[Foundation-l] Wikizine Opinion - Year: 2011 Week: 39 Number: 129 BIS

EN Wikizine info-en at wikizine.org
Sun Sep 25 15:40:44 UTC 2011


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                 |_|                               EDITION

         Year: 2011  Week: 39  Number: 129 BIS

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             An independent internal news bulletin
           for the members of the Wikimedia community

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=== Wikizine needs YOU! ===

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beginning of that task. To push the movement into that direction,  
Wikizine needs your '''bold''' ideas and personal perspectives! Send  
your ideas to us or simply add them into the appropriate section. What  
YOU think can change the world!

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=== Contents ===

*Editorial
** Wikizine
** In the mean time on foundation-l...
** Wikinews: Criticism and fork
** Song of the week
*Personal perspective: The cows of Jimmy Walker
*In the news
Time machine
** 10 years ago
** 5 years ago
*From Wikipedia

=== Editorial by Milos ===
==== Wikizine ====

As you can see, there are two regular and one irregular editions of  
Wikizine. Wikizine News should stay more or less like Wikizine always  
was: plain news for Wikimedia community. Breaking News or Tech Flash  
are for irregular editions for important news and they existed before,  
as well.

Wikizine Opinion or Talk Edition or Weekend Edition (we still want to  
get your input about the name of this edition!) should be for longer  
reading, over weekends.

You can see that there are five main parts of this edition:  
"Editorial", "Personal perspective", "In the news", "Time machine" and  
"From Wikipedia".

Of those, "Time machine" debuts in this edition. It's about events in  
and around the Wikimedia community ten and five years ago. We should  
remind ourselves of past events and still modern ideas.

Thanks to Walter, Wikizine got its gopher [1] site [2]. Gopher existed  
before the web and it was a non-graphical hypertext protocol. Just  
~150 gopher sites left on the Internet by now. I was very happy when I  
realized that. My only objection is that we have to find a way to have  
the whole site in pure gopher menus and text, as some of the pages are  
in HTML, which is a shame! You know, we are geeks, at last :)

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher_%28protocol%29
[2] gopher://gopher.wikizine.org/

==== In the meantime on foundation-l... ====

Like with any good soap opera, after years of discussions about nudity  
on Wikimedia projects and filtering it, you didn't miss anything! If  
you join now, you would see the same people, the same relations  
between them, the same intrigues, but in brand new packaging. But,  
most importantly, something which you can't do with soap operas, YOU  
can raise a pro or contra argument a year old and people would discuss  
it seriously and with the same passion as it was at the beginning!  
Once again, Wikimedia community proved that it's as vital as it was  
years ago.

On my Gmail account I have 43 foundation-l threads for the period of  
17-23 September. Of those:
21 about image filter and similar, including another of Larry Sanger's  
self-promotional tweets
3 about forking Wikinews
3 about friendly organizations
4 chapter-related
3 WMF and tech related
2 related to languages
3 posts by internal bulletins (Wikipedia Signpost and Wikizine)
4 miscellaneous

==== Wikinews: criticism and fork ====

Wikinews was featured on foundation-l for the first time this month  
when it was complained that the English Wikinews project has a  
"codified bias toward non-Western articles" [1].

 From a personal perspective, I can say that the English Wikinews,  
unlike  the English Wikipedia, has a significant number of native  
English speakers who are not willing to accept non-English sources for  
anything: news source or proof that a Wikinewsie is good enough editor  
to become accredited journalist. A couple of years ago, I had a hard  
time trying to convince them to give accreditation to one Serbian and  
one Polish Wikinewsie. But, fortunately, the core of editors are sane  
enough.

Last week The Open Globe [2][3], a Wikinews fork, was created. That  
triggered long discussions about Wikipedia's sister projects and their  
ability to be self-sustainable.

----

In 2007 I made a deal with Beta News Agency [4], the main  
privately-owned news agency from Serbia, to give to Wikinews short  
news for free. The deal is, actually, that we've got everything from  
Beta's site under CC-BY 2.5 license. As you can see, besides Serbian,  
there are news services in English [5], Hungarian [6], Romani [7] and  
Albanian [8]. Four existing and one non-existing edition are able to  
get high quality news, mostly from Serbia.

