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29 March 2018

 

2018-03-29

Death knell sounding for the Signpost?

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By Kudpung

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:

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.

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.

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.



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2018-03-29

Wiki Conference roundup and new appointments

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By Lane Rasberry
GLAMWiki Con just announced in Tel Aviv for November 2018

Conference Announcements and updates

Wikimedia Conference 2018 will take place in Berlin 20 to 22 April, 2018 to discuss the administration and governance of the international Wikimedia community. Registration is closed. However, anyone who has questions, concerns, or requests for advocacy should seek a conversation with the Wikimedia community representatives who are registered and planning to attend. The conference has the most impact when wiki community members select good delegates every year and when those delegates go with good support from their community to advocate for regional and subject matter interests. Please contact and support your representatives with good wishes in advance of this conference. Expected attendance is 250 people.

Wikimedia Hackathon 2018 will take place 18 – 20 May 2018 in Barcelona. This is a technical conference for those wishing to participate in Wikimedia code development on the MediaWiki platform. Registration is closed. Anyone with concerns, questions, and requests about Wikimedia development should watch the program page as the schedule develops and contact presenters and attendees, who all encourage each other to receive and report comments and requests.

Wikimania 2018 will take place July 18-22, 2018 in Cape Town. This general interest Wikimedia conference seeks to present the highest impact and highest profile Wikimedia projects and concerns. General scholarship applications are closed although individual Wikimedia organizations may continue to post regional and special interest scholarships at Attend. Program submissions close on 18 March 2018 and the schedule will begin to be set in May. This conference has an expected attendance of 1000.

WikiConference North America will take place October 18-21, 2018 in Columbus, Ohio. Usual programming at this event reflects the interests and projects of regional Wikimedia organizations and partipants, most of which focus on English Wikipedia and are relevant to Signpost readers. Neither scholarships nor program submissions are yet open, but interested persons may want to reserve the date. When scholarships are available they are offered only to people in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Anyone may join the planning by contacting organizers at the meta:WikiConference North America user group. Expected attendance is 300 people.

GLAMWiki Con will take place on November 3rd - 5th 2018, in the Tel Aviv Cinematheque venue, in Tel Aviv, Israel. The event seeks to encourage collaboration among Wikimedia community contributors sharing information from cultural institutions and outreach staff at cultural institutions who would like to share their expertise and media with the Wikimedia community and its audience. The call for submissions and the call for scholarship applications both open 18 March 2018. Expected attendance is about 150 people.

Steward election results announced

Wikimedia Stewards are the elected Wikimedia community members who have complete access to use and grant all userrights on all Wikimedia platforms. As such, these users go through the most strict community review which the Wikimedia community can organize while balancing that need to provide administrative support especially to underdeveloped and underserved Wikimedia projects. The 2018 election ended with the election committee posting results on 28 February. The Signpost welcomes user:There'sNoTime and user:Green Giant, both of whom have a home in English Wikipedia, along with Rxy from Japanese Wikipedia, -revi from Korean Wikipedia, and علاء from Arabic Wikipedia. There are now 34 stewards, all of whom are volunteers and all of whom have demonstrated extraordinary understanding, courtesy, and ability in Wikimedia projects. Anyone wishing to show gratitude can become more aware of Wikipedia:Administration and the volunteers who assist in this area. Stewards and all administrators appreciate any volunteer who understand their role and make timely, well formatted requests for assistance whenever appropriate.

Brief notes

United States Founding Father Thomas Jefferson designed The Rotunda, a monument to higher education – and inspiration to WikiProject University of Virginia



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2018-03-29

Ironing out issues in infoboxes; not sure yet about New Jersey; and an administrator who probably wasn't uncivil to a sockpuppet

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By Bri

Ongoing cases

Arbcom to editors: Be nice to others here ... or else. Also in New Jersey.

Civility in infobox discussions opened 3 February, evidence phase closed 19 February. The decision has been overdue since 8 March. Workshopped remedies include a new discretionary sanction to be applied to infoboxes, called "infobox probation". Cassianto will likely be the first recipient of infobox probation. A new 1RR rule has strong consensus that governs any edit that "removes, collapses, or removes verifiable information from an infobox from any article".

New requests

"New Jersey-related AfDs"

New Jersey-related AfDs: opened 8 March 2018 by Power~enwiki, naming Rusf10 and Alansohn. At issue is AfD behavior of the two named editors, and outing issues. Three committee members have voted not to take the case, citing progress being made at an active ANI thread (permlink).

"Admin abuse"

Admin abuse: opened 11 March 2018 by Saboteurest, naming Canterbury Tail. 1/8/0 at time of writing; unlikely to be heard. Especially since complainant was blocked as a sock on 12 March. Some discussion can be found here that may provide future procedural guidance for cases alleging admin misbehavior, summarized by a statement from Opabinia regalis, who felt Arbcom was more appropriate than ANI "when the behavior is blatantly inappropriate or when a long history of problems is well-substantiated in the original request, more so than when the request is triggered by a single debatable incident".



