1 April activities; RIAA takedown notice; brief news
Main page continues April non-fool tradition
The tradition of "reverse" April fools' jokes on Wikipedia's main page – statements which are designed to appear made-up but are factually accurate – was continued this year. For example, the summary of the featured article of the day played on the ambiguity of the name of one of the article's protagonists, while the "Did you know" section included the US Senate's candy desk.
This did not remain without controversy, with the arguments exchanged largely resembling those from previous years' debates, as pointed out by William Beutler (User:WWB) on his "The Wikipedian" blog. He also noted (illustrated by a screenshot) that "in a nod to last fall’s controversial banner ads" a large animated headshot of Jimmy Wales was included on the main page. However, this change was reverted after half an hour.
Off the main page, various frivolous deletion requests and other non-reverse April Fools' pranks took place.
RIAA demands takedown of fair use sample from 22 year old song
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) last week served the Wikimedia Foundation with a DMCA takedown notice concerning a fair use sample (25s, 64kbps) of "Deeper Understanding", a song by Kate Bush originally released on her 1989 album The Sensual World. It appears that the RIAA may have confused the file with the sample of a new version of the song, to be released as a single for her upcoming album Director's Cut. According to a music blog, a sample from the song's new version had been published on Amazon.co.uk; at the time of writing it is still available on Soundcloud. A few days later, a full-length version of the 2011 edit was made available in some countries on Kate Bush's official YouTube channel. Still, the 2011 sample was deleted on Wikipedia citing an OTRS request. The 1989 sample has since been deleted on other grounds, as the article where it had been in use was converted into a redirect (according to the non-free content criteria, fair use media that are not in use in any article have to be deleted).
Briefly
- Wikipedian in Residence for Berlin State Museums: The Berlin State Museums (a group of fifteen collections in several museums, including some of the German capital's most widely known) and Wikimedia Germany invite applications for a six-month Wikipedian in Residence position. Based at the institution's head office, the Wikipedian will collaborate with the museums to create a "sustainable concept" for the use of Wikipedia and its sister projects within the museums, for supporting the generation of freely licensed content related to their topic areas, for collaboration between Wikipedia volunteers and museum staff in curating Wikipedia content, for the advocacy of free licenses among Berlin museums, and for supporting the museums' PR work. The German Wikimedia chapter and the State Museums will provide a monthly allowance of €1200 for the position.
1760 map of Bali, Indonesia.
A New York map dealer has donated their collection of digital images of maps via Wikimedia Commons. - Image donation from antique maps dealer: Geographicus Rare Antique Maps, a New York-based specialist dealer in fine and rare antiquarian cartography and historic maps of the 15th–19th centuries, has donated their collection of digital images of maps via Wikimedia Commons, encompassing more than 2000 old maps.
- The quarterly policy update is available at WP:Update. Community discussion on how to put together something shorter and snappier for next week's Signpost is welcome at the talk page.
Logo of the GLAM newsletter - New edition of GLAM newsletter: The third edition of This Month in GLAM, a newsletter produced to help keep track of collaboration between Wikimedia projects and galleries, libraries, archives and museums, has been published on the Wikimedia Foundation's Outreach Wiki. Among various other items covered previously in the Signpost, it reports on a continuing collaboration with the Children's Museum of Indianapolis.
Odia Wikipedia Academy at Bhubaneswar, Orissa - Wikimedia Conference revisited: On his personal blog, Liam Wyatt (User:Witty lama) wrote about "Themes from Wikimedia Conference 2011": Editor Retention, professionalisation of chapters, and the proposal to have Wikipedia listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, arguing that Wikipedia already meets at least three of UNESCO's criteria. "Whilst [there] are indeed valid concerns I would respectfully say that they are UNESCO’s problem, not Wikimedia’s! Yes, to a certain degree this is trolling UNESCO, but equally it’s also such a good idea they’d be mad to ignore it.".
- Indian language milestones: Kannada Wiktionary (kn.wiktionary.org) crossed 100,000 words recently, becoming the second Indian language Wiktionary (after Tamil) to achieve this 100K words mark. Kannada Wiktionary has been growing at a phenomenal pace in recent times with 25K words being added in the last six months. Meanwhile, Hindi Wikipedia crossed one million edits after Malayalam Wikipedia. Odia Wikipedians conducted the first Wikipedia Academy in Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India. An FAQ book on Odia Wikipedia was also released on the occasion, which was attended by over 35 participants. The New Indian Express reports that the workshop was aimed at roping in more active Wiki contributors. Divided into two sessions, the participants were first familiarised with Wikipedia, Odia Wiki and the various Wiki projects. The second session was meant to prepare them technically to be contributors.
