User talk:-sche/Archive 1

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December 2012

Hello, I'm Velella. I noticed that you recently removed some content from Salisbury Convention without explaining why. In the future, it would be helpful to others if you described your changes to Wikipedia with an edit summary. If this was a mistake, don't worry, the removed content has been restored. If you think I made a mistake, or if you have any questions, you can leave me a message on my talk page. Thanks,  Velella  Velella Talk   19:29, 20 December 2012 (UTC)

My edit fixed a grammatical error. Cheers, :) -sche (talk) 04:57, 21 December 2012 (UTC)

RFC/U for Apteva: move to close

I am notifying all participants in Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Apteva that Dicklyon has moved to close the RFC/U, with a summary on the talkpage. Editors may now support or oppose the motion, or add comments:

Please consider adding your signature, so that the matter can be resolved.

Best wishes,

NoeticaTea? 04:18, 22 December 2012 (UTC)

Was your response there misplaced? If it was intended as support for the move proposal, move it up to the correct section. Dicklyon (talk) 23:00, 23 December 2012 (UTC)

Oh, yes, it was. Thanks for pointing that out! -sche (talk) 04:13, 24 December 2012 (UTC)

Baltics Rfc

FWIW, I partially dropped out of that discussion, as something from my past was brought up there. I can't elaborate further, sorry. GoodDay (talk) 22:13, 14 March 2013 (UTC)

I would appreciate your refraining from accusations of baiting. Please do not levy personal attacks at the discussion again. VєсrumЬа ►TALK 17:50, 15 March 2013 (UTC)

Take your own advice. :) -sche (talk) 21:08, 15 March 2013 (UTC)

hi

We do know, for the next eight years Chelsea will be in Kansas. Sportfan5000 (talk) 01:16, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

A gender identity change is so fundamentally different it can't be easily compare to a stage name, nom de plume or other common occurrence. Sportfan5000 (talk) 21:42, 3 September 2013 (UTC)

To show that Wikipedia does not always title articles using subject's legal names, I think it is appropriate to give many examples. Let's see what others think. (Somehow. I'm not sure how to go about soliciting others' views: it's a talk page that we're talking about, so it hasn't got a talk page we can post on. Hmm...) -sche (talk) 21:47, 3 September 2013 (UTC)
I have no problem with getting more input. I do assert though that every example given simply doesn't apply as they are not about a gender identity change. I believe every identity change also corresponds to the article being at the latest stated gender identity. Maybe we don't need examples or we find if there are any articles that are not at the person's latest gender identity? Sportfan5000 (talk) 21:54, 3 September 2013 (UTC)
this question has nothing to do with gender identity. It is a name change, and the point of the the FAQ is, we don't base article titles on legal name. Therefore, the argument of 'it's not yet manning's legal name' are irrelevant for the article title. Thus the examples given are quite relevant.--Obi-Wan Kenobi (talk) 23:16, 3 September 2013 (UTC)
Actually that is _exactly_ the point. We're talking about someone doing something radically different than just renaming themselves because of marriage, change in religious identity, general preference, etc. The change of gender identity is rare, the changing of a name is common. Sportfan5000 (talk) 01:20, 5 September 2013 (UTC)
who cares? Legal names dont come into consideration, policy is clear as day on this point. So opining on legal name change options in the states where manning lives is useless quibbling.--Obi-Wan Kenobi (talk) 03:10, 5 September 2013 (UTC)
First off, of course we care about the legal status of names, it has been brought up many times. It should be made clear that a common name adoption is actually also legal in 46 of 50 US states including Manning's home/future home in Kansas. Secondly we're presently discussing the use of any examples. Personally I just don't see any examples that aren't gender identity name changes as having much validity as those are made and used under different circumstances whereas trans people face threats of violence due, in part, because their old names are weaponized against them, often as a precursor to physical violence. And the violence of weaponized old names springs from the same disrespect, mockery, and hatred that informs fatal physical violence. These are all connected. Sportfan5000 (talk) 03:18, 5 September 2013 (UTC)
the closers explicitly discounted such legal name arguments, as does wp:at. The weaponized quote is just more hyperbole, perhaps true for some ppl, but the name bradley is no secret. If you can find an additional gender switch where the legal name remained different plz add.--Obi-Wan Kenobi (talk) 03:48, 5 September 2013 (UTC)
I think it's useful to note that most states do not require people to take legal action to change their names. I've re-instated that bit from an earlier version.
I think it's good, but not necessary, to give a broad range of examples of people who we don't refer to by their legal names, including both transgender and cisgender people. If only transgender people are included, it's easy for those who oppose "Chelsea" to say "well, we should wait for a legal name change in all of those cases"! But if we point out that we didn't wait for (e.g.) Bill Clinton to legally change his name, that makes it clear how 'general' the policy is. -sche (talk) 06:35, 5 September 2013 (UTC)
I understand where you're coming from, but you're actually weakening your argument by presenting the common law name change bit. Is doesnt matter one bit, as in NOT AT ALL what Manning's legal name is, because otherwise, if it remains Bradley for some legal reason (the army has stated they won't allow a name change I think) - then people could say 'aha! Her legal name isn't Chelsea and won't be for 35 years, therefore keep'. The point we need to emphasize in the FAQ is a policy point - legal name is not required and in fact we regularly and blatantly ignore legal names. The FAQ is weaker now - can we please put it back to give real exmples and drop the name change stuff because IT DOESN'T MATTER and us playing armchair name change lawyer just muddies the water-Obi-Wan Kenobi (talk) 11:40, 5 September 2013 (UTC)

