User talk:Sage Ross (WMF)/archive 1

Namespace and user rights

Please also post on WP:AN and probably on the central discussion template. Creation of new namespaces and new user rights requires a broad community discussion.

I realise that you're coming into this discussion late in the game, but these points were already raised with Frank Schulenberg some time ago. The fact that very few community members commented previously has more to do with the fact that there was little effort to involve the community as a whole. WP:VPT is followed almost exclusively by people who are interested in resolving technical problems, not those who have any background or understanding of the interaction between the WMF's education programs and the community, for example. I will comment there, and if I don't see further notices within the day I'll be putting them up myself; I admit I'm not entirely neutral on the subject. Risker (talk) 18:29, 4 August 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! I've posted at WP:AN and added a WP:CENT link. I gather that the Frank and the team took the criticism from the previous iteration quite seriously; unfortunately the other big problem (the whole obliterating an article thingy) took precedence, and now the timeline is running up against the start of the new term.--Sage Ross (WMF) (talk) 18:50, 4 August 2012 (UTC)

Well, if they'd taken it seriously, they wouldn't be planning to host it on this project, and would have been hosting it on Outreach wiki. It makes no sense for it to be hosted here, this is a WMF administrative namespace. Risker (talk) 05:13, 5 August 2012 (UTC)

As I argue in more detail at the discussion, I don't think it's fair to characterize it as a WMF administrative namespace. The education program at this point is a collaboration between the WMF and the community, and it's by-and-large had the support of the community. I know there have been problems and communications breakdowns, and not a few people are frustrated that WMF is still directly managing significant aspects of it. I'm frustrated about that too, and I think it's fair to say that the whole WMF education team is frustrated about that. Efforts to transition to a fully community-run program haven't gone as smoothly as hoped, and I think the WMF team has been torn between the need to devolve leadership to the community vs. making sure the program doesn't just kind of stagnate, or become more and more insular. This extension will make things more transparent, and give the community more obvious paths to taking control of the education program. There are flags involved, so the community will take the handing out of those flags, and the use of the associated functions, seriously.--Sage Ross (WMF) (talk) 12:01, 5 August 2012 (UTC)

Or the community will shut it down. Don't ever forget that possibility. Risker (talk) 14:07, 5 August 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia:An#User_rights_for_the_Education_Program_extension

This message is so serve as a word of caution about your inappropriate and improper use of the WP:Administrative Noticeboard. This board is not for canvassing for issues that are important to you but rather for issues of administrative importance. Please read up on Wikipedia policy before further posts. 65.96.75.57 (talk) 01:46, 5 August 2012 (UTC)

Thank you

I would like to congratulate you on the excellent portrait photos you took at Wikimania 2012 DC. --Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 02:52, 12 August 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! Making portaits of Wikimedians is something I really enjoy.--Ragesoss (talk) 18:41, 12 August 2012 (UTC)

Did Kudpung look better than me? And Sage, have you looked at Boy recently? Drmies (talk) 18:13, 23 August 2012 (UTC)

re: Education Program extension RfC

I give you permission to restore my comments there. Thanks, --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 15:54, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

I understand your argument, and I know you acted in good faith, but the way I look at it: 1) I was censored for bureaucratic reasons 2) I don't feel like using my time addressing this. Even if I care about the issue, it is a matter of a principle. Censorship implies I am not wanted there, plus a slavish adherence to bureaucratic rules ticks me off, whereas I prefer WP:IAR much more. Removing my comments is something I feel rather strongly about, and even through I understand you meant well, I am a bit offended, and thus, I don't think I want to invest more of my time into a page where my participation was, for whatever reasons, not welcome once, up to the point of being censored out. Bottom line: there was nothing at the page to suggest I was not allowed to comment there (correct me if I am wrong here); I did so and I consider I have done my part to participate in the democratic discourse that RfC are. I was however censored, and I feel offended by that; and RfC with censorship is not a one I wish to be involved in. You say your restoring the comments would compromise the RfC, I feel that the removal of my comments has already done that. If you don't want to WP:REFACTOR (revert) your edits and remedy the situation, this is where we stand. --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 17:10, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, Sage. I also had to deal with some bad news and such right before, so I might have been a bit more peevish than usual. Sorry for the trouble, --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 17:45, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

Piotrus, you're such a peevish guy. Take it easy, Drmies (talk) 18:14, 23 August 2012 (UTC)

wait...

