Hey all,
Please forgive me if this is an inappropriate post as it is my first. In
reviewing a lot of the FAQs about Donations and Donation Matching, I thought
that perhaps it could be a great idea if sites could offer to their users
the ability to pledge a donation in their name.
My thought was this: a small Donate to Wikipedia in __________'s name. could
be placed on e-commerce sites that would allow people to add $1 or $2 to
their order, knowing that it would be donated to Wikipedia. I would be much
more inclined to donate $100. or more to Wikipedia if I could do it at $1
increments and wrap my donation up in my business expenditures. Then
businesses that strongly support Wikipedia could proudly post their
donations on their sites where they could show user contributions as well as
their own donations and the amount they matched, for example. This would
simultaneously boost support for Wikipedia financially, but moreover would
increase public awareness of Wikipedia (Wikimedia as well).
I have given it a great deal of thought, but wanted to pass it by the list
before I spent any more time on the issue. You see I have an expense account
that allows me to purchase equipment//software, etc. and could easily get
away with (legitimately--no deceit) rationalizing the occasional small
donation as part of my expense. But, unfortunately, I have little or no
money personally to donate and I cherish Wikipedia: A day without Wikipedia
is like a day without sunshine.
I am trying to get my company to make at least a small donation since we use
Wikipedia nearly every day and find it to be a terrific resource. Keep up
the great work.
Jase
Feed the 'pedia, Let them know it's cup-rattling time ... I've put a
note on my blog, as has Kat Walsh:
http://reddragdiva.livejournal.com/375133.htmlhttp://mindspillage.livejournal.com/11763.html
If others could follow suit, that would probably be a good thing. If
we're not going to have ads on the site, we need to get the money
other ways. Let EVERYONE know we need their pennies!
(Note I also suggest that if they're not cashed up, they can give us
photos or write stuff!)
- d.
I've been using Gmail and thought you might like to try it out. Here's
an invitation to create an account.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
J.L.W.S. The Special One has invited you to open a free Gmail account.
To accept this invitation and register for your account, visit
http://mail.google.com/mail/a-e691274bdf-4b936b095f-9fcf0691f7
Once you create your account, J.L.W.S. The Special One will be notified with
your new email address so you can stay in touch with Gmail!
If you haven't already heard about Gmail, it's a new search-based webmail
service that offers:
- Over 2,500 megabytes (two gigabytes) of free storage
- Built-in Google search that instantly finds any message you want
- Automatic arrangement of messages and related replies into
"conversations"
- Powerful spam protection using innovative Google technology
- No large, annoying ads--just small text ads and related pages that are
relevant to the content of your messages
To learn more about Gmail before registering, visit:
http://mail.google.com/mail/help/benefits.html
And, to see how easy it can be to switch to a new email service, check
out our new switch guide: http://mail.google.com/mail/help/switch/
We're still working every day to improve Gmail, so we might ask for your
comments and suggestions periodically. We hope you'll like Gmail. We
do. And, it's only going to get better.
Thanks,
The Gmail Team
(If clicking the URLs in this message does not work, copy and paste them
into the address bar of your browser).
Lawrence Lessig has just released the second version of his well/known
book "Code". It is CC-BY-SA and can be bought/downloaded for free at
http://codev2.cc/
Two reasons I mention this here:
1. It was (re)written using a wiki
2. At the beginning, it says:
"Code version 2.0
TO WIKIPEDIA,
THE ONE SURPRISE THAT TEACHES MORE THAN EVERYTHING HERE."
Feeling good,
Magnus
[This didn't get through the first time, so I'm resending it]
Hi all.
I've an open query on OTRS from someone asking about a recent spate of
deletions on the Hungarian wikipedia. Apparently, they have a number
of articles on personal names, which give such features as people with
that name, name-days, etymology and history of the name, closely
related names, and diminutives/petnames ("becenev").
These "becenev" have apparently been deleted from most such articles,
and they're wondering why. Is anyone here active on huwiki and knowing
anything about this? I've not been successful in collaring someone
from there to ask about it...
--
- Andrew Gray
andrew.gray(a)dunelm.org.uk
There is a new version available for download of the Python Wikipediabot
framework. I would advise most people using the framework on Wikimedia wikis
(who does not get it through CVS) to update, because the old version will
not be able to read the allpages special page correctly. Also, those who use
it on a Windows system are advised to download version 2.5 of Python (if
they are still using an older version), because colours are now working for
Windows, but only under Python 2.5. Downloading 2.5 is also advised for
anyone (on any system) who wants to use xml dumps with the bot.
To save space, the current distribution does not include the wordlists,
because they are very large files. Those who want to use
spellcheck.pyshould download them from
http://pywikipediabot.cvs.sourceforge.net/pywikipediabot/pywikipedia/spelli….
Wordlists exist for Dutch and English; wordlists in other
languages are still welcome.
Recent changes in the bot (from the last month, only the most important are
given:
==new bots==
* commonslink.py. This searches for a page with the same name in commons,
and links to it. Currently only working on English and Portuguese Wikipedias
* delete.py. Deletes a group of pages.