A bot is running on Serbian Wikinews and adding news from Beta.  
Because of that, Serbian Wikinews has almost as many articles as all  
other Wikinews editions [9].

However, the bot on Serbian Wikinews is not running presently,  
actually. For about two weeks there has been a problem with harvesting  
and I have to fix it. I'll do that, but the problem is the fact that  
one substantial part of one project depends only on the free time and  
willingness of one volunteer.

For four years I was trying to find just ''one'' more person  
interested in developing and maintaining the bot, but I didn't find  
anyone. With two persons, we could maintain not just Serbian Wikinews,  
but other Wikinews editions, as well.

----

News is not news two days after it has been published. Only those who  
research a specific event read old news. Thus, one task is to "fix"  
encyclopedic article, the other is to do that with news.

Because of that Wikinews is not attractive to trolls, but it isn’t  
attractive to regular editors of Wikipedia, either.

The main problem with Wikinews is the lack of the fulfillment which  
Wikipedia offers: What did I do? Wrote an article which was popular  
for two days, one week?

Writing news requires another kind of motivation. Relevant  
encyclopedias shape cultures. Relevant news outlets shape public  
opinion. As our contemporary society is based on short-term goals,  
there is much more competition in writing news than in writing  
encyclopedias. The threshold for making a news outlet relevant is  
insanely high.

But, it is possible to change things!
While waiting for ''one'' WMF programmer devoted to Wikinews (there  
are a lot of programmers devoted to Wikipedia), if one volunteer  
programmer would be interested in programming bots for Wikinews, we  
could use the bot not just for the English Wikinews additionally, but  
for other Wikinews editions as well.
WMF should employ at least one person to deal with Wikinews. Many  
persons are employed to deal with Wikipedia.
WMF should promote Wikinews and the other sister projects. There are  
other projects beside Wikipedia and Commons in the Wikimedia family.

[1]  
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2011-September/067943.html
[2] http://theopenglobe.org/
[3]  
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2011-September/068277.html
[4] http://www.beta.rs/
[5] http://www.beta.rs/default.asp?lan=en
[6] http://www.beta.rs/default.asp?lan=hu
[7] http://www.beta.rs/default.asp?lan=rm
[8] http://www.beta.rs/default.asp?lan=al
[9] http://www.wikinews.org/

==== Song of the week ====

The song of the week is [1]. Lyrics could be found, for example, here [2].

[1] http://tinyurl.com/66ctj3g
[2] http://tinyurl.com/6cdgnvm

=== Personal perspective ===

Joan Goma [1] wrote the text for this edition of Wikizine's Personal  
opinion. Joan Goma is the president of Associació Amical Viquipèdia  
[2][3], an organization which wants to be recognizes as the Wikimedia  
chapter for Catalonia [4].

[1] http://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usuari:Gom%C3%A0
[2] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Associaci%C3%B3_Amical_Viquip%C3%A8dia
[3] http://www.viquimedia.cat/
[4] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_CAT

==== The cows of Jimmy Walker ====

In a far away country there was a town known as English where people  
engaged in the milk business. This is a very tricky business because  
you have to care for the cows, giving them food, milking them and sell  
the milk.  The amount of milk that the cows gave never matched  
completely with the one needed by the population and this generated  
problems. To solve them they had tried all kinds of organizational  
systems. In a quarter of the town, if you had two cows then the  
district council took up the cows and they manage them taking in mind  
the needs of the population and not the selfishness of the owner. But  
then nobody had much interest on looking after them and they died. In  
another quarter they let you have the cows but they took away the milk  
from you, this way the cows were cared of because there was that one  
who was interested on maintaining them and then the council decided  
how the milk was distributed according to the needs of the population  
and not based on who was richer. Then the owners of the cows had  
almost no income die of hunger or boredom, then no one will take care  
of the cows and the cows died. In another quarter they allow you to  
kept the cows and milk then you sell a cow and buy a bull have more  
and more cows and more and more milk then the price of milk falls so  
that you could neither feed the cows nor pay the salaries of the  
employees who looked after the cows and the cows eventually also died.  
[1]