Actually i think we have to keep in mind that we're addressing a FAQ site. We should answer those questions, but in a way that is informing of why some of the answers are what they are. I'm currently looking into what, if any, Wikipedia articles don't use a new name for transgender people. So far Manning is the only one and it seems to go against BLP. Why there isn't an urgency to fix this immediately is beyond me. 30 days is an abomination on the number one reference site in the world. We are doing real harm to a real person. Sportfan5000 (talk) 16:49, 5 September 2013 (UTC)

Well the 30 day thing is another issue that I dont want to get into here. My point is, whether Manning changes their legal name or not, our policies don't care, and it's a CRYSTALBALL to try to state when and if Manning will change their real name (many many sources have pointed out the legal name change hasn't happened). In any case, I think it's just weakening your argument. We're better off shutting down discussion it the FAQ and stating clearly that legal names do not have to match article titles, and in fact, often they do not.--Obi-Wan Kenobi (talk) 17:54, 5 September 2013 (UTC)
Ok, I've removed the "common law name change" bit and added back the example of Clinton. Which transgender person would make the best second example of a person whose article is neither their legal nor their birth name? Preferably someone whose article has not be the subject of repeated RMs. -sche (talk) 18:54, 5 September 2013 (UTC)
And I have reverted that, we need the common law part as it is frequently brought up. Until we have examples of titles with gender identity I feel the examples are purposely deceptive. As far as I have seen this is the only article where we don't follow Mos:identity. Sportfan5000 (talk) 18:57, 5 September 2013 (UTC)
I think the answer I did for the 30-day issue works for now. Just as there are several points on pronouns, I think there are a few that need to be addressed on the title. And "legal" name change has several points to be answered, and one is that she already has essentially done a legal name change even if not everyone respects it. Sportfan5000 (talk) 18:57, 5 September 2013 (UTC)
Two comments:
  1. In what way is the name of Bill Clinton offensive to transgender women?
  2. Surely we can find a better example than Stevens/Islam, whose Wikipedia article uses the middle of his three names, rather than his birth name or his current name. How about citing Theresa Sparks instead?
-sche (talk) 19:12, 5 September 2013 (UTC)

Template:MOS-TM and Template:MOS-TW

Hi, re this, this and this: your closure was both improper (since you had previously contributed to the discussion) and premature (since the nomination was at 16:45, 31 August 2013 (UTC) which is less than seven days ago). I have reverted all three edits.

If you wish to close a TFD in future, please make sure that you follow all of the instructions linked top right of WP:TFD as "Closing instructions". --Redrose64 (talk) 13:58, 5 September 2013 (UTC)

Aha, thanks for the info! I looked around for instructions on how to close "RFD"s (or whatever Requests for Deletion are called here), but didn't find any, so I followed the model of other SNOW-closes I'd seen. -sche (talk) 18:46, 5 September 2013 (UTC)
I don't think that WP:SNOW applies, since it's not an overwhelming "keep": there were four "delete", plus several neutrals that could be read as "delete". I suspect that it will close "keep" though, but I'm unsure how the "Lastly" sentence (involving WP:NOTAFORUM) will be resolved. Let's see what the closing admin does, on Saturday or Sunday. --Redrose64 (talk) 20:54, 5 September 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 04 September 2013

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Evidence phase open - Manning naming dispute

Dear -sche.

This is just a quick courtesy notice. You recently offered a statement in a request for arbitration. The Arbitration Committee has accepted that request for arbitration and an arbitration case has been opened at Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Manning naming dispute. Evidence that you wish the arbitrators to consider should be added to the evidence subpage, at Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Manning naming dispute/Evidence. Please add your evidence by September 19, 2013, which is when the evidence phase closes. You can also contribute to the case workshop subpage, Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Manning naming dispute/Workshop. For a guide to the arbitration process, see Wikipedia:Arbitration/Guide to arbitration. For the Arbitration Committee, Seddon talk 23:31, 8 September 2013 (UTC)

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The Signpost: 11 September 2013

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The Signpost: 18 September 2013

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The Signpost: 25 September 2013

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A barnstar for you!

