User talk:Jauerback Archives 2013

This is an archive of past discussions with User talk:Jauerback/Archives. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

Archives

(current talk)

The Signpost: 31 December 2012

From the editor: Wikipedia, our Colosseum

In the impersonal, detached Colosseum that is Wikipedia, people find it much easier to put their thumbs down. As such, many people active in the Wikimedia movement have witnessed a precipitous decline in civil discourse. This is far from a new trend, yet many people would agree that it all seemed somehow worse in 2012.

In the media: Is the Wikimedia movement too 'cash rich'?

A recent, poorly researched and poorly written story in the Register highlighted the perceived "cash rich" status of the Wikimedia movement. ... The Telegraph and Daily Dot, among others, have alleged that there are multiple links between the WMF, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, and Kazakhstan's government, which is, for all intents and purposes, a one-party non-democratic state.

News and notes: Wikimedia Foundation fundraiser a success; Czech parliament releases photographs to chapter

On 27 December the Wikimedia Foundation announced the conclusion of their ninth annual fundraiser, which attracted more than 1.2 million donors. The appeal reached its goal of US$25 million, even though fundraising banners ran for only nine days.

Technology report: Looking back on a year of incremental changes

In the first of two features, the Signpost this week looks back on 2012, a year when developers finally made inroads into three issues that had been put off for far too long (the need for editors to learn wiki-markup, the lack of a proper template language and the centralisation of data) but left all three projects far from finished.

Discussion report: Image policy and guidelines; resysopping policy

Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include ...

Interview: Interview with Brion Vibber, the WMF's first employee

Brion Vibber has been a Wikipedia editor for nearly 11 years and was the first person officially hired to work for the Wikimedia Foundation. He was instrumental in early development of the MediaWiki software and is now the lead software architect for the foundation's mobile development team.

Featured content: Whoa Nelly! Featured content in review

At the beginning of the year, we began a series of interviews with editors who have worked hard to combat systemic bias through the creation of featured content; although we haven't seen six installments yet, we've also had some delightful interviews with people who write articles on some of our most core topics. Now, as we close the year, I would like to present some of my own musings on the state of featured content—especially as it pertains to systemic bias and core topics.

WikiProject report: New Year, New York

This week, we're celebrating the New Year from Times Square by interviewing WikiProject New York City. Since December 2004, WikiProject NYC has had the difficult task of maintaining articles about the largest city in the United States, many of which are also among the the most viewed articles on Wikipedia. The project is home to 22 Featured Articles, 7 Featured Lists, 32 pieces of Featured Media, and a lengthy list of Did You Know? entries.

Recent research: Wikipedia and Sandy Hook; SOPA blackout reexamined

Northeastern University researcher Brian Keegan analyzed the gathering of hundreds of Wikipedians to cover the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy. ... A First Monday article reviews several aspects of the Wikipedia participation in the 18 January 2012, protests against SOPA and PIPA legislation in the USA. The paper focuses on the question of legitimacy, looking at how the Wikipedia community arrived at the decision to participate in those protests.

Protection

May I ask, was your unprotection of WT:AIV intentional? I only ask because it came up in my watchlist as having been done at exactly the same time as it was protected by Nawlinwiki, and I wondered if this had caused a system error or similar. My apologies if I guessed incorrectly.--Gilderien Chat|List of good deeds 15:49, 4 January 2013 (UTC)

Yes, completely unintentional. I think we were protecting the page at the same time, but instead, I undid the protection that he had just implemented. It should be fixed now.

Ok thanks :) --Gilderien Chat|List of good deeds 15:53, 4 January 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 07 January 2013

Op-ed: Meta, where innovative ideas die

Meta is the wiki that has coordinated a wide range of cross-project Wikimedia activities, such as the activities of stewards, the archiving of chapter reports, and WMF trustee elections. The project has long been an out-of-the-way corner for technocratic working groups, unaccountable mandarins, and in-house bureaucratic proceedings. Largely ignored by the editing communities of projects such as Wikipedia and organizations that serve them, Meta has evolved into a huge and relatively disorganized repository, where the few archivists running it also happen to be the main authors of some of its key documents. While Meta is well-designed for supporting the librarians and mandarins who stride along its corridors, visitors tend to find the site impenetrable—or so many people have argued over the past decade. This impenetrability runs counter to Meta's increasingly central role in the Wikimedia movement.

WikiProject report: Where Are They Now? Episode IV: A New Year

The dawning of a new year offers both a fresh slate and an opportunity to revisit our previous adventures. 2012 marked the fifth anniversary of the WikiProject Report and was the column's most productive year with 52 articles published. In addition to sharing the experiences of Wikipedia's many active projects, we expanded our scope to highlight unique projects from other languages of Wikipedia, and tracked down all of the former editors-in-chief of the Signpost for an introspective interview ... While last year's "Summer Sports Series" may have drawn yawns from some readers, a special report on "Neglected Geography" elicited more comments than any previous issue of the Report. Following in the footsteps of our past three recaps, we'll spend this week looking back at the trials and tribulations of the WikiProjects we encountered in 2012. Where are they now?

News and notes: 2012—the big year

The past 12 months have seen a multitude of issues and events in the Wikimedia foundation, the movement at large, and the English Wikipedia. The movement, now in its second decade, is growing apace in its international reach, cultural and linguistic diversity, technical development, and financial complexity; and many factors have combined to produce what has in many ways been the biggest, most dynamic year in the movement's history. Looking back at 2012, we faced a difficult task in doing justice to all of the notable events in a single article; so the Signpost has selected just a few examples from outside the anglosphere, from the English Wikipedia, and from the Wikimedia Foundation, rather than attempting to cover every detail that happened.

Featured content: Featured content in review

Over the past year, 963 pieces of featured content were promoted. The most active of the featured content programs was featured article candidates (FAC), which promoted an average of 31 articles a month. This was followed by featured picture candidates (FPC; 28 a month). Coming in third was featured list candidates (FLC; 20 a month). Featured topic and featured portal candidates remained sluggish, each promoting fewer than 20 items over the year.

Technology report: Looking ahead to 2013

Following on from last week's reflections on 2012, this week the Technology report looks ahead to 2013, a year that will almost certainly be dominated by the juggernauts of Wikidata, Lua and the Visual Editor.

The Signpost: 14 January 2013

Investigative report: Ship ahoy! New travel site finally afloat

After six years without creating a new class of content projects, the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) has finally expanded into a new area: travel. Wikivoyage was formally launched—though without a traditional ship's christening—on 15 January, having started as a beta trial on 10 November. Wikivoyage has been taken under the WMF's umbrella on the argument that information resources that help with travel are educational and therefore within the scope of the foundation's mission.g

News and notes: Launch of annual picture competition, new grant scheme

On January 16, voting for the first round of the 2012 Wikimedia Commons Picture of the Year contest will begin. Wikimedia editors with 75 edits or one project are eligible to vote to select their favorite image featured in 2012. ... On January 15, the foundation launched its latest grant scheme, called Individual Engagement Grants (IEG).

WikiProject report: Reach for the Stars: WikiProject Astronomy

This week, we set off for the final frontier with WikiProject Astronomy. The project was started in August 2006 using the now-defunct WikiProject Space as inspiration. WikiProject Astronomy is home to 101 pieces of Featured material and 148 Good Articles maintained by a band of 186 members. The project maintains a portal, works on an assortment of vital astronomy articles, and provides resources for editors adding or requesting astronomy images.

Discussion report: Flag Manual of Style; accessibility and equality

Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include...

Special report: Loss of an Internet genius

Comforting those grieving after the loss of a loved one is an impossible task. How then, can an entire community be comforted? The Internet struggled to answer that question this week after the suicide of Aaron Swartz, a celebrated free-culture activist, programmer, and Wikipedian at the age of 26.

Featured content: Featured articles: Quality of reviews, quality of writing in 2012

Continuing our recap of the featured content promoted in 2012, this week the Signpost interviewed three editors, asking them about featured articles which stuck out in their minds. Two, Ian Rose and Graham Colm, are current featured article candidates (FAC) delegates, while Brian Boulton is an active featured article writer and reviewer.

Arbitration report: First arbitration case in almost six months

The opening of the Doncram case marks the end of almost 6 months without any open cases, the longest in the history of the Committee.

Technology report: Intermittent outages planned, first Wikidata client deployment

The Wikidata client extension was successfully deployed to the Hungarian Wikipedia on 14 January, its team reports. The interwiki language links can now come from wikidata.org, though "manual" interwiki links remain functional, overriding those from the central repository.

Chip Kelly

It's going to need some administrator attention, I fear. AutomaticStrikeout (T • C) 17:26, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

It looks like it's protected now. Jauerback^dude?/_dude. 19:56, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 21 January 2013

News and notes: Requests for adminship reform moves forward

The English Wikipedia's requests for adminship (RfA) process has entered another cycle of proposed reforms. Over the last three weeks, various proposals, ranging from as large as a transition to a representative democracy to as small as a required edit count and service length, have been debated on the RfA talk page. The total number of new administrators for 2012 was just 28, barely more than half of 2011's total and less than a quarter of 2009's total. The total number of unsuccessful RfAs has fallen as well. These declining numbers, which were described in what would now be considered a successful year (2010) as an emerging "wikigeneration gulf", have been coupled with a sharp decline in the number of active administrators since February 2008 (1,021), reaching a low of 653 in November 2012.

WikiProject report: Say What? — WikiProject Linguistics

This week, we spent some time with WikiProject Linguistics. Started in January 2004, the project has grown to include 7 Featured Articles, 4 Featured Lists, 2 A-class Articles, and 15 Good Articles maintained by 43 members. The project's members keep an eye on several watchlists, maintain the linguistics category, and continue to build a collection of Did You Know? entries. The project is home to six task forces and works with WikiProject Languages and WikiProject Writing Systems.

Featured content: Wazzup, G? Delegates and featured topics in review

This week, the Signpost's featured content section continues its recap of 2012 by looking at featured topics. We interviewed Grapple X and GamerPro64, who are delegates at the featured topic candidates.

Arbitration report: Doncram case continues

The opening of the Doncram case marks the end of almost 6 months without any open cases, the longest in the history of the Committee.

Technology report: Data centre switchover a tentative success

On 22 January, WMF staff and contractors switched incoming, non-cached requests (including edits) to the Foundation's newer data centre in Ashburn, Virginia, making it responsible for handling almost all regular traffic. For the first time since 2004, virtually no traffic will be handled by the WMF's other facility in Tampa, Florida.

The Signpost: 28 January 2013

In the media: Hoaxes draw media attention

On New Year's Day, the Daily Dot reported that a "massive Wikipedia hoax" had been exposed after more than five years. The article on the Bicholim conflict had been listed as a "Good Article" for the past half-decade, yet turned out to be an ingenious hoax. Created in July 2007 by User:A-b-a-a-a-a-a-a-b-a, the meticulously detailed piece was approved as a GA in October 2007. A subsequent submission for FA was unsuccessful, but failed to discover that the article's key sources were made up. While the User:A-b-a-a-a-a-a-a-b-a account then stopped editing, the hoax remained listed as a Good Article for five years, receiving in the region of 150 to 250 page views a month in 2012. It was finally nominated for deletion on 29 December 2012 by ShelfSkewed—who had discovered the hoax while doing work on Category:Articles with invalid ISBNs—and deleted the same day.

Recent research: Lessons from the research literature on open collaboration; clicks on featured articles; credibility heuristics

A special issue of the American Behavioral Scientist is devoted to "open collaboration".

WikiProject report: Checkmate! — WikiProject Chess

When we challenged the masters of WikiProject Chess to an interview, Sjakkalle answered our call. WikiProject Chess dates back to December 2003 and has grown to include 4 Featured Articles and 15 Good Articles maintained by over 100 members. The project typically operates independently of other WikiProjects, although the project would theoretically be a child of WikiProject Board and Table Games (interviewed in 2011). WikiProject Chess provides a collection of resources, seeks missing photographs of chess players, and helps determine ways that Wikipedia's coverage of chess can be expanded.

Discussion report: Administrator conduct and requests

New discussions on the English Wikipedia include...

News and notes: Khan Academy's Smarthistory and Wikipedia collaborate

To many Wikimedians, the Khan Academy would seem like a close cousin: the academy is a non-profit educational website and a development of the massive open online course concept that has delivered over 227 million lessons in 22 different languages. Its mission is to give "a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere." This complements Wikipedia's stated goal to "imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge", then go and create that world. It should come as no surprise, then, that the highly successful GLAM-Wiki (galleries, libraries, archives, museums) initiative has partnered with the Khan Academy's Smarthistory project to further both its and Wikipedia's goals.

Featured content: Listing off progress from 2012

This week, the Signpost featured content section continues its recap of 2012 by looking at featured lists. We interviewed FLC directors Giants2008 and The Rambling Man as well as active reviewer and writer PresN.

