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From the editor
This week, we're proud to introduce a new feature: WikiWorld, a weekly comic strip produced by Greg Williams, a cartoonist for the Tampa Tribune in Tampa, Florida. The comics relate to an interesting concept or fact found in a Wikipedia article. All comics are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 license.
An additional note this week to those users who have the Signpost delivered to their talk page or via e-mail through our "spamlist" services; due to an error on my part last week, the technology report was published late, and most users did not receive the technology report with other stories. If you missed it, last week's report is available in its entirety here; my apologies for leaving it out.
Finally, an interesting statistic: Michael Snow informs me that last week was the Signpost's 100th issue. Thanks to the community for your continued support, and thanks for reading the Signpost.
— Ral315
Board of Trustees expanded as three new members are appointed
The Board of Trustees was expanded this week as three new members joined the Board. Following a resolution, the Board added Kat Walsh (Mindspillage), Oscar van Dillen (Oscar), and Jan-Bart de Vreede (Jan-Bart), who will take outgoing member Tim Shell's seat. The expansion brings the total number of people on the Board to seven and follows previous discussion on the possible expansion of the Board.
Walsh, a graduate student at the George Mason University School of Law, has been an Arbitrator on the English Wikipedia since October 2005, when she was appointed by Jimbo Wales. Also a former staff member of Wikia (unrelated officially to the Wikimedia Foundation), she was re-elected to the Arbitration Committee in the January 2006 elections (see archived story), and also serves as a member of the communications committee. (Following her appointment to the Board, Walsh resigned from the Arbitration Committee, citing her new position.) She has been an administrator on the English Wikipedia since April 2005 and is also an admin on Meta-Wiki and the English Wikinews; in addition, she is a Foundation press contact and a member of the OTRS subcommittee.
Van Dillen, meanwhile, is a musician and composer at the Conservatory of Rotterdam (see his article). The president of Wikimedia Netherlands, the Dutch chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation, van Dillen is a bureaucrat on the Dutch Wikipedia and an admin on Meta-Wiki. He has also been a steward since June 2005, when he was first elected.
De Vreede, a father of two, is also from the Netherlands, and currently works for the Kennisnet Foundation. Though relatively new to the Wikimedia Foundation, he has attended both Wikimanias, where he was a speaker each time, and has worked to promote the use of wikis previously. He also has experience working with wikis using MediaWiki through the use of internal wikis at the Kennisnet Foundation.
The expansion of the Board had been previously discussed on the Foundation mailing list extensively, and a resolution passed in January had authorized the creation of a committee, composed of Florence Nibart-Devouard, Jimbo Wales, and then-Board member Angela Beesley, to look into the expansion of the Board and recommend all steps necessary. A recent audit report of the Foundation by the accounting firm Gregory, Sharer, and Stuart (see related story) had also suggested the expansion of the Board by "seeking additional independent board membership."
Besides appointing the three new Board members, the resolution passed also clarified several other issues. All appointed members of the Board will serve a maximum of one year, which can be renewed, and all elected members will serve a two-year term. However, both Walsh's and van Dillen's terms, both of which started officially on Friday, 8 December, 2006 will expire on Sunday 1 July, 2007; elections will be held the following month. De Vreede's term, meanwhile, will expire on Monday 31 December, 2007, as he will be serving the remainder of Tim Shell's term. Shell resigned earlier this year, and his resignation will become effective on Friday 15 December, 2006 when de Vreede will begin his term.
The resolution also clarified the terms of three of the other four current Board members. Both the terms of Wales and Michael Davis will expire in December 2007, and the Board also appointed Nibart-Devouard to another term once her current elected term concludes in July 2007. Thus, Nibart-Devouard will serve until July 2008. No mention was made of Board member Erik Möller's term, which is also set to expire in July 2007.
The resolution also authorized elections to the Board in June 2007 and June 2008; three positions will be open in each of the elections, and the winners will serve two-year terms on the Board.
The resolution was first announced by Board chair Nibart-Devouard on the Foundation mailing list. In her post, she thanked Shell for his service and welcomed aboard the three new members. After briefly introducing de Vreede, she explained that the Board was looking for "a more external guy", or someone not already deeply involved with the Foundation, who would be able to provide a different perspective and bring additional experience and leadership.
