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There is a new tool on labs that allows watching category membership changes (pages added/removed) to user specified categories. It can also monitor template addition/removal. Here is a sample watchlist. There is also a recent changes list that displays recent categorization changes. Feedback can be left on the bots talk page. -- Bamyers99 ( talk) 18:56, 30 March 2015 (UTC)
Where is the apropriate place for this suggestion?... Does it belong somewhere on the WikiMedia site? Or on the Esperento or Ido wikipedias? "As as esperento and ido are closly similar contributions to one wikipedia should be added to the other wikipedia as well thru machine translation " --Thank You Naytz ( talk) 02:57, 29 March 2015 (UTC)
Or perhaps at village pump(technical) ? Naytz ( talk) 02:59, 29 March 2015 (UTC)
Hi all - sorry if this has been mentioned before (I couldn't see it on a quick scan through the archives). Categories seem to have become weird, annoying, and difficult to use for me recently. Whereas up until a week or so ago, a category with over 200 articles would list the first 200 on its first category page divided neatly into three columns of 65-70, they now seem to be broken into columns dependant upon their first letter/number. Which means that for big categories, often you'll get two columns, one of, say, 170 As and one of the first 30 Bs, or just one long column. Small categories seem to be equally haphazard. Is there any preferences and/or java changes I can make to restore the previous method (if it's a glitch with me alone, FWIW I use Google Chrome 41.0.2272.104 and use the monobook skin) Grutness... wha? 00:01, 31 March 2015 (UTC)
{{
pp-move-indef}}
or {{
pp-pc1}}
is only appropriate for pages which already have with an indefinite move protection or level 1 pending changes) and is a never-ending task, but for the moment it demonstrates the problem very well, since letters up to J have few pages compared to later letters. --
Redrose64 (
talk)
10:04, 31 March 2015 (UTC)
I wonder if it is possible to get statistics for how many article I prodded, or nominated for AfD, and how many of those were successful? -- Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 07:24, 26 March 2015 (UTC)
I just reverted a hoax that was inserted in November 2010 and had gone undetected for 4 years. Amazingly, it survived the scrutiny of such venerable editors as Roger Davies, Missvain, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Waacstats, and Lockley. Also, I'm amazed that Adrienne Monnier's article is so tiny. Kaldari ( talk) 21:51, 31 March 2015 (UTC)
Hi!
I made a template to insert
emoji on discussion pages! You can find it at: {{
emoji}}.
They supplement the
already available emoticons with a larger set of symbols. There are options for size and for different visual themes (available from Commons); you can see them on the documentation page at
Template:Emoji. There’s also a
palette of available emojis there.
Have a nice day!
~
Nclm (
talk)
09:42, 2 April 2015 (UTC)
I want to use an excerpt from the USGS Flushing NY Quad to illustrate an article. Since the USGS is part of the US Government, I assumed that anything they do is published without copyright, but I'm unable to find a place to download the quads from that looks like a government site. The best I found was https://www.topoquest.com/map-detail.php?usgs_cell_id=15664, which is a commercial site that looks like it re-publishes the government charts. Does anybody know where I can find a free image of the USGS topo charts? -- RoySmith (talk) 00:50, 5 April 2015 (UTC)
As we are less than one month away from the ten-year anniversary of the creation of the Wikipedia:Wiki-Hell essay, I propose that we celebrate by making it policy. I may be four days late in asking for this. Cheers! bd2412 T 17:21, 5 April 2015 (UTC)
[copied post removed] — Preceding unsigned comment added by Shanus444 ( talk • contribs) 08:55, 6 April 2015 (UTC)
Is the image here called a Manikin? In the article only the life-size version is mentioned. I'm asking to make correct interwiki links to the Dutch article Ledenpop, the German article Gliederpuppe. Thanks Ellywa ( talk) 15:43, 6 April 2015 (UTC)
60 Minutes is a high-profile news program here in the US. link I was hoping someone had seen or heard the piece & had started a conversation here about their response to this. (And yes, Gregory Kohs already submitted his opinion in the comments to that article.) -- llywrch ( talk) 19:22, 6 April 2015 (UTC)
Citoid, the automagic citation filling tool, is on its way at last. It's been up at the French and Italian Wikipedias for a while, with positive feedback overall. The time isn't firmly settled, but Wednesday evening UTC is most likely. This has been one of the most-requested features from experienced editors.
Citoid depends upon good TemplateData. Wikipedia:TemplateData/Tutorial explains how to write the basics by hand, but the TemplateData GUI tool is usually faster and easier. It also depends upon external services like Zotero. If your favorite website isn't working, it probably needs a new Zotero entry. The design is less than ideal. There is a book-with-bookmark button for Citoid, next to a now-unlabeled "Cite" menu for filling in citations the old way.
If you have suggestions on how to improve the design, then please leave your comments where the designers are most likely to see them, at mw:Talk:VisualEditor/Design/Reference Dialog. If you have any other suggestions or run into problems, then please leave feedback at Wikipedia:VisualEditor/Feedback. If you would like to see Citoid at another wiki, then you may make that request in Phabricator: by creating a new task under the "Citoid" project. Most requests will probably not be granted for the next couple of weeks, but evidence that TemplateData is current on your main citation templates will likely improve your chances.
Here at the English Wikipedia, you will need to opt-in to VisualEditor via Beta Features to see Citoid. Pre-deployment testing can be done here on Beta Labs. (Before you ask: yes, after getting all the bumps smoothed out, the plan is to make it available in the wikitext editor as well. However, that will likely not be for some months yet.)
Happy editing, Whatamidoing (WMF) ( talk) 00:18, 25 March 2015 (UTC)
Changes on the user page, the user talk page, and the user's sandbox?
Personally, I never change a user page, or a user's sandbox, except by mistake, rarely. I do post to a user page, and I occasionally add colons as a matter of formatting.
Recently another editor made some quite correct updates to a draft article well down on my user talk page. As a matter of policy, should other editors do this? What about articles in my sandbox? What do other experienced editors do? What is the policy?-- DThomsen8 ( talk) 19:20, 4 April 2015 (UTC)
Citoid, the automagic citation filling tool, is on its way at last. It's been up at the French and Italian Wikipedias for a while, with positive feedback overall. The time isn't firmly settled, but Wednesday evening UTC is most likely. This has been one of the most-requested features from experienced editors.
Citoid depends upon good TemplateData. Wikipedia:TemplateData/Tutorial explains how to write the basics by hand, but the TemplateData GUI tool is usually faster and easier. It also depends upon external services like Zotero. If your favorite website isn't working, it probably needs a new Zotero entry. The design is less than ideal. There is a book-with-bookmark button for Citoid, next to a now-unlabeled "Cite" menu for filling in citations the old way.
If you have suggestions on how to improve the design, then please leave your comments where the designers are most likely to see them, at mw:Talk:VisualEditor/Design/Reference Dialog. If you have any other suggestions or run into problems, then please leave feedback at Wikipedia:VisualEditor/Feedback. If you would like to see Citoid at another wiki, then you may make that request in Phabricator: by creating a new task under the "Citoid" project. Most requests will probably not be granted for the next couple of weeks, but evidence that TemplateData is current on your main citation templates will likely improve your chances.
Here at the English Wikipedia, you will need to opt-in to VisualEditor via Beta Features to see Citoid. Pre-deployment testing can be done here on Beta Labs. (Before you ask: yes, after getting all the bumps smoothed out, the plan is to make it available in the wikitext editor as well. However, that will likely not be for some months yet.)
Happy editing, Whatamidoing (WMF) ( talk) 00:18, 25 March 2015 (UTC)
Changes on the user page, the user talk page, and the user's sandbox?
Personally, I never change a user page, or a user's sandbox, except by mistake, rarely. I do post to a user page, and I occasionally add colons as a matter of formatting.
Recently another editor made some quite correct updates to a draft article well down on my user talk page. As a matter of policy, should other editors do this? What about articles in my sandbox? What do other experienced editors do? What is the policy?-- DThomsen8 ( talk) 19:20, 4 April 2015 (UTC)
Due to ensued edit war, and continued disparity; we have started a discussion for finalizing a list of people to appear on the collage at {{
infobox ethnic group}}
in
Bengali people article. We need input from wider community for reaching an unbiased consensus. That is why I am canvassing this discussion here. ~
nafSadh
did
say
03:35, 8 April 2015 (UTC)
I'm talking about the one that says:
I have a suggestion to improve the wording. Regards, Orange Suede Sofa ( talk) 01:42, 9 April 2015 (UTC)
?uselang=qqx
or &uselang=qqx
(if there already is a ?
in the url) to the end of a url to see the name of the used messages in the MediaWiki namespace.
PrimeHunter (
talk)
02:02, 9 April 2015 (UTC)
Please translate this article de:Flurname — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.129.143.91 ( talk) 11:38, 13 April 2015
look over the discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Japan#RfC: Flag of Ryukyu and answer to the question: is it OK to put this flag on hundreds or thousands of articles?
This is request-for-comment stuff, but I post this here because, at this stage, no expert knowledge is required to make a judgment. You might be puzzled by details, but I bet they are unimportant. This is a Japan- and history-related topic, but all you need is common sense. I need your third opinions because now I feel like I'm talking to an alien from outer space.
In my earlier posts at the discussion, I assumed that readers were knowledgeable about the Japanese language and history. Here I provide background information.
The flag in question was supposedly used as the national flag of a pre-modern polity called Ryukyu, which was dissolved around the time when Japan embraced the Western notion of national flag. This file has been hosted on Common nearly for a decade. However, this flag has puzzled me (and some other Wikipedians) because it cannot be found in major history books. For example, Okinawa Prefecture, the successor of the pre-modern polity, published the 5 volumes of the History of Okinawa Prefecture (2000–2011, and one volume in preparation) and the 13 volumes of the Visual History of Okinawa Prefecture (1998–2004). Neither series makes mention of the flag. No secondary sources identify this as the national flag of Ryukyu. In my earlier post, I used the following analogy: pick up a book on the history of the United States, and you cannot find the Stars and Stripes. That's what's happening here. Of course, we cannot conclude that this flag has never be the national flag of Ryukyu because that's probatio diabolica. But common sense tells us that a national flag is something we can easily find in the literature. If we cannot, that's not what we consider the national flag. We can safely conclude that we cannot put it on hundreds or thousands of articles because it gives extremely undue weight to the flag.
The above is enough to make a judgment. Before move to the next, I must clarify that what follows does not change the conclusion.
I did serious research on this subject and posted key findings at the Commons image description pages. I suspect some portion of my posts are borderline cases of original research because there I rely on primary, not secondary, sources. But I believe the looser policies of Commons allow me to post them. All I could find was three catalogs published in mainland Japan (i.e., primary sources). In my earlier posts, I explained why they are unreliable, but that's not so important here. Ryukyu is known for its diplomatic negotiations with the U.S., the Netherlands and France in its final years. But the studies on this subject make no mention of the flag. No secondary sources after serious research. We can reconfirm that the flag is not something we consider the national flag.
After I updated the Commons image description page, I started removing the flag from articles. And Sturmgewehr88 ( talk · contribs) started RfC to reinstate the flag. The result is what I asked you to read. After the discussion, he started mass-reverts and I opened the AN/I report. I can hardly believe that an educated person interprets the discussion as a green light. So I request for third opinions.
Some notes on Sturmgewehr88. He uses the flag for the Wikipedia:WikiProject Japan/Ryukyu task force (located in the Wikipedia namespace, but virtually his personal project). He intensively advertises the task force at talk pages, and you can check the current status here. He may feel that he has passed the point of no return. That's only a speculation. Also, he has a record of accusing me of pushing a fringe theory [2]. So he is supposed to know what fringe theories are. -- Nanshu ( talk) 16:29, 13 April 2015 (UTC)
So we know (from studies of volunteer retention) that we are bad in handling newbies; we template them and show them the inhuman side of our project. Yet we also know that with few volunteers, there is no way to change this: telling people to be more friendly to newbies is not going to fly. How about this, then. Instead of deleting their contributions (tests, promo, etc.), how about we move it to their userspace, and leave it there for a few months? We are not paper, userspace is not searchable from search engines so spam fails, and we would make some people less stressed / angry at us if instead of "my content was deleted" they would be in "my contest was send back for revision" instead. And moving is about as simple as deletion... -- Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 02:26, 14 April 2015 (UTC)
__NOINDEX__
or by adding a template that includes that. Many of these templates are in
Category:Wikipedia templates which apply NOINDEX, although some will only NOINDEX if explicitly told to do so, such as {{
user page|noindex=yes}}
--
Redrose64 (
talk)
08:06, 14 April 2015 (UTC)
I was updating a citation link at GE Consumer & Industrial and came across this case:
When I say "original link was ... preserved in archive.org", this is not a certainty but a supposition; the original was retrieved on 19 July 2013, but the archived version is from 11 September 2014.
When I say "the same press release appears under a new URL", this again is not a certainty but a supposition ... inline photo in the old version has been replaced by a right-margin image gallery, for instance.
Let's assume that I've carefully vetted the content of the article on wikipedia against both the available online pages, and either one will work in supporting the article.
