The following is an automatically-generated compilation of all talk pages for the Signpost issue dated 2013-02-11. For general Signpost discussion, see Wikipedia talk:Signpost.
Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Signpost/2013-02-11/Discussion report
Is this fair use of Peter Hunt's work? Per Wikipedia:Non-free_content#Text 'Extensive quotation of copyrighted text is prohibited'. To compare to music - if text was read aloud, it's use above would likely be over the Wikipedia:Music_samples limit. Regards, Sun Creator( talk) 23:16, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
Five days ago, when WMUK was soliciting community input, I asked some fairly straightforward questions about wikitown projects on the Meta page set up for discussion of the report. Stevie Benton of WMUK told me "I'll take a look at your questions and will answer them if I'm able. If I'm not, I'll see if I can prompt someone who can". That was three days ago. WMUK staff and trustees have posted on the page since then, but no one seems to be addressing my query. The questions aren't very difficult and I would expect any of the trustees to be able to answer them without difficulty. This isn't the first time that I have tried to find out something which should be easily available information -- the status of a "memorandum of understanding" with Monmouthshire County Council -- and been met with less than "transparency and openness". See for example User_talk:Jimbo_Wales/Archive_117#WMF_involvement_with_Gibraltarpedia and User_talk:Jimbo_Wales/Archive_118#WMUK_and_Mounmouthshire_County_Council_Memorandum_of_Understanding. The Compass Partnership report makes some excellent recommendations, but there needs to be a change of culture at WMUK. Delicious carbuncle ( talk) 18:05, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
Note that Gibraltarpedia hooks have never stopped, except for a brief period in September and early October.
Overall, the main page has seen the following monthly numbers of Gibraltarpedia hooks:
For a list of recent Gibraltar hooks, see Wikipedia_talk:Did_you_know/Gibraltar-related_DYKs#List_of_Gibraltarpedia_hooks_November_through_February.
Since October, when Gibraltar hooks were resumed after a three-week gap, Gibraltar hooks have been subject to special rules (for example, limiting them to one a day, and requiring two reviewers). As can be seen from the above figures, they have continued to be a regular feature on the main page. In fact, The Register reported today that they have readers writing in who have spotted the latest "Gibraltar plug" on the Wikipedia main page.
Even so, there is currently an RfC on a DYK subpage discussing whether the special rules for Gibraltar hooks should be waived, e.g. to allow more than one Gibraltar hook per day on the main page: Wikipedia talk:Did you know/Gibraltar-related DYKs. It seems crazy to me, but there you go. Andreas JN 466 01:24, 14 February 2013 (UTC)
The prose in Bicholm conflict might have been "well crafted", but the hoax itself was transparent and easily detectable - had I reviewed the article for DYK, for example, using basic DYK checks I would almost certainly have identified it as a hoax immediately. But neither the GA review nor the (admittedly brief) FAC discussion picked up the problem.
The lesson is really a pretty simple one - be suspicious of any article none of whose major references can be verified online, and for whose content you cannot find any corroboration elsewhere. Gatoclass ( talk) 09:18, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
ROFL! This article previously quoted from the Wikipedia biography controversy article, saying that the hoax had not been discovered and corrected for more than nine months, which is a clear mathematical error (May to September is four months). The "nine months" text was in the main article about the Wikipedia biography controversy article due to unreverted vandalism from November 2012. I've fixed both the mainspace and SP articles, but I guess this op-ed proved its own point. Graham 87 11:42, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
Great, the Chen Fang incident was my fault... Back in 2008, I found out about the hoax from an acquaintance and immediately nominated it for deletion (because contemporary news sources had a different person as the mayor). The hoaxer one day randomly introduced himself to me at work, claimed credit for the page I'd just nominated, and presented me with "evidence" that I am User:Mxn – duh – intending to pressure me to delete the AfD template. He soon deleted the template himself and produced a source that lay behind a paywall (something like Newsbank or ProQuest). It sounded fishy, so on the talk page, I promised to check the source once I got back to campus after my internship, but I never got around to it. Moral of the story: don't procrastinate, or your error will be preserved in Harvard policy for posterity. – Minh Nguyễn ( talk, contribs) 12:25, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Signpost/2013-02-11/Technology report
It's always bothered me that musicians don't get spouses. Glad to see there's some movement to change that! BobAmnertiopsis ∴ ChatMe! 07:52, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
Wikidata seems like it will revolutionize the need and purpose of infoboxes in the near future. -- Green Cardamom ( talk) 16:28, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
I love your OCLC number! Jane ( talk) 08:21, 15 February 2013 (UTC)
Another use of infoboxes is that bots such as LyricsBot can use them to confirm salient attributes of articles in order to perform tasks upon those articles. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 16:50, 16 February 2013 (UTC)
Chemboxes are useful, but they have one glaring annoyance: they can become obnoxiously wide (see Melanotan II or Solanine for an example). This has been the case for years, and sometimes discussed but never resolved appropriately at Wikipedia talk:Chemical infobox (for example, Line wrap problem for long chemical formulas). Mind matrix 16:45, 20 February 2013 (UTC)
Indeed it's a screen issue. Those boxes are pleasant on my big computer but less pleasant on my new 10 inch (25 cm) tablet and I bet they're yes, downright obnoxious on a seven inch (17 cm) screen. Since sales growth rates nowadays are higher for small portable screens than large ones that sit on a desk, Wikipedia should try to cater to readers using them. Jim.henderson ( talk) 14:57, 21 February 2013 (UTC)
The following is an automatically-generated compilation of all talk pages for the Signpost issue dated 2013-02-11. For general Signpost discussion, see Wikipedia talk:Signpost.
Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Signpost/2013-02-11/Discussion report
Is this fair use of Peter Hunt's work? Per Wikipedia:Non-free_content#Text 'Extensive quotation of copyrighted text is prohibited'. To compare to music - if text was read aloud, it's use above would likely be over the Wikipedia:Music_samples limit. Regards, Sun Creator( talk) 23:16, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
Five days ago, when WMUK was soliciting community input, I asked some fairly straightforward questions about wikitown projects on the Meta page set up for discussion of the report. Stevie Benton of WMUK told me "I'll take a look at your questions and will answer them if I'm able. If I'm not, I'll see if I can prompt someone who can". That was three days ago. WMUK staff and trustees have posted on the page since then, but no one seems to be addressing my query. The questions aren't very difficult and I would expect any of the trustees to be able to answer them without difficulty. This isn't the first time that I have tried to find out something which should be easily available information -- the status of a "memorandum of understanding" with Monmouthshire County Council -- and been met with less than "transparency and openness". See for example User_talk:Jimbo_Wales/Archive_117#WMF_involvement_with_Gibraltarpedia and User_talk:Jimbo_Wales/Archive_118#WMUK_and_Mounmouthshire_County_Council_Memorandum_of_Understanding. The Compass Partnership report makes some excellent recommendations, but there needs to be a change of culture at WMUK. Delicious carbuncle ( talk) 18:05, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
Note that Gibraltarpedia hooks have never stopped, except for a brief period in September and early October.
Overall, the main page has seen the following monthly numbers of Gibraltarpedia hooks:
For a list of recent Gibraltar hooks, see Wikipedia_talk:Did_you_know/Gibraltar-related_DYKs#List_of_Gibraltarpedia_hooks_November_through_February.
Since October, when Gibraltar hooks were resumed after a three-week gap, Gibraltar hooks have been subject to special rules (for example, limiting them to one a day, and requiring two reviewers). As can be seen from the above figures, they have continued to be a regular feature on the main page. In fact, The Register reported today that they have readers writing in who have spotted the latest "Gibraltar plug" on the Wikipedia main page.
Even so, there is currently an RfC on a DYK subpage discussing whether the special rules for Gibraltar hooks should be waived, e.g. to allow more than one Gibraltar hook per day on the main page: Wikipedia talk:Did you know/Gibraltar-related DYKs. It seems crazy to me, but there you go. Andreas JN 466 01:24, 14 February 2013 (UTC)
The prose in Bicholm conflict might have been "well crafted", but the hoax itself was transparent and easily detectable - had I reviewed the article for DYK, for example, using basic DYK checks I would almost certainly have identified it as a hoax immediately. But neither the GA review nor the (admittedly brief) FAC discussion picked up the problem.
The lesson is really a pretty simple one - be suspicious of any article none of whose major references can be verified online, and for whose content you cannot find any corroboration elsewhere. Gatoclass ( talk) 09:18, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
ROFL! This article previously quoted from the Wikipedia biography controversy article, saying that the hoax had not been discovered and corrected for more than nine months, which is a clear mathematical error (May to September is four months). The "nine months" text was in the main article about the Wikipedia biography controversy article due to unreverted vandalism from November 2012. I've fixed both the mainspace and SP articles, but I guess this op-ed proved its own point. Graham 87 11:42, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
Great, the Chen Fang incident was my fault... Back in 2008, I found out about the hoax from an acquaintance and immediately nominated it for deletion (because contemporary news sources had a different person as the mayor). The hoaxer one day randomly introduced himself to me at work, claimed credit for the page I'd just nominated, and presented me with "evidence" that I am User:Mxn – duh – intending to pressure me to delete the AfD template. He soon deleted the template himself and produced a source that lay behind a paywall (something like Newsbank or ProQuest). It sounded fishy, so on the talk page, I promised to check the source once I got back to campus after my internship, but I never got around to it. Moral of the story: don't procrastinate, or your error will be preserved in Harvard policy for posterity. – Minh Nguyễn ( talk, contribs) 12:25, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Signpost/2013-02-11/Technology report
It's always bothered me that musicians don't get spouses. Glad to see there's some movement to change that! BobAmnertiopsis ∴ ChatMe! 07:52, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
Wikidata seems like it will revolutionize the need and purpose of infoboxes in the near future. -- Green Cardamom ( talk) 16:28, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
I love your OCLC number! Jane ( talk) 08:21, 15 February 2013 (UTC)
Another use of infoboxes is that bots such as LyricsBot can use them to confirm salient attributes of articles in order to perform tasks upon those articles. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 16:50, 16 February 2013 (UTC)
Chemboxes are useful, but they have one glaring annoyance: they can become obnoxiously wide (see Melanotan II or Solanine for an example). This has been the case for years, and sometimes discussed but never resolved appropriately at Wikipedia talk:Chemical infobox (for example, Line wrap problem for long chemical formulas). Mind matrix 16:45, 20 February 2013 (UTC)
Indeed it's a screen issue. Those boxes are pleasant on my big computer but less pleasant on my new 10 inch (25 cm) tablet and I bet they're yes, downright obnoxious on a seven inch (17 cm) screen. Since sales growth rates nowadays are higher for small portable screens than large ones that sit on a desk, Wikipedia should try to cater to readers using them. Jim.henderson ( talk) 14:57, 21 February 2013 (UTC)