User talk:Jimbo Wales

Archives as of Jan. 16, 2003 Sept. – Dec. 2005 January 2006 Jan. – Feb. 2006 February 2006 Feb. 2006, cont. March 2006 April 2006 May24 - July 2006 July 2006 - August 2006 August 2006 Most of September 2006 Late September 2006 - Early November 2006 Most of November 2006 Late November 2006 - December 8, 2006 December 9, 2006 - From December 22 blanking Undated

merry Winterval(s)!!!!

Oh, the weather outside is frightful!... But I hope wherever you you are, that it's warm and delightful! : ) —Randfan!!

File:FireplaceWithFire.jpg

Dear Jimbo Wales, I wish you a very, very merry Winterval! And since I don't know which you celebrate, I hope you have/had/will have a very happy Holiday!. Hope you and your family have a magnificent day, or series of days! You might wanna install the "SaucyMillionaire" font to see this correctly. Cheers, mate! :) —Randfan!!

God (or your deity/deities) bless you and your family! —¡Randfan!^{Sign here?} 02:30, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

-I was planning to hand these out on the 22nd of Dec. but things got in the way.... Happy holidays! —¡Randfan!^{Sign here?} 20:02, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

Second is still good. Right? :) —¡Randfan!^{Sign here?} 20:02, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

Ich wünsche dir fröhliche, glückliche und friedliche Weihnachten :). --DaB. 15:17, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

Merry Christmas. Though frankly I'm not sure people who get to celebrate Christmas in temperatures of 22 degrees C deserve well-wishing on top of that. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 00:58, 25 December 2006 (UTC)

P.S. So much for deliberate blanking. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 01:01, 25 December 2006 (UTC)

Felíz Navidad y felíz año nuevo!

I give you these Noche Buenas-- er, Poinsettias in honor of Christmas! Be happy you have these, Poinsettias are really popular, especially down here in Laredo and Mexico!

Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

...Or whatever holiday you celebrate:

• Happy Kwanza!
• Happy Hanukkah!
• Happy Winter Solstice! (not a holiday but it's on the calender!)

Shall I say something else?

Happy Holidays!

Have any comments? Ask on my talk page at User talk:Tohru Honda13! Have a nice one, Jimbo.--Tohru Honda13^{Sign here!} 01:08, 25 December 2006 (UTC)

AfD that might need your attention

Hi sir,

You might want to review this deletion situation. It's for a page/noticeboard that is specifically designed to campaign against articles and content of one specific, particular political branch in the United States... you had mentioned before that you were strongly opposed I think to the existence of pages here to campaign against people or things like this. It looks like maybe meatpuppets are trying to sway this? I'm not sure. Thanks! Moscatanix 18:17, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

Possible new Wikimedia project

Dear Jimbo, I am contacting you in regards to the AFD on Football League Championship results August 2006 and a corresponding discussion on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Football. A previous AFD related to this topic was held here. The issue is whether results and statistics of individual sports matches should be included on Wikipedia. During the discussions, the idea of a new wikimedia project was raised: WikiStat. As far as I can tell, this does not yet exist, although there is a Wikistat which provides the statistics for the wikimedia Foundation. The project could include the results of individual athletes, sports matches and tournaments, but it could extend to election results (by party, by politician, by year, by country, by constituency), census results, etcetera. I understand that you are busy with the ArbCom elections at the moment, but I would like to know from you or one of your wiki-elves ;) whether the concept of WikiStat is viable and if so, what it would take to get this off the ground. Merry Christmas, Aecis ^{Dancing to electro-pop like a robot from 1984.} 18:36, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

Firstly, merry christmas Jimmy. Secondly, on the topic of this, I was initially tabling a draft about this a month or so ago, however I never finished the draft for one reason or another. I would like to indicate my extreme interest and willingness to partipate in setting up and creating a statistics Wikipedia, given I have a great interest in such topics (and contribute often on English Wiki, when appropriate eg. FIFA World Cup hat-tricks). I'd be happy to assist in any way needed if you do wish to establish this WMF project, and I believe it has much potential. Cheers, Daniel.Bryant ^{[ T · C ]} 12:14, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Proposals for new projects have a place: m:Proposals for new projects. But I can't see how this one fits in to the Wikimedia Foundation's mission. Sports stats are awfully commercial. Wikia would be a great place to do that. - Taxman ^Talk 13:45, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

It wouldn't just cover sports stats, it would extend to census results, election results, interest rates, etc. etc. etc. Source material that has no place on Wikisource. Aecis ^{Dancing to electro-pop like a robot from 1984.} 09:00, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

Archivists should note talk page blanking

Just a note for whoever archives this page (seems to be Werdnabot) that the page was blanked by Jimbo to put up the above announcement that he will be announcing the ArbCom election results on Sunday (is that today already?), but the blanked talk page sections should still be archived somehow. Maybe the blanking will be reverted later by Jimbo, with the blanked sections re-added above the sections added since the blanking? Carcharoth 19:28, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

User:Just another editor

Would you be interested in this edit on my Talk page? User:Zoe|(talk) 23:20, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

I think this explains it, SqueakBox 05:59, 25 December 2006 (UTC)

Christmas Card

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a happy and safe Christmas season, and a blessed new year. Enjoy where you are, and who your with. Merry Christmas! From, Defrag and Jilly.

