The amorous android and the horsebreeder; WikiCup round two concludes

• 
  The Indus Valley, from near Leh, India

Seven featured articles were promoted this week.

• Castell Coch (nominated by Dr. Blofeld, Hchc2009, and KJP1) The "quaint" Castell Coch was one of eight such defensive fortifications built by the Normans in order to protect Cardiff, the present-day capital of Wales, but is of special importance—according to co-nominator Dr. Blofeld, it is "beloved" by many Welsh and has a significant place in their culture and heritage. Rebuilt in stone between 1267 and 1277, the castle was reduced to ruins some time in the 14th century, probably during a Welsh rebellion in 1314, and it remained in this state for over 500 years. The Third Marquess of Bute had inherited Castell Coch in 1848, along with enough land and dosh to make him "one of the wealthiest men in the world", and he employed William Burges to rebuild the castle for use as a summer home. Work began on the exterior in 1875, although the start was delayed by Bute's unfounded fear of going bankrupt. By 1879 the exterior of the castle was finished. Two years later Burges was dead, but his team carried on to create a sumptuous and intoxicating High Victorian interior.
• Enthiran (nominated by Ssven2 and Kailash29792) Enthiran is an Indian Tamil science fiction film. A scientist constructs a robot, and upgrades the robot's software to give it human emotions. The robot falls in love with the scientist's girlfriend after she kisses it. Rejected, it deliberately fails an evaluation by the Indian army; its creator is so angry that he chops the robot up and dumps it in a landfill. A rival scientist discovers the damaged robot, which has managed to re-assemble itself; he inserts a "red chip" which turns it into a homicidal maniac ... And that's as much of the plot as we're giving here.
• Bazy Tankersley (nominated by Montanabw) An American horsebreeder, Ruth "Bazy" Tankersley started breeding Arabians in 1941 when she was 20. Over a 72-year career she bred more than 2,800 registered Arabians. Tankersley was also intensely interested in politics; her views gradually moved from conservative Republican to progressive, and she became a "strong supporter of environmental causes."
• Romance (Luis Miguel album) (nominated by Erick) This "peculiar" album was solely responsible for the popularity spike of bolero—a genre that features slow-tempo Latin music—in the 1990s. The success of Romance led Luis Miguel to release three more bolero albums.
• Unas (nominated by Iry-Hor) Unas was the last of nine pharaohs in the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt. His reign, recorded in later writings as lasting 30 years, was marked by a decline in the economy and a continued growth and decentralisation of the Egyptian administration. Iry-Hor tells us that Unas is "best known to us as the earliest king to have the Pyramid Texts inscribed on the walls of his pyramid, one of the oldest religious texts still in existence." (It's also the first appearance of a particularly morbid section of the Texts, the " Cannibal Hymn ".) This must have worked; 2,000 years after his death Unas was apparently still being worshiped in the Saqqara necropolis as a local god. Another 2,500 years later and you're reading about him.
• Telopea oreades (nominated by Cas Liber and Melburnian) Native to small parts of the forests of southeastern Australia, Telopea oreades is a shrub that can grow up to 65 feet (20 m) tall. Casliber helped write the article after planning to grow it in his garden. It's commonly known as the Gippsland Waratah, and has an enlarged base, partly buried, which acts as a reservoir of energy and nutrients, allowing the shrub to rapidly regrow after bushfires.
• Falcon's Fury (nominated by Dom497) On its fourth nomination, Falcon's Fury—a 335 feet (102 m) drop tower at Busch Gardens Tampa—is now a featured article. Riders are strapped into a gondola, which is then pulled up to the top. Once there the gondola rotates so that its occupants are facing straight down. After a random period of time varying between one and five seconds, the gondola is released and drops for five seconds, reaching a speed of up to 60 miles per hour (97 km/h). And then a big magnet slows and stops it, subjecting the riders to quite a G force!

Three featured lists were promoted this week.

• List of women's international cricket hat-tricks (nominated by Harrias) Three wickets taken in three consecutive balls makes a hat-trick in cricket. It's pretty rare, and has only occurred fifteen times in women's international cricket. The first hat trick was in 1958 by Betty Wilson, bowling for Australia against England. There's been one this year, Sana Mir bowling for Pakistan against Sri Lanka.

