User talk:Stwalkerster/Archive July 2012
Latest comment: 13 years ago by EdwardsBot in topic The Signpost: 30 July 2012
 | This is an archive of past discussions with User:Stwalkerster. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
The Signpost: 02 July 2012
- Analysis: Uncovering scientific plagiarism
- News and notes: RfC on joining lobby group; JSTOR accounts for Wikipedians and the article feedback tool
- In the news: Public relations on Wikipedia: friend or foe?
- Discussion report: Discussion reports and miscellaneous articulations
- WikiProject report: Summer sports series: Burning rubber with WikiProject Motorsport
- Featured content: Heads up
- Arbitration report: Three open cases, motion for the removal of Carnildo's administrative tools
- Technology report: Initialisms abound: QA and HTML5
UTRS Account Request
I confirm that I have requested an account on the UTRS tool. [stwalkerster|talk]
Approved -- DQ (ʞlɐʇ) 18:26, 4 July 2012 (UTC)
Thank you [stwalkerster|talk] 21:43, 4 July 2012 (UTC)
The Signpost: 09 July 2012
- Special report: Reforming the education programs: lessons from Cairo
Wikipedia has a long history of collaborating with educational institutions. The Schools and universities program — international and in many languages, but dominated by US institutions — started in 2003 and evolved case by case with little system. However, that changed in 2009 as Wikimedia embarked on its formal strategic process, and outreach in higher education came to be seen in terms of achieving explicit goals — especially that of increasing editor participation.
The Russian Wikipedia has been blacked out for 24 hours, ending 20:00 UTC Tuesday, as a protest against Russian State Duma Bill 89417-6, a bill currently before the Duma (the Russian parliament). Visitors to the Russian Wikipedia are confronted by the sign above in protest at a draconian internet censorship bill before the Duma. The Russian word for Wikipedia is crossed out in this banner, and the text says: "Imagine a world without free knowledge. The State Duma is currently conducting the second reading of a bill to amend the "Law on Information", which has the potential to lead to the creation of extra-judicial censorship of the Internet in Russia, including the closure of access to the Russian Wikipedia. Today, the Wikipedia community protests against censorship as a threat to free knowledge that is open to all mankind. We ask that you oppose this bill."
- WikiProject report: Summer sports series: WikiProject Football
This week, we spent some time with WikiProject Football, which focuses on the sport also known as association football or soccer. WikiProject Football is by far the largest sport project and one of the most active projects on Wikipedia in terms of the number of articles covered, edits to articles, and talk page watchers.
- Featured content: Keeps on chuggin'
Eight featured articles were promoted this week: ... Aries (constellation) by Keilana. Aries the Ram (symbol ♈) is one of the constellations of the Zodiac and one of 88 currently recognised constellations. Its area is 441 square degrees (1.1% of the celestial sphere). Although fairly dim, with only three bright stars, it is home to several deep-sky objects.
- Arbitration report: Three requests for arbitration
No cases were closed or opened, leaving the number of open cases at three. ... The case concerns alleged misconduct with regards to aggressive responses and harassment by Fæ toward users who question his actions.
The results from last month's trial of the LastModified extension were published this week on the Wikimedia blog. The first analyses have indicated a significant positive impact, suggesting that the extension – which makes the time since a page's last edit much more prominent in the interface – could eventually find its way onto Wikimedia wikis.
The Signpost: 16 July 2012
- Special report: Chapters Association mired in controversy over new chair
User:Fæ was elected as the inaugural chair of the new Wikimedia Chapters Association, despite the controversies that have surrounded Fæ on the English Wikipedia and Commons, most recently aired in a live case before the Arbitration Committee. This is in marked contrast with unexciting movement, during the Wikimania meeting, on the most important issues facing the establishment of the association.
During Wikimania (July 12-15), the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) board finalized and enacted long-discussed reforms of the movement's financial structures, and considered procedures for creating new ways for Wikimedians to organize themselves into offline communities. The board moved on the controversial image filter issue, approved the 2012–13 annual plan, and issued a statement on the wikitravel proposal. It also appointed the two new chapter-selected trustees and elected the four office-bearers.
