done so, make sure any students you are mentoring are listed on your mentor profile.

Thanks! --Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 18:15, 15 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Notification: changes to "Mark my edits as minor by default" preference

Hello there. This is an automated message to tell you about the gradual phasing out of the preference entitled "Mark all edits minor by default", which you currently have (or very recently had) enabled.

On 13 March 2011, this preference was hidden from the user preferences screen as part of efforts to prevent its accidental misuse (consensus discussion, guidelines for use at WP:MINOR). This had the effect of locking users in to their existing preference, which, in your case, was true. To complete the process, your preference will automatically be changed to false in the next few days. This does not require any intervention on your part and all users will still be able to manually mark their edits as being minor in the usual way.

For well-established users such as yourself there is a workaround available involving custom JavaScript. If you have any problems, feel free to drop me a note.

Thank you for your understanding and happy editing :) Editing on behalf of User:Jarry1250, LivingBot (talk) 20:39, 15 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter: 21 March 2011

The newsletter of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program – Volume 3, 21 March 2011

This is the third issue of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter, with details about what's going on right now and where help is needed.

Where the courses are - A brief summary of how each of the 31 Public Policy Initiative courses are faring so far in the Spring 2011 term, as of 9-11 March. Feel free to add more detail.
Tracking students' articles - Make sure students' articles are tagged with {{WAP assignment}} on the talk pages, and have the newly improved Article Feedback Tool active.
Education portal in progress - Wikimedia staff have started work on an outreach portal for information about teaching with and about Wikipedia. Please help develop it!
Online Ambassadors logistics - If you don't have a Wikipedia Ambassador sweatshirt, now's your chance to get one! (Also, some other more mundane, but important, details.)
Steering committee preparing proposals - Look for discussions about two major proposals about the future ambassador program soon: the "Regional Ambassador" role, and elections for a new committee.
Editing Friday returns - This Friday, join fellow ambassadors and others real-time collaboration on Wainwright Building.

Delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 22:27, 21 March 2011 (UTC) [reply]

Sports plan

Outline of basketball

Outline of canoeing and kayaking

Outline of cricket

Outline of martial arts

Outline of motorcycles and motorcycling

Outline of running

Outline of tennis

The strategy is to get these completed, then the WikiProjects of the other sports can be contacted and shown these as examples. There are some major sports not covered yet, like soccer, American football, ice hockey, baseball, golf, etc.

Technically, chess is a sport, so we can use that as an example too:

Outline of chess

Hope to see you in the outlines again. The Transhumanist 23:39, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Make sure that you are checking in on your students work for WP:USPP/C/11/PTE

Hey, just a happy reminder to make sure that you are regularly checking in on your mentees work for JMU'S Technical editing class, Sadads (talk) 11:15, 5 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter: 22 April 2011

The newsletter of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program – Volume 4, 22 April 2011

This is the fourth issue of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter, with details about what's going on right now and where help is needed.

Voting begins for steering committee - The voting phase for the Wikipedia Ambassador Steering Committee election started this week, and will continue through 27 April.
Seeking more Regional Ambassadors in the US - We are still looking for Regional Ambassadors for the United States! The deadline has been extended to Friday, April 29th.
India pilot being organized now - Plans are currently underway for a pilot expansion of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program – in India! Hisham Mundol and other Wikimedia staff have begun recruiting Campus Ambassador candidates for Pune.
Document DYK, peer review and other milestone at the trophy case - If students you are working with (or any others you notice) are doing work that makes to DYK, is nominated for Good Article status, or is just solid content worth marking, then please help us document the students' success at the trophy case.
Ambassador program at Wikimania - We're planning a set of Wikipedia Ambassador Program presentations for Wikimania 2011, in Haifa this August.
Changes to mailing list - A new low-volume mailing list, [Ambassador-announce-l], is being created. It will be reserved for key announcements and news, which we'd like all ambassadors to be subscribed to.

Delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 16:37, 22 April 2011 (UTC) [reply]

Please help assess articles for Public Policy Initiative research

Hi Thruxton/archive 8,

Your work as an Online Ambassador is making a big contribution to Wikipedia. Right now, we're trying to measure just how much student work improves the quality of Wikipedia. If you'd like contribute to this research and get a firsthand look at the quality improvement that is happening through the project, please sign up to assess articles. Assessment is happening now, just use the quantitative metric and start assessing! Your help would be hugely appreciated!