Arbitration report: Doncram continues

The Doncram case has continued into its third week.

Technology report: Developers get ready for FOSDEM amid caching problems

As reported in last week's "Technology Report", the WMF's data centre in Ashburn, Virginia took over responsibility for almost all of the remaining functions that had previously been handled by their old facility in Tampa, Florida on 22 January. The Signpost reported then that few problems had arisen since handover. Unfortunately that was not to remain the case, with reports of caching problems (which typically only affect anonymous users) starting to come in.

Mindy McCready

the official Website of Mindy McCready is the www.mindymccreadyofficial.com she is a personal friend and we maintain that page with personal interaction with her that is why i change it.

the other site is outdated with NO interaction and was from an old recorf deal

any questions can be sent to [email protected] Thanks Mike Stokes 2020accessonline (talk) 23:59, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

Mindy McCready

the official Website of Mindy McCready is the www.mindymccreadyofficial.com she is a personal friend and we maintain that page with personal interaction with her that is why i change it.

the other site is outdated with NO interaction and was from an old recorf deal

any questions can be sent to [email protected] Thanks Mike Stokes 2020accessonline (talk) 23:59, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

Jauerback, this situation with the McCready websites being changed back and forth needs to be sorted out. I just reverted 50.80.132.200, who put back the link to mindymccreadyofficial.com. Then I came here and saw the message to you from 2020/Mike Stokes. First of all, 2020/Stokes obviously has an admitted conflict of interest. I don't know if he is also IP 50, or is he is also Longhorn05, who also changed it recently. In any case, mindymcready.com is registered to Iconic Records, which is listed in the article as one of her record labels. Mindymccreadyofficial.com is an admitted fan site, not an official site - the bottom of 2020/Stokes' site says "Mindy McCready Official Fan Community". Stokes claims that McCready is a personal friend of his and that they they maintain the page with "personal intereaction," but how are we supposed to verify that? But even if that's the case, these editors who keep changing it to mindymccreadyofficial.com are doing so in a way that says it's the official site (in the infobox and external links), even though the site itself says it's a fan site. 2020/Stokes also claims that "the other site is outdated with NO interaction and was from an old recorf [sic] deal", but again, we have no way of knowing this or any of his other claims. This needs to be resolved. And 2020/Stokes and anyone else who has a conflict of interest need to stop editing the article. --76.189.111.199 (talk) 00:49, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

I don't care so much about the potential conflict of interest as that generally deals with the content of the article, which I don't have any particular interest in. Although, it's frowned upon, there's no policy stating that they can't edit the article. However, until proven otherwise, a fan site is purely spam regardless of what 2020 claims. If 2020 can verify that she's officially endorsed the fansite, then personally, I wouldn't have any issues with it being listed. Although, I would still suggest that 2020 discusses it on the article's talk page to get conensus among interested editors. Jauerback^dude?/_dude. 04:45, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

I see you protected it. Thanks for that and your thoughts on the issue. Regarding conflict of interest, if his claims are true that he and Mindy McCready are personal friends and work together to maintain the fansite, then his participation in any aspect of the article should be very limited - just to making suggestions on the talk page for impartial editors to decide, or making clearly non-controversial edits to the article. Editing the article is not simply "frowned upon", but, as WP:COI states, "strongly discouraged". Further, it says that "COI editors causing disruption may be blocked," such as when they blatantly ignore warnings or edit summary explanations, and continue to re-add contentious content that has repeatedly been reverted. WP:COI also says they should disclose their conflict of intersest on their user pages and the article's talk page. Can you please put this article on your watchlist, so you'll be aware of any problems after the protection expires? --76.189.111.199 (talk) 05:43, 31 January 2013 (UTC) 09:38, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

The Einstein Academy (Elgin, Illinois)

Hello, and thanks for tagging this for notability back in 2009. The tag's still there. You may want to look over WP:Notability (schools) and WP:NOTABILITY and put your reasons for the tag on the Talk page, or take it to the Notability Noticeboard or AfD. Best wishes, Boleyn (talk) 09:59, 3 February 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 04 February 2013

Special report: Examining the popularity of Wikipedia articles

On February 12, 2012, news of Whitney Houston's death brought 425 hits per second to her Wikipedia article, the highest peak traffic on any article since at least January 2010. It is broadly known that Wikipedia is the sixth most popular website on the Internet, but the English Wikipedia now has over 4 million articles and 29 million total pages. Much less attention has been given to traffic patterns and trends in content viewed.

News and notes: Article Feedback Tool faces community resistance

Article feedback, at least through talk pages, has been a part of Wikipedia since its inception in 2001. The use of these pages, though, has typically been limited to experienced editors who know how to use them.

WikiProject report: Land of the Midnight Sun

This week, we took a trip to WikiProject Norway. Started in February 2005, WikiProject Norway has become the home for almost 34,000 articles about the world's best place to live, including 16 Featured Articles, 19 Featured Lists, and nearly 250 Good Articles. The project works on a to do list, maintains a categorization system, watches article alerts, and serves as a discussion forum.

Featured content: Portal people on potent potables and portable potholes

This week, the Signpost's featured content section continues its recap of 2012 by looking at featured portals, a small yet active part of the project. We interviewed FPOC directors Cirt and OhanaUnited.

In the media: Star Trek Into Pedantry

On 30 January 2013, Kevin Morris in the Daily Dot summarised the bitter debates in Wikipedia around capitalisation or non-capitalisation of the word "into" in the title of the upcoming Star Trek film, Star Trek Into Darkness.

Technology report: Wikidata team targets English Wikipedia deployment

Following the deployment of the Wikidata client to the Hungarian Wikipedia last month, the client was also deployed to the Italian and Hebrew Wikipedias on Wednesday. The next target for the client, which automatically provides phase 1 functionality, is the English Wikipedia, with a deployment date of 11 February already set.

The Signpost: 11 February 2013

Op-ed: An article is a construct – hoaxes and Wikipedia

Wikipedia has a long, daresay storied history with hoaxes; our internal list documents 198 of the largest ones we have caught as of 4 January 2013. Why?

Featured content: A lousy week

Six articles, one list, and fourteen pictures were promoted to "featured" states this week on the English Wikipedia.

WikiProject report: Just the Facts

This week, we got the details on WikiProject Infoboxes.

In the media: Wikipedia mirroring life in island ownership dispute

Foreign Policy has published a report on editing of the Wikipedia articles on the Senkaku Islands and Senkaku Islands dispute. The uninhabited islands are under the control of Japan, but China and Taiwan are asserting rival territorial claims. Tensions have risen of late—and not just in the waters surrounding the actual islands.

News and notes: UK chapter governance review marks the end of a controversial year

Wikimedia UK, the non-profit organization devoted to furthering the goals of the Wikimedia movement in the United Kingdom, has published the findings of a governance review conducted by Compass Partnership.

Discussion report: WebCite proposal

Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include...

Technology report: Wikidata client rollout stutters

The WMF's engineering report for January was published this week.

Block of 212.234.218.51

FYI: I sent a note to WP:COMCOM about the block of this IP just as a heads-up. The WHOIS says it belongs to Minister of the Interior (France). Must be a slow day in France! --auburnpilot talk 19:56, 14 February 2013 (UTC)

Nice. LOL. Jauerback^dude?/_dude. 20:22, 14 February 2013 (UTC)

just a heads up

This user is making the same edit to Chris Kyle as the one you banned earlier, I assume it's him since it's such a particular edit being done over and over. Cheers, — - dain- talk 19:28, 14 February 2013 (UTC)

You're right, although it's the same content, I'm not personally concerned it. The other IP editor was adding a spam link as well, which is what got them blocked. I'll let others work out the content dispute, but thanks for letting me know. Jauerback^dude?/_dude. 19:37, 14 February 2013 (UTC)

Hi again Jack, 82.244.251.127 is spamming that same website on the Chris Kyle article. >.< — - dain- talk 15:30, 16 February 2013 (UTC)

Since they've been inactive for a bit, I'll let it go for now, but I'll definitely keep my eye on it. I'm going to AGF the same link added as a reference by Dainomite. Jauerback^dude?/_dude. 22:00, 16 February 2013 (UTC)

Whodunit?

Really? I mean... Hearfourmewesique (talk) 04:30, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

Seriously? You came here to complain that I warned a user (via a template, BTW) because you failed to? Thanks for reverting the spam link, but get real. Jauerback^dude?/_dude. 04:42, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

No, I didn't come to complain about anything. I came to politely remind you that while I was the one who reverted the addition, you took credit for it on said user's talk page. It's you who needs to get real and stop attacking editors for calling you out on your &v11$#!+. Hearfourmewesique (talk) 05:05, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

Whoa whoa. Hearfour chill out man, everything is okay, it's just a notification of a revert... that's all, no need to escalate things. I'm sure Jack was acting in good faith. Regardless of who reverted what or who notified them we're still on the same team. You still reverted so the "credit" is all yours, notifying someone is just notifying them regardless of who sent it. Just take it easy and remember to be civil and be respectful and as a reminder... No personal attacks. — -dainomite 05:52, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

Feel free to remove my misappropriated warning, strike it out, add your signature, whatever you feel like, so that you too can bask in the glory of warning a user for adding a spam link. Jauerback^dude?/_dude. 11:50, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

It's not the revert or the credit, it's your pompous reply that got me going. However, you're doing a great job by giving me more of the same. Good faith my @$5. Hearfourmewesique (talk) 15:02, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

You lost any AGF on my part when you came here "not" complaining about anything. Jauerback^dude?/_dude. 15:58, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

How could I have "lost" something I never had to begin with? (Just to prevent any ambiguities on your end, I'm specifically referring to your AGF – or lack thereof). Hearfourmewesique (talk) 19:39, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

Forget it. The mere fact that you initiated this dicussion on my talk page shows me that you're most likely not going to understand. Jauerback^dude?/_dude. 19:44, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

"[D]icussion [sic]"... I hope it's just a typo. To conclude this TL;DR "debate": I came and politely pointed that you wrote "I reverted" about a reversal I performed, and you snapped from the get go. This is what I don't get – your instantaneously aggressive defensiveness about nothing, really. It's not in the least about credit or anything like that, but hey... that's for you not to get. Keep basking in the glory of being the righteous one. Hearfourmewesique (talk) 05:23, 21 February 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 18 February 2013

WikiProject report: Thank you for flying WikiProject Airlines

This week, we put our life in the hands of WikiProject Airlines. Starting in July 2005, the project has improved articles relating to airline companies, alliances, destination lists, and travel benefit programs. WikiProject Airlines has accumulated over 4,000 pages, including 4 Featured Articles and 26 Good Articles.

Technology report: Better templates and 3D buildings

As of time of writing, twenty wikis (including the English, French and Hungarian Wikipedias) are in the process of getting access to the Lua scripting language, an optional substitute for the clunky template code that exists at present.

News and notes: Wikimedia Foundation declares 'victory' in Wikivoyage lawsuit

On February 15, the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) declared 'victory' in its counter-lawsuit against Internet Brands (IB), the owner of Wikitravel and the operator of several online media, community, and e-commerce sites in vertical markets. The lawsuit clears the last remaining hurdles for the WMF's new travel guide project, Wikivoyage.

In the media: Sue Gardner interviewed by the Australian press

Sue Gardner's visit to Australia sparked a number of interviews in the Australian press. An interview published in the Daily Telegraph on 12 February 2013, titled "Data plans 'unnerving': Wikipedia boss", saw Gardner comment on Australian plans to store personal internet and telephone data. The planned measure, intended to assist crime prevention, would involve internet service providers and mobile phone firms storing customer usage data for up to two years.

Featured content: Featured content gets schooled

Two articles, nine lists, and thirteen pictures were promoted to 'featured' status on the English Wikipedia this week.

The Signpost: 25 February 2013

In the media: Ex-WMF trustee creates "Wikipedia Corporate Index" for PR agency

On 13 February 2013, PR Report, the German sister publication of PR Week, published an article announcing that PR agency Fleishman-Hillard was offering a new analysis tool enabling companies to assess their articles in the German-language Wikipedia: the Wikipedia Corporate Index (WCI).

Recent research: Wikipedia not so novel after all, except to UK university lecturers

"Wikipedia and Encyclopedic Production" by Jeff Loveland (a historian of encyclopedias) and Joseph Reagle situates Wikipedia within the context of encyclopedic production historically, arguing that the features that many claim to be unique about Wikipedia actually have roots in encyclopedias of the past.

News and notes: "Very lucky" Picture of the Year

The Wikimedia Commons 2012 Picture of the Year contest has ended, with the winner being Pair of Merops apiaster feeding, taken by Pierre Dalous. The picture shows a pair of European Bee-eaters in a mating ritual—the male bird (right) has tossed the wasp into the air, and he will eventually offer it to the female (left).

Discussion report: Wikivoyage links; overcategorization

Current discussions include...