- WikiProject report: Summer sports series: French WikiProject Cycling
With the Tour de France in its final week, we traveled to the French Wikipedia for a chat with Projet Cyclisme (WikiProject Cycling). The French Wikipedia places a greater emphasis on portals than the English Wikipedia, which explains why WikiProject Cycling and its discussion page are actually extensions of the Cycling Portal. The project is home to two Article de Qualité (equivalent to Featured Articles) and eight Bon Article (Good Articles), primarily biographies of cyclists.
- Discussion report: Discussion reports and miscellaneous articulations
A brief overview of the current discussions on the English Wikipedia, including one regarding the purpose of the Community Portal. Started by Maryana, a Wikimedia Foundation employee, is this page for new users to be educated about the community, or is it for experienced users to find updates about the community?
Nearly 1400 Wikimedians and others from 87 countries descended on the capital of the United States, Washington, D.C., for Wikimania 2012. Even with an unprecedented number (1400) of conference attendees — the previous two Wikimanias, held in Gdańsk (Poland) and Haifa (Israel), were attended by fewer than 1100 people combined – Wikimania 2012 was a complete success, with attendees' reaction to the conference coming out as ecstatic and laudatory.
- Featured content: Taking flight
Eight featured articles were promoted this week, including Paul McCartney by GabeMc. McCartney (born 1942) is an English musician, singer, songwriter and composer. He gained worldwide fame as a member of the Beatles, and his collaboration with John Lennon is highly celebrated. After the band's break-up he pursued a solo career and formed the band Wings. McCartney has been described by Guinness World Records as the "most successful composer and recording artist of all time", and his song "Yesterday" has been covered more than any other song in history.
- Technology report: Tech talks at Wikimania amid news of a mixed June
As Wikimania, the annual conference targeted at Wikimedians and often well attended by those with a technical slant, draws to a close, comments have already begun to come in from attendees regarding the many tech-related features of the conference.
- Arbitration report: Fæ faces site-ban, proposed decisions posted
No cases were closed or opened, leaving the number of open cases at three. A new remedy in the Fæ case calls for him to be indefinitely banned from the site after his attempts to solicit intervention from the Foundation, claiming that publicly listing all his accounts would be too onerous due to "ongoing security risks." He was further criticised for attempting to dodge good-faith concerns; the committee believes that if Fæ's claims are valid then he must be removed from the community.
remove reference to wife
kevin sent me an email to remove personal info like references to his religion and wife and children i agreed to do so, and have done so. i will send him another copy before i resubmit the article originally, he was ok with the article
thanks for our helpjoe (talk) 00:24, 23 July 2012 (UTC)joe
The Signpost: 23 July 2012
- Paid editing: Does Wikipedia pay? The skeptic: Orange Mike
Does Wikipedia pay? is an ongoing Signpost series seeking to illuminate paid editing, paid advocacy, for-profit Wikipedia consultants, editing public relations professionals, conflict of interest guidelines in practice, and the Wikipedians who work on these issues... by speaking openly with the people involved.
- From the editor: Signpost developments
The Signpost's goal is to provide readers with essential information about the Wikimedia movement and the English Wikipedia – both of which have become large and extremely complex institutions that require timely, balanced and in-depth coverage.
Two weeks ago the Signpost reported that the Russian Wikipedia had just begun a 24-hour blackout in protest at a bill that was before the Russian parliament that proposed mechanisms to block IP addresses and DNS records. The protest, implemented after on-wiki consensus was reached during the preceding days, concerned the potential of the amendment to the information law to allow extra-judicial censorship of the internet in Russia, including the closure of access to the Russian Wikipedia. Among the questions now are how effective the blackout was and where we go from here in terms of internet freedom in one of the world's biggest and most influential countries.
- WikiProject report: Summer sports series: WikiProject Olympics
With the 2012 Summer Olympic Games beginning this weekend in London, we decided to catch up with the chaps at WikiProject Olympics. The last time we interviewed WikiProject Olympics was in February 2010 when the project was gearing up for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. We wanted to know how the project has grown since then and whether preparing for a Summer Olympics was more grueling.
