Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Boneyard/Newsroom/Old

Welcome to The Wikipedia Signpost's Tip Line. There are two ways to leave tips:

1. Add a tip on this page
2. Anonymously e-mail us at WikipediaSignpost@Gmail.com (for convenience, you may use this link)

Not every mention of Wikipedia in the media will make it into Signpost. Consider editing Wikipedia:Press coverage or Wikipedia:Wikipedia as a press source so we have a comprehensive record.

Please do not post newsletters to this page; news from WikiProjects is always appreciated, but templated messages are much more likely to be ignored. Ral315 (talk) 05:43, 3 January 2008 (UTC) Template:SignpostNavigation

Calendar of upcoming events

I intend this to be a sort of calendar of upcoming events, on and off Wikipedia (particularly non-obvious events, that might be easily missed) -- things that readers might be interested in. Anyone can add events here.

• April 10: Kat Walsh lecture. Eastern Michigan University, 7 p.m. [1]

Requests for WikiProject features

If you'd like your WikiProject featured in an upcoming WikiProject report, feel free to list it here. Note that these requests are entirely advisory, and may or may not be used in future reports. Please do not "support" or "oppose" individual requests, and keep requests short and concise. Ral315 (talk) 05:51, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

• I'd like to ask for WP:DINO to be featured in the Signpost. With over 90 members, the Dinosaur WikiProject is really dedicated to dinosaur coverage. See their page of achievements for more information. Bibliomaniac15 21:51, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

• I really need to help get attention to WP:AVATAR. There used to be a lot of active members but ever since the main article, Avatar: The Last Airbender, became featured, a lot of people stopped working, including myself for a while. Maybe a little publicity will gather the many anonymous and registered users who just work on the articles every once and a while (and maybe some newcomers too) to join. Parent5446^{(Murder me for my actions)} 19:46, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

• I'd like to put forward WikiProject Football, currently having over 350 members and supporting more than 21,000 articles (more stats etc at Wikipedia:WikiProject Football/Milestones). A draft report for possible use is located here. Nanonic (talk) 09:21, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

• WikiProject Oregon is a lively and productive project that currently supports over 5000 articles, and has a dedicated core group of editors who work toward getting articles to GA and FA. Currently we are working on a response to the Oregon Historical Society's announcement that they are starting a collaborative encyclopedia project that will somehow be better than Wikipedia. Katr67 (talk) 02:21, 16 February 2008 (UTC)
  • I'd like to second that request. We have a good opportunity right now in Oregon to get some attention outside the Wikipedia community, which would help us recruit new Wikipedians. A little coverage from within the WP community would be very helpful in those efforts. We recently got Portal:Oregon to Featured status, and the comments in the review suggested it might be more like "Featured Plus." A lot of new members have joined in the last few months, and been very productive. I feel like we've got something really good going. Here's the press release we've been working on. -Pete (talk) 20:05, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

• I think just about every WikiProject would actually like being listed. Maybe an idea would be to see which have been listed on the Community Portal recently as new, revived, or whatever projects and/or portals, many of which are related to projects, to see which are engaged in morre activity. Having said that, of course, I think the Christianity and History projects, among others, might be worthy of attention, and maybe WikiProject Saints as well, the only project which to my knowledge has gotten a barnstar from an outsider as a project. John Carter (talk) 15:35, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

And, of course, considering it just declared indpendence, Wikipedia:WikiProject Kosovo might be the most timely. John Carter (talk) 19:17, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Citizendium starts a monthly newsletter

http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:CZ - David Gerard (talk) 20:22, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Larry Sanger reacts on Citizendium re: conflict of interest at Prem Rawat article

Larry Sanger had an interesting response to the article in The Register, and took action over at Citizendium. See more here, here, here, here, and here at the CZ:Topic Informant Workgroup. Cirt (talk) 21:18, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

For more on "Topic Informant" on Citizendium, see CZ:Policy on Topic Informants. Cirt (talk) 21:20, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Citizendium also has a relevant policy which Larry Sanger mentions, called CZ:Policy on Self-Promotion. Cirt (talk) 21:26, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Update: An ip user, 147.114.226.173 (talk · contribs), has stated that they are in contact with a journalist regarding this issue/story, and will be in touch with that journalist on Monday 3/3/2008. Here is the DIFF. Cirt (talk) 20:17, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

Science Progress editorial: Wikipedia and the New Curriculum

Wikipedia and the New Curriculum - Digital Literacy Is Knowing How We Store What We Know, by UT-Dallas communications professor David Parry, argues that universities should place an emphasis on teaching students how Wikipedia and other media work.--ragesoss (talk) 01:12, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