You might want to comment on this question.

And Merry Christmas!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Miscellany_for_deletion/User:GabrielF/ConspiracyNoticeboard_%282nd_mfd%29 —The preceding unsigned comment was added by BenBurch (talk • contribs) 05:44, 25 December 2006 (UTC).

Question about Just another editor (talk · contribs)

Hey Jimbo. I found Just another editor (talk · contribs) making an edit to the David Brandt page that seemed a bit odd, and looking at his contributions revealed this. Could you chime in and indicate who this individual is? Thanks and Merry Christmas! :: Colin Keigher (Talk) 06:57, 25 December 2006 (UTC)

Hey Colin, Danny has confirmed that Just another editor is not Brandt. [1] [2] I don't think Danny or Jimbo will "indicate who this individual is" since everyone on Wikipedia has a right to privacy and anonymity. Sarah 07:16, 25 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks! :: Colin Keigher (Talk) 07:18, 25 December 2006 (UTC)

See above where the issue has already been dealt with. Same user made a ridiculous accusation against me here because he couldnt be bothered to check the diffs here. Please stop wasting people's time, Colin, SqueakBox 07:48, 25 December 2006 (UTC)

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all!!! 209.244.16.221 14:29, 25 December 2006 (UTC)

Merry Christmas and my best wishes for 2007. --Frank Schulenburg 16:37, 25 December 2006 (UTC)

You're doing a wiki-based search engine?

The rumors sound very interesting, good luck with it. What I'm wondering is how it's going to deal with the inevitable botnets that will be set up for the sole purpose of spamming results pages? Noclip 20:21, 25 December 2006 (UTC)

How would that work? --WikiSlasher 13:49, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Political Cooperative

Slim Virgin and JPgordon keep deleting a page simply because they don't like the organization's founder - me. This is an article worth having on wikipedia - see www.politicalcooperative.org and please add the article or the stub for further expansion. I am tired of dealing with these petty people who attacked me and deleted the article because they did not agree with what I was trying to change on [zionism]. They put unsourced pov statements on the zionism page because they are biased. Here is what Noam Chomsky said about wikipedia on "Zionism" when I told him that your article says "Most jewish organizations support zionism" and zionism receives worldwise support (no citations).

"That's far from the only absurdity in Wikipedia. I once noticed that a quote I had given from Dayan, citing the scholarly record of Israeli cabinet meetings, was given as "source unverified." Only with regard to Israel would such dishonesty and stupidity be allowed." - Noam

There are a few people who make it their job to delete anything they don't like from that article and if you happen to debate an issue, then they attack you in any way they can, such as they did with the article I had posted on a totally sepearate issue. The people who voted to delete the page are all the same people who protect the Zionism article from criticisms of zionism.

The [Political Cooperative] article was accepted as notable, but then deleted only after these users deleted my comments about zionism on the talk page as well as in the article, and they said I could not post the article because I was in the PCO. Weeks later, someone not involved in the PCO organization posted a similar article, and they deleted it again. When an organization has notable people such as Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, John Perkins, Cynthia McKinney involved for a notable purpose in U.S. politics, it is worthy of inclusion.

Thanks - Darrow Boggiano, Founder Political Cooperative

http://www.politicalcooperative.org/data/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=22

71.135.36.250 08:08, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Slim Virgin and JPgordon keep deleting a page simply because they don't like the organization's founder - me. Or so we read. I wonder where that notion came from. The reason for deletion seems more likely to have been re-creation of an article previously deleted for lack of evidence; see AfD/Political Cooperative. At this stage, "Political Cooperative" seems less an organization, more an idea for an organization. If/when an actual organization of this name exists and has some impact (other than merely in blogs and so forth), it will deserve an article. -- Hoary 15:30, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

There were numerous citations to news sites who discussed the organization. If the article keeps being deleted by people in a pro-zionism cliche, then no one can view them. I will post the article on my user talk page for review, because the "lack of evidence" you mention was a result of the fact that the "team" of zionists first deleted all the content and then held the vote among themselves. Pco 16:16, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

You can spare us the conspiracy theories. if an article on that subject is needed, then leave it to others to decide if so. See WP:AUTO. ≈ jossi ≈ (talk) 18:25, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

It is no "theory" to say that all the people who edit Zionism with POV content are also the ones who deleted Political Cooperative Pco 20:03, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

No one questioned the PC article until they started attacking me for Zionism edits. The PC article had already passed the test of notability and was posted for weeks before this group of editors decided to all jump on the article because I had contributed it. When someone else contributed it, they deleted it again, so the bias of the article coming from me was not the issue and the notability was not the issue. It was only their desire to get me off of wikipedia. Pco 20:22, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

• Actually, that's not quite true. I noticed your edits to Nancy Pelosi, and objected to them, before I saw Political Cooperative, and before you edited Zionism at all. Half a dozen other editors had the same objection, and reverted the same changes, on Nancy Pelosi. So at least part of your theory is not accurate. --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 20:33, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

All of my edits to Pelosi were eventually added and are still there because it was not POV. That is not the point I was making, anyway - compare users deleting PCO with users editing Zionism and maybe my point will sink in. Pco 20:44, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

• Whatever. Jimbo can read article histories (for example, [3]) as well as anyone else. --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 20:49, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

---

I cannot say I see exactly eye to eye with User:Jpgordon. However, I appreciate having him - and therefore his associate - arround to protect Wikipedia against such an organization as the above.