Both Walsh and van Dillen had run for the Board in the September elections, when Möller was elected, and had come in second and third, respectively. Walsh had 30 percent of the total vote, which used approval voting, and van Dillen had 28%; Möller had 42%. In her candidate statement, Walsh advocated greater communication within the Foundation and increased partnerships with other organizations, and in an interview with the Signpost that month, reiterated her commitment to streamlining the internal organization. She also cited her "skill at communication and dispute resolution" as some of her key strengths.
In his candidate statement, Van Dillen argued against copyright and instead stated his strong beliefs on copyleft, and also emphasized his longstanding commitment to the Wikimedia Foundation's mission. In his interview with the Signpost, he commented on his goal of "improving the Board's ability to act" and cited his "expertise and professional experience" as a former manager, combined with his experience with many language communities in Wikimedia projects, as some of his key strengths. Like Walsh, he also advocated a "more clear structure of organization."
Wikimedia Foundation releases financial audit
The Wikimedia Foundation released its first-ever audited financial information this week, general counsel and interim executive director Brad Patrick announced on Friday, 8 December. The audit covered the financial affairs of the organization dating back to its initial formation in 2003.
"It is my pleasure to announce the public release of audited financial statements of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. for fiscal years 2004, 2005 and 2006 inclusive," he said. "This represents a significant step forward in the life of the Foundation." He continued by thanking Gregory, Sharer & Stuart, the accounting firm which conducted the audit, for its work, as well as the work of Danny Wool and Board member Michael Davis in helping and assisting the auditors.
Two documents were released by the Foundation, both in PDF: the management letter and the financial statement. The management letter included several graphical presentations of the Foundation's growth, seen through its increasing revenues and expenses. Breakdown of revenue sources and expenditures for each of the three years was also shown in a pie chart; private contributions accounted for over 85% of the Foundation's total income in 2006. In that same fiscal year, the Foundation spent nearly three-quarters of its expenditures on its projects; the remainder went to management and general expenses, as well as fundraising. The management letter also included a checklist of items completed by the auditing team, as well as suggestions on improving the Foundation's structure. Some of the recommendations presented included expansion of the Board of Trustees with more members from outside the organization, creation of an audit committee to ensure financial integrity, the establishment of an official whistleblower policy and accounting policies.
The financial statement, meanwhile, included more detailed breakdowns of the Foundation's finances in the three fiscal years; it first stated its finding that the Foundation operated "in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America" in the auditor's report. The audit found that the Foundation currently has a little over one million dollars in total assets, with approximately half in cash and the other half in computer equipment and software. The total assets in 2005, in comparison, was less than $300,000, and the total assets in June 2004 was less than $60,000, meaning that the Foundation's total assets increased by nearly 17 times from June 2004 to June 2006.
The audit also found that the Foundation raised nearly $1.3 million through contributions in 2006, an increase from the $300,000 raised in 2005 and the $70,000 raised in 2004. Despite the increasing income, expenses also jumped markedly: internet hosting costs rose from $40,000 in 2005 to nearly $200,000 in 2006, and operating costs increased by almost three times from 2005 to 2006. Depreciation of computer software and equipment cost the Foundation nearly $150,000 in 2006. The auditors also noted that this equipment is currently being depreciated based on a 5-year useful life, and recommended that this be changed to a more standard 3-year period. Since expenses overall were less than the income, the Foundation increased its total assets each fiscal year, going from about $300,000 in 2005 to $1,000,000 in 2006.
The audit concluded with notes on its findings on the Foundation; after summarizing its mission and activities, including each of the projects, the audit confirmed that the Foundation was a non-profit, tax-exempt organization in the United States. It also mentioned that the Foundation currently owns 187 shares of Google stock, which was received as a donation (as of the close of trading 11 December, this would be worth just over $90,000).
Patrick finished his announcement by asking users to notice the Foundation's "[growth] at an astonishing rate." "You will also see [in the audit] 'what it takes to run Wikipedia for a year' - a glimpse of the financial challenges we face trying to maintain our role as a top website on the planet, with a skeleton staff and ever-increasing demand for the educational content created by you, our community of editors and contributors," he stated. "Anonymous visitors will also be reminded that Wikimedia Foundation is a *charitable organization*, something which distinguishes us from the YouTubes and MySpaces spoken in the same breath as Wikipedia as the 'Web 2.0' vanguard." After referencing an upcoming fundraising drive for the Foundation, Patrick continued, "We aren't for sale. There won't be a Wikipedia IPO. We can't be bought by a company, any more so than the Red Cross or Amnesty International. What sets us apart is our mission, vision and community. What keeps us going, though, requires an growing infrastructure, staff, and money."
