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News and notes: With paid advocacy in its sights, the Wikimedia Foundation amends their terms of use The Wikimedia Foundation has amended its terms of use to ban editing for pay without disclosing an employer or affiliation on any of its websites. The broad scope of these changes will allow the WMF to selectively enforce their terms of use to avoid ensnaring well-meaning editors.
Featured content: Worming our way to featured picture Five articles, five lists, 22 pictures, and one portal were promoted to 'featured' status on the English Wikipedia last week.
Special report: Wikimedia Bangladesh: a chapter's five-year journey The Bangladesh chapter of the Wikimedia movement was formed in 2009. They received official local registration from the national authorities on 10 June 2014. The long road in between was subject to much persistence, patience, and luck—along with a good deal of worry.
Traffic report: You can't dethrone Thrones To the surprise of absolutely no one, the 2014 FIFA World Cup was the main draw this week, taking four slots. People appeared desperate to bone up on their trivia; checking not only this year's World Cup, but the last one. Even so, they still couldn't push Game of Thrones from the top ten. It will be interesting to see what happens come next week's season finale.
WikiProject report: Visiting the city This week, the Signpost came in from the hinterland to interview members of the Cities WikiProject.
News and notes: US National Archives enshrines Wikipedia in Open Government Plan The US National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) have committed to engaging with Wikimedia projects in their newest Open Government Plan. The biannual effort is a roadmap for how the agency will accomplish its goals in the digital age.
Traffic report: Fake war, or real sport? Despite the interest generated by its season finale, Game of Thrones still couldn't top the World Cup, which still dominated interest, as evidenced by the fact that this top 10 is virtually identical to last week's, just with a different dead celebrity.
Featured content: Showing our Wörth Ten articles and eleven pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.
WikiProject report: The world where dreams come true This week, the Signpost visited the land of Disney, blockbusters, explosions, dream sequences, and cultural masterpieces: film.
Recent research: Power users and diversity in WikiProjects In a recent paper, Jacob Solomon and Rick Wash investigate the question of sustainability in online communities by analysing trends in the growth of WikiProjects.
In the media: Wiki Education; medical content; PR firms The Los Angeles Times highlighted a recent Wiki Education Foundation (WEF) course at Pomona College in their article "Wikipedia pops up in bibliographies, and even college curricula". We interviewed Char Booth, the campus ambassador for the course, for additional details.
Traffic report: The Cup runneth over... and over. With Game of Thrones over for another year, the World Cup dominated yet again. And that is pretty much that. This list isn't likely to be particularly eventful until the Cup is won.
News and notes: Wikimedia Israel receives Roaring Lion award Wikimedia Israel (WMIL) has won a Roaring Lion in the category of Internet and cellular for its public outreach during the tenth anniversary of the Hebrew Wikipedia in July 2013.
Featured content: Ship-shape Six articles, five lists, seventeen pictures, and one topic were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.
WikiProject report: Indigenous Peoples of North America This week, the Signpost visited the Indigenous peoples of North America WikiProject.
Technology report: In memoriam: the Toolserver (2005–14) In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Wikimedia Deutschland's Toolserver project was switched off, marking the end of one of the Wikimedia movement's longest running Chapter-led projects. The Toolserver, which was in fact a collection of servers, first came online in 2005, hosting hundreds of webpages and scripts ("tools") made available for use by Wikimedia readers, editors and administrators.
Special report: Wikimania 2014—what will it cost? Last May, James Forrester announced to the world that London had been awarded the 2014 Wikimania conference. Functioning as the Wikimedia movement's annual conference, it is separate from the chapter-focused Wikimedia Conference. The first, located in Frankfurt, took place in 2005 and had 380 attendees. London, the tenth, is now expected to attract 1500. With Wikimania ambition, attention, and attendance rising significantly over the last nine years, how have this year's monetary costs come to be?
Wikicup: Wikicup's third round sees money, space, battleships and more After an extremely close race, round three is over. 244 points secured a place in Round 4, which is comparable to previous years—321 was required in 2013, and 243 points in 2012.
Wikimedia in education: Exploring the United States and Canada with LiAnna Davis The Wikimedia Education Program currently spans 60 programs around the world; students and instructors participate at almost every level of education. The Education program Signpost series presents a snapshot of the Wikimedia Global Education Program as it exists in 2014.
Featured content: Three cheers for featured pictures! Five articles, six lists, and nine pictures were promoted to 'featured' status last week on the English Wikipedia.
News and notes: Echoes of the past haunt new conflict over tech initiative As with the troubled release of the Wikimedia Foundation's (WMF) flagship VisualEditor project, the release of the new Media Viewer has also been met with opposition from the English Wikipedia community.
Traffic report: World Cup, Tim Howard rule the week Unsurprisingly, the World Cup continued to dominate the English Wikipedia's viewing statistics. In particular, the record-breaking performance of US goalkeeper Tim Howard and the tournament-ending injury to Brazil's Neymar drove large amount of views to their articles.
Special report: $10 million lawsuit against Wikipedia editors withdrawn, but plaintiff intends to refile On the same day the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) announced it would offer assistance to English Wikipedia editors embroiled in a legal dispute with Yank Barry, the lawsuit has been withdrawn without prejudice at the request of Barry's legal team—but this action is being described as "strategic" so that they can refile the lawsuit with a "new, more comprehensive complaint."
Traffic report: World Cup dominates for another week This week it's still more and more World Cup, with five entries out of the top ten (and 14 out of the Top 25).
Wikimedia in education: Serbia takes the stage with Filip Maljkovic It all started in late 2005, when we first held lectures about Wikipedia in two educational institutions (universities) ...
Featured content: The Island with the Golden Gun Eight articles, three lists, and 28 pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia last week.
News and notes: Bot-created Wikipedia articles covered in the Wall Street Journal, push Cebuano over one million articles The Swedish Wikipedia's prolific Lsjbot, which has created a significant proportion of the site's 1.7 million articles and has nearly single-handedly pushed it to being the fourth-largest Wikipedia, was covered in the Wall Street Journal this week. The newspaper reported that the bot has created 2.7 million articles, which is apparently a reference to the Waray-Waray and Cebuano Wikipedias, where Lsjbot is also active, and that "on a good day", it creates 10,000 articles.
