Unfortunately Jimbo doesn't speak every language that Wikipedia is in. What is
needed, are people who are fluent in both English and another language to act
as intermediaries between Jimbo and foreign language (to Jimbo) press
services.
It would be very unfortunate and embarrassing for all involved if Jimbo
answered his phone and couldn't understand the reporter at the other end and
they could not understand him. So please help by placing your name at
http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia's_first_press_release#Ambassadors_needed
We are also still looking for more translators. Polish, Swedish, Danish, and
Dutch are specifically mentioned and linked to in the press release, but so
far nobody has volunteered to translate the press release into those
languages. I think that doing so would be a great service to especially those
Wikipedia versions. Of course, this press release is mainly about the whole
project, so all versions are encouraged to translate the press release and
distribute it when the time comes.
-- Daniel Mayer (aka mav)
> From: Jimmy Wales
> Evan Prodromou wrote:
> > The main idea is to store as much rights information as possible in
> > machine-readable format. For me, I want to be able to put
> > automatically-generated copyright notices on the printable version
of
> > a page.
>
> Just as a point of reference, machine-readable licensing is a big BIG
> deal to Larry Lessig. He goes on about it every time I talk to him.
>
> I'm not sure I see his point, but I also don't see any harm in it.
>
It all has to with believing that the future will be one of DRM.
Erik wrote on wikitech-l:
>I intend to edit relevant documentation and webpages
>to change the name of the software from "Phase III" to
>"MediaWiki". This is the name that Mav suggested, and
>it fits nicely together with "Wikimedia". Google shows
>that the name is unused. Any objections?
Well, my vote is a foregone conclusion, but 'Make it so!' :)
Hm. Kat suggested that only one big item should be on each press release, so
maybe we can have a separate press release announcing the name change and
talking about the software itself? Release it a week after the previous press
release and direct it toward more techy-oriented news sites. We could also
have a separate press release announcing the grand opening of the Wikimedia
Foundation website and the start of our fundraising drive (since it doesn't
look like that will be set-up by the time we hit 300,000).
-- Daniel Mayer (aka mav)
Vicki Rosenzweig wrote:
> It's hardly surprising that someone
> might not immediately recognize how Wikipedia works.
I have a confession. I barely know how it works, myself. Since I
gave up editing almost completely, so that I might function as a
neutral moderator to assist people with disputes, and so that my own
admittedly extreme political views (libertarian) wouldn't seem in some
way 'favored', many new features have been added, and whenever I do
edit (rarely, and sometimes anonymously, *gasp*!), I find myself a
little bit baffled as to what to do.
[[How to edit a page]] is very helpful, though, if a bit long.
--Jimbo
A belated announcement for the Psychopathology WikiProject.
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Psychopathology
If you have an interest in the science, history or culture or mental
illness, psychiatry, psychology or related topics feel free to pitch in.
Vaughan
Dear Sir/Madam,
HELP!!!!! HELP!!!!! HELP!!!!! HELP!!!!! HELP!!!!! HELP!!!!! HELP!!!!!
HELP!!!!! HELP!!!!!
Courtesy of Google, I read an article on your site a week or so ago. I have
a query about that article, but do not understand from your site
instructions how to raise it with you.
I am not a member do I need to be if I wish to read the articles on your
site, or raise queries about them?
I have already emailed you, but do not really understand the reply which I
received copy of both below.
HELP!!!!! HELP!!!!! HELP!!!!! HELP!!!!! HELP!!!!! HELP!!!!! HELP!!!!!
HELP!!!!! HELP!!!!!
Erik wrote:
>....
>As we become more popular, inevitably, these same
>problematic suggestions and others will be made more
>often. But we're a large community, with many thoughtful
>members like yourself who are aware of the problems,
>and I just don't see us doing anything stupid just because
>we become larger.
>....
I agree.
What I've noticed is that as we get more and more contributors we get more and
more eyeballs checking each edit. So even though the number of bad edits has
increased greatly (which is alarming to some), their percentage of the total
has not changed and IMO has gone down over time. So far this has scaled
really well.
The only problem times are when we are being hit hard due to media exposure.
