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Year: 2006 Week: 31 Number: 36
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An independent internal news bulletin
for the members of the Wikimedia community
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=== Technical news ===
[More] servers are coming. The WMF board approved the purchase of 20 new
servers
with a value of $61440.00. There are now already 167 servers in service.
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Hardware_Purchase_Jul-06http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Wikimedia_server.jpg - View of the
distribution of the server around the world
=== Request for help ===
["Free"] - There is a project for creating a clear definition about what
a free
content licence needs to be to be called "free". Main forces behind this are
Erik Möller/[[meta:User:Eloquence]] and [[w:en:Benjamin Mako Hill]].
Input is
requested to work on the definition and move it to version 1.0
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/7076/focus=7090 -
First
announcement 2006-05-01
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/8935/focus=8935 -
Update
2006-07-30
http://freecontentdefinition.org/Definition/Unstable
[Job] Wiki expert in Nigeria needed
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.science.linguistics.wikipedia.misc/27781/focu…
=== New project proposals ===
[Wikicat] a project to create an open, bibliographical catalog.
http://article.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/8892
=== Policy ===
[Ombudsman] - A special ombudsman commission is founded to take care of
complaints regarding possible privacy violations. This includes complaints
about the use of the checkuser function.
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution_ombudsperson_checkuser
[Logo] - The name for the incubator-wiki is confirmed. It stays
"Incubator". The
project also now has its own logo now and is live. And even the
test-wiki has
now a logo.
http://incubator.wikimedia.org/http://test.wikipedia.org/
=== Foundation ===
[Move] - The WiktionaryZ test site will be hosted by the WMF. This does
not mean
that WiktionaryZ has become an official Wikimedia project.
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:WiktionaryZhttp://www.wiktionaryz.org
=== Community ===
[DE.wp news] The Signpost brings a report about how the the German language
Wikipedia is doing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2006-07-24/German…
=== Media ===
[Front page] - In Japan Wikipedia made it to the front page of one of
the leading newspapers with a long and positive article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Tangotango/Asahi - Translation of the
article
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.science.linguistics.wikipedia.misc/27775/focu…
- more info
[Onion] - They say parody is the greatest praise ...
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/50902
=== Stats ===
The Simple English Wikipedia has reached 10,000 articles
http://simple.wikipedia.org/
The Chinese Wikipedia has reached 80,000 articles.
http://zh.wikipedia.org/
The English Wikibooks has reached 20,000 book modules.
http://en.wikibooks.org/
=== Other news ===
[Censor] Saudi Arabia blocks Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2006-07-24/Countr…
[Private Wikipedia] - Wolf Mountain Group now offers servers for sale with
Wikipedia installed (or any other project/language) on a configuration with
updating software and support for this. With this setup companies and
organisations can offer access to Wikipedia content yet exercise control
because it allows them to remove topics they find less suitable for their
audiences.
A very special function is machine translation of the project installed
to many
native American languages like Cherokee and Comanche. Support for Spanish,
German and Latin are expected. These translations are also available on the
website Wikigadugi.
http://www.wolfmountaingroup.comhttp://www.wikigadugi.org/
[Wikizine] - In an attempt to get more people from different project and
languages exposed to Wikizine nearly all wikis will be visited with a
request
to support Wikizine in the coming weeks or months. Thanks to wikis who
agreed
to help recently will be included in the footer weekly.
=== Did you know ... ===
... that you can add functionality to MediaWiki yourself?
MediaWiki has the option that you as a user can override the default
settings
and change the behavior, add functionality and the look of the wiki by
editing
your [[Special:Mypage/monobook.js]] and[[Special:Mypage/monobook.css]].
There is a useful javascript extension called "popups". It has many
functions.
Highlights are; preview of the page where a hyperlink leads to. So you can
check an edit done by an anonymous without the need to open that page. A
"roll
back" option like the sysops have to revert easy edits.
