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The miscellaneous section of the village pump is used to post messages that do not fit into any other category. Please post on the policy, technical, or proposals pages, or – for assistance – at the help desk, rather than here, if at all appropriate. For general knowledge questions, please use the reference desk.

« Archives, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79

Audit Subcommittee vacancies: Call for applications (2013)

The Arbitration Committee is seeking to appoint three non-arbitrator members to the Audit Subcommittee ("AUSC"). The Committee is comprised of six members and is tasked with investigations concerning the use of CheckUser and Oversight privileges on the English Wikipedia. The AUSC also monitors CheckUser and Oversight activity and use of the applicable tools. The current non-arbitrator members are Avraham, MBisanz, and Ponyo, whose terms were to expire on February 28 but were extended with their agreement until April 30 by the Committee.

Matters brought before the subcommittee may be time-sensitive and subcommittee members should be prepared and available to discuss cases promptly so they may be resolved in a timely manner. Sitting subcommittee members are expected to actively participate in AUSC proceedings and may be replaced should they become inactive. All subcommittee members are given both CheckUser and Oversight access but are expected to not make regular use of them unless needed. They are subject to the relevant local and global policies and guidelines concerning CheckUser and Oversight.

If you think you may be suitably qualified, please email arbcom-en-clists.wikimedia.org to start the application procedure for an appointment ending 30 June 2014. The application period will close at 23:59, 1 April 2013 (UTC). Further information is also available here.

For the Arbitration Committee,
NW (Talk) 18:20, 16 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Discuss this

Hello

Please help add references to my new article Louis Besson. Thank you. Scymso (talk) 19:39, 27 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

If you don't mind me asking, what did you base your single sentence article on? Praemonitus (talk) 00:39, 29 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe someone can do a translation of fr:Louis Besson. -- œ ^™ 08:16, 29 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Problem with The Enemy (UK band) album discography box

There seems to be a column aligning problem with the 'Studio albums' table in the 'Discography' section on the article. As I'm rather inexperienced when it comes to wikicoding, I would be very grateful for help with this issue. -- Half past formerly SUFCboy 14:08, 29 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed - GoingBatty (talk) 14:19, 29 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hello

Please add the age of Francisco Javier Lopez Pena. Thank you. Scymso (talk) 21:08, 30 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Already done by another editor. GoingBatty (talk) 23:01, 31 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Audit Subcommittee vacancies: last call for applications

This is a reminder that the application period for the three non-arbitrator seats on the Audit Subcommittee will close at 23:59, 1 April 2013 (UTC), less than 36 hours from now.

The Audit Subcommittee ("AUSC") is comprised of six members and is tasked with investigations concerning the use of CheckUser and Oversight privileges on the English Wikipedia. The AUSC also monitors CheckUser and Oversight activity and use of the applicable tools. The current non-arbitrator members are Avraham, MBisanz, and Ponyo, whose terms were to expire on February 28 but were extended with their agreement until April 30 by the Committee.

Matters brought before the subcommittee may be time-sensitive and subcommittee members should be prepared and available to discuss cases promptly so they may be resolved in a timely manner. Sitting subcommittee members are expected to actively participate in AUSC proceedings and may be replaced should they become inactive. All subcommittee members are given both CheckUser and Oversight access but are expected to not make regular use of them unless needed. They are subject to the relevant local and global policies and guidelines concerning CheckUser and Oversight.

Please note that due to Wikimedia Foundation rules governing access to deleted material, only applications from administrators will be accepted.

If you think you may be suitably qualified, please email arbcom-en-clists.wikimedia.org to start the application procedure for an appointment ending 30 June 2014. Once again, the application period will close at 23:59, 1 April 2013 (UTC). Further information is also available here.

