Op-ed: Articles for creation needs you Ever since the Wikipedia Seigenthaler biography incident in 2005 triggered the restriction against un-registered editors creating new pages, WikiProject Articles for creation (AfC) has stood in the breach. The WikiProject's purpose is to review draft submissions from IPs (and frequently new registered editors) to sort the wheat from the chaff.
WikiProject report: Articles for creation: the inside story This anniversary issue, the WikiProject report is returning to WikiProject Articles for creation for one of our largest interviews ever. Last looked at in 2011, AfC is the method used by unregistered or new users to create articles, and provides an effective filtering system to remove all unsuitable or unsourced submissions to save them needing to be found and deleted later.
News and notes: Erasmus Prize recognizes the global Wikipedia community On the fourteenth anniversary of the founding of the English Wikipedia, the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation has announced that its prestigious annual Erasmus Prize will be awarded to the worldwide community that has built Wikipedia.
Featured content: Citations are needed Six featured articles, five featured lists, and sixteen featured pictures were promoted this week.
Traffic report: Wikipédia sommes Charlie It's a grim certainty what topic most interested Wikipedia viewers this week. The horrific attacks on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine have drawn anger and resolve from around the world, and also the attention of an English-speaking world that had previously never heard of it.
Anniversary: A decade of the Signpost Celebrating and remembering ten years of community journalism.
Interview: WWII veteran honors shipmates through Wikipedia editing Over seventy years ago, the US destroyer Mahan was patrolling off Ponson Island in the Philippines when eleven Japanese kamikaze aircraft appeared over the horizon and attacked. George Pendergast, who edits Wikipedia with the username Pendright, was eighteen years old when he joined Mahan 's crew in April 1944.
Op-ed: Let's make WikiProjects better Our contributor opines that WikiProjects are failing to live up to their potential. WikiProject X is a new project funded by a Wikimedia Foundation Individual Engagement Grant that focuses on figuring out what makes some WikiProjects work and not others.
In the media: Johann Hari; bandishes and delicate flowers Quotes from Jimbo on Wikipedia in education; net neutrality; preserving musical heritage; Wikipedia in audio; a cheerful vandal credits high school with papal visitations.
This edit request to User:Cydebot has been answered. Set the |answered= parameter to no to reactivate your request.
Update number of edits to 4,300,000. Yoshi24517ChatAbsent 02:47, 22 January 2015 (UTC)
Not done: The bot's operator is Cyde(talk·contribs), who (as an administrator) has the ability to edit the bot's user page in any way they see fit - should they wish to do so. --Redrose64 (talk) 12:14, 22 January 2015 (UTC)
From the editor: An editorial board that includes you The editorial board is not complete without you. We are looking for Wikipedians with all kinds of experience levels.
February 6–8: The third annual ArtBytes Hackathon at the Walters Art Museum! This year Wikimedia DC is partnering with the Walters for a hack-a-thon at the intersection of art and technology, and I would like to see Wikimedia well represented.
February 11: The monthly WikiSalon, same place as usual. RSVP on Meetup or just show up!
February 15: Wiki Loves Small Museums in Ocean City. Mary Mark Ockerbloom, with support from Wikimedia DC, will be leading a workshop at the Small Museum Association Conference on how they can contribute to Wikipedia. Tons of representatives from GLAM institutions will be present, and we are looking for volunteers. If you would like to help out, check out "Information for Volunteers".
I am also pleased to announce events for Wikimedia DC Black History Month with Howard University and NPR. Details on those events soon.
If you have any questions or have any requests, please email me at james.harewikimediadc.org.
Op-ed: Is Wikipedia for sale? Hundreds of posted jobs offer money to edit Wikipedia. These jobs appear to be thriving, with tens of thousands of dollars changing hands each month.
Traffic report: The American Heartland The American heartland appears to dominate the Report this week, with Chris Kyle leading the Report.
Featured content: It's raining men! Three featured articles, five featured lists, and thirty-nine featured images were promoted this week.
Arbitration report: Slamming shut the GamerGate One case has been closed, two cases remain open, a third is undergoing a review, and three clarification or amendment requests remain open.
WikiProject report: Dicing with death – on Wikipedia? A small band of dedicated editors seek to improve articles relating to a less lively topic. If you haven't yet guessed, this week's focus is WikiProject Death.
Wikimedia DC celebrates Black History Month, and more!
Hello again!
Not even a week ago I sent out a message talking about upcoming events in DC. Guess what? There are more events coming up in February.
First, as a reminder, there is a WikiSalon on February 11 (RSVP here or just show up) and Wiki Loves Small Museums at the Small Museum Association Conference on February 15 (more information here).