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2018-03-29

The media on Wikipedia's workings: the good and not-so-good

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By Eddie891 and Bri

Wikipedia wars

The Southern Poverty Law Center examined how theories of racial intelligence and other fringe science are represented in Wikipedia.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) recently reported on the "Wikipedia wars" in which they say fringe views "outstrip Wikipedia's capacity to police its content". The article is very critical of Wikipedia, saying "the free encyclopedia's openness and anonymity leave it vulnerable to manipulation by neo-Nazis, white nationalists and racist academics seeking a wider audience for extreme views". The Wiki community's own User:Doug Weller is quoted in the article as saying that the nature of Wikipedia leaves it very susceptible to manipulation by the alt-right and others. The report also quotes Magnus Hansen (User:Maunus) who says the encyclopedia's policies are "more oriented toward conduct than content", making it "hard to get users blocked or restricted for consistently providing ideologically skewed content". The journal Intelligence was held up as a demonstration of a questionable source for theories that made it into Wikipedia's article "History of the race and intelligence controversy". According to the SPLC article, POV-pushing racialist academics and others win battles by wearing a skin of academic neutrality and wearing down others in "tedious and frustrating debates or tie up administrators in endless rounds of mediation". In addition, SPLC says that false weight is given to fringe theories; the specific example of overrepresentation of Pioneer Fund theories was given. Other problems cited included the use of sockpuppets and meatpuppets to "win" the Wikipedia content war and content forks to preserve fringe content in the face of deletion.

Copying from Wikipedia

If it's good enough for Hindustan Times, then it's good enough for Okayama Prefectural Assembly (image copied from Commons without attribution).

In what is seeming to sound like a broken record, plagiarism from Wikipedia has been reported yet again. This time around, lawmakers from Okayama Prefecture in Japan submitted reports about their recent trip to the United States that had passages copied from Japanese Wikipedia. Of the "13 reports, 11 were more than half identical" The Mainichi reported. The lawmakers did not deny the allegations, saying, "As a general rule, when writing reports, we weave together publicly available facts, and it's permissible for us to quote other sources. There are no explicit rules on writing up the reports, and so there are no problems with rule violations."

In brief

Wired discussed selection of this image to illustrate the article "Human".
  • Wikipedia Zero ends: TechCrunch and Engadget were among the news organizations reporting that the Wikimedia Foundation ended their Wikipedia Zero project.
  • Humanity in a Picture: Wired reported on the struggle of Wikipedia editors to find the perfect image representative of all humanity on the page of a Human. They eventually picked the image shown. The article praises the editors for their efforts to account for biases – and to encapsulate the human race in one photo.
  • How the page on a gun was taken over: The Verge contends that the Wikipedia article "AR-15 style rifle" has been taken over by gun enthusiasts, who are working in WikiProject Firearms to keep any mention of mass shootings off the page. Editor's note – the page was moved from "Modern sporting rifle" on February 24, and is move-locked.
  • A uniquely Swedish idea: The Economist writes about an edit-a-thon run in collaboration with Wikimedia by Swedish diplomats in 54 embassies on International Women's Day. Further information: Wikipedia:Meetup/NYC/WikiGap.
  • On editathons: The Las Vegas Sun commented that since 2013 "more than 7,000 people have created or improved more than 11,000 Wikipedia articles in a series of annual [sic] events with outposts around the globe."
  • AI editors?: The Register mentioned that Google Brain has created artificial intelligence capable of editing with reasonable skill. Has the day come when AI will replace editors on Wikipedia? Not yet. But maybe we should start working on attribution policy for AI-generated article content just in case.



Do you want to contribute to "In the media" by writing a story or even just an "in brief" item? Edit next week's edition in the Newsroom or leave a tip on the suggestions page.



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2018-03-29

Real sports, real women and an imaginary country... what's on top for readers

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By Stormy clouds, Igordebraga, and Soulbust
This traffic report is adapted from the Top 25 Report.

Wakanda on Ice (February 18 to 24, 2018)

The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

Wikipedia? More like Wakandapedia, am I right?: Following on from last week's report, we see a significant number of repeat entries, with the same three items dominating the agenda completely – the all-encompassing cinematic powerhouse that is Black Panther, the Winter Olympics in South Korea, and the fallout of the school shooting in Parkland. However, other items managed to penetrate the list outside of this triad, such as a deceased pastor (#3) and a sprinkling of r/TIL items from Reddit (thanks, guys). All in all, the list is lacking in diversity amongst its items, which is ironic given the diversity of the film which controls it. Anyway, it is nonetheless of interest. After two weeks atop the report, I can state "Wakanda Forever" indeed.

Without any further macroscopic ruminations on the list, for the week of February 18 to 24, 2017, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:

