Happy New Year, Spirit of Eagle!

Send New Year cheer by adding {{subst:Happy New Year fireworks}} to user talk pages.

The Signpost: 06 January 2016

Trouble with the Board of Trustees
Wikipedia's science articles are "effectively incomprehensible"
Current Committee decisions
Featured content
Current academic research on Wikipedia and related projects
Sports!
Community technical news

The Signpost: 13 January 2016

A look at movement coverage "in the media"
Liam Wyatt shares his thoughts in "community view"
Our co-editor-in-chief, Gamaliel, shares his thoughts on the 15th anniversary of Wikipedia
William Beutler discusses problems inside the WMF.
James Heilman talks about why he was removed from the WMF board.
What was the most-viewed article of 2015? Read to find out!
WE LOVE PUBLIC DOMAIN DAY!
A look at community objections to a new Board trustee
Jeff Elder talks sports vandalism on the Wikimedia blog
A review of the featured content promoted this week
We sat down with both incoming and outgoing arbitrators to get their thoughts on the committee.
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community.

The Signpost: 20 January 2016

The continuing controversy over a new Board appointment.
Is Wikimedia taking the right approach?
The news media remembers we're still around.
A cheery week.
Newly promoted content.
A talk with MediaWiki developer : Magnus Manske.

The Signpost: 27 January 2016

Participate in the new strategy initiative.
Newly appointed trustee leaves following a community outcry.
Board turmoil gets the attention of journalists.
Current research involving Wikipedia.
Some things never change.
Newly promoted content.

The Signpost: 03 February 2016

Help us continue to publish on a weekly (-ish) basis.
New member María Sefidari joins the Board of Trustees.
James Heilman speaks out about the events leading up to his dismissal from the Board.
Examining the issues at the heart of recent Board disputes.
A survey released, another major departure from the Foundation.
More cases, more problems.
Some sort of sporting contest tops this week's traffic.
Newly promoted content.

The Signpost: 10 February 2016

The Signpost: 17 February 2016

Examining the impact of the knowledge engine
A new column that examines the articles that are helping to fight systemic bias
One article, three lists, and five images attained featured status this past week
The biggest annual event in America takes over Wikipedia viewership
The news for the nerd inside of us
The American Supreme Court justice's impact on the life of a Wikipedia editor

The Signpost: 24 February 2016

The Board of Trustees may be deciding the direction of the Foundation.
Parting words from a WMF employee,
Another grim week in traffic statistics.
Wiki Loves Africa photo competition focuses on continent’s varied fashion traditions from north, south, east, and west.
Committee motions and business.
Newly promoted featured content.
Community technical news.

The Signpost: 02 March 2016

A tumultuous time at the Wikimedia Foundation
Newly promoted articles and images.
Politics and wrestling top the traffic statistics.
Current academic research about the encyclopedia and related projects.
The WMF reports on incoming requests.

The Signpost: 09 March 2016

Controversy, change, and everything between.
Perhaps we're turning over a new leaf as a front-runner in the fight for equality?
A look at the future of our parent foundation.
This week's featured content
Finally, a break for the vandalism fighters!
Your detailed look at one of Wikipedia's largest contests.
By night, she smites trolls on the Internet with positive punishment: for each harassing email she receives, one Wikipedia article on a woman in science is created.
Wherein I am STILL fucking angry about systemic bias and am highlighting kick-ass articles we created and improved this month in our never-ending quest to fix it.
The Oscars, Super Tuesday, and Super Saturday"

The Signpost: 16 March 2016

Parties could not agree on extending the 2009 agreement.
Two board members on stage at the popular yearly event.
The road ahead for the WMF.
Wikipedia news sparks editing disagreements.
Featured content
An interview with a MediaWiki developer.
Time to move abroad.
The popular podcast returns.
A Deutschland anniversary.

The Signpost: 23 March 2016

The Signpost speaks with the incoming WMF interim executive director.
The outgoing ED to be honored at Davos.
Piracy and controversy.
Are readers exhausted?
All of us can do better.
The week in newly promoted content.
Motions from the Committee.
Discussing the upcoming Italian Wikimania.