I only came here because I put Jpgordon on my watchlist. He has criticised me for at least overlinking (in a user/talk page), which in his opinion, affects my credibility.

As a result, I am now here - curious about him.

But now I dound the mission statement of the above organization, and here it is:

  Political Cooperative - Mission Statement on: Aug 23, 2006 [22:04] Article image
  
  The PCO has been founded at a time when for many of us, it seems that the U.S. government
  cannot get any worse. The truth of the corruption and killing for profit in the Bush
  Administration has been exposed to many who never knew what our corrupt CIA and DOD have been
  doing worldwide. Many of us were honestly so frightened by the blatant acts by Congress
  to allow criminal activity that we did not dare vote for anyone other than a Democrat in the
  midterm elections of 2006.

This is paranoid (excuse me Jpgordan, for linking, but I want to use that term precisely) ranting of the worse kind. It is no different than the "trash" contained in the Protocols of Zion about which I like to write for Wikipedia. The only difference here is the OBJECT or FOCUS of the ranting. We "corruption" used twice in the same paragraph. It is the typical ranting of the extreme left which typically vilifies every action of the government of the United States. And I am so appreciative that Jpgordan is around to DELETE the garbage that such entities produce as "scholarship" - like holocaust-denial (sorry, Jp...).

We definitely need what I, affectionately like to call, the Wikipolice -- no linking her, JP!!

And if anything, I would say Jp deserves at least a Barnstar for it (is "Barnstar" Red, Jp? It shouldn't be, in my opinion - I value it more than the Nobel - except for the money!)!

Now a comment about Noam Chomsky. Being, myself, of the same ethnic background, as well as trained in Philosophy, he is an enigma to be studied! I find it extremely fascinating that a man of his opinions subscribes to the views that he does. He, I think, is not the common extreme left (or extreme right wing) fanatic. Also, I have always found his political views extremely difficult to pin down, except that he finds so much that is wrong with the "US/American Way."

Because Chomsky has the recognized world-class reputation in the field of linguistics, his advocacy of views consistent with the extreme left, makes him an authority to be used delighfully by the left. Howard Zimm is another authority, with authentic credentials, but I'm not at all familiar with his recent views. However, the mere fact that he is respected, and honored, by this organization, makes me suspecious that he has joined Chomsky's club in bashing the United States. I am greatly surprised that we have no Article on Howard Zimm. He is an important American historian, "revisionist," and/or "new left," and I own his book on the subject - though I confess I have never had the time to read him thoroughly. Maybe I will dig him up (his book, rather), and write him up for WP!!!

There are many faults I can find in my country. But as it is said, "among the blind, the one-eyed man is king." I do not thing there is any other country better for me, than the good old USA!!! As bad as it is here - it is worse everywhere else.

Now let us morn the passing of a grean America, the Genius, and Incredible Talent, James Brown!!!

PS: Forgive the typos --Ludvikus 22:43, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Speaking of typos -- just as an aside here, while Wikipedia does not have an article on Howard Zimm (assuming such a person exists), it does have one on Howard Zinn, who from reading his article is almost definitely the person in question. I found the Zinn article (I had never heard of him before) the first time the Political Cooperative article was nominated for deletion, but it was speedied before I got a chance to vote -- oops, I mean discuss my opinion in an abbreviated, list format. Mr. Zinn clearly is notable, and I would say that if, in the future, he was to run for president and get on a number of state ballots as the candidate of the Political Cooperative and not simply with their endorsement (compare the Nader-Green Party situation in 1996), the Political Cooperative would have become notable enough for its own article. For now, what is interesting is that the Howard Zinn article does not mention Political Cooperative, and Noam Chomsky's personal web site does not mention it either -- even though the group cites both of them as their "candidates." They seem to be a group that has big dreams but has not fulfilled them yet, and dreams do not a notable article subject make. 6SJ7 01:04, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

---

6SJ7, is CORRECT, Howard Zimm = Howard Zinn. I was misled by Google: [4] - 164 hits, includung USATODAY.com.

Yours truly, Ludvikus 02:39, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

Well it should be restored and put up for AFD where if it loses you will be unhappy at a large number of people instead of just two. Anomo 20:59, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

Leaving Wikipedia

Hi Jimbo,

I am leaving Wikipedia for the moment over this issue. I may return sometime in the future. I have no interest in participating in a project where the opinion of contributors is not respected and is considered not worth gauging. I am at a loss to understand why you did what you did without discussing it with me on my talk page. If you can provide me with any more insight into your actions I would appreciate it. Please feel free to post here, to my user page or to my user talk page.

