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26 June 2022

 

2022-06-26

WMF inks new rules on government-ordered takedowns, blasts Russian feds' censor demands, spends big bucks

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By Andreas Kolbe, EpicPupper, Mhawk10 and JPxG

Permit government takedown requests on terrorist and violent extremist content

On June 8, a new page was added to the Wikimedia Foundation's official wiki, bearing the weighty title: "Terrorist and violent extremist content procedures and guidelines". The document, first posted by WMF Tech Law Lead Counsel Charles Roslof, laid out procedures through which the Wikimedia Foundation would accept and respond to a "request for Terrorist Content notice of action" via a "Terrorist Content Sub-Group" of the WMF Trust & Safety team: requests are to be followed by an internal review by the WMF legal team to ensure that they were in fact legally required. However, this review process is not guaranteed to be public, and it is unclear whether even the fact of requests having been accepted will be a matter of public record – the policy says that "the Foundation may be limited by applicable law in disclosing the information about these requests".

Initially, the policy specified that requests would be accepted from "relevant law enforcement authorities in the United States of America (USA), European Union (EU), or a member nation of the EU". However, a subsequent revision on June 10 updated the policy and changed some wording, omitting the specific reference to jurisdiction (as of press time, the policy now refers only to "relevant law enforcement authorities"). It also added a passage clarifying removals that the WMF objected to ("Please note that the Foundation may also be in the course of appealing the Legal Order, but prohibited from reinstating the content in question unless and until it has succeeded in its appeal").

This page's only incoming link is from the site's list of policies, and as of press time it has not been mentioned on the WMF's official news page or Twitter account, making it difficult to tell whether this is a simple formalization of existing practice or a new mechanism entirely.

The policy is fairly short, and does not reference active content removal measures being taken on the WMF's part, instead relating only to the WMF's response to reports from government agencies. It remains to be seen what the ultimate implications of such a policy are. The definition of "terrorism" is notoriously inconsistent – our own perpetual topics of furor on international politics can provide good examples of this – and it is unclear precisely what the interplay will be between this policy and takedown requests from jurisdictions such as, for example, the Russian Roskomnadzor. — J

Wikimedia Foundation appeals ruling by Russian court

The Wikimedia Foundation is appealing a ₽5,000,000 (67888.66 USD or 60441.37 Euros) fine issued by a Russian court relating to the decision not to remove information verboten in Russia from several Russian Wikipedia articles. The fine came after the court found that the Wikimedia Foundation operated within the Russian Federation and that the content in question (largely related to the Russo-Ukrainian War) was illegal under Russian law. The Signpost has previously reported that publishers in Russia must only use government-approved facts and terminology when covering military operations.

The appeal was made on June 6; the WMF put out a statement (Russian-language version) outlining their rationale for the appeal on June 13, saying that the decision to fine the Wikimedia Foundation was based on from erroneous claims that the Wikimedia Foundation operated within the territory of the Russian Federation, and that the fine itself violated rights to free expression and access to knowledge. The Wikimedia Foundation also objected to allegations of "disinformation", writing in the statement:

Russian-language Wikipedia is a crucial second draft of history, written by and for Russian speakers around the world who volunteer their time to make reliable, fact-checked information available to all. Blocking access to Wikipedia in Russia would deny more than 145 million people access to this vital information resource. Further, the articles flagged for removal uphold Wikipedia’s standards of neutrality, verifiability, and reliable secondary sources to ensure articles are based in fact. They are well-sourced, including citations to a variety of established news sources. The articles continue to be improved by Wikipedia volunteer editors from all over the world with more sources and up-to-date information.

Russia's telecommunications regulator, Roskomnadzor, previously sought to restrict access to certain articles on the Russian Wikipedia within the Russian Federation, taking umbrage to the characterization of Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine as an "invasion", "aggression", or "war". On March 31, the regulator threatened the WMF with a ₽4,000,000 fine for publishing what it called "unreliable socially significant materials, as well as other prohibited information".

A list of Wikipedia pages banned in Russia is available on the Russian Wikipedia. As of press time, the list of articles restricted by the Russian Federation has expanded beyond the Russian language articles, and now includes some articles from the English Wikipedia. — M

Where does the Wikimedia Foundation spend its money?

The WMF's 2020 Form 990, released last month, enables some interesting insight into where the Wikimedia Foundation has been spending its money, especially in light of claims by the Foundation that "a lot" of the money raised through donations is flowing into the Global South (see this issue's In the media section). Firstly, page 1 of the Form 990 shows that the WMF reported:

  • Total revenue of $158,987,065 (Increase up from $120,919,258).
  • Total expenses of $111,669,959 (Decrease down from $112,162,122).

According to the Form 990, $92 million of the total expenditure – that is, all but $20 million of it – was spent in the United States. This includes $5.5 million that the Wikimedia Foundation did not actually spend, but added to its own endowment at the Tides Foundation.

As for expenditure in the rest of the world, the Form 990 divides this into expenses for "Program Services" (mainly technical and legal support for Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia websites) and "Grantmaking" (to grow global reach and increase contributor diversity). Of the $20 million spent on "Program Services" and "Grantmaking" outside the United States, most of it – around $15 million (9% of total WMF revenue) – went to Europe and North America outside the US (i.e. Canada and Mexico). This left a little over $5 million – or about 3% of total revenue – for the entire rest of the world. The two main regions in the rest of the world that saw funding for Program Services and Grantmaking in 2020 were Africa and East Asia/Pacific. The regional breakdown was as follows:

World regions (excl. North America and Europe) Spending (US$) % of revenue
Sub-Saharan Africa 2.0 million 1.3%
East Asia and the Pacific (Australia, Korea, Taiwan, etc.) 1.3 million 0.8%
South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, etc.) 0.6 million 0.4%
Middle East and North Africa 0.6 million 0.4%
South America 0.5 million 0.3%
Russia and neighbouring states (Armenia, Azerbaijan, etc.) 0.1 million 0.06%
Central America and the Caribbean 0.1 million 0.06%

Total spending in the Global South (understood to comprise the Middle East, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, South America, Central America and the Caribbean), therefore, amounted to just $3.8 million. That is 2.4% of total revenue – or 3.4% of global expenditure.

The Form 990 also gives a detailed breakdown for "Grantmaking" alone, without the expenses classed as "Program Services". According to this breakdown, grants given outside the United States totaled $3.5 million, of which $1.2 million went to Europe ($666,875 to organizations and $496,615 to 32 individuals). As for grants given to organizations (page 32–33 of the Form 990) and individuals (page 34) in the Global South, these were mainly focused on Sub-Saharan Africa and South America, with the amounts going to South Asia – home to almost 2 billion people – looking particularly small by comparison:

Global South regions Grants total (US$) % of revenue
Sub-Saharan Africa 1,368,343 0.9%
South America 418,934 0.3%
Middle East and North Africa 84,969 0.05
South Asia 78,537 0.05%
Central America and Caribbean 2,925 0.002%

Overall, the "Grantmaking" amounts reported in the Form 990 for the above regions of the Global South totaled $1,953,708, or 1.2% of WMF revenue in 2020 – a very minor part of the WMF budget, especially bearing in mind that the Foundation enjoyed an effective surplus of more than $50 million. It will be interesting to see how these figures will develop in the years to come. See also the Foundation's own 2020–2021 grantmaking report on Meta. – AK

Brief notes

Selena Deckelmann, the WMF's new Chief Product and Technology Officer
  • WMF CPTO selected: The Wikimedia Foundation has selected Selena Deckelmann as its new Chief Product and Technology Officer. Deckelmann comes to the WMF from Mozilla Corporation, where she is currently still serving as the Senior Vice President responsible for Firefox. She will officially join the WMF on August 1, 2022.
  • Google employees to join Abstract Wikipedia team: The WMF has signed a deal with Google.org in which seven experienced Google employees (five engineers, a technical PM, and a designer) are to join the Abstract Wikipedia team as "Google Fellows" for six months. The focus of the Fellows will be to support the backend of Wikifunctions, enabling the team to speed up their schedule. – AK
  • Wikimedia Enterprise will not hit revenue target this year: Wikimedia Enterprise had achieved 30% of its year revenue goal by the end of the third quarter of the WMF's 2021/2022 financial year (i.e. by the end of March, unchanged from the second quarter). The Advancement department reports: "We have been unable to close additional customers as quickly as we projected due to unanticipated legal and product requirements, and will not hit the revenue target for FY21/22." More can be found on this subject in this month's News from the WMF. – AK
  • Fundraising: The WMF had already exceeded its annual revenue goal for 2021/2022 by the end of March 2022, reporting a third-quarter revenue status of $153.6 million (year goal: $150 million) for the Foundation and $13.4 million (year goal: $10 million) for the Wikimedia Endowment. Combined with an underspend, this resulted in net assets increasing by $51.9 million in the first three quarters. The Foundation has been fundraising this month in India, Latin America and South Africa, with banner campaigns in Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Spain to follow next month. The WMF projects that it will once again exceed the previous year's revenue record. – AK
  • Endowment update: The WMF has published an update on the status of the Wikimedia Endowment (see the opinion piece in last month's Signpost) saying an Application for Recognition of Exemption under Section 501(c)(3) was filed with the IRS in late 2021. As the IRS is currently experiencing delays, the WMF has no expected date by which processing of the application will be completed. The update also states that bylaws and policies governing the Endowment will be posted on Meta after minutes are approved at the July 2022 Board meeting; however, it says nothing about how much money the Endowment now holds. The last update in this regard was that the Endowment had passed the $100 million mark in June 2021, five years sooner than originally expected. – AK
  • New bureaucrats: The Signpost welcomes the English Wikipedia's newest bureaucrat, Lee Vilenski.
  • Articles for Improvement: This week's Article for Improvement is Liquor. Please be bold in helping improve this article!
  • ARBCOM gives non-binding advice to those wishing to talk about Wikipedia to other Wikipedians while not being on Wikipedia: Basically, just be open and sensible about it.



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2022-06-26

Editor given three-year sentence, big RfA makes news, Guy Standing takes it sitting down

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By Andreas Kolbe, Lane Rasberry, Bri, Mhawk10, Sdkb, and Smallbones

Belarusian Wikipedian Mark Bernstein sentenced to 3 years of "home chemistry"

Bernstein in 2013

As first reported Friday in Mediazona, a Belarusian court sentenced Wikipedian Mark Bernstein (User:Pessimist2006, of no relation to User:MarkBernstein) to three years of a type of house arrest for "gross violation of public order". He'd been in custody since March 11, previously sentenced to 15 days in jail for disobeying an official. After his release he wrote on social media, "I am free. Healthy physically and mentally. Thank you all for your support," according to Zerkalo.

The charges arose because Bernstein edited the Russian Wikipedia, giving information that appeared to violate a new law of the Russian Federation which limited how news on Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine could be reported. His type of punishment is informally known under the odd name "home chemistry". ("Chemistry" is an informal term originated in the Soviet Union, where it originally meant incarceration combined with work at a place with health hazard, such as a chemical plant. In the current context, "home chemistry" means that the person lives at home with restrictions in freedom, and continues to work, with part of their salary withheld by the state.)

On June 6, Reuters (and many others) reported that the WMF was appealing a fine imposed by Russia on the foundation for similar alleged violations of the Russian law. See this issue's News and notes. – Sb

Slate reports on Tamzin's Request for Adminship

Tamzin in 2022

Stephen Harrison published a well-researched and circumspect summary of Tamzin's Request for Adminship in Slate: "Inside Wikipedia's Historic, Fiercely Contested 'Election'". Tamzin's RfA had been remarkable for having attracted 340 supports, 112 opposes and 16 neutrals – the highest-participation RfA in the project's history – and for its focus on the role administrator candidates' political views should (or should not) play in assessing their eligibility for the role.

Harrison commented on the fact that of Wikipedia's 1,034 administrators, only about 500 (465 at the time of writing) are considered active. Moreover, the number of successful Requests for Adminship per year is far lower than the number of administrators who die, leave the project, or otherwise lose the tools (voluntarily or otherwise). In part, this is a reflection of the fact that candidacies for Adminship have become a gruelling process:

Because it's a lifetime appointment, some Wikipedians have taken to treating RfA with all the seriousness and showmanship of the SCOTUS confirmation hearings—except that the Wikipedia version is all in written form, taking place on a dedicated wiki page.

Harrison concludes that something has to give:

Although there have been several calls over the years for RfA reform and proposals to make the process less corrosive, Wikipedia editors told me there has not yet been substantial progress in this area. According to a 2021 RfA inquiry hosted on Wikipedia, "Because RfA carries with it lifetime tenure, granting any given editor sysop feels incredibly important. This creates a risk-adverse and high-stakes atmosphere."

Then again, the notion that Wikipedia admins must have their powers for the rest of their days is certainly not an immutable law of the universe. With enough buy-in, that rule is just as editable as any wiki page. In Wikipedia as in life, we must pursue options for dialing down the heat.