SF Weekly on San Francisco edit wars

Wikipedia Idiots: The Edit Wars of San Francisco, by Mary Spicuzza. It revolves around the alleged misdeeds of User:Griot, whom the writer unsuccessfully seeks to identify and interview, and features mentions of a handful of SF-based Wikipedians.--ragesoss (talk) 01:49, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Also mentioned in AN/I. -- SEWilco (talk) 20:04, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Analysis of Wikipedia coverage breadth

Alex Halavais blog post pointing to the journal article. (via David Gerard on WikiEN-l)--ragesoss (talk) 21:09, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Court rulings online for free

An effort has started to get court rulings online for free. Could be a good resource for WP. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/20/technology/20westlaw.html?_r=1&oref=slogin%3C/a -Ravedave (talk) 18:24, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

How's this for irony: an online article about an effort to make court rulings available online for free, isn't free. Charles Stewart (talk) 18:27, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

It is free, you just have to register with the site. You don't even have to use a real e-mail. --JayHenry (talk) 18:33, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Here's a registration-free link: [2]

Isn't this about six months old? Any updates on this? Ral315 (talk) 10:24, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

Encyclopedia of Life

The Encyclopedia of Life is set to launch this week. The Encyclopedia, partially inspired by Wikipedia, is being written by scientists and will seek to catalog the 1.8 million known species on the planet earth -- the sort of project for which you need a troll-free and deletionist-free professional environment, I'm afraid. The Encyclopedia will be free to use, and to start out is being written largely by computers mining scanned library material for data. The ranks of taxonomists are ever shrinking, the article says, and so they're worried about ever having the man power to polish the thing off.[3] --JayHenry (talk) 16:16, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

Or, they could have used Wikispecies, and spent much less than $110.5 million :) Ral315 (talk) 16:20, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

And, in a further preview of Jay Henry's morning reading: The Wisdom of the ChaperonesDigg, Wikipedia, and the myth of Web 2.0 democracy. in Slate.com. A semi-critical article of the Wiki Elite. Conclusion: "Digg and Wikipedia would do well to stop pretending they're operated by the many and start thinking of ways to rein in the power of the few." Uh-oh, better add Slate -- and maybe all Washington Post owned journalism outlets -- to BADSITES. --JayHenry (talk) 16:39, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

Expert withdrawal

A very long, but very interesting, discussion is going on in User:Raymond arritt/Expert withdrawal. (You might have previously reported on this, I don't remember, but the discussion has progressed significantly in any case.) It involves scientists from many fields who are feeling worn out from constant struggles against pseudoscience and fringe theorists. Several courses of action have been considered, ranging from science task forces to an all-out strike by science experts. It seems that in this community, there is a strong belief in the need for some sort of flagged revisions. --Zvika (talk) 18:49, 27 February 2008 (UTC) P.S. I would be willing to write a short summary about for the Signpost if you are interested. --Zvika (talk) 18:50, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

I think that would be very interesting and a worthwhile addition. Cirt (talk) 18:57, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

I'd love to see the piece myself, possibly with quotes from some of the parties involved if that's possible. John Carter (talk) 19:12, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

[citation needed] tags in real life

I found this blog post about [citation needed] tags via this site, and thought it was kind of neat. Considering that xkcd has already featured these tags, it might be interesting to take a look at the phenomenon. Nihiltres^{t.l} 04:01, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

LOL The image is licensed under CC-BY-SA, and could be uploaded and included in a Signpost article. - Mtmelendez ^(Talk) 18:06, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Is it sad that I recognize the signs tagged with {{fact}}? Titoxd^{(?!? - cool stuff)} 10:35, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

LOL, that is hillarious. Thanks. ~AH1^(TCU) 15:53, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

New York Review of Books article on Wikipedia

The New York Review of Books issue of March 20, 2008 features a long article by Nicholson Baker, "The Charms of Wikipedia". (Full disclosure: It does mention my book, but the vast majority of the article is about Baker's experiences with Wikipedia and his views on the project.) -- John Broughton (♫♫) 16:35, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

In the news from Italy

Florence officials suing Wikipedia. Would their documents presented to WMF be public domain? -- SEWilco (talk) 15:06, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

Dail Mail mention re:Norman Bettison

The online edition, at least, has an article [4] relating to the controversy over this Wikipedia article, complete with a clueful quote from User:David Gerard. — Gavia immer (talk) 15:35, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

New York Review of Books

"The Charms of Wikipedia" in The New York Review of Books is much more than a review of Wikipedia: The Missing Manual; it is a positive review of Wikipedia itself. Awadewit | talk 18:10, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

Again, this is not a place for discussion, editorial comments, "deletionist vs. inclusionist" arguments, etc. The story has been noted. Ral315 (talk) 20:42, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

Jimbo, Rachel Marsden, and all that

We covered this for this issue; on this subject, continued discussion is welcomed, as the story is likely to continue receiving coverage. News sources should be added below.