Arbitration Committee elections continue, extra seat available
New arbitrators interviewed
15 January 2007
Seven arbitrators chosen
26 December 2006
Elections conclude, arbitrators to be chosen
18 December 2006
Arbitration Committee elections continue, extra seat available
11 December 2006
Arbitration Committee elections open
4 December 2006
Arbitration Committee elections: Candidate profiles
27 November 2006
ArbCom elections: Information on elections
13 November 2006
Arbitration election campaigns begin
6 November 2006
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New arbitrators interviewed |
This week, the Signpost reports on the status of the Arbitration Committee elections, halfway through voting phase.
The December 2006 Arbitration Committee elections continued this week. 32 candidates are running for one of at least six positions on the Committee. The elections will run two weeks in total, ending on Sunday, 17 December. It is anticipated that Jimbo Wales will make his selections for the Committee on Monday or Tuesday, and the newly elected Arbitrators will take their positions on 1 January, 2007.
At the beginning of the elections, 37 candidates had submitted their names. As of press time, five candidates — Doc glasgow, freakofnurture, JzG, MONGO, and Voice of All, had withdrawn from the race.
In an interesting twist, Radiant! withdrew from the race on Thursday. However, after Jimbo Wales noted that an expansion of the Arbitration Committee was possible, and that he felt that users who had resigned could re-enter the race [1], Radiant! chose to re-enter the race early Monday, citing Wales' comment. Radiant! currently ranks 12th by percentage, with 69% support.
It is anticipated now that at least six seats will be available in the race, with the resignation of Mindspillage, who was nominated to one of three new seats on the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees (see related story). The other five seats will come from the five positions in Tranche Gamma, where no sitting arbitrator chose to stand in the elections. These five seats would serve a three-year term ending in December 2009, while the person chosen to replace Mindspillage in Tranche Beta would next stand for election in December 2008.
One week into the elections, just three candidates held over 90% support: Flcelloguy, Kirill Lokshin, and Paul August. Two other candidates (UninvitedCompany and Jpgordon) held at least 85% support, and FloNight and Blnguyen ran close behind, with 84% and 83%, respectively. At press time, Flcelloguy had received just one oppose vote, and Kirill Lokshin had received three; all other candidates had received at least 10 oppose votes. In all, 17 of the 32 candidates held at least 50% support, making them eligible to be chosen by Jimbo Wales at the close of the elections.
The Signpost election guide is still available, and has been updated from last week with new candidates, as well as other candidates who were not able to submit responses to our questions in time for last week's issue. The election guide is intended to be a brief overview of each candidate's beliefs and experiences. More detailed information about each candidate may be gleaned from their user pages, as well as their responses to questions from other users.
Due to size, the guide has been split up alphabetically, though a page transcluding all sections is available below:
The most active votes at press time were that of Can't sleep, clown will eat me (306 votes, 75% support), Kelly Martin (242 votes, 14% support), UninvitedCompany (240 votes, 88% support), Geogre (234 votes, 62% support), and Blnguyen (224 votes, 83% support).
Updated statistics on the election are available at User:Gurch/Reports/ArbComElections and User:Mathbot/ArbCom Election December 2006; the former utilizes the new sortable wikitable syntax, allowing users to sort the results by the number of support and oppose votes, the support-oppose margin, and the support percentage.
Female-only wiki mailing list draws fire
An organization intended to help women feel more comfortable in Wikipedia and wiki communities drew fire this week for its controversial policy of banning men from joining the mailing list and an external wiki. The mailing list's creator, trustee emeritus Angela Beesley, argued that such a policy was necessary to encourage women in the community to contribute and discuss issues that the traditional, male-dominated mailing lists do not handle well. In the end, the mailing list was moved off the Wikimedia Foundation servers, and onto Wikia's.
In an announcement on multiple Wikipedia mailing lists last Monday, Beesley announced the creation of "WikiChix", an organization for female editors to "discuss issues of gender bias in wikis and ways to encourage more female editors, and just as a place that females can feel more comfortable posting to." The organization was intended to be similar to LinuxChix and Ubuntu Women, two Linux-related organizations for women.