For prior Signpost coverage on the 2021 RfA Reform initiative, see last October's Discussion report or the wrap-up at December's News and notes. – AK

Entrepreneur changes tune on paid editing

Entrepreneur, which has often published articles promoting paid editing on Wikipedia, puts forward a more moderate view in Do Entrepreneurs Need a Wikipedia Page? The article dutifully explains that, to get a Wikipedia entry:

you need coverage in numerous reliable secondary sources, independent of the subject ... On the other hand, Wikipedia retains a reputation as being filled with a plethora of niche and un-noteworthy pages, or pages that contain incorrect claims based on dubious sources or no sources at all ... With a Wikipedia page, you may become a target of random trolls, ex-spouses, former business associates or disgruntled employees. Just because you could, doesn't mean you should.

It sounds like they've read the essay "An article about yourself isn't necessarily a good thing". They raise the specter of outing yourself as a phony – "Smart audiences can spot thinly disguised sponsored content" – and add:

Some (and perhaps many) Wikipedia editors are not just selfless nerds, but rather cold-blooded paid mercenaries. I have witnessed their work firsthand and was surprised at the audacity that editors-turned-paid-media-consultants exhibited in protecting their clients and dismantling substantiated, empirically factual information to maintain an entirely false narrative that their clients paid for. Once you have a Wikipedia page, make sure you allocate a budget to defend it from paid attacks or random vandals.

Despite covering most of the major points of why an entrepreneur should not hire a paid editor, they miss the main point. Whether there should be an article on a particular businessperson or company is for Wikipedians to decide, not entrepreneurs with conflicts of interest, or their paid flunkies.

In How to Edit your Law Firm’s Wikipedia Page: 3 Golden Rules on JDSupra, a newsletter for law firms, the founder of a legal PR firm says it all very simply:

  • "The first rule of editing a Wikipedia page is NOT to edit a Wikipedia page," restating Jimbo's bright-line rule of only editing talk pages.
  • "Be transparent", i.e. declare your COI.
  • "Provide verifiable, third-party sources."

That should work just fine, unless too many Wikilawyers get involved. – Sb

Wish we could say more

The Australian identified a Wikipedia editor as a campaign staffer for an MP candidate prior to the last national election. The newspaper accused the Wikipedia editor of inserting disinformation into articles about candidates of opposing parties and removing damaging information about favored candidates. The main MP candidate involved won the election and said that the Wikipedia editor worked on their election campaign and edited Wikipedia, but the two activities were entirely separate.

When contacted by The Signpost through their user page email, the Wikipedia editor requested that they not be identified. They said, "there are currently defamation proceedings around" the article in The Australian. "It's "a pure piece of slander from beginning to end."

An investigation by The Signpost revealed that the editor admitted on-wiki to using multiple accounts, but said that he was unfamiliar with Wikipedia rules on sockpuppeting. An apparent autobiography of the editor has been nominated for deletion. – Sb

Raju Narisetti interview in the Indian Express

Wikimedia Foundation board member Raju Narisetti.

On May 28, timed to coincide with the start of this year's fundraising season in India (emails May 23 – June 20, banners May 31 – June 28), the Indian Express published a piece titled: "Raju Narisetti interview: 'Wikipedia is building trust with transparency'". The interview with Wikimedia Foundation board member Narisetti focused in particular on efforts to expand Wikipedia content in Indian languages and on the contributions of Indian editors to Wikipedia. Moving on to the topic of the Foundation's fundraising, the write-up of the interview continued as follows:

"More than 75% of the money we raise globally goes to two things. One is to give money back to the volunteer community so they can launch a new language. Two is about half of it goes to the infrastructure. You need to have databases and put it on the cloud and make sure it's reliable," he said. Although a lot of the money is raised in the more developed Western markets, most of it is actually flowing into the global south, where the growth will come in languages and users.

The statement that "most of" the money raised is flowing into the global south was queried by this reporter on the Wikimedia-l mailing list. In response, Megan Hernandez explained on Meta on June 2 that –

Raju was unfortunately misquoted, per a direct transcript of the interview. He more generally said "a lot of it is actually flowing into the global south" not "most of it." This is in line with our regional grantmaking in the "Global South" as well as other investments, including our technology support, which, as you know, ensures that Wikipedia is available in more than 300 languages globally. We have requested a correction to his quote.

A disclaimer was duly added to the article on June 3, and the passage now reads:

"Although a lot of the money is raised in the more developed Western markets, a lot of it is actually flowing into the global south, where the growth will come in languages and users."

For an analysis of WMF regional spending see this issue's News and notes. – AK

Sit-down with Guy Standing for pod guys' last stand

Standing, sitting, stood up for humor on Wikipedia.

Reply All, the venerated podcast about the internet and society, used Annie Rauwerda's Depths of Wikipedia account as the hook for its second-to-last episode ever. They dove into three pages she's featured – cute aggression, the Pittsburgh toilet, and economist Guy Standing.

The last segment is perhaps of most interest to Wikipedians, as reporter Kim Nederveen-Pieterse sat down with (well, called) Standing himself. Shockingly, he claimed to be entirely unaware of his internet renown. But after Nederveen-Pieterse explained the legendary edit war over his photo and caption, he was asked to take a stand.

Standing wasn't too thrilled with the edit warring. "My goodness. What a waste of people's time, I'd have thought," he said. "It's sad." (We know.)

But he took no issue with the joke itself. "If it's a little aside that draws people to smile, that's great. Because we need a little humor in our lives, especially at this horrible time," he said. "But I hope that it draws people's attention to the serious messages that I've been trying to convey through my work" highlighting the feasibility of a universal basic income.

The Signpost has previously published an opinion piece which expressed appreciation for the Guy Standing joke and argued for the value of humor on Wikipedia. – S

In brief

Deutsche Welle presents Wikipedia – The pros and cons of the online encyclopedia
Wikimedia Enterprise, the premium gas of Wikipedias?
  • The journal Nature shows us A cross-verified database of notable people, 3500BC – 2018AD combining biographies from several Wikipedias and Wikidata and comes up with "a cross-verified database of 2.29 million individuals (an elite of 1/43,000 of human being having ever lived), including a third who are not present in the English edition of Wikipedia." This may show us the way to increasing the number and diversity of bios on enWiki, but it is likely more important in its analysis of gender, cultural, economic and other real and potential biases.



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



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2022-06-26

"Wikipedia's independence" or "Wikimedia's pile of dosh"?

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By Andreas Kolbe
Andreas Kolbe is a former co-editor-in-chief of the Signpost, and has been a Wikipedia contributor since 2006. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Signpost. Responses and critical commentary are invited in the comments section. – J
Financial development of the Wikimedia Foundation (in US$), 2003–2021
Black: Net assets (excluding the Wikimedia Endowment, which passed $100m in June 2021)
Green: Revenue (excluding third-party donations to Wikimedia Endowment)
Red: Expenses (including WMF payments to Wikimedia Endowment, typically $5 million per year)

This month, the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) has been fundraising in the Global South. It has also published finance updates in its quarterly reviews. This seems, therefore, a good time to review the Foundation's fundraising messages against the background of its increasing wealth.

A vast surplus

The Wikimedia Foundation has been doing very well in recent years. In 2020/2021 (the WMF's fiscal year runs from July to June), the Foundation reported an increase in net assets of over $50 million while the Wikimedia Endowment – which is held by the Tides Foundation and organizationally separate from the Wikimedia Foundation – increased in value from $62.9 million to over $100 million. Altogether, then, the work of WMF fundraisers last year brought in about $90 million more in revenue than the Foundation spent, bringing total Wikimedia assets to over $330 million.

How are things shaping up in the current financial year, due to end on June 30? The Finance & Administration department's third-quarter review, put online this month, states that in the first three quarters of the 2021/2022 financial year the Wikimedia Foundation already exceeded its annual target of $150 million, taking $153.6 million in revenue while spending less than it budgeted for.

As a result, Foundation assets rose by another $51.9 million. Together with this year's increase in the value of the Endowment and the Foundation's as yet unreported fourth-quarter revenue, this means that the WMF will now have a very comfortable cushion of about $400 million. Almost all of this is in cash and investments.

Historical perspective

It is worth remembering that the influx of such substantial amounts of money, raised mostly through email campaigns and fundraising banners placed on Wikipedia, has completely transformed the WMF as well as its assumptions about what kind of organization it is – or should be.

In 2013 – less than a decade ago – Erik Möller (the WMF's VP of Engineeering and Product Development at the time) thought the Wikimedia mission would be sustainable on "$10M+/year". Indeed, 2010 marked the first time annual WMF expenses exceeded $10 million – three years after Wikipedia first became a global top-ten website. Today, the WMF is an organization with around 600 staff and contractors, rising compensation for its top executives (eight of whom saw compensation for their roles increase to more than $300,000 by 2020) and annual salary costs estimated at around $200,000 for each full-time employee – more than twice as much as the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Internet Archive, for example, judging by a comparison of the most recent Form 990 for each.

Money is also changing the very nature of the movement: an increasing number of decisions are no longer made on-wiki, by a community of unpaid volunteers, but by functionaries and paid staff of the WMF and its affiliates. In days past, the contributors that built Wikipedia were only bound by a shared interest in free knowledge; but money has increasingly become part of the glue that ties the movement together. And the WMF holds the purse strings, controlling the unprecedented wealth that results from its fundraising success.

Fundraising messages

The WMF mainly uses a two-pronged approach in its fundraising: it sends emails to past donors, inviting them to continue their support, and it places fundraising banners on Wikipedia. According to the most recent Fundraising report, 35% of WMF revenue is brought in by emails, 29% by desktop banners, 25% by mobile banners and 11% by other sources. The timing of the email and banner campaigns varies by country. This month, emails and banner campaigns ran in India, Latin America and South Africa.

The WMF makes sample email texts and designs available for review (see Meta). Below are six key phrases from the first of the three India emails shared on Meta that caught my eye – and, I am sure, that of many recipients. Emphases (bold text) are mine.

"A subscription fee"

(1) We choose not to charge a subscription fee, but that doesn't mean we don't need support from our readers

(2) kindly consider giving again, or even increasing your gift, to keep Wikipedia free and independent.

The email's authors are first introducing the notion of a subscription fee – by commenting on its absence – and then go on to say that people should give again to keep Wikipedia free – which in the context of the previous passage can only mean they should give to avoid a subscription fee being charged in the future.

What the reader is not told is that the very WMF mission is "to make and keep useful information from its projects available on the internet free of charge, in perpetuity."

It is only because of this commitment that the volunteers who actually write Wikipedia – a task in which the Wikimedia Foundation plays no part – are prepared to do it for free.

There is also an obvious logical contradiction in begging people – especially people in developing countries – for money "to keep Wikipedia free".

"Keep Wikipedia online, ad-free and growing"

(3) About a year ago, you donated Rs. 313 to keep Wikipedia online for yourself and millions of people around the world. Each year, fewer than 2% of Wikipedia readers choose to support our work.

(4) please renew your gift to ensure that Wikipedia remains independent, ad-free, and growing for years to come

(5) can we count on you to renew your solidarity with a small donation? It will keep Wikipedia online, ad-free, and growing for years to come

References to keeping Wikipedia "online and ad-free" were commonly used on fundraising banners in the mid-2010s, and were discontinued after significant controversy (see the 2015 Signpost report). It is somewhat surprising, therefore, to see them used in emails sent to donors in India today. The WMF has confirmed that it has no intention of retiring these stock phrases – which would have been far more justified fifteen or twenty years ago, when the Foundation was finding its feet financially, but seem very out-of-step with current financial realities.

The above quotes also refer to Wikipedia's "independence" – a theme that has been used on the Wikipedia banners as well (in phrases like "This Sunday, we request you to sustain Wikipedia's independence" or "protect Wikipedia's independence").

But if this independence is to be measured by the WMF's money reserves – which are now over ten times greater than they were ten years ago, and about three times greater than they were as recently as five years ago – it is surely under far less threat than ever before.

"To support the volunteers"

(6) 31% of your gift will be used to support the volunteers who share their knowledge with you for free every day.

This is another interesting phrase. 31% of 2020–2021 donations revenue would have been about $50 million. The WMF says the 31% figure comes from the annual report (where it is called "Direct support to communities" and refers to 31% of spending, which is of course much less than 31% of revenue). But even so, it is somewhat unclear what specifically this amount refers to. It is an order of magnitude greater than the WMF's grants to the community in 2020–2021. And those who write our articles, take our photos, and maintain our armadas of bots and modules and templates are doing it for free.

What do you think? We'd love to hear from you below.



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2022-06-26

MoS rules on CCP name mulled, XRV axe plea nulled, mass drafting bid pulled

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By FormalDude
Finally a discussion report that doesn't make you feel like this.

This Discussion Report covers some of the debates on this great site of ours that were closed or archived from May 30, 2022 through June 2022. Three of them stood out as especially notable, which are as follows:

How to refer to China's Communist Party

On May 6th, Mx. Granger started a manual of style discussion on the use of the names "Chinese Communist Party" and "Communist Party of China" across Wikipedia articles. Editors discussed the justification behind allowing the use of either name, and others proposed alternatives such as "Chinese government". The conversation did not appear to reach any particular consensus despite decent participation, and as of the time of publishing is still open.

Deciding the fate of Administrative action review

A formal request for comment was initiated by Beeblebrox on June 14th to decide the fate of Administrative action review (a.k.a. XRV). The proposals centered around reviving it or retiring it and marking it as historical. After nearly a week of discussion, the RfC was closed with the consensus that the community would prefer to improve the process and fix the issues raised.