You're back? Yay :) Kevin Gorman (talk) 20:31, 26 August 2012 (UTC)

Fall 2012 Online Ambassador Inquiry

Hi Sage Ross, I am contacting you at the suggestion of Cindamuse regarding your willingness to serve as an online course ambassador. I am teaching a graduate course in psychology with just 4 students. I am working on my course page but won't finish creating it until I have identified an online ambassador. Please let me know if you are willing to be the ambassador for my course. Thanks in advance for your consideration.Mclayton1 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 00:47, 29 August 2012 (UTC)

Modules

When making modules for Wikipedia:Training/For students, for the {{training header}}, at the param of in "| page = 39 | of = 48 }}", you should probably create a separate page Wikipedia:Training/Core/Number and put that in there {{Wikipedia:Training/Core/Number}}. Otherwise, it's a pain to add in a page. Also I'll create a few advanced pages for adding quotes, how to properly cite different pages in a book, and categorizing. Cheers.Smallman12q (talk) 23:05, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Hmm... I wish there was a more elegant way I could think of. I did that now for the Advanced section. Unfortunately, there's no clean way to reshuffle pages or insert new ones in between numbers that are already there (without resorting to naming pages 2a and such). I'll be working more on advanced pages as well (namely, the topics noted at Wikipedia:Training/For students/Advanced 2. Maybe for now, we should both create new pages named by topic, like Wikipedia:Training/For students/Advanced/Pages in a book, and then once we've got the content, we can move them into the numberical order we want. How's that sound?--Sage Ross (WMF) (talk) 23:35, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

That's the proper way to do it. That's how Wikipedia:Tutorial does it.Smallman12q (talk) 01:29, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

I've created a short tutorial at Wikipedia:Training/For students/Citing books on citing books...due to the amount of wiki markup...I'm not sure how to convert it to modules, but it should still be of use as a guide. Cheers.Smallman12q (talk) 00:20, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

MEDRS

Good to see you ... replied on my talk. Best, SandyGeorgia (Talk) 04:46, 2 September 2012 (UTC)

A cup of coffee for you!

Thank you for doing what you do with the campus ambassador program. You are an asset to the program. Blue Rasberry (talk) 17:52, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

That about sums my gladness at seeing you active on this rather worthy initiative that I am well aware is measured as a success; largely because of you. Bravo - 76Strat ^String da _Broke da (talk) 21:01, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

Online Ambassador Requests

• 

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• Sure, I'm always interested in helping, though to be honest I don't think I helped much last time... Serendi^podous 16:48, 10 September 2012 (UTC) I have a pretty wide range of general interests, but in terms of editing Wikipedia I am mostly familiar with the science areas. History is a very different tribe with its own arcane traditions, which is why, despite my historical background, I never got involved with them. I think "Plate tectonics" is probably the course that best fits what I've been focusing on (planetary science). Serendi^podous 17:23, 10 September 2012 (UTC)
• Yes, it is interesting for me, but I do not see any students in Women in Relgious Traditions: Islam and Death & Afterlife: Islam for now. Leszek Jańczuk (talk) 18:33, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

• 

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• Hello Sage Ross. I am more than glad to help out again this term. Maple Leaf (talk) 21:38, 11 September 2012 (UTC)
• Hello, I'd be happy to help with Prokarytic Diversity. I have interest and experience in at least one of the fields covered in their course, so I hope I can be of assistance on-wiki. I've never been involved before in the ambassador program, so let me know what this would include. Thanks! Rkitko ^(talk) 17:27, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
• I think I should skip the fall. I am gearing up for the election as the Neighborhood Team Leader of President Obama's Hyde Park, Chicago neighborhood. I'll be spending several weekends on the road and such trying to secure votes in battleground states. This Saturday, I will be in Iowa.--TonyTheTiger (T/C/BIO/WP:CHICAGO/WP:FOUR) 06:07, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

• 

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• Hi Sage, Thanks for reminding me about this program! I would be glad to be an online ambassador again this semester. How do I sign up? I looked on the Currents in Twentieth Century World History and the Controversies in Science course outlines, but neither of them seem to provide a link to the professor's talk page. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Neelix (talk) 03:14, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
• Hello. I saw your request at WT:MED. I could be interested in helping out. I'm curious what it will involve. For example, how have the students been instructed? How are they being graded? How many (and who) are the professors? Thanks. Biosthmors (talk) 17:00, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
• Hi! Just to check in, there are a couple of courses which I can help out on, so I was going to add my name, but I'm not sure of current etiquette. Should I drop my name against a course, or get in contact with the professor first? I'm happy to go either way. :) - Bilby (talk) 18:57, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

closure

I think there's a typo in your close, but please let me know if I'm mistaken : )