Rank Article Class Views Image Notes
1 Black Panther (film) 3,426,528
Wakanda forever! Two years after his film debut in Captain America: Civil War, King T'Challa stars in a compelling, provocative and entertaining solo film that is one of the most African movies ever, even if it was made by a filmmaker from Oakland (#23). Along with much critical praise, Black Panther is also wrecking up box office records, grossing $700 million in less than two weeks.
2 Sylvester Stallone 2,748,618
As if shock death reports aren't enough, sometimes the internet decides to kill famous people before their time. The latest victim of such a thing was Stallone, with a rumor that he had died of cancer driving readers to his page, but he was thankfully alive to call out on the "stupidity". In the meantime, he prepares to return as Rocky Balboa in the sequel for Creed, whose director (#23) and main actor (#5) received Sly's compliments for their work in Black Panther (#1).
3 Billy Graham 1,662,485
"The only boy who could ever teach me, was the son of a preacher man."
Graham is arguably the second most influential preacher of recent memory, and over the span of his 99-year long earthly career, he used his pulpit to deliver sermon and speech to billions of adherents. While many may not have agreed with his biblical interpretations, Graham's massive impact is undeniable, as he managed to become a close aide for multiple presidents, and a strong supporter of the civil rights movement. Christianity lost one of its bastions this week, and curious Wikipedians journeyed to parse the page of the evangelist, who led his congregation in some slightly less violent crusades...
4 2018 Winter Olympics 1,264,289
Both writers here aren't much interested in the Winter Games – one's country never does well in winter sports, the other's nation barely has snow – but can't deny this year's events had some fun moments. And being in South Korea, it serves as preparation for how the 2020 Summer Olympics will force sports fans to live in the Japan Standard Time.
5 Michael B. Jordan 1,196,642
As the proverb goes, "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again" – this saying is more directly applicable to Jordan than most. Nowadays, all Hollywood mainstays (apart from Leo), harbor heroic aspirations, and tie their colors to the mast of one of the superhero universes. However, after Jordan's first effort ended in abject failure, he got a second swing at it, portraying Erik Kilmonger (#25) in the zeitgeist-capturing Black Panther (#1). One would be foolish to question his acting credentials, even if he is doomed to be the other Michael Jordan for perpetuity.
6 Exo (band) 1,175,866
Another entry from the snowy utopia of Pyeongchang now, though a less direct one. Exo are a very popular K-pop group, but they have not yet seeped into Western culture like some of their peers. However, after performing at the closing ceremony in dramatic and entertaining fashion, they have hit the headlines in the West. Perhaps they can cross the Pacific and become superstars stateside. I may not have too much of an affinity for their lyrics, but their music cannot be worse than the supposed perfection of current compositions.
7 Chadwick Boseman 1,000,935
A truly excellent actor, Boseman portrays the titular King T'Challa in Black Panther (#1), donning the costume he first took on in Captain America: Civil War once again. Despite the presence of a massive number of burgeoning and talented black actors appearing in the film, Boseman still shines above and beyond as he delivers a captivating and nuanced performance.
8 Lindsey Vonn 982,028
American alpine skier Vonn got a bronze in the downhill, a reminder that she's still a good athlete in spite of the controversy she raised following negative comments regarding President Donald Trump, which even led some enraged people online to brand Vonn as anti-American and root for her failure. I feel that this is anti-thetical to the Olympic spirit myself, and should be unequivocally condemned.
9 Tessa Virtue 930,176
The Canadian figure skater is part of a dynamic duo with Scott Moir (#16), who competed, with golden success, in Pyeongchang. However, this is not the reason why her figures have been propelled upwards. Rather, following a performance best characterised as steamy on St. Valentine's Day, the internet became convinced that the duo were in love, despite their insistence to the contrary. So, it appears, the highly successful skaters are merely platonic friends, and their relationship is professional rather than amourous. Eh, still a better love story than Twilight.
10 Curling 615,273
The Winter Olympics are not as interesting as the Summer ones, specially when offered speed (sledding, hockey), dangerous stunts (skiing and snowboarding), and beauty (figure skating), the broadcasters dedicate so much time to curling, this sport revolving around throwing rocks and sweeping ice that was ripe for a song parody.
11 Black Panther (comics) 754,040
T'Challa is the king of the fictional Wakanda, and as such controls vast swathes of vibranium. The metal, blended as an alloy with adamantium to form Captain America's shield, is worth titanic amounts of money according to Marvel canon. Thanks to the film adaptation of the character (#1), where he is portrayed by Chadwick Boseman (#7), Marvel Studios could take all of the metal off his hands, and have some change left over after the transaction.
12 Deaths in 2018 635,086
Death is omnipresent, and curiosity for the morbid is a guarantee amongst purveyors of Wikipedia, thus parachuting this list of the fallen into each and every iteration of the Report. This week's congregation is led, rather fittingly, by Billy Graham. (#3)
13 Steven Holcomb 610,934
Last week we had a disgraced former Winter Olympian in Tonya Harding. This week is a deceased one, a bobsledder whose death in the U.S. Olympic Training Center last year was still being felt by his teammates: they wore bracelets with Holcomb's nickname "Night Train" and brought his mother to support them in South Korea.
14 Dua Lipa 610,934
Dua Lipa is the latest sensation on the music scene, with musicphiles the world over embracing her new rules. She has been propelled into the report this week due to the Brit Awards, where she won bigly. Her live performance garnered criticism in some quarters, with accusations of a lack of stage presence being levied at her. However, having bagged four awards, I'm sure that she does not give a f**k.
15 Johnny Weir 609,659
Weir, a former figure skater, is part of a duo with Tara Lipinski on NBC, covering the Winter Olympics. The LGBTQ activist engages audiences daily by commenting on events over in Pyeongchang, and this is drawing many internet users to his article. I can't say that I find the sport too intriguing, but their shared commentary is riveting and humorous, perhaps accounting for their popularity.
16 Scott Moir 584,347
How can you tell if a person cannot be discussed without bringing up someone else? In Moir's case, just look at our images of him on Commons: all of them also have Tessa Virtue (#9). No wonder they both work really well together – their gold in the 2010 Olympics, pictured to the left, is now joined by two others in 2018 – and have fans wondering if they're a couple.
17 Tara Lipinski 551,687
The former figure skater and Olympic champion is part of NBC's analysis panel for the Winter Olympics (#3) alongside her co-anchor, Johnny Weir (#15). Perhaps her ubiquity on the Peacock network has propelled her figures on Wikipedia upwards, as has her sharp critiques of the skaters. Living outside of the US, I cannot say that I am too familiar with Lipinski and her credentials to analyse the Winter Olympics, but the last syllable of her surname is irrefutably apt.
18 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting 572,136
Last week, I discussed the need, the absolute and irrefutable prerogative, to implement legislation to curb firearms use in the United States of America. However, it has become apparent to me that such advice will not be heeded, and to repeat it is redundant. The blood of the 17 victims is barely even dry, and their schoolmates and colleagues are doing every thing in their power to ensure that their loss is not futile – even if they are branded as actors by some deplorable individuals. The grand old solution to this predicament – let's arm the teachers, and turn schools into a live playthrough of a COD game. More children will die. This does not happen elsewhere. But, sure, what is the cost of dead kids when you get to hang on to a AR-15 in case the government goes rogue and you need it to stop them?
19 Steller's sea cow 564,342
Having being somewhat quiet in recent iterations of the report, the eminently intellectual subreddit that is r/TIL strikes back. Without them, this list would be significantly less diverse and entertaining. This is a particularly intriguing entry, focusing on a massive extinct dugong. Good to see a Featured Article attracting attention as well.
20 Columbine High School massacre 550,392
Perhaps the most infamous of the many, many, many school shootings stateside, the Columbine massacre resulted in 15 deaths, including those of the perpetrators. Up until the Florida shooting (#18), it was the worst massacre to occur at a high school. Columbine occurred in the 1990's, before 9/11, and reminded the USA of the heinous evil which can manifest itself, and affected the culture of the era to a large extent accordingly. Not enough to change anything, though.
21 Perpetual stew 547,204
Another Reddit contribution, as someone learned about this collaborative culinary concoction, where the pot is never emptied as people keep adding new ingredients and liquid. Wonder if any of those stews started with a stone.
22 Letitia Wright 540,218
This week's report concludes with a Wakandan quartet, with all four items related directly to the riveting and riotously successful box office behemoth that tops this list. Highest placed, understandably, is the most obscure of the bunch – Letitia Wright, who portrays T'Challa's sister in the film. This is a breakthrough role for the British actor, building upon a rigid foundation laid by Charlie Brooker. She was captivating in that part, and is clever and charming as Shuri.
23 Ryan Coogler 518,075
Next up, we have the director of the watercooler work, Ryan Coogler. He previously made the astounding Fruitvale Station and subsequently turned what should have been a routine franchise release into one of the best films of 2015. It is of little surprise to cinephiles, therefore, that even within the rigid confines of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he produced a sublime superhero film. Coogler has an exceptionally bright future ahead of him, with the opportunity to become a seminal African-American director, a subset which Hollywood has traditionally neglected.
24 Lupita Nyong'o 509,620
Next up is Lupita Nyong'o, one of the most highly regarded black actresses currently working in film. Having bagged a (well deserved) Oscar for 12 Years a Slave, and appearing in one of the most memorable photos of the decade, Nyong'o has moved on to franchise fare, initially appearing as Maz Kanata in every nerd's second favourite space themed franchise, and now as Nakia in Black Panther. While playing the stereotypical love interest role, Nyong'o's character is driven, dogged, and determined – qualities that the actress herself will require if her new ambition is to succeed.
25 Erik Killmonger 505,368
As we began this report with Black Panther in the ascendancy, it is only fitting that we conclude with its antagonist. Portrayed by Michael B. Jordan, and adorned in a fierce tribal mask, (symbolized here with a Burkina Faso artifact, ca. 1800) Kilmonger spends the film on a crusade, determined to use the advanced technology of Wakanda to liberate his American brethren. However, while this pursuit may perhaps curry favour and support amongst a cinematic audience, Kilmonger is far too ruthless and repugnant an individual to endorse over T'Challa. He attempts to usurp the crown, and anarchic chaos ensues. I shan't continue with this synopsis any longer, but suffice it to say that the film was very entertaining – anyone on the fence should join the masses and watch it, as you are unlikely to be disappointed.

