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The Signpost: 26 August 2015

News, reports and features from the English Wikipedia's weekly journal about Wikipedia and Wikimedia

The Signpost: 02 September 2015

News, reports and features from the English Wikipedia's weekly journal about Wikipedia and Wikimedia

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Warminster Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Legobot (talk) 00:01, 4 September 2015 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free image File:Lowe Boats logo.jpg

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Thanks for uploading File:Lowe Boats logo.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. --B-bot (talk) 02:35, 10 September 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 09 September 2015

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:2015 Thalys train attack. Legobot (talk) 00:01, 19 September 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 16 September 2015

News, reports and features from the English Wikipedia's weekly journal about Wikipedia and Wikimedia

The Signpost: 23 September 2015

News, reports and features from the English Wikipedia's weekly journal about Wikipedia and Wikimedia

Orphaned non-free image File:Need For Speed No Limits art.jpg

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Thanks for uploading File:Need For Speed No Limits art.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. Sfan00 IMG (talk) 08:50, 3 October 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 30 September 2015

Please comment on Talk:War of 1812

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:War of 1812. Legobot (talk) 00:01, 4 October 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 07 October 2015

News, reports and features from the English Wikipedia's weekly journal about Wikipedia and Wikimedia

You are invited to join the Women in Architecture edit-a-thon @ Cambridge, MA on October 16! (drop-in any time, 6-9pm)--Pharos (talk) 18:27, 14 October 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 14 October 2015

News, reports and features from the English Wikipedia's weekly journal about Wikipedia and Wikimedia

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Volkswagen emissions violations. Legobot (talk) 00:02, 19 October 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 21 October 2015

WikiProject X Newsletter • Issue 5

Newsletter • October 2015

Hello there! Happy to be writing this newsletter once more. This month:

We did it!

In July, we launched five pilot WikiProjects: WikiProjects Cannabis, Evolutionary Biology, Ghana, Hampshire, and Women's Health. We also use the new design, named "WPX UI," on WikiProject Women in Technology, Women in Red, WikiProject Occupational Safety and Health. We are currently looking for projects for the next round of testing. If you are interested, please sign up on the Pilots page.

Shortly after our launch we presented at Wikimania 2015. Our slides are on Wikimedia Commons.

Then after all that work, we went through the process of figuring out whether we accomplished our goal. We reached out to participants on the redesigned WikiProjects, and we asked them to complete a survey. (If you filled out your survey—thank you!) While there are still some issues with the WikiProject tools and the new design, there appears to be general satisfaction (at least among those who responded). The results of the survey and more are documented in our grant report filed with the Wikimedia Foundation.

The work continues!

There is more work that needs to be done, so we have applied for a renewal of our grant. Comments on the proposal are welcome. We would like to improve what we have already started on the English Wikipedia and to also expand to Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata. Why those? Because they are multilingual projects and because there needs to be better coordination across Wikimedia projects. More details are available in the renewal proposal.

How can the Wikimedia Foundation support WikiProjects?

The Wikimedia Developer Summit will be held in San Francisco in January 2016. The recently established Community Tech team at the Wikimedia Foundation is interested in investigating what technical support they can provide for WikiProjects, i.e., support beyond just templates and bots. I have plenty of opinions myself, but I want to hear what you think. The session is being planned on Phabricator, the Wikimedia bug tracker. If you are not familiar with Phabricator, you can log in with your Wikipedia username and password through the "Login or Register: MediaWiki" button on the login page. Your feedback can help make editing Wikipedia a better experience.


Until next time,

Harej (talk) 09:03, 26 October 2015 (UTC)

This is an update from the Wikimedia Affiliations Committee. Translations are available.

The Wikimedia Affiliations Committee is pleased to introduce the launch of the Wikimedia Affiliates mailing list, which is basically a place for all the affiliates (chapters, thematic organizations, user groups) to discuss issues related to affiliates, make announcements to other affiliates, and collaborate on activities and community-wide events. The idea is to help facilitate the dialogue affiliates across our movement, plus collaborative discussions like community-wide activities, joint edit-a-thons, regional conferences, blog/report posts, or other communications from affiliates.

Each Wikimedia movement affiliate is allocated three spots on the mailing list. All affiliates may contact the Affiliations Committee to request additional spots if needed.

Please find a bit more information on Meta-Wiki and do not hesitate to contact the Affiliations Committee if you have further questions.

Thank you - Wikimedia Affiliations Committee

Posted by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of the Affiliations Committee, 07:35, 27 October 2015 (UTC) • TranslateGet helpSubscribe or unsubscribe.