Now, I am very pleased to announce:
Tuesday, February 17 from 10 AM to 3 PM there will be #WikiTurgy at the University of Maryland. Join fellow theatre enthusiasts for a “mass act of public dramaturgy!”
Thursday, February 19 from 10 AM to 4 PM we are hosting the Howard University Black History Edit-a-Thon. We are working in partnership with the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center to improve Wikipedia’s coverage of African-American and African diasporic history.
Tuesday, February 24 from 6 PM to 8 PM we have the Black History Month “First Edit” at NPR. Help improve Wikipedia and help others make their first edit to Wikipedia!
Finally, our monthly dinner meetup is on Saturday, February 28.
There is going to be a lot going on, and I hope you can come to some of the events!
If you have any questions or need any special accommodations, please let me know.
In the media: Is Wikipedia eating itself? Edina edit war illustrates disconnect between new and experienced editors; Wikipedia is "astroturf's dream come true"; Canadian government investigating even more Wikipedia editing; academics on Gamergate as "clash of civilizations"?
Traffic report: Bowled over Wikipedia presents itself as a repository for the world, and while that is a noble sentiment, it is still true that, Conservapedian complaints notwithstanding, the English language Wikipedia is very often the American Wikipedia, and never has that been more apparent than this week.
WikiProject report: Brand new WikiProjects profiled This week, we bring three of the most recently created WikiProjects to come into being on the English Wikipedia. While many long-established projects are becoming inactive, (as we have covered before), that doesn't stop new ones forming every now and then to cover a topic that a group of editors feel should be better cared for.
Gallery: Feel the love This week, we feature subjects that are about love of all kinds.
Conboy456 has given you a cookie! Cookies promote WikiLove and hopefully this one has made your day better. You can spread the WikiLove by giving someone else a cookie, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past or a good friend.
To spread the goodness of cookies, you can add {{subst:Cookie}} to someone's talk page with a friendly message, or eat this cookie on the giver's talk page with {{subst:munch}}!
Conboy456 (talk) 03:48, 17 February 2015 (UTC) Conboy456 (talk) 03:48, 17 February 2015 (UTC)
In the media: Students' use and perception of Wikipedia The Australian ("Wikipedia not destroying life as we know it", February 11) and Times Higher Education ("Wikipedia should be 'better integrated' into teaching", February 10) reported on a recent study performed at Monash University, titled "Students’ use of Wikipedia as an academic resource – patterns of use and perceptions of usefulness".
Special report: Revision scoring as a service The authors of this report inform us that the "goal in the Revision Scoring project is to do the hard work of constructing and maintaining powerful AI so that tool developers don't have to. This cross-lingual, machine learning classifier service for edits will support new wiki tools that require edit quality measures."
Gallery: Darwin Day Darwin Day is observed annually on February 12 to commemorate the life and work of scientist Charles Darwin. Here is a selection of images of life on the Galápagos Islands, where Darwin made key observations leading to his scientific theory of evolution by natural selection.
Traffic report: February is for lovers This week saw the 57th Annual Grammy Awards (#13 on the Top 25) held on 8 February dominating the traffic chart, as music lovers checked out Sam Smith (#3) picking up four awards, Beck taking album of the year, and performances including Sia (#9), Madonna (#11), and Annie Lennox (#16). But Valentine's Day (#1) proved the perfect time for the release of Fifty Shades of Grey, with the movie coming in at #5, the book of the same name at #2, and the primary actors at #14 and #15.
News and notes: Questions raised over WMF partnership with research firm A report from the external research firm Lafayette Practice has declared that the Wikimedia Foundation is the "largest known participatory grantmaking fund." Several concerns have been raised with the report, the phrase being used (participatory grantmaking), the now-former Wikipedia article on that phrase, and an alleged conflict of interest by WMF staff members.
In the media: WikiGnomes and Bigfoot Andrew McMillen's February 3 profile of and his quest to rid Wikipedia of the phrase "comprised of" has been one of the most widely circulated and commented upon media stories about the encyclopedia recently.
Gallery: Far from home The Gallery is an occasional Signpost feature highlighting quality images and articles from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons based on a particular theme, as well as an article you could help improve. This week, we feature subjects that are "far from home".
Traffic report: Fifty Shades of... self-denial? An odd juxtaposition this week, as interest in Fifty Shades of Grey coincided with the observance of the Chinese New Year and the annual festival of penance, Ash Wednesday.
WikiProject report: Be prepared... Scouts in the spotlight This week's project is on a youth activity, one of the largest in the world; its project is commensurately large, containing around 136 active editors. It's WikiProject Scouting, a group of editors whose remit is everything relating to the Scouting movement, which has around 42 million members worldwide and celebrated the centenary of its founding only eight years ago.
