The fight for your right to share
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3752354.stm
"the net's open source movement ...
revolves around Linux, and its
collaborative encyclopaedia, the Wikipedia"
nice work :)
whilst I'm here and incase anyone missed it, back in Sept. the uk's
Guardian did a piece about wikipedia. I found it very useful when
trying to explain what it was all about to my mum - who's curious, but
not entirely down with the lingo/ideas yet
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,1302488,00.html
Don't get me going again. When the Haitians were dying from contact with
contaminated water during the hurricane, I was acutely conscious of
showering in pure, potable drinking water. I started estimating how many
people's lives could have been saved with the water my 20-minute shower
took....
Sadly,
Ed Poor
> To me, it is quite interesting in an abstract way that people
> are dying in (for example) Sudan this morning, and other
> people have a paid job which involves writing to me to
> complain about the name of a body of water. One should think
> that there might be more important things to do in the world.
>
> --Jimbo
>
>
Christopher Mahan wrote:
>The fact that they quoted it means that they've done their
>homework (lawyers ALWAYS do their homework)
>
Ahem. I know better than to believe that.
--Michael Snow
----- Forwarded message from Yang Jihyun <jhyang(a)korea.net> -----
From: "Yang Jihyun" <jhyang(a)korea.net>
Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 11:58:02 +0900
To: <jwales(a)wikia.com>
Subject: Cooperation Request from the Korean Overseas Information Service
Dear Sir or Madam,
First of all we are honored to introduce ourselves to you.
We are Korea.net Team in the Korean Overseas Information Service correcting Korea-related errors in overseas websites.
We appreciate your interest in Korea and enjoyed visiting your website.
However, we found a geographical error in your website that is related to Korea.
May we bring your attention to the map of South Korea on
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/japan .
The Korean Overseas Information Service (KOIS) found that the article carries the disputed name, Sea of Japan, to designate the sea between the Korean peninsula and the Japanese archipelago.
We are well aware that the map above is for the introduction of Japan, but we also found out that your website uses "East Sea" and "Sea of Japan" simultaneously for the introduction of Korea. Please look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Korea.
For this KOIS would like to ask you to consider using "East Sea" and "Sea of Japan" simultaneously on the introduction of Japan on your website.
As you well know, the name has long been a controversial matter to both Korea and Japan.
As for Japan, the "Sea of Japan" is legitimate because it has been used as an official name since its first adoption contained in the "Limits of Oceans and Seas," which was published by the decision of the 1929 Monaco Conference of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO).
On the other hand, the Korean people have never accepted this misnomer, because the decision of the Monaco Conference was unfair to Korea, which then could not attend the conference and make its own voice--Korea was under the Japanese colonial rule between 1910-1945. Therefore, since its liberation in 1945, the Republic of Korea has made consistent efforts to restore the appropriate name for the sea area in question.
Until now, a number of Korean scholars, civic groups, and government agencies at home and abroad have participated in the activities to encourage the simultaneous use of "East Sea" and "Sea of Japan". And, such efforts have begun to yield remarkable results, thanks to the understanding of the international community. Notable examples in this regard are the recent decisions made by Rand McNally, Encyclopedia Britannica, and the National Geographic Society to use both names "East Sea" and "Sea of Japan" in their maps and publications. BBC, the Economist, CNN, The USA Today, and The Washington Times have also started to use both names simultaneously--CNN Newsbiz Today has recently used a map on which "Sea of Japan/East Sea" is displayed. In addition, the French Defense Ministry has released a maritime chart for 2003, describing the body of water between Korea and Japan as "East Sea (Mer de l'Est)" along with "Sea of Japan (Mer du Japon)." It is the first time a foreign government body has used the name "East Sea," although civilian maps have already begun to use both names, accepting South Korea's demand.