Cedars 16:22, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Wow, I don't blame you at all. I see why the sites which dislike Wikipedia call Jimbo a tyrant (or something along those lines). While WP:NOT states Wikipedia is not a democracy, how is policy to change if a vote is just closed by Mr. Wales like that?--Hamedog_Talk|^@ 16:26, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Popular opinion does not change the legal restrictions that an open, free Encyclopedia faces. Jwales's steps may have been frustrating to some, but they were absolutely necessary to meet the clearly stated goals that Wikipedia has espoused from day one. This is not a failure of democracy, this is a triumph of long term growth and health for the project. Pain is an unavoidable part of creation. If things are easy, then they are usually not worth doing. - CHAIRBOY (☎) 16:36, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes but didn't Mr. Wales need to close the that survey in such a way? See my comments at the issue --Hamedog_Talk|^@ 16:38, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

You asserted that a complete encyclopedia is more important than a legaly sound, free encyclopedia, and that images are required in every article to be complete. I don't think either statements are representative of the stated goals of the project and predict those may have been part of his decision, but I'm just zis guy, you know? - CHAIRBOY (☎) 16:52, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Wait, you're a sock of JzG? JDoorjam Talk 21:34, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

I find it very sad that this would come as a culture-shock to you; that it has is (yet another) sign that we are not enculturing new users sufficiently well. No doubt such upsets will continue until we fix this. :-(

James F. (talk) 16:46, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

I don't see any new users here - Cedars been here since 2004 and I have been here since 2005 unless someone else here is new.--Hamedog_Talk|^@ 16:48, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Go measure the median account age of those for and against the poll. :) It is true that not-all who supported that change were new, but a lot of them are. You may not believe it, but your position is influenced by the folks around you. It is clear from the discussion that free content is unimportant to quite a few of the participants. In fact, on the discussion we saw some people who appears to be claiming the free content was bad because it allowed commercial use. --Gmaxwell 19:31, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Also, "new" is in the eye of the beholder, IYSWIM.

James F. (talk) 20:24, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

I think it is somewhat more open and honest to close a poll that doesn't matter than to let it continue and give it the illusion of counting. The talk page was not blanked, and none of the dicussion pages which are the real places to discuss this matter have been blanked, either. Kat Walsh (spill your mind?) 19:07, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

I find this exchange fascinating. All what Jimmy did was to close a poll and encourage a vigorous debate on the subject instead. Such polls are divisive and accomplish absolutely nothing. ≈ jossi ≈ (talk) 19:38, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Indeed!

James F. (talk) 20:24, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

You'd be surprised how often people whine at me when I tell them polls are evil. It's nice to see Jimbo just closing them like that. Perhaps people will start to recognise they are actually not so good. --Deskana (talk) 20:29, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

There's also an issue of stopping a forest fire from spreading. People shouldn't create multiple discussion fora because they then have to be sewn up again later. JDoorjam Talk 21:34, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

Discussion about Search Wikia

Hallo Jimbo! Their is an discussion about Search Wiki in the german wikipedia. One part of users say, that the informations in the newspapers in germany are false. They want to delete the lemma de:Search Wikia. I think, it is important, that we have this article in the wikipedia. What do you think about this? Benutzer Taube Nuss, Germany

The press has gotten very excited about this project, leading to a mad rush of press coverage, a great deal of which has been confused and misleading. There is such a project, but it is not the same as the screenshot which was circulated on some websites, and it does not involve Amazon in any way, etc. I hope that it would someday warrant a separate article, but I doubt if it does at the moment. Not my decision, of course. :) --Jimbo Wales 15:37, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

Image:Kate Walsh Ted Global 2.JPG

Hi, can you re-look at this image you uploaded. Even though you took the photo, I don't think it's a "free" image. Its a picture of her from a projection screen at (what I assume is) a commercial concert. Now, if you took a screen capture of a live event on TV, that wouldn't be free, so the fact you took it "in person" shouldn't make any difference. In other words, the fact screen was next to the singer, instead of at your home is unimportant. Any image taken from a screen, produced by somebody else, is a non-original work. --Rob 04:25, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

Hello Mr. Wales

See Wikipedia:Help desk -- Zanimum 18:47, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