As one of the original 100 JSTOR account recipients, please fill out the very short email form you received just recently in order to renew your access. Even though you signed up before with WMF, we need you to sign up again with The Wikipedia Library for privacy reasons and because your prior access expired on July 15th. We do not have your email addresses now; we just used the Special:EmailUser feature, so if you didn't receive an email just contact me directly at jorlowitzgmail.com. Thanks, and we're working as quickly as possible to get you your new access! Jake (Ocaasi) 19:48, 23 July 2014 (UTC)
Traffic report: The World Cup hangs on, though tragedies seek to replace it Last week I predicted that the World Cup dominance on the report would be over—but I was wrong. The World Cup Final fell on the 13th of July, which was actually the first day of the week covered by this report, not the last day of the last report. Hence, five of the Top 10 this week are again World Cup related-topics.
News and notes: Institutional media uploads to Commons get a bit easier Galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAMs) today are facing fewer barriers to uploading their content onto Wikimedia projects now that the new GLAM-Wiki Toolset Project has been launched. The tool, which is the fruit of a collaboration between Europeana and several Wikimedia chapters, relieves GLAMs from having to write their own automated scripts and gives them a standardized method of uploading large amounts of their digitized holdings.
Forum: Did you know?—good idea, needs reform The English Wikipedia's did you know (DYK) section has been a feature of the site's main page since February 2004. From the beginning, the section has served as a place to highlight Wikipedia's newest articles. But over the last few years, the did you know section has gotten steadily larger and more complex, and non-notable or plagiarized articles have occasionally slipped through the reviewing process, leading numerous editors to call for reforms to the system. We asked two editors to share their views.
Featured content: Why, they're plum identical! Ten articles, five lists, and 25 pictures were promoted to featured status on the English Wikipedia last week.
Book review: Knowledge or unreality? In Common Knowledge: An Ethnography of Wikipedia, Dariusz Jemielniak discusses Wikipedia from the standpoint of an experienced editor and administrator who is also a university professor specializing in management and organizations. In Virtual Reality: Just Because the Internet Told You, How Do You Know It's True?, Charles Seife presents a more broadly themed work reminding us to question the reliability of information found throughout the Internet.
Recent research: Shifting values in the paid content debate Kim Osman has performed a fascinating study on the three 2013 failed proposals to ban paid advocacy editing in the English language Wikipedia. Using a Constructivist Grounded Theory approach, Osman analyzed 573 posts from the three main votes on paid editing conducted in the community in November 2013.
News and notes: How many more hoaxes will Wikipedia find? Another hoax on the English Wikipedia was uncovered this week—not by any thorough investigation, but through the self-disclosure of an anonymous change made when the editors were in their sophomore year of college. The deliberate misinformation had been in the article for over five years with plenty of individuals noticing, but not one suspected its authenticity. This leads to one obvious question: how many more are there?
Traffic report: Doom and gloom vs. the power of Reddit We indeed moved far away from football this week, and further into much more serious issues of war and death. The Israel-Palestinian conflict continues to dominate the news, and the top 10, with Gaza Strip, Israel, and Hamas. The top 25 also includes Palestine and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Death also lies behind the popularity of James Garner, the American actor who died on July 19th, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, and deaths in 2014.
Featured content: Skeletons and Skeltons Two articles, four lists, and seven pictures attained featured status on the English Wikipedia last week.
Technology report: A technologist's Wikimania preview As the start of Wikimania proper on 8 August approaches, the Signpost looks ahead to what its dozens of presentations might offer the technologically-inclined, whether attending in person or taking advantage of what promises to be a strong digital offering.
Traffic report: Ebola Serious news continues to dominate the most popular articles chart on Wikipedia this week, with the Ebola virus disease far and away in the top spot. In the top 25, we see the related articles Ebola virus, which talks about biological aspects, at #18 and 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak at #19.
News and notes: "History is a human right"—first-ever transparency report released as Europe begins hiding Wikipedia in search results The Wikimedia Foundation has published its first transparency report, covering from July 2012 to June 2014. The move comes on the same day the organization announced that Google, in order to comply with a recent court order upholding the "right to be forgotten", has removed a number of Wikipedia articles from their European search results.
Special report: Twitter bots catalogue government edits to Wikipedia Slate reports that Tom Scott, co-creator of the emoji social network Emojli, created a Twitter bot called Parliament WikiEdits to automatically tweet a link to any Wikipedia edits made from an IP address belonging to the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Scott's bot initially did not tweet any links to edits made from Parliament and, according to Scott, an "insider" reports that their IP addresses changed. Despite this, Scott's Twitter bot has inspired similar creations in numerous other countries.
Traffic report: Disease, decimation and distraction It's been a grim few weeks. It says something that formerly arresting crises like the war in Ukraine, Boko Haram and the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, despite still being ongoing, have fallen out of the top 10 to make way for the 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak and the equally if not more intense conflict against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.
Wikimania: Promised the moon, settled for the stars Wikimania 2014 was held last week in the Barbican Centre in London. Below, the Signpost's former "Technology report" writer Harry Burt (User:Jarry1250) shares his thoughts on a bustling conference.
News and notes: Media Viewer controversy spreads to German Wikipedia Wikimedia Foundation staff members have now been granted superpowers that would allow them to override community consensus. The new protection level came as a response to attempts of German Wikipedia administrators to implement a community consensus on the new Media Viewer. "Superprotect" is a level above full protection, and prevents edits by administrators.
Op-ed: Red links, blue links, and erythrophobia Erythrophobia is the fear of, or sensitivity to, the colour red. Recently, I have seen more and more erythrophobic Wikipedians; specifically, Wikipedians who are scared of red links. In Wikipedia's early days, red links were encouraged and well-loved, and when I started editing in 2006, this was still mostly the case. Jump forward to 2014, and many editors now have an aversion to red links.
In the media: Monkey selfie, net neutrality, and hoaxes The Observer reported (August 2) that Google would "restrict search terms to a link to a Wikipedia article, in the first request under Europe's controversial new 'right to be forgotten' legislation to affect the 110m-page encyclopaedia."
