User talk:Jimbo Wales

As I'd already brought to this talkpage's attention

 

 

 

 

<-- This navigational template to Wales's talkpage archives (left margin) no longer includes its most recently added archive pages (cos I think its template maxes out at a total of 50 entries). Any suggestions on how to work around this limitation? ↜Just M E here , now 08:56, 13 September 2009 (UTC)

Perhaps this would be better at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)? --Malcolmxl5 (talk) 22:12, 13 September 2009 (UTC)

A solution that doesn't require waiting for the developers is to merge every 2 archives into 1. Move the contents of Archive 2 into Archive 1; move the contents of Archives 3 and 4 into the now empty Archive 2, and so on. —Finell (Talk) 01:50, 14 September 2009 (UTC)

I have a much easier fix. Check out User:UncleDouggie/test2 and you'll see all of Jimbo's archives. The template works just fine. It's whatever bot is building User_talk:Jimbo_Wales/archivelist that's causing the problem. We could just create a User_talk:Jimbo_Wales/archivelist_manual for now and update it manually. I did just this but put the page at User:UncleDouggie/test for my test. It could just be moved over. Then, change the archives template at the top of this page to point to it as I did in User:UncleDouggie/test2. Note that I disabled search because I don't have Jimbo's archives in my userspace so it doesn't work. It'll be fine in his userspace. The new archives line should be:

{{archives|archivelist=User talk:Jimbo Wales/archivelist_manual|small=yes|collapsed=yes|search=yes}}

We might also setup a second archive tree if we're worried about having the list get too long, which I suspect is the reason the bot currently bails at 50. I don't know if we can build one index for both trees together. If not, one would have to search in two places to find everything. I'll leave this experiment for someone else. The search box on Jimbo's page is currently able to pull up "Ashida Kim" out of archive 50. Perhaps a judicious choice of basename for the second tree will make it all work. UncleDouggie (talk) 06:24, 14 September 2009 (UTC)

Wow, thanks, Uncle Douggie. Geez, would you or some other technowiz (or at least non-technophobe) pleez incorporate the fix onto Wales's talkpage? ^{;^)} ↜Just M E here , now 00:14, 16 September 2009 (UTC)

Wikimedia Italia in trouble

Hi Jimbo, you will certainly be already informed about the maxi-lawsuit against Wikimedia Italia and Frieda. I used a subpage to draft out a few notes which imho could be of some interest for the generality of the users, given that Wikimedia Italia is receiving the lawsuit instead of "Wikipedia", so it intimately regards WP. If you think that the page would be inappropriate, please delete it and excuse me; otherwise please move it where you think it should be better to put it. At the moment I believe that what happened needs to be known abroad and that WMI and Frieda need to feel 'Pedians around them. Thank you :-) --g (talk) 11:03, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

How unfortunate that in Italy a plaintiff can readily bring action against a party (or parties) who are not directly responsible for the damages caused the plaintiff. However, that being said, I believe we will see that by playing off the name and reputation of Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation, it's just this sort of thing to which chapters and chapter heads are making themselves vulnerable. And, even more unfortunate, I think you will see just how amazingly aloof the Wikimedia Foundation will make itself on this particular crisis; Section 230, self-preservation, unwillingness to be seen as a responsible publisher, and all that. Good luck, Frieda! I hope your service to the cause of the Foundation was worth the ensuing legal hassle. -- Thekohser 15:49, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

I hope Mike and perhaps the EFF can help them out a bit. Assistance in finding good and experienced italian legal representation, is probably the first point of order. This isn't the first problem we have seen in Italy is it ? I remember someone else from Italy threatening with a lawsuit. Not sure if that ever went anywhere. Does anyone have the links ? —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 12:07, 16 September 2009 (UTC)

Was that Giovanni Di Stefano? Hut 8.5 12:22, 16 September 2009 (UTC)

Was it this [1]? 207.34.229.126 (talk) 13:45, 16 September 2009 (UTC)

No, Dominici was a hoax. And no, Giovanni Di Stefano has never been involved with it.wiki or WMI. Frieda (talk) 19:27, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Security issues in Mediawiki

Jimbo, were you aware of the 37 security holes that have been identified in Mediawiki software? Patching these should be a priority, in my opinion. Do you share that opinion? -- Thekohser 17:32, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

