The April Fools DYKs are pretty tame compared to the ones we used to get
from Bedford (which eventually led to a wheel war). I just wish the
April Fools ones were actually funny.
Ryan Kaldari
On 1/15/13 11:23 PM, Risker wrote:
On 15 January 2013 21:09, Sarah Stierch
<sarah.stierch(a)gmail.com
<mailto:sarah.stierch@gmail.com>> wrote:
http://thewikipedian.net/2013/01/15/wikifoolery/
" April Fools' Day
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools%27_Day>is still about 2
1/2 months off, butWikipedians are already planning
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Today%27s_featured_article/requests#Icelandic_Phallological_Museum_on_April_Fools.27_Day.3F>for
the big day. Every year, editors who maintain the front page
arrange for silly, sometimes misleading, and even mildly offensive
articles to run during the 24-hour period covering April 1st. But
aswe noted in April 2011
<http://thewikipedian.net/2011/04/01/wiki-fools/>, not everyone is
happy that such a serious project as Wikipedia, one focused on
curating the world's knowledge, spends one day per year kind of,
sort of, doing the opposite. And as of today, there's athread on
Jimbo Wales' Talk page
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Jimbo_Wales#April_Fool.27s_Day_-_an_opportunity_about_to_be_squandered_again>hosting
a debate on the practice. This time in the mix: whether the
juvenile pranks contribute to Wikipedia'snoted gender imbalance
<http://thewikipedian.net/2012/11/08/all-the-women-who-edit-wiki-throw-your-hands-up-at-me/>.
Best comments so far: from female editors defending standing up
for "women's ability to both use and appreciate dirty or
giggle-inducing language"."
I don't know that they contribute to the gender imbalance - although
in fairness the women who make it as far as adminship and discussions
on Jimbo's page tend to be unusually thick-skinned (I mean it as a
compliment!). I think that the puerile proposals being bandied about
are likely to make Wikipedia look like it's run by, well...juvenile
geeks who haven't got past giggling every time they hear someone say a
"bad word". It would be different if these things were actually
funny, but they aren't.
Although I think it probably says something about the general
mentality of a significant portion of our editorship what was being
proposed for April Fool's day - sex, body parts, and swearing. Hmmm.
Risker/Anne
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