WikiProject report: Bats and gloves At the plate with WikiProject Baseball!
Op-ed: A new metric for Wikimedia Denny Vrandečić argues that "We should focus on measuring how much knowledge we allow every human to share in, instead of number of articles or active editors."
Traffic report: Viral "This was a week when an actual virus, Ebola, competed for attention with several viral social phenomena; most notably the Ice Bucket Challenge..."
Featured content: Cheats at Featured Pictures! Sixteen articles, five lists, five pictures, and one topic were promoted.
Arbitration report: Media viewer case is suspended "On 1 September, the Arbitrators voted to suspend the Media Viewer case for 60 days. After the suspension period is up, the case is to be closed unless the committee votes otherwise. The case suspension comes in response to several new initiatives and policies announced by the Wikimedia Foundation that may make the case moot. In the same motion, the committee declared that Eloquence's resignation of the administrator right was "under the cloud" and that he can only regain the right through another RfA."
Traffic report: Holding Pattern "This week we saw three of the top ten articles remain in place, with the Ice Bucket Challenge at #1, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at #2, and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant at #5, all for a second straight week..."
WikiProject report: Gray's Anatomy (v. 2) "This week, the Signpost went out to meet WikiProject Anatomy, dedicated to improving the articles about all our bones, brains, bladders and biceps, and getting them to the high standard expected of a comprehensive encyclopaedia."
Op-ed: Media Viewer software is not ready Last month, I wrote an open letter to the Wikimedia Foundation, inviting others to join me in a simple but important request: roll back the recent actions—both technical and social—by which the Wikimedia Foundation has overruled legitimate decisions of several Wikimedia projects.
Traffic report: Refuge in celebrity Even though it's not quite 3/4 over, it's safe to say that 2014 will go down as a year of war, mass murder, plane crashes and terrible diseases. While certainly paying it some heed, it's not surprising that Wikipedia viewers tried this week to find any alternative to that litany of tragedy and pain, and their chosen method of escape was, as usual, celebrity.
Featured content: The louse and the fish's tongue The amazing and strange tongue-eating louse replacing a fish's tongue! Because isopods, the subject of a new featured article, are both awesome and really damn weird!
WikiProject report: Checking that everything's all right This week, the Signpost decided to have a look around with WikiProject Check Wikipedia a maintenance project not concerned so much with articles' content, but in all the tiny errors that are to be found scattered within them. Their front page gives a list of things they mainly focus on ...
Hi Tom, just checking if were planning another in your series of op-eds on WWI -- no pressure, just need to know one way or t'other as I'd like to try and get this month's issue out soon, partly to remind everyone there's an election on... ;-) Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 15:03, 16 September 2014 (UTC)
WikiProject report: A trip up north to Scotland As Scotland is deciding its future this week, we thought it might be a good idea to get to know the editors of WikiProject Scotland and talk to them about the project.
News and notes: Wikipedia's traffic statistics are off by nearly one-third A prominent Wikipedia researcher has discovered that the encyclopedia's widely used article traffic statistics are missing out on approximately one-third of total views.
Traffic report: Tolstoy leads a varied pack There is no unifying theme we can slap on top article popularity this week.
Featured content: Which is not like the others? Four articles, two lists, and 51 pictures were promoted to "featured" status this week on the English Wikipedia.
Featured content: Oil paintings galore Six articles, four lists, one topic, and 17 pictures were promoted to "featured" status this week on the English Wikipedia.
In the media: Indian political editing, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Congressional chelonii The Hindustan Times speculates (September 18) that politicians and their supporters are "sanitizing" their articles in advance of the 2014 Maharashtra State Assembly election. The Times notes the absence of significant controversies in the articles of particular politicians and the presence of heavily promotional language.
Recent research: 99.25% of Wikipedia birthdates accurate; focused Wikipedians live longer; merging WordNet, Wikipedia and Wiktionary 0.75% of Wikipedia birthdates are inaccurate, reported Robert Viseur at WikiSym 2014. Those inaccuracies are "low, although higher than the 0.21% observed for the baseline reference sources". Given that biographies represent 15% of English Wikipedia, the third largest category after "arts" and "culture", their accuracy is important.
Traffic report: Wikipedia watches the referendum in Scotland This could be the beginning of a new era for this list. Until now, decisions to remove suspicious content have been largely educated guesswork. This week though, we have a new collaborator who can shine a light on the origins and patterns, sorting once and for all the webwheat from the cyberchaff.
WikiProject report: GAN reviewers take note: competition time A year and a week later, we're with some of the members of WikiProject Good Articles, who wanted to share the news of their upcoming contest within the project, the GA Cup. The aim of this friendly competition, which is held in the same light friendly manner of the WikiCup and the Core Contest, is to reduce the backlog of unreviewed articles at Good article nominations which has been a constant problem for quite a few years for those running the GA process.
Arbitration report: Banning Policy, Gender Gap, and Waldorf education Banning Policy finishes the workshop phase on 23 September. Parties have proposed findings of fact on the topics of the 3RR, the role of Jimbo Wales, and proxying for banned users. A request for arbitration was posted on 20 September about Landmark Worldwide.
Coordinator of the Military History Project, September 2014 – September 2015
Hi Tom, in recognition of your successful election as a co-ordinator of the Military History Project for the next year, please accept these co-ord stars. Thanks for standing and all the best for the coming year. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 12:09, 29 September 2014 (UTC)
The Signpost: 01 October 2014
From the editor: The Signpost needs your help Contributing to the Signpost can be one of the most rewarding things an editor can do.
Dispatches: Let's get serious about plagiarism This article was first published in the Signpost in 2009. Written by several long-standing editors, including the late Adrianne Wadewitz, the article was subjected to extensive commentary and ultimately influenced the English Wikipedia's plagiarism guideline. With recent debates about close paraphrasing vis-à-vis plagiarism, we feel that this dispatch retains its relevance and deserves a second airing.
WikiProject report: Animals, farms, forests, USDA? It must be WikiProject Agriculture This week, the Signpost went down to the farm to have a look at the work of WikiProject Agriculture, which has been in existence since 2007 and has a scope covering crop production, livestock management, aquaculture, dairy farming and forest management.
