User talk:Tim Ross

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Hi there,

In advance, sorry for making my message an edit of this previous message, but I cant seem to work out how to send you my own separate one on this page.

I would like to use your photo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:07-06_WtrAerob1a.jpg for commercial uses. I understand that this is covered by your copyright license, however I would need to see proof that this contains model release, since the people in the picture have faces that are visually recognizable. Please let me know whether this is available as soon as possible.

Many thanks,

Stephanie


Speedy deletion nomination of NUDE SKINCARE

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Hi Tim Ross,

Sorry for my late reply, I'm new to Wikipedia and am trying to put up a piece on Nude Skincare. On the 1st of October, you tagged the piece I put up to be be deleted. Please could you explain why and what I need to do to get this piece up. Ali Hewson is on Wikipedia and is linked to Nude Skincare, any help you can give I appreciate. Thanks for your time and help. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Steph 270 (talk • contribs) 14:46, 20 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm afraid, Steph, that I no longer recall much about the article, although I note that it's been deleted twice, once as "unambiguous advertising or promotion" and the second time as an "article about a company, corporation, organization, or group, which does not indicate the importance or significance of the subject". Do you still have the text? If you do, go ahead and enter it here on my talk page, and I'll try to offer some advice. Or, if you have another version that you think may be more likely to work, you can let me see that one. Tim Ross (talk) 17:33, 20 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Nude skincare submission

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Thanks for your help Tim, please find below what I submitted. I look forward to your advice.

Thanks, Steph.

Nude Skincare

Nude Skincare Nude Skincare is the name to the British advanced probiotic and natural skincare brand founded in June 2007 by Bryan Meehan, also the founder of popular organic UK stores Fresh and Wild (Bryan Meeham could have a Wikipedia page and this would link to this))

Company history

The brand name Nude was decided after discussing concepts with good friend, muse and inspiration to the brand, Ali Hewson. [1]. Hewson suggested using the brand name Nude, which is the name of her of ethical clothing brand Edun spelt backwards. [2].

Stores

Nude has an online store [www.nudeskincare.com] and is also sold throughout the UK, US, Australia and New Zealand. [3],

Products

As with many skincare companies, Nude skincare offers a wide range of products. These include Cleansing Facial Oil , and Advanced Eye Complex, well as face cleansers, moisturizers, masks, body creams and a range of supplements.

Company’s approach

Nude Skincare is founded on ‘eco-friendly’ principles, sourcing ingredients with ‘integrity and respect’. Nude is carbon neutral and does not test on animals. 40% of its range is made using recycled plastic [4].

External links Nude skincare’s Official Website – www.nudeskincare.com

References:

Need to go in

See also Ali Hewson —Preceding unsigned comment added by Steph 270 (talk • contribs) 12:40, 26 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]


I can certainly help you rewrite the article to make sure the advertising/promotion issues are taken care of, Steph. The big problem, though, is going to be importance/significance. To take care of that, you will need to be able to show notability - to show that Nude Skincare "has received significant coverage in reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic". That will require showing that the product has been significantly discussed or reviewed in, for example, magazines devoted to cosmetics or websites which cover such topics. Significant mention in news sources would also be useful. Care must be taken, though, to avoid sources connected with the product, such as <www.nudeskincare.com>, or any form of advertising. Send me several references of that sort, and I will try to put together a draft. Tim Ross (talk) 15:02, 27 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Nude skincare

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Hi Tim, many thanks for your help on this, it is much appreciated. Please find below a list of blogs / news sites that have coverage on the brand.

http://talkingmakeup.com/skincare/nude-skincare/

http://www.elleuk.com/beauty/product-reviews/(feature)/beauty/product_reviews/eye_creams/(item)/437858#437858

http://lovelypackage.com/nude-skincare/

http://mizzworthy.blogspot.com/2009/10/review-nude-skincare.html

http://www.drugstore.com/qxb60288_333181_sespider/nude_skincare/nude_skincare.htm

http://beautyinterviews.com/interviews/nude-skincare/

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/relationships/article5568514.ece

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/beauty/article1698163.ece

Best skin product - http://www.girl-woman-beauty-brains-blog.com/2983308

http://cosmetic-candy.com/?p=8947

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/beauty/article2472662.ece

http://www.primped.com.au/product_finder/brand/nude_skincare

http://www.hookedonbeauty.com/2009/09/nude-skincare-advanced-smoothing.html

http://londonmakeupgirl.blogspot.com/2009/10/nude-skincare-gwp-at-beauty-expert.html

Please let me know if you need any more, thanks - Steph. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Steph 270 (talk • contribs) 11:21, 30 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

That looks very helpful, Steph. I will get to work on it, and should have a draft for you fairly soon - maybe a day or two. Tim Ross (talk) 11:30, 30 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]


That's great, thanks again Tim. I look forward to it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Steph 270 (talk • contribs) 14:15, 30 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Steph - see your talk page for a draft of the proposed article. Tim Ross (talk) 10:14, 1 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

DEP blurb

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Thanks for the heads up on the deletion of the DEP material.

Not sure of the reasoning though. This seems to be a key decision of their organization. Other than air, and dirt, of course, water is pretty important to Florida. Having a forked article from DEP doesn't seem to make sense to me. All other important decisions relating to a governmental agency are usually made within the confines of that article. I agree that most of those eventually vanish into obscurity and have to be deleted or moved to history. But right now, that finding is fairly crucial I would think. I would also rather discuss this on the article talk page. While I appreciate the heads up, I think it can now go into the public eye.

Thanks. Student7 (talk) 13:47, 7 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with you entirely, that this information is worthy of being spread around, Student7, but I still don't think it fits very logically into the history section of the FDEP article. My choice would be Environment of Florida#Energy, water, and waste management. Tim Ross (talk) 17:30, 7 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
What would you think about asking Horologium for a second opinion? I haven't had much luck with off-the-street RFCs lately. At least one "expert" had a user page that looked like most vandals!  :) Student7 (talk) 02:39, 11 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, that would be fine with me. I'm willing to accept Horologium's choice. Tim Ross (talk) 09:58, 11 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Margaret Howell

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Hi Tim,

Thanks again for helping me on the Nude Skincare page. It's still up and I'm very happy about this! I would now like to get Margaret Howell on here, Margaret is a contemporary British clothes designer .

Please find below what I have drafted up, if you have time would you mind having a read through this and letting me know if I should make any changes?

Have a great Christmas.

Many thanks - Steph


Margaret Howell

Margaret Howell was born in Tadworth, Surrey on 5th September 1946. She attended the local De Burgh School (since demolished) whose modern design she was later to recognise as an influence on her own aesthetic. She studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths College from 1965-9, “which taught me a lot about colour and proportion”.

Howell is a contemporary British clothes designer who has worked successfully in both men’s and women’s wear. Respected by her peers, and much imitated, Howell has been a strong, if quiet, presence on the British design scene for nearly four decades. The label which bears her name was launched from a kitchen table in South East London in 1972, and was an immediate, if somewhat unexpected, success. It grew rapidly over the ten years, ran into difficulties in the 1980s but recovered, and today Margaret Howell Ltd employs some 300 people in 80 locations[5].

Howell describes her aesthetic as designing real world clothes. They should have “an instantly wearable feel, I want clothes to look like my drawings of them. They’re functional and designed as individual pieces rather than part of an outfit or a pre-conceived, fixed look. Every detail is considered yet the resulting style has a relaxed feel.” (Taschen)

Admirers comment on her clothes’ comfortable, understated, yet sensual qualities. Keynote designs are her take on the shirt, gymslip, lace-up shoes, duffle coat and trench coat. Many have an androgynous quality underlined by a succession of carefully controlled photographic campaigns. These are shot on location in black and white and by sympathetic spirits such as Bruce Weber, Koto Bolofo, and Venetia Scott.

“The appropriateness of the fabric to the design is crucial as is the quality of both material and make. Often I take inspiration from the traditional, specialist manufacturing, adapting the patterns to make them contemporary in cut and styling and breaking rules by softening the make-up of the clothing. The match of the fabric with garment is also key to translating the concept and character of the design.” (Taschen) From the beginning Howell has shown a preference for the natural-fibre fabrics of the British Isles (Irish linen, Harris tweed, Scottish cashmere, English cotton shirting and corduroys, West of England flannels and Worsted suiting’s), working closely with specialist manufactures such as Macintosh, John Smedley and Peter Scott.

70s: Early Career

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After graduating and having been turned down for a job in the BBC make-up department, Howell started making accessories. Her hand-made beads came to the attention of Vogue and led to a meeting with Liz Taylor, then shooting ‘Zee and Co’ in London. In 1972 Howell, with partner Paul Crenshaw, began to design make and sell shirts from their flat in Blackheath, South East London. The business grew, encouraged by Paul Smith and leading US retailers, including Ralph Lauren. The couple also sold shirts through the Lower Sloane Street shop of Margaret’s sister Jean Howell, herself a designer famous for her had-knitted fairisles. Crenshaw managed while Howell expanded the design range and oversaw production from a workshop. She still thinks of herself as a ‘hands-on’ designer and values direct contact with each stage of the manufacturing process. Her work was supported by Joseph Ettedgui and recognized by Vogue fashion editors Grace Coddington and Liz Tilberis.

In partnership with Joseph a Margaret Howell men’s shop, opened in South Molton Street in London in 1976 [6]. This was followed by the first wholly owned Margaret Howell shop in St Christopher Place in 1980. Reflecting international interest, Sam Sugure of Anglobal/Washo, Tokyo, signed a license to manufacture and sell Margaret Howell designs throughout Japan[7].

80’s

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The early 1980’s were a period of expansion for the label. Jack Nicholson insisted on wearing his own Margaret Howell corduroy jacket for his role in 1980’s ‘The Shining’, prompting an order for 12 duplicates from Stanley Kubrick. 1982 saw Grace Coddington choose a Howell piece as Dress of the Year. (www.bathnes.gov.net) In 1983 the first Margaret Howell standalone shop opened in Aoyama (Tokyo). A New York shop was opened in Manhattan in 1982, attracting the attention of Andy Warhol (Interview). However, this rapid expansion caused both business and personal difficulties. The couple divorced in 1987 and Renshaw left the company. It was re-organised in 1990 with the help of Sam Sugure and Richard Craig, who remains today as Managing Director.

90’s and after

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The new management proved successful and there followed a decade of steady growth culminating in the opening of the flagship Wigmore Street shop in 2002. Taking the ‘hands-on’ principle into the design of her own working environment, Howell worked closely with Will Russell of Pentagram to combine company headquarters, design studios, exhibition and retail space under one roof. A Paris shop opened in 2009. Howell’s factory in North London maintains the label’s unbroken tradition of shirt making. Influences

Howell writes: “When I was at school in the 1960’s I admired Yves Saint Laurent and bought one of his paper patterns to teach myself how to tailor a jacket. I also admired the apparent simplicity of Jean Muir designers.” (Taschen) She also cites the influence of “tough, gutsy, virile” work wear, (GQ, October 2009) as well as the bold inventiveness of street style.

Personal

From an early age I remember having an awareness of clothes and a response to those of my parents, the softness of my Father’s well-worn cotton shirts and raincoat, the slim hang of a pleated chiffon dress my Mother used for ballroom dancing. She made her children’s clothes; I loved the smell of new cotton as it was cut. I had fun making my school uniform stylish in the early 1960’s. We wore our skirts long with ankle socks. We bought men’s cardigans from Marks and Spencer. I enjoyed the androgynous character of the white shirt, the duffle coat and the double-breasted gabardine raincoat. In fact, I was styling the basic which I think is what I do new. I take classic and reinterpret it by cut, detailing and the choice of fabric to make it modern and enjoyable to wear.


Howell also uses Wigmore Street to champion designers and causes she admires. (Japan Hose Book) Anglepoise lamps, Robert Welch cutlery, and furniture by Ernest Race and Ercol complement the clothes on sale, as do occasional exhibitions featuring, among others, the work of architect John Penn and the graphic art of H A Rothholz and the 1950’s St Ives group of artists. Howell is a committed supporter of Open House – the charity which promotes access to notable buildings throughout the UK – and in association with them and the RIBA, has hosted events showcasing the architecture of Basil Spence, Erno Goldfinger, Eric Lyons (Span Houses), and the twentieth century swimming pool.

In 2006 she was asked to design uniforms for the staff of the Victoria & Albert museum and these are currently in use[8].

In 2007 Howell was awarded a CBE for services to the fashion industry[9] and was made a Royal Designer for Industry by the Royal Society of Arts[10]. She still lives in South East London and has two children: Miriam, born 1978 and Edward, 1981.

Critique of Margaret Howell

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The subject of the article seems to be clearly notable, Steph, so you should not have much of a problem with that. Two areas, though, do need considerable work, I think.

The tone and language of the article are often not "encyclopedic", but rather seem more appropriate for a magazine article or advertisement. For this reason, some may see the article as being too promotional or even as advertising. Much of this sort of material can, I believe, be condensed or removed, and I would recommend that.

It is good to see that you have a number of useful and appropriate references. You will need to make sure, however, that you have one for each quotation you wish to use. I'm not sure, however, that all of the quotations, especially the more lengthy ones, add much, and would advise you to consider condensing and paraphrasing most of the important ones and deleting those of only modest value.

Feel free to replace the version here with a revised one, and I'll be happy to take a look at it as well. Tim Ross (talk) 13:05, 23 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

References

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  1. ^ http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/relationships/article5568514.ece
  2. ^ http://beautyinterviews.com/interviews/nude-skincare/
  3. ^ http://www.nudeskincare.com/store_locator.aspx?404%3bhttp%3a%2f%2fwww.nudeskincare.com%3a80%2fstore_locator%2f
  4. ^ http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/the-ecocapitalist-bringing-ultranatural-skincare-to-the-masses-450180.html
  5. ^ Margaret Howell: The fashion outsider, [1]
  6. ^ Colombe Pringle, French Elle, August 1977
  7. ^ Coming full circle, [2]
  8. ^ [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article4856352.ece}
  9. ^ Rod and Zara top New Year Honours, [3]
  10. ^ Royal Designers, [ http://www.thersa.org/projects/design/rdi/current-royal-designers]

Margaret Howell 2

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Hi Tim,

Thanks for your help and sorry about the delay in getting back to you, I've been away for the holidays. Please find below my next draft, I have really cut it down. Please let me know what you think.


Margaret Howell


Margaret Howell was born in Tadworth, Surrey on 5th September 1946, Howell is a contemporary British clothes designer who has worked successfully in both men’s and women’s wear.

Howell has been a strong, if quiet, presence on the British design scene for nearly four decades. Keynote designs are her take on the shirt, gymslip, lace-up shoes, duffle coat and trench coat. Many have an androgynous quality underlined by a succession of carefully controlled photographic campaigns.

In 1972 Howell, with partner Paul Crenshaw, began to design make and sell shirts from their flat in Blackheath, South East London. The business grew, encouraged by Paul Smith and leading US retailers, including Ralph Lauren.

In partnership with Joseph a Margaret Howell men’s shop, opened in South Molton Street in London in 1976 [1]. This was followed by the first wholly owned Margaret Howell shop in St Christopher Place in 1980

A New York shop opened in Manhattan in 1982 and in 1983 the first Margaret Howell standalone shop opened in Aoyama, Tokyo. This rapid expansion caused both business and personal difficulties. The couple divorced in 1987 and Renshaw left the company. It was re-organised in 1990 with the help of Sam Sugure and Richard Craig, who remains today as Managing Director.

The new management proved successful and there followed a decade of steady growth culminating in the opening of the flagship Wigmore Street shop in 2002.

Personal In 2006 Howell was asked to design uniforms for the staff of the Victoria & Albert museum which are currently still in use[2].

In 2007 Howell was awarded a CBE for services to the fashion industry[3] and was made a Royal Designer for Industry by the Royal Society of Arts[4]. She still lives in South East London and has two children: Miriam, born 1978 and Edward, 1981.