Report administrator abuse - Jmabel

I apologize too, if this matter could be taken elswhere,but I feel the best way to solve this is to bring the matter to you myself.I am here to report a serious administrator abuse,who bring a lot of damages in my career and life.The nightmare started in July,when Jmabel(Joe Mabel)delete an article about me,for the reason:"Not notability".After another months,the article was recreate by someone and have been deleted again by Jmabel.After Deletion review in December 3 ,the conclusion was:"Endorse deletion among established editors",because the article was very poor in information about me.Again someone recreate a new article ,but with many new information about me.Again the article was deleted by Jmabel,with DRV.The article have been to Deletion review and the conclusion was:"Speedy deletion overturned,AfD optional",because another administrator Mgm said:"A forced DRV only applies if someone wants to repost deleted content.The new version of the article (before it was redeleted by Jmabel)asserts notability by national news coverage,which the originally deleted version didn't".The article have been restored and deleted again by Jmabel with the help of Dahn,a romanian who said"two minor article in journals".Is not true.Everybody read the references ,in the article can see a lot of article in the most important romanian journals.Another user from Jmabel team said:"Browsing through the links to his works on the current version,and old versions,it seems as though many are the rambling gibberish of a schizophrenic",or"Ioannes Pragensis:"publishing a few lunatic books".This is not Wikipedian language and how know these peoples if my books are lunatic or not?They read my books?I don't think.The article have been deleted and protected to prevent re-creation,in December 25,(Christmas Day) the same day when Jmabel,sign to Administrators'noticeboard/Incident Archive 163,Sorin Cerin sock alert and said:"It would not astound me if they (the people who edit the article with my name)are all D-ul Cerin himself.I don't know who is Alinaro,Mircia,L.Marchis or Rolineseem who said:"1)Is Cerin well know in Romania?Yes.2)Have published 6 books?Yes.3)Was invited in talk shows in Romanian television?Yes.4)Was invited in Romanian national radio stations?Yes.5)Have references in media ,newspapers and other media?Yes.6)Have published a lot of philosophical article?Yes.7)The Cerin's books have been sold all over the world?Yes.8)Was in Reader2 and Book Crossing?Yes.90Was journalist to 'Dreptatea"?Yes,10)Can be verify that?Yes.How?Translate Romanian Wikipedia."Anyone to read the article finf notability.I found article about me in the most important national newspaper and I was invited in a lot of television or radio talk shows like ,Omul si cartea,(The man and book) with Ion Cristoiu in January 8,2005. I hope in change for the better these revolting and and unprecedented abuse who bring very serious damges in my career and life. Thank You.Have a Wonderful Holiday. Sorin Cerin

I see that my name is being dragged through here by Mr. Cerin, who has so far broken almost every single convention on wikipedia (trolling, vandalism, sockpuppeting, re-creation of deleted article, canvassing). I urge him to seek another solution to his obvious frustrations. Dahn 13:43, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

I am an AnonymousCoward who looked up the history, followed the links, discussion, etc, and thinks JMabel and the other editors are right. I will go so far as to say that this is obvious self promotion by a non-notable author. Thank you and all the contributors for making Wikipedia awesome. -AC :)

You can tell about yourself in your user page, a sandbox, or you can tell others about you in your talk page. Wikipedia is a site where people look up common/important facts, not where users post their autobiographies. Happy editing, nevertheless. Eiyuu Kou 16:15, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

Jimbo, in case you decide to take this seriously at all:

1. The remarks about "rambling gibberish of a schizophrenic" and "publishing a few lunatic books" were not mine. I'm not responsible for other contributors speaking this way. For what it's worth, though, I raised no objection to these remarks when I read them, because I think they summed up the situation well, even if not politely.
2. As you will easily see if you examine the record, early on I was quite open to the possibility that Sorin Cerin might actually be of encyclopedic notability. I was doing my best to be helpful despite my strong doubts.
3. As you will also easily see, the moment it became clear that there was even slight question about the re-creation of the article being appropriate for speedy deletion (something I had no way to know when I speedied it, since there was no pointer to anywhere a decision had been overturned) I restored it an took it to AFD.
4. Furthermore, Does this complaint read like the work of a man who is an important author, which is what the article claimed him to be? Note that in both English and Romanian, he, the initial "author" of virtually all article content, and virtually all of his supporters in the deletion debates have the same poor punctuation. Up until now, I have been relatively gentle about suggesting the possibility of sockpuppetry, since it did not seem important with all decisions still going against the article. But if my character is being called into question, I do request that before anyone takes this at all seriously a usercheck on Alinaro (talk · contribs), Mircia (talk · contribs), L.Marchis (talk · contribs) and Rolineseem (talk · contribs) would be in order, comparing them against the IP address used by D-ul Cerin here. By the way, in most of these cases, most of their edits are no longer visible in their contribs, because they were to deleted versions of the Sorin Cerin article (now seeded against re-creation); you can see them easily enough in the list of deleted edits.
5. There is, indeed a lengthy article on Sorin Cerin in the Romanian Wikipedia. Judging by its punctuation, the bulk of it was written by the same person. Perhaps someone should look into this. At a quick look, it looks mostly like lengthy quotations lacking diacritics or Wikification. Since he brought this up, I decided to check some of its references. The link "Articol în România Liberă (ediţia 16 Aprilie 2004) despre succesul lui Sorin Cerin peste ocean." ("Article in România Liberă (editin of 16 April 2004) about the success of Sorin Cerin across the ocean") is simply a link to the home page of România Liberă (the article may well exist, but the link does not help with verifiability). The one labeled "[Notă în ziarul Cronica Română despre lansarea romanului "Destin" la Muzeul Literaturii Române." ("note in the newspaper Cronica Română about the launch of the novel Destiny at the Romanian Museum of Literature does suggest strongly that he really did have a book launch at a prominent location in Bucharest, but since it is presumably just a reprint of a press release it doesn't prove much. Etc. There might be something there, and I think it would be a fine exercise for someone (presumably a native Romanian speaker, rather them me) to go through this with a fine-tooth comb.
6. Finally, this complaint was brought to your user talk page without his first bringing the matter to mine or (as far as I know) to WP:AN/I.