• Premio Lo Nuestro 2014 (nominated by Javier Espinoza) Los "Premios Lo Nuestro" se dan por la cadena estadounidense Univision para la mejor música latina lanzado en el año anterior. El mayor ganador de la noche fue Marc Anthony, quien ganó en las categorías de Álbum Tropical (3.0), Canción Tropical ("Live My Life"), Salsa Artista y Colaboración del Año ("Why Do You Lie?" con Tito El Bambino), así como el Premio a la Excelencia. Prince Royce ganó tres premios, Artista Tropical Masculino, Actuación Tradicional y Artista del Año. También: ¿Dónde está la biblioteca?

• List of scheduled monuments in West Somerset (nominated by Rodw) A long list of nationally important archaeological sites and monuments in West Somerset. Most are barrows, cairns and the stumps of churchyard crosses, but there's a couple of World War II pillboxes as well. And a mound which might be a "possible round barrow".

Ten featured pictures were promoted this week.

• The Entombment (created by Titian, nominated by Crisco 1492) The Entombment by Titian is a painting commissioned around 1559 by Philip II of Spain. It depicts the body of Christ being held by the Pharisee Nicodemus, who had brought myrrh and aloes to embalm the body.

• Yitang Zhang (created by Aynsley Floyd for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, nominated by Crisco 1492) It's said that for every equation in the text the readership halves. Yitang Zhang is a "Chinese-born American mathematician working in the area of number theory." We'd quote a couple of his equations to see if the saying holds, but he rubbed them off the blackboard too fast. Anyway he's proved that there are an infinite number of pairs of prime numbers that differ by 70 million or less. Zhang was awarded a 2014 MacArthur prize for that proof.

• Salting Madonna (created by Antonello da Messina, nominated by Hafspajen) The Salting Madonna by Antonello da Messina is a depiction of the Madonna holding the Christ Child. Above her head two angels hold a suspended crown, anointing her as the Queen of Heaven. Jesus holds a pomegranate, symbolising the Passion. Messina painted it while he was in Sicily; he's regarded as having been influenced by Provençal artists in his portrayal of Mary in its abstract beauty.

• Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen (created by Dirck Jacobsz, nominated by Crisco 1492) Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen was an Amsterdam artist at a time when Mokum Alef was but a mere market town. He's regarded as the last of the Netherlandish artists to not be influenced by the Italians, so this weird picture is all double Dutch.

• Ramaria gracilis (created by Holger Krisp, nominated by Josh Milburn) Ramaria gracilis, this coral fungus is found in European coniferous woodland, where it grows on leaf litter. Its fruit bodies (basidiocarps) are made up of a dense cluster of branches.

• Indus River near Leh (created by KennyOMG, nominated by Crisco 1492) The Indus is seen here as it flows through Ladakh; the broad valley is photographed from an elevated point near Leh. Although the river powers the agriculture and industry of Pakistan, in its higher reaches in Ladakh the emphasis today is on tourism, especially trekking. Overall, tourism now produces up to half of the Ladakh region's income.

• Greenlandic krone (created by Kingdom of Denmark for use in Greenland. From the National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, nominated by Godot13) In 1873, Denmark and Sweden formed a currency union, with the basic unit called the krone or (Swedish) krona. This note was issued in Denmark in 1874 for use in the Danish colony of Greenland- it bears the value of 50 øre, which is one-half of a krone.

• The Plum (created by Édouard Manet, nominated by Crisco 1492)

I have seen

the Manet painting

that was in

the National Gallery

and which

you were probably

saving

for your next trip to DC

Forgive me

it was so beautiful

so pink

and so new

(with apologies to William Carlos Williams)

• Agfa Optima 1a (created by Uwe Aranas, nominated by Crisco 1492) The Agfa Optima 1a was introduced in 1962 by Agfa and is a development of the original Optima camera, which was one of the first 35mm cameras with automatic exposure control. A selenium cell exposure meter next to the viewfinder controls the shutter speed and aperture. Focusing is by rotating the front lens cell to one of three positions, close-up, groups and landscape.

• After the Bath, Woman drying herself (created by Edgar Degas, nominated by Crisco 1492) The work is part of a series of drawings, preliminary sketches and completed works in pastels and oils by Degas from this period that depict women bathing.

