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.org
Year: 2009 Week: 6 Number: 105
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An independent internal news bulletin
for the members of the Wikimedia community
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=== Technical news ===
[Oversight] - the OverSight function to remove edits is replaced with
a new OverSight function. Edits are now not longer removed from the
history but hidden. A revision of a page can be hidden (not new), but
you can also comments, log entry's, user names or an ip address. And
also define of that will be hidden also from administrators or not.
This is live on all wikis (if there are users who have OverSight status)
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.science.linguistics.wikipedia.technical/41519
[AbuseFilter] - A new extension "AbuseFilter" is nearly ready to be
used and will probably be go live fairly soon on the English Wikipedia.
This extension makes it possible to create rules that will invokes
certain automatic reactions to user behavior of a user according to
the programmed rules. That reaction can be like giving a warning,
blocking a user or some other action. It is like the name indicates
intended to help to protect the wiki against vandalism. This is a very
powerful tool.
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:AbuseFilterhttp://thread.gmane.org/gmane.science.linguistics.wikipedia.technical/41442 --
posting of Brion about it
http://wiki.werdn.us/test/view/Main_Page -- developer test-wiki
[Auto NOINDEX] - From now on when you block a user the user page and
talk page those pages get the status "NOINDEX" so it will no longer
show up in google anymore.
https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11443
[E-mail us] - The email contact form to send an email to Wikipedia is
gone. If you get surpisingly few emails in your local contact queue
maybe this can the reason.
http://ticket.wikimedia.org/otrs/webform.plhttps://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=15624
[Interwiki OTRS] - the links to OTRS tickets using the
[[OTRS:Ticketnumber]] works again after around 6 months. When you make
a new link use the new prefix [[Ticket:Ticketnumber]] instead because
that has better changes to keep working in the long run.
https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=15681
[Suppressredirect] - ever had to revert page-move vandalism? or just
move a page without leaving a redirect? This is no possible for
sysops on all Wikimedia wikis thanks to a vote on Meta.
https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=14998
[Sex] - there is in the preferences section (user profile) an option
now to specify your gender. That information is to support the
function to present different interface messages depending on your
sex. In some languages is text gender specific.
https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=13040
=== Request for help ===
[Licensing] - the saga on the licensing migration to CC-BY-SA
continues! There is a new page on Meta for coordinating the migration
(including an FAQ). Please join in the discussion!
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/36090http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Licensing_update
[Wikimania] - work on Wikimania 2009 is under heavy development, but
they need your help with translations and expanding the existing
pages. More information about volunteering, call for participation,
and registration will be released soon.
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimania-l/2009-February/001329.htmlhttp://wikimania2009.wikimedia.org/wiki/Volunteershttp://wikimania2009.wikimedia.org/wiki/T
=== Policy ===
[Wikibooks logo] - It has been a process of years but now it is there;
a new, final and live logo for Wikibooks.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikibooks/Logohttp://www.wikibooks.org/
[New ombudsmen] - There are new ombudsmen (you know, the people who
review privacy policy/checkuser abuse cases) and an increase in number
from 3 to 5.
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049125.htmlhttp://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ombudsman_commission
=== Foundation ===
[Stewards] - the steward election is open and this until 22 February.
Request for comments about the current stewards is also open.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewards/elections_2009http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewards/confirm
[Mozilla grant] - The Mozilla Foundation is giving the WMF $100,000
(USD) for the development of improved Theora encoders and more
powerful playback libraries. Theora is the video-format that
Wikipedia&Co is using as the only high profile website. Mozillas
FireFox version 3.1 that is to be released soon will have build in
support for playing Ogg Theora video. It is intended that the results
of this grant will flow back for improved playback in FireFox.
http://blog.mozilla.com/blog/2009/01/26/in-support-of-open-video/http://www.0xdeadbeef.com/weblog/?p=977http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Firefox#Version_3.1
[Committees] - the Wikimedia Foundation board has reviewed the
committees structure at its last meeting. The result was the official
closure of a few inactive committees and a resolution describing how
committees work (including a list of current committees).
http://article.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/35989http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Wikimedia_Committees
=== Agenda ===
[FOSDEM] - It is this upcoming weekend again FOSDEM in Brussels,
Belgium, Europa, Sol3. On Sunday, the 8th of February, will Brion
(Chief Technical Officer) give there a presentation about MediaWiki.
http://fosdem.org/2009/schedule/events/mediawikihttp://fosdem.org/2009/interview/brion+vibberhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FOSDEM
[MediaWiki meet-up] - It will take place in April 3.-5. in Berlin. The
event is for everyone who works on MediaWiki, writes extensions,
builds bots, writes scripts for the toolserver, or is otherwise
interested in the technical aspects of Wikimedia.