Blog: Join the Wikimedia strategy consultation Editor's note: the Blog will be a recurring Signpost section that will highlight a recent post from the Wikimedia blog, run by the Wikimedia Foundation. This week's installment is written by Philippe Beaudette, the Foundation's Director of Community Advocacy, and focuses on planning for the future of the Wikimedia movement.
News and notes: Questions raised over WMF partnership with research firm A report from the external research firm Lafayette Practice has declared that the Wikimedia Foundation is the "largest known participatory grantmaking fund." Several concerns have been raised with the report, the phrase being used (participatory grantmaking), the now-former Wikipedia article on that phrase, and an alleged conflict of interest by WMF staff members.
In the media: WikiGnomes and Bigfoot Andrew McMillen's February 3 profile of and his quest to rid Wikipedia of the phrase "comprised of" has been one of the most widely circulated and commented upon media stories about the encyclopedia recently.
Gallery: Far from home The Gallery is an occasional Signpost feature highlighting quality images and articles from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons based on a particular theme, as well as an article you could help improve. This week, we feature subjects that are "far from home".
Traffic report: Fifty Shades of... self-denial? An odd juxtaposition this week, as interest in Fifty Shades of Grey coincided with the observance of the Chinese New Year and the annual festival of penance, Ash Wednesday.
WikiProject report: Be prepared... Scouts in the spotlight This week's project is on a youth activity, one of the largest in the world; its project is commensurately large, containing around 136 active editors. It's WikiProject Scouting, a group of editors whose remit is everything relating to the Scouting movement, which has around 42 million members worldwide and celebrated the centenary of its founding only eight years ago.
Blog: Join the Wikimedia strategy consultation Editor's note: the Blog will be a recurring Signpost section that will highlight a recent post from the Wikimedia blog, run by the Wikimedia Foundation. This week's installment is written by Philippe Beaudette, the Foundation's Director of Community Advocacy, and focuses on planning for the future of the Wikimedia movement.
Friday, March 13: NIH Women's History Month Edit-a-Thon – 9 AM to 4 PM
In honor of Women’s History Month, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is organizing and hosting an edit-a-thon to improve coverage of women in science in Wikipedia. Free coffee and lunch served!
Saturday, March 21: Women in STEM Edit-a-Thon at DCPL – 12 PM
Celebrate Women's History Month by building, editing, and expanding articles about women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields during DC Public Library's first full-day edit-a-thon.
To unsubscribe from this newsletter, remove your name from this list. 02:24, 2 March 2015 (UTC)
Cydebot moving categories
Category:Level crossing accidents in the United States was recently taken to a CFD that resulted in a decision of "rename". The closing administrator listed it at Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Working, and the bot soon moved the contents to the new name, deleted the old name, and pasted its code and contributor list into the new name without problem. But why does it have to delete and recreate? Is there a possibility that the bot could start moving categories instead of deleting old names and creating new names? Nyttend (talk) 03:05, 5 March 2015 (UTC)
Editorial: Conspiracy theories distract from real questions about grantmaking report Last week, my colleagues on the Signpost produced a news report covering a minor controversy about a report commissioned by the Wikimedia Foundation. Written by the staff of The Lafayette Practice, a French research firm, it proclaimed the WMF as a leader in the practice of participatory grantmaking.
Traffic report: Attack of the movies The Report this week is dominated by the Academy Awards, taking the top 4 spots and 13 of the Top 25.
Arbitration report: Bradspeaks—impact, regrets, and advice; current cases hinge on sex, religion, and ... infoboxes In the first of what the author hopes will become a regular feature of the Arbitration report, the Signpost speaks to veteran arbitrator Newyorkbrad, who recently retired from the committee after almost seven years of arbitrating. The Signpost was keen to hear his thoughts on his time on the committee and on the past, present, and future of ArbCom.
Interview: Meet a paid editor Before being indefinitely blocked, User:FergusM1970 made more than 4600 edits on the English Wikipedia, spread over eight years. In the last two years, he was paid to edit several articles for clients that included the Venezuelan energy company Derwick Associates. We spoke with him about his experiences.
In the media: Kanye West rebranded; Wikipedia in court; editors for hire Numerous news outlets are reporting that the domain loser.com now redirects to the Wikipedia article for rapper Kanye West. Page views on West's Wikipedia article skyrocketed to almost 250,000 views on March 2, up from less than 19 thousand the previous day.
Technology report: Bugs, Repairs, and Internal Operational News The Signpost has arranged to mirror Tech news from Meta-Wiki to supplement the long-form tech coverage in our infrequent Technology report..
