Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2015-12-16/From the editors
A feast of Spam
By now, I hope most of our viewers understand that this list is not a perfect reflection of raw data. Wikipedia is subject to spamming, botnets and even legitimate calibration checks that riddle the list with non-human views. Ever since this list began, we've had to use our own judgement and what evidence we had to determine which cases are real and which are not, and in the past, such decisions could be agonizing. Since the inclusion of mobile views, however, what used to be a torturous experience has become fairly routine. No more checking viewing patterns; no more furious data mining of Google hits; no more frantic attempts to wrangle Reddit's lousy search engine. Just check the mobile percentage, and if it's too low or too high, drop it. But this week, it seems the Internet has decided it wants to screw with us in a number of ways. Not only was this one of the most spammed lists ever, with 17 removals, but our #1, Donald Trump, was tenth on the raw list. Even more frustratingly, several articles, while suspicious, were just within our criteria for inclusion, leading to a return to the familiar spasms of self-doubt.
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 December 6 to 12, 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 Donald Trump 
914,072 
The Donald has not graced this list with his august orangutannedness since September, but if there's one thing we've learned about him in the last few months, it's that he will find his way back into the spotlight no matter what. And "What?" indeed, for this week his comments crossed so many lines that scandalized media pundits have actually dusted off that hoary descriptor "fascist" in response, just to see if it fits. And whether it does or not, it says something about Trump's campaign that numerous mainstream news articles have devoted themselves to delicately parsing this onetime hate buzzword of the left to gauge its appropriateness for use in a 21st century election. None of this, it must be said, has hurt Donald in the polls, which now show him neck and neck with every one of his competitors combined. 2 Star Wars: The Force Awakens 
795,288 
The final build-up has begun. The much anticipated film rolls out in parts of Europe on December 16, the U.K. on December 17, and North America on December 18. 3 Frank Sinatra 
727,017 
"Old Blue Eyes"'s 100th birthday was celebrated around the world on December 12, which shows just how broadly his appeal cut across generations, despite him also being very much of his time- with his crystalline voice, impeccable dress sense and icy persona, he presented the perfect embodiment of the era of James Bond and Mad Men. 4 Star Wars
693,512 See #2 5 Krampus 
638,373 
As Yuletide falls in the German-speaking regions of the Alps, children are told not only of jolly Saint Nick with his sack of toys; they are also told of Krampus, whose sack is empty, waiting to be filled with naughty children who will then be carried to his lair. He isn't the only "anti-Santa" out there; the Dutch have Zwarte Piet, and the Haitians have Tonton Macoute, but Krampus's demonic appearance caught the eye of America last year, where he became a leering antidote to the oversaturation of manufactured Christmas cheer, and this year, it seems he's back, no doubt aided by a popular movie, which has so far nearly doubled its $15 million budget at the box office. 6 Attack on Pearl Harbor
627,670 
Numbers have nearly doubled since FDR's "day that will live in infamy" appeared on last year's anniversary, probably aided by this year being the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. 7 Dolly Parton
601,836 
The beloved country music singer's TV biopic, Coat of Many Colors, was seen by 12.8 million viewers when it aired on the US network NBC on December 10. 8 Deaths in 2015 
601,665 
The viewing figures for this article have been remarkably constant; fluctuating week to week between 475 and 575 thousand on average, apparently heedless of who actually died. 9 Scott Weiland
599,321 
The former lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots was found dead on his tour bus in Minnesota on December 3, likely the result of a drug overdose. Weiland was an unabashed rock star-type who came out of a 1990s grunge-era that was very ambivalent about 70s rock glamour. Sadly, Weiland's long history of drug use made his death not terribly shocking to many. 10 Jessica Jones
571,640 
After a second 50% drop in two weeks, it seems Marvel Studios' latest Netflix offering is emulating its predecessor, Daredevil, in rapidly tumbling from the top of this list to relegation. This is likely due to Netflix's releasing the entire series in one go, which allows fans to binge-watch it in mere hours, leading to a burst of feverish discussion followed by a rapid decline in interest.