• " As soon as it's enabled, the current regional ambassadors who aren't already admins should be given the course administrator right so they can set up course pages and flag instructors. "

I think you meant to say "course coordinator", not "course administrator"? - jc37 19:28, 25 September 2012 (UTC)

You're right, thanks!--Sage Ross (WMF) (talk) 19:33, 25 September 2012 (UTC)

YW - been there myself : ) - jc37 19:35, 25 September 2012 (UTC)

I dont think its cool for you to start and close an RFC. Could you undo the closure and let someone uninvolved do it? John Vandenberg ^(chat) 20:57, 25 September 2012 (UTC)

It seems pretty straightforward to me. I didn't intend my comment as a formal close, so I'll move it to the talk page. --Sage Ross (WMF) (talk) 21:33, 25 September 2012 (UTC)

Come on. You followed the formal close procedure and stated very clearly you intend to start implementing your decision.[1] WP:RFC says it should be done by someone who is uninvolved. You haven't not yet undone that. If its straightforward, someone else will do it. I don't believe it is uncontroversial, but then I am biased. Installing extensions with 12 people supporting it, and only 8 vs 6 supporting a configuration choice, is begging for trouble. I would hope the sysadmins have been burnt enough to reject such a closure as insufficient participation of the community. Please, undo your action properly. John Vandenberg ^(chat) 22:52, 25 September 2012 (UTC)

We do intend to start implementing it, as it's important to get it up and running in time to be useful this academic term. The main purpose of the RfC was to make sure we weren't turning this on against broad community opposition. Although the low participation is probably an indication that most people don't care much about it (understandable to an extent, since it won't affect much for those who aren't working with classes or monitoring student activity), there's clearly not much opposition to turning it on. As for the configuration, the middle option seems clearly the one that is acceptable to the most people (no explicit opposition to that choice, and the most support). I would have like a much more active RfC, but given that the discussion more or less ended three weeks ago, I didn't see any reason not to archive it.

However, if you think it should be formally closed by an uninvolved editor, I'm fine with that. I'll remove the archive tag and put a request for closing up at the proper noticeboard shortly.--Sage Ross (WMF) (talk) 23:24, 25 September 2012 (UTC)

If it helps, I've read over the RfC. (It's how I noticed the typo, I noted above.) And concur with SR's interpretation/close of the discussion. While I don't disagree that JV has a fair point, do we really need me to revert, and then type in the same template myself? - jc37 16:28, 27 September 2012 (UTC)

I've already reverted the close, so someone else will need to re-close it (and enabling the extension will be on hold until then). As far as I know, you've been uninvolved with both this RfC and the education program more broadly, so you should qualify as a sufficiently uninvolved editor to do the closure. If you'd rather wait for someone else to come to it, that's fine too.--Sage Ross (WMF) (talk) 17:16, 27 September 2012 (UTC)

Lol, and I've been accused of being a process-wonk...  : )

Anyway, sure. I'll read it over again and see if I can write something up.

Note, I've asked questions in regards to the wording of the names of certain program-related categories noted here, but that has to do with wording of something, and nothing to do with the questions of the RfC. (Just noting for transparency.) - jc37 18:45, 27 September 2012 (UTC)

Done. - jc37 19:34, 27 September 2012 (UTC)

Very thorough! That's much more useful than my quick summary was. Thanks.--Sage Ross (WMF) (talk) 19:40, 27 September 2012 (UTC)

Thank you jc37. When it comes to a WMF-created RFC about WMF staff installing an extension that primarily supports a WMF program which the WMF needed urgently, a process-wonk approach now will save the WMF from a whole lot of pain later on. Now if it goes belly-up, the WMF can say they followed the process and it was approved by the community. I still think the decision is wrong, but now it is in the hands of the sysadmins. John Vandenberg ^(chat) 05:02, 28 September 2012 (UTC)

RM

• Wikipedia:Categories_for_discussion/Log/2012_September_27#Category:United_States_Education_Program

(Please read the above link.)

In looking over the pages involved, I think that a pattern of Wikipedia Education Program is the way to go.

But I would like to know whether the preference would be Wikipedia Education Program (countryname) or Wikipedia Education Program/Countryname.