Mandatory draftification of poorly sourced articles

The village pump saw a suggestion on June 3rd that all articles not deletable under WP:BLPPROD having no sources in their history be moved to draftspace. It was opposed by 27 editors over the course of three weeks and closed by Thryduulf with "a strong consensus that mandatory draftification will either not improve or even harm the encyclopaedia".




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2022-06-26

Picture of the Day – how Adam plans to ru(i)n it

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By Adam Cuerden

When a new person steps up to a position, they inevitably want to make some changes. So, now that I've pulled Picture of the Day into my despotic regime, let's discuss how I'm going to ruin... um.... run it.

About me

So, I'm Adam Cuerden, I've been a Wikipedian since around the start of 2006. I work a lot on restoring historic images. For example:

BEFORE AFTER

And, yes, that was terribly self-indulgent. Just like this article is pretty much me indulging my sense of humour because I really hate talking about myself unless I can be horribly sarcastic and poke fun of myself the whole time. I'm sure that gimmick won't get old. Anyway! In late May this year, while I approached 8% of all featured pictures on English Wikipedia,[Note 1] I was asked if I wanted to take over Picture of the Day, and apparently the mad cackling couldn't be heard all the way from Scotland, so no-one stopped me and it looks like I've gotten the position. Not that anyone else seemed to want it. It's actually apparently a lot of work and people tend to burn out on it in a few years, so, um... Thanks?

What do you plan to do?

Given I have about one in twelve featured pictures, every June will be Adam Month, where every single picture will be by me. Or... we'll go more-or-less rigidly in order, to try and keep everything fair, changing around things only to celebrate holidays and avoid multiple similar images in a row. Probably the last one. Less controversial. And I like the other image creators.

Okay, but seriously, what's your plans?

All joking aside, I do plan to try to be rigidly fair. This means:

  1. Insofar as is reasonable, images appear oldest to newest.
  2. Anyone may suggest an exception for holidays, anniversaries, and so on.
  3. I shan't undo any claims I've already made for dates, but shall severely limit myself for the future, giving others a chance to step in first. As long as "step in first" means "claiming dates in 2023", because when I came in we had empty spots a couple weeks ahead and I wanted a massive buffer so if I have a bad month, nothing breaks.
  4. To avoid runs of very similar images, some rearrangement may be necessary. This will be done in such a way that maintains order as much as is reasonable.
  5. Since it's easier to set up several similar POTDs in one batch, once a set starts, it will generally be scheduled once a month for the next X months . If this causes problems (like if it fills the schedule up with nothing but sets), I'll deal with it ad hoc. As an exception, since we have literally over a hundred featured pictures of money, pretty much all of which are older than anything else in the queue, the 28th of every month will be Money Day, where some coherent portion of these will be featured, until we clear them sometime in 2024 or so. Unless the June 28th Picture of the Day (Now with galleries!) goes horribly wrong. That's... still a possibility and would mean changing a lot of plans.

I also plan to stop a few practices I never liked. For example, occasionally sets of images would be put on the main page using a random algorithm to select one to display, meaning each image could have as little as the equivalent of a couple hours on the main page. This seems mean to our content creators, as it trivialises things that may have taken a lot of work. (Also, I'm still a little salty about the time it happened to me.) The templates are already set up to handle two images, even though this is, for some reason, not documented, and it's fairly trivial to include a small gallery where appropriate. It might mean breaking up sets into smaller parts, but that's better than dumping them in a way that hides most of the images unless people want to roll for a new random image over and over.

Secondly, I'm not going to censor POTD any more than absolutely necessary. Some things shouldn't be on the main page, but some of the decisions of the past feel rather arbitrary, especially when you consider what we've put on the Main Page without controversy. Consider these:

As such, it's rather surprising to see images had been kept off the main page which arguably aren't nearly as bad. Both of the below appeared in Wikipedia:POTD/Unused, which was meant as a place to put images that could not possibly be put on the main page, and I fail to see why these arguably tamer images would fail to make the cut.

I feel Picture of the Day should be a balancing act between potential harm and potential educational benefit, with a bias towards running the image, and I'm not seeing any significant harm from running these images. However, I do see harm in censoring them, as it sets weird precedents, makes odd value judgements (seagull poop is worse than dead people?), and just generally feels wrong. There were originally a couple sentences here encouraging people who disagreed with this decision to join in a discussion, because I am willing to change my mind, but... it turns out that I submitted this article too late for May's publication and, by the time June's Signpost comes around, my plans will already have come to fruition, so... Mwahaha?

Of course, some things were kept off the main page for a reason. In the simplest case, the image is unused, or the article it's connected to is too short. Article improvement or finding a use for them might bring these back into consideration. Similarly, Featured Pictures are as prone to going out of date as any other project, so something like File:WMAP 2010.png, which has been reduced to an infobox decoration, might have been worth main paging ten years ago, but we now have better. Likewise, File:Love or dutyb.jpg has had its scan at the Library of Congress much improved, so can probably wait on a delist-and replace nomination, especially as a nearly identical version of the same restored image has been on the main page before. (This has now happened. As I said, missed the May cutoff date for publication.)

All those, however, could theoretically be put (or, at least, have potentially been put) on POTD in some form. Some types of images have potential harms that may well outweigh any educational value. For example, one featured picture shows a lynching. Not only have such images been used for vandalism, but the specific picture has absolutely no documentation as to where it happened or who the victim was, so the harm of making whole groups of people feel unwelcome is not balanced by any significant educational value whatsoever. Something like this, while we'd probably still want to discuss it going on the main page, feels like a much better way to cover such horrific events sensitively.

It's all a bit of a challenge, but I do promise to do my best.

Oh no! What can we do to stop you?

Oh, right. The gimmick of this article!

In order to destroy Picture of the Day:

  • Don't come to me with any issues you might have.
  • Don't engage in civil discussion about any problematic pictures of the day so that we can better make decisions about what the cutoff should be for the Main Page, which can, of course, change from what it was in the past.
  • Definitely don't go to Wikipedia:Picture of the day and write blurbs for awesome featured pictures that haven't appeared yet on the main page, possibly to celebrate holidays such as Hallowe'en, Christmas, Diwali, or Eid, or possibly for anniversaries of key dates related to the subject, or just because you want that date.

But, most importantly for your goal of dooming Picture of the Day:

  • Don't nominate images and vote at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates to help promote artwork and articles you're passionate about. We promote about fifteen to twenty-five featured pictures a month at present, while putting thirty or thirty-one pictures on the main page almost every month (one month is lazy and leaves early). So by simply not engaging in a fun content process, you can defeat my reign of terror! Rather slowly, but still.

Of course, if you want to actually help make Wikipedia a better place and help Picture of the Day (and make my reign eternal), replace all the "Don't"s with "Do"s.

Footnote

  1. ^ 8.832% at the moment you're reading this, because, yes, I have an automatically updating counter. Used to write a lot of the more complex templates on here before everything became all Lua-y. Grumble, grumble, old fart noises, 'Get off my lawn', et cetera.




Reader comments

2022-06-26

Articles on Scots' clash, Yank's tux, Austrian's action flick deemed brilliant prose

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By Adam Cuerden and FormalDude
This Signpost "Featured content" report covers material promoted in May 2022. Quotes are generally from the articles, but may be abridged or simplified for length.

Well! Here we are! My first Featured Content Report since becoming POTD Co-ordinator. Well, I say "mine". What I've been doing is set up all the lists of promoted content and the credit for who created them (and, I'm absolutely sure, sometimes miscrediting something), get featured pictures looking good, dig through the surprisingly convoluted featured topic process, and then go away and hope someone else fills out all the short descriptions of the articles and lists, while still getting my name first in the credit, and then maybe finish up a few entries at the end, when most of the work's done. Isn't that horribly unfair? Mind, it still takes about three hours to get it to this state so if Wikipedia:WikiProject JavaScript wants to replace my job with a very small shell script, as the coder joke goes, please do.


Twenty-five featured articles were promoted this period.