Reference errors on 31 October

Hello, I'm ReferenceBot. I have automatically detected that an edit performed by you may have introduced errors in referencing. It is as follows:

Please check this page and fix the errors highlighted. If you think this is a false positive, you can report it to my operator. Thanks, ReferenceBot (talk) 00:19, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 28 October 2015

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:List of Major League Baseball postseason teams. Legobot (talk) 00:03, 3 November 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 04 November 2015

News, reports and features from the English Wikipedia's weekly journal about Wikipedia and Wikimedia

This is an update from the Wikimedia Affiliations Committee. Translations are available.

The Affiliations Committee – the committee responsible for guiding volunteers in establishing Wikimedia chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups – is looking for new members!

The main role of the Affiliations Committee is to guide groups of volunteers that are interested in forming Wikimedia affiliates. We review applications from new groups, answer questions and provide advice about the different Wikimedia affiliation models and processes, review affiliate bylaws for compliance with requirements and best practices, and advise the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees on issues connected to chapters, thematic organizations and Wikimedia user groups.

The committee consists of twelve members, six of whom are selected every twelve months for staggered two-year terms.

Key skills

Being a part of the Affiliations Committee requires communication with volunteers all over the world, negotiating skills, cultural sensitivity, and the ability to understand legal texts. We try to get a healthy mix of different skill sets in our members. The key skills and experience that we look for in candidates are:

  • Excitement by the challenge of helping to empower groups of volunteers worldwide.
  • Willingness to process applications through a set, perhaps bureaucratic process.
  • Readiness to participate in political discussions on the role and future of affiliates, models of affiliations, and similar questions.
  • Availability of up to 5 hours per week, and the time to participate in a monthly ~2 hour voice/video meeting.
  • International orientation.
  • Very good communication skills in English.
  • Ability to work and communicate with other languages and cultures.
  • Strong understanding of the structure and work of affiliates and the WMF.
  • Knowledge of different legal systems and experience in community building and organising are a plus.
  • Effective communication skills in other languages are a major plus.
  • Experience with or in an active affiliate is a major plus.
  • Willingness to use one's real name in committee activities (including contacts with current and potential affiliates) when appropriate.

We are looking for people who are not afraid of the workload and are motivated by helping other volunteers to get organized and form communities that further our mission around the world.

Selection process

As a reflection of our commitment to openness, transparency, and bilateral engagement with the Wikimedia community, the 2015 member selection process will include a public review and comment period. All applications received by the committee will be posted on Meta (at Affiliations Committee/Candidates/2015), and the community will be invited to provide comments and feedback about each candidate.

At the end of the public comment period, the applications will be voted on by the members of the committee who are not seeking re-election, taking into account comments put forward by the committee's members, advisors, WMF staff and board liaisons, and the community. A final decision will be made by mid-January 2016, with new members expected to join later that month.

How to apply

If you are interested in joining the committee, please send an application to affcom@lists.wikimedia.org by 31 December 2015. You will get a confirmation that your application was received.

Your application should include the following:

  • Your full name
  • Your contact information (including e-mail address and username)
  • A statement describing your relevant experience, skills, and motivation for joining the committee.

Your statement will be published for community review and feedback, so please do not include any information that you are not comfortable sharing.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me and/or the committee as a whole. We are happy to chat or have a phone call with anyone about our work if this helps them decide to apply. Please distribute this call among your networks, and do apply if you are interested!

Best regards,
Carlos Colina
Chair, Affiliations Committee

Posted by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of the Affiliations Committee, 07:35, 27 October 2015 (UTC) • Please help translate to other languages.Get helpSubscribe or unsubscribe.

"Kinross Correctional Facility" needs further updates to reflect facility move

Hi, I just ran across the news that Kinross Correctional Facility has moved to the formerly closed Hiawatha facility. I'm not quite invested enough to look up the facts and update the info fully but I realized that the move makes most of the page very out of date. Nonsuch Ned (talk) 18:54, 10 November 2015 (UTC)

Thank you for the information, I have made some additional edits to reflect this change. --Varnent (talk)(COI) 17:45, 11 November 2015 (UTC)
Sorry for putting it off on you, you missed a key detail (it didn't really close, merely moved) and I had some time, so I worked it on myself after all. and added a couple escape attempts to the page.Nonsuch Ned (talk) 05:00, 12 November 2015 (UTC)
@Nonsuch Ned: No problem! Interesting about the rename. I have made some more updates to try and reflect that. Thank you for your help with this! --Varnent (talk)(COI) 20:53, 12 November 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 11 November 2015

News, reports and features from the English Wikipedia's weekly journal about Wikipedia and Wikimedia

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Legobot (talk) 00:03, 18 November 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 18 November 2015

News, reports and features from the English Wikipedia's weekly journal about Wikipedia and Wikimedia

Hi,
You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:33, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

This is a message regarding the proposed 2015 Free Bassel banner. Translations are available.