- Arbitration report: Fæ and Michaeldsuarez banned; Kwamikagami desysopped; Falun Gong closes with mandated external reviews and topic bans
For the second time this year (and the third in the history of the committee), there are no open cases, as all three active cases were closed last week.
There has never been a better time to improve the behavior of marketing professionals on Wikipedia. For the first time we're seeing self-imposed statements of ethics. Professional PR bodies around the globe have supported the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) guidance for ethical Wikipedia engagement. Although their tone is different, CREWE and the PRSA have brought more attention to the issues. Awareness among PR professionals is rising. So are the number of paid editing operations sprouting up and the opportunity for dialogue.
- Featured content: When is an island not an island?
One featured article was promoted this week, Melville Island. A small peninsula in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, it was discovered by Europeans in the 1600s and initially used for storehouses. The land was purchased by the British and used to hold prisoners of war, then to receive escaped slaves from the United States. After being used as a place of quarantine and later a recruitment centre, the land was granted to Canada in 1907 and used to house prisoners of war. It is now home to the clubhouse and marina of the Armdale Yacht Club.
- Technology report: Translating SVGs and making history bugs history
In the first of a series looking at this year's eight ongoing Google Summer of Code projects, the Signpost caught up with developer Harry Burt.
WelcomerBot
I don't think WelcomerBot likes me. [1] NTox · talk 22:11, 26 July 2012 (UTC)
- Hmmm... interesting. The API is reporting that the checksum of the page content is incorrect - I wonder if that's caused by the template or possibly your signature - try changing them one at a time and see if either or both fixes the problem. When you know, let me know and I'll try and debug it properly. :) [stwalkerster|talk] 22:48, 26 July 2012 (UTC)
Extended content
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Data in acc_user table as of 22:48, 26 July 2012 (UTC) acc@sql:p_acc_live> select user_id, user_name, user_level, user_onwikiname, user_welcome_sig, user_welcome_templateid from acc_user where user_name = "NTox"\G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
user_id: 864
user_name: NTox
user_level: User
user_onwikiname: NTox
user_welcome_sig: <small><font face="Tahoma">[[User:NTox|NTox]] · [[User_talk:NTox|talk]]</font></small>
user_welcome_templateid: 21
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
acc@sql:p_acc_live> select user_name, user_identified, user_level, user_lastactive from acc_user where user_welcome_templateid = 21;
+-----------+-----------------+------------+---------------------+
| user_name | user_identified | user_level | user_lastactive |
+-----------+-----------------+------------+---------------------+
| Maedin | 0 | Suspended | 2011-09-29 06:20:51 |
| ESan013 | 0 | Suspended | 2010-03-08 07:39:39 |
| NTox | 1 | User | 2012-07-26 22:46:47 |
+-----------+-----------------+------------+---------------------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)
It's entirely possible that it's the template or the signature causing it. |
- Thank you for looking into it. The issue now appears to be fixed, after I removed the interpunct ( · ) from my signature in the interface. NTox · talk 07:15, 27 July 2012 (UTC)
- OK, I'll take a look at the signature bit of the code then, it's likely a double-encoding issue somewhere. [stwalkerster|talk] 12:05, 27 July 2012 (UTC)
ACC
Heya Stwalkerster! Could you please reactivate my ACC account? I contacted Deliriousandlost but she hasn't gotten back to me about it, despite my clarification of the circumstances surrounding my rename and accounts that haven't been renamed and unified. See this discussion. Thanks! James (Talk • Contribs) • 12:57pm • 02:57, 28 July 2012 (UTC)
Question
You recently gave User:Smsarmad Account creator rights, the rules for this right say a person who has been blocked for sock puppetry cannot have it, SMS has been blocked for socking in the past. See here. I am curious as to why this was discounted when the user right was given? Darkness Shines (talk) 17:35, 29 July 2012 (UTC)
- He's a trusted user at WP:ACC. [stwalkerster|talk] 20:41, 29 July 2012 (UTC)