One day a farmer named Jimmy Walker, with several crosses and genetic  
experiments, he obtained a new race of cattle. They were cows that  
give an infinite amount of milk and that did not eat any fodder. Those  
cows were very nice and many people liked to look after them, liked  
them so much that they were willing to do it for free.
Jimmy started his farm with a new business model. He distributed the  
milk for free. At first nobody believed that this may work. Some said  
some cattle cared for by unpaid volunteers may not give good milk in  
any way. To take care of cows should be well prepared and very  
responsible. Others said that carers are volunteers, that cares for  
one day that they presented by his nickname instead of their real name  
and we do not know if they are really responsible for taking care of  
the cows. Others said that what costs nothing is worth nothing.

But Jimmy went ahead and the milk turned out to be better every day to  
the extent that many farmers folded because they could not compete  
with the milk of high quality and for free delivered by Jimmy. The  
business expanded. First milk was distributed only to the English  
town, and then he opened farms in other villages, opened in a town  
known as German, and in another known as Catalan. The people from  
Catalan town were quick to raise cows and started right away, [2]  
others did take a couple of months but the business also did well and  
soon was extended to more and more towns to virtually all world. [3]

On growing the first problem arose. Although the cows did not eat and  
caregivers did it for free, distribute milk cost money. At first Jimmy  
did not mind paying it out of his pocket but there was a moment that  
could not. Then he decided to set up a non-profit foundation. To find  
a way the foundation have income to pay the costs of transporting milk  
at the beginning he thought that maybe he could put ads on milk  
bottles. But then those that looked after the cows told him that they  
did not agree with this that, if he made this, they no longer wanted  
to continue caring for the cows for free.

Then he remembered a day walking around Prague had seen that some  
musicians played for free and the people who wanted giving them money.  
He thought that, as it was only necessary to pay the transport of the  
milk, perhaps there would be enough of maintaining the milk for free  
and without advertisements and asking those drinking the milk that  
give what they want. Said and done and the system worked.

The system worked so well that the foundation, with the money raised  
not only paid transport costs but also hired people to make technical  
improvements in the stables and to manage the storage and transport of  
milk, donations and legal requirements of handling money.

Some of those that looked after the cows were not very happy that  
others get paid while they worked for free. So Jimmy set up elections  
so that a few members of the Board of Directors of the foundation were  
chosen by carers of the cows. Thus, as the work of the foundation was  
necessary for delivering of the milk and improve the cow stables  
caregivers agreed to continue caring for them for free.

To encourage carers of cows foundation began to organize annual  
meetings called cow-mania and began to create local chapters of  
caregivers of cows. Encouraging carers to create associations and  
allowing them to use the brand of milk to promote its drink and to  
encourage more people to look after the cows.

Seeing that everything worked so well a new economic theory appeared.  
It was named cow-economics. The cow-economics consisted in obtaining a  
race of animals that they grew up without eating, like Jimmy's cows,  
and they should be very friendly then encouraging a community to take  
care of the animals for free. At the beginning of each business a  
small company paid the expenses of distributing the products obtained  
from animals and of organizing festivals and competitions to keep  
happy the community of caregivers. The products were given away for  
private consumption but they put advertising on packaging, they asked  
for donations and charged fees for uses for profit.

The cow-economic companies began to populate the economic system.  
Companies spent a lot of resources to studying the psychology of the  
caretakers of animals and build very user-friendly stables. Emerged a  
lot of companies like cow-how (engaged in the wool obtained from  
sheep), face-cow (who worked in chicken eggs) and so on, all of them  
with many benefits.

Suddenly the business of Jimmy began to see signs of crisis. The  
number of cattle keepers had stopped growing and began to fall. The  
amount of milk consumed also began to stop growing and it seems that  
also began to fall.


