User talk:Icebob99
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Welcome!
Hello, Icebob99, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few links to pages you might find helpful:
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Please remember to sign your messages on talk pages by typing four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or , and a volunteer should respond shortly. Again, welcome! jonkerz ♠talk 19:48, 28 March 2016 (UTC)
Welcome to The Wikipedia Adventure!

- Hi Icebob99! We're so happy you wanted to play to learn, as a friendly and fun way to get into our community and mission. I think these links might be helpful to you as you get started.
-- 13:42, Wednesday, October 5, 2016 (UTC)
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Reference errors on 13 October
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A barnstar for you!
| The Graphic Designer's Barnstar | |
| Thank you for thinking to email Walker's West and ask them to release the Dunn photos! White Arabian Filly Neigh 20:20, 27 October 2016 (UTC) |
Those aren't typos
Hi. I reverted your edits at Wikipedia:Advice for RfA candidates. Please read WP:NOTVOTE. Wikipedia operates by consensus but admins that close discussions (RfA, AfD, etc.) weigh the arguments made and can decide that the correct consensus is more than just a matter of numbers. Although I'm sure you thought you were catching actual typos, I'd caution you against making any changes to content in the Wikipedia namespace. Policies, guidelines, and essays were written by editors with far more experience and their subtleties may elude you. Chris Troutman (talk) 14:54, 3 November 2016 (UTC)
- @Chris troutman: Thanks for the clarification. I'll hold off on editing namespace articles for a while. Icebob99 (talk) 15:18, 3 November 2016 (UTC)
DYK nomination of Women in classical music
Hello! Your submission of Women in classical music at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and some issues with it may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! Yoninah (talk) 01:26, 11 November 2016 (UTC)
DYK for Women in classical music
On 15 November 2016, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Women in classical music, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that women conductors lead only 4.1% of "big budget" American symphony orchestras? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Women in classical music. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, Women in classical music), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.
Your help desk question
You have a response.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 20:18, 22 November 2016 (UTC)
WikiProject citation resource
You might be interested in the resources listed at Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Citation_cleanup --Jennica✿ talk / contribs 11:31, 23 November 2016 (UTC)
Israel sports AfDs
FYI, the others were included in an AfD a while back. It was procedurally closed as keep for being too large and unworkable. So that's not the answer. I PRODed the other EuroBasket ones since they're basically the same and I or someone else can deal with the rest later. Smartyllama (talk) 13:58, 28 November 2016 (UTC)
- Makes sense. Thanks for clarifying. Icebob99 (talk) 14:15, 28 November 2016 (UTC)
- The PRODs were contested by the page creator. I can try to put a combined AfD together later, or you can if you want. It will take a while since there are multiple EuroBasket (and women's EuroBasket) articles to nominate and they all have to go to the same AfD, so I'll need some more time than I have right now unless you want to. However, I would strongly advise against placing different sports in the same AfD. Men's and women's of the same sport is fine, but not different sports like hockey since that's what did the first AfD in. Smartyllama (talk) 16:20, 28 November 2016 (UTC)
Reference errors on 4 December
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- On the Curtobacterium page, your edit caused a DOI error (help). (Fix | Ask for help)
Please check this page and fix the errors highlighted. If you think this is a false positive, you can report it to my operator. Thanks, ReferenceBot (talk) 00:21, 5 December 2016 (UTC)
Your submission at Articles for creation: Portland Piano International Festival (December 5)

- If you would like to continue working on the submission, go to Draft:Portland Piano International Festival and click on the "Edit" tab at the top of the window.
- If you need any assistance, you can ask for help at the Articles for creation help desk or on the reviewer's talk page.
- You can also use Wikipedia's real-time chat help from experienced editors.
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Hello! Icebob99,
I noticed your article was declined at Articles for Creation, and that can be disappointing. If you are wondering why your article submission was declined, please post a question at the Articles for creation help desk. If you have any other questions about your editing experience, we'd love to help you at the Teahouse, a friendly space on Wikipedia where experienced editors lend a hand to help new editors like yourself! See you there! - TheMagnificentist (talk) 15:12, 5 December 2016 (UTC) |
Guild of Copy Editors December 2016 News
| Guild of Copy Editors December 2016 News
Hello everyone, and welcome to the December 2016 GOCE newsletter. We had an October newsletter all set to go, but it looks like we never pushed the button to deliver it, so this one contains a few months of updates. We have been busy and successful! Coordinator elections for the first half of 2017: Nominations are open for election of Coordinators for the first half of 2017. Please visit the election page to nominate yourself or another editor, and then return after December 15 to vote. Thanks for participating! September Drive: The September drive was fruitful. We set out to remove July through October 2015 from our backlog (an ambitious 269 articles), and by the end of the month, we had cut that pile of oldest articles to just 83. We reduced our overall backlog by 97 articles, even with new copyedit tags being added to articles every day. We also handled 75% of the remaining Requests from August 2016. Overall, 19 editors recorded copy edits to 233 articles (over 378,000 words). October Blitz: this one-week copy-editing blitz ran from 16 through 22 October; the theme was Requests, since the backlog was getting a bit long. Of the 16 editors who signed up, 10 editors completed 29 requests. Barnstars and rollover totals are located here. Thanks to all editors who took part. November Drive: The November drive was a record-breaker! We set out to remove September through December 2015 from our backlog (239 articles), and by the end of the month, we had cut that pile of old articles to just 66, eliminating the two oldest months! We reduced our overall backlog by 523 articles, to a new record low of 1,414 articles, even with new tags being added to articles every day, which means we removed copy-editing tags from over 800 articles. We also handled all of the remaining Requests from October 2016. Officially, 14 editors recorded copy edits to 200 articles (over 312,000 words), but over 600 articles, usually quick fixes and short articles, were not recorded on the drive page. Housekeeping note: we do not send a newsletter before every drive or blitz. To have a better chance of knowing when the next event will start, add the GOCE's message box to your Watchlist. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators: Jonesey95, Corinne and Tdslk. |
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:30, 8 December 2016 (UTC)
(belated) Welcome!
Hi Icebob99! I know you're not quite new here any longer, but I've noticed you added yourself to WikiProject Microbiology and that you've been editing lots of microbiology articles. I just wanted to pop over here and say hello and welcome aboard! It's great to see another editor interested in microbiology!! There are fairly few of us around, and so much to be done! Anyway, if you have any questions about anything at all, feel free to leave a message at my talk page. Also if you're ever looking for something to do, consider looking at this list of micro articles tagged with some concern (just over 600 more to go!). WP Classical music might have one too. Anyway, I hope you decide to stick around and help improve the encyclopedia here. We need all the hands we can get! Happy editing! Ajpolino (talk) 00:44, 13 December 2016 (UTC)
- @Ajpolino: thanks for the welcome! I don't really edit the Classical music WikiProject, I just put it on there as I was looking around for WikiProjects. I'll make the concerns next on my to-do list (I'm assessing all the articles with unknown quality and importance levels, only 800 left :P). Looking forward to making Wikipedia just as detailed on microbiology as anything else! Icebob99 (talk) 02:47, 13 December 2016 (UTC)
Reference errors on 14 December
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- On the Plasmodium gundersi page, your edit caused a DOI error (help). (Fix | Ask for help)
Please check this page and fix the errors highlighted. If you think this is a false positive, you can report it to my operator. Thanks, ReferenceBot (talk) 00:21, 15 December 2016 (UTC)
Your concern was echoed
See section User_talk:Knowledgebattle#LinuxInsider where multiple people expressed the same concern. This is not the way to be bold at Wikipedia. (I don't understand where such confidence comes from) Thank you for asking an obvious "what's going on?" Shenme (talk) 06:23, 21 December 2016 (UTC)
A cookie for you
Elsevier Access to Health and Life Sciences Resources
Hello Icebob99, I wanted to introduce myself as Wikipedia's account coordinator for Elsevier per the discussion on Nikkimaria's talk page. I saw that you filled out the request-for-access form again on 12/22/16, as you were not sure whether or not your 12/11/16 form submission went through. I just wanted to let you know that we received both form submissions. Nikkimaria seems to have already alluded to this, but to reiterate, Elsevier has already been contacted from our end regarding giving you login credentials, but we are still waiting to hear back from them. Thanks for your patience thus far, and feel free to ping me or reach out to me on my talk page if you have any more questions, comments, or concerns. Have a great day. --JustBerry (talk) 22:07, 23 December 2016 (UTC)
Refs in the lead
The WikiProject rater gadget
From your contribution history it seems to me you might be interested in this tool for WikiProject-assessing: User:Kephir/gadgets/rater. I find it very useful and it has saved me countless hours of time already. Just wanted to let you know about it.
The Concrete Herald
Hi! I'm curious why you rated The Concrete Herald as C-class, rather than B-class. I'd welcome your suggestions for improvement. 凰兰时罗 (talk) 02:51, 27 December 2016 (UTC)
- Hi @凰兰时罗:, I rated it as C-class because I was too lazy to check it against the B-class criteria. C-class articles are usually evident upon a glance and require only a few spot-checks to make sure it hits the mark on verifiability and neutrality, whereas I check articles for B-class thoroughly against the six criteria listed in Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Assessment, so it's more work. Since you asked, I'll go through and check everything off since I'm curious now if it actually is B-class. Thanks for stopping by! Icebob99 (talk) 03:02, 27 December 2016 (UTC)
- Sorry for the possible second ping, I copied your username incorrectly in the re template. Icebob99 (talk) 03:03, 27 December 2016 (UTC)
Precious
good article reviews
Thank you for quality articles such as Women in classical music and Teresa Albuzzi-Todeschini, for GA reviewing, for tagging articles for projects such as microbiology and classical music, adding and removing stub tags, - you are an awesome Wikipedian!
--Gerda Arendt (talk) 17:00, 2 January 2017 (UTC)
Many thanks! Icebob99 (talk) 18:33, 2 January 2017 (UTC)
- Three years ago, you were recipient no. 1545 of Precious, a prize of QAI! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:39, 2 January 2020 (UTC)
Merrick Garland nomination expiration
I have added the necessary citation to the statement in the body of the Merrick Garland article, but did not add it in lead per the MoS. I jumped the gun on the expiration statement last night since I had to change 60+ Judicial nominee articles to reflect the expiration of all those nominations at noon today. In any event, the article is now properly cited. Safiel (talk) 19:10, 3 January 2017 (UTC)
Category edits
Hi! It was just to alphabetize the categories. Best, Therequiembellishere (talk) 18:53, 4 January 2017 (UTC)
Wikibirthday
You're too kind, thanks. I'm not sure the world's ready for two of me, much less Wikipedia, but still...I do what I can to make this a more navigable place. Keeps me busy and out of trouble...mostly. :-)
Happy editing! --21:36, 4 January 2017 (UTC)
LinuxInsider references brought to RSN
Hi Icebob89, I just followed up on this discussion on Knowledgebattle's talk page on WP:RSN. I pinged you there but I want to be sure you're notified. Thanks. ZackTheCardshark (talk) 21:41, 4 January 2017 (UTC)
05:11:49, 8 January 2017 review of submission by Alvinyong
i have added a few extra reference from the star and other daily newspapers.
Approximately 60% reference are from Daily newspapers (dealing with issues relating to subject matter) - thestar, nst(news staits times) & thesundaily - top three english newspapers in Malaysia - bernama - news organization that source for materials supplied to the media - malaysiakini & freemalaysiatoday (2 leading online news portals in Malaysia) - sinarharian & utusan - top two newspapers in the Malay language
Approximately 10% references are government websites (mainly dealing with Acts and other legal issues)
Another 30% references are from websites (dealing with details of the cooperative loans) such as (1) cooperatives official websites, (2) consumer organization website and (3) third party cooperative loan websites that provides details on the cooperative loans.
- Hi @Alvinyong: the referencing looks good now. Before I approve it, the article has to meet one other criterion (see the flowchart to the right): the neutral point of view criterion. I'll fix the issue myself, since it's very minor, but for example: the section title "Easy to Approve" sounds like something I'd hear on a television ad rather than in an encyclopedia. Whether or not your writing is to get people to take out cooperative loans, the phrase "Easy to approve" implies that this loan is somehow better than other loans in a way that is not cited (note that the reference in that section cannot be used to justify wording like "easy to approve" because it is a bank and therefore has a conflict of interest with that wording. Facts from it are fine, but we can't use that kind of website to draw conclusions for the reader). I'll fix that myself, however, since the article is just about ready to go into mainspace.

- A quick question that the article doesn't clarify: is "Cooperative Loan in Malaysia" the title of a specific credit organization or just credit organizations in general in Malaysia? If it is a specific title, is the title exactly "Cooperative Loan in Malaysia" or is it something simpler like "Cooperative Loan"? The reason I ask is because the article title should read "Cooperative Loan (Malaysia)" if it is about a specific organization, or "Cooperative loans in Malaysia" if the article is about the general practice. I'll change the title of the page to read "Cooperative loans in Malaysia" for now (thus covering the practice and not a specific organization) based on what I read in the article. Please let me know if I changed it incorrectly.
Hello
Hello. I noticed you added a script that I had made to your common.js page. It seems you have added more than the required part of the script. I would suggest undoing that edit. To install the page curation script, simply copy the following into your common.js page.
importScript('User:Lourdes/PageCuration.js'); // Linkback: User:Lourdes/PageCuration.js
Note: You will need to manually bypass your cache after installation. Visit Wikipedia:Bypass your cache to see how to do this.
Thanks. Lourdes 10:01, 17 January 2017 (UTC)
- Hi @Lourdes: do you mean this code?
/*
$( document ).ready( function() {
mw.util.addPortletLink(
'p-personal',
mw.util.wikiGetlink('Special:NewPagesFeed'),
'Page Curation',
'pt-pagecuration',
'View Special:New Pages using the Page Curation tool',
null,
'#pt-preferences'
);
});
*/
It's under the comment tags /* */, does it still matter if it's on my common.js page? Or would it be cleaner to just remove it? Thanks, Icebob99 (talk) 14:24, 17 January 2017 (UTC)
- Hi. Yes. I meant that code. It would be cleaner if you simply remove it and use just the line that I've mentioned. Thanks. Lourdes 14:25, 17 January 2017 (UTC)
The Signpost: 17 January 2017
- From the editor: Next steps for the Signpost
Building toward better recruitment and retention
- News and notes: Surge in RFA promotions—a sign of lasting change?
A close look at the history of approving administrators on English Wikipedia, and a roundup of news
- Interview: What is it like to edit Wikipedia when you're blind?
The wiki environment can appear deceptively uniform, but it masks strikingly different editorial experiences
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The latest media reports
- Featured content: One year ends, and another begins
Twelve articles, thirteen lists and twelve pictures were promoted
- Arbitration report: Concluding 2016 and covering 2017's first two cases
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- Traffic report: Out with the old, in with the new
If you're reading this, you escaped 2016 alive
- Technology report: Tech present, past, and future
Data sets now available on Commons, wishes to be worked on in 2017, and a recap of the Wikimedia Developer Summit
- Recent research: Female Wikipedians aren't more likely to edit women biographies; Black Lives Matter in Wikipedia
And several other research papers reviewed and summarized
DYK for 100th Brigade (United Kingdom)
On 20 January 2017, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article 100th Brigade (United Kingdom), which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that the 100th Brigade of the United Kingdom attacked High Wood during the Battle of the Somme? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/100th Brigade (United Kingdom). You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, 100th Brigade (United Kingdom)), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.
The Signpost: 6 February 2017
- Arbitration report: WMF Legal and ArbCom weigh in on tension between disclosure requirements and user privacy
The two statements prompt extensive community discussion; plus, our updates on recent ArbCom decisions
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Several developments in the $2.5 million strategic planning process explored, and a team within the software production department is sidelined
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Wikipedia's response to Trump inauguration and a fruitful, public "edit war" lead our media updates
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Guild of Copy Editors February 2017 News
| Guild of Copy Editors February 2017 News
Hello everyone, and welcome to the February 2017 GOCE newsletter. The Guild has been busy since the last time your coordinators sent out a newsletter! December blitz: This one-week copy-editing blitz ran from 11 through 17 December; the themes were Requests and eliminating the November 2015 backlog. Of the 14 editors who signed up, nine editors completed 29 articles. Barnstars and rollover totals are located here. Thanks to all who took part. January drive: The January drive was a great success. We set out to remove December 2015 and January and February 2016 from our backlog (195 articles), and by 22 January we had cleared those and had to add a third month (March 2016). At the end of the month we had almost cleared out that last month as well, for a total of 180 old articles removed from the backlog! We reduced our overall backlog by 337 articles, to a low of 1,465 articles, our second-lowest month-end total ever. We also handled all of the remaining requests from December 2016. Officially, 19 editors recorded 337 copy edits (over 679,000 words). February blitz: The one-week February blitz, focusing on the remaining March 2016 backlog and January 2017 requests, ran from 12 to 18 February. Seven editors reduced the total in those two backlog segments from 32 to 10 articles, leaving us in good shape going in to the March drive. Coordinator elections for the first half of 2017: In December, coordinators for the first half of 2017 were elected. Jonesey95 stepped aside as lead coordinator, remaining as coordinator and allowing Miniapolis to be the lead, and Tdslk and Corinne returned as coordinators. Thanks to all who participated! Speaking of coordinators, congratulations to Jonesey95 on their well-deserved induction into the Guild of Copy Editors Hall of Fame. The plaque reads: "For dedicated service as lead coordinator (2014, 1 July – 31 December 2015 and all of 2016) and coordinator (1 January – 30 June 2015 and 1 January – 30 June 2017); exceptional template-creation work (considerably streamlining project administration), and their emphasis on keeping the GOCE a drama-free zone." Housekeeping note: We do not send a newsletter before every drive or blitz. To have a better chance of knowing when the next event will start, add the GOCE's message box to your watchlist. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators: Miniapolis, Jonesey95, Corinne and Tdslk. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list. |
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 07:21, 20 February 2017 (UTC)
The Signpost: 27 February 2017
- From the editors: Results from our poll on subscription and delivery, and a new RSS feed
The Signpost's poll suggests we should take a cautious approach to the Newsletter Extension, under development; and our RSS feed is functional once again
- Recent research: Special issue: Wikipedia in education
This month's edition focuses on research about the role of Wikipedia in education
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Demonstrations of developers' experiments and works in progress
- In the media: The Daily Mail does not run Wikipedia
Is the Daily Mail fake news and your media roundup
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A selection of CC0 images from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Special report: Peer review – a history and call for reviewers
An overview of English Wikipedia's peer review process
- Op-ed: Wikipedia has cancer
Increased WMF spending every year is not sustainable
- Featured content: The dominance of articles continues
Fifteen articles, two lists, and six pictures were promoted
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They may not mix in life, but they do in popularity
- Blog: WikiIndaba 2017: A continent gathers to chart a path forward
Republished from the Wikimedia blog
March 2017 WikiCup newsletter
And so ends the first round of the competition, with 4 points required to qualify for round 2. It would have been 5 points, but when a late entrant was permitted to join the contest in February, a promise was made that his inclusion would not result in the exclusion of any other competitor. To achieve this, the six entrants that had the lowest positive score of 4 points have been added to the 64 people who otherwise would have qualified. As a result, some of the groups have nine contestants rather than eight. Our top four scorers in round 1 were:
Cas Liber, last year's winner, led the field with two featured articles on birds and a total score of 674.
Iry-Hor, a WikiCup newcomer, came next with a featured article, a good article and a tally of 282 bonus points for a score of 517. All these points came from the article Nyuserre Ini, an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh,
1989, another WikiCup newcomer, was in joint third place at 240. 1989 has claimed points for two featured lists and one good article relating to anime and comedy series, all of which were awarded bonus points.
Peacemaker67 shared third place with five good articles and thirteen good article reviews, mostly on naval vessels. He is also new to the competition.
The largest number of DYKs have been submitted by Vivvt and The C of E, who each claimed for seven, and MBlaze Lightning achieved eight articles at ITN. Carbrera and Peacemaker67 each claimed for five GAs and Krishna Chaitanya Velaga was well out in front for GARs, having reviewed 32. No featured pictures, featured topics or good topics yet, but we have achieved three featured articles and a splendid total of fifty good articles.
So, on to the second round. Remember that any content promoted after the end of round 1 but before the start of round 2 can be claimed in round 2. Invitations for collaborative writing efforts or any other discussion of potentially interesting work is always welcome on the WikiCup talk page. Remember, if two or more WikiCup competitors have done significant work on an article, all can claim points equally.
If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is a good article candidate, a featured process, or anything else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews. If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to help keep down the review backlogs! 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. Godot13, Sturmvogel 66 and Cwmhiraeth 13:52, 1 March 2017 (UTC)
Hephaestus Books
You used Hephaestus Books as a source last year, but unfortunately those books copy from Wikipedia so can't be used. I've removed the reference and tagged the article - it still needs reliable secondary sources. Fences&Windows 18:27, 6 March 2017 (UTC)
- Hi Fences and windows, thanks for letting me know. I'll watch out for that source in the future. Icebob99 (talk) 02:56, 7 March 2017 (UTC)
May 2017 WikiCup newsletter
The second round of the competition has now closed, with just under 100 points being required to qualify for round 3. YellowEvan just scraped into the next round with 98 points but we have to say goodbye to the thirty or so competitors who didn't achieve this threshold; thank you for the useful contributions you have made to the Cup and Wikipedia. Our top scorers in round 2 were:
Cas Liber, led the field with five featured articles, four on birds and one on astronomy, and a total score of 2049, half of which came from bonus points.
1989 was in second place with 826 points, 466 of which were bonus points. 1989 has claimed points mostly relating to anime and Japanese-related articles.
Peacemaker67 took third place with two FAs, one GA and seven GARs, mostly on naval vessels or military personnel, scoring 543 points.- Other contestants who scored over 400 points were Freikorp, Carbrera, and Czar. Of course all these points are now wiped out and the 32 remaining contestants start again from zero in round 3.
Vivvt submitted the largest number of DYKs (30), and MBlaze Lightning achieved 13 articles at ITN. Carbrera claimed for 11 GAs and Argento Surfer performed the most GARs, having reviewed 11. So far we have achieved 38 featured articles and a splendid 132 good articles. Commendably, 279 GARs have been achieved so far, more than double the number of GAs.
So, on to the third round. Remember that any content promoted after the end of round 2 but before the start of round 3 can be claimed in round 3. Remember too that you must claim your points within 10 days of "earning" them. Invitations for collaborative writing efforts or any other discussion of potentially interesting work is always welcome on the WikiCup talk page. Remember, if two or more WikiCup competitors have done significant work on an article, all can claim points equally.
If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article nominations, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews. If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to help keep down the review backlogs! 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. Godot13, Sturmvogel 66 and Cwmhiraeth 13:16, 1 May 2017 (UTC)
List of Gaon Digital Chart number ones of 2017
Hello, you participated in the deletion discussion for the article List of Gaon Digital Chart number ones of 2017, which was deleted as a result. I have taken the closure to deletion review, and it may interest you to take part in it. Thank you. ℯxplicit 06:37, 2 May 2017 (UTC)
The Signpost: 9 June 2017
- From the editors: Signpost status: On reserve power, help wanted!
Inviting new writers, editors, and ideas
- News and notes: Global Elections
WMF Board election results, and FDC elections begin
- Arbitration report: Cases closed in the Pacific and with Magioladitis
Two cases were closed from 19 February to 27 March.
- Op-ed: Wikipedia's lead sentence problem
Lead sentence metadata is out of control and a serious impediment to readability
- Featured content: Three months in the land of the featured
Eighty-eight articles, forty-three lists, five topics and twenty-two pictures were promoted
- In the media: Did Wikipedia just assume Garfield's gender?
Garfield is male, and other places Wikipedia made the news
- Recent research: Wikipedia bot wars capture the imagination of the popular press
...but are they real?; personality and attitudes to Wikipedia; large expert review experiment
- Technology report: Tech news catch-up
Bots, scripts, tools, and changes from February to June 2017
- Traffic report: Film on Top: Sampling the weekly top 10
Two weeks of film dominance: Baahubali and the Academy Awards
Editor of the Week
| Editor of the Week | ||
| Your ongoing efforts to improve the encyclopedia have not gone unnoticed: You have been selected as Editor of the Week in recognition of your constructive approach to discussions. Thank you for the great contributions! (courtesy of the Wikipedia Editor Retention Project) |
User:JustBerry submitted the following nomination for Editor of the Week:
- User Icebob99 has been a user for a little over a year now. In that short time, Icebob99 has taken strides to learn Wikipedia guidelines carefully, while demonstrating an open mind when responding to criticism. The talk page section here seems to demonstrate the editor's willingness to go to lengths to discuss issues with other editors. While the editor hasn't necessarily done significant content creation or contribute voluminous text in the way that other Hall of Fame editors may have, they have displayed a willingness and eagerness to learn which is a wonderful place to start as a Wikipedia editor.
You can copy the following text to your user page to display a user box proclaiming your selection as Editor of the Week:
{{User:UBX/EoTWBox}}
Thanks again for your efforts! Lepricavark (talk) 20:39, 18 June 2017 (UTC)
- Thanks for all you do! Buster Seven Talk 14:12, 20 June 2017 (UTC)
The Signpost: 23 June 2017
- News and notes: Departments reorganized at Wikimedia Foundation, and a month without new RfAs (so far)
While the English Wikipedia community produces no new requests for adminhood in June, the Wikimedia Foundation makes changes to the Product and Technology departments.
- In the media: Kalanick's nipples; Episode #138 of Drama on the Hill
The anatomy of Uber CEO Travis Kalanick's chest area has been the talk of the month. But so have high-profile edits, hacked articles, and one particular newborn growing up.
- Op-ed: Facto Post: a fresh take
Exploring sourcing issues in Wikimedia projects, a solution in Wikidata and fact mining, and a newsletter to continue the conversation.
- Featured content: Will there ever be a break? The slew of featured content continues
22 featured articles, 17 featured lists, 7 featured pictures
- Traffic report: Wonder Woman beats Batman, The Mummy, Darth Vader and the Earth
Summer blockbusters and sports, Trump and world events.
- Recent research: Utopian bubbles: Can Wikipedians create value outside of the capitalist system?
A researcher applies Marxist critiques of political economy to investigate whether gamification, a culture of altruism, and other anti-corporatist influences on peer production can create a sustainable gift economy in a project like Wikipedia.
- Technology report: Improved search, and WMF data scientist tells all
Search now can include sister projects; EpochFail
WikiCup 2017 July newsletter
The third round of the competition has finished in a flurry of last minute activity, with 288 points being required to qualify for round 4. It was a hotly competitive round with all but four of the contestants exceeding the 106 points that was necessary to proceed to round 4 last year. Coemgenus and Freikorp tied on 288, and both have been allowed to proceed, so round 4 now has one pool of eight competitors and one of nine.
Round 3 saw the achievement of a 26-topic Featured topic by MPJ-DK as well as 5 featured lists and 13 featured articles. PanagiotisZois and SounderBruce achieved their first ever featured articles. Carbrera led the GA score with 10, Tachs achieved 17 DYKs and MBlaze Lightning 10 In the news items. There were 167 DYKs, 93 GARs and 82 GAs overall, this last figure being higher than the number of GAs in round 2, when twice as many people were taking part. Even though contestants performed more GARs than they achieved GAs, there was still some frustration at the length of time taken to get articles reviewed.
As we start round 4, we say goodbye to the fifteen or so competitors who didn't quite make it; thank you for the useful contributions you have made to the Cup and Wikipedia. Remember that any content promoted after the end of round 3 but before the start of round 4 can be claimed in round 4. Remember too that you must claim your points within 10 days of "earning" them (some people have fallen foul of this rule and the points have been removed).
If you are concerned that your nomination, whether it be for a good article, a featured process, or anything else, will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews. It would be helpful if this list could be cleared of any items no longer relevant. If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to keep down the review backlogs! 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. Godot13, Sturmvogel 66 and Cwmhiraeth 05:38, 30 June 2017 (UTC)
The Signpost: 15 July 2017
- News and notes: French chapter woes, new affiliates and more WMF team changes
The English Wikipedia sees its first new admin of the season, discord rocks Wikimedia France, some tweaks to the WMF reorg, and a new WMF annual plan mark this issue's community news.
- Featured content: Spectacular animals, Pine Trees screens, and more
Recently promoted articles, lists, and pictures.
- In the media: Concern about access and fairness, Foundation expenditures, and relationship to real-world politics and commerce
A grab bag of alt-right speech, classical scholars, the dark web, elicited European tourism, $500,000 golden parachutes, forgery, the Great Firewall, net neutrality, nukes, paid editing, porn, and terrorism.
- Recent research: The chilling effect of surveillance on Wikipedia readers
A closer look at the research that found that the 2013 Snowden revelations coincided with a significant drop of pageviews for privacy-sensitive Wikipedia articles
- Op-ed: Why Task Forces are Dying in 2017
...and is there anything we can do to stop it? Opinions and examples from across the project.
- Gallery: A mix of patterns
An interesting mix of patterns and colors to brighten your day...
- Humour: The Infobox Game
Enjoy the Parameters: The Infobox Game can be enjoyed by everyone, not just those interested in water buffalo breeds, volcanic hotspots or the mysterious heteroisoform, and some day just might spawn an important facet of the financial derivatives industry.
- Traffic report: Film, television and Internet phenomena reign with some room left over for America's birthday
Popular interest in celebrities, blockbusters and an upcoming season of a popular television show drive traffic, with a smattering of world events, holidays and a Reddit storm around – surprise – free porn for the U.S. Congress.
- Technology report: New features in development; more breaking changes for scripts
Syntax highlighting, changes to Recent Changes, Wikidata on the enhance watchlist, accessible editing buttons and jQuery upgrade may break scripts.
- Wikicup: 2017 WikiCup round 3 wrap-up
The heat turns up on the 32 contestants who entered round three: 13 featured articles, 82 good articles, 167 DYKs, but we had to pick just eight of them to advance.
The Signpost: 5 August 2017
- News and notes: Non-English special edition! 99% no news about English-based wiki communities!
Wikimania in Montreal, lawsuit in Sweden, challenges in France
- Recent research: Wikipedia can increase local tourism by +9%; predicting article quality with deep learning; recent behavior predicts quality
Local tourism gains +9% when Wikipedia articles are improved; significant improvements in predicting article quality with deep learning; recent editor behavior is a strong predictor of content quality
- WikiProject report: Comic relief
An interview with a project that is centered around comics.
- In the media: Wikipedia used to judge death penalty, arms smuggling, Indonesian governance, and HOTTEST celebrity
Wikipedia and reliable sources of information continue to define each other
- Traffic report: Swedish countess tops the list
Plus plenty of sports, film, and television
- Blog: Canadian Supreme Court rules against Google in favor of worldwide court orders
The Canadian Supreme Court ruled that Google must remove search results worldwide, dismissing concerns that this may impede freedom of expression for people outside of Canada or inspire other countries to censor speech.
- Special report: Sharing Wikipedia offline medical information in the Dominican Republic
Wikimedia contributors support each other's projects in many unexpected ways
- Featured content: Everywhere in the lead
Recently promoted articles, lists and pictures – with a very heavy one in the mix
- Technology report: Introducing TechCom
The Architecture Committee adopts a new charter and name; and the latest in script, bot, and tech news
- Humour: WWASOHs and ETCSSs
An elite squad of highly insightful editors can lead the way for other editors who may need to retrain their faces into forming a smile.
WikiCup 2017 September newsletter
Round 4 of the WikiCup has ended and we move forward into the final round. In round 4, a total of 12 FAs, 3 FLs, 44 GAs, 3 FLs, 79 DYKs, 1 ITN and 42 GARs was achieved, with no FPs or FTs this time. Congratulations to Peacemaker67 on the Royal Yugoslav Navy Good Topic of 36 items, and the 12 featured articles achieved by Cas Liber (5), Vanamonde93 (3), Peacemaker67 (2), Adityavagarwal (1) and 12george1 (1). With a FA scoring 200 points, and bonus points available on top of this, FAs are likely to feature heavily in the final round. Meanwhile Yellow Evan, a typhoon specialist, was contributing 12 DYKs and 10 GAs, while Adityavagarwal and Freikorp topped the GAR list with 8 reviews each. As we enter the final round, we are down to eight contestants, and we would like to thank those of you who have been eliminated for the useful contributions you have made to the Cup and Wikipedia. The lowest score needed to reach round 5 was 305, and I think we can expect a highly competitive final round.
Remember that any content promoted after the end of round 4 but before the start of round 5 can be claimed in round 5. Remember too that you must claim your points within 10 days of "earning" them. If you are concerned that your nomination will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed. It would be helpful if this list could be cleared of any items no longer relevant. If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to reduce the review backlogs! Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck, and let the best man (or woman) win! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13, Sturmvogel 66 and Cwmhiraeth 06:26, 1 September 2017 (UTC)
The Signpost: 6 September 2017
- From the editors: What happened at Wikimania?
Please share your Wikimania 2017 experiences!
- News and notes: Basselpedia; WMF Board of Trustees appointments
Some of the goings-on from Wikimania 2017.
- Featured content: Warfighters and their tools or trees and butterflies
Take your pick of the best of Wikipedia.
- Traffic report: A fortnight of conflicts
White supremacists v. anti-fascism groups, Mayweather v. McGregor, Moon v. Sun.
- Special report: Biomedical content, and some thoughts on its future
Wikipedia's medical and scientific content has come a long way since 2001. Here are some thoughts on how it may continue to evolve.
- Recent research: Discussion summarization; Twitter bots tracking government edits; extracting trivia from Wikipedia
A list of recent research publications on various topics.
- In the media: Google's Ideological Echo Chamber; What makes someone successful?
Plus the latest reports of vandalism and mistakes in Wikipedia.
- WikiProject report: WikiProject YouTube
WikiProject YouTube is a new project on both English and Simple English Wikipedia.
- Technology report: Latest tech news
Syntax highlighting, failed login notifications, watchlist filters, and more.
- Wikicup: 2017 WikiCup round 4 wrap-up
Ships, typhoons, birds, and more!
- Humour: Bots
They do the things you don't want to do (and sometimes things you don't want done).
The Signpost: 25 September 2017
- News and notes: Chapter updates; ACTRIAL
News from Wikimedia France, Wikimedia Macedonia, and Wikimedia Israel's; Autoconfirmed article creation trial begins
- In the media: Monkey settlement; Wikipedia used to give AI context clues
Also: Jeopedia, Dubaipedia, shaping science, fake quote reused by scholarly sources
- Humour: Chickenz
The best that poultry has to offer
- Recent research: Wikipedia articles vs. concepts; Wikipedia usage in Europe
Plus the latest research publications.
- Technology report: Flow restarted; Wikidata connection notifications
Plus more tech news, and the latest scripts and bots
- Gallery: Chicken mania
Complimenting this issue's Humour about chickens...
- Special report: Two steps forward, one step backward: The Sustainability Initiative
Finally we're seeing some initial successes, but the Wikimedia movement is still far from being environmentally sustainable.
- Traffic report: Fights and frights
Boxing, hurricanes, clowns, and more!
- Featured content: Flying high
Newly featured birds, planes, and high achievers
The Signpost: 23 October 2017
- News and notes: Money! WMF fundraising, Wikimedia strategy, WMF new office!
The Wikimedia Foundation publishes the latest fundraising report, convenes over the close of the strategic plan discussion, and moves into a new space.
- Featured content: Don, Marcel, Emily, Jessica and other notables
A variety of topics promoted.
- Humour: Guys named Ralph
If your name is Ralph, well sorry.
- In focus: Offline Wikipedia developed at OFF.NETWORK Content Hackathon
Advocates for sharing offline information gather to make content, software, hardware, and social decisions.
- Blog: The future of offline access to Wikipedia: The Kiwix example
A chat with a developer of open source software which allows users to download web content for offline reading, and the future of offline access to Wikipedia.
- In the media: Facebook and poetry
Fighting fake news and plagiarism.
- Special report: Working with GLAMs in the UK
Wikimedia UK's partnerships and achievements working with GLAM institutions.
- Traffic report: Death, disaster, and entertainment
Readers interested in the the death of Hef, Puerto Rico, films and television.
WikiCup 2017 November newsletter: Final results
The final round of the 2017 WikiCup is over. Congratulations to the 2017 WikiCup top three finalists:
- First Place -
Adityavagarwal (submissions) - Second Place -
Vanamonde (submissions) - Third Place -
Cas Liber (submissions)
In addition to recognizing the achievements of the top finishers and everyone who worked hard to make it to the final round, we also want to recognize those participants who were most productive in each of the WikiCup scoring categories:
- Featured Article – Cas Liber (actually a two-way tie with themselves for an astonishing five FAs in R2 and R4).
- Good Article – Adityavagarwal had 14 GAs promoted in R5.
- Featured List –
Bloom6132 (submissions) and
1989 (submissions) both produced 2 FLs in R2 - Featured Pictures –
SounderBruce (submissions) improved an image to FP status in R5, the only FP this year. - Featured Topic –
MPJ-DK (submissions) has the only FT of the Cup in R3. - Good Topic – Four different editors created a GT in R2, R3 and R4.
- Did You Know – Adityavagarwal had 22 DYKs on the main page in R5.
- In The News –
MBlaze Lightning (submissions) had 14 ITN on the main page in R2. - Good Article Review –
Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (submissions) completed 31 GARs in R1.
Over the course of the 2017 WikiCup the following content was added or improved on Wikipedia: 51 Featured Articles, 292 Good Articles, 18 Featured Lists, 1 Featured Picture, 1 Featured Topics, 4 Good Topics, around 400 Did You Knows, 75 In The News, and 442 Good Article Reviews. Thank you to all the competitors for your hard work and what you have done to improve Wikipedia.
Regarding the prize vouchers - @Adityavagarwal, Vanamonde93, Casliber, Bloom6132, 1989, and SounderBruce: please send Godot13 (talk · contribs · email) an email from the email address to which you would like your Amazon voucher sent. Please include your preference of global Amazon marketplace as well. We hope to have the electronic gift cards processed and sent within a week.