The Teamwork Barnstar
This barnstar is awarded in recognition of your contributions to building the evidence base for the Chelsea Manning move. Well done! Obi-Wan Kenobi (talk) 06:11, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

Thank you, for the barnstar and for your own hard work (which was more substantial than mine) to set up the RM. :) -sche (talk) 18:03, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 02 October 2013

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The Signpost: 09 October 2013

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The Signpost: 16 October 2013

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Please comment on Talk:Jews/infobox

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The Signpost: 23 October 2013

  • News and notes: Grantmaking season—rumblings in the German-language community
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The Signpost: 30 October 2013

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The Signpost: 06 November 2013

  • News and notes: Alleged "outing" of editor's personal information leads to Wikipedia ban
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The Signpost: 13 November 2013

  • Traffic report: Google Doodlebugs bust the block
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wording

That wording is a bit clumsy. What if we presented it as a summary or in some other way then presenting it as a direct quote? Sportfan5000 (talk) 21:13, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

Personally, I think the wording is fine. But more importantly, the disputes over MOS-TW/MOS-TM made it clear that a sizeable number of people will find fault with any template that paraphrases the MOS, and will argue that it leaves something important out, or states something the MOS doesn't, and that the template should therefore be deleted. That's why MOS-TRANS quotes the MOS verbatim; it's one of its raisons d'être, IMO. (The other raison d'être for it is that a single template can't fall out of sync with itself the way a pair of templates can.)
If you do feel that the wording of the MOS is clumsy, though, then as I suggested in my edit summary, the thing to do is to make a post on WT:MOS and change the wording of WP:MOS itself, not to change quotations of it. -sche (talk) 21:47, 21 November 2013 (UTC)
Well I'm not sure I want to deal with month-long processes but I'll raise it once the TfD is done and see if there is consensus to not quote directly. Long-term it may make sense to help copy-edit what MOS has, which is unfortunately ironic as usually the writing on MOS is much better than average. Sportfan5000 (talk) 08:10, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

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The Signpost: 20 November 2013

  • From the editor: The Signpost needs your help
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The Signpost: 04 December 2013

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    Summary:Doctor Who nearly got cancelled in its first week because its premiere was swamped by coverage of the JFK assassination, which happened the same day. Thankfully, producers saw fit to rerun it the next day, which is now its official anniversary date.
  • News and notes: One decade of Wikisource; FDC recommendations raise serious questions
    The sister project Wikisource, the digital library that hosts free-content primary sources, is now a decade old. Wikisource, which now has versions in 63 languages, is the sixth type of project to reach ten-year milestone and will be the last until 2016. The Wikimedia Foundation's volunteer Funds Dissemination Committee has published its recommendations to the Board of Trustees on 11 new applications for annual grants by 11 WMF-affiliated organisations. The maximum total budget for the current and upcoming March rounds is US$6M.
  • WikiProject report: Electronic Apple Pie
    This week, we returned to WikiProject Apple Inc. for a peek at their newest articles about the latest in gadgets and software. The last time we took a bite out of WikiProject Apple, they had just finished merging WikiProject Macintosh and WikiProject iPhone OS. Today, the project is hard at work rewriting their primary article, improving the subject's outline, and adding to the project's list of 25 Good Articles and 6 Featured Articles.
  • Featured content: F*&!
    Seventeen articles, four lists, and twenty-eight pictures were promoted to "featured" status in the last two weeks.

The Signpost: 11 December 2013

  • Traffic report: Deaths of Mandela, Walker top the list
    When one edits this page for too long, one is tempted to appoint oneself as the psychoanalyst for the human race, or at least the English-speaking portion thereof. Since nearly everyone uses Wikipedia, the constant stream of TV updates, pointless celebrity scandals, and inquiries after who has died can seem like a dreary peek into humanity's surprisingly banal collective consciousness.
  • In the media: Edward Snowden a "hero"; German Wikipedia court ruling
    Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales caught headlines last week when he referred to former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden ... Loek Essers of the International Data Group, (IDG) News Service is reporting that a German court has held Wikipedia liable for its content, but still does not have to fact check the information in advance.
  • News and notes: Wiki Loves Monuments—winners announced
    Amid great anticipation the international prize winners have just been announced for the fourth annual Wiki Loves Monuments, now the world's largest photographic competition and one of the biggest events on the Wikimedia movement's calendar. ... The first prize has gone to David Gubler's photograph of a Swiss train crossing a viaduct.
  • WikiProject report: WikiProject Wine
    This week, the Signpost interviewed the Wine WikiProject.
  • Interview: Wikipedia's first Featured Article centurion
    On 7 December, Wikipedia editor Wehwalt reached the momentous milestone of 100 featured articles with History of Chincoteague, Virginia. Quite apart from the reading and research, that's around three-quarters of a million words of finalised text, not counting footnotes, image captions and the rest.
  • Featured content: Viewer discretion advised
    Three articles, one list, and eight pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia last week.
  • Technology report: MediaWiki 1.22 released
    On 6 December, the latest version of the MediaWiki software was released. In development from March 2013 through October 2013, the release featured anti-spam and counter-vandalism improvements.