Is it a purely stylistic matter which you would choose in this case? Or would you go with the archive.org version, as it is "closer to original"? Or would you go with the new GE version, as this is placed in a more up-to-date site context? Or would you put both? In the present case, I chose the archive.org version.
I don't think there is any policy or guideline which covers this particular bit of pedantry, but it does come up from time to time when you are fighting link rot battles and I thought I would just push this out there for come comments.
--User:Ceyockey ( talk to me) 02:03, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
Publicizing an RfC on the Film Wikiproject regarding notability of items on List articles (hopefully this is the correct section). More input is appreciated. Lapadite ( talk) 02:14, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
Please note that Thelma Coyne Long died 16 april acording to Google. Thank you — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.185.175.84 ( talk) 13:15, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
Quick heads-up: Several editors have suggested testing VisualEditor on wiki, rather than something like usertesting.com with non-editors. It looks like User:EpochFail is going to run a short, real-world test. Nothing will change in your account, and logged-out editors will not be part of this test. A barebones draft is at m: Research:VisualEditor's effect on newly registered editors/May 2015 study. In the meantime, if you’re interested in testing, please opt in via Beta Features and leave feedback at Wikipedia:VisualEditor/Feedback. The new automagic mw:Citoid tool (paste in a URL like http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25609764 and get a fully formatted citation template back) isn't perfect and doesn't cover all possible sources, but it is pretty awesome when it works. Whatamidoing (WMF) ( talk) 19:25, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
Is there any standard for using URLs in citations when the link is to a subscription site via a specific library login? For instance, this takes the reader to the Wellcome Library (through which I accessed the information) and is of no use to readers who aren't members. This one does the same, to the City of Westminster Library. The sites accessed via Wellcome and Westminster do not provide stable URLs of their own as, say, JSTOR does. What should one do in such circumstances? Tim riley talk 18:15, 13 April 2015 (UTC)
|subscription=yes
, see
Template:Cite journal#Subscription or registration required. --
Redrose64 (
talk)
19:33, 13 April 2015 (UTC)
Do closers weigh the stated strength of each !vote? Is there a progression, as Keep, KEEP, Strong keep, STRONG KEEP? I saw one today that said, all boldface, STRONG KEEP, have never felt more strongly. Seriously. If I don't have a somewhat strong opinion, I don't !vote; so should I begin all my !votes with the word Strong? ― Mandruss ☎ 13:05, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
{{U|
Technical 13}} (
e •
t •
c)
17:24, 16 April 2015 (UTC){{U|
Technical 13}} (
e •
t •
c)
17:38, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
{{U|
Technical 13}} (
e •
t •
c)
00:25, 17 April 2015 (UTC)In my day to day activity, I normally remove future air dates of broadcast anime television series that do not cite a reliable, published source. However, editors continue to add these dates back in. Recent, Wonchop reverted such a removal makes the claim that because broadcasts are on a regular schedule, references to future air dates are not needed unless there is a schedule change. [3] My position was that all information must be verifiable through a reliable, published sources and that future air dates are no exception. Wonchop once against restores the future air dates, but the source he provides only verifies the next air date, but not the dates of the rest of the series. [4] He against asserts that because the series is on a regular schedule, requiring sources for future air dates is not need. Does this compile with everyone else view of verifiability, or is calculating future air dates a form of original research since those dates have not yet been published and are subject to change? — Farix ( t | c) 13:03, 12 April 2015 (UTC)
{{
future episodes editnotice}}
--
Redrose64 (
talk)
15:54, 12 April 2015 (UTC)
Hopefully I'm making the right choice by posting this here instead of at Wikipedia:Help desk, because the following goes a bit beyond how to use or edit Wikipedia. It all started with me thinking
If alphabet(-)ical is "according to the sequence of the letters of the alphabet", then how would I say number(-)ical? It is not numerical because that is "of or pertaining to numbers" and not (enough) about a sequence/order. Nor am I looking for "numerical order" or "numeric order", because those would be the equivalents of "alphabetical order" (with the word "order").
So I visited alphabetical to look at its See also section. Alphabetical redirects to alphabet. At Alphabet, it has one hatnote; a link to Alphabet (disambiguation). However, the lead of Alphabet (disambiguation) says "Alphabet or The Alphabet may also refer to:" without "Alphabetical", and aforementioned disambiguation page also does not include Alphabetical order. So I used the URL bar to manually visit Alphabetical order. Its Alphabetical order#See also section mentions only Collation, and at Collation the lead includes the text "numerical order". That text links to number. So then I was wondering, does numerical order exist, and it does not; not even to redirect to something. Then at Sorting I saw the text "the order is alphabetical", which refers to an alphabetical order. At Help:Sorting it says "the order is numeric", doesn't that refer to a numeric order (note: "numeric", without "al")? That too is a page that does not exist; not even a redirect to something. I really think I should not have ran into some of a things described above. However, I don't know what would be good solutions for the various issues, so I'm asking for feedback here. -- 82.136.210.153 ( talk) 12:47, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
In summer 2009 Jimbo declared that in case of his untimely incapacitation "the Arbcom is authorized to figure out what to do, subject to ratification with a 50+1 vote of the community" & that he would "amend that succession plan from time to time upon recommendation of the Arbcom and Community". Could anyone say when he amended it last? 54.152.112.11 ( talk) 20:47, 19 April 2015 (UTC)
P.S. I asked this question at Jimbo's talk page on April the 3rd, but received no reply. 54.152.112.11 ( talk) 21:28, 19 April 2015 (UTC)
[removed unnecessary copy of spam Thincat ( talk) 07:40, 21 April 2015 (UTC) ]
1) How do we delete this paragraph? 2) How do we STOP this individual from posting this crap again?
Bgordski ( talk) 06:48, 21 April 2015 (UTC)
On at least three accounts it shows the wiki syntax like: Image:|140x170px|left|Relief from the palace of Ashurnasilpal II in Nimrud instead of a proper image. Selected article, Selected picture, and Did you know entries. I'm posting here because nobody acted there. Cheers, -- Zvizdanche ( talk) 09:46, 21 April 2015 (UTC)
Naming convention, content of user page, and possible COI. 7&6=thirteen ( ☎) 13:32, 21 April 2015 (UTC)
What, if anything, do we know about these folks (getyourwiki.com)? Are they disclosed as paid editors? If not, has there been any investigation to uncover who might be editing with an inappropriate agenda on their behalf? - Jmabel | Talk 03:33, 15 April 2015 (UTC)
Hello everyone,
The Wikipedia store has been relaunched. We have redesigned the website and also introduced new items!
The Wikipedia store looks forward to collaborating with the community, vendors, designers, artists, and people with similar visions to create meaningful merchandise for our community and readers. In the near future, you can expect creative representations of Wikipedia and its sister projects with these collaborations. Our vision for our merchandise is to motivate you and people around you to help spread knowledge via Wikimedia projects.
As a reminder, the store is engaged in giveaway programs rewarding volunteers, supporting editathons and engaging in hackathons and other community conferences. As usual, all sales support and reward contributors all over the world.
Spread the knowledge about the Wikipedia store and please follow @wikipediastore on Twitter and Instagram! VShchepakina (WMF) ( talk) 21:22, 21 April 2015 (UTC)
This is a message from the 2015 Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee. Translations are available.
Greetings,
I am pleased to announce that nominations are now being accepted for the 2015 Wikimedia Foundation Elections. This year the Board and the FDC Staff are looking for a diverse set of candidates from regions and projects that are traditionally under-represented on the board and in the movement as well as candidates with experience in technology, product or finance. To this end they have published letters describing what they think is needed and, recognizing that those who know the community the best are the community themselves, the election committee is accepting nominations for community members you think should run and will reach out to those nominated to provide them with information about the job and the election process.
This year, elections are being held for the following roles:
Board of Trustees
The Board of Trustees is the decision-making body that is ultimately responsible for the long term sustainability of the Foundation, so we value wide input into its selection. There are three positions being filled. More information about this role can be found at
the board elections page.
Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC)
The Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) makes recommendations about how to allocate Wikimedia movement funds to eligible entities. There are five positions being filled. More information about this role can be found at
the FDC elections page.
Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) Ombud
The FDC Ombud receives complaints and feedback about the FDC process, investigates complaints at the request of the Board of Trustees, and summarizes the investigations and feedback for the Board of Trustees on an annual basis. One position is being filled. More information about this role can be found at
the FDC Ombudsperson elections page.
The candidacy submission phase lasts from 00:00 UTC April 20 to 23:59 UTC May 5 for the Board and from 00:00 UTC April 20 to 23:59 UTC April 30 for the FDC and FDC Ombudsperson. This year, we are accepting both self-nominations and nominations of others. More information on this election and the nomination process can be found on the 2015 Wikimedia elections page on Meta-Wiki.
Please feel free to post a note about the election on your project's village pump. Any questions related to the election can be posted on the talk page on Meta, or sent to the election committee's mailing list, board-elections -at- wikimedia.org
On behalf of the Elections Committee,
-Gregory Varnum (
User:Varnent)
Coordinator,
2015 Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee
Posted by the MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of the 2015 Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee, 05:03, 21 April 2015 (UTC) • Translate • Get help
I tried to use the 'Add links' entry under the Languages section (at right) to add non-English language links to an article. However, it gives me the error message 'You need to be logged in on this wiki and in the central data repository to use this feature'. Well I am logged on to the central data repository and yet I still receive this message. This seems completely non-beneficial; it could at least have a help link so I can navigate the correct process. Praemonitus ( talk) 15:38, 20 April 2015 (UTC)
Commons:Category:Images uploaded by Natuur12 (clcean up2) has a lot of train pictures taken in America. These are taken by Peter Van den Bossche and downloaded from Flicker. I already classified a lot of his European pictures but I am not familiar with the USA scene. Could someone help with classifying these pictures? Smiley.toerist ( talk) 07:43, 27 April 2015 (UTC)
There is a way to find all usages of, say, nytimes.com in article-space but I cannot recall it offhand. Anyone here know? A WP page that lists those sorts of helpful search aids in one location would be desirable too, if one exists. Thanks. Tarc ( talk) 14:47, 29 April 2015 (UTC)
I have discovered a user Allen terry ( talk · contribs) who is persistently recreating the page User:Melanie Specht. This is a user page of a user that doesn't exist, and is being deleted as U2 every time it is created. What I would normally do in a case where a page keeps being recreated is request its create protection. However, since it's a user page, I'm afraid it would present a problem in case someone comes by and wants to register that name. I have two options:
What should I do? Gparyani ( talk) 19:39, 27 April 2015 (UTC)
How about an Edit Filter to stop them creating pages in user space, except for their own?. - X201 ( talk) 20:36, 27 April 2015 (UTC)
I have discovered a user Allen terry ( talk · contribs) who is persistently recreating the page User:Melanie Specht. This is a user page of a user that doesn't exist, and is being deleted as U2 every time it is created. What I would normally do in a case where a page keeps being recreated is request its create protection. However, since it's a user page, I'm afraid it would present a problem in case someone comes by and wants to register that name. I have two options:
What should I do? Gparyani ( talk) 19:39, 27 April 2015 (UTC)
How about an Edit Filter to stop them creating pages in user space, except for their own?. - X201 ( talk) 20:36, 27 April 2015 (UTC)
This is a message from the 2015 Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee. Translations are available.
Voting has begun for eligible voters in the 2015 elections for the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) and FDC Ombudsperson. Questions and discussion with the candidates for the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) and FDC Ombudsperson will continue during the voting. Nominations for the Board of Trustees will be accepted until 23:59 UTC May 5.
The Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) makes recommendations about how to allocate Wikimedia movement funds to eligible entities. There are five positions on the committee being filled.
The FDC Ombudsperson receives complaints and feedback about the FDC process, investigates complaints at the request of the Board of Trustees, and summarizes the investigations and feedback for the Board of Trustees on an annual basis. One position is being filled.
The voting phase lasts from 00:00 UTC May 3 to 23:59 UTC May 10. Click here to vote. Questions and discussion with the candidates will continue during that time. Click here to ask the FDC candidates a question. Click here to ask the FDC Ombudsperson candidates a question. More information on the candidates and the elections can be found on the 2015 FDC election page, the 2015 FDC Ombudsperson election page, and the 2015 Board election page on Meta-Wiki.
On behalf of the Elections Committee,
-Gregory Varnum (
User:Varnent)
Volunteer Coordinator,
2015 Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee
Posted by the MediaWiki message delivery 03:45, 4 May 2015 (UTC) • Translate • Get help
I've been contributing since 2004. I've contributed a fair amount, and so far this year, about 10% of my carefully-crafted edits have been reverted. [6] [7] [8] Is this par? Are my old-school sensibilities so far out of touch with the modern ways? Restructure, improve, build upon - but preferably not revert unless it's wrong or detrimental. And while I can agree that those contributions weren't necessarily in keeping with featured article status, I obviously thought they improved the articles a little bit.