Blog: Black History Month edit-a-thons tackle Wikipedia’s multicultural gaps Black History Month is celebrated annually in the United States in February, to commemorate the history of the African diaspora. For this occasion, Wikipedians worked together to honor black history and to address Wikipedia's multicultural gaps in the encyclopedia, hosting Wikipedia edit-a-thons throughout the United States, from February 1 to 28, 2015.
Ah restored, but still probably worth checking into, next time it might not be a page so widely watched.--JohnBlackburnewordsdeeds 21:29, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
Wanna bet that it'll be going for Jimbo's user page next? Favonian (talk) 21:29, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
Not the first time: Wikipedia:Deletion review/Log/2015 January 27. Looks like the bot has problems when a category without the 'Category:' is the name of a page in a namespace other than main so has a 'xxx:' for some namespace 'xxx'. As such looks like an easy edge case to fix.--JohnBlackburnewordsdeeds 23:30, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
Special report: An advance look at the WMF's fundraising survey The Wikimedia Foundation gave the Signpost an advance copy of the results of a survey of English Wikipedia readers regarding Wikimedia fundraising, due for official release today.
In the media: Gamergate; a Wiki hoax; Kanye West ThinkProgress tech reporter Lauren C. Williams wrote a long article on how the Gamergate controversy has spilled over onto Wikipedia.
In focus: WMF to NSA: "stop spying on Wikipedia users" In an effort to protect and maintain the privacy of Wikipedia's thousands of editors, the Wikimedia Foundation has filed a lawsuit against the United States' National Security Agency, Department of Justice, and the Attorney General.
Traffic report: Wikipedia: handing knowledge to the world, one prank at a time A dull week, with only three new entries in the top 10; a UFC champion, a Google Doodle and a Hindu festival involving people throwing powder at each other (though that does sound fun).
Featured content: Here they come, the couple plighted – Six featured articles, three featured lists, and forty featured pictures were promoted this week.
Op-ed: Why the Core Contest matters I continue to be excited about the Core Contest because I see it as a way of encouraging the expansion of broad articles that are typically neglected by our article improvement incentives.
I'm not sure that this user is around Wikipedia enough to give your inquiry immediate attention. However, I think if you email him at cydeweys (at) gmail.com, you will get a prompt response. Good Ol’factory(talk) 00:57, 13 March 2015 (UTC)
Hello, Cyde. Please check your email; you've got mail! It may take a few minutes from the time the email is sent for it to show up in your inbox. You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{You've got mail}} or {{ygm}} template.
My company is interested in building a Wikipedia page. I understand the Wikipedia community's defense of having an inviolable, objective database of verified (bits of) knowledge. What I'm trying to do now is link to outside sources and create the page (I'm an officer of the company) in an authoritative manner in such a way that sheds no doubt on it's authenticity or objective mention.
Current issues are:
notability
outside links
conflict of interest / promotional material (per previous editorial comment)
Hope you can help,
Mpvenables (talk) 02:11, 21 March 2015 (UTC)mpvenables
The Signpost: 18 March 2015
From the editor: A salute to Pine We announce with sadness and gratitude that Signpost publication and newsroom manager Pine will be stepping back to focus on other Wikipedia and Wikimedia-related endeavors.
News and notes: SUL finalization imminent; executive office shake-ups at the Foundation This process is now entering its long-awaited final phase with the upcoming SUL finalization, scheduled for April 15, less than a month away. ... Wikimedia Foundation chief talent and culture officer Gayle Karen Young announced her retirement from the Foundation this week. Young will be replaced in that role by interim chief operating officer Terry Gilbey. According to the Foundation's job description for the title as it was applied in the past, Gilbey will be in charge of "overall administration and business operations of the Wikimedia Foundation."
In the media: NYPD editing articles regarding allegations of police brutality and misconduct On March 13, Kelly Weill of Capital New York revealed that numerous Wikipedia edits originated from 1 Police Plaza, the headquarters of the NYPD. Most of the attention has focused on a number of their edits to articles about incidents of alleged police brutality and controversial police practices.
Op-ed: Does the Wikimedia fundraising survey address community concerns? The publication of the Wikimedia survey findings on fundraising questions came three months after significant concerns were voiced about the design and wording of the December 2014 fundraising banners and e-mails.
Featured content: A woman who loved kings Four featured articles, four featured lists, and thirty-five featured pictures were promoted this week.
Traffic report: It's not cricket If not for Kayne West's dubious repeat at #1, the 2015 Cricket World Cup (#2) would have made the top spot, albeit in a generally slow news week.