Taste of India (February 25 to March 3, 2018)

Three months later, another Bollywood death results in a Top 25 Report dominated by India. And with a much higher view count, given Sridevi Kapoor (#1) was upon death three decades younger than Shashi Kapoor – unrelated, to the point the entries the actress pulls up are from another Kapoor family. India also puts up the holiday of Holi at #5. As reminders of last week, another Asian country, South Korea, provides the goodbye to the Winter Olympics and two K-Pop bands propelled by the event; the smash hit Black Panther and its protagonist and antagonist; and as a complement to the ever-present death list, recently deceased reverend Billy Graham. The report is completed by a variety of subjects: American (#10) and international politics (#16), Hollywood movies and actresses (#21 to #23), wrestling (#14) and two Reddit topics (#18 and #24).

For the week of February 25 to March 3, 2018, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:

Rank Article Class Views Image Notes
1 Sridevi 6,704,872
Referred to as the "First Female Superstar" of Indian cinema, her death proves that people do click on hyperlinks. Shree "Sridevi" Kapoor had a long and successful career that begun in her childhood, and was found dead at the age of 54 in a Dubai hotel, having accidentally drowned in the bathtub.
2 Boney Kapoor 2,180,664
Sridevi's widower after a marriage of 22 years, Boney Kapoor followed his father Surinder Kapoor and became a Bollywood producer.
3 Black Panther (film) 1,856,900
"This is a night for positivity, and our plan is to shine a light on a group of outstanding and inspiring films, each and every one of which got crushed by Black Panther this weekend. That's OK." – Academy Awards host Jimmy Kimmel

And he's not kidding, given Black Panther completed a third weekend atop the box office (a period during which the highest Best Picture nominee placed at 10th), and has now broken $500 million domestically and nearly $900 million worldwide.