The second round of the WikiCup has all wrapped up, and round three has now started; 34 competitors remain. Leading the way overall was Cas Liber (submissions) in Group B with a total of 777 points for a variety of contributions including Good Articles on Corona Borealis and Microscopium - both of which received the maximum bonus. There was a number of high importance articles improved during the second round including the work by Coemgenus (submissions) on the 18th President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant. His work there is a prime example of how collaborative working can be included in the WikiCup - he wasn't the only person working on the article but individually it was considered to be significant enough for him to earn the points. Cwmhiraeth (submissions), WikiCup champion in 2013 and 2014 maxxed out the bonus points by taking Dragonfly to Good Article. Another significant GA which was promoted during round two was Alexander Hamilton by LeftAire (submissions); Hamilton was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a level 4 vital article.

The points varied across groups, with the lowest score required to gain automatic qualification was 68 in Group A - meanwhile the second place score in Group H was 404, which was high enough to win all but one of the other Groups! As well as the top two of each group automatically going through to the third round, a minimum score of 55 was required for a wildcard competitor to go through. We had a three-way tie at 55 points and so all three have qualified for the next round, in the spirit of fairness. On June 28, the top two in each group will progress automatically to the fourth round while the remaining 16 highest scorers across all four groups go through as wildcards.

Of course this is not a complete list of content produced by any one contestant; consider this a sample of their overall work.

• 
  Telopea oreades, a large shrub or small tree in the family Proteaceae and one of two FAs promoted by Cas Liber - the first placed competitor in this round.
• 
  Second-place Coemgenus not only worked up Ulysses S. Grant in the second round, but he's already submitted another President, James A. Garfield, as a FA for the third!
• 
  The Yarn Market, Dunster was one of third-place Rodw's 10 GAs.
• 
  Fourth-place Harrias worked up two cricket related FLs during the second round; List of tied Twenty20 Internationals and List of women's international cricket hat-tricks.
• 
  As well as taking Dragonfly to GA, fifth-place Cwmhiraeth took Damselfly there as well for a 2x bonus.
• 
  Former judge J Milburn in sixth-place took an episode of Inside No. 9, "Sardines" starring Reece Shearsmith, to FA.
• 
  Freikorp came in seventh position, based on points earned from a number of pop-culture related articles, including the film Tank Girl starring Lori Petty.
• 
  Messier 81, one of four FPs promoted at the hands of eighth-placed The Herald.
• 
  Last year's champion, Godot13, worked on eight FPs during round 2, including this image of the 1804 dollar.
• 
  The article on the 2014 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final between the Philadelphia Union and the Seattle Sounders FC was improved to FA by tenth-place Cptnono.

2015-05-06

Guggenheim image donation; Wiki campaign gets advertising award

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By Gamaliel

Guggenheim Museum donates 100 images, hosts editathon

artnet and The Next Web report (May 6) that the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is releasing a hundred images of works in its collection under Creative Commons licences in conjunction with a May 19 editathon. The donation includes works by Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Klee. Pharos, president of Wikimedia New York City and a speaker at the editathon, told the Signpost that the works should all be available in the Wikimedia Commons category commons:Category:Media contributed by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in time for the event. The images will be of works already in the public domain, but they will be higher resolution images than have been previously available, and will include both two-dimensional and three-dimensional works.

Wikipedia stunt earns advertising award

Advertising Age reports (May 4) that a campaign involving Wikipedia was honored at the 94th annual awards of the Art Directors Club, presented last week in Miami Beach. The campaign was created by the Costa Rican branch of Leo Burnett Worldwide for Fundación Paniamor, a Costa Rican non-profit organization dedicated to children's advocacy, for the 2014 presidential election last May. In October 2014, they edited the articles of the major candidates on the Spanish Wikipedia, including the eventual winner Luis Guillermo Solís, to insert a largely blank section asking what the candidates would do to address childhood protection issues. The edits were immediately reverted and the articles protected, but the campaign drew attention to the edits with the hashtag #IncompleteBios. The campaign received attention in the Spanish-language media and claims credit for the candidates all adopting childhood protection policies in their platforms.

