WikiEN-l September 2007

wikien-l@lists.wikimedia.org

133 participants
274 discussions

25 Jul '09

At http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cool_Wall we had a complete list of cars which appear on the BBC Top Gear "Cool Wall". I removed this as being almost certainly a violation of copyright. It is now being argued that reproducing the list in full does not violate copyright, because it is not published in the show's magazine or on the website and has been compiled by collating the lists from numerous shows. It is further asserted that compiling the list from these shows does not constitute original research, although there is no known reliable secondary source for any of the data, let alone the complete collated list Original research? You decide. Copyright? I think so, but what do I know? Fancruft? Ooooh, tricky :-) Guidance appreciated. Guy (JzG) -- http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:JzG

30 191

Our content gets *everywhere*
by Andrew Gray 24 Dec '07

24 Dec '07

It worries me a little that I can spot Wikipedia text a mile off - our house style isn't that obvious, is it? - but it seems to be one of those little skills you pick up after a while. Very useful for marking school essays, I'm sure. Anyhow, I was packing up some boxes today, and happened across the box for the Nokia 770 (a really useful little bit of kit, incidentally), which shows someone merrily using the device to chatter away to a friend on an instant messenger. For some reason, the friend is writing something to them about poetry. I looked at the sentence. Something went click. "Kim: A poem is a composition usually written in verse. Poems rely heavily on imagery, precise word choice, and metaphor, may be written in measures consisting of" [...] http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Literature&oldid=3562677 I'm used to seeing our content reused all over the place, but somehow I didn't expect to see fragments used as lorem-ipsum filler on a box cover... -- - Andrew Gray andrew.gray(a)dunelm.org.uk

17 68

There are no pictures in Wikipedia any more
by Steve Summit 13 Oct '07

13 Oct '07

You know, the number of Wikipedia articles with pictures in them is really plummeting. I just went from [[Talia Shire]] to [[Joey Tribbiani]] to [[Matt LeBlanc]] and noticed that there were no pictures in any of them. I know the reason(s), of course, but viewing Wikipedia as a user (as I was this morning), this really significantly decreases its quality and usefulness. I'm afraid I know the answer, but would there be any way of reversing the various death-to-all-but-the- most-rampantly-free-images trends?

33 136

Too announcement : WatchFlickr
by Magnus Manske 08 Oct '07

08 Oct '07

In response about the discussion on wikien-l about fair use and placeholder images for biographies (and other things?) I have written a new tool, WatchFlickr. Given a category (at selectable depth), it retrieves all articles in that category, checks if it lacks an image, and if so, searches Flickr for relevant CC-BY and CC-BY-SA images. It shows found flickr thumbnails, links to the wikipedia and flickr page, and to Flominator's Flinfo tool. Not that due toolserver problems, several wikipedias, notably en, are not available to search right now. German wikipedia works, though, in case you want to test. URL: http://tools.wikimedia.de/~magnus/watchflickr.php I have already found, uploaded, and used about a dozen "celebrity" images, both adding a new image and (on en.wp) replacing fair use and placeholder images. Cheers, Magnus

5 20

Banality threshold
by charles.r.matthews＠ntlworld.com 05 Oct '07

05 Oct '07

This is a new thread to discuss CSD A7. The Category for Speedy Deletion A7 is a menace. It is far too open to misuse. It should be replaced by something with far less discretion. My question is: we need a banality threshold, but which one? We do need articles speedied if they are without redeeming interest. A7 is broken, and builds on the idea that notability (another broken idea) and its "assertion" can be properly judged by individuals. What is there that can be put in its place? How can we better characterise "run-of-the-mill" ? Charles ----------------------------------------- Email sent from www.virginmedia.com/email Virus-checked using McAfee(R) Software and scanned for spam

