Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Single/2009-06-08
Picture process turmoil, block patterns, and more
Turmoil in the Featured and Valued picture processes
Dissatisfaction with elements of the Featured picture candidates (FPC) process escalated this week with a proposal to delete the entire Valued pictures (VP) project.
Beginning in mid-May, several regular participants at FPC began voicing concerns about the way some featured picture candidacies were closed. Although in principle anyone may close picture nominations after the standard voting period ends, in practice most closing is done by a handful of editors who take closing responsibilities upon themselves. Because of some unsatisfactory closing results for candidates that fell short of the required number of support votes but had few or no oppose votes and concerns that closers were using too much personal discretion in deciding results, some editors began boycotting FPC in late May. Overall participation slowed over the last two weeks—only ten pictures were promoted—while editors conducted a review of the closure process. Discussion continues on how to improve the closure process.
On 4 June, Durova nominated the relatively new Valued pictures process (active since December 2008) for deletion, arguing that it serves as "a ghetto to shunt highly encyclopedic material off the main page." Featured pictures are required to demonstrate both technical excellence and encyclopedic value (EV), while for Valued pictures high EV can make up for weaknesses in technical quality; the possibility of becoming a Valued picture is sometimes brought for featured picture candidates, especially for restorations of historical images that were created with older technologies. Durova also argues that "VP actually damages efforts to gain access to more and better source files", because the prospect of a day on Wikipedia's main page is a powerful incentive for cultural repositories to release high resolution images they possess. She expands her argument in a recent blog post, "Why featured pictures is ailing".
Block patterns on Wikipedia, Conservapedia graphed
Despite its much smaller article count and editor community, Conservapedia blocks more IP addresses than Wikipedia, according to analysis by an editor on RationalWiki (a site focused, in large part, on criticism and satire of Conservapedia). While Wikipedia administrators typically issue fine-grained blocks in large numbers, Conservapedia relies heavily on range blocks that affect tens of thousands of IP addresses at once. As a result, Conservapedia blocks almost three times the number of individual addresses that Wikipedia does: 19,763,767 vs. 7,082,293 as of the analysis in late May.
The results of the block analysis are presented visually on "maps of the Internet" inspired by the webcomic xkcd.
Google News results include Wikipedia articles
Google News and Google Alerts users have reported occasional links to Wikipedia articles as news results. In particular, the Air France Flight 447 article reportedly appeared on the Google News front page and in Google Alerts results. Wikipedia has become widely recognized as a useful source for overviews of rapidly developing stories, but it is unclear how Google comes to classify any particular article as news.
Wikizine is back
Wikizine, a venerable independent newsletter for Wikimedia projects, has returned after a long hiatus with two new issues in the last two weeks.
Researcher testing tweaks to interface
Social computing researcher Aaron Halfaker is testing a tool called the NICE gadget that tests a set of modifications to the undo interface to make Wikipedia a more friendly place for new editors. Halfaker is calling for editors to install the gadget, the purpose of which is "to investigate whether we can promote awareness and communication between editors through modification of the user interface."
Briefly
- An artist has created a 5000 page hardbound print version of Wikipedia's featured articles. "Reproducing Wikipedia in a dysfunctional physical form helps to question its use as an internet resource."
Milestones
- The Korean Wikipedia has reached 100,000 articles with the page 액세스권.
- The Icelandic Wikipedia has reached 25,000 articles.
- The Kashubian Wikipedia has reached 2,000 articles.
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ArbCom in the news, weak coverage of Italian firms, and more
Reactions to ArbCom decision
In a recent issue, The Signpost reported on the Arbitration Committee's decision to block the Church of Scientology and some of its critics from editing Wikipedia. Media outlets have continued to report on this case. The Los Angeles Times reported that Karin Pouw, a spokesperson for the church, reacted positively to the critics being banned and did not complain about the church being banned. Technology and information bloggers are concerned that Wikipedia is stifling free speech and that this decision sets a precedent for blocking other major organizations. Robert Cringely of InfoWorld sarcastically commented on the abuse of Wikipedia to improve the public appearance of the Church of Scientology and other large organizations. NetEffect criticized the block as being a temporary solution and suggested the increased implementation of WikiTrust and Flagged Revisions.
The first segment on The Colbert Report for 4 June was about the Scientology arbitration decision. Colbert mocked the usernames of arbitrators Carcharoth, FloNight, Newyorkbrad, and Wizardman, and said "They're just like the Supreme Court, only their robes are bathrobes."
