Wikiwand AI

User talk:V3n0M93/2013

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A barnstar for you!

The Barnstar of Diligence
For all the great work you are doing at WP:VA/E identifying redundancies and redirects. The more of these non-contentious removals we identify, the less contentious this process will be in the long-run. GabeMc (talk|contribs) 23:41, 9 July 2013 (UTC)

Removal of Piedmont at VA/E

FYI, you seem to have proposed its removal three or four times. I'm not sure if that was intentional, or if you meant to propose removal of something else pbp 16:40, 16 July 2013 (UTC)

Thanks. Something happened when copying the proposals. I've fixed them. --V3n0M93 (talk) 18:23, 16 July 2013 (UTC)

Regions proposal

On August 1st the Regions proposal will be 15 days old. I think at that point we should feel free to move forward with the proposal (assuming that the current support holds). I was thinking that we could approach this with not an add, remove or swap thread, but with Keep threads for only those articles that are contested keeps. Such as:

Keep New York

Supports
Opposes
Discussion

If an article fails to earn 5 supports and 70% it will not be kept. Do you agree with moving forward on August 1st and do you have any suggestions for the process? GabeMc (talk|contribs) 20:10, 26 July 2013 (UTC)

Sounds like a good idea. It'll be best if you post this on the project talk page, so the other editors can give their opinions. --V3n0M93 (talk) 20:30, 26 July 2013 (UTC)
Done. GabeMc (talk|contribs) 20:36, 26 July 2013 (UTC)
Thanks for creating all the proposals. Would you like me to remove the regions from Wikipedia:Vital articles/Expanded/Geography#Regions and country subdivisions, 272 that we've already decided not to keep? I thought this might be a good time to do a recount of the articles since we should be dropping below 10 000. Cobblet (talk) 19:01, 6 August 2013 (UTC)
I was thinking about waiting for the proposals to get voted and then replace the old list with the new one. There are some additions to the list, so even if we do a recount now, the count won't represent the actual numbers. --V3n0M93 (talk) 19:10, 6 August 2013 (UTC)
It's just that you're doing all the work :) I'm also a little worried that with all the additions we're proposing to History and Technology, people are going to protest that we're still over 10,000 articles. Cobblet (talk) 20:58, 6 August 2013 (UTC)
If you want you can remove the articles which are not on the keep list. I just think it is easier to just replace the list, then to check each article if it is removed or not. Even after the removal of the regions, we probably will still be above 10 000.--V3n0M93 (talk) 21:40, 6 August 2013 (UTC)

The Bugle: Issue LXXXIX, August 2013

Full front page of The Bugle
Your Military History Newsletter

The Bugle is published by the Military history WikiProject. To receive it on your talk page, please join the project or sign up here.
If you are a project member who does not want delivery, please remove your name from this page. Your editors, Ian Rose (talk) and Nick-D (talk) 00:57, 21 August 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 21 August 2013

  • Recent research: WikiSym 2013 retrospective
    98 registered participants attended the annual WikiSym+OpenSym conference from August 5-7 at Hong Kong's Cyberport facility.
  • WikiProject report: Loop-the-loop: Amusement Parks
    This week, we secured free admission for WikiProject Amusement Parks, the project dedicated to amusement rides, roller coasters, theme parks, traveling carnivals, and funfairs.
  • Traffic report: Reddit creep
    The debt that Wikipedia owes sites like Reddit or Google often goes unacknowledged around here. If the purpose of Wikipedia is to bring knowledge to the world, then it is sites like these that are actually doing it.
  • Featured content: WikiCup update, and the gardens of Finland
    The 2013 WikiCup competition is entering its final round. Eleven articles and nine pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.
  • News and notes: Looking ahead to Wiki Loves Monuments
    Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM), Wikimedia's annual volunteer-driven and the world largest photo contest, is gearing up to be conducted throughout September 2013. The event, originally developed in the Netherlands in 2010, has gone global with 34 countries taking part last and 49 this year.
  • Technology report: Gallery improvements launch on Wikipedia
    Wikipedia's traditional image gallery format, produced by the markup, has remained largely unchanged for years. The resulting layout, seen below, does not adapt well to variations in image size, and has been characterized by some critics as aesthetically unappealing.