Featured content: Blue birds be bouncin'

Six articles, three lists, and twelve images were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this month.

WikiProject report: How to measure a WikiProject's workload

How can we measure the challenges facing a project or determine a WikiProject's productivity? Several prominent projects have been doing it for years: WikiWork.

Technology report: Wikidata development to be continued indefinitely

Wikimedia Germany (WMDE) this week committed itself to funding the Wikidata development team, ending fears that phase three would be abandoned.

The Signpost: 04 March 2013

Op-ed: We must do more to turn readers into editors

Recently I was having a casual conversation with a friend, and he mentioned that he spent too many hours a day playing video games. I responded with a comment that I, too, spent way too much time on an activity of my own – Wikipedia. In an attempt to reply with a relevant remark, he offered something along the lines of: "So have you ever written anything?" After a second, I quickly answered yes, but I was still in shock over his question. It seemed to be rooted in a belief on his part that using Wikipedia meant just reading the articles, and that editing was something that someone, hypothetically, might do, but not really more likely than randomly counting to 7,744.

News and notes: Outing of editor causes firestorm

"WP:OUTING", the normally little-noticed policy corner of the English Wikipedia that governs the release of editors' personal information, has suddenly been brought to wider attention after long-term contributor and featured article writer Cla68 was indefinitely blocked last week. This snowballed into several other blocks, a desysopping by ArbCom, and a request for arbitration.

Featured content: Slow week for featured content

Three articles, six lists, and three pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week, including the article on "Laura Secord", who was a Canadian heroine of the War of 1812 best known for warning the British of an impending American attack.

WikiProject report: WikiProject Television Stations

This week, we tuned to WikiProject Television Stations, a project that dates back to March 2004. WikiProject Television Stations primarily focuses on local stations, national networks, television markets, and other topics related to television channels in North America, the Caribbean, and some Pacific countries. The project has a fair bit of work ahead of them with over 4,000 unassessed articles and only one Good Article out of 626 assessed articles, giving the project a relative WikiWork rating of 5.262.

The Signpost: 11 March 2013

From the editor: Signpost–Wikizine merger

I am pleased to announce that the Signpost and Wikizine have reached an in-principle agreement that will see Wikizine published as a special Signpost section at the beginning of each month.

News and notes: Finance committee updates

During March, three of the Wikimedia Foundation's grantmaking schemes on Meta will reach important crossroads, which will shape how both the editing communities and Wikimedia institutions handle the distribution of donors' money across the movement.

Featured content: Batman, three birds and a Mercedes

Twelve articles, five lists, and eight pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week, including an image of the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, a front-engine, 2-seat luxury grand tourer automobile developed by Mercedes-AMG.

Arbitration report: Doncram case closes; arbitrator resigns

There are three open cases, and a final decision has been given in the Doncram case.

WikiProject report: Setting a precedent

This week, we spent some time with WikiProject U.S. Supreme Court Cases.

Technology report: Article Feedback reversal

The WMF has aborted a plan to deploy version 5 of the Article Feedback tool (AFTv5) rolled out to all English Wikipedia articles.

The Signpost: 18 March 2013

News and notes: Resigning arbitrator slams Committee

Just two months into his second term as an arbitrator on the English Wikipedia, Coren resigned from the Committee with a blistering attack on his fellow arbitrators. At the heart of a strongly worded statement, posted both on his talk page and the arbitration notice board, was the claim that ArbCom has become politicised to the extent that "it can no longer do the job it was ostensibly elected for".

WikiProject report: Making music

This week, we composed a tribute to WikiProject Composers. The project was created during the final hours of 2004 and finalized in early January 2005. It has grown to encompass over 8,000 pages, including 26 Featured Articles and 23 Good Articles. WikiProject Composers faces a difficult workload, with a relative WikiWork rating of 5.45.

Interview: Meeting in the middle: Wikipedia and libraries

Ask librarians what they think about Wikipedia and you might get some interesting answers. Some will throw up their hands about the laziness of the Google generation and their overdependence on Wikipedia. Some see it as the "competition". And some will tell you it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Featured content: Wikipedia stays warm

Nine articles, seven lists, eleven images, and one topic were promoted to "featured status" this week on the English Wikipedia.

Arbitration report: Richard case closes

On Thursday, arbitrator Coren resigned, following closely on the heels of Hersfold's resignation on Wednesday. There are two open cases. A final decision has been given in the Richard case.

Technology report: Visual Editor "on schedule"

The WMF's engineering report for January was published this week, giving an overview of all Foundation-sponsored technical operations in that month.

The Signpost: 25 March 2013

WikiProject report: The 'Burgh: WikiProject Pittsburgh

Our travels have brought us to Pittsburgh, the American city known for steelworks and bridges.

Featured content: One and a half soursops

Seven articles, one list, six pictures, and one topic were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.

Arbitration report: Two open cases

This case, brought by Mark Arsten, was opened over a dispute over transgenderism topics that began off-wiki. The evidence phase was scheduled to close March 7, 2013, with a proposed decision due to be posted by March 29.

News and notes: Sue Gardner to leave WMF; German Wikipedians spearhead another effort to close Wikinews

Sue Gardner, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation since December 2007, has announced her plans to leave the position when a successor is recruited. Ranked as one of the most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine, Sue Gardner is widely associated with the rise of the Wikimedia movement as a major custodian of human knowledge and cultural products.

Technology report: The Visual Editor: Where are we now, and where are we headed?

Since its inception in May 2011, the Foundation's Visual Editor project has grown to become one of its main focuses. As the project nears its two-year birthday, the Signpost caught up with Visual Editor project manager James Forrester to discuss the progress on the project.

Recent research: "Ignore all rules" in deletions; anonymity and groupthink; how readers react when shown talk pages

A paper presented at last month's CSCW Conference observes that "Mass collaboration systems are often characterized as unstructured organizations lacking rule and order", yet Wikipedia has a well developed body of policies to support it as an organization.

The Signpost: 01 April 2013

Special report: Who reads which Wikipedia?

The Wikimedia Foundation has released its latest report card for the movement's hundreds of sites. The WMF has published statistics about the sites since 2009, but only recently have these been expanded in scope and depth to provide a rich source of data for investigating the movement and the world it serves. Dutch-born Erik Zachte is the driver of the WMF's statistical output, and he writes that the report card and accompanying traffic statistics comprise "enough tables, bar charts and plots to keep you busy for a while".

WikiProject report: Special: FAQs

This week's Report is dedicated to answering our readers' questions about WikiProjects. The following Frequently Asked Questions came from feedback at the WikiProject Report's talk page, the WikiProject Council's talk page, and from previous lists of FAQs.

Featured content: What the ?

The Signpost interviewed prolific featured content creator and former Signpost "featured content" report writer Crisco 1492 about ? and Indonesian cinema. ? was the "Today's featured article" for 1 April 2013. 1 April is popularly known as April Fools' Day in many countries.

News and notes: Grants given for Wikipedia Library, six others; April Fool's Day ructions

The first round of individual engagement grants (IEGs) have been awarded, disbursing about $55.6k (€42.7k) to seven applicants.

Arbitration report: Three open cases

A case brought by Lecen involves several articles about former Argentinian president Juan Manuel de Rosas (1793–1877).

Technology report: Wikidata phase 2 deployment timetable in doubt

Users of ten Wikipedias got access to phase 2 of Wikidata following its first rollout to production wikis.

The Signpost: 08 April 2013

Wikizine: WMF scales back feature after outcry

Numerous Wikimedia Commons editors have chimed in on the Wikimedia Foundation's deployment of a new feature to its mobile website. Allowing anonymous users to register and upload pictures for use in an article, the feature was placed prominently at the top of Wikipedia articles in multiple languages.

WikiProject report: Earthshattering WikiProject Earthquakes

This week, we felt the world tremble in the presence of WikiProject Earthquakes. The project was started in May 2008 to deal with articles about earthquakes, aftershocks, seismology, seismologists, plate tectonics, and related articles. While the project has seen success building 14 Featured Articles, one A-class Article, and 21 Good Articles, a fairly heavy workload remains, with a relative WikiWork rating of 4.94. WikiProject Earthquakes maintains a portal, a list of open tasks, a popular pages listing, and an article alerts watchlist.

News and notes: French intelligence agents threaten Wikimedia volunteer

Last Friday, the Wikimedia movement awoke to news that one of their number—Rémi Mathis, a French volunteer editor—had been summoned to the offices of the interior intelligence service DCRI and threatened with criminal charges and fines if he did not delete an article on the French Wikipedia about a radio station used by the French military.

Arbitration report: Subject experts needed for Argentine History

The arbitration committee is looking for expertise in Argentina and the Spanish language for a case involving former Argentinean president Juan Manuel de Rosas (1793–1877).

Featured content: Wikipedia loves poetry

Four articles and two pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.

Technology report: Testing week

The deployment of phase 2 of Wikidata to the English Wikipedia, originally scheduled for 8 April but delayed due to technical problems, may be rescheduled again as the result of community resistance.

The Signpost: 15 April 2013

Op-ed: How do we fix RfA inactivity?

The RfA process is widely discussed here on the English Wikipedia and it has been well documented that less and less new Requests for adminship are being filed. There are an abundance of bytes devoted to the discussion and analysis of this situation and plenty of hands have been wrung over the matter. Various RfCs have attempted to find a way to fix the problem. Many proposals have been made offering solutions, some more potentially drastic than others, with the goal of making the changes necessary to kick–start RfA back into regular action. However, Wikipedia operates based on consensus and, to this point, there are have simply been too many disagreeing views for us to reach a consensus on how to increase RfA activity.

WikiProject report: Unity in Diversity: South Africa

This week, we ventured to WikiProject South Africa. The project was started in February 2005 and is home to thirteen pieces of featured material, two A-class articles, and twenty-one good articles.

News and notes: Another admin reform attempt flops

The most recent move to reform the requests for adminship process on the English Wikipedia has failed, after a complex and drawn-out three-step procedure for community input was subject to decreasing participation as time wore on and came up with no clear consensus.

Featured content: The featured process swings into high gear

Four articles, twelve lists, and seven pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.

motherfuker — Preceding unsigned comment added by 110.227.255.121 (talk) 13:10, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Okay. Jauerback^dude?/_dude. 13:13, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

London WNBR 2011 3.jpg — Preceding unsigned comment added by 110.227.255.121 (talk) 13:25, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 22 April 2013

In the media: Wikipedia inaccurate, says Florence; New Wikipedia app for breaking news

An article by John Sweeney published on 22 April 2013 on scnow.com, the website of the Florence, South Carolina Morning News, reported that Florence city officials have taken to monitoring and correcting the Wikipedia article on their city.

WikiProject report: WikiProject Editor Retention

This week, we spent some time with a project that develops tools and methods for improving the user experience in the hope that new users will continue editing the encyclopedia. The project was started in July 2012 and has grown to include 124 members. The project's members partner with the Teahouse and the Welcoming Committee to spread WikiLove, welcome new users, encourage civility, and other related activities.

News and notes: Milan conference a mixed bag

The Wikimedia Conference is an annual meeting of the chapters to discuss their status and the organisational development of the Wikimedia movement. For the first time it included groups that wish to be considered for WMF affiliation as thematic organisations and one of the three groups that was recently affiliated as a user group. The conference was also attended by members of the Wikimedia Foundation's (WMF) Board of Trustees, the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC), the WMF Affiliations Committee, and a representative of the Wikivoyage Association.

Featured content: Batfish in the Red Sea

Nine articles, four lists, eight pictures, and one topic were promoted to "featured" status this week on the English Wikipedia.

Arbitration report: Sexology case nears closure after stalling over topic ban

The Sexology case is nearing completion after arbitrators were unable to agree on a topic ban for one of the participants.

Technology report: A flurry of deployments

On Monday, the English Wikipedia became the 12th wiki to be able to pull data from the central Wikidata.org repository, with other wikis scheduled to receive the update on Wednesday.

Tbagletsbeef

You have hardblocked this editor on the basis of his being in breach of our username policy. He has posted an unblock request, saying that he cannot see anything wrong with his name. I cannot either; presumably there is some idiomatic meaning which has not reached me in the UK. Could you please explain what is wrong with his name?--Anthony Bradbury^"talk" 10:08, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

Anthony, the (NSFW

) "T bag" part is what caught my attention. Obviously, it sounds like the user didn't intend that. Because of this, it's probably not appropriate to post the link above on their talk page explaining my reasoning, so I'll just comment here. Also to be honest, I'm not sure how to proceed with letting the user change their name (which I think is probably a good idea), so I'll let you (or another admin) work that out. Jauerback^dude?/_dude. 11:13, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

OK, I will attend to it. --Anthony Bradbury^"talk" 12:12, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 29 April 2013

News and notes: Chapter furore over FDC knockbacks; First DC GLAM boot-camp

The Funds Dissemination Committee released its recommendations to the WMF board last Sunday. The news that the Hong Kong chapter's application for US$212K had failed was followed by a strongly worded resignation announcement by Deryck Chan on the public Wikimedia-l mailing-list.