See;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Tools/Navigation_popupshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:POPFAQ
=== Ferengi Rules of Acquisition ===
"Never allow family to stand in the way of opportunity." Rule 6
"Enough... is never enough." - Rule 97
"Even in the worst of times, someone turns a profit." - Rule 162
//////////////////////////////////////////
Number of subscribers: 467
Editor(s): Walter
Corrector(s): oscar
Thanks for promoting Wikizine to the wikis;
Wikispecies,en.wikipedia,ja.wikiquote,pt.wikiquote
E-mail: ihavenews AT wikizine DOT org
//////////////////////////////////////////
Wikizine.org makes no guarantee of accuracy,
validity and especially but not limited to,
correct grammar and spelling.
Wikizine.org is not a publication of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Content is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Publisher:[[meta:user:Walter]]
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.org
Year: 2006 Week: 30 Number: 35
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An independent internal news bulletin
for the members of the Wikimedia community
//////////////////////////////////////////
=== Technical news ===
[Z] -WikitionaryZ, the pre-alpha ultimate Wiktionary, has new functionality; new
"Expressions" and "DefinedMeanings" can be added. This means that a new concept
can now be translated in many languages. For more details, read the text about
the DefinedMeaning on WiktionaryZ and ask on IRC (#wiktionary) for more
information if needed.
http://wiktionaryz.org/DefinedMeaning
[Ogg Vorbis] - The fact that the Wikimedia projects are using Ogg Vorbis for
audio can be a problem for some users. There is a web based Ogg Player that can
be used to make it more easy fore the visitors to listen to the audio. EN
Wikinews is using this already. You only need to put the path to audio file
after that of the player.
http://www.jcraft.com/jorbis/player/JOrbisPlayer.php?play=http://path.to/th…http://tinyurl.com/rvgzp - working example
=== Request for help ===
[Translators] are requested to help with the translation work for the board
election. Currently there is not yet anything to translate. People who are
willing to help can put there name on the list with volunteers
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Elections_for_the_Board_of_Trustees_of_the_W…
=== Foundation ===
[Election] - The election for a new member of the board of the Wikimedia
Foundation will start on the first of September. Essjay and Datrio have been
appointed as inspectors of the election. Aphaia will assist them as an
alternate election official.
http://article.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/8807
[WMF Nederland] - The Dutch chapter is organizing a one-day conference in
Utrecht, Netherlands. And this on 2 September 2006. The working language will
be Dutch. Registration fee will be around 15 euro. Registration is now open.
http://nl.wikimedia.org/wiki/WCN
[WMF 中文維基年會] - The Chinese Wikimedia
Conference will be held on August 26th and 27th in Hong Kong. The working
language will be Chinese. Registration is now open. Registration for it is now
open.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CWMC_2006
[Wikimania2006] is from 4 until 6 August in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Subscription is still possible.
http://wikimania2006.wikimedia.org/
[Archival] - Library of Congress, Holocaust Museum negotiate with Wikimedia
regarding the issue of access to archival materials
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2006-07-17/Librar…
=== Community ===
[No Consensus] was reached about the deletion nomination of the article about
Angela.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Beesleyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2006-07-17/Self-d…
[Wikinews.ogg] - Announcing something is one thing, doing it and especially
keep doing it that is something else. The English language edition of Wikinews
has made already over 150 audio "news briefs". The also provide a feed of the
recordings.
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews%3AAudio_Wikinews
[Persian WP] - The Persian Wikipedia has decided to restrict page creation to
logged in users like on the English language Wikipedia. The reason is that the
have a lot of problems with anonymous users who insert copyright violations.
Most of those users are from Iran. And because Iran has not signed
international copyright agreement those users have problems with the concept of
copyright.
=== Awards ===
[Wikimania Awards] - For once Wikimedia is not receiving awards but giving them
away. "The Wikimania Awards are a free content writing and media contest that
takes place at Wikimania. The contest is for the best video, audio, image, and
textual content created for use on Wikimedia projects over the past year."
People are welcome do donate prices, join the jury and nominate articles or
media. First price is a Nokia 770 Internet Tablet with the greetings form
Nokia.
http://wikimania2006.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_Awards
=== Media ===
[High profile] - The New Yorker and the LA Times has published two articles
about Wikimedia worth of reading. The article of the New Yorker also mentions
the existence of the projects Wikisource, Wikinews and Wikiquote. It is not
common for these projects to get attentions in high profile media.