I'm not really worried about these three edits so much as I am about what reverts such as those might do to our editor pool. If our standards are so high going in that a casual contributor cannot participate without rebuke, then we will have no more casual contributors. Should we make it a little harder to revert? (Probably not because those tools are indispensable for fighting vandalism.) Should we highlight that "revert" and "undo" operations are chiefly for vandalism and edit tests? What else can we do to make Wikipedia a friendlier place for the occasional editor? -- ke4roh ( talk) 18:21, 29 April 2015 (UTC)
Hey folks, I wanted to riff off of a point that ke4roh made: "I don't believe there is a natural trade-off between quality and friendliness." I'm with you. Right now, the majority of quality control is done by User:ClueBot NG and tools like WP:Huggle, WP:Stiki and WP:Page Curation [10]. While these tools do make reviewing the recent changes feed more efficient, they centralize quality control work and use algorithmic strategies that focus people's attention on reverting/deleting newcomers work. Because of this centralization, you have a small group of people who are responsible for first line of defense for the entire wiki. These patrollers must review changes to content across the entire range of subjects and they are often judged by their ability to efficiently filter vandalism and other damage -- not by how effective they engage in teaching opportunities. It takes substantially less time to revert and edit that *might* be damage than to engage with the user who made the edit. So I don't think it's any surprise that we've optimized for one and not the other.
So how do we do better? I think the trick is to make quality control event more efficient than it already is. Step #1 is to decentralize quality control and add good-faith teaching opportunities to the filter it provides. My hope is that we can do this by re-distributing quality control work through making powerful algorithmic tools available across the wiki. In my recent work, I've been developing a system for making it easy to stand up new quality control tools (as well as tools for identifying promising newcomers). See m:R:Revision scoring as a service. The screenshot on the right shows User:He7d3r's 10-line javascript gadget that uses the service to score revisions (note the red highlights for likely-damaging edits). Using this strategy, it's trivial to modify the UI based on the "damage" probability of an edit. I plan to use these scores to stand up "newcomer good-faithiness" models too (as I did in WP:Snuggle -- see how here [11]). With this, I think that the next version of User:EpochFail/NICE should both help you find damage to revert and make it easy to teach good-faith newcomers about the boundaries they've crossed. More importantly, I want to enable other creative people to develop tools that they see a need for using these scores.
We're still in the Alpha stage with these services, but we'll be ready for Beta testers soon. In the meantime, we could use some help with manually labeling edits as "damaging" and/or "good-faith" to train our Artificial Intelligence systems. If you're interested in helping out with that, sign up here: Wikipedia:Labels/Edit_quality. -- EpochFail ( talk • contribs) 15:16, 30 April 2015 (UTC)
Hello Wikimedians!
Today The Wikipedia Library announces signups for more free, full-access accounts to published research as part of our Publisher Donation Program. You can sign up for new accounts and research materials from:
Many other partnerships with accounts available are listed on
our partners page, including
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The Wikipedia Library Team 22:12, 4 May 2015 (UTC)
Apparently User:Jimp and possibly other editors have been going around applying the {{ val}} template to replace comma formatting of digit groups with thin space formatting. (Ref.: WP:DIGITS.) This seems unnecessary and disruptive. Is there an appropriate procedure for this? Thank you. Praemonitus ( talk) 02:27, 1 May 2015 (UTC)
Why do we have pictures of "Robert Gold Bartender" all over Wikipedia in every bar- and drinking-related article? These pix don't actually appear in the articles but only show up when you click on a pix that IS in the article. Then they appear in the large-image sequence of pix that are in the article. (Just go to Cocktail waitress and click on the picture.) Robert Gold doesn't even have an article in Wikipedia. This looks like some kind of insane private spam or ego-trip. Wahrmund ( talk) 16:25, 10 May 2015 (UTC)
I'm participating in a debate where the possibility of systemic gender bias has been raised. In response, one editor opened a section in which he listed all the participants' names and invited them to voluntarily state their gender; some editors (a minority) did choose to add that information to the debate.
However: another editor has now gone through that list and – on his own – reported every participant's gender where known.
Am I right to find this inappropriate? Within the context of a debate, I see no problem with inviting users to share that fact; however, for one editor to add that information en masse on everyone else seems wrong. Regardless of what someone can find out about his fellow editors, it seems to me that what participants choose to add/state/disclose in a forum should be their choice – not someone else's.
Thoughts? ╠╣uw [ talk 09:31, 6 May 2015 (UTC)
{{
heshe}}
(for example, {{
heshe|Redrose64}}
gives "he or she") - it's a
WP:OUTING violation. Compare {{
heshe|Huwmanbeing}}
which gives "he". --
Redrose64 (
talk)
16:48, 6 May 2015 (UTC)It it because it is thought to be too difficult to begin articles using the mobile version? I tend to think of wp:redlinks as great things, as long as they are placed where articles or redirects should be created. Thanks. Biosthmors ( talk) pls notify me (i.e. {{ U}}) while signing a reply, thx 14:39, 27 April 2015 (UTC)
Thanks Melamrawy (WMF) for the post on my talk page. Unfortunately, I'm not sure you understood my question on this thread. I am wondering why red links do not appear at all on the mobile version of Wikipedia. For example, if you go to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/?title=Help:Cheatsheet&mobileaction=toggle_view_mobile you will see that the "red link example" is not red. It is black like plain text. You might also compare /info/en/?search=Pycnanthemum and see how many species still need articles. But when you go to the mobile version of that page (anyone can toggle between versions at the bottom of every Wikipedia article, from "desktop" to "mobile" and vice versa), the red links are not there. There are no links to show mobile viewers that Wikipedia needs an article on the subject. Why is that? Also, wouldn't this approach encourage mobile editors to create wikilinks where wikilinks ([[ ]]) already exist? Thanks. Biosthmors ( talk) pls notify me (i.e. {{ U}}) while signing a reply, thx 17:16, 12 May 2015 (UTC)
Shouldn't this be treated as a bug? Biosthmors ( talk) pls notify me (i.e. {{ U}}) while signing a reply, thx 17:17, 12 May 2015 (UTC)
Is this essay formatted correctly, or have I messed something up? Tharthandorf Aquanashi ( talk) 17:57, 9 May 2015 (UTC)
I've been experiencing problems for some time with AWB edits, particularly by Bgwhite and Magioladitis/Yobot. There are too many issues to list, but the problem is that they repeatedly restore their edits over objections. A lot of the edits make no difference to the reader but fill up the watchlists. Or they make changes that have an editorial impact and restore them even if the article writers disagree.
For example, for some reason AWB moves references into the chronological order of the footnotes, rather than where they've been placed for editorial reasons. So a sentence claiming A and B might have the refs positioned after the sentence so that the ref for A comes first. But if A is footnote 9 and B is footnote 8, AWB editors will change the position. If you change it back, another one arrives to do it again.
They also repeatedly remove repetition of named references. When I'm writing a first draft of an article, I often repeat the reference in full (e.g. ref name=X, followed by the citation) so that I can section edit and see the citations. Once I have a draft in place, I remove them and use only ref name=X. AWB editors won't let me do this. They keep arriving – on articles they otherwise have no involvement in – to remove repeated citations.
Each of the issues feels too minor to complain about, but the overall effect is time-consuming and depressing. It feels as though articles are held hostage to whatever rules someone has programmed into AWB. Complaints have been met with rudeness and what seemed to be revenge editing elsewhere. I recently tried to add {{bots|deny=AWB}} to stop it, but Bgwhite reverted, telling me I had added it "illegally." [12] I'm bringing it here for discussion in the hope that some of the technical editors might be able to offer suggestions, as I have no idea how AWB works. Redrose64, I'm pinging you in case you can advise. Sarah (SV) (talk) 22:14, 9 May 2015 (UTC)
Sarah (SV), Bgwhite I am OK if the deny tag is used as last resort. The tag still exists in Female genital mutilation where we again had an interaction and I can't recall any other interaction between all us three in the past. After, I was reverted in Study 329 I immediately searched for another approach. -- Magioladitis ( talk) 22:43, 9 May 2015 (UTC)
Sarah (SV) you 've been reverted by a single user, AWB does not override the deny tag and I did not revert you. -- Magioladitis ( talk) 23:13, 9 May 2015 (UTC)
Mary likes cake,<ref name=Mary/> but John doesn't.<ref name=John/>
SlimVirgin explaining why ref are in a given order may be a good thing since the main argument of the people who want the re reordering is that a random editor can never know for sure which ref order is the best. -- Magioladitis ( talk) 21:37, 10 May 2015 (UTC)
Most of AWB rules are described at WP:AWB/GF and almost(?) all AWB rules follow manual of style. -- Magioladitis ( talk) 21:55, 10 May 2015 (UTC)
Mary likes cake, but John doesn't.<ref name=Mary/><ref name=John/>
is written that way so the reader finds the sources in order of claim presentation. When the claims are contentious, this matters. Or the writer might place the secondary source first, or the second source might be a "see also" source. But I've said all this already.The ref reordering was implemented with a 3-1 consensus on a "feature requests" page with relatively few watchers. I would suggest that a wider consensus is needed to sustain something like this. We should pretend that the feature does not exist and take it through the WP:VPR proposal process, like other things that affect a significant number of editors in a controversial way. The consensus burden should be on "keep", not "remove"; i.e., it would be removed in the absence of a consensus. If the idea has as much merit as its proponents claim, it should have no problem earning consensus there. Being an actual community consensus with wide exposure, it should be more durable. ― Mandruss ☎ 01:23, 13 May 2015 (UTC)
I don't know if I'm the only one who has struck this opinion, but it seems we use an over abundance of pictures of the current US President, Barack Obama. Even on articles that have nothing to do - directly or indirectly - with the presidency. Fist bump is a good example. I know there are other examples, but I can't remember any off the top of my head. Just seems POV-ish to me. CRRays Head90 | #RaysUp 00:14, 11 May 2015 (UTC)
Hi there. I’m about to kick off a short A/B test that will enable VisualEditor for newly registered users. This test will affect half of the new editors who sign up on Wikipedia. We’ll start on 21 May, 2015 by running a 24-hour pilot study ( why?) to test our experimental framework. Assuming that everything’s working, we’ll then start a one-week study. Once this experimental week is up, we will cease enabling VisualEditor for newcomers while we analyze its effects.
In this experiment, I’ll be looking for evidence about whether offering VisualEditor makes editing easier/more productive for newcomers or raises additional burdens (reverting damage, blocking vandals) for current editors. One of the WMF's goal in this test is to determine whether we’re ready to start a discussion about offering VisualEditor to new users. Negative outcomes will result in further improvements and user testing.
As has become my standard practice for WMF experiments, I’ll be maintaining a project page on Meta with details about this experiment. I will also maintain work logs while I monitor the experiment and analyze the results. If you have any questions about this test, please feel free to come talk to me on the project talk page. -- Halfak (WMF) ( talk) 23:26, 14 May 2015 (UTC)
I have requested the bot flag to run AWB as a bot in order to clean up certain kinds of links left from disambiguation page moves. For example, the page Epping previously was an article on a specifc town in England. This page was moved to Epping, Essex, and Epping became a disambiguation page with several hundred incoming links. As is commonly found in such cases, most of the links intended the town in England, and many were found in formulations like "[[ Epping]], Essex", or "[[ Epping]], [[ Essex]]". A similar issue arises in the recurring creation of common patterns of disambiguation links to heavily linked articles; for example editors will often make edits creating disambiguation links like "[[ heavy metal]] music" and "the [[ French]] language", which can easily be resolved as "[[ heavy metal music]]" and "the [[ French language]]". Over time, large numbers of these links may build up. Over the course of my career as an editor, I have made literally hundreds of thousands of fixes like these using AWB. Even though this is much faster than editing the pages individually in a browser, it is still time consuming when large numbers of links must be fixed.
I have therefore finally decided to request permission to run AWB as a bot so that when page moves are made or common disambiguation targets become heavily linked, obvious formulations like these can be changed with less of a direct investment of my time. My intention is to use this functionality when a page move creates a large number of disambiguation links, for which obvious formulations for a large number of fixes can be seen. New disambiguation pages are created frequently; anywhere from a few dozen pages to a few hundred pages might benefit this kind of attention on any given day, although there are likely to be days where no pages require such attention. My intention is to determine if there are obvious patterns of links to be fixed, for example changing instances of "[[Epping]], Essex" or "[[Epping]], [[Essex]]" to "[[Epping, Essex|Epping]], Essex", or "[[Epping, Essex|Epping]], [[Essex]]". I will then run AWB in bot mode to make these changes (perhaps in a batch of a hundred at a time), and review the changes once made. It has been brought to my attention that similar proposals have been rejected in the past under WP:CONTEXTBOT, so I would like to know if there is any particular sentiment in the community about such a use of a bot flag. bd2412 T 22:13, 16 May 2015 (UTC)
I see that Wikipedia:Romanian Wikipedians' notice board is no longer active, so this is the only forum I can think to bring this to; if someone has another suggestion, I have no problem with moving the discussion.
The article on the Iron Guard, the radically antisemitic political party in Romania in the 1930s until its suppression in 1941, contains some uncited statements in the article's own voice that could almost have been written by the party itself:
The internal situation was favouring the Jews, as they were in direct charge of Romanian press, politics and public life. As the First World War ended, the Jews turned to pro-communism, an attitude strongly condemned by the population, as the Soviet Union was growing more and more aggressive.