The Signpost: 18 December 2013

  • Traffic report: Hopper to the top
    An animated Google Doodle for computer programmer and naval rear admiral Grace Hopper generated another record-breaking hit count for the year, though the count for the list overall was lower than for that of the previous holder.
  • News and notes: Nine new arbitrators announced
    A little more than six days after the close of voting, the results of the annual Arbitration Committee (ArbCom) elections have been announced. Of the 22 candidates, 13 managed to gain more supports than opposes, though only one gained the support of more than half of the voters. Eight were elected to two-year terms, and a ninth will serve for one year.
  • Technology report: Introducing the GLAMWikiToolset
    This week, the GLAMWikiToolset, or GWToolset, is being deployed to the Wikimedia Commons. It allows for GLAM organizations to batch upload content based on various metadata stored in an XML schema. In the past this has been done by various bots, but now it will be easier for GLAMs to do it directly.

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The Signpost: 25 December 2013

  • WikiProject report: More Great WikiProject Logos
    We saved one last special report for 2013. After our well-received review of great WikiProject logos a couple years ago, it was only a matter of time before we collected a new batch of interesting iconography that showcases the creativity of the Wikipedia community. Hopefully, these logos will also inspire other projects to liven up their drab pages.
  • News and notes: IEG round 2 funding rewards diverse ambitions
    A significant move by the Wikimedia Foundation has been to broaden the types of activities it funds to develop several different programs for judging and allocating that funding, and to set up volunteer committees that initially assess applications for funding.
  • Technology report: OAuth: future of user designed tools
    Last month, the OAuth extension was deployed to all Wikimedia wikis. OAuth is a standard used for allowing users to authenticate third-party applications, also known as consumers, to take actions on their behalf.

The Signpost: 01 January 2014

  • Traffic report: A year stuck in traffic
    In fact, the majority are relatively evenly split between three themes: people of interest, television, and websites.
  • Arbitration report: Examining the Committee's year
    In 2013, the arbitration committee closed 10 cases, 9 amendment requests, and 26 clarification requests.
  • In the media: Does Wikipedia need a medical disclaimer?
    On New Year's Day, an article by Tim Sampson published in The Daily Dot and republished shortly after on Mashable covered the currently ongoing medical disclaimer RfC.
  • News and notes: The year in review
    This was the year in which one journalist described the flagship site, Wikipedia, as "wickedly seductive". It was the year Wikipedia's replacement value was estimated at $6.6bn, its market value at "tens of billions of dollars", and its consumer benefit "hundreds of billions of dollars". But it was also the year in which one commentator forecast the decline of Wikipedia—that the project is in trouble from its shrinking volunteer workforce, skewed coverage, "crushing bureaucracy" and 90 percent male community.
  • WikiProject report: Where Are They Now? Fifth Edition
    The year 2013 has come and gone, adding 50 new WikiProject Reports to our long list of projects we've had the privilege to meet. Last year saw the continuation of our Babel series, featuring WikiProjects from other languages of Wikipedia. We also expanded our selection of special reports, offering readers a growing collection of helpful tips and tools as they participate in WikiProjects.
  • Featured content: 2013—the trends
    Over the past year 1181 pieces of featured content were promoted. The most active of the featured content programs was featured picture candidates (FPC), which promoted an average of 46 pictures a month. This was followed by featured article candidates (FAC; 32.5 a month). Coming in third was featured list candidates (FLC; 18 a month).
  • Technology report: Looking back on 2013
    2013 saw a lot of changes to MediaWiki software and Wikimedia infrastructure.

The Signpost: 08 January 2014

  • Public Domain Day: Why the year 2019 is so significant
    Public Domain Day—January 1, 2014—gives me an opportunity to reflect on this important asset, mandated by the Constitution of the United States.
  • Traffic report: Tragedy and television
    The various maladies that befall humanity got some well-known faces this week: the death of the well-liked actor James Avery topped the list, but Michael Schumacher, who is in a coma after a skiing accident, also drew attention.
  • News and notes: WMF employee forced out over "paid advocacy editing"
    On 8 January, the Wikimedia Foundation notified the Wikimedia-l mailing list that Sarah Stierch, a popular Wikimedian and the Foundation's Program Evaluation Community Coordinator, was no longer an employee of the Wikimedia Foundation, as a result of being paid to create articles on the English Wikipedia.