The security holes in question don't apply to versions of MediaWiki 1.13.4 or later, as far as I've seen. The current release version is at least 1.15, and Wikimedia runs the Wikimedia-specific branch of 1.16α. I'd say that those bugs aren't a priority anymore. :) {{Nihiltres|talk|edits}} 03:36, 16 September 2009 (UTC)

Security issues in software are omnipresent. Only by not working on the functionality of the software and continuously focusing on and investing a lot of time in a single version of the software can you ever hope to come close to eradicating most security issues. The alternative is to hide your issues from the public, but that does not hide them from hackers. Security issues will always be present, and when they become known, developers should fix and users should upgrade. Anyone who does not know these things, should not be involved with maintaining software. The 'false sense of security' is a problem of users, who by nature often put to much trust in what they do not fully understand. The same can be said of teenage girls who think they can trust the person on the other side of the webcam. (small hint, there is only one solution, it's called education and not Free software-bashing). —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 12:02, 16 September 2009 (UTC)

Paid spam writers

Dear Mr Wales;

I would like to inform you of this page: Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Desiphral. Basically, I spotted some paid editing adverts lately and went on sites such as Elance to investigate. I noticed that Elance user Tayzen, who was banned per an AN discussion, is still at it. In my opinion, users evading bans through sockpuppets and adding egregious corporate vanity for personal profit is of grave concern to Wikipedia. Don't get me wrong, I spot plenty of articles that are obviously paid editing, however most of them are on pretty innocuous subjects ("the history of spas"). However, this user has responded with attacks, refusal to cooperate, misrepresentation of my words and overall bad faith. Your input on this matter is appreciated.

Thank you, Triplestop x3 22:31, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

What are you asking be done? Unless I'm missing something here, the system worked well to get these sockpuppet accounts rapidly blocked. UncleDouggie (talk) 04:27, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

I assure you, no amount of blocking and/or banning and/or tarring and feathering is halting (or even slowing) the paid editing phenomenon. Good luck. It's the encyclopedia "anyone can edit", as far as I can see. -- Thekohser 11:45, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

It is most certainly slowing "the paid editing phenomenon". The blocking and banning of known paid-editing accounts discourages many potential paid editors, spammers, et cetera. The threat of being outed is significant enough that I've observed ("in the wild") at least two independent non-Wikipedians consider and then dismiss the idea as carrying too much risk of backlash. Virgil Griffith's WikiScanner software has helped that impression, too. You're an outlier, Greg—your success in this field is atypical. Save the gloating for a real victory. {{Nihiltres|talk|edits}} 19:52, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Not sure where to take this, so posting it here

Hi Jimbo, It is 8:43pm, eastern time and this article, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_unnamed_hurricane, looks blank. There's a title, and then the categories, and nothing else. At first I thought some prankster had blanked the article, but when I went back in the article's history, they all look the same; blank. I'm thinking this must have something to do with the software updates that are being applied at this moment. Since I don't know who is doing the applying, I'm bringing this to you. --*Kat* (talk) 00:47, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

It comes up blank when I look at it, but not if I access the current version from the history.[2] Ty 01:26, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

I did a dummy edit from that one (current from history) and it seems to be OK now. Strange. Ty 01:29, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Explanation: Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)#Vanishing_articles.3F Ty 07:43, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Kewl, thanks Ty!--*Kat* (talk) 19:10, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Belly Dancer

Shake your body like a Belly Dancer! You are my favorite wikipedia editor. --Pigboy 25 (talk) 01:28, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

User was blocked as a vandalism only account. See talk. —Finell (Talk) 04:51, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Commons

Sorry to come here but I simply don't know where else to go with this. And I hope maybe someone can tell me if I got it completely wrong.

Long story short, I recently noticed that a banned user from Wikipedia (see W:User:Petri Krohn, and W:Wikipedia:DIGWUREN#Petri_Krohn) had taken his ss and nazi obsession to Commons by uploading a number of pictures with living people using 'waffen-SS' in the naming conventions. I suggested a rename to the uploader and after 2 weeks with no response listed the images for deletion pr possible defamation. Commons:Deletion requests/Waffen-SS Sinimäed. However, this turned into a discussion and an attempt to find a consensus with W:User:Petri Krohn. And since Krohn refuses to rename the images [3], nothing has come out of it. So my question is, should we worry about a number of living people getting labeled with the SS tag on Commons or does everything in this case work like it suppose to? Thanks!--Termer (talk) 07:05, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