4 Exo (band) 1,818,392
Exo are a very popular K-pop group, but they have not yet seeped into Western culture like some of their peers. However, after performing at the Winter Olympics (#25) closing ceremony in dramatic and entertaining fashion, they have hit the headlines in the West. Perhaps they can cross the Pacific and become superstars stateside.
5 Holi 1,263,776
Well, hello again, India. The "festival of colours" is an annual holiday celebrated between the end of February and the middle of March (this year, March 2nd), best known for a celebration where people smear each other with colours and drench each other.
6 Mona Shourie Kapoor 1,185,149 Boney Kapoor's (#2) first wife, a studio owner and producer who died in 2012 at the age of 48, even younger than his second wife Sridevi (#1).
7 List of Hindi film families 1,008,652
Indian readers went to this to discover more on the Kapoor family that Sridevi (#1) married herself into – and that amusingly, was not the same Kapoor family that got a bump back in December.
8 BTS (band) 998,269
Like Exo (#4), BTS are a genre-defining K-pop act, and ever since the Winter Olympics (#25) gave an extended look to South Korean culture, they are now crossing over and attempting to "break America", to adopt the parlance of British and Irish bands. If the sheer volume of Twitter interactions regarding the band (502 million in 2017) is any indication, this attempt will be a success.
9 Mithun Chakraborty 996,501
Following the death of Sridevi (#1), Indian tabloids claimed that back in the 1980s she had a brief affair and even a secret marriage to co-star Mithun, despite the fact the man has been married since 1979. Given the lack of credibility of said claims, our editors had to repeatedly remove the additions of Sridevi to his page and eventually protect the article.
10 Hope Hicks 954,589
Hicks entered the Trump administration in a role made for her, was promoted to White House Communications Director last September, and after admitting to a Congressional committee that she told "white lies" on Trump's behalf, has expressed her desire to call it quits. Having to speak for the Trump administration seems to have the same job stability as teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts.
11 Arjun Kapoor 859,475
The son of Boney (#2) and Mona Kapoor (#6), Bollywood actor Arjun Kapoor can sadly say both his mother and his stepmother (#1) died too young.
12 Deaths in 2018 745,324
Of course the recently departed make an appearance, specially in a week where a death produces the most viewed article.
13 Billy Graham 743,081
Holding on from last week, Graham is arguably the second most influential preacher of recent memory, and over the span of his 99-year long earthly career, he used his pulpit to deliver sermon and speech to billions of adherents. While many may not have agreed with his biblical interpretations, Graham's massive impact is undeniable, as he managed to become a close aide for multiple presidents, and a strong supporter of the civil rights movement. He even received a state funeral, lying in honor at the U.S. Capitol.
14 Elimination Chamber (2018) 676,188
Every new WWE pantomime earns a spot in the list. And lately, they've been featuring more women, as this event had the inaugural female "cage match", won by Alexa Bliss (pictured) and former UFC champion Ronda Rousey signing her wrestling contract.
15 Mohit Marwah 674,896
Another Bollywood actor, the nephew of Boney (#2) might have took on his father's surname, but is still part of the Kapoor clan.
16 Syrian Civil War 654,437
This Middle-Eastern country has been at war for nearly seven years, and the recent attention is due to a government offensive to expel the rebels from the rural suburbs of capital Damascus.
17 Michael B. Jordan 625,692
"Black Panther has been so successful that it's the favourite to not get nominated next year." – Jimmy Kimmel

Though if the Academy decides to recognize T'Challa's adventure, it would mark the second nominee movie featuring Jordan after Creed, whose sequel will begin filming soon. Nice to see another Human Torch rebounding, including success in a second Marvel outing.

18 Jared Fogle 598,548
Reddit learned more about how the FBI arrested former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle for child pornography charges.
19 Anil Kapoor 555,526
The younger brother of Boney Kapoor (#2) – and by extension, brother-in-law of the late Sridevi (#1) – is the one member of the clan Western movie fans might recognize, given he has appeared in both Slumdog Millionaire and the TV show 24.
20 Chadwick Boseman 516,459
"I remember a time when Hollywood didn't believe a minority or woman lead character could carry a movie... it was March of last year" – Jimmy Kimmel

Since then, Wonder Woman grossed $821.9 million worldwide, and Boseman's starring role in Black Panther (#3) surpassed that total in less than three weeks!

21 Jennifer Lawrence 511,720
Seems like J-Law can't just be judged by her career, as Vanity Fair said the press tour she's enduring for her movie Red Sparrow (which narrowly misses the list at #26) is doubling as a "Distance Yourself from Weinstein Tour", given Harvey Weinstein is using out-of-context quotes by Lawrence in his defense. In the meantime, enjoy her and Jodie Foster taking shots at Meryl Streep during the Oscars.
22 Emma Chambers 506,679 Known in the United Kingdom of the TV series The Vicar of Dibley and in the U.S. for playing Hugh Grant's sister in Notting Hill, Chambers died at the age of 53.
23 Annihilation (film) 460,853
Natalie Portman (pictured) stars in this sci-fi film by the same Alex Garland of Ex Machina, that has earned some controversy because Paramount will not release the movie theatrically overseas, instead dumping it on Netflix. Given critics liked Annihilation (86% approval on Rotten Tomatoes) and the movie has performed alright in the American box office even looming under the shadow of Black Panther (#3), perhaps the studio should have given it another chance.
24 Heart Attack Grill 439,792
Another Reddit entry, this time for a burger joint in Las Vegas that offers unhealthy choices such as that sandwich pictured to the left.
25 2018 Winter Olympics 433,916
Even if the Olympics ended right as the week of this report started, and had the disavantadge of host city Pyeongchang being many hours away from Europe and the Americas, there were still enough views for one last entry. Russian athletes had to compete without a flag given International Olympic Committee decided to suspend the country for state-sponsored doping, but following the Games, Russia was accepted back following them being mostly clean (only two positive doping tests, one of them a medalist, out of 168 athletes).

And the Oscar goes to... (March 4 to 10, 2018)

Spoiler alert: Frances McDormand wins Best Actress

On this week's report, the theme was very clear. Like in years past, readers were interested by Hollywood's biggest awards ceremony: the Oscars. 14 of the 25 entries on this list are in someway related to the 90th Academy Awards (#2) and another 3 articles are also related to film.