Faced with these threats Jimmy Walker tried to strengthen the chapters  
letting them raise the money from donations. The chapters were  
organized not by town but they were organized by race. There were many  
races on the basis of skin colour. There were races of people with  
different shades ranging from white to black. In the case of the  
English people they did not have a single chapter, but they were  
divided into several chapters according to the colour of the skin of  
the caregivers. In the case of the Catalan town they asked to have a  
chapter for all the people of the town because they were a small town  
and they feel comfortable working altogether. The Catalan people was a  
very strange people who didn’t liked to discriminate people by skin  
colour and therefore they do not see anything good  in being separated  
on the basis of skin colour. But their request was denied. They told  
them that they had to join the people of their same race, although  
they were of different towns because at the time of collecting  
donations and distributing the milk it was done according to race and  
not according to the town where the people lived and the laws on taxes  
and tax deductions were based on race and not the town ... The truth  
is that there were cases where town agreed with a single race. Then  
they could have a chapter. There were also cases of very large  
villages where the village had many races that only lived in this  
place then those villages could have several chapters. The problems  
were in the small towns where people was of the same races than people  
living in neighbour villages that were much larger. They could not  
have a chapter. But since these were small towns that do not matter to  
anyone (except to themselves) the problem stayed unsolved.

Several problems arose. Some chapters raise the money  but not paid to  
the foundation what had agreed to contribute to the maintenance of the  
common expenses of distribution of milk. Others had the money in the  
bank and did not use them for anything. Others used it but not  
explained where they spent or what results they obtain. Although the  
primary law of this country was "presuppose good faith", seeing that  
there was always a very bad caretaker of cows non-compliant with the  
law that might thought that there were some kind of incompetence in  
handling of money or even corruption.

Moreover, sometimes there were problems among caregivers of cows and  
the chapters and or the foundation. The chapters were associations of  
people where not all partners were cattle keepers neither all of  
cattle keepers were associated. The foundation, although carers of  
cows appointed a few members of its governing body, had gone ahead  
with several initiatives which had upset carers of cows.

Another problem arose because not all races had the same economic  
level. The white races were very wealthy and were used to give money  
to non-profit activities. But the black was very poor and  did not  
have the habit of making donations. The money collected was going  
mainly to the chapters of the white races and almost none to the  
chapters of the black races. In some cases such as in the Spanish town  
most of the caregivers, were quite dark but recently had created a  
chapter of white people that would raise the most of the money.

 From here the story takes three finals. Choose what you like.

===== Final 1=====

(Centralization and decline)

Seeing all this chaos Jimmy turned to his leadership in establishing a  
system where money collected by the bodies of different races had to  
pledge for transparently managing the money and for transferring a  
large extent to the foundation and chapters in need in accordance with  
established rules. The Foundation will control and monitor the entire  
system.

The chapters fiercely opposed to it but as the foundation had the  
upper hand in controlling the distribution of milk, they had to accept  
it.

Then the foundation was tried to copy what the cow-economic companies  
did: Manage the community of caregivers making activities to attract  
more and redesign the stalls of cows so that they were more user  
friendly.

But the milk business is not as fun as wool or eggs. In addition, the  
foundation did not have as much money as companies engaged in this  
business because it could not place ads. Neither could count on much  
help from the chapters that were quite annoying. With a centralized  
structure with few resources could not encompass the diversity of  
races and towns with as much efficiency as other companies did.


Gradually caregivers were leaving the business. Some because they were  
bored, others because they sympathized with the chapters that were  
annoying for the affair of the money, others were simply move on to  
other business more fun without such problems, others assembled their  
own farms of cows aside. Of course there was a small core remained of  
irreducible who continued for a long time. They included the Catalan  
town; their only interest was providing their town a great deal of  
high quality milk.

As the cows gave infinite milk, the foundation could continue  
distributing milk for a long time. But nothing was ever as before again.

===== Final 2 =====

(The chapters assault the foundation. General rush)

Seeing that Jimmy was proposed that the foundation overseeing the  
management of the money by the chapters, that not all chapters will be  
allowed to collect directly, and even proposed that the foundation  
appoint members in Chapters Board.

The chapters were quick to react against this approach. They set up a  
council of chapters to join forces with to face the foundation. With  
this organization they planned the assault of the foundation.

There were two members of the Board of the foundation that were  
traditionally chosen by the chapters. On the first occasion of  
renewing these charges ensured that the two new members of the Board  
agreed with its approach.

There were three more chosen by the community of caregivers of cows.