Coverage in WP:V/WP:RS secondary news sources

1. The Canadian Press (March 2, 2008). "Canadian pundit, Wikipedia founder in messy breakup". CBC News. CBC. Retrieved 2008-03-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
2. Goodman, Lee-Anne (March 2, 2008). "Right-wing pundit Marsden turns to eBay after breakup with Wikipedia founder". CBC News. CBC. Retrieved 2008-03-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
3. Goodman, Lee-Anne (March 2, 2008). "Right-wing pundit Marsden turns to eBay after breakup with Wikipedia founder". The Canadian Press. Retrieved 2008-03-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
4. Staff (March 3, 2008). "Spurned Marsden selling ex-beau's stuff: But Wikipedia founder admits to only 'brief' liason". The Province. Pacific Newspaper Group Inc. Retrieved 2008-03-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
5. Staff (March 3, 2008). "Pundit peddles ex's items online". Winnipeg Sun. Canoe Inc. Retrieved 2008-03-03.
6. Naughton, Philippe (March 3, 2008). "Jilted lover uses eBay to hit back at Wikipedia guru". The Times. Times Newspapers Ltd. Retrieved 2008-03-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
7. O'Donoghue, JJ (March 3, 2008). "Wikipedia break-up causes web stir". Webuser. IPC Media. Retrieved 2008-03-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
8. Grabham, Dan (March 3, 2008). "Wikipedia founder embroiled in online spat with ex-lover: You really could not make this stuff up". Techradar.com. Future Publishing Limited. p. Section: Internet. Retrieved 2008-03-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
9. Megan, McCarthy (March 3, 2008). "Wikipedia Founder Hit With Relationship Trouble, Allegations of Excessive Spending". Wired News. CondéNet, Inc. Retrieved 2008-03-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
10. Coleman, Joey (March 3, 2008). "Another chapter for one of SFU's most (in)famous alumni". Maclean's. Rogers Communications. Retrieved 2008-03-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
11. Cooper, Charles (March 3, 2008). "My e-mail breakup with Jimmy Wales and other sordid doings". CNET News. CNET Networks, Inc. Retrieved 2008-03-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
12. Moses, Asher (March 4, 2008). "Ex takes her revenge on Mr Wikipedia". Sydney Morning Herald. p. Section: Tech. Retrieved 2008-03-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
13. Leonard, Tom (March 4, 2008). "Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales in online love spat". Telegraph.co.uk. Telegraph Media Group Limited. Retrieved 2008-03-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
14. Ramadge, Andrew (March 4, 2008). "Wikipedia icon's Silicon Valley sex scandal". News.com.au. News Limited. p. Section:Technology. Retrieved 2008-03-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
15. Gardner, David (March 4, 2008). "Dumped Dot Com: How Wikipedia founder used his website to break off relationship - and how she used eBay to get revenge". The Daily Mail. Associated Newspapers Ltd. Retrieved 2008-03-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
16. Staff (March 4, 2008). "Dumped on Wikipedia, revenge on eBay". Metro.co.uk. Associated Newspapers Limited. Retrieved 2008-03-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
17. Nelson, Sara (March 4, 2008). "Wiki love split cyber storm". The Sun. Retrieved 2008-03-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
18. Pavia, Will (March 5, 2008). "Wikipedia founder's dirty laundry for sale on eBay: It was a boy-meets-girl story for the Web 2.0 generation. But when it turned sour, the recriminations resounded through the blogosphere while the dirty laundry was put up for sale on eBay". The Australian. News Limited. Retrieved 2008-03-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
19. Agrell, Siri (March 4, 2008). "Ms. Marsden's cyberspace breakup: tit-for-tat-for-T-shirt". Globe and Mail. CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc. Retrieved 2008-03-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
20. Staff (March 4, 2008). "Bidding war for Wikipedia T-shirts". Web User. IPC Media. Retrieved 2008-03-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
21. Staff (March 4, 2008). "A 'Wiki' love gone wrong ends on eBay". Canada.com. Canwest Interactive. Retrieved 2008-03-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
22. Staff (March 4, 2008). "Messy Break Up Posted on Blogs, Wikipedia and eBay: Wikipedia Founder, Internet Columnist Say Goodbye on the Web". MyFoxNational Reports. Fox Television Stations, Inc. Retrieved 2008-03-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
23. Bergstein, Brian (The Associated Press) (March 4, 2008). "Wikipedia's Wales Hit Over Expenses". The Washington Post. The Washington Post Company. Retrieved 2008-03-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
24. McCarthy, Megan (March 4, 2008). "Wikipedia Founder Hit With Relationship Trouble, Allegations of Excessive Spending". ABC News. ABC. Retrieved 2008-03-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
25. Staff (March 5, 2008). "Wikipedia founder dumps girlfriend online". United Press International. United Press International, Inc. Retrieved 2008-03-05. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
26. Moses, Asher (March 5, 2008). "Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales accused of expenses rort". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2008-03-05. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
27. Kim, Ryan (March 4, 2008). "Allegations swirl around Wikipedia's Wales". San Francisco Chronicle. Hearst Communications, Inc. Retrieved 2008-03-05. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
28. Sheehy, Kate (March 4, 2008). "One Wild and Wiki Breakup". New York Post. News Corporation. Retrieved 2008-03-05. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