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060731fa_facthttp://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-haisch24jul24,0,474426…http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2006-July/thread.html#44836 -
comments on the list about this
=== Other news ===
[Print] - If would like to have a decent printed version of a part of the
English Wikipedia then that is now possible. Pediapress offers a very easy way
to make a selection from the contends of EN Wikipedia and turn it in to a real
physical book. That book is not free but the price looks fair. From the
earnings of the "Featured Books" the donate 10% to the WMF.
http://pediapress.com/
=== Did you know ... ===
... that you can add some more buttons to the edit toolbar?
[[w:en:UserMarkS]] has written some javascript code that extends the default
toolbar with many more buttons. If find some buttons not useful you can easily
remove them from the javascript code.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:MarkS/Extra_edit_buttonshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:MarkS/extraeditbuttons.js
=== Quote ===
"When I visited the offices in March, the walls were bare, the furniture
battered. With the addition of a dead plant, the suite could pass for a
graduate-student lounge." -- impression of the WMF world headquarters by Stacy
Schiff, journalist.
//////////////////////////////////////////
Number of subscribers: 462
Editor(s): Walter
Thanks to: Krog
E-mail: ihavenews AT wikizine DOT org
//////////////////////////////////////////
Wikizine.org makes no guarantee of accuracy,
validity and especially but not limited to,
correct grammar and spelling.
Wikizine.org is not a publication of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Content is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Publisher:[[meta:user:Walter]]
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.org
Year: 2006 Week: 29 Number: 34
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An independent internal news bulletin
for the members of the Wikimedia community
//////////////////////////////////////////
=== Technical news ===
[550] The new blocking policy has now been implemented by Tim Starling,
resolving bug 550. You can control the type of block by means of two tick
boxes. The default settings result in the same behavior as before the change.
These default settings are;
[ ] Block anonymous users only
[X] Prevent account creation
(To localize these options, edit [[MediaWiki:Ipbanononly]] and
[[MediaWiki:Ipbcreateaccount]])
So if you do not change those setting registered users will still have no access
from the school or from their ISP proxy, not have the option to make an
account. The default settings give the most total block possible.
Thanks to user [[w:en:User:Lupin]] there is a small Javascript that you can
include in your monobook.js so that the default settings are for the "softest"
block: only blocking anonymous users, account creation allowed. Or if there is
local community approval for it you can include it in the
[[MediaWiki:Monobook.js]]-page so it is active for all users.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikizine/2006-29-javascript-Special-Blockip -
Here is the code
=== Request for help ===
[Update] - The translations of the "Board of Trustees" page need to be updated
http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/translators-l/2006-July/000173.htmlhttp://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Board_of_Trustees
[Awareness Project] This is a WikiProject that aims to spread awareness of
Wikipedia and the ability to edit it freely around real-life communities in
order to try and attract more contributors from a variety of ages. We hope to
gather and catalogue promotional material for members to make use of, and to
provide a central point for meetings of this type. The are looking for people
to help.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Awareness
=== New project proposals ===
[Wikiversity] A new push to launch a separate wikiversity project is underway.
See the discussion at
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikiversity/Modified_project_proposal
=== Community ===
[rm Angela Beesly] - The wp-article of board member Angela is listed for
deletion on here request. The article in some other languages is already
deleted. And also the the article of Anthere, the well known french wikipedian
is removed from the french language Wikipedia. Jimbo's article is still there.
http://wikiangela.com/blog/delete-me/
[Sitenotice] It was brought to the attention of the Wikimedia Foundation on
Foundation-l that the Urdu language Wikipedia was using the site notice
function to display a verse from the Koran above every page to each visitor.
This is considered a breach of the NPOV principle of Wikipedia and an incorrect
use of the Sitenotice function. The Koran verse is reluctantly removed by the
local community.