I don't have time at present to work on this, especially not to find citations for the status of the Jews in Romania in the 1930s (which I assure you was not a status of "direct charge of … press, politics and public life") and the claim of Jewish support for the Soviet Union reads like a justification of the Iași pogrom. Surely this is not what our encyclopedia article should say. - Jmabel | Talk 04:18, 18 May 2015 (UTC)
The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
So long story short, I found File:Kogaru1.jpg and thought it would be good to use as an example in the article Fan service what I had forgot about was a discussion 4 years ago about the said image: community consensus. So I am wondering, has anything changed? A few points I want to make:
So with all of these points said, is there a way we can form a new consensus on it's use? - Knowledgekid87 ( talk) 23:21, 21 May 2015 (UTC)
In context with the fan service article the image would be used to illustrate the following:
{{
cite book}}
: |access-date=
requires |url=
(
help); External link in |chapterurl=
(
help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl=
ignored (|chapter-url=
suggested) (
help)
I just read part of the Wikipedia page about Deepak Chopra. Let me preface by saying that I have never been to Chopra's health center and am not an avid reader of his books. Having stated that, I found the page written about him terribly offensive. It couldn't have been clearer that the person allowed to write, or deeply influence, the page about him had his/her own agenda. And that is my point in writing. An "inequity" was not cured by allowing a writer aligned with the medical orthodoxy to write about him. Rather, a greater inequity occurred.
Apparently, the writer does not believe that any reader who encounters Deepak Chopra on the page can make a reasonable decision based on his or her own sensibilities and logic, or even feelings (yes, feelings can factor into how a person can make a sound decision). What this writer has been allowed to do is to engage in unadulterated polemic. Is that okay?
Deepak Chopra's ideas come from an ancient philosophical school. I believe I may be correct in stating that his ideas are aligned with the Sankhya philosophical school, though I may be wrong. At any rate, ideas from an ancient philosophical school are not necessarily antiquated. What this writer has been allowed to do is to put Deepak Chopra on trial and to publicly convict him in writing, and on a very popular informational site. This author's conclusions (which all lead to the conviction that Chopra is professing ideas dangerous for the masses) are not necessarily accurate. Science and medicine, which this writer cleaves to as "truth," simply don't present us with all the answers. Some people need to deal with that.
Mysticism is not automatically dangerous, and should not be regarded or approached as such. It is a perennial system of coming in tune with self, a path of inner investigation (even Jung took it). In fact, mysticism is a valid path of self-inquiry practiced in myriad forms by billions of people. Additionally, most people do not take mysticism to an extreme. (But let's face it, there are a lot of things in this world that we can engage in to the extreme that could cause our own death. For instance, we can eat ourselves to death. What are you going to do? Put a warning label on all food?)
Writers of this nature are dangerous because they are telling their readers what to think and are not allowing for the full breadth of human experience. (And thinking for oneself does seem like a God-given right in these States of America. I'm pretty sure there's a public document that alludes to that.) And such writer's should not be given public forum to influence people into thinking that mysticism is laughable at best and at worst potentially fatal. Thoreau spoke about an "authority of one" in his essay, "Civil Disobedience." This author is counseling Wikipedia's readers away from that authority. And frankly, it's my understanding that Wikipedia is about getting information, not being told what to think.
In truth, I do not trust this author as a candidate to shape my ideas about the world because he/she is clearly entrenched in the medical orthodoxy, an alignment that, quite honestly, reminded me of the Catholic orthodoxy that led to the burning of Gnostics in Southern France. (Yes, I actually said that.) "Orthodoxy" means "right-thinking" and it is a moniker that was assumed, not given. People who assume that they are orthodox (right-thinking) can turn into fanatics and become dangerous. And while I don't think that this writer is going to burn anyone with fire, he/she clearly has no compunction about burning someone in the public conception. I appreciate that we have doctors, certainly, and I pay them for their services; but this does not mean that I'm not going to learn how to take care of myself to the best of my ability. And, I have to tell you, I'm 50 and regularly get told that I look like I'm in my 20's or 30's. So, in my mind, there's nothing wrong with not buying into the idea that we have to get old—unless you've got some money to be made by people thinking otherwise. People can make their own decisions about when to seek medical assistance, and what form that assistance will take.
I think I've probably made my point, but here's a news flash: There are actually intelligent people in the world. And, when it comes to Deepak Chopra, I can make up my own mind. Thank you so very much. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.77.43.53 ( talk) 19:01, 15 May 2015 (UTC)
I've been cleaning up some hoax content added by 71.36.237.179 ( talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log), some of which has survived unchallenged since 2011. But I've run aground at Our Lady of Victory Catholic School - with the others I've been able to find a stable version to revert to, or just been able to excise 71.36.237.179's nonsense. But that whole article is unsourced, lots of it is either hoaxing or at best unencyclopedic trivia, and it's hard to find a stable version that isn't a couple of lines long. Unfortunately I have to go out now, so I'd appreciate if someone (perhaps unjaded by the other junk I've removed) could take a look at it while I'm gone. Obviously I don't like wiping the good-faith edits of unimplicated editors, but I'm thinking we may have to nuke it from orbit, just to be sure. -- Finlay McWalterᚠ Talk 08:22, 22 May 2015 (UTC)
It has been alleged that the article Manahel Thabet may be a hoax. Due to limited response no consensus currently exists. Input from experienced editors would be appreciated at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Manahel Thabet. Thanks! - Ad Orientem ( talk) 19:24, 22 May 2015 (UTC)
It has been alleged that the article Manahel Thabet may be a hoax. Due to limited response no consensus currently exists. Input from experienced editors would be appreciated at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Manahel Thabet. Thanks! - Ad Orientem ( talk) 19:24, 22 May 2015 (UTC)
Hi! I added Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to the list of alumni at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth alumni. Another user challenged the
What do you think? Do you think this is a fair reason to exclude someone from an alumni list? WhisperToMe ( talk) 05:36, 18 May 2015 (UTC)
That aside, I would tend to agree that the dictionary definition is somewhat... old. I rarely see/hear of dropouts at the university level described as alumni ( WP:TRUTH), and even more rare is it to see particular individuals on the various lists we keep around of alumni of universities who were dropouts. I think the latter practice (rather than the dictionary definition) is more interesting since we should be informed by present article practice (notwithstanding WP:OTHERSTUFF). -- Izno ( talk) 14:47, 18 May 2015 (UTC)
It is our consistence long-standing practice to list all alumni in such lists, not just those who graduated. My own primary alma mater includes a President of Peru, a Prime Minister of Israel, and a head of the American Nazi Party; we don't get to pick and choose. ---- Orange Mike | Talk 01:13, 27 May 2015 (UTC)
Hi,
I'm looking to discuss the arbcom decision made here: Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Enforcement#TheRedPenOfDoom.2C_third_filing. I know discussions of an individual page are most commonly found at that respective page's talk page, but until the Talk:Talk: namespace exists that venue isn't open to all to discuss the decision made. The decision was made to restrict the editing of both pages listed above to those editors with both 500 edits and 30 days of age on their account. I don't know if a restriction of this kind has ever been applied to a talk page before; my impression is that such a restriction is exceedingly rare and that it goes against some of the core principles of the Wikipedia project. Rather than dawdling around, let me get into my opinions so those of differing opinions can pick them apart!
-The decision runs counter to the Wikipedia slogan, "the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit." This is not the first such decision to run afoul of that credo, in my opinion; I'm a sort of absolutist on this, and would rather have a wikipedia with more errors and vandalism than a wikipedia that violates that goal. I understand that most people don't feel that way, and that's okay (though I sort of feel maybe we should get rid of that (maybe change it to "the community-curated free encyclopedia" or something that rolls off the tongue better than that) and stop confusing people, though you could imagine the field day conservatives and others who feel Wikipedia is inherently biased would have with that one!)
-The talk page is an important safety valve re:edit restrictions. The argument goes that vandalism is a problem and therefore limiting access to editing of contentious articles (e.g. 9/11) to users with some degree of vetting is a good way to limit the work for those brave souls who devote hours to reverting vandalism. I don't agree with that argument, but I understand it and sympathize with it and accept that it's the prevailing wisdom on Wikipedia. I'm not arguing that Gamergate controversy should be unprotected. However, I feel that the talk page acts as a balancing factor in the process, allowing those with opinions contrary to the current revision of the article (broadly, what we'd call at 9/11 kooks) to both support/defend their opinion as well as just gripe so as to avoid anger turning to hatred and hatred turning to vandalism (of other/related articles), or simply leaving the project altogether. I also think that a vigorous debate on the talk page of contentious articles helps expose how the sausage is made to those readers interested enough to care. That kind of transparency is important, in my opinion.
-The article as currently written accurately reflects the preponderance of RS reportage on the issue. Pains me to say this because I have some misgivings about some of the reporting on the issue, but I don't have a problem with the article itself, or if I do it's only minor niggles here and there and a general complaint about the schizophrenic quality of the article (inherent in contentious articles under the current system).
-The argument in favor of the restriction seems to be that users were tired of arguing about why the article is written the way it's written. To me, this seems to be the primary purpose of a talk page (at least in a contentious topic): discussing the current iteration of the article and debating on how to improve it in a way that is acceptable to people on both sides of the relevant ideological divide.
In short, I feel that the ban as imposed is unduly limiting to the open discussion of the issue at hand and will server to exacerbate the vitriol rather than soothe it. I'd appreciate comment, criticism, or any other ramblings people may have on the topic. Riffraffselbow ( talk) ( contribs) 01:36, 18 May 2015 (UTC)
What you don't seem to get is this is asymetric warfare, mostly in the sense that for you all every loss is significant (hai Dreadstar!) - for us "loss" is expected but we can afford it. Every little victory or nuisance makes it just that much less pleasant here, just that one fewer editor/admin - and bit by bit the ratchet clicks.diff
As far as I can tell
Zad68,
Bilby &
Riffraffselbow you're unbiased on the issue involved. Unfortunately I realized certain individuals were requesting I be "blocked" from the discussion. I'm recognizing the intention of one side to silence opposition of the other; I'm asking if anyone has suggested renaming
GamerGate Controversy to the more appropriate
GamerGate Harassment Claims(?) - In return, making
GamerGate Controversy a topic for Journalistic Ethics(?) That is the main focus of why the Twitter hashtag is so controversial. Let me clarify that with an article from
Fast Company by
Sarah Kessler that extends the narrative of the 12% findings;
collapse information which could be
WP:FORUM here; but appropriate for the article Talk page -
Ryk72
'c.s.n.s.'
01:16, 20 May 2015 (UTC)
|
---|
Gamergate made up only a small percentage of reports of online harassment. Though the Gamergate controversy has been one the most visible stories about online harassment in the mainstream media over the past year or two, only about 12% of the 512 alleged harassing accounts reported to
Women of Action Media could be linked to it. I accept that the 12% issue has been brought up before. But the magnitude of the finds in this
WAM's PDF is massive, while it's a footnote in the larger dialogue on WIKI. Is it fair to say one could interpret this as (a form of) bias? Kessler also noted that
Twitter deleted ONE ACCOUNT in response to the 161 reports of harassments, which lends to the same narrative that the findings presented by Women Of Action Media had determined either no real threats had occurred or Twitter was biased in removing the accounts. Again; this is extending the larger story about the use of a Twitter hashtag. Additionally an article from September 2014 in
Game Politics carried a POLL asking specifically "What Is #GamerGate About?" ... Around 1,855 votes were cast (our second largest poll ever), with the majority of them going to the option, rooting out malfeasance in game journalism. Around 70% of the votes (1,298 votes) said that the Twitter hashtag #gamergate represents finding and eliminating alleged corruption in journalism. Around 13% (242 votes) said that it really depended on the person using the hashtag. While six% (119 votes) said it was about silencing those who talk about gender issues in video games. And around 5% (91 votes) said that the hashtag was meant to show that "not all gamers" are bad people. Finally, 4% (77 votes) said that they didn't know what #gamergate is & 2% (28 votes) said the #gamergate hashtag is about eliminating discussions on cultural differences in video games.