The announcement followed a late November discussion, started by Keitei, which discussed the existence of systemic bias with respect to gender. While the thread originally focused on systemic bias with respect to articles, most of the comments discussed issues with females feeling intimidated, both on-wiki and on the mailing lists. Keitei noted that "As far as women reading the mailing list, I know that there are plenty who do (like myself), but do not discuss much. I know that I also read more than I edit, perhaps this is the case with more females than just myself?" [2] KillerChihuahua, one of the more prominent female posters in the discussion, noted that "When I first started contributing to this thread I received a number of emails, all from women, all thanking me and encouraging me, yet none of them posted to the list." [3] Mindspillage, however, said that "I'm surprised to hear of so many women feeling intimidated over concerns of sexism here because I simply haven't experienced it -- or perhaps I have and am oblivious to it." [4]
Like the initial discussion of gender bias, the WikiChix announcement was controversial, and attracted a wide view of opinions. Matt Crypto noted that other organizations like Ubuntu Women did not ban men from its mailing lists: "I have to confess to being unhappy with the existence of an officially-endorsed *females-only* mailing list and wiki. Discussion isn't enabled by segregating the people who should be talking to each other about a problem, and I do not think Wikipedia should be in the business of excluding people from discussions because of their gender." [5]
Phil Sandifer spoke out in support of the group: "Is it useful to completely exclude us from the conversation? Probably not, but that doesn't seem to be what's happening. What's happening is that there's a desire on the part of some women to be able to have a conversation amongst the people who get to define the problem, instead of amongst the people who don't. When the problem is defined, some aspects of the solution will probably have to include men. But men don't get to define sexism. You can't both cause the problem and define it for the people you're affecting. ... one of the first steps in healing a community with broken gender relations is to give women (it is, sadly, always women) a forum where they can express things and get a response of 'God, yes, I know what you mean. I thought it was just me!' instead of some form of 'I don't think that's valid.'" [6]
Wikimedia Foundation Trustee Erik Moeller said, "This is a positive initiative. I have only one issue with it, which is that the mailing list is on Wikimedia's servers, while the wiki is not. While we all trust you, of course, to do the right thing, as a matter of fair play towards others with similar ideas, it might be sensible to either host the list separately, or to move the wiki to Wikimedia's servers." [7]
While most responses were friendly, the tone of many responses on both sides of the issue became increasingly bitter, a fact noted by Kat Walsh: "The question of whether a single-sex list is 1) needed and 2) appropriate for Wikimedia to host is a valid one. For discussion by everyone. Its existence does *not* affect only the women; it affects the whole community. (Those women who would at the present time like to discuss the issue in a more private forum can do so -- and have done so.) So I would like to hear discussion from everyone it affects, including you -- but if you're not going to raise the tone of that open discussion, don't join it. Which applies to everyone, including several others in the many spawned threads, but particularly those who would otherwise claim to value respectful discourse and consideration of others' needs." [8]
The mailing list was originally hosted on the Wikimedia servers; Foundation Chair Florence Devouard had given her approval to the initiative. However, due to the controversy surrounding the incident, as well as questions about whether the project was sanctioned by the Foundation, Devouard asked Beesley to move the mailing list; the list is currently located on Wikia's servers, where female editors may join the list.
Trolling organization's article deleted
An article on the internet trolling association Gay Nigger Association of America was deleted on 28 November, after the 18th attempt for its deletion (though most prior attempts were made by trolls). A subsequent deletion review affirmed the page's deletion, and the page now exists only to prevent it from being recreated.
The page was created in April 2004 (though as early as January 2004, GNAA redirected to Slashdot trolling phenomena [9]). It was first nominated for deletion on 30 April, 2004; this discussion did not reach a consensus. Later nominations in September, October, and December also were closed with no consensus. Many of the 14 subsequent nominations were purportedly made by GNAA trolls.
The page was again nominated for deletion on 26 November. After two days of discussion, Tawker closed the debate and deleted the article. Part of the reason that this nomination resulted in the article's deletion is that the nomination, unlike others, focused on the article's lack of reliable sources, and its purported original research. While the page contained 21 citations, many of these citations were from the GNAA's website, and none fit Wikipedia requirements for a reliable source.
The debate was taken to deletion review on the same day, with TrollHistorian arguing that "The article was deleted too soon before a real discussion could commence ... At the very least the article should be undeleted and a new AFD should be started or the old one restarted." While a significant minority of users had voted to restore the article, the deletion was overwhelmingly endorsed, and the deletion review was closed, with the decision to endorse its deletion, on 3 December.
In a mailing list discussion on the deletion, Jimbo Wales weighed in:
- "The problem is that this article had no legitimate sources, not even close, and after a long period of time, no one was able to come up with any, since there really are not any. There is no way to write a proper article because there is no way to find out the truth in a way that is reliable. There is a curious sort of backlash in many cases when the subject matter *is* a bit uncomfortable. If this was some obscure blog of the same general stature, it would have been deleted without a peep. But because we are sooooo terrified that we might actually delete something for the wrong reason, we end up keeping stuff for the wrong reason. ... It's all about whether we can write a proper article with reliable third party sources and no original research."