In the media: Wikipedia's sexism; Yuri Gadyukin hoax

On 24 April 2013, novelist Amanda Filipacchi published what turned out to be an influential op-ed in the New York Times; illuminating the unusual background of the Yuri Gadyukin hoax.

Featured content: Wiki loves video games

Nine articles, three lists, three pictures, and one topic were promoted to "featured" this week.

WikiProject report: Japanese WikiProject Baseball

This week, we traveled to the Japanese Wikipedia's WikiProject Baseball for perspectives from a version of Wikipedia that treats WikiProjects as their own unique namespace (プロジェクト:) independent of "Wikipedia:".

Traffic report: Most popular Wikipedia articles

The WP:TOP25 and WP:5000 reports chronicle the most popular Wikipedia articles on a weekly basis.

Arbitration report: Sexology closed; two open cases

The Sexology case closed shortly after publication with no changes.

Recent research: Sentiment monitoring; UNESCO and systemic bias; and more

A report on an online service which was created to conduct real-time monitoring of Wikipedia articles of companies, and more.

Technology report: New notifications system deployed across Wikipedia

This week saw the deployment of the Echo extension, also known as "notifications".

Continued BLP violations

Hi Jauerback, I figured this was inevitable, but 198.46.150.97 (talk · contribs) is now using their talk page. Thanks for your help, 99.136.252.252 (talk) 02:36, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for letting me know. Jauerback^dude?/_dude. 03:33, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

Re 20's Plenty for Us

Please explain why you reverted back my changes that mention 20's Plenty for Us on speed campaigning. Its the biggest campaigning organisation for slower speeds in the UK. I don't understand why you won't allow it to be mentioned. RoadPeace aren't the experts at 20mph, 20's Plenty for Us are. — Preceding unsigned comment added byAnnasemlyen (talk • contribs) 13:12, 7 May 2013 (UTC)

Wikipedia isn't the place to promote your organization. Please see the note I've left on your talk page. Jauerback^dude?/_dude. 03:14, 8 May 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 06 May 2013

News and notes: Candidates nominating for Foundation elections; Looking ahead to Wikimania 2014

Although not yet in great numbers, candidates are coming forward for Wikimedia Foundation elections, which will be held from 1 to 15 June. The elections will fill vacancies in three categories, the most prominent of which will be the three community-elected seats on the ten-member Board of Trustees (or the first Board meeting after the election results are announced, if sooner). The current two-year terms for these trustee positions ends on 1 September.

Technology report: Foundation successful in bid for larger Google subsidy

The Wikimedia Foundation will be receiving more than $100,000 worth of free developer time courtesy of internet giant Google, it was announced this week. The funds, allocated as part of Google's Summer of Code programme, will support up to 21 student developers through three months of coding time.

Featured content: WikiCup update: full speed ahead!

May sees the beginning of Round 3 of the 2013 WikiCup, with 33 of the original 127 competitors remaining. ... six articles, ten pictures, and two portals were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.

In the media: New Wikipedia for Schools edition; Anders Behring Breivik's Wikipedia contributions

The SOS Children's Villages news service advised on 3 May 2013 that Wikipedia for Schools 2013 is nearly ready for release. ... On 26 April 2013, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation published an article reviewing Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik's edits to the English Wikipedia, where it revealed the name of Breivik's English Wikipedia account.

WikiProject report: Earn $100 in cash... and a button!

This week's English Wikipedia project, WikiProject Biophysics, is home to several experts in their fields and a collaboration with the Biophysical Society. The project is hosting a contest through July 15 with six contributors winning $100 in cash and given the opportunity to attend the 2014 meeting of the Biophysical Society in San Francisco. Other strong entries will be awarded barnstars online and everyone who contributes can receive a physical button mailed out to them.

kyle long

i added what someone left out...there was only mention of Kyle's older brother Chris Long defensive end ST Louis Rams. if u will check Howie Long at this site and read his bio, u will see and find that Kyle has a younger brother named Howie Long Jr. that is what i added...its well known in Ivy, Va where Howie and Diane Long have lived since before Kyle was born that, Howie Jr has some issues, flunked out of UVA was kicked off the LAX team, i think he was captain..but i didn't feel it necessary to beat up on 'THE PRINCE OF CHARLOTTESVILLE'..aka Howie Long Jr (he calls himself the Prince of C-ville) suffice it to say, he is bagging groceries and has packed on at least 50 lbs...if u'd like a pic..please, say so..i'd be happy to send it to you — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.141.186.246 (talk) 04:26, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

You didn't just mention that he has a younger brother named Howie. You mentioned that Howie bags groceries. There's a big difference. Not only is the latter unimportant to Kyle's bio, but it would need a reliable source for it to even be considered for inclusion. Jauerback^dude?/_dude. 12:12, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 13 May 2013

News and notes: WMF–community ruckus on Wikimedia mailing list

The removal of administrator rights from all volunteers on the Wikimedia Foundation's official website sparked a highly emotional reaction on the Wikimedia-l mailing list—one of the largest off-wiki methods of communication for the Wikimedia movement.

WikiProject report: Knock Out: WikiProject Mixed Martial Arts

This week, we spent some time watching WikiProject Mixed Martial Arts, which was started in August 2005 and has grown to include 12 Good Articles and a Featured List.

Featured content: A mushroom, a motorway, a Munich gallery, and a map

Fourteen articles, three lists, and three pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia, including Boletus luridus, seen above.

In the media: PR firm accused of editing Wikipedia for government clients; can Wikipedia predict the stock market?

An article published on May 10 on Odwyerpr.com written by Greg Hazley documented a "spar" between Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and public relations firm Qorvis partner Matt Lauer, who disputes Wikipedia's guideline discouraging public relations firms from editing articles on their clients.

Arbitration report: Race and politics opened; three open cases

The Race and politics case has been accepted for arbitration, and the evidence phase is now open. Two other cases remain open.

XLRider

Hi Jauerback, thank-you for picking up my error in warning XLRider for disruptive editing. I was attempting to undo the additional of "sleaze metal" as a genre and incorrectly identified XLRider as the offending editor, to whom I have apologised. As a result of restoring the wrong version I reinstated the genre twice without realising it. Thanks again for picking up my mistake, best wishes Flat Out Let's discuss it 07:09, 23 May 2013 (UTC)

No problem. Jauerback^dude?/_dude. 11:18, 23 May 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 27 May 2013

News and notes: First-ever community election for FDC positions

Alongside the Signpost's interviews with the Wikimedia Foundation's (WMF) Board of Trustees candidates, the Signpost asked the candidates for the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) and its Ombudsperson position a series of questions relating to the positions they may be taking on. For the FDC candidates, this will include specific recommendations to the WMF on how to disburse over US$11 million in donors' funds to affiliate organizations, something which appears to have garnered little attention from the editing community at large so far.

In the media: Pagans complain about Qworty's anti-Pagan editing

In the continuing saga of User:Qworty's outing as author Robert Clark Young, several blogs and websites covered the now-banned user's anti-Pagan editing. In an article published on 22 May 2013, TechEye described Qworty's edits as a "reign of terror" and were pleased to find that he had not succeeded in removing several prominent Pagan biographies from the encyclopedia.

Foundation elections: Candidates talk about the Meta problem, the nation-based chapter model, world languages, and value for money

The elections for the three community seats on the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees start on 8 June. This second and final part of the interview explores two broad themes: Meta, the site that hosts movement-wide coordination; and offline entities—the chapters and the new thematic organisations and user groups.

WikiProject report: WikiProject Geographical Coordinates

This week, we plotted out the demarcations of WikiProject Geographical Coordinates, which aims to create a single standard of handling coordinates in Wikipedia articles.

Featured content: Life of 2π

Twelve articles, four lists, and twelve pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.

Recent research: Motivations on the Persian Wikipedia; is science eight times more popular on the Spanish Wikipedia than the English Wikipedia?

An article in Library Review offers a much-needed comparison of data from a population of editors outside the English Wikipedia.

Technology report: Amsterdam hackathon: continuity, change, and stroopwafels

Second only to the technical track of Wikimania in terms of numbers, the Berlin Hackathon (2009–2012) provided those with an interest in the software that underpins Wikimedia wikis and supports its editors a place to gather, exchange ideas and learn new skills.

The Signpost: 05 June 2013

From the editor: Signpost developments

I am excited to announce that a Portuguese-language journal, Correio da Wikipédia has been launched by Vitorvicentevalente. It has just published its third edition, and I encourage readers who speak the language to read and contribute to its already-expansive coverage of the Portuguese Wikipedia and the Wikimedia movement.

Featured content: A week of portraits

Five articles, four lists, and thirteen images were promoted to "featured" status this week on the English Wikipedia.

Discussion report: Return of the Discussion report

This is mostly a list of requests for comment believed to be active on 4 June 2013 linked from subpages of Wikipedia:RfC or watchlist notices.

News and notes: "Cease and desist", World Trade Organization says to Wikivoyage; Could WikiLang be the next WMF project?

On 31 May, the Wikimedia Foundation's Legal and Community Advocacy team announced that the Wikivoyage logo would have to be replaced, because it has become the subject of a cease-and-desist letter from the World Trade Organization (WTO).

In the media: China blocks secure version of Wikipedia

An article on TheNextWeb.com says that the Chinese Government has effectively blocked Wikipedia by cutting off access to the HTTP Secure (https) "workaround", almost completely cutting off access to those in China.

WikiProject report: Operation Normandy

This week, we reflect on the anniversary of D-Day by storming the shores of Operation Normandy, a special initiative of WikiProject Military History.

Technology report: Developers accused of making Toolserver fight 'pointless'

Last week, the Signpost reported on a feeling at the Amsterdam hackathon that Toolserver developers were coming round to the idea of migrating to Wikimedia Labs.

The Signpost: 12 June 2013

News and notes: How Wikimedia affiliates are spending $8.4 million; PRISM scandal

Late last year, the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) awarded $8.4 million in donors' money to 11 Wikimedia entities, including the Wikimedia Foundation and 10 nationally defined chapters. Under this arrangement, these organisations are required to issue quarterly reports on how far they have progressed towards their declared programmatic and financial goals. The FDC has now announced that all 11 completed and submitted their reports by the 1 April deadline, and have responded to each.

Featured content: Mixing Bowl Interchange

Seven articles, two lists, five pictures, and one topic were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.

In the media: VisualEditor will "change world history"

In an article published by the Huffington Post's United Kingdom edition, writer Thomas Church asserts that the new VisualEditor will change history, literally. It says that Wikipedia's mark-up language has been to its advantage, as most people didn't bother trying to learn it

Op-ed: The tragedy of Wikipedia's commons

I've long thought that we should get rid of the Wikimedia Commons as we know it. Commons has evolved into a project with interests that compete with the needs of the primary users of Commons and the reason it was created. It's also understaffed, which results in poor curation, large administrative backlogs, and poor policy development.

Discussion report: VisualEditor, elections, bots, and more

Current discussions on the English Wikipedia.

Traffic report: Who holds the throne?

Last week's most popular article list on the English Wikipedia was dominated by the massively popular TV series Game of Thrones, which claimed six slots in the top 25, including the top three. Its popularity was likely stoked by the most recent episode, The Rains of Castamere. Bollywood continued to increase its share of views as well, aided by the tragic suicide of star Nafisa Khan.

Arbitration report: Two cases suspended; proposed decision posted in Argentine History

Two cases, Race and politics and Tea Party movement have been suspended. Argentine History remains open, and a proposed decision was posted on 12 June.

WikiProject report: Processing WikiProject Computing

This week, we spent some time with WikiProject Computing. Started in October 2003, the project has grown to include 17 featured articles, 11 featured lists, 3 pieces of featured media, and 80 good articles.

The Signpost: 19 June 2013

Op-ed: Two responses to the 'Tragedy of Wikipedia's Commons'

Following last week's op-ed by Gigs ("The Tragedy of Wikipedia's Commons"), the Signpost is carrying two contrary opinions from MichaelMaggs, a bureaucrat on Wikimedia Commons, and Mattbuck, a British Commons administrator.

Traffic report: Most popular Wikipedia articles of the last week

The season finale of Game of Thrones ensured that the epic high fantasy series would dominate the top 10 again last week; however, it was joined by Maurice Sendak and Man of Steel.

In the media: South African learners want Wikipedia; Editing of Israel topics

Memeburn.com published an article on the yearning of students in South Africa for free knowledge through Wikipedia Zero.

WikiProject report: The Volunteer State: WikiProject Tennessee

This week, we visited WikiProject Tennessee, a project dedicate to the state at the geographic and cultural crossroads of the United States.

News and notes: Swedish Wikipedia's millionth article leads to protests; WMF elections—where are all the voters?

