Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Single/2010-03-08
Financial statements, discussions, milestones
WMF financial statements
The Wikimedia Foundation Mid-Year Financial Statements (covering the period 1 July through 31 December 2009) are now posted to the WMF website. An FAQ replying to questions has also been posted.
According to Veronique Kessler, posting on Foundation-l:
The upshot is: The Wikimedia Foundation's financial situation continues to be strong; we have met our overall revenue goal for the year and projections say that we will exceed plan by about 50%. Expenses were underspent at the beginning of the year but are catching up and we project expenses to be close to the original plan, maybe a little higher.
Discussion on administrator recall
A Request for comments on the implementation of Community de-adminship is currently ongoing.
Flagged revisions update
A heated discussion was held recently about the status of flagged revisions on the mailing list Foundation-l.
Following the discussion, Jimmy Wales started a poll in his userspace about "whether we should ask the Foundation to simply turn on flagged revs in the form that the Germans use it."
DYK featured fake BLP
For six hours on 2 March, the "Did You Know" section on the main page presented a fake biography manufactured as a breaching experiment by one of the writers of the "On Wikipedia" blog, as part of their examinations of BLP issues. (Last month, the Signpost reported on their survey among the subjects of 26 randomly selected BLPs.) Jimbo Wales commented: Fascinating and sad. I'm really proud of some aspects of the saga, and obviously not at all happy with others.
BLPRFC Phase II closed
Phase II of a Request for Comment on Biographies of Living Persons (BLPs) was closed this week. The Wordsmith originally closed the RfC, but his closure was reverted by Coffee, as he felt that The Wordsmith was too involved to close the RfC. Father Goose nominally re-closed the RfC, affirming The Wordsmith's earlier closure.
The close found a consensus that a PROD-like system be created to deal with unreferenced BLPs. The Wordsmith also found consensus that mass deletions of the sort that precipitated the RfC (see archived story) were discouraged, as well as any automated deletion of old unreferenced BLPs or speedy deletion of new ones. Finally, he suggested that the details of the PROD-like process be finally crafted within two weeks of the closure; that a message be sent to all active WikiProjects urging them to participate in cleanup; and that a taskforce be created to organize efforts of clearing the backlog. The Sticky Prod Workshop was created to hammer out the final details of the BLP PROD process.
Briefly
- Registration is now open for the MediaWiki Developers' Workshop in Berlin on 14–16 April; registration is open until 21 March, but is limited to 50 people.
- The Strategy Project's Living People task force held an IRC meeting on 8 March (log), discussing a draft for its Recommendations to the Board of Trustees.
- A recording of User:Steven Walling's talk at Ignite Portland 2010 has been uploaded to YouTube: Why Wikipedians are the Weirdest People on the Internet
- Jimmy Wales has started to answer user-submitted questions at the "Ask me anything" site Formspring.me, many of them about Wikipedia.
- The Polish Wikimedia Conference will be held on 27–28 March.
Milestones
In the past month:
- The English Wiktionary has reached 1,600,000 entries.
- The Egyptian Arabic (Masry) Wikipedia has reached 5,000 articles.
- The Serbian Wikinews have reached 30,000 news articles.
- The Waray-Waray Wikipedia has reached 15,000 articles with Dako nga Tagapagpabunggo hin Hadron.
- The Hungarian Wikinews has reached 500 articles.
- The French Wikiquote has reached 2,000 articles with Wajdi Mouawad.
- The Russian Wikipedia has reached 500,000 articles with Ys.
- The Ossetian Wikipedia has reached 5,000 articles.
- The Malayalam Wiktionary has reached 40,000 entries.
- The Romanian Wikinews has reached 500 articles.
- The Czech Wikipedia has reached 5000000 edits.
- The Portuguese Wiktionary has reached 140,000 articles.
- The Azeri Wikipedia has reached 30,000 articles.
- The Irish Wikipedia has reached 10,000 articles with Ivan Bunin.
- The Czech Wikipedia has reached 150,000 articles.
- The Malayalam Wiktionary has reached 35,000 entries.
- Wiktionary has reached 40,000,000 edits.
- The Portuguese Wiktionary has reached 130,000 articles.
- The Catalan Wikipedia has reached 5,000 files.
This week in history
- 2005: Fundraiser ends early, having exceeded goal with $100,000 donated
- 2006: 1 Millionth article reached on English Wikipedia, with Jordanhill railway station
- 2007: Essjay resigns after New Yorker correction controversy
- 2008: Marsden-Wales media flap
- 2009: Commons reaches 4,000,000 files
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Pentagon shooter used Wikipedia, soon iPhone OS will too
Pentagon shooter used Wikipedia
The Wikipedia user page of John Patrick Bedell, the perpetrator in the March 4th Pentagon shooting, appeared on The Today Show on March 6th, 2010 as part of a story explaining his motives. In his user profile, as well as on other Internet sites including YouTube, User:JPatrickBedell expressed his interest in conspiracy theories and his violent thoughts.[1] [2] User:WWB took a closer look at the account's contributions on his "The Wikipedian" blog, concluding that Bedell "was an occasional but occasionally very active editor", who "was familiar with Wikipedia conventions, probably as a consequence of being thwarted in his efforts by other editors." At one point he complained on Jimbo Wales' talk page about the impending deletion of an article he had written.