1. ^ Colombe Pringle, French Elle, August 1977 2 ^ [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article4856352.ece}

3. ^ Rod and Zara top New Year Honours, [3]

4. ^ Royal Designers, [ http://www.thersa.org/projects/design/rdi/current-royal-designers] —Preceding unsigned comment added by Steph 270 (talk • contribs) 10:14, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You've done a good job, Steph. I would certainly think that this latest re-write will be accepted. Various bits and pieces will be revised and otherwise edited, I'm sure, as is usually the case, but it's a useful article. It's time to publish it. Let me know when you do, and I will make sure that the refs are all set up the way Wikipedia likes them. Tim Ross (talk) 11:06, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]


That's great, thanks so much for your help Tim. I've put it up and I think I've got the references right but if not, I hope you don't mind adding to it.

Many thanks again for all your help, Steph. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Steph 270 (talk • contribs) 12:50, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]


I've also started working on another - if you have some time, it is always much appreciated.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Meehan

Thanks - Steph. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Steph 270 (talk • contribs) 12:52, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Tim, I hope you don't mind me messaging you again. I have another I would like to put up and just need to make sure I'm on the right tracks with it. If you have time, I hope you don't mind having a quick look at it. Many thanks - Steph

No problem, Steph. This one looks fine. There are a few wrinkles that someone will iron out when you convert it into an article, but nothing major. Tim Ross (talk) 17:11, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Amanda Wakely

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Amanda Wakeley was born in 1962, she is a self-taught designer who worked for Go Silk in New York before launching under her own signature label in 1990. [1] Over the last two decades she has developed an international reputation for designing stylish, supremely luxurious, womenswear and accessories. [2] Wakely is primarily known for subtly coloured and multi-textured eveningwear, and pared-down classic daywear in the British, USA and Japanese market [3] Wakely recently moved her production to China and India where the wider variety of skills has allowed her to extend her scope. Wakely has recently introduced a successful shoe collection, as well as a first Amanda Wakeley fragrance and a new fine jewellery collection[4]


In April 2009, she completed the buy-back of her business, saving over 50 jobs across the UK. Since then, she has relaunched her brand, opened a new Flagship Store and achieved critical acclaim when she returned to London Fashion Week last September.[5]


Over the years, Amanda Wakeley has dressed stars such as; Scarlett Johansson, Demi Moore, Kate Beckinsdale, Dita Von Teese, Charlize Theron, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mischa Barton, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Helen Mirren and Kate Winslet. Amanda Wakeley has also had the honour to dress many members of Royal families, most notably the late Princess of Wales and Queen Rania of Jordan. [6]

Stores

The Amanda Wakeley collection is retailed from her flagship store on the Fulham Road, at Harvey Nichols throughout the UK and at Harrods in London. The brand is also represented throughout Europe, America and the Middle East. [7]

Personal

Since 1996 Amanda Wakely has co-chaired the committee for the Fashion Targets Breast Cancer Appeal and has helped to raise over £10m to date, and continues to raise awareness and funds for numerous charities. [8] She is the winner of several awards including three British Fashion Awards for Glamour. [9]

In January 2010, the Queen appointed Amanda Wakeley an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the New Year 2010 Honours List. [10]

The award, for services to the British Fashion Industry, also recognises the considerable contribution that Amanda Wakeley makes as founding co-Chair of Fashion Targets Breast Cancer. [11]

References

  1. ^ http://www.fashionmission.nl/Wedding-Wedding-Dress-Amanda-Wakeley--0071530007.dfs
  2. ^ http://www.amandawakeley.com/about/
  3. ^ http://www.fashionmission.nl/Wedding-Wedding-Dress-Amanda-Wakeley--0071530007.dfs
  4. ^ http://www.fashionmission.nl/Wedding-Wedding-Dress-Amanda-Wakeley--0071530007.dfs
  5. ^ http://showbiz.sky.com/amanda-wakeley-gets-obe
  6. ^ http://www.amandawakeley.com/about/
  7. ^ http://www.amandawakeley.com/about/
  8. ^ http://www.amandawakeley.com/about/
  9. ^ http://www.amandawakeley.com/about/
  10. ^ http://showbiz.sky.com/amanda-wakeley-gets-obe
  11. ^ http://showbiz.sky.com/amanda-wakeley-gets-obe

External links

I think that this article is also ready to be added, Steph. We can make minor edits at that point, as needed. Tim Ross (talk) 16:06, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Project Gastropods

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Hi Tim Ross, I just wanted to ask if you consider yourself to be active in WikiProject Gastropods? I assume and hope that you would still consider yourself active, but I just wanted to check as I am attempting to update our member's list. Thanks and best wishes, Invertzoo (talk) 22:43, 3 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I admit to doing little constructive in the field recently, Invertzoo, but hope that you will keep me on the list anyway. I may get really energetic any second. :-)

Your lovely photo

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Hey there! I found myself admiring your photo at the top of the Ichetucknee River article, and I just wanted to say: Nice work! I'm from Gainesville, currently living in Wisconsin, and your picture made me smile with homesickness. Cheers! Scartol • Tok 18:57, 13 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

What a nice compliment! Thanks very much, Scartol. Tim Ross (talk)

Wikiproject SUSF

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SUSF Locations
SUSF Locations

As a current or past contributor to a related article, I thought I'd let you know about WikiProject State University System of Florida, a collaborative effort to improve Wikipedia's coverage of the State University System of Florida. If you would like to participate, you can visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks and related articles. Thanks!


User:Gregandangiebriz11

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It doesn't seem to do any good trying to keep self-promoters off of Wikpedia. User:Gregandangiebriz11 has added himself (several times using both his IP and registered username, and several pages suffer. Looking at the history, I saw you had fought this same issue with the same user. Can something be done? -- mitchsurp -- (talk) 06:28, 31 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

That sort of user is certainly irritating. All that most of us can do about it is to search for the name occasionally, and make appropriate changes. Any admin, though, can use BlockUser, which may help a good deal. (I'm not one.) Tim Ross (talk) 11:23, 31 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I found one you missed, at Hollins University, and deleted it. Tim Ross (talk) 11:42, 31 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The user is still at it under a new IP address. I'm sure he spends his nights checking every single Wikipedia article he has inserted himself into just to make sure it's still there. -- mitchsurp -- (talk) 04:01, 12 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You are now a Reviewer

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Hello. Your account has been granted the "reviewer" userright, allowing you to review other users' edits on certain flagged pages. Pending changes, also known as flagged protection, is currently undergoing a two-month trial scheduled to end 15 August 2010.

Reviewers can review edits made by users who are not autoconfirmed to articles placed under pending changes. Pending changes is applied to only a small number of articles, similarly to how semi-protection is applied but in a more controlled way for the trial. The list of articles with pending changes awaiting review is located at Special:OldReviewedPages.

When reviewing, edits should be accepted if they are not obvious vandalism or BLP violations, and not clearly problematic in light of the reason given for protection (see Wikipedia:Reviewing process). More detailed documentation and guidelines can be found here.

If you do not want this userright, you may ask any administrator to remove it for you at any time. Courcelles (talk) 17:53, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Solange Azagury-Partridge

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Hi Tim,

You've helped me on a few articles I've written for Wikipedia. I was wondering if you would mind giving me your thoughts on the following?

Solange Azagury-Partridge, draft Wikipedia entry 12th July 2010

Born and raised in London in 1961, Solange Azagury-Partridge now lives in West London with her husband, Murray, their son, Otis, 16, and daughter, Mardi, 10. [1]

Azagury-Partridge studied French and Spanish at University, and after graduating, took a stopgap job at the London costume jewellers Butler & Wilson. A year later she went to work for the 20th Century antique dealer Gordon Watson, where she discovered the vintage jewellery of Cartier, Van Cleef and Boucheron. [2]

The first piece of jewellery that Solange Azagury-Partridge ever made was her own engagement ring in 1987, as an uncut diamond embedded in a simple gold band. So many people admired it that, three years later, she set up in business and taught herself how to design jewellery. [3]

She first opened a shop to sell her idiosyncratic jewellery on Westbourne Grove in 1995. [4]

In 2001 Solange was chosen by Tom Ford to be Creative Director of Boucheron, the celebrated Parisian master jeweller, where she worked for 3 years. [5]

For her first collection as creative director of Boucheron, she set the most precious gems – emeralds, rubies, sapphires and diamonds – in black gold in a spectacular combination of Azagury-Partridge’s ingenuity and Boucheron’s heritage.

In May 2006, she launched her first 30-piece bridal jewellery line, Tough Love. [6]

In November 2006 she launched her first fragrance, Stoned. [7]

In January 2010, Azagury-Partridge decided to release a short film, a collaboration with director Laurence Dunmore (The Libertine) and actors Thandie Newton and Jason Isaacs. Titled The Letter, the movie tells of a love quadrangle between Newton’s character, her husband (Isaacs), her lover (Raphael Edwards), and Stoned—Azagury-Partridge’s new collection. [8]

In May 2010, the jeweller launched a new boutique in the heart of Bond Street, designing the spectacular, two floored boutique herself. [9] Fans include Kate Moss, Thandie Newton, Tilda Swinton, [10] Charlotte Tilbury, George Lamb, Bella Freud, Paul Smith, Luella Bartley and Katie Grand. [11]


References

[edit]
  1. ^ www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3665102/The-world-of-Solange-Azagury-Partridge-jeweller.html
  2. ^ http://designmuseum.org/design/solange-azagury-partridge
  3. ^ http://designmuseum.org/design/solange-azagury-partridge
  4. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3665102/The-world-of-Solange-Azagury-Partridge-jeweller.html
  5. ^ http://www.solangeazagurypartridge.com/main.php
  6. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3665102/The-world-of-Solange-Azagury-Partridge-jeweller.html
  7. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cultu0re/3665102/The-world-of-Solange-Azagury-Partridge-jeweller.html
  8. ^ http://www.elle.com/Fashion/Fashion-Spotlight/Fashion-News-Solange-Azagury-Partridge
  9. ^ http://www.elleuk.com/news/Fashion-News/solange-azagury-partridge-opens-mayfair-flagship
  10. ^ http://www.elleuk.com/news/Fashion-News/solange-azagury-partridge-opens-mayfair-flagship
  11. ^ http://www.vogue.co.uk/celebrity-photos/100610-solange-azagury-partridge-store-ope.aspx
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Solange Azagury-Partridge 2

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Sure, Steph, I'll be happy to take a look at it. Tim Ross (talk) 13:56, 12 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Solange Azagury-Partridge recommendations

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Here are some recommendations, Steph.

First, make sure you end references with </ref>, not <ref>.

I would strongly recommend an opening paragraph which indicates who Solange Azagury-Partride is and why she is noteworthy. A second paragraph detailing her history would then fit in well. I would be cautious about adding the little newsy tidbits about when and what she has or will be launching; this is not really encyclopedic. It is also a little hard to justify adding her "fan list", unless this is clearly important in making some specified point.

Illustrations of her and/or her work would, of course, liven up the article if any are available that meet Wikipedia requirements.

I hope this helps. Tim Ross (talk) 13:56, 12 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Tim,

Many thanks for your help, that's great feedback. Steph —Preceding unsigned comment added by Steph 270 (talk • contribs) 12:14, 13 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Requesting higher-res photos CLARA WARD

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Hi Tim,

I am the publisher of a monthly newspaper in Milwaukee. (http://www.bayviewcompass.com). We print 15K in addition to the web version of the site.

The area of Milwaukee that our paper covers is Bay View. Bay View was the site of the Milwaukee Iron Works, owned by Eber Brock Ward, Clara's father.

Each month we publish a column called "Historic Bay View." ( http://bayviewcompass.com/archives/category/historic-bay-view) This month the author, Anna Passante, is profiling Clara Ward. She found your fantastic photos of Clara here on wikipedia. I wish to employ them on our website and in the paper under the Creative Commons license. But to run the photos in the paper and to pay the subject, the images, and the photographers proper homage, I need higher resolution photos for the paper. We need 300 dpi for the best reproduction.

Would you kindly send me higher resolution photos of each of the three Clara Ward portraits you feature on her page? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Ward,_Princesse_de_Caraman-Chimay) I'll send you a copy of the story and depending on the image rights, if permissions allow, the newspaper renderings of three of the men of Clara's life. My pref is for you to communicate with me via my email address. editor@bayviewcompass.com.

Thank you for your kind consideration of my request.

Katherine KellerBvcompass (talk) 18:14, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Done, and you're welcome. Tim Ross (talk) 09:40, 5 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Bishop Heber

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This is the clean stub you wrote Bishop Heber College is a religious educational institution in Puthur, Tamil Nadu, India. It was founded in 1966, although the school has historical roots extending through various earlier local religious schools to about the mid-nineteenth century. Bishop Heber College offers several undergraduate and graduate degrees including the doctorate level.

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[[Category:Universities and colleges in Tamil Nadu]]

Speedy deletion nomination of Bishop Heber College

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Dear Tim I am new to wiki. I do not know the rules. Can I place the article with out the link. I have the text which is of public knowledge. Regards Dr.SF

No, Dr. SF, I'm afraid you cannot use any text that has been copyrighted unless you can show that the material is in the public domain or otherwise is legally available for free use. Au Sable Institute claims the copyright to the language that you have been adding to the article (http://www.ausable.org/au.india.location.bhc.cfm). Tim Ross (talk) 09:41, 29 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Dear Tim The content is part of the hand book given by the college. Au Sabule Institute can not claim the copyright to Bishop Heber College's text. Is this not illegal in US? DrSF —Preceding unsigned comment added by Drsf (talk • contribs) 12:39, 22 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Few Wikipdia editors are experts on the copyright law of their own countries, Dr. SF, let alone international copyright law. I certainly am not. The basic rule that I follow is to avoid the use of any material for which copyright is claimed. If the text in questions "belongs" to Bishop Heber College in some legal sense, it is not available for us to use. If the college originated the language in question and wishes it to be freely and openly available, they will need to indicate that in some legally binding fashion. In any case, the Au Sable Institute does claim the copyright, and we cannot ignore that. Tim Ross (talk) 15:31, 22 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]
This help request has been answered. If you need more help, please place a new {{help me}} request on this page followed by your questions, or contact the responding user(s) directly on their user talk page.

I would be grateful if someone at a higher authority level would take a look at Bishop Heber College, discussed here. I have tried to convince User:Drsf, who seems also to be User:Elixir20, that the material on <http://www.ausable.org/au.india.location.bhc.cfm> is copyright and cannot be used in a Wikipedia article. I have deleted it twice, but it is back again, with various rewordings and minor changes from the original language, which I assume are intended to avoid copyright restrictions. I'm not at all sure how this should be handled. Thanks for any help. Tim Ross (talk) 18:30, 22 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It actually can be used on Wikipedia as long as it is a) not copied directly (it needs to be paraphrased) and b) you need to correctly reference it (using <ref></ref>)

Scan of a postcard from the 1950's

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Would some more knowledgeable individual take a look at this image file: File:Iver3.jpg? The summary statement scan of a postcard from the 1950's does not seem sufficient to put the image in the public domain. The File History comment indicates 1920's. Thanks. Tim Ross (talk) 09:51, 5 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

No, that conflicting info certainly does not certify it as PD material. If it was published pre-1923, then {{PD-US-1923}} could be used. But that would have to be verified, and I daresay that would be very hard to do without access to the postcard itself.
Otherwise, the photographer could be tracked down, and if s/he died more than 100 years ago, {{PD-old}} could be used. (I thought it was 70 years, but there's some new text-heavy box in {{PD-old-70}} that I can't figure out.) Scartol • Tok 12:15, 5 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]


Sarasota, Florida discussion

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I have started a discussion about changes to Sarasota, Florida, an article you have contributed to substantially here. Any comments, suggestions and/or criticism you may have are welcome. Thanks, VictorianMutant (talk) 05:38, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Reston, Florida

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{{adminhelp}}

I'm preparing to work on Reston, Florida, and would like temporary access to an earlier version of that article that was deleted 10 June 2009. Thanks very much. Tim Ross (talk)

You need help from a admin. :)--intelatitalk 22:17, 15 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I will copy the data to a page in your user space in a minute  Ronhjones  (Talk) 22:19, 15 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I have copied the data to User:Tim Ross/Reston, and also the talk data to the talk page.  Ronhjones  (Talk) 22:24, 15 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks very much for your help. Tim Ross (talk) 22:28, 15 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Invitation to join WikiProject United States

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Hello, Tim Ross! WikiProject United States, an outreach effort supporting development of United States related articles in Wikipedia, has recently been restarted after a long period of inactivity. As a user who has shown an interest in United States related topics we wanted to invite you to join us in developing content relating to the United States. If you are interested please add your Username and area of interest to the members page here. Thank you!!!