I thought I'd ask your opinion before starting an RM. - jc37 15:58, 28 September 2012 (UTC)

educational projects

Thanks for your answer! Much obliged.Jytdog (talk) 19:02, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

OA invitation

Have you considered inviting User:Lova Falk to be an OA. Her contributions to psych articles are quite good.Smallman12q (talk) 23:49, 27 October 2012 (UTC)

Happy Halloween!

Wilhelmina Will has given you some caramel and a candy apple! Caramel and candy-coated apples are fun Halloween treats, and promote WikiLove on Halloween. Hopefully these have made your Halloween (and the proceeding days) much sweeter. Happy Halloween! If Trick-or-treaters come your way, add {{subst:Halloween apples}} to their talkpage with a spoooooky message!

Cheers! :) Like my singing? Ha-la-la-la-la-la-LA-LAAA!!! (talk) 23:23, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

Courses extension

Hi Sage,

Thanks for letting me know about the courses extension! I created an Online Ambassador profile and added myself to the course page. As for feedback, the extension looks great to me. My only two concerns are related to the time it takes for the system to process changes. When I first created my profile, it did not appear on the list of Online Ambassadors. It appears there now, but only because I clicked the "View latest" link, which I did not see until examining the page a second time. Similarly, when I added myself to the course page, my username appeared first as unlinked text; it was not until I revisited the page that my user page, talk page and contributions were linked. Both of these concerns are minor. Overall, I think the courses extension is a valuable addition to the Education Program, particularly since professors and students involved in the program are often unfamiliar with editing processes on Wikipedia. Let me know if I can be of any further help.

Neelix (talk) 21:22, 16 November 2012 (UTC)

Creating new institution/course

How do you create a new institution/course and what permissions are needed to do it? (No, I don't plan on doing it, but I didn't see how it's done.) Also, is there a chance that a link to the extension instructions/documentation could be added to the "Institution list | Courses list | Student list | Online Ambassadors | Campus Ambassadors" line? --– Philosopher ^{Let us reason together.} 15:56, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

The basic instructions are here: Help:Education Program extension. I'll be cleaning that up, updating it, and putting pointers at relevant places soon (probably next week). If you start from Special:Institutions, the basics of creating institutions and courses is pretty straightforward. The extension is configured (per the RfC so that any admin can set things up, as well as users in either the Course coordinator or Course instructor usergroups. (Handing out the bits for those usergroups technically is in the hands of admins, and the issue of how the they ought to be given out beyond relevant participants in the US/Canada Education Programs is something the community hasn't settled on yet.) Additionally, non-admin users in either the course online volunteer or course campus volunteer usergroups should be able to edit, but not create or delete, the course pages.

Your suggestion of a link to the documentation included in the interface is a good one. As I work on the documentation, I'll try to figure out what the best way to do that will be for the next version.

In the meantime, if you notice anything that's not working as it should, or any other suggestions for improvement, let me know.--Sage Ross (WMF) (talk) 00:00, 20 November 2012 (UTC)

Admins

Sage, Do you need admins to pass out user rights for the education extension? --Guerillero | My Talk 15:50, 27 November 2012 (UTC)

Yeah, sooner or later someone should assign the course coordinator right to all of the Regional Ambassadors (as well as Jami). That can (and probably should) wait until we've gotten a chance to beta test the extension a bit with a late-starting class this term, though.--Sage Ross (WMF) (talk) 01:40, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

Quick question

Hi Sage, quick question: Hemingway's "The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife" showed up on my watch a few days ago ('tis the season for English assignments!), history here, and well, my inclination is to stub it down quite frankly. I left a note on the talk page [2], that I hoped would be helpful. I'm supposed to be on wikibreak at the moment, but am wondering how we deal with situations such as these. Since I have a lot of Hemingway's work on my watch and, Hemingway being Hemingway, it's a perennial end-of-semester issue. Advice welcome. Hope you're well btw, and best wishes for the holidays. Truthkeeper (talk) 17:12, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

Re: thanks

You're welcome, Sage! Who created these tutorials (both wp:educator and wp:student)? They seem great! Do you have feedback from them already? Anyone else in charge of this - LiAnna or Annie, perhaps? I'm asking all this because I'd like to use such a format for wp:pt. Greetings, Domusaurea (talk) 23:31, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

Please comment

I'd be interested in your comments in the discussion at Wikipedia:Education noticeboard#Staffing concernsStaffing concerns, section 230, et al. --Pine^✉ 20:33, 15 December 2012 (UTC)