21 63

Indefinite ban problem
by Daniel R. Tobias 02 Oct '07

02 Oct '07

People want examples of how "none of the thousand or so admins wants to unblock them" doesn't adequately describe the "community" ban process? How about this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/I ncidents/Blu_Aardvark_and_Mistress_Selina_Kyle Synopsis: Linuxbeak unblocks Blu Aardvark and Mistress Selina Kyle. A whole page of drama-queen histrionics and hissy-fits erupts, with some prominent admins loudly storming away from Wikipedia in a huff (they were soon back), and people demanding that Linuxbeak apologize, admit to a grave error of judgment, and possibly be desysopped or debureaucratted. The fact that Jimbo apparently supported Linuxbeak's action was dismissed as irrelevant. Anybody who in any way supports the unblocking of these individuals is deemed a supporter of stalking, harrassing, anti-semitism, and other rotten stuff. They're quickly reblocked. -- == Dan == Dan's Mail Format Site: http://mailformat.dan.info/ Dan's Web Tips: http://webtips.dan.info/ Dan's Domain Site: http://domains.dan.info/

4 3

Dealing with overenthusiastic speedy nominators (was There are no pictures in Wikipedia any more)
by David Gerard 01 Oct '07

01 Oct '07

On 29/09/2007, David Gerard <dgerard(a)gmail.com> wrote: > In an effort to hold back the tide of goldfarming speedy-tagging, I've > been going to these page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Importance_or_significance_not_assert… > and removing clearly bogus speedy tags, and leaving a commenter on the > tagger's page something like: > > ==Clearly erroneous A7== > > The speedy criteria are hard and don't stretch - please take more care > with these. (This is becoming a matter of > [http://www.andrewlih.com/blog/2007/09/10/two-million-english-wikipedia-arti… > public] [http://www.andrewlih.com/blog/2007/07/10/unwanted-new-articles-in-wikipedia/ > concern] and PR problems, so a few people are looking at all CSDs and > particularly A7s lately.) Thanks! - ~~~~ - d.

11 14

salt list
by NavouWiki 01 Oct '07

01 Oct '07

I've started a discussion at [[Wikipedia_talk:Protection_policy#Private_Salt_pages]]. NAvou

6 10

Re: [WikiEN-l] [Wikipedia-l] Indefinite ban problem
by Daniel R. Tobias 01 Oct '07

01 Oct '07

On 30 Sep 2007 at 21:14, fredbaud(a)waterwiki.info wrote: > I must admit I have never seen any positive contribution to either > the mailing list or policy discussions on Wikipedia from you. It's > like you live in an abstract world where our practical problems > are not known. I live in a world of logic and reason and sense... I guess that *is* pretty far from the real world at that. -- == Dan == Dan's Mail Format Site: http://mailformat.dan.info/ Dan's Web Tips: http://webtips.dan.info/ Dan's Domain Site: http://domains.dan.info/

2 1

Re: [WikiEN-l] [Wikipedia-l] Indefinite ban problem
by charles.r.matthews＠ntlworld.com 01 Oct '07

01 Oct '07

> Then, please, Charles, write and discuss what you see. > > Marc This is what WP:RFAR is for; or if that is excessive, the weekly summary at WP:POST in the Signpost. It happens that Arbitration takes in about 100 of the most serious disputes on enWP in a year. To summarize from an Arbs point of view: our caseload is harder, because more of the disputes are entrenched. Many issues are related to conflict of interest, nationalism, politics or religion. Akl one, really, from our point of view: people abusing the facilities of the site, to skew the content. More of this, every day. Other problem areas: - High profile admins throwing their weight around: something of a constant here, the names changing but the attitudes remaining. The half-life of such an admin is around nine months, I think. Attracts a disproportionate amount of attention. Our version of "canteen culture" meets office politics. - Deletion has its share of bottom-feeders. - The working environment of the average editor has probably not deteriorated much socially, given that there were always people around on the site wasting your time. Technically things are much improved. Jimbo's influence is much attenuated, for better or worse. The constitutional monarch retreats to the palace, or even his personal Marly. On the other hand, the degree of external scrutiny of the site is vastly increased, and this has led to some jittery times. I recommend editing articles. Really, it all makes more sense if you look at the working enviroment in terms of the work. Charles ----------------------------------------- Email sent from www.virginmedia.com/email Virus-checked using McAfee(R) Software and scanned for spam

2 1

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WikiEN-l September 2007