The Signpost: 15 January 2014

  • Technology report: Architecture Summit schedule published
    The proposed schedule for the MediaWiki Archicture Summit has been published. The two main plenary sessions will be about HTML templating, and Service-oriented architecture.
  • Op-ed: Licensed for reuse? Citing open-access sources in Wikipedia articles
    It is heavily ironic that two decades after the World Wide Web was started — largely to make it easier to share scholarly research — most of our past and present research publications are still hidden behind paywalls for private profit. The bitter twist is that the vast majority of this research is publicly funded, to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars worldwide each year.
  • Traffic report: The Hours are Ours
    We now can get a far more accurate picture of which short surges in popularity are likely natural and which are not.
  • WikiProject report: WikiProject Sociology
    This week, we studied human social behavior with the folks at WikiProject Sociology.

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The Signpost: 22 January 2014

  • News and notes: Modification of WMF protection brought to Arbcom
    The Wikimedia Foundation's Director of Community Advocacy's application of pending changes level two on the article Conventional PCI—an action taken under its rarely used office actions policy—has escalated to the Arbitration Committee after an editor upgraded it to full protection.
  • Featured content: Dr. Watson, I presume
    Fifteen articles, nine lists, twenty pictures, and one topic were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia over the last two weeks.
  • Special report: The few who write Wikipedia
    On 15 January, Wikipedia turned thirteen years old. In that time, this site has grown from a small site that was known to only a select few to one of the most popular websites on the internet. At the same time, recent data suggests that there is a power curve among users, where the comparative few who are writing most of Wikipedia have most of the edits. The result of this is that there is going to be bias in what is created, and how we deal with it as Wikipedians is indicative of the future of the site. Furthermore, this brings up what we have to do in order to combat this bias, as there are many ideas, but the question is whether they will work or not.
  • Technology report: Architecting the future of MediaWiki
    This week we're interviewing Brion Vibber about the then-upcoming Architecture Summit. Brion is a long time Wikipedian, the first employee of the Wikimedia Foundation, and currently the lead software architect working with the mobile team.
  • Traffic report: No show for the Globes
    While the 71st Golden Globe Awards, held on 12 January, had an impact on the top 25, their presence was largely absent from the Top 10. With the exception of Best Actor winner Leonardo DiCaprio, the only Golden Globe entrants in the Top 10 are films that would have been there anyway.

The Signpost: 29 January 2014

  • Traffic report: Six strikes out
    There are times when this job is hard. As an analogy, imagine navigating in fog at night, except you don't know where you are, you don't know where you want to go, and your flashlight keeps dying on you.
  • WikiProject report: Special report: Contesting contests
    Contests have existed almost as long as the English Wikipedia. Contestants have expanded hundreds of articles and made tens of thousands of edits. Although it may seem as though there aren't any negatives to contests, they have occasionally become a divisive topic on the English Wikipedia.
  • News and notes: Wiki-PR defends itself, condemns Wikipedia's actions
    Wiki-PR, a public relations agency, whose employees used a sophisticated array of concealed user accounts to create, edit, and maintain several thousand Wikipedia articles for paying clients, has told Business Insider that it was demonized by the online encyclopedia. Jordan French, Wiki-PR's CEO, said he believes the Wikimedia Foundation "painted" his company to look like an "evil entity" that is "scrubbing truths from Wikipedia".

The Signpost: 29 January 2014

  • Traffic report: Six strikes out
    There are times when this job is hard. As an analogy, imagine navigating in fog at night, except you don't know where you are, you don't know where you want to go, and your flashlight keeps dying on you.
  • WikiProject report: Special report: Contesting contests
    Contests have existed almost as long as the English Wikipedia. Contestants have expanded hundreds of articles and made tens of thousands of edits. Although it may seem as though there aren't any negatives to contests, they have occasionally become a divisive topic on the English Wikipedia.
  • News and notes: Wiki-PR defends itself, condemns Wikipedia's actions
    Wiki-PR, a public relations agency, whose employees used a sophisticated array of concealed user accounts to create, edit, and maintain several thousand Wikipedia articles for paying clients, has told Business Insider that it was demonized by the online encyclopedia. Jordan French, Wiki-PR's CEO, said he believes the Wikimedia Foundation "painted" his company to look like an "evil entity" that is "scrubbing truths from Wikipedia".