Thank you, ARoth (Public Policy Initiative) (talk) 17:15, 6 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia Ambassador sweatshirt

Hi! This is the last call for signing on for a Wikipedia Ambassador hooded sweatshirt (in case you missed the earlier message in one of the program newsletters about it). If you would like one, please email me with your name, mailing address, and (US) sweatshirt size. We have a limited number left, so it will be first-come, first-served. (If more than one size would work for you, note that as well.)

Cheers, Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 19:43, 19 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Please take the Wikipedia Ambassador Program survey

Hi Ambassador,

We are at a pivotal point in the development of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program. Your feedback will help shape the program and role of Ambassadors in the future. Please take this 10 minute survey to help inform and improve the Wikipedia Ambassadors.

WMF will de-identify results and make them available to you. According to KwikSurveys' privacy policy: "Data and email addresses will not be sold, rented, leased or disclosed to 3rd parties." This link takes you to the online survey: http://kwiksurveys.com?u=WPAmbassador_talk

Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments, Thank You!

Amy Roth (Research Analyst, Public Policy Initiative) (talk) 20:46, 24 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I'm alarmed to see you have disappeared

It's Wikipedia's loss.

Sorry to see you have gone away.

Hoping you return soon,

Sincerely, The Transhumanist 04:42, 24 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Still keeping a watch just taking a break to write a novel but will be back. Thanks Thruxton (talk) 05:16, 24 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Ooh, a novel. Is it about terrorists getting The Bomb? Or is it about the population explosion, its burden upon the environment, the mass extinction it is causing, and the imminent collapse of the planet's ecosystem? Or is it about the development of AI robots and their taking over the Earth, turning humans into prey, zoological exhibits, experimental specimens, slaves, pets, and food? Or is it about mass-produced smart bomb spider drones that go buggy and swarm cities blowing everybody up one-by-one? Or is it about an alien superintelligence that is sucking up solar systems sending its exploration clones out in all directions and heading this way faster than the speed of light? Pray, do tell. The Transhumanist 09:49, 29 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

P.S.: Since you are watching, perhaps you can pop in from time to time to help defend the project. Here's the latest update....

Danger: alert page unnoticed

The Outline of relationships was nominated for deletion.

It was then overhauled and the nomination was withdrawn.

Before → After.

Only a couple members from the Outlines WikiProject showed up at the AfD.

Do you have Wikipedia:WikiProject Outlines/Article alerts watchlisted?

If not, please watchlist it.

Thank you. The Transhumanist 09:49, 29 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Ambassador Program: assessment drive

Even though it's been quiet on-wiki, the Wikipedia Ambassador Program has been busy over the last few months getting ready for the next term. We're heading toward over 80 classes in the US, across all disciplines. You'll see courses start popping up here, and this time we want to match one or more Online Ambassadors to each class based on interest or expertise in the subject matter. If you see a class that you're interested, please contact the professor and/or me; the sooner the Ambassadors and professors get in communication, the better things go. Look for more in the coming weeks about next term.

In the meantime, with a little help I've identified all the articles students did significant work on in the last term. Many of the articles have never been assessed, or have ratings that are out of date from before the students improved them. Please help assess them! Pick a class, or just a few articles, and give them a rating (and add a relevant WikiProject banner if there isn't one), and then update the list of articles.

Once we have updated assessments for all these articles, we can get a better idea of how quality varied from course to course, and which approaches to running Wikipedia assignments and managing courses are most effective.

--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 17:31, 27 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Online Ambassadors: Time to join pods

Hello! If you're planning to be an active Online Ambassador for the upcoming academic term, now is the time to join one or more pods. (A pod consists of the instructor, the Campus Ambassadors, and the Online Ambassadors for single class.) The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) explains the expectations for being part of a pod as an Online Ambassador. (The MOU for pods in Canada is essentially the same.) In short, the role of Online Ambassadors this term consists of:

Working closely with the instructor and Campus Ambassadors, providing advice and perspective as an experienced Wikipedian
Helping students who ask for it (or helping them to find the help they need)
Watching out for the class as a whole
Helping students to get community feedback on their work

This replaces the 1-on-1 mentoring role for Online Ambassadors that we had in previous terms; rather than being responsible for individual students (some of whom don't want or help or are unresponsive), Online Ambassadors will be there to help whichever students in their class(es) ask for help.

You can browse the upcoming courses here: United States; Canada. More are being added as new pods become active and create their course pages.