I am sympathetic to the idea that images should be accurately labeled, and particular care taken not to implicitly insult or defame anyone through an unfortunate choice of name. Knowing nothing about the particular images or context, though, I'm reluctant to weigh in with a specific opinion about this specific case. It looks like a useful discussion is ensuing over there, and I think it likely that a compromise can be reached in the usual way.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 12:12, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

I'd request a total ban

Hi Jimbo. I've seen a lot of blocks lately, and it seems to be ineffective as bans are not stopping the vandals; instead, this matter increases the rate of vandals per day. So I'd request a total ban in which users are unable to open any pages on Wikipedia, and the ban is no longer allowed to be appealed. How's that sound?--BoeingRuleOfThe9th-700 (talk) 09:23, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Sounds perfect for the encyclopedia "anyone can edit"! -- Thekohser 11:16, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

You're joking, right?--*Kat* (talk) 19:23, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

he.wiki

There is an ideological censorship about porn in the Hebrew Wikipedia, this is the current policy: here translated to English. You cannot create an article about a porn star unless she or he became famous for something else (like Traci Lords because she is a singer/actor or Ilona Staller because she is a politician). "Character's life there is another aspect to meet the criteria of encyclopedic value. Action porn is not enough to win about Hebrew Wikipedia." "Not displayed pictures of her body except the portrait of the character, even if the figure wearing a Catholic nun.", "There will be no external links to sex sites." and etc.

You can talk to User:Yonatan or User:Amire80 to confirm this.

I think it's a strong violation of the global Wikipedia (The Free Encyclopedia)/Wikimedia rules and of WP:NOTCENSORED policy.

I think you should force them to change this policy.

Sorry for my bad English.

Thanks.

Considering the amount of Kayfabe and complete and total lack of any reliable sources that we see in many or most of the English Wikipedia entries in this subject matter, I believe that the compromise reached by Hebrew Wikipedia deserves broader study as a possible model for adoption elsewhere. As we have over the years significantly trended towards a more careful and nuanced understand of the ethics and responsibility relating to our task, and particularly when dealing with biographies of living persons, earlier decisions have often been usefully reviewed.

As a formality, I should say that I am not proposing any drastic action, nor am I taking sides on the particular question at hand. I am merely suggesting that the question of what to do about this really low-quality part of Wikipedia is worth thoughtful consideration.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 12:18, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

I think you didn't get me. The ban porn articles not because there are no reliable sources. By they way there are, like AVN, if you look at a porn bio on en.wiki you'll probably see than every claim is backed up with a source. The he.wiki doesn't have the same standards of adding references to articles, If you look at the featured articles in he.wiki most of them don't have footnotes at all.

They ban porn articles because they think porn is immoral: proof on section "break".

I think this "compromise" is violating the "constitution" of Wikipedia.

We don't ban porn in Hebrew Wikipedia because we think it's immoral. We ban it because most of us believe it has no encyclopedic value whatsoever and only serves to make Wikipedia something very inferior. Yum2 (talk) 17:04, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Indeed. we have guidelines for porn to ensure encyclopedic value and encyclopedic writing style. Daniel B (talk) 17:22, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

That's a lie and you know it. In the link I gave many users openly admit they are support banning porn because they think it's immoral. Read the discussions there: [4] (5 pages) and [5]. Most of users admit they want to ban porn as an ideological decision.

Hello Jimbo,

I write in he.wiki for over two years, and I know most of the things about this compromise. This anonymous user who writes here is probably hakham Hanuka or someone else from his kind of trolls. I'm nothing in wikipedia experience compared to you, but I strongly recommend to ignore his next messages about this topic. It appears he has remained a troll as he was in 2004-6. BTW, it will be great to see you again in Israel. Broccoli (talk) 18:19, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Why come to english wikipedia for hebrew one? its just a bit wierd...srry...besides, without evidence, u cant prove he's that person...edit here, then. Porn on Wikipedia...well, sfar as i know, that aint its goal. thansk. Tubesgirl (talk) 21:29, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Notice of something you should be aware of.

Considering the legal implications I think you should be aware of this case: Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Eastern_European_mailing_list. Is it OK to commit crime in the interest of wiki-politics and reap the fruit? --Alexia Death the Grey (talk) 10:42, 18 September 2009 (UTC)