- That really does not answer the question, the rule says "You have no history of abuse. Users with a history of account-related abuse — such as sockpuppetry — will be denied access to the tool" So why was this discounted? Who made the decision to override this rule? Darkness Shines (talk) 20:47, 29 July 2012 (UTC)
- You appear to be confusing the ACC tool and the accountcreator flag. I granted +accountcreator because of his involvement with ACC. You are quoting the ACC requirements there. Note that those are guidelines, not hard-and-fast rules, and the decision will have been made by a number of tool admins, looking at who actually approved this user. [stwalkerster|talk] 20:53, 29 July 2012 (UTC)
- I see, sorry. So can anyone do that ACC thingy then? Darkness Shines (talk) 20:59, 29 July 2012 (UTC)
- (talk page stalker) - You have a very extensive block log, if it were my decision to accept you into ACC I'm afraid it would be no. Mlpearc (powwow)(Review me !) 21:25, 29 July 2012 (UTC)
- A lot of those blocks should not have happened :o) But in six months I can try it out right? Just kidding, I am just curious about it, I have never seen this tool or right before. Darkness Shines (talk) 21:32, 29 July 2012 (UTC)
- (talk page stalker) - You have a very extensive block log, if it were my decision to accept you into ACC I'm afraid it would be no. Mlpearc (powwow)(Review me !) 21:25, 29 July 2012 (UTC)
- I see, sorry. So can anyone do that ACC thingy then? Darkness Shines (talk) 20:59, 29 July 2012 (UTC)
- You appear to be confusing the ACC tool and the accountcreator flag. I granted +accountcreator because of his involvement with ACC. You are quoting the ACC requirements there. Note that those are guidelines, not hard-and-fast rules, and the decision will have been made by a number of tool admins, looking at who actually approved this user. [stwalkerster|talk] 20:53, 29 July 2012 (UTC)
- That really does not answer the question, the rule says "You have no history of abuse. Users with a history of account-related abuse — such as sockpuppetry — will be denied access to the tool" So why was this discounted? Who made the decision to override this rule? Darkness Shines (talk) 20:47, 29 July 2012 (UTC)
The Signpost: 30 July 2012
From the modeling of social dynamics in a collaborative environment to why the number of Wikipedia readers rises while the number of editors doesn't.
- News and notes: Wikimedians and London 2012; WMF budget – staffing, engineering, editor retention effort, and the global South; Telegraph's cheap shot at WP
Wikimedia Foundation published its Annual Plan, focusing on technical improvements, editor retention, and structural reforms over the coming year. The movement's total revenue, including almost all chapter funding, is slated to rise by 35%, from $34.2 million to $46.1 million, and global spending to more than $42.1 million. The foundation's own core spending will grow by 15% to $30.2 million in 2012–13.
- WikiProject report: Summer sports series: WikiProject Horse Racing
We continue our Summer Sports Series this week with WikiProject Horse Racing. Started in November 2005, the project has grown to include nearly 8,000 articles maintained by 34 active members. There are 10 Featured Articles and 19 Good Articles included in the project's scope. In addition to preparing articles for GA and FA status, the project attempts to create requested articles and locate requested images. We interviewed Redrose64, Montanabw, Tigerboy1966, Ealdgyth, and Cuddy Wifter.
- Featured content: One of a kind
Eight new featured articles, five new featured lists, and eight new featured pictures. The highlights include a new featured picture of Frank Sinatra, created by William P. Gottlieb and nominated by Tomer T. Sinatra (1915–98) was a highly successful American singer and film actor whose career spanned 60 years. This image dates from around 1947.
In the light of recent questions over the long-term reliability of Wikimedia wikis, the Signpost caught up with CT Woo, the Wikimedia Foundation's director of technical operations.
- Arbitration report: No pending or open arbitration cases
Arbitrator Kirill Lokshin proposed a motion requiring the alteration of any instances of an editor's previous username in arbitration decisions to reflect their name changes. The Devil's Advocate has initiated an amendment request for the controversial Race and intelligence case.