Traffic report: Shanah Tovah Jews wished each other Shanah Tovah ("Good year") this week as Rosh Hashanah was our most popular article. It was also a week not dominated by heavy news and tragedies, so aside from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (#2, sixth week in the Top 10), our popular article list runs the gamut of current events including new television series Gotham (#3), the 2014 Asian Games (#4), and Reddit-fueled popularity for German director Uwe Boll (#7).
Featured content: Brothers at War As the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the American Civil War draws to a close, the race to improve content continues. The Battle of Franklin, fought on November 30, 1864, will, quite appropriately, be Picture of the Day for November 30, 2014, its 150th anniversary. If you want to help commemorate the American Civil War, why not help out at the Military History WikiProject's Operation Brothers at War. Or help out with the World War I centennial, just starting up, Operation Great War Centennial.
Traffic report: Panic and denial The first case of the Ebola virus on US shores sent people into a tizzy, rushing to their keyboards to try and learn what they could.
co-coodinator
Thank you for co-coordiating milhist, praised for a "flurry of interesting ideas to improve the project", for quality articles such as USS New Jersey, for trust and support, - repeating: you are an awesome Wikipedian (29 October 2010)!
Arbitration report: One case closed and two opened The Banning Policy case was closed on 12 October. Arbcom affirmed that users have "considerable leeway" in terms of how their talk pages are managed.
Technology report: Attempting to parse wikitext This week we sat down with The Earwig to learn about his wikitext parser.
Traffic report: Now introducing ... mobile data We are pleased to report that the WP:5000 has now been updated to include mobile views, including a column reflecting the percentage of views coming from mobile devices.
WikiProject report: Signpost reaches the Midwest Today, it's the turn of WikiProject Ohio to give us an interview probing deep into of how they manage to run a project covering one fiftieth of the United States, and the workings of how they manufacture their successes and other articles.
I've just got round to reading your Op-Ed from the August 2014 edition of The Bugle. I really enjoyed it. It was great that you linked to the WWI task force and the Great War Centennial project. I'm still trying to find the time to properly follow up what I wrote at WWI editing co-ordination. Would you have any views on the best way to follow up some of the suggestions there and get more people interested? I would like to send out a mass message to those interested in (or already) editing on the topic, but only if there are a number of editors willing to help out with co-ordinating and reporting on activities. What I was hoping for was not just the timeline you are doing (which is great) but a summary of what articles people are working on and which articles have achieved a rise in rating (or even good articles and featured articles). A mini-version of the article content news? (That only covers A-class and featured - I'd like to cover more of what people are editing on in the WWI topic area). Would something like this be feasible? Carcharoth (talk) 16:06, 19 October 2014 (UTC)
Thanks for the reply. I am going to be short of time to discuss further this week, but where would be the best place to discuss, here, my talk page, or somewhere else? Carcharoth (talk) 08:12, 20 October 2014 (UTC)
@Carcharoth: Here is fine for now. If build enough momentum that others join up then we can move this someplace else and run with it there. For what its worth, I'll be busy this week as well. I'm having what I hope will be the last of the mold in place removed, however the nature of mold as hazardous material necessitates that I be out of the house for the time it takes them to demolish and remove the stuff, and that in turn means it'll be hard to me to find and connect to the net. TomStar81 (Talk) 08:39, 20 October 2014 (UTC)
Op-ed: Hong Kong's Umbrella Revolution—a wiki-protest Our op-ed writer this week opines that the organization of Hong Kong's "Umbrella Revolution" resembles how Wikipedia is organized.
Maps tagathon: Find 10,000 digitised maps this weekend Rather than the usual WikiProject Report, this week our guest author Jheald is telling us about a campaign to identify thousands of old maps which have been digitised, to make them available for georeferencing and upload
Traffic report: Ebola, Ultron, and Creepy Articles Ebola virus disease leads the Report for the fourth straight week. The rest of the list is primarily a mix of pop culture topics, including movie Avengers: Age of Ultron (#4) whose trailer was leaked early, and the death of Oscar de la Renta (#7). A BuzzFeed article on creepy Wikipedia articles, no doubt well-timed with Halloween (#9) around the corner, was responsible for three articles in the Top 25, including June and Jennifer Gibbons (#10), Taman Shud Case (#17), Joyce Vincent (#25). And the internet-run-amok controversy of Gamergate cracked the Top 25 for the first time at #19.
Recent research: Informed consent and privacy; newsmaking on Wikipedia; Wikipedia and organizational theories In new research conducted in light of proposed changes to data protection legislation in the European Union (EU), authors Bart Custers, Simone van der Hof, and Bart Schermer conducted a comparative analysis of social media and user-generated content websites’ privacy policies along with a user survey (N=8,621 in 26 countries) and interviews in 13 different EU countries on awareness, values, and attitudes toward privacy online.
In the media: Predicting the flu, MH17 conspiracy theories "Rachel Feltman, in The Washington Post (November 4), examined research in which a team, mostly from Los Alamos National Laboratory, headed by Kyle Hickman developed a model that enabled them "to successfully predict the 2013-2014 flu season in real time" by employing "an algorithm to link flu-related Wikipedia searches with CDC data from the same time." Apparently when individuals search for information about the flu and its symptoms in Wikipedia when they feel ill, this generates data useful in forecasting the the flu season."
Traffic report: Sweet dreams on Halloween "It is, perhaps, ironic that humanity chose the week of Halloween to finally put its fears to bed. Let's face it: 2014 has been a year of tragedies, conflicts, plagues and pain, and eventually something had to break... Whether we at last came to terms with our limited ability to affect events, shoved those events under the carpet, or just decided to let go and move on, we turned our eye to more positive things, such as sports heroes, hotly anticipated movies, and lifelong learning; two Google doodles appeared in the top 25 for the first time since the beginning of August."