We will open up a discussion for comments on process and scoring in a few days. The 2018 WikiCup is just around the corner! Many thanks from all the judges. If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Sturmvogel 66 (talk · contribs · email), Cwmhiraeth (talk · contribs · email), and Godot13 (talk · contribs · email) MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:41, 2 November 2017 (UTC)
WikiCup 2018
So the 2017 WikiCup has come to an end. Congratulations to the winner, to the other finalists and to all those who took part. 177 contestants signed up, more than usual, but not all of them submitted entries in the first round. Were editors attracted by the cash prizes offered for the first time this year, or were these irrelevant? Do the rules and scoring need changing for the 2018 WikiCup? If you have a view on these or other matters, why not join in the WikiCup discussion about next year's contest? Sturmvogel 66 (talk · contribs · email), Godot13 (talk · contribs · email) and Cwmhiraeth (talk · contribs · email). MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:59, 17 November 2017 (UTC)
The Signpost: 24 November 2017
- News and notes: Cons, cons, cons
The first ever Wikidata conference was a con we wanted. Problematic paid editing while in a position of trust: not so much.
- Arbitration report: Administrator desysoped; How to deal with crosswiki issues; Mister Wiki case likely
Arbitration matters from October and November.
- Technology report: Searching and surveying
A new advanced search interface; the Community Wishlist Survey is back.
- Interview: A featured article centurion
Brianboulton talks about featured articles on his 100th promotion.
- WikiProject report: Recommendations for WikiProjects
A novel approach to recruit members for your project!
- In the media: Open knowledge platform as a media institution
Wikipedia seen as flawed but important; conservative think-tank fellow wants his say; volunteer in Madison wants to close the gender gap.
- Traffic report: Strange and inappropriate
Readers intrigued by the Netflix show Stranger Things, and by sexual assault allegations.
- Featured content: We will remember them
War memorials, soldiers, extinct species, and devastating hurricanes are some of the most recently promoted featured content.
- Recent research: Who wrote this? New dataset on the provenance of Wikipedia text
And other new research publications.
- Humour: Good faith (but still incomprehensible)
The entertainment value of Wikipedia.
ArbCom 2017 election voter message
Hello, Icebob99. Voting in the 2017 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23.59 on Sunday, 10 December. All users who registered an account before Saturday, 28 October 2017, made at least 150 mainspace edits before Wednesday, 1 November 2017 and are not currently blocked are eligible to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.
The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority 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 in the 2017 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:42, 3 December 2017 (UTC)
The Signpost: 18 December 2017
- Special report: Women in Red World Contest wrap-up
Global article creation contest/editathon exceeds expectations.
- Blog: Close encounters of the Wikipedia kind
Astronaut is first to specifically contribute to Wikipedia from space.
- Featured content: Featured content to finish 2017
Seventeen articles, twenty-nine lists, three pictures and one featured topic were promoted.
- In the media: Stolen seagulls, public domain primates and more
The media discuss online copyright issues, Wikipedia's coverage of the capital of Israel and creation of a "reasonably clean, honest and reliable" work on Earth and in space.
- Arbitration report: Last case of 2017: Mister Wiki editors
Evidence phase in Mister Wiki editors case is complete; the community is proposing remedies and the Arbitration committee is slated to make a decision by end of year. Meanwhile, voting has closed on 2017 elections.
- Gallery: Wiki loving
Winners of the international photo competitions Wiki Loves Earth and Wiki Loves Monuments.
- Interview: Interview with Charlesjsharp, regular contributor of Wikipedia's Featured Pictures
Looking back on a decade of contributions including over 1,000 images and over three dozen Featured Pictures, Charles shares his wildlife photography experience and tips.
- Recent research: French medical articles have "high rate of veracity"
And other recent research publications.
- Technology report: Your wish lists and more Wikimedia tech
Including improved blocking tools, new user scripts, and the latest technical news.
- Traffic report: Notable heroes and bad guys
We like our heroes and bad guys.
- Humour: On their way to the WMF Incubator
u-nye-loo-lay-doo?Dochvetlh vISoplaHbe’.
Guild of Copy Editors December 2017 News
| Guild of Copy Editors December 2017 News
Hello copy editors! Welcome to the December 2017 GOCE newsletter, which contains nine months(!) of updates. The Guild has been busy and successful; your diligent efforts in 2017 has brought the backlog of articles requiring copy edit to below 1,000 articles for the first time. Thanks to all editors who have contributed their time and energy to help make this happen. Our copy-editing drives (month-long backlog-reduction drives held in odd-numbered months) and blitzes (week-long themed editing in even-numbered months) have been very successful this year. March drive: We set out to remove April, May, and June 2016 from our backlog and all February 2017 Requests (a total of 304 articles). By the end of the month, all but 22 of these articles were cleared. Officially, of the 28 who signed up, 22 editors recorded 257 copy edits (439,952 words). (These numbers do not always make sense when you compare them to the overall reduction in the backlog, because not all editors record every copy edit on the drive page.) April blitz: This one-week copy-editing blitz ran from 16 through 22 April; the theme was Requests. Of the 15 who signed up, 9 editors completed 43 articles (81,822 words). May drive: The goals were to remove July, August, and September 2016 from the backlog and to complete all March 2017 Requests (a total of 300 articles). By the end of the month, we had reduced our overall backlog to an all-time low of 1,388 articles. Of the 28 who signed up, 17 editors completed 187 articles (321,810 words). June blitz: This one-week copy-editing blitz ran from 18 through 24 June; the theme was Requests. Of the 16 who signed up, 9 editors completed 28 copy edits (117,089 words). 2017 Coordinator elections: In June, coordinators for the second half of 2017 were elected. Jonesey95 moved back into the lead coordinator position, with Miniapolis stepping down to remain as coordinator; Tdslk and Corinne returned as coordinators, and Keira1996 rejoined after an extended absence. Thanks to all who participated! July drive: We set out to remove August, September, October, and November 2016 from the backlog and to complete all May and June 2017 Requests (a total of 242 articles). The drive was an enormous success, and the target was nearly achieved within three weeks, so that December 2016 was added to the "old articles" list used as a goal for the drive. By the end of the month, only three articles from 2016 remained, and for the second drive in a row, the backlog was reduced to a new all-time low, this time to 1,363 articles. Of the 33 who signed up, 21 editors completed 337 articles (556,482 words). August blitz: This one-week copy-editing blitz ran from 20 through 26 August; the theme was biographical articles tagged for copy editing for more than six months (47 articles). Of the 13 who signed up, 11 editors completed 38 copy edits (42,589 words). September drive: The goals were to remove January, February, and March 2017 from the backlog and to complete all August 2017 Requests (a total of 338 articles). Of the 19 who signed up, 14 editors completed 121 copy edits (267,227 words). October blitz: This one-week copy-editing blitz ran from 22 through 28 October; the theme was Requests. Of the 14 who signed up, 8 editors completed 20 articles (55,642 words). November drive: We set out again to remove January, February, and March 2017 from the backlog and to complete all October 2017 Requests (a total of 207 articles). By the end of the month, these goals were reached and the backlog shrank to its lowest total ever, 997 articles, the first time it had fallen under one thousand (click on the graph above to see this amazing feat in graphical form). It was also the first time that the oldest copy-edit tag was less than eight months old. Of the 25 who signed up, 16 editors completed 159 articles (285,929 words). 2018 Coordinator elections: Voting is open for the election of coordinators for the first half of 2018. Please visit the election page to vote between now and December 31 at 23:59 (UTC). Thanks for participating! Housekeeping note: We do not send a newsletter before (or after) every drive or blitz. To have a better chance of knowing when the next event will start, add the GOCE's message box to your watchlist. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators: Jonesey95, Miniapolis, Corinne, Tdslk, and Keira1996. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list. |
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:04, 23 December 2017 (UTC)
The Signpost: 16 January 2018
- News and notes: Communication is key
Two new WMF Communications department leadership appointments; a new way for Wikimedia communities to communicate their capacities.
- In the media: The Paris Review, British Crown and British Media
Wikipedia manipulated and copied – again
- Featured content: History, gaming and multifarious topics
Historical and pop culture articles promoted.
- Interview: Interview with Ser Amantio di Nicolao, the top contributor to English Wikipedia by edit count
How do you make an average of 3,600 edits a week for over a decade? And what do you learn when you've done it?
- Technology report: Dedicated Wikidata database servers
Plus the latest technology upgrades, tools and news.
- Humour: Why don't we have an article about _________?
Notable missing articles.
- Arbitration report: Mister Wiki is first arbitration committee decision of 2018
In deciding to de-sysop an admin for efforts to evade discussion and review of paid edits made on behalf of a PR firm, Arbitration Committee doesn't significantly change the rules around paid editing, and leaves it up to the community whether to apply special restrictions to administrators.
- Traffic report: The best and worst of 2017
A look back at the most popular articles in a tumultuous and intriguing year.
The Signpost: 5 February 2018
- Op-ed: Do editors have the right to be forgotten?
Should an editor's block history be a permanent "rap sheet", or does Wikipedia forgive and forget? A reform initiative has begun.
- Featured content: Wars, sieges, disasters and everything black possible
Exemplary content recognized between January 12 and January 20, 2018
- Recent research: Automated Q&A from Wikipedia articles; Who succeeds in talk page discussions?
Also: Polish quality, Russian political mythologization, and multilingual analyses
- Blog: New monthly dataset shows where people fall into Wikipedia rabbit holes
The Wikimedia Foundation's Analytics team compiles a clickstream dataset, now available as a series of monthly data dumps for English, Russian, German, Spanish, and Japanese Wikipedias.
- Interview: Interview with The Rambling Man, Wikipedia's top contributor of Featured Lists
Lessons on Creating a Featured List
- Traffic report: TV, death, sports, and doodles
The most popular articles for January 14 to 27
- Special report: Cochrane–Wikipedia Initiative
A partnership to improve and update Wikipedia's medical content
- Arbitration report: New cases requested for inter-editor hostility and other collaboration issues
Politeness and collegial behavior about to be taken up by Arbcom, and perhaps a revisit of the infobox question.
- In the media: Solving crime; editing out violence allegations
Also, did UCF really win?
- Humour: You really are in Wonderland
Enjoy the humour of another contributor
The Signpost: 20 February 2018
- News and notes: The future is Swedish with a lack of administrators
Sweden selected for Wikimania 2019; research report on shaping the future; a scarcity of RfAs.
- Recent research: Politically diverse editors write better articles; Reddit and Stack Overflow benefit from Wikipedia but don't give back
There might be good things about an edit war.
- Arbitration report: Arbitration committee prepares to examine two new cases
Editor in self-imposed exile and infobox wars a thorn in the side of arbitration committee.
- Traffic report: Addicted to sports and pain
The Superbowl, the Winter Olympics, death, and accusations of unspeakable things.
- Featured content: Entertainment, sports and history
An eclectic mix of promotions.
- Technology report: Paragraph-based edit conflict screen; broken thanks
And other recent tech news.
- Humour: Impossible and unexplained traffic report
Stubs get a lot of pageviews.
GOCE February 2018 news
| Guild of Copy Editors February 2018 News
Welcome to the February 2018 GOCE newsletter in which you will find Guild updates since the December edition. We got to a great start for the year, holding the backlog at nine months. 100 requests were submitted in the first 6 weeks of the year and were swiftly handled with an average completion time of 9 days. Coordinator elections: In December, coordinators for the first half of 2018 were elected. Jonesey95 remained as lead coordinator and Corrine, Miniapolis and Tdslk as assistant coordinators. Keira1996 stepped down as assistant coordinator and was replaced by Reidgreg. Thanks to all who participated! End of year reports were prepared for 2016 and 2017, providing a detailed look at the Guild's long-term progress. January drive: We set out to remove April, May, and June 2017 from our backlog and all December 2017 Requests (a total of 275 articles). As with previous years, the January drive was an outstanding success and by the end of the month all but 57 of these articles were cleared. Officially, of the 38 who signed up, 21 editors recorded 259 copy edits (490,256 words). February blitz: This one-week copy-editing blitz ran from 11 through 17 February, focusing on Requests and the last articles tagged in May 2017. At the end of the week there were only 14 pending requests, with none older than 20 days. Of the 11 who signed up, 10 editors completed 35 copy edits (98,538 words). Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators: Jonesey95, Miniapolis, Corinne, Tdslk, and Reidgreg. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list. |
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:00, 25 February 2018 (UTC)
WikiCup 2018 March newsletter
And so ends the first round of the competition, with 4 points required to qualify for round 2. With 53 contestants qualifying, the groups for round 2 are slightly smaller than usual, with the two leaders from each group due to qualify for round 3 as well as the top sixteen remaining users.
Our top scorers in round 1 were:
Aoba47 led the field with a featured article, 8 good articles and 42 GARs, giving a total of 666 points.
FrB.TG , a WikiCup newcomer, came next with 600 points, gained from a featured article and masses of bonus points.
Ssven2, another WikiCup newcomer, was in third place with 403 points, garnered from a featured article, a featured list, a good article and twelve GARs.
Ceranthor,
Numerounovedant,
Carbrera,
Farang Rak Tham and
Cartoon network freak all had over 200 points, but like all the other contestants, now have to start again from scratch. A good achievement was the 193 GARs performed by WikiCup contestants, comparing very favourably with the 54 GAs they achieved.
Remember that any content promoted after the end of round 1 but before the start of round 2 can be claimed in round 2. Invitations for collaborative writing efforts or any other discussion of potentially interesting work is always welcome on the WikiCup talk page. Remember, if two or more WikiCup competitors have done significant work on an article, all can claim points. 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.
If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to help keep down the review backlogs! 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. Godot13 (talk), Sturmvogel 66 (talk), Cwmhiraeth (talk) and Vanamonde (talk) 15:27, 2 March 2018 (UTC)
Signpost issue 4 – 29 March 2018
- Op-ed: Death knell for The Signpost?
Is The Signpost on its last legs?
- News and notes: Wiki Conference roundup and new appointments.
Wikimedia events, group recognition, and individual appointments are ongoing.
- Arbitration report: Ironing out issues in infoboxes; not sure yet about New Jersey; and an administrator who probably wasn't uncivil to a sockpuppet.
Arbcom considers new discretionary sanctions for infoboxes and an extension of 1RR.
- In the media: The media on Wikipedia's workings: the good and not-so-good
Diplomats join Wikipedia for International Women's Day, the perfect "Human", how fringe theories are sustained, and perennial plagiarism from our pages.
- Traffic report: Real sports, real women and an imaginary country: what's on top for Wikipedia readers
Wakanda still fascinates; the Oscars happened; Winter Olympics come to a close; and International Women's Day gets over a million page views.
- Featured content: Animals, Ships, and Songs
A plethora of content.
- Technology report: Timeless skin review by Force Radical.
Reviewing a browser skin providing equal emphasis on both content and editing tools simultaneously.
- Special report: ACTRIAL wrap-up.
Retrospective on article creation trial.
- Humour: WikiWorld Reruns
Nostalgia and trips down Memory Lane.
The Signpost: 26 April 2018
- From the editors: The Signpost's presses roll again
Following Kudpung's op-ed "Death knell sounding for The Signpost?" in the 29 March issue, user comments encouraged a burst of enthusiasm to keep the newspaper in print.
- Signpost: Future directions for The Signpost
How to revive and evolve The Signpost? Big blue-sky proposals and small concrete proposals from the community and from two regular Signpost contributors.
- News and notes: Photo of Kim Jong-un. Stephen Hawking death tops hits on many Wikipedias.
Finally a free image Kim Jong-un. WMF wins legal battle. Stephen Hawking death tops all Wikipedia hits.
- In the media: The rise of Wikipedia as a disinformation mop
Internet companies use Wikipedia to police truth; Citogenesis proven yet again; early birthday greetings; and trains
- In focus: Admin reports board under criticism
A recent Community Health Initiative survey found only 27% of respondents are happy with the way reports of conflicts between Editors are handled on the Administrators' Incident Noticeboard (ANI).
- Special report: ACTRIAL results adopted by landslide
New major editing policy starting immediately: creation of articles in mainspace is to be limited to users with confirmed accounts
- Opinion: Guideline for Organization Notability revised
The standards have been raised for sources used in judging the notability of nonprofit and for-profit organizations.
- Op-ed: World War II Myth-making and Wikipedia
Wikipedia's myth of the clean Wehrmacht and what you can do about it. Or, how not to be one of "the worst distributors of pro-Nazi perspectives and the Wehrmacht myth".
- Community view: It's time we look past Women in Red to counter systemic bias
Can Wikipedia mobilize the same energy to fill other gaps in coverage?
- Discussion report: The future of portals
What should we do about Portals? Keep them, delete them, or mark them as historical? Or should they be more closely connected with their WikiProject(s)?
- Arbitration report: No new cases, and one motion on administrative misconduct
Quiet month for the Arbitration Committee
- WikiProject report: WikiProject Military History
Combat, weapons, monuments and personalities.
- Blog: Why the world reads Wikipedia
What we learned about reader motivation from a recent research study
- Humour: Our Favorite Places to Whine About Stuff
You might not get all excersized about essays but they can be as fun as talk pages
- Traffic report: A quiet place to wrestle with the articles of March
The most popular articles from March 25 to April 14.
- Technology report: Coming soon: Books-to-PDF, interactive maps, rollback confirmation
Plus the latest tech news and userscripts.
- Featured content: Featured content selected by the community
Material promoted from March 2 through April 20.
- Gallery: A look at some famous and not as well-known border tripoints
Honoring a day in military history, as well as peaceful borders
WikiCup 2018 May newsletter
The second round of the 2018 WikiCup has now finished. Most contestants who advanced to the next round scored upwards of 100 points, but two with just 10 points managed to scrape through into round 3. Our top scorers in the last round were:
Cas Liber, our winner in 2016, with three featured articles
Iazyges, with nine good articles and lots of bonus points
Yashthepunisher, a first time contestant, with two featured lists
SounderBruce, a finalist last year, with seventeen good topic articles
Usernameunique, a first time contestant, with fourteen DYKs
Muboshgu, a seasoned competitor, with three ITNs and
Courcelles, another first time contestant, with twenty-seven GARs
So far contestants have achieved twelve featured articles between them and a splendid 124 good articles. Commendably, 326 GARs have been completed during the course of the 2018 WikiCup, so the backlog of articles awaiting GA review has been reduced as a result of contestants' activities. As we enter the third round, remember that any content promoted after the end of round 2 but before the start of round 3 can be claimed in round 3. Remember too that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them. When doing GARs, please make sure that you check that all the GA criteria are fully met; most of the GARs are fine, but a few have been a bit skimpy.
If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article nominations, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). 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 your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13 (talk), Sturmvogel 66 (talk), Vanamonde (talk) and Cwmhiraeth (talk) 06:10, 1 May 2018 (UTC)
The Signpost: 24 May 2018
- From the editor: Another issue meets the deadline
A busy office with minimal staff.
- Op-ed: Has the wind gone out of the AdminShip's sails?
Kudpung has some thoughts on the reasons for becalmed forums and the reluctance of candidates to (wo)man the rigging.
- Opinion: Integrating my many lives on Wikipedia
Thoughts on how looking for the truth on Wikipedia brings out unexpected things in the real world.
- WikiProject report: WikiProject Portals
After a recent Village Pump discussion, the Signpost looks at WikiProject Portals.
- Discussion report: User rights, infoboxes, and more discussion on portals
A busy month for discussions on major topics.
- Featured content: Featured content selected by the community
Science, sportspeople, video games, and history feature heavily in the community's picks this month.
- Arbitration report: Managing difficult topics
Has an attempt to prevent historical revisionism become a content battleground?
- News and notes: Lots of Wikimedia
De-recognition of Brazil user groups; brute-force attack on Wikipedia; Wikimedia Conference 2018; and assorted other silly things.
- In the media: Wikipedia in Turkish politics; COI politics in Wikipedia; most cited work
And the burning question of the day, is the monkey selfie going to space with the rest of Wikipedia?
- Traffic report: We love our superheroes
No surprises here as the summer movie season begins.
- Technology report: A trove of contributor and developer goodies
Improved mobile app, searching, citations, inline maps, voting, and more.
- Blog: Why I write about women on Wikipedia
Editor SusunW delves into reasons why she has created hundreds of articles about women.
- Recent research: Why people don't contribute to Wikipedia; using Wikipedia to teach statistics, technical writing, and controversial issues
Too many women still don't know that Wikipedia is editable.
- Humour: Play with your food
Down the rabbit hole into the realm of third-grade mind.
- Gallery: Wine not?
May 25 is National Wine Day in the United States.
- From the archives: The Signpost scoops The Signpost
The dark and twisted world of Wikipedia's most powerful media institution: The Signpost.
June 2018 GOCE newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors June 2018 News
Welcome to the June 2018 GOCE newsletter, in which you will find Guild updates since the February edition. Progress continues to be made on the copyediting backlog, which has been reduced to 7 months and reached a new all-time low. Requests continue to be handled efficiently this year, with 272 completed by the end of May (an average completion time of 10.5 days). Fewer than 10% of these waited longer than 20 days, and the longest wait time was 29 days. Wikipedia in general, and the Guild in particular, experienced a deep loss with the death on 20 March of Corinne. Corinne (a GOCE coordinator since 1 July 2016) was a tireless aide on the requests page, and her peerless copyediting is a part of innumerable GAs and FAs. Her good cheer, courtesy and tact are very much missed. March drive: The goal was to remove June, July and August 2017 from our backlog and all February 2018 Requests (a total of 219 articles). This drive was an outstanding success, and by the end of the month all but eight of these articles were cleared. Of the 33 editors who signed up, 19 recorded 277 copy edits (425,758 words). April blitz: This one-week copy-editing blitz ran from 15 through 21 April, focusing on Requests and the last eight articles tagged in August 2017. At the end of the week there were only 17 pending requests, with none older than 17 days. Of the nine editors who signed up, eight editors completed 22 copy edits (62,412 words). May drive: We set out to remove September, October and November 2017 from our backlog and all April 2018 Requests (a total of 298 articles). There was great success this month with the backlog more than halved from 1,449 articles at the beginning of the month to a record low of 716 articles. Officially, of the 20 who signed up, 15 editors recorded 151 copy edits (248,813 words). Coordinator elections: It's election time again. Nominations for Guild coordinators (who will serve a six-month term for the second half of 2018) have begun, and will close at 23:59 UTC on 15 June. All Wikipedia editors in good standing are eligible, and self-nominations are encouraged. Voting will take place between 00:01 UTC on 16 June and 23:59 UTC on 30 June. June blitz: Stay tuned for this one-week copy-editing blitz, which will take place in mid-June. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators: Corinne, Jonesey95, Miniapolis, Reidgreg and Tdslk. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list. |
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:26, 5 June 2018 (UTC)
The Signpost: 29 June 2018
- From the editor: The Admin Ship is still barely afloat, while a Foundation project risks sinking
A Wiki not so Simple, a mayor motivating an editathon, a Marshall Plan, and a Wikimania under a cloud of criticism
- Special report: NPR and AfC – The Marshall Plan: an engagement and a marriage?
Further developments on New Page Review and Articles for Creation work sharing
- Op-ed: What do admins do?
Admins volunteer to be abused – or so it seems
- Opinion: Google isn't responsible for Wikipedia's mistakes
So it shouldn't get credit for our work, either.
- News and notes: Money, milestones, and Wikimania
Major grants announced, a new milestone for Afrikaans Wikipedia, a new WMF technical engagement team, an effort to start up a new library, two new admins – or maybe three fewer depending on your math.
- In the media: Much wikilove from the Mayor of London, less from Paekākāriki or a certain candidate for U.S. Congress
Several online battles are juxtaposed with stories about cooperation and good deeds, Arbcom hovering over it all; notwithstanding, a good action movie script is not necessarily found here.
- Discussion report: Deletion, page moves, and an update to the main page
Community discussions include style updates to project-wide icons and the main page, procedural questions on royal names and jettisoning unsuitable drafts, and deeper questions of compliance with European privacy laws and the perennial issue of shrinking admin corps.
- Featured content: New promotions
Enjoy the superb content
- Arbitration report: WWII, UK politics, and a user deCrat'ed
British politics case enters workshop phase and German war effort closes workshop, goes to Arbcom for proposals.
- Traffic report: Endgame
Two celebrities hang themselves, and the FIFA World Cup is underway
- Technology report: Improvements piled on more improvements
An AI assistant comes to watchlists; better mobile compatibility; new bots, tools and scripts; and more
- Gallery: Wiki Loves Africa
Colorful and moving.
- Blog: Wikipedia should be open for editors in Turkey
WMF appeals to Turkish Minister of Transport, Maritime, and Communications Ahmet Arslan to lift the block of all language versions of Wikipedia for over a year.
- Recent research: How censorship can backfire and conversations can go awry
Studying ourselves: 'driven by a sense of mission' according to researchers.
- Humour: Television plot lines
In our next episode...
- Wikipedia essays: This month's pick by The Signpost editors
Some essays are funny, some are serious; some are just, well what exactly?
- From the archives: Wolves nip at Wikipedia's heels: A perspective on the cost of paid editing
Revisiting an editor's warning to count our kidneys and keep the wolves at bay
WikiCup 2018 July newsletter
The third round of the 2018 WikiCup has now come to an end. The 16 users who made it to the fourth round had at least 227 points. Our top scorers in round 3 were:
Courcelles, a first time contestant, with 1756 points, a tally built largely on 27 GAs related to the Olympics
Cas Liber, our winner in 2016, with two featured articles and three GAs on natural history and astronomy topics
SounderBruce, a finalist last year, with a variety of submissions related to transport in the state of Washington
Contestants managed 7 featured articles, 4 featured lists, 120 good articles, 1 good topic, 124 DYK entries, 15 ITN entries, and 132 good article reviews. Over the course of the competition, contestants have completed 458 GA reviews, in comparison to 244 good articles submitted for review and promoted. As we enter the fourth round, remember that any content promoted after the end of round 3 but before the start of round 4 can be claimed in round 4. Please also remember that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them. When doing GARs, please make sure that you check that all the GA criteria are fully met. Please also remember that all submissions must meet core Wikipedia policies, regardless of the review process; several submissions, particularly in abstruse or technical areas, have needed additional work to make them completely verifiable.
If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article nominations, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). 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 your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13 (talk), Sturmvogel 66 (talk), Cwmhiraeth (talk), Vanamonde (talk) 04:55, 2 July 2018 (UTC)
The Signpost: 31 July 2018
- From the editor: If only if
Ships and shoes – and if you don't like it here, just go away!
- Op-ed: The last leg of the Admin Ship's current cruise
How admin would-bes run the gauntlet.
- Opinion: Wrestling with Wikipedia reality
Wikipedia referees wag a finger at Professional Wrestling editors.
- News and notes: Another newspaper for Wikipedia; Wikimania 2018 ends; changes at NPR
New admins and Kudpung finally leaves NPP after 7 years.
- In the media: Blackouts in Europe; Wikipedia and capitalists; WMF Jet Set
One secret cabal that watches out for conspiracy theories, and another one out to stymie venture capitalists?
- Discussion report: Wikipedias take action against EU copyright proposal, plus new user right proposals
And more: a new user group for editing code, Women in Red, and arbitrator articles.
- Featured content: Wikipedia's best content in images and prose
Spanning the gamut from warfare and destruction to pop culture to celebrations of nature and humanity's achievements.
- Arbitration report: Status quo processes retained in two disputes
We don't have "state agents" in a political debate, but couldn't talk about it if there were.
- Traffic report: Soccer, football, call it what you like – that and summer movies leave room for little else
Finding the mathematician and Supreme Court nominee in this list is like playing Where's Waldo?.
- Technology report: New bots, new prefs
Useful new gadgets.
- Gallery: Independence days, national holidays, and football – all in July
Depictions of July events in several countries.
- Blog: Motivation of two editors
Those who study ancient Egypt.
- Recent research: Different Wikipedias use different images; editing contests more successful than edit-a-thons
And other recent findings, plus a roundup of research presentations at Wikimania.
- Humour: It's all the same
Merge WikiProject Professional wrestling and ANI.
- Essay: Wikipedia does not need you
Get over it!
- From the archives: The pending changes fiasco: how an attempt to answer one question turned into a quagmire
They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
August GOCE newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors August 2018 Newsletter
Hello and welcome to the August 2018 GOCE newsletter. Thanks to everyone who participated in the Guild's June election; your new and returning coordinators are listed below. The next election will occur in December 2018; all Wikipedia editors in good standing may take part. Our June blitz focused on Requests and articles tagged for copy edit in October 2017. Of the eleven people who signed up, eight editors recorded a total of 28 copy edits, including 3 articles of more than 10,000 words. Complete results, including barnstars awarded, are available here. Thanks to everyone who participated in the July drive. Of the seventeen people who signed up, thirteen editors completed 194 copy edits, successfully removing all articles tagged in the last three months of 2017. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are here. The August blitz will run for one week, from 19 to 25 August. Sign up now! Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators, Reidgreg, Baffle gab1978, Jonesey95, Miniapolis and Tdslk. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
|
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:25, 15 August 2018 (UTC)
The Signpost: 30 August 2018
- From the editor: Today's young adults don't know a world without Wikipedia
Keep straight on – there are trolls in the hedgerows.
- Interview: 2018 Wikimedian of the Year, Farkhad Fatkullin
"Imagine a world in which every single human being is a Wikimedian. That's my commitment!"
- News and notes: Flying high; low practice from Wikipedia 'cleansing' agency; where do our donations go? RfA sees a new trend
WMF pays possible Orangemoody ring for user research, and ditches MediaWiki for publishing its own blog. Knife-edge closures at RfA.
- In the media: Quicksilver AI writes articles
But unfortunately its output is incompatible with open licensing.
- Discussion report: Drafting an interface administrator policy
Plus: Simple English Wikipedia stays open, a discussion on draft header templates, bias blind spot by admins offered cash?
- Featured content: Featured content selected by the community
Astronauts named Armstrong, babes of the Brits, Cortinarius caperatus and all that.
- Special report: Wikimania 2018
"Bridging knowledge gaps, the ubuntu way forward".
- Traffic report: Aretha dies – getting just 2,000 short of 5 million hits
Very high and very low hits; love and loss.
- Technology report: Technical enhancements and a request to prioritize upcoming work
Citation bot and mapframe enhancements; new licenses for Data space; possible hiccup on 12 September; per-user page, namespace, and upload blocking; and miscellaneous new bots and tools.
- Gallery: Leapfrog, historic Thai cave, and a rhythmic beat
Some of the best pictures of 2017.
- Recent research: Wehrmacht on Wikipedia, neural networks writing biographies
Readers prefer the AI's version 40% of the time – but it still suffers from hallucinations.
- Humour: Signpost editor censors herself
Nothing funny about it.
- Essay: Principle of Some Astonishment
Remind you of any Wikipedia articles?
- From the archives: Playing with Wikipedia words
The Wikipedia Plays.
WikiCup 2018 September newsletter
The fourth round of the 2018 WikiCup has now come to an end. The eight users who made it to the final round had to score a minimum of 422 points to qualify, with the top score in the round being 4869 points. The leaders in round 4 were:
Courcelles scored a magnificent 4869 points, with 92 good articles on Olympics-related themes. Courcelles' bonus points alone exceeded the total score of any of the other contestants!
Kees08 was second with 1155 points, including a high-scoring featured article for Neil Armstrong, two good topics and some Olympics-related good articles.
Cas Liber, with 1066 points, was in third place this round, with two featured articles and a good article, all on natural history topics.- Other contestants who qualified for the final round were
Nova Crystallis,
Iazyges,
SounderBruce,
Kosack and
Ceranthor.
During round four, 6 featured articles and 164 good articles were promoted by WikiCup contestants, 13 articles were included in good topics and 143 good article reviews were performed. There were also 10 "in the news" contributions on the main page and 53 "did you knows". Congratulations to all who participated! It was a generally high-scoring and productive round and I think we can expect a highly competitive finish to the competition.
Remember that any content promoted after the end of round 4 but before the start of round 5 can be claimed in round 5. Remember too that you must claim your points within 10 days of "earning" them. If you are concerned that your nomination will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews. It would be helpful if this list could be cleared of any items no longer relevant. If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to keep down the review backlogs! Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck, and let the best editor win! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13, Sturmvogel 66, Vanamonde and Cwmhiraeth. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:31, 1 September 2018 (UTC)
AfroCine: Join us for the Months of African Cinema in October!


Greetings!
You are receiving this message because your username or portal was listed as a participant of a WikiProject that is related to Africa, the Carribean, Cinema or theatre.
This is to introduce you to a new Wikiproject called AfroCine. This new project is dedicated to improving the Wikipedia coverage of the history, works, people, places, events, etc, that are associated with the cinema, theatre and arts of Africa, African countries, the carribbean, and the diaspora. If you would love to be part of this or you're already contributing in this area, kindly list your name as a participant on the project page here.
Furthermore, In the months of October and November, the WikiProject is organizing a global on-wiki contest and edit-a-thon tagged: The Months of African Cinema. If you would love to join us for this exciting event, also list your username as a participant for this event here. In preparation for the contest, please do suggest relevant articles that need to be created or expanded in different countries, during this event!
If you have any questions, complaints, suggestions, etc., please reach out to me personally on my talkpage! Cheers!--Jamie Tubers (talk) 20:50, 5 September 2018 (UTC)
The Signpost: 1 October 2018
- From the editor: Is this the new normal?
We keep on publishing as long as you keep on reading.
- News and notes: European copyright law moves forward
Wikipedia dodges a bullet in Brussels... maybe.
- In the media: Knowledge under fire
Can Wikipedians help save the world's knowledge and shine a light on current events?
- Discussion report: Interface Admin policy proposal, part 2
Plus: signatures, shortcuts, and reliable sources.
- Arbitration report: A quiet month for Arbcom
No valid new requests for arbitration, no new cases.
- Traffic report: John McCain's death generates over 7 million hits, followed by historical low
Fourth highest view count of the year; lowest view count since 2014; death, sports, and movies ever constant.
- Technology report: Paying attention to your mobile
Plus the latest scripts, bots, and tech news.
- Gallery: A pat on the back
A pictorial ode to the end of summer.
- Blog: After a catastrophic fire at the National Museum of Brazil, a drive to preserve what knowledge remains
As the global community of volunteer Wikimedia editors mourns the destruction of this amazing museum, this post pays tribute to all editors who have contributed restlessly to tell the story of the National Museum, our history.
- Recent research: How talk page use has changed since 2005; censorship shocks lead to centralization; is vandalism caused by workplace boredom?
And other recent research papers.
- Humour: Signpost Crossword Puzzle
What is a four-letter word for...
- Essay: Expressing thanks
You know you should...
Welcome to the Months of African Cinema!


Greetings!
The AfroCine Project welcomes you to October, the first out of the two months which has been dedicated to improving contents that centre around the cinema of Africa, the Caribbean, and the diaspora.
This is a global online edit-a-thon, which is happening in at least 5 language editions of Wikipedia, including the English Wikipedia! Join us in this exciting venture, by helping to create or expand articles which are connected to this scope. Also remember to list your name under the participants section, if you haven't done so already.
On English Wikipedia, we would be recognizing Users who are able to achieve the following:
- Overall winner (1st, 2nd, 3rd places)
- Country Winners
- Diversity winner
- High quality contributors
- Gender-gap fillers
- Page improvers
- Wikidata Translators
For further information about the contest, the recognition categories and how to participate, please visit the contest page here. For further inquiries, please leave comments on the contest talkpage or on the main project talkpage. See you around :).--Jamie Tubers (talk) 22:50, 03 October 2018 (UTC)
The Signpost: 28 October 2018
- From the editors: The Signpost is still afloat, just barely
A slightly thinner issue, but out on time.
- Op-ed: Wikipedia's Strickland affair
Is a missing article on a Nobel laureate a fail? What if her draft biography was declined as non-notable?
- News and notes: WMF gets a million bucks
And it's richer than ever.
- In the media: Bans, celebs, and bias
Breitbart begone; rescued by archivists; celebrating trolls?
- Discussion report: Mediation Committee and proposed deletion reform
Plus: two pending changes-related discussions, notability, and naming conventions.
- Traffic report: Unsurprisingly, sport leads the field – or the ring
Who's reading what?
- Technology report: Bots galore!
Bots can do anything you want – well, almost.
- Special report: NPP needs you
WMF continues to stonewall development; NPP wishes again relegated to stocking fillers.
- Special report 2: Now Wikidata is six
SPARQL adds sparkle to WMF projects.
- In focus: Alexa
We are all writing for Amazon.
- Gallery: Out of this world!
No special effects here, just beautiful celestial images.
- Recent research: Wikimedia Commons worth $28.9 billion
If it weren't free, of course.
- Humour: Talk page humour
Wikipedia has a long history of talk page tomfoolery.
- Opinion: Strickland incident
The reviewer who declined the article gives his perspective.
- From the archives: The Gardner Interview
The "holy-shit" slide.
WikiCup 2018 November newsletter
The WikiCup is over for another year! Our Champion this year is
Courcelles (submissions), who over the course of the competition has amassed 147 GAs, 111 GARs, 9 DYKs, 4 FLs and 1 ITN. Our finalists were as follows:
-
Courcelles (submissions) -
Kosack (submissions) -
Kees08 (submissions) -
SounderBruce (submissions) -
Cas Liber (submissions) -
Nova Crystallis (submissions) -
Iazyges (submissions) -
Ceranthor (submissions)
All those who reached the final win awards, and awards will also be going to the following participants:
-
Cas Liber (submissions) wins the FA prize, for three featured articles in round 2. -
Courcelles (submissions) wins the GA prize, for 92 good articles in round 3. -
Kosack (submissions) wins the FL prize, for five featured lists overall. -
Cartoon network freak (submissions) wins the topic prize, for 30 articles in good topics overall. -
Usernameunique (submissions) wins the DYK prize, for 24 did you know articles in round 3. -
Zanhe (submissions) wins the ITN prize, for 17 in the news articles overall. -
Aoba47 (submissions) wins the GAR prize, for 43 good article reviews in round 1.