In brief

• Talkin' Wikipedia Editing Blues: Newsday reports (May 5) on a new "Wiki folk musical" by TV writer and producer Larry Mollin about Paul Clayton, the folk singer who mentored Bob Dylan. Search: Paul Clayton, the Man Who Loved Bob Dylan runs from May 6 to May 21 at Stage 72. Mollin told Newsday "I thought it would be fun to structure a play based on the structure of a Wikipedia page." The article did not describe what specific structure was adopted from Wikipedia or report whether or not the audience would be able to edit the performance if they were unsatisfied with it.
• Editors of the world, unite: The Diamondback reports (May 4) on the International Workers' Day editathon at the University of Maryland's Hornbake Library.
• "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in": Former Gambino crime family mobster John Alite alleged (May 3) to the New York Post that he is the target of a "cyber-hit" by John A. Gotti. The alleged campaign includes Twitter accounts, YouTube videos, and vandalism of Alite's Wikipedia article.
• The grammar hero Wikipedia needs: The media fascination with Giraffedata and his quest to rid Wikipedia of the phrase "comprised of" has not dissipated. On the May 1 episode of the CBS Evening News, Steve Hartman interviewed Giraffedata for the On the Road segment and appeared to have difficulty keeping a straight face while doing so.

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

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2015-05-06

FDC candidates respond to key issues

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By Tony1

Elections have begun for five community members of the Funds Dissemination Committee, the Foundation's volunteer body for judging and recommending millions of dollars worth of annual grants to affiliates in the movement. This is the first year in which Wikimedians will elect the full quota of five members, who will serve until the next election in mid-2017. The election lasts just eight days, from Sunday 3 May until 23:59 UTC on Sunday 10 May, so at the time of publication, voters will need to act promptly. All Wikimedians who satisfy the requirements may vote. Voters can update their selections by simply going through the process again before the deadline.

Eleven candidates are competing for the five positions: Snezhana ("Zana") Shtrkovska (native speaker of Macedonian, from Macedonia); Tanweer Morshed (Bengali, Bangladesh); Shawn Chen (English, US); Itzik Edri (Hebrew, Israel); Mike Peel (English, UK); Pete Ekman (English, US); Felix Nartey (English, Ghana); Liam Wyatt (English, Australia); Ad Huikeshoven (Dutch, the Netherlands); Lorenzo Losa (Italian, Italy); and Michał Buczyński (Polish, Poland). The Signpost put 10 propositions to each candidate for their response; the results are set out below.

Candidates' basic details and election statements are displayed on Meta. Links to translations in many languages are trumpeted at the top of the election pages, showing yet again that relying on pro bono translation ends up almost nowhere: non-English-speakers beware. A table of further information on the candidates, including total edits on their home-site and on all WMF sites, appears on the talkpage of the German Wikipedia's news outlet, Der Kurier.

A ternary voting system is used, imported last year from the English Wikipedia's ArbCom elections. This gives voters three options for each candidate—support, neutral, or oppose—in which avoiding "neutral" votes strengthens the positions of those whom a voter supports, on simple arithmetic grounds. The formula S/(S+O) will determine the successful candidates, who must then be endorsed by the WMF Board.

Elections for the FDC ombudsperson—who receives, documents, and makes recommendations to the WMF Board on complaints concerning the FDC process—are being held concurrently. There are two candidates, Kirill Lokshin (English, US) and Mykola Kozlenko (Ukrainian, Ukraine/Paris).

Background to the FDC election

In March 2012 the WMF Board passed a resolution setting up a staff-supported volunteer body to allocate annual funding to eligible affiliates. In two rounds each year (October and March), the Funds Dissemination Committee has since pored over, analysed, and met in San Francisco to discuss dozens of lengthy applications detailing track-records and spending proposals, and made recommendations to the Board that have thus far always been accepted. The FDC receives an annual budget for each pair of rounds, which the Board has held at 2013–14 levels of US$6 million until at least the end of the 2015–16 year (Board minutes and p. 7, WMF Annual Plan).

The FDC's "framework" provides a year-by-year system of four Board-appointed members in even-numbered years and five community-elected members in odd-numbered years (after elections in 2013 and 2014 for two and four members, respectively).

Candidates' numerical responses

The Signpost put to the candidates a set of 10 propositions related to the FDC, asking them to respond on a 1–5 numerical scale, with brief comments. The table below sets out their responses, with counts of "net positive" responses (1s and 2s), "net negatives" (4s and 5s), and neutrals (3s).^[A]

The 1–5 Likert scale was:

• 1 = strongly agree
• 2 = agree
• 3 = neutral
• 4 = disagree
• 5 = strongly disagree