The Signpost: 28 August 2013

  • Recent research: WikiSym 2013 retrospective
    98 registered participants attended the annual WikiSym+OpenSym conference from August 5-7 at Hong Kong's Cyberport facility.
  • WikiProject report: Loop-the-loop: Amusement Parks
    This week, we secured free admission for WikiProject Amusement Parks, the project dedicated to amusement rides, roller coasters, theme parks, traveling carnivals, and funfairs.
  • Traffic report: Reddit creep
    The debt that Wikipedia owes sites like Reddit or Google often goes unacknowledged around here. If the purpose of Wikipedia is to bring knowledge to the world, then it is sites like these that are actually doing it.
  • Featured content: WikiCup update, and the gardens of Finland
    The 2013 WikiCup competition is entering its final round. Eleven articles and nine pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.
  • News and notes: Looking ahead to Wiki Loves Monuments
    Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM), Wikimedia's annual volunteer-driven and the world largest photo contest, is gearing up to be conducted throughout September 2013. The event, originally developed in the Netherlands in 2010, has gone global with 34 countries taking part last and 49 this year.
  • Technology report: Gallery improvements launch on Wikipedia
    Wikipedia's traditional image gallery format, produced by the markup, has remained largely unchanged for years. The resulting layout, seen below, does not adapt well to variations in image size, and has been characterized by some critics as aesthetically unappealing.

The Signpost: 04 September 2013

  • In the media: Manning "put back in the closet"; State involvement in Azerbaijani Wikipedia
    After media praise for Wikipedia's decision to move the Bradley Manning article to Chelsea Manning, the reversion of that page move on August 31, after a discussion in which several hundred Wikipedians participated, has so far triggered less favourable feedback, as well as a blog post from Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director Sue Gardner expressing her disappointment with the decision.
  • News and notes: Privacy policy debate gears up
    On September 3, the Wikimedia Foundation launched the second stage of the process to improve the privacy policy implemented on most Wikimedia sites, including Wikipedia and its sister projects, by publishing a policy draft.
  • Discussion report: Arbcom election procedures, Wiki Loves Monuments, Privacy policy, FDC, and more
    As mentioned in "In the news" on Wikipedia's main page, the Library of Birmingham in the United Kingdom has opened. This interior photo was taken a week before opening. The article reports that the library "has been described as the largest public library in the United Kingdom, the largest public cultural space in Europe, and the largest regional library in Europe."
  • WikiProject report: Writing on the frontier: Psychology on Wikipedia
    This week, we spent some time with the minds behind WikiProject Psychology. The project was created in March 2006 and has grown to include 14 Featured Articles and 43 Good Articles.
  • Technology report: Making Wikipedia more accessible
    In this week's "Technology report", we explore ways of making Wikipedia more accessible to users of screen readers. Graham87 is a highly active contributor who is also blind and accesses the site through a screen reader.

The Signpost: 11 September 2013

  • Featured content: Tintin goes featured
    Four articles, eight lists, and eight pictures were promoted to "featured" status this week on the English Wikipedia.
  • News and notes: As deadline approaches, Individual Engagement Grants looks for ideas
    The deadline for proposals to the Individual Engagement Grants (IEG) volunteer committee on Meta will pass on 30 September. The program is designed to fund projects that tackle long-term problem and have a significant editing community impact; it has previously supported solutions like The Wikipedia Library, which improves Wikipedian access to online reference sources like JSTOR (see Signpost coverage).
  • Traffic report: Syria, celebrities, and association football: oh my!
    While the Syrian Civil War crept its slow way into the minds of the public, with a new fourth related entry in the top 25, the top 10 remained dominated by celebrity, mainly sports and music. Two megabucks transfers stimulated public interest in football/soccer ahead of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, while Lil Wayne's public apology ahead of his latest album release sent him to the top.
  • Arbitration report: Workshop phase opens in Manning naming dispute ; Infoboxes case closes
    Discussion over the Manning title dispute was off to a running start as evidence and workshop phases continued in the Bradley/Chelsea Manning naming dispute. The Infoboxes case closed with topic bans for two users, and a recommendation for community discussion of infoboxes.