Special report: Wikimedia Commons Picture of the Year 2014 The Wikipedia Commons annual Picture of the Year contest has concluded, with 6,698 people voting, its largest participation yet.
Traffic report: Oddly familiar This week's list is reminiscent of lists from the early days of this project: a preponderance of famous faces, Reddit threads, and Google Doodles.
Recent research: Most important people; respiratory reliability; academic attitudes The authors attempt to answer the question "Who are the most important people of all times?" Their findings clearly show that different Wikipedias give different prominence to different individuals.
Blog: The Wikipedia Library Team reflects on its new Visiting Scholars program A university gives a top Wikipedia editor free and full access to the university library's entire online content—and the Wikipedia editor, who is unpaid and not on campus, then creates and improves Wikipedia articles in a subject area of interest to the institution.
Traffic report: All over the place The Report is more of a mix of random topics than usual this week. The top spot is taken by Bhutanese passport, a Wikipedia article which contained a crazed spoken word version which drew widespread attention.
Special report: Pictures of the Year 2015 The Wikimedia Commons' annual Picture of the Year contest has concluded. The first 53 top-voted entries were disqualified because they were all nude.
Traffic report: All over the place The Report is more of a mix of random topics than usual this week. The top spot is taken by Bhutanese passport, a Wikipedia article which contained a crazed spoken word version which drew widespread attention.
Special report: Pictures of the Year 2015 The Wikimedia Commons' annual Picture of the Year contest has concluded. The first 53 top-voted entries were disqualified because they were all nude.
Traffic report: All over the place The Report is more of a mix of random topics than usual this week. The top spot is taken by Bhutanese passport, a Wikipedia article which contained a crazed spoken word version which drew widespread attention.
Special report: Pictures of the Year 2015 The Wikimedia Commons' annual Picture of the Year contest has concluded. The first 53 top-voted entries were disqualified because they were all nude.
I just tagged Category:Test2 for CSD (C1, G1, and G2). It was created by User:Cydebot, for reasons I entirely fail to comprehend. I can't see anything obviously relevant on Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Working, but maybe I just don't know how to read it properly. Anyway, the bot's edit summary says you're the original author, so here's your CSD warning. --NYKevin 04:51, 7 April 2015 (UTC)
...and User:Bbb23 has rejected my CSD, telling me to report it to you. Ball's in your court, I guess. --NYKevin 05:02, 7 April 2015 (UTC)
Whoops, my bad. I failed to clean up something after testing recent fixes for proper category moving. I just deleted it. --Cyde Weys 19:23, 9 April 2015 (UTC)
WikiProject report: WikiProject Christianity With Holy Week having recently drawn to a close, it is an apt time to examine WikiProject Christianity, which was created in 2006, and boasts over 200 active members.
Arbitration report: New Functionary appointments The Committee has voted on the 2015 appointments to the Functionary team.
In the media: Saving Wikipedia; Internet regulation; Thoreau quote hoax Time profiles Lila Tretikov, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, and paints a grim picture of the challenges faced by Tretikov and the encyclopedia.
Traffic report: Furious domination If it wasn't for Easter, Fast and Furious related articles would have taken the top four spots this week. The latest installment of the movie franchise, Furious 7, tops the chart for the second straight week.
Thanks for pointing this out. Looking at the code, I believe it should apply to all category pages, not just speedy moves. The new code that takes advantage of the category moving functionality isn't also editing the text of the page like it used to when it was copy/pasting the category text from the old page into the new page. It looks like I need to do a separate edit now after the move completes. I'm working on it now. --Cyde Weys 13:23, 5 April 2015 (UTC)
Thanks for getting on to this. I agree that it's not only speedy moves but ordinary CFR renames too which are not being edited at the moment. – FayenaticLondon 20:28, 12 April 2015 (UTC)
I've made some fairly significant changes to how all of this stuff works now. Please keep your eye out! But it should all be working. --Cyde Weys 20:29, 19 April 2015 (UTC)
Ah, good, thanks. It's still confused by 2 templates where there is a speedy and a full nomination: – FayenaticLondon 13:32, 20 April 2015 (UTC)
The Signpost: 22 April 2015
Special report: Sony emails reveal corporate practices and undisclosed advocacy editing A Signpost investigation of the released data has revealed Sony's corporate practices regarding Wikipedia and uncovered what appears to be undisclosed advocacy editing of Wikipedia by Sony employees and possibly by others.
News and notes: Call for candidates as the movement approaches the Wikimedia Board elections The Affiliates Committee this week announced the organization of a community referral for comment, currently open on the meta-wiki, to address upcoming changes to the way that the Affiliations Committee will review movement-affiliated user-groups in the future.