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/8556/focus=8556 - Tread
on Foundation-l
http://tinyurl.com/qkuj6 - Discussion about the sitenotice on the Urdu
Wikipedia
http://article.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/8627 - the POV of the
Urdu wikipedia about Israel
=== Awards ===
[Wikimania Awards] Media and Writing awards will be handed out at Wikimania in
August; nominations for great writing and media are requested on the conference
site.
http://wikimania2006.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_Awards
=== Media ===
[Essay] "Can History be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past" by
professor of history and new Media Roy Rosenzweig. This article was originally
published in the Journal of American History (Volume 93, Number 1 (June, 2006):
117-46), and was reprinted on the web at the Center for History and New Media
at George Mason University. This is a long but very interesting article. It
also includes a comparison of historical articles from the English language
Wikipedia with other encyclopedias.
http://chnm.gmu.edu/resources/essays/d/42
=== Stats ===
[ERRATUM] The report of last week that Wiktionary has reached the 1,000,000
definitions milestone is not confirmed. It is likely that Wiktionary is close
to the one million mark but not yet there.
[fur.wiki] The Friulian Wikipedia have reached 1000 articles. Friulian is a
language spoken by about 600.000 people mainly in North-East Italy
http://fur.wikipedia.org
[ja.wikinews] now exist for one year. Aphaia made an overview of one year
ja.wikinews
http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/wikinews-l/2006-July/000497.html
=== Other news ===
[Wikia] has taken over the Uncyclopedia domain name and trademark. Uncyclopedia
is a parody of Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. Wikia has been hosting
Uncyclopedia since May 2005. Now the Wikimedia projects and the parody
Uncyclopedia fall under the wings of Jimbo and Angela. Wikia/Uncyclopedia and
Wikipedia/Wikimedia are legally totally separate. The news of the transfer is
not well received by some of the Uncyclopedia community.
http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Forum:Announcement:_Wikia_%26_Uncyclopediahttp://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/UnNews:Uncyclopedia_bought_by_Wikia_for_2_Wood…
- This source is not very trustworthy
[Torrent] a CD-ROM containing a selection of articles from the English language
is available for download via bittorrent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Version_1.0_Editorial_Team/Torrent_P…
=== Did you know ... ===
... that you can use a telephone for calling people?
VoIP, Skype, OpenWengo, GoogleTalk, etc. With all those systems you can call
from PC to PC for free. And most have also the option to call to fixt phones or
mobile phones, normally not for free. But you still need to mess arround with
software, a microphone, a headset, audio settings, allocate bandwidth. And the
audio quality is not always very good and also you need to buy credit in
advance. An alternative is the service of JaJah.com The make only use of the
traditional phones for the connection. No special software needed, no VOIP, no
need to buy credit in advance; you pay later. Prices can be similar or even
cheaper than SkypeOut. For many western country's it possible to call totally
free of charge (possibly only temporary now). You can test there service for
free without registration for a free call of 5 minutes from anyware to anyware.
So if you are working on an article and you like to consult with someone who
lives in a far away place, maybe it is not even so expensive to give him a
call.
http://www.jajah.com/
=== Quote ===
"By contrast, when journalists make blunders, and weve been provided many an
example in recent years, it requires a day or two to make the correction. And,
unlike a wiki, the article itself can never be corrected, because its printed
and on its way to the birdcage." - Larry Sanger
>From http://www.dufoundation.org/blog/?p=68
//////////////////////////////////////////
Number of subscribers: 456
Editor(s): Walter, 18.85.46.138, Gary Kirk
Corrector(s): Gary Kirk, Hector Corerro
Thanks to: Klenje
E-mail: ihavenews AT wikizine DOT org
//////////////////////////////////////////
Wikizine.org makes no guarantee of accuracy,
validity and especially but not limited to,
correct grammar and spelling.
Wikizine.org is not a publication of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Content is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Publisher:[[meta:user:Walter]]
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.org
Year: 2006 Week: 28 Number: 33
******************************************
An independent internal news bulletin
for the members of the Wikimedia community
//////////////////////////////////////////
=== Technical news ===
[<poem>] On the Wikisource project a new tag is now live especially for poems.