Jmabel | Talk 18:23, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

1)I've never wrote in the article Sorin Cerin. 2)As a notability,my criticism was wrote from 1979 until today.The critics have been:Octavian Ghetan,Revista de Filosofie,Alexandru Piru,Grigore Tanasescu,Alexandru Protopopescu,Florentin Popescu,Paul Dugneanu,Radu G.Teposu,Laurentiu Ulici,etc.Most of the critique isn't on the Internet,because in 70'-80'and early 90'the Internet doesn't exist.For that reason I must to post myself in January or February,like my correspondence with Emil Cioran from 1990.Who know about that correspondence?Ask Paul Everac. 3)I not sent you that before because don't wish to make publicity myself and I have a spite against sockpupetry. 4)A book cannot be launched to the Romanian National Lierary Museum,without be recommended,presented and represented by two major critics.In my case was Florentin Popescu and Paul Dugneanu.See Romanian news agencies. 5)If yours don't want I don't wish to be in Wikipedia and I agree to be deleted from all languages.Sorin CerinSorin Cerin 07:05, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Happy Holidays!

To Jimbo Wales

I hope you had a merry Christmas and I wish you a happy new year 2007!

From, Kamope 19:27, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

Corruption

I know you said to put complaints at the Helpdesk, but this is very serious! Administrators are blocking people as "confirmed" sockpuppets just because they share a vandal's IP address even though this is supposed to be hidden. The Showster is a good example. He uses the same IP as the likes of Bowser Koopa and Crazy Commander. He vandalised one page and was reported by Crazy Commander for vandalising a page that neither he nor Crazy ever visited. They had all been blocked as sockpuppets. The Showster should be unblocked as he helped identify Bowser's proper sockpuppets and has vandalised ONCE. He needs your help as he is unfairly accused and you need to step in before this goes any further! Bowsy 20:21, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

He vandalized Wikipedia, why should I really care? I find it bizarre that you would approach this as a case of "corruption". I am unblocking "The Showster" now, as you have indicated that he's not the same person. Fine. But that hardly amounts to corruption on the part of admins.--Jimbo Wales 23:00, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

World Wide Entertainment

This is very much something I am aware of and working on. I recommend not discussing it publicly at the moment, ok? Private email to me is fine, to comment or bring additional info to my attention. --Jimbo Wales 17:11, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Neutrality dispute

Hi, I know it would take more than a minute to read, but I would appreciate your opinion on the raging, lengthy debate at Talk:Noah's Ark on the supposed "neutrality" of Wikipedia endorsing the view that the Scriptures are "mythological pseudoscience"... It has been going on for one month now, with those in favor still insisting that theirs is the only significant POV on Scripture. ፈቃደ (ውይይት) 20:59, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

Virgin Unite

Could you please explain why an advertisement for Virgin Unite is posted on every Wikimedia page? Does this not violate Wikipedia's principle against such posts?--Ed ^{¿Cómo estás?}Reviews? 04:04, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Responses to the advertisement posted here:

• [5][6]Hamedog has left Wikipedia
• Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_No_ads#Virgin_advert
• Talk:Main_Page#Virgin_Unite_Logo

--Ed ^{¿Cómo estás?}Reviews? 04:12, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

What principle are you thinking of, Ed? Can you provide a link to that page? -- SCZenz 04:14, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Well, first of all, there is Wikipedia:WikiProject No ads (not really a principle). But there is Wikipedia:Spam--Ed ^{¿Cómo estás?}Reviews? 04:20, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Then there's Jimbo's claim that he and Larry Sanger parted ways because Jimbo refused to put ads in Wikipedia to pay Sanger's salary. I would provide a link, but it would require a link to an IRC log. Those who were on the channel know what was said. Amicus Sparticus 08:08, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Nonetheless, it still does not answer my question about the Virgin Unite advertisement--Ed ^{¿Cómo estás?}Reviews? 16:01, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Has the Board responded to these complaints yet?--Ed ^{¿Cómo estás?}Reviews? 23:23, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

In my opinion, there's no issue at all here. A logo does not constitute an advertisement, nor does a sentence saying that the company will be matching donations. If they're making voluntary donations, not in exchange for the service of advertisement, then it's not advertisement in any form. If the use of the logo caused the issue, what about all the logos used in articles in Wikipedia? Do they constitute advertisements? Virgin Unite, a charitable arm of a TNC, was making a large donation to Wikipedia - does that not deserve recognition with a simple sentence (and no external link even, after their site went down) and a recognisable logo? If we weren't to do what we did with the fundraising notification, what else should we have used, do you suggest (in retrospect)? It's important to remeber that it would have been easy for anyone with an objection to the notification to just click the "close" button and be done with it. Martinp23 01:26, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Logos in articles are different - they are not sight wide banners and they identify the company. Since when does making a donation require a logo to be displayed. "We will pay you money if you display our logo" is an advertisement. The logo was unnecessary and has created a POV issue with the Virgin Unite article. It has lowered the reputation of the encyclopedia as a whole. As per above, I have stopped editing abd I am with holding edits until an apology is issued by someone involved with in wikipedia (see my user page).--Hamedog_Talk|^@ 03:13, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Martinp23, are you inferring that all of the donators other than Virgin Unite do not deserve recognition for their generosity? As far as I'm concerned, Virgin Unite, like other contributors, sacrificed a considerable amount of money in order for this site to operate! Also, think about it this way: Would Virgin Unite's donation alone help to keep Wikimedia running? No. Their contributions, along with the other groups that donated, are used to help the Foundation.--Ed ^{¿Cómo estás?}Reviews? 17:48, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

