Wikipedia

Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Newsroom/Submissions/Archive 4

< Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost | Newsroom | Submissions

Guidelines

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Please comment on submissions below: share ideas about how to improve pieces that catch your interest, make suggestions as to whether a given piece is ready for publication, or pitch ideas for future pieces. Note that news submissions should be kept relatively neutral. We ask that comments be kept constructive; if you are unclear on any of the process or have questions related thereto, feel free to use the talkpage. Generally speaking special reports are less factional than op-eds are, so are not subject to quite as much approval.

The criteria for publishing opinion pieces are quality of argument, originality, and relevance to the community, as judged by The Signpost. Similar to newspaper op-eds, opinion pieces should be accompanied by an extended byline (suggestion: one to three sentences), that briefly introduces the author and indicates why his or her opinion about the topic might interest the reader. The purpose of publishing opinion pieces is to provoke thought and discussion in a productive rather than antagonistic fashion, and so submissions should be well-researched and not factually misleading or unnecessarily inflammatory. A related set of submissions that address the same issue but from editors' different perspectives are especially encouraged.

Unlike the weekly news reporting focus of the standard Signpost articles, and the investigative and evaluative focus of its special reports, opinion pieces are primarily editorial in tone. As The Signpost does not have a house point-of-view or political agenda, it does not endorse the perspectives of opinion pieces, which express only the views of their authors.

Formatting

To easily set up a new page with Signpost formatting, create the page with {{subst:Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Templates/Story-preload}} as the only content in the edit window, and save the page. For more advanced formatting, see the style guide and style cheatsheet.

Alternatively, you can just focus on the writing, and Signpost editors can help with formatting later.

Current submissions

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Commentary on the 2019 WMF Board of Trustees election

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Unreviewed
@Smallbones: If a few people ask for this then I think a few people would contribute to writing that story. It could be a full story on a complicated issue which recurs in every wiki election. Also, I think that the Wikimedia practice will set the norm for what other online communities adopt in their elections. A few more sentences could be possible in this article, maybe, but the full story has lots of voices. Blue Rasberry (talk) 16:37, 12 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

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How Wikipedia promoted alternative Holocaust history for 15 years