The Signpost: 18 September 2013

  • News and notes: Third time's the charm: the FDC's newest round of funding requests
    The Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC), the volunteer-led body that evaluates chapter and (for the first time) thematic organizational annual plan grant requests to the Wikimedia Foundation, is preparing for its third round of public proceedings to deliberate on the distribution of several million US dollars of Wikimedia movement funds.
  • WikiProject report: 18,464 Good Articles on the wall
    This week, the Signpost headed to WikiProject Good Articles. As of publishing time, out of the 4,331,477 articles on Wikipedia, only 18,464 are rated as "good" (about 1 in 235).
  • Featured content: Hurricane Diane and Van Gogh
    Thirteen articles, six lists, and five pictures were promoted to "featured" status last week on the English Wikipedia.
  • Technology report: What can Wikidata do for Wikipedia?
    In this week's "Technology report", we look at how the growth of Wikidata can benefit Wikipedia. Gerard Meijssen is a highly active contributor and frequent blogger about Wikidata. We asked him to share his thoughts on how the new project benefits Wikipedia.
  • Traffic report: Twerking, tragedy and TV
    The top 10 is bookended by unlucky dates, as Friday the 13th fell just after the anniversary of 9/11. Breaking Bad's final season continued to draw attention, while interest in Miley Cyrus's youthful exuberance is fading only slowly.

The Bugle: Issue LXXXXX, September 2013

Full front page of The Bugle
Your Military History Newsletter

The Bugle is published by the Military history WikiProject. To receive it on your talk page, please join the project or sign up here.
If you are a project member who does not want delivery, please remove your name from this page. Your editors, Ian Rose (talk) and Nick-D (talk) 00:57, 21 September 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 25 September 2013

  • Op-ed: Q&A on Public Relations and Wikipedia
    Over the last year, there's been extensive debate about whether public relations professionals and other corporate representatives should participate on Wikipedia and, if so, to what extent and what kinds of rules should be followed.
  • Traffic report: Look on Walter's works
    The saga of Walter White, chemistry teacher-turned-drug kingpin, as told in the critically adored television series Breaking Bad, has been a water-cooler necessity for years, and now, as it nears its end, audiences are feverishly following every plot thread to guess what the finale will reveal.
  • News and notes: Last call for Wiki Loves Monuments; Community–WMF tension over VisualEditor
    On 30 September, Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM), the Wikimedia community's global photo competition, will reach to the end of its submission period. The proceedings have been underway since the first of this month; national juries will start reviewing submissions for the first round of selections after it closes ... Community aggravation with one of the Wikimedia Foundation's signature initiatives, the VisualEditor, came to the fore again this week with the announcement and implementation of code blocking the tool.
  • WikiProject report: Babel Series: GOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!
    This week, we continued our exploration of other language editions of Wikipedia by visiting the Spanish Wikipedia's Wikiproyecto Fútbol (WikiProject Football).
  • Featured content: Wikipedia takes the stage
    Twelve articles, six lists, and five pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.

The Signpost: 02 October 2013

  • Op-ed: Commons medical diagnostic images under threat from unresolved ownership
    Medical images have transformed many aspects of modern medicine. Over the past two decades the increasing sophistication of MRI, CT-scanning, and X-ray techniques has made these technologies the cornerstone of diagnosing a range of conditions, replacing what used to be largely guesswork by doctors. They can be the difference between life and death for a patient, and their importance is underlined by the tens of billions of dollars spent on them annually just in North America. For Wikimedia Foundation projects, advanced images are now a powerful tool for describing and explaining, and educating our worldwide readership of medical articles.
  • News and notes: WMF signals new grantmaking priorities
    In what will be remembered as a game-changing week for Wikimedia grantmaking, the Foundation's executive director, Sue Gardner, published a forthright and in places highly critical statement, Reflections on the FDC process, and grantmaking staff revealed that the WMF will significantly strengthen its targeting of optimal impact in funding.
  • Arbitration report: Infoboxes: After the war
    Editor's note: To go beyond the mere facts of cases, the "Arbitration report" invited several editors who participated in the recent Infoboxes case to comment on infoboxes: what they are, where new users can go to find out about them, specifications and protocols, best practices, and how the upcoming community discussion recommended by the Committee in the case decision should be framed.
  • WikiProject report: U2 Too
    This week, we revisited the enthusiastic editors at WikiProject U2. Started in June 2007, the project has grown in spurts, resulting in a collection of 8 Featured Articles and 24 Good Articles. The project maintains a to do list, portal, and a list of references.