- Wikipedian in Residence with .se: The Swedish Wikimedia chapter have published their monthly report for February 2011. Among other items, it states the chapter's result for the 2010–11 fundraiser (299,887.72 SEK from 1382 donors, corresponding to around US$47,500), and noted the start of a "Wikipedian in Residence" like collaboration with the .se, the foundation handling the top-level domain for Sweden, which will fund work to improve the Swedish Wikipedia's coverage of the topic "internet in Sweden".
- First report from Wikimedia Spain: The Spanish Wikimedia chapter have published their first report since the chapter's approval by the Foundation in February, mostly covering numerous conferences and meetups, and formal work to finalize the chapter's incorporation.
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Academic contributions; Jimmy Wales weighs in on murder trial controversy; brief news
Guardian: "Wikipedia wants more contributions from academics"
The Guardian published an article by Zoe Corbyn on the relationship between Wikipedia and academics. It featured an interview with User:Mike Peel, a postdoctoral researcher at Jodrell Bank Observatory and secretary of the Wikimedia UK chapter, as well as Dario Taraborelli (who last week was announced as the Wikimedia Foundation's "Senior Research Analyst, Strategy", having served as a contractor since December), Mark Graham from the Oxford Internet Institute, Paul Goldberg from the University of Liverpool, Suzie Sheehy from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, and Daniel Mietchen, the managing editor of Citizendium.
The story highlights the Expert participation in Wikipedia survey being conducted by Wikimedia Foundation Research Committee members Mietchen, Taraborelli and Dr Panagiota Alevizou. It was featured in a Slashdot story that has generated 384 comments as of April 4.
Jimmy Wales weighs in on Meredith Kercher article
An ongoing debate regarding the neutrality of the article Murder of Meredith Kercher came to a head recently with the intervention of Jimmy Wales, causing attention from outside the project from passionate advocates on both sides of what some believe to be a miscarriage of justice in a murder trial.
Kercher, a British university student, was killed in Perugia in Italy in 2007, and in 2009 two of her flatmates, Raffaele Sollecito and US citizen Amanda Knox, as well as a third person (Rudy Guede), were convicted of the murder. A movement of sorts has emerged who believe that Knox and Sollecito are innocent. They have been campaigning online through various blogs and other outlets and editing the Wikipedia article. On the other side, a campaign has started that argues that the convictions are sound (originating in part from the True Justice for Meredith Kercher website – also known as 'TJMK').
The controversy has gotten so heated on the talk page that the page is now semi-protected and has twenty-nine pages of archived discussion. Adding fuel to the fire is the perception that the split between the innocence and guilt advocates falls along national boundaries between the U.S. and Europe.
Joseph W Bishop, an advocate on the 'innocent' side, posted an Open Letter to Wikipedia Founder Jimbo Wales concerning the Murder of Meredith Kercher Article on the blog "Injustice in Perugia". The post alleged that the article
| “ | for the most part relies on obsolete and inaccurate British tabloid reports for its information. The omission from the article of the criticism of the numerous important experts who have stated in no uncertain terms that Knox and Sollecito did not receive a fair trial calls into question the article’s neutrality. Other flaws in the article include false statements about luminol evidence, the de-emphasis of Rudy Guede and Giuliano Mignini’s criminal acts prior to the crime, and the characterization of the support for Ms. Knox as a PR campaign. Until recently, the article contained a fabricated claim that the Rudy Guede’s apartment had been purchased for him by a wealthy Perugian family. | ” |
Wales answered this with a long comment posted on the talk page on March 24 which attempted to show how the article could be made more neutral by carefully replacing the use of the word "testified"—which has the implication of being sworn testimony as in a courtroom—with words like "claimed", "maintained" and "said".
Wales also argued that the selection and placement of sources biases the article towards Knox and Sollecito's guilt by making it seem that the comments of Timothy Egan, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, have the same weight as the comments of the businessman and Apprentice host Donald Trump. Wales' other contributions include supporting a call for a review by uninvolved editors as part of the Good Articles review process, as well as weighing in on the notability of Amanda Knox and whether she should have an article created on her. Replying to allegations of hostility "to any potential editor who has a potential skepticism regarding the guilt of the accused", Wales questioned the block of an article contributor in September 2010 for block evasion: "I just now personally ran checkuser and found nothing". In response, it was pointed out that this observation was meaningless as the Checkuser data from the time of the block would have already expired.
Advocates of Knox and Sollecito's innocence have welcomed the intervention of Wales with Candance Dempsey, author of a book on the case and a blogger on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer website, posting an article discussing Wales' intervention. Advocates of Knox and Sollecito's guilt have been less than happy with Wales' intervention. A Wikipedia editor posting on the True Justice for Meredith Kercher website said:
| “ | Wales entered the Murder of Meredith Kercher article rather like an elephant in a china shop, essentially accusing established editors who had laboured for years to try and maintain the article of having conspired to suppress and censor other points of view. | ” |
In brief
- Collaboration with cancer research charity: An article on the BBC News website covered the collaboration last Monday between Wikimedia UK and Cancer Research UK: a group of Wikimedians worked with communications and outreach people from the cancer charity to show them how to improve articles on cancer topics. One new article was created during the collaboration, The Hallmarks of Cancer, which has been nominated for a DYK. The story was also published in The Times of London (paywalled).
