Wikipedia:Village pump (miscellaneous)

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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.

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Begging for a GA review of Birth control to help with medicine translation pilot

It is unusual to ask for Good Article reviews outside of WP:GAN but I can't see that it's against the rules. (If so, please delete this request.) I've recently nominated Birth control for Good Article status because Wikipedia:WikiProject Medicine/Translation Task Force requires GAs before they will begin translation. Based on a stats.grok.se page view count of the medical vital articles, Birth control looked like it should be done first. I think it's ready. At least three (maybe four) M.D.s have been going over it in detail at Talk:Birth control for the last couple months, and I just about doubled the article size, have the sourcing up to WP:MEDRS standards, and believe I have it in line with the Good Article Criteria.

Would someone please review it? If you might have time to do so, please read these first: Good article criteria and Reviewing good articles.

Thank you! —Cupco 00:26, 11 September 2012 (UTC)

This still needs a reviewer. Anyone with a registered account can do this, and there are some experienced folks on hand to help you out if you've never done it before. WhatamIdoing (talk) 21:34, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

Suspicious craigslist ad

I responded to a craigslist employment ad titled "Experienced Wikipedia Editor Sought for Paid Position". Initially (perhaps naively) I thought this might be a philanthropic organization dedicated to improving Wikipedia, or even the Foundation itself. However, the ad included the phrase "Discretion and confidentiality will be required." This made me a bit suspicious.

First thing in the morning (before 9 AM) I got an e-mail, from an address beginning with "wikipediaposition@...", asking to provide my Wikipedia user ID number. The writer did not identify the organization doing the hiring. Given that a user ID number is visible only to signed-in editors, I politely declined, saying I would be happy to verify my Wikipedia identity should we get further along in the process. I received no further replies.

Here is the link to the ad [1]; to the right is a screenshot of the same ad.

I suspect that some special-interest lobby or similar party is looking to buy off Wikipedia admins and other reputable editors in order to slant articles in a certain way. Any ideas? Might this be worthy of further investigation? -Jordgette [talk] 20:22, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

If I had to guess I would say they are trying to hack your account. I can't imagine any legitimate reason to need your ID number as your username is already a unique identifier. Beeblebrox (talk) 20:44, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

They might not have meant to ask for the user ID number; they might have meant "username". WhatamIdoing (talk) 21:36, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

Not a chance — I provided my Wikipedia username in my initial communication, along with my current edit count. I also restated my username in my second e-mail. -Jordgette [talk] 22:58, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

I think I am leaning towards Beeblebrox's position, as I find it very strange that the only matter that was raised in the initial email was your ID number? Was there nothing else in the communication? If the person was intending to hack your account, the only reason I can think of is that the person was possibly applying for an editing job and wanted to show credentials? Maybe? --Soulparadox (talk) 12:14, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

It's Saturday, my paranoia day. Could be identity theft, or a widespread attempt at outing: we don't know how many other Wikipedia editors have responded. But going with the KISS principle, it's possible the organization is clueless about any other way to verify a Wikipedia editor's identity, such as (say) simply creating an account, and having the prospect editor log in and click "Email this user." --Lexein (talk) 19:42, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

It seems like a lot of effort and expense to hack into a Wikipedia account. I just discovered that the same ad is posted in other cities. New York [2], Los Angeles, and Chicago all have identical listings, and those are the only other cities I checked. I believe each listing costs $75, so someone is spending some cash on this effort. Another possibility is it's an experiment to find out how easy it is to buy off otherwise reputable Wikipedia editors.
The entire text of the response e-mail was:

Hi [my first name],

Do you have a wikipedia ID number? If so, please provide it.

Thanks,

Jessica

Combining the lack of identification in the e-mail, the anonymous "wikipediaposition@..." e-mail address (the domain name being a favorite for generic/anonymous e-mail accounts), and the confidentiality line of the ad itself, I smell a rat. Perhaps asking for an ID number is a gauge to see how compliant or desperate the applicant is. -Jordgette [talk] 22:01, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

I doubt it's possible or necessary to use a user ID number to get access to an account - for one thing, it can be obtained through other public means. (Interestingly, the SUL info tool quotes a different ID number to the one in Special:Preferences; your preferences one varies by project, even for connected accounts, while the SUL one seems to refer to an additional SUL identity). I would go with the explanation that someone doesn't quite understand how the system works, or is unaware of how to check the age of an account and wishes to look for low numbers as a proxy for "age". Andrew Gray (talk) 22:03, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

I don't think it seems like much effort or expense at all. Craigslist is free and from what we have heard so far nobody has gotten any actual money. The name on the email reply suggests a certain WP:LTA headcase who has shown a particularly high level of clueless persistence though. Won't say more on that on per WP:DNFTT though. Beeblebrox (talk) 22:11, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

Craiglist isn't free for employers. If you're placing a job listing, it costs $75 per category per city.[3] It's how craigslist makes money.

