Wikimedia-l June 2008

wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org

127 participants
110 discussions

[Foundation-l] Arabic Wikipedia blocked in Syria
by Mohamed Magdy 11 Jun '08

11 Jun '08

Hello Our Syrian users reported that Arabic Wikipedia access from Syria is being blocked (reading and editing), the block started since 30/4/2008. The rest of the languages are working properly. Advanced users can bypass the block and view and edit (proxies) but the problem is that the majority cannot get past the block. We don't know the reasons yet for this stupid block. Is there anything to be done to help lift the block? -- --alnokta

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[Foundation-l] A newer look at the interwiki link
by Nikola Smolenski 11 Jun '08

11 Jun '08

Some time ago, http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/A_new_look_at_the_interwiki_link was proposed, which aimed to ease the hanfling of interlanguage links. However, it didn't progress very far, as no technical solution existed for central interlanguage link handling it envisioned. I have now created a MediaWiki extension http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Interlanguage which gives the technical solution and renewed the proposal at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/A_newer_look_at_the_interwiki_link . Comments, suggestions, critiques are welcome. You may see the extension at work at http://testwiki.smolenski.rs .

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Re: [Foundation-l] Stalking Article
by Durova 11 Jun '08

11 Jun '08

> Durova's point is that in her case, law enforcement was unable and unwilling > to help. Apathetic would be an understatement. Willfully negligent might be > even more appropriate. I think her point is that we ought to consider what > actions the foundation can take to assist individuals in cases where the > courts and law enforcement aren't a recourse. > Some of them might best be persuaded by having a couple of burly motorcyclists show up for a discrete discussion. ;-) ---- Actually in my case they were able but unwilling until I used the wonderful democratic system we have in my country. You see, the city in question was Los Angeles. Jim Hahn, city attorney, had decided to run for mayor. I brought full documentation of my case to the campaign of his opponent, Antonio Villaraigosa. Both were in a runoff election. Within days of my consultation, the outgoing Republican mayor Richard Riordan endorsed Villaraigosa. It was rather unusual that that the Republican decided to support the more liberal of two Democrats. -Durova -- http://durova.blogspot.com/

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Re: [Foundation-l] Stalking Article
by Durova 11 Jun '08

11 Jun '08

Durova wrote: > At some point Sarah was talking about people involved in this becoming > admins and crats on other wikis. This is what has me confused. Are the > people Gerard is refering to the same people Sarah is refering to about > becoming admins on other language wikis? > > Birgitte SB > ---- > You would have to ask Sarah and clarify with Gerard. If Gerard was > referring to the example I read to him, the individual never had special ops > on any project. There exist a variety of such people, though. > > I don't see Birgitte as a a person given to rash conclusions; she is probably more careful than most about questioning them. Comments about some stalker being an admin or bureaucrat do become a part of the landscape. You may even be talking about two different people. In time these stories tend to merge. Ec ---- Ray, I call 'em like I see 'em. Your responses at this thread consistently have the tone and content of someone who has not been paying requisite attention to the material. In no way did I imply that Birgitte makes rash conclusions. Nor did I comment about any stalker being an admin or bureaucrat. It was SlimVirgin who made that assertion, not me. The opening post of this thread linked to a Digg page about an Article by David Shankbone. You made a number of tangential posts, then failed to recognize his name when I used it. It was I who started that Digg and David cited me in his article. Three times this week I have posted to my blog on the topic, including a full quote and a diff of a threat against David. I posted it long before you requested that type of example here. The word "prejudice" means premature judgment: to reach a conclusion before examining adequate evidence. -Durova -- http://durova.blogspot.com/

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Re: [Foundation-l] Stalking Article
by Geoffrey Plourde 11 Jun '08

11 Jun '08

Would this be a issue for a Wikicouncil or a specialized working group? ----- Original Message ---- From: Gerard Meijssen <gerard.meijssen(a)gmail.com> To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List <foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org> Sent: Monday, June 9, 2008 4:27:44 PM Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Stalking Article Hoi, It would be one of the issues for a project / volunteer council.. Having a platform to get these issues trashed out makes sense. Having the Foundation involved can be a bad idea on many levels. However, not addressing this is bad in and of itself. Sure the projects are not monolithic, and there has been many examples of people who did not do too good on one project to be perfectly at home in another project. When stalking is perpetrated by admins, when the policies are clear how stalking can be dealt with, make sure that these admins get blocked first and de-adminned second.. Not doing this is giving in to the dark side. What I would like to know from people like Mike, Erik or Sue is what room they have to get involved in this issue. When this is better understood, it gives a clue to those opposed to stalkers what more and what else needs to be done. Thanks, GerardM On Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 1:12 AM, Nathan <nawrich(a)gmail.com> wrote: > SlimVirgin wrote: > > > Dan, I feel we've almost left it too late. We currently have a > > situation where several of those involved in some of the stalking > > sites have been promoted to admins, and many more are regular editors > > who routinely pursue editors they don't like -- via wikistalking, > > RfCs, RfArs, and reports on AN/I -- in order to make their time on > > Wikipedia miserable. Shortly after people were shocked that > > NewYorkBrad was outed and left the project, one of the three people > > who was instrumental in trying to out me in 2006 was promoted to > > bureaucrat on another WMF project, with the support of FloNight of the > > ArbCom. What kind of message does that send? > > > > The message it sends is that projects are not administrated as a monolith, > and rules vary from project to project while generally not taking into > account the history of a user on other projects. You've mentioned "other > project" actions several times - perhaps the next stage to approach would > be > developing a way to handle these serious conduct issues in a cross-wiki > way. > What I think the Foundation has been trying to stay away from is getting > deeply involved in the user administration aspects of operating Wikimedia > projects. There are various good reasons for this, reasons that make > attempting other mechanisms worthwhile before involving the WMF directly. > > Nathan > _______________________________________________ > foundation-l mailing list > foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l > _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l