With erysichton elaborata, the Swedish Wikipedia passed the one million article Rubicon this week. While this is a mostly symbolic achievement, serving as a convenient benchmark with which to gain publicity and attention in an increasingly statistical world, the particular method by which the Swedish site has passed the mark has garnered significant attention—and controversy.

Featured content: Cheaper by the dozen

Eleven articles, twelve lists, and eleven pictures were promoted to 'featured' status on the English Wikipedia this week.

Discussion report: Citations, non-free content, and a MediaWiki meeting

A list of current discussions on the English Wikipedia.

Technology report: May engineering report published

The WMF's engineering report for May was published recently on the Wikimedia blog and on the MediaWiki wiki ("friendly" summary version), giving an overview of all Foundation-sponsored technical operations in that month.

Arbitration report: The Farmbrough amendment request—automation and arbitration enforcement

Richard Farmbrough was set to have his day in court, but as events transpired, this was not to be so. On 25 March 2013, an accusation was made against Farmbrough at Arbitration Enforcement (AE), claiming that he violated the terms of an automated edit restriction. Within hours, Farmbrough had filed his own request with the arbitration committee, citing the newly filed AE request and claiming that the motion was being used "in an absurd way" in the filing of enforcement requests: "I have not made any edits that a sane person would consider automation."

The Signpost: 26 June 2013

Traffic report: Most-viewed articles of the week

With most TV shows on hiatus for the summer, attention has turned to movies, celebrity and sports. The dramatic events at the 2013 Confederations Cup drew massive attention, as did summer blockbusters like Man of Steel and World War Z. But the most searched event of the week was the tragic and unexpected death of popular actor James Gandolfini on June 19.

In the media: Daily Dot on Commons and porn; Jimmy Wales accused of breaking Wikipedia rules in hunt for Snowden

The Daily Dot has examined the perennial controversy over explicit or pornographic media on Commons. This latest salvo was touched off when Russavia uploaded a portrait of Jimmy Wales made by the artist Pricasso, who paints with his genitalia.

Recent research: Most controversial Wikipedia topics, automatic detection of sockpuppets

A comparative work by T. Yasseri., A. Spoerri, M. Graham and J. Kertész looks at the 100 most controversial topics in 10 language versions of Wikipedia, and tries to make sense of the similarities and differences in these lists.

News and notes: Election results released

Less than three days after the close of voting, the volunteer election committee posted the results on Meta. The worldwide Wikimedia movement has elected three WMF trustees for two-year terms on the 10-seat Board: Samuel Klein (supported by 43.5% of voters), Phoebe Ayers (38.3%), and María Sefidari (35.6%). The new trustees will take their seats at a critical time for the movement: one of the first tasks in their terms will be to help the Board to find and approve the new executive director to take up the top job when Sue Gardner departs.

Discussion report: Privacy policy, X!'s edit counter, old rangeblocks, and the Article Incubator

A list of current discussions on the English Wikipedia.

Featured content: Wikipedia in black + Adam Cuerden

This week, the Signpost interviews Adam Cuerden, a Wikimedian who has been for years gathering featured pictures, and who constantly participates in what could be his favourite part of the project. Cuerden dedicates most of his time to scanning and restoring old, valuable illustrative works. He explains to us how the featured process works, its relation with other parts of the encyclopedia, and how pictures evolve before reaching featured status.

WikiProject report: WikiProject Fashion

This week, we walked the runway with WikiProject Fashion. Started in March 2007, the project is home to 4 Featured Articles and 41 Good Articles. The project has a lengthy list of how you can help and a list of Article Alerts.

Arbitration report: Argentine History closed; two cases remain suspended

Argentine History was closed. Two cases, Race and politics and Tea Party movement, remain suspended until July.

The Signpost: 20 May 2013

Foundation elections: Trustee candidates speak about Board structure, China, gender, global south, endowment

Nominations closed last Friday for the three community-elected seats on the Wikimedia Foundation's (WMF) ten-member Board of Trustees—the ultimate corporate authority of the worldwide WMF. The Board has influential roles and responsibilities over one of the most powerful global information sources on the Internet.

WikiProject report: Classical Greece and Rome

This week, we traveled to WikiProject Classical Greece and Rome. The project was started in May 2006 and has 37 featured articles.

News and notes: Spanish Wikipedia leaps past one million articles

On 16 May, the Spanish Wikipedia became the seventh Wikipedia to cross the million article Rubicon, a symbolic yet important achievement.

In the media: Qworty incident continues

Salon.com published another article detailing the ongoing incidents with Wikipedia user Qworty, who has identified himself as Robert Clark Young. It documents Qworty's role in the controversy involving Amanda Filipacchi's op-ed, which kindled a debate on Wikipedia sexism as it relates to categories, where Qworty was responsible for a series of revenge edits against Filipacchi in the days after she released her op-ed.

Featured content: Up in the air

Nine articles, six lists, and eight pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.

IP edit warring over shared IP template

Hello. I don't know if you're familiar with the story behind the edit warring (the ANI-case can be seen here), but it's an IP user (IP 12.71.77.121) who is desperately trying to remove a shared IP notice that identifies the IP that he/she has been edit warring on Google Nexus from as belonging to AT&T Corporate HQ/Chief Security Office. He/she probably thought that no-one would be able to tell where the edits were made from, so when he/she saw the shared IP notice, clearly identifying the owner of the connection, he/she went ballistic. So we'll probably se more of him/her here as soon as he/she manages to get hold of a new IP to edit from. Thomas.W (talk) 12:45, 21 June 2013 (UTC)

Yeah, I had seen that ANI report, so I had put the orignal IP on my watchlist. And, you're right, they will probably be back... Jauerback^dude?/_dude. 13:19, 21 June 2013 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, Jauerback. You have new messages at LFaraone's talk page.
Message added 13:39, 2 July 2013 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

L Faraone 13:39, 2 July 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 03 July 2013

In the media: Jimmy Wales is not an Internet billionaire; a mass shooter's alleged Wikipedia editing

Amy Chozick's profile of Jimmy Wales in the New York Times sparked significant controversy in international news outlets this week. Chozick's profile covered Wales's personal life, including his 12-year-old daughter, ex-wife, and current wife Kate Garvey, describing Wales himself as "a well-groomed version of a person who has been slumped over a computer drinking Yoo-hoo for hours." Chozick described his current role in Wikipedia as "Benevolent Dictator for Life", a statement which garnered conflict from all corners of the web, including from Wales, who responded to the piece as a whole with a lengthy talk page statement.

Featured content: Queen of France

Four articles, four lists, and fifteen pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia last week.

WikiProject report: Puppies!

This week, the Signpost went to the kennel and interviewed WikiProject Dogs. The project has several featured and good articles, along with a large number of "Did you know" entries. We asked three project members about the challenges of creating, curating, and maintaining canine content in an increasingly dog-obsessed world.

News and notes: Wikipedia's medical collaborations gathering pace

The key annual event in the Wikimedia calendar, Wikimania 2013, will be held in Hong Kong in just five weeks' time. Among the events will be a presentation by two people who are working to promote the development of medical content on Wikimedia projects. One is James Heilman of Wiki Project Med, a non-profit dedicated to making "clear, reliable, comprehensive, up-to-date educational resources and information in the biomedical and related social sciences freely available to all people in the language of their choice". The other is Lori Thicke, president of Translators Without Borders (TWB), the Connecticut-based organisation set up in 2010 to provide pro-bono translation services for humanitarian non-profits

Discussion report: Snuggle, mainpage link to Wikinews, 3RR, and more

Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include...

Technology report: VisualEditor in midst of game-changing deployment series

The VisualEditor extension has gone live by default to registered users on the English Wikipedia, marking a huge milestone in a project that has taken the best part of a decade to reach fruition. The extension was previously described as "the biggest and most important change to our user experience we’ve ever undertaken" by the WMF team behind it.

Traffic report: Yahoo! crushes the competition ... in Wikipedia views

The real world made a strong showing in the top 10 last week, as news stories such as Yahoo!'s purchase of Tumblr, the murder of Odin Lloyd, the continuing drama over NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and the ill-health of Nelson Mandela crowded out the usual roster of TV shows, movies, websites and video games. Not that they were entirely excluded, of course.

Arbitration report: Tea Party movement reopened, new AUSC appointments

Following a one-month period of moderated discussion, Tea Party movement has been reopened by the Committee. The proposed decisions are currently being voted upon. Race and politics remains suspended pending the return of User:Apostle12.

The Signpost: 10 July 2013

Op-ed: It's time to stop pretending the English-language Wikinews is a viable project

This is Wikinews' fundamental problem: it can neither do a good job providing a summary of world news, nor does it have any special focus that it does well. It's a collection of random articles, with only the occasional, passing resemblance to important current events.

WikiProject report: Not Jimbo: WikiProject Wales

This week, we traveled to Cymru with the folks at WikiProject Wales.

Traffic report: Inflated view counts here, there, and everywhere

The most-viewed articles on the English Wikipedia last week include...

News and notes: Wikimedia Foundation Board appoints world expert in women's issues, global south

In apparent acknowledgment of the urgency of two issues facing the Wikimedia movement—the need to engage both women and the global south—the WMF Board has appointed Ana Toni as one of its four expert members. Toni will bring rare expertise to the movement, and the Signpost understands that her skills in advocacy and her key roles in international NGOs are likely to be a natural match with the WMF as the hub of disseminating free knowledge around the world.

Dispatches: Infoboxes: time for a fresh look?

The fundamental idea of an infobox is clear: keep it simple and limited to essentials. At some point, however, these basic principles seem to have been abandoned, in favour of an approach akin to "the more the merrier".

Featured content: The week of the birds

Five articles, six lists, and ten pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.

Discussion report: Featured article process governance, signature templates, and more

Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include ...

The Signpost: 17 July 2013

WikiProject report: WikiProject Square Enix

This week, we explored the fantasy worlds of video game developer Square Enix by interviewing WikiProject Square Enix. The project began in September 2006 as a spin-off of WikiProject Final Fantasy, but today covers that, Kingdom Hearts, Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger, and a variety of other game series, with exceptions explained in the interview below. The project is home to 32 pieces of Featured material and 104 Good and A-class articles.

Traffic report: Most-viewed articles of the week

The most-viewed articles on the English Wikipedia last week include...

News and notes: Wikimedia Foundation's new plans announced

Last week the Wikimedia Foundation released its annual plan for July 2013 to June 2014. It provides a surprisingly frank view—of past achievements and failures, and future goals and risks—that could be afforded only by a non-profit that is confident and beholden to no commercial or political interests.

Featured content: Documents and sports

Four articles, five lists, and sixteen pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.

Arbitration report: Kiefer.Wolfowitz and Ironholds case opens; July 22 deadline for checkuser and oversight applications

The case Kiefer.Wolfowitz and Ironholds was opened. Voting on the Tea Party movement case continued, after a failed attempt at moderated discussion. A group tasked with deciding the content of the lead section of the Jerusalem article has reported back to the committee. Applications for checkuser and oversight permissions close on 22 July.

Rare Names

Christian Stokes (born 1993), American softball player [[1]] — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tlc6just (talk • contribs) 20:44, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

I'm going to say this for the final time. This peson does not have a Wikipedia article. I don't care if it's really her name and whether it's rare or not. She is not notable enough to be included on a list of people with that name. I'm not sure how much more clear that I can make this. Jauersock^dude?/_dude. 21:29, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

86.19.115.227

Said IP above has replaced his block warning with an angry notice about how everyone acts like children who always have to have their own way and how he is going to "fuck up as many articles on here as I have time for". Not sure the proper course of action, so I thought I'd contact the one who blocked him. öBrambleberry of RiverClan 21:25, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

Thanks. I was offline and will be again shortly, but there's probably not much to be done about it proactively at this point. Jauerback^dude?/_dude. 00:16, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 24 July 2013

In the media: Wikipedia flamewars

The Washington Post reported Tuesday on the most controversial articles on various language Wikipedias as determined by a cross-continental research group.

WikiProject report: WikiProject Religion

This week, the Signpost delved into the vast and complex areas of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views that make up religion. WikiProject Religion has been around since 2005 and has a complex scope, in that it only takes articles that deal with religion in a non-sectarian sense, along with any articles that do not have a dedicated daughter project.

Discussion report: Partially disambiguated page names, page protection policy, and more

Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include...

News and notes: Wikivoyage turns ten, but where to now?; Wikipedia Zero expands into India

Contributors to Wikivoyage, the sister project adopted by the Wikimedia Foundation last year, are celebrating their 10th anniversary this week. ... The Wikimedia Foundation has announced via press release that it has partnered with Aircel to provide free mobile access to Wikipedia.

Traffic report: Gleeless

Death hangs over the top 10 this week, as tragic deaths both past and present continued to cast their pall over an already troubled world. The death of Corey Monteith led to a spike in interest in the man himself, his girlfriend and co-star Lea Michele, and the show that made them both famous, Glee.