At the Oscars, The Shape of Water (#1), and its director Guillermo del Toro (#8), took home Best Picture and Best Director, respectively. Sally Hawkins (#22) was also nominated for Best Actress for her performance in the film, but lost out to Frances McDormand (#4). McDormand and Sam Rockwell (#18) won the awards for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor, respectively, for their performances in Best Picture-nominated Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (#9). Call Me by Your Name (#11) and Get Out (#12) were also nominated for Best Picture. Timothée Chalamet's (#14) performance in the former earned him a Best Actor nomination, but he ultimately lost out to Gary Oldman's (#7) performance as Winston Churchill (#24) in Darkest Hour. Finally, Allison Janney (#16) won the Best Supporting Actress award for her performance as Tonya Harding's (#23) mother in I, Tonya.

Also in film, Black Panther (#3) continues to draw attention from readers and moviegoers. Readers were also interested in the recent deaths of film stars David Ogden Stiers (#17) and Sridevi (#21). Relatedly, Deaths in 2018 once again makes the list, this week at #13.

Sports also has a considerable representation on the list this week in the form of the sad death of Italian footballer Davide Astori (#6), the opening of the 2018 Winter Paralympics (#20), and UFC 222 (#25).

For the week of March 4 to 10, 2018, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:

Rank Article Class Views Image Notes
1 The Shape of Water 1,857,099
So, it's the fish Amphibian(!) creature–human romance winning Best Picture at this year's Oscars (#2). Directed by Guillermo del Toro (#8) and starring Doug Jones and Sally Hawkins (#22) as the aforementioned creature & human, this film has captivated many film enthusiasts and evidently, the Academy.
2 90th Academy Awards 1,486,663
This year's awards were once again hosted by Jimmy Kimmel (pictured), and I missed out on watching the ceremony. In my defense, I was on spring break, but apparently I wasn't alone. Viewership for the award ceremony was down from last year (and actually was the lowest rated in history). More importantly though, Wiki readership was down too from last year's 1.98 million views. And this year pales to the 87th edition's 6.12 million page views back in 2015.
3 Black Panther (film) 1,392,880
The hype train keeps rolling. Black Panther is being congratulated for being the first MCU film to top the U.S. box office for an incredible four (4!) consecutive weeks, besting The Avengers' 3 weeks. To be fair to The Avengers, though, that film had to compete with MIB3, a Memorial Day weekend opener. Black Panther had to face an underwhelming wrinkle in time.
No change from last week.
4 Frances McDormand 1,163,029
I guess Frances McDormand just wins awards in her spare time. Last Sunday, her performance in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (#9) landed her the Oscar for Best Actress, making her 2 for 2 now. Ya know, no big deal.
5 International Women's Day 1,072,069
Frances McDormand makes a pretty great lead-in for International Women's Day, which is (as always) observed on March 8. Slightly up in page views from last year. Google Doodles do help too.
6 Davide Astori 945,039
Fans of Italian footballer and centre back Davide Astori visited his article after he passed away in his sleep on March 4 due to cardiac arrest. Cagliari and Fiorentina, two clubs Astori played for, retired Astori's number 13.
7 Gary Oldman 917,814
Oldman's performance as Winston Churchill (#24) in Darkest Hour snagged him an Oscar for Best Actor.
8 Guillermo del Toro 836,685
del Toro is the now Academy Award winning–director behind The Shape of Water (#1). Something that really interests me is that his film was inspired by the romance between Gill-man and Kay Lawrence from Creature from the Black Lagoon, and a want for that romance to succeed.
9 Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 801,794
Martin McDonagh (pictured) wrote and directed this Best Picture nominee, and while it lost out to The Shape of Water, Frances McDormand (#4) and Sam Rockwell (#18) did win at the awards ceremony for their performances in the film.
10 Exo (band) 772,313
The K-pop band is experiencing some continued readership due to their performance at the 2018 Winter Olympics closing ceremony.
Down 6 spots from last week.
11 Call Me by Your Name (film) 749,368
This coming-of-age drama directed by Luca Guadagnino (pictured) starring Timothée Chalamet (#14) and Armie Hammer garnered a nomination for Best Picture. It was written by veteran James Ivory, who became the oldest Oscar winner ever once he won Best Adapted Screenplay at the age of 89.
12 Get Out 740,016
Get Out is, yes, another entry on this list due to its Best Picture nomination. Writer-director Jordan Peele (pictured) won Best Original Screenplay for the movie, and is certainly somebody in Hollywood to keep an eye on going forward.
13 Deaths in 2018 731,243
I wonder if dedicated readers of the report ever get bored of the skull image we use on here. I thought showcasing some art of death would be something different to at least distract from how depressing and morbid this list can be. This piece is a van Gogh by the way.
Down 1 spot from last week.
14 Timothée Chalamet 615,717
As mentioned above, Chalamet starred in Call Me by Your Name (#11). Chalamet has a really interesting background in acting have gone to LaGuardia and NYU's School of Individualized Study. I think it's worked out for him considering he has an Oscar nom (for Best Actor) under his belt now. Oh, and he also starred in Lady Bird (which just missed this list at #26), another film to be nominated for Best Picture. And he's 22 so... the future is bright.
15 Gabriel García Márquez 562,019
Colombian novelist Gabito, perhaps best known for the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, received a Google Doodle on March 6, which would have been his 91st birthday.
16 Allison Janney 537,065
Another Oscar entry here. Janney's performance as Tonya Harding's (#23) mother, LaVona Golden in I, Tonya earned her the award for Best Supporting Actress.
17 David Ogden Stiers 536,907
The man behind Cogsworth from Beauty and the Beast, Jumba Jookiba from Lilo & Stitch, and most notably Major Charles Emerson Winchester III on M*A*S*H, sadly passed away on March 3.
18 Sam Rockwell 510,331
So after going over the Best Picture (#1), Best Actress (#4), Best Actor (#7), Best Director (#8), and Best Supporting Actress (#16), we have arrived at the final winner of the "Big 6" Oscar awards. Rockwell is the latest winner of the Academy's Best Supporting Actor award.
19 BTS (band) 508,052
BTS didn't perform at 2018 Winter Olympics closing ceremony like Exo did, but both South Korean boy bands have received increased attention due to the overall reader interest in Korean culture after the games taking place in Korea this year. BTS fans are also undoubtedly hyped for their upcoming album set to release in April.
Down 11 spots from last week.
20 2018 Winter Paralympics 494,456
As the 2018 Winter Olympics closed last week, the 2018 Winter Paralympics (pictured: the games' cute mascot, Bandabi) held its opening ceremony on March 9, even earning a Google Doodle.
21 Sridevi 492,087
Often times, celebrity deaths come and go on the report, with few making the list for two consecutive weeks (especially when the individual passed at the beginning of the first week). However, Sridevi bucks this trend; chalk this up to just how much of a beloved Indian cinema icon Sridevi was and quite evidently continues to be.
Down 20 spots from last week.
22 Sally Hawkins 488,096
Absolutely adorable Sally Hawkins aka the human half of the amphibian creature–human romance in #1 was nominated for Best Actress, losing out to #4. Still, after going from a villager extra in The Phantom Menace to a 2-time Academy Award nominee, it's safe to say Sally Hawkins has cemented herself as one of best contemporary actresses.
23 Tonya Harding 483,256
Former figure skater Tonya Harding has been the recipient of continued Wiki-reader interest coming from I, Tonya, which got three Oscar noms and won one. That film stars Margot Robbie as Tonya, chronicling her upbringing as a poor Oregon redneck under a cruel mother (whose portrayer in the film is our #16) up until a successful career that collapsed following the attack on Harding's skating rival Nancy Kerrigan prior to the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
24 Winston Churchill 451,512
Winston Churchill is such a prominent historical figure that he has Wikipedia articles dedicated to his time as an historian, a painter, a writer, and as a politician prior to the start of the second World War. Of course, history mainly remembers Churchill for his time as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during that second World War, which saw Churchill help lead the Allies to victory and give several memorable speeches. However, Winston Churchill notches an entry on the Report this week not for interest in The Darkest Hour, but rather in the Darkest Hour film, featuring Gary Oldman's (#7) Academy Award–winning performance as Churchill.
25 UFC 222 449,167
And so, UFC 222 closes out the list. Cris Cyborg (pictured) defeated Yana Kunitskaya to defend her UFC Women's Featherweight title.