At press time, discussion was still continuing on the article's talk page about its deletion.
WikiWorld comic: "Redshirt"
WikiWorld is a weekly comic, carried by the Signpost, that highlights a few of the fascinating but little-known articles in the vast Wikipedia archives. The text for each comic is excerpted from one or more existing Wikipedia articles. WikiWorld offers visual interpretations on a wide range of topics: offbeat cultural references and personality profiles, obscure moments in history and unlikely slices of everyday life - as well as "mainstream" subjects with humorous potential.
Cartoonist Greg Williams developed the WikiWorld project in cooperation with the Wikimedia Foundation, and is releasing the comics under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 license for use on Wikipedia and elsewhere.
Williams works as a visual journalist for The Tampa Tribune, a daily newspaper in Tampa, Florida. He also has worked as an illustrator and designer at newspapers in Dubuque, Iowa, and Dayton, Ohio. The Signpost interviewed Williams this week:
How long have you been drawing comics? How long have you been in the newspaper industry?
I started drawing comic strips in grade school, on whatever scraps of paper I could find. Some of my earliest comics, in fact, were drawn on the inside of ripped-open envelopes from insurance companies. (Not quite as inspiring as Abraham Lincoln ciphering with chunks of charcoal on a wooden shovel, I know.)
For several years, I contributed weekly comic strips and editorial cartoons to my college newspaper at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. After graduating, I had the good fortune to continue producing cartoons and caricatures as part of my first newspaper job, at the Telegraph Herald in Dubuque, Iowa. I have worked as a newspaper designer and illustrator ever since.
What first got you involved in Wikipedia?
While developing a comic-strip feature for The Tampa Tribune, I came across a Wikipedia article that seemed ideally suited to a cartoon-style adaptation. I contacted the Wikimedia Foundation, to ask about the legality of using Wikipedia text as the basis for a single installment of my proposed comic - and, as the result of subsequent discussions, refined the basic concept for a separate WikiWorld strip.
What are your future plans with WikiWorld and your other works?
Much like the ever-changing logo design on Google's search page, I am hopeful that the WikiWorld comic strip will come to be seen as a fun and informative destination for regular users of Wikipedia.
Is there anything else you want to say about yourself or your works?
During the past year, I have been inspired by several artists who chose to make their work freely available on the Web: animator Scott Bateman ("Bateman 365") and singer/songwriter Jonathan Coulton ("Code Monkey"). Their commitment to creative expression - and to the free exchange of ideas - provided the spark that led me to Wikipedia.
News and notes
Fundraiser plans
The next Wikimedia Foundation fundraiser is expected to begin during the upcoming week, according to Board of Trustees chair Florence Devouard. This is slightly delayed from the anticipated start date of Friday, 8 December, as the final preparations are still being made. Among these, the Foundation has released the results of its recent audit (see related story).
Steward elections to conclude
The second steward elections of 2006 will end on Friday, 15 December, with both the voting for new stewards and the confirmation of current stewards concluding. As of press time, according to a bot-updated page developed by Gurch, all of the candidates had at least 30 votes in support, and 14 of the 15 current candidates had at least an 80 percent support ratio, including one candidate with exactly 80 percent support. The other candidate had 78 percent support. Any candidate who garners at least 30 support votes and a minimum of 80 percent support is eligible to be appointed by the Board of Trustees. Though the exact number of new stewards that will be appointed is uncertain, it is expected to be between 10 and 20; all nine of the candidates who met the criteria in the January 2006 steward elections were appointed.
Resolution passed
A resolution was passed by the Board on Thursday, 7 December with four votes in favor and none in opposition. The resolution approves an agreement that clarifies the role between local Wikimedia organizations and the Wikimedia Foundation; the agreement covers the use of the Wikimedia name, utilization of the Foundation logo, and conduct and activity by each local organization.
Team bulletin issued
The sixth team bulletin from the Wikimania 2007 Taiwan team was released this week. Bulletins are released about once every week and a half, although there is no exact schedule. The current bulletin announces the opening of a bank account for donations to Wikimania, the creation of pages to place web banners, as well as a volunteer training session, which is open to anyone interested, for Wikimania volunteers that will be held on Saturday, 9 December in Taipei; a meetup will occur after the session.