- Self-diagnosis using Wikipedia: MedIndia.net, The Daily Mirror and The Sun reported that Edward Green, a 26-year-old student from Worcester, UK, diagnosed himself using Wikipedia after ten doctors "fobbed him off". He found he had postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome after typing his symptoms into Google. The similar case of a Swede who recently diagnosed himself with narcolepsy caused by swine flu vaccine was mentioned last week on Sveriges Television.
- "Fixing" celebrity articles: The New York Times describes companies that offer to improve online reputation. One consultant, Bryce Tom, who offers this service claims he can "fix" Wikipedia articles:
| “ | On the walls of his office were framed copies of Google search results and Wikipedia entries of clients: a reality television star, a movie actress and a chief executive officer. Mr. Tom calls it his “wall of fame.” | ” |
- Does Wikipedia's gender gap mean the end of feminism?: In the Washington Post's Opinion section, Alexandra Petri includes the lack of female editors at Wikipedia as one data point in arguing that "feminism is over", although it was posted on April Fool's.
- Wiki principles applied to management: Steve Denning in Forbes interviews Rod Collins, author of a book called Leadership in a Wiki World, about applying the principles of wikis and the Internet to management. Wikipedia is namechecked a few times: "hierarchical bureaucracies like the Encyclopedia Britannica can’t keep pace with collaborative communities like Wikipedia".
- April 1st: Network World included Wikipedia in their listing of April Fools Day tomfoolery this year. As did Syracuse.com. (See also this week's "News and notes": "Main page continues April non-fool tradition")
- High density of geotagged entries in Montana: A posting on Floatingsheep.org (a group blog by geography researchers) compared the density of Google Maps placemarks and geotagged Wikipedia articles per capita in all 48 continental US states, using cartograms. The researchers found various differences in coverage, most notably a very high density of geotagged Wikipedia entries in Montana, and solicited possible explanations: "We suspect it has to do with someone (or perhaps some automated bots) who were/are extremely dedicated to documenting EVERYTHING in Montana". User:Mike Cline from the Wikipedia:WikiProject Montana commented: "Gratifyingly, I suspect User:Mongo and myself are the culprits here. Our lists of places in Montana (rivers, lakes, mountains, mountain ranges, cemeterys, tunnels, waterfalls, rapids, etc.) are loaded with geolocations. I suspect 1000s if all the entries were tallied up. Additionally, many of the Montana expedition related articles have geolocations associated with many points along the route of the expedition. From my point of view, Montana is setting the example in WP."
- German Wikipedia and Wikipedians visualized: Deutsche Welle published various visualizations of the German Wikipedia's development during the past decade, also including daily activity curves (click "Tagesaktivität") for the most active German Wikipedians (diagrams that are discouraged on the Wikimedia Toolserver for privacy reasons). An English-language Q&A gives some background to the graphics, e.g. the choice of spiral (polar coordinate) plots to show seasonal variation in some parameters such as the number of new articles per day. Deutsche Welle also covered the recent Wikimedia Conference in Berlin (cf. last week's "News and notes"), focusing on Wikipedia's gender gap: "Few female editors on Wikipedia, study finds".
- Self-improvement by reading Featured articles: Lifehacker Australia recommended its readers to make it a daily habit to "Read Wikipedia’s Featured Articles To Increase Your Knowledge".
- Indian minister confuses Wikipedia and Wikileaks: The Indian newspaper The Financial Express reported that Veerappa Moily, the Minister of Law and Justice in India, criticised Wikileaks. Or Wikipedia. Or both. Either way, for the record, Wikipedia categorically denies being Wikileaks.
- More lessons from WMF's strategy process: On the blog of his consulting firm "Blue Oxen", Eugene Eric Kim (User:eekim) posted a detailed description of insights gained during the Wikimedia Foundation strategic planning process which he facilitated in 2009-10 (in reply to questions from participants in a webinar titled "Strategic Planning for Networks").
- Secretly controlling the internet: Former Wikimedia Chair Florence Devouard (User:Anthere) was described as one of "10 women who secretly control the Internet" by Themarysue.com (a website describing itself as "a guide to girl geek culture"), citing her involvement in the internationalization of Wikipedia and her putting together the structure of the Wikimedia Foundation (a topic she had reflected on in a French-language interview in February).
Reader comments
Fighting the decline by restricting article creation?