I see that the article butN has been nominated for deletion. I have taken care of not violating any of the wikipedia guidelines and I got help from @LStanley1979 however as you say it has been nominated for deletion please help me improve it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Adsyvb (talk • contribs) 12:36, 10 November 2014 (UTC)
Hello TomStar81 all publicly available data which I could find online I have already cited the same in the article. Once I posted it there was editing done by LStanley1979 and he had asked me to rework on the content so as to not make it look like a promotion material. I have done the edit and I welcome you and everyone else in the community to do the edits. Appreciate your effort of adding in the infobox. Adsyvb (talk) 14:33, 10 November 2014 (UTC)
AvaHoma
Thanks, I don't know why I didn't check, since I've sometimes nuked an afd myself when it's an obvious copyviol. Recently did one which was full of gross attacks but was AFDed for notability! Keep up the good work Jimfbleak - talk to me?15:43, 10 November 2014 (UTC)
Disambiguation link notification for November 13
Hi. Thank you for your recent edits. Wikipedia appreciates your help. We noticed though that when you edited ButN, you added a link pointing to the disambiguation page Networking. Such links are almost always unintended, since a disambiguation page is merely a list of "Did you mean..." article titles. Read the FAQ • Join us at the DPL WikiProject.
In the media: Amazon Echo; EU freedom of panorama; Bluebeard's Castle "Technology media outlets are abuzz after the November 6 unveiling of the Amazon Echo, an Internet-connected voice command device"; "The EUobserver talks (November 4) with Dimitar Dimitrov (User:Dimi z) about the lack of freedom of panorama in some European Union countries and its implications for Wikimedia projects"; "Scott Cantrell, classical music critic for the Dallas Morning News, recounts efforts to verify an uncited claim in the Wikipedia article for the Béla Bartók opera Bluebeard's Castle."
Traffic report: Holidays, anyone? This was very much a week dominated by holidays and pop culture over current events, with new film Interstellar taking the top spot followed by holidays Day of the Dead (#2), Guy Fawkes and his Night (#4 and #5), and Halloween (#8, and its third week on the list). And a foursome of television shows, all return visitors, appear to setting up residence on the greater Top 25: The Walking Dead (#11), American Horror Story: Freak Show (#14), Gotham (#16), and The Flash (#18).
Featured content: Wikipedia goes to church in Lithuania Nine articles, two lists, and 55 featured pictures were promoted during the week of 26 October.
WikiProject report: Talking hospitals We return to our interview format this week, speaking with the participants of WikiProject Hospitals. This project, formed in 2010, has no Featured content and only three Good articles, yet aided by around 30 hard-working Wikipedians covers a topic that is essential to life.
Greetings TS81, I read your piece on trench warfare in the Bugle and wondered if you'd considered the Iraq–Iran War (1980–1988) as an example of trench warfare?Keith-264 (talk) 19:50, 20 November 2014 (UTC)
It could be considered an example. There are many instances since WWI wherein one force has fortified a line for the purpose of defending itself from attacks by foreign or domestic forces (in the case of the latter, in civil wars or in race/ethnic/religious conflicts). I picked Korea because of its evolution over the nearly 70 years that it has existed, as I felt it was the best such example of a line wherein WWI style strategies, tactics, doctrines, and mentalities still reigned supreme. TomStar81 (Talk) 01:31, 21 November 2014 (UTC)
Thanks, I'm of the view that mobile warfare is what happens when it becomes impossible for one side to maintain fixed defences so I don't see a difference as either-or but more-or-less. Interesting....Keith-264 (talk) 08:38, 21 November 2014 (UTC)
I see that you deleted the DoStuff_Network page. I had already worked with another moderator to resolve the concern about significance. As a result, it was inappropriate of you to delete the page. Please undelete it. Thank you.
Dear TomStar81: You deleted the mainspace version of this draft because of copyright violation, but the edit summary doesn't appear to give the URL from which it was copied. The draft version has a lot of the same text, but with some sections removed. Is it still a problem? I was about to look for some references to add, but I don't want to waste my time if it would need a complete rewrite anyway. —Anne Delong (talk) 11:29, 25 November 2014 (UTC)
Greetings TomStar81 - I recently had a page nominated for speedy deletion, a page which I should have marked as (inuse). The article was deleted for notability reasons, however I was going in today to add the necessary resources to bring the page up to par - unfortunately I was given less than 24 hours to do so. As the subject (company) inherently passes the notability concerns (except for the fact that I hadn't added the information to the page yet), it would be helpful if you could restore the page to allow me to improve it, as opposed to having to start over again to add the proper references relating to depth of coverage and independent third party validation through press and media. If you have any suggestions for what I can do to help this article be restored I would appreciate it! Thanks for your help.
Garchy (talk) 15:42, 26 November 2014 (UTC)
Hi Tom,
Any chance you can get the page Taneja Group over to my user space? Thanks!
In the media: A Russian alternative Wikipedia; Who's your grandfather?; ArtAndFeminism Numerous media outlets are reporting on a November 14 statement on the website of the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library announcing the formation of a Russian "alternative" to Wikipedia, a "regional electronic encyclopedia" dedicated to "Russian regions and the life of the country".
WikiProject report: Back with the military historians It's time for this year's edition of the Report looking at possibly our largest wikiproject: Military history. Since our last interview in June 2013, the project has had no break in its huge quest to document everything in their scope, that is, militaries and conflicts of the past. As usual, its participants were eager to answer the questions posed by The Signpost and update us on how they are doing.
Traffic report: Big in Japan Often times in popular culture, a subject will be quite popular among a distinct niche of people or region of the world, but little-known elsewhere -- like a musical artist that is boasted to be "big in Japan". The Traffic Report provides a bevy of examples this week.
Hello, I am a publicist from Bengal. I noticed that you have discussed and deleted Saptaswa Basu (page). I was not the creator of that page but I can confirm that he is a notable personality in Bengal. I have recreated the page and have given numerous more links to published articles about his works including Zeenews, Festival focus and other links. There are numerous articles existing in wikipedia with just 3 or 4 links, with incorrect info too, but they are not facing this tag of deletion. You can see pages Mir Afsar Ali, Subhasree Ganguly etc where the references are not much strong too. On the contrary, now I have added many references to SAPTASWA BASU to make it a source for reliable info. To the truest of my knowledge, the page is not any kind of advertisement or promotion. Please look into the matter. I have requested some film personalities too to join wikipedia and support the article. I am a basic writer and would really appreciate your help in improving the article. I will be adding more reference links of current works too. Please check the page and approve it. I will be waiting for your response.Here are the additional links that I have given, which may compensate for the lesser number of link present earlier.