In focus: 2015 Wikimedia Foundation election preparations underway 2015 will see through the biennial community election for the three community-elected seats on the Board of Trustees—the "ultimate corporate authority" of the Wikimedia Foundation and the level at which the strategic decisions regarding the Wikimedia movement are made.
Featured content: Vanguard on guard Six featured articles and fifteen featured pictures were promoted this week.
Traffic report: A harvest of couch potatoes Couch potatoes rule this week, as 9 of the top 10 slots were taken by either movies, TV, or sports.
Gallery: The bitter end The Gallery is an occasional Signpost feature highlighting quality images and articles from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons based on a particular theme.
Wikimania: Choice of small village for Wikimania 2016 ruffles feathers Esino Lario is set to host Wikimania 2016, but volunteers and others have raised a host of concerns that raise serious questions about the town's suitability for hosting such a large conference.
Featured content: Another day, another dollar Ten featured articles, nine featured lists, and twenty-eight featured pictures were promoted this week.
Traffic report: Bruce, Nessie, and genocide Though the continued predominance of movies, TV, and sports noted in last week's report largely continues, three additional topics joined the Top 10 this week.
Hello, I just need to ask you something. Do you mind blocking me indefinitely? Thanks.
68.119.73.241 (talk) 02:01, 3 May 2015 (UTC)User talk:68.119.73.241
In the media: Guggenheim image donation; Wiki campaign gets advertising award artnet and The Next Web report (May 6) that the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is releasing a hundred images of works in its collection under Creative Commons licences in conjunction with a May 19 editathon.
Special report: FDC candidates respond to key issues Elections have begun for five community members of the Funds Dissemination Committee, the Foundation's volunteer body for judging and recommending millions of dollars worth of annual grants to affiliates in the movement. The election lasts just eight days, from Sunday 3 May until 23:59 UTC on Sunday 10 May, so at the time of publication, voters will need to act promptly.
Traffic report: The grim ship reality Like colliding ocean liners, rousing entertainment and harsh reality merged ungainly in this week's top 10 list. The much heralded pay-per-view pummeling of Manny Pacquiao by Floyd Mayweather, Jr. dominated the list's top slots, giving this list one of its highest total view counts in months.
Well, that didn't work either. – FayenaticLondon 16:36, 10 May 2015 (UTC)
Ah, thanks, it's good to see it working again. – FayenaticLondon 15:18, 12 May 2015 (UTC)
Yeah, I'm looking into it. It's hitting exceptions on some of the tasks. Looks like some issues in PyWikiBot-core. I'll probably be submitting another patch soon. --Cyde Weys 17:52, 12 May 2015 (UTC)
Thanks. It's also only removing part of the Cfd template, e.g. . – FayenaticLondon 08:25, 13 May 2015 (UTC)
Urgh. So much in flux with PyWikiBot recently. I'll deal with that too. --Cyde Weys 19:26, 15 May 2015 (UTC)
The Signpost: 13 May 2015
Foundation elections: Board candidates share their views with the Signpost Three community-elected seats on the Board of Trustees—the ultimate governing authority of the Wikimedia Foundation—will be decided by Wikimedians in the election to be held 17–31 May.
Traffic report: Round Two Casual viewers may think I've posted the same list twice. But no, readers just happen to be really interested in May 2's Big Fight. In fact, last week was just the weigh-in and the trash talk. This week, the numbers actually increased.
In the media: Grant Shapps story continues Grant Shapps, who was the co-chairman of the UK's Conservative Party until this week, has been accused of maliciously editing the Wikipedia biographies of his party's rivals.
Op-ed: What made Wikipedia lose its reputation? There is a public misconception of Wikipedia: that any anonymous editor can edit Wikipedia at any time, and cannot be tracked or identified.
From the editor: Your voice is needed: strategic voting in the WMF election The Wikimedia Foundation's bi-annual Board of Trustees election is open for voting. Of the ten seats on the board, three are elected representatives of the global Wikimedia community—you.
In focus: The awful truth about Wikimedia's article counts The article counts of many Wikimedia wikis suddenly changed on 29 March 2015: as the Signpost reported at the time, sixty-five wikis fell below milestones tracked at the Wikimedia News Meta page, and three increased to new milestones.
Traffic report: Inner Core The list is topped this week by Danish scientist Inge Lehmann, thanks to a Google Doodle celebrating her 127th birthday. Lehmann discovered in 1936 that the Earth has a solid inner core. It is sometimes surprising to realize how recently such basic scientific knowledge of the Earth, which we now take for granted, was discovered.