--Kumioko (talk) 20:47, 4 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Article Deletion

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Hello, Yachtee. I just found that you asked me for some assistance some time ago in having an article deleted, and then removed the request. I apologize for not being available then, and hope you've already received the help you wanted. I'm not too expert on the subject, myself, but can certainly point you in the right direction if needed. Tim Ross (talk) 00:55, 6 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

(copy of message sent to User Yachtee)

Autopatrolled

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Hello, this is just to let you know that I have granted you the "autopatrolled" permission. This won't affect your editing, it just automatically marks any page you create as patrolled, benefiting new page patrollers. Please remember:

  • This permission does not give you any special status or authority
  • Submission of inappropriate material may lead to its removal
  • You may wish to display the {{Autopatrolled}} top icon and/or the {{User wikipedia/autopatrolled}} userbox on your user page
  • If, for any reason, you decide you do not want the permission, let me know and I can remove it
If you have any questions about the permission, don't hesitate to ask. Otherwise, happy editing! Acalamari 21:15, 24 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]


Blackbird Johnny

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No problem, just be sure to add a reference for that. - TheMightyQuill (talk) 15:51, 18 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Tim, you're clearly a well-intentioned and experienced editor here, so I'm hesitant to quote wiki guidlines at you, but how is this not an example of WP:OR ?

It's possible that I misunderstand you, TMQ. You aren't referring to the actual translation of the name into English, are you? (If so, inserting a ref to an appropriate dictionary would be easy, but a little trivial.) If you mean my thought that the name of the confection might have something to do with the meaning of Jancsi's name, that's not in the article - just the information that allows one to make that deduction.Tim Ross (talk) 12:34, 20 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, but your reasoning for including the name translation in the first place is that the two are (possibly?) connected, so if you can't provide at least a reference to someone suggesting they are connected, you have no basis for including the name translation. We wouldn't ordinarily translate people's names (unless they are normally translated) so there needs to be a cited reason for doing so. - TheMightyQuill (talk) 14:32, 20 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I certainly agree with you that names are not usually translated in Wikipedia, and don't recall ever doing so myself except in this instance. I'm not aware of any restriction on such a translation, however, nor am I aware of any requirement for providing a ref in such a case. I can't stop you from removing this bit of information which some might find interesting or even thought-provoking, but be advised that such a deletion is based on your choice, not on a prohibition.Tim Ross (talk) 12:04, 21 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Well, maybe it's partly my personal aversion to translating people's names, but I think independently looking up a name in a dictionary and then inserting it in the article without anyone else doing the same could qualify as WP:SYN if not original research. At any rate, I appreciate your civility and willingness to discuss it. - TheMightyQuill (talk) 14:11, 21 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Tallahassee NRHPs

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Thanks for all the photographs you've taken and added to NRHPs around Tallahassee. I got up there recently and got most of the rest. Two evaded me, San Pedro y San Pablo de Patale and Tall Timbers Plantation. If you get a chance, could you get pictures of them? It would mean that the NRHP list for Leon County would be fully illustrated, which would be quite the accomplishment. Thanks much, and keep up the good work! :) --Ebyabe (talk) 02:27, 27 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I'm afraid I let myself get sidetracked, Ebyabe. No problem - I'll try to get the pictures this week. Tall Timbers should be easy, but I'm not sure there's much at the San Pedro site other than a marker. Tim Ross (talk) 12:23, 27 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Got one for Tall Timbers, Ebyabe. Is there a way for you to handle the details? I'll be happy to email this and further pictures to you, along with a transfer of all rights, but am not in a good position to be dealing with the nuts and bolts. Tim Ross (talk) 20:55, 30 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 4 July 2011

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Invitation to help assess Wikipedia:WikiProject Gastropods

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Hi. I am inviting members of some WikiProjects to take part in evaluating their projects in order to help the Wikimedia Foundation better understand such projects from the inside, to encourage reflection on best practices, and to compile a list of best practices as recommended by a number of projects. I am contacting you because you are listed as an active member of Wikipedia:WikiProject Gastropods. Having witnessed that project's work in the past in my volunteer capacity, I'd very much like to include it. I hope that you will have time and interest in participating. As much or as little as you would like to supply would be gratefully received. The assessment questions are posted at Wikipedia:WikiProject Gastropods/Self-assessment. I will myself steer clear of the page until after any discussion seems to have become dormant, at which point I will ask questions to make sure that I am developing a good overview of opinions. Thanks. --Maggie Dennis (WMF) (talk) 12:57, 7 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

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Picture of Botrychium lunarioides

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I was wondering if you can double check your picture of Botrychium lunarioides. I'm only studying them as a student, but there are a few things off with it. It is sitting too high off the ground. The pinnae are too close together with unrounded apex. The sporangium is not as substantial as the ones I've seen. I believe it is definitely a Botrychium but I doubt the species is correct. Thanks. :) :) :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ataylor18 (talk • contribs) 16:52, 11 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 17 October 2011

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The Signpost: 24 October 2011

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New Page Patrol survey

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New page patrol – Survey Invitation

Hello Tim Ross! The WMF is currently developing new tools to make new page patrolling much easier. Whether you  have patrolled many pages or only a few, we now need to  know about your experience. The survey takes only 6 minutes, and the information you provide will not be shared with third parties other than to assist us in analyzing the results of the survey; the WMF will not use the information to identify you.

  • If this invitation  also appears on other accounts you  may  have, please complete the  survey  once only. 
  • If this has been sent to you in error and you have never patrolled new pages, please ignore it.

Please click HERE to take part.
Many thanks in advance for providing this essential feedback.

You are receiving this invitation because you  have patrolled new pages. For more information, please see NPP Survey. Global message delivery 13:38, 26 October 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 31 October 2011

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Photo usage

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Hi, I've been working on a small game built around animal quizzes and I wanted to let you know I've used one of your pictures.

I found your picture here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:07-03-23RedWolfAlbanyGAChehaw.jpg

And I attributed the picture like this: Tim Ross with this link: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Tim_Ross and also added a link to the license: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:public_domain

I hope you're happy with it, please let me know if this is not the case. You can find the game here: http://apps.facebook.com/animalalbum Or through here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/AnimalAlbum/156339584490672

Kind regards, Garfunkel Jansen (talk) 08:58, 2 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

P.S. Thanks for taking the picture and making it available.

The Signpost: 02 July 2012

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The Signpost: 09 July 2012

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Wikipedia has a long history of collaborating with educational institutions. The Schools and universities program — international and in many languages, but dominated by US institutions — started in 2003 and evolved case by case with little system. However, that changed in 2009 as Wikimedia embarked on its formal strategic process, and outreach in higher education came to be seen in terms of achieving explicit goals — especially that of increasing editor participation.
The Russian Wikipedia has been blacked out for 24 hours, ending 20:00 UTC Tuesday, as a protest against Russian State Duma Bill 89417-6, a bill currently before the Duma (the Russian parliament). Visitors to the Russian Wikipedia are confronted by the sign above in protest at a draconian internet censorship bill before the Duma. The Russian word for Wikipedia is crossed out in this banner, and the text says: "Imagine a world without free knowledge. The State Duma is currently conducting the second reading of a bill to amend the "Law on Information", which has the potential to lead to the creation of extra-judicial censorship of the Internet in Russia, including the closure of access to the Russian Wikipedia. Today, the Wikipedia community protests against censorship as a threat to free knowledge that is open to all mankind. We ask that you oppose this bill."
This week, we spent some time with WikiProject Football, which focuses on the sport also known as association football or soccer. WikiProject Football is by far the largest sport project and one of the most active projects on Wikipedia in terms of the number of articles covered, edits to articles, and talk page watchers.
Eight featured articles were promoted this week: ... Aries (constellation) by Keilana. Aries the Ram (symbol ♈) is one of the constellations of the Zodiac and one of 88 currently recognised constellations. Its area is 441 square degrees (1.1% of the celestial sphere). Although fairly dim, with only three bright stars, it is home to several deep-sky objects.
No cases were closed or opened, leaving the number of open cases at three. ... The case concerns alleged misconduct with regards to aggressive responses and harassment by Fæ toward users who question his actions.
The results from last month's trial of the LastModified extension were published this week on the Wikimedia blog. The first analyses have indicated a significant positive impact, suggesting that the extension – which makes the time since a page's last edit much more prominent in the interface – could eventually find its way onto Wikimedia wikis.

The Signpost: 16 July 2012

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User:Fæ was elected as the inaugural chair of the new Wikimedia Chapters Association, despite the controversies that have surrounded Fæ on the English Wikipedia and Commons, most recently aired in a live case before the Arbitration Committee. This is in marked contrast with unexciting movement, during the Wikimania meeting, on the most important issues facing the establishment of the association.
During Wikimania (July 12-15), the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) board finalized and enacted long-discussed reforms of the movement's financial structures, and considered procedures for creating new ways for Wikimedians to organize themselves into offline communities. The board moved on the controversial image filter issue, approved the 2012–13 annual plan, and issued a statement on the wikitravel proposal. It also appointed the two new chapter-selected trustees and elected the four office-bearers.
With the Tour de France in its final week, we traveled to the French Wikipedia for a chat with Projet Cyclisme (WikiProject Cycling). The French Wikipedia places a greater emphasis on portals than the English Wikipedia, which explains why WikiProject Cycling and its discussion page are actually extensions of the Cycling Portal. The project is home to two Article de Qualité (equivalent to Featured Articles) and eight Bon Article (Good Articles), primarily biographies of cyclists.
A brief overview of the current discussions on the English Wikipedia, including one regarding the purpose of the Community Portal. Started by Maryana, a Wikimedia Foundation employee, is this page for new users to be educated about the community, or is it for experienced users to find updates about the community?
Nearly 1400 Wikimedians and others from 87 countries descended on the capital of the United States, Washington, D.C., for Wikimania 2012. Even with an unprecedented number (1400) of conference attendees — the previous two Wikimanias, held in Gdańsk (Poland) and Haifa (Israel), were attended by fewer than 1100 people combined – Wikimania 2012 was a complete success, with attendees' reaction to the conference coming out as ecstatic and laudatory.
Eight featured articles were promoted this week, including Paul McCartney by GabeMc. McCartney (born 1942) is an English musician, singer, songwriter and composer. He gained worldwide fame as a member of the Beatles, and his collaboration with John Lennon is highly celebrated. After the band's break-up he pursued a solo career and formed the band Wings. McCartney has been described by Guinness World Records as the "most successful composer and recording artist of all time", and his song "Yesterday" has been covered more than any other song in history.
As Wikimania, the annual conference targeted at Wikimedians and often well attended by those with a technical slant, draws to a close, comments have already begun to come in from attendees regarding the many tech-related features of the conference.
No cases were closed or opened, leaving the number of open cases at three. A new remedy in the Fæ case calls for him to be indefinitely banned from the site after his attempts to solicit intervention from the Foundation, claiming that publicly listing all his accounts would be too onerous due to "ongoing security risks." He was further criticised for attempting to dodge good-faith concerns; the committee believes that if Fæ's claims are valid then he must be removed from the community.

The Signpost: 23 July 2012

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Does Wikipedia pay? is an ongoing Signpost series seeking to illuminate paid editing, paid advocacy, for-profit Wikipedia consultants, editing public relations professionals, conflict of interest guidelines in practice, and the Wikipedians who work on these issues... by speaking openly with the people involved.
The Signpost's goal is to provide readers with essential information about the Wikimedia movement and the English Wikipedia – both of which have become large and extremely complex institutions that require timely, balanced and in-depth coverage.
Two weeks ago the Signpost reported that the Russian Wikipedia had just begun a 24-hour blackout in protest at a bill that was before the Russian parliament that proposed mechanisms to block IP addresses and DNS records. The protest, implemented after on-wiki consensus was reached during the preceding days, concerned the potential of the amendment to the information law to allow extra-judicial censorship of the internet in Russia, including the closure of access to the Russian Wikipedia. Among the questions now are how effective the blackout was and where we go from here in terms of internet freedom in one of the world's biggest and most influential countries.
With the 2012 Summer Olympic Games beginning this weekend in London, we decided to catch up with the chaps at WikiProject Olympics. The last time we interviewed WikiProject Olympics was in February 2010 when the project was gearing up for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. We wanted to know how the project has grown since then and whether preparing for a Summer Olympics was more grueling.
For the second time this year (and the third in the history of the committee), there are no open cases, as all three active cases were closed last week.
There has never been a better time to improve the behavior of marketing professionals on Wikipedia. For the first time we're seeing self-imposed statements of ethics. Professional PR bodies around the globe have supported the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) guidance for ethical Wikipedia engagement. Although their tone is different, CREWE and the PRSA have brought more attention to the issues. Awareness among PR professionals is rising. So are the number of paid editing operations sprouting up and the opportunity for dialogue.
One featured article was promoted this week, Melville Island. A small peninsula in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, it was discovered by Europeans in the 1600s and initially used for storehouses. The land was purchased by the British and used to hold prisoners of war, then to receive escaped slaves from the United States. After being used as a place of quarantine and later a recruitment centre, the land was granted to Canada in 1907 and used to house prisoners of war. It is now home to the clubhouse and marina of the Armdale Yacht Club.
In the first of a series looking at this year's eight ongoing Google Summer of Code projects, the Signpost caught up with developer Harry Burt.

The Signpost: 30 July 2012

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From the modeling of social dynamics in a collaborative environment to why the number of Wikipedia readers rises while the number of editors doesn't.
Wikimedia Foundation published its Annual Plan, focusing on technical improvements, editor retention, and structural reforms over the coming year. The movement's total revenue, including almost all chapter funding, is slated to rise by 35%, from $34.2 million to $46.1 million, and global spending to more than $42.1 million. The foundation's own core spending will grow by 15% to $30.2 million in 2012–13.
We continue our Summer Sports Series this week with WikiProject Horse Racing. Started in November 2005, the project has grown to include nearly 8,000 articles maintained by 34 active members. There are 10 Featured Articles and 19 Good Articles included in the project's scope. In addition to preparing articles for GA and FA status, the project attempts to create requested articles and locate requested images. We interviewed Redrose64, Montanabw, Tigerboy1966, Ealdgyth, and Cuddy Wifter.
Eight new featured articles, five new featured lists, and eight new featured pictures. The highlights include a new featured picture of Frank Sinatra, created by William P. Gottlieb and nominated by Tomer T. Sinatra (1915–98) was a highly successful American singer and film actor whose career spanned 60 years. This image dates from around 1947.
In the light of recent questions over the long-term reliability of Wikimedia wikis, the Signpost caught up with CT Woo, the Wikimedia Foundation's director of technical operations.
Arbitrator Kirill Lokshin proposed a motion requiring the alteration of any instances of an editor's previous username in arbitration decisions to reflect their name changes. The Devil's Advocate has initiated an amendment request for the controversial Race and intelligence case.

The Signpost: 06 August 2012

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At this year's Wikimania, I [Brandon Harris] gave a talk entitled The Athena Project: Wikipedia in 2015. The talk broadly outlined several ideas the foundation is exploring for planned features, user interface changes, and workflow improvements. We expect that many of these changes will be welcomed, while others will be controversial. During the question-and-answer period, I was asked whether people should think of Athena as a skin, a project, or something else. I responded, "You should think of Athena as a kick in the head" – because that's exactly what it's supposed to be: a radical and bold re-examination of some of our sacred cows when it comes to the interface.
On August 1, the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) portal was launched on Meta. The FDC will implement the Wikimedia movement's new grant-orientated finance structure in accordance with the WMF board's recent resolutions. As a volunteer committee, the FDC will make recommendations to the WMF board on a $11.4 million budget for 2012–13.
Arbitrator Kirill Lokshin proposed a motion for a procedure on the alteration of an editor's previous username(s) in arbitration decisions to reflect their name change(s). ... The Devil's Advocate initiated an amendment request for the controversial Race and intelligence case.
This week the Signpost interviews Casliber, an editor who has written or contributed significantly to a startling 69 featured articles. We learn what makes him tick, why he edits, and why he can write on everything from vampires to dinosaurs, birds to plants. He also gives some advice to budding featured article writers.
The Wikimedia Foundation's engineering report for July 2012 was published this week on the Wikimedia Techblog and on the MediaWiki wiki, giving an overview of all Foundation-sponsored technical operations in that month (as well as brief coverage of progress on Wikimedia Deutschland's Wikidata project). ... At least one fibre-optic cable was damaged at the WMF's Tampa site on August 6, leading to a sharp downwards spike in traffic lasting over an hour and almost three hours of disruption for readers around the globe.
This week, we spent some time with WikiProject Martial Arts. Since April 2004, the project has been the hub for discussion and improvement of martial arts articles, including all disciplines and national origins. The project maintains a variety of conventions for handling the names and descriptions of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indian, Sikh, Filipino, Okinawan, and hybrid martial arts. WikiProject Martial Arts has spawned or absorbed several subprojects focusing on boxing, kickboxing, sumo, and mixed martial arts.