Following are the links of the world's leading website featuring South Korea's maps:
Korea.nethttp://www.korea.net/korea/kor_loca.asp?code=A0101
National Geographic
http://iexplore.nationalgeographic.com/dmap/South+Korea/Overviewhttp://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/01/maps2_2001-01-25.htmlhttp://www.nationalgeographic.com/maps/updates/seaofjapan.html
USA Today
http://www.usatoday.travel-guides.com/MiniGuides/Country.jsp?General%2520In…
Economist
http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=S%27%29H8%2DQ1%3B%24%23P…
MSN Encarta
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/mapcenter/map.aspx?refid=701516652
University of Washington
http://flux.ocean.washington.edu./japan-sea/index.html
The KOIS would deeply appreciate if Wikipedia.com could give a full consideration on the simultaneous use of "East Sea" and "Sea of Japan" on the map. Given the influential power of your website, we firmly believe the simultaneous use of "East Sea and Sea of Japan" will have a significant precedence. If you need any further information or enquires regarding "East Sea" and "Sea of Japan", please, feel free to contact us at jhyang(a)korea.net or visit http://www.korea.net/menu/home/eastsea.html which carries various number of study results.
Please, take prompt action on this. We thank you for your time and attention. If you need any further information about Korea, please, feel free to contact us at jhyang(a)korea.net. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Thank you very much for your time and attention.
Best regards,
Ms. Yang Jihyun
Korea.net Team
The Korean Overseas Information Service
82-1 Sejongno, Jongno-gu,
Seoul 110-703 Republic of Korea
----- End forwarded message -----
--
"La nèfle est un fruit." - first words of 50,000th article on fr.wikipedia.org
I just wanted to make sure that this gets the widest possible
distribution. I'm not sure if announcements have been made in other
languages, but hopefully this conference will be widely discussed in
all languages.
It's going to be amazing! Start saving your money now, no one should
miss it. :-)
----- Forwarded message from Elisabeth Bauer <elian(a)djini.de> -----
From: Elisabeth Bauer <elian(a)djini.de>
Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 22:48:36 +0200
To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List <foundation-l(a)wikimedia.org>
Subject: [Foundation-l] wikimedia conference, round two
Hello,
a short report from the meeting on IRC yesterday. After a semi-public
question & answers session about the candidates we discussed the
different opportunities among the committee members.
It became we clear that we need detailed plans as a basis for the final
decision, but to save the participants unnecessary work, we decided to
narrow down the list to three candidates which appeared the most
promising to us: Dublin, Frankfurt and Rotterdam.
It was hard (and very sad :-(, for my part) to sort out the Eastern
European cities, main reasons for this decision were that there are not
enough local people to help and the difficult travel situation for
people from overseas even when the offers looked very beautiful.
The final city will be chosen in two weeks from now.
The rest of the meeting was about organization in general: we'll divide
the work up in different teams. Below is the first draft with the fields
and the people who volunteered for each job. If you'd like to help in a
certain field, please contact these people:
* conference program (Angela)
* sponsorships (Jimbo)
* finances (Oscar)
* PR (N.N.)
* social activities (Danny)
* information in the projects (Anthere)
* website & registration (Brion)
* technics (local)
greetings,
elian
_______________________________________________
foundation-l mailing list
foundation-l(a)wikimedia.org
http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
----- End forwarded message -----
--
"La nèfle est un fruit." - first words of 50,000th article on fr.wikipedia.org
Anthere and Robert both have had trouble finding my private e-mail
address. I guess I assumed that everyone could see it, merely because
I've gotten so many private e-mail messages from dozens of Wikipedians.
I don't put my work address at the website, because I think my employer
wouldn't like it. I'm only available three ways:
* Leave me a message on my talk page, and ask me to e-mail you.
* Via the mailing list (join it, or read the archives; it appears in the
header of each mailing list post.
* Guess my employer's name and ask the switchboard operator to connect
you.
Everybody likes their privacy. I use my Real Name at Wikipedia; how can
anyone say I'm hard to find?
Perplexed as ever, I beg to remain
Your most obedient servent,
Ed Poor
edmund.w.poor(a)abc.com
> -----Original Message-----
> From: wikien-l-bounces(a)Wikipedia.org
> [mailto:wikien-l-bounces@Wikipedia.org] On Behalf Of
> wikien-l-request(a)Wikipedia.org
> Sent: Monday, October 18, 2004 2:03 PM
> To: wikien-l(a)Wikipedia.org
> Subject: WikiEN-l Digest, Vol 15, Issue 39
>
>
> Send WikiEN-l mailing list submissions to
> wikien-l(a)Wikipedia.org
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> wikien-l-request(a)Wikipedia.org
>
> You can reach the person managing the list at
> wikien-l-owner(a)Wikipedia.org
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more
> specific than "Re: Contents of WikiEN-l digest..."