His user page was deleted (The Today Show linked to a copy on a Wikipedia mirror) and his account was "Blocked as a precautionary measure, per standard procedure" by User:Fran Rogers on March 5th. The justification on the user page links to the Wikipedia article about the shooting.
Last June, the New York Times reported on the Wikipedia account of the suspect in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting, see previous Signpost story.
Built-in iPod search option
According to this independent article, a Wikipedia search option will be included in the upcoming iPhone OS releases for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. No official announcement has been made yet regarding this feature.
Transcendental turmoil perplexes psychologist
In a blog post about transcendental meditation on his web site Psych Central, psychologist John Grohol described his attempt to learn more about the subject and his dissatisfaction with the relevant Wikipedia article. He specifically argued that the research section was sloppily written and biased against transcendental meditation. He also pointed out the turmoil on the article's talk page, though he did not make note of the ongoing ArbCom case about the subject.
E-marketer discusses value of external links on Wikipedia
In an interview (MP3) about the use of free e-books as a marketing tool, Ron Hogan, director of e-marketing strategy at the U.S. publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, mentioned the usefulness of external links on Wikipedia for marketing purposes. Discussing a book of his own, a version of the Tao Te Ching in English (combined from existing translations of the Chinese original) that generated 100,000 downloads as a Creative Commons licensed e-book and was later made into a print edition, Hogan said:
- When I was first putting it up, I went around to all the websites that I could find that had information about Taoism and I basically offered them the link as something they might want to add to their blogroll. I was lucky in that a number of sites that collated translations added me to their sites. One of the biggest developments was when I edited the link into the Wikipedia page for the "Tao Te Ching" as part of the resources available there--so people were discovering it through Wikipedia.
(The link was first added to the article in August 2005. It was removed in December 2009. At one point the article had contained links to over 27 free online English translations.)
Notes:Reader comments
WikiProject Java
WikiProject News
Go to the WikiProject Desk to submit your project's news and announcements for next week's issue of WikiProject Report |
WikiProject Java is a new project started in September 2009 to focus on improving articles related to the Java programming language. In just a few months, the project has grown to include over 1,400 articles, 12 active members, a Java portal, and a "Java Cafe" for discussing the project's newest initiatives. However, with only one Good Article (Aspect weaver) and a backlog of unassessed articles, the project still has plenty of room to grow and many jobs for new members to assume. We interviewed one of the project's founding members, Alainr345, to learn what it takes to create a new WikiProject.
What motivated you to start WikiProject Java? How does the new project benefit the related WikiProject Computing and WikiProject Programming languages?
- At the time, we felt there could be up to 1000 articles on Java technology on Wikipedia, which might be more than all other programming languages articles combined. That deserved attention in the form of a new WikiProject dedicated to Java programming. Our subject was mostly similar to C++, and there was already a C++ WikiProject. And there were more Java articles than the .NET WikiProject, which had less than 100 articles. We felt it would have the value of 'uncluttering' WikiProject Programming languages and they could concentrate on all the other languages out there. We felt WikiProject Java should be a descendant project of WikiProject Computing, that was logical, and therefore they would also be able to concentrate on all the other diverse computing topics on Wikipedia.
What were the greatest challenges of starting a new WikiProject?
- As a fairly new Wikipedia editor, I personally felt it could be a good way to learn Wikipedia inside out. On the other hand, it was quite a challenge as I could not find a standardized way of starting a WikiProject. That presented both an advantage and a drawback. The advantage is that you feel less restrained in your edits than with articles. The drawback is that you spend way more time starting it than should be... I think WikiProject WikiProject (or whatever it's called) should be beefed up quite a bit before it becomes a significant 'contributor' to starting a WikiProject, at least that's my opinion. Starting a Portal is much easier than starting a WikiProject, I'll tell you that!
What are your short-term and long-term goals for the project?
- The short-term goals are two-fold I would say: recruit more members obviously AND finish the basic tagging of Java-related material in all corners of Wikimedia. The long-term goals will be established over time by members, but right now, I would say that improving the overall quality rating of Java articles is probably prime.
With over 1,400 articles tagged as part of WikiProject Java during the past five months, someone has been very busy. How did you motivate editors to tag so many articles in such a short time?
- Well thank you, but that's still a very basic tagging shall we say, and in that respect AWB and Xenobot come in handy (don't reveal that secret...). I think we 'lost' one editor (from exhaustion?) doing it!
How can new editors help the project? What are the project's most pressing tasks?
- There is that issue of correcting most of the problems flagged in the so-called 'Cleanup listing' (WolterBot). Also we are sifting slowly through a list of 'Existing, possibly Java-related, but uncategorized articles'. On a related level, I would like to add that, inasmuch as Wikimedia has some great tools, the search capabilities (at least to my knowledge) are really primitive and/or unstable. That's a very big hurdle that makes one lose a lot of time. Sometimes Googling through Wikipedia gives more precise results than doing searches inside Wikipedia, which is ironic...