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On hold
  • As noted at Wikipedia_talk:List_of_hoaxes_on_Wikipedia#Is_Warsaw_number_a_hoax?, I do believe using the term WP:HOAX is incorrect as we are dealing with WP:FRINGE (and yes, a conspiracy theory, perhaps). But not a hoax. It is a technicality, perhaps, but I really dislike using improper terminology. Other thoughts: 1) Polocaust should be wikilinked, even if it would be WP:RED. WP:BTW, people. 2) the article wasn't deleted and recreated, just rewritten, so WP:TNT does not apply 3) IPN is nod disambiguated properly. 4) one of the two authors may end up topic-banned from the relevant area in matters of minutes or days given the vote tallies at Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Antisemitism in Poland/Proposed decision. It might be wise to inquire with an Arbitrator or such whether publishing this piece will not count as a topic-ban violation or some form of WP:GAME (related to trying to raise sympathy and/or preparing for an early topic ban appeal citing 'a prominent hoax hunting efforts written up in a Singpost'). Anyway, this is one hand a commendable effort cleaning up an article, reasonably well described, but on another, in all honesty, this is bread and butter for many editors, particularly ones who have written/rewritten multiple articles at GA to FA level. Still, given that Singpost, like Wiki, is not paper, we have room to publish such stuff, so it's not much of an issue to discuss such routine wiki adventures. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 03:30, 23 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]
    1. I've made changes per your comments.
    2. I've notified SQL;[1] I'll notify one of the Arbs as well. Having taken over the article a week ago and posted it myself, there shouldn't be any reason to sanction anyone.
    3. The fact that it is bread and butter for many editors is exactly why this should be published. Also, recall this piece, which touched on a similar subject. François Robere (talk) 12:44, 23 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]
      1. My only remaining concern is whether it is correct to use the word hoax (I believe it is not the right one here). I have no other comments/concerns about this piece (I just hope it won't get anyone banned for a topic ban violation/gaming; hopefully an ArbCom member will reply to ensure nobody is getting into any trouble...). PS. I don't have much experience in reviewing content for Signpost, so please don't consider this 'properly reviewed'. I just offered my two cents :> --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 12:48, 23 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]
        1. As I wrote in the TP linked above, I think it's a lacuna in Policy. As long as no specific accusations are made against editors (intent being one of the core differences between application of HOAX and FRINGE), I don't think there should be a problem using the term in this case. But I'd like to hear from more editors.
        2. I've notified Opabinia regalis.
        3. Your input is much appreciated. François Robere (talk) 13:05, 23 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]
          1. All my concerns are addressed. Hope this gets published, it's always nice to tell a story about fixing errors and such. PS. I'd suggest changing 'describes a conspiracy theory ' to 'describes a fringe theory', as I don't think we have any source that actually calls this a conspiracy? (We also have to ask: a conspiracy by whom, against whom)? --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 10:03, 24 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]
            1. The term is from Davies.[2] François Robere (talk) 15:46, 25 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • I have to agree with with Piotrus, this doesn't seem to be a hoax.Also this seems to have been written in 99% by user Icewhiz who is now banned from editing or commenting on Holocaust in Poland.It would seem very controversial to stand in for him to allow him continuing to circumvent the ban in my view.I note it also tries to push forward some Icewhizism such as presenting frnge view about "Polocaust" as some main motivation behind the flawed estimates.It also omits to mention, that indeed there were 10,000 murdered Poles on the site of the camp,not 200,000. Current version implies the whole informationof Poles being murdered there is wrong.In short, it is very exaggerated and gives undue weight to minority views, while omitting some important information--MyMoloboaccount (talk) 22:06, 23 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • Well, we don't use the word "hoax" anymore, so that shouldn't be an issue.
  • Par. 3: What do reputable sources say? [That] this was a medium-sized camp, with 8,000-9,000 inmates and (by the end of the war) some 4,000-5,000 fatalities... Sources mention a series of death marches, starting in July 1944... François Robere (talk) 22:48, 23 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • Thanks for all the comments - they've really helped. There are a lot of pros and cons here.
    • Pros - it's a good article, the issues raised are important and in the limited time I've had to check the facts, they all seem to line up. Ordinarily, that would be enough to publish, with a bit more fact-checking.
    • Cons - I don't want "Signpost-washing" to become a thing like Flickr-washing. The interaction of this with the case at Arbcom doesn't work for me very well. So the question I'm asking myself is "Would I block Icewhiz and/or François Robere for publishing this if I were Arbcom?" I'm leaning toward "yes", but am still thinking about it. Smallbones(smalltalk) 03:38, 25 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]
      • Worst case, I'd suggest shelving this for a year (or until related topic bans are lifted), at which point any potential COI/inter-POV issues will no longer be relevant. In the end, Signpost will be here in a year, and this type of story doesn't really age. PS. One more thought, 'promoted' in the title is rather misleading. We didn't promote anything, we just had incorrect information in it, which, unfortunately happens a lot. When this incorrect information was removed nobody objected. "Promoted" suggests some kind of concerted effort and/or pushing the information on to the main page or something which wasn't the case, outside of one or two fringe-theory pushing editors sneaking a minor fact into a couple of articles. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 05:30, 25 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]
        • Great idea - this will be "on hold" until I'm sure that nobody will be blocked or otherwise punished for printing it. At which point we'll start anew, with the understanding that it certainly appears to be a very good article. Smallbones(smalltalk) 15:01, 25 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]
          • I strongly disagree. The story isn't about some "old event" that will be just as dusted in a year as it is now - it's about an ongoing problem with fact checking of major historical events. It is important that the community is made aware to the degree to which the editorial process has failed, that something like this - highly notable, easily verifiable, and 95% wrong - managed to spread to Wikipedias in 12 languages. What else is out there that we haven't caught?
          • ArbCom is aware of the article AFAIK (I messaged both an Arb and a clerk), and hasn't objected. There's no reason to shelf this, and it's too important to drop. Let the community know now, so it can move ahead with fixing whatever went wrong as soon as possible. François Robere (talk) 15:48, 25 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]
      Smallbones, Francios Robere is not under any editing restrictions as far as I can tell. Sir Joseph (talk) 02:09, 26 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Smallbones If there is any problem with ARBCOM we can ask them if its OK to run it.Maybe User:François Robere can submit WP:ARCA?--Shrike (talk) 10:55, 27 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

    • Sorry, I've been so slow in getting back. A lot is happening today, and we publish Monday. As I said above, I have no problem taking this up again when I'm sure nobody will get banned for publishing it (that includes the Signpost and me personally). One thing I won't do is seek pre-publication permission to print. As I see it The Signpost EIC decides whether the article is printable before publication. If arbcom or anybody else decides that it isn't then we'll deal with that as it comes. Anything else, to me, looks to much like pre-publication censorship. No thanks, can't do it, no way. Smallbones(smalltalk) 19:10, 27 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Today on Haaretz:

For over 15 years, false claims that thousands of Poles were gassed to death in Warsaw were presented as fact. Haaretz reveals they are just the tip of an iceberg of a widespread Holocaust distortion operation by Polish nationalists.