>
Jimbo, my offer to un-ban RK unilaterally was only a response to his
expression of concern that he might (as you put it)
* be banned "any moment now, for absolutely no reason at all".
Since I am a computer programmer, I expected that my valiant offer would
be parsed by the usual rules of formal logic. It only applied to a ban
that would be (A) sudden and (B) for no reason.
If I led Robert on, i.e., if he interpreted my offer as some kind of
trump card or "Get Out Of Jail Free Card", then I may have done him a
disservice. But that was not my intention. I was disappointed that he
did not let me know what was happening, and as he never mentioned it
again to me I soon forgot about it.
Ironically, the very day the ban was announced he blithely pounded
another nail into his coffin by insinuating a fellow contributor was a
"Nazi"; I distinctly remembering using HTML strikeout codes to draw his
attention to this error.
I can't help someone who won't listen. But I am convinced that, if RK
had followed my advice, there is NO WAY the arbcom would have banned
him. Because my advice would have been to stop using inflammatory
language in talk pages and edit summaries.
My offer only applied to RK being suddenly, unreasonably banned. It was
not an offer to let him continue a pattern of unchecked provocations. It
was not an offer to subvert the rule of law, but a remedy against what
he complained of: a possible arbitrary ruling which would IGNORE the
rule of law.
Anyway, whether my 'offer' had any influence or not, the upshot is that
the arbcom delivered an airtight decision: one which not even our most
anarchic of contrarians (The Cunctator) has objected to.
I wish Robert well, and I hope that when he returns in mid-February, he
will make more effort to get along with the other contributors.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jimmy (Jimbo) Wales [mailto:jwales@wikia.com]
> Sent: Friday, October 15, 2004 1:21 PM
> To: English Wikipedia
> Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] Why didn't you ask for help? (was:
> Hateful ban)
>
>
> Just to inject a bit of legal formalism here, if RK had
> sought and followed Ed's advice, and the arbcom banned him
> anyway, and Ed unblocked him anyway, Ed would be in the
> wrong. We have worked very hard to put into place the "rule
> of law" as opposed to arbitrary individual bans/unbans, and I
> intend to vigorously defend that.
>
> --Jimbo
>
> Poor, Edmund W wrote:
>
> > RK,
> >
> > Perhaps I was less than clear. My offer to un-ban you was
> CONDITIONAL
> > on your seeking out my advice and following it. My promise was (and
> > still
> > is):
> >
> > * No one who seeks out my help and follows my advice ever comes to
> > harm.
> >
> > I have had no messages from you, either in private e-mail, the
> > Wikipedia mailing list, or the Wikipedia website. I can't
> help someone
> > who refuses to communicate.
> >
> > Now I must ask you the same question I asked Lir:
> >
> > * What advice of mine did you ever follow?
> >
> > Sadly,
> >
> > Ed Poor
The banned users "Mr. Natural Health", Simonides, and
Raul654, along with Zero, have succeeded in banning me from
Wikipedia for four months. They had absolutely no reason to
do so, but they did it out of sheer hatred and malice.
I find their behaviour dishonest, shocking and unjustified.
A few weeks ago Jimbo wrote and said that I am not going to
be banned, and that I was just being hysterical. Yet
Raul654 told me that Jimbo had authoried this ban. Someone
was clearly lying, and I am sure that it was Raul who was
not being honest.
Ironically, this uncalled for ban occurs on the heels of a
long discussion, in which most of us recognized that
several troublemakers were pushing away long-time Wikipedia
contributors, and allowing trolls to run wild. Apparently,
the clique who banned me is trying to make certain that the
trolls run the asylum. Now Mr. Natural Health, Simonides
and their sock-puppets can do huge amounts of damage yet
again.
Consider the following seven facts. Has anyone EVER been
banned from Wikipedia for such a huge amount of time in
such cases? NEVER. Not once. There is clearly a lynch
mob that hates me, lead by Mr. Natural Health and
Simonides, two anti-Semites, one of whom even publicly
admitted to being a Nazi. (Yet he wasn't banned for that,
but I have been banned for complaining about their
harassment.)
Facts about this case.
1* I am not involved in any flame wars. So why the ban?
2* I am not involved in any revert wars or edit wars. So
why the ban?