AfD

Hi Spirit of Eagle: A recent edit you performed at AfD has been reverted. You may want to check it out. North America1000 05:19, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

April 2016

  This is your only warning; if you introduce jokes into articles again, as you did at Wikipedia:April Fools/April Fools' Day 2016, you may be blocked from editing without further notice. So dizzy... Spirit of Eagle (talk) 05:28, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

The Signpost: 1 April 2016

A surprise political announcement.
Police haul away some article content.
Rock out to this interview with project editors.
¿Quién es más macho?
.
Set your Wayback Machine.
Current research about Wikimedia projects.
A roundtable discussion about current Wikimedia issues.
Using hashtags to track the results of Wikimedia outreach.

This day's This Special Day's article for improvement (day 1, month 4, 2016)

 
Skvader - Tetrao lepus pseudo-hybridus rarissimus in the wild at Örnsköldsvik
Hello!

The following is WikiProject This Special Day's articles for improvement's daily selection:

Skvader

Please be bold and help to improve this article!


Previous selections: Snipe huntJenny Haniver


Get involved with the TSDAFI project. You can: Nominate an articleShare this message with other editors


Posted by: w.carter-Talk 20:37, 1 April 2016 (UTC) using New improved MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of WikiProject TSDAFI • [April Fools!]

April fools AfD colsure

Thanks for closing those, however using the AfD closing script puts stuff on the article talk pages, like here, so all those have to be removed. Cheers, --kelapstick(bainuu) 03:04, 2 April 2016 (UTC)

Ack, I am really sorry about that. Thank you for cleaning up the talk page mess my closures made, and I'll make sure to be a lot more careful with future April Fools Day AfD closures. (Also, I double checked and all of the talk page closures have been cleaned up).Spirit of Eagle (talk) 04:32, 2 April 2016 (UTC)
No worries, did the same myself today. Cheers, --kelapstick(bainuu) 04:34, 2 April 2016 (UTC)

The Signpost: 14 April 2016

They do have plenty of time on their hands
More turnover in the foundation
Copyright laws, prisoners, and the future of technology
Featured content
American politics seem to have finally bored people
The drought is finally over!
A look at political satire, brought to you by Wikipedia and Commons

The Signpost: 24 April 2016

Maybe the rover could find an ED on the moon...
When is competing with Google not competing with Google?
Help wanted!
What's better than one traffic report? Two!
10 articles, 6 lists, and 11 pictures have been promoted in this cycle
When it rains, it pours

The Signpost: 2 May 2016

Wikimedia Switzerland board members involved in paid-editing firm
More reports surface of pirates' new favorite database: Wikimedia Commons
Prince's death breaks traffic report records
Seven articles, six lists, and four pictures were promoted these weeks
Arbitration news
Making sense of Wikipedia's social network

The Signpost: 17 May 2016

Christophe Henner and Nataliia Tymkiv respond to the Signpost's questions
Paid-editing controversy
Citations needed
Nine featured articles, eight featured lists, and six featured pictures
Prince gives way to Captain America
News from two arbitration cases
35 competitors move on to round 3

The Signpost: 28 May 2016

Dates and venues for WikiCon USA 2016, WikiCon India 2016, 2016 Glam Boot Camp and 2016 Wikimedia Diversity Conference
Sue Gardner appears to be earning more money as the WMF's special advisor than she did as its executive director
Not everything you read online is fact
Another eight featured articles, three featured lists and five featured pictures
Mental health carries a powerful stigma. The more we are open about it, the less that weighs all of us down
Gamaliel and others case nears its end, and there are new 30/500 rules
Round-up of recent Wikipedia research
We've recently come into possession of a new tool.
Albin Olsson has been right there with them, capturing dramatic images of singers from around the world.

The Signpost: 05 June 2016

The Signpost analyzes the WMF's revised annual plan
Recent press interviews
One article, one list, and seven images were featured this week
Film and television maintain a strong grasp on Wikipedia's readership
The final results of the heated case
We sat down with the writers of some of the most vistied Wikipedia articles

The Signpost: 15 June 2016

WMF board chair Patricio Lorente answers questions
Wikimedia enters academic publishing
Eleven featured articles, nine featured lists and fourteen featured pictures
Recent media coverage of Wikipedia and Wikimedia
Two for the price of one—do the popular Commons image contest and Wikidata licensing serve the community as well as they should?
Wikipedia's most read articles in the last two weeks
Poetry: “it is the stuff of the soul; it speaks to the body, the mind, and the spirit alike.” Sonja Bohm worked for years to get all of Florence Earle Coates’ poetry online, and now proofreads poetry on the English Wikisource, the free library. We asked why.