— Benjakob, Omer (2019-10-03). "The Fake Nazi Death Camp: Wikipedia's Longest Hoax, Exposed". Haaretz. Retrieved 2019-10-03.

François Robere (talk) 20:54, 3 October 2019 (UTC) {{close}}[reply]

News Proposals

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News stories present facts and analysis. We intend "news" in a broad sense (as distinct from opinion pieces); submissions may be for any of The Signpost's regular sections, as well as "special reports". These can cover a diverse range of topics, such as project history or statistical reports, and may have an investigative or evaluative focus. Simple narratives of interesting events, whether online or in person, that offer our readers an informative or entertaining glimpse into the Wikipedia or Wikimedia world, are also welcome.


Opinion Proposals

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Position pieces, calls to arms, perspectives from other projects, debates and essays addressing important issues facing the English Wikipedia and the broader Wikimedia community. Have a project that you'd like to highlight? An issue that you'd like to bring to light? An essay you'd like to publish? Bring it to us and let us help you make it known. Book reviews are also welcome, for new books that explore topics of relevance to the Wikipedia community.


Give a suggestion instead

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If you don't want to write a story yourself, you can just give The Signpost a suggestion or tip (but publication will be subject to staffing constraints, in addition to suitability).


Email a private tip to the EiC

Guidelines

edit

Please comment on submissions below: share ideas about how to improve pieces that catch your interest, make suggestions as to whether a given piece is ready for publication, or pitch ideas for future pieces. Note that news submissions should be kept relatively neutral. We ask that comments be kept constructive; if you are unclear on any of the process or have questions related thereto, feel free to use the talkpage. Generally speaking special reports are less factional than op-eds are, so are not subject to quite as much approval.

The criteria for publishing opinion pieces are quality of argument, originality, and relevance to the community, as judged by The Signpost. Similar to newspaper op-eds, opinion pieces should be accompanied by an extended byline (suggestion: one to three sentences), that briefly introduces the author and indicates why his or her opinion about the topic might interest the reader. The purpose of publishing opinion pieces is to provoke thought and discussion in a productive rather than antagonistic fashion, and so submissions should be well-researched and not factually misleading or unnecessarily inflammatory. A related set of submissions that address the same issue but from editors' different perspectives are especially encouraged.

Unlike the weekly news reporting focus of the standard Signpost articles, and the investigative and evaluative focus of its special reports, opinion pieces are primarily editorial in tone. As The Signpost does not have a house point-of-view or political agenda, it does not endorse the perspectives of opinion pieces, which express only the views of their authors.

Formatting

To easily set up a new page with Signpost formatting, create the page with {{subst:Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Templates/Story-preload}} as the only content in the edit window, and save the page. For more advanced formatting, see the style guide and style cheatsheet.

Alternatively, you can just focus on the writing, and Signpost editors can help with formatting later.

TITLE:4 years in the trenches at Wikimedia UK Communications

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Accepted

A newbie reflects

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Accepted
  • Submission: User:Gog the Mild/sandbox5
  • Column: Opinion
  • Author: Gog the Mild
  • Discussion:
    This piece is a reflective essay I wrote to contemplate my first 13 months or so of being active on Wikipedia. That was 13 months ago and it occurs to me that it may be of some general interest. It fails to clearly highlight any problems, offer any opinions or generalise from the specific, so feel entirely free to toss it back. Withershins, if you would like it expanding and/or focusing in any direction, feel free to point me that way. Gog the Mild (talk) 23:27, 24 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The Lindberg Affair

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Unreviewed
@Indy beetle: I made room for feedback and asked for a summary at User:Indy_beetle/sandbox#Feedback. Thanks for submitting.
For any other reviewers - I would really appreciate other comments on this story. Blue Rasberry (talk) 23:55, 5 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Withdrawn -Indy beetle (talk) 02:17, 17 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Proposal for a multilingual Wikipedia

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Accepted

Transit routes and mapping during stay-at-home order downtime

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Approved
  • Submission: User:Ɱ/sandbox5
  • Column: Opinion
  • Author: Ɱ
  • Discussion:
    Hi, as recommended by others, I wanted to feature a recent project, enabled by the stay-at-home order in Ohio and me being furloughed as a result. It's mostly a mapping project highlighting some collaboration with this project and OpenStreetMap editors, something apparently uncommon. Please let me know what you think, --ɱ (talk) 20:36, 4 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