Noam Cohen of The New York Times puts the decision in broader context in "The Wars of Words on Wikipedia’s Outskirts", and another Wikipedian, William Beutler, weighs in with a blog post.
Daily Mail and The Independent cover ArbCom resignation, badly
As covered in the Signpost, arbitrator Sam Blacketer—the alias of David Boothroyd—resigned from the Arbitration committee recently. An error-filled article on Boothroyd's Wikipedia work appears in The Daily Mail: "Labour councillor David Boothroyd caught altering David Cameron's Wikipedia entry". Charles Matthews lists some of the problems:
| “ | Here's what else [in addition to stating that Boothroyd was "forced to resign"] is wrong with the Mail's coverage, though:
- "malicious tampering" Handily assumes what it sets out to prove. - "Any Internet user can alter pages but Wikipedia appoints supposedly impartial and unpaid moderators to review and correct changes." Total myth. - "sock-puppeting - using multiple, bogus online identities to create an illusion of support or unpopularity for a person or organisation." "Bogus" is misleading journalese. "Pseudonymous", please. And they have mixed in the definition astroturfing. - "Wikimedia UK, the British arm of the U.S. company" Wrong. |
” |
Another misleading article appears in The Independent: "Wikipedia 'sentinel' quits after using alias to alter entries".
Study of English Wikipedia coverage of Italian companies
Wikipedia's coverage of the 40 largest Italian companies is examined in a new Lundquist Wikipedia Research study published on Scribd. According to the executive summary, "Out of a maximum of 18 points for completeness of information, the average company article scored 8.4." Scores ranged from 17 for Fiat (the top Italian company), to 0 for the #40 company Snam Rete Gas. The report includes tips for companies to engage with Wikipedia without triggering negative reactions from the community.
New Zealand MP's staffer blocked
Stuff.co.nz reports that a New Zealand Parliament IP was blocked after attempts by a staffer for New Zealand MP Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga to remove material from the MP's Wikipedia article. Asked for comment, Lotu-Iiga described Wikipedia as "an open forum for people to sabotage or write remarks about politicians".
Briefly
- The Times Colonist reports vandalism: "Wikipedia prankster ridicules Metchosin 'hicks'". Unlike most vandalism stories, in this case the bad edits to Metchosin, British Columbia were not corrected until after the article was published.
- A "Wikipedia for porn" called Carnalpedia officially launched this week. It describes itself as complementary to Wikipedia, covering sex topics that have no place on Wikipedia.
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Approved this week
Administrators
Two editors were granted admin status via the Requests for Adminship process this week: Billinghurst (nom) and Mifter (nom).
Bots
This section will now be written in the Technology Report, and will contain an expanded description of the bots that have been approved. This week's article.
Featured pages
Fourteen articles were promoted to featured status this week: Battle of Vimy Ridge (nom), Battle of Ticonderoga (1759) (nom), Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (nom), Checkers speech (nom), Polish culture during World War II (nom), Macaroni Penguin (nom), Landing at Nadzab (nom), U.S. Route 41 in Michigan (nom), Robert Hues (nom), USS West Bridge (ID-2888) (nom), Ngo Dinh Diem presidential visit to Australia (nom), Water fluoridation (nom), William Barley (nom) and Battersea Bridge (nom).
Twelve lists were promoted to featured status this week: List of winners of the London Marathon (nom), The Ting Tings discography (nom), List of Key games (nom), List of extant papal tombs (nom), List of tallest buildings in San Diego (nom), 2007 World Series of Poker results (nom), List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 2007 (Canada) (nom), List of counties in Alabama (nom), Hank Aaron Award (nom), List of Grand Rapids Griffins players (nom), Manager of the Year Award (nom) and Rolaids Relief Man Award (nom).
No topics were promoted to featured status this week.
No portals were promoted to featured status this week.
The following featured articles were displayed on the Main Page this week as Today's featured article: Rudolf Wolters, History of biology, Checkers speech, Rhinemaidens, Astrophysics Data System, West Bengal and Cholangiocarcinoma.
Former featured pages
Five articles were delisted this week: Comet (nom), Hrafnkels saga (nom), Mor lam (nom), Siege (nom) and BC Rail (nom).
One list was delisted this week: List of surviving veterans of World War I (nom).
No topics were delisted this week.
Featured media
The following featured pictures were displayed on the Main Page this week as picture of the day: Woody Guthrie, Mount Pleasant Radio Observatory, Speckled Wood, Armorial of the Holy Roman Empire, Normandy Landings, Crochet and City of London.