The Signpost: 09 October 2013

  • Traffic report: Shutdown shenanigans
    If you're living in the United States, what did you do during the government shutdown? Well, it seems most people watched the final episode of Breaking Bad.
  • WikiProject report: Australian Roads
    This week, we moved to the esoteric world of Australian roads.
  • Featured content: Under the sea
    Seven articles, six lists, and twelve pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia last week.
  • News and notes: Extensive network of clandestine paid advocacy exposed
    An investigation by the English Wikipedia community into suspicious edits and sockpuppet activity has led to astonishing revelations that Wiki-PR, a multi-million-dollar US-based company, has created, edited, or maintained several thousand Wikipedia articles for paying clients using a sophisticated array of concealed user accounts.
  • In the media: College credit for editing Wikipedia
    The University of California, San Francisco attracted substantial media attention over its new course offering that will give credit to fourth year medical students for editing Wikipedia articles about medicine.

Wikipedia talk:Vital articles/Expanded#Create "Historic Cities" section

Hey, just wanted to let you know your proposal passed. And we miss you :) Cobblet (talk) 01:36, 19 October 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 16 October 2013

  • News and notes: Vice on Wiki-PR's paid advocacy; Featured list elections begin
    Media coverage on Wiki-PR, the multi-million-dollar US-based company that has broken several policies and guidelines on the English Wikipedia in its quest to create and maintain thousands of articles for paying clients, continued this week with a feature story by Martin Robbins in the British edition of Vice magazine.
  • Traffic report: Peaceful potpourri
    A slow week, with low overall views and the Top 10 dominated by longstanding pages. Gravity, Alfonso Cuaron's outer space-set action art film, not only held its position at the top of the US box office but climbed to the top of the Wikipedia chart as well, showing that it has become a major talking point.
  • WikiProject report: Heraldry and Vexillology
    This week, we studied coats of arms and flags with the folks at WikiProject Heraldry and Vexillology. Started in September 2006, the project has grown to include 20 Featured Articles and nearly 50 Good Articles. The project maintains a portal, a list of resources, and a variety of images and templates.
  • Featured content: That's a lot of pictures
    Six articles, two lists, and thirty-three pictures were promoted to 'featured' status on the English Wikipedia last week.
  • Arbitration report: Manning naming dispute case closes
    The Manning naming dispute case has closed, with a strong and unanimous statement by the Committee against disparaging references to transgendered persons. Sanctions were enacted against six editors.

The Bugle: Issue XCI, October 2013

Full front page of The Bugle
Your Military History Newsletter

The Bugle is published by the Military history WikiProject. To receive it on your talk page, please join the project or sign up here.
If you are a project member who does not want delivery, please remove your name from this page. Your editors, Ian Rose (talk) and Nick-D (talk) 23:43, 23 October 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 23 October 2013

  • News and notes: Grantmaking season—rumblings in the German-language community
    The next twice-yearly round of Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) grantmaking is soon to close for community questioning and commentary. Ten nation-based Wikimedia chapters and one thematic organisation are asking for a total of more than US$5M of donors’ money from the Foundation’s renamed annual plan grant process. Aside from Wikimedia UK ($708k), the three biggest asks are from the German-speaking chapters: Wikimedia Germany is asking for $2.4M and Wikimedia Austria $311k; and the German-language-related Swiss chapter is applying for $500k.
  • WikiProject report: Elements of the world
    This week, we headed to an elementary subject with WikiProject Elements. Founded by Mav in 2002, this project has grown to have 19 featured articles, 2 featured topics, and 68 good articles. The project also has a list of templates, and a periodic table of elements filled with pictures.