GA backlog drive

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Approved

Interim Case Review Committee

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Needs review
  • Submission: User:Nosebagbear/Interim Trust & Safety Case Review Committee
  • Column: News
  • Author: Nosebagbear
  • Discussion:
    This piece is about the WMF announcing the creation of the Interim Trust & Safety Case Review Committee, designed to allow review of certain (not all) cases decided by the WMF (appeal by either the accused or the accuser (in cases where the WMF chooses not to act)). It will be based mostly off the proposed charter, application process, and (probably most interestingly) Maggie's (general counsel of the WMF) specific answers to questions. There were some interesting facets such as the unprecedented focus on secrecy. I am inclined to do it as a straight news piece, with any op-ed to follow, but welcome to thoughts on that. Nosebagbear (talk) 19:00, 2 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Smallbones: - hi there, done an initial stab over the content. I have a couple of requests for comment pending, but can add them in tomorrow if they come in. We're likely to get some additional detail (like the contract they sign) in the next week or two, but no idea if there's anything interesting in that on top of the updates they made two weeks ago. Alas, not really any pictures unless you'd like me to add one in of Maggie Dennis, which wouldn't seem to add much to the article. Nosebagbear (talk)

Notability and significant coverage

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Cancelled
  • Submission: User:Z1720/Signpost draft
  • Column: TDB
  • Author: Z1720
  • Discussion:
    This piece is describing flaws in the AfD system where articles that might be notable are deleted because of a lack of sources. The piece proposes to instead move articles without references that might be notable to a draft space that can be easily accessed and improved. Z1720 (talk) 23:28, 27 August 2020 (UTC)    [reply]

I have decided to withdraw this submission. Z1720 (talk) 15:02, 23 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Espernaza

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Unreviewed

Contributing to complicated discussions

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Build content to endure

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Unreviewed

The Call for Feedback community seats is a distraction

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@Ad Huikeshoven: Well dang. I was myself writing up something on that topic (IGC, GC, Board events, call for feedback, and representation), though going with a rather different direction and focus. (Still unfinished.) Hm. Is publishing two opinion pieces at the same time with similar focuses an option? (Might not end up relevant, as I don't even know if I'd be able to get it finished in time for publication. (I also don't know when publication is going to be.)) --Yair rand (talk) 13:15, 25 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Oh, publication is scheduled for this Sunday. Definitely not enough time. Eh, maybe in a later issue, if it's still relevant. Ad, I don't know if there's any time for some last-minute edits to your piece (Smallbones has already started copyediting, so maybe not), but something you may want to take into account is that most Signpost readers do not (I think) really know what the Global Council is. (It has never been mentioned before in the Signpost) So maybe adding a bit of explanation would help, if that's an option. --Yair rand (talk) 05:56, 26 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Proposal

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Create a draft

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To create a draft of an article in your userspace, click the below button. This will preload a form, which you can use to create a draft article. It is best to save the pre-loaded draft without making any edits to the pre-loaded form first. If you lose the page you can find it at Special:Mypage/Signpost draft.


Signpost Stats 2020

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Needs review
@DiplomatTesterMan: Thanks. I really look forward to this - it's something we owe to our readers as well as to ourselves. I'll assume it'll be ready for the February issue, but please ping me if it'll be ready for January. Smallbones(smalltalk) 17:56, 16 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
As soon as I have something presentable I will link it here and get (your) input/s. I will be busy for two days, after that I can devote ample time to it and then it will be easier to judge the completion date. DTM (talk) 03:26, 18 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Smallbones, please have a look at the table related to outliers (User:DiplomatTesterMan/SP outlier table). Any comments? DTM (talk) 12:18, 21 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
This will be ready for the February issue. DTM (talk) 04:00, 26 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Please review. Thank you. DTM (talk) 19:34, 21 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The reach of protest images on Wikipedia

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Accepted

A Little Fun Goes A Long Way

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SlimVirgin obituary

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WikiProject Interview

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Awesome work Ganesha811 for conducting this interview - "The Random and the Beautiful" - I look forward to reading it :). After this month's interview, I have an interview with WikiProject redirect waiting to go too: User:Tom (LT)/sandbox/WikiProject redirects interview draft. Tom (LT) (talk) 02:23, 14 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Published! 🐶 EpicPupper (he/him | talk) 00:41, 3 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Obituary for Twofingered Typist

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Published here. 🐶 EpicPupper (he/him | talk) 00:39, 3 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Suez Canal problem is fixed

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Rejected
{{completed}} (For the archiving bot) 🐶 EpicPupper (he/him | talk) 18:54, 24 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The Death of Idriss Déby

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Unreviewed
Again, I don't get the connection to Wikipedia. I think what you may be looking for is Wikipedia:In the news/Candidates, where you nominate an article based on recent news, and the if it is approved you write a one paragraph intro. Thanks for thinking of us though. Smallbones(smalltalk) 17:35, 4 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
{{completed}} (For the archiving bot) 🐶 EpicPupper (he/him | talk) 18:54, 24 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Notability: Mailboxes

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