No featured sounds were promoted this week.
No featured pictures were demoted this week.
Four pictures were promoted to featured status this week and are shown below.
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Bugs, Repairs, and Internal Operational News
This is a summary of recent technology and site configuration changes that affect the English Wikipedia. Please note that some bug fixes or new features described below have not yet gone live as of press time; the English Wikipedia is currently running version 1.44.0-wmf.5 (d64f667), and changes to the software with a version number higher than that will not yet be active. Configuration changes and changes to interface messages, however, become active immediately.
String parser functions reverted
Lead developer Tim Starling has reverted several recent code changes to the parser functions, including removing the {{NUMBEROFCONTRIBS}} function and disabling the String Functions parser functions as the default setting. Starling referred to the string parser functions as "the ugliest, most inefficient programming language known to man," and suggests the Lua extension as a possible "alternative, saner solution for embedding complex text processing in MediaWiki templates." (r51529, r51497)
Bots approved
6 bots or bot tasks were approved for operation this week. These included:
DottyQuoteBot (task request) - for importing the quote of the day from Wikiquote;
PascalBot (task request) - to fix template parameter problems.
Also approved were AmphBot (task request), Rameshngbot (task request), MetaplasticityBot (task request) (though blocked from editing) and Thehelpfulbot (task request). Still in discussion are bots for italicising the titles of species and genera articles, warning editors who create unreferenced biographies of living people, and adding {{Unreferenced}} to articles meeting certain criteria, among others.
Extra input has been requested regarding the operation at least two bots this week: a request for comment is open on the use of LivingBot to alter heading levels and an ongoing request for input is open on the use of ListasBot to deal with orphaned talk pages.
New features
- MediaWiki:Recentchangeslinked has been split into four separate messages. (r51441, bug 14866)
- The Abuse Filter has been changed to use JSON rather than PHP serialization for data interchange. (r51341)
- Time and dates have been separated for revision-info-current' and 'revision-info, which appear when browsing through an article revisions. (r51579) Date and time have also been separated for the "filehist-thumbtext", "history-feed-item-nocomment", "rcnotefrom", "confirmemail_body", and "revisionasof" messages. (r51305, r51307, r51308, r51309, r51311)
- For the API, an option has been added to retrieve language properties, using siprop=languages with meta=siteinfo. (r51571, bug 18785)
Other news
- Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects are running on a version (r48811) of MediaWiki last updated on March 25. A backlog remains for the lead developers to review code changes. Wikimedia Deputy Director Erik Moller announced on the wikitech-l mailing list that the Wikimedia Foundation is "planning to hire a full-time QA engineer in 09-10 to help with code review, bug triaging and deployment", which should help speed things up with reviewing and deploying new code. [1]
- The improvements to the search backend that English Wikipedia rolled out several months ago ("did you mean...", fuzzy results, prefixes for advanced search logic, and generally improved results) have been rolled out to all Wikimedia projects.
- Developer Tim Starling announced that database schema changes are being implemented, including changes related to the AbuseFilter and FlaggedRevs extensions. [2] [3]
- The Usability Initiative team has added a new extension to the svn. The extension includes a new, simplified edit toolbar. [4]
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The Report on Lengthy Litigation
The Arbitration Committee opened no cases and closed none this week, leaving seven open.
Evidence phase
- A Man In Black: A case brought to examine the conduct of administrator A Man In Black.
- ADHD: A case examining the dispute on the ADHD article and the conduct of the editors involved therein.
Voting
- Obama articles: A case opened to review behavior of editors of articles related to Barack Obama.
- Mattisse: A case—brought when a recent Request for Comment failed to abate concerns regarding her behaviour—examining the conduct of User:Mattisse.
- Macedonia 2: A case about naming disputes at the Macedonia article, and ChrisO's use of administrator tools in the dispute. Thirty-eight remedies have been proposed, most of which sanction editors involved in the dispute.
Motion to close
- Tang Dynasty: A case about editing conflicts on Inner Asia during the Tang Dynasty. Passing remedies include restricting and placing mediation on Tenmei, and general admonitions to behave.
- Date delinking: A case regarding the behavior of editors in the ongoing dispute relating to policy on linking dates in articles. An injunction has been issued prohibiting large-scale linking or delinking of dates until the case is resolved. Over 130 proposals have been presented, including remedies which restrict, ban, topic ban, or admonish certain parties. Voting is largely fractured, but several remedies are passing which restrict or ban various editors.
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