I've just spoken to Rory by phone, and managed to touch on a number of different topics with him - including the Usability Initiative, the bookshelf project, Britain Loves Wikipedia and other local events, etc. There were lots of issues that I didn't cover (different language versions, strategy, different viewpoints on the numbers, ...), so I would encourage others to also get in touch with him. I'm generally uneasy about talking about these particular numbers, as it isn't yet clear to me either how accurate they are or what exactly they mean. As a scientist, I'm very hesitant to talk about results as if they're black and white, as they rarely are - unfortunately that's how the media like doing things, hence the stories that are coming out about how wikipedia is dying - again. Odd how it never actually seems to die... For information, I spoke briefly to the author of the article from the Times on Monday, but referred him to Jay at the WMF as I didn't real comfortable talking about the numbers. Unfortunately, Jay's in Tokyo for the japanese wikiconference this week, hence wasn't able to respond to the Times before they ran their story. I've had no other calls/emails from any other media organizations about this story. Mike On 25 Nov 2009, at 11:33, Steve Bowbrick wrote:

Michael Peel wrote: > I've just spoken to Rory by phone, and managed to touch on a number > of different topics with him - including the Usability Initiative, > the bookshelf project, Britain Loves Wikipedia and other local > events, etc. There were lots of issues that I didn't cover (different > language versions, strategy, different viewpoints on the > numbers, ...), so I would encourage others to also get in touch with > him.

> I've had no other calls/emails from any other media organizations > about this story.

Also - someone is needed for BBC News tonight between five and six. I can't, but I've forwarded the email to WMUK and the WMF comcom. Basically someone who can be at a BBC TV studio anywhere in the country around then!

On Wed, 2009-11-25 at 13:08 +0000, Gordon Joly wrote: Apparently, Mr Ortega's work is based on people who register an account and make one edit or more. The WMF stats are based on slightly different metrics; only people with five or more edits are classed as "contributors". I am not a scientist or, more importantly, a statistician. But, these seem like radically different criteria for an analysis.

The Press Association are looking for comment.

2009/11/25 Douglas Gardner <microchip08(a)btinternet.com>om>: I agree, Charles did a good job. Made some good points while playing down all the sensationalism. Well done! _______________________________________________ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l(a)wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org

I've had no other calls/emails from any other media organizations about this story.

Michael Peel wrote: I shortened that link.... http://bit.ly/8uGDlF I have not read the reports, or the actual research, but what does "leave" actually? Some people make a statement, others just stop editing. Gordo _______________________________________________ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l(a)wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org