Awards will be handed out in the coming weeks. Please be patient!
Congratulations to everyone who participated in this year's WikiCup, whether you made it to the final rounds or not, and particular congratulations to the newcomers to the WikiCup who have achieved much this year. Thanks to all who have taken part and helped out with the competition.
Next year's competition begins on 1 January. You are invited to sign up to participate; it is open to all Wikipedians, new and old. The WikiCup judges will be back in touch over the coming months, and we hope to see you all in the 2019 competition. Until then, it only remains to once again congratulate our worthy winners, and thank all participants for their involvement! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Sturmvogel 66 (talk · contribs · email), Godot13 (talk · contribs · email), Cwmhiraeth (talk · contribs · email) and Vanamonde93 (talk · contribs · email).
ArbCom 2018 election voter message
Hello, Icebob99. Voting in the 2018 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23.59 on Sunday, 3 December. All users who registered an account before Sunday, 28 October 2018, made at least 150 mainspace edits before Thursday, 1 November 2018 and are not currently blocked are eligible to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.
The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority 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 in the 2018 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:42, 19 November 2018 (UTC)
The Signpost: 1 December 2018
- From the editor: Time for a truce
Lay down your verbal weapons.
- Op-ed: Looking back, looking forward: A beginner's experience on Wikipedia
The experiences of a new user on Wikipedia, told in their own words.
- Special report: The Christmas wishlist
What do the WMF devs have in store for the community?
- Opinion: The blogosphere migrates to Galaxy WMF
Suppose they gave a blog and nobody came?
- News and notes: Reviewer of the year, WikiCup winner, and the 2019 Wikimedia Summit
Looking both backward and forward to events concerning the community.
- Reflections: Wikipedia, history, and the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day
A personal reflection on Wikipedia's role as a repository of history.
- In the media: Court-ordered article redaction, paid editing, and rock stars
Real-world news competes with the usual celeb fascination for Wikipedia's commentators.
- Discussion report: Farewell, Mediation Committee
It was a good 15 years. Plus: admins, notability, substubs, and new padlocks.
- Arbitration report: A long break ends
Arbcom takes its first new case since June.
- Traffic report: Queen reigns for four weeks straight
The "Queen" of stage and screen, that is. Is there another?
- Gallery: Intersections
Biology or technology? Form follows function in nature and the constructed world.
- Recent research: Why do the most active Wikipedians burn out?; only 4% of students vandalize
And other new research results.
- Essay: No one cares about your garage band
Nope, don't care!
- Humour: The dark side of our favorite root vegetable
Wonky carrots invoke terror.
- From the archives: Ars longa, vita brevis
ARS might continue, but some Wikipedians might not.
December 2018 GOCE newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors December 2018 Newsletter
Hello and welcome to the December 2018 GOCE newsletter. Here is what's been happening since the August edition. Thanks to everyone who participated in the August blitz (results), which focused on Requests and the oldest backlog month. Of the twenty editors who signed up, eleven editors recorded 37 copy edits. For the September drive (results), of the twenty-three people who signed up, nineteen editors completed 294 copy edits. Our October blitz (results) focused on Requests, geography, and food and drink articles. Of the fourteen people who signed up, eleven recorded a total of 57 copy edits. For the November drive (results), twenty-two people signed up, and eighteen editors recorded 273 copy edits. This helped to bring the backlog to a six-month low of 825 articles. The December blitz will run for one week, from 16 to 22 December. Sign up now! Elections: Nominations for the Guild's coordinators for the first half of 2019 will be open from 1 to 15 December. Voting will then take place and the election will close on 31 December at 23:59 UTC. Positions for Guild coordinators, who perform the important behind-the-scenes tasks that keep our project running smoothly, are open to all Wikipedians in good standing. We welcome self-nominations, so please consider nominating yourself if you've ever thought about helping out; it's your Guild and it doesn't run itself! Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators; Reidgreg, Baffle gab1978, Jonesey95, Miniapolis and Tdslk. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:04, 3 December 2018 (UTC)
The Signpost: 24 December 2018
- From the editors: Where to draw the line in reporting?
Tell us what you think!
- Op-ed: Wikipedia not trumped by Trump appointee
Did World Patent Marketing pay to get Wikipedia to include flattering information on their board member, now the Acting United States Attorney General?
- Special report: The Signpost got 380,000+ views in 2018, sounds reasonable enough, right?
A statistical insight into the English Wikipedia's very own online community newsletter.
- News and notes: Some wishes do come true
NPP wins the wish list poll; Wikipedia editors will be able to work better at night; new WMF appointments and new arbitrators; and who wants to be an admin?
- In the media: Political hijinks
Wikipedia says 'ta' to British M.P. and 'buh-bye' to U.S. President's image vandals.
- Discussion report: A new record low for RfA
Plus: reliable sources, notability, and fallout from the self-blocking software changes.
- WikiProject report: Articlegenesis
Discovering how new and unregistered users make articles with the members of WikiProject Articles for Creation.
- Arbitration report: Year ends with one active case
GiantSnowman asked to chill, and other disputes addressed by Arbcom (or not).
- Traffic report: Queen dethroned by U.S. presidents
The band relinquishes its first place hold; Aquaman is swimming into view for late December.
- Gallery: Sun and Moon, water and stone
Happy solstice, and happy New Year!
- Blog: News from the WMF
In and around the WMF and its projects from the WMF's web site.
- Humour: I believe in Bigfoot
Are you a believer?
- Essay: Requests for medication
When the desire to continue to have the privilege of editing Wikipedia overrides the body's innate desire to choke the living shit out of some bastard who really has it coming.
- From the archives: Compromised admin accounts – again
Compromised accounts – especially those of inactive admins.
Welcome to the 2019 WikiCup!
Hello and Happy New Year!
Welcome to the 2019 WikiCup, the competition begins today. If you have already joined, your submission page can be found here. If you have not yet signed up, you can add your name here and we will set up your submissions page. One important rule to remember is that only content on which you have completed significant work during 2019, and which you have nominated this year, is eligible for points in the competition, the judges will be checking! Any questions should be directed to one of the judges, or left on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup. Signups will close at the end of January, and the first round will end on 26 February; the 64 highest scorers at that time will make it to round 2. Good luck! The judges for the WikiCup are Sturmvogel 66 (talk · contribs · email), Godot13 (talk · contribs · email), Vanamonde93 (talk · contribs · email) and Cwmhiraeth (talk · contribs · email). MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:14, 1 January 2019 (UTC)
The Signpost: 31 January 2019
- Op-ed: Random Rewards Rejected
Lab rats deflate research to be performed on the Wikipedia community.
- In focus: The Collective Consciousness of Admin Userpages
Did you know that there was an admin who thought that the metaphor of the mop was a joke, and now they know it's not?
- News and notes: WMF staff turntable continues to spin; Endowment gets more cash; RfA continues to be a pit of steely knives
Rude or just forgetful? Eight-year WMF manager has disappeared; Facebook gives a million bucks, gets no love.
- In the media: The Signpost's investigative story recognized, Wikipedia turns 18 and gets a birthday gift from Google, and more editors are recognized
Heroes and unsung heroes: many good news stories about the work we are all doing together.
- Discussion report: The future of the reference desk
Plus: plagiarism from Wikipedia, user categories, and admin activity requirements.
- Featured content: Don't miss your great opportunity
Get yourself lost in 1730's Paris, and a wide range of other recently promoted content.
- Arbitration report: An admin under the microscope
Snowman flames newbies? Or just oversensitive snowflakes?
- Traffic report: Death, royals and superheroes: Avengers, Black Panther
The most popular articles of 2018 include a cornucopia of superheroes (Avengers: Infinity War)
- Technology report: When broken is easily fixed
Emergency server switch goes smoothly; technical glitches resolved; a new way to transfer files to Commons.
- Gallery: Let us build a memorial fit for such pain and suffering
A tour of some of the world's greatest memorials courtesy the Prime Minister of India.
- News from the WMF: News from WMF
The world’s largest photo contest, a $1 million gift, Wikipedia’s birthday, WF appoints Valerie D'Costa.
- Recent research: Ad revenue from reused Wikipedia articles; are Wikipedia researchers asking the right questions?
And other new research publications.
- Essay: How
A narrative to get you oriented to how this place works, and to the key policies and guidelines.
- Humour: Village pump
More talk pages you don't want to miss.
- From the archives: An editorial board that includes you
Four years - and nothing changed?
GOCE 2018 Annual Report
| Guild of Copy Editors 2018 Annual Report
Our 2018 Annual Report is now ready for review.
Highlights:
– Your project coordinators:
Miniapolis, Baffle gab1978, Jonesey95, Reidgreg and Tdslk.
To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
|
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:30, 31 January 2019 (UTC)
The Signpost: 28 February 2019
- From the editors: Help wanted (still)
This may be too wordy, verbose and loquacious – and possibly redundant – but as you know, it takes others to check our work, and if there were more people in the Newsroom, we'd be able to double check ourselves and produce a better product for our readership; if you think you are up to it, you are welcome to join us and even copyedit the Editor-in-Chief's article intros.
- News and notes: Front-page issues for the community
Encyclopedias for Deletion; Corinne; scholarships; partial blocks; and administrators headcount.
- In focus: Wikimedia affiliate organizations seek community participation in 2019 board election
This election will select 2 of 10 seats on the board. All Wikimedia users are stakeholders in the election outcome and should participate.
- Discussion report: Talking about talk pages
This month's major discussions include a WMF talk page consultation and a proposed current events noticeboard.
- Featured content: Conquest, War, Famine, Death, and more!
Horsemen of the apocalypse all represented in recently promoted content, alongside new life, pretty birds, great music, and other miscellaneous topics.
- Arbitration report: A quiet month for Arbitration Committee
Snowed in, maybe.
- Traffic report: Binge-watching
Netflix shows and TV sports dominate. A US politician breaks into the top 10.
- Technology report: Tool labs casters-up
Tool labs goes kaput, bots running wild (not really), interface administrators step into the breach, new gadgets and other tech happenings.
- Gallery: Signed with pride
A gallery of user signatures created by Wikipedians themselves.
- Recent research: Research finds signs of cultural diversity and recreational habits of readers
When watchers want the whole truth, they wind up with the wiki! And Cultural Context Content comes out of a complete cartography.
- Essay: Optimist's guide to Wikipedia
Assume good faith even if it kills you.
- From the archives: New group aims to promote Wiki-Love
The creation of the Esperanza group.
- Humour: Pesky Pronouns
Not feeling blurbish right now.
WikiCup 2019 March newsletter
And so ends the first round of the competition. Everyone with a positive score moves on to Round 2. With 56 contestants qualifying, each group in Round 2 contains seven contestants, with the two leaders from each group due to qualify for Round 3 as well as the top sixteen remaining contestants.
Our top scorers in Round 1 were:
L293D, a WikiCup newcomer, led the field with ten good articles on submarines for a total of 357 points.
Adam Cuerden, a WikiCup veteran, came next with 274 points, mostly from eight featured pictures, restorations of artwork.
MPJ-DK, a wrestling enthusiast, was in third place with 263 points, garnered from a featured list, five good articles, two DYKs and four GARs.
Usernameunique came next at 243, with a featured article and a good article, both on ancient helmets.
Squeamish Ossifrage was in joint fifth place with 224 points, mostly garnered from bringing the 1937 Fox vault fire to featured article status.
Ed! was also on 224, with an amazing number of good article reviews (56 actually).
These contestants, like all the others, now have to start scoring points again from scratch. Between them, contestants completed reviews on 143 good articles, one hundred more than the number of good articles they claimed for, thus making a substantial dent in the review backlog. Well done all!
Remember that any content promoted after the end of Round 1 but before the start of Round 2 can be claimed in Round 2. Invitations for collaborative writing efforts or any other discussion of potentially interesting work is always welcome on the WikiCup talk page. Remember, if two or more WikiCup competitors have done significant work on an article, all can claim points. 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.
If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to keep down the review backlogs! 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. Godot13 (talk), Sturmvogel 66 (talk), Vanamonde (talk) and Cwmhiraeth (talk).
March GOCE newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors March 2019 Newsletter
Hello and welcome to the March newsletter, a brief update of Guild activities since December 2018. All being well, we're planning to issue these quarterly in 2019, balancing the need to communicate widely with the avoidance of filling up talk pages. Don't forget you can unsubscribe at any time; see below. January Drive: Thanks to everyone for the splendid work in January's Backlog Elimination Drive. We removed copyedit tags from all of the articles tagged in our original target months of June, July and August 2018, and by 24 January we ran out of articles. After adding September, we finished the month with 8 target articles remaining and 842 left in the backlog. GOCE copyeditors also completed 48 requests for copyedit in January. Of the 31 people who signed up for this drive, 24 copyedited at least one article. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here. Blitz: Thanks to everyone who participated in the February Blitz. Of the 15 people who signed up, 13 copyedited at least one article. Participants claimed 32 copyedits, including 15 requests. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here. Progress report: As of 23:39, 18 March 2019 (UTC), GOCE copyeditors have completed 108 requests since 1 January and the backlog stands at 851 articles. March Drive: The month-long March drive is now underway; the target months are October and November 2018. Awards will be given to everyone who copyedits at least one article from the backlog. Sign up here! Election reminder: It may only be March but don't forget our mid-year Election of Coordinators opens for nominations on 1 June. Coordinators normally serve a six-month term and are elected on an approval basis. Self-nominations are welcome. If you've thought of helping out at the Guild, or know of another editor who would make a good coordinator, please consider standing for election or nominating them here. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators Miniapolis, Baffle gab1978, Jonesey95, Reidgreg and Tdslk. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:12, 19 March 2019 (UTC)
The Signpost: 31 March 2019
- From the editors: Getting serious about humor
- News and notes: Blackouts fail to stop EU Copyright Directive
- In the media: Women's history month
- Discussion report: Portal debates continue, Prespa agreement aftermath, WMF seeks a rebranding
- Featured content: Out of this world
- Arbitration report: The Tides of March at ARBCOM
- Traffic report: Exultations and tribulations
- Technology report: New section suggestions and sitewide styles
- News from the WMF: The WMF's take on the new EU Copyright Directive
- Recent research: Barnstar-like awards increase new editor retention
- From the archives: Esperanza organization disbanded after deletion discussion
- Humour: The Epistolary of Arthur 37
- In focus: The Wikipedia SourceWatch
- Special report: Wiki Loves (50 Years of) Pride
- Community view: Wikipedia's response to the New Zealand mosque shootings
The Signpost: 30 April 2019
- News and notes: An Action Packed April
New Administrators, April Fools, our competitors, and other associated updates
- In the media: Is Wikipedia just another social media site?
Harassment, a black hole, the Mueller Report, and Mötley Crüe - just another social media site?
- Discussion report: English Wikipedia community's conclusions on talk pages
Plus: another round of paid editing discussion.
- Featured content: Anguish, accolades, animals, and art
April's admirable additions.
- Arbitration report: An Active Arbitration Committee
Policies and procedures, cases and controversies, and other ArbCom updates
- Traffic report: Mötley Crüe, Notre-Dame, a black hole, and Bonnie and Clyde
Round up the unusual suspects
- Technology report: A new special page, and other news
Welcoming English Wikipedia's newest admin (bot)
- Gallery: Notre-Dame de Paris burns
Photos and videos show the damage
- News from the WMF: Can machine learning uncover Wikipedia’s missing “citation needed” tags?
Wikimedia Foundation data scientists are using machine learning to predict whether—and why—any given sentence on Wikipedia may need a citation in order to help editors identify areas of content violating the verifiability policy.
- Recent research: Female scholars underrepresented; whitepaper on Wikidata and libraries; undo patterns reveal editor hierarchy
And other recent research results
- From the archives: Portals revisited
"The future of portals", a year later
- Humour: Jimbo and Larry walk into a bar ...
Some editors will do anything to get a laugh
- Opinion: The gaps in our knowledge of our gaps
What we know we don't know, and why it might matter more than you might think
- Interview: Katherine Maher marks 3 years as executive director
Maher discusses her tenure as ED, the editing community, harassment and diversity, the WMF's 3-5 year plan, airplane travel, books, and her future.
- Community view: 2019 Wikimedia Summit gathers movement affiliate representatives to discuss movement strategy
An overview of Wikimedia Summit 2019, a working conference to discuss the Wikimedia 2030 Movement Strategy Process, preparing draft recommendations for Wikimania 2019 in August.
WikiCup 2019 May newsletter
The second round of the 2019 WikiCup has now finished. Contestants needed to scored 32 points to advance into round 3. Our top four scorers in round 2 all scored over 400 points and were:
Cas Liber (1210), our winner in 2016, with two featured articles and three DYKs. He also made good use of the bonus points available, more than doubling his score by choosing appropriate articles to work on.
Kosack (750), last year's runner up, with an FA, a GA, two FLs, and five DYKs.
Adam Cuerden (480), a WikiCup veteran, with 16 featured pictures, mostly restorations.
Zwerg Nase (461), a seasoned competitor, with a FA, a GA and an ITN item.
Other notable performances were put in by
Barkeep49 with six GAs,
Ceranthor,
Lee Vilenski, and
Canada Hky, each with seven GARs, and
MPJ-DK with a seven item GT.
So far contestants have achieved nine featured articles between them and a splendid 80 good articles. Commendably, 227 GARs have been completed during the course of the 2019 WikiCup, so the backlog of articles awaiting GA review has been reduced as a result of contestants' activities. The judges are pleased with the thorough GARs that are being performed, and have hardly had to reject any. As we enter the third round, remember that any content promoted after the end of round 2 but before the start of round 3 can be claimed in round 3. Remember too that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them.
If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article nominations, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). 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 your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13 (talk), Sturmvogel 66 (talk), Vanamonde (talk) and Cwmhiraeth (talk) MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:46, 1 May 2019 (UTC)
The Signpost: 31 May 2019
- From the editors: Picture that
The North Face sneaks in advertisements, apologizes after being caught
- News and notes: Wikimania and trustee elections
Get ready to go to Wikimania in Stockholm where you might meet two new trustees
- In the media: Politics, lawsuits and baseball
Wikipedia finds itself up against China, Pennsylvania politicians and the Detroit Tigers
- Discussion report: Admin abuse leads to mass-desysop proposal on Azerbaijani Wikipedia
Neutrality and copyright concerns lead and part 2 of the talk pages consultation.
- Arbitration report: ArbCom forges ahead
Resignations, new cases, administrator security, and more
- Traffic report: Dark marvels, thrones, a vile serial killer biopic, that's entertainment!
Who will be next to fill the throne at the top of the list?
- Technology report: Lots of Bots
Admin bots, approved bots, bots on trial, lots and lots of bots
- News from the WMF: Wikimedia Foundation petitions the European Court of Human Rights to lift the block of Wikipedia in Turkey
The WMF keeps working to stop Turkey from blocking Wikipedia.
- Recent research: Wikipedia more useful than academic journals, but is it stealing the news?
And other new research publications
- Essay: Paid editing
We've been talking about paid editing forever
- From the archives: FORUM:Should Wikimedia modify its terms of use to require disclosure?
A debate from 5 years ago on whether we use to prohibit undisclosed paid editing
GOCE June newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors June 2019 Newsletter
Hello and welcome to the June newsletter, a brief update of Guild activities since March 2019. You can unsubscribe from our mailings at any time; see below. Election time: Nomination of candidates in our mid-year Election of Coordinators opened on 1 June, and voting will take place from 16 June. Coordinators normally serve a six-month term and are elected on an approval basis. Self-nominations are welcome. If you've thought of helping out at the Guild, or know of another editor who would make a good coordinator, please consider standing for election or nominating them here. June Blitz: Our June blitz will soon be upon us; it will begin at 00:01 on 16 June (UTC) and will close at 23:59 on 22 June (UTC). The themes are "nature and the environment" and all requests. March Drive: Thanks to everyone for their work in March's Backlog Elimination Drive. We removed copyedit tags from 182 of the articles tagged in our original target months October and November 2018, and the month finished with 64 target articles remaining from November and 811 in the backlog. GOCE copyeditors also completed 22 requests for copyedit in March; the month ended with 34 requests pending. Of the 32 people who signed up for this drive, 24 copyedited at least one article. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here. April Blitz: Thanks to everyone who participated in the April Blitz; the blitz ran from 14 to 20 April (UTC) inclusive and the themes were Sports and Entertainment. Of the 15 people who signed up, 13 copyedited at least one article. Participants claimed 60 copyedits. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here. Progress report: As of 04:36, 3 June 2019 (UTC), GOCE copyeditors have completed 267 requests since 1 January. The backlog of tagged articles stands at 605 articles. May Drive: During the May Backlog Elimination Drive, Guild copy-editors removed copyedit tags from 191 of the 192 articles tagged in our original target months of November and December 2018, and January 2019 was added on 22 May. We finished the month with 81 target articles remaining and a record low of 598 articles in the backlog. GOCE copyeditors also completed 24 requests for copyedit during the May drive, and the month ended with 35 requests pending. Of the 26 people who signed up for this drive, 21 copyedited at least one article. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators Miniapolis, Baffle gab1978, Jonesey95, Reidgreg and Tdslk. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:29, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
The June 2019 Signpost is out!
- Discussion report: A constitutional crisis hits English Wikipedia
Could this be a new relationship between the Foundation and ArbCom, and between the Foundation and enwiki?
- News and notes: Mysterious ban, admin resignations, Wikimedia Thailand rising
Many administrators resign related to Fram case; Wikimedia Thailand to host Wikimania 2020.
- In the media: The disinformation age
Or is it the information error?
- On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?
A selection of good news and encouraging stories that are from the Wikiverse.
- Traffic report: Juneteenth, Beauty Revealed, and more nuclear disasters
Readers look for info on what they watch, mostly Chernobyl.
- Technology report: Actors and Bots
Database changes, new scripts, Tech News, and more.
- Gallery: Unlike the North Face, Wiki Loves Earth
Wikimedia photographers surge to contribute to the Wiki Loves Earth campaign even while rogue clothing company The North Face replaces wiki illustrations with advertisements.
- Special report: Did Fram harass other editors?
(DELETED ARTICLE)
- Recent research: What do editors do after being blocked?; the top mathematicians, universities and cancers according to Wikipedia
And other recent research publications.
- From the archives: Women and Wikipedia: the world is watching
"If you don't clean up this mess, the adults are going to come and take your toys away from you."
- Opinion: Why the Terms of Use change didn't curtail undisclosed paid editing—and what might
To reduce the incentives driving undisclosed paid editing, Wikipedia could simplify the process and meet outsiders halfway.
- In focus: WikiJournals: A sister project proposal
Academic peer review meets Wikimedia.
- Community view: A CEO biography, paid for with taxes
How an Irish state-level paid editor tried to turn me into the villain.
- Op-Ed: 2019 Wikimedia Affiliate Selected Board Seats Election Results
Wikimedia community organizations elect two members for the Wikimedia Foundation board of trustees.
WikiCup 2019 July newsletter
The third round of the 2019 WikiCup has now come to an end. The 16 users who made it to the fourth round needed to score at least 68 points, which is substantially lower than last year's 227 points. Our top scorers in round 3 were:
Cas Liber, our winner in 2016, with 500 points derived mainly from a featured article and two GAs on natural history topics
Adam Cuerden, with 480 points, a tally built on 16 featured pictures, the result of meticulous restoration work
SounderBruce, a finalist in the last two years, with 306 points from a variety of submissions, mostly related to sport or the State of Washington
Usernameunique, with 305 points derived from a featured article and two GAs on archaeology and related topics
Contestants managed 4 (5) featured articles, 4 featured lists, 18 featured pictures, 29 good articles, 50 DYK entries, 9 ITN entries, and 39 good article reviews. As we enter the fourth round, remember that any content promoted after the end of round 3 but before the start of round 4 can be claimed in round 4. Please also remember that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them, and it is imperative to claim them in the correct round; one FA claim had to be rejected because it was incorrectly submitted (claimed in Round 3 when it qualified for Round 2), so be warned! When doing GARs, please make sure that you check that all the GA criteria are fully met.
If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article nominations, a featured process, or anything else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). 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 your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13 (talk), Sturmvogel 66 (talk), Vanamonde (talk) and Cwmhiraeth (talk). MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:12, 2 July 2019 (UTC)
The Signpost: 31 July 2019
- News and notes: Wikimedia grants less accessible for travel, equipment, meetups, and India
WMF grants program changes position on funding random individuals globally and 100 crore people in one region
- In the media: Politics starts getting rough
Are we ready for the sharp elbows?
- Discussion report: New proposals in aftermath of Fram ban
Resysop requests on the ’crat board prove controversial; plus, aftermath of Framgate.
- Arbitration report: A month of reintegration
Arbitration begins setting new boundaries after the June blow-up
- Gallery: Classic panoramas from Heinrich Berann
It looks nice and cool up in those mountains
- On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?
A selection of good news and encouraging stories that are from the Wikiverse.
- Community view: Video based summaries of Wikipedia articles. How and why?
It's easy, education saves lives.
- News from the WMF: Designing ethically with AI: How Wikimedia can harness machine learning in a responsible and human-centered way
Or, how to avoid Artificial Ignorance
- Recent research: Most influential medical journals; detecting pages to protect
And other new research publications
- Special report: Administrator cadre continues to contract
A new record set: fewer than 500 active admins.
- Traffic report: World cups, presidential candidates, and stranger things
and don't forget the movies
- In focus: The French Wikipedia is overtaking the German
Who is growing? Who is not?
The Signpost: 30 August 2019
- News and notes: Documenting Wikimania and our beginnings
The oldest surviving Wikipedia edit restored to article history, Wikimania, and the mystery of a disappearing Funds Dissemination Committee.
- In focus: Ryan Merkley joins WMF as Chief of Staff
Working with leadership and the community, taking on both operational and strategic responsibilities
- In the media: Many layers of fake news: Fake fiction and fake news vandalism
And the media report it all
- Discussion report: Meta proposals on partial bans and IP users
Can we survive without IP addresses?
- Traffic report: Once upon a time in Greenland with Boris and cornflakes
And some summer flicks with the usual heroes and villains
- Op-Ed: We couldn't have told you this, but Wikipedia was censored
Should we break the law or publish the truth?
- Opinion: The Curious Case of Croatian Wikipedia
Or how to make a concentration camp disappear?
- Community view: Chinese Wikipedia and the battle against extradition from Hong Kong
From streets to Wikipedia - What are editors from Hong Kong facing?
- News from the WMF: Meet Emna Mizouni, the newly minted 2019 Wikimedian of the Year
Emna Mizouni was named the 2019 Wikimedian of the Year.
- Recent research: Special issue on gender gap and gender bias research
A roundup of many recent publications examining Wikpedia's gender gaps in participation and content, and their possible reasons
- On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?
A selection of good news and encouraging stories that are from the Wikiverse
WikiCup 2019 September newsletter
The fourth round of the competition has finished in a flurry of last minute activity, with 454 points being required to qualify for the final round. It was a hotly competitive round with two contestants with over 400 points being eliminated, and all but two of the finalists having achieved an FA during the round. Casliber, our 2016 winner, was the highest point-scorer, followed by Enwebb and Lee Vilenski, who are both new to the competition. In fourth place was SounderBruce, a finalist last year. But all those points are swept away as we start afresh for the final round.
Round 4 saw the achievement of 11 featured articles. In addition, Adam Cuerden scored with 18 FPs, Lee Vilenski led the GA score with 8 GAs while Kosack performed 15 GA reviews. There were around 40 DYKs, 40 GARs and 31 GAs overall during round 4. Even though contestants performed more GARs than they achieved GAs, there was still some frustration at the length of time taken to get articles reviewed.
As we start round 5, we say goodbye to the eight competitors who didn't quite make it; thank you for the useful contributions you have made to the Cup and Wikipedia, and we hope you will join us again next year. Remember that any content promoted after the end of round 4 but before the start of round 5 can be claimed in round 5. Remember too that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them (some people have fallen foul of this rule and the points have been removed).
If you are concerned that your nomination, whether it be for a good article, a featured process, or anything else, will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to help keep down the review backlogs! Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13, Sturmvogel 66, Vanamonde and Cwmhiraeth MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:44, 1 September 2019 (UTC)
September 2019 GOCE Newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors September 2019 Newsletter
Hello and welcome to the September newsletter, a brief update of Guild activities since June 2019. June election: Reidgreg was chosen as lead coordinator, and is being assisted by Baffle gab1978, Miniapolis, Tdslk, and first-time coordinator Twofingered Typist. Jonesey95 took a respite after serving for six years. Thanks to everyone who participated! June Blitz: From 16 to 22 June, we copy edited articles on the themes of nature and the environment along with requests. 12 participating editors completed 35 copy edits. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here. July Drive: The year's fourth backlog-elimination drive was a great success, clearing all articles tagged in January and February, and bringing the copy-editing backlog to a low of five months and a record low of 585 articles while also completing 48 requests. Of the 30 people who signed up, 29 copyedited at least one article, a participation level last matched in May 2015. Final results and awards are listed here. August Blitz: From 18 to 24 August, we copy edited articles tagged in March 2019 and requests. 12 participating editors completed 26 copy edits on the blitz. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here. Progress report: As of 03:00, 23 September 2019 (UTC), GOCE copyeditors had processed 413 requests since 1 January. The backlog of tagged articles stood at 599 articles, close to our record month-end low of 585. Requests page: We are experimenting with automated archiving of copy edit requests; a discussion on REQ Talk (permalinked) initiated by Bobbychan193 has resulted in Zhuyifei1999 writing a bot script for the Guild. Testing is now underway and is expected to be completed by 3 October; for this reason, no manual archiving of requests should be done until the testing period is over. We will then assess the bot's performance and discuss whether to make this arrangement permanent. September Drive: Our current backlog-elimination drive is open until 23:59 on 30 September (UTC) and is open to all copy editors. Sign up today! Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators, Baffle gab1978, Miniapolis, Reidgreg, Tdslk and Twofingered Typist. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:58, 24 September 2019 (UTC)
AfroCine: Join the Months of African Cinema this October!

Greetings!
After a successful first iteration of the “Months of African Cinema” last year, we are happy to announce that it will be happening again this year, starting from October 1! In the 2018 edition of the contest, about 600 Wikipedia articles were created in at least 8 languages. There were also contributions to Wikidata and Wikimedia commons, which brought the total number of wikimedia pages created during the contest to over 1,000.
The AfroCine Project welcomes you to October, the first out of the two months which have been dedicated to creating and improving content that centre around the cinema of Africa, the Caribbean, and the diaspora. Join us in this global edit-a-thon, by helping to create or expand articles which are connected to this scope. Also remember to list your name under the participants section.
On English Wikipedia, we would be recognizing participants in the following manner:
- Overall winner (1st, 2nd, 3rd places)
- Diversity winner
- Gender-gap fillers
For further information about the contest, the recognition categories and how to participate, please visit the contest page here. For further inquiries, please leave comments on the contest talkpage or on the main project talkpage. See you around :).--Jamie Tubers (talk) 00:50, 30 September 2019 (UTC)
The Signpost: 30 September 2019
- From the editors: Where do we go from here?
Our constitutional crisis may continue
- Special report: Post-Framgate wrapup
Summary of actions around a formerly banned former administrator: Arbitration Committee action and withdrawn request for adminship
- In the media: A net loss: Wikipedia attacked, closing off Russia? welcoming back Turkey?
The internet may not be as stable as it seems
- Traffic report: Varied and intriguing entries, less Luck, and some retreads
Luck, Serena, Bianca, 9/11, bad films, mass murderers and other good stuff
- News from the WMF: How the Wikimedia Foundation is making efforts to go green
Wikipedia's footprint is equivalent to 251 average US homes’ energy use. Yes we can go green.
- Recent research: Wikipedia's role in assessing credibility of news sources; using wikis against procrastination; OpenSym 2019 report
And other recent research publications
- Gallery: Finding freely licensed photo collections
Wikimedia Commons is not the only place to find freely licensed photos
- On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?
A selection of good news and encouraging stories that are from the Wikiverse
- In focus: Wikidata & Wikibase for national libraries: the inaugural meeting
National libraries are planning to leverage Wikidata to interoperate and to bring information to the public
The Signpost: 31 October 2019
- In the media: How to use or abuse Wikipedia for fun or profit
Sweden, Poland, Armenia, Russia, the Vatican, and clueless English pubs.
- Special report: “Catch and Kill” on Wikipedia: Paid editing and the suppression of material on alleged sexual abuse
"It's time for Wikipedia to grow up."
- In focus: The BBC looks at Chinese government editing
But they aren't entirely sure they see it
- Interview: Carl Miller on Wikipedia Wars
A discussion on info wars, government editing and our defences.
- Community view: Observations from the mainland
A different point of view
- Arbitration report: October actions
An "unblockable" is blocked; a former arb resigns.
- Traffic report: Wrestling with a couple of teenagers, a Nobelist, and a lot of jokers
Plus a few celebrities.
- Gallery: Wiki Loves Broadcast
The future of public broadcasting has arrived.
- Recent research: Research at Wikimania 2019: More communication doesn't make editors more productive; Tor users doing good work; harmful content rare on English Wikipedia
And other new research publications
- Essay: Wikipedia is in the real world
Editing can have serious consequences.
- News from the WMF: Welcome to Wikipedia! Here's what we're doing to help you stick around
Twenty questions to get you started.
- On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?
A selection of good news and encouraging stories from the Wikiverse.
WikiCup 2019 November newsletter
The WikiCup is over for another year! Our Champion this year is
Adam Cuerden (submissions), who over the course of the competition has amassed 91 featured pictures, including 32 in the final round. Our finalists this year were:
-
Adam Cuerden (submissions) with 964 points -
Lee Vilenski (submissions) with 899 points -
Casliber (submissions) with 817 points -
Kosack (submissions) with 691 points -
SounderBruce (submissions) with 388 points -
Enwebb (submissions) with 146 points -
Usernameunique (submissions) with 145 points -
HaEr48 (submissions) with 74 points
All those who reached the final will win awards. The following special awards will be made based on high performance in particular areas of content creation. So that the finalists do not have an undue advantage, these prizes are awarded to the competitor who scored the highest in any particular field in a single round, or in the event of a tie, to the overall leader in this field. Awards will be handed out in the coming weeks. Please be patient!
-
Casliber (submissions) wins the featured article prize, for a total of 7 FAs during the course of the competition. -
Lee Vilenski (submissions) wins the good article prize, for 14 GAs in round 5. -
Yashthepunisher (submissions) wins the featured list prize, for 4 FLs overall. -
Adam Cuerden (submissions) wins the featured picture prize, for 91 FPs overall. -
MPJ-DK (submissions) wins the topic prize, for 7 articles in good topics in round 2. -
Lee Vilenski (submissions) wins the DYK prize, for 14 did you know articles in round 5. -
Muboshgu (submissions) wins the ITN prize, for 7 in the news articles in round 1. -
Ed! (submissions) wins the reviewer prize, for 56 good article reviews in round 1.
Congratulations to everyone who participated in this year's WikiCup, whether you made it to the final rounds or not, and particular congratulations to the newcomers to the WikiCup who have achieved much this year. Thanks to all who have taken part and helped out with the competition, not forgetting User:Jarry1250, who runs the scoring bot.
We have opened a scoring discussion on whether the rules and scoring need adjustment. Please have your say. Next year's competition will begin on 1 January. You are invited to sign up to participate; the WikiCup is open to all Wikipedians, both novices and experienced editors, and we hope to see you all in the 2020 competition. Until then, it only remains to once again congratulate our worthy winners, and thank all participants for their involvement! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13, Sturmvogel 66, Vanamonde and Cwmhiraeth 14:18, 2 November 2019 (UTC)
ArbCom 2019 election voter message
The Signpost: 29 November 2019
- From the editor: Put on your birthday best
"We get by with a little help from our friends"
- News and notes: How soon for the next million articles?
And when will we get the second extraterrestrial edit?
- In the media: You say you want a revolution
Everybody wants to change Wikipedia.
- On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?
A selection of good news and encouraging stories from the Wikiverse.
- Arbitration report: Two requests for arbitration cases
Important or imprudent? Pondering portals. And an editor gets transported off-wiki for good.
- Traffic report: The queen and the princess meet the king and the joker
Could this be the end of the Terminator?
- Technology report: Reference things, sister things, stranger things
The latest tech news and updates.
- Gallery: Winter and holidays
Some interesting and unusual winter and holiday images.
- Recent research: Bot census; discussions differ on Spanish and English Wikipedia; how nature's seasons affect pageviews
And other new research publications.
- Essay: Adminitis
Some humor about the otherwise serious subject of burnout.
- From the archives: WikiProject Spam, revisited
Veteran editor: Wikipedia is losing existential battle against spam.
- In focus: An update on the Wikimedia Movement 2030 Strategy
Coming to the end of a long road formulating the strategy.
- Special report: How many people edit in your favorite language? Where are they from?
Only now can we say!
GOCE December 2019 Newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors December 2019 Newsletter
Hello and welcome to the December 2019 GOCE newsletter, an update of Guild happenings since the September edition. Our Annual Report should be ready in late January. Election time: Nominations for the election of a new tranche of Guild coordinators to serve for the first half of 2020 will be open from 1 to 15 December. Voting will then take place and the election will close on 31 December at 23:59 UTC. Positions for Guild coordinators, who perform the important behind-the-scenes tasks that keep our project running smoothly, are open to all Wikipedians in good standing. We welcome self-nominations so please consider nominating yourself if you've ever thought about helping out; it's your Guild and it doesn't run itself! September Drive: Of the thirty-two editors who signed up, twenty-three editors copy edited at least one article; they completed 39 requests and removed 138 articles from the backlog, bringing the backlog to a low of 519 articles. October Blitz: This event ran from 13 to 19 October, with themes of science, technology and transport articles tagged for copy edit, and Requests. Sixteen editors helped remove 29 articles from the backlog and completed 23 requests. November Drive: Of the twenty-eight editors who signed up for this event, twenty editors completed at least one copy edit; they completed 29 requests and removed 133 articles from the backlog. Our December Blitz will run from 15 to 21 December. Sign up now! Progress report: From September to November 2019, GOCE copy editors processed 154 requests. Over the same period, the backlog of articles tagged for copy editing was reduced by 41% to an all-time low of 479 articles. Request archiving: The archiving of completed requests has now been automated. Thanks to Zhuyifei1999 and Bobbychan193, YiFeiBot is now archiving the Requests page. Archiving occurs around 24 hours after a user's signature and one of the templates {{Done}}, {{Withdrawn}} or {{Declined}} are placed below the request. The bot uses the Guild's standard "purpose codes" to determine the way it should archive each request so it's important to use the correct codes and templates. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators; Reidgreg, Baffle gab1978, Miniapolis, Tdslk and Twofingered Typist. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
|
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:05, 4 December 2019 (UTC)
Peace Dove

The Signpost: 27 December 2019
- From the editors: Caught with their hands in the cookie jar, again
You can buy "cleaners" but you might not come away clean.