The Battle of Neville's Cross was part of the Second War of Scottish Independence (From Froissart's Chronicle)
Second War of Scottish Independence, nominated by Gog the Mild
The Second War of Scottish Independence broke out in 1332 when Edward Balliol led an English-backed invasion of Scotland. Balliol, the son of a former Scottish king, was attempting to make good his claim to the Scottish throne. He was opposed by Scots loyal to the occupant of the throne, eight-year-old David II. At the Battle of Dupplin Moor Balliol's force defeated a Scottish army ten times their size and Balliol was crowned king. Balliol established his authority over most of Scotland, ceded to England the eight counties of south-east Scotland and did homage to Edward for the rest of the country as a fief.
Eadred, nominated by Dudley Miles
Eadred (c. 923 – 23 November 955) was King of the English from 26 May 946 until his death. He was the younger son of Edward the Elder and his third wife Eadgifu, and a grandson of Alfred the Great. His elder brother, Edmund, was killed trying to protect his seneschal from an attack by a violent thief. Edmund's two sons, Eadwig and Edgar, were then young children, so Eadred became king. He was succeeded successively by his nephews, Eadwig and Edgar.
Battle of Trapani, nominated by Constantine
The Battle of Trapani took place on 23 June 1266 off Trapani, Sicily, between the fleets of the Republic of Genoa and the Republic of Venice, as part of the War of Saint Sabas (1256–1270). The battle was a crushing Venetian victory, as they captured the entirety of the Genoese fleet. On their return to Genoa, Borbonino and most of his captains were tried and fined large sums for cowardice. Despite the loss, Genoa continued the war, in which neither side was able to gain a decisive advantage, until it was ended through French mediation in 1270.
Judy Ann Santos, nominated by Pseud 14
Judy Anne Lumagui Santos (born May 11, 1978) is a Filipino actress and film producer. Prolific in film and television in the Philippines since the early 1990s, she is known for her comedic and dramatic roles in independent films and blockbusters, as well as for her portrayals of oppressed and impoverished women. She has received various accolades, including a Cairo International Film Festival Award, a Gawad Urian, two Luna Awards, two Metro Manila Film Festival Awards, and three FAMAS Awards.
1959–60 Burnley F.C. season, nominated by WA8MTWAYC
The 1959–60 season was Burnley's 61st season in the Football League, and their 13th consecutive campaign in the First Division, the top tier of English football. The team, and their manager Harry Potts, endured a tense season in which Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers were the other contenders for the league title. Burnley won their second First Division championship, and their first since 1920–21, on the last matchday with a 2–1 victory at Manchester City; they had not topped the table until the last match was played out.
Charles Richardson (Royal Navy officer), nominated by Pickersgill-Cunliffe
Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Richardson KCB (c.10 March 1769 – 10 November 1850) was a Royal Navy officer of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Richardson's naval career began when he joined HMS Vestal as a captain's servant in 1787. Promoted to commander in July 1801, Richardson was given command of the en flute HMS Alligator. After the Napoleonic Wars began in 1803 he was sent to the Leeward Islands Station, where he captured three Dutch settlements in September.
No (Meghan Trainor song), nominated by MaranoFan
"No" (stylized in all caps) is a song by American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor from her second major-label studio album Thank You (2016). Ricky Reed produced the song and wrote it with Trainor and Jacob Kasher Hindlin; Epic Records released it as the album's lead single on March 4, 2016. A dance-pop song inspired by 1990s music and R&B, "No" has lyrics about sexual consent and women's empowerment which encourage them to reject unwanted advances from men.
Total Recall (1990 film), nominated by Darkwarriorblake
Total Recall is a 1990 American science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven, with a screenplay by Ronald Shusett, Dan O'Bannon, and Gary Goldman. The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone, Ronny Cox, and Michael Ironside and is based on the 1966 short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick. On its release, the film earned approximately $261.4 million worldwide, making it the fifth-highest-grossing film of the year. Its critical reception was mixed, with reviewers praising its themes of identity and questioning reality, but criticizing content perceived as vulgar and violent. The practical special effects were well received, earning the film an Academy Award, and the score by Jerry Goldsmith has been praised as one of his best works.
NERVA, nominated by Hawkeye7
The Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application (NERVA) was a nuclear thermal rocket engine development program that ran for roughly two decades. Its principal objective was to "establish a technology base for nuclear rocket engine systems to be utilized in the design and development of propulsion systems for space mission application". Plans for deep space exploration generally require the power of nuclear rocket engines, and all spacecraft concepts featuring them use derivative designs from the NERVA.
Torture of a captured Viet Cong by American troops
Torture, nominated by Buidhe
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts carried out by the state, but others include non-state organizations. Torture aims to break the victim's will and destroy their agency and personality. It is one of the most devastating experiences that a person can undergo and can also negatively affect perpetrating individuals and institutions. Public opinion research has shown general opposition to torture. Torture is prohibited under international law for all states under all circumstances and is explicitly forbidden by several treaties. Opposition to torture stimulated the formation of the human rights movement after World War II, and torture continues to be an important human rights issue. Although its incidence has declined, torture is still practiced by most countries.
SS Edward L. Ryerson, nominated by GreatLakesShips
SS Edward L. Ryerson is a steel-hulled American Great Lakes freighter which entered service in 1960. Built between April 1959 and January 1960 for the Inland Steel Company, she was the third of the 13 so-called 730-class of lake freighters, each of which shared the unofficial title of "Queen of the Lakes" because of their record-breaking length. She was not only the last steam-powered freighter built on the lakes but also the last one that was not a self-unloader. Since 2009, she has been in long-term layup in Superior, Wisconsin. She is one of only two American-owned straight deck lake freighters, the other being John Sherwin, built in 1958.
Corry Tendeloo, nominated by Edwininlondon
Nancy Sophie Cornélie "Corry" Tendeloo (3 September 1897 – 18 October 1956) was a Dutch lawyer, feminist and politician, who sat in the House of Representatives for the Free-thinking Democratic League (VDB) from 1945 until 1946, and then for the Labour Party (PvdA) until her death in 1956. She sat on two select committees and spoke in favour of women's rights issues. She helped secure universal suffrage for the Dutch colonies Suriname and Curaçao in 1948. She was largely forgotten after her death, even during the second wave of feminism in the 1960s and 1970s. In the 21st century efforts have been made to make her achievements better known.
1991–92 Gillingham F.C. season, nominated by ChrisTheDude
During the 1991–92 English football season, Gillingham F.C. competed in the Football League Fourth Division, the fourth tier of the English football league system. It was the 60th season in which Gillingham competed in the Football League, and the 42nd since the club was voted back into the league in 1950. The team began the season with a 4–0 victory over Scunthorpe United but their form was inconsistent; not until February did they manage to win two consecutive league games. After a season spent largely in the middle of the league table, Gillingham finished 11th out of 22 teams in the Fourth Division.
Black-breasted buttonquail, nominated by Cas Liber
The black-breasted buttonquail (Turnix melanogaster) is a rare buttonquail endemic to eastern Australia. Like other buttonquails, it is unrelated to the true quails. The black-breasted buttonquail is a plump quail-shaped bird 17–19 cm (6.7–7.5 in) in length with predominantly marbled black, rufous and pale brown plumage, marked prominently with white spots and stripes, and white eyes. Like other buttonquails, the female is larger and more boldly coloured than the male, with a distinctive black head and neck sprinkled with fine white markings. The usual sex roles are reversed, as the female mates with multiple male partners and leaves them to incubate the eggs.
Tessa Sanderson, nominated by BennyOnTheLoose
Theresa Ione "Tessa" Sanderson CBE (born 14 March 1956) is a British former javelin thrower. She appeared in every Summer Olympics from 1976 to 1996, winning the gold medal in the javelin at the 1984 Olympics, and becoming the second track and field athlete to compete at six Olympics. She is the first Black British woman to win an Olympic gold medal.
Kaze to Ki no Uta, nominated by Morgan695 and KuroMina
Kaze to Ki no Uta (Japanese: 風と木の詩, lit. "The Poem of Wind and Trees" or "The Song of Wind and Trees") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Keiko Takemiya. It was serialized in the manga magazine Shūkan Shōjo Comic from 1976 to 1980, and in the manga magazine Petit Flower from 1981 to 1984. One of the earliest works in the shōnen-ai (male–male romance) genre, Kaze to Ki no Uta follows the tragic romance between Gilbert Cocteau and Serge Battour, two students at an all-boys boarding school in late 19th-century France.
Apollo 6, nominated by Wehwalt
Apollo 6 (April 4, 1968), also known as AS-502, was the third and final uncrewed flight in the United States' Apollo Program and the second test of the Saturn V launch vehicle. It qualified the Saturn V to be used on crewed missions, as happened for the first time on Apollo 8 in December 1968. Apollo 6 was intended to demonstrate the ability of the Saturn V's third stage, the S-IVB, to propel itself and the Apollo spacecraft to lunar distances. Despite the engine failures, the flight provided NASA with enough confidence to use the Saturn V for crewed launches; a potential third uncrewed flight was cancelled.
Georges Feydeau, nominated by Tim riley
Georges-Léon-Jules-Marie Feydeau (8 December 1862 – 5 June 1921) was a French playwright of the era known as the Belle Époque. He is remembered for his farces, written between 1886 and 1914. He gave up writing for a time in the early 1890s and studied the methods of earlier masters of French comedy, particularly Eugène Labiche, Alfred Hennequin and Henri Meilhac. With his technique honed, and sometimes in collaboration with a co-author, he wrote seventeen full-length plays between 1892 and 1914, many of which have become staples of the theatrical repertoire in France and abroad.
Barkhale Camp, nominated by Mike Christie
Barkhale Camp is a Neolithic causewayed enclosure, an archaeological site on Bignor Hill, on the South Downs in West Sussex, England. Causewayed enclosures were built in England from shortly before 3700 BC until at least 3500 BC; they are characterized by the full or partial enclosure of an area with ditches that are interrupted by gaps, or causeways. Their purpose is not known; they may have been settlements, meeting places, or ritual sites. The Barkhale Camp enclosure was first identified in 1929, by John Ryle, and was surveyed the following year by E. Cecil Curwen, who listed it as a possible Neolithic site in a 1930 paper which was the first attempt to list all the causewayed enclosures in England.
Siege of Guînes (1352), nominated by Gog the Mild
The siege of Guînes took place from May to July 1352 when a French army under Geoffrey de Charny unsuccessfully attempted to recapture the French castle at Guînes which had been seized by the English the previous January. The siege was part of the Hundred Years' War and took place during the uneasy and ill-kept truce of Calais. The castle was besieged by the French in 1436 and 1514, but was relieved each time, before falling to the French in 1558.
Another Christian Siriano gown worn by Billy Porter.
Black Christian Siriano gown of Billy Porter, nominated by Premeditated Chaos
Actor Billy Porter wore a black velvet tuxedo dress designed by Christian Siriano on the red carpet of the 91st Academy Awards on February 24, 2019. At the time, Porter had recently come into public view for his breakout role in the FX television series Pose, and had been receiving attention for his boundary-pushing red carpet attire during the 2018–19 film awards season. Following his appearance at the 76th Golden Globe Awards in a custom silver suit with fuchsia-lined cape, he was invited to host red carpet interviews at the upcoming Oscars pre-show. Porter approached Siriano and together they conceived the tuxedo gown.
Roberta Williams, nominated by Shooterwalker
Roberta Williams (born February 16, 1953) is an American video game designer and writer, who co-founded Sierra On-Line with her husband, game developer Ken Williams. In 1980, her first game Mystery House became a modest commercial success, and is credited as the first graphic adventure game. She is also known for creating and maintaining the King's Quest series, as well as designing the full motion video game Phantasmagoria in 1995. Several publications have named Roberta Williams as one of the best or most influential creators in the video game industry, for co-founding Sierra, pioneering the graphic adventure game genre, and creating the King's Quest series.
Zufar ibn al-Harith al-Kilabi, nominated by Al Ameer son
Abu al-Hudhayl Zufar ibn al-Harith al-Kilabi (died c. 694–695) was a Muslim commander, a chieftain of the Arab tribe of Banu Amir, and the preeminent leader of the Qays tribal–political faction in the late 7th century. During the First Muslim Civil War he commanded his tribe in A'isha's army against Caliph Ali's forces at the Battle of the Camel near Basra in 656. The following year, he relocated from Iraq to the Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia) and fought under Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, future founder of the Umayyad Caliphate, against Ali at the Battle of Siffin. During the Second Muslim Civil War he served Mu'awiya's son, Caliph Yazid I (r. 680–683), leading the troops of Jund Qinnasrin (the military district of northern Syria) against anti-Umayyad rebels in the 683 Battle of al-Harra.
Saint Vincent Beer, nominated by Guerillero
Saint Vincent Beer was a Bavarian-style beer brewed by monks at Saint Vincent Archabbey in Unity Township, Pennsylvania, between 1856 and 1918. It was produced with the 1852 permission of Pope Pius IX after a dispute with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. The brewery was located in a log cabin near the Saint Vincent Archabbey Gristmill and supplemented by a brick building in 1868. After production ceased, the buildings were used for storage until they burned down in 1926. The walls were removed from the site in 1995 during the restoration of the gristmill. Its popularity and widespread availability brought the monastery to the attention of the Catholic temperance movement.
"Like I'm Gonna Lose You", nominated by MaranoFan
"Like I'm Gonna Lose You" is a song by American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor from her debut major-label studio album Title (2015), featuring guest vocals from singer John Legend. Trainor wrote the song with Justin Weaver and Caitlyn Smith, and produced it with Chris Gelbuda. Epic Records released it as the album's fourth single on June 23, 2015. A soul love ballad, "Like I'm Gonna Lose You" is about savoring moments spent with loved ones and not taking them for granted. In the United States, "Like I'm Gonna Lose You" reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified 4× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. It peaked at number one in Australia, New Zealand, and Poland, and attained 5× Platinum certifications in Australia and Canada.

Twenty-one featured pictures were promoted this period, including the two at the top of this report and one at the bottom.

One featured topic was promoted this period, after being nominated by FrB.TG

view | edit | discuss
Anne Hathaway
Featured topic
3 articles
Performances
Awards and nominations

Nineteen featured lists were promoted this period.