Featured content: Engineering and the arts

Twelve articles, seven lists, and eight pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.

Arbitration report: Infoboxes case opens

The case Infoboxes was opened. The evidence phase continues in Kiefer.Wolfowitz and Ironholds. Voting on the proposed decision continues in the Tea Party movement case.

The Signpost: 31 July 2013

Op-ed: The VisualEditor Beta and the path to change

One of the narratives I've heard a lot is that Wikipedia is unable to change, that it's too stagnant, too poorly resourced, too inherently resistant to change. I don't believe that at all.

Recent research: Napoleon, Michael Jackson and Srebrenica across cultures, 90% of Wikipedia better than Britannica, WikiSym preview

An ArXiv preprint titled "Highlighting entanglement of cultures via ranking of multilingual Wikipedia articles" is about the Wikipedia articles on individuals and their position in the hyperlink network of the articles in each Wikipedia language edition, considering the whole hyperlink network.

Traffic report: Bouncing Baby Brouhaha

Somewhat predictably, the birth of a new heir to the House of Windsor on 22 July led the English-speaking world to suddenly embrace Monarchism. In honour of this occasion, the Traffic report will be assiduously employing British spelling and dating conventions. Cheers.

WikiProject report: Babel Series: Politics on the Turkish Wikipedia

This week, we visited the Turkish Wikipedia for an interview with VikiProje Siyaset (WikiProject Politics). The project began in April 2010 and has sustained a small but enthusiastic group of editors focusing on both the domestic politics of Turkey and international politics. The basics for article quality and importance ratings have been determined, but tracking this data has not yet become widespread on the Turkish Wikipedia. The project maintains a portal, a variety of resources, and a rotating selection of images to spruce up the project's page.

News and notes: Gearing up for Wikimania 2013

The ninth annual Wikimania conference will open in just over a week at the Jockey Club Auditorium, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Wikimania is for people worldwide who have an interest in Wikimedia Foundation projects. It features presentations and discussions on those projects, on free knowledge and content, and on related social and technical issues.

Arbitration report: Race and politics case closes

The case Race and politics was closed, while three other cases remain open.

Featured content: Caterpillars, warblers, and frogs—oh my!

Eight articles, five lists, seven pictures, and one topic were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.

Discussion report: Defining consensus; VisualEditor default state; expert and layperson terms in article titles

Current discussions on the English Wikipedia this week include...

The Signpost: 07 August 2013

Arbitration report: Fourteen editors proposed for ban in Tea Party movement case

Fourteen editors have been proposed for a six-month page ban in the Tea Party movement case. In the Infoboxes and Kiefer.Wolfowitz and Ironholds cases, the workshop and evidence phases have closed, and proposed decisions are scheduled to be posted.

Traffic report: Greetings from the graveyard

It's crickets and tumbleweeds this week, as the top 10 sees its lowest view-count since the project began. If Wikipedia were selling anything, we'd be having a fire sale by now.

News and notes: Chapters Association self-destructs

The opening days of the annual Wikimania, referred to as the "pre-conference", are not typically newsworthy. This changed dramatically when the Chapters Association council met on Thursday.

WikiProject report: WikiProject Freedom of Speech

This week, we journey into a WikiProject that focuses about what keeps Wikipedia running, the freedom of speech.

Featured content: Mysterious case of the grand duchess

The week's newest featured content includes...

Discussion report: CheckUser and Oversighter candidates, and more

Recent discussions on the English Wikipedia include...

The Signpost: 14 August 2013

News and notes: "Beautifully smooth" Wikimania with few hitches

About a thousand Wikimedians journeyed to Hong Kong this week for the annual Wikimania conference, the annual gathering of the Wikimedia movement. Wikimania, which has been held since 2005, serves as the principal physical meetup for Wikimedians around the world.

In the media: Chinese censorship

One major story that came out of Wikimania was Jimmy Wales' statements at the conference that he would prefer to have Wikipedia banned entirely in mainland China than censored as it is currently.

Featured content: Wikipedia takes the cities

The week's newest featured content includes seven articles, four lists, and twelve pictures.

Special report: Jimmy Wales: media favors entertainment over raising public awareness

Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia and its public face to most of the media, has declared that media organizations are missing out on the "opportunity of the century" by not conducting true investigative reporting into American surveillance practices, a debate kindled by information leaked by Edward Snowden.

Discussion report: Wikivoyage, reliable sources, music bands, account creators, and OTRS

Recent discussions on the English Wikipedia include...

WikiProject report: For the love of stamps

Arbitration report: Kiefer.Wolfowitz and Ironholds case closes

The Kiefer.Wolfowitz and Ironholds case has closed, with a unanimous decision to desysop a Wikimedia Foundation employee and indefinitely ban another editor. The Tea Party movement case has stalled yet again, in the wake of a controversial proposal to ban 14 editors. A proposed decision in the Infoboxes case was scheduled to be posted on 14 August.

Talkback

Hello, Jauerback. You have new messages at Koavf's talk page.
Message added 14:23, 16 August 2013 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

—Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 14:23, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 21 August 2013

In the media: Chelsea Manning, Box-office predictors, and 'Storming Wikipedia'

Wikipedia's gender identity MOS section and its effect on Chelsea Manning was both praised and emulated in the media this week. ... Coverage of the distributed open collaborative course called "Storming Wikipedia" continued this week.

Recent research: WikiSym 2013 retrospective

98 registered participants attended the annual WikiSym+OpenSym conference from August 5-7 at Hong Kong's Cyberport facility.

WikiProject report: Loop-the-loop: Amusement Parks

This week, we secured free admission for WikiProject Amusement Parks, the project dedicated to amusement rides, roller coasters, theme parks, traveling carnivals, and funfairs.

Traffic report: Reddit creep

The debt that Wikipedia owes sites like Reddit or Google often goes unacknowledged around here. If the purpose of Wikipedia is to bring knowledge to the world, then it is sites like these that are actually doing it.

Featured content: WikiCup update, and the gardens of Finland

The 2013 WikiCup competition is entering its final round. Eleven articles and nine pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.

News and notes: Looking ahead to Wiki Loves Monuments

Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM), Wikimedia's annual volunteer-driven and the world largest photo contest, is gearing up to be conducted throughout September 2013. The event, originally developed in the Netherlands in 2010, has gone global with 34 countries taking part last and 49 this year.

Technology report: Gallery improvements launch on Wikipedia

Wikipedia's traditional image gallery format, produced by the markup, has remained largely unchanged for years. The resulting layout, seen below, does not adapt well to variations in image size, and has been characterized by some critics as aesthetically unappealing.

Threat

Saw you were accused of making a threat on the Wikinoticeboards. You're in a dispute on the Bon Jovi talk page. The editor in question is the one who accused you of a making a threat. Also, take a look at his talk page. Last month he accused an ip of being a terrorist, and an editor of being a little bitch. He was warned that this behavior could lead to a block. Further, he has been blocked before for uncivil behavior. This month he called an editor a dick and use obscenities on the talk page of the Blood Money episode of Breaking Bad because he was proven wrong. His behavior escalates. Figured you should be warned and or have evidence for a complaint against him for uncivil behavior to you and others. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.155.85.27 (talk • contribs)

Thanks. Jauersock^dude?/_dude. 19:30, 27 August 2013 (UTC)

August 2013

Hello, I'm BracketBot. I have automatically detected that your edit to Matt Blanchard may have broken the syntax by modifying 1 "()"s. If you have, don't worry, just edit the page again to fix it. If I misunderstood what happened, or if you have any questions, you can leave a message on my operator's talk page.

List of unpaired brackets remaining on the page:

* [[Chicago Bears]] ({{NFL Year|2012}}–({{NFL Year|2013}})

Thanks, BracketBot (talk) 00:54, 28 August 2013 (UTC)

IP address block

Regarding IP address 166.137.191.35 - you said 31 hours (here), but apparently the block log says it's indefinite ([2])... --みんな空の下 (トーク) 03:33, 28 August 2013 (UTC)

Wow. Thanks for catching that. Jauerback^dude?/_dude. 03:41, 28 August 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 28 August 2013

In the media: Chelsea Manning, Box-office predictors, and 'Storming Wikipedia'

Wikipedia's gender identity MOS section and its effect on Chelsea Manning was both praised and emulated in the media this week. ... Coverage of the distributed open collaborative course called "Storming Wikipedia" continued this week.

Recent research: WikiSym 2013 retrospective

98 registered participants attended the annual WikiSym+OpenSym conference from August 5-7 at Hong Kong's Cyberport facility.

WikiProject report: Loop-the-loop: Amusement Parks

This week, we secured free admission for WikiProject Amusement Parks, the project dedicated to amusement rides, roller coasters, theme parks, traveling carnivals, and funfairs.

Traffic report: Reddit creep

The debt that Wikipedia owes sites like Reddit or Google often goes unacknowledged around here. If the purpose of Wikipedia is to bring knowledge to the world, then it is sites like these that are actually doing it.

Featured content: WikiCup update, and the gardens of Finland

The 2013 WikiCup competition is entering its final round. Eleven articles and nine pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.

News and notes: Looking ahead to Wiki Loves Monuments

Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM), Wikimedia's annual volunteer-driven and the world largest photo contest, is gearing up to be conducted throughout September 2013. The event, originally developed in the Netherlands in 2010, has gone global with 34 countries taking part last and 49 this year.

Technology report: Gallery improvements launch on Wikipedia

Wikipedia's traditional image gallery format, produced by the markup, has remained largely unchanged for years. The resulting layout, seen below, does not adapt well to variations in image size, and has been characterized by some critics as aesthetically unappealing.

J'Marcus_Webb

Do you have a source that states that the Bears completely released him to free agency? Because, otherwise he is still on waivers under Bears management and could be claimed by another team. G90025 (talk) 20:41, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

Well, unless I'm misunderstanding this, which is entirely possible. Jauersock^dude?/_dude. 21:07, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

Interesting. The Chicago Tribune stated that he was placed on waivers, which isn't a complete release, but that link from the Bears themselves makes no mention of that and would seem to indicate that he became a free agent. There seems to be somewhat a lack of congruence between the two... LOL. Or maybe the Tribune was working on information they obtained earlier or something. Oh well. G90025 (talk) 03:26, 1 September 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 04 September 2013

In the media: Manning "put back in the closet"; State involvement in Azerbaijani Wikipedia

After media praise for Wikipedia's decision to move the Bradley Manning article to Chelsea Manning, the reversion of that page move on August 31, after a discussion in which several hundred Wikipedians participated, has so far triggered less favourable feedback, as well as a blog post from Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director Sue Gardner expressing her disappointment with the decision.

News and notes: Privacy policy debate gears up

On September 3, the Wikimedia Foundation launched the second stage of the process to improve the privacy policy implemented on most Wikimedia sites, including Wikipedia and its sister projects, by publishing a policy draft.

Traffic report: No accounting for the wisdom of crowds

A news-heavy week offers some insight, perhaps, into humanity's priorities.

Discussion report: Arbcom election procedures, Wiki Loves Monuments, Privacy policy, FDC, and more

As mentioned in "In the news" on Wikipedia's main page, the Library of Birmingham in the United Kingdom has opened. This interior photo was taken a week before opening. The article reports that the library "has been described as the largest public library in the United Kingdom, the largest public cultural space in Europe, and the largest regional library in Europe."

Featured content: Bridging the way to a Peasants' Revolt

Four articles, four lists, and eight pictures were promoted to 'featured' status this week on the English Wikipedia

WikiProject report: Writing on the frontier: Psychology on Wikipedia

This week, we spent some time with the minds behind WikiProject Psychology. The project was created in March 2006 and has grown to include 14 Featured Articles and 43 Good Articles.

Arbitration report: Manning naming dispute case opens; Tea Party case closes ; Infoboxes nears completion

The dispute over the title for the Manning article escalated quickly to arbitration levels, as the Bradley/Chelsea Manning naming dispute case was accepted for arbitration.

Technology report: Making Wikipedia more accessible

In this week's "Technology report", we explore ways of making Wikipedia more accessible to users of screen readers. Graham87 is a highly active contributor who is also blind and accesses the site through a screen reader.

The Signpost: 11 September 2013

In the media: Lawyer goes to court to discover Wikipedian's identity; Storming Wikipedia; Wikimedia UK Secretary in conflict-of-interest controversy; Does Wikipedia need a "right to reply" box?

'The National Law Journal reported on September 9 that lawyer Susan L. Burke has been taking legal steps to discover the identity of Wikipedia editor . Zujua had edited her biography, allegedly adding misleading content about various lawsuits in the process

WikiProject report: WikiProject Indonesia

The Signpost went to Indonesia this week.

Featured content: Tintin goes featured

Four articles, eight lists, and eight pictures were promoted to "featured" status this week on the English Wikipedia.