The decline in new users and articles
Three issues ago, the Signpost reported on Sue Gardner's "March 2011 Update", which dedicated a significant chunk of prose to the results of the Editor Trends Study. The study showed a low retention rate for new editors; this joins a mass of other evidence as to the difficulty new users have with integration, and also the decreasing rate of account creation and new user participation. The number of new accounts has been dropping, with 7,428 created in February 2011 compared to 8,161 a year before; at the same time, more recent statistics suggest that the number of new accounts which make more than five edits is dropping, as well as the number of new accounts which make more than 100. This indicates an ongoing problem with the community's attraction and retention of new editors. Gardner's message and the results of the study were also highlighted in a recent "Message to community about community decline" by the Foundation's chair Ting Chen. A session at the recent Wikimedia and last week's IRC office hour with Sue Gardner were dedicated to the problem, too.
Article creation in general has been declining, as evidenced by a graph covering creations from 2001 to the present. One of the reasons given for both the decline in new articles and new users is the reception users receive at Special:NewPages. It is a commonly held belief within the community that the attitude there has the tendency to be WP:BITEy and to discourage new users from contributing further. Statistics gathered by Mr.Z-man from February 2010 show that almost a third of new users who edited (about 21,000 accounts at the time of the data snapshot) choose to create new pages immediately rather than edit existing ones, and only 0.6 percent of those whose articles are met with deletion stayed editing, compared to 4.4 percent of the users whose articles remained.
Restricting new article creation
In line with the Special:NewPages issues, a proposal at the Village Pump advocates preventing users from creating articles unless they have made a certain number of edits and been registered for a specific period of time. User:The Blade of the Northern Lights, who proposed the change, argues it would help by reducing the backlog for the seriously overworked new-page patrollers (saying that he, personally, had to patrol 200+ pages a day to keep the backlog under control) and, as a result, by reducing the bad experiences of new editors (less stressed editors are less likely to bite newbies). New editors would instead be directed to Articles for Creation, or would be asked to wait until they fulfil the criteria. Another rationale in support of the argument include that a large proportion of newly-created articles are inappropriate; sending the new editors through Articles for Creation would ensure that not only are they less likely to be bitten, but those contributions which are approved are of higher quality than current new articles.
Opponents of the idea make several arguments. First, they say, the backlog does not "properly" exist: of the 30-day buffer provided for new articles, the backlog currently leaves 24 days free – the wiki will not burn down if people take a few days off to reboot. Second, shifting newbies to Articles for Creation would not fix the problem, but would just move it somewhere else; AfC would quickly become overloaded, backlogged and understaffed, like Special:NewPages, resulting in the same issues with the community's reaction to new users that is already prevalent. Third, the proposal has the distinct possibility of disenchanting new users by creating an additional hoop for them to jump through, disinclining those who start by creating articles (nearly a third of new users) from contributing in the first place.
The proposal has since been made into an RfC (Request for Comment).
Article incubation and other efforts
In response to Sue's March update and the general concerns regarding the experience new editors receive at Special:NewPages, several projects have been created to tackle the problem. The article incubation trial, supported by Philippe and James at the Wikimedia Foundation's Community Department, is assessing whether user retention rates can be improved if users have their articles incubated rather than deleted, with full assistance and tutoring provided by the users who do the incubating. People interested in getting involved are invited to sign up and begin userfying potentially viable pages.
User:Snottywong and User:Kudpung have been working over the past few weeks to deal with one of the issues: users who show a less-than-pleasant attitude at Special:NewPages. With the help of a bot, Snottywong and Kudpung have produced a list that has looked at
| “ | the most recent patrols from mid-October 2010 to mid-March 2011 that were performed in the Main namespace (413,902 patrols total). It counted how many articles each user patrolled, as well as each user's edit count. It then generated this table, sorted by "Edits per patrol". The users at the top of this list are those who have both a relatively low edit count and a relatively high patrol count. It also lists the date of each user's first edit. The bot initially found a total of 3,310 unique users who have patrolled articles in this time frame, but skipped any users who have patrolled less than 40 articles. This resulted in 882 unique users. | ” |
The idea of the list is for it to be a starting point for finding editors who have a tendency to bite newbies while patrolling and nudge them towards more friendly, non-BITEy behaviour.
The list can be found here; editors are invited to use it to gently correct those who may be making mistakes or who are showing signs of burn-out. This is intended not to attack new-page patrollers, but to allow problems to be tackled quickly and for the long-term benefit of the community, the new contributors, and the editor in question.
Other Requests for Comments are ongoing as part of the Wiki Guides initiative: Allow socializing, Change CSD to userspace drafts, and Minimize talk page templates.
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Out of this world – WikiProject Solar System
- WikiProject Wikify is holding its April Wikification Drive. Join today!
- WikiProject Unreferenced BLPs could use your help referencing Unreferenced Biographies of Living Persons tagged since February 2009.
This week, we venture towards the stars and take a look at WikiProject Solar System. Started in January 2007 by Dvyjones, it has spawned two sub projects. Covering 51 Featured articles, 6 Featured lists, 97 Good articles and 4 Featured topics, the project is also home to a task force covering the scope of Jupiter.