Then the number of Anon edits increases dramatically; most are good to great
edits but a certain percentage are bad; all have to be checked anyway which
is taxing on old hands (thus the need for the Fire Dept). But after a day or
two things settle down and we get a new group of user accounts and a certain
percentage of these become old hands in no time and Wikipedia is all the
better due to new talent and energy. This also seems to scale very well.
Well-timed and prepared-for media exposure is an investment that pays great
dividends. We should not be afraid of it (esp now that the Foundation can
take donations; we should also seek tax-exempt status in other nations too -
every bit helps).
-- Daniel Mayer (aka mav)
Anthere wrote:
>I am very excited by the first press release for
>wikimedia. Incidently, I thank the one who
>suggested a multilingual release (I think it is
>Mav, but messages get a lost among 95 digests
>...well..).
Yep - it was me. You are welcome!
>Whether the english wikipedia has a
>release for 200000 is good and should be done,
>but a common release for the fundation is ... the
>good way imho.
Unless a bot is set loose, en.wiki will not hit 200,000 articles until at
least December. 150,000 is not a really important milestone for a separate
press release, IMO, especially since the project as a whole will reach
300,000 at about the same time as en.wiki hits 150,000.
>Anticipating :
>1) It may have been said somewhere, but when
>can we roughly said to have reach 300 000
>together ? It does not need to be very precise
>since no journalists will be able to check numbers
>really :-)
I'm thinking the end of the month or early next month. But, IMO, we can
distribute the press release anytime while we are in the 300,000 to 310,000
range. That should give us a little bit more time if we need it.
>2) When is decided that the time is the good
>one for the press release, could we organise
>a sort of schedule ? Each time the english wiki
>has a press release, everything is slowed down,
>last time the german release also had a clear
>impact on availability.
I dunno - there really aren't any slow times anymore. Before the press release
is released one of the developers should disable all non-vital slow features
from the largest 7 wikis.
>Should not we a bit try to schedule an
>order among wikis, or some rough dates,
>so we can smooth the peak ?
It might make sense to hold-off on the English release for a few days while
the other language press releases are distributed. There is a very good
chance that the release of the English version will make the website very,
very slow (en.wiki may have to be in read-only mode for a while once that
happens).
>3) the links at the bottom of the message are
>all english wikipedia oriented ? I saw Youssef
>translation kept the english links. Have other wikis
>did the same or should not we when possible have
>each wiki links (for best prose; wikipedia description...)
Please change those links to point to any corresponding pages in French. You
can also translate the most important parts of the English pages into French
and then link to those new pages. This translating work doesn't have to wait
for the press release on meta to be finished.
-- Daniel Mayer (aka mav)
Hello all,
I am very excited by the first press release for
wikimedia. Incidently, I thank the one who suggested a
multilingual release (I think it is Mav, but messages
get a lost among 95 digests...well..). Whether the
english wikipedia has a release for 200000 is good and
should be done, but a common release for the fundation
is ... the good way imho.
Anticipating :
1) It may have been said somewhere, but when can we
roughly said to have reach 300 000 together ? It does
not need to be very precise since no journalists will
be able to check numbers really :-)
will it be before or after the 200 000 ? How much time
should we respect between these two releases ?
2) When is decided that the time is the good one for
the press release, could we organise a sort of
schedule ? Each time the english wiki has a press
release, everything is slowed down, last time the
german release also had a clear impact on
availability. Should not we a bit try to schedule an
order among wikis, or some rough dates, so we can
smooth the peak ?
3) the links at the bottom of the message are all
english wikipedia oriented ? I saw Youssef translation
kept the english links. Have other wikis did the same
or should not we when possible have each wiki links
(for best prose; wikipedia description...)
4) Eclecticology (and other canadian friends)...could
you look for sending the release to a major canadian
press web site for the french wikipedia ? We need more
canadians on the fr ;-)
Away
Anthere
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
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I was reading an article in Dr. Dobb's journal, on "the halting problem",
embedded
programming, and error handling, and for more information on the halting
problem,
they refer the reader to Wikipedia.
--
Vicki Rosenzweig
vr(a)redbird.org
http://www.redbird.org