Judy Ann Santos
List of awards and nominations received by Judy Ann Santos, nominated by Pseud 14
Judy Ann Santos is a Filipino actress and film producer who has received various awards and nominations for her work in film and television. At the age of eight, she began her acting career with a supporting role in the drama series Kaming Mga Ulila (1986). Santos had her breakthrough role in the drama series Mara Clara (1992) and earned her first FAMAS Award for her performance in its 1996 film adaptation, and went on to far too much success to detail here, though clicking on the link to the list will provide you with all the details.
List of Robin Williams performances, nominated by Birdienest81
American actor and comedian Robin Williams (1951–2014) starred in films, television and video games throughout a career that spanned nearly four decades. Known for his fast-paced, improvisational style and playing a wide variety of characters, he was described by Screen Actors Guild president Ken Howard as "a performer of limitless versatility, equally adept at comedy and drama, whether scripted or improv". The Independent critic Nadja Sayej regarded him as "arguably one of the greatest comedians to ever live".
Timeline of the 2020 Pacific hurricane season, nominated by TropicalAnalystwx13
The 2020 Pacific hurricane season was an event in the annual cycle of tropical cyclone formation, in which tropical cyclones form in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. While the season officially started on May 15 or June 1, depending on part of the Pacific in the Central Pacific, and ended on November 30, tropical cyclones sometimes form outside the bounds of an official season, as was evidenced by the formation of Tropical Depression One-E on April 25, marking the earliest start to a Pacific hurricane season on record. However, seasonal activity as a whole was generally below average. It featured just four hurricanes, or half the average, though three of those intensified into major hurricanes, nearly equalling the average number (four) for major hurricanes. The season ended with the dissipation of its final storm, Tropical Storm Polo, on November 19.
58th Academy Awards, nominated by Birdienest81
The 58th Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 24, 1986, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles beginning at 6:00 p.m. PST / 9:00 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 23 categories honoring films released in 1985. Actors Alan Alda, Jane Fonda, and Robin Williams co-hosted the show. Eight days earlier, in a ceremony held at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, on March 16, the Academy Awards for Technical Achievement were presented by host Macdonald Carey. Out of Africa won seven awards, including Best Picture. Meanwhile, fellow Best Picture nominee The Color Purple failed to win any of its eleven nominations. Other winners included Cocoon and Witness with two awards and Anna & Bella, Back to the Future, Broken Rainbow, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Mask, Molly's Pilgrim, The Official Story, Prizzi's Honor, Ran, The Trip to Bountiful, White Nights, and Witness to War: Dr. Charlie Clements with one. The telecast received both positive and negative reviews, and it garnered 37.8 million viewers in the United States.
Angel Locsin filmography, nominated by Pseud 14
Filipino actress Angel Locsin has appeared in motion pictures and television programs. She made her screen debut at age 15 as the young Robina Gokongwei in the biopic Ping Lacson: Super Cop (2000). Her first television appearance was in the teen drama series Click (2002), followed by a string of guest roles and minor appearances in the Mano Po film franchise In 2004, she had her breakthrough role as the avian-human hybrid heroine in the fantasy series Mulawin, reprised in its 2005 film adaptation. Locsin gained wider recognition and received praise for portraying the title character in the 2005 television series Darna. Critical success would follow by 2009 with Locsin's performances in collaboration with high-profile directors.
Alexandru Cotoi
List of songs written by Alexandru Cotoi, nominated by Sebbirrrr
Romanian composer, producer and DJ Alexandru Cotoi has written songs for various artists, mostly Romanian. He has written songs under his full name or a shorter version of his first name, Alex Cotoi, and has released music under the pseudonym Sickotoy. Cotoi published his first songs in 2003. In October 2007, while being part of Morandi, he formed the music group Sonichouse alongside Radu Dumitriu, Răzvan Gorcinski, and Victor Bourosu. By September 2009, the group had published five songs on their Myspace profile and announced that they were working on their debut album, which was released on 16 April 2011, titled Supersonic.
List of accolades received by The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021 film), nominated by Some Dude From North Carolina
The Tragedy of Macbeth is an American black-and-white film written and directed by Joel Coen, based on the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare. It is the first film directed by one of the Coen brothers without the other's involvement. It stars Denzel Washington, Frances McDormand, Bertie Carvel, Alex Hassell, Corey Hawkins, Harry Melling, and Brendan Gleeson. In the film, the Three Witches tell Macbeth a prophecy that he will become the King of Scotland. Kathryn Hunter co-stars, playing all three witches and an old man.
List of awards and nominations received by Daddy Yankee, nominated by Brankestein
Puerto Rican rapper Daddy Yankee has won 148 awards from 492 nominations. He has been nominated for 80 Billboard Latin Music Awards, 28 Latin Grammy Awards, 25 Latin American Music Awards, 15 Billboard Music Awards, 9 American Music Awards, and 4 Grammy Awards. Daddy Yankee rose to prominence with the release of his third studio album, Barrio Fino (2004), which garnered him a Latin Grammy Award for Best Urban Music Album. His guest feature on Luis Fonsi's "Despacito" (2017) garnered him four Latin Grammy Awards, including Record and Song of the Year, as well as three Grammy Award nominations, also including Record and Song of the Year.
Melon Music Award for Album of the Year, nominated by Nkon21
The Melon Music Award for Album of the Year is an award presented by South Korean entertainment company Kakao M at the annual Melon Music Awards, with its inaugural online ceremony in 2005. Award winners are based on data collected from the Melon music platform and honors artists who have had exceptional performance during the recording year. Since 2009, it has comprised one of the daesang (grand prize) awards given at the event, alongside Song of the Year, Artist of the Year, and later Record of the Year—the latter of which was introduced during the 2018 ceremony. Album of the Year has currently been given to nine artists.
List of commanders of the British 3rd Division, nominated by EnigmaMcmxc
The 3rd Division is an infantry division of the British Army and was first formed in 1809. The division is commanded by a general officer commanding (GOC), who receives orders from a level above him in the chain of command, and then uses the forces within the division to undertake the mission assigned. In addition to directing the tactical battle in which the division is involved, the GOC oversees a staff and the administrative, logistical, medical, training, and discipline concerns of the division. Since its founding, the division has had 69 permanent GOCs over a history that has spanned more than 200 years.
Snooker world rankings 1977/1978, nominated by BennyOnTheLoose; and Snooker world rankings 2018/2019, nominated by Lee Vilenski
The sport of professional snooker has had a world ranking system in place since 1976, where ertain tournaments were given "ranking" status, with the results at those events contributing to a player's world ranking. In the 1977-78 season, players' performances in the previous three World Snooker Championships (1975, 1976, and 1977) contributed to their points total. whereas the 2018-19 season used the system from the 2010–11 season, where players won ranking points based entirely on prize money won from events over the prior two seasons, with eleven revisions after specific tournaments throughout the season. Ray Reardon won in 1977-78, and Ronnie O'Sullivan in 2018-19.
List of accolades received by Encanto (film), nominated by Pamzeis
Encanto, a 2021 American computer-animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, has received various awards and nominations. It garnered three Golden Globe nominations at the 79th ceremony, winning for the Best Animated Feature Film. At the 94th Academy Awards, the film received three Oscar nominations, including Best Original Score and Best Original Song (for "Dos Oruguitas"), and won for Best Animated Feature. Various critic circles have also picked Encanto as the best animated feature film of the year.
GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, nominated by PanagiotisZois
The GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comedy Series is an annual award that honors comedy series for excellence in the depiction of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) characters and themes. It is one of several categories of the annual GLAAD Media Awards, which are presented by GLAAD—an American non-governmental media monitoring organization founded in 1985, formerly called the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation—at ceremonies in New York City; Los Angeles; and San Francisco between March and June.
List of awards and nominations received by Shah Rukh Khan, nominated by Nicholas Michael Halim
Shah Rukh Khan is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality predominantly known for his work in Bollywood. He is the recipient of several awards, including fifteen Filmfare Awards, seventeen Screen Awards, thirteen Zee Cine Awards, and six IIFA Awards. Besides acting awards, he has received a number of state honours, including the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2005, the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2007, and the Legion of Honour in 2014 (both by the Government of France).
List of female 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers, nominated by CatRacer22
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: 24 Heures du Mans) is an annual Triple Crown 24-hour automobile endurance race organised by the automotive group Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and held on the Circuit de la Sarthe race track close to the city of Le Mans, the capital of the French department of Sarthe. From the first event in 1923, the ACO advocated sexual equality by permitting women to participate at Le Mans, ranking them equally with men under its performance standards. From 1957, the ACO refused to allow women to enter the event after the fatal accident of Annie Bousquet at the 1956 12 Hours of Reims, as well as spectator deaths in the 1955 Le Mans disaster and the 1957 Mille Miglia. The restriction was lifted in 1971, possibly due to the women's liberation movement reaching French motorsport.
Richard Dawkins Award, nominated by Kavyansh.Singh
The Richard Dawkins Award is an annual prize awarded by the Center for Inquiry, a US nonprofit organization that works to promote science, compassion, and secular government. It was established in 2003 and was initially awarded by the Atheist Alliance of America coordinating with Richard Dawkins and the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. The award is currently presented by the Center for Inquiry to individual associated with science, scholarship, education, or entertainment, and who "publicly proclaims the values of secularism and rationalism, upholding scientific truth wherever it may lead." They state that the recipient must be approved by Dawkins himself.
List of accolades received by The Lego Movie, nominated by Chompy Ace
The Lego Movie is a 2014 computer-animated adventure comedy film written and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from a story by Lord, Miller, and Dan and Kevin Hageman. It stars the voices of Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Nick Offerman, Alison Brie, Charlie Day, Liam Neeson, and Morgan Freeman. Based on the Lego line of construction toys, the film follows Emmet (Pratt), an ordinary construction worker Lego minifigure who helps a resistance movement stop a tyrannical businessman (Ferrell) from gluing everything in the Lego world into his vision of perfection. The film and its soundtrack have received various awards and nominations, including an Academy Award and a Critics' Choice Award.
List of Billboard number-one R&B songs of 1949, nominated by ChrisTheDude
In the issue of Billboard dated January 1, 1949, different versions of the song "Bewildered" topped the two charts: Amos Milburn's rendition was at number one on the juke box chart while the recording by the Red Miller Trio held the peak position on the best sellers listing. The following week, Milburn's version of the song took the top spot on the best seller chart, and another of his songs, "Chicken Shack Boogie", moved up to number one on the juke box listing. Milburn returned to number one on the juke box chart in September with "Roomin' House Boogie" and was the only artist with three R&B chart-toppers during 1949. Three records had lengthy runs at number one in 1949, each topping both the juke box and best sellers charts for ten weeks or more. Between March and June, "The Huckle-Buck" by Paul Williams and his Hucklebuckers topped the best sellers chart for 12 non-consecutive weeks and the juke box listing for 14 non-consecutive weeks. The song that replaced it at number one on both charts, "Trouble Blues" by the Charles Brown Trio, topped the juke box chart for a total of 10 weeks and held the peak position on the best sellers listing for 15 consecutive weeks. Finally, beginning in October, Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five topped the juke box chart for 10 weeks and the best sellers listing for 11 weeks with "Saturday Night Fish Fry" (Parts I & II). The final number one of the year on both charts was "For You My Love" by Larry Darnell.
Key Monastery (photographed by Ksuryawanshi and retouched by Aristeas) is one of this month's featured pictures.



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2022-06-26

RfA trend line haruspicy: fact or fancy?

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By Wugapodes
This user essay originally titled "RFA trend lines" was started in 2020. You may edit it, but please do so on the original page and not The Signpost. – E

Trends in support percentage during a request for adminship are rarely informative, and these trends are difficult to interpret even when they might be informative.

As a first order approximation, let's assume there's an RfA where no new information comes to light over the course of the request and everyone !votes independent of each other. In this case, if we were to poll every Wikipedian, there would be some global, unobserved support percentage for the population; call it p. Given an RfA with n participants, each !vote in an RfA can be considered a Bernoulli trial with probability p. The number of supports, s, at any given time can be simulated by combining the results of multiple Bernoulli trials; this can be modeled as a binomial distribution of n trials and probability p.

RfAs run for multiple days and are among the most attended discussions on the project; this suggests that the final support percentage is a reliable stand-in for the population support percentage. By contrast, the trend line tells us almost nothing and may in fact be misleading. Our binomial model is the same we would use to model the ratio of heads to tails in successive coin flips. Imagine we are going to flip a coin for a contest and we want to prove that the coin we are flipping is fair. We flip it 150 times and track the number and order of heads and tails. After 150 coin flips, the ratio of heads to tails would be very informative: if it is far away from a 50% split then the coin is not fair. The order these flips occur in, however, is uninformative, and in fact, using it as evidence for an argument is logical fallacy known as the gambler's fallacy.

Our first order approximation of RfA trend lines represents a hypothesis regarding !voting behavior. Absent evidence to the contrary, we assume editors review the candidate and comment independently of others just like the result of a coin flip does not depend on prior results. But an RfA is not a series of independent tests. The amount of information available to a !voter includes not only other comments, but new question answers, and summary statistics like current support percentage. These can consciously or unconsciously affect how a participant !votes and justifies an alternate hypothesis: each !vote is related to the ones that came before it (and maybe even after it). If the population support percentage, p, doesn't change then this distinction is immaterial to our model.

Reconsider the coin flip example: if the probability of getting heads depends on the previous result such that getting a heads changes the probability from 50% to 50% (i.e., no change), then the dependent model and independent model will produce the exact same results. Differences only arise if the dependence changes the underlying probability. In statistical terms, we can say that the binomial distribution is robust against violations of the independence assumption as long as the sample size is much smaller than the population. For example, let's assume that getting a heads increased the likelihood of getting another heads. In that situation our independent trial model will be accurate at first but get more inaccurate as we have more trials since the non-independence will keep compounding making heads more and more likely. Bringing this back to RfA, the influence of prior votes on later ones is not a serious threat to the binomial (independent trial) model. It would only affect our model if there were thousands of !voters or if there was a major shift in the underlying probability.

Editors look at trend lines because they believe that (or want to evaluate whether) earlier votes influenced later ones to such an extent that a major shift occurred in the underlying probability. considering how !votes are non-independent, this intuition makes sense but is flawed. Essentially, this is a model selection problem, and the starting assumption ought to be the null hypothesis. As discussed above, this means that without evidence, we should assume that the order of !votes is not meaningful, just like the order of coin flips. Claiming that a coin is unfair because of the order of heads and tails is fallacious, so we cannot reject the null hypothesis on the basis of the trend line alone; we need some other kind of evidence. What is critical to understand in the context of RfA is that the trend line cannot tell us whether a change in the underlying support percentage occurred; they are only useful if we already assume that happened and even then can only help us determine when.

Like any hypothesis testing tool, a trend line is only useful if we already have a hypothesis. Unless there is an independent reason to believe the information available to participants has changed, the trend line is most likely to reflect randomness in the sample rather than a meaningful pattern. Without a rational argument as to why early !voters did not have the same information as late !voters, an argument from trend-line data is weak.

Example

A simulated RfA with 150 !votes. Can you tell where the underlying support percentage changed?
The accompanying image shows a trend line for the support percentage in a simulated RfA which ended within the discretionary range. It is a series of 150 Bernoulli trials, but at some point the underlying probability of support changed from just above the 75% threshold for an outright pass (76 percent) to well below the 65% threshold for outright fail (60 percent). The location at which this change occurred is difficult to determine from the trend line alone, and in fact the graph looks like other simulations where the underlying support percentage was above the discretionary range the entire time. The change in probability occurred after the 90th !vote, and despite that change, there is little evidence in the trend line alone to substantiate that. These simulations can be replicated (in spirit, since it's a random simulation) using the following R code:
# Config variables
N = 150 # How many !votes to simulate
switchPoint = 90 # At what vote should the probability switch
p.start = 0.76 # Probability of support before switchPoint
p.end = 0.6 # Probability of support after switch point

# Data lists
voteList = c()
meanSeries = c()

# Simulation
for(i in 1:N) {
  if ( i < switchPoint ) {
    p = p.start
  } else {
    p = p.end
  }
  voteList[i] = rbinom(1,1,p)
  meanSeries[i] = mean(voteList)
}

# Plot the result
plot(1:150,meanSeries,xlab='!vote number',ylab='Support percentage',type='l')



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2022-06-26

Wikipedia versus academia (again), tables' "immortality" probed

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By Tilman Bayer

A monthly overview of recent academic research about Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects, also published as the Wikimedia Research Newsletter.

"The Secret Life of Wikipedia Tables"

This paper[1] presents an analysis of "the entire history of all 3.5 M tables on the English Wikipedia for a total of 53.8 M table versions." In an accompanying conference poster, the researchers summarize their findings as follows:

Wikipedia tables

... like to socialize! 🥳
... share genes! 🧬
... live a fast-paced life! 🏎️
... tend to be immortal! 💓

The paper itself presents various interesting results in slightly more scholarly detail.

"Number of tables and pages created per month" (from the paper)

The authors note Wikipedia contained "almost no tables" in its first three years, after which:

"Using tables in Wikipedia became more popular only around 2004 and tables were fully adopted by end of 2006. Since then, every month around 20,000 new tables are created (about one every two minutes). The hypothesis that insertion frequency would decrease once tables are inserted at all relevant locations seems false: While the number of new pages created per month drops since 2007, the insertion-rate of new tables remains constant. This relative increase in tables per page shows that more and more data is stored in a structured fashion, raising the relevance of methods to extract knowledge from said tables."