Hi everyone,

This is to inform all Wikimedia contributors that a straw poll seeking your involvement has just been started on Meta-Wiki.

As some of your might be aware, a small group of Wikimedia volunteers have proposed a banner campaign informing Wikipedia readers about the urgent situation of our fellow Wikipedian, open source software developer and Creative Commons activist, Bassel Khartabil. An exemplary banner and an explanatory page have now been prepared, and translated into about half a dozen languages by volunteer translators.

We are seeking your involvement to decide if the global Wikimedia community approves starting a banner campaign asking Wikipedia readers to call on the Syrian government to release Bassel from prison. We understand that a campaign like this would be unprecedented in Wikipedia's history, which is why we're seeking the widest possible consensus among the community.

Given Bassel's urgent situation and the resulting tight schedule, we ask everyone to get involved with the poll and the discussion to the widest possible extent, and to promote it among your communities as soon as possible.

(Apologies for writing in English; please kindly Translate this message into your own language.)

Thank you for your participation!

Posted by the MediaWiki message delivery 21:38, 25 November 2015 (UTC) • TranslateGet help

The Signpost: 25 November 2015

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Legobot (talk) 00:04, 3 December 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 02 December 2015

News, reports and features from the English Wikipedia's weekly journal about Wikipedia and Wikimedia

The Signpost: 09 December 2015

News, reports and features from the English Wikipedia's weekly journal about Wikipedia and Wikimedia

The Signpost: 16 December 2015

News, reports and features from the English Wikipedia's weekly journal about Wikipedia and Wikimedia

Please comment on Talk:Madison Young

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Madison Young. Legobot (talk) 00:00, 20 December 2015 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free image File:Basic Rights Oregon logo.png

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Thanks for uploading File:Basic Rights Oregon logo.png. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. --B-bot (talk) 03:25, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 30 December 2015

News, reports and features from the English Wikipedia's weekly journal about Wikipedia and Wikimedia

Please comment on Talk:Poland

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Poland. Legobot (talk) 00:01, 4 January 2016 (UTC)

The Signpost: 06 January 2016

News, reports and features from the English Wikipedia's weekly journal about Wikipedia and Wikimedia

The Signpost: 13 January 2016

Please comment on Talk:Charli XCX

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Charli XCX. Legobot (talk) 04:23, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

WikiProject X Newsletter • Issue 6

Newsletter • January 2016

Hello there! Happy to be writing this newsletter once more. This month:

What comes next

Some good news: the Wikimedia Foundation has renewed WikiProject X. This means we can continue focusing on making WikiProjects better.

During our first round of work, we created a prototype WikiProject based on two ideas: (1) WikiProjects should clearly present things for people to do, and (2) The content of WikiProjects should be automated as much as possible. We launched pilots, and for the most part it works. But this approach will not work for the long term. While it makes certain aspects of running a WikiProject easier, it makes the maintenance aspects harder.

We are working on a major overhaul that will address these issues. New features will include:

  • Creating WikiProjects by simply filling out a form, choosing which reports you want to generate for your project. This will work with existing bots in addition to the Reports Bot reports. (Of course, you can also have sections curated by humans.)
  • One-click button to join a WikiProject, with optional notifications.
  • Be able to define your WikiProject's scope within the WikiProject itself by listing relevant pages and categories, eliminating the need to tag every talk page with a banner. (You will still be allowed to do that, of course. It just won't be required.)

The end goal is a collaboration tool that can be used by WikiProjects but also by any edit-a-thon or group of people that want to coordinate on improving articles. Though implemented as an extension, the underlying content will be wikitext, meaning that you can continue to use categories, templates, and other features as you normally would.

This will take a lot of work, and we are just getting started. What would you like to see? I invite you to discuss on our talk page.


Until next time,

Harej (talk) 02:53, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

The Signpost: 20 January 2016

News, reports and features from the English Wikipedia's weekly journal about Wikipedia and Wikimedia

Please comment at this RfC

Your input is requested by an editor at RfC on the 'Veganism' article 19:11, 1 February 2016 (UTC)

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:9/11 conspiracy theories. Legobot (talk) 04:23, 3 February 2016 (UTC)