Proposition	Mike	Liam	Shawn	Ad	Tanweer	Zana	Pete	Lorenzo	Michał	Itzik	Felix Nartey	Av (StDev)
Appoint external tech experts	2	3	2	3	2	2	3	5	1	4	4	2.8 (1.2)
Make Wikidata separately eligible	5	5	2	3	1	3	3	4	3	3	4	3.3 (1.2)
Direct unspent funds to planned new endowment	3	4	1	5	3	2	2	1	2	4	2	2.6 (1.3)
Current FDC budget is sufficient	4	2	3	3	1	2	3	2	3	3	3	2.6 (0.8)
Don't align FDC judgment more closely with tech needs	4	4	3	3	2	3	3	3	5	1	3	3.1 (1.0)
Method of FDC appt/election should continue	2	2	2	3	1	2	2	3	2	1	2	2.0 (0.6)
Retain "guardrails"	5	4	4	3	3	2	3	2	4	4	1	3.4 (1.1)
Align FDC judgment more closely with edu. outreach	3	3	2	3	2	2	2	3	3	2	3	2.5 (0.5)
Advisory committee no longer needed	4	2	4	3	4	4	2	1	3	3	1	2.8 (1.2)
Prioritise global south	2	2	2	2	1	3	1	3	4	2	2	2.2 (0.9)

Interpretation and candidates' comments

For each proposition, we give the number of positive responses (1s and 2s), the number of negative responses (4s and 5s), and the number of neutrals/no responses (3s).^[B]

(a) "The WMF should be appointing external technological expertise to the FDC to enhance its ability to judge major technical grants, such as projects related to Wikidata." [5 positive; 3 negative; 3 neutral]

Michał strongly agrees, and Lorenzo strongly disagrees. Some candidates point out that a reasonable alternative is for the FDC to consult the opinions of subject-matter experts where the Committee itself lacks the necessary expertise. Ad finds the proposition tangential: he would prefer a fully elected FDC.

(b) "Wikidata should be spun off from Wikimedia Germany into an independent FDC-eligible organisation to address the need to increase the development of Wikidata, and remove it from competing with demands on the German chapter’s budget." [2 positive; 4 negative; 5 neutral]

The Wikidata proposition is probably the most provocative, and unsurprisingly the least favoured. Mike and Liam strongly disagree with it, as does Ad in principle ("the FDC doesn't have a say in such a question. Wikidata is a geat success, [the German chapter] does a great job"). For Michał, an "independent, international entity working on Wikidata would be plausible", but he feels that its budget can be quite transparent even within the German chapter, and Wikidata should be kept semi-independent from the WMF. Lorenzo comments: "It may make sense, from the FDC point of view, to separate the evaluation of Wikidata from the rest of Wikimedia Germany, but I would not advise to create a new entity just to support Wikidata." For Liam, "this idea would not make Wikidata any more efficient than being a department of WM-De, as this would require much of the organisational infrastructure of the chapter be duplicated. Tanweer strongly supports the proposition: "The Wikidata project, though developed by Wikimedia Deutschland, has now come into such a position that it needs to be developed by the wider community and so its authority for control and supervision should be transferred to an eligible entity."

(c) "The unspent funds from each annual FDC budget should go into the planned new WMF endowment." [5 positive; 3 negative; 2 neutral]

Currently, unspent funds at the end of each year go to the WMF's reserves, but the recent plans to create an endowment raise the question of whether unspent funds should be put into longer-term safekeeping or spent by the WMF in the shorter term. The proposition is controversial, with strong agreement by Shawn and Lorenzo, and strong disagreement by Ad, for whom "there shouldn't be an endowment. ... Unspent FDC money should roll forward to the next FDC round." Liam agrees that an endowment should be created, but does not think it should "compete" against FDC allocations. Michał suggests directing unspent funds to a "quasi-endowment".

(d) "The current FDC budget is sufficient for the movement’s needs, given the competing needs of the editorial communities." [4 positive; 1 negative; 6 neutral]

Ad strongly believes more funds are needed to support existing and new affiliates, but objected to the notion that affiliates compete against the needs of editorial communities. Michał thinks an increase will be required when Wikidata expands, and that should software development by affiliates increase, more funding would be required. Tanweer strongly supports the proposition. More than half of the candidates are neutral on this matter, as for the next proposition.