The Signpost: 30 October 2013

  • Traffic report: 200 miles in 200 years
    The top 10 encapsulates the history of human aviation; at #1, a Google Doodle celebrating the 216th anniversary of the first parachute jump; at #10, the enduringly popular scifi film Gravity, a paean to human spaceflight. It's odd to think it's taken us 200 years to travel about that many miles up.
  • In the media: Rand Paul plagiarizes Wikipedia?
    While giving a speech on behalf of a gubernatorial candidate, Paul advocated his pro-life position, and compared allowing unrestricted abortions to the film Gattaca. He went on to use strikingly similar language and phraseology in his speech to what the Wikipedia page reads. The Washington Post's article conceded that Wikipedia is a widely used source for trivial information, but mocked the fact that a politician would view it as a reliable source.
  • News and notes: Sex and drug tourism—Wikivoyage's soft underbelly?
    In January we raised several potentially troublesome issues for the Wikimedia movement in taking on Wikivoyage, including the apparent inadequacy of the English Wikivoyage sex-tourism policy, hurriedly strengthened against mention of child sex after our inquiries. However, both sex-tourism and illegal-activities policies remain equivocal about how the site should treat entries about sex tourism more generally, and drugs that are classed as illicit in almost every country. Yet the Signpost has found it remarkably easy to locate material in Wikivoyage that violates both the spirit and the letter of the policies.
  • Featured content: Wrestling with featured content
    This year's WikiCup competition has finished, while three articles, five lists, and six pictures, were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia last week.
  • Recent research: User influence on site policies: Wikipedia vs. Facebook vs. Youtube
    Laura Stein, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, has concluded that, based on her comparison of user policy documents (including the Terms of Service) of YouTube, Facebook and Wikipedia, Wikipedia offers the highest level of participation power overall.
  • WikiProject report: Special: Lessons from the dead and dying
    With Halloween, the Day of the Dead, and other gloomy celebrations this week, we're taking a look at Wikipedia's dead and dying. For some dead WikiProjects, the sole purpose of their life was simply to serve as a warning to others. Some of these projects may still be salvageable, but for most, a revival is unlikely. Here are some projects that never got off the ground and the lessons that can be gleaned from their follies

The Signpost: 06 November 2013

  • News and notes: Alleged "outing" of editor's personal information leads to Wikipedia ban
    As part of the second major "outing" controversy to hit the English Wikipedia in less than a year, the Chelsea/Bradley Manning naming dispute was dragged into the spotlight yet again when the English Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee ruled by motion to remove the administrator tools from and ban long-time Wikipedia contributor Phil Sandifer.
  • Traffic report: Danse Macabre
    It's fair to say that commemorating death was a strong theme this week, with Lou Reed's passing generating interest, as well as a Google Doodle celebrating the costume designer Edith Head. And of course, the world's greatest celebrations of the dead, Halloween and the Day of the Dead, were also popular this week.
  • Featured content: Five years of work leads to 63-article featured topic
    HMS Hood, one of the most famous warships of the Second World War, was a battlecruiser and therefore part of what is now the largest featured topic on Wikipedia: "Battlecruisers of the world". The topic was promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia last week alongside eleven articles, three lists, four pictures, and two other topics.
  • WikiProject report: WikiProject Accessibility
    This week, we spent some time with WikiProject Accessibility, a project that strives to make Wikipedia accessible for users with disabilities. The project improves Wikipedia's guidelines and Manual of Style, collects useful templates and scripts, and provides support to impaired Wikipedians.
  • Arbitration report: Ebionites 3 case closed
    The Ebionites 3 case has closed with an interaction ban for the two editors involved in the dispute.