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.science.linguistics.wikipedia.technical/24563…
[Bug550] will be fixed soon, block options will change
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.science.linguistics.wikipedia.misc/27667/focu…
[localization] - BetaWiki is a project to centralize the translations and
updates for the MediaWiki system messages. This way all MediaWiki installations
can have a recent and nearly complete translation. When implementing the new
translation care must be taken not to insult projects that are using their own
translation version by overwriting those with the new version without
consulting them first about it. Like was done on the Dutch language Wikipedia.
http://nike.users.idler.fi/betawiki/Etusivu - BetaWiki
http://article.gmane.org/gmane.science.linguistics.wikipedia.misc/27664 -
explanation by GerardM about BetaWiki
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.science.linguistics.wikipedia.misc/27644/focu…
- Protest
[PLURAL] there is a magic word "plural" that can be used to change the spelling
of the user interface depending of the number of items involved. For some
languages there are multiple conjugations depending on the number, PLURAL
allows for that
One example of the syntax for English is:
{{PLURAL:$1|one article|are $1 articles}}
This can be used on MediaWiki-pages the contain text used on dynamic changing
pages.
Example:
[[MediaWiki:Categoryarticlecount]] contains the text used on category-pages to
say how many items there are in that category. But a category can contain one
item and then the correct description would be that there is "one article". If
there are more then the phrase should use "articles", the plural form.
You can see this in practice on the Afrikaanse Wikipedia;
There you see how the magic word it used;
http://af.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MediaWiki:Categoryarticlecount&ac…
And the results on a category with only one item reads "een artikel", what is
the singular form.
http://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kategorie:Amerika
Here you see a category with more than one article and it reads "artikelen", the
plural form.
http://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kategorie:Kaapstad
This construction can be used on those MediaWiki messages where the software is
aware of the potential of a plural form; the English message should have the
PLURAL construct as well.
More about this at;
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Magic_words#Project-dependent_word_conv…http://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=5805
=== Foundation ===
[Wikibooks] project is 3 years old now on the 10th of July 2006.
Congratulations! This page gives an overview of the "State of the Project";
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikibooks:State_of_the_Project/2006
[Staff] The Wikimedia Foundation has hired a new full-time staff member. She
will be working in the function of administrative assistant in the Florida
office. This person will be answering the phones for the WMF office and emails
send to Wikimedia and the English language Wikipedia queue. The WMF has now 5
people in service and 1 contractor.
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Current_staff
[Angela] posted an explanation about her resignation from the Board. The Board
accepts her resignation and confirms that there will be a election for a new
Board member starting on 1 September 2006. Until that time Angela stays on the
Board.
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/8337/focus=8337http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution_Board_election
=== Community ===
[Incubator] A vote is proceeding about a logo for the "incubator". This is a
wiki where new projects can start and maybe move later to their own wiki if
they succeed. There is now a vote about a logo for this wiki and about maybe a
new name for it.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Incubator/logo#Votinghttp://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Incubator/name
=== Media ===
[interview] with Angela Beesley, Elisabeth Bauer, and Kizu Naoko about "How and
Why Wikipedia Works"
http://www.riehle.org/computer-science/research/2006/wikisym-2006-interview…http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/10/0353220
[No News] - When someone dies it is always a rush to change their article as
fast as possible on Wikipedia. So also with the article about [[w:en:Kenneth
Lay]]. Reuters has published an article about the short time from when the
article was changed from alive to dead, and about the initial confusion about
the cause of death in some versions in the first hour after the announcement of
the death of Kenneth Lay. Funny is that Reuters has slightly changed their own
article about the Wikipedia article because that had made a mistake. Because it
came from Reuters many others have covered it like CNN.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Layhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komkommertijdhttp://www.andrewlih.com/blog/2006/07/05/wikipedias-ken-lay-problem/http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&story…http://edition.cnn.com/2006/US/07/05/lay.wikipedia.reut/index.html
=== Stats ===
[Wiktionary], the dictionary project of the WMF has reached the 1,000,000
definitions milestone. Wiktionary, started on 12 December 2002, is the oldest
WMF project after Wikipedia. The number of people actively working on the
Wiktionaries is, compared with Wikipedia, very few. This means that one person
can make a difference - a big difference. [[User:GerardM]] has managed to make
an astonishing 13,000 pronunciation audio recordings for Wiktionary, with his
bot 200,000 edits on the English Wiktionary and 600,000 on all Wiktionaries.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_press_releases/Wiktionary_reaches_…http://ultimategerardm.blogspot.com/2006/07/dubious-record.html
[Edits] - the total number of edits in all Wikimedia projects surpassed 150
million.