Hi, I have got your reply. Yes I understand the policies. But my point is so many film personalities from here has their wikipedia pages and that too with incorrect info and poor sources. But those pages are not getting deleted Ever. I am willing to follow any guideline that is needed but I am not a pro writer and just a basic writer in wiki. Please help me out kindly as to how I should proceed with the article so that it is not deletedRoon100 (talk) 13:01, 29 November 2014 (UTC)
Immediately after prior block expired, user went right back to adding unsourced info to WP:BLP page, adding poorly sourced info eg sourced only to IMDB links, etc. Reverting to quite poor versions of film pages against consensus of WT:FILM.
Unfortunately the user is continuing exact same pattern of disruption that led to prior block, so another block is in order here.
Hi, TomStar81! That was a very good catch on those medical articles, as I should immediately have said there – thank you! I saw your post on MRG's talk about Guerrilla filmmaking and this user; I think she may be away for a few days, so I thought I'd throw in my 2c. I looked at the three instances of copying that you've tagged on the user's talk page: Facebook, Amazon and onthesetofnewyork.com. As far as I can see there is no great cause for anxiety here; the facebook page is taken from us (acknowledged as such), and, in the last pre-stub version of the article, the main stuff copied from the other two sources seemed to be correctly quoted and attributed (assuming, that is, that the Amazon blurb is in fact the blurb from the book). Yes, the use of quotes may be a bit excessive. Did you also see other possible instances of copying? Because if not, I think that copyright can perhaps be crossed off the list of problems here. I've watchlisted this page, will see if you reply here. Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 12:34, 1 December 2014 (UTC)
Speedy Deletion of band page
Hi Tom, I'm just dropping by to mention that some people will likely be re-making the article Twiddle_(band) that you've deleted under A7. The editors who made it were new and didn't know our policies, but I am relatively sure that the band is notable via WP:BAND. I have encouraged them to sandbox the article and start over with proper refs and description of notability. Anyway, just wanted to give you heads-up in case you notice it when it pops up again. SemanticMantis (talk) 15:24, 1 December 2014 (UTC)
Hi! I just wanted to thank you again for responding so quickly to my request for feedback on the new article Bataillon d'Infanterie legere d'Outre-Mer and help identifying some categories for it. I really appreciate that you took some of your personal time to respond and to edit the article. It really made my day!
I also noted that a much more experienced editor than I retitled the article to remove the acronym, and placed a redirect ... so all in all, I'm just so happy with the positive, helpful and encouraging response from MilitaryHistoryProject! :) I didn't even plan to create an article today - let alone this one. So all the better to know that there's such a helpful community of experienced folks working in this milhist area on an amazing range of topics. Cheers! Azx209:40, 2 December 2014 (UTC)
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Change of block notice
I decided here that it was justified to take the unusual step of refactoring another editor's talk page post, as it looked to me like a clear mistake. If you disagree, please let me know. The editor who uses the pseudonym "JamesBWatson" (talk) 15:13, 9 December 2014 (UTC)
Please restore this article, which you deleted earlier today. As the Google cached version [1] of the article makes evident, the article properly asserted notability as an actor with nontrivial roles in two notable films, as well as through a profile in a major national newspaper. I suspect the article had been vandalized, than hastily tagged with a careless speedy. The Big Bad Wolfowitz (aka Hullaballoo) (talk) 16:40, 9 December 2014 (UTC)
Hi, i notice you deleted my wiki and redirect it to Nous Model Management. It was first marked for speedy deletion and noone confront me to not delete it, now its redirect and i don't think this is fair. Its had all the references and don't see any failing on WP:TOOSOON. I'm taking care for all my wiki pages and looking for more references to fulfil the article, but even in this variant its having everything to can be on wikipedia. Yes there is more important models and people who should have wiki page, but i find time and sources for her and made it, i see no reason to be deleted now and restored back after few time. - K.belev (talk) 11:15, 11 December 2014 (UTC)
Yep, i know its just redirected and i want to restore it. I do believe there is no reason the article to be deleted or redirected as its having everythning to be on wikipedia. - K.belev (talk) 14:06, 11 December 2014 (UTC)
Hello good sir,
You had deleted the page I created about a band called Causa Sui. It was marked for speedy deletion by someone, citing the fact that the page was not important. And I had contacted the person and told him/her it was not so. The page was deleted within an hour stating that I, the author had marked it for speedy deletion, when in fact it was someone else. Could you please restore it? Libre.karthik (talk) 07:29, 12 December 2014 (UTC)
Voting for the Military historian and Military newcomer of the year now open!
Nominations for the military historian of the year and military newcomer of the year have now closed, and voting for the candidates has officially opened. All project members are invited to cast there votes for the Military historian and Military newcomer of the year candidates before the elections close at 23:59 December 21st. For the coordinators, TomStar81
for your answer regarding Kit Carson's uniform. However since I did not see that you running for anything there, or elsewhere for that matter, please take my vote and put it in your pocket and let me when and where (we already know the often sticky "why") you'd like it to be cast. This might not be wikipedia's finest hour but it is a good one. Einar aka Carptrash (talk) 15:40, 18 December 2014 (UTC)
I have a tendency, unfortunate perhaps, of when I am reading something, in this case, your user page, of grinding to a halt when I discover something that goes very counter to my beliefs and understandings. I am no fan of the Pres but feel that sentiments such as you've expressed are just a part of the demagoguery or posturing plaguing our country, making it more difficult for any reconciliation to take place. Carptrash (talk) 03:26, 19 December 2014 (UTC)
Hi Tom, bit pushed for time now, pls feel free to hand out awards if you're able to, otherwise I can do so in a few hours. In any case, tks again for getting it all rolling this year! Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 02:09, 22 December 2014 (UTC)
Tom/Ian, is there a list of the winners somewhere? I'd like to include this in the Bugle's project news section (though Ian may well already be onto this!). Regards, Nick-D (talk) 03:22, 22 December 2014 (UTC)
My thanks to the Members of the Military History WikiProject for presenting me with the Golden Wiki award for 2014. Thank you as well for your congratulations. Pendright (talk) 17:41, 23 December 2014 (UTC)
Mr. Tom, I have removed some references of YouTube from article of Pritee Kathpal. I'm improving it with every passing day. I think her article deserves a place on Wikipedia. She is a prominent emcee with over a thousand events to her name. She has also made many appearances on several TV shows of various networks of India. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Touseef1983 (talk • contribs)
Happy New Year!