_Open_Air_St._Gallen_(rotated).jpg)
Wales in China; #Edit2015
Wales' comments on censorship in China edited for public consumption
Jimmy Wales was one of the attendees at the second annual World Internet Conference in Wuzhen. Given the state of Internet censorship in China, a number of groups called for boycotting the conference, including Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders. Charlie Smith of GreatFire, an organization devoted to monitoring and opposing Chinese Internet censorship, told The Hill that conference attendees "should be ashamed of themselves". (In September, Smith published an interview with Wales.) Representatives from Western technology companies such as Microsoft, Apple, Nokia, Netflix, and LinkedIn were in attendance, but heads of state from the West were absent, and reporters from the New York Times were banned. Of the heads of state or government leaders in attendance – Dmitry Medvedev (Russia), Nawaz Sharif and Mamnoon Hussain (Pakistan), Karim Massimov (Kazakhstan), Temir Sariyev (Kyrgyzstan), Kokhir Rasulzoda (Tajikistan), Rustam Azimov (Uzbekistan), and Siaosi Sovaleni (Tonga) – a number were from countries which practice internet censorship themselves.
The Wall Street Journal reported that some of Wales' comments on a December 17 conference panel were altered in a Chinese-language transcript posted online. Wales, an outspoken proponent of free speech and opponent of Chinese censorship of Wikipedia and the Internet, said,
| “ | We will see, not perfect, but very much improved machine translation, which will very much enhance person-to-person communication worldwide. This will be a very powerful thing. I believe as a result of this, the idea that any one government can control the flow of information of what people know in their territory will become completely antiquated and no longer possible. | ” |
In the Chinese translation, his comments were altered to make it appear he was in favor of Chinese government censorship:
| “ | Probably we will see improved machine translation, which will very much enhance person-to-person communication. And also the government could conduct good analysis on people’s communication in various relevant areas.[itm 1] | ” |
Gizmodo quipped "Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is familiar with people putting made-up bullshit online." G
Wikimedia Foundation releases year in review video
On December 15, the Wikimedia Foundation released its year in review video, #Edit2015, created by Victor Grigas. A blog post announcing the video said "#Edit2015 celebrates the individuals all over the world who’ve invested thousands, if not millions, of hours in curating Wikimedia sites." The video included highlights of world news and cultural events and how Wikipedia and Wikimedia project recorded and responded to those events. Engadget wrote "Wikipedia continues to chronicle human history in real time". Vice reflected that "Maybe that's part of the point of the Wikipedia Foundation's #Edit2015 montage: History is always feeding back through the present. It is always subject to edit." G
In brief
- Flights of fancy: The Malay Mail Online, Free Malaysia Today and other Malaysian news outlets report on a press statement by 1MDB requesting that members of the public ignore "fake information circulating on social media regarding the setup and operations of a so-called 1MDB Airlines Berhad. It's from a fake Wikipedia entry. We confirm that there is no such company owned or operated by 1MDB." The article 1MDB Airlines was deleted shortly after the news story appeared; it had been nominated for deletion on December 14. The deletion log shows that there were two prior instances of the article, deleted on November 30 and December 4. (Dec. 18) AK
- Trailblazers: A blog post by consultant Anne Loehr, "5 Women Blaze a Trail Toward the Future of Work", included Rhiannon Ruff (16912 Rhiannon), co-founder of the consultancy firm Beutler Ink. Loehr wrote that Ruff "has written about content biases and the gendered patterns of editing on Wikipedia, as well as the issues involved in encouraging more women to participate in such a male-dominated space." Ruff co-wrote a recent Signpost op-ed on paid editing. (Dec. 18) G
- Sunshine: The New York Observer looks back on this summer's Sunshine Sachs Wikipedia editing controversy (see previous Signpost coverage), wondering "How could they do it?" (Dec. 17) AK
- GLAMorous librarians: The ACRLog, the blog of the Association of College and Research Libraries, discusses why librarians should partner with GLAM and Wikipedia. (Dec. 15) G
- Too much information: Liberty Ballers, the blog dedicated to the Philadelphia 76ers on SB Nation, offers a lengthy discussion, with multiple charts, of the "Outrageously Overwritten Wikipedia Page" of NBA player Nik Stauskas. They write that "This is frankly a ridiculous level of detail for a 22-year-old's Wikipedia page, particularly one who played two notable seasons in college and is now in his second year of pro basketball, playing limited minutes for bad teams." Among the data presented is that the article, at 5,568 words, is longer than that of Yuri Gagarin and John Stuart Mill, but shorter than that of John the Baptist and Taylor Swift. (Dec. 15) G