Once you've found a class that you want to work with—especially if you some interest or expertise in the topic area—you should sign the MOU listing for that class and get in touch with the instructor. We're hoping to have at least two Online Ambassadors per pod, and more for the larger classes.

If you're up for supporting any kind of class and would like me to assign you to a pod in need of more Online Ambassadors, just let me know.

--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 16:37, 19 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

PS: There are still a lot of student articles from the last term that haven't been rated. Please rate a few and update the list!

Speedy deletion nomination of File:Triumph Speed Twin.jpg

A tag has been placed on File:Triumph Speed Twin.jpg requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section F2 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because it is an image page for a missing or corrupt image or an empty image description page for a Commons-hosted image.

If you think that this notice was placed here in error, contest the deletion by clicking on the button labelled "Click here to contest this speedy deletion". Doing so will take you to the talk page where you will find a pre-formatted place for you to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. You can also visit the the page's talk page directly to give your reasons, but be aware that once tagged for speedy deletion, if the page meets the criterion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information to the page that would render it more in conformance with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. Sfan00 IMG (talk) 15:48, 13 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Interview with Wikimedia Foundation

Hi Thruxton, I hope you're well. My name is Aaron and I'm one of the Storytellers working on the 2011 fundraiser for the Wikimedia Foundation. For this year's campaign, we're interviewing as many of the very active and productive Wikipedians as we can to broaden the range of appeals we run come November. I wonder if you would want to tell me more about your experiences editing and writing here? If so, I'll ask you your personal story and I'll ask you some general questions about Wikipedia. Please let me know if you're interesting by emailing amuszalskiwikimedia.org. Thanks! user:Aaron (WMF) (ps. I like your username -- I'm a Triumph rider myself, happily zipping around San Francisco and the Bay Area on a 2006 Speed Triple.)

Update on courses and ambassador needs

Hello, Ambassadors!

I wanted to give you one last update on where we are this term, before my role as Online Facilitator wraps up at the end of this week. Already, there are over 800 students in U.S. classes who have signed up on course pages this term. About 40 classes are active, and we're expecting that many more again once all the classes are up and running.

On a personal note, it's been a huge honor to work with so many great Wikipedians over the last 15 months. Thanks so much to everyone who jumped in and decided to give the ambassador concept a try, and double thanks those of you who were involved early on. Your ideas and insights and enthusiasm have been the foundation of the program, and they will be the keys the future of the program.

Courses looking for Online Ambassadors

Still waiting to get involved with a class this term, or ready to take on more? We have seven classes that are already active and need OA support, and eleven more that have course pages started but don't have active students yet. Please consider joining one or more of these pods!

Active courses that really need Online Ambassadors:

Courses that may be active soon that need Online Ambassadors:

--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 23:15, 27 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Interview

Thanks for getting back to me Thruxton! If possible, I'd love to speak with you briefly by voice or Skype sometime this week. I'm happy to accommodate your schedule -- simply email me at amuszalski@wikimedia.org and we can arrange a time. Thanks! 70.36.146.205 (talk) 00:32, 4 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Mystery

Please solve this mystery if you can...

On September 23rd, traffic to Portal:James Bond doubled, and has stayed at the new level since then. I can't figure out what happened.

See http://stats.grok.se/en/201109/Portal%3AJames_Bond

Traffic to Outline of James Bond stayed the same (though it was at the higher-level already), which leads me to suspect changes made somewhere in Wikipedia.

See http://stats.grok.se/en/201109/Outline%20of%20James_Bond

I'd like to find out what happened, in case it reveals helpful link placement tips that can double the traffic to outlines too!

I look forward to your reply. The Transhumanist 22:43, 5 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Please help fill in annotations at Portal:Contents/Outlines

Please go to Portal:Contents/Outlines' and fill in as many missing annotations as you can, even if it's only one or two. Every little bit helps!

The annotating of the entries on Portal:Contents/Outlines is nearing completion.

Annotated entries look like this:

Basketball – team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules.
Canoeing and kayaking – two closely related forms of watercraft paddling, involving manually propelling and navigating specialized boats called canoes and kayaks using a blade that is joined to a shaft, known as a paddle, in the water.
Cricket – bat-and-ball team sport, the most popular form played on an oval-shaped outdoor arena known as a cricket field at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard (20.12 m) long pitch that is the focus of the game.
Martial arts – extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development.

Entries needing annotations look like this:

The links to the country outlines don't need annotations (they are listed by region).

Even if all you can do is one or two, the support will be greatly felt. Many hands make light work.