- News and notes: What's up (and down) with administrators, articles and languages
Active administrators and articles achieved are marking milestone metrics, but in diverging directions. Plus, the first time any court has found there exists a constitutional right to read Wikipedia.
- Special report: Are reputation management operatives scrubbing Wikipedia articles?
Son of Wiki-PR.
- In the media: "The fulfillment of the dream of humanity" or a nightmare of PR whitewashing on behalf of one-percenters?
Praise for possibly pansophic Wikipedia from a Nobel laureate collides head-on with real-world events in December.
- Discussion report: December discussions around the wiki
Regarding integrity of information presented by Wikipedia, as well as the processes and people who ensure it remains trustworthy.
- Arbitration report: Announcement of 2020 Arbitration Committee
ArbCom election results and status of open and requested cases.
- Traffic report: Queens and aliens, exactly alike, once upon a December
We may have scrambled the headlines a bit.
- Technology report: User scripts and more
Customise your Wikipedia experience
- Gallery: Holiday wishes
Messages of holiday cheer from us to you.
- Recent research: Acoustics and Wikipedia; Wiki Workshop 2019 summary
16 recent papers, and other research news
- From the archives: The 2002 Spanish fork and ads revisited (re-revisited?)
A look at different approaches taken by Wikipedia's founders in 2002, as seen from the perspective of nine years when it was written; nearly twenty years ago now.
- On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?
A selection of good news and encouraging stories from the Wikiverse.
- Op-Ed: Why we need to keep talking about Wikipedia's gender gap
There's still a long way to go.
- WikiProject report: Wikiproject Tree of Life: A Wikiproject report
Eight years after our last interview, WikiProject Tree of Life continues to thrive.
Welcome to the 2020 WikiCup!
Happy New Year, Happy New Decade and Happy New WikiCup! The competition begins today and all article creators, expanders and improvers are welcome to take part. If you have already signed up, your submissions page can be found here. If you have not yet signed up, you can add your name here and the judges will set up your submissions page. We are relaxing the rule that only content on which you have completed significant work during 2020 will count; now to be eligible for points in the competition, you must have completed significant work on the content at some time! Any questions on the rules or on anything else connected to the Cup should be directed to one of the judges, or posted to the WikiCup talk page. Signups will close at the end of January, and the first round will end on 26 February; the 64 highest scorers at that time will move on to round 2. Good luck! The judges for the WikiCup are Sturmvogel 66 (talk · contribs · email), Godot13 (talk · contribs · email), Vanamonde93 (talk · contribs · email) and Cwmhiraeth (talk) 11:43, 1 January 2020 (UTC)
The Signpost: 27 January 2020
- From the editor: Reaching six million articles is great, but we need a moratorium
How long can we ignore Wiki-PR?
- News and notes: Six million articles on the English language Wikipedia
You ain't seen nothing yet.
- Special report: The limits of volunteerism and the gatekeepers of Team Encarta
How to survive the asshole consensus.
- In the media: Turkey's back up, but what's happening with Dot-org and a new visual identity?
Plus politics and other oddities.
- Arbitration report: Three cases at ArbCom
The new arbs have a big load.
- Traffic report: The most viewed articles of 2019
As only The Signpost can describe them.
- Gallery: Wiki Loves Monuments 2019, we're all winners
The top 15 international photos.
- News from the WMF: Capacity Building: Top 5 Themes from Community Conversations
Growing our community and our abilities.
- Community view: Our most important new article since November 1, 2015
Well, it's a bit subjective.
- In focus: Cryptos and bitcoins and blockchains, oh no!
Everybody needs to make a buck somehow — just not here, thanks.
- Recent research: How useful is Wikipedia for novice programmers trying to learn computing concepts?
And other new research publications.
- From the archives: A decade of The Signpost, 2005-2015
The first 10 years are the hardest.
- On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?
A selection of good news and encouraging stories from the Wikiverse.
- WikiProject report: WikiProject Japan: a wikiProject Report
An interview with four members of the WikiProject Japan.
- Humour: Predicting the 6,000,000th article
I may fall in love all over again!
- Obituary: Remembering Wikipedia contributor Brian Boulton
A mentor to us all
WikiProject Guild of Copy Editors 2019 Annual Report
| Guild of Copy Editors 2019 Annual Report
Our 2019 Annual Report is now ready for review.
Highlights:
– Your Guild coordinators:
Jonesey95, Baffle gab1978, Reidgreg, Tdslk and Twofingered Typist.
To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:10, 7 February 2020 (UTC) |
WikiCup 2020 March newsletter
And so ends the first round of the competition. Everyone with a positive score moves on to Round 2, with 57 contestants qualifying. We have abolished the groups this year, so to qualify for Round 3 you will need to finish Round 2 among the top thirty-two contestants.
Our top scorers in Round 1 were:
Epicgenius, a WikiCup newcomer, led the field with a featured article, five good articles and an assortment of other submissions, specialising on buildings and locations in New York, for a total of 895 points.
Gog the Mild came next with 464 points, from a featured article, two good articles and a number of reviews, the main theme being naval warfare.
Raymie was in third place with 419 points, garnered from one good article and an impressive 34 DYKs on radio and TV stations in the United States.
Harrias came next at 414, with a featured article and three good articles, an English civil war battle specialist.
CaptainEek was in fifth place with 405 points, mostly garnered from bringing Cactus wren to featured article status.- The top ten contestants at the end of Round 1 all scored over 200 points; they also included
L293D,
Kingsif,
Enwebb,
Lee Vilenski and
CAPTAIN MEDUSA. Seven of the top ten contestants in Round 1 are new to the WikiCup.
These contestants, like all the others, now have to start scoring points again from scratch. In Round 1 there were four featured articles, one featured list and two featured pictures, as well as around two hundred DYKs and twenty-seven ITNs. Between them, contestants completed 127 good article reviews, nearly a hundred more than the 43 good articles they claimed for, thus making a substantial dent in the review backlog. Contestants also claimed for 40 featured article / featured list reviews, and most even remembered to mention their WikiCup participation in their reviews (a requirement).
Remember that any content promoted after the end of Round 1 but before the start of Round 2 can be claimed in Round 2. Some contestants made claims before the new submissions pages were set up, and they will need to resubmit them. Invitations for collaborative writing efforts or any other discussion of potentially interesting work is always welcome on the WikiCup talk page. Remember, if two or more WikiCup competitors have done significant work on an article, all can claim points. 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.
If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to keep down the review backlogs! 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. Godot13 (talk), Sturmvogel 66 (talk), Vanamonde (talk) and Cwmhiraeth (talk). MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:46, 1 March 2020 (UTC)
The Signpost: 1 March 2020
- From the editor: The ball is in your court
How to stop abusive commercial editing.
- News and notes: Alexa ranking down to 13th worldwide
Falling behind Chinese websites.
- Special report: More participation, more conversation, more pageviews
A statistical insight into the English Wikipedia's very own online community newsletter.
- In the media: Mapping IP editors, Smithsonian open-access, and coronavirus disinformation
We're all over the map this month.
- Discussion report: Do you prefer M or P?
Wikimedia or Wikipedia?
- Arbitration report: Two prominent administrators removed
Arbitration Committee and the "blue wall of silence".
- By the numbers: How many actions by administrators does it take to clean up spam?
Numbers for vandalism and sockpuppeting included at no additional charge!
- Community view: The Incredible Invisible Woman
No more "Hidden Figures", let's work to make women visible on Wikipedia!
- In focus: History of The Signpost, 2015–2019
Covering Wikipedia for another five years!
- Recent research: Wikipedia generates $50 billion/year consumer surplus in the US alone
And other new research results
- From the archives: Is Wikipedia for sale?
How long has Wikipedia been for sale? When will it stop?
- Traffic report: February articles, floating in the dark
Kobe sets another record.
- Gallery: Feel the love
Renewing our vows.
- On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?
A selection of good news and encouraging stories from the Wikiverse.
- Op-Ed: What I learned as Wikimedia UK Communications Coordinator
Getting across the Wikipedia experience to the press.
- Opinion: Wikipedia is another country
Or: how to best bite a newbie.
- Humour: The Wilhelm scream
WikiWorld is back.
WikiCup newsletter correction
There was an error in the WikiCup 2020 March newsletter;
L293D should not have been included in the list of top ten scorers in Round 1 (they led the list last year), instead,
Dunkleosteus77 should have been included, having garnered 334 points from five good articles on animals, living or extinct, and various reviews. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 09:30, 2 March 2020 (UTC)
GOCE March newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors March 2020 Newsletter
Hello and welcome to the March newsletter, a brief update of Guild activities since December 2019. All being well, we're planning to issue these quarterly in 2020, balancing the need to communicate widely with the avoidance of filling up talk pages. Don't forget you can unsubscribe at any time; see below. Election results: There was little changeover in the roster of Guild Coordinators, with Miniapolis stepping down with distinction as a coordinator emeritus while Jonesey95 returned as lead coordinator. The next election is scheduled for June 2020 and all Wikipedians in good standing may participate. January Drive: Thanks to everyone for the splendid work, completing 215 copy edits including 56 articles from the Requests page and 116 backlog articles from the target months of June to August 2019. At the conclusion of the drive there was a record low of 323 articles in the copy editing backlog. Of the 27 editors who signed up for the drive, 21 copyedited at least one article. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here. February Blitz: Of the 15 editors who signed up for this one-week blitz, 13 completed at least one copy edit. A total of 32 articles were copy edited, evenly split between the twin goals of requests and the oldest articles from the copy-editing backlog. Full results are here. March Drive: Currently underway, this event is targeting requests and backlog articles from September to November 2019. As of 18 March, the backlog stands at a record low of 253 articles and is expected to drop further as the drive progresses. Awards will be given to everyone who copyedits at least one article from the backlog. Help set a new record and sign up now! Progress report: As of 18 March, GOCE copyeditors have completed 161 requests in 2020 and there was a net reduction of 385 articles from the copy-editing backlog – a 60% decrease from the beginning of the year. Well done and thank you everyone! Election reminder: It may only be March but don't forget our mid-year Election of Coordinators opens for nominations on 1 June. Coordinators normally serve a six-month term and are elected on an approval basis. Self-nominations are welcome. If you've thought of helping out at the Guild, or know of another editor who would make a good coordinator, please consider standing for election or nominating them here. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators Jonesey95, Baffle gab1978, Reidgreg, Tdslk and Twofingered Typist To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
|
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:52, 18 March 2020 (UTC)
The Signpost: 29 March 2020
- From the editors: The bad and the good
Getting ready for anything.
- News and notes: 2018 Wikipedian of the year blocked
Wheel war on Tatar Wikipedia.
- WikiProject report: WikiProject COVID-19: A WikiProject Report
An interview with members of the COVID Project.
- Special report: Wikipedia on COVID-19: what we publish and why it matters
Wikipedia presents solid widely-consulted information on COVID-19 and related topics.
- In the media: Blocked in Iran but still covering the big story
COVID-19, Zika, edit-a-thons, and macrons.
- Discussion report: Rethinking draft space
Plus: geonotices, reliable sources, and job titles.
- Arbitration report: Unfinished business
A new case, a case returns from limbo, and an RfC being prepared.
- In focus: "I have been asked by Jeffrey Epstein …"
The twists and turns of Epstein’s portrayal on Wikipedia.
- Community view: Wikimedia community responds to COVID-19
Individually and in organized groups, Wikimedians stand up and make a difference.
- Recent research: Disease outbreak uncertainties, AfD forecasting, auto-updating Wikipedia
New research publications on "the fear of being erased" and other topics.
- From the archives: Text from Wikipedia good enough for Oxford University Press to claim as own
Five years ago with a different crisis.
- Traffic report: The only thing that matters in the world
Going to movies and sport stadiums is history, and readers turn to Wikipedia for crucial medical information and updates.
- Gallery: Visible Women on Wikipedia
Images from the Whose Knowlege? campaign.
- News from the WMF: Amid COVID-19, Wikimedia Foundation offers full pay for reduced hours, mobilizes all staff to work remote, and waives sick time
The WMF responds.
- On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?
A selection of good news and encouraging stories from the Wikiverse.
The Signpost: 26 April 2020
- News and notes: Unbiased information from Ukraine's government?
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs pitches in.
- In the media: Coronavirus, again and again
Plus the importance of language.
- Discussion report: Redesigning Wikipedia, bit by bit
The Wikimedia community discusses modifying or hiding the sidebar on the left of every page.
- Featured content: Featured content returns
Movies, roads, awards and more.
- Arbitration report: Two difficult cases
Even our best editors sometimes disagree.
- Traffic report: Disease the Rhythm of the Night
Coronavirus, coronavirus, and Joe Exotic.
- Gallery: Roy is doing fine and sending more photos
A coronavirus cruise can't stop Roy!
- Recent research: Trending topics across languages; auto-detecting bias
And other new research results.
- Essay: Wikipedia:An article about yourself isn't necessarily a good thing
And it could get worse!
- By the numbers: Open data and COVID-19: Wikipedia as an informational resource during the pandemic
What COVID-19 data are available from the WMF?
- Opinion: Trusting Everybody to Work Together
In an increasingly factious world, Wikipedia's approach to collaboration and trust-building point to a brighter future.
- On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?
A selection of good news and encouraging stories from the Wikiverse.
- Interview: Health and RfA's: An interview with Guy Macon
A Wikipedia editor reflects on his recent RfA and the health issues that became part of it.
- In focus: Multilingual Wikipedia
How to better integrate articles across language editions.
- WikiProject report: The Guild of Copy Editors
An interview with members of the WP:GOCE
WikiCup 2020 May newsletter
The second round of the 2020 WikiCup has now finished. It was a high-scoring round and contestants needed 75 points to advance to round 3. There were some very impressive efforts in round 2, with the top ten contestants all scoring more than 500 points. A large number of the points came from the 12 featured articles and the 186 good articles achieved in total by contestants, and the 355 good article reviews they performed; the GAN backlog drive and the stay-at-home imperative during the COVID-19 pandemic may have been partially responsible for these impressive figures.
Our top scorers in round 2 were:
Epicgenius, with 2333 points from one featured article, forty-five good articles, fourteen DYKs and plenty of bonus points
Gog the Mild, with 1784 points from three featured articles, eight good articles, a substantial number of featured article and good article reviews and lots of bonus points
The Rambling Man, with 1262 points from two featured articles, eight good articles and a hundred good article reviews
Harrias, with 1141 points from two featured articles, three featured lists, ten good articles, nine DYKs and a substantial number of featured article and good article reviews
Lee Vilenski with 869 points,
Hog Farm with 801,
Kingsif with 719,
SounderBruce with 710,
Dunkleosteus77 with 608 and
MX with 515.
The rules for featured article reviews have been adjusted; reviews may cover three aspects of the article, content, images and sources, and contestants may receive points for each of these three types of review. Please also remember the requirement to mention the WikiCup when undertaking an FAR for which you intend to claim points. Remember also that DYKs cannot be claimed until they have appeared on the main page. As we enter the third round, any content promoted after the end of round 2 but before the start of round 3 can be claimed now, and anything you forgot to claim in round 2 cannot! Remember too, that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them. When doing GARs, please make sure that you check that all the GA criteria are fully met.
If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article nominations, a featured process, or anything else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). 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 your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13 (talk), Sturmvogel 66 (talk), Vanamonde (talk) and Cwmhiraeth. - MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:44, 1 May 2020 (UTC)
The Signpost: 31 May 2020
- From the editor: Meltdown May?
Or will it be meltdown June?
- News and notes: 2019 Picture of the Year, 200 French paid editing accounts blocked, 10 years of Guild Copyediting
Many of these accounts now blocked on the English-language Wikipedia.
- In the media: CBS on COVID-19, Sanger on bias, false noses, and five prolific editors
Worth Every Goddamn Second!
- Discussion report: WMF's Universal Code of Conduct
It's no April Fool's joke, but we discuss those, too.
- Special report: The sum of human knowledge? Not in one Wikipedia language edition
Cultural context, diversity, and the future of languages.
- Featured content: Weathering the storm
Battles, bombs, wars, and more storms.
- Arbitration report: Board member likely to receive editing restriction
Sanctions of multiple flavors, and a non-decision on the breadth of discretionary sanctions.
- Traffic report: Come on and slam, and welcome to the jam
Time to bring on the Bulls.
- Op-Ed: Where Is Political Bias Taking Us?
Straight down the tubes.
- Gallery: Wildlife photos by the book
Birds, insects, elephants, a macaque and more.
- News from the WMF: WMF Board announces Community Culture Statement
Enacting new standards to address harassment and promote inclusivity across projects.
- Recent research: Automatic detection of covert paid editing; Wiki Workshop 2020
New results from academic research
- Community view: Transit routes and mapping during stay-at-home order downtime
Hello Columbus.
- On video: COVID-19 spurs innovations in Wikimedia video and virtual programming
Community harnesses new technologies for remote participation in events and gatherings
- WikiProject report: Revitalizing good articles
Can our energy be turned into long-term change?
- On the bright side: 500,000 articles in the Egyptian Arabic Wikipedia
A selection of good news and encouraging stories from the Wikiverse.
- Obituaries: Dmitrismirnov, Kattenkruid, Muidlatif, Ronhjones, Tsirel
Rest in peace.
GOCE June newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors June 2020 Newsletter
Hello and welcome to the June newsletter, a brief update of Guild activities since March 2020. You can unsubscribe from our mailings at any time; see below. All times and dates stated are in UTC. Current events
Election time: Nomination of candidates in our mid-year Election of Coordinators opened on 1 June, and voting will take place from 00:01 on 16 June. GOCE coordinators normally serve a six-month term and are elected on an approval basis. Self-nominations are welcome. If you've thought about helping out at the Guild, or you know of another editor who would make a good coordinator, please consider standing for election or nominating them here. June Blitz: This blitz begins at 00:01 on 14 June and ends at 23:59 on 20 June, with themes of articles tagged for copyedit in May 2020 and requests. Drive and blitz reports
March Drive: Self-isolation from coronavirus may have played a hand in making this one of our most successful backlog elimination drives. The copy-editing backlog was reduced from 477 to a record low of 118 articles, a 75% reduction. The last four months of 2019 were cleared, reducing the backlog to three months. Fifty requests were also completed, and the total word count of copy-edited articles was 759,945. Of the 29 editors who signed up, 22 completed at least one copy edit. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here. April Blitz: This blitz ran from 12 to 18 April with a theme of Indian military history. Of the 18 people who signed up, 14 copyedited at least one article. Participants claimed a total of 60 copyedits. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here. May Drive: This event marked the 10th anniversary of the GOCE's copy-editing drives, and set a goal of diminishing the backlog to just one month of articles, as close to zero articles as possible. We achieved the goal of eliminating all articles that had been tagged prior to the start of the drive, for the first time in our history! Of the 51 editors who signed up, 43 copyedited at least one article. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here. Other news
Progress report: as of 2 June, GOCE participants had processed 328 requests since 1 January, which puts us on pace to exceed any previous year's number of requests. As of the end of the May drive, the backlog stood at just 156 articles, all tagged in May 2020. Outreach: To mark the 10th anniversary of our first Backlog Elimination Drive, The Signpost contributor and GOCE participant Puddleglum2.0 interviewed project coordinators and copy-editors for the journal's April WikiProject Report. The Drive and the current Election of Coordinators have also been covered in The Signpost's May News and Notes page. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators Jonesey95, Baffle gab1978, Reidgreg, Tdslk and Twofingered Typist. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
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Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) at 15:46, 5 June 2020 (UTC).
The Signpost: 28 June 2020
- News and notes: Progress at Wikipedia Library and Wikijournal of Medicine
Plus Swedish biographies and the big oops!
- Community view: Community open letter on renaming
Reacting to the WMF's rebranding proposal.
- Gallery: After the killing of George Floyd
Protests and photos from around the world...
- In the media: Part collaboration and part combat
Racial justice, Facebook, LGBTQ+, Ryan Merkley, and a woman.
- Discussion report: Community reacts to WMF rebranding proposals
Many Wikimedia community members are upset about the WMF's plan to rebrand. Plus, a discussion of Fox News's reliability.
- Featured content: Sports are returning, with a rainbow
Battles, music, and animals feature prominently in this month's best content.
- Arbitration report: Anti-harassment RfC and a checkuser revocation
The RfC should keep everybody busy.
- Traffic report: The pandemic, alleged murder, a massacre, and other deaths
Plus Rajput, Musk, Epstein, Maxwell, Owens and Anonymous
- News from the WMF: We stand for racial justice
On these issues, there is no neutral stance.
- Recent research: Wikipedia and COVID-19; automated Wikipedia-based fact-checking
And other new research publications
- Interview: What is wrong with rebranding to "Wikipedia Foundation"?
Four signers of the open letter explain.
- Humour: Cherchez une femme
It's amazing what one can do.
- Opinion: Trying to find COI or paid editors? Just read the news
A scientific scandal and the Ronaldo of investment banking.
- On the bright side: For what are you grateful this month?
A selection of good news and encouraging stories from the Wikiverse.
- In focus: Edit Loud, Edit Proud: LGBTIQ+ Wikimedians and Global Information Activism
The history and impact of LGBTIQ+ contributions to Wikimedia projects.
- WikiProject report: WikiProject Black Lives Matter
How Wikipedia is covering racial injustice, both in the outer world and on-site
WikiCup 2020 July newsletter
The third round of the 2020 WikiCup has now come to an end. The 16 users who made it into the fourth round each had at least 353 points (compared to 68 in 2019). It was a highly competitive round, and a number of contestants were eliminated who would have moved on in earlier years. Our top scorers in round 3 were:
Epicgenius, with one featured article, 28 good articles and 17 DYKs, amassing 1836 points
The Rambling Man , with 1672 points gained from four featured articles and seventeen good articles, plus reviews of a large number of FACs and GAs
Gog the Mild, a first time contestant, with 1540 points, a tally built largely on 4 featured articles and related bonus points.
Between them, contestants managed 14 featured articles, 9 featured lists, 3 featured pictures, 152 good articles, 136 DYK entries, 55 ITN entries, 65 featured article candidate reviews and 221 good article reviews. Additionally,
MPJ-DK added 3 items to featured topics and 44 to good topics. Over the course of the competition, contestants have completed 710 good article reviews, in comparison to 387 good articles submitted for review and promoted. These large numbers are probably linked to a GAN backlog drive in April and May, and the changed patterns of editing during the COVID-19 pandemic. As we enter the fourth round, remember that any content promoted after the end of round 3 but before the start of round 4 can be claimed in round 4. Please also remember that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them. When doing GARs, please make sure that you check that all the GA criteria are fully met. Please also remember that all submissions must meet core Wikipedia policies, regardless of the review process.
If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article nominations, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). 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 your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13 (talk), Sturmvogel 66 (talk), Vanamonde (talk), Cwmhiraeth (talk) MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:33, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
The Signpost: 2 August 2020
- Special report: Wikipedia and the End of Open Collaboration?
Comparing Wikipedia to similar projects.
- COI and paid editing: Some strange people edit Wikipedia for money
And thanks for the photo, Ghislaine!
- News and notes: Abstract Wikipedia, a hoax, sex symbols, and a new admin
Plus lots of affiliations!
- In the media: Dog days gone bad
Pandemic, politics, and possibly paid editing.
- Discussion report: Fox News, a flight of RfAs, and banning policy
Plus a proposed massive invasion of privacy!
- Featured content: Remembering Art, Valor, and Freedom
soldiers, sports, and actors feature heavily this month.
- Traffic report: Now for something completely different
Death and Alexander Hamilton.
- Gallery: Photos of threatened species from iNaturalist
Sometimes you just have to ask.
- News from the WMF: New Chinese national security law in Hong Kong could limit the privacy of Wikipedia users
Privacy is critical to sustaining freedom of expression and association, enabling knowledge and ideas to thrive.
- Recent research: Receiving thanks increases retention, but not the time contributed to Wikipedia
And other new research publications
- Essay: Not compatible with a collaborative project
Some editors aren't.
- Obituaries: Hasteur and Brian McNeil
Rest in peace.
- In focus: WikiLoop DoubleCheck, reviewing edits made easy
Making Wikipedia the encyclopedia that anyone can review.
The Signpost: 30 August 2020
- News and notes: The high road and the low road
Will the Scots language Wikipedia survive?
- In the media: Storytelling large and small
COVID, Fox, Kamala, Scots, cryptocurrency, and more.
- Featured content: Going for the goal
Sports, music, military and more
- Special report: Wikipedia's not so little sister is finding its own way
Wikidata's profound impact on Wikipedia
- Op-Ed: The longest-running hoax
Watch out for those Mustelodons!
- Traffic report: Heart, soul, umbrellas, and politics
More politics than usual.
- News from the WMF: Fourteen things we’ve learned by moving Polish Wikimedia conference online
Celebrating of our community in a different format.
- Recent research: Detecting spam, and pages to protect; non-anonymous editors signal their intelligence with high-quality articles
And other new research results
- Arbitration report: A slow couple of months
Everybody deserves a vacation!
- From the archives: Wikipedia for promotional purposes?
A question from 2005 that we still haven't answered.
- Obituaries: Marcus Sherman, Jerome West, and Pauline van Till
Rest in Peace.
WikiCup 2020 September newsletter
The fourth round of the competition has finished, with 865 points being required to qualify for the final round, nearly twice as many points as last year. It was a hotly competitive round with two contestants with 598 and 605 points being eliminated, and all but two of the contestants who reached the final round having achieved an FA during the round. The highest scorers were
Bloom6132, with 1478 points gained mainly from 5 featured lists, 12 DYKs and 63 in the news items;
HaEr48 with 1318 points gained mainly from 2 featured articles, 5 good articles and 8 DYKs;
Lee Vilenski with 1201 points mainly gained from 2 featured articles and 10 good articles.
Between them, contestants achieved 14 featured articles, 14 featured lists, 2 featured pictures, 87 good articles, 90 DYK entries, 75 ITN entries, 95 featured article candidate reviews and 81 good article reviews. Congratulations to all who participated! It was a generally high-scoring and productive round and I think we can expect a highly competitive finish to the competition.
Remember that any content promoted after the end of round 4 but before the start of round 5 can be claimed in round 5. Remember too that you must claim your points within 10 days of "earning" them. If you are concerned that your nomination will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews. It would be helpful if this list could be cleared of any items no longer relevant. If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to keep down the review backlogs! Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13 (talk), Sturmvogel 66 (talk), Vanamonde (talk), Cwmhiraeth (talk) MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:52, 1 September 2020 (UTC)
Guild of Copy Editors September 2020 Newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors September 2020 Newsletter
Hello and welcome to the September GOCE newsletter, a brief update of Guild activities since June 2020. Current and upcoming events
September Drive: Our current backlog-elimination drive is open until 23:59 on 30 September (UTC) and is open to all copy editors. Sign up today! Election reminder: our end-of-year Election of Coordinators opens for nominations on 1 December. Coordinators normally serve a six-month term and are elected on an approval basis. Self-nominations are welcome. If you've thought of helping out at the Guild, or know of another editor who would make a good coordinator, please consider standing for election or nominating them here. Drive and Blitz reports
June Blitz: An uncorrected typo (even copy editors make copy editing mistakes!) led to an eight-day "leap blitz" from 14 to 21 June, focusing on requests and articles tagged in May. 19 participating editors claimed 54 copy edits. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here. July Drive: Over 750,000 words of articles were copy edited for this event, keeping pace with the previous three self-isolated drives. Of the 38 people who signed up, 30 copyedited at least one article. Final results and awards are listed here. August Blitz: From 16 to 22 August, we copy edited articles tagged in June and July 2020 and requests. 12 participating editors completed 37 copy edits on the blitz. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here. Other news
June election: Jonesey95 was chosen to continue as lead coordinator, assisted by Baffle gab1978, Tdslk, Twofingered Typist, and first-time coordinator Puddleglum2.0. Reidgreg took a break after serving for a couple years. Thanks to everyone who participated! Progress report: As of 01:33, 18 September 2020 (UTC), GOCE copyeditors had processed 532 requests since 1 January and there were 38 requests awaiting completion on the Requests page. The backlog of articles tagged for copy-editing stood at 433 (see monthly progress graph above). Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators Jonesey95, Baffle gab1978, Puddleglum2.0, Tdslk and Twofingered Typist. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:02, 19 September 2020 (UTC)
Join the Months of African Cinema Global Contest!

Greetings!
The AfroCine Project invites you to join us again this October and November, the two months which are dedicated to improving content about the cinema of Africa, the Caribbean, and the diaspora.
Join us in this exciting venture, by helping to create or expand contents in Wikimedia projects which are connected to this scope. Kindly list your username under the participants section to indicate your interest in participating in this contest.
We would be awarding prizes to different categories of winners:
- Overall winner
- 1st - $500
- 2nd - $200
- 3rd - $100
- Diversity winner - $100
- Gender-gap fillers - $100
- Language Winners - up to $100*
We would be adding additional categories as the contest progresses, along with local prizes from affiliates in your countries. For further information about the contest, the prizes and how to participate, please visit the contest page here. For further inquiries, please leave comments on the contest talkpage or on the main project talkpage. Looking forward to your participation.--Jamie Tubers (talk) 19:22, 22nd September 2020 (UTC)
Ýou can opt-out of this annual reminder from The Afrocine Project by removing your username from this list
The Signpost: 27 September 2020
- Special report: Paid editing with political connections
WE charity and Justin Trudeau, Bell Pottinger, Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs.
- News and notes: More large-scale errors at a "small" wiki
With inline parenthetical citations!
- In the media: WIPO, Seigenthaler incident 15 years later
A celebrity quiz, Scots, and a Crypto-hating Wikipedia editor
- Featured content: Life finds a Way
Animals, sports, military, and science feature heavily in this month's best content.
- Arbitration report: Clarifications and requests
Who is that guy JzG?
- Traffic report: Is there no justice?
Perhaps on the tennis court.
- Recent research: Wikipedia's flood biases
And other new research publications.
The Signpost: 27 September 2020
- Special report: Paid editing with political connections
WE charity and Justin Trudeau, Bell Pottinger, Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs.
- News and notes: More large-scale errors at a "small" wiki
With inline parenthetical citations!
- In the media: WIPO, Seigenthaler incident 15 years later
A celebrity quiz, Scots, and a Crypto-hating Wikipedia editor
- Featured content: Life finds a Way
Animals, sports, military, and science feature heavily in this month's best content.
- Arbitration report: Clarifications and requests
Who is that guy JzG?
- Traffic report: Is there no justice?
Perhaps on the tennis court.
- Recent research: Wikipedia's flood biases
And other new research publications.
The Signpost: 1 November 2020
- News and notes: Ban on IPs on ptwiki, paid editing for Tatarstan, IP masking
Branding pause, birthday.
- In the media: Murder, politics, religion, health and books
A possible conspiracy and 2 infodemics!
- Book review: Review of Wikipedia @ 20
We made it this far, but where do we go from here?
- Op-Ed: Anti-vandalism with masked IPs: the steps forward
Getting input from editors.
- Discussion report: Proposal to change board composition, In The News dumps Trump story
Will editors be affected?
- Featured content: The "Green Terror" is neither green nor sufficiently terrifying. Worst Hallowe'en ever.
A hairy starfish flower might help!
- Traffic report: Jump back, what's that sound?
Here comes the judge.
- Interview: Joseph Reagle and Jackie Koerner
The co-editors of Wikipedia @ 20.
- News from the WMF: Meet the 2020 Wikimedian of the Year
Sandister Tei.
- Recent research: OpenSym 2020: Deletions and gender, masses vs. elites, edit filters
Ortega's hypothesis was right! (If you start with the right definitions and assumptions.)
- In focus: The many (reported) deaths of Wikipedia
The grove continues to grow – despite periods of dismal predictions.
WikiCup 2020 November newsletter
The 2020 WikiCup has come to an end, with the final round going down to the wire. Our new Champion is
Lee Vilenski (submissions), the runner-up last year, who was closely followed by
Gog the Mild (submissions). In the final round, Lee achieved 4 FAs and 30 GAs, mostly on cue sport topics, while Gog achieved 3 FAs and 15 GAs, mostly on important battles and wars, which earned him a high number of bonus points.
The Rambling Man (submissions) was in third place with 4 FAs and 8 GAs on football topics, with
Epicgenius (submissions) close behind with 19 GAs and 16 DYK's, his interest being the buildings of New York.
The other finalists were
Hog Farm (submissions),
HaEr48 (submissions),
Harrias (submissions) and
Bloom6132 (submissions). The final round was very productive, and besides 15 FAs, contestants achieved 75 FAC reviews, 88 GAs and 108 GAN reviews. Altogether, Wikipedia has benefited greatly from the activities of WikiCup competitors all through the contest. Well done everyone!
All those who reached the final will receive awards and the following special awards will be made, based on high performance in particular areas of content creation. So that the finalists do not have an undue advantage, these prizes are awarded to the competitor who scored the highest in any particular field in a single round, or in the event of a tie, to the overall leader in this field.
-
Gog the Mild (submissions) wins the featured article prize, for a total of 14 FAs during the course of the competition. -
Bloom6132 (submissions) win the featured list prize, for 5 FLs in round 4. -
Rhododendrites (submissions) wins the featured picture prize, for 3 FPs in round 3 and 5 overall. -
Lee Vilenski (submissions) wins the featured article reviewer prize, for 23 FAC reviews in round 5. -
Epicgenius (submissions) wins the good article prize, for 45 GAs in round 2 and 113 overall. -
MPJ-DK (submissions) wins the topic prize, for 33 articles in good topics in round 2. -
The Rambling Man (submissions) wins the good article reviewer prize, for 100 good article reviews in round 2. -
Epicgenius (submissions) wins the DYK prize, for 22 Did you know articles in round 4 and 94 overall. -
Bloom6132 (submissions) wins the ITN prize, for 63 In the news articles in round 4 and 136 overall.
Next year's competition will begin on 1 January. You are invited to sign up to participate; the WikiCup is open to all Wikipedians, both novices and experienced editors, and we hope to see you all in the 2021 competition. Until then, it only remains to once again congratulate our worthy winners, and thank all participants for their involvement! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13, Sturmvogel 66, Vanamonde and Cwmhiraeth MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:37, 3 November 2020 (UTC)
The Months of African Cinema Contest Continues in November!

Greetings,
Thank you very much for participating in the Months of African Cinema global contest/edit-a-thon, and thank you for your contributions so far.
It is already the middle of the contest and a lot have been achieved already! We have been able to get over 1,500 articles created in over fifteen (15) languages! This would not have been possible without your support and we want to thank you. If you have not yet listed your name as a participant in the contest page please do so.
Please make sure to list the articles you have created or improved in the article achievements' section of the contest page, so that they can be easily tracked. To be able to claim prizes, please also ensure to list your articles on the users by articles page. We would be awarding prizes to different categories of winners:
- Overall winner
- 1st - $500
- 2nd - $200
- 3rd - $100
- Diversity winner - $100
- Gender-gap filler - $100
- Language Winners - up to $100*
We are very excited about what has been achieved so far, but your contributions are still needed to further exceed all expectations! Let’s create more articles before the end of this contest, which is this November!!!
Thank you once again for being part of this global event! --Jamie Tubers (talk) 10:30, 06 November 2020 (UTC)
You can opt-out of this annual reminder from The Afrocine Project by removing your username from this list
ArbCom 2020 Elections voter message
The Signpost: 29 November 2020
- News and notes: Jimmy Wales "shouldn't be kicked out before he's ready"
Arbitration Committee elections begin.
- Op-Ed: Re-righting Wikipedia
Wikipedia deprecates more right-wing sources than left-wing sources ... but is it a problem?
- Opinion: How billionaires re-write Wikipedia
Billionaires are different from you and me.
- In the media: Relying on Wikipedia: voters, scientists, and a Canadian border guard
And yes, it does!
- Featured content: Frontonia sp. is thankful for delicious cyanobacteria
The Réunion swamphen is a lot less thankful.
- Traffic report: 007 with Borat, the Queen, and an election
Plus Alex Trebek and the Queen's Gambit.
- News from Wiki Education: An assignment that changed a life: Kasey Baker
Wiki Education and changing our encyclopedia.
- GLAM plus: West Coast New Zealand's Wikipedian at Large
Succeeding one step at a time.
- Wikicup report: Lee Vilenski wins the 2020 WikiCup
Gog the Mild and The Rambling Man in second and third!
- Recent research: Wikipedia's Shoah coverage succeeds where libraries fail
And other new research publications.
- Essay: Writing about women
Male is not the default.