Exclusions

  • These lists excludes the Wikipedia main page, non-article pages (such as redlinks), and anomalous entries (such as DDoS attacks or likely automated views). Since mobile view data became available to the Report in October 2014, we exclude articles that have almost no mobile views (5–6% or less) or almost all mobile views (94–95% or more) because they are very likely to be automated views based on our experience and research of the issue. Please feel free to discuss any removal on the Top 25 Report talk page if you wish.



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2018-03-29

Animals, Ships, and Songs

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By Eddie891 and Bri
Smoke rising from Saigon after facilities and ships in the city were attacked by United States Navy aircraft during the 12 January 1945 South China Sea raid
This Signpost "Featured content" report covers material promoted from 2 February through 2 March. Text may be adapted from the respective articles and lists; see their page histories for attribution.

23 featured articles were promoted. – E

William Francis James McCann
A Wood Stork
James K. Polk
Equestrian statue of Edward Horner in Mells Parish Church
The Pioneer Helmet
Andrew Jackson

20 featured lists were promoted. – B

Little Red Flying Foxes, found in list of fruit bats, hanging in a close group in Maitland, New South Wales
Team Hoyt, recipient of the Jimmy V Award
Mongo Santamaría, conga drummer inducted to Billboard Latin Music Hall of Fame


Three featured pictures were promoted. – E



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2018-03-29

Timeless skin review

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By FR30799386
Timeless skin on en.wikipedia.org

Timeless

Timeless is a browser skin, created in 2015, based on the now-defunct MediaWiki project Winter, which incorporates some suggestions from a 2015 English Wikipedia village pump discussion. It aims to provide equal emphasis on both content and editing tools simultaneously. It will try to do this by creating viewing modes by which one can view only content, or use edit tools simultaneously as well. The skin has been rolled out on many Wikimedia wikis and is in beta stage (mw:Skin:Timeless). A grants proposal has been made to develop the skin into a fully-functional stable product.

Appearance

First off the Timeless skin is a stunner in terms of looks. It provides a respite from the blue–black–grey–white interface design of the other Wikimedia Foundation skins by adding splodges of color where you least expect them: section headings, search bar, Special:Search, etc. The skin centers the text area leaving space on the sides for different menus which are collapsed in smaller resolutions. The skin substitutes intuitive icons for words in lower resolutions. The skin also handles categories differently by placing them as list beside the article rather than as a plain list at the end of the article. The skin's forté is its compatibility with mobile browsers, where it fits like a glove.

What worked for me

  • I was able to read articles on my smaller-than-usual laptop far more easily (without using the zoom option of Google Chrome) thanks to the elimination of the the fixed sidebar, which was an unvarying element of almost all the other WMF skins (except for the mobile skin MiniveraNeue).
  • I liked the way the skin somehow (most of the time) manages to follow the Visual Style guide of the Wikimedia Foundation and yet look distinctly different, colorful and lively.
  • I found no lag whatsoever while using the VE editor, 2017 source editor coupled with syntax highlighting for long periods of time on my mobile, something I had been used to expecting while using Vector on mobile.
  • I really liked the fact that the skin automatically enlarged the text so that it fit into any screen I used.
  • I personally found the design of the top search bar to be really cool. (I would have loved to have it in Vector.)