The Signpost interviewed three of the project's members. Serendipodous joined the project in 2007 and is one of the project's assistant coordinators; active WikiProject Solar System member Kheider joined Wikipedia in 2006; and Ckatz is an admin who joined Wikipedia in 2006.
What do you like about volunteering for WikiProject Solar System?
- Serendipodous: I am not trained in science or in Solar System studies; my main real-world preoccupation is history and archiving. However, I got into Wikipedia completely by accident over a critique of Wikipedia's definition of the word "planet", which eventually evolved into its own article. I have long had an interest in planetary science, which has only intensified with the current golden age of planetary exploration. I find science articles are easier to work with on Wikipedia than historical or literary articles, first because there is less room for interpretation, and second because the most relevant and useful sources, scientific journals, are available online.
- Kheider: I have had an interest in astronomy since I was in middle school back in the 1980s. It was my interest in astronomy that encouraged me to borrow books from the school library and read for reasons beyond a teacher assigning reading material for a class. On Wikipedia, I enjoy adding to a knowledge base of astronomical subjects. I think it is wonderful to have one place on the internet where people can add and share ideas, knowledge, and references in the form of an overall overview of subject instead of using a general discussion board. Discussion boards are great, but the conversations have a tendency to jump around, making it impractical for a casual reader to follow what the final consensus may be.
- Ckatz: Many aspects of what I do on Wikipedia involve technical or administrative duties covering a wide range of articles. Astronomy topics, however, have always been a personal passion. Working on these articles is one way to keep on top of the newest discoveries and learn more about space.
How long have you been working on WikiProject Solar System?
- Serendipodous: I don't think I ever made the conscious decision to become a part of Wikiproject Solar System, it simply flowed naturally from the articles I first wrote. I have honestly only dabbled in other Wikiprojects, so I have really been focusing on this area since I joined in 2005.
- Kheider: I first start editing Wikipedia in August 2006 when Pluto was being re-classified as a dwarf planet, and quickly opened my Wikipedia account in September. I have always been fascinated by the under-rated small bodies in the Solar System that do not get as much coverage as the dominant planets. When I was young, small objects like Ceres, 4 Vesta, and 2 Pallas were never more than a half page blurb in common textbooks introducing people to the Solar System. I was not even formally part of the WikiProject Solar System in my first few years on Wikipedia, since I was more interested in the article content than I anything to do with wiki-policies and groups.
- Ckatz: I can't recall when exactly I signed on to the project. I think that at some point I realized that, given the amount of time I was spending on related topics, it just made sense to join up.
What is the most interesting article that you have seen covered by WikiProject Solar System?
- Serendipodous: I'm an instinctive historian, so my personal favorite articles are those of a historical bent: Definition of planet and Planets beyond Neptune. Those articles combine scientific knowledge with references to Shakespeare, Martian canals, and Roman poetry.
- Kheider: I found Formation and evolution of the Solar System to be very interesting. Though I did not know it at the time I was editing the article, I think this is the one that really drew me in as a long-term Wikipedia editor. I still passingly wonder if Earth will or will not be swallowed by the Sun during the Sun's red giant phase. Will Mars one day be the closest planet to the Sun? Is Mars' orbit stable enough over the next 5+ billion years to survive to that point? All we really know is that the Solar System is still evolving and trying to accrete.
- Ckatz: Any of the articles involving the formation and future of the Solar System. I've always been interested in learning about where we came from and where we are going.
WikiProject Solar System has quite a lot of Featured articles. Have you been a main contributor to any of them?
- Serendipodous: I have co-created 25 Featured articles and 2 Featured lists on Wikiproject Solar System. I'm of the opinion that there's no point in dedicating yourself to an article if you don't plan on getting it featured.
- Kheider: I have contributed to several of the featured Solar System articles. But I know I could not have done anything better than GA-article quality without a good group of editors to work with, and expand ideas. One editor can make an article good, but it takes several motivated editors to make an article great.
- Ckatz: I have contributed to many of the Featured articles, although I'd be very reluctant to take credit for them reaching FA status. The vast majority of my work with this project involves helping to maintain and copy-edit articles, as well as keeping a regular watch for vandalism. You'd be amazed at how many people seem to think it is vitally essential to add comments about a certain planet's name.
How can new members contribute to WikiProject Solar System?
- Serendipodous: I got started on the project in Wikipedia's "Wild West" period, when standards were a lot lower than they are now. I like to think our group is more inclusive than most, but, because this project has so many FAs, simply wandering in off the street is probably not the best way to get involved. The best way to get into our project is to start work on one of the pages that have not been seriously worked on yet. We're a fairly small group, so we're easy to get to know!