Milestones
The Quechua Wikipedia reached 1,000 articles this week, becoming the first Wikipedia of an indigenous language of the Americas to reach the milestone. Quechua, the language of the Inca Empire, is spoken predominantly in South America and is also the most widely spoken American Indian language with nearly 10 million speakers. The Nepali Wikipedia also became the second language edition of Wikipedia, after the Nepal Bhasa Wikipedia, to enable a JavaScript-based input method editor. The editor allows users to type directly in Devanāgarī and attempts to make typing in non-Latin based languages easier.
Briefly
- The Turkmen Wikipedia has reached 500 articles.
- The Irish Wikipedia has reached 500 registered users.
- The Marathi Wikipedia has reached 42,000 edits.
- The Macedonian Wikipedia has reached 1,000 registered users.
- The Finnish Wikipedia has reached 90,000 articles.
- The Sanskrit Wikipedia has reached 1,000 articles.
- The Occitan Wikipedia has reached 6,000 articles.
- The Arabic Wikipedia has reached 40,000 registered users.
- The Waloon Wikipedia has reached 8,000 articles.
- The Galician Wikipedia has reached 20,000 articles.
- The Afrikaans Wikipedia has reached 6,000 articles.
Wikipedia in the news
Wikipedia revolutionary but has shortcomings
CBS News covered Wikipedia on Sunday, 10 December. A Sunday Morning correspondent interviewed Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger regarding Wikipedia's revolutionary method of information sharing. The article discusses the Nature survey and mistakes which appear in articles since it can be edited at anytime by any person. Wales is quoted, "You need to have some consideration if you ... read something that seems a little crazy you should stop and think about it." Sanger confirmed the article's premise, "It is absolutely revolutionary. Scholarship, learning, is gonna change forever."
One year down, Law Professor still predicts Wikipedia's demise
Information Week covered a recent blog post from law professor, Eric Goldman that affirmed his prior blog from 4 December, 2005 that predicted that Wikipedia would fail within 5 years. Goldman focused on three perceived weaknesses: maintenance by a small core group of contributors, additional "bureaucracy and tight editorial control" diverge from the open-access claims, and a lack of incentives to keep contributing. Goldman notes that the attacks continue, sometimes spurred on by major media figures, but interestingly, Goldman failed to note the emergence of anti-vandal bots on Wikipedia, and their use to do some of the repetitive and unsatisfying tasks.
Japanese Wikipedia wins Web of the Year 2006
The Japanese Wikipedia won the Web of the Year 2006 from Yahoo! Japan Internet Guide. Wikipedia won the annual prize and was ranked 1st by many polls. Noting that Wikipedia is often cited as the beginning of Web 2.0, the article claims that Wikipedia is now utilized generally for information gathering (Article in Japanese).
Community collaboration to cost less
In a widely syndicated story from Reuters, Wikipedia was frequently mentioned in conjunction with the latest announcement from Wikia. Jimmy Wales announced that Wikia would provide free hosting services which would include providing open source applications, web storage, and bandwidth. See also The Age and InfoWorld.
Wikipedia as source
- builder.com refers to Grace Hopper on the 100th anniversary of her birth.
- honestreporting.com refers readers to Salam Daher to explain the confusion surrounding his name.
- Editor and Publisher quotes the introduction from William Nolde in an article on the last soldier to die in the Vietnam War.
- A press release from TD Canada Trust refers to Wikipedia for history on Automated Teller Machines.
- An article on subsidsidized healthcare by KXMB-TV cites Wikipedia as a definitive source for the number of Americans signed up for Medicare and Medicaid.
- The Statesman Journal refers to Wikipedia for a definition of governance.
Other news
- Google announced on its Official Blog that Google Earth will now make Wikipedia articles available while looking at geographic information. Information from Wikipedia will be identified by the Wikipedia globe.
- IT Week in discussing risks of allowing internet access at work, identified Wikipedia as susceptible to "pesky malware writers" while recognizing the "threats are mainly theoretical."
- The Roanoke Times noted that a local dispute regarding Carilion Health System included recent edits on Wikipedia criticising chief executive Dr. Edward Murphy.
Features and admins
Administrators
Four users were granted admin status via the Requests for Adminship process this week: Gray Porpoise (nom), Amalas (nom), MrDarcy (nom), and Stemonitis (nom).