Template:MOS-TRANS

Now that there has been some distance do you think we should look to combining the other templates into Template:MOS-TRANS, with parameters? Sportfan5000 (talk) 23:15, 6 February 2014 (UTC)

That sounds like a good idea. I am not sure what venue it would be best to propose the merger in; perhaps just one of the templates' talk pages (linked-to from the other templates' talk pages) — or does Wikipedia have a dedicated forum for template merger requests? One thing I anticipate may come up in any merger discussion is the question of whether the end-result template should retain NOTAFORUM as an intrinsic part of it (as in MOSTRANS), or apply it separately (as pages that use MOS-TW and MOS-TM do). -sche (talk) 21:47, 8 February 2014 (UTC)
I think we should just try to make the template as best as we see fit, then post for comments on the two templates that would be merged into it. That way any basic issues could be worked on until a formal merger happens. I keep seeing Intersex people's biographies so i think we might want a parameter just for them as well, perhaps with a link to where to ask for help as there is the Medical project, as well as the LGBT one. Sportfan5000 (talk) 22:02, 8 February 2014 (UTC)

The Signpost: 12 February 2014

  • In the media: WikiVIP; Art Feminism; Medical articles; PR manipulation; Azerbaijani Wikipedia
    As reported in various media outlets this week, including The Next Web and The Daily Dot, this past week, Wikimedia Commons and various language Wikipedias are working together to encourage subjects of Wikipedia articles to record a 10-second clip of their voice to be appended to their Wikipedia article.
  • Technology report: Left with no choice
    Software evolution does not always mean that features are being added. It also means that old fat is being trimmed. It is no different for MediaWiki.
  • News and notes: WMF bites the bullet on affiliation and FDC funding, elevates Wikimedia user groups
    In a bold move, the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees has announced a major change in policy concerning affiliated groups in the worldwide movement, and FDC funding levels to eligible chapters and thematic organizations over the next two years. Both decisions were published last Tuesday after considerable post-meeting consultation with the FDC and the Affiliations Committee (AffCom). The core of the first decision is
  • Featured content: Space selfie
    Thirteen articles, three lists, and twenty-five images were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia from 19 January to 1 February.
  • Traffic report: Sports Day
    Two great sporting events, the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics, collide in one week, transforming the top ten into a festival of flying feet, a carnival of colliding caraniums and a bacchanal of bouncing balls, combined to influence Wikipedia's most popular articles last week.
  • WikiProject report: Game Time in Russia
    In celebration of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, we revisited the team at WikiProject Russia to learn how the project has changed since our first interview in 2011.

The Signpost: 19 February 2014

  • Technology report: ULS Comeback
    Runa Bhattacharjee has notified the community that the Foundation is ready to turn the Universal Language Selector back on.
  • WikiProject report: Countering Systemic Bias
    WikiProject Countering System Bias aims to combat imbalanced coverage while encouraging neglected cultural perspectives and points of view, both in articles and in the larger Wikipedia community. As you'll see from the varied experiences and motivations of our nine respondents, the biases that the folks at WP CSB tackle run the full gamut of human characteristics and dispositions. The interview that follows unveils many of Wikipedia's greatest shortcomings.
  • Featured content: Holotype
    Five articles, seven lists, forty-three pictures, and two portals were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia in the last two weeks.
  • Traffic report: Chilly Valentines
    Valentines Day got a somewhat muted reception this week, overshadowed by continuing coverage of the Winter Olympics in Sochi and the death of Shirley Temple.

Please comment on Wikipedia talk:The answer to life, the universe, and everything

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The Signpost: 26 February 2014

  • Forum: Should Wikimedia modify its terms of use to require disclosure?
    About a week ago, the Wikimedia Foundation proposed to modify the Wikimedia projects' terms of use to specifically ban paid editing, by adding a new clause titled "Paid contributions without disclosure". We have asked two users, one in favor of the measure (Smallbones) and one opposed (Pete Forsyth), to contribute their opinions on the matter.
  • Featured content: Odin salutes you
    Eight articles, three lists, and nine pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia last week.
  • Special report: Diary of a protester: Wikimedian perishes in Ukrainian unrest
    Ukraine has been gripped by widespread protests over the past three months. Due to a decision by former president Viktor Yanukovych—at Russia's urging—to abandon integration with the European Union, the country was (and in many ways still is) split between the Europe-favoring Ukrainian-speaking western half and the Russian-speaking east and south. Hundreds have died during the unrest, leaving thousands of family members and friends to bury their loved ones. This week our Wikimedian colleagues in Ukraine are facing that challenge after the death of one of their own.
  • News and notes: Wikimedia chapters and communities challenge Commons' URAA policy
    Following a trend started by Wikimedia Israel, Wikimedia Argentina has published an open letter challenging the recent deletion of hundreds of images from the Commons under its policy on URAA-restored copyrights, relating to the United States' 1994 Uruguay Round Agreements Act.
  • Traffic report: Snow big deal
    The 2014 Winter Olympics had more of an impact on the Top 25 than the Top 10, which had to shoulder old stalwarts like the death list, Reddit threads, TV shows and the eternal presence of Facebook; still, with four slots, it's the most searched topic on the list.