As an aside, there is no mention of Wikidata in the paper (a sister project of Wikipedia launched in 2012 aimed at providing structured machine-readable data), nor of the more recent efforts to store tabular data on Wikimedia Commons for use on (e.g.) Wikipedia. While there are tools to generate Wikipedia tables automatically from the structured data available on Wikidata, they are not widely used yet.


"Histogram of the maximum table count per page" (from the paper, omitting pages without any tables)

A "histogram of the maximum number of tables that ever existed simultaneously on a Wikipedia article" demonstrates that

The vast majority of Wikipedia articles contain only a few tables [...]. On the other hand, most tables appear on pages together with other tables. Only 19.1% of all tables appear alone on a Wikipedia article."

These results appear to provide the empirical foundation for the party emoji in the conference poster (above).

The racecar emoji refers to various results on how often tables are changed. From the author's perspective of reusing information from tables outside of Wikipedia, they stress that "in a one-month-old snapshot, already 4.4% of tables are outdated."

"Table freshness over time" (violin plot from the paper)

A violin plot of table "freshness" (i.e. time since the table's last update) over table age (i.e. time since the table's creation) shows that

"The median rises until a certain point, after which it stays constant or slightly decreases again. However, the distribution is skewed towards the two ends of the spectrum: tables either are very frequently updated or are hardly ever changed."

The authors note that the distribution of the number of updates per table has "a large skew", with one outlier being "a table on social networking websites that was updated more than 10,000 times during its lifetime. At least 1,310 tables were each updated more than 1,000 times during their lifetimes."

The paper also examines schema changes of existing tables (e.g. the addition, removal or renaming of columns). It finds e.g. that "about half of all tables never change their schema", and that schemata can evolve into various specializations, such as in this example visualizing "genes" shared by around 500 football-related tables:

"Example of schemata evolving over time" (from the paper): "This particular plot shows a cluster of schemata that all contain information about league results of football teams. There are almost 500 tables for which at least one of the snapshots had one of the Schemata 2–7."

Lastly, the conference poster's "immortality" claim is quantified as follows:

"69.5% of all tables ever created have survived until the end-date of our dataset. If a table is deleted, then this usually happens at the beginning of its lifetime. [...] While the vast majority of tables is never deleted (57.2%) or deleted only once (29.9%), there is a larger skew in the distribution of deletes. One table that explains the Wiki syntax was deleted 620 times during its lifetime, mostly from vandalism."

See also our earlier coverage of related research: "Neural Relation Extraction on Wikipedia Tables for Augmenting Knowledge Graphs", "TableNet: An Approach for Determining Fine-grained Relations for Wikipedia Tables", "Methods for Exploring and Mining Tables on Wikipedia"

Papers further explore dynamic between Wikipedia and academia

The June 2021 issue of "She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation" featured several articles examining Wikipedia with a focus on its relation to academia, including by longtime Wikipedians Piotr Konieczny (User:Piotrus) and Dariusz Jemielniak (User:Pundit).

Konieczny's first contribution, titled "From Adversaries to Allies? The Uneasy Relationship between Experts and the Wikipedia Community"[2], provides a historical overview and literature review, concluding that "Collaborating with Wikipedia is increasingly common in academia, though barriers remain" and that "Wikipedia’s anti-elitist culture and academia’s anti-amateur culture are still at odds." Konieczny commiserates with his "fellow experts" who try to contribute to Wikipedia, but holds up a mirror:

"Undeniably, we receive unfair treatment on Wikipedia. At the same time, the proverbial shoe may be on the other foot. Many experts view Wikipedia as a still-recent startup that should recognize how badly it needs experts and give them special privileges—but without acknowledging that Wikipedia’s model of knowledge creation requires everyone to earn those privileges on the site.

Furthermore, Konieczny reminds academics who complain about hostile Wikipedians about their own power structures:

"Are some Wikipedians impolite? Certainly. So are some journal reviewers. Was your Wikipedia edit removed or article deleted? How different is it from having a journal or conference submission rejected? Is the power of experienced Wikipedia volunteers or administrators superior to that of a newbie editor? The answer is yes—in the same way that a journal editor or grant reviewer has leverage over one’s submission."

In a short commentary,[3] Jemielniak agrees with Konieczny's analysis of these two polarized stances as "the underlying cultural problem", and calls for "institutional support [for Wikipedia] from beyond the Wikimedia Foundation or Wiki Education Foundation", e.g. by "counting [Wikipedia editing] towards tenure reviews at universities."

In another response, titled "Wikipedians among Us: From Allies to Reformers"[4], Kara Kennedy also largely agrees with Konieczny's observations, but "sheds light on some of [his] oversights, including the still-present issues of bias and gaps in content and quality due to a lack of diversity in editorship".

In a third response,[5] the journal's editor-in-chief Ken Friedman (User:Kenfriedman0) argues that Wikipedia "suffers from the internally-focused cultural patterns among Wikipedians that prevent the improvements needed for a high quality reference work". Among other observations, he focuses on the Wikimedia Foundation's statement (in its fundraising messages) that 98% of Wikipedia readers do not donate, claiming that "This admission contains a message that the Wikimedia Foundation doesn’t seem to understand. When only 2% of the audience for a widely used not-for-profit project is willing to support the project they use, this suggests that the project might not survive as a commercial venture."

In the concluding piece, Konieczny responds to the three comments, joining Jemielniak and Kennedy in making "The Case for Institutional Support: It’s High Time for Governments and University Administration to Actively Support Wikipedia". [6] He devotes some space to Friedman's recollections of his own negative experiences of trying to contribute to Wikipedia. Examining the on-wiki record, Konieczny notes that the only dispute appears to have been about "whether to insert several names on the list of Fluxus members—an art movement Friedman was involved in both as artist and later, scholar—or not," whereas Friedman's larger contributions all appear to have been accepted. Konieczny argues that "[t]his illustrates the classic notion of negativity bias: we are much more likely to remember the bad experiences than the good ones, even if the latter are more common".


Briefly

Other recent publications

Other recent publications that could not be covered in time for this issue include the items listed below. Contributions, whether reviewing or summarizing newly published research, are always welcome.

"The Wikipedia Global Consciousness Index: A Measurement of the Awareness and Meaning of the World-as-a-Whole"

From the abstract:[7]

"To supplement current globalization indexes, I propose a new index, the Wikipedia Global Consciousness Index (WikiGCI). [...] The first research objective is to construct the new index as an empirical assessment of global consciousness by applying the top 100 global articles as the empirical units. Global articles are the Wikipedia articles edited in the most countries, identified by geolocating the IP address edits. Furthermore, I discursively analyze how these Wikipedia articles express global consciousness by statements of global wholeness in their narratives. [...] The second research objective is to discursively analyze regional patterns in Wikipedia’s global and local articles. I performed a mixed method, multilingual discursive analysis to examine how four globalizing discourses (references to the countries in the world’s economic core, the use of English in citations, references to international media institutions, and the monetization of commodities) can distinguish place representations between two groups of articles. [...] This discourse analysis reveals that the representation of the world is not strictly determined by the core. While the socio-economic power in the core creates the globalizing discourses, non-core editors engage with the discourses to depict the world based on the socio-historic conditions of their countries."


"Wikipedia in the anti-SOPA protests as a case study of direct, deliberative democracy in cyberspace"

From the abstract:[8]

"On 18th January 2012 in the ‘first Internet strike’ against the American ‘Stop Online Piracy Act' legislation, over two thousand Wikipedians took part in the vote concerning whether their site should undertake a protest action, with vast majority expressing support for this action. However, the vote participants formed only a tiny fraction of the total number of Wikipedians who number in millions. [...] This paper discusses the intricate dynamics between Wikipedia egalitarian ethos and the creed to discuss project matters deliberately on one hand and the conspicuous lack of promotion and advertisement stemming from a rule against ‘canvassing’ and an overall skepticism regarding the status of majority votes. While voters' passivity and lack of interest play a major role, as expected, another factor emerges as a significant factor responsible for the low levels of participation: an inefficient information distribution system, as the vast majority of Wikipedians were not aware of the ongoing discussions and the vote itself until after their conclusion.

See also our review of an earlier paper by the same author: "Wikipedia’s SOPA Strike considered as international political movement", and his own review of a 2012 paper: SOPA blackout decision analyzed"

References

  1. ^ Tobias Bleifuß, Leon Bornemann, Dmitri V. Kalashnikov, Felix Naumann, Divesh Srivastava: The Secret Life of Wikipedia Tables. Proceedings of the 2nd Workshop on Search, Exploration, and Analysis in Heterogeneous Datastores, co-located with VLDB 2021 (August 16-20, 2021, Copenhagen, Denmark) d:Q108215401 (datasets)
  2. ^ Konieczny, Piotr (2021-06-01). "From Adversaries to Allies? The Uneasy Relationship between Experts and the Wikipedia Community". She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation. 7 (2): 151–170. doi:10.1016/j.sheji.2020.12.003. ISSN 2405-8726.
  3. ^ Jemielniak, Dariusz (2021-06-01). "Collaborative Society Needs Institutional Support". She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation. 7 (2): 171–172. doi:10.1016/j.sheji.2021.05.003. ISSN 2405-8726.
  4. ^ Kennedy, Kara (2021-06-01). "Wikipedians among Us: From Allies to Reformers". She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation. 7 (2): 172–177. doi:10.1016/j.sheji.2021.05.004. ISSN 2405-8726.
  5. ^ Friedman, Ken (2021-06-01). "Wikipedia Is a Magnificent, Flawed Gem. Can It Be Polished?". She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation. 7 (2): 177–187. doi:10.1016/j.sheji.2021.05.005. ISSN 2405-8726.
  6. ^ Konieczny, Piotr (2021-06-01). "The Case for Institutional Support: It's High Time for Governments and University Administration to Actively Support Wikipedia". She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation. 7 (2): 187–196. doi:10.1016/j.sheji.2021.05.002. ISSN 2405-8726.
  7. ^ Stieve, Thomas (2021). The Wikipedia Global Consciousness Index: A Measurement of the Awareness and Meaning of the World-as-a-Whole (Ph.D.). University of Arizona.
  8. ^ Konieczny, Piotr (2016-03-16). "Wikipedia in the anti-SOPA protests as a case study of direct, deliberative democracy in cyberspace". Information, Communication & Society. 0 (0): 1–18. doi:10.1080/1369118X.2016.1157620. ISSN 1369-118X. Closed access icon post-print (freely available)




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2022-06-26

Was she really a Swiss lesbian automobile racer?

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By Vysotsky

At its best, Wikipedia offers eloquently written articles, pulled together from a variety of sources. At its worst, Wikipedia offers hastily written abstracts from a single source. And, perhaps just as bad, one-to-one translations from the English Wikipedia to less-active language versions. Why just as bad? Because direct translations fail to address topics that might not be important for an English speaking audience, yet are very important for others. Italian translations of books by James Joyce, for example, are important for Italian readers of Wikipedia – while many English speaking Wikipedians couldn’t care less.

Annemarie Schwarzenbarch (photo by Anita Forrer)

Seven years ago, I uploaded a photograph of the Swiss writer Annemarie Schwarzenbach. Schwarzenbach was a rich, independent and eccentric writer and journalist, who travelled the world as if she was walking through the woods of rural Switzerland, where she was born. She was an ardent photographer too, who took photos in Afghanistan, Belgian Congo, Eritrea, Georgia, India, Iraq, Russia, the United States and 20 other countries.

Photos of her were then quite hard to find: I had to browse through several books before I found a suitable photograph which also had a suitable copyright status. That photo (right), with Schwarzenbach holding a Rolleiflex Standard 621-Camera, looked like a selfie from around 1938 – at first sight.

Death & archives

Schwarzenbach died from a fall on her bicycle in the Swiss Alps. Her mother destroyed most of her letters and diaries. Wikipedia tells us: "A friend took care of her writings and photographs, which were later archived in the Swiss Literary Archives in Bern." That's almost true. The executors of her will, Erika Mann and Anita Forrer, weren't exactly close friends. In the end, Anita Forrer took care of the photographic and literary archives of Schwarzenbach. She treated the archives as a treasure in the library she founded, the Biblioteca Engiadinaisa, and later donated the Schwarzenbach archives to the Swiss Literary Archives. And in that archive I found the supposed selfie again: as a photo made by Anita Forrer in Malans, Switzerland, in 1938.

Hell of a woman

Letter from Rilke to Anita Forrer (1920)

Anita Forrer, the guardian of the Schwarzenbach archives, was a hell of a woman. Born in 1901 in St. Gallen, she visited a poetry reading by Rainer Maria Rilke when she was 18 years old. Lightning struck and, as Rilke later put it in a letter to her, he became an external reference point to her "in the geometry of the heart to somehow get the measure of the distances and relations in the vast space of feeling". Their correspondence (70 letters over a period of seven years) was published in 1982. Forrer developed, worked in Paris and Luzern, was briefly married and travelled the world. She had an affair with Annemarie Schwarzenbach, and travelled to the United States before WWII. A photograph of Forrer was not hard to find: the UC Berkeley Library's digital collections had a nice photograph, shot by Johnny Florea in 1938.

An automobile racer?