Poll Image The current GamerGate_Controversy WIKI is lacking news articles that credit any retort to the main controversy; That #gamergate is simply a hashtag and it is used in support of the ethics in journalism. LET ME EXPLAIN THAT STATEMENT: Another website similar to WAM, known as Deep Freeze independently researches the alleged corruption of gaming journalists. Some, I might point out, have written the very articles provided in the current GamerGate_Controversy WIKI. These same journalist were found conferring with one another through a mailing list on their Google Group Community. It was first reported by BreitBart. It included the contents of those emails along with the original email addresses. Needless to say WIKI demands viable news coverages, and the articles provided have credibility issues with the people writing them. The most common argument being GamerGate is an organized group of men, when in actuality, it's just a hashtag used on Twitter by a diversity of people from all over the world. |
--
j0eg0d (
talk)
08:37, 19 May 2015 (UTC)
The admins applied their discretion as specifically appointed to do by the ArbCom to apply a sanction that has great potential to minimize disruption.-- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 01:20, 21 May 2015 (UTC)
|
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There is a new tool on labs that allows watching category membership changes (pages added/removed) to user specified categories. It can also monitor template addition/removal. Here is a sample watchlist. There is also a recent changes list that displays recent categorization changes. Feedback can be left on the bots talk page. -- Bamyers99 ( talk) 18:56, 30 March 2015 (UTC)
Where is the apropriate place for this suggestion?... Does it belong somewhere on the WikiMedia site? Or on the Esperento or Ido wikipedias? "As as esperento and ido are closly similar contributions to one wikipedia should be added to the other wikipedia as well thru machine translation " --Thank You Naytz ( talk) 02:57, 29 March 2015 (UTC)
Or perhaps at village pump(technical) ? Naytz ( talk) 02:59, 29 March 2015 (UTC)
Hi all - sorry if this has been mentioned before (I couldn't see it on a quick scan through the archives). Categories seem to have become weird, annoying, and difficult to use for me recently. Whereas up until a week or so ago, a category with over 200 articles would list the first 200 on its first category page divided neatly into three columns of 65-70, they now seem to be broken into columns dependant upon their first letter/number. Which means that for big categories, often you'll get two columns, one of, say, 170 As and one of the first 30 Bs, or just one long column. Small categories seem to be equally haphazard. Is there any preferences and/or java changes I can make to restore the previous method (if it's a glitch with me alone, FWIW I use Google Chrome 41.0.2272.104 and use the monobook skin) Grutness... wha? 00:01, 31 March 2015 (UTC)
{{
pp-move-indef}}
or {{
pp-pc1}}
is only appropriate for pages which already have with an indefinite move protection or level 1 pending changes) and is a never-ending task, but for the moment it demonstrates the problem very well, since letters up to J have few pages compared to later letters. --
Redrose64 (
talk)
10:04, 31 March 2015 (UTC)
I wonder if it is possible to get statistics for how many article I prodded, or nominated for AfD, and how many of those were successful? -- Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 07:24, 26 March 2015 (UTC)
I just reverted a hoax that was inserted in November 2010 and had gone undetected for 4 years. Amazingly, it survived the scrutiny of such venerable editors as Roger Davies, Missvain, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Waacstats, and Lockley. Also, I'm amazed that Adrienne Monnier's article is so tiny. Kaldari ( talk) 21:51, 31 March 2015 (UTC)
Hi!
I made a template to insert
emoji on discussion pages! You can find it at: {{
emoji}}.
They supplement the
already available emoticons with a larger set of symbols. There are options for size and for different visual themes (available from Commons); you can see them on the documentation page at
Template:Emoji. There’s also a
palette of available emojis there.
Have a nice day!
~
Nclm (
talk)
09:42, 2 April 2015 (UTC)
I want to use an excerpt from the USGS Flushing NY Quad to illustrate an article. Since the USGS is part of the US Government, I assumed that anything they do is published without copyright, but I'm unable to find a place to download the quads from that looks like a government site. The best I found was https://www.topoquest.com/map-detail.php?usgs_cell_id=15664, which is a commercial site that looks like it re-publishes the government charts. Does anybody know where I can find a free image of the USGS topo charts? -- RoySmith (talk) 00:50, 5 April 2015 (UTC)
As we are less than one month away from the ten-year anniversary of the creation of the Wikipedia:Wiki-Hell essay, I propose that we celebrate by making it policy. I may be four days late in asking for this. Cheers! bd2412 T 17:21, 5 April 2015 (UTC)
[copied post removed] — Preceding unsigned comment added by Shanus444 ( talk • contribs) 08:55, 6 April 2015 (UTC)
Is the image here called a Manikin? In the article only the life-size version is mentioned. I'm asking to make correct interwiki links to the Dutch article Ledenpop, the German article Gliederpuppe. Thanks Ellywa ( talk) 15:43, 6 April 2015 (UTC)
60 Minutes is a high-profile news program here in the US. link I was hoping someone had seen or heard the piece & had started a conversation here about their response to this. (And yes, Gregory Kohs already submitted his opinion in the comments to that article.) -- llywrch ( talk) 19:22, 6 April 2015 (UTC)
Citoid, the automagic citation filling tool, is on its way at last. It's been up at the French and Italian Wikipedias for a while, with positive feedback overall. The time isn't firmly settled, but Wednesday evening UTC is most likely. This has been one of the most-requested features from experienced editors.
Citoid depends upon good TemplateData. Wikipedia:TemplateData/Tutorial explains how to write the basics by hand, but the TemplateData GUI tool is usually faster and easier. It also depends upon external services like Zotero. If your favorite website isn't working, it probably needs a new Zotero entry. The design is less than ideal. There is a book-with-bookmark button for Citoid, next to a now-unlabeled "Cite" menu for filling in citations the old way.
If you have suggestions on how to improve the design, then please leave your comments where the designers are most likely to see them, at mw:Talk:VisualEditor/Design/Reference Dialog. If you have any other suggestions or run into problems, then please leave feedback at Wikipedia:VisualEditor/Feedback. If you would like to see Citoid at another wiki, then you may make that request in Phabricator: by creating a new task under the "Citoid" project. Most requests will probably not be granted for the next couple of weeks, but evidence that TemplateData is current on your main citation templates will likely improve your chances.
Here at the English Wikipedia, you will need to opt-in to VisualEditor via Beta Features to see Citoid. Pre-deployment testing can be done here on Beta Labs. (Before you ask: yes, after getting all the bumps smoothed out, the plan is to make it available in the wikitext editor as well. However, that will likely not be for some months yet.)
Happy editing, Whatamidoing (WMF) ( talk) 00:18, 25 March 2015 (UTC)
Changes on the user page, the user talk page, and the user's sandbox?
Personally, I never change a user page, or a user's sandbox, except by mistake, rarely. I do post to a user page, and I occasionally add colons as a matter of formatting.
Recently another editor made some quite correct updates to a draft article well down on my user talk page. As a matter of policy, should other editors do this? What about articles in my sandbox? What do other experienced editors do? What is the policy?-- DThomsen8 ( talk) 19:20, 4 April 2015 (UTC)
Citoid, the automagic citation filling tool, is on its way at last. It's been up at the French and Italian Wikipedias for a while, with positive feedback overall. The time isn't firmly settled, but Wednesday evening UTC is most likely. This has been one of the most-requested features from experienced editors.
Citoid depends upon good TemplateData. Wikipedia:TemplateData/Tutorial explains how to write the basics by hand, but the TemplateData GUI tool is usually faster and easier. It also depends upon external services like Zotero. If your favorite website isn't working, it probably needs a new Zotero entry. The design is less than ideal. There is a book-with-bookmark button for Citoid, next to a now-unlabeled "Cite" menu for filling in citations the old way.
If you have suggestions on how to improve the design, then please leave your comments where the designers are most likely to see them, at mw:Talk:VisualEditor/Design/Reference Dialog. If you have any other suggestions or run into problems, then please leave feedback at Wikipedia:VisualEditor/Feedback. If you would like to see Citoid at another wiki, then you may make that request in Phabricator: by creating a new task under the "Citoid" project. Most requests will probably not be granted for the next couple of weeks, but evidence that TemplateData is current on your main citation templates will likely improve your chances.
Here at the English Wikipedia, you will need to opt-in to VisualEditor via Beta Features to see Citoid. Pre-deployment testing can be done here on Beta Labs. (Before you ask: yes, after getting all the bumps smoothed out, the plan is to make it available in the wikitext editor as well. However, that will likely not be for some months yet.)
Happy editing, Whatamidoing (WMF) ( talk) 00:18, 25 March 2015 (UTC)
Changes on the user page, the user talk page, and the user's sandbox?
Personally, I never change a user page, or a user's sandbox, except by mistake, rarely. I do post to a user page, and I occasionally add colons as a matter of formatting.
Recently another editor made some quite correct updates to a draft article well down on my user talk page. As a matter of policy, should other editors do this? What about articles in my sandbox? What do other experienced editors do? What is the policy?-- DThomsen8 ( talk) 19:20, 4 April 2015 (UTC)
Due to ensued edit war, and continued disparity; we have started a discussion for finalizing a list of people to appear on the collage at {{
infobox ethnic group}}
in
Bengali people article. We need input from wider community for reaching an unbiased consensus. That is why I am canvassing this discussion here. ~
nafSadh
did
say
03:35, 8 April 2015 (UTC)
I'm talking about the one that says:
I have a suggestion to improve the wording. Regards, Orange Suede Sofa ( talk) 01:42, 9 April 2015 (UTC)
?uselang=qqx
or &uselang=qqx
(if there already is a ?
in the url) to the end of a url to see the name of the used messages in the MediaWiki namespace.
PrimeHunter (
talk)
02:02, 9 April 2015 (UTC)
Please translate this article de:Flurname — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.129.143.91 ( talk) 11:38, 13 April 2015
look over the discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Japan#RfC: Flag of Ryukyu and answer to the question: is it OK to put this flag on hundreds or thousands of articles?
This is request-for-comment stuff, but I post this here because, at this stage, no expert knowledge is required to make a judgment. You might be puzzled by details, but I bet they are unimportant. This is a Japan- and history-related topic, but all you need is common sense. I need your third opinions because now I feel like I'm talking to an alien from outer space.
In my earlier posts at the discussion, I assumed that readers were knowledgeable about the Japanese language and history. Here I provide background information.
The flag in question was supposedly used as the national flag of a pre-modern polity called Ryukyu, which was dissolved around the time when Japan embraced the Western notion of national flag. This file has been hosted on Common nearly for a decade. However, this flag has puzzled me (and some other Wikipedians) because it cannot be found in major history books. For example, Okinawa Prefecture, the successor of the pre-modern polity, published the 5 volumes of the History of Okinawa Prefecture (2000–2011, and one volume in preparation) and the 13 volumes of the Visual History of Okinawa Prefecture (1998–2004). Neither series makes mention of the flag. No secondary sources identify this as the national flag of Ryukyu. In my earlier post, I used the following analogy: pick up a book on the history of the United States, and you cannot find the Stars and Stripes. That's what's happening here. Of course, we cannot conclude that this flag has never be the national flag of Ryukyu because that's probatio diabolica. But common sense tells us that a national flag is something we can easily find in the literature. If we cannot, that's not what we consider the national flag. We can safely conclude that we cannot put it on hundreds or thousands of articles because it gives extremely undue weight to the flag.
The above is enough to make a judgment. Before move to the next, I must clarify that what follows does not change the conclusion.
I did serious research on this subject and posted key findings at the Commons image description pages. I suspect some portion of my posts are borderline cases of original research because there I rely on primary, not secondary, sources. But I believe the looser policies of Commons allow me to post them. All I could find was three catalogs published in mainland Japan (i.e., primary sources). In my earlier posts, I explained why they are unreliable, but that's not so important here. Ryukyu is known for its diplomatic negotiations with the U.S., the Netherlands and France in its final years. But the studies on this subject make no mention of the flag. No secondary sources after serious research. We can reconfirm that the flag is not something we consider the national flag.
After I updated the Commons image description page, I started removing the flag from articles. And Sturmgewehr88 ( talk · contribs) started RfC to reinstate the flag. The result is what I asked you to read. After the discussion, he started mass-reverts and I opened the AN/I report. I can hardly believe that an educated person interprets the discussion as a green light. So I request for third opinions.
Some notes on Sturmgewehr88. He uses the flag for the Wikipedia:WikiProject Japan/Ryukyu task force (located in the Wikipedia namespace, but virtually his personal project). He intensively advertises the task force at talk pages, and you can check the current status here. He may feel that he has passed the point of no return. That's only a speculation. Also, he has a record of accusing me of pushing a fringe theory [2]. So he is supposed to know what fringe theories are. -- Nanshu ( talk) 16:29, 13 April 2015 (UTC)
So we know (from studies of volunteer retention) that we are bad in handling newbies; we template them and show them the inhuman side of our project. Yet we also know that with few volunteers, there is no way to change this: telling people to be more friendly to newbies is not going to fly. How about this, then. Instead of deleting their contributions (tests, promo, etc.), how about we move it to their userspace, and leave it there for a few months? We are not paper, userspace is not searchable from search engines so spam fails, and we would make some people less stressed / angry at us if instead of "my content was deleted" they would be in "my contest was send back for revision" instead. And moving is about as simple as deletion... -- Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 02:26, 14 April 2015 (UTC)
__NOINDEX__
or by adding a template that includes that. Many of these templates are in
Category:Wikipedia templates which apply NOINDEX, although some will only NOINDEX if explicitly told to do so, such as {{
user page|noindex=yes}}
--
Redrose64 (
talk)
08:06, 14 April 2015 (UTC)
I was updating a citation link at GE Consumer & Industrial and came across this case:
When I say "original link was ... preserved in archive.org", this is not a certainty but a supposition; the original was retrieved on 19 July 2013, but the archived version is from 11 September 2014.
When I say "the same press release appears under a new URL", this again is not a certainty but a supposition ... inline photo in the old version has been replaced by a right-margin image gallery, for instance.
Let's assume that I've carefully vetted the content of the article on wikipedia against both the available online pages, and either one will work in supporting the article.