News and notes: As deadline approaches, Individual Engagement Grants looks for ideas

The deadline for proposals to the Individual Engagement Grants (IEG) volunteer committee on Meta will pass on 30 September. The program is designed to fund projects that tackle long-term problem and have a significant editing community impact; it has previously supported solutions like The Wikipedia Library, which improves Wikipedian access to online reference sources like JSTOR (see Signpost coverage).

Traffic report: Syria, celebrities, and association football: oh my!

While the Syrian Civil War crept its slow way into the minds of the public, with a new fourth related entry in the top 25, the top 10 remained dominated by celebrity, mainly sports and music. Two megabucks transfers stimulated public interest in football/soccer ahead of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, while Lil Wayne's public apology ahead of his latest album release sent him to the top.

Arbitration report: Workshop phase opens in Manning naming dispute ; Infoboxes case closes

Discussion over the Manning title dispute was off to a running start as evidence and workshop phases continued in the Bradley/Chelsea Manning naming dispute. The Infoboxes case closed with topic bans for two users, and a recommendation for community discussion of infoboxes.

The Signpost: 18 September 2013

News and notes: Third time's the charm: the FDC's newest round of funding requests

The Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC), the volunteer-led body that evaluates chapter and (for the first time) thematic organizational annual plan grant requests to the Wikimedia Foundation, is preparing for its third round of public proceedings to deliberate on the distribution of several million US dollars of Wikimedia movement funds.

WikiProject report: 18,464 Good Articles on the wall

This week, the Signpost headed to WikiProject Good Articles. As of publishing time, out of the 4,331,477 articles on Wikipedia, only 18,464 are rated as "good" (about 1 in 235).

Featured content: Hurricane Diane and Van Gogh

Thirteen articles, six lists, and five pictures were promoted to "featured" status last week on the English Wikipedia.

Technology report: What can Wikidata do for Wikipedia?

In this week's "Technology report", we look at how the growth of Wikidata can benefit Wikipedia. Gerard Meijssen is a highly active contributor and frequent blogger about Wikidata. We asked him to share his thoughts on how the new project benefits Wikipedia.

Traffic report: Twerking, tragedy and TV

The top 10 is bookended by unlucky dates, as Friday the 13th fell just after the anniversary of 9/11. Breaking Bad's final season continued to draw attention, while interest in Miley Cyrus's youthful exuberance is fading only slowly.

The Signpost: 25 September 2013

Op-ed: Q&A on Public Relations and Wikipedia

Over the last year, there's been extensive debate about whether public relations professionals and other corporate representatives should participate on Wikipedia and, if so, to what extent and what kinds of rules should be followed.

Traffic report: Look on Walter's works

The saga of Walter White, chemistry teacher-turned-drug kingpin, as told in the critically adored television series Breaking Bad, has been a water-cooler necessity for years, and now, as it nears its end, audiences are feverishly following every plot thread to guess what the finale will reveal.

In the media: Fox News: Wikipedia abandons efforts to purge porn from online encyclopedia

Fox News writer Perry Chiaramonte published an article detailing Wikipedia's alleged abandonment of its fight to remove pornography.

News and notes: Last call for Wiki Loves Monuments; Community–WMF tension over VisualEditor

On 30 September, Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM), the Wikimedia community's global photo competition, will reach to the end of its submission period. The proceedings have been underway since the first of this month; national juries will start reviewing submissions for the first round of selections after it closes ... Community aggravation with one of the Wikimedia Foundation's signature initiatives, the VisualEditor, came to the fore again this week with the announcement and implementation of code blocking the tool.

WikiProject report: Babel Series: GOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!

This week, we continued our exploration of other language editions of Wikipedia by visiting the Spanish Wikipedia's Wikiproyecto Fútbol (WikiProject Football).

Featured content: Wikipedia takes the stage

Twelve articles, six lists, and five pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.

Recent research: Automatic detection of "infiltrating" Wikipedia admins; Wiki, or 'pedia?

A conference paper makes a rather serious claim: "We find a surprisingly large number of editors who change their behavior and begin focusing more on a particular controversial topic once they are promoted to administrator status."

The Signpost: 02 October 2013

Op-ed: Commons medical diagnostic images under threat from unresolved ownership

Medical images have transformed many aspects of modern medicine. Over the past two decades the increasing sophistication of MRI, CT-scanning, and X-ray techniques has made these technologies the cornerstone of diagnosing a range of conditions, replacing what used to be largely guesswork by doctors. They can be the difference between life and death for a patient, and their importance is underlined by the tens of billions of dollars spent on them annually just in North America. For Wikimedia Foundation projects, advanced images are now a powerful tool for describing and explaining, and educating our worldwide readership of medical articles.

Discussion report: References to individuals and groups, merging wikiprojects, portals on the Main page, and more

Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include...

News and notes: WMF signals new grantmaking priorities

In what will be remembered as a game-changing week for Wikimedia grantmaking, the Foundation's executive director, Sue Gardner, published a forthright and in places highly critical statement, Reflections on the FDC process, and grantmaking staff revealed that the WMF will significantly strengthen its targeting of optimal impact in funding.

Featured content: Bobby, Ben, Roger and a fantasia

Six articles and two pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia last week.

Arbitration report: Infoboxes: After the war

Editor's note: To go beyond the mere facts of cases, the "Arbitration report" invited several editors who participated in the recent Infoboxes case to comment on infoboxes: what they are, where new users can go to find out about them, specifications and protocols, best practices, and how the upcoming community discussion recommended by the Committee in the case decision should be framed.

WikiProject report: U2 Too

This week, we revisited the enthusiastic editors at WikiProject U2. Started in June 2007, the project has grown in spurts, resulting in a collection of 8 Featured Articles and 24 Good Articles. The project maintains a to do list, portal, and a list of references.

The Signpost: 09 October 2013

Traffic report: Shutdown shenanigans

If you're living in the United States, what did you do during the government shutdown? Well, it seems most people watched the final episode of Breaking Bad.

WikiProject report: Australian Roads

This week, we moved to the esoteric world of Australian roads.

Featured content: Under the sea

Seven articles, six lists, and twelve pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia last week.

News and notes: Extensive network of clandestine paid advocacy exposed

An investigation by the English Wikipedia community into suspicious edits and sockpuppet activity has led to astonishing revelations that Wiki-PR, a multi-million-dollar US-based company, has created, edited, or maintained several thousand Wikipedia articles for paying clients using a sophisticated array of concealed user accounts.

In the media: College credit for editing Wikipedia

The University of California, San Francisco attracted substantial media attention over its new course offering that will give credit to fourth year medical students for editing Wikipedia articles about medicine.

Arbitration report: Manning naming dispute and Ebionites 3 cases continue; third arbitrator resigns

A proposed decision has been posted in the Manning naming dispute. The workshop phase of the Ebionites 3 case closes 13 October. Arbitrator NuclearWarfare has resigned.

The Signpost: 16 October 2013

News and notes: Vice on Wiki-PR's paid advocacy; Featured list elections begin

Media coverage on Wiki-PR, the multi-million-dollar US-based company that has broken several policies and guidelines on the English Wikipedia in its quest to create and maintain thousands of articles for paying clients, continued this week with a feature story by Martin Robbins in the British edition of Vice magazine.

Traffic report: Peaceful potpourri

A slow week, with low overall views and the Top 10 dominated by longstanding pages. Gravity, Alfonso Cuaron's outer space-set action art film, not only held its position at the top of the US box office but climbed to the top of the Wikipedia chart as well, showing that it has become a major talking point.

WikiProject report: Heraldry and Vexillology

This week, we studied coats of arms and flags with the folks at WikiProject Heraldry and Vexillology. Started in September 2006, the project has grown to include 20 Featured Articles and nearly 50 Good Articles. The project maintains a portal, a list of resources, and a variety of images and templates.

Featured content: That's a lot of pictures

Six articles, two lists, and thirty-three pictures were promoted to 'featured' status on the English Wikipedia last week.

Arbitration report: Manning naming dispute case closes

The Manning naming dispute case has closed, with a strong and unanimous statement by the Committee against disparaging references to transgendered persons. Sanctions were enacted against six editors.

Discussion report: Ada Lovelace Day, paid advocacy on Wikipedia, sidebar update, and more

Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include...

The Signpost: 23 October 2013

News and notes: Grantmaking season—rumblings in the German-language community

The next twice-yearly round of Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) grantmaking is soon to close for community questioning and commentary. Ten nation-based Wikimedia chapters and one thematic organisation are asking for a total of more than US$5M of donors’ money from the Foundation’s renamed annual plan grant process. Aside from Wikimedia UK ($708k), the three biggest asks are from the German-speaking chapters: Wikimedia Germany is asking for $2.4M and Wikimedia Austria $311k; and the German-language-related Swiss chapter is applying for $500k.

Traffic report: Your average week ... and a fish

Media, sports and Google Doodles dominate, though a very odd fish decided to crash the party.

Featured content: Your worst nightmare as a child is now featured on Wikipedia

Twelve articles, four lists, and four pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week, including the article on cabbage.

Discussion report: More discussion of paid advocacy, upcoming arbitrator elections, research hackathon, and more

Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include...

In the media: The decline of Wikipedia; Sue Gardner releases statement on Wiki-PR; Australian minister relies on Wikipedia

MIT Technology Review published a long article on what it called "The decline of Wikipedia". Editor involvement has decreased since 2007; according to the article, this has had an adverse qualitative effect on content, particularly on issues pertinent to non-British and American male geeks.

WikiProject report: Elements of the world

This week, we headed to an elementary subject with WikiProject Elements. Founded by Mav in 2002, this project has grown to have 19 featured articles, 2 featured topics, and 68 good articles. The project also has a list of templates, and a periodic table of elements filled with pictures.

The Signpost: 30 October 2013

Traffic report: 200 miles in 200 years

The top 10 encapsulates the history of human aviation; at #1, a Google Doodle celebrating the 216th anniversary of the first parachute jump; at #10, the enduringly popular scifi film Gravity, a paean to human spaceflight. It's odd to think it's taken us 200 years to travel about that many miles up.

In the media: Rand Paul plagiarizes Wikipedia?

While giving a speech on behalf of a gubernatorial candidate, Paul advocated his pro-life position, and compared allowing unrestricted abortions to the film Gattaca. He went on to use strikingly similar language and phraseology in his speech to what the Wikipedia page reads. The Washington Post's article conceded that Wikipedia is a widely used source for trivial information, but mocked the fact that a politician would view it as a reliable source.

News and notes: Sex and drug tourism—Wikivoyage's soft underbelly?

In January we raised several potentially troublesome issues for the Wikimedia movement in taking on Wikivoyage, including the apparent inadequacy of the English Wikivoyage sex-tourism policy, hurriedly strengthened against mention of child sex after our inquiries. However, both sex-tourism and illegal-activities policies remain equivocal about how the site should treat entries about sex tourism more generally, and drugs that are classed as illicit in almost every country. Yet the Signpost has found it remarkably easy to locate material in Wikivoyage that violates both the spirit and the letter of the policies.

Featured content: Wrestling with featured content

This year's WikiCup competition has finished, while three articles, five lists, and six pictures, were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia last week.

Recent research: User influence on site policies: Wikipedia vs. Facebook vs. Youtube

Laura Stein, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, has concluded that, based on her comparison of user policy documents (including the Terms of Service) of YouTube, Facebook and Wikipedia, Wikipedia offers the highest level of participation power overall.

WikiProject report: Special: Lessons from the dead and dying

With Halloween, the Day of the Dead, and other gloomy celebrations this week, we're taking a look at Wikipedia's dead and dying. For some dead WikiProjects, the sole purpose of their life was simply to serve as a warning to others. Some of these projects may still be salvageable, but for most, a revival is unlikely. Here are some projects that never got off the ground and the lessons that can be gleaned from their follies

The Signpost: 06 November 2013

News and notes: Alleged "outing" of editor's personal information leads to Wikipedia ban

As part of the second major "outing" controversy to hit the English Wikipedia in less than a year, the Chelsea/Bradley Manning naming dispute was dragged into the spotlight yet again when the English Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee ruled by motion to remove the administrator tools from and ban long-time Wikipedia contributor Phil Sandifer.

Traffic report: Danse Macabre

It's fair to say that commemorating death was a strong theme this week, with Lou Reed's passing generating interest, as well as a Google Doodle celebrating the costume designer Edith Head. And of course, the world's greatest celebrations of the dead, Halloween and the Day of the Dead, were also popular this week.

Featured content: Five years of work leads to 63-article featured topic

HMS Hood, one of the most famous warships of the Second World War, was a battlecruiser and therefore part of what is now the largest featured topic on Wikipedia: "Battlecruisers of the world". The topic was promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia last week alongside eleven articles, three lists, four pictures, and two other topics.