(e) "The FDC’s judgment should not be more closely aligned with the movement’s technological needs." [2 positive; 3 negative; 6 neutral] (note polarity reversal)

Michał strongly agrees with closer tech alignment, linking to his previously expressed opinion. For Shawn, the FDC "should ultimately be aligned with the guidance provided by the Foundation and its community of what would benefit the movement's mission". Lorenzo has no major concerns about the alignment between the FDC recommendations and the movement's technological needs. Itzik strongly agrees that tech needs should not be aligned more closely with FDC decisions.

(f) "The method of appointing/electing FDC members has served us well and should be continued beyond the Board’s arrangements." [9 positive; 0 negative; 2 neutral]

This is the most strongly supported proposition of all. Lorenzo does think "the current ratio is sound (but there might be a problem of continuity: none of the members ending their term now is seeking reelection", but nevertheless responded "neutral", as did Ad, who would strongly prefer a higher ratio of elected members.

(g) "The “guardrails” (limits of +/– 20% in funding changes from year to year) should be retained." [2 positive; 6 negative; 3 neutral]

The guardrails are controversial, and this is among the two least popular statements, with Mike strongly against. Shawn writes that the guardrails "create a bias towards limiting the potential of an applicant within those means. I believe we can graduate from the transitory phase and allow more opportunities for our grantees." Michał believes they should be increasingly flexible and merit-based. This is similar to Liam's view: "much more context needs to be taken into account for each applicant than merely applying a formula like this".

(h) "The FDC’s judgment should be more closely aligned with the movement’s broader educational outreach." [5 positive; 1 negative; 5 neutral]

There is weak support.

(i) "The FDC has matured sufficiently that a separate advisory committee is no longer needed." [3 positive; 5 negative; 3 neutral]

This is the other least-popular statement. Lorenzo strongly agrees, and Michał wants the advisory committee to be more pro-active in providing expertise on tech, community, and financial matters.

(j) "Where possible, the FDC should prioritise global south funding." [8 positive; 1 negative; 2 neutral]

Given that a huge majority of voters are from the global north, this is a politically intricate issue for candidates. Pete and Tanweer are strongly supportive. Ad believes that "all global south programs already well funded". There were several nuanced opinions: Michał: "Prioritize on efficacy, effectiveness, SWOT [strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats]". Liam: "Yes, but only in as much as this is the strategic goal of Wikimedia more generally." Lorenzo is keen to value diversity, "which is a bit different (and a bit more general) than global south. And, above all, it should prioritize impact ... although [the global south is] important, it's an issue that goes well beyond funding, and I don't want to convey the impression that funding is the solution."

Pete Ekman provides only a summary statement, which is oriented towards the big picture of the FDC's evolving role:

“

The questions contain many good ideas, but I haven't seen them discussed as part of an overall package of what the FDC should do. We do need such a discussion to thrash out what the FDC should and shouldn't do. One thing is certain – the FDC cannot remain an organization that almost exclusively funds Annual Program Grants for European chapters. Frank discussion is sorely needed.

”

Voters can ask questions of candidates here. Voting (and re-voting) is open until the end of Sunday UTC.

______________________

Footnotes:

1. ^ We suggested to several candidates who felt unable to give a single numerical response to a whole proposition that they use "3". The strongest responses (1 and 5) are bolded in the table. Averages and standard deviations are provided for each proposition; the higher the standard deviation (Stdev), the more widely spread the candidates' responses. The order of propositions was deliberately scrambled thematically, and one was reversed in polarity ("not") to catch the unwary (no one appears to have been caught).
2. ^ Of the 110 (10 × 11) individual responses, 46 are in positive territory, 27 in negative territory, and 37 neutral/no response; 19 of the 100 responses were strongly felt (1s and 5s). Issues concerning the status of Wikidata, the FDC's budget, and the bearing of tech and educational priorities on FDC decisions are associated with high proportions of neutrals, whether through political caution or unwillingness to enter a single response to a complex question. On the other side, neutrals are minimal when it comes to what to do with unspent funds, whether the current system of appointments and elections should continue, and whether funding the global south should be a priority.

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2015-05-06

The grim ship reality

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By Serendipodous

Summary: Like colliding ocean liners, rousing entertainment and harsh reality merged ungainly in this week's top 10 list. The much heralded pay-per-view pummeling of Manny Pacquiao by Floyd Mayweather, Jr. dominated the list's top slots, giving this list one of its highest total view counts in months. Box office behemoth Avengers: Age of Ultron, which had ruled last week's list, was sent to number 4, despite the fact that its views had actually increased. However, just below, the death of Freddie Gray and the horrific earthquake in Nepal forced viewers' attentions back to the vagaries of human experience.