For the Arbitration Committee, T. Canens (talk) 14:57, 31 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Discuss this

Request for Comment on WMF Grant-Funded Video Tutorial Project

Hello! I have posted a request for community input at WT:Video_and_Interactive_Tutorials#Phase_II:_RfC_on_Subjects and would greatly appreciate input on this valuable project! It is funded by the Wikimedia Foundation, and the details of that grant are visible from the project page. Thank you in advance! --Jackson Peebles (talk) 05:50, 1 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

April Fools Joke from XKCD

Hey, today's XKCD contains a great "hover-over" donation beg for the WMF. Just thought you folks might like to know. Give him some love. :) Philippe Beaudette, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 08:37, 1 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

... it also contains an incentive to (at least temporarily) vandalize different pages - is that being discussed centrally anywhere? --Jonasbinding (talk) 13:01, 1 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Where do you see anything even remotely related to vandalism in this? All I see is an unfunny (IMO) comic, the last panel of which links to a Wikimedia donation page--Atlantima (talk) 01:44, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It changed recently. The hover over the company name currently says "Happy April 1st, everyone!", but it use to have a rotating incentive to change the name in the comic by adding a NASDAQ-100 to a certain article (which kept changing). Chris857 (talk) 01:58, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I guess the vandalism incentive was removed after April 1. See more at http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=101147 (for example the post by phlip) and http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1193. Some users added meaningless links to the mentioned articles. Others tried to make it a little meaningful like [1]. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:27, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Don't we think we found and fixed all the vandalism this caused? Rmhermen (talk) 15:25, 4 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

What the heck is this?

List of second-level domain/participate ???? --Atlantima (talk) 01:41, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You should probably ask User talk:Lamidesbetes, as he seems responsible for the pages in the immediate vicinity of his "project". Chris857 (talk) 02:01, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Vandalism on Christine Jorgensen

Please check out information located at Talk:Christine Jorgensen (the lowest section of the talk page) and User talk:JanetWand. Also, please check the history of Christine Jorgensen; JanetWand appears to think I'm the vandal, but I'm not. Georgia guy (talk) 15:16, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

This seems to be the usual problem with articles about transsexuals: someone wants to make it all male because that was the birth sex, and someone else wants to make it female, including direct quotations that ought never be changed, because that was the self-identified gender, and all of them believe that Georgia Guy is wrong for sticking with our actual guideline on the subject. I'm sure that Georgia Guy would be happy to have a few more eyes over there. If you're not familiar with the guideline, it's summarized in a box at the top of the talk page. WhatamIdoing (talk) 18:00, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The MOS says that we usually use female pronouns, but that male pronouns in direct quotations must stay. How understandable is this?? Georgia guy (talk) 18:02, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It's not difficult, but WP:Nobody reads the directions. WhatamIdoing (talk) 18:03, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

WP is free to edit for morons who don't know what a direct quotation means, or how to indicate original content in them that appears in error.... Perry White ^{put down the desk, Clark} 02:14, 7 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Possible hoax

Several Wikipedia articles mention something called the "Jeremy Nicholson Negro Achievement Award." I suspect this may be a hoax. Can someone please look into it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.29.132.240 (talk) 02:57, 4 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It was vandalism, it's been reverted (example), see also Wikipedia:Reference desk/Humanities#Jeremy Nicholson Negro Achievement Award. 88.104.28.176 (talk) 15:13, 4 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Captcha system for edits by anonymous IP's

I have just edited an article with a new external link, for which I had to enter a captcha. The only problem is the words the captcha came up with were "dyinghmong". I find this very objectionable since the Hmong are a persecuted minority in eastern Asia. Is it possible to find a way to avoid potentially objectionable terms coming together like this, before we get a captcha that says "shootkids" or something equally offensive. Before anybody points it out, yes I know it is just mean't to filter out human users and yes I know Wikipedia is mean't to be neutral, but I just do not like the idea of typing in "dying" "hmong". 90.218.98.130 (talk) 11:55, 5 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

See CAPTCHA: they are randomly generated by software. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 00:02, 7 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Courtesy request by Drugs.com

Hello. The Wikimedia Foundation has received a request from Drugs.com for the removal of some of the content in the article List_of_largest_selling_pharmaceutical_products. The WMF does not believe there is a legal reason under U.S. law to remove the complained-of content and thus believes it is a decision that rests with the community, as all content issues do. The WMF has informed them of this and indicated that they would put the decision to you. We will simply communicate the community decision to the company after the community has come to a consensus for or against removal.