I'm getting the vibe that this isn't worthy of concern. I don't know, it looks pretty large and coordinated to me. Someone is paying hundreds of dollars to find highly influential Wikipedia editors willing to edit the encyclopedia to their liking, under terms of confidentiality. As a Wikipedian I find this troubling. So if 20 admins sign on and are getting paid to slant some area of Wikipedia, would we know about it? Hundreds of articles could be damaged, in a way that would be untraceable and non-reversible. It's not like I have any solutions, but I thought others might find this development alarming enough to take seriously. Having fulfilled my duty, I guess I'll just be quiet now. -Jordgette [talk] 23:16, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

Well that's odd, I have placed employment ads on their multiple times and never been asked for a dime. Anyhoo, if 20 admins were working in concert to slant a particualr subject area I imagine we would be able to tell. Despite what some seem to believe, admins are usually more than willing to hang one of our own out to dry if there is evidence of this sort of abuse. Beeblebrox (talk) 01:27, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

It is concerning, but we've been seeing people placing ads like this for five years (though Craigslist is a new one to me - it's mostly tech/editorial freelancer sites). There's not much we can really do about them beyond keep an eye out for people doing silly things as a result! Andrew Gray (talk) 10:08, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

The volunteer response team just received an email regarding this, and I have passed it along to a member of the Foundation staff team so they too are aware.

Regards,
Daniel (talk) 01:35, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

Confirming; Foundation staff is aware as well. Thank you. Philippe Beaudette, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 01:47, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

Category:Shopping centers in the San Francisco Bay Area

Resolved

Can anyone figure out why Great Mall of the Bay Area is still in Category:Shopping centers in the San Francisco Bay Area? It is not in the list of categories in the wikicode, and I can't identify anything in the templates which might be doing this.

The category is being merged, and should be empty by now. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 23:15, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

Fixed: I kicked the article with a null edit, and that updated the category. There are a variety of cases where categories placed by templates may last for a finite length of time (or in more complex cases, an infinite length of time) after a category is updated. --j⚛e decker^talk 23:27, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, Joe. I should have thought of a null edit, but since I couldn't see a relevant template it didn't occur to me.

Anyway, category now emptied and gone. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 23:50, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

This is another reason content categories should not be transcluded by template. Rich Farmbrough, 16:26, 20 September 2012 (UTC).

Forest coordinates

How do I specify coordinates for a forest? In particular, Iwokrama Forest, which has in its text boundaries in terms of latitude and longitude, but probably fairly roughly. --DThomsen8 (talk) 01:41, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

It should be possible to use {{Attached KML}} if you use Google Earth to create a KML file. – Allen4names (IPv6 contributions) 05:57, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

Wonderful answer. I especially like Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike results at [[4]]. Now I have to learn how to create a KLM file using Google Earth. Any hints on that? --DThomsen8 (talk) 20:01, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

Merge discussion

Can I please get someone to weigh in here on whether or not a song should be merged? So far the discussion is just back and forth between me and the page creator. Ten Pound Hammer • ^{(What did I screw up now?)} 01:21, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

Comment period on the Wikimedia United States Federation

There is a proposal for an an umbrella organization for chapters and other groups in the US called the Wikimedia United States Federation. A draft of the bylaws is now up at meta. There will be an open comment period on the bylaws 17 September, 2012 to 1 October, 2012. The comments received given will be incorporated into the bylaws and they will be put up to a ratification vote from 8 October, 2012 to 15 October, 2012. --Guerillero | My Talk 21:47, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

Number of contribs

A minor query - the 'My preferences' tab is showing I have made (excluding this) 82,293 edits - but the Toolserver edit counter shows 83,777 - which is nearly 1,500 more. Why the difference? GiantSnowman 14:26, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

Different counting methods. See WP:EC. Ntsimp (talk) 14:57, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! GiantSnowman 15:27, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