For the full top-25 list, see WP:TOP25. See this section for an explanation of any exclusions. For a list of the most edited articles of the week, see here.

As prepared by Serendipodous, for the week of April 26 to May 2, 2015, the 10 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the most viewed pages, were:

Rank	Article	Class	Views	Image	Notes
1	Floyd Mayweather, Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao		2,631,206		Wikipedians love their combat sports, but this is the first time such an event has topped the list since it began in January 2013. This long-anticipated boxing match between Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (pictured) and Manny Pacquiao, and the latest fight to be dubbed the Fight of the Century (a somewhat presumptuous title, given that our century is currently 15 years old), was held on May 2 in Las Vegas. To say this fight has been highly anticipated is an understatement: this article was created in July 2013, and plans to get these two in the ring together date as far back as 2010. For all that hype, pay-per-view revenues are estimated to be as high as $400 million, fulfilling record-breaking predictions.
2	Manny Pacquiao		2,578,817		The current Filipino Congressman and boxing's only octuple champion suffered a fairly noble defeat to Floyd Mayweather, Jr. during the "fight of the century" on May 2.
3	Floyd Mayweather, Jr.		2,507,300		The quintuple champion upheld his undefeated record with his 48th straight win on May 2.
4	Avengers: Age of Ultron		2,407,812		The latest instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe premiered in Hollywood on April 13, and went on wide release on May 1. In any other year, the sequel to the billion-grossing Avengers would be the film to beat at the box office, but with the success of Furious 7, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens ahead, no one is taking bets on who will come out on top. The movie's $188 million opening weekend failed to live up to its predecessor's $207 million, but when the numbers are this big, you're splitting hairs.
5	Death of Freddie Gray		2,093,596		America has seen a spate of young black men killed under suspicious circumstances by police in the last 12 months, and in the confusion and politicised debate, viewers turned to Wikipedia for clarity. The death of Eric Garner and the shooting of Michael Brown topped this list for a combined three weeks running, and in a more typical week, this latest death would top the list as well. The decision of state's attorney Marilyn Mosby to charge the police who killed Freddie Gray with homicide has meant that the city of Baltimore has been spared the worst excesses of the riots visited upon Ferguson, Missouri.
6	Bruce Jenner		1,219,166		The former track and field Olympian and current honorary Kardashian remains the news this week, and views for his article have dropped just 25%. Jenner previously appeared on the Top 25 for two weeks in February, but his article would not include what the tabloids were reporting until Jenner said it himself, which he did in an April 24 interview on American television with Diane Saywer – that he is a trans woman. His gender transition will be the subject of an eight-part documentary series starting July 2015.
7	Nepal		1,192,053		Before today, this Himalayan country sandwiched between India and China was probably best known as the home (with Tibet) of Mount Everest, and also of the Sherpa people, who guided the first Westerners to its summit. A onetime spot on the Hippie trail and home for disaffected westerners looking for an alternative way of life, it has seen tragedy, upheaval and civil war in recent years, but horror reached a climax this week with the hideous 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck its central region, including its capital, Kathmandu.
8	2015 Nepal earthquake		908,375		The grinding push of India into Asia that is slowly raising the Himalayas has meant that the Nepali people are no strangers to geological tragedy; even so, the horror they woke up to on 25 April was the worst they would have known in more than eighty years. A combination of size (7.8), depth (a relatively shallow 15 km) and duration (twenty seconds) made the quake particularly devastating; generating a death toll of 7,500, with hundreds still missing. Entire villages near the epicentre were wiped out. Temples that had stood for centuries were flattened. But perhaps the greatest tragedy is that the poor state of transport infrastructure in the country has meant that many of the more remote villages have still received no aid.
9	Vision (Marvel Comics)		825,378		The sentient AI and foil for the villainous Ultron became the breakout star of The Avengers: Age of Ultron and allowed actor Paul Bettany (pictured) to finally step out of the voice-only shadows of his J.A.R.V.I.S. character into full acting.
10	Furious 7		660,138		After burning through the global box office like a brush fire for its first three weeks, this latest installment in the Fast and Furious franchise is apparently winding down, taking only $6 million in its latest weekend; however such was the overwhelming gravitational pull of Avengers: Age of Ultron that Furious 7's meagre gross still placed it at no. 2 in the charts.

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