Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2018-03-29/Op-ed
Death knell sounding for the Signpost?
Op-ed
Despite the brave efforts of many past and present editorial staff, The Signpost, our English Wikipedia 'newspaper' which began when the project was started by Michael Snow, who continues to contribute to Wikipedia, is beginning to show signs of tiredness. This may be due to a perceived downward trend in many meta aspects of the encyclopedia. The first issue was released on 10 January 2005. Originally begun as a weekly publication, in July 2016 the official schedule was changed to every two weeks, but by November the issues were already running late with the next issue appearing on 26 November and the following Signpost not being published until 22 December three weeks later.
Signpost appeared on 17 January 2017 with a lead article from (then) editor-in-chief, Peter Forsyth, entitled Next steps for the Signpost. Forsyth's article, which explained some of the concerns surrounding the newspaper, received a significant number of comments from readers including one from Blue Rasberry who suggested that a grant may be worth considering:Aschmidt suggested that Signpost could be made a blog, or even a journal, with James Heilman, known for his work on the Medicine project, responding with 'Sort of like the Wiki Journal of Medicine? It is a fair bit of work. But could be good.' Stating that other related projects are '...experiencing parallel attenuation (...) Better to have fewer issues with excellent content than to fake along for the sake of hitting a weekly deadline' , Carrite makes a poignant reflection.If there were a rotating internship program at The Signpost for journalism students then from one perspective it seems controversial to pay for content, but from another perspective for years the international wiki community has major projects with major investment which are almost unknown for lack of journalism. … This is wiki's own newspaper of record and if it has problems then I wish we could explore options to support volunteers in maintaining it.
From August 2017 that weekly deadline became monthly; now in its thirteenth year, the previous issue was published on 20 February with a note that the next one would be due out on 27 February (a week later?). At the time of writing, this next Signpost is 20 days overdue. For many years, the newspaper has been a pivotal point of information for regular contributors, both to article content and maintenance areas and while a new trend has developed towards issuing newsletters, these are sent to selected groups on dedicated messaging lists which don't necessarily reach everyone and which do not have the wealth of the Signpost's mailing list.
The newspaper is a vital line in Wikipedia's train of communication. A final abandonment of the fine Signpost pointing to important issues – and even occasional humour – would be a great loss to the community; indeed, some Requests for Comment have received complaints from users that they were not adequately informed. It is naturally understandable that not all users possess the editing skills to compile and publish the periodical, but out there are certainly some with a flair for prose and reporting. There are ways of creating more awareness of the newspaper, such as watchlist notices or even incorporating it in welcome templates, but there are also many possible other suggestions for solutions. They just need to be made.
Kudpung has been a Wikipedia contributor since 2006 and an administrator since 2011. His focus is on policy changes concerning deletions/notability, RfA, and the improvement of the new page patrolling and AfC processes. The views expressed in this article are his alone and do not reflect any official opinions of this publication.
Discuss this story
Signing off of the The Signpost would be a shame. I have always enjoyed the materials in the Signpost. Once a month is about right. But if this cannot be applied, If need be, make it once every two months, but please don't cancel this highly informative and interesting feature. werldwayd (talk) 18:59, 29 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]
. I'm interested in contributing. How do I get involved? —AnAwesomeArticleEditor (talk
contribs) 19:17, 29 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]
- The one time I tried writing anything for the Signpost no one bothered to even see if they wanted to publish it, eventually I just deleted it myself. That was 2012 and it was markedly detached from its readership then, now it's even less engaged. Keeping it going if there's genuine interest is fine, but to keep on writing for the sake of the Signpost is just a paraphrase of After the Thrill is Gone. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 22:37, 29 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]
- Anything Lane suggests, like this grant, is not helpful or effective. The bottom line is that creating and producing a publication like this takes a lot of free digital labor, and who has the time to do this on a sustained level? And who could do it to the level of competency that would require meeting the very high standards -- as well as nonsense -- of the Wikimedia communities. It totally makes sense the Signpost is in trouble. - Erika aka BrillLyle (talk) 23:20, 29 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]
- I thought what Resident Mario said way back in 2016 rings true even today.
Eddie891's creature 23:25, 29 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]How about a bi-monthly schedule? – Athaenara ✉ 01:06, 30 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I've been editing at Wikipedia for many years, and I also write for several news services on a regular basis. Bringing my experience from Wikipedia and news writing to bear, I have to say that the material about contributing is daunting and confusing, much like most of what goes on behind the scenes at Wikipedia. I'm sure that these problems have been discussed at length regarding the encyclopedia overall (I long ago gave up trying to follow any sort of project talk pages because it's extremely time-intensive), but my sense is that barriers to editing the "encyclopedia anyone can edit" are amplified by the deadlines and standards in place for this newsletter. In short, everything takes a considerable investment in time to learn to do, and as someone with experience in both worlds I don't think I could find that time. Even with that experience, I'd be spending twice as much time on an article here than I do out in the world, and I'm getting paid for those. I hope a solution is found, but Wikipedia is the sort of environment where things get more complex and cumbersome with time, rather than simpler. Best of luck; I'll revisit this when I'm retired and see if I have enough remaining mental acuity to dig in.--~TPW 13:51, 30 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Additionally, I can't help but wonder if, given the important independent voice represented here, this might not be a suitable project to actually spend some of the foundation's vast resources, rather than putting it entirely on the shoulders of volunteers. Might be something worth considering during the next board election cycle. I'd vote for someone who had that as a plank in the platform.--~TPW 13:55, 30 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]
The submissions script does not generate any content at all. Submissions are generated by their authors. The actual submission system is so complicate it even confused me enough for me to make a mess of it. The system almost certainly puts some people off wanting to submit an article. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 22:20, 1 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Bryanrutherford0; I am also a long-time editor who had never heard of the Signpost. Perhaps this new exposure will help things. KarlFrei (talk) 09:15, 9 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Once a month or it's over
If we can't get any editors willing to update the Signpost (at least) once a month? then it's doomed. GoodDay (talk) 16:57, 6 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Deadline