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Project:Developer_meet-up_2009
=== Community ===
[Wikimania 2010] - The Wikimania 2010 bidding process has officially
opened and the jury (those who review the bids and select the host
city) has been selected.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2010/Bids/Timeline
[EN Wikinews] - Is electing the "Picture of the year 2008".
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews:Picture_of_the_Year_2008
[Flagged revisions] - after some normal vandalism on high profile
pages and media reporting about that EN Wikipedia is moving forwards
to use it on there wiki. Jimmy Wales expressed public support for
using it. A vote resulted in 59% in favor of doing a trial activation
of Flagged revisions. The English Wikibooks is already using it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7851400.stmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Flagged_revisions
=== Awards ===
[IT Wikipedia] - wins the "Premiolino", which means "little award",
and is the most
important Italian journalistic award. IT wp wins in the category "New
media" for this reason: "(because) it's a great, open, accessible for
everyone, democratic encyclopedia, always updated in real time, very
useful for every writer". The award consists in a parchment and a
5000? cheque.
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/36862
[Character Approved] - An American television station "USA Network"
has selected several people in different fields to give them an award.
Jimmy Wales has been selected in the "New media" category. The prize
money of $10,000 goes to the WMF. USA Network is also running clips of
the "character approved" people, including Jimbo - and are so sending
out a sort of advertisement for Wikipedia on TV for free.
http://www.usanetwork.com/characterapproved/honorees/wales/
=== Media ===
[Google Knol] - ArtsTechnica has an evaluation of Google Knol six
months later. There conclusion is that Wikipedia does not need to worry.
http://tinyurl.com/cr6bm6
[Negative press] - The Indepentent has published a very negative
article about Wikipedia and Wikimedia. Jay Walsh, Head of
Communications of the WMF responded by means of the comment function
of the article and stated "A number of the facts in the story are
blatantly false, and further details are sloppily reported or
incorrect."
http://tinyurl.com/bqmedehttp://blog.reidster.net/2009/02/more-publicity-for-my-wikipedia-work.html --
responds about the article
=== Other news ===
[New wiki-manual] - In January, a new user guide about Wikipedia was
published by the University Press of Grenoble (France), in French
language. The authors of this 80 pages guide are Guillaume Paumier
(aka guillom) and Florence Devouard (aka Anthere). The user-guide is
published under the GFDL and has already been transferred to
Wikibooks. The book is for sale in paper version and electronic version.
http://fr.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikipédiahttp://www.pug.fr/titre.asp?Num=1072http://tinyurl.com/bf72r6 -- WM France Press release
["Old" wiki-manual] - A user manual for Wikipedia that was published
one year ago has been released under GNU/FDL by the publisher
O?Reilly?s and is now on the EN wp for all.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Wikipedia:_The_Missing_Manual
[Epistemia] - Once again a new wiki Encyclopedia project is started
like Wikipedia but also is different some how. Epistemia has strong
emphasis on civil and polite conduct. If you are wishing it was like 6
years ago when Wikipedia was much smaller, and maybe also better from
your POV, then maybe you start over at Espistima. The have vacancies
there for editors and unborn policy pages to be written.
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/36770
[AnswersWikia] - ... and Wikia (Jimmy&Angela) has started
AnswersWikia, what is just like WikiAnswers.com A website where you
ask questions and other people can answer those.
http://answers.wikia.com
=== Quote ===
"Stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau."
-- Irving Fisher, Yale University Professor of Economics, 1929
(two weeks later, the stock market crashed and the Great Depression started)
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