The Signpost: 13 August 2012

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In a certain way, writing Wikipedia is the same everywhere, in every language or culture. You have to stick to the facts, aiming for the most objective way of describing them, including everything relevant and leaving out all the everyday trivia that is not really necessary to understand the context. You have to use critical thinking, trying to be independent of your own preferences and biases. To some effect, that's all there is to it. Naturally, Wikipedians have their biases, some of which can never be cured. Most Wikipedians tend to like encyclopedias; but millions of people in the world don't share that bias, and we represent them rather poorly. I'm also quite sure that an overwhelming majority of Wikipedia co-authors are literate. Again, that's not true for everyone in this world. Yet we have other, less noticeable but barely less fundamental biases.
The Bangla language, also known as Bengali, is spoken by some 200 million people in Bangladesh and India. The Bangla Wikipedia has a very small active community of about ten to fifteen very active editors, with another 35–40 as less active editors. The project faces particular challenges in being a small Wikipedia, and Dhaka-based WMF community fellow User:Tanvir Rahman is working to understand these challenges and to develop strategies that can improve small wikis that have strong potential to expand their editing communities.
A request for arbitration was filed late last week, ending the three-week long absence of pending cases.
Six featured articles were promoted this week, including Business US Highway 41, which was a state trunkline highway that served as a business loop in Marquette in the US state of Michigan.
Three weeks into a month-long evaluation of code review tool Gerrit, a serious alternative has finally gained traction in the review process: Facebook-developed but now independently operated Phabricator and its sister command-line tool Arcanist.
This week, we interviewed the lively bunch at WikiProject Dispute Resolution. Started in November 2011 to study and discuss improvements to Wikipedia's resources for resolving disputes between editors, the young project has supplemented dispute resolution efforts currently handled at the Dispute Resolution Noticeboard, Mediation Committee, and other venues. Over 40 editors have signed up to provide feedback, a variety of ideas have been proposed, and a manual for dispute resolution has been created.
Current proposals and requests for comments include a competition to redesign the main page ...

Photo usage / calendar

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Hello, Tim

We would like to use your photo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:JohnFrumCrossTanna1967.jpg#globalusage) in a printed National Geographic calendar we're actually working on. It would stand next to small info about John Krum in Vanuatu section. Please e-mail me as soon as possible or send a reply with an answer under what conditions can we use your photo? It's pretty important.

Thanks! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Peje18 (talk • contribs) 07:49, 21 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 20 August 2012

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The Wikimedia Foundation sometimes proposes new features that receive substantive criticism from Wikimedians, yet those criticisms may be dismissed on the basis that people are resistant to change—there's an unjustified view that the wikis have been overrun by vested contributors who hate all change. That view misses a lot of key details and insight because there are good reasons that Wikimedians are suspicious of features development, given past and present development of bad software, growing ties with the problematic Wikia, and a growing belief that it is acceptable to experiment on users.
The Core Contest is a month-long competition among editors to improve Wikipedia's most important "core" articles—especially those that are in a relatively poor state. Core articles, such as Music, Computer, and Philosophy, tend to lie in the trunk of the tree of knowledge; by analogy, featured-and good-article processes generally attract more specialist topics out on the branches.
In the Utah Court of Appeals this week, the majority opinion in Fire Insurance Exchange v. Robert Allen Oltmanns and Brady Blackner relied on Wikipedia for the basic premise of their legal opinion, and included a concurring opinion devoted solely to the issue of citing Wikipedia in a legal opinion.
Thirteen featured articles were promoted this week, including pelicans, which are a genus of large water birds comprising the family Pelecanidae, characterised by a long beak and large throat-pouch. They have a fossil record dating back at least 30 million years and are most closely related to the Shoebill and Hammerkop. These fish-feeders have a patchy relationship with humans: the birds are sometimes persecuted and sometimes feature in mythology.
New embeddable scripting ("template replacement") language Lua received considerable scrutiny this week when it began its long road to widespread deployment, landing on the test2wiki test site on Wednesday (wikitech-l mailing list). ... the fourth in our series profiling participants in this year's Google Summer of Code (GSoC) programme.
This week, we spent some time with WikiProject Korea. Started in September 2006, WikiProject Korea covers the history and culture of the Korean people, including both countries that currently occupy the Korean peninsula. This task has proven difficult with North Koreans notably absent from the Wikipedia community due to tight control over access to external media. The project is home to over 16,000 pages, including 15 pieces of Featured material and 66 Good and A-class Articles.

The Signpost: 27 August 2012

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Wikimedia editors have been debating a community proposal for the adoption of a new project to host free travel-guide content. The debate reached a new stage when a three-month request for comment on Meta came to an end, with a decision to set up the first new type of Wikimedia project in half a decade. The original proposal for the travel guide unfolded during April on Meta and the Wikimedia-l mailing lists, centring around the wish of volunteer contributors to the WikiTravel project to work in a non-commercial environment.
A monthly overview of recent academic research about Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects, edited jointly with the Wikimedia Research Committee and republished as the Wikimedia Research Newsletter.
Developers were left one step closer to an understanding of the code review outlook this week after the creation of a graph plotting "number changesets awaiting review" over time. The chart, which also shows the number of new changesets created on a daily basis, reveals a peak in the number of unreviewed changesets in mid-July, followed by a short drop. The current figure stands at approximately 219 unreviewed changesets.
This week the Signpost interviews Mark Arsten, who has written or contributed significantly to ten featured articles; most have related to new religious movements, and some have touched on other controversial or quirky topics. Mark gives us a rundown on how he keeps neutral and what drives him to write featured content; he also gives some hints for aspiring writers.
This week, we hopped in a little blue box with a batch of companions from WikiProject Doctor Who. Started in April 2005, the project has grown to include about 4,000 pages about the world's longest-running science fiction television show, its spinoffs, and various related material. The project is the parent of the Torchwood Taskforce and a child of WikiProject British TV and WikiProject Science Fiction. With new Doctor Who episodes airing this week and a 50th anniversary celebration around the corner, we thought now would be a good time to inquire about the famed Time Lord.
Current discussions on the English Wikipedia.

The Signpost: 03 September 2012

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Some of Wikimedia's most valuable photographs have been shot and uploaded under free licenses as a direct result of the annual Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM) event each September. Last year, the project was conducted on a European level, resulting in the submission of an extraordinary 168,208 free images of cultural heritage sites ("monuments") from 18 countries, making it the world's largest photographic competition. Organising the 2012 event—which has just opened and will run for the full month of September—has required input from chapters and volunteers in 35 countries.
Developers are currently discussing the possibility of a MediaWiki Foundation to oversee those aspects of MediaWiki development that relate to non-Wikimedia wikis. The proposal was generated after a discussion on the wikitech-l mailing list about generalising Wikimedia's CentralAuth system.
Five featured pictures were promoted this week, including a video explaining the recent landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars. NASA called the final minutes of the complicated landing procedure "the seven minutes of terror".
Since May 2012 I've been a Wikimedia Foundation community fellow with the task of researching and improving dispute resolution on English Wikipedia. Surveying members of the community has revealed much about their thoughts on and experiences with dispute resolution. I've analysed processes to determine their use and effectiveness, and have presented ideas that I hope will improve the future of dispute resolution.

The Signpost: 10 September 2012

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Thanks to the initiative of Yuvi Panda and Notnarayan, the Signpost now has an Android app, free for download on Google Play. ... but would readers be interested in an iOS app for Apple devices?
Much like article content, the English Wikipedia's help pages have grown organically over the years. Although this has produced a great deal of useful documentation, with time many of the pages have become poorly maintained or have grown overwhelmingly complicated.
Philip Roth, a widely known and acclaimed American author, wrote an open letter in the New Yorker addressed to Wikipedia this week, alleging severe inaccuracies in the article on his The Human Stain (2000).
Three hip hop discographies were promoted this week, alongside seven other lists.
After a week's hiatus, the WikiProject Report returns with an interview featuring WikiProject Fungi. Started in March 2006, the project has grown to include over 9,000 pages, including 47 Featured Articles and 176 Good Articles. The project maintains a list of high priority missing articles and stubs that need expansion.
In dramatic events that came to light last week, two English Wikipedia volunteers—Doc James (James Heilman) and Wrh2 (Ryan Holliday)—are being sued in the Los Angeles County Superior Court by Internet Brands, the owner of Wikitravel.com. Both Wikipedians have also been volunteer Wikitravel editors (and in Holliday's case, a volunteer administrator). IB's complaints focus on both editors' encouragement of their fellow Wikitravel volunteers to migrate to a proposed non-commercial travel guidance site that would be under the umbrella of the WMF.
In its September issue, the peer-reviewed journal First Monday published The readability of Wikipedia, reporting research which shows that the English Wikipedia is struggling to meet Flesch reading ease test criteria, while the Simple English Wikipedia has "lost its focus".
The Wikimedia Foundation's engineering report for August 2012 was published this week on the Wikimedia Techblog and on the MediaWiki wiki, giving an overview of all Foundation-sponsored technical operations in that month (as well as brief coverage of progress on Wikimedia Deutschland's Wikidata project, phase 1 of which is edging its way towards its first deployment).
Current discussions on the English Wikipedia.

The Signpost: 17 September 2012

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We now have a Facebook page at facebook.com/wikisignpost. We invite you to "like" the page and join the discussion there.
This week, we shine the spotlight on the Indian Cinema Task Force, a subproject that seeks to improve the quality and quantity of articles about Indian cinema. As a child of WikiProject Film and WikiProject India, the Indian Cinema Task Force shares a variety of templates, resources, and members with its parent projects. The task force works on a to-do list, maintains the Bollywood Portal, and ensures articles follow the film style guidelines. With Indian cinema celebrating its 100th year of existence in 2013, we asked Karthik Nadar (Karthikndr), Secret of success, Ankit Bhatt, Dwaipayan, and AnimeshKulkarni what is in store for the Indian Cinema Task Force.
Eight featured articles, six featured lists, ten featured pictures, and one featured topic were promoted this week.
The world's largest photo competition, Wiki Loves Monuments, is entering its final two weeks. The month-long event, of Dutch origin, is being held globally for the first time after the success of its European-level predecessor last year. During September 2011 more than 5000 volunteers from 18 countries took part and uploaded 168,208 free images. This year, volunteers and chapters from 35 countries around the world have organised the event. The best photographs will be determined by juries at the national and finally the global level.
1.20wmf12, the 12th release to Wikimedia wikis from the 1.20 branch, was deployed to its first wikis on September 17; if things go well, it will be deployed to all wikis by September 26. Its 200 or so changes – 111 to WMF-deployed extensions plus 98 to core MediaWiki code – include support for links with mixed-case protocols (e.g. Http://example.com) and the removal of the "No higher resolution available" message on the file description pages of SVG images.

The Signpost: 24 September 2012

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Oliver Keyes' (User:Ironholds) defense of Wikipedia against the recent Philip Roth controversy has drawn a significant amount of attention over the last week. The problems between Roth, a widely known and acclaimed American author, and Wikipedia arose from an open letter he penned for the American magazine New Yorker, and were covered by the Signpost two weeks ago. Keyes—who wrote the piece as a prominent Wikipedian but is also a contractor for the Wikimedia Foundation—wrote a blog post on the topic, lamenting the factual errors in Roth's letter and criticizing the media for not investigating his claims: "[they took] Roth’s explanation as the truth and launched into a lengthy discussion of how we [Wikipedia] handle primary sourcing."
A paper to appear in a special issue of American Behavioral Scientist (summarized in the research index) sheds new light on the English Wikipedia's declining editor growth and retention trends. The paper describes how "several changes that the Wikipedia community made to manage quality and consistency in the face of a massive growth in participation have lead to a more restrictive environment for newcomers". The number of active Wikipedia editors has been declining since 2007 and research examining data up to September 2009 has shown that the root of the problem has been the declining retention of new editors. The authors show this decline is mainly due to a decline among desirable, good-faith newcomers, and point to three factors contributing to the increasingly "restrictive environment" they face.
This week, we tinkered with WikiProject Robotics. From the project's inception in December 2007, it has served as Wikipedia's hub for building and improving articles about robots and robotics, accumulating two Featured Articles and seven Good Articles along the way. The project covers both fictitious and real-life robots, the technology that powers them, and many of the brains behind the robotics field
In the second controversy to engulf Wikimedia UK in two months, its immediate past chair Roger Bamkin has resigned from the board of the chapter. The resignation last Wednesday followed a growing furore over the conflict of interest between two of Roger's roles outside the chapter and his close involvement in the UK board's decision-making process, including the access to private mailing lists that board members in all chapters need. But the irony surrounding Roger's resignation is its connection with efforts by Wikimedians and collaborators to strengthen the reach of Wikimedia projects through technical innovation.
Late last month, the "Technology report" included a story using code review backlog figures – the only code review figures then available – to construct a rough narrative about the average experience of code contributors. This week, we hope to go one better, by looking directly at code review wait times, and, in particular, median code review times
Fourteen featured articles were promoted this week, including Dodo, along with six featured lists and five featured pictures.
Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include...

The Signpost: 01 October 2012

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Does Wikipedia Pay? is a Signpost series seeking to illuminate paid editing, paid advocacy, for-profit Wikipedia consultants, editing public relations professionals, conflict of interest guidelines in practice, and the Wikipedians who work on these issues by speaking openly with the people involved. This week, a scandal centering around Roger Bamkin's work with Wikimedia UK and Gibraltarpedia erupted ... In light of these events, opinions on how to avoid future controversy are as important as ever. ... The Signpost spoke with Jimmy Wales to better understand how he views the paid editing environment and what he thinks is needed to improve it.
Following considerable online and media reportage on the Gibraltar controversy and a Signpost report last week, the Wikimedia UK chapter and the foundation published a joint statement on September 28: "To better understand the facts and details of these allegations and to ensure that governance arrangements commensurate with the standing of the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikimedia UK and the worldwide Wikimedia movement, Wikimedia UK's trustees and the Wikimedia Foundation will jointly appoint an independent expert advisor to objectively review both Wikimedia UK's governance arrangements and its handling of the conflict of interest."
Five articles, three lists, and nine images were promoted to "featured" this week.
The Toolserver is an external service hosting the hundreds of webpages and scripts (collectively known as "tools") that assist Wikimedia communities in dozens of mostly menial tasks. Few people think that it has been operating well recently; the problems, which include high database replication lag and periods of total downtime, have caused considerable disruption to the Toolserver's usual functions. Those functions are highly valued by many Wikimedia communities ... In 2011, the Foundation announced the creation of Wikimedia Labs, a much better funded project that among other things aimed to mimic the Toolserver's functionality by mid-2013. At the same time, Erik Möller, the WMF's director of engineering, announced that the Foundation would no longer be supporting the Toolserver financially, but would continue to provide the same in-kind support as it had done previously.
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the James Bond film series, we spent some time bonding with WikiProject James Bond. The project is in the unique position of having already pushed all of its primary content to Good and Featured status, including all of Ian Fleming's novels, short stories, and every film that has been released. Work has begun in earnest on the article Skyfall for the release of the new Bond film later this month. The project could still use help improving articles about Bond actors, characters, gadgets, music, video games, and related topics

The Signpost: 08 October 2012

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Wikipedia in education is far from a new idea: years of news stories, op-eds, and editorials have focused on the topic; and on Wikipedia itself, the Schools and universities projects page has existed in various forms since 2003. Over the next six years, the page was rarely developed, and when it did advance there was no clear goal in mind.
On this day five years ago, the WikiProject Report debuted as a new Signpost column with an overview of WikiProject Biography. Today, we're celebrating two milestone: five years of the WikiProject Report and the tenth birthday of our first featured project. WikiProject Biography is by far the largest WikiProject on Wikipedia, with over one million articles under the project's scope. As a comparison, WikiProject Biography is three times larger than Wikipedia's second largest project, and if WikiProject Biography were split into its 14 subprojects and work groups, it would still make the list of the 20 largest WikiProjects... four times.
This week the Signpost interviews Arsenikk, an editor of six years who has brought sixteen lists through our featured list process, mostly regarding transportation in Norway but also about the 1952 Winter Olympics and World Heritage Sites in Africa. Arsenikk tells us about why he joined the project, what moves him, and how editors can join the sometimes daunting world of featured lists.
The Wikimedia Foundation's engineering report for September 2012 was published this week on the Wikimedia Techblog and on the MediaWiki wiki, giving an overview of all Foundation-sponsored technical operations in that month (as well as brief coverage of progress on Wikimedia Deutschland's Wikidata project, phase 1 of which is edging its way towards its first deployment). Three of the seven headline items in the report have already been covered in the Signpost: problems with the corruption of several Gerrit (code) repositories, the introduction of widespread translation memory across Wikimedia wikis, and the launch of the "Page Curation" tool on the English Wikipedia, with development work on that project now winding down. The report also drew attention to the end of Google Summer of Code 2012, the deployment to the English Wikipedia of a new ePUB (electronic book) export feature, and improvements to the WLM app aimed at more serious photographers.
Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include ...