Thank you. The Transhumanist 00:40, 7 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I've just been looking at the proposal to delete all the outlines - because they don't 'fit the rules'!!! This has to be the worst example of misguided editorial policy. I have made my views known but it is a shame that Wikipedia is heading this way. Are you able to make sure more editors are aware of what is proposed? Thruxton (talk) 08:15, 7 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It's not a direction that Wikipedia is heading. It's just politics, and we've always had that here at Wikipedia. It's the nature of the wiki, and human beings! Everybody gets a vote, and they can use any reason they want to justify their vote, or none at all.

Opposition to lists is nothing new. It heated up a lot when the category system was added to Wikipedia several years ago. Before that, the main navigation system was lists, including topics lists which are heavily navigational. Even after we had categories, list builders just kept building away. But category supporters thought that lists should go away, and so a war began, and that war has been raging on ever since, mostly between deletionists and inclusionists at WP:AFD. Search for "Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of" and you'll see what I mean.

One result of the war has been WP:CLN, an effort to explain and allow the benefits of redundant navigation systems, but it is largely ignored by the category crowd. Eventually the outline project took up the cause for topics lists, and developed them in earnest, and so now it gets most of the heat.

The challenge is to improve outlines to such a level of excellence that they transcend the war. The transcendence of outlines is inevitable...

The thing that most people do not realize is that outlines by their very nature (by having a built-in hierarchy) are parsable. This means that an outliner program (or script) could be designed to view and process Wikipedia outlines. At that point Wikipedia outlines would go from being static to dynamic entities with full control of all their features (levels, format presented in, numbering, annotations, etc.) coming under the direct control of the reader. Outlines supported by an outline viewer are alive. Even more so when supported by an outline processor.

MediaWiki supports paths down through its subheadings (you can activate path numbering in My preferences). But outline pages have paths all the way down through all their entries, but MediaWiki isn't programmed to see or display them, or process entries based on their paths.

An excellent outliner has as much functionality as a spreadsheet program or database management system, except designed for the outline data structure, which enables operations not available in those other program types while supporting most conventional operations as well.

Every entry in an outline has an address. It's intrinsic to the structure of outlines. For example: "the second subtopic of the third subtopic of the first subtopic of the root topic" can be represented numerically as 1.3.2. Because all entries have paths and all paths are explicitly represented via format elements such as markers (numbers, bullets, line feeds) and indents, a computer program could use those as delimiters to enable tree collapsing/expansion, annotation toggling (to hide/show them), toggling numbering, and range specification, sorting, interactive sorting, buffer-supported juggling, moving, jumping, branch marking (like bookmarking), search-supported dispersed group gathering/cutting/pasting, etc., and tree traveling (moving along the branches of the tree itself, as a form of navigation, sort of like a car on a road system - the cursor travels along the tree rather than word-processor-cursor movement through the characters and lines).

Manual block cut&paste moves would become a thing of the past. It would be done by click/point/click or del/navigate/ins. Of individual branches or on selected (highlighted) ranges.

Like I said, it's only a matter of time before Wikipedia outlines transcend. They merely need to become impressive enough to attract a talented programmer, and they are already the largest freely available set of hierarchically-formatted subject outlines on the Web. All we need to do is clean them up a little.

Let me know when you are ready to get started. ;) The Transhumanist 22:39, 10 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Sunbeam Page (Sunbeam S7 and S8)

Hi

We have updated the official Sunbeam Owners Fellowship website, can you please update your links to:

www.onthebeam.co.uk

Thanks

IrishPaul — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.194.8.93 (talk) 20:26, 27 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Please add this to your watchlist:

Outline of the United Nations

Thank you. The Transhumanist 02:30, 28 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

What is fiction?

Is this section accurate? Is it complete? Please take a quick look. Thank you. The Transhumanist 00:03, 14 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Science lovers wanted!

Hi! I'm serving as the wikipedian-in-residence at the Smithsonian Institution Archives until June! One of my goals as resident, is to work with Wikipedians and staff to improve content on Wikipedia about people who have collections held in the Archives - most of these are scientists who held roles within the Smithsonian and/or federal government. I thought you might like to participate since you are interested in the sciences! Sign up to participate here and dive into articles needing expansion and creation on our to-do list. Feel free to make a request for images or materials at the request page, and of course, if you share your successes at the outcomes page you will receive the SIA barnstar! Thanks for your interest, and I look forward to your participation! Sarah (talk) 00:51, 17 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]