Their request has been placed at Talk:List of largest selling pharmaceutical products in courtesy to them. If you have time and interest, please stop by to comment so that we can let them know the community's stance on the matter. Thank you! --Maggie Dennis (WMF) (talk) 19:05, 5 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Foundation statement regarding the situation in France

The WMF has posted a statement at the French Wikipedia regarding the situation in France. Those who are interested may wish to read it. Philippe (WMF) (talk) 02:54, 6 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry I can't translate to English the whole thread in French, I just hope you will understand the most important part. Any comment is welcome. — S t a r u s – ¡Dímelo! – 05:11, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Thanks very much for the heads up, Philippe. I think every active Wikipedia editor needs to read this to understand the responsibilities and risks people face when editing. I'm including a permalink to the diff Wikimedia Foundation elaborates on recent demand by French governmental agency to remove Wikipedia content. using Michelle's title. Hope that's OK. I'll post a note at WP:AN also. A link to meta:Legal and Community Advocacy/Legal Fees Assistance Program seems appropriate too. 64.40.54.78 (talk) 10:11, 6 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
This is... a mess. What next, every despot with a thing for deflowering young girls calling for such information to be removed as a state secret? — Crisco 1492 (talk) 10:22, 6 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Reading through the thread at the French Wikipedia is informative. When an editor's real life identity can be determined—law enforcement, governments, corporations, etc. can put pressure on editors to do what they want OR ELSE. It raises some serious questions about how wikipedia can be manipulated. 64.40.54.78 (talk) 11:14, 6 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Has the Streisand effect happened with respect to that article yet? Anomie⚔ 13:18, 6 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
- Well, it prompted someone to add a translated version of the French article to en.wiki at least: Military radio station of Pierre-sur-Haute. Apparently if France ever decides to start firing off their nuclear arsenal this will be a pretty important part of it. Mark Arsten (talk) 14:09, 6 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  - Apparently this is also currently the second most popular article on the Fr-Wiki, so the Streisand effect is clearly happening. Nick-D (talk) 23:53, 6 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Here's the quote from Wikimedia France.
the DCRI summoned a Wikipedia volunteer in their offices on April 4th. This volunteer, which was one of those having access to the tools that allow the deletion of pages, was forced to delete the article while in the DCRI offices, on the understanding that he would have been held in custody and prosecuted if he did not comply. Under pressure, he had no other choice than to delete the article, despite explaining to the DCRI this is not how Wikipedia works. He warned the other sysops that trying to undelete the article would engage their responsability before the law.

This volunteer had no link with that article, having never edited it and not even knowing of its existence before entering the DCRI offices. He was chosen and summoned because he was easily identifiable, given his regular promotional actions of Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects in France.
— Christophe Henner, Wikimedia France
This is certainly one reason to not use your real name on Wikipedia. 64.40.54.111 (talk) 20:33, 6 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Someone may want to use WebCitation and make sure URLs going back to sourced information on the articles stay live in case other sites suddenly "disappear" and we can't source content. Regards, — Moe Epsilon 23:25, 6 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
It's interesting to note that Google Maps has what appears to be uncensored imagery of this location - Google censors most other sites associated with the French nuclear weapons program, so it suggests that either the French Government hasn't tried to take on Google over this, or they also told them to go jump. The situation concerning the FR-Wiki admin is appalling, and I commend the WMF for standing up for admins by publicizing this madness. Nick-D (talk) 23:43, 6 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Is there some way we can show our support of this French SysOp? I'm not sure how to go about doing that - on his French talk page, or something? I just think maybe it'd be nice if he knew that lots of us support his voluntary efforts in trying to maintain Wikipedia, and that we're concerned about his treatment. 88.104.27.58 (talk) 23:52, 6 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

From the WMF posting to the French equivalent of our WP:AN, linked above: “We ask that you respect his privacy as we work through this matter.”—Odysseus1479 (talk) 02:42, 7 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

♠"Is there some way we can show our support of this French SysOp?" +1 me, whatever it is. This is outrageous.

