Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2006-08-14/In the news

In the news

TTAB says OK to Wikipedia citation

Five weeks after the International Trademark Association sent a letter to the Commissioner of the USPTO requesting that Trademark Examiners should be barred from citing Wikipedia as a source, the Commissioner responded with a decision permitting continued use of Wikipedia as a source, and noting that Examiners would be trusted to weigh information from the site in light of its collaborative nature. See The TTABlog report - PTO Responds to INTA's Wikipedia Letter: No Blanket Prohibition on Collaborative Websites.

Chinese e-Wiki shut down due to political pressure

Agence France-Presse reported on the closing of e-Wiki, a Chinese encyclopedia based on Wikipedia. In a press release issued on 7 August, Reporters Without Borders "expressed regret" that the encyclopedia was taken down. Reportedly, the site was taken down due to an article on Taiwan, expressing beliefs that the Taiwanese government was the "government of the Republic of China", and an article on James Lung, a political activist from Hong Kong closely tied with the suppressed organization Falun Gong. Access to the Chinese Wikipedia has been blocked by the Great Firewall of China, though Baidu Baike, a censored encyclopedia hosted by Chinese search engine Baidu, is still accessible. The site included a lengthy message in Chinese, as well as a quotation by Hungarian poet Sándor Petőfi: "Life is dear, love is dearer. Both can be given up for freedom."("Szerelmemért föláldozom / Az életet, / Szabadságért föláldozom / Szerelmemet.")

Wiki-crack

The Guardian published an article on Wikipedia, referring to editing as "wiki-crack": "...in the summer of 2003 it took just one puff to change Mark Pellegrini's life." Raul654 was interviewed in the article, mentioning his status as featured article director and a member of the Arbitration Committee (the article incorrectly stated that "only those who make 100 edits a week" were able to vote in ArbCom elections.) The article also tackles vandalism, mentioning the list of protected pages.

Hometown paper features Wales, Wikipedia

The News Courier in Athens, Alabama featured an article on Jimmy Wales. The article deals mostly with Wales' childhood in nearby Huntsville, Alabama, and includes quotes from Wales' mother, Doris.

Also this week: Wiki-Mercenaries — M.A.N.I.A. — Chinese Wikipedia — News and notes — Press coverage — Features and admins — Technology — Arbitration

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On August 16, 2006, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that Gil Gutknecht's office twice -- on July 24 and August 14, 2006 -- removed a 128-word section in the Wikipedia article on him, replacing it with a more flattering 315-word entry taken from his official congressional biography. Most of the removed text was about the 12-year term-limit Gutknecht imposed on himself in 1995. A spokesperson for Gutknecht did not dispute that his office changed his Wikipedia entry, but questioned the fundamental reliability of the encyclopedia itself. ^[1]

This was actually a front-page headline in which the first word was "Wikipedia". I'll leave it to someone more familiar with the conventions of the Signpost to incorporate this thereinto. Michael Hardy 21:43, 18 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

In next week's issue. ForestH2 t/c 00:16, 19 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

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