What I did not like

  • Certain elements, such as notices, display oddly while using a smaller screen.
  • The skin's handling of wide boxes is less than impressive.
  • I personally don't like the way <code></code> extension displays, neither do I like way the code pages are displayed.
  • Certain popular Gadgets, such as MoreMenu and HotCat, are incompatible with this skin.
  • The notification color scheme (grey all the time) does not match with the current MediaWiki system: red for alerts, blue for notices, both of which turn grey on being viewed.

Verdict

I personally liked the skin as it provides a different and refreshing outlook into the interface design of an online encyclopedia. I believe that this skin, if properly developed, could become an effective tool in curbing the rise of Wikipedia readers such as WikiWand. As of now, in its beta stage, I would like to recommend it for those who read Wikipedia on desktop and as an alternative, fully functional web interface for mobile users.



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2018-03-29

ACTRIAL wrap-up

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By Kudpung

Introduction

In the Signpost issue of 25 September 2017, it was reported that: 'The Autoconfirmed article creation trial (ACTRIAL) began on 14 September 2017 and will last for 6 months. The WMF will study the impact on newly registered accounts, quality assurance processes, and content quality. Information gathered during the trial period will be reported to the English Wikipedia community, and the community will decide if any additional steps should be taken based on the results.'

On 14 March, the six month WP:ACTRIAL came to an end. The trial, originally demanded by an extremely strong consensus in 2011 in a Request for Comment participated by over 500 editors, was designed to test the effect on Wikipedia new articles by restricting the placing of New Articles directly in mainspace by non auto confirmed users (those who have not reached a total of ten edits and have been registered for at least four days). According to the closer, '…more than two-thirds of those expressing a clear "support" or "oppose" opinion supported the proposal to limit article creation to autoconfirmed editors, either as a trial or on a permanent basis. Non-autoconfirmed editors would either need to submit new articles to Articles for Creation or create a userspace draft, preferably using an improved Article Wizard. In a second RfC the community agreed that the interventional phase should run for 6 months, and then the changes should be reversed for a period of one month while their effects are discussed.

How we got here

Eleven years ago, co-founder Jimmy Wales suggested Wikipedia contributors should shift their focus from the number of articles and instead work on improving their quality. In July 2017, on a thread that was begun by User:Majora [1] on Wales' talk page, Kudpung commented:

'There is this popular misunderstanding, taken out of all context by its detractors, that Actrial is only about introducing a minor restriction to the creation of new pages. That's only one part of it, the other two thirds of it are about properly informing new uses (sic) and providing the genuine ones among them with some help rather than slamming a CSD door in their faces (…) without AC-TRIAL results enabling us to find solutions for the future, Wikipedia will degenerate into a slum of spam, adverts, hoaxes, attack pages and general vandalism, and it's happening already.'

Wales responded with a personal statement [2] regarding ACTRIAL, supporting the use of limited trials to gather data to make Wikipedia policy decisions.

Following a series of discussions begun by Foundation staff Danny Horn with Ryan Kaldari on May 31, 2017 at New pages patrol/Analysis and proposal, and the English Wikipedia editing community, in a significant reversal of the WMF's previous rejection of ACTRIAL as reported in the Signpost issue of 26 September 2011 by Skomorokh, Jorgenev, and Daniel Mietchen, it was jointly agreed that the trial should finally go ahead with Horn stating:

'The people we've been talking to, here and on related pages, have made a lot of good arguments in favor of ACTRIAL. So we're interested in running ACTRIAL as a research experiment, so that we can look at the impact on new user retention and productivity, as well as the impact on page creation and reviewing. '[3]

Funding was accorded to the Community Tech team at the Wikimedia Foundation to hire a data analyst contractor, Morten Warncke-Wang, in collaboration with senior Foundation staff Aaron Halfaker and Jonathan Morgan to provide both hypotheses on the effect of the trial, and to publish the results of their analysis of the trial. The trial was implemented on 14 September 2017.

End of trial; report on findings

As agreed by the proposers and organisers, on 14 March 2018 the trial was switched off, with the rules for article creation reverting to their pre-trial status. Since ACTRIAL was reverted after its 6 months, New Page Reviewers have noticed some differences in the content of the New Pages Feed, namely the large increase of inappropriate new pages requiring deletion, or removal to the Draft namespace, and that the backlog is beginning to rise again.
The WMF full summary which can be read at Post-trial Research Report begins with a brief résumé of their findings as:

  • No apparent effect on new user activity levels and retention.
  • A shift in content creation from the article namespace to the Draft namespace, with a subsequent shift in review workload from New Pages Patrol to Articles for Creation. This shift leads to the latter reviewing process struggling to keep up with an increasing backlog of review requests.
  • There is a reduction in unencyclopedic content being created in the article namespace.

Community reactions to the trial

Around the various talk pages, the majority of user comments concedes that the trial has generally been a success. While concerns have been voiced about an increase in the workload at the Articles for Creation project, the Article Wizard was given a substantial face lift in preparation for the trial. The WMF has stated that they will take a close look at the situation of AfC and will 'devote resources to studying the article creation process and how new contributors are welcomed to Wikipedia' [4]. Six years ago (Signpost 28 May 2012) WMF developer Ryan Kaldari was the first to admit that despite the amount of time WMF developers were putting in to communicating with communities, more could still be done.

The ensuing RfC, proposed by TonyBallioni to debate the final outcome is taking place at Request for comment on permanent implementation and will run for 30 days unless a clear consensus is already reached.

Kudpung has been a Wikipedia contributor since 2006 and 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.



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2018-03-29

WikiWorld Reruns

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By Greg Williams and Barbara Page

The Past is Always Better

In 2007 and 2008, the Signpost ran these humourous and wonderful 'cartoons'. Now this was talent. The contributor, Greg Williams, was a professional graphic artist with a newspaper in Tampa Florida.



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