The Signpost: 15 October 2012

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There is wide agreement among English Wikipedians that the administrator system is in some ways broken—but no consensus on how to fix it. Most suggestions have been relatively small in scope, and could at best produce small improvements. I would like to make a proposal to fundamentally restructure the administrator system, in a way that I believe would make it more effective and responsive. The proposal is to create an elected Administration Committee ("AdminCom") which would select, oversee, and deselect administrators.
This week saw a front-page story in the Wall Street Journal on editorial debates in Wikipedia. The story focused on the title-naming dispute surrounding the Beatles article, and specifically the RfC on whether the 'the' in the band's name should be capitalized or not.
On the English Wikipedia, five featured articles, ten featured lists, and four featured pictures were promoted, including USS Lexington, a ship built for the United States Navy that, although ordered in 1916 as a battlecruiser, was converted to an aircraft carrier. It was sunk in the Battle of the Coral Sea during the Second World War.
The volunteer-led Wikimedia Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) and interested community members are looking at Wikimedia organization applications worth about US$10.4 million out of the committee's first full year's operation, in just the inaugural round one of two that have been planned for the year with a planned budget of US$11.4M.
A trial of the first phase of Wikimedia Deutschland's "Wikidata" project–implementing the first ever interwiki repository—may soon get underway following the successful passage of much of its code through MediaWiki's review processes this week.
This week, we experimented with WikiProject Chemicals. Started in August 2004, WikiProject Chemicals has grown to include over 10,000 articles about chemical compounds. The project has a unique assessment system that omits C-class, Good, and Featured Articles. As a result, the project's 11 GAs and 9 FAs are treated as A-class articles. WikiProject Chemicals is a child of WikiProject Chemistry (interviewed in 2009) and a parent of WikiProject Polymers.

Image Usage Request

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Dear Mr. Tim Ross,

For my Animal Biology class at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse, my partner Nicole Ludwig and myself were assigned the snail Millerelix jacksoni a.k.a. Polygyra jacksoni (Bland, 1866) for a website project. Our assignment is to research this snail and design a website that will forever be accessible on the web for educational purposes. Our website will be part of a larger collection of websites found at MultipleOrganisms.net. Our professor Dr. Kathryn Perez would like us to use images for this project so Nicole and I were contacting you to see if it was possible to use your image found on Wiki Commons of Polygyra septemvolva volvoxis: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PolygyraSeptemvolvaVolvoxis.jpg. We are having difficulties finding images of our own snail, but want to post images of related snails. Please let us know and thank you for your time.


Sincerely,

Samantha Singer and Nicole Ludwig singer.sama@uwlax.edu — Preceding unsigned comment added by 138.49.24.157 (talk) 19:40, 17 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 22 October 2012

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Unlike the long-running disputes that have characterised attempts to reform the RfA process on the English Wikipedia, the German Wikipedia's tradition of making decisions not by consensus but knife-edged 50% + 1 votes has led to a fundamentally different outcome. In 2009, the project managed to largely settle the RfA mode issue in 2009 indirectly.
One clarification request concerns the civility enforcement case – specifically, Malleus Fatuorum's perceived circumvention of his topic ban. It has resulted in thousands of bytes spent in vitriolic discussions, multiple blocks, and "no confidence" motions against the Arbitration Committee and one arbitrator, among other ramifications.
Planning for Wikivoyage's migration into the WMF fold built up steam this week following a statement by WMF Deputy Director Erik Möller about what the technical side of the migration will involve. Wikivoyage, which split from sister site Wikitravel in 2006, is hoping to migrate its own not-inconsiderable user base to Wikimedia, as well as much of its content, presenting novel challenges for Wikimedia developers
Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include...
It is well known that women are underrepresented in the sciences, and that high-achieving female scientists have often been excluded from authorship lists and passed over for awards and honours solely on the basis of gender. Also significant has been the underplaying in the academic literature, news reporting, and online, of women's current and historical contributions to science.
The WikiProject Report normally brings tidings from Wikipedia's most active, inventive, and unique WikiProjects. This week, we're trying something new by focusing on Wikipedia's dark side: the various regional and national WikiProjects that are dead or dying. How can some tiny municipalities and exclaves generate highly active, cross-language, multimedia platforms be successful while the projects representing many sovereign countries and entire continents wallow in obscurity? Today, we'll search for answers among geographic projects large and small, highly active and barely functioning, enthusiastic about the future and mired in past conflicts.
Eleven articles, including one on Franz Kafka, three lists, one image, and one portal were promoted to 'featured' status this week.

The Signpost: 29 October 2012

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The first round of the Wikimedia Foundation's new financial arrangements has proceeded as planned, with the publication of scores and feedback by Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) staff on applications for funding by 11 entities—10 chapters, independent membership organisations supporting the WMF's mission in different countries, and the foundation itself. The results are preliminary assessments that will soon be put to the FDC's seven voting members and two non-voting board representatives. The FDC in turn will send its recommendations to the board of trustees on 15 November, which will announce its decision by 15 December. Funding applications have been on-wiki since 1 October, and the talk pages of applications were open for community comment and discussion from 2 to 22 October, though apart from queries by FDC staff, there was little activity.
This week, we're checking out ways to motivate editors and recognize valuable contributions by focusing on the awards and rewards of WikiProject Military History. Anyone unfamiliar with WikiProject Military History is encouraged to start at the report's first article about the project and make your way forward. While many WikiProjects provide a barnstar that can be awarded to helpful contributors, WikiProject Military History has gone a step further by creating a variety of awards with different criteria ranging from the all-purpose WikiChevrons to rewards for participating in drives and improving special topics to medals for improving articles up to A-class status to the coveted "Military Historian of the Year" award.
The TimedMediaHandler extension (TMH), which brings dramatic improvements to MediaWiki's video handling capabilities, will go live to the English Wikipedia this week following a long and turbulent development, WMF Director of Platform Engineering Rob Lanphier announced on Monday ... Wikidata.org, a new repository designed to host interwiki links, launched this week and will begin accepting links shortly. The site, which is one half of the forthcoming Wikidata trial (the other half being the Wikidata client, which will be deployed to the Hungarian Wikipedia shortly) will also act as a testing area for phase 2 of Wikidata (centralised data storage). The longer term plan is for Wikidata.org to become a "Wikimedia Commons for data" as phases 2 and 3 (dynamic lists) are developed, project managers say.
Thirteen articles, ten lists, nine images, one topic, and one portal were promoted to featured after peer reviews.
A paper in the Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, coming from the social control perspective and employing the repertory grid technique, has contributed interesting observations about the governance of Wikipedia.

The Signpost: 05 November 2012

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J Milburn is a British editor who has been on the site since 2006. He is one of two judges of the WikiCup. Here, he uses an op-ed to explain the way the WikiCup works and to review this year's competition, which ended recently.
The results of most of the national heats for Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM) have been published on Commons. A maximum of 10 images have been submitted by all but eight of the 34 participating countries, and the international jury for what is the largest competition of its type in the world is set to announce the global winner in four weeks' time.
Hurricane Sandy was the largest Atlantic hurricane on record and has caused millions of dollars in damage. Naturally, Wikipedia covered it. But was Wikipedia's coverage unbiased?
The Signpost's weekly roundup of topics for discussion on the English Wikipedia.
This week, the Signpost interviewed two editors. The first, PumpkinSky, collaborated with Gerda Arendt in writing the recently featured article on Franz Kafka and won second prize in the Core contest last August. The second, Cwmhiraeth, collaborated with Thompsma in promoting the article Frog, which was featured last week. We asked them about the special challenges faced while writing Core content and things to watch out for.
The Wikimedia Foundation's engineering report for October 2012 was published this week on the Wikimedia Techblog and on the MediaWiki wiki, giving an overview of all Foundation-sponsored technical operations in that month. TimedMediaHandler also went live.
This week, The Signpost sings along with WikiProject Songs which focuses on articles about songs of every generation and genre. The project initially began as a rough outline in October 2002 and was reimagined in March 2004 using its parent WikiProject Albums as a template.

The Signpost: 12 November 2012

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Last week, media outlets reported a ruling by a German court on the problem of businesses using Wikipedia for marketing purposes. The issue goes beyond the direct management of marketing-related edits by Wikipedians; it involves cross-monitoring and interacting among market competitors themselves on Wikipedia. A company that sells dietary supplements made from frankincense had taken a competitor to court. The recently published judgment by the Higher Regional Court of Munich, in dealing with the German Wikipedia article on frankincense products, was handed down in May and is based on European competition law.
Thirteen articles, six lists, and five images were promoted to 'featured' status last week.
In late September, the Technology report published its findings about (particularly median) code review times. To the 23,900 changesets analysed the first time (the data for which has been updated), the Signpost added data from the 9,000 or so changesets contributed between September 17 and November 9 to a total of 93,000 reviews across 45,000 patchsets. Bots and self-reviews were also discarded, but reviews made by a different user in the form of a superseding patch were retained. Finally, users were categorised by hand according to whether they would be best regarded as staff or volunteers. The new analyses were consistent with the predictions of the previous analysis.
As promised, we're expanding our horizons by featuring projects that cover underrepresented areas of the globe. This week, we headed to WikiProject Brazil which keeps track of articles about the world's largest Portuguese-speaking country. The project has shown spurts of activity and continues to serve as a hub for discussions, despite the project's collaborations, peer reviews, and outreach activities being largely inactive.

The Signpost: 19 November 2012

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The WMF's Funds Dissemination Committee has published its recommendations for the inaugural round 1 of funding. Requests totalled US$10.4M, nearly all of the FDC's budget for both first and second rounds. The seven-member committee of community volunteers appointed in September advises the WMF board on the distribution of grant funds among applying Wikimedia organizations. The committee, which has a separate operating budget of $276k for salaries and expenses, considered 12 applications for funds, from 11 chapters and from the WMF itself for its non-core activities. The decision-making process included community and FDC staff input after October 1, the closing date for submissions. Taken together, the volunteers decided to endorse an average of 81% of the funding sought—a total of $8.43M, which went to 11 of the 12 applicants. This leaves $2.71M to be distributed in round 2, for which applications are due in little more than three months' time.
This week, we spent some time with WikiProject Turtles. The young project started in January 2011 and has accumulated 5 Featured Articles, 3 Featured Lists, and 6 Featured Pictures. The project maintains a combined to-do list and hot articles meter, a popular pages ranking, and a collection of resources for turtle articles. We interviewed Faendalimas and NYMFan69-86.
WMF Executive Director Sue Gardner was forced to clarify this week that proposed structural changes to the Foundation's Engineering and Product Development Department were not a "done deal" and that it was "important that you [particularly affected staff] realise that ... your input is wanted". The reorganisation, announced on November 5 and planned for the middle of next year, will see its two components split off into their own departments.
Seven featured articles, four featured lists and ten featured pictures – including the photograph that spawned the Streisand effect – were promoted this week.
Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include the question of ticker symbol placement and the notability of various types of creative performer.

The Signpost: 26 November 2012

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On November 24, a general assembly of Wikimedia Germany (WMDE) voted on the fate of the Wikimedia Toolserver, a central external piece of technical infrastructure supporting the editing communities with volunteer-developed scripts and webpages of various kinds that are assisting in performing mostly menial tasks.
An open-access preprint presents the results from a study attempting to predict early box office revenues from Wikipedia traffic and activity data. The authors – a team of computational social scientists from Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Aalto University and the Central European University – submit that behavioral patterns on Wikipedia can be used for accurate forecasting, matching and in some cases outperforming the use of social media data for predictive modeling. The results, based on a corpus of 312 English Wikipedia articles on movies released in 2010, indicate that the joint editing activity and traffic measures on Wikipedia are strong predictors of box office revenue for highly successful movies.
Six articles, one list, and six images were promoted to 'featured' status this week.
Wikidata, the new "Wikimedia Commons for data" and the first new Wikimedia project since 2006, reached 100,000 entries this week. The project aims to be a single, human- and machine-readable database for common data, spanning across all Wikipedia projects, which will "lead to a higher consistency and quality within Wikipedia articles, as well as increased availability of information in the smaller language editions" while lowering the burden on Wikipedia's volunteer editors—whose numbers have stalled overall, and continue to dwindle on the English Wikipedia.
This week, we uncovered WikiProject Deletion Sorting, Wikipedia's most active project by number of edits to all the project's pages. This special project seeks to increase participation in Articles for Deletion nominations by categorizing the AfD discussions by various topic areas that may draw the attention of editors. The project was started in August 2005 with manual processes that are continued today by a bevy of bots, categories, and transclusions. The project took inspiration from WikiProject Stub Sorting and some historical discussions on deletion reform. As the sheer number of AfDs continues to grow, the project is seeking better tools to manage the deletion sorting process and attract editors to comment on these deletion discussions.

The Signpost: 03 December 2012

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The global jury of Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM), the world’s largest photo contest, announced its results on 3 December.
Three articles, two lists, and four images were promoted to 'featured' status this week.
Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include...
Deployments of MediaWiki 1.21wmf5 cause widespread problems for users across wikis when HTML and CSS updates came temporarily out of sync. On the first wikis targeted for deployment, this was caused by the different cache invalidation rates for HTML (typically one month) and CSS (typically five minutes). The retrospective on the problem highlighted the fact that that the test wiki – the WMF's answer to a production environment that individual developers can no longer practically emulate themselves – actually demonstrated the exact problem that would later manifest itself on production wikis. It went unnoticed.
This week, we went searching for white roses in the lands of WikiProject Yorkshire. The project began in May 2007 as a way to improve articles about the historic English county of Yorkshire and its modern-day administrative divisions and cities. Since then, the project has accumulated 31 Featured Articles, 14 Featured Lists, 91 Good Articles, and a monstrous list of Did You Know entries. Despite all of the effort improving Yorkshire articles, the project has experienced waning participation in the last few years. The project still publishes a newsletter each month, monitors the popularity of and recent changes to its articles, maintains a portal, and collects resources for contributors to use.