The Signpost: 13 November 2013

  • Traffic report: Google Doodlebugs bust the block
    The numbers this week are beyond anything that has been seen since this report began. The top view count beats the average by an order of magnitude. Usually the appearance of numbers this big on the list is due to spamming, but in this case it seems they are due to honest interest; more specifically, Google Doodles, which for the first time claimed all five top slots. This column has raised numerous times the power of a Google Doodle to shine light on Wikipedia, but the wattage has never been as high as this.
  • Special report: FDC staff raise the benchmarks for activities, impact, planning, and governance
    The supporting staff of the Wikimedia Foundation’s powerful volunteer Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) have released their assessments for the third half-yearly round of funding applications. The applications for the newly named annual plan grants were submitted by affiliated entities on 1 October, and comprise a total of more than US$5M in bids.

The Bugle: Issue XCII, November 2013

Full front page of The Bugle
Your Military History Newsletter

The Bugle is published by the Military history WikiProject. To receive it on your talk page, please join the project or sign up here.
If you are a project member who does not want delivery, please remove your name from this page. Your editors, Ian Rose (talk) and Nick-D (talk) 06:55, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 20 November 2013

  • From the editor: The Signpost needs your help
    As I said in August, contributing to the Signpost can be one of the most rewarding things an editor can do. The genre is refreshingly different from that of Wikipedia articles, and can allow writers to use a different range of skills. The need for an independent, volunteer-run Signpost continues to grow, given the increasing complexity and financial expenditures of the global Wikimedia movement, not to mention the English Wikipedia.
  • Book review: Peter Burke's Social History of Knowledge—ambitious, fascinating, and exhaustive
    Peter Burke's A Social History of Knowledge: Volume II: From the Encyclopédie to Wikipedia is a broad and wide-ranging look at how knowledge has been created, acquired, organized, disseminated, and sometimes lost in the Western world over the last two and a half centuries, a sequel to his 2000 book covering the prior three centuries, A Social History of Knowledge: From Gutenberg to Diderot.
  • Featured content: Rockin' the featured pictures
    Four articles, five lists, and thirty-four pictures were promoted to 'featured status' this week, including an image of a small fraction of the 18,000 taxis that serve Hong Kong.
  • WikiProject report: Score! American football on Wikipedia
    This week, we headed over to WikiProject National Football League. With 10 Featured Articles, 61 Featured Lists, and 142 Good Articles (as of publication), this WikiProject has done a lot of work improving American football articles.
  • News and notes: Foundation to Wiki-PR: cease and desist; Arbitration Committee elections starting
    The Wikimedia Foundation has sent a formal cease and desist letter to Wiki-PR—the public relations agency accused of breaking Wikipedia policies and guidelines by creating, editing, and maintaining several thousand articles for paying clients through a sophisticated array of accounts. The Foundation's attorneys, Cooley LLP, have demanded that Wiki-PR's employees abide by the site's Terms of Use and the language of a community ban from the English Wikipedia.
  • Traffic report: Ill Winds
    It's not hard to guess which event is leading interest in the top 25 this week. The sheer scale of Typhoon Haiyan is staggering; estimates place its maximum windspeed upon first landfall in the Philippines on November 6 at 315 km/h, which would make it the most powerful tropical cyclone ever to reach land. To date, the storm has killed nearly 4000 people and damaged or destroyed nearly 4 million homes.
  • Arbitration report: WMF opens the door for non-admin arbitrators
    Back in March, when the March 25 Arbitration Report covered the Audit Subcommittee appointment discussion, a statement from the WMF legal division clarified its position that access to deleted revisions required an RFA or RFA-identical process; therefore AUSC committee appointments were not open to non-admins. The WMF legal team has now further clarified its position, saying that running for and winning an election for arbitrator would qualify as the type of rigorous community selection process required for the checkuser and oversight rights held by arbitrators.

The Signpost: 04 December 2013

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

The Signpost: 11 December 2013

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

The Bugle: Issue XCIII, December 2013

Full front page of The Bugle
Your Military History Newsletter

The Bugle is published by the Military history WikiProject. To receive it on your talk page, please join the project or sign up here.
If you are a project member who does not want delivery, please remove your name from this page. Your editors, Ian Rose (talk) and Nick-D (talk) 00:41, 17 December 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 18 December 2013

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

The Signpost: 25 December 2013

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

Related Articles

Timelines

Top Qs

Fact Checks