- Kheider: When I first started editing on Wikipedia, I did find it intimidating to follow Wikipedia protocol when editing Featured articles. My advice to anyone starting out on Wikipedia would be to always have a reliable reference (url) for their edits to Featured articles, so that established users can quickly confirm that the edit is in good faith. Another recommendation, is to work on B-class and C-class articles that still have a lot of room for improvement. Since my writing skills are not always the best, I frequently add numbers and references to articles and then allow more experienced writers to give the article a more encyclopedic feel. One simple thing that I have done is to add and edit Start-class articles on select Small Solar System bodies, to help support larger articles such as Scattered disc, List of dwarf planet candidates, Resonant trans-Neptunian object, List of notable asteroids, and List of non-periodic comets. There is always room for new editors and improvement to Wikipedia's articles.
- Ckatz: Many of the core articles, such as those on the planets, are or have been Featured articles. In addition, given that they are very popular pages, it can be difficult for a new editor to start out there given the expectations for sourcing, verifiability and maintaining the high-profile articles. I'd suggest that a novice editor interested in contributing spend time reading through an article's talk page and archives, as there is a good chance that the issue has been brought up in the past. Also, be sure to state clearly in your edit summary why you made any changes; that goes a long way to helping make sure that your contributions are properly understood. I'll also echo the excellent suggestion above about starting new articles or expanding underdeveloped ones. There is a lot more latitude to learn the ropes if you are helping to expand content at the same time as you are learning. Above all, please don't be afraid of asking for help and suggestions. We love to help!
Next week, we'll visit an island community that knows how to overcome everything Hell can throw at them. Until then, the Earth will tremble under the weight of our previous reports in the archive.
Reader comments
The best of the week
New administrators
- Feezo (nom), from California, will continue to work in new page patrol, monitor the noticeboards, and respond to permissions requests.
- Salvio giuliano (nom), studied law at the University of Pavia in Italy, specialises in articles on Italian law, and is a member of WikiProject Law. He is active in patrolling new pages, fighting vandalism, and detecting inappropriate usernames. He is a clerk for ArbCom, and has experience working at the Mediation Cabal. He is seeking to adopt new users.
Featured articles
Eight articles were promoted to featured status:
- John, King of England (nom), "a fascinating ruler at a critical moment in British mediaeval history", says nominator Hchc2009.
- 2010 PapaJohns.com Bowl (nom), a post-season college football bowl game between the Connecticut Huskies (UConn) of the Big East Conference and the South Carolina Gamecocks of the Southeastern Conference in Jannuary 2010 at Birmingham, Alabama; it ended in a 20–7 victory for Connecticut. (Grondemar)
- Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (nom), a 2010 crossover fighting game developed by Eighting and published by Capcom for the Wii video game console. (FMF)
- HMS Speedy (1782) (nom), a 14-gun Speedy-class brig of the British Royal Navy. Built during the last years of the American War of Independence, the ship served with distinction during the French Revolutionary Wars. (Kirk)
- ARA Rivadavia (nom), a battleship of the Argentine Navy. Named after the first Argentine president, the Rivadavia—launched 1911—was the lead ship of its class. (The ed17)
- Somerset Levels (nom), a sparsely populated coastal plain and wetland area of central Somerset, South West England, about 650 km2 in area). (Rodw)
- Numerical weather prediction (nom), which uses mathematical models of the atmosphere and oceans to predict the weather based on current weather conditions. Although first attempted in the 1920s, it was not until the advent of computer simulations in the 1950s that numerical weather predictions produced realistic results. (Titoxd)
- Gymnopilus maritimus (nom), a newly described species of mushroom. (J Milburn)
Featured lists
Three lists were promoted:
- List of Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves recipients (1944) (nom) (Nominated by MisterBee1966.)
- Listed buildings in Poulton-le-Fylde (nom) (Nominated by Belovedfreak.)
- Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer (nom) (Nominated by PresN.)
One featured list was delisted:
- List of Washington Metro stations (nom: outdated information, style, referencing)
Featured pictures
- Tartini Square, Piran (nom; related article), The Tartini Square is the largest and main square in the coastal town of Piran, Slovenia. It was named after the famous violinist and composer Giuseppe Tartini (born in the town), whose statue was placed here in 1896. (Created by User:MrPanyGoff.) picture at top
- Red-wattled Lapwing (nom; related article), a large plover with characteristic loud alarm calls that are variously rendered as did he do it or pity to do it. (Created by User:JJ Harrison.)
- Upper Belvedere palace in Vienna (nom; related article), one of two magnificent Baroque palaces in the capital of Austria. (Created by User:Murdockcrc.) picture at bottom
- Tickell's Blue Flycatcher (nom; related article), which breeds in tropical southern Asia from India and Sri Lanka to Indonesia. They are blue on the upper parts and the throat, with a rufous breast, and are found in dense scrub to forest habitats. (Created by User:JJ Harrison.)
- The Sally Lightfoot crab (nom; related article), or red rock crab, Grapsus grapsus, is found along the western coast of South America. (Created by Lieutenant Elizabeth Crapo, US National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration.)