Is it a purely stylistic matter which you would choose in this case? Or would you go with the archive.org version, as it is "closer to original"? Or would you go with the new GE version, as this is placed in a more up-to-date site context? Or would you put both? In the present case, I chose the archive.org version.
I don't think there is any policy or guideline which covers this particular bit of pedantry, but it does come up from time to time when you are fighting link rot battles and I thought I would just push this out there for come comments.
--User:Ceyockey ( talk to me) 02:03, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
Publicizing an RfC on the Film Wikiproject regarding notability of items on List articles (hopefully this is the correct section). More input is appreciated. Lapadite ( talk) 02:14, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
Please note that Thelma Coyne Long died 16 april acording to Google. Thank you — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.185.175.84 ( talk) 13:15, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
Quick heads-up: Several editors have suggested testing VisualEditor on wiki, rather than something like usertesting.com with non-editors. It looks like User:EpochFail is going to run a short, real-world test. Nothing will change in your account, and logged-out editors will not be part of this test. A barebones draft is at m: Research:VisualEditor's effect on newly registered editors/May 2015 study. In the meantime, if you’re interested in testing, please opt in via Beta Features and leave feedback at Wikipedia:VisualEditor/Feedback. The new automagic mw:Citoid tool (paste in a URL like http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25609764 and get a fully formatted citation template back) isn't perfect and doesn't cover all possible sources, but it is pretty awesome when it works. Whatamidoing (WMF) ( talk) 19:25, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
Is there any standard for using URLs in citations when the link is to a subscription site via a specific library login? For instance, this takes the reader to the Wellcome Library (through which I accessed the information) and is of no use to readers who aren't members. This one does the same, to the City of Westminster Library. The sites accessed via Wellcome and Westminster do not provide stable URLs of their own as, say, JSTOR does. What should one do in such circumstances? Tim riley talk 18:15, 13 April 2015 (UTC)
|subscription=yes
, see
Template:Cite journal#Subscription or registration required. --
Redrose64 (
talk)
19:33, 13 April 2015 (UTC)
Do closers weigh the stated strength of each !vote? Is there a progression, as Keep, KEEP, Strong keep, STRONG KEEP? I saw one today that said, all boldface, STRONG KEEP, have never felt more strongly. Seriously. If I don't have a somewhat strong opinion, I don't !vote; so should I begin all my !votes with the word Strong? ― Mandruss ☎ 13:05, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
{{U|
Technical 13}} (
e •
t •
c)
17:24, 16 April 2015 (UTC){{U|
Technical 13}} (
e •
t •
c)
17:38, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
{{U|
Technical 13}} (
e •
t •
c)
00:25, 17 April 2015 (UTC)In my day to day activity, I normally remove future air dates of broadcast anime television series that do not cite a reliable, published source. However, editors continue to add these dates back in. Recent, Wonchop reverted such a removal makes the claim that because broadcasts are on a regular schedule, references to future air dates are not needed unless there is a schedule change. [3] My position was that all information must be verifiable through a reliable, published sources and that future air dates are no exception. Wonchop once against restores the future air dates, but the source he provides only verifies the next air date, but not the dates of the rest of the series. [4] He against asserts that because the series is on a regular schedule, requiring sources for future air dates is not need. Does this compile with everyone else view of verifiability, or is calculating future air dates a form of original research since those dates have not yet been published and are subject to change? — Farix ( t | c) 13:03, 12 April 2015 (UTC)
{{
future episodes editnotice}}
--
Redrose64 (
talk)
15:54, 12 April 2015 (UTC)
Hopefully I'm making the right choice by posting this here instead of at Wikipedia:Help desk, because the following goes a bit beyond how to use or edit Wikipedia. It all started with me thinking
If alphabet(-)ical is "according to the sequence of the letters of the alphabet", then how would I say number(-)ical? It is not numerical because that is "of or pertaining to numbers" and not (enough) about a sequence/order. Nor am I looking for "numerical order" or "numeric order", because those would be the equivalents of "alphabetical order" (with the word "order").
So I visited alphabetical to look at its See also section. Alphabetical redirects to alphabet. At Alphabet, it has one hatnote; a link to Alphabet (disambiguation). However, the lead of Alphabet (disambiguation) says "Alphabet or The Alphabet may also refer to:" without "Alphabetical", and aforementioned disambiguation page also does not include Alphabetical order. So I used the URL bar to manually visit Alphabetical order. Its Alphabetical order#See also section mentions only Collation, and at Collation the lead includes the text "numerical order". That text links to number. So then I was wondering, does numerical order exist, and it does not; not even to redirect to something. Then at Sorting I saw the text "the order is alphabetical", which refers to an alphabetical order. At Help:Sorting it says "the order is numeric", doesn't that refer to a numeric order (note: "numeric", without "al")? That too is a page that does not exist; not even a redirect to something. I really think I should not have ran into some of a things described above. However, I don't know what would be good solutions for the various issues, so I'm asking for feedback here. -- 82.136.210.153 ( talk) 12:47, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
In summer 2009 Jimbo declared that in case of his untimely incapacitation "the Arbcom is authorized to figure out what to do, subject to ratification with a 50+1 vote of the community" & that he would "amend that succession plan from time to time upon recommendation of the Arbcom and Community". Could anyone say when he amended it last? 54.152.112.11 ( talk) 20:47, 19 April 2015 (UTC)
P.S. I asked this question at Jimbo's talk page on April the 3rd, but received no reply. 54.152.112.11 ( talk) 21:28, 19 April 2015 (UTC)
[removed unnecessary copy of spam Thincat ( talk) 07:40, 21 April 2015 (UTC) ]
1) How do we delete this paragraph? 2) How do we STOP this individual from posting this crap again?
Bgordski ( talk) 06:48, 21 April 2015 (UTC)
On at least three accounts it shows the wiki syntax like: Image:|140x170px|left|Relief from the palace of Ashurnasilpal II in Nimrud instead of a proper image. Selected article, Selected picture, and Did you know entries. I'm posting here because nobody acted there. Cheers, -- Zvizdanche ( talk) 09:46, 21 April 2015 (UTC)
Naming convention, content of user page, and possible COI. 7&6=thirteen ( ☎) 13:32, 21 April 2015 (UTC)
What, if anything, do we know about these folks (getyourwiki.com)? Are they disclosed as paid editors? If not, has there been any investigation to uncover who might be editing with an inappropriate agenda on their behalf? - Jmabel | Talk 03:33, 15 April 2015 (UTC)
Hello everyone,
The Wikipedia store has been relaunched. We have redesigned the website and also introduced new items!
The Wikipedia store looks forward to collaborating with the community, vendors, designers, artists, and people with similar visions to create meaningful merchandise for our community and readers. In the near future, you can expect creative representations of Wikipedia and its sister projects with these collaborations. Our vision for our merchandise is to motivate you and people around you to help spread knowledge via Wikimedia projects.
As a reminder, the store is engaged in giveaway programs rewarding volunteers, supporting editathons and engaging in hackathons and other community conferences. As usual, all sales support and reward contributors all over the world.
Spread the knowledge about the Wikipedia store and please follow @wikipediastore on Twitter and Instagram! VShchepakina (WMF) ( talk) 21:22, 21 April 2015 (UTC)
This is a message from the 2015 Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee. Translations are available.
Greetings,
I am pleased to announce that nominations are now being accepted for the 2015 Wikimedia Foundation Elections. This year the Board and the FDC Staff are looking for a diverse set of candidates from regions and projects that are traditionally under-represented on the board and in the movement as well as candidates with experience in technology, product or finance. To this end they have published letters describing what they think is needed and, recognizing that those who know the community the best are the community themselves, the election committee is accepting nominations for community members you think should run and will reach out to those nominated to provide them with information about the job and the election process.
This year, elections are being held for the following roles:
Board of Trustees
The Board of Trustees is the decision-making body that is ultimately responsible for the long term sustainability of the Foundation, so we value wide input into its selection. There are three positions being filled. More information about this role can be found at
the board elections page.
Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC)
The Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) makes recommendations about how to allocate Wikimedia movement funds to eligible entities. There are five positions being filled. More information about this role can be found at
the FDC elections page.
Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) Ombud
The FDC Ombud receives complaints and feedback about the FDC process, investigates complaints at the request of the Board of Trustees, and summarizes the investigations and feedback for the Board of Trustees on an annual basis. One position is being filled. More information about this role can be found at
the FDC Ombudsperson elections page.
The candidacy submission phase lasts from 00:00 UTC April 20 to 23:59 UTC May 5 for the Board and from 00:00 UTC April 20 to 23:59 UTC April 30 for the FDC and FDC Ombudsperson. This year, we are accepting both self-nominations and nominations of others. More information on this election and the nomination process can be found on the 2015 Wikimedia elections page on Meta-Wiki.
Please feel free to post a note about the election on your project's village pump. Any questions related to the election can be posted on the talk page on Meta, or sent to the election committee's mailing list, board-elections -at- wikimedia.org
On behalf of the Elections Committee,
-Gregory Varnum (
User:Varnent)
Coordinator,
2015 Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee
Posted by the MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of the 2015 Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee, 05:03, 21 April 2015 (UTC) • Translate • Get help
I tried to use the 'Add links' entry under the Languages section (at right) to add non-English language links to an article. However, it gives me the error message 'You need to be logged in on this wiki and in the central data repository to use this feature'. Well I am logged on to the central data repository and yet I still receive this message. This seems completely non-beneficial; it could at least have a help link so I can navigate the correct process. Praemonitus ( talk) 15:38, 20 April 2015 (UTC)
Commons:Category:Images uploaded by Natuur12 (clcean up2) has a lot of train pictures taken in America. These are taken by Peter Van den Bossche and downloaded from Flicker. I already classified a lot of his European pictures but I am not familiar with the USA scene. Could someone help with classifying these pictures? Smiley.toerist ( talk) 07:43, 27 April 2015 (UTC)
There is a way to find all usages of, say, nytimes.com in article-space but I cannot recall it offhand. Anyone here know? A WP page that lists those sorts of helpful search aids in one location would be desirable too, if one exists. Thanks. Tarc ( talk) 14:47, 29 April 2015 (UTC)
I have discovered a user Allen terry ( talk · contribs) who is persistently recreating the page User:Melanie Specht. This is a user page of a user that doesn't exist, and is being deleted as U2 every time it is created. What I would normally do in a case where a page keeps being recreated is request its create protection. However, since it's a user page, I'm afraid it would present a problem in case someone comes by and wants to register that name. I have two options:
What should I do? Gparyani ( talk) 19:39, 27 April 2015 (UTC)
How about an Edit Filter to stop them creating pages in user space, except for their own?. - X201 ( talk) 20:36, 27 April 2015 (UTC)
I have discovered a user Allen terry ( talk · contribs) who is persistently recreating the page User:Melanie Specht. This is a user page of a user that doesn't exist, and is being deleted as U2 every time it is created. What I would normally do in a case where a page keeps being recreated is request its create protection. However, since it's a user page, I'm afraid it would present a problem in case someone comes by and wants to register that name. I have two options:
What should I do? Gparyani ( talk) 19:39, 27 April 2015 (UTC)
How about an Edit Filter to stop them creating pages in user space, except for their own?. - X201 ( talk) 20:36, 27 April 2015 (UTC)
This is a message from the 2015 Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee. Translations are available.
Voting has begun for eligible voters in the 2015 elections for the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) and FDC Ombudsperson. Questions and discussion with the candidates for the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) and FDC Ombudsperson will continue during the voting. Nominations for the Board of Trustees will be accepted until 23:59 UTC May 5.
The Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) makes recommendations about how to allocate Wikimedia movement funds to eligible entities. There are five positions on the committee being filled.
The FDC Ombudsperson receives complaints and feedback about the FDC process, investigates complaints at the request of the Board of Trustees, and summarizes the investigations and feedback for the Board of Trustees on an annual basis. One position is being filled.
The voting phase lasts from 00:00 UTC May 3 to 23:59 UTC May 10. Click here to vote. Questions and discussion with the candidates will continue during that time. Click here to ask the FDC candidates a question. Click here to ask the FDC Ombudsperson candidates a question. More information on the candidates and the elections can be found on the 2015 FDC election page, the 2015 FDC Ombudsperson election page, and the 2015 Board election page on Meta-Wiki.
On behalf of the Elections Committee,
-Gregory Varnum (
User:Varnent)
Volunteer Coordinator,
2015 Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee
Posted by the MediaWiki message delivery 03:45, 4 May 2015 (UTC) • Translate • Get help
I've been contributing since 2004. I've contributed a fair amount, and so far this year, about 10% of my carefully-crafted edits have been reverted. [6] [7] [8] Is this par? Are my old-school sensibilities so far out of touch with the modern ways? Restructure, improve, build upon - but preferably not revert unless it's wrong or detrimental. And while I can agree that those contributions weren't necessarily in keeping with featured article status, I obviously thought they improved the articles a little bit.