The community of caregivers of cows was totally disorganized, most had  
no idea what was going on. The only keepers of cattle that were  
organized and were informed they were the affiliated to chapters. Only  
10% followed somehow what was discussed and they where basically the  
people's from the English town. The other towns were far away and were  
not aware of these discussions.

In the next election, the council of chapters orchestrated a good  
campaign. They promoted the presentation of three good candidates  
related to their postulates and asked the chapters to put all their  
influence to promote the vote for these candidates.

The result was a success. The 3 new members were those who promoted  
the chapters. With 5 members of the Board they had majority and were  
able to change the rules of the game to their taste.

The first thing that they did was change the way of appointing members  
of the Board. They increased the number of members appointed by  
chapters and lower the appointment of experts in various fields and  
those named by the community of caregivers of cows. This will ensure  
that they could continue controlling the foundation for ever more.

Then they left the foundation limited to the activities of  
distribution of milk and improvement of stalls. All that was raising  
money, promoting the consumption of milk and attract new carers of  
cows was in the hands of the chapters.

In each town the outcome was very different.

There were towns with only one race that had a good understanding  
between the chapter and the community of caregivers of cows, in these  
cases, besides if they were white and could raise a lot of money had  
very good cards in the game. For the German town things went very well.

Other towns had people of many races.

In the case of the English town the majority they were of white race.  
There were not many problems between the chapters and the community of  
caregivers. They saw many discussions and many caregivers left the  
business. But as its farm was very big it continued giving milk.

In the case of the Spanish town there are many races but the skin  
colour of the majority was rather dark. Only whites they have good  
funding. In the community of caregivers, there were many critics of  
the chapters and the foundation. They were devoted to discuss among  
themselves. They fill pages and pages of discussion and were becoming  
less dedicated to caring for cows.

Worst of all was for small towns. In small towns there were not enough  
people in any race to have its own chapter. All chapters were in  
bigger towns. They were left without money to promote that the people  
take care of their cows. Many towns were abandoned and are now ghost  
towns where nobody lives there. In some cases such as the Catalan  
people were riding back to the chapter of the Foundation and the  
Council of Chapters and they raise funds on their own to promote the  
business of milk for his people.

===== Final 3 =====

(The French Revolution. Communities in power)

The keepers of cattle were beginning to see those tings were going  
wrong. They were not organized. Each town was living without much  
contact to the other and few people where involved in the tasks of  
organizing the farm. Most limited their activity to care a little cow  
and nothing more. Only when something happened that attracted much  
attention a few of them went out and make hear their voice.

But Jimmy remembered that the original spirit of the project included  
the caregivers of the cows that had to decide how best to organize the  
farm, therefore suggested to organize the keepers of cattle so that  
they could help to fix the problem.

The first step was to go for new blood. Those that is usually limited  
to caring for the cows and not saying anything more. Off course, there  
were many and not all were constant carers. Many were limited to go to  
the farm care for a cow during one day and never return. He thought  
that a reasonable approach would be bringing together all keepers of  
cattle that had the right to vote to choose the members of the board  
of the foundation. These were the ones that had helped to look after  
the cows for a long period and still continued doing it recently.

To go up to meet and talk to each other had to organize them by town.  
No matter the skin colour of each one. Said and done. In each town  
created a Council composed of all caregivers eligible to vote. The  
Council appointed representatives who took care of the relations with  
other towns. The representatives of the town stayed alert of the  
affairs of the various farms and the distribution of milk and made a  
summary report to the Council. Every 3 months they sent this report to  
each member of the Council to keep them up to date. Also organized  
discussions among Council members when there were important issues and  
collected the outcome. The representatives of each town were gathered  
together to form a General Council of Cattle Carers.

The Council of each town allocated trusted caretakers of cows the task  
of supervising the chapters that were in the town, also ensured that  
the chapters of the richest races handed the money to the poorer  
chapters to get the best for the whole of the town.

The General Council ensured that all chapters handed the money to the  
foundation for the distribution of milk, to improve the stable, and to  
support activities to attract carers in the towns where there was no  
chapter .