- God defend New Zealand manuscript (nom; related article), the original 1876 manuscript of the national anthem of New Zealand, by John Joseph Woods. (Created by User:Sonia, edited by User:SMasters.)
- Himalayan Bluetail (nom; related article), a short-distance migrant species, breeding in mixed coniferous forest with undergrowth at 3,000–4,400 m in the Himalaya and southwestern China, and wintering at 1,500–2,500 m. The males have a the more vivid blue colour. The species is insectivorous. (Created by User:JJ Harrison.)
- Chestnut-headed Bee-eater (nom; related article), like other bee-eaters, is a richly coloured, slender bird. It is predominantly green, with blue on the rump and lower belly. Its face and throat are yellow with a black eye stripe, and the crown and nape are rich chestnut. The thin curved bill is black. The sexes are alike, but young birds are duller. Adults tend to be 18–20 cm long. (Created by User:JJ Harrison.)
Featured sounds
- Gustav Holst's The Planets (nom) – five of the seven movements of an orchestral suite written by the English composer Gustav Holst from 1914 to 1916. The Suite is widely considered to be Holst's most popular piece, in which each movement is named after a planet of the Solar System. These arrangements for military band (without strings), were arranged by Patterson and are performed by the US Air Force Band:
- Cantillation (nom; related article), a ritual chanting of readings from the Hebrew Bible in a synagogue service. This one is a Hebrew Torah blessing chanted before the reading of the Torah during a Reform Bar Mitzvah, performed by Cantor Seth Warner.
- Four marches (nom) performed by the US Air Force Band:
- Washington grays – Claudio S. Grafulla's American Civil War march (related article).
- The gladiator march – John Philip Sousa's first hit (related article).
- Sweeney's cavalcade – by William Paris Chambers.
- Front section march – by Edwin Eugene Bagley.
- Four Christmas carols (nom) performed by the US Army Band:
- Here we come a-wassailing – a 19th-century English (related article).
- O Tannenbaum – an 1824 German carol, written and arranged by Ernst Anschütz, based on an old folk melody (related article).
- Hark! The herald angels sing – English, with contributions from Charles Wesley, George Whitfield, Felix Mendelssohn, William H. Cummings (related article).
- Coventry Carol 16th-century English (related article).
- Two Christmas carols (nom) performed by the US Army Band:
- Lo How a Rose – "Lo, how a rose e'er blooming", an 1894 English translation of the 16th-century German carol "Es ist ein Ros entsprungen".
- Gesù bambino – a 1917 Italian carol by Pietro Yon, in an English translation by Frederick H. Martens (related article).
- O Canada (nom; related article), the Canadian national anthem, originally commissioned by Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, Théodore Robitaille in 1880, and written by Calixa Lavallée as a setting of a French Canadian patriotic poem composed by Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier.
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AUSC appointments, new case, proposed decision for Coanda case, and motion regarding CU/OS
The Arbitration Committee opened one new case during the week. Four cases are currently open.
Open cases
Noleander (Week 1)
This case was opened after allegations of misrepresentation of sources, as well as tendentious and antisemitic editing. 106 kilobytes was submitted as on-wiki evidence.
Henri Coanda (Coanda) (Week 2)
During the week, another 8 kilobytes was submitted as on-wiki evidence. Earlier today, drafters Newyorkbrad and Jclemens posted a proposed decision for arbitrators to vote on. The primary proposal being considered is a ruling concerning a single editor.
Arbitration Enforcement sanction handling (AE sanction handling) (Week 4)
During the week, another 16 kilobytes was submitted as on-wiki evidence while proposals and comments were submitted in the workshop by arbitrators and others.
Rodhullandemu (Week 5)
See earlier Signpost coverage; the Committee determined that the subject will remain blocked until further notice.
Motion
During the week, the Committee passed a motion regarding the minimum activity levels expected of CheckUser and Oversight permission holders. Functionaries are also subject to expectations regarding planned prolonged periods of inactivity on the English Wikipedia. Additionally, when the Committee or the Audit Subcommittee contact such functionaries by email about their use of their permissions, those functionaries are expected to reply within seven days. Failure to comply with these expectations may lead to removal of the permissions. Prior to removal of access, two attempts will be made to contact the functionary using the email address they provided to the Committee. Parts or all of this motion do not apply to certain functionaries (such as Wikimedia Foundation Staff).
Other
AUSC appointments
During the week, the Committee appointed three non arbitrators as members of the Wikipedia:Audit Subcommittee (AUSC) (cf. Signpost coverage). The successful candidates of the appointment process were:
- Bahamut0013 (talk · contribs) - the first non-administrator on the English Wikipedia who has been given CheckUser and Oversight permissions for this role
- Courcelles (talk · contribs) - an administrator who has been given CheckUser and Oversight permissions for this role
- Keegan (talk · contribs) - an Oversighter, elected by the Community in 2009, who has been given CheckUser permissions for this role.