I'm not really worried about these three edits so much as I am about what reverts such as those might do to our editor pool. If our standards are so high going in that a casual contributor cannot participate without rebuke, then we will have no more casual contributors. Should we make it a little harder to revert? (Probably not because those tools are indispensable for fighting vandalism.) Should we highlight that "revert" and "undo" operations are chiefly for vandalism and edit tests? What else can we do to make Wikipedia a friendlier place for the occasional editor? -- ke4roh ( talk) 18:21, 29 April 2015 (UTC)
Hey folks, I wanted to riff off of a point that ke4roh made: "I don't believe there is a natural trade-off between quality and friendliness." I'm with you. Right now, the majority of quality control is done by User:ClueBot NG and tools like WP:Huggle, WP:Stiki and WP:Page Curation [10]. While these tools do make reviewing the recent changes feed more efficient, they centralize quality control work and use algorithmic strategies that focus people's attention on reverting/deleting newcomers work. Because of this centralization, you have a small group of people who are responsible for first line of defense for the entire wiki. These patrollers must review changes to content across the entire range of subjects and they are often judged by their ability to efficiently filter vandalism and other damage -- not by how effective they engage in teaching opportunities. It takes substantially less time to revert and edit that *might* be damage than to engage with the user who made the edit. So I don't think it's any surprise that we've optimized for one and not the other.
So how do we do better? I think the trick is to make quality control event more efficient than it already is. Step #1 is to decentralize quality control and add good-faith teaching opportunities to the filter it provides. My hope is that we can do this by re-distributing quality control work through making powerful algorithmic tools available across the wiki. In my recent work, I've been developing a system for making it easy to stand up new quality control tools (as well as tools for identifying promising newcomers). See m:R:Revision scoring as a service. The screenshot on the right shows User:He7d3r's 10-line javascript gadget that uses the service to score revisions (note the red highlights for likely-damaging edits). Using this strategy, it's trivial to modify the UI based on the "damage" probability of an edit. I plan to use these scores to stand up "newcomer good-faithiness" models too (as I did in WP:Snuggle -- see how here [11]). With this, I think that the next version of User:EpochFail/NICE should both help you find damage to revert and make it easy to teach good-faith newcomers about the boundaries they've crossed. More importantly, I want to enable other creative people to develop tools that they see a need for using these scores.
We're still in the Alpha stage with these services, but we'll be ready for Beta testers soon. In the meantime, we could use some help with manually labeling edits as "damaging" and/or "good-faith" to train our Artificial Intelligence systems. If you're interested in helping out with that, sign up here: Wikipedia:Labels/Edit_quality. -- EpochFail ( talk • contribs) 15:16, 30 April 2015 (UTC)
Hello Wikimedians!
Today The Wikipedia Library announces signups for more free, full-access accounts to published research as part of our Publisher Donation Program. You can sign up for new accounts and research materials from:
Many other partnerships with accounts available are listed on
our partners page, including
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The Wikipedia Library Team 22:12, 4 May 2015 (UTC)
Apparently User:Jimp and possibly other editors have been going around applying the {{ val}} template to replace comma formatting of digit groups with thin space formatting. (Ref.: WP:DIGITS.) This seems unnecessary and disruptive. Is there an appropriate procedure for this? Thank you. Praemonitus ( talk) 02:27, 1 May 2015 (UTC)
Why do we have pictures of "Robert Gold Bartender" all over Wikipedia in every bar- and drinking-related article? These pix don't actually appear in the articles but only show up when you click on a pix that IS in the article. Then they appear in the large-image sequence of pix that are in the article. (Just go to Cocktail waitress and click on the picture.) Robert Gold doesn't even have an article in Wikipedia. This looks like some kind of insane private spam or ego-trip. Wahrmund ( talk) 16:25, 10 May 2015 (UTC)
I'm participating in a debate where the possibility of systemic gender bias has been raised. In response, one editor opened a section in which he listed all the participants' names and invited them to voluntarily state their gender; some editors (a minority) did choose to add that information to the debate.
However: another editor has now gone through that list and – on his own – reported every participant's gender where known.
Am I right to find this inappropriate? Within the context of a debate, I see no problem with inviting users to share that fact; however, for one editor to add that information en masse on everyone else seems wrong. Regardless of what someone can find out about his fellow editors, it seems to me that what participants choose to add/state/disclose in a forum should be their choice – not someone else's.
Thoughts? ╠╣uw [ talk 09:31, 6 May 2015 (UTC)
{{
heshe}}
(for example, {{
heshe|Redrose64}}
gives "he or she") - it's a
WP:OUTING violation. Compare {{
heshe|Huwmanbeing}}
which gives "he". --
Redrose64 (
talk)
16:48, 6 May 2015 (UTC)It it because it is thought to be too difficult to begin articles using the mobile version? I tend to think of wp:redlinks as great things, as long as they are placed where articles or redirects should be created. Thanks. Biosthmors ( talk) pls notify me (i.e. {{ U}}) while signing a reply, thx 14:39, 27 April 2015 (UTC)
Thanks Melamrawy (WMF) for the post on my talk page. Unfortunately, I'm not sure you understood my question on this thread. I am wondering why red links do not appear at all on the mobile version of Wikipedia. For example, if you go to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/?title=Help:Cheatsheet&mobileaction=toggle_view_mobile you will see that the "red link example" is not red. It is black like plain text. You might also compare /info/en/?search=Pycnanthemum and see how many species still need articles. But when you go to the mobile version of that page (anyone can toggle between versions at the bottom of every Wikipedia article, from "desktop" to "mobile" and vice versa), the red links are not there. There are no links to show mobile viewers that Wikipedia needs an article on the subject. Why is that? Also, wouldn't this approach encourage mobile editors to create wikilinks where wikilinks ([[ ]]) already exist? Thanks. Biosthmors ( talk) pls notify me (i.e. {{ U}}) while signing a reply, thx 17:16, 12 May 2015 (UTC)
Shouldn't this be treated as a bug? Biosthmors ( talk) pls notify me (i.e. {{ U}}) while signing a reply, thx 17:17, 12 May 2015 (UTC)
Is this essay formatted correctly, or have I messed something up? Tharthandorf Aquanashi ( talk) 17:57, 9 May 2015 (UTC)
I've been experiencing problems for some time with AWB edits, particularly by Bgwhite and Magioladitis/Yobot. There are too many issues to list, but the problem is that they repeatedly restore their edits over objections. A lot of the edits make no difference to the reader but fill up the watchlists. Or they make changes that have an editorial impact and restore them even if the article writers disagree.
For example, for some reason AWB moves references into the chronological order of the footnotes, rather than where they've been placed for editorial reasons. So a sentence claiming A and B might have the refs positioned after the sentence so that the ref for A comes first. But if A is footnote 9 and B is footnote 8, AWB editors will change the position. If you change it back, another one arrives to do it again.
They also repeatedly remove repetition of named references. When I'm writing a first draft of an article, I often repeat the reference in full (e.g. ref name=X, followed by the citation) so that I can section edit and see the citations. Once I have a draft in place, I remove them and use only ref name=X. AWB editors won't let me do this. They keep arriving – on articles they otherwise have no involvement in – to remove repeated citations.
Each of the issues feels too minor to complain about, but the overall effect is time-consuming and depressing. It feels as though articles are held hostage to whatever rules someone has programmed into AWB. Complaints have been met with rudeness and what seemed to be revenge editing elsewhere. I recently tried to add {{bots|deny=AWB}} to stop it, but Bgwhite reverted, telling me I had added it "illegally." [12] I'm bringing it here for discussion in the hope that some of the technical editors might be able to offer suggestions, as I have no idea how AWB works. Redrose64, I'm pinging you in case you can advise. Sarah (SV) (talk) 22:14, 9 May 2015 (UTC)
Sarah (SV), Bgwhite I am OK if the deny tag is used as last resort. The tag still exists in Female genital mutilation where we again had an interaction and I can't recall any other interaction between all us three in the past. After, I was reverted in Study 329 I immediately searched for another approach. -- Magioladitis ( talk) 22:43, 9 May 2015 (UTC)
Sarah (SV) you 've been reverted by a single user, AWB does not override the deny tag and I did not revert you. -- Magioladitis ( talk) 23:13, 9 May 2015 (UTC)
Mary likes cake,<ref name=Mary/> but John doesn't.<ref name=John/>
SlimVirgin explaining why ref are in a given order may be a good thing since the main argument of the people who want the re reordering is that a random editor can never know for sure which ref order is the best. -- Magioladitis ( talk) 21:37, 10 May 2015 (UTC)
Most of AWB rules are described at WP:AWB/GF and almost(?) all AWB rules follow manual of style. -- Magioladitis ( talk) 21:55, 10 May 2015 (UTC)
Mary likes cake, but John doesn't.<ref name=Mary/><ref name=John/>
is written that way so the reader finds the sources in order of claim presentation. When the claims are contentious, this matters. Or the writer might place the secondary source first, or the second source might be a "see also" source. But I've said all this already.The ref reordering was implemented with a 3-1 consensus on a "feature requests" page with relatively few watchers. I would suggest that a wider consensus is needed to sustain something like this. We should pretend that the feature does not exist and take it through the WP:VPR proposal process, like other things that affect a significant number of editors in a controversial way. The consensus burden should be on "keep", not "remove"; i.e., it would be removed in the absence of a consensus. If the idea has as much merit as its proponents claim, it should have no problem earning consensus there. Being an actual community consensus with wide exposure, it should be more durable. ― Mandruss ☎ 01:23, 13 May 2015 (UTC)
I don't know if I'm the only one who has struck this opinion, but it seems we use an over abundance of pictures of the current US President, Barack Obama. Even on articles that have nothing to do - directly or indirectly - with the presidency. Fist bump is a good example. I know there are other examples, but I can't remember any off the top of my head. Just seems POV-ish to me. CRRays Head90 | #RaysUp 00:14, 11 May 2015 (UTC)
Hi there. I’m about to kick off a short A/B test that will enable VisualEditor for newly registered users. This test will affect half of the new editors who sign up on Wikipedia. We’ll start on 21 May, 2015 by running a 24-hour pilot study ( why?) to test our experimental framework. Assuming that everything’s working, we’ll then start a one-week study. Once this experimental week is up, we will cease enabling VisualEditor for newcomers while we analyze its effects.
In this experiment, I’ll be looking for evidence about whether offering VisualEditor makes editing easier/more productive for newcomers or raises additional burdens (reverting damage, blocking vandals) for current editors. One of the WMF's goal in this test is to determine whether we’re ready to start a discussion about offering VisualEditor to new users. Negative outcomes will result in further improvements and user testing.
As has become my standard practice for WMF experiments, I’ll be maintaining a project page on Meta with details about this experiment. I will also maintain work logs while I monitor the experiment and analyze the results. If you have any questions about this test, please feel free to come talk to me on the project talk page. -- Halfak (WMF) ( talk) 23:26, 14 May 2015 (UTC)
I have requested the bot flag to run AWB as a bot in order to clean up certain kinds of links left from disambiguation page moves. For example, the page Epping previously was an article on a specifc town in England. This page was moved to Epping, Essex, and Epping became a disambiguation page with several hundred incoming links. As is commonly found in such cases, most of the links intended the town in England, and many were found in formulations like "[[ Epping]], Essex", or "[[ Epping]], [[ Essex]]". A similar issue arises in the recurring creation of common patterns of disambiguation links to heavily linked articles; for example editors will often make edits creating disambiguation links like "[[ heavy metal]] music" and "the [[ French]] language", which can easily be resolved as "[[ heavy metal music]]" and "the [[ French language]]". Over time, large numbers of these links may build up. Over the course of my career as an editor, I have made literally hundreds of thousands of fixes like these using AWB. Even though this is much faster than editing the pages individually in a browser, it is still time consuming when large numbers of links must be fixed.
I have therefore finally decided to request permission to run AWB as a bot so that when page moves are made or common disambiguation targets become heavily linked, obvious formulations like these can be changed with less of a direct investment of my time. My intention is to use this functionality when a page move creates a large number of disambiguation links, for which obvious formulations for a large number of fixes can be seen. New disambiguation pages are created frequently; anywhere from a few dozen pages to a few hundred pages might benefit this kind of attention on any given day, although there are likely to be days where no pages require such attention. My intention is to determine if there are obvious patterns of links to be fixed, for example changing instances of "[[Epping]], Essex" or "[[Epping]], [[Essex]]" to "[[Epping, Essex|Epping]], Essex", or "[[Epping, Essex|Epping]], [[Essex]]". I will then run AWB in bot mode to make these changes (perhaps in a batch of a hundred at a time), and review the changes once made. It has been brought to my attention that similar proposals have been rejected in the past under WP:CONTEXTBOT, so I would like to know if there is any particular sentiment in the community about such a use of a bot flag. bd2412 T 22:13, 16 May 2015 (UTC)
I see that Wikipedia:Romanian Wikipedians' notice board is no longer active, so this is the only forum I can think to bring this to; if someone has another suggestion, I have no problem with moving the discussion.
The article on the Iron Guard, the radically antisemitic political party in Romania in the 1930s until its suppression in 1941, contains some uncited statements in the article's own voice that could almost have been written by the party itself:
The internal situation was favouring the Jews, as they were in direct charge of Romanian press, politics and public life. As the First World War ended, the Jews turned to pro-communism, an attitude strongly condemned by the population, as the Soviet Union was growing more and more aggressive.