The Signpost: 10 December 2012

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At the time of writing, this year's election has just closed after a two-week voting period. The eight seats were contested by 21 candidates. Of these, 15 have not been arbitrators (Beeblebrox, Count Iblis, Guerillero, Jc37, Keilana, Ks0stm, Kww, NuclearWarfare, Pgallert, RegentsPark, Richwales, Salvio giuliano, Timotheus Canens, Worm That Turned, and YOLO Swag); four candidates are sitting arbitrators (David Fuchs, Elen of the Roads, Jclemens, and Newyorkbrad); and two have previously served on the committee (Carcharoth and Coren). Four Wikimedia stewards from outside the English Wikipedia stepped forward as election scrutineers: Pundit, from the Polish Wikipedia; Teles, from the Portuguese Wikipedia; Quentinv57, from the French Wikipedia; and Mardetanha, from the Persian Wikipedia. The scrutineers' task is to ensure that the election is free of multiple votes from the same person, to tally the results, and to announce them. The full results are expected to be released within the next few days and will be reported in next week's edition of the Signpost.
Eight articles, four images, six lists, and one topic were promoted to 'featured' status on the English Wikipedia this week.
The Visual Editor project – an attempt to create the first WMF-deployable WYSIWYG editor – will go live on its first Wikipedias imminently following nearly six months of testing on MediaWiki.org. A full explanatory blog post accompanied the news, explaining the project and its setup. Once a user has opted-in, the editor can handle basic formatting, headings and lists, while safely ignoring elements it is yet to understand, including references, categories, templates, tables and images. At the last count, approximately 2% of pages would break in some way if a user tried the Visual Editor on them; it is unclear whether any specific protection will be put in place beyond relying on editors to spot problems.
In celebration of Human Rights Day, we checked out WikiProject Human Rights. Started in February 2006, the project has grown to include over 3,000 articles, including 12 Featured Articles, 3 Featured Lists, 66 Good Articles, a large collection of Did You Know entries, and a few mentions "in the news". The project monitors listings of popular pages and cleanup tags. We interviewed Khazar2, Cirt, and Boud.

Thank You for Wikipedia Freeware Picture

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Hello, My name is Duane Hurst and I recently made a free (non-commercial) English web site to share information with people. I added links to your Wikipedia/Wikimedia freeware picture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:07-05BarahonaDRCliff.jpg). I also gave credit to you on my web pages for your work. Thank you for sharing with the public. My website is:

http://www.freeenglishsite.com/

I add pictures such as yours to one of the following major sections of my site: 1. World section - contains information and over 10,000 images of every world country and territory. Link at: http://www.freeenglishsite.com/world/index.htm

2. USA section - contains information and images of every USA state and territory. Link at: http://www.freeenglishsite.com/world/usa/index.htm

3. English section - "Mel and Wes" lessons in conversation format. Stories are located in various USA states and world countries such as China, England, Germany, Japan, Mexico and Thailand. Each lesson has many slang terms and idioms, which I link to my Slang Dictionary. This eventually will have over 5,000 terms. Currently, it has about 3,000 slang and idioms. I regularly add new lessons and slang terms. Link at: http://www.freeenglishsite.com/english/lessons/index.htm Slang Dictionary link at: http://www.freeenglishsite.com/english/slang/Eslang_a.htm

Prior to retirement, I taught English at several private and public universities in the United States.

Please share this free site with your friends. I hope all will enjoy the pictures and find the English information useful. Sincerely,  Duane Hurst in Utah, USA

Email address: duanerhurst@freeenglishsite.com --75.169.27.34 (talk) 17:18, 16 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 17 December 2012

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Seven days after the close of voting, the results of the recent Arbitration Committee (ArbCom) elections have been announced by two of the four stewards overseeing the election, Mardetanha and Pundit. Of the 21 candidates, 13 managed to gain positive support-to-oppose ratios, and the top eight will be appointed to two-year terms on the committee by Jimbo Wales, exercising one of his traditional responsibilities.
In the past year, we've tried to expand our horizons by looking at how WikiProjects work in other languages of Wikipedia. Following in the footsteps of our previously interviewed Czech and French projects, we visited the German Wikipedia to explore WikiProjekt Computerspiel (WikiProject Computer Games). The project dates back to November 2004 and has become the back-end of the Computer Games Portal, which covers all video games regardless of platform. Editors writing about computer games at the German Wikipedia deal with unique cultural and legal challenges, ranging from a lack of fair use precedents to the limited availability of games deemed harmful for youths to strong standards for the inclusion of material on the German Wikipedia.
Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include ...
This week's big story on the English Wikipedia is obviously the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting (which, by the time you read this, may be renamed 2012 Connecticut school shooting). Quickly created and nominated for deletion not once but twice, and both times speedily kept, the article saw the expected flurry of edits (a look at the history suggests an average of at least one a minute over the first day and a half) and more than half a million page views on the first full day.
Four articles, three lists, and five images were promoted to 'featured' status on the English Wikipedia this week, including a picture of a three-week old donkey (also known as an 'ass').
MediaWiki users (including Wikimedians) can now organise themselves into groups, receiving recognition and support-in-kind from the Wikimedia Foundation. The project, backed by new Wikimedia technical contributor coordinator Quim Gil, has seen five proposals lodged in its first week of operation. The idea of MediaWiki groups mimics that of Wikimedia User Groups.

The Signpost: 24 December 2012

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As part of its new focus on core responsibilities, the Wikimedia Foundation is reforming its grant schemes so that they are more accessible to individual volunteers. The community is invited to look at proposals for a new scheme—for now called Individual engagement grants (IEGs)—which is due to kick off on January 15. On Meta, the community is once again debating the two new offline participation models—user groups (open membership groups designed to be easy to form) and thematic organizations (incorporated non-profits representing the Wikimedia movement and supporting work on a specific theme within or across countries). In a consultation process on Meta that will last until January 15, the community will be discussing WMF proposals for a new guideline on conflicts of interests concerning Wikimedia resources. The draft covers COI issues for both volunteers and organizations across the movement.
This week, we spent some time with WikiProject A Song of Ice and Fire, which focuses on the eponymous series of high fantasy literature, the television series Game of Thrones, and related works by George R. R. Martin. The project was started in July 2006 and has grown to include 11 Good Articles maintained by a small yet enthusiastic band of editors.
Seven articles and two lists were promoted to 'featured' status this week, including List of battlecruisers. The article covers all of the battlecruisers—which were a type of warship similar in size to a battleship but with several defining characteristics—ever planned or constructed. The last British battlecruiser built, HMS Hood, is pictured at right.
Efforts were stepped up this week to sow a feeling of trust between the major parties with an interest in the future of the Toolserver. The tool- and bot-hosting server – more accurately servers – are currently operated by German chapter, Wikimedia Germany, with assistance from the Foundation and numerous volunteers, including long-time system administrator Daniel Baur (more commonly known by his pseudonym DaB). However, those parties have more recently failed to see eye-to-eye on the trajectory for the Toolserver, which is scheduled to be replaced by Wikimedia Labs in late 2013, with increasing concern about the tone of discussions.

Barnstar

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The Gastropod Barnstar
For the help that you Tim Ross have provided for Wikiproject Gastropods this year, I award you this Gastropod Barnstar. I hope we all have a good New Year 2013. Congratulations and all the very best wishes for the coming year! Invertzoo (talk) 20:03, 1 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 31 December 2012

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In the impersonal, detached Colosseum that is Wikipedia, people find it much easier to put their thumbs down. As such, many people active in the Wikimedia movement have witnessed a precipitous decline in civil discourse. This is far from a new trend, yet many people would agree that it all seemed somehow worse in 2012.
A recent, poorly researched and poorly written story in the Register highlighted the perceived "cash rich" status of the Wikimedia movement. ... The Telegraph and Daily Dot, among others, have alleged that there are multiple links between the WMF, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, and Kazakhstan's government, which is, for all intents and purposes, a one-party non-democratic state.
On 27 December the Wikimedia Foundation announced the conclusion of their ninth annual fundraiser, which attracted more than 1.2 million donors. The appeal reached its goal of US$25 million, even though fundraising banners ran for only nine days.
In the first of two features, the Signpost this week looks back on 2012, a year when developers finally made inroads into three issues that had been put off for far too long (the need for editors to learn wiki-markup, the lack of a proper template language and the centralisation of data) but left all three projects far from finished.
Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include ...
Brion Vibber has been a Wikipedia editor for nearly 11 years and was the first person officially hired to work for the Wikimedia Foundation. He was instrumental in early development of the MediaWiki software and is now the lead software architect for the foundation's mobile development team.
At the beginning of the year, we began a series of interviews with editors who have worked hard to combat systemic bias through the creation of featured content; although we haven't seen six installments yet, we've also had some delightful interviews with people who write articles on some of our most core topics. Now, as we close the year, I would like to present some of my own musings on the state of featured content—especially as it pertains to systemic bias and core topics.
This week, we're celebrating the New Year from Times Square by interviewing WikiProject New York City. Since December 2004, WikiProject NYC has had the difficult task of maintaining articles about the largest city in the United States, many of which are also among the the most viewed articles on Wikipedia. The project is home to 22 Featured Articles, 7 Featured Lists, 32 pieces of Featured Media, and a lengthy list of Did You Know? entries.
Northeastern University researcher Brian Keegan analyzed the gathering of hundreds of Wikipedians to cover the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy. ... A First Monday article reviews several aspects of the Wikipedia participation in the 18 January 2012, protests against SOPA and PIPA legislation in the USA. The paper focuses on the question of legitimacy, looking at how the Wikipedia community arrived at the decision to participate in those protests.

The Signpost: 07 January 2013

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Meta is the wiki that has coordinated a wide range of cross-project Wikimedia activities, such as the activities of stewards, the archiving of chapter reports, and WMF trustee elections. The project has long been an out-of-the-way corner for technocratic working groups, unaccountable mandarins, and in-house bureaucratic proceedings. Largely ignored by the editing communities of projects such as Wikipedia and organizations that serve them, Meta has evolved into a huge and relatively disorganized repository, where the few archivists running it also happen to be the main authors of some of its key documents. While Meta is well-designed for supporting the librarians and mandarins who stride along its corridors, visitors tend to find the site impenetrable—or so many people have argued over the past decade. This impenetrability runs counter to Meta's increasingly central role in the Wikimedia movement.
The dawning of a new year offers both a fresh slate and an opportunity to revisit our previous adventures. 2012 marked the fifth anniversary of the WikiProject Report and was the column's most productive year with 52 articles published. In addition to sharing the experiences of Wikipedia's many active projects, we expanded our scope to highlight unique projects from other languages of Wikipedia, and tracked down all of the former editors-in-chief of the Signpost for an introspective interview ... While last year's "Summer Sports Series" may have drawn yawns from some readers, a special report on "Neglected Geography" elicited more comments than any previous issue of the Report. Following in the footsteps of our past three recaps, we'll spend this week looking back at the trials and tribulations of the WikiProjects we encountered in 2012. Where are they now?
The past 12 months have seen a multitude of issues and events in the Wikimedia foundation, the movement at large, and the English Wikipedia. The movement, now in its second decade, is growing apace in its international reach, cultural and linguistic diversity, technical development, and financial complexity; and many factors have combined to produce what has in many ways been the biggest, most dynamic year in the movement's history. Looking back at 2012, we faced a difficult task in doing justice to all of the notable events in a single article; so the Signpost has selected just a few examples from outside the anglosphere, from the English Wikipedia, and from the Wikimedia Foundation, rather than attempting to cover every detail that happened.
Over the past year, 963 pieces of featured content were promoted. The most active of the featured content programs was featured article candidates (FAC), which promoted an average of 31 articles a month. This was followed by featured picture candidates (FPC; 28 a month). Coming in third was featured list candidates (FLC; 20 a month). Featured topic and featured portal candidates remained sluggish, each promoting fewer than 20 items over the year.
Following on from last week's reflections on 2012, this week the Technology report looks ahead to 2013, a year that will almost certainly be dominated by the juggernauts of Wikidata, Lua and the Visual Editor.

The Signpost: 14 January 2013

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After six years without creating a new class of content projects, the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) has finally expanded into a new area: travel. Wikivoyage was formally launched—though without a traditional ship's christening—on 15 January, having started as a beta trial on 10 November. Wikivoyage has been taken under the WMF's umbrella on the argument that information resources that help with travel are educational and therefore within the scope of the foundation's mission.g
On January 16, voting for the first round of the 2012 Wikimedia Commons Picture of the Year contest will begin. Wikimedia editors with 75 edits or one project are eligible to vote to select their favorite image featured in 2012. ... On January 15, the foundation launched its latest grant scheme, called Individual Engagement Grants (IEG).
This week, we set off for the final frontier with WikiProject Astronomy. The project was started in August 2006 using the now-defunct WikiProject Space as inspiration. WikiProject Astronomy is home to 101 pieces of Featured material and 148 Good Articles maintained by a band of 186 members. The project maintains a portal, works on an assortment of vital astronomy articles, and provides resources for editors adding or requesting astronomy images.
Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include...
Comforting those grieving after the loss of a loved one is an impossible task. How then, can an entire community be comforted? The Internet struggled to answer that question this week after the suicide of Aaron Swartz, a celebrated free-culture activist, programmer, and Wikipedian at the age of 26.
Continuing our recap of the featured content promoted in 2012, this week the Signpost interviewed three editors, asking them about featured articles which stuck out in their minds. Two, Ian Rose and Graham Colm, are current featured article candidates (FAC) delegates, while Brian Boulton is an active featured article writer and reviewer.
The opening of the Doncram case marks the end of almost 6 months without any open cases, the longest in the history of the Committee.
The Wikidata client extension was successfully deployed to the Hungarian Wikipedia on 14 January, its team reports. The interwiki language links can now come from wikidata.org, though "manual" interwiki links remain functional, overriding those from the central repository.

The Signpost: 21 January 2013

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The English Wikipedia's requests for adminship (RfA) process has entered another cycle of proposed reforms. Over the last three weeks, various proposals, ranging from as large as a transition to a representative democracy to as small as a required edit count and service length, have been debated on the RfA talk page. The total number of new administrators for 2012 was just 28, barely more than half of 2011's total and less than a quarter of 2009's total. The total number of unsuccessful RfAs has fallen as well. These declining numbers, which were described in what would now be considered a successful year (2010) as an emerging "wikigeneration gulf", have been coupled with a sharp decline in the number of active administrators since February 2008 (1,021), reaching a low of 653 in November 2012.
This week, we spent some time with WikiProject Linguistics. Started in January 2004, the project has grown to include 7 Featured Articles, 4 Featured Lists, 2 A-class Articles, and 15 Good Articles maintained by 43 members. The project's members keep an eye on several watchlists, maintain the linguistics category, and continue to build a collection of Did You Know? entries. The project is home to six task forces and works with WikiProject Languages and WikiProject Writing Systems.
This week, the Signpost's featured content section continues its recap of 2012 by looking at featured topics. We interviewed Grapple X and GamerPro64, who are delegates at the featured topic candidates.
The opening of the Doncram case marks the end of almost 6 months without any open cases, the longest in the history of the Committee.
On 22 January, WMF staff and contractors switched incoming, non-cached requests (including edits) to the Foundation's newer data centre in Ashburn, Virginia, making it responsible for handling almost all regular traffic. For the first time since 2004, virtually no traffic will be handled by the WMF's other facility in Tampa, Florida.

The Signpost: 28 January 2013

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On New Year's Day, the Daily Dot reported that a "massive Wikipedia hoax" had been exposed after more than five years. The article on the Bicholim conflict had been listed as a "Good Article" for the past half-decade, yet turned out to be an ingenious hoax. Created in July 2007 by User:A-b-a-a-a-a-a-a-b-a, the meticulously detailed piece was approved as a GA in October 2007. A subsequent submission for FA was unsuccessful, but failed to discover that the article's key sources were made up. While the User:A-b-a-a-a-a-a-a-b-a account then stopped editing, the hoax remained listed as a Good Article for five years, receiving in the region of 150 to 250 page views a month in 2012. It was finally nominated for deletion on 29 December 2012 by ShelfSkewed—who had discovered the hoax while doing work on Category:Articles with invalid ISBNs—and deleted the same day.
A special issue of the American Behavioral Scientist is devoted to "open collaboration".
When we challenged the masters of WikiProject Chess to an interview, Sjakkalle answered our call. WikiProject Chess dates back to December 2003 and has grown to include 4 Featured Articles and 15 Good Articles maintained by over 100 members. The project typically operates independently of other WikiProjects, although the project would theoretically be a child of WikiProject Board and Table Games (interviewed in 2011). WikiProject Chess provides a collection of resources, seeks missing photographs of chess players, and helps determine ways that Wikipedia's coverage of chess can be expanded.
New discussions on the English Wikipedia include...
To many Wikimedians, the Khan Academy would seem like a close cousin: the academy is a non-profit educational website and a development of the massive open online course concept that has delivered over 227 million lessons in 22 different languages. Its mission is to give "a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere." This complements Wikipedia's stated goal to "imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge", then go and create that world. It should come as no surprise, then, that the highly successful GLAM-Wiki (galleries, libraries, archives, museums) initiative has partnered with the Khan Academy's Smarthistory project to further both its and Wikipedia's goals.
This week, the Signpost featured content section continues its recap of 2012 by looking at featured lists. We interviewed FLC directors Giants2008 and The Rambling Man as well as active reviewer and writer PresN.
The Doncram case has continued into its third week.
As reported in last week's "Technology Report", the WMF's data centre in Ashburn, Virginia took over responsibility for almost all of the remaining functions that had previously been handled by their old facility in Tampa, Florida on 22 January. The Signpost reported then that few problems had arisen since handover. Unfortunately that was not to remain the case, with reports of caching problems (which typically only affect anonymous users) starting to come in.