Featured content
Ten articles were promoted to featured status last week: Megadeth, California Gold Rush, Battle of Dien Bien Phu, White Deer Hole Creek, Aldol reaction, Russian Ground Forces, Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon, Tropical Storm Henri (2003), Invasion of Tulagi (May 1942), and Clement of Dunblane.
One article was de-featured last week: Revised Standard Version.
Six portals reached featured status last week: Portal:Literature, Portal:Chemistry, Portal:Education, Portal:Mathematics, Portal:Italian Wars, and Portal:Psychology.
Five lists were featured last week: List of temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, List of Alberta general elections, 2006 ICC Champions Trophy squads, Narnian timeline, and List of Avatar: The Last Airbender episodes
The following featured articles were displayed last week on the Main Page as Today's featured article: "Weird Al" Yankovic, Down syndrome, Mount Rushmore, Extrasolar planet, Macedonia (terminology), Ina Garten, and Iranian peoples. Down syndrome broke a FA record with 533 edits while on the Main Page, despite being semiprotected for nearly 4 1/2 hours during the day. This broke the previous record of 453 edits, set by The Lord of the Rings in October.
The following featured pictures were displayed last week on the Main Page as picture of the day: Pioneer plaque, Walt Whitman, Angel of the North, Nishi (tribe), Dry Tortugas National Park, Tibetan prayer flag, and United States Capitol.
Four pictures were featured last week:
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Internet map
Bugs, Repairs, and Internal Operational News
Special:Recentchanges and Special:Recentchangeslinked now display the number of characters added to or removed from a page for each edit. This will hopefully allow simple vandalism, such as page blanking, to be more easily spotted. Third-party vandalism-fighting tools have included such counts for some time. (Leon Weber, bug 1085, r18237–8)
Redirects to sections now work, using text such as #REDIRECT [[Main Page#Other areas of Wikipedia]]. The feature should be used cautiously, because users may be confused by being sent to the middle of a page when clicking an ordinary-looking link, and the redirect notice will be obscured by the jump. (Tim Starling, bug 218, r18220)
A new extension by Travis Derouin, Extension:ImportFreeImages, was checked into the code repository. The extension allows users to import appropriately-licensed images into their wiki from Flickr. A live test is available here. The extension has not yet been enabled on any Wikimedia Foundation wikis, but it has already been suggested that it might be useful for the Wikimedia Commons.
MediaWiki installations will no longer attempt to "break out" of HTML frameset elements by default. This allows them to be embedded in other Web pages without any problems. (Tim Starling, r18220)
A bug in the autoblock whitelist (see archived story) that prevented it from functioning was fixed, so it should now work. (Andrew Garrett, r18222)
A few interface changes were made:
- Sortable tables no longer use the Unicode arrow characters ↓ ↑ ↕ for sort direction buttons, but rather use icons taken from Semantic MediaWiki. These should be overridable by changing the JavaScript variables
UP_ARROW,DOWN_ARROW, andNO_ARROWto the URL of a desired image (which may be an uploaded file). (Simetrical, r17986) - Diffs over multiple revisions now note the number of revisions they cover. Previously it was impossible to determine from the diff page alone whether the changes were made in a single edit or in multiple edits. (Ilmari Karonen, bug 5485, r18194)
- There is no longer a shortcut key to log out of the wiki. Formerly the key was "o", but logging out is relatively rare but inconvenient if done by accident, and the key is right next to "p" (the shortcut key for preview). The change will not take effect on wikis that have customized MediaWiki:Monobook.js, such as the English Wikipedia. Where the change does take effect, users can add
ta['pt-logout'][0] = 'o';to Special:Mypage/monobook.js to restore the change, and likewise users of any wiki can addta['pt-logout'][0] = '';to Special:Mypage/monobook.js to enact it. (Simetrical, bug 8203, r18248)
A number of page-specific JavaScript variables were renamed. (Tim Starling, r18220) Anyone who had been using them in a custom script will have to update it:
- 'skinname' => 'skin'
- 'articlepath' => 'wgArticlePath'
- 'scriptpath' => 'wgScriptPath'
- 'serverurl' => 'wgServer'
- 'nscanonical' => 'wgCanonicalNamespace'
- 'nsnumber' => 'wgNamespaceNumber'
- 'titleprefixeddbkey' => 'wgPageName'
- 'titletext' => 'wgTitle'
- 'articleid' => 'wgArticleId'
- 'currevisionid' => 'wgCurRevisionId'
- 'isarticle' => 'wgIsArticle'
- 'username' => 'wgUserName'
- 'userlang' => 'wgUserLanguage'
- 'lang' => 'wgContentLanguage'
- 'jsmimetype' and 'stylepath' were removed.