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[Foundation-l] Survey translations - final call
by Erik Moeller 11 Jun '08

11 Jun '08

I apologize for the spam, but I promise this is my last public call for help. :-) We now have 41 people lined up either as translators or reviewers. I will start distributing the spreadsheets tomorrow. Of the big languages, it would be good to have additional translators/reviewers especially in Russian, Spanish, Italian, Swedish and Japanese. (We have all these languages covered in theory, but only one person assigned to each of them.) But, help in any language will be needed -- we can divvy up relatively easily where it makes sense. This will be the first large scale, multilingual survey of our readers & contributors. It's serious and important stuff. If you can, please help. Instructions here: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/General_Survey_Translation Thanks! -- Erik Möller Deputy Director, Wikimedia Foundation Support Free Knowledge: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate

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[Foundation-l] Stalking Article
by Geoffrey Plourde 11 Jun '08

11 Jun '08

All; http://digg.com/security/Stalkers_Haunt_Wikipedia_s_Volunteers This article has been posted to digg and is rapidly getting hits. I am asking that anyone with a digg account (easy to create, free of charge) go ahead and digg this article. Cyberstalking is a real issue. Regardless of whether or not you agree with the victim's ideology, this can not be allowed to continue. RickK left because his family was threatened. By acting we can stop this menace beofre someone is hurt.

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Re: [Foundation-l] Stalking Article
by Durova 10 Jun '08

10 Jun '08

Dan, I feel we've almost left it too late. We currently have a situation where several of those involved in some of the stalking sites have been promoted to admins, and many more are regular editors who routinely pursue editors they don't like -- via wikistalking, RfCs, RfArs, and reports on AN/I -- in order to make their time on Wikipedia miserable. ---- Have a look at this report. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Long_term_abuse/JB196 and the size of these categories http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_sockpuppets_of_JB196 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Suspected_Wikipedia_sockpuppets_of_JB… Not only was the sheer volume of socking a monumental hassle in itself JB196 invented an insidious attack that could be applied to nearly any subject. 1. Create a bunch of socks. 2. Select unreferenced but verifiable articles where the sources are mostly found in dead trees, not online. This makes it slower to provide references. 3. Tag a bunch of articles for lack of verification, simultaneously. 4. While editors are busy referencing some of those articles, delete referenced sections from other articles. 5. Prod the tagged articles that aren't referenced yet. 6. AFD. 7. Wash, rinse, repeat. One guy can do serious damage to the database that way, just by overwhelming a wikiproject. And since JB196 chose a lowbrow topic to attack, the volunteers there found it difficult to solicit help from anybody else. JB196 played around for months, years. Good editors quit Wikipedia in frustration because of him. SirFozzie is the main reason we put the damper on that guy. SirFozzie went to Wikipedia Review to represent a Wikipedian perspective in their dialog with an aim of building bridges. Obviously, I disagree with his decision because I have never registered there. Yet I respect that as an act of conscience. I also respect SirFozzie's act of conscience when, for several months, he resigned from WR in protest over the Mantanmoreland malware issue. It's best not to paint with too broad a brush. -Durova -- http://durova.blogspot.com/

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Re: [Foundation-l] Stalking Article
by Durova 10 Jun '08

10 Jun '08

At some point Sarah was talking about people involved in this becoming admins and crats on other wikis. This is what has me confused. Are the people Gerard is refering to the same people Sarah is refering to about becoming admins on other language wikis? Birgitte SB ---- You would have to ask Sarah and clarify with Gerard. If Gerard was referring to the example I read to him, the individual never had special ops on any project. There exist a variety of such people, though. -Durova -- http://durova.blogspot.com/

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Re: [Foundation-l] Stalking Article
by Durova 10 Jun '08

10 Jun '08

Once people have started using a word in a certain way you can't start pretending that they haven't. ---- We got people to stop citing WP:VAIN because it was impolite. This is far more serious. -Durova -- http://durova.blogspot.com/

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Wikimedia-l June 2008