The Signpost: 04 February 2013

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On February 12, 2012, news of Whitney Houston's death brought 425 hits per second to her Wikipedia article, the highest peak traffic on any article since at least January 2010. It is broadly known that Wikipedia is the sixth most popular website on the Internet, but the English Wikipedia now has over 4 million articles and 29 million total pages. Much less attention has been given to traffic patterns and trends in content viewed.
Article feedback, at least through talk pages, has been a part of Wikipedia since its inception in 2001. The use of these pages, though, has typically been limited to experienced editors who know how to use them.
This week, we took a trip to WikiProject Norway. Started in February 2005, WikiProject Norway has become the home for almost 34,000 articles about the world's best place to live, including 16 Featured Articles, 19 Featured Lists, and nearly 250 Good Articles. The project works on a to do list, maintains a categorization system, watches article alerts, and serves as a discussion forum.
This week, the Signpost's featured content section continues its recap of 2012 by looking at featured portals, a small yet active part of the project. We interviewed FPOC directors Cirt and OhanaUnited.
On 30 January 2013, Kevin Morris in the Daily Dot summarised the bitter debates in Wikipedia around capitalisation or non-capitalisation of the word "into" in the title of the upcoming Star Trek film, Star Trek Into Darkness.
Following the deployment of the Wikidata client to the Hungarian Wikipedia last month, the client was also deployed to the Italian and Hebrew Wikipedias on Wednesday. The next target for the client, which automatically provides phase 1 functionality, is the English Wikipedia, with a deployment date of 11 February already set.

The Signpost: 11 February 2013

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Wikipedia has a long, daresay storied history with hoaxes; our internal list documents 198 of the largest ones we have caught as of 4 January 2013. Why?
Six articles, one list, and fourteen pictures were promoted to "featured" states this week on the English Wikipedia.
This week, we got the details on WikiProject Infoboxes.
Foreign Policy has published a report on editing of the Wikipedia articles on the Senkaku Islands and Senkaku Islands dispute. The uninhabited islands are under the control of Japan, but China and Taiwan are asserting rival territorial claims. Tensions have risen of late—and not just in the waters surrounding the actual islands.
Wikimedia UK, the non-profit organization devoted to furthering the goals of the Wikimedia movement in the United Kingdom, has published the findings of a governance review conducted by Compass Partnership.
Current discussions on the English Wikipedia include...
The WMF's engineering report for January was published this week.

The Signpost: 18 February 2013

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This week, we put our life in the hands of WikiProject Airlines. Starting in July 2005, the project has improved articles relating to airline companies, alliances, destination lists, and travel benefit programs. WikiProject Airlines has accumulated over 4,000 pages, including 4 Featured Articles and 26 Good Articles.
As of time of writing, twenty wikis (including the English, French and Hungarian Wikipedias) are in the process of getting access to the Lua scripting language, an optional substitute for the clunky template code that exists at present.
On February 15, the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) declared 'victory' in its counter-lawsuit against Internet Brands (IB), the owner of Wikitravel and the operator of several online media, community, and e-commerce sites in vertical markets. The lawsuit clears the last remaining hurdles for the WMF's new travel guide project, Wikivoyage.
Sue Gardner's visit to Australia sparked a number of interviews in the Australian press. An interview published in the Daily Telegraph on 12 February 2013, titled "Data plans 'unnerving': Wikipedia boss", saw Gardner comment on Australian plans to store personal internet and telephone data. The planned measure, intended to assist crime prevention, would involve internet service providers and mobile phone firms storing customer usage data for up to two years.
Two articles, nine lists, and thirteen pictures were promoted to 'featured' status on the English Wikipedia this week.

The Signpost: 25 February 2013

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On 13 February 2013, PR Report, the German sister publication of PR Week, published an article announcing that PR agency Fleishman-Hillard was offering a new analysis tool enabling companies to assess their articles in the German-language Wikipedia: the Wikipedia Corporate Index (WCI).
"Wikipedia and Encyclopedic Production" by Jeff Loveland (a historian of encyclopedias) and Joseph Reagle situates Wikipedia within the context of encyclopedic production historically, arguing that the features that many claim to be unique about Wikipedia actually have roots in encyclopedias of the past.
The Wikimedia Commons 2012 Picture of the Year contest has ended, with the winner being Pair of Merops apiaster feeding, taken by Pierre Dalous. The picture shows a pair of European Bee-eaters in a mating ritual—the male bird (right) has tossed the wasp into the air, and he will eventually offer it to the female (left).
Current discussions include...
Six articles, three lists, and twelve images were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this month.
How can we measure the challenges facing a project or determine a WikiProject's productivity? Several prominent projects have been doing it for years: WikiWork.
Wikimedia Germany (WMDE) this week committed itself to funding the Wikidata development team, ending fears that phase three would be abandoned.

WikiCup 2013 February newsletter

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Round 1 is now over. The top 64 scorers have progressed to round 2, where they have been randomly split into eight pools of eight. At the end of April, the top two from each pool, as well as the 16 highest scorers from those remaining, will progress to round 3. Commiserations to those eliminated; if you're interested in still being involved in the WikiCup, able and willing reviewers will always be needed, and if you're interested in getting involved with other collaborative projects, take a look at the WikiWomen's Month discussed below.

Round 1 saw 21 competitors with over 100 points, which is fantastic; that suggests that this year's competition is going to be highly competative. Our lower scores indicate this, too: A score of 19 was required to reach round 2, which was significantly higher than the 11 points required in 2012 and 8 points required in 2011. The score needed to reach round 3 will be higher, and may depend on pool groupings. In 2011, 41 points secured a round 3 place, while in 2012, 65 was needed. Our top three scorers in round 1 were:

  1. Colorado Sturmvogel_66 (submissions), primarily for an array of warship GAs.
  2. London Miyagawa (submissions), primarily for an array of did you knows and good articles, some of which were awarded bonus points.
  3. New South Wales Casliber (submissions), due in no small part to Canis Minor, a featured article awarded a total of 340 points. A joint submission with Alaska Keilana (submissions), this is the highest scoring single article yet submitted in this year's competition.

Other contributors of note include:

Featured topics have still played no part in this year's competition, but once again, a curious contribution has been offered by British Empire The C of E (submissions): did you know that there is a Shit Brook in Shropshire? With April Fools' Day during the next round, there will probably be a good chance of more unusual articles...

March sees the WikiWomen's History Month, a series of collaborative efforts to aid the women's history WikiProject to coincide with Women's History Month and International Women's Day. A number of WikiCup participants have already started to take part. The project has a to-do list of articles needing work on the topic of women's history. Those interested in helping out with the project can find articles in need of attention there, or, alternatively, add articles to the list. Those interested in collaborating on articles on women's history are also welcome to use the WikiCup talk page to find others willing to lend a helping hand. Another collaboration currently running is an an effort from WikiCup participants to coordinate a number of Easter-themed did you know articles. Contributions are welcome!

A few final administrative issues. From now on, submission pages will need only a link to the article and a link to the nomination page, or, in the case of good article reviews, a link to the review only. See your submissions' page for details. This will hopefully make updating submission pages a little less tedious. If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article candidates, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews. Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. J Milburn (talk • email) and The ed17 (talk • email) J Milburn (talk) 01:07, 1 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 04 March 2013

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Recently I was having a casual conversation with a friend, and he mentioned that he spent too many hours a day playing video games. I responded with a comment that I, too, spent way too much time on an activity of my own – Wikipedia. In an attempt to reply with a relevant remark, he offered something along the lines of: "So have you ever written anything?" After a second, I quickly answered yes, but I was still in shock over his question. It seemed to be rooted in a belief on his part that using Wikipedia meant just reading the articles, and that editing was something that someone, hypothetically, might do, but not really more likely than randomly counting to 7,744.
"WP:OUTING", the normally little-noticed policy corner of the English Wikipedia that governs the release of editors' personal information, has suddenly been brought to wider attention after long-term contributor and featured article writer Cla68 was indefinitely blocked last week. This snowballed into several other blocks, a desysopping by ArbCom, and a request for arbitration.
Three articles, six lists, and three pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week, including the article on "Laura Secord", who was a Canadian heroine of the War of 1812 best known for warning the British of an impending American attack.
This week, we tuned to WikiProject Television Stations, a project that dates back to March 2004. WikiProject Television Stations primarily focuses on local stations, national networks, television markets, and other topics related to television channels in North America, the Caribbean, and some Pacific countries. The project has a fair bit of work ahead of them with over 4,000 unassessed articles and only one Good Article out of 626 assessed articles, giving the project a relative WikiWork rating of 5.262.

The Signpost: 11 March 2013

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I am pleased to announce that the Signpost and Wikizine have reached an in-principle agreement that will see Wikizine published as a special Signpost section at the beginning of each month.
During March, three of the Wikimedia Foundation's grantmaking schemes on Meta will reach important crossroads, which will shape how both the editing communities and Wikimedia institutions handle the distribution of donors' money across the movement.
Twelve articles, five lists, and eight pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week, including an image of the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, a front-engine, 2-seat luxury grand tourer automobile developed by Mercedes-AMG.
There are three open cases, and a final decision has been given in the Doncram case.
This week, we spent some time with WikiProject U.S. Supreme Court Cases.
The WMF has aborted a plan to deploy version 5 of the Article Feedback tool (AFTv5) rolled out to all English Wikipedia articles.

The Signpost: 18 March 2013

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Just two months into his second term as an arbitrator on the English Wikipedia, Coren resigned from the Committee with a blistering attack on his fellow arbitrators. At the heart of a strongly worded statement, posted both on his talk page and the arbitration notice board, was the claim that ArbCom has become politicised to the extent that "it can no longer do the job it was ostensibly elected for".
This week, we composed a tribute to WikiProject Composers. The project was created during the final hours of 2004 and finalized in early January 2005. It has grown to encompass over 8,000 pages, including 26 Featured Articles and 23 Good Articles. WikiProject Composers faces a difficult workload, with a relative WikiWork rating of 5.45.
Ask librarians what they think about Wikipedia and you might get some interesting answers. Some will throw up their hands about the laziness of the Google generation and their overdependence on Wikipedia. Some see it as the "competition". And some will tell you it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Nine articles, seven lists, eleven images, and one topic were promoted to "featured status" this week on the English Wikipedia.
On Thursday, arbitrator Coren resigned, following closely on the heels of Hersfold's resignation on Wednesday. There are two open cases. A final decision has been given in the Richard case.
The WMF's engineering report for January was published this week, giving an overview of all Foundation-sponsored technical operations in that month.

The Signpost: 25 March 2013

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Our travels have brought us to Pittsburgh, the American city known for steelworks and bridges.
Seven articles, one list, six pictures, and one topic were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.
This case, brought by Mark Arsten, was opened over a dispute over transgenderism topics that began off-wiki. The evidence phase was scheduled to close March 7, 2013, with a proposed decision due to be posted by March 29.
Sue Gardner, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation since December 2007, has announced her plans to leave the position when a successor is recruited. Ranked as one of the most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine, Sue Gardner is widely associated with the rise of the Wikimedia movement as a major custodian of human knowledge and cultural products.
Since its inception in May 2011, the Foundation's Visual Editor project has grown to become one of its main focuses. As the project nears its two-year birthday, the Signpost caught up with Visual Editor project manager James Forrester to discuss the progress on the project.
A paper presented at last month's CSCW Conference observes that "Mass collaboration systems are often characterized as unstructured organizations lacking rule and order", yet Wikipedia has a well developed body of policies to support it as an organization.

The Signpost: 01 April 2013

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The Wikimedia Foundation has released its latest report card for the movement's hundreds of sites. The WMF has published statistics about the sites since 2009, but only recently have these been expanded in scope and depth to provide a rich source of data for investigating the movement and the world it serves. Dutch-born Erik Zachte is the driver of the WMF's statistical output, and he writes that the report card and accompanying traffic statistics comprise "enough tables, bar charts and plots to keep you busy for a while".
This week's Report is dedicated to answering our readers' questions about WikiProjects. The following Frequently Asked Questions came from feedback at the WikiProject Report's talk page, the WikiProject Council's talk page, and from previous lists of FAQs.
The Signpost interviewed prolific featured content creator and former Signpost "featured content" report writer Crisco 1492 about ? and Indonesian cinema. ? was the "Today's featured article" for 1 April 2013. 1 April is popularly known as April Fools' Day in many countries.
The first round of individual engagement grants (IEGs) have been awarded, disbursing about $55.6k (€42.7k) to seven applicants.
A case brought by Lecen involves several articles about former Argentinian president Juan Manuel de Rosas (1793–1877).
Users of ten Wikipedias got access to phase 2 of Wikidata following its first rollout to production wikis.

The Signpost: 08 April 2013

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Numerous Wikimedia Commons editors have chimed in on the Wikimedia Foundation's deployment of a new feature to its mobile website. Allowing anonymous users to register and upload pictures for use in an article, the feature was placed prominently at the top of Wikipedia articles in multiple languages.
This week, we felt the world tremble in the presence of WikiProject Earthquakes. The project was started in May 2008 to deal with articles about earthquakes, aftershocks, seismology, seismologists, plate tectonics, and related articles. While the project has seen success building 14 Featured Articles, one A-class Article, and 21 Good Articles, a fairly heavy workload remains, with a relative WikiWork rating of 4.94. WikiProject Earthquakes maintains a portal, a list of open tasks, a popular pages listing, and an article alerts watchlist.
Last Friday, the Wikimedia movement awoke to news that one of their number—Rémi Mathis, a French volunteer editor—had been summoned to the offices of the interior intelligence service DCRI and threatened with criminal charges and fines if he did not delete an article on the French Wikipedia about a radio station used by the French military.
The arbitration committee is looking for expertise in Argentina and the Spanish language for a case involving former Argentinean president Juan Manuel de Rosas (1793–1877).
Four articles and two pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.
The deployment of phase 2 of Wikidata to the English Wikipedia, originally scheduled for 8 April but delayed due to technical problems, may be rescheduled again as the result of community resistance.

The Signpost: 15 April 2013

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The RfA process is widely discussed here on the English Wikipedia and it has been well documented that less and less new Requests for adminship are being filed. There are an abundance of bytes devoted to the discussion and analysis of this situation and plenty of hands have been wrung over the matter. Various RfCs have attempted to find a way to fix the problem. Many proposals have been made offering solutions, some more potentially drastic than others, with the goal of making the changes necessary to kick–start RfA back into regular action. However, Wikipedia operates based on consensus and, to this point, there are have simply been too many disagreeing views for us to reach a consensus on how to increase RfA activity.
This week, we ventured to WikiProject South Africa. The project was started in February 2005 and is home to thirteen pieces of featured material, two A-class articles, and twenty-one good articles.
The most recent move to reform the requests for adminship process on the English Wikipedia has failed, after a complex and drawn-out three-step procedure for community input was subject to decreasing participation as time wore on and came up with no clear consensus.
Four articles, twelve lists, and seven pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.

