Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2011-12-12/Featured content
Featured content
Wehwalt gives his fifty cents; spies, ambushes, sieges, and Entombment
This edition covers content promoted between 4 and 10 December 2011.
Two sides of the Walking Liberty half dollar, the subject of a new featured article. The obverse (left) features a depiction of Lady Liberty walking towards the sun. The reverse (right) depicts a Bald Eagle, the National Bird of the United States, rising from a mountaintop perch. Wehwalt, who brought the article to FA, gives us an anecdote of his experiences below.
This week, the Signpost interviewed Wehwalt, who has made significant, often critical contributions to 60 featured articles and numerous good articles. Wehwalt, who began editing in 2005, shares some of his experiences on the encyclopedia.
- Featured articles. I first edited Wikipedia in 2005, and I think, like most of us, they were minor edits at first; I remember it took me some time to get the hang of referencing. I got into FAs quite accidentally. I saw the Borat movie and not surprisingly looked it up on Wikipedia and did some editing work. Lenin and McCarthy at the time was pushing it forward and eventually got it through FA and TFA; I was along helping him out. I really didn't understand what FA was yet, but it was a good apprenticeship. Then I started working with AuburnPilot and Kww to push Natalee Holloway through FA, which was not easy. FA is famously not easy to break into and there were definitely some difficult moments, but it all worked out and I think the article has held up to time quite well. We keep it updated. I then did my first solo article, Jena Six, which perhaps has not held up as well due to relatively few articles that allow me to update it. I think the next one, Albert Speer was my first really good article on my own. It is very difficult to write neutrally about Hitler's best friend.
- Ensuring the quality of older featured articles. The major problem I have with my oldest articles is deadlinks. I've never had a FAR, but if I see there's a high number of deadlinks, I go back and take care of them. I find the writing in my older articles a bit more stiff than I do today and I go back and modify where I can.
- Important things for new editors to learn. The social aspect of Wikipedia is important—I don't see how it would work without it—but the tendency towards endless time-wasting drama is very unfortunate. That being said, it was probably inevitable that it would happen, as we build a social structure "backstage" at Wikipedia, and as that structure becomes increasingly important to editors.
Featured articles
Five featured articles were promoted this week:
- Walking Liberty half dollar (nom), nominated by Wehwalt. The Walking Liberty half dollar, a US coin first minted in 1916, came to life after director of the US mint Robert W. Woolley misunderstood the law, believing he was required to replace all coin designs that were more than 25 years old. After a competition, Adolph A. Weinman was selected to design the 50-cent piece. It was initially feared that his complex design, difficult to strike, would have to be replaced by a simpler one. Although this did not come to pass, the Walking Liberty was replaced by the Franklin half dollar in 1948.
- Battle of Kaiapit (nom), nominated by Hawkeye7. The Battle of Kaiapit, between Australian and Japanese forces, took place from 19 to 21 September 1943. The Australian 2/6th Commando Squadron, under the command of Captain Gordon King, assaulted the Japanese-held town of Kaiapit in what is now Papua New Guinea. After capturing the town to use the area as an airfield, the Australian forces defeated a much larger Japanese assault; when the battle was over, the Japanese had lost at least 214 men, while the Australians lost 14. As a result of the battle, the 7th Division was able to be flown in and reinforce the area, preventing further Japanese assault on nearby Australian-held towns.
- The Entombment (nom), nominated by Ceoil and Truthkeeper88. The Entombment (pictured on right) is a glue-size on linen painting by Dirk Bouts, an Early-Netherlandish painter. Probably completed between 1440 and 1455, the painting began its life as a wing panel for a large hinged polyptych altarpiece and may have been part of a series showing the life of Jesus and his crucifixion specially commissioned for export to Venice. One of the few remaining glue-sizes from the 15th century, it is now located in the National Gallery in London after being aggressively acquired in the mid-to-late 1800s.
- Persoonia levis (nom), nominated by Casliber. Commonly known as the broad-leaved geebung, Persoonia levis is a shrub that is endemic to the eastern states of New South Wales and Victoria. Reaching 5 metres (16 ft) in height, the plant can live for up to 60 years and produces yellow flowers in summer and autumn, later followed by fruit (known as drupes). Living in a fire-prone environment, P. levis propagates using epicormic buds and ground-stored seed banks.
- USS Arizona (BB-39) (nom), nominated by Sturmvogel 66 and The ed17. The USS Arizona, an American battleship, was completed during World War I yet did not see action during that war. After escorting President Woodrow Wilson to the Paris Peace Conference, it was sent to Turkey in 1919 and, several years later, joined the US Pacific Fleet. Spending most of its time participating in training exercises, the Arizona moved to Pearl Harbor in 1940. In the Japanese attack on 7 December 1941, the ship was sunk while berthed, killing 1,177 officers and crewmen; the Japanese attacks led to the US entering World War II. Over the Arizona's wreckage, there is now a floating memorial, dedicated in 1962.
Featured lists
One featured list was promoted this week:
- List of James Bond films (nom), nominated by SchroCat. The James Bond series, based on Ian Fleming's series of the same name, consists of 22 canon and 2 non-canon films, with another in production. The series, the second-highest-grossing of all time, has featured seven actors in the titular role. The highest-grossing of these, Thunderball, earned four times as much as the lowest-grossing Licence to Kill, adjusted for inflation (right).
Featured pictures
Two featured pictures were promoted this week:
- Capri Centre Belvedere (nom; related article), by Paolo Costa. The new featured image shows a 180-degree view of the Italian island of Capri, which has been inhabited since prehistory and was once connected to the mainland. Visible in the picture are the belvedere in Capri centre (much frequented by tourists), as well as the luxury yacht A (below).
- Three countries bridge (nom; related article), created by Taxiarchos228 and nominated by Crisco 1492. After previously failing in May by half a vote, the image passed narrowly this week. It depicts the Three Countries Bridge, which connects France and Germany and is located 200 metres (660 ft) from Switzerland. The world's longest single-span pedestrian and cyclist bridge, it was officially opened in 2007 (right).
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