News and notes: A dark side of comedy: the Wikipedia volunteers cleaning up behind John Oliver's fowl jokes Wikipedia editors logging in on May 19 found themselves walking into an unexpected amount of anti-vandal work to keep the site in line with its extensive biographies of living persons policy. A plethora of Wikipedia articles related to the United States House Committee on Appropriations, and the fifty-one representatives serving on it, have been hit by a raft of anonymous editors making often vulgar edits referencing "chicken fucker," or more creative combinations: "sexual conduct", "sexual congress", "fornicator", "intimate relations", or "trysts with chickens."
Featured content: Puppets, fungi, and waterfalls Three articles, seven lists, and seven pictures were featured on the English Wikipedia.
In the media: Jimmy Wales accepts Dan David Prize Jimmy Wales and five others accepted the 2015 Dan David Prize at Tel Aviv University on May 17. The prize comes with US$1 million, ten percent of which goes to doctoral and postdoctoral scholarships.
WikiProject report: Cell-ebrating Molecular Biology This week, we had the pleasure of interviewing WikiProject Molecular and Cellular Biology, which has come a long way since our last interview in 2008. Like most projects, it has a long member list, but only a small subset of that group regularly contributes. With 28 featured articles and 58 top-importance start class ones, the project has clearly had some success, but has a ways to go. We talked to three regular project contributors.
Arbitration report: Editor conduct the subject of multiple cases The Arbitration Committee has an unusually large case load at present. Although perhaps not on a par with the high-profile, multi-party cases seen towards the end of last year and the beginning of this year, with five open cases the arbitrators are likely to be kept busy for the next several weeks.
Wondering if it's worthwhile to estimate ages of the giant trees. This might help people learning about them to see how important conservation efforts are as these are certainly not replaceable. Thank you! 168.156.111.2 (talk) 20:09, 26 May 2015 (UTC)
The Signpost: 27 May 2015
News and notes: WMF releases quarterly reports, annual plans The Wikimedia Foundation recently switched to a quarterly report structure to better align reporting with the generally quarterly planning and goal-setting processes.
In the media: Scrubbing Parliamentary biographies; Wikipedia's invisible history British media reports on Wikipedia editing to articles of Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom prior to the May 7 United Kingdom general election from IP addresses assigned to Parliament.
Discussion report: A relic from the past that needs to be updated To many, Internet Relay Chat is an old relic, but not to Wikipedia. Wikipedia currently has an IRC help channel designated to help and assist editors with editing Wikipedia.
Traffic report: Summer, summer, summertime As usual for the time of year, pop culture rules this week. The start of summer vacation in the US means a focus on summer movies, particularly blockbuster sequels Avengers: Age of Ultron, Pitch Perfect 2 and Mad Max: Fury Road.
Technology report: MediaWiki blows up printers ...allegedly. In a post to wikitech-l, Steven Walling pointed out that the TV show CSI: Cyber had used a screenshot of MediaWiki's HTML output and claimed it was responsible for blowing up printers.
M19 has a photo problem on line.upper right corner missing in the photo. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.209.211.156 (talk) 01:20, 30 May 2015 (UTC)
The Signpost: 03 June 2015
News and notes: Three new community-elected trustees announced, incumbents out The Wikimedia Foundation's volunteer election committee has announced the election results for the three vacant seats on the Board of Trustees. Dariusz Jemielnak, James Heilman, and Denny Vrandečić are set to take up their two-year terms on the Board. They will replace the three incumbents, all of whom stood this time unsuccessfully: Phoebe Ayers, Samuel Klein, and María Sefidari.
Blog: How Wikipedia covered Caitlyn Jenner’s transition Caitlyn Jenner—the American hero of the 1976 Olympics, a film actor, and prominent member of Keeping Up with the Kardashians—may now be the most famous openly transgender person in the world.
Technology report: Things are getting SPDYier Over the past few weeks, developers have been working on improving Wikimedia's performance when users connect to it using SPDY.
Traffic report: A rather ordinary week The traffic report is nothing unusual this week, with a Google Doodle for astronaut Sally Ride topping the list, the accidental death of famous mathematician John Forbes Nash, Jr. at #2, and the normal fare of recent popular American movies and television.
News and notes: Chapter financial trends analyzed, news in brief This week saw the publication of the Chapter-wide Financial Trends Report 2013, a now-completed research project that examines the finances and outlays of the 36 movement-affiliated chapters.
Traffic report: Two households, both alike in dignity "Happy families are all alike," Leo Tolstoy said, "but unhappy families are unhappy after their own fashion."
Featured content: Just the bear facts, ma'am Four featured articles, two featured lists, one featured topic, and twenty-eight featured pictures were promoted this week.