But there's something odd about the files in the UC Berkeley collections. Three photographs of Anita Forrer are accompanied by a photo card calling "Miss Anita Forrer" a "Swiss woman auto racer". I was not surprised at all. As Forrer was a graphologist, photographer and a spy, she might as well be an auto racer. After all, she had been a driver for the American Red Cross Motor Corps in WWII, so why shouldn't she race cars? But, as one source is no source, I removed that assertion from a Wikipedia article. I hope this piece encourages others to find out if Anita Forrer really was an automobile racer. Any help would be appreciated. The English Wikipedia still lacks an article about Anita Forrer (which will be written soon, of course), but the German and Dutch Wikipedias have made the attempt.



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2022-06-26

Wikimedia Enterprise signs first deals

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By Wikimedia Foundation

This article was first published on June 21, 2022 in Wikimedia Foundation News with the title Wikimedia Enterprise announces Google and Internet Archive as its first customers; allows new customers to self sign-up for free trials, CC-BY-SA 3.0

Wikimedia Enterprise, a first-of-its-kind commercial product designed for companies that reuse and source Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects at a high volume, today announced its first customers: multinational technology company Google and nonprofit digital library Internet Archive. Wikimedia Enterprise was recently launched by the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia, as an opt-in product. Starting today, it also offers a free trial account to new users who can self sign-up to better assess their needs with the product.

As Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects continue to grow, knowledge from Wikimedia sites is increasingly being used to power other websites and products. Wikimedia Enterprise was designed to make it easier for these entities to package and share Wikimedia content at scale in ways that best suit their needs: from an educational company looking to integrate a wide variety of verified facts into their online curricula, to an artificial intelligence startup that needs access to a vast set of accurate data in order to train their systems. Wikimedia Enterprise provides a feed of real-time content updates on Wikimedia projects, guaranteed uptime, and other system requirements that extend beyond what is freely available in publicly-available APIs and data dumps.

"Wikimedia Enterprise is designed to meet a variety of content reuse and sourcing needs, and our first two customers are a key example of this. Google and Internet Archive leverage Wikimedia content in very distinct ways, whether it’s to help power a portion of knowledge panel results or preserve citations on Wikipedia," said Lane Becker, Senior Director of Earned Revenue at the Wikimedia Foundation. "We’re thrilled to be working with them both as our longtime partners, and their insights have been critical to build a compelling product that will be useful for many different kinds of organizations."

Organizations and companies of any size can access Wikimedia Enterprise offerings with dedicated customer-support and Service Level Agreements, at a variable price based on their volume of use. Interested companies can now sign up on the website for a free trial account which offers 10,000 on-demand requests and unlimited access to a 30-day Snapshot.

Google and the Wikimedia Foundation have worked together on a number of projects and initiatives to enhance knowledge distribution to the world. Content from Wikimedia projects helps power some of Google’s features, including being one of several data sources that show up in its knowledge panels. Wikimedia Enterprise will help make the content sourcing process more efficient. Tim Palmer, Managing Director, Search Partnerships at Google said, "Wikipedia is a unique and valuable resource, created freely for the world by its dedicated volunteer community. We have long supported the Wikimedia Foundation in pursuit of our shared goals of expanding knowledge and information access for people everywhere. We look forward to deepening our partnership with Wikimedia Enterprise, further investing in the long-term sustainability of the foundation and the knowledge ecosystem it continues to build."

Internet Archive is a long-standing partner to the Wikimedia Foundation and the broader free knowledge movement. Their product, the Wayback Machine, has been used to fix more than 9 million broken links on Wikipedia. Wikimedia Enterprise is provided free of cost to the nonprofit to further support their mission to digitize knowledge sources. Mark Graham, Director of the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine shared, "The Wikimedia Foundation and the Internet Archive are long-term partners in the mission to provide universal and free access to knowledge. By drawing from a real time feed of newly-added links and references in Wikipedia sites – in all its languages, we can now archive more of the Web more quickly and reliably."

Wikimedia Enterprise is an opt-in, commercial product. Within a year of its commercial launch, it is covering its current operating costs and with a growing list of users exploring the product. All Wikimedia projects, including the suite of publicly-available datasets, tools, and APIs the Wikimedia Foundation offers will continue to be available for free use to all users.

The creation of Wikimedia Enterprise arose, in part, from the recent Movement Strategy – the global, collaborative strategy process to direct Wikipedia’s future by the year 2030 devised side-by-side with movement volunteers. By making Wikimedia content easier to discover, find, and share, the product speaks to the two key pillars of the 2030 strategy recommendations: advancing knowledge equity and knowledge as a service.

Interested companies are encouraged to visit the Wikimedia Enterprise website for more information on the product offering and features, as well as to sign up for their free account.

For more information on Wikimedia Enterprise:





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2022-06-26

Top view counts for shows, movies, and celeb lawsuit that keeps on giving

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By Igordebraga, YttriumShrew, Benmite, TheJoebro64, Ab207, and SSSB
This traffic report is adapted from the Top 25 Report, prepared with commentary by Igordebraga, YttriumShrew, (May 29 to June 11) Benmite, (May 22 to 28, June 12 to 18) TheJoebro64, (May 29 to June 4) Ab207, SSSB. (June 5 to 11)

In spite of the Top 1000 list stopping (the responsible editor wants some help), we continued to compile the most viewed articles, including streaming shows, movies, and a celebrity lawsuit that just wouldn't leave.

Most viewed articles

And you can all hide behind your desks now (May 22 to 28)

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (May 22 to 28, 2022)
Rank Article Class Views Image Notes/about
1 Ray Liotta 3,574,274 An actor who worked for decades with a shameful start and varied roles (as quoted by him in the "Personal life" section, "I've done movies with the Muppets. I did Sinatra. I did good guys and bad guys. I did a movie with an elephant."), albeit his more famous involved criminals, such as Goodfellas and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Liotta died at 67 in his sleep as he filmed in the Dominican Republic.
2 Robb Elementary School shooting 2,184,027 Just a week and some change after a mass shooting at a Buffalo, New York grocery store, as well as another mass shooting at a Taiwanese church in California (which received considerably less press attention, due to a lower death toll), the United States is still bowling for Columbine as the Columbine effect sadly continues. Right before noon on May 24, an 18-year-old shooter walked into a Texas elementary school and opened fire on a single classroom, killing 19 children and two adults and injuring nearly as many. Not only is this the umpteenth mass shooting this year, but it's also the third-deadliest school shooting in the United States, ever. It's reignited some much-needed but likely fruitless discussions about the state of gun control in America, and also called into question the necessity of law enforcement in shootings like these, following revelations that police officers on the scene didn't apprehend the shooter for up to an hour after he entered the building, and stopped parents who attempted to save their children while officers went in to go save their own.
3 Amber Heard 1,484,469 Although these star-crossed star exes have been at the top of this list for Depp's highly-publicized defamation trial against Heard for weeks now, it seems their star is fading now that the trial has come to a close.
4 Johnny Depp 1,435,657
5 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting 1,421,229 Mass elementary school shootings are a fairly rare type of tragedy, so when one does take place, it's not surprising that people might flock to read about the last major one. This one, which took place in 2012, had an even higher death toll than the above entry, claiming the lives of 20 students and six staff members, and parents of its victims were predictably outspoken about the recent shooting.
6 Stranger Things (season 4) 1,379,860 The final season of Stranger Things ... is not here yet, as is the current trend the season has been split in two parts and this is only the first part of season 4. The seven episodes are extra long. The final two episodes are due to be released in five weeks time on July 1, 2022.
7 Top Gun: Maverick 1,259,132 36 years later (a few of them due to pandemic delays), Tom Cruise's Maverick again takes us on a highway to the Danger Zone on his Mighty Wings across the sky, and critics and audiences alike were willing for some Playing With the Boys, with glowing reviews and over $100 million on its opening weekend.
8 Uvalde, Texas 1,004,871 This small, Hispanic-majority town a few dozen miles away from San Antonio was probably not hoping to enter the headlines this week for the reasons it did (#2).
9 The Great Gama 939,737 This Indian heavyweight, who went undefeated for all five decades of his wrestling career, was honored with a Google Doodle for his 144th birthday.
10 List of school shootings in the United States 878,739 You probably don't need a whole morose list to remind you of this fact, but in case you somehow forgot, there's been a lot of 'em, including #2 and #5.

Watchin' in slow motion as you turn my way and say (May 29 to June 4)

Rank Article Class Views Image Notes/about
1 Sidhu Moose Wala 3,083,071 In an unfortunate proof that violence in rap isn't limited to the U.S., this controversial Punjabi rapper was shot in his car by an unidentified group. Some significant controversy arose as his security had been cut shortly before he was killed.
2 KK (singer) 2,986,232 Moose Wala wasn't the only Indian singer to die this week; KK, a playback singer in multiple languages from a completely different genre of music, died of a heart attack shortly after a concert.
3 Stranger Things (season 4) 2,665,381
Most of the fourth season of Stranger Things was released last week, with the final episodes being held back to the start of July. The season is a bit darker than previous ones, and features strange (and stranger) things happening in Hawkins and a second, less fantasy-y storyline set in Kamchatka.
4 Amber Heard 2,176,373 The lawsuit revealing a seemingly mutually abusive marriage is over: on June 1, Heard was found liable on three counts of defaming her ex-husband Depp. (Though it wasn't a total victory for Depp; the jury found that one of his lawyer's statements regarding Heard was also defamatory.) If Depp's career was sent down after the last time this went to court, expect hers to suffer too—there are rumors of her Mera, a highlight of Aquaman, being cut from the sequel.
5 Johnny Depp 2,091,010
6 Top Gun: Maverick 2,066,402 After repeatedly being delayed, Maverick was finally released on May 27, 36 years after its predecessor (#8). The film received rave reviews—with many considering it one of the best films of Tom Cruise's career and superior to the original Top Gun—and has already grossed over $548 million worldwide.
7 Stranger Things 1,837,177 The Duffer Brothers revival of both Stephen King and Steven Spielberg from the 80s has returned to Netflix (#3).
8 Top Gun 1,226,408 The biggest hit of 1986 concerned naval aviators going to the TOPGUN academy. Only two of its characters returned for the belated sequel at #6, Cruise's Maverick and Val Kilmer's Iceman – who has only one heartbreaking scene, especially as the character reflects Kilmer's health history being a cancer survivor who now can't even speak properly.
9 Val Kilmer 1,212,420
10 Elizabeth II 1,208,775 The United Kingdom and a bunch of other places celebrated their Queen's Platinum Jubilee this week, with pageantry, salutes, shows and a ridiculous skit with Paddington Bear.

Take my breath away (June 5 to 11)

Rank Article Class Views Image Notes/about
1 Vikram (2022 film) 1,647,903 This Indian film is now the highest-grossing Tamil production of the year. Much like another 2022 release (#3), it is a spiritual sequel to its namesake 1986 film, and follows a retired secret agent trying to take down a drug syndicate. The film also kicks off a cinematic universe with a sequel to follow.
2 Jurassic World Dominion 1,500,071 For possibly the final time, the revived dinosaurs hit theaters once again. This time, to unite the casts of Jurassic Park and Jurassic World, the script is kind of busy to give one plot to Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum and another to Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard – surprisingly, both are mostly concerned with subjects other than dinosaurs, namely locusts and a cloned girl, leading to many negative reviews. Still, there is enough action with prehistoric creatures to satisfy fans, and Dominion is making a killing at the box office, getting close to $400 million after its North American release.
3 Top Gun: Maverick 1,402,047 Unlike the above, a very liked sequel. And the Navy pilots have brought in an impressive $748 million worldwide, making it the second most successful Tom Cruise movie after Mission: Impossible – Fallout.
4 Stranger Things (season 4) 1,346,569 A Series of Stranger Things hit Hawkins, Indiana as Series 4 of Stranger Things premiered on Netflix two weeks ago, and it manages to fit three storylines together in a way that actually works. The page continues to get a lot of views, presumably from people trying to find out when they get to watch the last two episodes.
5 Top Gun 1,239,201 Adequately, the thing splitting the Upside Down is one of the biggest hits of the 1980s, released in the same 1986 of the latest season.
6 Stranger Things 1,152,897 The Duffer Brothers' 80s-in-the-2020s Netflix show has returned for most of its fourth season.
7 Elizabeth II 896,612 The 4-day weekend celebration of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee ended on June 5 with a three-hour long pageant. It started with a military parade, before part 2 celebrated 70 years of British culture and part 3 focused on celebrating the 70-year milestone.
8 The Boys (TV series) 888,096 Prime Video brought back the show with jerk superheroes causing bloody injuries no one will not see in the Marvel and DC movies. And like season 2, the third was three episodes upfront followed by weekly ones, so expect the show to remain on this list.
9 Deaths in 2022 887,690 Then swing your rope slowly and rattle your spurs lowly,
And give a wild whoop as you carry me along;
And in the grave throw me and roll the sod o'er me,
For I'm a young cowboy and I know I've done wrong...
10 Amber Heard 838,115 While the most publicised trial since O. J. Simpson wrapped up over a week ago, the article on the defendant continues to receive a lot of attention.