Dear TomStar81, HAPPY NEW YEAR Hoping 2015 will be a great year for you! Thank you for your contributions! From a fellow editor, FWiW Bzuk (talk) 21:21, 1 January 2015 (UTC)
This message promotes WikiLove. Originally created by Nahnah4 (see "invisible note").
The Signpost: 31 December 2014
News and notes: The next big step for Wikidata—forming a hub for researchers Wikidata, Wikimedia's free linked database that supplies Wikipedia and its sister projects, is gearing up to submit a grant application to the EU that would expand Wikidata's scope by developing it as a science hub. The proposal, supported by more than 25 volunteers and half a dozen European institutions as project partners, aims to create a virtual research environment (VRE) that will enhance the project's capacity for freely sharing scientific data.
In the media: Study tour controversy; class tackles the gender gap A "study tour" by the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation for the purpose of researching development projects has been the subject of much controversy and criticism in the Indian press... The Indian Express described a government report about the trip as having copied extensively from the Wikipedia articles for Port Blair and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
Traffic report: Surfin' the Yuletide Unlike last year, Wikipedia viewers seem to have embraced the Christmas spirit, with three topics in the top 10 (and eight in the top 25) focused on the holiday season.
Op-ed: My issues with the Wiki Education Foundation Chris Troutman has been a campus ambassador for six classes in the Los Angeles area over the past four consecutive semesters. He is currently a Wikipedia Visiting Scholar at University of California, Riverside.
Featured content: A bit fruity Three articles, three lists, fifteen pictures, and one topic were promoted.
Hello, TomStar81. Please check your email; you've got mail! It may take a few minutes from the time the email is sent for it to show up in your inbox. You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{You've got mail}} or {{ygm}} template.
As best I can tell, either you, or Wiki user Star Mississippi (which may be the same user) recently deleted the Wikipedia page that appeared under my name, Philip Schwalb, based on "copyright infringement".
I think you'll agree, upon reviewing, that there is no lifting of language generating copyright issues, or anything else written in the article in existence since 2008 (with proper and rigorous footnote attribution) that would approach a copyright issue.
I would appreciate your help in resolving this situation.The page was first created at least a half dozen years ago by a newspaper reporter in New York City. And though various people, including some who worked for my museum, made edits, all those edits were referencing publicly available sources, such as the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, or the Wall Street Journal - and MOST IMPORTANTLY FOR THIS SITUATION, did not infringe on any copyright rules.
If, as a lawyer, and as a layperson, I am mistaken about that, WHATEVER YOU DEEMED TO BE A COPYRIGHT ISSUE, CAN AND WILL BE QUICKLY FIXED AS DIRECTED.
Thank you very much for your FIDELITY to the Wikipedia collective system, and your guidance and assistance.
Philip Schwalb, Director of Philanthropy, Kids House Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Center 407-324-3036 x 237, or schwalb@kidshouse.org
@Star Mississippi: First off, there is no relation between me and Star Mississippi as it relates to us being one and the same account, we are different people, so the messages you've left are for two different people. Now on to the matter of the article: I will not restore the article in any of its previous versions because the entire article contribution history is far too polluted with copyright and conflict of interest edits to be of use to Wikipedia. If you would like to try to put the article back my firm recommendation is to write a draft for the article you want at Wikipedia:Drafts. I would also suggest seeking help from the editors at our Teahouse, the contributors there are more than willing to help you by answering your questions, and more importantly and better versed in concerns such as yours. TomStar81 (Talk) 01:31, 8 January 2015 (UTC)
Disambiguation link notification for January 9
Hi. Thank you for your recent edits. Wikipedia appreciates your help. We noticed though that when you edited 2015 Fort Bliss shooting, you added links pointing to the disambiguation pages Customs and Border Protection and Private practice. Such links are almost always unintended, since a disambiguation page is merely a list of "Did you mean..." article titles. Read the FAQ • Join us at the DPL WikiProject.
In the media: ISIL propaganda video; AirAsia complaints ISIL hostage quotes Wikipedia in propaganda video; AirAsia articles draw complaints regarding Flight 8501; Article errors reveal US political approaches to Wikipedia editing; Rhode Island Governor numbering debate
Featured content: Kock up Two lists and twelve pictures were promoted.
Traffic report: Auld Lang Syne We end 2014 and and start 2015 with the normal array of year-end activities, including movie watching with Bollywood film PK (#1) topping the list, followed by The Interview (#2), 2014 in film (#10), and five other films in the rest of the Top 25, plus a number of articles about the subjects of these films. We celebrated the New Year by singing "Auld Lang Syne" (#11), or perhaps watching Adam Lambert (#9) perform with Queen. But we could not avoid a final tragedy with the crash of Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 (#4) on December 28.
Hi Tom, looking to prepare this month's Bugle for dispatch in the next few days, what sort of timeframe are you looking at for completing your op-ed? Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 02:28, 15 January 2015 (UTC)
The Signpost: 14 January 2015
Op-ed: Articles for creation needs you Ever since the Wikipedia Seigenthaler biography incident in 2005 triggered the restriction against un-registered editors creating new pages, WikiProject Articles for creation (AfC) has stood in the breach. The WikiProject's purpose is to review draft submissions from IPs (and frequently new registered editors) to sort the wheat from the chaff.
WikiProject report: Articles for creation: the inside story This anniversary issue, the WikiProject report is returning to WikiProject Articles for creation for one of our largest interviews ever. Last looked at in 2011, AfC is the method used by unregistered or new users to create articles, and provides an effective filtering system to remove all unsuitable or unsourced submissions to save them needing to be found and deleted later.