Some updates were made to non-English messages, specifically:
- Cantonese (thanks to Shinjiman)
- German (thanks to Leon Weber)
- Hebrew (thanks to Rotem Liss)
- Italian (thanks to BrokenArrow)
- Japanese (thanks to kaikkd)
- Lingala (thanks to Denis Jacquerye)
- Russian (thanks to Alexander Sigachov)
- Portuguese (thanks to 555)
- Slovak (thanks to Helix84)
Internationalization help is always appreciated! See m:Localization statistics for how complete the translations of languages you know are, and post any updates to Mediazilla.
The Report On Lengthy Litigation
The Arbitration Committee opened one case this week, and closed five cases, leaving only six still in arbitration.
Closed cases
- Hkelkar: A case involving the actions of Hkelkar, a probable sockpuppet of Subhash bose, on various articles. The case was expanded to consider the behavior of a number of other editors including BhaiSaab, User:TerryJ-Ho and Bakasuprman. As a result of the case, Hkelkar and sockpuppets, TerryJ-Ho and BhaiSaab were banned for one year, and placed on probation when they return.
- Konstable: A case involving the actions of Konstable, an administrator who left the project, but then returned and created an alternative account, which some allege was used for disruption. This was then blocked, and he used his sysop tools to unblock it, causing some to call for his desysopping. As a result of the case, Konstable (who had already resigned adminship) was formally desysopped, in a manner similar to the formalising of the resignations of Tony Sidaway and Kelly Martin in the Giano case. Fred Bauder proposed a motion recusing Dmcdevit from the case, but it was defeated.
- ScienceApologist: A case brought by User:Asmodeus alleging that User:ScienceApologist and others are harassing him in regards to Asmodeus' real life identity, as well as biased editing of Christopher Michael Langan and related articles. Several editors alleged that Asmodeus is an aggressive editor and that Asmodeus and User:DrL have conflicts of interest regarding Christopher Michael Langan and related articles. As a result of the case, Asmodeus and DrL are banned from editing articles related to Christopher Michael Langan and his ideas and placed on probation. User:Haldane Fisher is banned indefinitely as an attack account. ScienceApologist is counseled to be more diplomatic when dealing with editors who may be advancing their own original research, and FeloniusMonk is counseled to consult with other administrators regarding disruptive users.
- Elvis: A case involving the actions of Lochdale and Onefortyone on the Elvis Presley article. As a result of the case, Lochdale was be banned from the article indefinitely, and Onefortyone kept on probation.
- Protecting children's privacy: A case involving a policy proposal on the Wikipedia:Protecting children's privacy page. The committee was asked to determine whether the proposed policy has consensus and should be adopted, but declined to rule on this issue. Instead, they encouraged the community to continue working on the proposal with the goal of achieving consensus, and voted to affirm the practice of counseling children not to disclose personal information and to delete such information in appropriate cases.
New case
- Brahma Kumaris: A case involving the actions of avyakt7 and 195.82.106.244 (.244) on the Brahma Kumaris article. Avyakt alleges that .244 has defamed Brahma Kumaris in the article, but .244 claims that avyakt has misinterpreted the reliable sources policy.
Evidence phase
- Sex Tourism: A case involving a revert war on the Sex tourism article.
- Waldorf education: A case on Rudolf Steiner, Waldorf education and related pages.
- Iran-Iraq War: A case referred by the mediation committee regarding a dispute on the Iran-Iraq War page. Arbitrator Fred Bauder has proposed a motion dismissing the case for lack of evidence.
Voting phase
- Seabhcan: Various parties, principally MONGO, allege that Seabhcan has engaged in repeated incivility, but he claims that the incidents occurred such a long time ago as to be moot, and that MONGO and others have acted aggressively in the course of the dispute, alleging that "what they want is blood". At the present time, 5 arbitrators have voted to desysop both Seabhcan and MONGO, and to place Seabhcan on personal attack parole.
- RPJ: Various users allege that RPJ edits disruptively (although in good faith) on various articles related to conspiracy theories, such as John F. Kennedy Assassination. In response, he denies the allegations, and raised some "practical concerns about arbitration", which seem to regard the legitimacy of the Arbitration Committee bindingly to resolve disputes. Fred Bauder has proposed findings of fact that RPJ engages in original research and has few contributions that are not disruptive edits to Kennedy assassination articles, and has proposed a one year site ban followed by indefinite probation.