Another editor, AGK (talk · contribs), was appointed as an alternate member. Should one of the above three appointed members resign during their term, then AGK will be given CheckUser and Oversight permissions for this role.
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Bugs, Repairs, and Internal Operational News
March Engineering Report published
The Foundation's Engineering Report for March was published last week on the Wikimedia Techblog, giving a brief overview of all Foundation-sponsored technical operations in the last month. Most of the major developments (Brion Vibber's reappointment, for example), have been covered in previous editions of The Signpost. However, the report also gave details on a number of other projects not covered. For example, it highlighted the publication of a product whitepaper by the strategic product team (and the associated update from Sue Gardner) that will guide future engineering efforts, and the release this week, as expected, of version 1.0 of the new UploadWizard (see previous Signpost coverage).
Also in the report was the first target completion date of the new Virginia data centre (May 2011), and an update on Ryan Lane's efforts to create a virtualisation cluster, now expected sometime this month (see also an update on his blog). Russ Nelson's work on improving the media storage architecture is likewise progressing well; the necessity of this work had been highlighted by recent image thumbnailing failures (see this week's In brief). Work was also done to allow official surveys to pull data about users automatically, in order to shorten the amount of time required to complete them. The Foundation added that a beta release of version 1.17 of the MediaWiki software to external sites is expected "in early April", and a second deployment of the PoolCounter extension, first released last month (as covered by The Signpost) but quickly withdrawn after performance fears. A new project, the integration of a new caching system, known as EHcache, in order to decrease the number of requests that have to be handled directly, was also announced; in a less serious (but perhaps as important) development, the report noted that Ryan Kaldari had written a script to allow users to exchange gifts (including "virtual kittens") and other niceties more easily.
Readers interested in keeping up-to-date with specific projects may also be interested to note that the Foundation is trying harder to allow users to find this information and keep it up-to-date, for the benefit of staff, volunteer developers and users. This includes simplifying and improving the current system of Wikimedia blogs and creating a new page on the wikitech wiki to track recent and upcoming software changes, besides the server admin log.
Wikimedia's Google Summer of Code open for business
This year's MediaWiki Google Summer of Code (GSoC) scheme was announced this week on the Wikimedia Techblog. The blogpost, which served as a call for students and mentors for this year's programme, which is worth up to 5000 USD for budding students.
| “ | Over time, MediaWiki has benefited from GSoC students and their projects. For example, Samuel Lampa’s 2010 RDF import/export extension in Semantic MediaWiki is in use. And Jeroen De Dauw, GSoC student in 2009 and 2010, is now a persistently contributing member of the MediaWiki community, as is Brian Wolff, 2010 GSoC student...
This year’s ideas include writing and implementing cite templates in a PHP extension, improving the ImageTagging extension, XML dump work, pre-commit checks in our code repositories, and more. And of course we want to hear your own ideas, too! Interested? University, community college, and graduate students around the world are eligible to apply to Google Summer of Code. You don’t need to be a computer science or IT major, and you can work from home, [but you do need to] already know PHP. It’s also great if you have some experience with LAMP, MAMP, LAPP, or one of those kinds of stacks, and with the Subversion version control system. If you’d like to participate, check out the timeline. Make sure you are available full-time from 23 May till 22 August this summer, and have a little free time from 25 April till 23 May for ramp-up. |
” |
The post has already attracted a number of proposals in the wikitech-l mailing list and elsewhere.
In brief
Not all fixes may have gone live to WMF sites at the time of writing; some may not be scheduled to go live for many weeks.
- The Foundation's image thumbnailing infrastructure has taken a battering over the last seven days, as the problems of scaling up the process to handle thousands of requests a day manifested themselves in slowness and frequent crashes. Fortunately, little of the damage was visible to users. Although there are few short-term fixes available to the operations team beyond redistributing the load among more servers, a long-term solution is in the pipeline (Wikimedia Techblog).
- Administrators will now have to confirm that they actually intended to block themselves (revision #85025).
- The release of version 2.0 of the article feedback tool was described on the Wikimedia Techblog. This month's report hinted that it could evolve into a more general review tool.
- The Foundation's copy of the Bugzilla bug report and feature request tracking software has been updated to version 4.0 (wikitech-l mailing list).
- In response to a discussion about having centralised JavaScript and CSS files, User:Krinkle posted a link to his Tour de Wiki, an initiative to fix JavaScript errors on smaller wikis that requires the attention of those proficient in the programming language (wikitech-l mailing list).
- In a separate announcement from that quoted above, developer Mark Hershberger noted that PostgresSQL support was no longer considered vital for MediaWiki 1.17 and would instead be added in 1.17.1. This improves the chances of a quick release candidate for 1.17 (wikitech-l mailing list).
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