I was able to source the charts for this with help from another editor, and it now meets WP:NMUSIC, so you can close this if you wish. I figured the outcome of the discussion showed keep, but it apparently wasn't clear, so I've added a withdrawal comment. MSJapan (talk) 05:59, 23 June 2016 (UTC)

I've gone ahead and closed the AfD as keep.Spirit of Eagle (talk) 06:09, 23 June 2016 (UTC)

The Signpost: 04 July 2016

News from Wikimania and the courts
Paid-contributions disclosure vs. outing
Reliability worries
Six articles, nine lists, one topic and thirteen pictures promoted
European football and politics dominate the top-10
From the Wikimedia Foundation blog

Your GA nomination of Voltaire P. Twombly

Hi there, I'm pleased to inform you that I've begun reviewing the article Voltaire P. Twombly you nominated for GA-status according to the criteria.   This process may take up to 7 days. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you might have during this period. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Display name 99 -- Display name 99 (talk) 22:40, 12 July 2016 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Voltaire P. Twombly

The article Voltaire P. Twombly you nominated as a good article has passed  ; see Talk:Voltaire P. Twombly for comments about the article. Well done! If the article has not already been on the main page as an "In the news" or "Did you know" item, you can nominate it to appear in Did you know. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Display name 99 -- Display name 99 (talk) 15:21, 15 July 2016 (UTC)

The Signpost: 21 July 2016

Four seats to be filled in top WMF grantmaking body; General Counsel and Secretary Geoff Brigham leaves Wikimedia
New ArbCom restrictions; genetically modified food safety
Female scientists in India; Cracked.com probes Wikipedia's weaknesses
Promotions in four featured-content forums
Northern summer makes sport the winner
Plus a clerk appointment and two motions
Plus navigating the Chinese Wikipedia, and talkpage sentiment

DYK for Voltaire P. Twombly

On 28 July 2016, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Voltaire P. Twombly, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Voltaire P. Twombly (pictured) continued to carry his company’s flag after being knocked to the ground by cannon fire during the Battle of Fort Donelson? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Voltaire P. Twombly. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, Voltaire P. Twombly), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 00:31, 28 July 2016 (UTC)

The Signpost: 04 August 2016

And the Signpost loses and gains a co-editor-in-chief
WMF and Alphabet are developing an algorithm designed to detect personal attacks
Plus Android and Taylor Swift
Condolences are being left on his English Wikipedia talk page
Pokémon Go led the chart for two weeks running
Eight articles, two lists and fourteen pictures were promoted
Plus: new Wiki Studies journal, Wikipedia usage on Twitter and more
WMF announces enhancements to the notifications system
New user scripts and other tech news

The Signpost: 18 August 2016

Conference draws highly diverse and productive participation, and several years' advocacy pays off in a new government policy
Guest post recaps in-depth engagement of experts to address Wikipedia gender gap while improving coverage of their field
Wikipedia coverage ranged from sobering to playful in this issue's roundup
Eight articles, eleven lists, one topic and five pictures were promoted
Politics gives way to sports, TV and film
A review of numerous useful Wikipedia customizations
New case opened, and a reminder to administrators not to impose blocks based on private information

 You are invited to join the discussion at Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/MacGyver_the_Lizard . Lizzymartin (talk) 08:11, 19 August 2016 (UTC)

  • I am trying to fully understand Wiki's guidelines related to news. I ran into your WP:NOTABLENEWS, and was hoping you could come offer some insight into this discussion. As I do not want to be guilty of either canvasing or vote-stacking, may I ask that you do not make an overall vote, but rather just try to clarify the relevance of WP:NOTNEWS for us? Thank you very much.

The Signpost: 06 September 2016

The Board’s two-year moratorium on new chapters and thematic organisations has expired; presentation of new criteria is reigniting smoldering controversies and introducing new ones
A comparison of the 15 most-read articles related to the Olympics, in seven language editions of Wikipedia
Wikipedia gaining ground in credibility among librarians; and a healthy helping of media coverage
An interview with WikiProject TV member CAWylie
Twelve articles, eight lists and four pictures were promoted
An update on two weeks of Wikipedia traffic, based on a new and improved tracking tool
New scripts and technical news
One study encounters critique of its ethics from Wikipedians; another critiques the ethics employed by Wikipedia
Switzerland's largest public science library is uploading 134k photos