[ko.wiki] The Korean Wikipedia has reached 25,000 articles.
http://ko.wikipedia.org
=== Other news ===
[Campaigns] - On Wikia a new Wiki is created: "Campaigns". It launched on the
American Independence Day the 4th of July. It is a new non-Wikimedia project
strongly supported by Jimbo. It is a project about increasing the intelligence
of politics in the USA. This new project has received a lot of attention by the
media.
http://campaigns.wikia.com/wiki/Mission_Statement - Open letter by Jimbo about
this project
http://wikiangela.com/blog/wanted-structure-and-ideas-for-the-campaigns-wik…http://news.com.com/2061-11199_3-6091839.htmlhttp://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6091151.html
=== Did you know ... ===
... that Skype can be useful for your Wikimedia-work?
On our projects many people work together. And there are many ways of
communication to makes the work. But talking to someone can makes things a lot
easier in some situations. You can use Skype for this. It is free to use
between PC to PC. It exists for Windows. And also for Mac OS X and Linux. Those
are crappy versions compared to the Windows versions but the work good enough
to be useful.
You can also talk with up to 5 people in a conference call. And if like to host
a virtual Wikimeet or a open meeting for you chapter maybe the
Skypecast-function can be useful. With you can talk to up to 100 people.
http://www.skype.com/http://skypecasts.skype.comhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Instant_Messaging_Wikipedians
Remark; this was not an ad. Wikizine does not get paid for this. Wikizine does
get paid for the Firefox and Picasa button on http://www.wikizine.org if the
software is installed on a windows pc and for the fist time. Total benefits
currently $0,0. The theoretical benefits will be used for expenses related to
Wikizine. If ads where to be included in Wikizine it will be clearly labeled as
such. There are no plans to include ads in Wikzine.
=== Quote ===
"People talk a lot as if the most important thing in life is to always see
things for what they really are. But everything we do, every plan we make, is
kind of a lie. We're closing our eyes and pretending that the day won't ever
come when we won't need to make any more plans. Hope is the biggest lie there
is, and it is the best. We have to keep going as if it all mattered, or else we
wouldn't keep going at all."
-- Character Allie Keys / science fiction miniserie "Taken"
//////////////////////////////////////////
Number of subscribers: 451
Editor(s): Walter
Corrector(s): Gary Kirk, Oscar
Special thanks to: Alias
E-mail: ihavenews AT wikizine DOT org
//////////////////////////////////////////
Wikizine.org makes no guarantee of accuracy,
validity and especially but not limited to,
correct grammar and spelling.
Wikizine.org is not a publication of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Content is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Publisher:[[meta:user:Walter]]
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.org
Year: 2006 Week:28 Nr.:33 - Tech flash
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An independent internal news bulletin
for the members of the Wikimedia community
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=== Technical news ===
!!!-***Bug 550 is going to be fixed soon***-!!!
Tim Starling announced on the mailing list that very soon, probably within 24
hours, the way the block function works will change.
Most important changes;
*Allow blocks on anonymous users only (bug 550)
**-> this means that registered users who are using that ip address still can
edit, like users who on the network of a school or need to use the proxy of
there ISP
* Allow or disallow account creation from blocked IP addresses on a per-block
basis
Here you can see a screenshot form the new interface;
*http://noc.wikimedia.org/~tstarling/SpecialBlockip.png
For more information read the posting by Tim Starling;
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.science.linguistics.wikipedia.misc/27667/focu…
And even more reading;
http://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=550
Lets rejoice ourselves, spread the news to all sysops on all +600 Wikis and
celebrated this this wonderful day!
//////////////////////////////////////////
Editor(s): Walter
E-mail: ihavenews AT wikizine DOT org
//////////////////////////////////////////
Wikizine.org makes no guarantee of accuracy,
validity and especially but not limited to,
correct grammar and spelling.