News and notes: Erasmus Prize recognizes the global Wikipedia community On the fourteenth anniversary of the founding of the English Wikipedia, the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation has announced that its prestigious annual Erasmus Prize will be awarded to the worldwide community that has built Wikipedia.
Featured content: Citations are needed Six featured articles, five featured lists, and sixteen featured pictures were promoted this week.
Traffic report: Wikipédia sommes Charlie It's a grim certainty what topic most interested Wikipedia viewers this week. The horrific attacks on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine have drawn anger and resolve from around the world, and also the attention of an English-speaking world that had previously never heard of it.
Anniversary: A decade of the Signpost Celebrating and remembering ten years of community journalism.
Interview: WWII veteran honors shipmates through Wikipedia editing Over seventy years ago, the US destroyer Mahan was patrolling off Ponson Island in the Philippines when eleven Japanese kamikaze aircraft appeared over the horizon and attacked. George Pendergast, who edits Wikipedia with the username Pendright, was eighteen years old when he joined Mahan 's crew in April 1944.
Op-ed: Let's make WikiProjects better Our contributor opines that WikiProjects are failing to live up to their potential. WikiProject X is a new project funded by a Wikimedia Foundation Individual Engagement Grant that focuses on figuring out what makes some WikiProjects work and not others.
In the media: Johann Hari; bandishes and delicate flowers Quotes from Jimbo on Wikipedia in education; net neutrality; preserving musical heritage; Wikipedia in audio; a cheerful vandal credits high school with papal visitations.
For all the thought and hard work you put into your MilHist 2014 Year In Review Awards initiative, I present you this WikiProject Barnstar! Thanks/cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 14:02, 29 January 2015 (UTC)
The Signpost: 28 January 2015
From the editor: An editorial board that includes you The editorial board is not complete without you. We are looking for Wikipedians with all kinds of experience levels.
Hello TomStar81! Bananasoldier (talk) has given you a bit of sunshine to brighten your day! Sunshine promotes WikiLove and hopefully it has made your day better. Spread the sunshine by adding {{subst:User:Meaghan/Sunshine}} to someone else's talk page, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past or a good friend. In addition, you can spread the sunshine to anyone who visits your userpage and/or talk page by adding {{User:Meaghan/Sunshine icon}}. Happy editing! Bananasoldier (talk) 08:35, 30 January 2015 (UTC)
You have deleted the article for Sinocare. I ask you to review the action.
Sinocare is a publicly traded company on a major stock exchange. The notability guideline strongly suggests such companies are notable. In addition, I had supported the article with a reference to a peer reviewed journal. This journal article was deleted by an editor who could not find mention of the company in the article. I believe this is clear error because this journal article prominently mentions the company.
Thanks for laying out the details of the criteria. I disagree especially with your last point about the article's content. It doesn't at all resemble advertising. The article is a collection of simple facts written in a plain style. It certainly isn't "unambiguously advertising". I would like to re-attempt to write the article in collaboration with other editors. Please restore it by that channel. Muzzleflash (talk) 09:41, 6 February 2015 (UTC)
Op-ed: Is Wikipedia for sale? Hundreds of posted jobs offer money to edit Wikipedia. These jobs appear to be thriving, with tens of thousands of dollars changing hands each month.
Traffic report: The American Heartland The American heartland appears to dominate the Report this week, with Chris Kyle leading the Report.
Featured content: It's raining men! Three featured articles, five featured lists, and thirty-nine featured images were promoted this week.
Arbitration report: Slamming shut the GamerGate One case has been closed, two cases remain open, a third is undergoing a review, and three clarification or amendment requests remain open.
WikiProject report: Dicing with death – on Wikipedia? A small band of dedicated editors seek to improve articles relating to a less lively topic. If you haven't yet guessed, this week's focus is WikiProject Death.
In the media: Is Wikipedia eating itself? Edina edit war illustrates disconnect between new and experienced editors; Wikipedia is "astroturf's dream come true"; Canadian government investigating even more Wikipedia editing; academics on Gamergate as "clash of civilizations"?
Traffic report: Bowled over Wikipedia presents itself as a repository for the world, and while that is a noble sentiment, it is still true that, Conservapedian complaints notwithstanding, the English language Wikipedia is very often the American Wikipedia, and never has that been more apparent than this week.
WikiProject report: Brand new WikiProjects profiled This week, we bring three of the most recently created WikiProjects to come into being on the English Wikipedia. While many long-established projects are becoming inactive, (as we have covered before), that doesn't stop new ones forming every now and then to cover a topic that a group of editors feel should be better cared for.
Gallery: Feel the love This week, we feature subjects that are about love of all kinds.
Hi Tom, As a friendly reminder/ping, will you be contributing a timeline article for the February Bugle? Regards, Nick-D (talk) 11:02, 16 February 2015 (UTC)
That must have been the first thank you I got from someone whose edit I subjectively reverted. Glad there are no hard feelings. —Bagumba (talk) 00:27, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
@Bagumba: I only re-added the information because I could not locate it and I though it to be important to the game, but if you guys have it tidied away in its proper spot then I am more than happy to let my addition go. Its just how I role. Also, thanks for the barnstar, I do appreciate it :) TomStar81 (Talk) 00:43, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
Hello, for what reason was the page of Mirnes Pepic deleted ?
Please refrain from making un-constructive edits to Wikipedia, I feel this is in violation of Wiki rules as the action was based on "biased opinions". Your "edit" appear to constitute vandalism and should be undone!. If you would like to experiment, please use the sandbox.
Thank you,
Duro — Preceding unsigned comment added by IllyrianDodona (talk • contribs) 23:20, 19 February 2015 (UTC)
This is a Wikipediauser talk page. This is not an encyclopedia article or the talk page for an encyclopedia article. If you find this page on any site other than Wikipedia, you are viewing a mirror site. Be aware that the page may be outdated and that the user in whose space this page is located may have no personal affiliation with any site other than Wikipedia. The original talk page is located at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:TomStar81/Archive_16.
gmail.com. Thanks, and we're working as quickly as possible to get you your new access! Jake (Ocaasi) 19:48, 23 July 2014 (UTC)