WikiProject report: WikiProject Accessibility

This week, we spent some time with WikiProject Accessibility, a project that strives to make Wikipedia accessible for users with disabilities. The project improves Wikipedia's guidelines and Manual of Style, collects useful templates and scripts, and provides support to impaired Wikipedians.

Arbitration report: Ebionites 3 case closed

The Ebionites 3 case has closed with an interaction ban for the two editors involved in the dispute.

Discussion report: Sockpuppet investigations, VisualEditor, Wikidata's birthday, and more

Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include...

The Signpost: 13 November 2013

Traffic report: Google Doodlebugs bust the block

The numbers this week are beyond anything that has been seen since this report began. The top view count beats the average by an order of magnitude. Usually the appearance of numbers this big on the list is due to spamming, but in this case it seems they are due to honest interest; more specifically, Google Doodles, which for the first time claimed all five top slots. This column has raised numerous times the power of a Google Doodle to shine light on Wikipedia, but the wattage has never been as high as this.

Featured content: 1244 Chinese handscroll leads nine-strong picture contingent

Five articles, two lists, one topic, and nine pictures were promoted to 'featured' status on the English Wikipedia last week.

Special report: FDC staff raise the benchmarks for activities, impact, planning, and governance

The supporting staff of the Wikimedia Foundation’s powerful volunteer Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) have released their assessments for the third half-yearly round of funding applications. The applications for the newly named annual plan grants were submitted by affiliated entities on 1 October, and comprise a total of more than US$5M in bids.

News and notes: Trademark at issue again with the Italian Wikipedia and wikipedia.it

The Italian-language Wikipedia community has overwhelmingly voted to request the Wikimedia Foundation's assistance in recovering wikipedia.it, a website that has been frequently confused with the Italian Wikipedia.

WikiProject report: The world of soap operas

This week, we followed the intricate storylines of WikiProject Soap Operas.

Discussion report: Commas, Draft namespace proposal, education updates, and more

Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include...

The Signpost: 20 November 2013

From the editor: The Signpost needs your help

As I said in August, contributing to the Signpost can be one of the most rewarding things an editor can do. The genre is refreshingly different from that of Wikipedia articles, and can allow writers to use a different range of skills. The need for an independent, volunteer-run Signpost continues to grow, given the increasing complexity and financial expenditures of the global Wikimedia movement, not to mention the English Wikipedia.

Book review: Peter Burke's Social History of Knowledge—ambitious, fascinating, and exhaustive

Peter Burke's A Social History of Knowledge: Volume II: From the Encyclopédie to Wikipedia is a broad and wide-ranging look at how knowledge has been created, acquired, organized, disseminated, and sometimes lost in the Western world over the last two and a half centuries, a sequel to his 2000 book covering the prior three centuries, A Social History of Knowledge: From Gutenberg to Diderot.

Featured content: Rockin' the featured pictures

Four articles, five lists, and thirty-four pictures were promoted to 'featured status' this week, including an image of a small fraction of the 18,000 taxis that serve Hong Kong.

WikiProject report: Score! American football on Wikipedia

This week, we headed over to WikiProject National Football League. With 10 Featured Articles, 61 Featured Lists, and 142 Good Articles (as of publication), this WikiProject has done a lot of work improving American football articles.

News and notes: Foundation to Wiki-PR: cease and desist; Arbitration Committee elections starting

The Wikimedia Foundation has sent a formal cease and desist letter to Wiki-PR—the public relations agency accused of breaking Wikipedia policies and guidelines by creating, editing, and maintaining several thousand articles for paying clients through a sophisticated array of accounts. The Foundation's attorneys, Cooley LLP, have demanded that Wiki-PR's employees abide by the site's Terms of Use and the language of a community ban from the English Wikipedia.

Traffic report: Ill Winds

It's not hard to guess which event is leading interest in the top 25 this week. The sheer scale of Typhoon Haiyan is staggering; estimates place its maximum windspeed upon first landfall in the Philippines on November 6 at 315 km/h, which would make it the most powerful tropical cyclone ever to reach land. To date, the storm has killed nearly 4000 people and damaged or destroyed nearly 4 million homes.

Arbitration report: WMF opens the door for non-admin arbitrators

Back in March, when the March 25 Arbitration Report covered the Audit Subcommittee appointment discussion, a statement from the WMF legal division clarified its position that access to deleted revisions required an RFA or RFA-identical process; therefore AUSC committee appointments were not open to non-admins. The WMF legal team has now further clarified its position, saying that running for and winning an election for arbitrator would qualify as the type of rigorous community selection process required for the checkuser and oversight rights held by arbitrators.

The Signpost: 04 December 2013

Traffic report: Kennedy shot Who

Summary:Doctor Who nearly got cancelled in its first week because its premiere was swamped by coverage of the JFK assassination, which happened the same day. Thankfully, producers saw fit to rerun it the next day, which is now its official anniversary date.

Recent research: Reciprocity and reputation motivate contributions to Wikipedia; indigenous knowledge and "cultural imperialism"; how PR people see Wikipedia

Wikipedia works on the efforts of unpaid volunteers who choose to donate their time to advance the cause of free knowledge. This phenomenon, as trivial as it may sound to those acquainted with Wikipedia inner workings, has always puzzled economists and social scientists alike, in that standard Economic theory would not predict that such enterprises would thrive without any form of remuneration.

Discussion report: Musical scores, diversity conference, Module:Convert, and more

Recent discussions on the English Wikipedia include...

News and notes: One decade of Wikisource; FDC recommendations raise serious questions

The sister project Wikisource, the digital library that hosts free-content primary sources, is now a decade old. Wikisource, which now has versions in 63 languages, is the sixth type of project to reach ten-year milestone and will be the last until 2016. The Wikimedia Foundation's volunteer Funds Dissemination Committee has published its recommendations to the Board of Trustees on 11 new applications for annual grants by 11 WMF-affiliated organisations. The maximum total budget for the current and upcoming March rounds is US$6M.

WikiProject report: Electronic Apple Pie

This week, we returned to WikiProject Apple Inc. for a peek at their newest articles about the latest in gadgets and software. The last time we took a bite out of WikiProject Apple, they had just finished merging WikiProject Macintosh and WikiProject iPhone OS. Today, the project is hard at work rewriting their primary article, improving the subject's outline, and adding to the project's list of 25 Good Articles and 6 Featured Articles.

Featured content: F*&!

Seventeen articles, four lists, and twenty-eight pictures were promoted to "featured" status in the last two weeks.

Arbitration report: Ottoman Empire–Turkey naming dispute case opens; New discretionary sanctions draft proposal available for review

The Ottoman Empire–Turkey naming dispute case has opened. The second draft of the discretionary sanctions proposal is now open for review.

The Signpost: 11 December 2013

Traffic report: Deaths of Mandela, Walker top the list

When one edits this page for too long, one is tempted to appoint oneself as the psychoanalyst for the human race, or at least the English-speaking portion thereof. Since nearly everyone uses Wikipedia, the constant stream of TV updates, pointless celebrity scandals, and inquiries after who has died can seem like a dreary peek into humanity's surprisingly banal collective consciousness.

In the media: Edward Snowden a "hero"; German Wikipedia court ruling

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales caught headlines last week when he referred to former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden ... Loek Essers of the International Data Group, (IDG) News Service is reporting that a German court has held Wikipedia liable for its content, but still does not have to fact check the information in advance.

News and notes: Wiki Loves Monuments—winners announced

Amid great anticipation the international prize winners have just been announced for the fourth annual Wiki Loves Monuments, now the world's largest photographic competition and one of the biggest events on the Wikimedia movement's calendar. ... The first prize has gone to David Gubler's photograph of a Swiss train crossing a viaduct.

WikiProject report: WikiProject Wine

This week, the Signpost interviewed the Wine WikiProject.

Interview: Wikipedia's first Featured Article centurion

On 7 December, Wikipedia editor Wehwalt reached the momentous milestone of 100 featured articles with History of Chincoteague, Virginia. Quite apart from the reading and research, that's around three-quarters of a million words of finalised text, not counting footnotes, image captions and the rest.

Featured content: Viewer discretion advised

Three articles, one list, and eight pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia last week.

Technology report: MediaWiki 1.22 released

On 6 December, the latest version of the MediaWiki software was released. In development from March 2013 through October 2013, the release featured anti-spam and counter-vandalism improvements.

The Signpost: 18 December 2013

WikiProject report: Babel Series: Tunisia on the French Wikipedia

This week, the Signpost interviewed the Tunisia WikiProject on the French Wikipedia.

Traffic report: Hopper to the top

An animated Google Doodle for computer programmer and naval rear admiral Grace Hopper generated another record-breaking hit count for the year, though the count for the list overall was lower than for that of the previous holder.

Discussion report: Usernames, template data and documentation, Main page, and more

Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include...

News and notes: Nine new arbitrators announced

A little more than six days after the close of voting, the results of the annual Arbitration Committee (ArbCom) elections have been announced. Of the 22 candidates, 13 managed to gain more supports than opposes, though only one gained the support of more than half of the voters. Eight were elected to two-year terms, and a ninth will serve for one year.

Featured content: Triangulum, the most boring constellation in the universe

Seven articles, three lists, and eight pictures were promoted to 'featured' status on the English Wikipedia this week.

Technology report: Introducing the GLAMWikiToolset

This week, the GLAMWikiToolset, or GWToolset, is being deployed to the Wikimedia Commons. It allows for GLAM organizations to batch upload content based on various metadata stored in an XML schema. In the past this has been done by various bots, but now it will be easier for GLAMs to do it directly.

The Signpost: 25 December 2013

Recent research: Cross-language editors, election predictions, vandalism experiments

Analyzing edits to the-then 46 largest Wikipedias between July 9 and August 8, 2013, a study identified a set of about 8,000 contributors with a global user account who have edited more than one of these language versions in that time frame.

Featured content: Drunken birds and treasonous kings

Five articles, two lists, and five pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia.

Discussion report: Draft namespace, VisualEditor meetings

Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include...

WikiProject report: More Great WikiProject Logos

We saved one last special report for 2013. After our well-received review of great WikiProject logos a couple years ago, it was only a matter of time before we collected a new batch of interesting iconography that showcases the creativity of the Wikipedia community. Hopefully, these logos will also inspire other projects to liven up their drab pages.

News and notes: IEG round 2 funding rewards diverse ambitions

A significant move by the Wikimedia Foundation has been to broaden the types of activities it funds to develop several different programs for judging and allocating that funding, and to set up volunteer committees that initially assess applications for funding.

Technology report: OAuth: future of user designed tools

Last month, the OAuth extension was deployed to all Wikimedia wikis. OAuth is a standard used for allowing users to authenticate third-party applications, also known as consumers, to take actions on their behalf.

User talk:Jauerback/Archives/2013

The Signpost: 31 December 2012

Protection

The Signpost: 07 January 2013

The Signpost: 14 January 2013

Chip Kelly

The Signpost: 21 January 2013

The Signpost: 28 January 2013

Mindy McCready

Mindy McCready

The Einstein Academy (Elgin, Illinois)

The Signpost: 04 February 2013

The Signpost: 11 February 2013

Block of 212.234.218.51

just a heads up

Whodunit?

The Signpost: 18 February 2013

The Signpost: 25 February 2013

The Signpost: 04 March 2013

The Signpost: 11 March 2013

The Signpost: 18 March 2013

The Signpost: 25 March 2013

The Signpost: 01 April 2013

The Signpost: 08 April 2013

The Signpost: 15 April 2013

The Signpost: 22 April 2013

Tbagletsbeef

The Signpost: 29 April 2013

Continued BLP violations

Re 20's Plenty for Us

The Signpost: 06 May 2013

kyle long

The Signpost: 13 May 2013

XLRider

The Signpost: 27 May 2013

The Signpost: 05 June 2013

The Signpost: 12 June 2013

The Signpost: 19 June 2013

The Signpost: 26 June 2013

The Signpost: 20 May 2013

IP edit warring over shared IP template

Talkback

The Signpost: 03 July 2013

The Signpost: 10 July 2013

The Signpost: 17 July 2013

Rare Names

86.19.115.227

The Signpost: 24 July 2013

The Signpost: 31 July 2013

The Signpost: 07 August 2013

The Signpost: 14 August 2013

Talkback

The Signpost: 21 August 2013

Threat

August 2013

IP address block

The Signpost: 28 August 2013

J'Marcus_Webb

The Signpost: 04 September 2013

The Signpost: 11 September 2013

The Signpost: 18 September 2013

The Signpost: 25 September 2013

The Signpost: 02 October 2013

The Signpost: 09 October 2013

The Signpost: 16 October 2013

The Signpost: 23 October 2013

The Signpost: 30 October 2013

The Signpost: 06 November 2013

The Signpost: 13 November 2013

The Signpost: 20 November 2013

The Signpost: 04 December 2013

The Signpost: 11 December 2013

The Signpost: 18 December 2013

The Signpost: 25 December 2013