Freezing Wikipedia

Don't really know where to ask this, so please point me somewhere else if necessary. If the number of Wikipedia editors ever falls below a critical point where bad edits from vandals start to outnumber good edits, and the people fighting vandalism are overwhelmed, then freezing all articles and disallowing further editing would presumably be preferable to allowing the project to be entirely destroyed. Are mechanisms in place to identify if that tipping point occurs and take the necessary action to preserve what has already been created? 86.176.210.77 (talk) 22:46, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

This is statistically very unlikely to happen for the foreseeable years, but if it does there are several possible ways to address such a problem. Wikipedia:Pending changes could be turned on everywhere, for example. It's not something to worry about, but if it does happen, it's still not something to worry about. —Cupco 23:08, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

Since when could statistics predict human behaviour? 86.176.210.77 (talk) 01:38, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

There are already database dumps and stored page histories. Wikipedia could be restored and locked to a given time in the past if the Wikimedia Foundation suddenly decided that your hypothetical tipping point had already been passed. But we are far from that point so it would seem a waste of resources and poor PR if a mechanism was put in place now. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:37, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

On the other hand this claim is constantly made by those opposing new articles, and many other new things, that we will just be unable to "police that number of pages".

Also worth noting that there are mechanisms in place, such as flagged revisions, general page protection/semi-protection which could be turned on, should it prove necessary, and do not require development.

The question of mechanisms to identify such a tipping point is interesting, inherently anything fully automated would be able to put off the tipping point. I would say that the community would be aware when and if it was passed, and it would not be an unstable tipping point, therefore a delayed response would not be disastrous. Rich Farmbrough, 16:22, 20 September 2012 (UTC).

Deletion of my account so I can come up with new one ID

HELP! How do I cancel acct just created. I posted something on a talk page about previously deleted article.

I wasn't thinking and now realize my user name can potentially identify me and that ain't good. — Preceding unsigned comment added by BHSteve (talk • contribs) 23:59, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

It cannot be deleted, but you can request a rename. Check out Wikipedia:Changing username. If you don't care about removing the current contributions under your current name, you can just stop using it and create a new one. Monty₈₄₅ 00:13, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

What to do if someone ignores my comments?

An editor refuses to discuss their edits with me. I left them comments in their page telling I disagree with some of their edits and I got no reply. What is the best way to handle this? -- Magioladitis (talk) 12:33, 20 September 2012 (UTC)

I'd say wait a few days (send a reminder in between), and if there is still no response go ahead and revert the changes. Mention in the edit summary why you disagree with the changes, and suggest that the matter be discussed further on the talk page if necessary. — Cheers, JackLee ^–talk– 12:36, 20 September 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. I reverted 3 edits of them just to catch their attention but they reverted my edits without commenting and with no edit summary. -- Magioladitis (talk) 13:37, 20 September 2012 (UTC)

In that case, I suggest you report the matter at "Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Edit warring". — Cheers, JackLee ^–talk– 15:24, 20 September 2012 (UTC)

Translation from french Wikipedia

Hello,

Can you help me to initialize a translation of Encyclopedia Universalis Mundaneum (initial version on fr.wp)?

I do not understand how and where to make this request. Thank you! And sorry for my bad english... --M0tty (talk) 12:56, 21 September 2012 (UTC)

Do spam fighters sleep?

I reported a spam-only account at WT: WikiProject Spam #Special:Contributions/Lorina21 four days ago. Nobody care there, and it is still spamming. Incnis Mrsi (talk) 08:54, 22 September 2012 (UTC)

• Report it at WP:AVI, it is fast and efficient. They require that a warning was issued prior to them though.--Ymblanter (talk) 09:06, 22 September 2012 (UTC)

people descriptions

It appears to me that if someone is Jewish or of Jewish decent it is always prominently displayed on their pages .... yet non-Jews have very little said about their religious beliefs ....

For example

Sam Walton ... no mention of religion Charles Koch ... no mention of religion

and

Michael Bloomberg ... 1st line ... its even a search category Larry Ellison .... 1st line .... even if he's non-practicing

can someone explain .... im sure there are thousands of examples — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.81.202.199 (talk) 13:04, 22 September 2012 (UTC)

How do I know when an article was full-protected in the past?

Does it appear in the article's history, or is there a separate log somewhere? --Anthonyhcole (talk) 14:41, 22 September 2012 (UTC)