(test) The Signpost: 05 March 2014

  • Traffic report: Brinksmen on the brink
    There's nothing like a good old bit of Cold War nostalgia, combined with a suitably scary international incident, to focus our attention on the real world. That said, nothing could stem our outpouring of affection for the beloved comedian Harold Ramis, whose death managed to top the week in the face of those international concerns.
  • News and notes: Wikipedia Library finding success in matching contributors with sources
    This week, the Signpost caught up with the Wikipedia Library (TWL), which aims to connect reference resources with Wikipedia editors who can use them to improve articles. Funded through the Wikimedia Foundation's Individual Engagement Grants program, TWL has a new "visiting scholars" initiative and a microgrants program in the works.
  • Featured content: Full speed ahead for the WikiCup
    The WikiCup competition is ongoing, while six articles, three lists, and ten pictures were promoted to "featured" status of the English Wikipedia this week.
  • WikiProject report: Article Rescue Squadron
    This week, the Signpost delved into the English Wikipedia's Article Rescue Squadron.

The Signpost: 12 March 2014

  • News and notes: Wikimedians celebrate International Women's Day, Women's History Month
    Wikimedians around the world gathered to celebrate Women's History Month and the associated International Women's Day by holding editathons. If you lived in the United Kingdom, you had the opportunity to attend Wikimedia UK's event at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, part of University College London and host to one of the largest collections of Egyptian and Sudanese artifacts in the world.
  • Traffic report: War and awards
    An intensely busy week, as a confluence of celebratory, curious and urgent topics pushed typical residents like Facebook and Deaths in 2014 out of the top ten entirely.
  • Featured content: Ukraine burns
    Five articles, two lists, and 52 pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.

The Signpost: 19 March 2014

  • WikiProject report: We have history
    This week, we visited WikiProject History, an ancient project with roots dating back to 2001. The project is home to 196 pieces of Featured material and 483 Good and A-class articles independent of the vast accomplishments of its various child projects. WikiProject History maintains a lengthy list of tasks, oversees the history portal, and continues to build Wikipedia's outline of history.
  • Featured content: Spot the bulldozer
    Twelve articles, fourteen lists, and six pictures were promoted to 'featured' status on the English Wikipedia last week.
  • Traffic report: Into thin air
    The utterly mystifying events surrounding Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which has not fallen from the sky so much as vanished from it entirely, has left an information-starved public scrambling for precedents, some logical, some... not.
  • Technology report: Wikimedia engineering report
    The Wikimedia engineering report for February 2014 has been published. A summarized version is also available. Major news include

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The Signpost: 26 March 2014

  • Comment: A foolish request
    April Fools' Day is rapidly approaching. Every year, members of the community pull pranks and make (or attempt to make) humorous edits to pages across the project. Every year, the community follows April Fools' Day with a contentious debate about whether or not it is necessary to impose limits on April Fools' Day jokes for future years. It is a polarizing issue.
  • Traffic report: Down to a simmer
    Topics like the 2014 Crimea crisis or the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 eased down the list, making way for such traditional topics as St Patrick's Day, Reddit threads and even Google Doodles, which have reappeared after a long absence.
  • Recent research: Wikipedians' "encyclopedic identity" dominates even in Kosovo debates
    Have you wondered about differences in the articles on Crimea in the Russian, Ukrainian, and English versions of Wikipedia? A newly published article entitled "Lost in Translation: Contexts, Computing, Disputing on Wikipedia" doesn't address Crimea, but nonetheless offers insight into the editing of contentious articles in multiple language editions through a heavy qualitative examination of Wikipedia articles about the Kosovo in the Serbian, Croatian, and English editions.
  • News and notes: Commons Picture of the Year—winners announced
    Results for the two-stage 2013 Commons Picture of the Year have been announced. This year's winning photograph (above) shows a lightbulb that has been cracked, allowing inert gas to escape—and oxygen to enter, so that the tungsten filament burns. From the flames rise elegant curls of blue smoke.
  • Op-ed: Why we're updating the default typography for Wikipedia
    On 3 April, we will roll out some changes to the typography of Wikipedia's default Vector skin, to increase readability for users on all devices and platforms. After five months of testing, four major iterations, and through close collaboration with the global Wikimedia community, who provided more than 100 threads of feedback, we’ve arrived at a solution which improves the primary reading and editing experience for all users.
  • Technology report: Why will Wikipedia look like the Signpost?
    As you have probably read on this weeks op-ed, or via various other channels of announcement, 3 April will see the introduction of the Typography refresh (or update) for the Vector skin on all Wikipedias. Other projects like Commons will have this update rolled out a few days prior.
  • WikiProject report: From the peak
    This week, the Signpost interviewed the English Wikipedia's Mountains WikiProject.