December 2020 Guild of Copy Editors Newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors December 2020 Newsletter
Hello and welcome to the December GOCE newsletter, a brief update of Guild activities since September 2020. Current and upcoming events
Election time: our end-of-year Election of Coordinators opened for nominations on 1 December and will close on 15 December at 23:59 (UTC). Voting opens at 00:01 the following day and will continue until 31 December at 23:59, just before Auld Lang Syne. Coordinators normally serve a six-month term and are elected on an approval basis. Self-nominations are welcome. If you've thought of helping out at the Guild, or know of another editor who would make a good coordinator, please consider standing for election or nominating them here. December Blitz: This will run from 13 to 19 December, and will target all Requests. Sign up now. Drive and Blitz reports
September Drive: 67 fewer articles had copy-edit templates by this month's close. Of the 27 editors who signed up, 15 copy-edited at least one article, and 124 articles were claimed for the drive. October Blitz: this ran from 18 to 24 October, and focused on articles tagged for copy-edit in July and August 2020, and all Requests. Of the 13 who signed up, 11 editors copy-edited at least one article. 21 articles were claimed for the blitz. November Drive: Of the 18 editors who signed up, 15 copy-edited at least one article, and together claimed 134 articles. At the close of the drive, 67 fewer articles were in the backlog and we had dealt with 39 requests. Other news
Progress report: As of 09:05, 3 December 2020 (UTC), GOCE copyeditors had processed 663 requests (18 from 2019) since 1 January and there were 52 requests awaiting completion on the Requests page. The backlog of articles tagged for copy-editing stood at 494 (see monthly progress graph above). Annual Report for 2020: this roundup of the year's activity at the Guild is planned for publication in late January or early February. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Seasonal tidings and cheers from your GOCE coordinators: Jonesey95, Baffle gab1978, Puddleglum2.0, Tdslk and Twofingered Typist. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:46, 8 December 2020 (UTC)
Speedy deletion nomination of Calista Redmond

If this is the first article that you have created, you may want to read the guide to writing your first article.
You may want to consider using the Article Wizard to help you create articles.
A tag has been placed on Calista Redmond requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section A7 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the article appears to be about a real person or group of people that does not credibly indicate how or why the subject is important or significant: that is, why an article about that subject should be included in an encyclopedia. Under the criteria for speedy deletion, such articles may be deleted at any time. Please read more about what is generally accepted as notable.
If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. If the page is deleted, and you wish to retrieve the deleted material for future reference or improvement, then please contact the deleting administrator. Alexandermcnabb (talk) 04:41, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
The Signpost: 28 December 2020
- News and notes: Year-end legal surprises cause concern, but Public Domain Day is imminent
New laws in the US and Europe might enable trolls; sad admin milestone for English Wikipedia, or not?
- In the media: Concealment, data journalism, a non-pig farmer, and some Bluetick Hounds
As 2020 draws to a close, this website has been splattered all over the headlines.
- Arbitration report: 2020 election results
Congratulations to the new Arbs!
- Opinion: How to make your factory's safety and labor issues disappear
Edit wars fought on the back of workers.
- Featured content: Very nearly ringing in the New Year with "Blank Space" – but we got there in time.
Texas amphibia, mongeese, and Normandy invasion plans grateful.
- Traffic report: 2020 wraps up
Punks and heroes, losers and winners, the bereaved and the deceased – they're all here.
- News from the WMF: What Wikipedia saw during election week in the U.S., and what we’re doing next
No evidence of large-scale state-sponsored disinformation.
- Recent research: Predicting the next move in Wikipedia discussions
Six million talk page threads analyzed, and other research.
- Essay: Subjective importance
Is not important to notability.
- Op-Ed: An unforgettable year we might wish to forget
The year that was 2020.
- Gallery: Angels in the architecture
Spinning in infinity.
- Humour: 'Twas the Night Before Wikimas
And to all a good night!
Welcome to the 2021 WikiCup!
Happy New Year and Happy New WikiCup! The competition begins today and all article creators, expanders, improvers and reviewers are welcome to take part. If you have already signed up, your submissions page can be found here. If you have not yet signed up, you can add your name here and the judges will set up your submissions page. Any questions on the rules or on anything else should be directed to one of the judges, or posted to the WikiCup talk page. Signups will close at the end of January, and the first round will end on 26 February; the 64 highest scorers at that time will move on to round 2. We thank Vanamonde93 and Godot13, who have retired as judges, and we thank them for their past dedication. The judges for the WikiCup this year are Sturmvogel 66 (talk · contribs · email) and Cwmhiraeth (talk · contribs · email). Good luck! MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:11, 1 January 2021 (UTC)
Precious anniversary
| Four years! |
|---|
--Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:28, 2 January 2021 (UTC)
The Signpost: 31 January 2021
- News and notes: 1,000,000,000 edits, board elections, virtual Wikimania 2021
Who else but Ser Amantio di Nicolao?
- Special report: Wiki reporting on the United States insurrection
From the Hill to the news to Wikipedia in minutes!
- In focus: From Anarchy to Wikiality, Glaring Bias to Good Cop: Press Coverage of Wikipedia's First Two Decades
A new "wiki journalism" is needed.
- Opinion: Wikipedia's war against scientific disinformation
Are we getting lead by the nose?
- In the media: The world's press says "Happy Birthday!" with a few twists
Even the world's richest man is happy we exist!
- Technology report: The people who built Wikipedia, technically
Starting with trust, expanding, controversy, and opportunities.
- Videos and podcasts: Celebrating 20 years
Multimedia in many styles!
- News from the WMF: Wikipedia celebrates 20 years of free, trusted information for the world
Happy birthday!
- Recent research: Students still have a better opinion of Wikipedia than teachers
And other new research results
- Humour: Dr. Seuss's Guide to Wikipedia
With a special appearance by Senator Ted Cruz!
- Featured content: New Year, same Featured Content report!
...Well, except we did change the articles and pictures out. ...Mostly.
- Traffic report: The most viewed articles of 2020
The end of the world as we know it?
- Obituary: Flyer22 Frozen
RIP.
The Signpost: 28 February 2021
- News and notes: Maher stepping down
UCC launch.
- Disinformation report: A "billionaire battle" on Wikipedia: Sex, lies, and video
Edits of the rich and famous.
- Opinion: The call for feedback on community seats is a distraction
Free as in Liberty.
- In the media: Corporate influence at OSM, Fox watching the hen house
Wikidata, Turkey, Valentine's Day and all sorts of bias!
- News from the WMF: Who tells your story on Wikipedia
You can!
- Recent research: Take an AI-generated flashcard quiz about Wikipedia; Wikipedia's anti-feudalism
And other new research publications
- Featured content: A Love of Knowledge, for Valentine's Day
Stealing your heart, and Charles Darwin's notebooks.
- Traffic report: Does it almost feel like you've been here before?
Watching the Super Bowl at the Cecil?
- Gallery: What is Black history and culture?
In paintings, photos, and recordings.
WikiCup 2021 March newsletter
Round 1 of the competition has finished; it was a high-scoring round with 21 contestants scoring more than 100 points. Everyone with a positive score moves on to Round 2, with 55 contestants qualifying. You will need to finish among the top thirty-two contestants in Round 2 if you are to qualify for Round 3. Our top scorers in Round 1 were:
Epicgenius led the field with a featured article, nine good articles and an assortment of other submissions, specialising on buildings and locations in New York, for a total of 945 points.
Bloom6132 was close behind with 896 points, largely gained from 71 "In the news" items, mostly recent deaths.
ImaginesTigers, who has been editing Wikipedia for less than a year, was in third place with 711 points, much helped by bringing League of Legends to featured article status, exemplifying how bonus points can boost a contestant's score.
Amakuru came next with 708 points, Kigali being another featured article that scored maximum bonus points.
Ktin, new to the WikiCup, was in fifth place with 523 points, garnered from 15 DYKs and 34 "In the news" items.
The Rambling Man scored 511 points, many from featured article candidate reviews and from football related DYKs.
Gog the Mild, last year's runner-up, came next with 498 points, from a featured article and numerous featured article candidate reviews.
Hog Farm, at 452, scored for a featured article, four good articles and a number of reviews.
Le Panini, another newcomer to the WikiCup, scored 438 for a featured article and three good articles.
Lee Vilenski, last year's champion, scored 332 points, from a featured article and various other sport-related topics.
These contestants, like all the others, now have to start again from scratch. In Round 1, contestants achieved eight featured articles, three featured lists and one featured picture, as well as around two hundred DYKs and twenty-seven ITNs. They completed 97 good article reviews, nearly double the 52 good articles they claimed. Contestants also claimed for 135 featured article and featured list candidate reviews. There is no longer a requirement to mention your WikiCup participation when undertaking these reviews.
Remember that any content promoted after the end of Round 1 but before the start of Round 2 can be claimed in Round 2. Invitations for collaborative writing efforts or any other discussion of potentially interesting work is always welcome on the WikiCup talk page. Remember, if two or more WikiCup competitors have done significant work on an article, all can claim points. If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is a good article candidate, a featured process, or something else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews.
If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to keep down the review backlogs! 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. Sturmvogel 66 (talk) and Cwmhiraeth (talk). MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:26, 1 March 2021 (UTC)
The Signpost: 28 March 2021
- News and notes: A future with a for-profit subsidiary?
Or becoming more business-like?
- Gallery: Wiki Loves Monuments
2020 international winners
- In the media: Wikimedia LLC and disinformation in Japan
Plus CPAC misinformation
- News from the WMF: Project Rewrite: Tell the missing stories of women on Wikipedia and beyond
Telling women’s stories is a radical act.
- Recent research: 10%-30% of Wikipedia’s contributors have subject-matter expertise
And other recent research results
- From the archives: Google isn't responsible for Wikipedia's mistakes
Huge profits sustained by unpaid labor.
- Essay: Wikipedia:The Free Encyclopedia
As in "free software" and "free culture".
- Obituary: Yoninah
Barukh dayan ha-emet ("Blessed is the true judge.")
- From the editor: What else can we say?
What can we link to?
- Arbitration report: Open letter to the Board of Trustees
Let's do the UCoC right!
- Traffic report: Wanda, Meghan, Liz, Phil and Zack
Another royal bash!
The Signpost: 25 April 2021
- From the editor: A change is gonna come
But not soon enough.
- Disinformation report: Paid editing by a former head of state's business enterprise
The Trump Organization's paid editors
- In the media: Fernando, governance, and rugby
Jimmy does OK too!
- Opinion: The (Universal) Code of Conduct
Explicit behavioral expectations are better than unwritten social norms
- Op-Ed: A Little Fun Goes A Long Way
Why do we work so hard to avoid having a sense of humor?
- Changing the world: The reach of protest images on Wikipedia
Wikipedia's retweet and share buttons
- Recent research: Quality of aquatic and anatomical articles
And other research publications
- Traffic report: The verdict is guilty, guilty, guilty
Plus Godzilla and Kong
- News from Wiki Education: Encouraging professional physicists to engage in outreach on Wikipedia
Even a Nobel laureate can learn more!
The Signpost: 25 April 2021
- From the editor: A change is gonna come
But not soon enough.
- Disinformation report: Paid editing by a former head of state's business enterprise
The Trump Organization's paid editors
- In the media: Fernando, governance, and rugby
Jimmy does OK too!
- Opinion: The (Universal) Code of Conduct
Explicit behavioral expectations are better than unwritten social norms
- Op-Ed: A Little Fun Goes A Long Way
Why do we work so hard to avoid having a sense of humor?
- Changing the world: The reach of protest images on Wikipedia
Wikipedia's retweet and share buttons
- Recent research: Quality of aquatic and anatomical articles
And other research publications
- Traffic report: The verdict is guilty, guilty, guilty
Plus Godzilla and Kong
- News from Wiki Education: Encouraging professional physicists to engage in outreach on Wikipedia
Even a Nobel laureate can learn more!
WikiCup 2021 May newsletter
The second round of the 2021 WikiCup has now finished; it was a high-scoring round and contestants needed 61 points to advance to Round 3. There were some impressive efforts in the round, with the top eight contestants all scoring more than 400 points. A large number of the points came from the 12 featured articles and the 110 good articles achieved in total by contestants, as well as the 216 good article reviews they performed; the GAN backlog drive and the stay-at-home imperative during the COVID-19 pandemic may have been partially responsible for these impressive figures.
Our top scorers in Round 2 were:
The Rambling Man, with 2963 points from three featured articles, 20 featured article reviews, 37 good articles, 73 good article reviews, as well as 22 DYKs.
Epicgenius, with 1718 points from one featured article, 29 good articles, 16 DYKs and plenty of bonus points.
Bloom6132, with 990 points from 13 DYKs and 64 "In the news" items, mostly recent deaths.
Hog Farm, with 834 points from two featured articles, five good articles, 14 featured article reviews and 15 good article reviews.
Gog the Mild, with 524 points from two featured articles and four featured article reviews.
Lee Vilenski, with 501 points from one featured article, three good articles, six featured article reviews and 25 good article reviews.
Sammi Brie, with 485 points from four good articles, eight good article reviews and 27 DYKs, on US radio and television stations.
Ktin, with 436 points from four good articles, seven DYKs and 11 "In the news" items.
Please remember that DYKs cannot be claimed until they have appeared on the main page. As we enter the third round, any content promoted after the end of Round 2 but before the start of Round 3 can be claimed now, and anything you forgot to claim in Round 2 cannot! Remember too, that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them (except for at the end of each round, when you must claim them before the cut-off date/time). When doing GARs, please make sure that you check that all the GA criteria are fully met.
If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article nominations, a featured process, or anything else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Judges: Sturmvogel 66 (talk) and Cwmhiraeth MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 10:27, 2 May 2021 (UTC)
GOCE June 2021 newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors June 2021 Newsletter
Hello and welcome to the June newsletter, our first newsletter of 2021, which is a brief update of Guild activities since December 2020. To unsubscribe, follow the link at the bottom of this box. Current events
Election time: Voting in our mid-year Election of Coordinators opened on 16 June and will conclude at the end of the month. GOCE coordinators normally serve a six-month term and are elected on an approval basis. Have your say and show support here. June Blitz: Our June copy-editing blitz is underway and will conclude on 26 June. Drive and blitz reports
January Drive: 28 editors completed 324 copy edits totalling 714,902 words. At the end of the drive, the backlog had reached a record low of 52 articles. (full results) February Blitz: 15 editors completed 48 copy edits totalling 142,788 words. (full results) March Drive: 29 editors completed 215 copy edits totalling 407,736 words. (full results) April Blitz: 12 editors completed 23 copy edits totalling 56,574 words. (full results) May Drive: 29 editors completed 356 copy edits totalling 479,013 words. (full results) Other news
Progress report: as of 26 June, GOCE participants had completed 343 Requests since 1 January. The backlog has fluctuated but remained in control, with a low of 52 tagged articles at the end of January and a high of 620 articles in mid-June. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators Jonesey95, Dhtwiki, Miniapolis, Tenryuu and Twofingered Typist, and from member Reidgreg. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
|
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) on behalf of Wikipedia:WikiProject Guild of Copy Editors at 12:37, 26 June 2021 (UTC).
The Signpost: 27 June 2021
- News and notes: Elections, Wikimania, masking and more
Submit your candidacy today!
- In the media: Boris and Joe, reliability, love, and money
Will he hang it in the Oval Office?
- Disinformation report: Croatian Wikipedia: capture and release
Curious and curiouser!
- Recent research: Feminist critique of Wikipedia's epistemology, Black Americans vastly underrepresented among editors, Wiki Workshop report
Summaries of 26 new research publications
- Traffic report: So no one told you life was gonna be this way
We'll be there for you!
- News from the WMF: Searching for Wikipedia
How do our readers find us?
- Humour: Wikipedia's best articles on the world's strangest things
It's the wheel thing.
- WikiProject report: WikiProject on open proxies interview
Interview with volunteers at WikiProject on open proxies
- Forum: Is WMF fundraising abusive?
A calm discussion.
- Discussion report: Reliability of WikiLeaks discussed
WikiLeaks on multiple boards.
- Obituary: SarahSV
Requiescat in pace.
GAN Backlog Drive - July 2021
| Good article nominations | July 2021 Backlog Drive | |
July 2021 Backlog Drive:
| |
| Other ways to participate: | |
| You're receiving this message because you have conducted 10+ good article reviews or participated in the March backlog drive.
Click here to opt out of any future messages. | |
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:31, 29 June 2021 (UTC)
WikiCup 2021 July newsletter
The third round of the 2021 WikiCup has now come to an end. Each of the sixteen contestants who made it into the fourth round had at least 294 points, and our top six scorers all had over 600 points. They were:
The Rambling Man, with 1825 points from 3 featured articles, 44 featured article reviews, 14 good articles, 30 good article reviews and 10 DYKs. In addition, he completed a 34-article good topic on the EFL Championship play-offs.
Epicgenius, a New York specialist, with 1083 points from 2 featured article reviews, 18 good articles, 30 DYKs and plenty of bonus points.
Bloom6132, with 869 points from 11 DYKs, all with bonus points, and 54 "In the news" items, mostly covering people who had recently died.
Gog the Mild, with 817 points from 3 featured articles on historic battles in Europe, 5 featured article reviews and 3 good articles.
Hog Farm, with 659 points from 2 featured articles and 2 good articles on American Civil War battles, 18 featured article reviews, 2 good articles, 6 good article reviews and 4 DYKs.
BennyOnTheLoose, a snooker specialist and new to the Cup, with 647 points from a featured article, 2 featured article reviews, 6 good articles, 6 good article reviews and 3 DYKs.
In round three, contestants achieved 19 featured articles, 7 featured lists, 106 featured article reviews, 72 good articles, 1 good topic, 62 good article reviews, 165 DYKs and 96 ITN items. We enter the fourth round with scores reset to zero; any content promoted after the end of round 3 but before the start of round 4 can be claimed in round 4. Please also remember that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them (one contestant in round 3 lost out because of this). When doing GARs, please make sure that you check that all the GA criteria are fully met.
If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article nominations, a featured process, or anything else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Judges: Sturmvogel 66 (talk) and Cwmhiraeth Cwmhiraeth (talk) MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 09:29, 2 July 2021 (UTC)
The Signpost: 25 July 2021
- News and notes: Wikimania and a million other news stories
And one new admin!
- Special report: Hardball in Hong Kong
Three strikes and you're out?
- In the media: Larry is at it again
Bias, propaganda and more murderous mistakes!
- Board of Trustees candidates: See the candidates
Watch the video!
- Recent research: Gender bias and statistical fallacies, disinformation and mutual intelligibility
And other recent research publications
- Traffic report: Football, tennis and marveling at Loki
But you can call it soccer if you'd like.
- News from the WMF: Uncapping our growth potential – interview with James Baldwin, Finance and Administration Department
Money, money, money.
- Humour: A little verse
Two poems of Wikipedia.
The Signpost: 29 August 2021
- News and notes: Enough time left to vote! IP ban
Just do it!
- In the media: Vive la différence!
May Father Will forgive us!
- Wikimedians of the year: Seven Wikimedians of the year
With two musical celebrations!
- Gallery: Our community in 20 graphs
We just look at the pictures!
- News from Wiki Education: Changing the face of Wikipedia
Moving forward.
- Recent research: IP editors, inclusiveness and empathy, cyclones, and world heritage
A monthly overview of new research results.
- WikiProject report: WikiProject Days of the Year Interview
You can start with your birthday article!
- Traffic report: Olympics, movies, and Afghanistan
Winners and losers.
- Community view: Making Olympic history on Wikipedia
Higher, faster, stronger and more informative!
WikiCup 2021 September newsletter
The fourth round of the competition has finished with over 500 points being required to qualify for the final round. It was a hotly competitive round with two contestants,
The Rambling Man and
Epicgenius, each scoring over 3000 points, and six contestants scoring over 1000. All but one of the finalists achieved one or more FAs during the round, the exception being
Bloom6132 who demonstrated that 61 "in the news" items produces an impressive number of points. Other contestants who made it to the final are
Gog the Mild,
Lee Vilenski,
BennyOnTheLoose,
Amakuru and
Hog Farm. However, all their points are now swept away and everyone starts afresh in the final round.
Round 4 saw the achievement of 18 featured articles and 157 good articles.
Bilorv scored for a 25-article good topic on Black Mirror but narrowly missed out on qualifying for the final round. There was enthusiasm for FARs, with 89 being performed, and there were 63 GARs and around 100 DYKs during the round. As we start round 5, we say goodbye to the eight competitors who didn't quite make it to the final round; thank you for the useful contributions you have made to the Cup and Wikipedia, and we hope you will join us again next year. For other contestants, remember that any content promoted after the end of round 4 but before the start of round 5 can be claimed in round 5. Remember too that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them.
If you are concerned that your nomination, whether it be for a good article, a featured process, or anything else, will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to help keep down the review backlogs! Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Sturmvogel 66 and Cwmhiraeth. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:01, 2 September 2021 (UTC)
The Signpost: 26 September 2021
- News and notes: New CEO, new board members, China bans
And one new admin!
- In the media: The future of Wikipedia
And a bit about the past.
- Opinion: Wikimedians of Mainland China were warned
But just disregarded the warnings.
- Op-Ed: I've been desysopped
But not banned!
- Disinformation report: Paid promotional paragraphs in German parliamentary pages
Did German Wikipedia love parliaments a little too much? Plus fake-bacon and a ponzi scheme.
- Discussion report: Editors discuss Wikipedia's vetting process for administrators
Emotional injury and rising standards against a backdrop of a dwindling sysop cadre: the 2021 Requests for adminship review grapples with tough issues.
- Recent research: Wikipedia images for machine learning; Experiment justifies Wikipedia's high search rankings
And other new research publications
- Community view: Is writing Wikipedia like making a quilt?
Help us piece together WikiProject Craft!
- Traffic report: Kanye, Emma Raducanu and 9/11
Or is it Donda, Leylah Fernandez, and Flight 93?
- News from Diff: Welcome to the first grantees of the Knowledge Equity Fund
$4.5 million for equity.
- WikiProject report: The Random and the Beautiful
An interview with members of the Random Page Patrol.
September 2021 Guild of Copy Editors newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors September 2021 Newsletter
Hello and welcome to the September GOCE newsletter, a brief update of Guild activities since June 2021. Current and upcoming events
September Drive: Our current backlog-elimination drive is open until 23:59 on 30 September (UTC) and is open to all copy editors. Sign up today! Drive and Blitz reports
June Blitz: From 20 to 26 June, 6 participating editors claimed 16 copy edits, focusing on requests and articles tagged in March and April. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here. July Drive: Almost 575,000 words of articles were copy edited for this event. Of the 24 people who signed up, 18 copyedited at least one article. Final results and awards are listed here. August Blitz: From 15 to 21 August, we copy edited articles tagged in April and May 2021 and requests. 9 participating editors completed 17 copy edits on the blitz. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here. Other news
June election: Jonesey95 was chosen to continue as lead coordinator, assisted by Dhtwiki, Tenryuu, and Miniapolis. New maintenance template added to our project scope: After a short discussion in June, we added {{cleanup tense}} to the list of maintenance templates that adds articles to the Guild's copy editing backlog categories. This change added 198 articles, spread over 97 months of backlog, to our queue. We processed all of those articles except for those from the three or four most recent months during the July backlog elimination drive (Here's a link to a "tense" discussion during the drive). Progress report: As of 18:26, 24 September 2021 (UTC), GOCE copyeditors have processed 468 requests since 1 January and there were 60 requests awaiting completion on the Requests page. The backlog of articles tagged for copy-editing stood at 433 (see monthly progress graph above). Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators Jonesey95, Dhtwiki, Tenryuu, and Miniapolis. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
|
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:44, 30 September 2021 (UTC)
Welcome to the Months of African Cinema Global Contest!

Greetings!
The AfroCine Project core team is happy to inform you that the Months of African Cinema Contest is happening again this year in October and November. We invite Wikipedians all over the world to join in improving content related to African cinema on Wikipedia!
Please list your username under the participants’ section of the contest page to indicate your interest in participating in this contest. The term "African" in the context of this contest, includes people of African descent from all over the world, which includes the diaspora and the Caribbean.
The following prizes would be recognized at the end of the contest:
- Overall winner
- 1st - $500
- 2nd - $200
- 3rd - $100
- Diversity winner - $100
- Gender-gap fillers - $100
- Language Winners - up to $100*
Also look out for local prizes from affiliates in your countries or communities! For further information about the contest, the prizes and how to participate, please visit the contest page here. For further inquiries, please leave comments on the contest talkpage or on the main project talkpage. We look forward to your participation.--Jamie Tubers (talk) 23:20, 30th September 2021 (UTC)
Ýou can opt-out of this annual reminder from The Afrocine Project by removing your username from this list
The Signpost: 31 October 2021
- From the editor: Different stories, same place
What Wikipedians can and cannot do.
- News and notes: The sockpuppet who ran for adminship and almost succeeded
And will the last person to leave the C-Suite please turn off the lights?
- In the media: China bans, and is there intelligent life on this planet?
Beam me up, Scotty – Matt Amodio for sure, and maybe just a few VIPs, billionaires, and Tucker Carlson.
- Opinion: A photo on Wikipedia can ruin your life
Section 230 in practice – this Black life should matter to us.
- Discussion report: Editors brainstorm and propose changes to the Requests for adminship process
Proposals to solve eight core problems – what many describe as a broken process – identified in the 2021 RfA review.
- Recent research: Welcome messages fail to improve newbie retention
And other new research results
- Community view: Reflections on the Chinese Wikipedia
Were the bans justified?
- Traffic report: James Bond and the Giant Squid Game
Plus German elections and movies galore.
- Technology report: Wikimedia Toolhub, winners of the Coolest Tool Award, and more
Now discovering and accessing Wikimedia tools will be easier.
- Serendipity: How Wikipedia helped create a Serbian stamp
Details can make all the difference!
- Book review: Wikipedia and the Representation of Reality
Or you could watch the video!
- WikiProject report: Redirection
An interview with participants at WikiProject Redirect.
- Humour: A very Wiki crossword
24 clues to chew on.
WikiCup 2021 November newsletter
The WikiCup is over for another year and the finalists can relax! Our Champion this year is
The Rambling Man (submissions), who amassed over 5000 points in the final round, achieving 8 featured articles and almost 500 reviews. It was a very competitive round; seven of the finalists achieved over 1000 points in the round (enough to win the 2019 contest), and three scored over 3000 (enough to win the 2020 event). Our 2021 finalists and their scores were:
-
The Rambling Man (submissions) with 5072 points -
Lee Vilenski (submissions) with 3276 points -
Amakuru (submissions) with 3197 points -
Epicgenius (submissions) with 1611 points -
Gog the Mild (submissions) with 1571 points -
BennyOnTheLoose (submissions) with 1420 points -
Hog Farm (submissions) with 1043 points -
Bloom6132 (submissions) with 528 points
All those who reached the final round will win awards. The following special awards will be made based on high performance in particular areas of content creation and review. Awards will be handed out in the next few days.
-
The Rambling Man (submissions) wins the featured article prize, for 8 FAs in round 5. -
Lee Vilenski (submissions) wins the featured list prize, for 3 FLs in round 5. -
Gog the Mild (submissions) wins the featured topic prize, for 13 articles in a featured topic in round 5. -
Epicgenius (submissions) wins the good article prize, for 63 GAs in round 4. -
The Rambling Man (submissions) wins the good topic prize, for 86 articles in good topics in round 5. -
The Rambling Man (submissions) wins the reviewer prize, for 68 FAC reviews and 213 GAN reviews, both in round 5. -
Epicgenius (submissions) wins the DYK prize, for 30 did you know articles in round 3 and 105 overall. -
Bloom6132 (submissions) wins the ITN prize, for 71 in the news articles in round 1 and 284 overall.
Congratulations to everyone who participated in this year's WikiCup, whether they made it to the final round or not, and particular congratulations to the newcomers to the WikiCup, some of whom did very well. Wikipedia has benefitted greatly from the quality creations, expansions and improvements made, and the numerous reviews performed. Thanks to all who have taken part and helped out with the competition, not forgetting User:Jarry1250, who runs the scoring bot.
If you have views on whether the rules or scoring need adjustment for next year's contest, please comment on the WikiCup talk page. Next year's competition will begin on 1 January. You are invited to sign up to participate; the WikiCup is open to all Wikipedians, both novices and experienced editors, and we hope to see you all in the 2022 competition. Until then, it only remains to once again congratulate our worthy winners, and thank all participants for their involvement! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Sturmvogel 66 and Cwmhiraeth. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:55, 3 November 2021 (UTC)
The Months of African Cinema Contest Continues in November!

Greetings,
It is already past the middle of the contest and we are really excited about the Months of African Contest 2021 achievements so far! We want to extend our sincere gratitude for the time and energy you have invested. If you have not yet participated in the contest, it is not too late to do it. Please list your username as a participant on the contest’s main page.
Please remember to list the articles you have improved or created on the article achievements' section of the contest page so they can be tracked. In order to win prizes, be sure to also list your article in the users by articles. Please note that your articles must be present in both the article achievement section on the main contest page, as well as on the Users By Articles page for you to qualify for a prize.
We would be awarding prizes to different categories of winners:
- Overall winner
- 1st - $500
- 2nd - $200
- 3rd - $100
- Diversity winner - $100
- Gender-gap filler - $100
- Language Winners - up to $100*
Thank you once again for your valued participation! --Jamie Tubers (talk) 18:50, 11 November 2021 (UTC)
You can opt-out of this annual reminder from The Afrocine Project by removing your username from this list
ArbCom 2021 Elections voter message
The Signpost: 29 November 2021
- In the media: Denial: climate change, mass killings and pornography
Will they deny non-fungible tokens next?
- WikiCup report: The WikiCup 2021
15th annual event closes with hundreds of articles improved
- Deletion report: What we lost, what we gained
1,767 nominations in November... AN/Is... DRVs... The largest AfD in history, possibly ever!
- From a Wikipedia reader: What's Matt Amodio?
Wikipedia democratizes knowledge, but is it in Jeopardy?
- Arbitration report: ArbCom in 2021
We should have at least one of these every year!
- Discussion report: On the brink of change – RFA reforms appear imminent
Editors propose modifications to Wikipedia's admin-making process.
- Technology report: What does it take to upload a file?
How MediaWiki works with media files.
- WikiProject report: Interview with contributors to WikiProject Actors and Filmmakers
From the silver screen to your computer screen
- Serendipity: "Did You Know ..." featured a photo of the wrong female WWII pilot
A worthy pilot but the photo didn't match the article!
- News from Diff: Content translation tool helps create one million Wikipedia articles
Sharing the wealth of information!
- Traffic report: Reporting ticket sales on the edge of the Wiki, if Eternals should fail
Conjuring up the jesters again!
- Recent research: Vandalizing Wikipedia as rational behavior
And other recent research publications
- Humour: A very new very Wiki crossword
Answers to last month's puzzle included.
December 2021 GOCE Newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors December 2021 Newsletter
Hello and welcome to the December GOCE newsletter, a brief update of Guild activities since September 2021. Current and upcoming events
Election time: Our end-of-year election of coordinators opened for nominations on 1 December and will close on 15 December at 23:59 (UTC). Voting opens at 00:01 the following day and will continue until 31 December at 23:59, just before "Auld Lang Syne". Coordinators normally serve a six-month term and are elected on an approval basis. Self-nominations are welcome. If you've thought of helping out at the Guild, or know of another editor who would make a good coordinator, please consider standing for election or nominating them here. December Blitz: We have scheduled a week-long copy-editing blitz for 12 to 18 December. Sign up now! Drive and Blitz reports
September Drive: Almost 400,000 words of articles were copy edited for this event. Of the 27 people who signed up, 21 copyedited at least one article. Final results and awards are listed here. October Blitz: From 17 to 23 October, we copy edited articles tagged in May and June 2021 and requests. 8 participating editors completed 26 copy edits on the blitz. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here. November Drive: Over 350,000 words of articles were copy edited for this event. Of the 21 people who signed up, 14 copyedited at least one article. Final results and awards are listed here. Other news
It is with great sadness that we report the death on 19 November of Twofingered Typist, who was active with the Guild almost daily for the past several years. His contributions long exceeded the thresholds for the Guild's highest awards, and he had a hand in innumerable good and featured article promotions as a willing collaborator. Twofingered Typist also served as a Guild coordinator from July 2019 to June 2021. He is sorely missed by the Wikipedia community. Progress report: As of 30 November, GOCE copyeditors have completed 619 requests in 2021 and there were 51 requests awaiting completion on the Requests page. The backlog stood at 946 articles tagged for copy-editing (see monthly progress graph above). Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators Jonesey95, Dhtwiki, Tenryuu, and Miniapolis. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
|
Distributed via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:02, 6 December 2021 (UTC)
Bots Newsletter, December 2021
| Bots Newsletter, December 2021 | ||
|---|---|---|
BRFA activity by month Welcome to the eighth issue of the English Wikipedia's Bots Newsletter, your source for all things bot. Maintainers disappeared to parts unknown... bots awakening from the slumber of æons... hundreds of thousands of short descriptions... these stories, and more, are brought to you by Wikipedia's most distinguished newsletter about bots. Our last issue was in August 2019, so there's quite a bit of catching up to do. Due to the vast quantity of things that have happened, the next few issues will only cover a few months at a time. This month, we'll go from September 2019 through the end of the year. I won't bore you with further introductions — instead, I'll bore you with a newsletter about bots. Overall
September 2019
October 2019
November 2019
December 2019
In the next issue of Bots Newsletter:
These questions will be answered — and new questions raised — by the January 2022 Bots Newsletter. Tune in, or miss out! Signing off... jp×g 04:29, 10 December 2021 (UTC) (You can subscribe or unsubscribe from future newsletters by adding or removing your name from this list.) | ||
The Signpost: 28 December 2021
- From the editor: Here is the news
And wishing our readers a healthy, fortunate and bountiful 2022.
- News and notes: Jimbo's NFT, new arbs, fixing RfA, and financial statements
Wrapping up 2021 with a pair of auctions, activity surrounding administrators, and an audit.
- Serendipity: Born three months before her brother?
Wikipedia and the Oxford Dictionary of Music have different opinions.
- In the media: The past is not even past
Even for Wikipedia critics in nappies!
- Recent research: STEM articles judged unsuitable for undergraduates below the first paragraph
And other new research results.
- Arbitration report: A new crew for '22
Elections certified, bans unlifted, mailing lists restricted, but no new cases.
- By the numbers: Four billion words and a few numbers
Commemorating a milestone: word count comparisons with other Wikipedias.
- Deletion report: We laughed, we cried, we closed as "no consensus"
More hats than a rodeo: the best, worst, and gnarliest AfDs of 2021.
- Gallery: Wikicommons presents: 2021
Some of 2021's most dramatic moments through Wikicommons images.
- Traffic report: Spider-Man, football and the departed
We'll always remember the Greek alphabet!
- Crossword: Another Wiki crossword for one and all
Answers to last month's puzzle included.
- Humour: Buying Wikipedia
Helpful how-to for the prospective buyer. Why settle for a measly single edit, when you can buy the whole thing?
GAN Backlog Drive – January 2022
| Good article nominations | January 2022 Backlog Drive | |
January 2022 Backlog Drive:
| |
| Other ways to participate: | |
| You're receiving this message because you have conducted 10+ good article reviews or participated in the March backlog drive.
Click here and remove your username from the mailing list to opt out of any future messages. | |
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) on behalf of Wikipedia:WikiProject Good articles at 21:18, 31 December 2021 (UTC).
Precious anniversary
| Five years! |
|---|
--Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:09, 2 January 2022 (UTC)
Welcome to the 2022 WikiCup!
Happy New Year and Happy New WikiCup! The 2022 competition has just begun and all article creators, expanders, improvers and reviewers are welcome to take part. Even if you are a novice editor you should be able to advance to at least the second round, improving your editing skills as you go. If you have already signed up, your submissions page can be found here. If you have not yet signed up, you can add your name here and the judges will set up your submissions page. Any questions on the rules or on anything else should be directed to one of the judges, or posted to the WikiCup talk page. Signups will close at the end of January, and the first round will end on 26 February; the 64 highest scorers at that time will move on to round 2. The judges for the WikiCup this year are: Sturmvogel 66 (talk · contribs · email) and Cwmhiraeth (talk · contribs · email). Good luck! MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 14:36, 5 January 2022 (UTC)
Welcome to the 2022 WikiCup!
Happy New Year and Happy New WikiCup! The 2022 competition has just begun and all article creators, expanders, improvers and reviewers are welcome to take part. Even if you are a novice editor you should be able to advance to at least the second round, improving your editing skills as you go. If you have already signed up, your submissions page can be found here. If you have not yet signed up, you can add your name here and the judges will set up your submissions page. Any questions on the rules or on anything else should be directed to one of the judges, or posted to the WikiCup talk page. Signups will close at the end of January, and the first round will end on 26 February; the 64 highest scorers at that time will move on to round 2. The judges for the WikiCup this year are: Sturmvogel 66 (talk · contribs · email) and Cwmhiraeth (talk · contribs · email). Good luck! MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:02, 5 January 2022 (UTC)
The Signpost: 30 January 2022
- Special report: WikiEd course leads to Twitter harassment
Education, deletion and social media can be a volatile mix.
- News and notes: Feedback for Board of Trustees election
Plus, the incredible shrinking admin cadre.
- Interview: CEO Maryana Iskander "four weeks in"
"Impossible ideas can be created, not just imagined."
- Black History Month: What are you doing for Black History Month?
Over 1,700 U.S. congressmen owned slaves. You can help document this.
- Deletion report: Ringing in the new year: Subject notability guideline under discussion
More than you wanted to know about the massive NSPORTS RfC.
- WikiProject report: The Forgotten Featured
Interview with volunteers at the Unreviewed featured articles 2020 working group.
- Arbitration report: New arbitrators look at new case and antediluvian sanctions
The spirit of 2006 is going strong.
- Traffic report: The most viewed articles of 2021
Royals, Freddy and movies.
- Gallery: No Spanish municipality without a photograph
How many more photos are needed?
- Obituary: Twofingered Typist
Rest in peace.
- Op-Ed: Identifying and rooting out climate change denial
Will this method apply to other sensitive topics?
- Essay: The prime directive
Just imagine!
- Opinion: Should the Wikimedia Foundation continue to accept cryptocurrency donations?
One editor doesn't think so.
- In the media: Fuzzy-headed government editing
Get down and party! But no COI editing!
- Recent research: Articles with higher quality ratings have fewer "knowledge gaps"
And other research results.