They're playing basketball, we love that basketball (June 12 to 18)

Rank Article Class Views Image Notes/about
1 Juneteenth 1,297,409 After the George Floyd protests in 2020, interest in this holiday marking an end to chattel slavery across the United States (following its abolition in Texas in 1865) rose greatly, prompting Joe Biden to declare it a federal holiday the following year. A couple centuries late on that one, Joe, but at least we got there eventually, and we had our very first official celebration of Juneteenth as a country the day after this week's Report ended. Too bad slavery didn't really go away.
2 Jurassic World Dominion 1,060,281 The core message of Jurassic Park could be described as rampant greed making us blind to our actions, but that hasn't stopped Universal from milking every last coin out of this dinosaur of a franchise. Speaking of last, this is now the sixth and final installment in the Jurassic Park universe, and it ends the series on a sour note, according to critics and viewers, who have suggested that the franchise needs to be encased in amber, never to be brought back again. But we all know how well that worked in the first one.
3 Juancho Hernangómez 1,054,518 Hustle, Adam Sandler's latest reminder he can do good movies, stars this Spanish basketball player in his debut acting role as...a Spanish basketball player. Maybe that's for the best, since sports stars are always best at playing themselves anyway. Well, almost always.
4 Stephen Curry 1,066,585 The Golden State Warriors point guard makes his triumphant return to this list after bringing the team to victory at the 2022 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics and earning his first NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award for the win.
5 Warren Jeffs 1,047,458 He's the infamous polygamist leader of the controversial Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a sect of Mormon fundamentalism which has often been identified as a white supremacist cult, who was charged with child sexual assault for allegedly forcing underage girls in the Church to marry adult men. Now, he's also one of the subjects of Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey, Netflix's newest addition to the "cult-o-mania" genre, which was released last week. What a career!
6 Top Gun: Maverick 1,014,701 The '80s classic about a fighter pilot named Maverick who gets the chance to train at the Navy's Fighter Weapons School (aka TOPGUN), got a sequel in which he returns to the program to train new pilots. Even if it's gotten mostly rave reviews, not everyone is raving about it, as recent discussions about the film revolving around the possibility of it just being shiny military propaganda.
7 Vikram (2022 film) 866,225 Much like another 2022 release (#6), this film is a spiritual sequel to its namesake 1986 film, and follows a retired secret agent trying to take down a drug syndicate. The film also kicks off a cinematic universe with a sequel to follow.
8 Deaths in 2022 865,951 And when this building is on fire
These flames can't burn any higher
I turn sideways to the sun
And in a moment I am gone...
9 Stranger Things (season 4) 812,660 Even if the eagerly awaited second volume of this bingeable horror-drama's fourth season still hasn't come out three weeks after the release of the first one, that hasn't slowed down its momentum or caused it to lose its spot on this list. I haven't personally watched this much buzzed-about season, mainly because I have yet to watch the first three buzzed-about seasons, but one thing that does really excite me about the show is that it brought Kate Bush's melancholic masterpiece "Running Up That Hill" to number one on charts across the globe 37 years after its release. It has something to do with headphones, Velma, and the effects of bath salts, if I had to guess.
10 Stranger Things 767,554

Troubled times, you know I cannot lie (June 19 to 25)

Rank Article Class Views Image Notes/about
1 Roe v. Wade 2,554,445 Well, we knew it would come, but now the shadow has truly returned. On June 24, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that effectively legalised abortion in much of the country. Abortion will now become illegal in many states, forcing millions across the country to either risk an illegal abortion or give birth against their will.
2 Juneteenth 1,304,668 After the George Floyd protests in 2020, interest in this holiday marking an end to chattel slavery across the United States (following its abolition in Texas in 1865) rose greatly, prompting Joe Biden to declare it a federal holiday the following year. A couple centuries late on that one, Joe, but at least we got there eventually, and we had our very first official celebration of Juneteenth as a country this week. Too bad slavery didn't really go away.
3 Draupadi Murmu 1,156,860 The former governor of Jharkhand earned her place on this week's list after she was selected by the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, as the Indian presidential nominee for the National Democratic Alliance, or NDA, a right-wing coalition led by the BJP. Winning the election, which is almost guaranteed for Murmu based on the BJP's grip on India's government, would make her India's first tribal president and the second female president.
4 Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness 1,088,839 The latest MCU installment was released on Disney+ this week.
5 Top Gun: Maverick 938,050 Tom Cruise returns as Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in a movie acclaimed for combining good character moments with impressive aerial sequences. It already passed $900 million worldwide, and could very soon become the highest-grossing movie of the year, surpassing the above.
6 Deaths in 2022 862,770 For the life of me, I cannot believe
We'd ever die for these sins, we were merely freshmen
7 The Boys (TV series) 836,257 The jerk superheroes being confronted by ruthless people (who now managed to find a way to get superpowers and level the fight) keep on releasing new episodes on Prime Video, with the latest one featuring a superhero orgy that is a great reminder of Guybrush Threepwood's immortal quote "The human body is a beautiful thing. Most of the time. Ew."
8 The Umbrella Academy (TV series) 760,572 Like the above, another unconventional superhero streaming show which had its third season released, only on Netflix. It even has to acknowledge real world gender transitions, as Ellen Page's Vanya is now Elliot Page's Viktor.
9 Obi-Wan Kenobi (TV series) 752,391 Disney has been churning out a lot of just-alright series in what appears to be a quantity-over-quality move on their part. This show turned out to be a case, as for all the good of bringing back Ewan McGregor, the plot was ultimately unnecessary (sure, an exiled Kenobi is a great starting point; but why have him meet Darth Vader again, when it just undermines their fatal re-encounter in the Death Star? or having Princess Leia as a child, as if she needed to have met Ben to send him a helping plea?), and the final episode had critics complaining that it just felt like a rehash of other, better Star Wars films, to which a roundtable of crotchety old rich men at Disney's HQ probably said "But you all love reboots! You keep going out to see them every time!" (Lightyear begs to differ...)
10 Elvis Presley 745,817 Thank you, thank you very much, Hollywood, for meeting what seems to be an annual quota for rock star biopics. This time, Elvis is about one of the very first people to bring rock 'n' roll to the masses--even if he was only able to do so after infamously stealing it from Black people-- and his rocky relationship with his manager Colonel Tom Parker. The eponymous film was directed by Baz Luhrmann, who's mostly known for flashy remakes of other, arguably better films based on books (plus a movie that only reuses a title), and stars Austin Butler, who got his start on the Disney-Nickelodeon circuit as the one-time beau(s) of Hannah Montana and Zoey Brooks. Butler stepped into the pompadoured singer's blue suede shoes, and viewers have noticed that his affected demeanor and voice as Elvis have creeped into interviews he's done long after the movie was filmed. The devil in disguise? It just might be.

Exclusions

  • These lists exclude 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.

Most edited articles

For the May 19-June 19 period, taken from Wikipedia:Database reports/Most edited articles last month.

Rank Title Revisions Notes
1 Robb Elementary School shooting 3916 High profile, rapidly updating events generate high edit counts. This was no exception. Read above for more.
2 2022 monkeypox outbreak 2476 The new COVID? It seems unlikely. However, this article was created on May 17, and like 2019-2020 China pneumonia outbreak (to give the original name), the article is generating high interest in both views and edit count.
3 Deaths in 2022 1958 Many thousands of people die everyday, and with the number of people who are considered notable (rightly or wrongly) it is no surprise that this article gets hundreds of edit a week.
4 Bigg Boss (Malayalam season 4) 1682 The Malayalam-language version of Big Brother is currently in week 13 of 15 (at time of writing, June 20)
5 Top Gun: Maverick 1277 The current second highest-grossing movie of the year, with nearly $900 million. I don't care about the politicized people claiming it's military propaganda, it's an incredible piece of work.
6 Wye College 1226 User:Ed1964 is cleaning up the article on this British college that closed in 2009.
7 Depp v. Heard 1131 This court drama was decided on June 1.
8 2022 French Open – Men's singles 1065 Every year, you can expect the article on this Grand Slam to be vandalized to note Rafael Nadal is the only guy who seems to win it anymore.
9 2022 Australian federal election 970 Australia had an election this month, which resulted in a change of government. This attracted a lot of edits to the page, mostly from people updating the results every few hours.
10 Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II 840 Celebrations were held to note it's been 70 years since Elizabeth II was crowned.
11 List of equipment of the Ukrainian Ground Forces 810 Attention to this remains strong as the Russians don't leave. One editor is particularly dedicated as to keeping weaponry used by the Security Service of Ukraine or the Ministry of Internal Affairs away.
12 Canada national ringette team 809 While ice hockey fans followed the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs, one user updated articles on ringette, which is hockey for girls without body contact.
13 Obi-Wan Kenobi (TV series) 807 Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi was one of the unquestionably good things in the Star Wars prequels, and so he gets a limited series on Disney+, that now even made him meet Darth Vader nearly a decade before their fatal re-encounter.
14 2022 Pacific hurricane season 782 Our very dedicated cadre of tropical cyclone-related editors is keeping itself busy.
15 2022 French Open – Women's singles 766 In the Roland Garros tournament that does give a chance for other people to get a title, the winner was current #1 Iga Swiatek.
16 2021 PBA 3x3 season – Third conference 758 If you needed proof of how the Philippines love basketball, just check how much effort User:Engr. Smitty put into updating the local 3x3 tournament!
17 2022 United States House of Representatives elections 729 With the primary season in full swing, this page also kept being updated as candidates won primaries, lost primaries, entered races, withdrew from races and changed parties throughout the month.
18 2022 United States House of Representatives elections in California 726
19 2022 Lebanese general election 722 A new parliament was chosen by a country still under civil protests and recovering from a freak explosion.
20 2022 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League 718 Volleyball's annual tournament. A reminder that maybe watching this will help wash away some pain I had with this sport last year.
21 Elon Musk 709 One of the most popular pages on Wikipedia, both among editors and viewers it seems, as updates on news stories, copyediting and a few light edit wars populated its history tab.
22 Sidhu Moose Wala 678 As mentioned above, a recently murdered Indian rapper.
23 1916 Pioneer Exhibition Game 678 An Australian rules football article being worked on by Lindsay658.
24 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine 631 Mariupol is still occupied, Ukraine is still trying to hold onto Sievierodonetsk after Russia failed to take Kyiv, and Russian filtration camps are popping up to deal with Russia's self-imposed problem of not knowing what to do with the people whose homes they destroyed. In short, things are still awful.
25 List of Acts of the Parliament of Scotland to 1707 630 Being worked on by James500.




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2022-06-26

Celebration of summer, winter

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By Adam Cuerden

The solstice is passed, and depending on where you live, it's either the start of summer, the start of winter, or you're near the equator and it's pretty much just another day. But that last one is a little hard to provide images for, so....

Also, the Summer section probably has a bit of a British focus, because it's harder to come up with random weird and interesting things for places you haven't been. My apologies. I think a broad topic like "Summer" is honestly harder to be diverse with than a more narrow topic (at least if it's one person writing it).

Summer

As the ancient song goes:

Sumer is icumen in
Lhude sing cuccu!
  • "Skegness is SO Bracing", or "The Jolly Fisherman" is a poster by John Hassall in 1908 that proved to be one of the most famous holiday advertisements to ever exist. I really should restore this one sometime.
    "Skegness is SO Bracing", or "The Jolly Fisherman" is a poster by John Hassall in 1908 that proved to be one of the most famous holiday advertisements to ever exist. I really should restore this one sometime.
  • Stonehenge is connected to the Solstice because the Sun rises over the Heel Stone every Summer solstice. From 1972 to 1984, though, the celebrations were a lot wilder, with the Stonehenge Free Festival.
    Stonehenge is connected to the Solstice because the Sun rises over the Heel Stone every Summer solstice. From 1972 to 1984, though, the celebrations were a lot wilder, with the Stonehenge Free Festival.
  • Fishing is a fun Summer event. (Alfred de Bréanski, "Scottish Summer Landscape with Angler")
    Fishing is a fun Summer event. (Alfred de Bréanski, "Scottish Summer Landscape with Angler")
  • A garden party makes a lovely summer event. In Montreal, Canada, you might be visited by the ghosts of Napoleonic soldiers?
    A garden party makes a lovely summer event. In Montreal, Canada, you might be visited by the ghosts of Napoleonic soldiers?
  • Summer fields in Belgium
    Summer fields in Belgium
  • Of course, not everything is great in Summer. Accidents happen in Summer just like any other time. Some, such as this view of Thornville, Ohio, are aesthetically gorgeous.
    Of course, not everything is great in Summer. Accidents happen in Summer just like any other time. Some, such as this view of Thornville, Ohio, are aesthetically gorgeous.

Winter

As the 1916 poem by Ezra Pound goes:

Winter is icumen in,
Lhude sing Goddamm,
Raineth drop and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm!
Sing: Goddamm.
Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us,
An ague hath my ham.
Freezeth river, turneth liver,
Damm you; Sing: Goddamm.



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2022-06-26

Shortcuts, screwballers, Simon & Garfunkel

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By theleekycauldron
Shortcuts
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9
10 11
12
13 14 15
16 17 18 19
20 21
22 23

Green boxes: Shortcut to a warning not to climb this dressed as Spider-Man

Answers (spoilers for answers)

lamp.ssa
anoa.pan
liprouge
...screw
three...
fairlead
arb.orgy
sms.trek

green boxes: REICHSTAG

Blank table

Copy/paste this into your sandbox to fill it out in the visual editor! You'll still need the original numbering as reference on this page.

Shortcuts (blank)

Note: the next crossword appeared in the 24 December 2023 issue, in its own dedicated column.



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