No, I'm not making such an inference. All donors have their donations noted on the fundraising reports, linked for the site notice. However, matching donations are omitted from this listing, and the next best place to note our thanks to Virgin Unite, and (by consenquence) encourage extra donations on the understanding that they would be doubled is the site notice. Seriously, a single logo and message of thanks does in no way constitute an advertisement. I'd agree that it was an ad if WMF had offered Virgin Unite advertising space (and the ability for VU to leave their own message there), but I'm sure we can agree that this isn't what happened, and it would have been the WMF who contacted VU requesting donations. We can't even say whether VU were told that their logo and (for a time) a link to their site would be shown before they offered to match donations, and until we have such information from those who make the decisions, and finger pointing and accusations of going against fundamental policies are premature. Probably the fact is that the community needs more information to help us to get a clearer understanding of the situation, though there will still be disagreement over what an advertisement is. Martinp23 20:41, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

The fact that the presence of the Virgin Unite logo encourages extra donations is somewhat troubling to me. This is because it helps the Wikimedia Foundation, which is a non-profit organization, to receive more money. The WMF just can't control the articles its volunteers edit! We don't have to continue to contribute to Wikipedia. No one should be forced or encouraged in any way to fund this organization. It is solely their option to do so--Ed ^{¿Cómo estás?}Reviews? 01:36, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Did you ever review the comments on Political Cooperative article?

Just wondering why the latest sysops action was taken. - Darrow

Equal treatment under the (Wikipedia) Law

Islamic apartheid redirects to Criticism of Islam Israeli apartheid should, in a similar way redirects to Criticism of Zionism

Zeq 10:12, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

From Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Israeli apartheid, Remedy #3 ("Centralized discussion"):

Discussion of global issues which concern use of "apartheid" [...] shall be at Wikipedia:Central discussions/Apartheid with subsidiary dialog on the talk page of affected articles.

I don't think this recommendation has been fully exploited yet, before coming to Jimbo's page. --Francis Schonken 10:23, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Do you mean the recomndeation to redirect Islamic apartheid to Criticism of Islam much like Israeli apartheid in a similar way redirects to Criticism of Zionism  ???? If you think this is the case you are wrong. They are not being treated equally. 89.1.247.220 13:19, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

The arguments are not clear as to what is requested here, but I disagree that Israeli apartheid should redirect to Criticism of Zionism. Israel is a country, not a religion, so equal re-direction should exist for both. For example, no mention is specifically made to highlight the overwhelming inadequacies in the Saudi system as being an example of Islamic criticism. --LeyteWolfer 13:24, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

OK so we are in agreement.

Since Islamic apartheid redirects to Criticism of Islam

Israeli apartheid should, in a similar way, redirects to Criticism of Israel

89.1.206.229 14:11, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Likely probation violation

See Wikipedia:Administrators'_noticeboard/Incidents#Zeq_disruption_in_violation_of_probation. --70.48.71.15 23:36, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Welcome back Homey ! long time no seen Zeq 08:10, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Uncyclopedia

Hello sir, I would like to give you a link to a web site which is totally copyright of wikipedia. It is completely rubbish. They have abused you on there main page. Kindly see to it.

Link this. Thanks Sushant gupta 08:20, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

I think it already has Jimbo's OK. On a side note, the temptation to link to Uncyclopedia:Nobody cares is very strong :) --WikiSlasher 09:18, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Happy Holidays!

Hello from Russia. Vinograd19

Greetings from Cuba!!!

Hi Jimbo, i wanna give you my thanks by Wikipedia development... Really, it's GREAT... And... why don't you come to visit us at Cuba??? We love the free source! Thanks & Happy new year! ZorphDark

Isn't it still illegal for Americans to visit Cuba, without special government permission? *Dan T.* 15:44, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

It is not illegal to visit, it is illegal to spend money there. However, it is possible to get government permission, and I believe that it is not that hard to obtain. Certainly, if anyone could get it, I should be able to get it. I would very much like to visit Cuba. I will post more about this on ZorphDark's user talk.--Jimbo Wales 18:39, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Two-revert rule

I have the following proposal: Two-revert rule http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Two-revert_rule I think the large majority of the users would support this change. This would be a radical shift in mentality and will bring only good quality to various articles. In this way 3RR rule is redundant, we can get rid of it and no more reports on 3RR is needed. Would you favor such a drastic reform? Thank you, --HIZKIAH (User • Talk) 13:38, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Happy New Year and a question about CC-BY-SA

Hello there, Jimbo, and Happy New Year! This is a very simple question. I have been talking with a Flickr user who says he would change the license of his images to {{cc-by-sa}} if his name appears in a caption every time the image is being used. I would agree with it (every time one of his images is used I would add "Photo by XXX" or similar, with XXX the real name of the user), and I have seen it done in some articles (Tank Man, Magicicada, Holmsund, Brent Harding). However, that may conflict with the GFDL license, as users would not be able to edit that sentence out of the article. Do you have any thoughts about this matter? Or, if someone else who checks this page knows about a guideline or a previous discussion about this, I will gladly take any tip about it. Thanks! -- ReyBrujo 14:59, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

a policy/philosophy question

Hello Jimbo, First of all, many thanks for coming up with this brilliant idea called Wikipedia!!!