- Serendipity: Pooh entered the Public Domain – but Tigger has to wait two more years
Copyright is almost always complicated, but we break it down for you.
- Crossword: Cross swords with a crossword
Featuring an experimental on-wiki entry box.
Bots Newsletter, January 2022
| Bots Newsletter, January 2022 | ||
|---|---|---|
BRFA activity by month Welcome to the ninth issue of the English Wikipedia's Bots Newsletter, your source for all things bot. Vicious bot-on-bot edit warring... superseded tasks... policy proposals... these stories, and more, are brought to you by Wikipedia's most distinguished newsletter about bots. After a long hiatus between August 2019 and December 2021, there's quite a bit of ground to cover. Due to the vastness, I decided in December to split the coverage up into a few installments that covered six months each. Some people thought this was a good idea, since covering an entire year in a single issue would make it unmanageably large. Others thought this was stupid, since they were getting talk page messages about crap from almost three years ago. Ultimately, the question of whether each issue covers six months or a year is only relevant for a couple more of them, and then the problem will be behind us forever. Of course, you can also look on the bright side – we are making progress, and this issue will only be about crap from almost two years ago. Today we will pick up where we left off in December, and go through the first half of 2020. Overall January 2020 Yeah, you're not gonna be able to get away with this anymore.
February 2020
March 2020
April 2020
May 2020
June 2020
Conclusion
These questions will be answered — and new questions raised — by the February 2022 Bots Newsletter. Tune in, or miss out! Signing off... jp×g 23:22, 31 January 2022 (UTC) (You can subscribe or unsubscribe from future newsletters by adding or removing your name from this list.) | ||
The Signpost: 27 February 2022
- From the team: Selection of a new Signpost Editor-in-Chief
Bye-bye 'bones!
- News and notes: Impacts of Russian invasion of Ukraine
Plus, the Steward Elections, Leadership Development Task Force and a contest.
- Opinion: Why student editors are good for Wikipedia
Who are the students and how do we assure quality?
- Special report: A presidential candidate's team takes on Wikipedia
Vive l'encyclopédie libre!
- In the media: Wiki-drama in the UK House of Commons
Plus, Wiki Unseen, the "Sports Wars", and much more.
- Serendipity: War photographers: from Crimea (1850s) to the Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022)
"The first casualty when war comes is truth".
- Technology report: Community Wishlist Survey results
Plus, DiscussionTools and dark mode.
- WikiProject report: 10 years of tea
Coffee in Teahouse and other secrets revealed in this interview with volunteers.
- Featured content: Featured Content returns
A fantastic diverse mix of a record-breaking amount of content.
- Deletion report: The 10 most SHOCKING deletion discussions of February
You WON'T believe #8!
- Recent research: How editors and readers may be emotionally affected by disasters and terrorist attacks
And other recent research publications.
- Arbitration report: Parties remonstrate, arbs contemplate, skeptics coordinate
The report on lengthy litigation.
- By the numbers: Does birthplace affect the frequency of Wikipedia biography articles?
Some evidence from people born in France.
- Gallery: The vintage exhibit
Some good-ol' posters, restored to its former glory.
- Traffic report: Euphoria, Pamela Anderson, lies and Netflix
Plus quarterbacks, half-timers, Olympians, and Hulu!
- News from Diff: The Wikimania 2022 Core Organizing Team
Meet the folks in charge!
- Crossword: A Crossword, featuring Featured Articles
Can you fill in the boxes with Wikipedia's best content?
- Humour: Notability of mailboxes
Does yours pass?
WikiCup 2022 March newsletter
And so ends the first round of the WikiCup. Last year anyone who scored more than zero points moved on to Round 2, but this was not the case this year, and a score of 13 or more was required to proceed. The top scorers in Round 1 were:
Epicgenius, a finalist last year, who led the field with 1906 points, gained from 32 GAs and 19 DYKs, all on the topic of New York buildings.
AryKun, new to the contest, was second with 1588 points, having achieved 2 FAs, 11 GAs and various other submissions, mostly on the subject of birds.
Bloom6132, a WikiCup veteran, was in third place with 682 points, garnered from 51 In the news items and several DYKs.
GhostRiver was close behind with 679 points, gained from achieving 12 GAs, mostly on ice hockey players, and 35 GARs.
Kavyansh.Singh was in fifth place with 551 points, with an FA, a FL, and many reviews.
SounderBruce was next with 454 points, gained from an FA and various other submissions, mostly on United States highways.
Ktin, another WikiCup veteran, was in seventh place with 412 points, mostly gained from In the news items.
These contestants, like all the others who qualified for Round 2, now have to start scoring points again from scratch. Between them, contestants completed reviews of a large number of good articles as the contest ran concurrently with a GAN backlog drive. Well done all! To qualify for Round 3, contestants will need to finish Round 2 among the top thirty-two participants.
Remember that any content promoted after the end of Round 1 but before the start of Round 2 can be claimed in Round 2. Anything that should have been claimed for in Round 1 is no longer eligible for points. Invitations for collaborative writing efforts or any other discussion of potentially interesting work is always welcome on the WikiCup talk page. Remember, if two or more WikiCup competitors have done significant work on an article, all can claim points. 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 Needed.
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. Sturmvogel 66 (talk) and Cwmhiraeth (talk) MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:07, 3 March 2022 (UTC)
WikiCup 2022 March newsletter
And so ends the first round of the WikiCup. Last year anyone who scored more than zero points moved on to Round 2, but this was not the case this year, and a score of 13 or more was required to proceed. The top scorers in Round 1 were:
Epicgenius, a finalist last year, who led the field with 1906 points, gained from 32 GAs and 19 DYKs, all on the topic of New York buildings.
AryKun, new to the contest, was second with 1588 points, having achieved 2 FAs, 11 GAs and various other submissions, mostly on the subject of birds.
Bloom6132, a WikiCup veteran, was in third place with 682 points, garnered from 51 In the news items and several DYKs.
GhostRiver was close behind with 679 points, gained from achieving 12 GAs, mostly on ice hockey players, and 35 GARs.
Kavyansh.Singh was in fifth place with 551 points, with an FA, a FL, and many reviews.
SounderBruce was next with 454 points, gained from an FA and various other submissions, mostly on United States highways.
Ktin, another WikiCup veteran, was in seventh place with 412 points, mostly gained from In the news items.
These contestants, like all the others who qualified for Round 2, now have to start scoring points again from scratch. Between them, contestants completed reviews of a large number of good articles as the contest ran concurrently with a GAN backlog drive. Well done all! To qualify for Round 3, contestants will need to finish Round 2 among the top thirty-two participants.
Remember that any content promoted after the end of Round 1 but before the start of Round 2 can be claimed in Round 2. Anything that should have been claimed for in Round 1 is no longer eligible for points. Invitations for collaborative writing efforts or any other discussion of potentially interesting work is always welcome on the WikiCup talk page. Remember, if two or more WikiCup competitors have done significant work on an article, all can claim points. 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 Needed.
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. Sturmvogel 66 (talk) and Cwmhiraeth (talk) MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:55, 3 March 2022 (UTC)
The Signpost: 27 March 2022
- From the Signpost team: How The Signpost is documenting the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
We stand in solidarity with free knowledge.
- News and notes: Of safety and anonymity
The diff that resulted in arrest and jail time in Belarus.
- Eyewitness Wikimedian, Kharkiv, Ukraine: Countering Russian aggression with a camera
A Ukrainian Wikipedian volunteers to document the war.
- Eyewitness Wikimedian, Vinnytsia, Ukraine: War diary
Reporting from on the ground in Ukraine.
- Eyewitness Wikimedian, Western Ukraine: Working with Wikipedia helps
Holding up the elephants!
- Disinformation report: The oligarchs' socks
For whom do the Bells toil?
- In the media: Ukraine, Russia, and even some other stuff
Lenin did not say "Wow, check out those yachts"!
- Recent research: Top scholarly citers, lack of open access references, predicting editor departures
And other research publications.
- Wikimedian perspective: My heroes from Russia, Ukraine & beyond
The thought of cities being destroyed is unbearable.
- Discussion report: Athletes are less notable now
The Discussion Report returns with a diverse mix of community proposals.
- Technology report: 2022 Wikimedia Hackathon
Plus, Desktop Improvements and a new uploading tool for Commons.
- Arbitration report: Skeptics given heavenly judgement, whirlwind of Discord drama begins to spin for tropical cyclone editors
Unclear whether storm will make landfall.
- Traffic report: War, what is it good for?
Ukraine, Russia and Anna Sorokin.
- Deletion report: Ukraine, werewolves, Ukraine, YouTube pundits, and Ukraine
Things that go "boom" in the night.
- Gallery: "All we are saying is, give peace a chance..."
The once-seen beauty of Ukraine, in high quality.
- From the archives: Burn, baby burn
A look at when early backups of Wikipedia were recovered.
- Essay: Yes, the sky is blue
There is such thing as over-citing.
- Tips and tricks: Become a keyboard ninja
And other useful Tips of the Day.
- On the bright side: The bright side of news
Happy-er current events.
GOCE April 2022 newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors April 2022 Newsletter
Hello and welcome to the April newsletter, a brief update of Guild activities since December 2021. Election results: Jonesey95 retired as lead coordinator. Reidgreg was approved to fill this role after an 18-month absence from the coordinator team, and Baffle gab1978 was chosen as an assistant coordinator following a one-year break. Dhtwiki, Miniapolis and Tenryuu continued on as long-standing assistant coordinators. January Drive: Of the 22 editors who signed up, 16 editors claimed 146 copy edits including 45 requests. (details) February Blitz: This one-week effort focused on requests and a theme of Africa and African diaspora history. Of the 12 editors who signed up, 6 editors recorded 21 copy edits, including 4 requests. (details) March Drive: Of the 28 editors who signed up, 18 claimed 116 copy edits including 25 requests. (details) April Blitz: This one-week copy editing event has been scheduled for 17–23 April, sign up now! Progress report: As of 11 April, copy editors have removed approximately 500 articles from the backlog and completed 127 copy-editing requests during 2022. The backlog has been hovering at about 1,100 tagged articles for the past six months. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators Reidgreg, Baffle gab1978, Dhtwiki, Miniapolis and Tenryuu To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
|
Sent via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:42, 13 April 2022 (UTC)
The Signpost: 24 April 2022
- News and notes: Double trouble
The second case of Wikipedian persecution.
- In the media: The battlegrounds outside and inside Wikipedia
What's hot in the media this month.
- Special report: Ukrainian Wikimedians during the war
Writing Wikipedia, joining the armed forces, and volunteering.
- Eyewitness Wikimedian, Vinnytsia, Ukraine: War diary (Part 2)
"Our proud Sparta bleeds too."
- Technology report: 8-year-old attribution issues in Media Viewer
Plus, a new status page and Desktop Improvements.
- Featured content: Wikipedia's best content from March
We showcase the best content that Wikipedians offered this past month.
- In focus: Editing difficulties on Russian Wikipedia
A multi-national encyclopedia tries to move forward.
- Gallery: A voyage around the world with WLM winners
Wiki Loves Monuments 2021 winners announced.
- Interview: On a war and a map
How a war map predated Wikimedia's map of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
- Serendipity: Wikipedia loves photographs, but hates photographers
Why not just link to an article to attribute famous photographers?
- Traffic report: Justice Jackson, the Smiths, and an invasion
Plus deaths, films, and the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification.
- Recent research: Student edits as "civic engagement"; how Wikipedia readers interact with images
And other new research findings
- News from the WMF: How Smart is the SMART Copyright Act?
The deceptively simple Strengthening Measures to Advance Rights Technologies Copyright Act of 2022.
- Essay: The problem with elegant variation
An elegant Wikipedia essay.
- Humour: Really huge message boxes
A serious statement of Wikipedia policy.
- From the archives: Wales resigned WMF board chair in 2006 reorganization
A look at when the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees was reorganized.
WikiCup 2022 May newsletter
The second round of the 2022 WikiCup has now finished. It was a high-scoring round and contestants needed 115 points to advance to round 3. There were some very impressive efforts in round 2, with the top seven contestants all scoring more than 500 points. A large number of the points came from the 11 featured articles and the 79 good articles achieved in total by contestants.
Our top scorers in round 2 were:
Epicgenius, with 1264 points from 2 featured article, 4 good articles and 18 DYKs. Epicgenius was a finalist last year but has now withdrawn from the contest as he pursues a new career path.
AryKun, with 1172 points from two featured articles, one good article and a substantial number of featured article and good article reviews.
Bloom6132, with 605 points from 44 in the news items and 4 DYKs.
Sammi Brie, with 573 points from 8 GAs and 21 DYKs.
Ealdgyth, with 567 points from 11 GAs and 34 good and featured article reviews.
Panini!, with 549 points from 1 FA, 4 GAs and several other sources.
Lee Vilenski, with 545 points from 1 FA, 4 GAs and a number of reviews.
The rules for featured and good article reviews require the review to be of sufficient length; brief quick fails and very short reviews will generally not be awarded points. Remember also that DYKs cannot be claimed until they have appeared on the main page. As we enter the third round, any content promoted after the end of round 2 but before the start of round 3 can be claimed now, and anything you forgot to claim in round 2 cannot! Remember too, that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them. When doing GARs, please make sure that you check that all the GA criteria are fully met.
If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article nominations, a featured process, or anything else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). 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 your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Sturmvogel 66 (talk) and Cwmhiraeth Cwmhiraeth (talk) 10:39, 1 May 2020 (UTC)
June 2022 Good Article Nominations backlog drive
| Good article nominations | June 2022 Backlog Drive | |
| |
| You're receiving this message because you have conducted 5+ good article reviews or participated in previous backlog drives. Click here to opt out of any future messages. | |
The Signpost: 29 May 2022
- From the team: A changing of the guard
Your two new Signpost Editors in Chief.
- News and notes: 2022 Wikimedia Board elections
Plus, Form 990, fundraising, RfA and UCoC.
- Community view: Have your say in the 2022 Wikimedia Foundation Board elections
Community shortlisting in an affiliate-based process, and a poll for you to speak your mind.
- Opinion: The Wikimedia Endowment – a lack of transparency
A little more information, please.
- In the media: Putin, Jimbo, Musk and more
A varied collection of "special operations", and interviews.
- Special report: Three stories of Ukrainian Wikimedians during the war
Tales of hope, perseverance and even a little humor.
- In focus: Measuring gender diversity in Wikipedia articles
A new approach at the article level.
- Discussion report: Portals, April Fools, admin activity requirements and more
We summarize the drama for you.
- WikiProject report: WikiProject COVID-19 revisited
March 2020 WikiProject report interviewees return discussing project's evolution and future.
- Technology report: A new video player for Wikimedia wikis
Plus, Growth Features configuration, the Hackathon, and more.
- Featured content: Featured content of April
Showcasing the very best articles, pictures, videos, and other contributions from Wikipedians last month.
- Interview: Wikipedia's pride
An interview with queer Wikimedians.
- Serendipity: Those thieving image farms
Stopping them from taking your photos from Commons.
- Recent research: 35 million Twitter links analysed
And other recent research findings.
- Tips and tricks: The reference desks of Wikipedia
Helpful advice from Tips of the Day.
- Traffic report: Strange highs and strange lows
Were Johnny and Amber exchanging blows?
- News from Diff: Winners of the Human rights and Environment special nomination by Wiki Loves Earth announced
Photos raise awareness for nature protection and human impact on nature.
- News from the WMF: The EU Digital Services Act: What’s the Deal with the Deal?
New regulations governing online censorship.
- Video: How the entire country of Qatar was blocked from editing
A lighthearted video recalling the 2006 incident.
- Gallery: Diving under the sea for World Oceans Day
Exploring Featured Pictures of the world's oceans.
- From the archives: The Onion and Wikipedia
A look at when The Onion published an humorous article regarding Wikipedia.
- Essay: How not to write a Wikipedia article
On creative works.
- Humour: A new crossword
Test your word-puzzle skills!
June GOCE newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors June 2022 Newsletter
Hello and welcome to the June 2022 newsletter, a quarterly digest of Guild activities since April 2022. Don't forget you can unsubscribe at any time; see below. Blitz: of the 16 editors who signed up for our April Copy Editing Blitz, 12 completed at least one copy-edit, and between them removed 21 articles from the copy-editing backlog. Barnstars awarded are here. Drive: 27 editors signed up for our May Backlog Elimination Drive; of these, 20 copy-edited at least one article. 144 articles were copy-edited, and 88 articles from our target months August and September 2021 were removed from the backlog. Barnstars awarded are here. Blitz: our June Copy Editing Blitz, starting at 00:01, 19 June and closing at 00:59, 25 June (UTC), will focus on articles tagged for copy edit in September and October 2021, and requests from March, April and May 2022. Barnstars awarded will be posted here. Progress report: As of 07:12, 14 June 2022 (UTC), GOCE copyeditors have completed 209 requests since 1 January and the backlog stands at 1,404 articles. Election news: Nominations for our half-yearly Election of Coordinators continues until 23:50 on 15 June (UTC), after which, voting will commence until 23:59, 30 June (UTC). All Wikipedians in good standing (active and not blocked, banned, or under ArbCom or community sanctions) are eligible and self-nominations are welcomed. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators Reidgreg, Baffle gab1978, Dhtwiki, Miniapolis and Tenryuu To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
|
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:39, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
The Signpost: 26 June 2022
- News and notes: WMF inks new rules on government-ordered takedowns, blasts Russian feds' censor demands, spends big bucks
Office actions to secretly delete stuff when told to? Well, at least not if they're Putin's.
- In the media: Editor given three-year sentence, big RfA makes news, Guy Standing takes it sitting down
Belarusian Mark Bernstein to serve 36 months of "home chemistry" for unapproved posting, Slate covers historically large adminship bid, UBI economist with goofy infobox caption thinks it's funny.
- Special report: "Wikipedia's independence" or "Wikimedia's pile of dosh"?
A review of Wikipedia's fundraising messages and financial status.
- Discussion report: MoS rules on CCP name mulled, XRV axe plea nulled, BLPPROD drafting bid pulled
Just three for the history books this month (or not).
- Opinion: Picture of the Day – how Adam plans to ru(i)n it
Famed FP ace steps up to run main page outfit. Millions tremble in fear, or something.
- Featured content: Articles on Scots' clash, Yank's tux, Austrian's action flick deemed brilliant prose
And who can forget the black-breasted buttonquail.
- Essay: RfA trend line haruspicy: fact or fancy?
Don't be dumb, says math whiz: avoid the gambler's fallacy. Illustrated for your pleasure.
- Recent research: Wikipedia versus academia (again), tables' "immortality" probed
Tables "like to socialize" and "share genes": ooh la la!
- Serendipity: Was she really a Swiss lesbian automobile racer?
What's the deal with Anita Forrer, redlinked woman of mystery who saved Schwarzenbach archives?
- News from the WMF: Wikimedia Enterprise signs first deals
Google and Internet Archive sold on new product, more customers hoped to follow.
- Traffic report: Top view counts for shows, movies, and celeb lawsuit that keeps on giving
Plus editing stampedes for cheery subjects: shootings, deaths, and virus.
- Gallery: Celebration of summer, winter
Lest Southern Hemisphere be forgotten.
- Humour: Shortcuts, screwballers, Simon & Garfunkel
Can we offer you a nice crossword in this trying time?
WikiCup 2022 July newsletter
The third round of the 2022 WikiCup has now come to an end. Each of the sixteen contestants who made it into the fourth round had at least 180 points, which is a lower figure than last year when 294 points were needed to progress to round 4. Our top scorers in round 3 were:
BennyOnTheLoose, with 746 points, a tally built both on snooker and other sports topics, and on more general subjects.
Bloom6132, with 683 points, garnered mostly from "In the news" items and related DYKs.
Sammi Brie, with 527, from a variety of submissions related to radio and television stations.
Between them contestants achieved 5 featured articles, 4 featured lists, 51 good articles, 149 DYK entries, 68 ITN entries, and 109 good article reviews. As we enter the fourth round, remember that any content promoted after the end of round 3 but before the start of round 4 can be claimed in round 4. Please also remember that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them. When doing GARs, please make sure that you check that all the GA criteria are fully met. Please also remember that all submissions must meet core Wikipedia policies, regardless of the review process.
If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is a good article nomination, a featured process, or anything else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). 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 your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. WikiCup judges: Sturmvogel 66 (talk) and Cwmhiraeth (talk) MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:51, 3 July 2022 (UTC)
The Signpost: 1 August 2022
- From the editors: Rise of the machines, or something
The future of stuff? Who knows, but two articles were written by a computer this month.
- News and notes: Information considered harmful
Wikipedia and human rights, publishers and the Internet Archive, Russia and Wikipedia.
- In the media: Censorship, medieval hoaxes, "pathetic supervillains", FB-WMF AI TL bid, dirty duchess deeds done dirt cheap
Real news or silly season?
- Op-Ed: The "recession" affair
IGNORANCE IS NOT STRENGTH.
- Eyewitness Wikimedian, Vinnytsia, Ukraine: War diary (part 3)
"This year's victory was sad and dull."
- Election guide: The chosen six: 2022 Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees elections
Candidate op-eds, open question spaces, and more.
- Community view: Youth culture and notability
Was Minecraft YouTuber a GNG pass in life, or only in death?
- Opinion: Criminals among us
Mass murderers, sex criminals, Ponzi schemers, insider traders, and business people.
- Arbitration report: Winds of change blow for cyclone editors, deletion dustup draws toward denouement
The last three months of arbitration through the eyes of a GPT-3
- Deletion report: This is Gonzo Country
GPT-3 whips it out.
- Discussion report: Notability for train stations, notices for mobile editors, noticeboards for the rest of us
And when is 'today'?
- Traffic report: US TV, JP ex-PM, outer space, and politics of IN, US, UK top charts for July
The world shows its messy complexity.
- Featured content: A little list with surprisingly few lists
More lists expected next month.
- Tips and tricks: Cleaning up awful citations with Citation bot
It doesn't have to be a pain in the butt!
- In focus: Wikidata insights from a handy little tool
PAC2 explains the item documentation template.
- On the bright side: Ukrainian Wikimedians during the war — three (more) stories
Education, climate change, and journalism.
- Essay: How to research an image
Zoom and enhance.
- Recent research: A century of rulemaking on Wikipedia analyzed
And other new research findings.
- Serendipity: Don't cite Wikipedia
But Commons is a treasure trove.
- Gallery: A backstage pass
All the things about theatre that the general public misses out on.
- From the archives: 2012 Russian Wikipedia shutdown as it happened
Ten years ago, Russian Wikipedia went dark in protest of new Russian laws. Today...
- Humour: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Strange mysteries of our animal world.
The Signpost: 31 August 2022
- News and notes: Admins wanted on English Wikipedia, IP editors not wanted on Farsi Wiki, donations wanted everywhere
jimmy@wikipedia.org donate@wikimedia.org (not a typo?) wants a moment of your time.
- Special report: Wikimania 2022: no show, no show up?
Why the 'Festival Edition' was less than perfect, and what we can do better.
- In the media: Truth or consequences? A tough month for truth
But Annie Rauwerda is the real thing!
- Discussion report: Boarding the Trustees
2022 elections, new page patrol, Fox News, Vector 2022, Royal Central and external links
- News from Wiki Education: 18 years a Wikipedian: what it means to me
Change and stability.
- In focus: Thinking inside the box
All there is to know about userboxen.
- Tips and tricks: The unexpected rabbit hole of typo fixing in citations...
Sometimes Citation bot is not enough.
- Technology report: Vector (2022) deployment discussions happening now
Plus, the Private Incident Reporting System, and new bots & user scripts!
- Serendipity: Two photos of every library on earth
One exterior, one interior.
- Featured content: Our man drills are safe for work, but our Labia is Fausta.
Also includes a campaign to "Suck for Luck".
- Recent research: The dollar value of "official" external links
And other new research
- Traffic report: What dreams (and heavily trafficked articles) may come
Because there really is no real theme this month you can grab onto to give a catchy title.
- Essay: Delete the junk!
Some articles aren't worth saving
- Gallery: A Fringe Affair (but not the show by Edward W. Feery that was on this year)
Edinburgh in August.
- Humour: CommonsComix No. 1
Because the Signpost needs a cartoon.
- From the archives: 5, 10, and 15 years ago
The Signpost looks back on The Signpost: New reports, conceived in a spirit of collaboration, and dedicated to the proposition of information and, uh, more information for all.
WikiCup 2022 September newsletter
WikiCup 2022 September newsletter
The fourth round of the WikiCup has now finished. 383 points were required to reach the final, and the new round has got off to a flying start with all finalists already scoring. In round 4, Bloom6132 with 939 points was the highest points-scorer, with a combination of DYKs and In the news items, followed by BennyOnTheLoose, Sammi Brie and Lee Vilenski. The points of all contestants are swept away as we start afresh for the final round.
At this stage, we say goodbye to the eight competitors who didn't quite make it; thank you for the useful contributions you have made to the Cup and Wikipedia, and we hope you will join us again next year. For the remaining competitors, remember that any content promoted after the end of round 4 but before the start of round 5 can be claimed in round 5. Remember too that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them, and importantly, before the deadline on October 31st!
If you are concerned that your nomination, whether it be for a good article, a featured process, or anything else, will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to help keep down the review backlogs! Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. The judges are Sturmvogel 66 and Cwmhiraeth. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:44, 3 September 2022 (UTC)
The Signpost: 30 September 2022
- News and notes: Board vote results, bot's big GET, crat chat gives new mop, WMF seeks "sound logo" and "organizer lab"
Candidates sign off and peel out – Sigalov is on and Peel is in.
- In focus: NPP: Still heaven or hell for new users – and for the reviewers
Just what is NPP? Why does it need the WMF? Why does it need YOU?
- In the media: A few complaints and mild disagreements
Was Katherine Maher a former encyclopedia salesperson?
- Special report: Decentralized Fundraising, Centralized Distribution
The latest from the Wikimedia Deutschland Movement Strategy & Global Relations Team.
- Discussion report: Much ado about Fox News
Source reliability, NPP, and appearance discussions.
- Interview: ScottishFinnishRadish's Request for Adminship
Find out firsthand what our newest admin, ScottishFinnishRadish, does with a chainsaw.
- Opinion: Are we ever going to reach consensus?
Some Articles for Deletion just drag on.
- Serendipity: Removing watermarks, copyright signs and cigarettes from photos
Suggestion: promote removal of visible copyright signs of images under a CC-BY license.
- Recent research: How readers assess Wikipedia's trustworthiness, and how they could in the future
And other research news.
- Traffic report: Kings and queens and VIPs
Repeat after me: I solemnly swear not to put "oh my!" in a headline.
- Featured content: Farm-fresh content
This month: A FACBot upgrade, a completed list of lists.
- CommonsComix: CommonsComix 2: Paulus Moreelse
When Commons gives you a blank space...
- From the archives: 5, 10, and 15 Years ago: September 2022
Yes, again.
Guild of Copy Editors' October 2022 newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors October 2022 Newsletter
Hello and welcome to our latest newsletter, a quarterly digest of Guild activities since June. Don't forget you can unsubscribe at any time; see below. Drive: Of the 22 editors who signed up for our July Backlog Elimination Drive, 18 copy-edited, between them, 116 articles. Barnstars awarded are noted here. Blitz: Participants in our August Copy Editing Blitz copy-edited 51,074 words in 17 articles. Of the 15 editors who signed up, 11 claimed at least one copy-edit. Barnstars awarded are noted here. Drive: Forty-one editors took part in our September Backlog Elimination Drive; between them they copy-edited 199 articles. Barnstars awards are noted here. Blitz: Our October Copy Editing Blitz begins on 16 October at 00:01 (UTC) and will end on 22 October at 23:59 (UTC). Barnstars awarded will be posted here. Progress report: As of 19:57, 12 October 2022 (UTC), GOCE copyeditors have processed 303 requests for copy edit – including withdrawn and declined ones – since 1 January. At the time of writing, there are 77 requests awaiting attention and the backlog of tagged articles stands at 1,759. We always need more active, skilled copyeditors – particularly for requests – so please get involved if you can. Election news: In our mid-year election, serving coordinators Baffle gab1978, Dhtwiki, Miniapolis, Reidgreg and Tenryuu were returned for another term, and were joined by new coordinator Zippybonzo. No lead coordinator was elected for this half-year. Jonesey95, a long-serving coordinator and lead, was elected as coordinator emeritus; we thank them for their service. Thank you to everyone who took part. Our next election of coordinators takes place throughout December. If you'd like to help out at the GOCE, please consider nominating yourself or other suitable editors (with their permission, of course!). It's your Guild, after all! Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators Baffle gab1978, Dhtwiki, Miniapolis, Reidgreg, Tenryuu and Zippybonzo. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
|
Baffle☿gab 03:07, 14 October 2022 (UTC)
The Signpost: 31 October 2022
- From the team: A new goose on the roost
Or maybe the spit -- only time will tell.
- News and notes: Wikipedians question Wikimedia fundraising ethics after "somewhat-viral" tweet
News from Twitter, Commons and the WMF C-Suite.
- News from the WMF: Governance updates from, and for, the Wikimedia Endowment
501(c)(3) application approved, Amazon donates another million.
- In the media: Scribing, searching, soliciting, spying, and systemic bias
Wading into several controversies.
- Disinformation report: From Russia with WikiLove
I can has Kremlin sockfarms?
- Recent research: Disinformatsiya: Much research, but what will actually help Wikipedia editors?
And other new research publications.
- Interview: Isabelle Belato on their Request for Adminship
The newest sysop speaks on the process that got them there.
- Featured content: Topics, lists, submarines and Gurl.com
Featured content from October.
- Serendipity: We all make mistakes – don’t we?
The strength of Wikipedia is the peer review afterwards.
- Traffic report: Mama, they're in love with a criminal
More serial killers than you can shake a stick at!
- From the archives: Paid advocacy, a lawsuit over spelling mistakes, deleting Jimbo's article, and the death of Toolserver
What tales echo in these hallowed halls.
WikiCup 2022 November newsletter
The 2022 WikiCup has drawn to a close with the final round going down to the wire. The 2022 champion is
Lee Vilenski (1752 points), who won in 2020 and was runner up in both 2019 and last year. In the final round he achieved 3 FAs and 15 GAs, mostly on cue sports. He was closely followed by
Bloom6132 (1732), who specialised in "In the news" items and DYKs, and who has reached the final round of the Cup for the past three years. Next was
BennyOnTheLoose (1238), another cue sports enthusiast, also interested in songs, followed by
Muboshgu (1082), an "In the news" contributor, a seasoned contestant who first took part in the Cup ten years ago. Other finalists were
Sammi Brie (930), who scored with a featured article, good articles and DYKs on TV and radio stations,
Kavyansh.Singh (370), who created various articles on famous Americans, including an FA on Louis H. Bean, famed for his prediction of election outcomes. Next was
PCN02WPS (292), who scored with good articles and DYKs on sporting and other topics and
Z1720 (25) who had DYKs on various topics including historic Canadians.
During the WikiCup, contestants achieved 37 featured articles, 349 good articles, 360 featured article reviews, 683 good article reviews and 480 In the news items, so Wikipedia has benefited greatly from the activities of WikiCup competitors. Well done everyone! All those who reached the final round will receive awards and the following special awards will be made, based on high performance in particular areas of content creation and review. So that the finalists do not have an undue advantage, these prizes are awarded to the competitor who scored the highest in any particular field in a single round, or the overall leader in this field.
Lee Vilenski wins the featured article prize, for a total of 6 FAs during the course of the competition and 3 in the final round.
Kavyansh.Singh wins the featured list prize, for 3 FLs in round 2.
Adam Cuerden wins the featured picture prize, for 39 FPs during the competition.
Z1720 wins the featured article reviewer prize, for 35 FARs in round 4.
Epicgenius wins the good article prize, for 32 GAs in round 1.
SounderBruce wins the featured topic prize, for 4 FT articles in round 1.
Lee Vilenski wins the good topic prize, for 34 GT articles in round 5.
Sammi Brie wins the good article reviewer prize, for 71 GARs overall.
Sammi Brie wins the Did you know prize, for 30 DYKs in round 3 and 106 overall.
Bloom6132 wins the In the news prize, for 106 ITNs in round 5 and 289 overall.
Next year's competition will begin on 1 January and possible changes to the rules and scoring are being discussed on the discussion page. You are invited to sign up to take part in the contest; the WikiCup is open to all Wikipedians, both novices and experienced editors, and we hope to have a good turnout for the 2023 competition. Until then, it only remains to once again congratulate our worthy winners and finalists, and thank all participants for their involvement! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Sturmvogel 66 and Cwmhiraeth. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:28, 6 November 2022 (UTC)
The Signpost: 28 November 2022
- News and notes: English Wikipedia editors: "We don't need no stinking banners"
Joe Roe's close sows dough woes, manifestos... vetoes? overthrows?
- In the media: "The most beautiful story on the Internet"
Ineffective altruism, return of the toaster, Jess Wade keeps wading through it, Russia censors searches, schools embrace Wikipedia.
- Interview: Lisa Seitz-Gruwell on WMF fundraising in the wake of big banner ad RfC
An interview with Wikimedia's Chief Advancement Officer.
- Opinion: Privacy on Wikipedia in the cyberpunk future
Oh, just one more thing... AI couldn't help but notice you use that punctuation a little bit more than most people...
- Disinformation report: Missed and Dissed
Are government goons prowling our fair encyclopedia?
- Op-Ed: Diminishing returns for article quality
Have we gotten past the point where better articles makes us a better encyclopedia? And what comes next?
- Book review: Writing the Revolution
Heather Ford's new volume on Wikipedia, knowledge and power in the 2011 Egyptian revolution.
- Technology report: Galactic dreams, encyclopedic reality
Facebook's Galactica demo provides a case study in large language models for text generation at scale: this one was silly, but we cannot ignore them forever.
- Essay: The Six Million FP Man
Okay, six hundred, but either way, the bionic editor speaks.
- Tips and tricks: (Wiki)break stuff
Productively doing nothing
- Recent research: Study deems COVID-19 editors smart and cool, questions of clarity and utility for WMF's proposed "Knowledge Integrity Risk Observatory"
And other research findings.
- Featured content: A great month for featured articles
Do consider joining FPC, though: we need you.
- Obituary: A tribute to Michael Gäbler
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
- Concept: The relevance of legal certainty to the English Wikipedia
A lost article from our deep annals
- Traffic report: Musical deaths, murders, Princess Di's nominative determinism, and sports
The weeks and weeks, as reviewed by Wikipedia's readers.
- From the archives: Five, ten, and fifteen years ago
Search upgrades, lawsuits, paid editing, and personal reflection.
- CommonsComix: Joker's trick
A toast to good health, a health to good hoax, a hoax to good toast.
Guild of Copy Editors December 2022 Newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors December 2022 Newsletter
Hello and welcome to our latest newsletter, a quarterly digest of Guild activities since October. Don't forget you can unsubscribe at any time; see below. Blitz: Our October Copy Editing Blitz focused on July and August 2022 request months; and articles tagged for c/e in December 2021 and January 2022. Seventeen of those who signed up claimed at least one copy-edit, and between them copy-edited forty-six articles. Barnstars awarded are here. Drive: In the November Backlog Elimination Drive, thirty editors signed up, twenty-two of whom claimed at least one copy-edit. Both target months—December 2021 and January 2022—were cleared, and February was added to the target months. Sixteen requests were copy-edited and 239 articles were removed from the backlog. Barnstars awarded are here. Blitz: Our seven-day-long December 2022 Copy Editing Blitz begins on 17 December at 00:01 (UTC)*. It will focus on articles tagged for copy-edit in February 2022, and pending requests from September and October. Barnstars awarded will be available here. Progress report: As of 22:40, 8 December 2022, GOCE copyeditors have processed 357 requests since 1 January, there were seventy-four requests outstanding and the backlog stands at 1,791 articles. We always need skilled copy-editors; please help out if you can. Election news: Nomination of candidates for the GOCE's Election of Coordinators for the first half of 2023 is open and continues until 23:59 on 15 December. Voting begins at 00:01 on 16 December and closes at 23:59 on 31 December. All editors in good standing (not under ArbCom or community sanctions) are eligible and self-nominations are welcomed. Coordinators serve a six-month term that ends at 23:59 on June 30. If you've thought about helping out at the Guild, please nominate yourself or any editor you consider suitable—with their permission, of course!. It's your Guild and it doesn't coordinate itself. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers and best seasonal wishes from your GOCE coordinators, Baffle gab1978, Dhtwiki, Miniapolis, Tenryuu, and Zippybonzo. *All times and dates on this newsletter are UTC. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list. |
Sent by Baffle gab1978 via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:26, 9 December 2022 (UTC)
Guild of Copy Editors December 2022 Newsletter error
The GOCE December 2022 newsletter, as sent on 9 December, contains an erroneous start date for our December Blitz. The Blitz will start on 11 December rather than on 17 December, as stated in the newsletter. I'm sorry for the mistake and for disrupting your talk page; thanks for your understanding. Sent by Baffle gab1978 via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:30, 9 December 2022 (UTC)
The Signpost: 1 January 2023
- News and notes: Wikimedia Foundation ousts, bans quarter of Arabic Wikipedia admins
Plus admin update and cool tools for the new year.
- In the media: Odd bedfellows, Elon and Jimbo, reliable sources for divorces, and more
Sometimes you need to read more than just the headlines!
- Interview: ComplexRational's RfA debrief
Interview of ComplexRational about their recent request for adminship.
- Technology report: Wikimedia Foundation's Abstract Wikipedia project "at substantial risk of failure"
Wikifunctions might drag it down.
- Essay: Mobile editing
Frustrations and successes.
- Arbitration report: Arbitration Committee Election 2022
Congratulations.
- Recent research: Graham's Hierarchy of Disagreement in talk page disputes
And other new research findings.
- Serendipity: Wikipedia about FIFA World Cup 2022: quick, factual and critical
How Iranian press agencies help Wikipedia to reflect football in a better way.
- Featured content: Would you like to swing on a star?