Once organized caregivers, and once checked that everyone was involved  
(not just the same as always that in many cases had already been  
organized into chapters) then Jimmy changed the status of the  
foundation increasing the number of members of board elected by the  
communities so that caregivers so that they were majority. In this way  
the system was stabilized. The case of small towns that previously  
could not have a chapter they discuss the matter with the Council of  
its town. Some decided to agree with chapters of neighbouring  
villages, others like the case of the Catalan town, decided to create  
its own chapter and were able to promote the business of milk in her  
town as everyone else. In the end most people were having a chapter  
that promoted the business of milk, either own or a neighbouring  
village who had come to an agreement.

With the house tidy, take care of cows was more fun than ever. In  
addition, the foundation could concentrate on making a much better  
stable. This gave a whole new air. The global milk market grew slowly  
and sooner or later they would cover all the demand.

In order to grow since they were enthusiastic about the subject, on  
the one hand they revived some businesses that had already begun and  
that they had not succeeded. Business of cheese, yoghurt etc. that did  
not work because they needed different facilities that the business of  
milk. They were focused on research and develop these infrastructures.

They also began to start new business ideas as the business of honey.  
At first this business was small but gradually grew and reached beyond  
the milk business.

===== References =====

[1] This is a summary. In fact they tried many more systems of  
organization. You can find a more expansive collection here:  
http://coffeehouse-economics.blogspot.com/2008/02/different-ways-of-market-systems-cow.html
[2] Although it has nothing to do and it is a pure coincidence,  
something similar happened with Wikipedia:  
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Multilingual_monthly_statistics_%282001%29&oldid=18596064
[3] Jimmy Walker became famous. Even the diplomatic cables of the  
United States made some a follow-up of its movements. As can be seen  
thanks to Wikileaks. By mistake they attribute him the foundation of  
Wikipedia but obviously should say cow-pedia:  
http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2008/11/08SANTIAGO1015.html

=== In the news ===

[In defense of Wikipedia] - Bryn Neuenschwander aka Marie Brennan, an  
American fantasy author, wrote on the Science Fiction & Fantasy  
Novelists site an article called "Research for Writers #2: In Defense  
of Wikipedia". A good sum of the arguments in favor of Wikipedia. The  
Guardian and Arabian Business have stories about her, as well.
http://www.sfnovelists.com/2011/09/16/research-for-writers-2-in-defense-of-wikipedia/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Brennan
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/sep/18/hari-fake-quotes-training-peter-preston
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/dubai-bashing-journo-hari-admits-plagiarism-420786.html

[Unethically abusing Wikipedia] - The Economist published a story  
about Independent journalist Johann Hari, who used a pseudonym to  
harass rival journalists and edit the Wikipedia article about himself.  
He made a personal apology in the Independent. Wikizine reported about  
this incident in the previous Opinion Edition.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/bagehot/2011/09/unethical-journalism
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-a-personal-apology-2354679.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Hari
http://en.wikizine.org/2011/09/wikizine-opinion-year-2011-week-38.html
http://blog.tommorris.org/post/10400620996/hari-gate-behind-the-scenes-at-wikipedia

[Wikipedia accurate on cancer facts, but...] - DoctorsLounge published  
an article about the study "Wikipedia Accurate on Cancer Facts, But  
Hard to Read". That story has been republished by a number of news  
outlets.
http://www.doctorslounge.com/index.php/news/hd/23109
http://www.rocketnews.com/2011/09/wikipedia-accurate-on-cancer-facts-but-hard-to-read-study-healthday-2/
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2011/09/16/wikipedia-cancer.html
http://machineslikeus.com/news/cancer-information-wikipedia-shown-be-accurate
http://news.yahoo.com/wikipedia-accurate-cancer-facts-hard-read-study-231410261.html
http://www.foxcarolina.com/story/15478525/wikipedia-accurate-on-cancer-facts-but-hard-to-read-study
http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2011/9/19/wikipedia-content-on-cancer-is-accurate-but-dense-study-finds.aspx
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_116511.html

[Poor readability] - In related news, instead of transferring the  
whole news about cancer facts, French Tribune extracted in a  
sensationalist way just "Wikipedia Offers Poor Readability!" Anyway,  
what should be expected from an organization which keeps default  
Drupal favicon on their site!
http://frenchtribune.com/teneur/117221-wikipedia-offers-poor-readability
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Favicon
http://tinyurl.com/6c22ff7
http://drupal.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drupal