I don't have time at present to work on this, especially not to find citations for the status of the Jews in Romania in the 1930s (which I assure you was not a status of "direct charge of … press, politics and public life") and the claim of Jewish support for the Soviet Union reads like a justification of the Iași pogrom. Surely this is not what our encyclopedia article should say. - Jmabel | Talk 04:18, 18 May 2015 (UTC)
The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
So long story short, I found File:Kogaru1.jpg and thought it would be good to use as an example in the article Fan service what I had forgot about was a discussion 4 years ago about the said image: community consensus. So I am wondering, has anything changed? A few points I want to make:
So with all of these points said, is there a way we can form a new consensus on it's use? - Knowledgekid87 ( talk) 23:21, 21 May 2015 (UTC)
In context with the fan service article the image would be used to illustrate the following:
{{
cite book}}
: |access-date=
requires |url=
(
help); External link in |chapterurl=
(
help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl=
ignored (|chapter-url=
suggested) (
help)
I just read part of the Wikipedia page about Deepak Chopra. Let me preface by saying that I have never been to Chopra's health center and am not an avid reader of his books. Having stated that, I found the page written about him terribly offensive. It couldn't have been clearer that the person allowed to write, or deeply influence, the page about him had his/her own agenda. And that is my point in writing. An "inequity" was not cured by allowing a writer aligned with the medical orthodoxy to write about him. Rather, a greater inequity occurred.
Apparently, the writer does not believe that any reader who encounters Deepak Chopra on the page can make a reasonable decision based on his or her own sensibilities and logic, or even feelings (yes, feelings can factor into how a person can make a sound decision). What this writer has been allowed to do is to engage in unadulterated polemic. Is that okay?
Deepak Chopra's ideas come from an ancient philosophical school. I believe I may be correct in stating that his ideas are aligned with the Sankhya philosophical school, though I may be wrong. At any rate, ideas from an ancient philosophical school are not necessarily antiquated. What this writer has been allowed to do is to put Deepak Chopra on trial and to publicly convict him in writing, and on a very popular informational site. This author's conclusions (which all lead to the conviction that Chopra is professing ideas dangerous for the masses) are not necessarily accurate. Science and medicine, which this writer cleaves to as "truth," simply don't present us with all the answers. Some people need to deal with that.
Mysticism is not automatically dangerous, and should not be regarded or approached as such. It is a perennial system of coming in tune with self, a path of inner investigation (even Jung took it). In fact, mysticism is a valid path of self-inquiry practiced in myriad forms by billions of people. Additionally, most people do not take mysticism to an extreme. (But let's face it, there are a lot of things in this world that we can engage in to the extreme that could cause our own death. For instance, we can eat ourselves to death. What are you going to do? Put a warning label on all food?)
Writers of this nature are dangerous because they are telling their readers what to think and are not allowing for the full breadth of human experience. (And thinking for oneself does seem like a God-given right in these States of America. I'm pretty sure there's a public document that alludes to that.) And such writer's should not be given public forum to influence people into thinking that mysticism is laughable at best and at worst potentially fatal. Thoreau spoke about an "authority of one" in his essay, "Civil Disobedience." This author is counseling Wikipedia's readers away from that authority. And frankly, it's my understanding that Wikipedia is about getting information, not being told what to think.
In truth, I do not trust this author as a candidate to shape my ideas about the world because he/she is clearly entrenched in the medical orthodoxy, an alignment that, quite honestly, reminded me of the Catholic orthodoxy that led to the burning of Gnostics in Southern France. (Yes, I actually said that.) "Orthodoxy" means "right-thinking" and it is a moniker that was assumed, not given. People who assume that they are orthodox (right-thinking) can turn into fanatics and become dangerous. And while I don't think that this writer is going to burn anyone with fire, he/she clearly has no compunction about burning someone in the public conception. I appreciate that we have doctors, certainly, and I pay them for their services; but this does not mean that I'm not going to learn how to take care of myself to the best of my ability. And, I have to tell you, I'm 50 and regularly get told that I look like I'm in my 20's or 30's. So, in my mind, there's nothing wrong with not buying into the idea that we have to get old—unless you've got some money to be made by people thinking otherwise. People can make their own decisions about when to seek medical assistance, and what form that assistance will take.
I think I've probably made my point, but here's a news flash: There are actually intelligent people in the world. And, when it comes to Deepak Chopra, I can make up my own mind. Thank you so very much. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.77.43.53 ( talk) 19:01, 15 May 2015 (UTC)
I've been cleaning up some hoax content added by 71.36.237.179 ( talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log), some of which has survived unchallenged since 2011. But I've run aground at Our Lady of Victory Catholic School - with the others I've been able to find a stable version to revert to, or just been able to excise 71.36.237.179's nonsense. But that whole article is unsourced, lots of it is either hoaxing or at best unencyclopedic trivia, and it's hard to find a stable version that isn't a couple of lines long. Unfortunately I have to go out now, so I'd appreciate if someone (perhaps unjaded by the other junk I've removed) could take a look at it while I'm gone. Obviously I don't like wiping the good-faith edits of unimplicated editors, but I'm thinking we may have to nuke it from orbit, just to be sure. -- Finlay McWalterᚠ Talk 08:22, 22 May 2015 (UTC)
It has been alleged that the article Manahel Thabet may be a hoax. Due to limited response no consensus currently exists. Input from experienced editors would be appreciated at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Manahel Thabet. Thanks! - Ad Orientem ( talk) 19:24, 22 May 2015 (UTC)
It has been alleged that the article Manahel Thabet may be a hoax. Due to limited response no consensus currently exists. Input from experienced editors would be appreciated at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Manahel Thabet. Thanks! - Ad Orientem ( talk) 19:24, 22 May 2015 (UTC)
Hi! I added Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to the list of alumni at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth alumni. Another user challenged the
What do you think? Do you think this is a fair reason to exclude someone from an alumni list? WhisperToMe ( talk) 05:36, 18 May 2015 (UTC)
That aside, I would tend to agree that the dictionary definition is somewhat... old. I rarely see/hear of dropouts at the university level described as alumni ( WP:TRUTH), and even more rare is it to see particular individuals on the various lists we keep around of alumni of universities who were dropouts. I think the latter practice (rather than the dictionary definition) is more interesting since we should be informed by present article practice (notwithstanding WP:OTHERSTUFF). -- Izno ( talk) 14:47, 18 May 2015 (UTC)
It is our consistence long-standing practice to list all alumni in such lists, not just those who graduated. My own primary alma mater includes a President of Peru, a Prime Minister of Israel, and a head of the American Nazi Party; we don't get to pick and choose. ---- Orange Mike | Talk 01:13, 27 May 2015 (UTC)
Hi,
I'm looking to discuss the arbcom decision made here: Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Enforcement#TheRedPenOfDoom.2C_third_filing. I know discussions of an individual page are most commonly found at that respective page's talk page, but until the Talk:Talk: namespace exists that venue isn't open to all to discuss the decision made. The decision was made to restrict the editing of both pages listed above to those editors with both 500 edits and 30 days of age on their account. I don't know if a restriction of this kind has ever been applied to a talk page before; my impression is that such a restriction is exceedingly rare and that it goes against some of the core principles of the Wikipedia project. Rather than dawdling around, let me get into my opinions so those of differing opinions can pick them apart!
-The decision runs counter to the Wikipedia slogan, "the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit." This is not the first such decision to run afoul of that credo, in my opinion; I'm a sort of absolutist on this, and would rather have a wikipedia with more errors and vandalism than a wikipedia that violates that goal. I understand that most people don't feel that way, and that's okay (though I sort of feel maybe we should get rid of that (maybe change it to "the community-curated free encyclopedia" or something that rolls off the tongue better than that) and stop confusing people, though you could imagine the field day conservatives and others who feel Wikipedia is inherently biased would have with that one!)
-The talk page is an important safety valve re:edit restrictions. The argument goes that vandalism is a problem and therefore limiting access to editing of contentious articles (e.g. 9/11) to users with some degree of vetting is a good way to limit the work for those brave souls who devote hours to reverting vandalism. I don't agree with that argument, but I understand it and sympathize with it and accept that it's the prevailing wisdom on Wikipedia. I'm not arguing that Gamergate controversy should be unprotected. However, I feel that the talk page acts as a balancing factor in the process, allowing those with opinions contrary to the current revision of the article (broadly, what we'd call at 9/11 kooks) to both support/defend their opinion as well as just gripe so as to avoid anger turning to hatred and hatred turning to vandalism (of other/related articles), or simply leaving the project altogether. I also think that a vigorous debate on the talk page of contentious articles helps expose how the sausage is made to those readers interested enough to care. That kind of transparency is important, in my opinion.
-The article as currently written accurately reflects the preponderance of RS reportage on the issue. Pains me to say this because I have some misgivings about some of the reporting on the issue, but I don't have a problem with the article itself, or if I do it's only minor niggles here and there and a general complaint about the schizophrenic quality of the article (inherent in contentious articles under the current system).
-The argument in favor of the restriction seems to be that users were tired of arguing about why the article is written the way it's written. To me, this seems to be the primary purpose of a talk page (at least in a contentious topic): discussing the current iteration of the article and debating on how to improve it in a way that is acceptable to people on both sides of the relevant ideological divide.
In short, I feel that the ban as imposed is unduly limiting to the open discussion of the issue at hand and will server to exacerbate the vitriol rather than soothe it. I'd appreciate comment, criticism, or any other ramblings people may have on the topic. Riffraffselbow ( talk) ( contribs) 01:36, 18 May 2015 (UTC)
What you don't seem to get is this is asymetric warfare, mostly in the sense that for you all every loss is significant (hai Dreadstar!) - for us "loss" is expected but we can afford it. Every little victory or nuisance makes it just that much less pleasant here, just that one fewer editor/admin - and bit by bit the ratchet clicks.diff
As far as I can tell
Zad68,
Bilby &
Riffraffselbow you're unbiased on the issue involved. Unfortunately I realized certain individuals were requesting I be "blocked" from the discussion. I'm recognizing the intention of one side to silence opposition of the other; I'm asking if anyone has suggested renaming
GamerGate Controversy to the more appropriate
GamerGate Harassment Claims(?) - In return, making
GamerGate Controversy a topic for Journalistic Ethics(?) That is the main focus of why the Twitter hashtag is so controversial. Let me clarify that with an article from
Fast Company by
Sarah Kessler that extends the narrative of the 12% findings;
collapse information which could be
WP:FORUM here; but appropriate for the article Talk page -
Ryk72
'c.s.n.s.'
01:16, 20 May 2015 (UTC)
|
---|
Gamergate made up only a small percentage of reports of online harassment. Though the Gamergate controversy has been one the most visible stories about online harassment in the mainstream media over the past year or two, only about 12% of the 512 alleged harassing accounts reported to
Women of Action Media could be linked to it. I accept that the 12% issue has been brought up before. But the magnitude of the finds in this
WAM's PDF is massive, while it's a footnote in the larger dialogue on WIKI. Is it fair to say one could interpret this as (a form of) bias? Kessler also noted that
Twitter deleted ONE ACCOUNT in response to the 161 reports of harassments, which lends to the same narrative that the findings presented by Women Of Action Media had determined either no real threats had occurred or Twitter was biased in removing the accounts. Again; this is extending the larger story about the use of a Twitter hashtag. Additionally an article from September 2014 in
Game Politics carried a POLL asking specifically "What Is #GamerGate About?" ... Around 1,855 votes were cast (our second largest poll ever), with the majority of them going to the option, rooting out malfeasance in game journalism. Around 70% of the votes (1,298 votes) said that the Twitter hashtag #gamergate represents finding and eliminating alleged corruption in journalism. Around 13% (242 votes) said that it really depended on the person using the hashtag. While six% (119 votes) said it was about silencing those who talk about gender issues in video games. And around 5% (91 votes) said that the hashtag was meant to show that "not all gamers" are bad people. Finally, 4% (77 votes) said that they didn't know what #gamergate is & 2% (28 votes) said the #gamergate hashtag is about eliminating discussions on cultural differences in video games.
Poll Image The current GamerGate_Controversy WIKI is lacking news articles that credit any retort to the main controversy; That #gamergate is simply a hashtag and it is used in support of the ethics in journalism. LET ME EXPLAIN THAT STATEMENT: Another website similar to WAM, known as Deep Freeze independently researches the alleged corruption of gaming journalists. Some, I might point out, have written the very articles provided in the current GamerGate_Controversy WIKI. These same journalist were found conferring with one another through a mailing list on their Google Group Community. It was first reported by BreitBart. It included the contents of those emails along with the original email addresses. Needless to say WIKI demands viable news coverages, and the articles provided have credibility issues with the people writing them. The most common argument being GamerGate is an organized group of men, when in actuality, it's just a hashtag used on Twitter by a diversity of people from all over the world. |
--
j0eg0d (
talk)
08:37, 19 May 2015 (UTC)
The admins applied their discretion as specifically appointed to do by the ArbCom to apply a sanction that has great potential to minimize disruption.-- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 01:20, 21 May 2015 (UTC)
|