The Signpost: 22 April 2013

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An article by John Sweeney published on 22 April 2013 on scnow.com, the website of the Florence, South Carolina Morning News, reported that Florence city officials have taken to monitoring and correcting the Wikipedia article on their city.
This week, we spent some time with a project that develops tools and methods for improving the user experience in the hope that new users will continue editing the encyclopedia. The project was started in July 2012 and has grown to include 124 members. The project's members partner with the Teahouse and the Welcoming Committee to spread WikiLove, welcome new users, encourage civility, and other related activities.
The Wikimedia Conference is an annual meeting of the chapters to discuss their status and the organisational development of the Wikimedia movement. For the first time it included groups that wish to be considered for WMF affiliation as thematic organisations and one of the three groups that was recently affiliated as a user group. The conference was also attended by members of the Wikimedia Foundation's (WMF) Board of Trustees, the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC), the WMF Affiliations Committee, and a representative of the Wikivoyage Association.
Nine articles, four lists, eight pictures, and one topic were promoted to "featured" status this week on the English Wikipedia.
The Sexology case is nearing completion after arbitrators were unable to agree on a topic ban for one of the participants.
On Monday, the English Wikipedia became the 12th wiki to be able to pull data from the central Wikidata.org repository, with other wikis scheduled to receive the update on Wednesday.

The Signpost: 29 April 2013

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The Funds Dissemination Committee released its recommendations to the WMF board last Sunday. The news that the Hong Kong chapter's application for US$212K had failed was followed by a strongly worded resignation announcement by Deryck Chan on the public Wikimedia-l mailing-list.
On 24 April 2013, novelist Amanda Filipacchi published what turned out to be an influential op-ed in the New York Times; illuminating the unusual background of the Yuri Gadyukin hoax.
Nine articles, three lists, three pictures, and one topic were promoted to "featured" this week.
This week, we traveled to the Japanese Wikipedia's WikiProject Baseball for perspectives from a version of Wikipedia that treats WikiProjects as their own unique namespace (プロジェクト:) independent of "Wikipedia:".
The WP:TOP25 and WP:5000 reports chronicle the most popular Wikipedia articles on a weekly basis.
The Sexology case closed shortly after publication with no changes.
A report on an online service which was created to conduct real-time monitoring of Wikipedia articles of companies, and more.
This week saw the deployment of the Echo extension, also known as "notifications".

The Signpost: 06 May 2013

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Although not yet in great numbers, candidates are coming forward for Wikimedia Foundation elections, which will be held from 1 to 15 June. The elections will fill vacancies in three categories, the most prominent of which will be the three community-elected seats on the ten-member Board of Trustees (or the first Board meeting after the election results are announced, if sooner). The current two-year terms for these trustee positions ends on 1 September.
The Wikimedia Foundation will be receiving more than $100,000 worth of free developer time courtesy of internet giant Google, it was announced this week. The funds, allocated as part of Google's Summer of Code programme, will support up to 21 student developers through three months of coding time.
May sees the beginning of Round 3 of the 2013 WikiCup, with 33 of the original 127 competitors remaining. ... six articles, ten pictures, and two portals were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.
The SOS Children's Villages news service advised on 3 May 2013 that Wikipedia for Schools 2013 is nearly ready for release. ... On 26 April 2013, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation published an article reviewing Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik's edits to the English Wikipedia, where it revealed the name of Breivik's English Wikipedia account.
This week's English Wikipedia project, WikiProject Biophysics, is home to several experts in their fields and a collaboration with the Biophysical Society. The project is hosting a contest through July 15 with six contributors winning $100 in cash and given the opportunity to attend the 2014 meeting of the Biophysical Society in San Francisco. Other strong entries will be awarded barnstars online and everyone who contributes can receive a physical button mailed out to them.

The Signpost: 13 May 2013

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The removal of administrator rights from all volunteers on the Wikimedia Foundation's official website sparked a highly emotional reaction on the Wikimedia-l mailing list—one of the largest off-wiki methods of communication for the Wikimedia movement.
This week, we spent some time watching WikiProject Mixed Martial Arts, which was started in August 2005 and has grown to include 12 Good Articles and a Featured List.
Fourteen articles, three lists, and three pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia, including Boletus luridus, seen above.
An article published on May 10 on Odwyerpr.com written by Greg Hazley documented a "spar" between Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and public relations firm Qorvis partner Matt Lauer, who disputes Wikipedia's guideline discouraging public relations firms from editing articles on their clients.
The Race and politics case has been accepted for arbitration, and the evidence phase is now open. Two other cases remain open.

The Signpost: 20 May 2013

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Nominations closed last Friday for the three community-elected seats on the Wikimedia Foundation's (WMF) ten-member Board of Trustees—the ultimate corporate authority of the worldwide WMF. The Board has influential roles and responsibilities over one of the most powerful global information sources on the Internet.
This week, we traveled to WikiProject Classical Greece and Rome. The project was started in May 2006 and has 37 featured articles.
On 16 May, the Spanish Wikipedia became the seventh Wikipedia to cross the million article Rubicon, a symbolic yet important achievement.
Salon.com published another article detailing the ongoing incidents with Wikipedia user Qworty, who has identified himself as Robert Clark Young. It documents Qworty's role in the controversy involving Amanda Filipacchi's op-ed, which kindled a debate on Wikipedia sexism as it relates to categories, where Qworty was responsible for a series of revenge edits against Filipacchi in the days after she released her op-ed.
Nine articles, six lists, and eight pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.

Love history & culture? Get involved in WikiProject World Digital Library!

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World Digital Library Wikipedia Partnership - We need you!
Hi Tim Ross! I'm the Wikipedian In Residence at the World Digital Library, a project of the Library of Congress and UNESCO. I'm recruiting Wikipedians who are passionate about history & culture to participate in improving Wikipedia using the WDL's vast free online resources. Participants can earn our awesome WDL barnstar and help to disseminate free knowledge from over 100 libraries in 7 different languages. Multilingual editing encouraged!!! But being multilingual is not a necessity to make this project a success. Please sign up to participate here. Thanks for editing Wikipedia and I look forward to working with you! EdwardsBot (talk) 14:26, 25 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 27 May 2013

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Alongside the Signpost's interviews with the Wikimedia Foundation's (WMF) Board of Trustees candidates, the Signpost asked the candidates for the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) and its Ombudsperson position a series of questions relating to the positions they may be taking on. For the FDC candidates, this will include specific recommendations to the WMF on how to disburse over US$11 million in donors' funds to affiliate organizations, something which appears to have garnered little attention from the editing community at large so far.
In the continuing saga of User:Qworty's outing as author Robert Clark Young, several blogs and websites covered the now-banned user's anti-Pagan editing. In an article published on 22 May 2013, TechEye described Qworty's edits as a "reign of terror" and were pleased to find that he had not succeeded in removing several prominent Pagan biographies from the encyclopedia.
The elections for the three community seats on the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees start on 8 June. This second and final part of the interview explores two broad themes: Meta, the site that hosts movement-wide coordination; and offline entities—the chapters and the new thematic organisations and user groups.
This week, we plotted out the demarcations of WikiProject Geographical Coordinates, which aims to create a single standard of handling coordinates in Wikipedia articles.
Twelve articles, four lists, and twelve pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.
An article in Library Review offers a much-needed comparison of data from a population of editors outside the English Wikipedia.
Second only to the technical track of Wikimania in terms of numbers, the Berlin Hackathon (2009–2012) provided those with an interest in the software that underpins Wikimedia wikis and supports its editors a place to gather, exchange ideas and learn new skills.

Invitation to a Wicnic in Gainesville on Saturday, June 22nd

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Greetings!

Seeing that you're a member of WikiProject Florida, on the off chance you're in our neck of the woods, I'm inviting you to the North Central Florida 2013 Great American Wiknic that will be on Saturday June 22, 2013, commencing at 1:00 pm, ten blocks north of UF campus in Gainesville.

If you're able and inclined to come, please RSVP at at this URL.

Type to you later, Vincent J. Lipsio (talk) 13:10, 2 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 05 June 2013

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I am excited to announce that a Portuguese-language journal, Correio da Wikipédia has been launched by Vitorvicentevalente. It has just published its third edition, and I encourage readers who speak the language to read and contribute to its already-expansive coverage of the Portuguese Wikipedia and the Wikimedia movement.
Five articles, four lists, and thirteen images were promoted to "featured" status this week on the English Wikipedia.
This is mostly a list of requests for comment believed to be active on 4 June 2013 linked from subpages of Wikipedia:RfC or watchlist notices.
On 31 May, the Wikimedia Foundation's Legal and Community Advocacy team announced that the Wikivoyage logo would have to be replaced, because it has become the subject of a cease-and-desist letter from the World Trade Organization (WTO).
An article on TheNextWeb.com says that the Chinese Government has effectively blocked Wikipedia by cutting off access to the HTTP Secure (https) "workaround", almost completely cutting off access to those in China.
This week, we reflect on the anniversary of D-Day by storming the shores of Operation Normandy, a special initiative of WikiProject Military History.
Last week, the Signpost reported on a feeling at the Amsterdam hackathon that Toolserver developers were coming round to the idea of migrating to Wikimedia Labs.

The Signpost: 12 June 2013

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Late last year, the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) awarded $8.4 million in donors' money to 11 Wikimedia entities, including the Wikimedia Foundation and 10 nationally defined chapters. Under this arrangement, these organisations are required to issue quarterly reports on how far they have progressed towards their declared programmatic and financial goals. The FDC has now announced that all 11 completed and submitted their reports by the 1 April deadline, and have responded to each.
Seven articles, two lists, five pictures, and one topic were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.
In an article published by the Huffington Post's United Kingdom edition, writer Thomas Church asserts that the new VisualEditor will change history, literally. It says that Wikipedia's mark-up language has been to its advantage, as most people didn't bother trying to learn it
I've long thought that we should get rid of the Wikimedia Commons as we know it. Commons has evolved into a project with interests that compete with the needs of the primary users of Commons and the reason it was created. It's also understaffed, which results in poor curation, large administrative backlogs, and poor policy development.
Current discussions on the English Wikipedia.
Last week's most popular article list on the English Wikipedia was dominated by the massively popular TV series Game of Thrones, which claimed six slots in the top 25, including the top three. Its popularity was likely stoked by the most recent episode, The Rains of Castamere. Bollywood continued to increase its share of views as well, aided by the tragic suicide of star Nafisa Khan.
Two cases, Race and politics and Tea Party movement have been suspended. Argentine History remains open, and a proposed decision was posted on 12 June.
This week, we spent some time with WikiProject Computing. Started in October 2003, the project has grown to include 17 featured articles, 11 featured lists, 3 pieces of featured media, and 80 good articles.

Photo usage 2

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Hi, I'm working on an educational videogame with which I'm trying to build a bridge between animal awareness and Pokemon fans among others. It started out as something small and I contacted you before but it's getting bigger and more professional and I want to make sure you're ok with it.

It's regarding this picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:07-03-23RedWolfAlbanyGAChehaw.jpg

I would like your permission to use it under that license with the following attribution: Tim Ross, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Tim_Ross

Also, because I want to make sure there's no misunderstanding, you are the original photographer correct? It sometimes happens that another person simply takes a picture from somebody else and uploads it to wikipedia with a license to distribute. That is why I'm asking.

There is more information on the game here, including a short video that tells a little bit about the background: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/238178285/animalalbum

I also have a demo version of the game available so you can see for yourself in what way the pictures are presented: http://dromedarydreams.com/index/demo/0-8

Please let me know if I have your permission, if the picture is yours and if you want a different attribution.

With kind regards, Sjors Jansen (all.animalalbum@gmail.com) Garfunkel Jansen (talk) 15:20, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Phoot Victor Emmanuel 2 ( Italy)

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Hi Mr Ross,

We are a french company of scenography and content design and we are making a exibition in Chamonix Mont Blanc France. We found an image that could be perfect for it. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VictorEmmanuel2.jpg#/media/File:VictorEmmanuel2.jpg

It's for a large print (about 100 x 100cm).Maybe we neeed a picture with more resolution. Could you accept to send us the image with a best resolution ?

Thank you for your attention,

Best regards,

Julie ( julie.frosh@hotmail.com) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.41.36.127 (talk) 13:20, 10 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

ArbCom elections are now open!

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Hi,
You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:40, 23 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:WikiProject United States/The 50,000 Challenge

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You are invited to participate in the 20,000 Challenge, aiming for 20,000 article improvements and creations for articles relating to the United States. This effort began on November 1, 2016 and to reach our goal, we will need editors like you to participate, expand, and create. See more here!

--MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:41, 8 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

New deal for page patrollers

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Hi Tim Ross,

In order to better control the quality of new pages, keep out the spam, and welcome the genuine newbies, the current system we introduced in 2011 is being updated and improved. The documentation and tutorials have also been revised and given a facelift. Most importantly a new user group New Page Reviewer has been created.

Under the new rule, you may find that you are temporarily unable to mark new pages as reviewed. However, this is nothing to worry about - most current experienced patrollers are being accorded the the new right without the need to apply, and if you have significant previous experience of patrolling new pages, we strongly encourage you to apply for the new right as soon as possible - we need all the help we can get, and we are now providing a dynamic, supportive environment for your work.

Find out more about this exiting new user right now at New Page Reviewers and be sure to read the new tutorial before applying. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 04:29, 13 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Orphaned non-free image File:Color it logo.jpg

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Thanks for uploading File:Color it logo.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. --B-bot (talk) 18:31, 4 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm with Princess Louise, Carte de Visite

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Hi Tim

I hope you're well. I'm writing to you from Blakeway Productions in London, where we are producing a new three part series for Channel 5 about Queen Victoria's Children.

We are very keen to use this image of Joseph Boehm with Princess Louise, which we can't find anywhere else: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Boehm#/media/File:BoehmLouiseWiki.jpg

Two questions:

1. Would you be happy for us to use the image? I would email you a release form which we would need signed. We can discuss a fee and a potential credit.

2. We would need you to do a hi res scan for us. Is this something you could do? If not, we can arrange for it to be done.

Could you drop me an email back to josh.sykes@blakeway.tv so we can talk further? Or you can call me on +44 7882 436 225?

Thanks so much, looking forward to hearing from you very soon.

Best, Josh Sykes Josh Sykes Assistant Producer ‘Queen Victoria’s Children’ Blakeway Productions DL: 0207 539 2029 M: 07882 436 225 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Josh Sykes (talk • contribs) 11:25, 28 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Orphaned non-free image File:ECGlassLogo2.jpg

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Thanks for uploading File:ECGlassLogo2.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in section F5 of the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. --B-bot (talk) 17:15, 7 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Orphaned non-free image File:FSM Logo on bumper.JPG

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Thanks for uploading File:FSM Logo on bumper.JPG. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in section F5 of the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. --B-bot (talk) 17:49, 20 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

As a linguistic editor, can you please help me out with the linguistics around digital dependencies and global mental health

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RfC open there and social media addiction. Its quite basic linguistics but now the article is being suggested for deletion based on the linguistics. Any thoughts appreciated! E.3 (talk) 12:46, 13 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, Tim Ross! 

I would like to use your photo:

https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rig%C3%B3_Jancsi#/media/F%C3%A1jl:Clara_Ward_Post_Card2.jpg in my new book about Budapest. I need this foto in big format. Please let me know whether this is available as soon as possible.

Many thanks, Anna

anna.chay@yandex.ru — Preceding unsigned comment added by Anna12chaykovskaya (talk • contribs) 09:24, 30 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Proposed deletion of Chaires-Capitola Volunteer Fire Department

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Notice

The article Chaires-Capitola Volunteer Fire Department has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:

Unnotable VFD, first paragraph is very closely paraphrased from http://home.chairescapitolavfd.com/node/2

While all constructive contributions to Wikipedia are appreciated, pages may be deleted for any of several reasons.

You may prevent the proposed deletion by removing the {{proposed deletion/dated}} notice, but please explain why in your edit summary or on the article's talk page.

Please consider improving the page to address the issues raised. Removing {{proposed deletion/dated}} will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. Apocheir (talk) 02:45, 5 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Suspension of autopatrolled permission due to inactivity

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Hello Tim Ross. Following a request for comment in May 2025, the community has decided to implement an activity requirement for the autopatrolled permission. Because your account has not edited in the last three years, the autopatrolled permission has been removed from your account. This action is purely procedural and does not affect your ability to create articles; if you return to actively creating articles, you may request that the permission be restored through the normal process. When returning, please consider taking some time to re-familiarize yourself with common practices and how they may have changed over the past few years if you wish to request the permission back. Thank you for all of your contributions to Wikipedia, and we hope to see you again soon. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 06:19, 14 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]