[Jimmy Wales travels] - Jimmy Wales meets with Carlos Slim, the  
richest person in the world; discusses (on the beach) carbon emissions  
with Tony Blair.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-20/scene-last-night-carlos-slim-jimmy-wales-stephen-wolfram-picasso-kin.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Slim
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/of-beach-sand-war-and-carbon/

[Book on Obama plagiarized Wikipedia] - White House attacks author of  
book on Obama, author responds.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/09/white-house-officials-attack-book-author-with-whom-they-cooperated/
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/white-house-refutes-confidence-men-book-suggests-portion-lifted-from-wikipedia/
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/63991.html

=== Time machine ===
==== 10 years ago ====

[19 September] - English Wikipedia User:The Cunctator proposed the  
creation of a 9/11 wiki.
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2001-September/000478.html

[20 September] - Larry Sanger announced an article in The New York  
Times about Wikipedia.
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2001-September/000475.html

[23 September] - Larry Sanger reported that Richard Stallman had  
called Wikipedia "exciting news".
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2001-September/000486.html
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2001-September/000489.html

==== 5 years ago ====

[16 September] - Jimmy Wales announced Board elections and supported  
Oscar van Dillen and Kat Walsh.
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2006-September/023349.html
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2006

[16 September] - Delpine Menard published a shortlist of Wikimania  
2007 candidates: Alexandria, London, Taipei, Torino.
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2006-September/023358.html

[16 September] - Citizendium announced.
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2006-September/023373.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizendium
http://en.citizendium.org/

[16 September] - Rob Levin, aka lilo, President of the Peer-Directer  
Projects Center which operates irc.freenode.net, died in an accident.
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2006-September/023396.html

[17 September] - Florence Devouard made a report from her visit to  
Abuja and posted her ideas about the development of Wikimedia projects  
related to Africa.
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2006-September/023408.html
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2006-September/023409.html

[18 September] - Larry Sanger published his first post on  
citizendium-l, Kat Walsh reposted it on foundation-l.
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2006-September/023452.html

[18 September] - Jeffrey V. Merkey wrote about events related to  
Cherokee and Navajo languages.
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2006-September/023456.html
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2006-September/023457.html

[18 September] - Angela Beasley informed us that Tim Starling had  
surgery, but everything went well.
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2006-September/023487.html

[18 September] - KDE wanted to use Wikiversity to train developers.
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2006-September/023518.html

[19 September] - Discussion about methods to elect ArbCom started.
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2006-September/027672.html

[21 September] - David Gerard wrote the essay "Wikipedia:100,000  
feature-quality articles". Discussion about it started on wikipedia-l.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:100K
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2006-September/027683.html

[21 September] - Samuel Klein on Board elections.
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2006-September/027698.html

[22 September] - Samuel Klein's essays "Wikipedia and the networked  
society", "Dreams, goals, and milestones", "Reflection and research:  
User surveys", "Parallels with other volunteer efforts & foundations"
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2006-September/027699.html
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2006-September/023641.html
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2006-September/027700.html
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2006-September/023642.html
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2006-September/027701.html
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2006-September/027702.html

[22 September] - Erik Zachte created galleries of Main Pages of a  
couple of different Wikipedias.
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2006-September/027710.html
http://infodisiac.com/Wikipedia/Gallery/Gallery.htm
http://infodisiac.com/Wikipedia/Gallery/GalleryWayBack.htm

=== From Wikipedia ===

[WikiProject Cannabis] - WikiProject Cannabis is dedicated to  
improving Wikipedia's coverage of cannabis, including articles  
relating to hemp and marijuana legislation, effects, policies, trends,  
activists, organizations, culture, and other aspects of the plant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Cannabis

[Caral] - Caral was a large settlement in the Supe Valley, near Supe,  
Barranca province, Peru, some 200 km north of Lima. Caral is the most  
ancient city of the Americas, and is a well-studied site of the Caral  
civilization or Norte Chico civilization. Caral was inhabited between  
roughly 2600 BC and 2000 BC, enclosing an area of more than 60  
hectares. Caral was described by its excavators as the oldest urban  
center in the Americas, a claim that was later challenged as other  
ancient sites were found nearby. Accommodating more than 3,000  
inhabitants, it is the best studied and one of the largest Norte Chico  
sites known.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caral
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norte_Chico_civilization