I have a question for you, in which I shall mention no names of either contributors or articles because I would like this to remain in the realm of the hypothetical and would like to hear your opinion on dealing with it as a hypothetical, general situation. What should be done if, on a number of articles relating to similar things or events, there is a small group of users (maybe two, three or four people, and the same group on all the involved articles) who have written somewhat slanted, rather POV versions of the things or events in question, and then guard those articles so closely that changing them is practically impossible. Statements, paragraphs, even just sentences presenting an opposing viewpoint, even those with verifiable sources, are frequently reverted and called vandalism or lies. Add to this mess that the disputes almost always divide along predictable national lines, and then keep in mind that blocks are not a good idea because all of the involved parties have made many valuable contributions on other articles and topics.....

Again, I do not wish to name names of anything or anyone. I am, however, quite interested to hear your opinion on what should generally be done to resolve a situation such as the one I described above.

Happy New Year!!!

Yours sincerely, K. Lástocska 16:01, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Have you considered following our dispute resolution process? ≈ jossi ≈ (talk) 17:43, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Sort of, but it's more of a cold war than a hot war, and I don't think DR would work very well in this case. K. Lástocska 20:34, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Dear Mr. Wales (Akron Wiki)

Dear Master Jimbo Wales: We at the wiki "Cool People from Akron" would like to see to it that the Akron Wiki and Akroness habve their own articles on your wonderful site. I feel that some administrators are being unfair and that they are enforcing their belifes which prevents us from making your encyclopedia free. I feel that Akroness is a genuine slang term that has been used in many print sources in the Akron area, and I feel that our wiki is being discriminated against while other wikis can have their own pages. I feel you should intervene with these administrators, especally User:Nishkid64, to allow us to create our articles. Best regards,

CPFA

title

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you, Jimbo! I didn't know that you had been in our country, Finland, until I saw that one picture on Commons. Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for the whole Wikipedia system and happy new year! --Roosa 00:09, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Question on Marc Lemire

I'll have to respectfully disagree in regards to your comments on Talk:Marc Lemire.

There are {{fact}} tags everywhere on Wikipedia, and can be with facts that could be construed as insulting depending on your point of view(since there are an infinite amount of povs, everybody is insulted by something).

It seems more like trying to hide something by just removing it because some povs consider it to be inflammatory. I think it would be better to put up a {{disputed}} tag and let people know that this view is an outside and possibly untrue view. If the consensus thinks it best to remove the portion, then it should be removed. If it isn't presented as fact, it cannot be libel, and if it isn't libelous, it isn't scholarly to hide information.Just H 02:36, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

I think we should hold ourselves to a much higher standard of quality than that. Just because the man is a far right-winger, that is no excuse for linking to random web forum posts (at stormfront, no less!) as if it proves anything about him. We need SOLID SOURCING for ALL statements about living persons. The problematic statements WERE presented as fact, but even if they were not, it would still be problematic from a moral point of view... it is possible to libel someone through "false light", you know...--Jimbo Wales 02:45, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

That's the beauty though. Just because it was presented as fact before doesn't mean it is cast in stone. This is a wiki after all! It's best to tone down the words, show that the sources of information are likely to be faulty, but until there's something better, to keep it there and be transparent about that. If the information is incredibly poor, it eventually will be replaced rather quickly, and if it's false, it will be removed per WP:V.Just H 02:48, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

We can all collaborate on that article to make it safe both for Wikipedia, for the subject, and for those who wish to understand the topic. At least, that's what I believe. I'm one person, and one person does not make consensus. Until there is a consensus there, i'll leave it be. If we don't act by consensus only in difficult situations, I guarantee that this website will eventually fall apart.Just H 02:51, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

I am sorry but you are just mistaken here. When we are talking about a biography of a living person, it is mandatory that poorly sourced negative material be removed IMMEDIATELY. We have an ethical obligation here to get things absolutely right. Please understand that whoever put the information there, whoever puts information anywhere in wikipedia, had better be prepared to stand behind it personally, because we are all individually responsible for our own actions here... not just legally, but morally. Simply tagging some horrible crap with a fact tag is absolutely unacceptable when a real person might be hurt by it... and this remains true no matter how unsympathetic the person might be.--Jimbo Wales 02:53, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Then we'll have to agree to disagree then. I'm not saying what I said because the subject is unpopular. I'd say the same thing for any topic, irregardless of how it may be viewed by some.

I am somewhat disappointed however that you as the co-founder of Wikipedia are so reactionary in how you percieve information, in what I thought was a place where all information was presented for the good of everyone's understanding.

I'm also disappointed that you think so subjectively rather than objectively. If I think something is "crap", does that mean it is "crap" to you? What do you consider to be "crap"? What does the general public to be consider to be "crap"? In the end, it's just a slippery slope towards censorship unless all subjectivity is removed and is replaced with objectivity.

To paraphrase the old saying though, it's your website, and you can go home with it if you want to. Just H 02:57, 1 January 2007 (UTC)