♠There's also a bigger question in my mind. If France is doing this, how long before some other gov't pulls it, too? How long before the U.S. threatens some SysOp with Gitmo unless he/she deletes a page on the very existence of NSA or NRO?8o

♠WMF can't act as legal defense for users, but it appears a pre-emptive move of some kind is in order. TREKphiler ^{any time you're ready, Uhura} 02:00, 7 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I wouldn't worry about gitmo or the US National Security Agency but I would more worry about the precedent this would set in other countries. I propose a protest like how it.wikipedia had on Italy over a controversial censorship law or how similar had unfolded here in regards to SOPA. The message IMHO should be "If you target one of us, you target all of us". I do not want to see Wikipedia involved with politics but I also do not want to see politicians, government officials, lobbyists or anybody else dictate our content regardless of the language. We are the FREE encyclopedia! Politicians particularly in countries like France, UK, US, Germany, etc. should see censoring wikipedia as a potential to loose votes at best hence be strongly discouraged to dictate content. -- A Certain White Cat ^chi? 03:21, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Unfortunately, there will be no response from the core community that monitors these boards as they have shown they're wholly unconcerned about others... or anything. However, the rest of the net is already screaming foul, see ZDNet's French spy agency tries to pull 'classified' Wikipedia entry, only draws more attention to it for instance. 64.40.54.111 (talk) 05:53, 7 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Are they really copyrighted?

The images above are described as copyrighted and fair-use materials, but I don't think so. The images are simple combinations of national and regional flags/arms, so I think their statuses must be changed into "public domains."

File:Leewards.PNG is a combination of the Union Jack, the flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis, arms of Anguilla and Montserrat, and the flag of Antigua and Barbuda.
File:Windward islands flag.png is a combination of the flags of Dominica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada.

How do you think about it? --Wikipean (talk) 15:28, 6 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

@@ Line 140: / Line 140: @@
 :♠WMF can't act as legal defense for users, but it appears a pre-emptive move of some kind is in order.  [[User:Trekphiler|<font face="cursive" color="#9400D3"><small>TREKphiler</small></font>]] [[User talk:Trekphiler|<font face="cursive" color="#008000"><sup><small>any time you're ready, Uhura</small> </sup>]]</font> 02:00, 7 April 2013 (UTC)
 :::I wouldn't worry about gitmo or the US [[National Security Agency]] but I would more worry about the precedent this would set in other countries. I propose a protest like how it.wikipedia had on Italy over a controversial censorship law or how similar had unfolded here in regards to SOPA. The message IMHO should be "If you target one of us, you target all of us". I do not want to see Wikipedia involved with politics but I also do not want to see politicians, government officials, lobbyists or anybody else dictate our content regardless of the language. We are the '''FREE''' encyclopedia! Politicians particularly in countries like France, UK, US, Germany, etc. should see censoring wikipedia as a potential to loose votes at best hence be strongly discouraged to dictate content. --<small> [[User:とある白い猫/13|A Certain White Cat]]</small> <sup>[[User talk:とある白い猫/13|chi?]]</sup> 03:21, 7 April 2013 (UTC)
-::::Unfortunately, there will be no response from the core community that monitors these boards as they have shown they're wholly unconcerned about others. However, the rest of the net is already screaming foul, see ZDNet's [http://www.zdnet.com/french-spy-agency-tries-to-pull-classified-wikipedia-entry-only-draws-more-attention-to-it-7000013631/ French spy agency tries to pull 'classified' Wikipedia entry, only draws more attention to it] for instance. [[Special:Contributions/64.40.54.111|64.40.54.111]] ([[User talk:64.40.54.111|talk]]) 05:53, 7 April 2013 (UTC)
+::::Unfortunately, there will be no response from the core community that monitors these boards as they have shown they're wholly unconcerned about others... or anything. However, the rest of the net is already screaming foul, see ZDNet's [http://www.zdnet.com/french-spy-agency-tries-to-pull-classified-wikipedia-entry-only-draws-more-attention-to-it-7000013631/ French spy agency tries to pull 'classified' Wikipedia entry, only draws more attention to it] for instance. [[Special:Contributions/64.40.54.111|64.40.54.111]] ([[User talk:64.40.54.111|talk]]) 05:53, 7 April 2013 (UTC)
 == Are they really copyrighted? ==