[Loveland frog] - The Loveland Frog (otherwise known as the Loveland  
Lizard) is said to be a humanoid creature with the face of a frog and  
is described as standing roughly 4 feet (1.2 m) tall with green  
leathery skin. It walks upright and has webbed hands and feet, and was  
allegedly first spotted in Loveland, Ohio. It is generally considered  
a cryptid—a creature rumored or reported to be living, but with no  
confirmable proof.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loveland_frog

[Argan oil] - Argan oil is an oil produced from the kernels of the  
argan tree, endemic to Morocco, that is valued for its nutritive,  
cosmetic and numerous medicinal properties. The tree, a relic species  
from the Tertiary age, is extremely well adapted to drought and other  
environmentally difficult conditions of southwestern Morocco.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argan_oil

[Clathrate gun hypothesis] - The clathrate gun hypothesis is the  
popular name given to the hypothesis that rises in sea temperatures  
(and/or falls in sea level) can trigger the sudden release of methane  
from methane clathrate compounds buried in seabeds and permafrost  
which, because the methane itself is a powerful greenhouse gas, leads  
to further temperature rise and further methane clathrate  
destabilization – in effect initiating a runaway process as  
irreversible, once started, as the firing of a gun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrate_gun_hypothesis

[Fan death] - Fan death is a widely held belief prevailing in South  
Korea that an electric fan left running overnight in a closed room can  
cause the death of those inside. Fans sold in Korea are equipped with  
a timer switch that turns them off after a set number of minutes,  
which users are frequently urged to set when going to sleep with a fan  
on.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_death

[Turritopsis nutricula] - Turritopsis nutricula, the potentially  
immortal jellyfish, is a hydrozoan whose medusa, or jellyfish, form  
can revert to the polyp stage after becoming sexually mature. It is  
the only known case of a metazoan capable of reverting completely to a  
sexually immature, colonial stage after having reached sexual maturity  
as a solitary stage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turritopsis_nutricula

[Prora] - Prora is a beach resort on the island of Rügen, Germany,  
known especially for its colossal Nazi-planned touristic structures.  
The massive building complex was built between 1936 and 1939 as a  
Kraft durch Freude (KdF) project. The eight buildings are identical,  
and while they were planned as a holiday locale, they were never used  
for this purpose. The complex has a formal heritage listing as a  
particularly striking example of Third Reich architecture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prora

[Victoria Woodhull] - Victoria Claflin Woodhull (September 23, 1838 –  
June 9, 1927) was a 19th century American who was described by Gilded  
Age newspapers as a leader of the American woman's suffrage movement.  
She is most famous for her sensational 1872 campaign to run as the  
first female candidate for the Presidency of the United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Woodhull

[Marsupial reproductive system] - Marsupials' reproductive systems  
differ markedly from those of placental mammals (Placentalia). Females  
have two lateral vaginas, which lead to separate uteri but both open  
externally through the same orifice. A third canal, the median vagina,  
is used for birth. This canal can be transitory or permanent. The  
males generally have a two-pronged penis, which corresponds to the  
females' two vaginas. The penis is used only for discharging semen  
into females, and there is instead a urogenital sac used to store  
waste before expulsion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsupial#Reproductive_system

[Misophonia] - Misophonia, literally “hatred of sound,” is a form of  
decreased sound tolerance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misophonia

[Literaturwurst] - Literaturwurst (Literature Sausage) is an Artist's  
book, made by the Swiss-German artist Dieter Roth between 1961 and  
1974. Each book was made using traditional sausage recipes, but  
replacing the sausage meat with a book or magazine. The cover of the  
edition was then pasted onto the skin of the sausage and signed and  
dated.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literaturwurst

[1% rule] - In Internet culture, the 1% rule or the 90–9–1 principle  
(sometimes also presented as 89:10:1 ratio) reflects a theory that  
more people will lurk in a virtual community than will participate.  
This term is often used to refer to participation inequality in the  
context of the Internet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1%25_rule_%28Internet_culture%29

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