- Summa cum laude: Times Higher Education reviews "a ranking of the world's most influential universities, based on an analysis of the number of times that higher education institutions are mentioned on Wikipedia". UK universities topped the list, with the universities of Cambridge and Oxford taking first and second place respectively, ahead of Harvard, Columbia and Princeton. (Dec. 15) AK
- High school success: Sports media are reporting on a tweet from basketball player Justise Winslow about donating money to Wikipedia: "Might have to do it. Wouldn't have gotten thru high school without it." (Dec. 14) G
- Rights and wrongs of Wikipedia: In The Times, Giles Coren humorously listed a number of people he would ban from the UK, including London resident Jimmy Wales. Coren wrote "With the invention of Wrongopedia [sic] this man made people think it was okay not to be educated, because now anyone can pretend to know anything just by getting it off a website. Then, by ensuring that everything on it was wrong, he basically killed knowledge itself, which is quite a feat. Like something Lex Luthor would try to do." In a letter to the editor, John Julius Norwich responded "As a writer of history I resort to [Wikipedia] at least a dozen times a day. I could never have written my last two books without it, and I have never caught it out yet, which is more than I can say of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Its range is astonishing: it is almost impossible to find a person, place or subject that it has left uncovered." (Dec. 12–13) G
References
- ^ 互联网文化与传播论坛：互联网时代文化传承与创新 (in Chinese). 17 December 2015. Event occurs at 147:00. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
我觉得非常难说，很难预测，因为大家都提到了很多很好的观点，可能想到的就是我们会看到能够有更好的这种机器的翻译，这样会更好的提高人员之间的这种交流的效率。还有就是政府能够在各自的领域当中对人们互相之间的沟通进行很好的分析。
Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2015-12-16/Technology report Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2015-12-16/Essay Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2015-12-16/Opinion Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2015-12-16/News and notes Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2015-12-16/Serendipity Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2015-12-16/Op-ed
Drone photography: New possibilities and new challenges
When Marco Leiter, a man from a little town in southwest Germany, bought his new photography drone after a visit to a model airplane fair with his family, he instantly knew he had found a very cool new hobby. The Leiters live in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, a wine-growing region full of hills topped by medieval castles intertwined by rivers with ancient towns on their banks.
Operating a drone requires a permit – sometimes
"I learned that you actually don't need a permission when you're flying a small drone like this in my state, but once you're using it to take pictures of things that you want to publish online, you sort of enter a grey area, and I didn't want that", he explains. Also, getting permission to let the drone fly from within the premises of a monument is a lot easier with an official document. When a professional photographer from his region threatened to report his first tryouts to the police, Marco decided to do things the proper way. He went and applied for an official permit from the competent authority – situated at the regional airport close to his home town.
A summer holiday with a lucky shot
When he went on a summer holiday to the North Sea with his family a few days later, of course Marco took his new drone with him. In the small town of Westerdeichstrich, he documented an old windmill from above. Just by accident, he stumbled across the lighthouse of Westerheversand and took another picture. Back at home, Marco came across the banner for the 2015 Wiki Loves Monuments photography competition. He decided to create an account and upload a handful of his best shots.
An "unusal perspective" convinces the jury
One of them, the lighthouse, won the national contest in Germany. The jury highlighted the "unusual perspective" of the image which allows the viewer to look at the famous lighthouse at "lens-level" with the lantern on top of the tower. The image was then entered into the global competition – and won. "First place, I can't believe it, that's overwhelming.", Marco says.
Rules and costs
As it turns out, photography drones are generally looked at with a certain suspicion – maybe because of the stories regarding their jet-powered military counterparts, maybe just because people don't like the idea of having a moving camera pointed at them from above. "My permit lays out all sorts of rules: I can't fly my drone over people, animals or roads and not above a height of 100 meters. All this can be difficult when you're trying to take a photo of a castle on a mountaintop standing on a river bank in a valley filled with little towns and a railroad track", Marco says.
In addition, Rhineland-Palatinate state law requires drone operators to notify the local authorities 48 hours before the ascent of their unmanned aerial vehicle. In addition to the drone, prices for which start at around €1000, the permit and required insurance cost an additional €200 per year. Marco has asked Wikimedia Germany to help cover some of the costs so he can continue to make more aerial photos for Wikimedia Commons.