==important bugfixes==
* Because of some changes in the wikimedia code, the bot wasn't able to read
[[Special:Allpages]] any more.
* Bot messed up categories or interwikis within <noinclude> tags (the > of
the noinclude was moved to after the categories/interwikis)
==user interface==
* More bots use colour highlighting
* Colours can now be used on Windows systems as well. This requires Python
2.5.
* Transliterated text is now coloured yellow; the stars to denote that
something has been transliterated are only used when using a Windows version
that does not support colours.
==interwiki==
* New option -subcat: When pages are found using -cat, pages from
subcategories are included as well.
==weblinkchecker==
* Does not hang on getting hit by the spamfilter
* Gives less false positives
==various==
* cosmetic_changes.py removes misplaced and extraneous spaces in
wiki-linking syntax
==aids for bot writers==
* in pagegenerators there is now PrefixingPageGenerator, yielding all pages
of which the title starts with a certain text.
--
Andre Engels, andreengels(a)gmail.com
ICQ: 6260644 -- Skype: a_engels
In a research into the most popular websites in the Netherlands for the year
2006, Wikipedia was the largest gainer in the top-20, going up from 45 to
10. The measurement was based on monthly reviews of the sites visited (at
least once) by most internet users. Number 1 Google was visited by 76% (in
2005: 70%) of the internet users, number 2 startpagina by 59% (in 2005:
67%).
The top-20:
1. (1) google.nl
2. (2) startpagina.nl
3. (4) marktplaats.nl
4. (6) msn.com
5. (5) detelefoongids.nl
6. (3) msn.nl
7. (7) postbank.nl
8. (15) bol.com
9. (8) speurders.nl
10. (45) wikipedia.org
11. (11) rtl.nl
12. (12) rabobank.nl
13. (17) nu.nl
14. (10) ebay.nl
15. (9) anwb.nl
16. (28) routenet.nl
17. (21) telegraaf.nl
18. (105) weblog.nl
19. (20) wehkamp.nl
20. (19) ns.nl
--
Andre Engels, andreengels(a)gmail.com
ICQ: 6260644 -- Skype: a_engels
Hi all.
I've an open query on OTRS from someone asking about a recent spate of
deletions on the Hungarian wikipedia. Apparently, they have a number
of articles on personal names, which give such features as people with
that name, name-days, etymology and history of the name, closely
related names, and diminutives/petnames ("becenev").
These "becenev" have apparently been deleted from most such articles,
and they're wondering why. Is anyone here active on huwiki and knowing
anything about this? I've not been successful in collaring someone
from there to ask about it...
--
- Andrew Gray
andrew.gray(a)dunelm.org.uk
I didn't realize Danny Mayer was a cofounder of Wikipedia. You learn
something new every day!
From: "Adriana Iwashko" <IwashkoA(a)newschool.edu>
To: < artdesignstudies(a)newsite.newschool.edu>
Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2006 16:04:36 -0500
Subject: Open Source- The Vera List Center for Art and Politics
Panel Discussion
"Open Source: On the Line"
Monday, December 4, 2006 - 6:30 p.m.
The New School, Theresa Lang Community and Student Center
55 West 13th Street, 2nd floor
New York City
Admission: $8, free for all students, as well as members of
Rhizome.org<http://rhizome.org/>
and New School faculty, staff and alumni with valid ID
Panelists:
Cory Arcangel, artist
Joy Garnett, artist
Patrick May, Director of Technology, Rhizome.org <http://rhizome.org/>
Daniel Mayer, Co-founder, Wikipedia
Laura Quilter, Founder, Fair Use Network
Moderator:
Christiane Paul, Adjunct Curator of New Media Arts, The Whitney Museum
of American Art
A panel on the aesthetic and political possibilities afforded by open
source systems, and related debates around copyright and intellectual
property.
The panelists will examine sites like Wikipedia and
Digg.com<http://digg.com/>as well as
p2p networks and social networking sites, and the practices and
challenges inherent to each. They will also explore artworks, arts
institutions, and businesses that have sought to adopt open source
models, and touch on current challenges to the continuation of this
ethos such as "net neutrality" legislation.
Organized by Rhizome, in association with the Vera List Center for Art
and Politics.
This event is presented as part of the Vera List Center's program
cycle on "The Public Domain," and on occasion of Rhizome's tenth
anniversary.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Friday, December 1, 2006 - 6:00 and 8:00 p.m.
"AIDS and the Politics of Science"
"Beyond Lament: AIDS and the Arts"
2 panels commemorating World AIDS Day, and the 25th anniversary of
epidemic's beginning, organized by the Wolfson Center for National
Affairs
Wednesday, December 6, - 7:00 p.m.
"Image Ownership and Usage in the Digital Age"
Wednesday, December 6, 2006 - 7:00 p.m.
With Michelle Bogre, Parsons The New School for Design
Richard Ellis, Senior Vice President, Getty Images
Barbara Hoffman, Arts and Intellectual Property Lawyer
Presented as part of the Aperture Foundation's series "Confounding
Expectations: Photography in Context."