Technology report: Wikimedia sites are going HTTPS only Today it was announced that Wikimedia sites are going to become HTTPS only, finishing up 10 year effort of rolling out HTTPS.
...is running just fine (well, at least, as of this post :P). Anyway, just pinging you to say I appreciate the bot and hope everything's going well for you otherwise. Cheers =) --slakr\talk/ 04:25, 11 June 2015 (UTC)
Yes, I concur, thank you! – FayenaticLondon 16:46, 11 June 2015 (UTC)
It seems to be taking a nap at the moment. Actually I'm thankful, because some tasks were listed in error. Hope it will wake up shortly.
I just noticed that there is also user:Cydebot_1 which made 3 edits in 2012. Is this a bogus account that should be blocked, or a test of yours? – FayenaticLondon 15:11, 12 June 2015 (UTC)
Thanks for waking it up. Working nicely now, except that it still leaves 5 lines of hidden junk after speedy renames. – FayenaticLondon 15:35, 13 June 2015 (UTC)
Sometimes it is still only removing one line out of 5, e.g. . – FayenaticLondon 14:18, 19 June 2015 (UTC)
Arbitration report: An election has consequences The Arbitration Committee delivered its final decision in a case that reached the attention of the UK national press.
News and notes: Labs outage kills tools, self; news in brief A more than usually severe outage Wikimedia Labs occurred after a massive database corruption implosion on June 17.
Featured content: Great Dane hits 150 Six featured articles, seven featured lists, and seven featured pictures were promoted this week.
Discussion report: A quick way of becoming an admin Author's note: This might be a violation of WP:BEANS; read at your own risk.
WikiProject report: Western Australia speaks – we are back It wouldn't be the WikiProject report if we didn't feature an Australian topic once in a while, so this week we're looking at the left side.
From the editor: The Signpost tagging initiative Over more than a decade of weekly publication, The Signpost has accumulated an incredibly lengthy and detailed record about the issues, controversies, successes, and failures of the English Wikipedia community and the movement at large.
Op-ed: Content Translation beta is coming to the English Wikipedia The Wikimedia Foundation's Language Engineering team plans to introduce Content Translation—a tool that makes it easier to translate Wikipedia articles into different languages—as a beta feature on the English Wikipedia.
News and notes: Board of Trustees propose bylaw amendments The Board of Trustees is the "ultimate corporate authority" of the Wikimedia Foundation and the level at which the strategic decisions regarding the Wikimedia movement are made ...
In the media: Turkish Wikipedia censorship; "Can Wikipedia survive?"; PR editing The Hürriyet Daily News reports that the Turkish Wikipedia has posted banners on the top of the encyclopedia to warn users that a number of articles are being blocked by the Turkish government.
Blog: 7,473 volumes at 700 pages each: meet Print Wikipedia After six years of work, a residency in the Canadian Rockies, endless debugging, and more than a little help from my friends, I have made Print Wikipedia.
Hi, I never saw the Call for Renaming, so I'm late to the discussion, but with the recent addition of the hyphen, Jewish-American short story writers is the only one in the tree to use the hyphen. What's the best thing for me to do in order to discuss whether to revert the change or to change the entire tree? Thanks, Aristophanes68(talk) 19:58, 25 June 2015 (UTC)
Cancel that—I found the revert button for the category and then reverted the individual articles manually. Thanks, Aristophanes68(talk) 15:40, 26 June 2015 (UTC)
The Signpost: 01 July 2015
News and notes: Training the Trainers; VP of Engineering leaves WMF This week The Center for Internet and Society published a promotional blog post highlighting the heritage of the center's creation of the Train the Trainer program.
In the media: EU freedom of panorama; Nehru outrage; BBC apology A week now remains until the vote, expected on 9 July, when the European Parliament will express either its approval, disapproval, or lack of opinion on the question of freedom of panorama in the European Union.
WikiProject report: Able to make a stand Here to share their wisdom are Dodger67, Penny Richards, LilyKitty, and Mirokado of WikiProject Disability
Featured content: Viva V.E.R.D.I. Four featured list and twelve featured pictures were promoted this week.
Traffic report: We're Baaaaack For the week of June 21 to 27, 2015, the 10 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the most viewed pages.
News and notes: Wikimedia Foundation annual plan released, news in brief Lila Tretikov this week posted an email to the wikimedia-l mailing list announcing the final publication of the Wikimedia Foundation's 2015 annual plan.
Traffic report: The Empire lobs back It's July 4 weekend and on this list that means only one thing: Wimbledon. Sure, the American Independence Day gets noticed too, but it can't hold a candle to that staggeringly British sporting event.
wikimediadc.org.