From a legal perspective, things look different from above
With regulations regarding air traffic out of the way, there are other areas of the law that drone photographers have to mind. Copyright law prohibits photos of new buildings because in Germany, freedom of panorama only applies when the photographer is actually standing on a public road and holding the camera in their hand and not maneuvering it through the air with a little radio-controlled helicopter. Special permits are required near airports and in nature reserves.
Also, privacy can be a matter. From above, it can be easy yet illegal to take a peek at people's private spaces such as back yards or rooftops. Finally, drone photographers could even come up against contract and property law: For example, when you operate your drone within a private park where photography isn't allowed in general, let alone using flying equipment. Therefore, it is wise to get the landowner's consent before getting to work. "Once, the owner of a castle asked for a small fee and I paid by making a stack of postcards using my photos for the castle's gift shop. Others are just very happy when you share your photos with them", Marco remembers.
New possibilities and challenges for Commons photographers
With these issues out of the way, drone photography offers great possibilities for Commons photographers. Aerial views allow readers to better understand the location and setting of a monument or a place described in an article. And, you can add a whole new dimension with aerial video, to give readers the whole picture. But as always, preparation is everything. "Make sure you get a proper permit if you need one in your area.", Marco advises, and adds a piece of photographer's wisdom, "Always make sure the sun is behind your back!".
The author is a German Wikipedian. A German-language interview with Marco also appeared on the Wikimedia Germany blog. A learning pattern on drone photography has been published on Meta.
GMO case decided
For this week's Arbitration Report we have the case on GMOs closed with a different case being accepted by the Committee.
Kevin Gorman case
On 11 December, the Arbitration Committee accepted the case on Kevin Gorman. The case was submitted by administrator and former Arbitrator Worm That Turned, who called to have fellow administrator and candidate in this year's Arbcom elections, Kevin Gorman, be de-sysopped. Worm That Turned has claimed that Kevin Gorman abused the revision deletion tool that admins have, using the tool to delete discussions to evade scrutiny during the election. WTT also pointed out how Kevin Gorman unblocked an entire group of checkuser-block accounts without consulting the blocking checkuser or any checkuser at all. Vanjagenije, another named party in the case, made a statement saying he was the one who advised Kevin Gorman to unblock the accounts but later realized it was a mistake and apologized.
Kevin Gorman responded by denying wrongdoing in some of WTT's claims, while saying other claims are too stale to have a case. He also points out how everyone makes mistakes, using an example of how WTT accused Gorman of using his health issues to avoid a ban on Wikipedia. The Committee members themselves thought this was a case worth looking into as it was opened in a 10–0 decision. The case is currently in its Evidence phase.
GMO case closed
But as one case begins, another has ended. On 12 December, the case involving Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) articles has been closed. Among the Committee's findings was that users Jytdog, DrChrissy, and Wuerzele were all involved with edit warring. Individually, Jytdog was also found to have "belittled other editors and has engaged in non-civil conduct", SageRad had cast aspersions, added unsourced content, and articulated a clear POV in regards to the locus of the case, and Wuerzele displayed a battleground mentality and engaged in incivility. Jytdog and DrChrissy were found to "have been engaged in an oft personalized dispute", with DrChrissy also found to have violated existing restrictions, having been "topic banned from alternative medicine, broadly construed. To be clear, this includes alternative medicine for humans and animals, so Veterinary acupuncture does fall under the scope of this ban. Animal biology, behavior, health, and normal veterinary medicine does not fall under the scope of this ban so long as it does not intersect with alternative medicine. DrChrissy is also topic banned from human health and medicine, and WP:MEDRS related discussions, broadly construed."
Remedies of the case include discretionary sanctions covering pages relating to GMOs, agricultural biotechnology, and agricultural chemicals, as well as editors being prohibited to revert pages related to the topic more than once per day. DrChrissy, Jytdog, SageRad, and Wuerzele were all topic banned, with DrChrissy and Jytdog having an interaction ban placed between the two. Jytdog also received an admonishment for their poor civility.
- Current open cases
- Catflap08 and Hijiri88: Currently in its Proposed Decision phase.
- Arbitration enforcement 2: Currently in its Proposed Decision phase.
- In brief
- Kharkiv07 appointed as a trainee clerk: On 13 December, the Arbitration Committee approved Kharkiv07 as a new trainee ArbCom clerk. This is the second trainee clerk approved by the Committee this month.
Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2015-12-16/Humour