Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Single/2005-08-15
From the editor
As Michael Snow stopped operations on the Signpost last week, I chose to step in as editor until Michael chooses to come back. I'd like to personally thank Michael for his work on the Signpost; it was a great idea that really helped Wikipedians learn more about the happenings on Wikipedia.
As editor, I welcome any editorial help from other users. I'd really like next week's issue to include some content from other users for a better view of Wikipedia happenings.
Slate again generates VfD controversy
For the second week in a row, a story in Slate has generated controversy on VfD. Last week, we reported on a hoax that generated a vanity article on the author. Both were submitted to VfD; the hoax was deleted (later recreated as a page about the hoax itself); however, the author's page was subsequently kept. This week, a VfD on Slate's forums resulted in the article being kept on the basis of "No Consensus".
Creation
Originally created by an anonymous user on 4 August (possibly as a result of the hoax above) as BotF, the article was submitted to VfD within a half-hour of its creation. It was moved to The Fray (Internet forum) by FCYTravis, who also helped with cleanup and NPOV work on the article.
Mentioned on Slate
Slate published a blog entry on the VfD (scroll to Monday, August 8, 2005 entries), which generated discussion on the VfD by many Fray users, some of which attempted to vote anonymously. The entry quotes a comment on the VfD page made by FCYTravis, calling the article "[the] world's longest VFD vote in history".
Kept
On 11 August, the VfD was closed due to no consensus. However, Essjay, the admin who closed the VfD, made sure to note that the article could still be nominated for deletion again. As of press time, the article has not been re-nominated.
News and Notes
Deletion reform
After last week's deletion fiasco, Wikipedia:Deletion reform has fleshed out many different proposals on suggested replacements, alterations or re-works of Wikipedia:Votes for deletion. Comments, and even personal proposals, are encouraged.
A subsequent request for arbitration is currently in the discussion phase.
Briefly
- Wikipedia:Requests for Comment has been split into several different subpages based on topic.
- The Tamil Wikipedia has reached 1,000 articles.
- The Spanish Wikipedia has reached 60,000 articles.
- The Dutch Wikipedia has reached 85,000 articles.
- The Serbian Wikipedia has reached 13,000 articles.
- The Polish Wikipedia has reached 80,000 articles.
- The Vietnamese Wikipedia has reached 2,000 articles.
In the news
Wikimania conference article in the Mail & Guardian
Wikimania was the focus for a lengthy article in the UK newspaper The Guardian. The article was mainly about Jimbo Wales' speech on The 10 Things That Should Be Free, and with quotes from David Gerard also included.
The same article was reprinted in the noted online African newspaper Mail & Guardian in an August 11 article.
Asheville Citizen-Times to start Wiki-like newspaper
The Asheville Citizen-Times is set to start a weekly supplement to their newspaper, called the Pisgah Mountain News, in which anyone can submit stories. While the service is not online-based, the paper promises to allow anyone to mail in their stories to the newspaper, as well as submit photographs to be used in the publication.
Citations in the news
Wikipedia was cited and/or referred to in many newspapers in the past week, most notably the Salt Lake Tribune (article), the Mississippi Press (article), the National Business Review (article), and Newsday (article).
Twelve new admins mark a week of records
Admins
Administration status was given to a record twelve users this week: Flcelloguy (nom), Lucky 6.9 (nom), Kaldari (nom), Malathion (nom), Func (nom), BaronLarf (nom), Zscout370 (nom), Lacrimosus (nom), AlistairMcMillan (nom), FeloniousMonk (nom), Briangotts (nom), and Darwinek (nom).
A record was also set with Func's nomination, which received 112 support votes, and 0 oppose/neutral votes. Also, Lucky 6.9 was granted adminship on his fourth attempt.
Featured content
Eight articles were promoted to featured status: Hero of Ukraine, Gyeongju, Autism, Iron Maiden (band), Tom Brinkman, Henry Fonda, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and SS Andrea Doria.
The lists List of Indian state and union territory capitals, List of sex positions, and List of countries with nuclear weapons each reached featured lists status this week.
Two featured picture candidates were promoted this week.
The Report On Lengthy Litigation
The Arbitration Committee has closed a case involving User:Trey Stone and User:Davenbelle. Both users were banned from "editing articles which concern politics, particularly articles which concern the foreign relations of the United States" for a period of one year. A series of edit wars involving numerous articles, including Allan Nairn, Amy Goodman, Death squad, Suharto, Isle of Youth, Corporate media, Henry Kissinger, and Fidel Castro led to the arbitration case, which both parties consented to.
The arbitration regarding Cantus was completed on 8 August. This led to Cantus being banned from editing several pages due to "lengthy edit warring with respect to a number of articles". The pages in question are Developed country, Template:Europe, and Terri Schiavo. He could also be banned from additional pages if he exceeds a new revert parole, which would allow him only "one revert per article or other page per 30 day period." Cantus would then be subject to blocks of up to a week for editing articles from which he is banned, and if use of a sockpuppet to circumvent bans is verified, he could be blocked for a month.
Other cases
Cases involving Gabrielsimon and -Ril- are currently in the evidence phase. Each case received only 4 "accept" votes, the minimum needed to go to arbitration.
Discussion on December Arbitrator elections
Proposed alterations to the election process for December's Arbitration elections are currently going on here. Arbitrators whose current terms expire at the end of the year include:
- Fred Bauder
- Daniel Mayer
- David Gerard
- James Forrester (temporary appointment)
- Fennec (temporary appointment)
- JayJG (temporary appointment)
Community involvement in these discussions is encouraged. It is assumed, at this time, that elections will run from 4 December until 18 December, and elected arbitrators will take their seats on 1 January, 2006. There are currently expected to be 4 open three-year seats, 2 open two-year seats, and 1 open one-year seat.