Writing articles about a programming language can occasionally become fairly technical. How can someone without extensive experience in Java help with the project?
- Yes, that would be a very valuable asset (having non-Java editors), as Java editors can sometimes be carried away by their enthusiasm and become too technical about it. We could have the layman's point of view so to speak. Good idea, are you a candidate? Seriously, while writing a Java article is fairly involved, some of the WikiProject activities per se do not demand a high level of technical knowledge.
If you'd like to join WikiProject Java, just add your name to their member list and take a look at either the assessment page or the to do list to get started. For other projects in need of help, check out our new "WikiProject News" feature in the sidebar to the right of the interview above. Feel free to comment on the new feature or suggest news for the next issue at our WikiProject Desk. In the meantime, get your shamrocks ready because we'll be celebrating a regional holiday celebrated around the world in the next issue of the Report. Also, the archive is always open.
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Approved this week
Administrators
No editors were granted admin status via the Requests for Adminship process this week. X! was promoted to bureaucrat.
Featured pages
Nineteen articles were promoted to featured status this week: No. 1 Wing RAAF (nom), The Kinks (nom), USS Congress (1799) (nom), Nothing to My Name (nom), Nick Adenhart (nom), Flag of Japan (nom), 21st Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (nom), American Beauty (film) (nom), Pilot (Parks and Recreation) (nom), Bronwyn Bancroft (nom), Mary Rose (nom), Mindomys (nom), Banksia sessilis (nom), Babakotia (nom), Galerina marginata (nom), 2009 Giro d'Italia (nom), Battle of Osan (nom), Manitoba (nom) and Delichon (nom).
Ten lists were promoted to featured status this week: List of North Carolina Tar Heels men's head basketball coaches (nom), List of United States Military Academy alumni (Confederate States Army) (nom), List of Iowa State Cyclones head football coaches (nom), List of non-ecclesiastical and non-residential works by John Douglas (nom), List of Italian orders of knighthood (nom), List of UK hit singles by footballers (nom), List of New Jersey Devils seasons (nom), List of Somerset CCC players with 100 or more first-class or List A appearances (nom), Philadelphia Athletics (1890–1891) all-time roster (nom) and Dean Ireland's Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture (nom).
Three topics were promoted to featured status this week: Supernatural (season 2) (nom), South Park (season 1) (nom) and Major League Baseball awards (nom).
No portals were promoted to featured status this week.
The following featured articles were displayed on the Main Page as Today's featured article this week: Sholes and Glidden typewriter, Suffolk Punch, Kinzua Bridge, Battle of the Alamo, "We Are the World", Ceawlin of Wessex, Flower and Superb Fairywren.
Former featured pages
One article was delisted this week: El Al (nom).
One list was delisted this week: The Prodigy discography (nom).
No topics were delisted this week.
No portals were delisted this week.
Featured media
The following featured pictures were displayed on the Main Page as picture of the day this week: Port Vell, Barcelona, ca. 1896 advertisement for American production Carmen, Lotus-Namam, the symbol of Ayyavazhi, Cover of a 1910 issue of the original incarnation of Life, Granny Smith apples, Scanning electron micrograph of the coccolithophore and Yellow fever mosquito .
No featured sounds were promoted this week.
No featured pictures were demoted this week.
Fifteen pictures were promoted to featured status this week.
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Surfing at Mavericks -
Alpine Heathland at High Shelf Camp near Mount Anne in Tasmania -
Gminatus australis -
Panorama over Naajaat -
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Chestnut Teal duckling -
Development of a green flash, an optical phenomenon that occurs shortly after or during sunset or sunrise -
Animated proof of the Pythagorean theorem -
Victorian Pavilion at Lal Bagh botanical gardens -
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Plectroctena sp -
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Arbitration Report
The Arbitration Committee opened no cases this week and closed one, leaving two cases open.
Closed cases
- ChildofMidnight: An arbitration case opened to assess the behavior of User:ChildofMidnight, including allegations that he has defamed editors and contributed to problems in highly controversial areas. ChildofMidnight was placed under a one-year ban and is afterwards subject to an editing restriction forbidding him from editing outside article space unless it's a talk page for an article he's edited, his userspace, or Template talk:Did you know. (AC/N announcement)
Open cases
- Asgardian (Week 3): An arbitration case opened to assess the behavior of Asgardian, including accusations of gaming the system to avoid community-based remedies and attempts at ownership of articles. Currently in the evidence/workshop phase.
- Transcendental Meditation movement (Week 3): An arbitration case opened to deal with circumstances on articles related to the eponymous movement similar to those that had surrounded Scientology pages the year prior. Currently in the evidence/workshop phase.
Motions
- Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Ireland article names: The Committee passed a motion acknowledging a de facto consensus on the issue of how to refer to Ireland as well as their belief that the other remedies were completed to their satisfaction and as such Remedy 4 took effect on September 18th, meaning it will expire on that date in 2011.
- The Committee passed a motion admonishing two administrators for misuse of the block button (one for unblocking herself, and the other for a block-from-the-hip).
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