The Signpost: 02 April 2014

  • Special report: On the cusp of the Wikimedia Conference
    The annual Wikimedia Conference is about to start in Berlin, hosted by Wikimedia Germany, which won the bid to hold the event over three others. This will be the fifth time the chapter has hosted the Wikimedia Conference—it did so from 2009 to 2012, with attendance ranging from 100 to 180 Wikimedians. This year 160 people are expected at the four-day event, which is mainly for representatives of affiliated Wikimedia organisations. The conference has been built around two themes: Organisation, structures, and grants and Success and impact.
  • Featured content: April Fools
    The Signpost's "Featured content" writers had a bit of fun this week.
  • Traffic report: Regressing to the mean
    The mysterious fate of MH370 still tops the list, but in all other respects our readership has retreated from the real world into its pop-cultural happy place: TV, movies, music, Reddit and Google Doodles all made an appearance.

The Signpost: 09 April 2014

  • News and notes: Round 2 of FDC funding open to public comments
    Community review is open for the four applications in the second and final round of applications to the WMF's Funds Dissemination Committee for 2013–14. Three eligible organisations have applied for funding under the newly named "annual program grants": Wikimedia France, Wikimedia Norway, and the India-based Centre for Internet and Society, which last November was recognised as eligible to apply for FDC funding purposes.
  • WikiProject report: WikiProject Law
    This week, we interviewed the Law WikiProject.
  • Special report: Community mourns passing of Adrianne Wadewitz
    "I remember laughing and talking and laughing and talking at Wikimania 2012. I took this picture of her that she used for a long while as a profile pic. Someone on Facebook said it looked 'skepchickal', which she loved."
  • Traffic report: Conquest of the Couch Potatoes
    Television has always been a topic of choice on this site, but it exploded this week. Fully six slots were devoted to television shows, as the final episode of How I Met Your Mother, one of the most popular Wikipedia searches of the last few years, coincided with the season finale of The Walking Dead and the upcoming fourth season of Game of Thrones. The number rises to 8 if movies released on video and new TV tech are are included.
  • Featured content: Snow heater and Ash sweep
    Five article, five lists, and ten pictures were promoted to 'featured' status on the English Wikipedia last week.

The Signpost: 23 April 2014

  • Special report: 2014 Wikimedia Conference—what is the impact?
    The annual Wikimedia Conference wound up last Sunday, 13 April—a four-day meeting costing several hundred thousand dollars, hosted in Berlin by Wikimedia Germany and attended by more than 100 Wikimedians.
  • Op-ed: Five things a Wikipedian in residence can do
    Hey you—yeah you, the Wikipedian! Do you want to help a museum, a library, a university, or other organization explore ways to engage with Wikipedia? Great—you should offer your expertise as a Wikipedian in residence!
  • News and notes: Wikimedian passes away
    Cynthia Ashley-Nelson, who edited as "Cindamuse" on the Wikimedia projects, passed away in her sleep at the Wikimedia Conference in Berlin on 10 April.
  • Wikimania: Winning bid announced for 2015
    After just over a month of deliberation, the Wikimania jury has selected Wikimedia Mexico's bid to host Wikimania 2015 in Mexico City, with a proposed date of 15–19 July.
  • Traffic report: Reflecting in Gethsemane
    If I were the kind of person who made snap judgments based on flimsy evidence, I'd say our readership is in a funk.
  • Featured content: There was I, waiting at the church
    Fourteen articles, four lists, seven pictures, and one topic attained "featured" status on the English Wikipedia over the last two weeks.

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The Signpost: 30 April 2014

  • News and notes: WMF's draft annual plan turns indigestible as an FDC proposal
    Like hammering a square peg into a round hole, the Wikimedia Foundation has submitted a draft annual plan for 2014–15 to its own Funds Dissemination Committee. Unlike the WMF's submission to the FDC's inaugural round in October 2012, the "proposal" does not seek funding.
  • Traffic report: Going to the Doggs
    Not much to report this week. The same post-Easter celebrations (4/20, Earth Day) were popular again this year, except last year we were still reeling from the Boston Marathon bombing.
  • Breaking: The Foundation's new executive director
    The Wikimedia Foundation has announced that its new executive director will be Lila Tretikov, until now a chief product officer in Silicon Valley.
  • WikiProject report: Genetics
    This week, we unraveled the mysteries of WikiProject Genetics.
  • Featured content: Browsing behaviours
    Four articles and sixteen featured pictures were promoted to 'featured' status on the English Wikipedia last week.

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