Wikizine.org is not a publication of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Content is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Publisher:[[meta:user:Walter]]
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.org
Year: 2006 Week: 27 Number: 32
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An independent internal news bulletin
for the members of the Wikimedia community
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=== Foundation ===
[Board] member of the Wikimedia Foundation and vice-president of Wikia, Angela Beesley, has resigned from the
Board of the WMF. Angela emphasizes that her reason for resignation is not another board member's fault. She is only leaving the Board, and will continue to stay involved with Wikipedia and with the Australian Chapter and Wikia. An election to replace the position of Angela on the board is expected.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Beesley
[Newsletter] - The Promotion & Translation Subcommittee of the Communications Committee has sent the first issue of their new newsletter out. This newsletter is about the translations effort. What still needs to be translated, what is done and news translation related.
http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2006-June/008141.html
[$] The WMF received in the month of June 2006 $32,969 in donations by means of PayPal. This is a similar amount as in May and April.
=== Technical news ===
[Export/Import] Improvements have been made on the import and export functionality of MediaWiki. All wikis can already now export pages with [[Special:Export]]. The import function is off but can be enabled on request by Brion. (make a BugZilla ticket for it). This function can be used to move pages cleanly with full history between wikis. Like for transwikiïng an article from Wikipedia to Wikibooks.
http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2006-June/thread.html#36689http://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/
[WikiSource-l] , the mailing list for the Wikisource-project is now also accessible through gmane.org, meaning you can now read and post to this list like as if it were a usenet newsgroup or use the web-based interface.
http://dir.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.wikisource
[?..Announce-l] seems to be also on gmane.org since February. Announce-l is the mailing list used by Wikizine. It would have been polite to inform Wikizine about this stranger, ignoring that only the listadmin is supposed to be able to add a list to gmane.
http://dir.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.announce
=== Request for help ===
[£$€] Daniel Mayer, aka Mav, the Chief Financial Officer, is looking for people with professional
fundraising experience to help with the Fundraising Committee.
http://article.gmane.org/gmane.science.linguistics.wikipedia.misc/27394http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_committee
=== Policy ===
[Idea] An idea to require a confirmed email address in order to upload images gets support. But it causes also a lengthy discussion about freedom on Wikipida. http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2006-June/thread.html#44555http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2006-July/thread.html
=== Community ===
[Fußball] It seems that the World championship football is more interesting then Wikipedia, at least to some.
http:// tinyurl.com/ot4wg (machine translation)
=== Media ===
[???] "Wikipedia - the online encyclopedia that now contains nearly 40 million articles" - at least that's what British newspaper ''The Indepent'' writes.
http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article1096343.ece
=== Stats ===
[Interwiki] A page is made that provides an overview of the pages from the English Wikipedia from where there are the most interwiki-links, and the number of links. And also a list of the largest Wikipedia that has no link to use articles. See explanation by Andre Engels for the details.
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.science.linguistics.wikipedia.misc/27576/focu…http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Common_Interwiki_links
[UR.wiki] The Urdu Wikipedia has reached 1,000 articles. There are 104 million speakers, so there is a lot of potential for growth.
http://ur.wikipedia.org/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urdu
=== Other news ===
[Trolls-Everywhere] Not only the large Wikipedias have their trolls. However, trolls can also have a positive effect. Sabine Cretella explains ...
http://sabinecretella.blogspot.com/2006/06/trolly-trolls-and-marketing.html
=== Did you know ... ===
... that there is an easy way for removing many pages from you watch list?
When you like to remove many pages from your "Watchlist" ([[Special:Watchlist/edit]]) it can be that you need to check hundreds of tick boxes. That is no fun. Select the first box and then select that last box while holding <shift> pressed. All that boxes between those to are now selected.
=== Quote ===
"On average, Wikipedia will get it more right than the publishers will."
-- Scott McNealy , chairman of Sun Microsystems Inc.
//////////////////////////////////////////
Number of subscribers: 440
Editor(s): Walter, Gary Kirk, Oscar
E-mail: ihavenews AT wikizine DOT org
//////////////////////////////////////////
Wikizine.org makes no guarantee of accuracy,
validity and especially but not limited to,
correct grammar and spelling.
Wikizine.org is not a publication of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Content is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Publisher:[[meta:user:Walter]]