3* The supposed problems are in articles in which the
articles HAVE ALREADY BEEN RESOLVED, long ago! So why the
ban?
4* I repeatedly take week-long (or longer) Wiki-breaks
(like the last 10 days) to let things cool down and allow
other people to have their say without any problem. So why
the ban?
5* I have taken many contentious articles OFF of my
Watchlist, and simply let others do what they want, rather
then engage in multiple arguments. So why the ban?
6* I have asked for and successfully used mediation when
necessary. So why the ban?
7* I have been successfully working with a large group of
others on potentially acrimonious articles, without revert
wars, and with great progress being made on many articles.
So why the ban?
Folks, this is a clear abuse of the system by a small group
of people who hate me. And it won't go unnoticed by the
trolls, or Wikipedia haters.
Ed Poor, you mentioned recently that you would be able to
un-ban me if this small group blocked me. Your help would
be of great assistance now!
Robert (RK)
*********
You have attempted to edit a page, either by clicking the
"edit this page" tab or by following a red link.
Your user name or IP address has been blocked by
Jwrosenzweig.
The reason given is this:
Banned for 4 months from Wikipedia in compliance with
Remedy 1 in Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/RK, as the
case is now officially closed
You can email Jwrosenzweig or one of the other
administrators to discuss the block.
_______________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Declare Yourself - Register online to vote today!
http://vote.yahoo.com
Hello Wikipedians,
I'm the OpenFilm project coordinator.
OpenFilm is a Open project which aims to create a system like Wikipedia
but for the movies (an open imDB I could say...).
So, as you know the more difficult part isn't to install and project the
DB and the dynamic pages but to create a community!!!
In fact we have thought to you: we would like to link our project to yours
(like a sister project)...is it possible???
Thanks,
the OpenFilm's Staff
EdPoor writes about me:
> Ironically, the very day the ban was
> announced he blithely pounded another nail into
> his coffin by insinuating a fellow contributor was
> a "Nazi"; I distinctly remembering using HTML
> strikeout codes to draw his attention to this error.
> I can't help someone who won't listen.
Ed, please cut it out. Stop attacking the victim and
publicly befriending people who are Holocaust deniers, and
who rely on the Neo-Nazi "JewWatch" wesbite. It is not a
matter of opinion whether or not such attacks and arguments
are anti-Semitic. Jew-baiting of Jayjg and others, by
using "Zionist" as an ad homenin attack, is offensive,
hateful and out of bounds. And was NOT just me who noted
this. What about all the other people who also made
similar accusations of racism against this person?
By repeatedly denying that the Holocaust occured, and by
using Neo-Nazi tactics from Neo-Nazi websites,
HistoryBuffEr has made it clear that he agrees with the
Nazi position on this issue. That is NOT an ad homein
attack; it is a clear and factual description of his own
statements and belief systems.
Responsible members of the Wikipedia community have always
been obligated to point out that such behaviour is
unacceptable. Has something changed on this point?
Jew-baiting always used to be a violation of Wikipedia
rules. Similarly, attacks on black people, and vandalizing
an entry to claim that black people were never taken as
slaves is obviously a gross lie with racist intentions.
Bald-faced attacks on Jews as "Zionists" in a perjorative
sense, against blacks as "niggers", and against homosexuals
as "faggots" is simply wrong.
We cannot let Wikipedia turn into a forum for hatespeech.
If homosexuals are driven away by people who call them
faggots, if Jews are driven away by people who call them
"Arab murdering Zionists", if black people are driven away
by people calling them "niggers",who will be left?
Why do those who make the most outrageous hateful attacks
become valued members of the community, and why do those
who ask for decency become ostracised? That is not a
rational position.
More to the point, MANY of us on Wikipedia have been
working against HistoryBuffEr and his sockpuppet, Alberuni.
It was NOT just me who has taken offense to his repeated
ad homenin racist attacks. Your claims to the contrary are
factually incorrect. In fact, HistoryBuffEr (aka Alberuni)
has a long history of slandering other people in this
racist fashion, AND MANY OTHER WIKIPEDIANS have made the
same complaint. (Hence the proceedings against him.)
Unless you want to ban all of them, you may want to retract
your claims against me.
For issues of such magnitude, please get your facts
straight.
Robert (RK)
__________________________________
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