The Signpost: 29 September 2016

Medical school class's Wikipedia contributions profiled as case study; and a remembrance of Ray Saintonge, Wikimedian since 2002
This edition's roundup of media coverage
Nineteen articles, eleven lists, one portal and twelve pictures were promoted
TRM, CUOS '16, R&I, RfC
Four weeks of Wikipedia's most popular articles examined
Titles with numbers now sort numerically, and a new tool to check how template parameters are used

The Signpost: 14 October 2016

Wikimedia Foundation reports on fundraising challenges and new initiatives; Indian botanists rally to build Wikimedia Commons' photo collection
A new "peer academy" is proposed to find and support leadership in volunteer communities
And this edition's roundup of media coverage
A new editor, a new parsing algorithm, and another server switch
Twelve articles, twelve lists and twenty-one pictures were promoted
Donald Trump remains a view-magnet, others change their channel
We explore the study, which sought insights from Wikipedia metadata into global events

Talkback

 
Hello, Spirit of Eagle. You have new messages at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Charming Liars.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

--Jax 0677 (talk) 17:54, 25 October 2016 (UTC)

The Signpost: 4 November 2016

Victoria Coleman to fill long-vacant CTO role; Trustee Kelly Battles joins Quora executive team; last week for community input on Creative Commons 4.0 license
Plus our roundup of recent media stories
Winners of the tenth annual WikiCup competition announced and profiled
Progress on the 2015 Community Wishlist for tech features; and plans for a new Wishlist
Proposed best practices for communication and community involvement, and an improvement to Wikipedia's citation infrastructure
Fourteen articles, six lists and fourteen pictures were promoted
Two weeks of insights into the mind of the mob
Two cases closed, and an administrator loses editing rights
A recap of recent research in our realm

Wikipedia:WikiProject United States/The 50,000 Challenge

  You are invited to participate in the 20,000 Challenge, aiming for 20,000 article improvements and creations for articles relating to the United States. This effort began on November 1, 2016 and to reach our goal, we will need editors like you to participate, expand, and create. See more here!

--MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:39, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

ArbCom Elections 2016: Voting now open!

Hello, Spirit of Eagle. Voting in the 2016 Arbitration Committee elections is open from Monday, 00:00, 21 November through Sunday, 23:59, 4 December to all unblocked users who have registered an account before Wednesday, 00:00, 28 October 2016 and have made at least 150 mainspace edits before Sunday, 00:00, 1 November 2016.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

If you wish to participate in the 2016 election, please review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:08, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

Flag carried by Twombly

 
United States of America flag carried by the 2nd Iowa Infantry

I was able to fulfill one half of your request, i.e. "a free use image of the flag carried by [Voltaire] Twombly at the Battle of Fort Donelson", File:National flag carried by the 2nd Iowa Infantry throughout the Civil War.jpg.— Godsy (TALKCONT) 02:29, 24 November 2016 (UTC)

The Signpost: 4 November 2016

An overview of the English Wikipedia ArbCom election; brief notes as Asian and African initiatives wind down
Election prompts media to explore themes important to Wikipedians, including news literacy, privacy, and data security
115,000 images were submitted as part of the annual competition.
A sampling of photo submissions to the annual photography campaign
Eight articles, two lists and nine pictures were promoted
A close examination of the efficacy of the GA Cup contest, a longstanding effort to reduce the backlog of articles awaiting review
Empowering volunteers and local chapters to engage with fundraising would yield varied benefits
Someone is likely to dominate traffic for a long time

The Signpost: 22 December 2016

Roundup of the year's news from the Wikimedia world, featuring Wikipedia's 15th anniversary and organizational disarray at the Wikimedia Foundation
WMF reflects, to some degree, on its past approaches to strategic planning
The German Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee loses more than half its members amid political feud
A proposal from the Inspire Campaign to address harassment was recently implemented to prevent unconstructive and malicious editing on user pages
Even a well executed outreach event can yield disappointing results
Wikipedia women in the news, and media reacts to 2016 ad banner campaign
Twenty-three articles, ten lists and twenty-one pictures were promoted
And a roundup of recently-added tools
Four weeks of popular article analysis
Winning photos in world's largest photography contest reveal a world of monuments—and the volunteers who love them
Privacy and Tor, and several other studies

Merry, merry!

From the icy Canajian north; to you and yours! FWiW Bzuk (talk) 19:22, 25 December 2016 (UTC)