You head into the featured content report. Amongst the features you see astronauts, both Gilbert and Sullivan, Ursula K. Le Guin's incredibly talented mother, and Billboard charts. It is pitch black, you are likely to be eaten by a grue.
- Traffic report: Football, football, football! Wikipedia Football Club!
It is mostly about football!
- CommonsComix: #4: The Course of WikiEmpire
In which a couple sentences of text recontextualises an image.
- From the archives: Five, ten, and fifteen years ago
Photographers, Sandy Hook, the shocking use of Nazi symbols in articles about Nazis, and "You wouldn't recognise a fact if it bit you in the ass".
Welcome to the 2023 WikiCup!
Happy New Year and Happy New WikiCup! The 2023 competition has just begun and all article creators, expanders, improvers and reviewers are welcome to take part. Even if you are a novice editor you should be able to advance to at least the second round, improving your editing skills as you go. If you have already signed up, your submissions page can be found here. If you have not yet signed up, you can add your name here and the judges will set up your submissions page ready for you to take part. Any questions on the scoring, rules or anything else should be directed to one of the judges, or posted to the WikiCup talk page. Signups will close at the end of January, and the first round will end on 26 February; the 64 highest scorers at that time will move on to round 2. The judges for the WikiCup this year are: Sturmvogel 66 (talk · contribs · email) and Cwmhiraeth (talk · contribs · email). Good luck! MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 14:16, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
The Signpost: 16 January 2023
- From the team: We heard zoomers liked fortnights: the biweekly Signpost rides again
It's not just a phase! Well, maybe it is.
- Special report: Coverage of 2022 bans reveals editors serving long sentences in Saudi Arabia since 2020
Long-time contributors imprisoned for 32 and 8 years after "swaying public opinion" and "violating public morals".
- News and notes: Revised Code of Conduct Enforcement Guidelines up for vote, WMF counsel departs, generative models under discussion
UCoC draws nearer, alongside the rise of the machines, in mainspace this time.
- In the media: Court orders user data in libel case, Saudi Wikipedia in the crosshairs, Larry Sanger at it again
Wikipedia's birthday, a cute dog, and nipplefruit.
- Technology report: View it! A new tool for image discovery
The depths of Commons, at your fingertips. Or eyetips.
- In focus: Busting into Grand Central
Debunking widely-told myths about New York's grandest and centralest railway station.
- Serendipity: How I bought part of Wikipedia – for less than $100
The economics of Wikipedia.
- Gallery: What is our responsibility when it comes to images?
When notability conflicts with what it might be used for.
- Humour: New geologically speedy deletion criteria introduced
7,000,000-year Landmasses for Subduction discussions considered "too long".
- Opinion: Good old days, in which fifth-symbol-lacking lipograms roam'd our librarious litany
Allow us to bring you back, back, back, to days of Wikifun rampant.
- Featured content: Flip your lid
...and your ambigram. Also: Boring lava fields, birds of Tuvalu, and commelinid family names with etymologies.
- Traffic report: The most viewed articles of 2022
War, sports, and all types of chaos.
- From the archives: Five, ten, and fifteen years ago
The editor with five million edits, the death of Aaron Swartz, and rollback.
The Signpost: 4 February 2023
- From the editor: New for the Signpost: Author pages, tag pages, and a decent article search function
Last issue's vow for "something to show for these efforts" revisited.
- News and notes: Foundation update on fundraising, new page patrol, Tides, and Wikipedia blocked in Pakistan
As well as the continued rise of the machines, and Amanda Keton's WMF departure.
- Section 230: Twenty-six words that created the internet, and the future of an encyclopedia
Section 230 before the Supreme Court in two cases, with broad implications for the web.
- Disinformation report: Wikipedia on Santos
Or Santos on Wikipedia?
- Special report: Legal status of Wikimedia projects "unclear" under potential European legislation
WMF issues salvo in latest battles of the Posting Wars
- In the media: Furor over new Wikipedia skin, followup on Saudi bans, and legislative debate
The good, the bad, and the ugly.
- Op-Ed: Estonian businessman and political donor brings lawsuit against head of national Wikimedia chapter
Isamaa party sponsor Parvel Pruunsild files claim in Tartu County Court against WMEE head Ivo Kruusamägi and Reform Party politicians.
- Opinion: Study examines cultural leanings of Wikimedia projects' visual art coverage
English Wikipedia among most "global" and Thai Wikipedia's among most "Western", but non-Western works neglected overall.
- Recent research: Wikipedia's "moderate yet systematic" liberal citation bias
And other new research publications.
- WikiProject report: WikiProject Organized Labour
An interview with those who pitch in together
- Tips and tricks: XTools: Data analytics for your list of created articles
Letting you find out about yourself (and others).
- Featured content: 20,000 Featureds under the Sea
An exceptionally good period for featured articles.
- Traffic report: Films, deaths and ChatGPT
Can we have a chat?
Guild of Copy Editors 2022 Annual Report
| Guild of Copy Editors 2022 Annual Report
Our 2022 Annual Report is now ready for review.
Highlights:
– Your Guild coordinators:
Baffle gab1978, Dhtwiki, Miniapolis and Zippybonzo
To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
|
Sent by Baffle gab1978 using MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:30, 6 February 2023 (UTC)
Copyright contributor investigation and Good article reassessment
You are receiving this message because you were a Good article reviewer on at least one article that is part of Wikipedia:Contributor copyright investigations/20210315 or you signed up for messages. An AN discussion closed with consensus to delist this group of Good articles for copyright and other problems, unless a reviewer opens an independent Good article reassessment and can vouch for/verify content of all sources. Please review Wikipedia:Good article reassessment/February 2023 for further information. A list of the GA reviewers can be found here. Questions or comments can be made at the project talk page. You can opt in or out of further messages at this page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 09:20, 9 February 2023 (UTC)
The Signpost: 20 February 2023
- News and notes: Terms of Use update, Steward elections, and Wikipedia back in Pakistan
UCoC Enforcement Guidelines pass, Wikimedia Enterprise financials, GPTs gone wild, and a speedy deletion criterion removed.
- In the media: Arbitrators open case after article alleges Wikipedia "intentionally distorts" Holocaust coverage
Also: Russ Baker's BLP, the digital commons, the NSA, and more on Pakistan.
- Disinformation report: The "largest con in corporate history"?
Gautam Adani and his companies possibly behind scheme featuring scores of socks, infiltration of articles for creation process.
- Essay: Machine-written articles: a new challenge for Wikipedia
GPT: friend or foe?
- Tips and tricks: All about writing at DYK
Your one-stop hooker's handbook.
- Featured content: Eden, lost.
But much else to be found.
- Gallery: Love is in the air
Lovey-dovey stuff for Valentine's.
- Traffic report: Superbowl? Pfft. Give me some Bollywood! Yours sincerely, the world
And maybe a side of AI.
- From the archives: 5, 10, and 15 years ago: Let's (not) delete the Main Page!
Also: let's delete images of Muhammed! Let's delete portals!
- Cobwebs: Editorial: The loss of the moral high ground
Yesterday's controversies, reported on today.
- Humour: The RfA Candidate's Song
A musical interlude.
WikiCup 2023 March newsletter
So ends the first round of the 2023 WikiCup. Everyone with a positive score moved on to Round 2, with 54 contestants qualifying. The top scorers in Round 1 were:
Unlimitedlead with 1205 points, a WikiCup newcomer, led the field with two featured articles on historical figures and several featured article candidate reviews.
Epicgenius was in second place with 789 points; a seasoned WikiCup competitor he specialises in buildings and locations in New York.
FrB.TG was in third place with 625 points, garnered from a featured article on a filmmaker which qualified for an impressive number of bonus points.
TheJoebro64, another WikiCup newcomer, came next with 600 points gained from two featured articles on video games.
Iazyges was in fifth place with 532 points, from two featured articles on classical history.
The top sixteen contestants at the end of Round 1 had all scored over 300 points; these included
LunaEatsTuna,
Thebiguglyalien,
Sammi Brie,
Trainsandotherthings,
Lee Vilenski,
Juxlos,
Unexpectedlydian,
SounderBruce,
Kosack,
BennyOnTheLoose and
PCN02WPS. It was a high-scoring start to the competition.
These contestants, like all the others, now have to start again from scratch. The first round finished on February 26. Remember that any content promoted after that date but before the start of Round 2 can be claimed in Round 2. Some contestants made claims before the new submissions pages were set up, and they will need to resubmit them. Invitations for collaborative writing efforts or any other discussion of potentially interesting work is always welcome on the WikiCup talk page. Remember, if two or more WikiCup competitors have done significant work on an article, all can claim points. 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 Needed.
If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to keep down the review backlogs! 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. Sturmvogel 66 and Cwmhiraeth. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:36, 2 March 2023 (UTC)
The Signpost: 9 March 2023
- News and notes: What's going on with the Wikimedia Endowment?
A lack of transparency.
- Technology report: Second flight of the Soviet space bears: Testing ChatGPT's accuracy
Using failed AI Galactica's worst mistakes to test a new AI.
- In the media: What should Wikipedia do? Publish Russian propaganda? Be less woke? Cover the Holocaust in Poland differently?
Probable answers: No, no, maybe?
- Featured content: In which over two-thirds of the featured articles section needs to be copied over to WikiProject Military History's newsletter
Seriously, even the chef has a major military history connection.
- Recent research: "Wikipedia's Intentional Distortion of the Holocaust" in Poland and "self-focus bias" in coverage of global events
And other new research publications.
- From the archives: Five, ten, and fifteen years ago
Wikizine, Wikipedia Zero, Single User Login, and Wales allegedly editing his girlfriend's article.
Guild of Copy Editors March 2023 Newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors March 2023 Newsletter
Election results: In our December 2022 coordinator election, Reidgreg and Tenryuu stepped down as coordinators; we thank them for their service. Incumbents Baffle gab1978, Dhtwiki, Miniapolis and Zippybonzo were returned as coordinators until 1 July. For the second time, no lead coordinator was chosen. Nominations for our mid-year Election of Coordinators open on 1 June (UTC). Drive: 21 editors signed up for our January Backlog Elimination Drive, 14 of whom claimed at least one copy-edit. Between them, they copy-edited 170 articles totaling 389,737 words. Barnstars awarded are here. Blitz: Our February Copy Editing Blitz focused on October and November 2022 requests, and the March and April 2022 backlogs. Of the 14 editors who signed up, nine claimed at least one copy-edit; and between them, they copy-edited 39,150 words in 22 articles. Barnstars awarded are here. Drive: Sign up now for our month-long March Backlog Elimination Drive. Barnstars awarded will be posted here after the drive closes. Progress report: As of 12:08, 19 March 2023 (UTC), GOCE copyeditors have processed 73 requests since 1 January 2023, all but five of them from 2022, and the backlog stands at 1,872 articles. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators Baffle gab1978, Dhtwiki, Miniapolis and Zippybonzo. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
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The Signpost: 20 March 2023
- News and notes: Wikimania submissions deadline looms, Russian government after our lucky charms, AI woes nix CNET from RS slate
Be part of the Wikimania 2023 program!
- Eyewitness: Three more stories from Ukrainian Wikimedians
One year in: volunteering, science, art, and candlelight.
- In the media: Paid editing, plagiarism payouts, proponents of a ploy, and people peeved at perceived preferences
Everything is broken, again.
- Featured content: Way too many featured articles
Seriously, it's only a fortnight's worth!
- Interview: 228/2/1: the inside scoop on Aoidh's RfA
An interview with Wikipedia's newest admin.
- Traffic report: Who died? Who won? Who lost?
All the pop culture that's fit to print, with a sprinkling of cocaine (bear).
The Signpost: 03 April 2023
- From the editor: Some long-overdue retractions
Errata regretted.
- News and notes: Sounding out, a universal code of conduct, and dealing with AI
Skynet believed to be in violation of the new Universal Code of Conduct.
- In the media: Twiddling Wikipedia during an online contest, and other news
Taking the phrase "gaming the system" to the next level.
- Arbitration report: "World War II and the history of Jews in Poland" case is ongoing
Desysop case request still in accept/decline phase.
- Featured content: Hail, poetry! Thou heav'n-born maid
Thou gildest e'en the Signpost's trade.
- Recent research: Language bias: Wikipedia captures at least the "silhouette of the elephant", unlike ChatGPT
And a dataset of article revisions to provide a corpus for promotional content.
- From the archives: April Fools' through the ages
A retrospective of the best and worst pranks.
- Disinformation report: Sus socks support suits, seems systemic
Do important banks sock? Maybe – but don't grab your money and run just yet!
The Signpost: 26 April 2023
- News and notes: Staff departures at Wikimedia Foundation, Jimbo hands in the bits, and graphs' zeppelin burns
Plus: Wikipedians get own Mastodon account, and Wikiprojects move to uniform quality assessment.
- In the media: Contested truth claims in Wikipedia
Covering Russia, Poland, the Vatican, the U.S., and the "perilously thin" boundary between real life and Wikipedia.
- Obituary: Remembering David "DGG" Goodman
The prolific editor, former Arbitration Committee member and co-founder of Wikimedia New York City died in April.
- Arbitration report: Holocaust in Poland, Jimbo in the hot seat, and a desysopping
No news is good news, and this isn't no news.
- Opinion: What Jimbo's question revealed about scamming
The problem we haven't solved.
- Op-Ed: Wikipedia as an anchor of truth
Can Wikipedia help keep AI agents honest?
- Special report: Signpost statistics between years 2005 and 2022
In this article, we will look at The Signpost statistics. More precisely: Signpost article statistics by year, TOP 20 titles of Signpost articles, TOP 20 article authors, and the home wikis of article authors.
- News from the WMF: Collective planning with the Wikimedia Foundation
First of a two part series summarising the priorities for the Wikimedia Foundation's next fiscal year (July 2022–June 2023) including staffing, budget and other changes, and how to provide your feedback.
- Featured content: In which we described the featured articles in rhyme again
And somehow made it more readable than when it's not rhyming.
- From the archives: April Fools' through the ages, part two
2011 and on.
- Humour: The law of hats
The Selfish Hatnote, the Disambiguation Singularity, and other information-theoretic conundra of encyclopedic note.
- Traffic report: Long live machine, the future supreme
Wrestling bumps world-changing technology from the #1 spot, imagine that.
WikiCup 2023 May newsletter
The second round of the 2023 WikiCup has now finished. Contestants needed to have scored 60 points to advance into round 3. Our top five scorers in round 2 all included a featured article among their submissions and each scored over 500 points. They were:
Iazyges (1040) with three FAs on Byzantine emperors, and lots of bonus points.
Unlimitedlead (847), with three FAs on ancient history, one GA and nine reviews.
Epicgenius (636), a WikiCup veteran, with one FA on the New Amsterdam Theatre, four GAs and eleven DYKs
BennyOnTheLoose (553), a seasoned competitor, with one FA on snooker, six GAs and seven reviews.
FrB.TG (525), with one FA, a Lady Gaga song and a mass of bonus points.
Other notable performances were put in by
Sammi Brie,
Thebiguglyalien,
MyCatIsAChonk,
PCN02WPS, and
AirshipJungleman29.
So far contestants have achieved thirteen featured articles between them, one being a joint effort, and forty-nine good articles. The judges are pleased with the thorough reviews that are being performed, and have hardly had to reject any. As we enter the third round, remember that any content promoted after the end of round 2 but before the start of round 3 can be claimed in round 3. Remember too that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them.
If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article nominations, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). 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 your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Sturmvogel 66 and Cwmhiraeth. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 08:15, 2 May 2023 (UTC)
The Signpost: 8 May 2023
- News and notes: New legal "deVLOPments" in the EU
... and at WP:Mastodon.
- In the media: Vivek's smelly socks, online safety, and politics
Fake fines, false alarms and faux headlines!
- Recent research: Gender, race and notability in deletion discussions
And other new research publications.
- Featured content: I wrote a poem for each article, I found rhymes for all the lists; My first featured picture of this year now finally exists!
...Layout lovers will hate this featured content's title.
- Arbitration report: "World War II and the history of Jews in Poland" approaches conclusion
There will likely be more to say next issue.
- News from the WMF: Planning together with the Wikimedia Foundation
The second article in a series describing the priorities and work of the Wikimedia Foundation. The article invites Wikimedians to collaborate with the Foundation.
- Special report: There Shall Be Seasons Refreshing – Stories from WikiConference India 2023
First national-level conference in the Indian subcontinent in seven years.
The Signpost: 22 May 2023
- News and notes: Golden parachutes: Record severance payments at Wikimedia Foundation
... and a referendum on Jimmy Wales' traditional role as a final court of appeal in arbitration policy.
- In the media: History, propaganda and censorship
Opposing scholars on ArbCom case.
- Arbitration report: Final decision in "World War II and the history of Jews in Poland"
Includes stronger sourcing restriction, and a nod to the UCoC.
- Recent research: Create or curate, cooperate or compete? Game theory for Wikipedia editors
And other new research results.
- Featured content: A very musical week for featured articles
Bird is the word for featured pictures.
- Traffic report: Coronation, chatbot, celebs
Celebs and Bollywood film dominated reader interest, as usual, but with a new persistent presence on the lists of a certain AI.
- WikiProject report: Wikipedians Convene for Queering Wikipedia 2023: The First International LGBT+ Wikipedia Conference
An online conference with 12 distributed trans-local in-person meetup "Nodes" on 5 continents.
The Signpost: 5 June 2023
- News and notes: WMRU director forks new 'pedia, birds flap in top '22 piccy, WMF weighs in on Indian gov's map axe plea
Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee Building Committee Commences Command By Convening.
- In the media: Section 230 stands tall, WP vs. UK bill, Miss Information dissed again
Also: Goog gets delist ask for en-wp yt-dl ar-ticle, wacky football fails.
- Featured content: Poetry under pressure
Now is not this ridiculous, and is not this preposterous? A thorough-paced absurdity - explain it if you can.
- Traffic report: Celebs, controversies and a chatbot in the public eye
Plus mortalities, and movies about mermaids.
Guild of Copy Editors June 2023 Newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors June 2023 Newsletter
Hello and welcome to the June 2023 newsletter, a quarterly digest of Guild activities since March. Don't forget you can unsubscribe at any time; see below. Election news: Fancy helping out at the Guild? Nominations for our half-yearly Election of Coordinators are open until 23:59 on 15 June (UTC)*. Starting immediately after, the voting phase will run until 23:59 on 30 June. All Wikipedians in good standing are eligible and self-nominations are welcomed; it's your Guild and it doesn't organize itself! Blitz: Of the 17 editors who signed up for our April Copy Editing Blitz, nine editors completed at least one copy-edit. Between them, they copy-edited 24 articles totaling 53,393 words. Barnstars awarded are here. Drive: 51 editors signed up for the month-long May Backlog Elimination Drive, and 31 copy-edited at least one article. 180 articles were copy-edited. Barnstars awarded are posted here. Blitz: Sign up here for our week-long June Copy Editing Blitz, which runs from 11 to 17 June. Barnstars awarded will be posted here. Progress report: As of 03:09 on 6 June 2023, GOCE copyeditors have processed 91 requests since 1 January and the backlog stands at 1,887 articles. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators Baffle gab1978, Dhtwiki, Miniapolis and Zippybongo. *All times and dates in this newsletter are in UTC, and may significantly vary from your local time. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
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Sent by Baffle gab1978 using MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:38, 6 June 2023 (UTC)
The Signpost: 19 June 2023
- News and notes: WMF Terms of Use now in force, new Creative Commons licensing
Problems with emergency emails sent to WMF.
- In the media: English WP editor glocked after BLP row on Italian 'pedia
... and an AI writer explains why he just bought a paper encyc.
- Featured content: Content, featured
Poetry still present.
- Recent research: Hoaxers prefer currently-popular topics
And other new research findings.
The Signpost: 3 July 2023
- News and notes: Online Safety Bill: Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia UK launch open letter
... and a new Elections Committee.
- Disinformation report: Imploded submersible outfit foiled trying to sing own praises on Wikipedia
A few editors who fought many times to keep advertisements out.
- In the media: Journo proposes mass Wiki dox, sponsored articles on Fandom, Section 230 discussed
Are you now, or have you ever been, a Wikipedia editor?
- Featured content: Incensed
In which featured pictures have a pleasing orange/blue colour scheme for some reason.
- Traffic report: Are you afraid of spiders? Arnold? The Idol? ChatGPT?
Don't worry, they are mostly harmless.
- Humour: United Nations dispatches peacekeeping force to Wikipedia policy discussions
Mission to ensure stability in conflict-ridden area.
WikiCup 2023 July newsletter
The third round of the 2023 WikiCup has come to an end. The 16 users who made it to the fourth round had at least 175 points. Our top scorers in round 3 were:
Thebiguglyalien, with 919 points from a featured article on Frances Cleveland as well as five good articles and many reviews,
Unlimitedlead, with 862 points from a high-scoring featured articles on Henry II of England and numerous reviews,
Iazyges, with 560 points from a high-scoring featured article on Tiberius III.
Contestants achieved 11 featured articles, 2 featured lists, 47 good articles, 72 featured or good article reviews, over 100 DYKs and 40 ITN appearances. As always, any content promoted after the end of round 3 but before the start of round 4 can be claimed in round 4. Please also remember that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them. When doing GARs, please make sure that you check that all the GA criteria are fully met. Please also remember that all submissions must meet core Wikipedia policies, regardless of the review process.
If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article nominations, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). 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 your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Sturmvogel 66 (talk) and Cwmhiraeth (talk). MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:18, 8 July 2023 (UTC)
The Signpost: 17 July 2023
- News and notes: Big bux hidden beneath wine-dark sea as we wait for the Tides to go out?
Gitz666 unglocked, Wikimania scholarships given and a new admin anointed.
- In the media: Tentacles of Emirates plot attempt to ensnare Wikipedia
Ruwiki on the Ruinternet, Rauwerda on TEDx, and Jimbo on Fridman.
- Obituary: David Thomsen (Dthomsen8) and Ingo Koll (Kipala)
Philadelphians and Tanzanians say goodbye.
- News from the WMF: ABC for Fundraising: Advancing Banner Collaboration for fundraising campaigns
The collaboration process for the 2023 English fundraising campaign is kicking off now, right from the start of the fiscal year.
- In focus: Are the children of celebrities over-represented in French cinema?
Wikidata queries investigate nepo babies.
- Tips and tricks: What automation can do for you (and your WikiProject)
A summary of various tools designed over the years.
- Recent research: Wikipedia-grounded chatbot "outperforms all baselines" on factual accuracy
And various other research on large language models and Wikipedia.
- Humour: New fringe theories to be introduced
Bold move intended to "get some variety" into Wikipedia arguments.
- Cobwebs: If you're reading this, you're probably on a desktop
The annual report that tries to understand the Signpost through data, written in 2020, which never saw the light of day until now.
- Featured content: Scrollin', scrollin', scrollin', keep those readers scrollin', got to keep on scrollin', Rawhide!
In which choices have been made™.
- Traffic report: The Idol becomes the Master
Sex, drugs and violence, English, math and science.
The Signpost: 1 August 2023
- News and notes: City officials attempt to doxx Wikipedians, Ruwiki founder banned, WMF launches Mastodon server
And French gov't proposes legislation to slam Wikipedia, others.
- In the media: Truth, AI, bull from politicians, and climate change
Or just another brouhaha?
- Disinformation report: Hot climate, hot hit, hot money, hot news hot off the presses!
Hot damn, it's damned hot!
- Obituary: Donald Cram, Peter McCawley, and Eagleash
Three editors have departed.
- Tips and tricks: Citation tools for dummies!
You don't really want to do this stuff by yourself, do you?
- Humour: Does Wikipedia present neutral perspectives?
A serious visual investigation.
- In focus: Journals cited by Wikipedia
A compilation of over 3M citations.
- Opinion: Are global bans the last step?
Possible solutions after being re-harassed.
- Featured content: Featured Content, 1 to 15 July
Due to unfortunate events, this issue is published as is, in its unfinished state.
- Traffic report: Come on Oppie, let's go party
Oppenheimer, Barbie, and a couple other scandals.
The Signpost: 15 August 2023
- News and notes: Dude, Where's My Donations? Wikimedia Foundation announces another million in grants for non-Wikimedia-related projects
Jimbo promises more transparency, Wikimania in Singapore, move away from Tides still planned, and Wikifunctions rolls out.
- In the media: An accusation of bias from Brazil, a lawsuit from Portugal, plagiarism from Florida
Harsh words from problematic fave Glenn Greenwald.
- In focus: 2023 Good Article Nomination drive is underway: get your barnstars here!
Rigorous Review of Content for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Wikipedia.
- Special report: Thirteen years later, why are most administrators still from 2005?
Damn kids need to get off our lawn and onto RfA.
- Tips and tricks: How to find images for your articles, check their copyright, upload them, and restore them
Because one gets some secondary skills when one has 645 featured pictures.
- Cobwebs: Getting serious about writing
The innards of the Signpost received a major overhaul in March/April 2019. Here's how we reduced behind-the-scenes busywork and improved writers resources.
- Opinion: Copyright trolls, or the last beautiful free souls on this planet?
For whom does the Creative Commons enforcement clause toll?
- Serendipity: Why I stopped taking photographs almost altogether
An announcement of 335,000 new images on Wikimedia Commons.
- Featured content: Barbenheimer confirmed
Some improvement on last week.
- Humour: Arbitration Committee to accept case against Right Honorable Frimbley Cantingham, 15th Viscount Bellington-upon-Porkshire
Case request cited misuse of tools by administrator who last used tools in 1661.
- Traffic report: 'Cause today it just goes with the fashion
Barbenheimer, Pee-Wee Herman and the Women's World Cup.
The Signpost: 31 August 2023
- From the editor: Beta version of signpost.news now online
News for the editoriat. Stuff that matters.
- News and notes: You like RecentChanges?
Wikipedia really comes into its own, editorially and artistically.
- In the media: Taking it sleazy
"Poli", which means "many", and "tics", which means "under-the-table Wikipedia article whitewashing campaigns".
- Recent research: The five barriers that impede "stitching" collaboration between Commons and Wikipedia
And other recent research publications.
- Draftspace: Bad Jokes and Other Draftspace Novelties
The good, the bad, and the nonsense.
- Humour: The Dehumourification Plan
A message from the Counter-Fun Unit.
- Traffic report: Raise your drinking glass, here's to yesterday
I just poured HOT GRITS down my pants ohh yeah
WikiCup 2023 September newsletter
The fourth round of the competition has finished, with anyone scoring less than 673 points being eliminated. It was a high scoring round with all but one of the contestants who progressed to the final having achieved an FA during the round. The highest scorers were
Epicgenius, with 2173 points topping the scores, gained mainly from a featured article, 38 good articles and 9 DYKs. He was followed by
Sammi Brie, with 1575 points, gained mainly from a featured article, 28 good articles and 50 good article reviews. Close behind was
Thebiguglyalien, with 1535 points mainly gained from a featured article, 15 good articles, 26 good article reviews and lots of bonus points.
Between them during round 4, contestants achieved 12 featured articles, 3 featured lists, 3 featured pictures, 126 good articles, 46 DYK entries, 14 ITN entries, 67 featured article candidate reviews and 147 good article reviews. Congratulations to our eight finalists and all who participated! It was a generally high-scoring and productive round and I think we can expect a highly competitive finish to the competition.
Remember that any content promoted after the end of round 4 but before the start of round 5 can be claimed in round 5. Remember too that you must claim your points within 10 days of "earning" them and within 24 hours of the end of the final. If you are concerned that your nomination will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews. It would be helpful if this list could be cleared of any items no longer relevant. If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to keep down the review backlogs! Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send.
I will be standing down as a judge after the end of the contest. I think the Cup encourages productive editors to improve their contributions to Wikipedia and I hope that someone else will step up to take over the running of the Cup. Sturmvogel 66 (talk), and Cwmhiraeth (talk)
Septermber GOCE newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors September 2023 Newsletter
Hello and welcome to the September 2023 newsletter, a quarterly digest of Guild activities since June. Don't forget you can unsubscribe at any time; see below. David Thomsen: Prolific Wikipedian and Guild member David Thomsen (Dthomsen8) died in November 2022. He was a regular copy editor who took part in many of our Drives and Blitzes. An obituary was published in the mid-July issue of The Signpost. Tributes can be left on David's talk page. Election news: In our mid-year Election of Coordinators, Dhtwiki was chosen as lead coordinator, Miniapolis and Zippybonzo continue as assistant coordinators, and Baffle gab1978 stepped down from the role. If you're interested in helping out at the GOCE, please consider nominating yourself for our next election in December; it's your WikiProject and it doesn't organize itself! June Blitz: Of the 17 editors who signed up for our June Copy Editing Blitz, 12 copy-edited at least one article. 70,035 words comprising 26 articles were copy-edited. Barnstars awarded are here. July Drive: 34 of the 51 editors who took part in our July Backlog Elimination Drive copy-edited at least one article. They edited 276 articles and 683,633 words between them. Barnstars awarded are here. August Blitz: In our August Copy Editing Blitz, 13 of the 16 editors who signed up worked on at least one article. Between them, they copy-edited 79,608 words comprising 57 articles. Barnstars awarded are available here. September Drive: Sign up here for our month-long September Backlog Elimination Drive, which is now underway. Barnstars awarded will be posted here. Progress report: As of 14:29, 9 September 2023 (UTC), GOCE copy editors have processed 245 requests since 1 January. The backlog of tagged articles stands at 2,066. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators, Dhtwiki, Miniapolis and Zippybonzo. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:55, 10 September 2023 (UTC)
The Signpost: 16 September 2023
- News and notes: Wikimedia power sharing – just an advisory role for the volunteer community?
Plus: Africa news, funding report, U4C draft, roads fork and another ChatGPT block.
- In the media: "Just flirting", going Dutch and Shapps for the defence?
Plus a new judge, an "unimportant" record, and staying in the swim!
- Obituary: Nosebagbear
A Wikipedian and a friend.
- Serendipity: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no paywall, for thou, Wikipedia Library, art with me
Non-flammable, BPA-free, and really whips the llama's ass.
- Featured content: Catching up
Covering all of August. Pretty much.
- Concept: Strange portal opened by CERN researchers brings Wikipedia articles from "other worlds"
The Signpost brings you the latest from the source.
- Traffic report: Some of it's magic, some of it's tragic
Sports, film and singers. We've got it all!
The Signpost: 3 October 2023
- News and notes: Wikimedia Endowment financial statement published
Finances during Tides Foundation management of the endowment are shown for the first time.
- In the media: History is written by whoever can harness the most editors
Plus Harvard, Yale, Lords and Commons, partners and trolls!
- Recent research: Readers prefer ChatGPT over Wikipedia; concerns about limiting "anyone can edit" principle "may be overstated"
And other new research publications
- Featured content: By your logic,
The first issue to feature two poetry article
- Concept: Wikipedia policies from other worlds: WP:NOANTLERS
Material must be written with the greatest care and attention; the level of detail and commentary regarding the antlers of living persons is to be kept to a minimum.
- Poetry: "The Sight"
Tamzin reflects on the hunt.
- Traffic report: There shall be no slaves in the land of lands, it's a Bollywood jam
Taylor Swift with an NFL tight end and Lauren Boebert with a Democrat?
The Signpost: 23 October 2023
- News and notes: Where have all the administrators gone?
Long time passing
- In the media: Thirst traps, the fastest loading sites on the web, and the original collaborative writing
Also: High fives, Wikipedia as a guide for counterfeiters and crossword makers, and Iskander at the UN.
- Gallery: Before and After: Why you don't need to know how to restore images to make massive improvements
The benefits of research.
- Featured content: Yo, ho! Blow the man down!
These titles never make much sense even at the best of times, so why not be random?
- Traffic report: The calm and the storm
They are still fighting.
- News from Diff: Sawtpedia: Giving a Voice to Wikipedia Using QR Codes
Sounds good!
- Humour: New citation template introduced for divine revelations, drug use, and really thinking about it
"Cite altered state" to join the distinguished ranks of CS1 templates
WikiCup 2023 November newsletter
The WikiCup is a marathon rather than a sprint and all those reaching the final round have been involved in the competition for the last ten months, improving Wikipedia vastly during the process. After all this hard work,
BeanieFan11 has emerged as the 2023 winner and the WikiCup Champion. The finalists this year were:-
BeanieFan11 with 2582 points
Thebiguglyalien with 1615 points
Epicgenius with 1518 points
MyCatIsAChonk with 1012 points
BennyOnTheLoose with 974 points
AirshipJungleman29 with 673 points
Sammi Brie with 520 points
Unlimitedlead with 5 points
Congratulations to everyone who participated in this year's WikiCup, whether they made it to the final round or not, and particular congratulations to the newcomers to the competition, some of whom did very well. Wikipedia has benefitted greatly from the quality creations, expansions and improvements made, and the numerous reviews performed. All those who reached the final round will win awards. The following special awards will be made based on high performance in particular areas of content creation and review. Awards will be handed out in the next few days.
Unlimitedlead wins the featured article prize, for 7 FAs in total including 3 in round 2.
MyCatIsAChonk wins the featured list prize, for 5 FLs in total.
Lee Vilenski wins the featured topic prize, for a 6-article featured topic in round 4.
MyCatIsAChonk wins the featured picture prize, for 6 FPs in total.
BeanieFan11 wins the good article prize, for 75 GAs in total, including 61 in the final round.
Epicgenius wins the good topic prize, for a 41-article good topic in the final round.
LunaEatsTuna wins the GA reviewer prize, for 70 GA reviews in round 1.
MyCatIsAChonk wins the FA reviewer prize, for 66 FA reviews in the final round.
Epicgenius wins the DYK prize, for 49 did you know articles in total.
Muboshgu wins the ITN prize, for 46 in the news articles in total.
The WikiCup has run every year since 2007. With the 2023 contest now concluded, I will be standing down as a judge due to real life commitments, so I hope that another editor will take over running the competition. Please get in touch if you are interested. Next year's competition will hopefully begin on 1 January 2024. You are invited to sign up to participate in the contest; the WikiCup is open to all Wikipedians, both novices and experienced editors. It only remains to congratulate our worthy winners once again and thank all participants for their involvement! (If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send.) Sturmvogel 66 and Cwmhiraeth. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:51, 5 November 2023 (UTC)
The Signpost: 6 November 2023
- Arbitration report: Admin bewilderingly unmasks self as sockpuppet of other admin who was extremely banned in 2015
"Is this an ArbCom case request or an M. Night Shyamalan movie?"
- In the media: UK shadow chancellor accused of ripping off WP articles for book, Wikipedians accused of being dicks by a rich man
Plus Gaza bias, Speaker Johnson, Maher, the music of websites, and antisemitism.
- News and notes: Board candidacy process posted, editors protest WMF privacy measure, sweet meetups
And three new admins!
- Opinion: An open letter to Elon Musk
You should learn some of our rules!
- WikiCup report: The WikiCup 2023
The winner is...
- News from Wiki Ed: Equity lists on Wikipedia
Do you ever wonder where Wikipedia articles come from?
- Recent research: How English Wikipedia drove out fringe editors over two decades
And other new research findings.
- Featured content: Like putting a golf course in a historic site.
Only literally.
- Wikidata: Evaluating qualitative systemic bias in large article sets on Wikipedia
A systematic approach.
- Traffic report: Cricket jumpscare
Plus Kollywood, Killers of the Flower Moon, and ongoing war.
The Signpost: 20 November 2023
- In the media: Propaganda and photos, lunatics and a lunar backup
Comic-con, Media summit, and a classic!
- News and notes: Update on Wikimedia's financial health
Plus: Sockpuppet investigators asking for help.
- Traffic report: If it bleeds, it leads
Or if it's Indian sport or cinema.
- Recent research: Canceling disputes as the real function of ArbCom
And other new research findings.
- Wikimania: Wikimania 2024 scholarships
Scholarship applications for Wikimania 2024 are now open!
The Signpost: 4 December 2023
- News and notes: Beeblebrox ejected from Arbitration Committee following posts on Wikipediocracy
Just as his term was ending!
- In the media: Turmoil on Hebrew Wikipedia, grave dancing, Olga's impact and inspiring Bhutanese nuns
Plus Apple Pay, fiction, registration, expulsion, and elimination!
- Disinformation report: "Wikipedia and the assault on history"
An analysis of a literary mystery.
- In focus: Tens of thousands of freely available sources flagged
Continuing years of efforts to improve free-to-read access.
- Comix: Bold comics for a new age
"I think we ought to read only the kind of comics that wound or stab us. If the comic we're reading doesn't wake us up with a blow to the head, what are we reading for?" — Franz Kafka
- Essay: I am going to die
And so are you.
- Featured content: Real gangsters move in silence
Quite literally, and other fascinating featured articles, pictures and lists
- Traffic report: And it's hard to watch some cricket, in the cold November Rain
If you don't fancy the sport that occupies over 25% of the slots in these lists, there's always movies, celebrities, and political follies to fall back on – or an unusual fired-for-the-weekend CEO.
- Humour: Mandy Rice-Davies Applies
This page in a nutshell: Whether or not someone has denied unsavory allegations — though such a denial may not merit being given equal weight in an article — a worthless shitpost should still be included.
Guild of Copy Editors December 2023 Newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors December 2023 Newsletter
Hello, and welcome to the December 2023 newsletter, a quarterly digest of Guild activities since September. Don't forget that you can unsubscribe at any time; see below. Election news: The Guild needs coordinators! If you'd like to help out, you may nominate yourself or any suitable editor—with their permission—for the Election of Coordinators for the first half of 2024. Nominations will close at 23:59 on 15 December (UTC). Voting begins immediately after the close of nominations and closes at 23:59 on 31 December. All editors in good standing (not under current sanctions) are eligible, and self-nominations are welcome. Coordinators normally serve a six-month term that ends at 23:59 on 30 June. Drive: Of the 69 editors who signed up for the September Backlog Elimination Drive, 40 copy-edited at least one article. Between them, they copy-edited 661,214 words in 290 articles. Barnstars awarded are listed here. Blitz: Of the 22 editors who signed up for the October Copy Editing Blitz, 13 copy-edited at least one article. Between them, they copy-edited 109,327 words in 52 articles. Barnstars awarded are listed here. Drive: During the November Backlog Elimination Drive, 38 of the 58 editors who signed up copy-edited at least one article. Between them, they copy-edited 458,620 words in 234 articles. Barnstars awarded are listed here. Blitz: Our December Copy Editing Blitz will run from 10 to 16 December. Barnstars awarded will be posted here. Progress report: As of 20:33, 10 December 2023 (UTC), GOCE copyeditors have processed 344 requests since 1 January, and the backlog stands at 2,191 articles. Other news: Our Annual Report for 2023 is planned for release in the new year. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators Dhtwiki, Miniapolis and Zippybonzo. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
|
Message sent by Baffle gab1978 using MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:53, 10 December 2023 (UTC)
The Signpost: 24 December 2023
- Special report: Did the Chinese Communist Party send astroturfers to sabotage a hacktivist's Wikipedia article?
Wikipedia article histories are public records that can be easily examined, so unlike other websites, we can answer this question thoroughly.
- News and notes: The Italian Public Domain wars continue, Wikimedia RU set to dissolve, and a recap of WLM 2023
Not the best of times for Wikipedians across the world, but there are still glimpses of hope...
- In the media: Consider the humble fork
Forky on forky on forky, plus a strange donation scheme and other interesting bits of news.
- Discussion report: Arabic Wikipedia blackout; Wikimedians discuss SpongeBob, copyrights, and AI
Wiki goes dark and adopts Palestine flag logo; intellectual property rumblings from the bowels of the law.
- In focus: Liquidation of Wikimedia RU
Wikimedia Russia closes after founder is declared a "foreign agent".
- Technology report: Dark mode is coming
No more must Wikipedia always be a lightbulb in the dark — except metaphorically of course.
- Recent research: "LLMs Know More, Hallucinate Less" with Wikidata
And other new research publications.
- Gallery: A feast of holidays and carols
Peace on earth, goodwill to all!
- Comix: Lollus lmaois 200C tincture
the dilution makes it stronger.
- Crossword: when the crossword is sus
The Signpost Crossword is a 2018 online multiplayer social deduction game that takes place in space-themed settings where players are colorful, armless cartoon astronauts.
- Traffic report: What's the big deal? I'm an animal!
Bollywood, Hollywood, and both kinds of football to close out December.
- From the editor: A piccy iz worth OVAR 9000!!!11oneone! wordz ^_^
The debugging will continue until performance improves.
- Apocrypha: Local editor discovered 1,380 lost subheadings in ancient Signpost scrolls. And what he found was shocking.
Heartwarming — MUST READ — You Won't BELIEVE #4!!!!!
- Humour: Guess the joke contest
Winner receives a special prize!
- BJAODN: Bad jokes and other deleted nonsense
Edit summary: "Only need this page for about 30 minutes to demonstrate to a friend how easy it is to create a Wikipedia page. Then it will be deleted."
Welcome to the 2024 WikiCup!
Happy New Year and Happy New WikiCup! The 2024 competition has just begun and all article creators, expanders, improvers and reviewers are welcome to take part. Even if you are a novice editor you should be able to advance to at least the second round, improving your editing skills as you go. If you have already signed up, your submissions page can be found here. If you have not yet signed up, you can add your name here and the judges will set up your submissions page ready for you to take part. Any questions on the scoring, rules or anything else should be directed to one of the judges, or posted to the WikiCup talk page. Signups will close on 31 January, and the first round will end on 26 February; the 64 highest scorers at that time will move on to round 2. The judges for the WikiCup this year are: Cwmhiraeth (talk · contribs · email), Epicgenius (talk · contribs · email), and Frostly (talk · contribs · email). Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:21, 1 January 2024 (UTC)
The Signpost: 10 January 2024
- From the editor: NINETEEN MORE YEARS! NINETEEN MORE YEARS!
The Signpost can now drink beer and chant slogans in Canada. What slogans should we chant for the next nineteen years?
- Special report: Public Domain Day 2024
Mickey & You: What can you do?
- Technology report: Wikipedia: A Multigenerational Pursuit
A techie looks at the big questions.
- News and notes: In other news ... see ya in court!
Let the games begin! The 2024 WikiCup is off to a strong start. With copyright enforcement, AI training and freedom of expression, it's another typical week in the wiki-sphere!
- In focus: The long road of a featured article candidate
The first of two installments, regarding a process of many installments.
- In the media: What is plagiarism? Oklahoma Disneyland? Reaching a human being at Wikipedia?
Watch out for those space ships!
- WikiProject report: WikiProjects Israel and Palestine
What are the editorial processes behind covering some of the most politically polarizing and contentious topics on English Wikipedia?
- Obituary: Anthony Bradbury
Rest in peace.
- Traffic report: The most viewed articles of 2023
Around the world in 365 days (with many stops in India).
- Crossword: everybody gangsta till the style sheets start cascading
The good news is that I've perfected the templates that allow other people to make actually good crosswords.
- Comix: Conflict resolution
Getting down to brass tacks &c.
The Signpost: 31 January 2024
- News and notes: Wikipedian Osama Khalid celebrated his 30th birthday in jail
Plus WMF child rights impact assessment, Chinese Wikipedia changes admin rules
- Opinion: Until it happens to you
A stream of consciousness about plagiarism on Wikipedia from the perspective of a user who directly witnessed it.
- Disinformation report: How paid editors squeeze you dry
And how you can stop them!
- In the media: Katherine Maher new NPR CEO, go check Wikipedia, race in the race
Another wobble, more Ackman, our usual pathological optimist, and football in dirty pants!
- In focus: The long road of a featured article candidate, part 2
Everything you really wanted to know about writing featured articles.
- Recent research: Croatian takeover was enabled by "lack of bureaucratic openness and rules constraining [admins]"
And other new research publications.
- Comix: We've all got to start somewhere
Writing a good subheading for a one-sentence joke is basically like writing an entire second joke so I'm not going to do it.
- Traffic report: DJ, gonna burn this goddamn house right down
Job changes, death, sex, murder, suicide and a vacation!
WikiCup 2024 February newsletter
The 2024 WikiCup is off to a flying start, with 135 participants. This is the largest number of participants we have seen since 2017.
Our current leader is newcomer
Generalissima (submissions), who has one FA on John Littlejohn (preacher) and 10 GAs and 12 DYKs mostly on New Zealand coinage and Inuit figures. Here are some more noteworthy scorers:
AirshipJungleman29 (submissions), with one FA on Hö'elün, two GAs on Mongolia-related articles, and two DYKs;
Vami_IV (submissions), with one FA on Doom (2016 video game), one GA on Boundary Fire (2017), and 11 reviews;
MaranoFan (submissions), with one FA on Holidays (Meghan Trainor song), a nine-article FT on 30 (album), and two DYKs;
Skyshifter (submissions), with one FA on OneShot and one DYK;
Sammi Brie (submissions), with five GAs and five DYKs on television and radio stations;
voorts (submissions) and
Elli (submissions), both with one FA and one DYK each.
As a reminder, competitors may submit work for the first round until 23:59 (UTC) on 27 February, and the second round starts 1 March. Remember that only the top 64 scoring competitors will make it through to the second round; currently, competitors need at least 15 points to progress. If you are concerned that your nomination will not receive the necessary reviews, and you hope to get it promoted before the end of the round, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews. However, please remember to continue to offer reviews at GAN, FAC and all the other pages that require them to prevent any backlogs which could otherwise be caused by the Cup. As ever, questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup and the judges (Cwmhiraeth (talk · contribs), Epicgenius (talk · contribs), and Frostly (talk · contribs)) are reachable on their talk pages. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:58, 11 February 2024 (UTC)
The Signpost: 13 February 2024
- News and notes: Wikimedia Russia director declared "foreign agent" by Russian gov; EU prepares to pile on the papers
"the exact extent of the obligations" unclear... many such cases!
- Disinformation report: How low can the scammers go?
Lower, trust me!
- Gallery: Before and After: Why you don't need to touch grass to dramatically improve images of flora and fauna
Finding the right bumblebee among all the bumblebees!
- In the media: Speaking in tongues, toeing the line, and dressing the part
The usual odd articles about Wikipedia.
- Serendipity: Is this guy the same as the one who was a Nazi?
The hunt for Bertil Ragnar Anzén.
- Traffic report: Griselda, Nikki, Carl, Jannik and two types of football
Plus films, Grammys and a rumble!
- Crossword: Our crossword to bear
&c.
- Comix: Strongly
That's more than weakly!
WikiCup 2024 March newsletter
The first round of the 2024 WikiCup ended at 23:59 (UTC) on 27 February. Everyone with at least 30 points moved on to Round 2, the highest number of points required to advance to the second round since 2014. Due to a six-way tie for the 64th-place spot, 67 contestants have qualified for Round 2.
The following scorers in Round 1 all scored more than 300 points:
Generalissima (submissions), who has 916 points mostly from one FA on John Littlejohn (preacher), 15 GAs, and 16 DYKs on a variety of topics including New Zealand coinage and Inuit figures, in addition to seven reviews
Vami_IV (submissions), who has 790 points from two FAs on Felix M. Warburg House and Doom (2016 video game), two GAs, one DYK, and 11 reviews
AirshipJungleman29 (submissions), who has 580 points from one FA on Hö'elün, two GAs on Mongolia-related articles, two DYKs, and five reviews
Sammi Brie (submissions), who has 420 points mostly from nine GAs and seven DYKs on television and radio stations
MaranoFan (submissions), who has 351 points from one FA on Holidays (Meghan Trainor song), a nine-article FT on 30 (album), and three DYKs
Skyshifter (submissions), who has 345 points from one FA on OneShot, one DYK and two reviews
In this newsletter, the judges would like to pay a special tribute to
Vami_IV (submissions), who unfortunately passed away this February. At the time of his death, he was the second-highest-scoring competitor. Outside the WikiCup, he had eight other featured articles, five A-class articles, eight other good articles, and two Four Awards. Vami also wrote an essay on completionism, a philosophy in which he deeply believed. If you can, please join us in honoring his memory by improving one of the articles on his to-do list.
Remember that any content promoted after 27 February but before the start of Round 2 can be claimed in Round 2. Invitations for collaborative writing efforts or any other discussion of potentially interesting work is always welcome on the WikiCup talk page. Remember, if two or more WikiCup competitors have done significant work on an article, all can claim points. 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 Needed. If you want to help out with the WikiCup, feel free to review one of the nominations listed on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed. Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:41, 28 February 2024 (UTC)
The Signpost: 2 March 2024
- News and notes: Wikimedia enters US Supreme court hearings as "the dolphin inadvertently caught in the net"
Plus, the U4C Charter keeps planting seeds, the RfA process is set to become more sustainable, and more news from the Wikimedia ecosystem.
- Recent research: Images on Wikipedia "amplify gender bias"
And other new findings
- In the media: The Scottish Parliament gets involved, a wikirace on live TV, and the Foundation's CTO goes on record
Plus, naughty politicians, Federal judge not a fan, UFOs and beavers.
- Obituary: Vami_IV
Rest in peace.
- Traffic report: Supervalentinefilmbowlday
If you say it loud enough the views will come your way!
- WikiCup report: High-scoring WikiCup first round comes to a close
135 battle it out; 67 advance
Guild of Copy Editors 2023 Annual Report
| Guild of Copy Editors 2023 Annual Report
Our 2023 Annual Report is now ready for review.
Highlights:
– Your Guild coordinators:
Dhtwiki, Miniapolis and Wracking.
To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
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The Signpost: 29 March 2024
- Technology report: Millions of readers still seeing broken pages as "temporary" disabling of graph extension nears its second year
Much effort was spent drafting a movement charter about becoming "essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge". How much is spent maintaining it?
- Interview: Interview on Wikimedia Foundation fundraising and finance strategy
Signpost interviews Wikimedia Foundation leadership on fundraising banners
- Special report: 19-page PDF accuses Wikipedia of bias against Israel, suggests editors be forced to reveal their real names, and demands a new feature allowing people to view the history of Wikipedia articles
And does it have anything to do with the unusual decision to let a zero-edit user open an arbitration request?
- Op-Ed: Wikipedia in the age of personality-driven knowledge
Can we compete with social media? Will aoomers forget Wikipedia?
- Recent research: "Newcomer Homepage" feature mostly fails to boost new editors
And several papers look at climate change on Wikipedia
- News and notes: Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee Charter ratified
WLM winners announced, Wikimania 2024, a new Wikimedia movement affiliate, and active enwp admins reach a record low.
- In the media: "For me it’s the autism": AARoad editors on the fork more traveled
Worldwide women turned blue and controversies on Serbian & French Wikipedia.
- Traffic report: He rules over everything, on the land called planet Dune
Let me take you to the movies.
- Humour: Letters from the editors
The only worthwhile grievance is the one that prompts satire.
- Comix: Layout issue
margin: 0 auto !important;
Guild of Copy Editors April 2024 Newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors April 2024 Newsletter
Hello and welcome to the April 2024 newsletter, a quarterly digest of Guild activities since December. Don't forget you can unsubscribe at any time; see below. We extend a warm welcome to all of our new members. We wish you all happy copy-editing. Election results: In our December 2023 coordinator election, Zippybonzo stepped down as coordinator; we thank them for their service. Incumbents Dhtwiki and Miniapolis were reelected coordinators, and Wracking was newly elected coordinator, to serve through 30 June. Nominations for our mid-year Election of Coordinators will open on 1 June (UTC). Drive: 46 editors signed up for our January Backlog Elimination Drive, 32 of whom claimed at least one copy-edit. Between them, they copy-edited 289 articles totaling 626,729 words. Barnstars awarded are here. Blitz: 23 editors signed up for our February Copy Editing Blitz. 18 claimed at least one copy-edit and between them, they copy-edited 100,293 words in 32 articles. Barnstars awarded are here. Drive: 53 editors signed up for our March Backlog Elimination Drive, 34 of whom claimed at least one copy-edit. Between them, they copy-edited 300 articles totaling 587,828 words. Barnstars awarded are here. Blitz: Sign up for our April Copy Editing Blitz, which runs from 14 to 20 April. Barnstars will be awarded here. Progress report: As of 23:17, 11 April 2024 (UTC), GOCE copyeditors have processed 109 requests since 1 January 2024, and the backlog stands at 2,480 articles. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from Baffle gab1978 and your GOCE coordinators Dhtwiki, Miniapolis and Wracking. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
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WikiCup 2024 April newsletter
We are approaching the end of the 2024 WikiCup's second round, with a little over two weeks remaining. Currently, contestants must score at least 105 points to progress to the third round.
Our current top scorers are as follows:
Sammi Brie (submissions) with 642 points, mostly from 11 GAs about radio and television;
voorts (submissions) with 530 points, mostly from two FAs (Well he would, wouldn't he? and Cora Agnes Benneson) and three GAs;
Generalissima (submissions) with 523 points, mostly from 11 GAs about coinage and history;
SounderBruce (submissions) with 497 points, mostly from a FA about the 2020 season of the soccer club Seattle Sounders FC and two GAs;
Tamzin (submissions) with 410 points, mostly from a FA about the drink Capri-Sun and three GAs;
Kusma (submissions) with 330 points, mostly from a FA about the English botanist Anna Blackburne and a GA.
Competitors may submit work for the second round until the end of 28 April, and the third round starts 1 May. Remember that only competitors with the top 32 scores will make it through to the third round. If you are concerned that your nomination will not receive the necessary reviews, and you hope to get it promoted before the end of the round, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews. Please remember to continue to offer reviews at GAN, FAC and all the other pages that require them to prevent any backlogs. As a reminder, competitors are strictly prohibited from gaming Wikipedia policies or processes to receive more points.
If you would like to learn more about rules and scoring for the 2024 WikiCup, please read Wikipedia:WikiCup/Scoring. Further questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup and the judges (Cwmhiraeth (talk · contribs), Epicgenius (talk · contribs), and Frostly (talk · contribs)) are reachable on their talk pages. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:05, 12 April 2024 (UTC)
The Signpost: 25 April 2024
- In the media: Censorship and wikiwashing looming over RuWiki, edit wars over San Francisco politics, and another wikirace on live TV
Plus, tribute songs and shout-outs outweighing vandalism and hoaxes, a dispute about the real king of the platform and other bits of news.
- News and notes: A sigh of relief for open access as Italy makes a slight U-turn on their cultural heritage reproduction law
Plus, new updates on the privacy and research ethics whitepaper and the graphs outage situation, and an Iranian former steward is globally banned from Wikimedia projects
- WikiConference report: WikiConference North America 2023 in Toronto recap
Outcomes of the event including newly published videos and photos, the archived conference website and program, and some attendee reflections on its significance.
- WikiProject report: WikiProject Newspapers (Not WP:NOTNEWS)
A WikiProject report on the 📰🌍 globe's finest news source!
- Recent research: New survey of over 100,000 Wikipedia users
And other recent research publications
- Traffic report: O.J., cricket and a three body problem
Plus Godzilla meets Francis Scott Key!
WikiCup 2024 May newsletter
The second round of the 2024 WikiCup ended on 28 April. This round was particularly competitive: each of the 32 contestants who advanced to Round 3 scored at least 141 points. This is the highest number of points required to advance to Round 3 since 2014.
The following scorers in Round 2 all scored more than 500 points:
Sammi Brie (submissions) with 707 points, mostly from 45 good article nomination reviews and 12 good articless about radio and television;
Generalissima (submissions) with 600 points, mostly from 12 good articles and 12 did you know nominations about coinage and history;
SounderBruce (submissions) with 552 points, mostly from a featured article about the 2020 Seattle Sounders FC season, three featured lists, and two good articles;
BennyOnTheLoose (submissions) with 548 points, mostly from a featured article about the snooker player John Pulman, two featured lists, and one good article;
voorts (submissions) with 530 points, mostly from two featured articles (Well he would, wouldn't he? and Cora Agnes Benneson) and three good articles.
The full scores for Round 2 can be seen here. So far this year, competitors have gotten 18 featured articles, 22 featured lists, and 186 good articles, 76 in the news credits and at least 200 did you know credits. They have conducted 165 featured article reviews, as well as 399 good article reviews and peer reviews, and have added 21 articles to featured topics and good topics.
Remember that any content promoted after 28 April but before the start of Round 3 can be claimed during Round 3, which starts on 1 May at 00:00 (UTC). Invitations for collaborative writing efforts or any other discussion of potentially interesting work is always welcome on the WikiCup talk page. Remember, if two or more WikiCup competitors have done significant work on an article, all can claim points. 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 Needed.
If you would like to learn more about rules and scoring for the 2024 WikiCup, please see this page. Further questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup and the judges (Cwmhiraeth (talk · contribs), Epicgenius (talk · contribs), and Frostly (talk · contribs)) are reachable on their talk pages. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:37, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
WikiCup 2024 May newsletter
The second round of the 2024 WikiCup ended on 28 April. This round was particularly competitive: each of the 32 contestants who advanced to Round 3 scored at least 141 points. This is the highest number of points required to advance to Round 3 since 2014.
The following scorers in Round 2 all scored more than 500 points:
Sammi Brie (submissions) with 707 points, mostly from 45 good article nomination reviews and 12 good articless about radio and television;
Generalissima (submissions) with 600 points, mostly from 12 good articles and 12 did you know nominations about coinage and history;
SounderBruce (submissions) with 552 points, mostly from a featured article about the 2020 Seattle Sounders FC season, three featured lists, and two good articles;
BennyOnTheLoose (submissions) with 548 points, mostly from a featured article about the snooker player John Pulman, two featured lists, and one good article;
voorts (submissions) with 530 points, mostly from two featured articles (Well he would, wouldn't he? and Cora Agnes Benneson) and three good articles.
The full scores for Round 2 can be seen here. So far this year, competitors have gotten 18 featured articles, 22 featured lists, and 186 good articles, 76 in the news credits and at least 200 did you know credits. They have conducted 165 featured article reviews, as well as 399 good article reviews and peer reviews, and have added 21 articles to featured topics and good topics.
Remember that any content promoted after 28 April but before the start of Round 3 can be claimed during Round 3, which starts on 1 May at 00:00 (UTC). Invitations for collaborative writing efforts or any other discussion of potentially interesting work is always welcome on the WikiCup talk page. Remember, if two or more WikiCup competitors have done significant work on an article, all can claim points. 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 Needed.
If you would like to learn more about rules and scoring for the 2024 WikiCup, please see this page. Further questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup and the judges (Cwmhiraeth (talk · contribs), Epicgenius (talk · contribs), and Frostly (talk · contribs)) are reachable on their talk pages. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:39, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
You have been removed from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send due to inactivity
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Because of your inactivity, you have been removed from the list. If you would like to resubscribe, you can do so at any time by visiting Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send.
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The Signpost: 16 May 2024
- News and notes: Democracy in action: multiple elections
WMF trustee elections, U4C results, Italian ArbCom, WMF and Endowment annual reports.
- Special report: Will the new RfA reform come to the rescue of administrators?
We don't know yet, but there is some encouraging news, nevertheless.
- Arbitration report: Ruined temples for posterity to ponder over – arbitration from '22 to '24
Some go out with a bang, some with a whimper, few with much of a comprehensible explanation.
- In the media: Deadnames on the French Wikipedia, and a duel between Russian wikis
Plus, the WMF joins the Unicode Consortium, Chris Albon talks about AI tools on Wikipedia, communities address under-representation on the site.
- Op-Ed: Wikidata to split as sheer volume of information overloads infrastructure
More queries are failing, and more frequently, so what is to be done?
- Comix: Generations
It do be like that sometimes.
- Traffic report: Crawl out through the fallout, baby
With cricket and some cute baby reindeer!
Guild of Copy Editors June 2024 Newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors June 2024 Newsletter
Hello and welcome to the June 2024 newsletter, a quarterly-ish digest of Guild activities since April. Don't forget you can unsubscribe at any time; see below. Election news: Wanted: new Guild coordinators! If you value and enjoy the GOCE, why not help out behind the scenes? Nominations for our mid-year coordinator election are now open until 23:59 on 15 June (UTC). Self-nominations are welcome. Voting commences at 00:01 on 16 June and continues until 23:50 on 30 June. Results will be announced at the election page. Blitz: Nine of the fourteen editors who signed up for the April 2024 Copy Editing Blitz copy edited at least one article. Between them, they copy edited 55,853 words comprising twenty articles. Barnstars awarded are available here. Drive: 58 editors signed up for our May 2024 Backlog Elimination Drive and 33 of those completed at least one copy edit. 251 articles and 475,952 words were copy edited. Barnstars awarded are here. Blitz: Our June 2024 Copy Editing Blitz will begin on 16 June and finish on 22 June. Barnstars awarded will be posted here. Progress report: As of 05:23, 8 June 2024 (UTC) , GOCE copyeditors have completed 161 requests since 1 January and the backlog stands at 2,779 articles. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from Baffle gab1978 and your GOCE coordinators Dhtwiki, Miniapolis and Wracking. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
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The Signpost: 8 June 2024
- News and notes: Wikimedia Foundation publishes its Form 990 for fiscal year 2022-2023
The Form 990, as well as highlights and FAQs, are now available for review.
- Technology report: New Page Patrol receives a much-needed software upgrade
A new model for collaboration between the WMF and the community?
- Deletion report: The lore of Kalloor
Hoaxes and the genesis of information.
- In the media: National cable networks get in on the action arguing about what the first sentence of a Wikipedia article ought to say
First line, sixth paragraph, body text or unified Reich?
- News from the WMF: Progress on the plan — how the Wikimedia Foundation advanced on its Annual Plan goals during the first half of fiscal year 2023-2024
Outlining progress against the four key goals
- Opinion: Public response to the editors of Settler Colonial Studies
A letter.
- Recent research: ChatGPT did not kill Wikipedia, but might have reduced its growth
And various research findings about Wikidata and knowledge graphs.
- Featured content: We didn't start the wiki
No we didn't write it, but we tried to cite it
- Essay: No queerphobia
An essay.
- Special report: RetractionBot is back to life!
... and flagging your articles with big ugly red notices! (This is a good thing.)
- Traffic report: Chimps, Eurovision, and the return of the Baby Reindeer
Movies, deaths, elections (but no cricket).
- Comix: The Wikipediholic Family
Some stuff's only okay in the privacy of the home.
- Humour: Wikipedia rattled by sophisticated cyberattack of schoolboy typing "balls" in infobox
Project in shambles – "it had never occurred to us that this was possible".
- Concept: Palimpsestuous
Hypertext.
The Signpost: 4 July 2024
- News and notes: WMF board elections and fundraising updates
Three new admins, but overall numbers still shrinking.
- Special report: Wikimedia Movement Charter ratification vote underway, new Council may surpass power of Board
Will we weather the storm?
- In focus: How the Russian Wikipedia keeps it clean despite having just a couple dozen administrators
Unbundling, automation, fighting spirit, and a bot named Reimu Hakurei.
- Discussion report: Wikipedians are hung up on the meaning of Madonna
Debate unsettled after seventeen years.
- In the media: War and information in war and politics
Advocacy organizations, a journalist, mycophobes, conservatives, leftists, photographers, and a disinformation task force imagine themselves in Wikipedia.
- Sister projects: On editing Wikisource
A journey to a sister project.
- Obituary: Hanif Al Husaini, Salazarov, Hyacinth, and PirjanovNurlan
Rest in peace.
- Opinion: Etika: a Pop Culture Champion
An article about Etika's appeal and legacy in pop culture.
- Gallery: Spokane Willy's photos
A virtual visit to the Inland Northwest.
- Op-Ed: Why you should not vote in the 2024 WMF BoT elections
"Simply not good enough".
- Crossword: On a day of independence, beat crosswords into crossploughshares
How well do you know the main page (no peeking)?
- Humour: A joke
...!
- Cobwebs: Counting to a billion — manuscripts don't burn
Special:Diff/1 and related techno-trivia more complicated than you'd think.
- Recent research: Is Wikipedia Politically Biased? Perhaps
And other new publications on systemic bias and other topics.
- Traffic report: Talking about you and me, and the games people play
Elections, movies, sports.
The Signpost: 22 July 2024
- Discussion report: Internet users flock to Wikipedia to debate its image policy over Trump raised-fist photo
Iconic photograph, invalid fair use exemption criterion #3a claimant, or both?
- News and notes: Wikimedia community votes to ratify Movement Charter; Wikimedia Foundation opposes ratification
Establishment of power-sharing agreement between WMF corporation and volunteer user community in limbo.
- News from the WMF: Wikimedia Foundation Board resolution and vote on the proposed Movement Charter
Natalia Tymkiv, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation, on the Charter vote results, the resolution, meeting minutes, and proposed next steps.
- Essay: Reflections on editing and obsession
A lost Signpost submission from fifteen years ago brought into the light, as good and true now as it was then.
- In the media: What's on Putin's fork, the court's docket, and in Harrison's book?
Failing forks, smart and well-researched stories, LGBT rights, and oral sex!
- Obituary: JamesR
Rest in peace.
- Crossword: Vaguely bird-shaped crossword
Do you know these Wikipedia quotes?
- Humour: Joe Biden withdraws RfA, Donald Trump selects co-nom
Dems in disarray, GOP in chaos — analysts say news expected, but few can predict how race will shape up from here.
The Signpost: 14 August 2024
- In the media: Portland pol profile paid for from public purse
A STORM over an AI that writes articles. And other notes of interest.
- Recent research: STORM: AI agents role-play as "Wikipedia editors" and "experts" to create Wikipedia-like articles, a more sophisticated effort than previous auto-generation systems
And other findings.
- In focus: Twitter marks the spot
Musk's Twitter acquisition and rebranding have caused long debates on Wikipedia.
- News and notes: Another Wikimania has concluded.
And Movement Charter ratification vote comments have been published
- Special report: Nano or just nothing: Will nano go nuclear?
Possibly paid articles.
- Opinion: HouseBlaster's RfA debriefing
HouseBlaster's reflections on his RfA. In particular, do not ask superlative questions.
- Traffic report: Ball games, movies, elections, but nothing really weird
Just normally weird!
- Humour: I'm proud to be a template
Come in, you whippersnapper, have a cup of tea.
The Signpost: 4 September 2024
Guild of Copy Editors September Newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors September Newsletter
Hello and welcome to the September newsletter, a quarterly digest of Guild activities since June. Don't forget you can unsubscribe at any time; see below. Election news: Project coordinators play an important role in our WikiProject. Following the mid-year Election of Coordinators, we welcomed Template:Noping to the coordinator team. Template:Noping remains as Lead Coordinator, and Template:Noping returned as assistant coordinators. If you'd like to help out behind the scenes, please consider taking part in our December election – watchlist our ombox for updates. Information about the role of coordinators can be found here. Blitz: 13 of the 24 editors who signed up for the June 2024 Copy Editing Blitz copy edited at least one article. Between them, they copy edited 169,404 words comprising 41 articles. Barnstars awarded are here. Drive: 38 of the 59 editors who signed up for the July 2024 Backlog Elimination Drive copy edited at least one article. Between them, they copy edited 482,133 words comprising 293 articles. Barnstars awarded are here. Blitz: 10 of the 15 editors who signed up for the August 2024 Copy Editing Blitz copy edited at least one article. Between them, they copy edited 71,294 words comprising 31 articles. Barnstars awarded are here. Drive: Sign up here to earn barnstars in our month-long, in-progress September Backlog Elimination Drive. Progress report: As of 05:14, 11 September 2024 (UTC), GOCE copyeditors have processed 233 requests since 1 January, and the backlog of tagged articles stands at 2,824 articles. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we do without you! Cheers from Template:Noping and your GOCE coordinators Template:Noping. Template:Center |
Message sent by Baffle gab1978 (talk) using MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 05:53, 11 September 2024 (UTC)
The Signpost: 26 September 2024
Good article reassessment for Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty has been nominated for a good article reassessment. If you are interested in the discussion, please participate by adding your comments to the reassessment page. If concerns are not addressed during the review period, the good article status may be removed from the article. Z1720 (talk) 01:34, 18 October 2024 (UTC)
The Signpost: 19 October 2024
The Signpost: 6 November 2024
The Signpost: 18 November 2024
Guild of Copy Editors December 2024 Newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors December 2024 Newsletter
Hello, and welcome to the December newsletter, a quarterly digest of Guild activities since September. If you no longer want this newsletter, you can unsubscribe at any time; see below. If you'd like to be notified of upcoming drives and blitzes, and other GOCE activities, the best method is to add our announcements box to your watchlist. Election news: The Guild's coordinators play an important role in the WikiProject, making sure Drive: In our September Backlog Elimination Drive, 67 editors signed up, 39 completed at least one copy edit, and between them they edited 682,696 words comprising 507 articles. Barnstars awarded are here. Blitz: The October Copy Editing Blitz saw 16 editors sign-up, 15 of whom completed at least one copy edit. They edited 76,776 words comprising 35 articles. Barnstars awarded are here. Drive: In our November Backlog Elimination Drive, 432,320 words in 151 articles were copy edited. Of the 54 users who signed up, 33 copy edited at least one article. Barnstars awarded are posted here. Blitz: The December Blitz will begin at 00:00 on 15 December (UTC) and will end on 21 December at 23:59. Sign up here. Barnstars awarded will be posted here. Progress report: As of 22:12, 7 December 2024 (UTC), GOCE copy editors have completed 333 requests since 1 January, and the backlog of tagged articles stands at 2,401 articles. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators, Template:Noping. Template:Center |
Message sent by Baffle_gab1978 using MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:49, 7 December 2024 (UTC).
The Signpost: 12 December 2024
The Signpost: 24 December 2024
The Signpost: 15 January 2025
The Signpost: 7 February 2025
The Signpost: 27 February 2025
Guild of Copy Editors 2024 Annual Report
| Guild of Copy Editors Annual Report
Our 2024 Annual Report is now ready for review.
Highlights:
– Your Guild coordinators
|
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 06:36, 2 March 2025 (UTC)
The Signpost: 22 March 2025
The Signpost: 9 April 2025
Guild of Copy Editors April 2025 Newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors April 2025 Newsletter
Hello and welcome to the April 2025 newsletter, a quarterly digest of Guild activities since December. Don't forget you can unsubscribe at any time; see below. We extend a warm welcome to all of our new members. We wish you all happy copy-editing. Election results: In our December 2025 coordinator election, Wracking stepped down as coordinator; we thank them for their service. Incumbents Dhtwiki, Miniapolis, and Mox Eden were reelected coordinators, and IQR and WikiEditor5678910 were newly elected coordinator, to serve through 30 June. Nominations for our mid-year Election of Coordinators will open on 1 June (UTC). Drive: 55 editors signed up for our January Backlog Elimination Drive 33 claimed at least one copy-edit and copy-edited 611,404 words in 237 articles. Barnstars awarded are here. Blitz: 14 editors signed up for our February Copy Editing Blitz. 10 claimed at least one copy-edit and copy-edited 46,749 words in 18 articles. Barnstars awarded are here. Drive: 47 editors signed up for our March Backlog Elimination Drive. 28 claimed at least one copy-edit and copy-edited 479,172 words in 207 articles. Barnstars awarded are here. Blitz: Sign up for our April Copy Editing Blitz, which runs from 13 to 19 April. Barnstars will be awarded here. Progress report: As of 9:45, 12 April 2024 (UTC), GOCE copyeditors have processed 89 requests since 1 January 2024, and the backlog stands at 2,264 articles. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators Template:Noping. |
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:54, 12 April 2025 (UTC)
The Signpost: 1 May 2025
The Signpost: 14 May 2025
Good article reassessment for Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert has been nominated for a good article reassessment. If you are interested in the discussion, please participate by adding your comments to the reassessment page. If concerns are not addressed during the review period, the good article status may be removed from the article. Z1720 (talk) 00:46, 24 June 2025 (UTC)
The Signpost: 24 June 2025
Guild of Copy Editors' June 2025 Newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors June 2025 Newsletter
Hello and welcome to the June 2025 newsletter, a quarterly-ish digest of Guild activities since April. Don't forget you can unsubscribe at any time; see below. Hall of Fame: Congratulations to Template:U for Template:Their well-deserved addition to the Hall of Fame last month, and thanks to Template:U for the nomination. Election news: Voting in the mid-year coordinator election ends at 23:59 on 30 June. Results will be announced at the election page. April Blitz: 14 of the 25 editors who signed up for the April 2025 Copy Editing Blitz copy edited 92,769 words in 30 articles. Barnstars awarded are available here. May Drive: 31 of the 54 editors who signed up for the May 2025 Backlog Elimination Drive copy edited 384,392 words in 216 articles. Barnstars awarded are here. June Blitz: 10 of the 12 editors who signed up for the June 2025 Copy Editing Blitz copy edited 26,652 words in 13 articles. Barnstars awarded are here. July Drive: Our July 2025 Backlog Elimination Drive will begin on 1 July and finish on 31 July. Barnstars awarded will be posted here. Progress report: As of 02:30, 30 June 2025 (UTC), GOCE copyeditors have completed 148 requests since 1 January, and the backlog stands at 2,270 articles. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators. |
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:18, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
The Signpost: 18 July 2025
The Signpost: 9 August 2025
The Signpost: 9 September 2025
Guild of Copy Editors – September 2025 Newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors – September 2025 Newsletter
Hello and welcome to the September newsletter, a quarterly digest of Guild activities since June. Election news: Project coordinators play an important role in our WikiProject. Following the mid-year Election of Coordinators, we welcomed Template:Noping to the coordinator team. Template:Noping remains as lead coordinator, and Template:Noping return as coordinators. If you'd like to help out behind the scenes, please consider taking part in our December election – watchlist our ombox for updates. Information about the role of coordinators can be found here. June 2025 blitz: 10 of the 12 editors who signed up for the June 2025 Copy Editing Blitz copy edited a total of 26,652 words comprising 13 articles. Barnstars awarded are here. July 2025 drive: 30 of the 54 editors who signed up for the July 2025 Backlog Elimination Drive copy edited a total of 379,557 words comprising 151 articles. Barnstars awarded are here. August 2025 Blitz: 11 of the 17 editors who signed up for the August 2025 Copy Editing Blitz copy edited a total of 65,601 words comprising 25 articles. Barnstars awarded are here. September 2025 Drive: Sign up here to earn barnstars in our month-long, in-progress September Backlog Elimination Drive. Progress report: As of 06:43, 20 September 2025 (UTC), GOCE copyeditors have processed 222 requests since 1 January, and the backlog of tagged articles stands at 2,010 articles. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we do without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators. Template:Center |
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:46, 20 September 2025 (UTC)
The Signpost: 2 October 2025
The Signpost: 20 October 2025
The Signpost: 10 November 2025
The Signpost: 1 December 2025
Guild of Copy Editors – December 2025 Newsletter
| Guild of Copy Editors December 2025 Newsletter
Hello, and welcome to the December newsletter, a quarterly digest of Guild activities since September. If you'd like to be notified of upcoming drives and blitzes, and other GOCE activities, the best method is to add our announcements box to your watchlist. Election news: The Guild's coordinators play an important role in the WikiProject, making sure September Drive: 43 of the 63 editors who signed up for the September Backlog Elimination Drive edited 693,541 words in 265 articles. Barnstars awarded are here. October Blitz: 14 of the 15 editors who signed up for the October Copy Editing Blitz edited 75,108 words in 31 articles. Barnstars awarded are here. November Drive: 38 of the 65 editors who signed up for the November Backlog Elimination Drive edited 590,816 words in 240 articles. Barnstars awarded are posted here. December Blitz: The December Blitz will begin at 00:00 on 14 December (UTC) and will end on 20 December at 23:59. Sign up here. Barnstars awarded will be posted here. Progress report: As of 01:49, 8 December 2025 (UTC), GOCE copy editors have completed 293 requests since 1 January, and the backlog of tagged articles stands at 1,730 articles. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators, Template:Noping. Template:Center |
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:25, 8 December 2025 (UTC)