Listing coverage in WP:V/WP:RS secondary news sources, above. Including press/media that cover/follow the incident from previous publication in major news wires. Cirt (talk) 05:27, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Other publications

1. Metz, Cade (March 3, 2008). "Jimbo Wales dumps lover on Wikipedia: eBay hath fury of woman scorned". The Register. Retrieved 2008-03-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

Moved due to contested status of The Register and WP:V/WP:RS, though still noting it here as part of the ongoing coverage. Cirt (talk) 08:08, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Fark.com will be linking to the Register story from their main page in a story scheduled to be posted in just over two hours. Ral315 (talk) 09:33, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Update to prev comment by Ral315 (talk · contribs) - as of this timestamp, The Register article is the 2nd entry on the Main Page of Fark.com. Cirt (talk) 12:46, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Maybe someone can add this to the ones above? It's the free Metro newspaper distributed in London on weekday mornings. The online article is longer than the paper article, which focused entirely on the dumping and e-Bay aspect and was buried on page 21. Carcharoth (talk) 15:58, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

 Done. Cirt (talk) 19:22, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

The Bergstein article is a major deal. It's Associated Press and has been picked-up by USA Today, MSNBC, Business Week, Forbes, and the Washington Post. Cla68 (talk) 23:37, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Movie copies from Wikipedia DNA article

I was just watching The Last Mimzy. 28 minutes into the movie, there's a scene with a science teacher talking about DNA, with a projector projecting some pictures of DNA onto a screen in back of him. I nearly died of shock because one of the images was mine! Specifically, they used Image:DNA labels.jpg (or - because several other Wikipedians took my original image and tweaked it - one of the derivatives thereof). One of the other images in the movie was Image:DNA Overview.png - apparently rotated 180 degrees; a third set of chemical structure images appear - one of which I believe is Image:Thymine chemical structure.png; I didn't find the other one but I believe that is ours too. Raul654 (talk) 19:24, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

Note: on closer inspection, it appears the image is Image:DNA-labels.png - one of the derivative versions of my original picture. Raul654 (talk) 20:30, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

Any copy of the GFDL in the credits for the movie? -- Tawker (talk) 00:19, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Not that I saw. Raul654 (talk) 16:41, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Obviously Image:DNA-labels.png and Image:DNA Overview.png should both have been credited under the GFDL, but Image:Thymine chemical structure.png is easily recreated from scratch. I don't see anything in such a standard chemical structure diagram of a simple molecule that is even copyrightable. Carcharoth (talk) 11:37, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

I think all chemical structure diagrams in 2D form is not copyrightable. Otherwise every single chemistry textbook that exist broke copyright laws. OhanaUnited^{Talk page} 15:46, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Indeed. Have a look at the .svg version of that image: Image:Tymina.svg, where we are told that: "This image is ineligible for copyright and therefore in the public domain, because it consists entirely of information that is common property and contains no original authorship." So I am puzzled as to why Raul was using Image:Thymine chemical structure.png as an example here. Carcharoth (talk) 15:52, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Raul just pointed out that the movie used images from Wikipedia. Even if it isn't copyrightable and is easily recreated, it seems likely that that image also was taken from Wikipedia.--ragesoss (talk) 16:26, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

The Valentine's Day featured picture

Love or Duty

Image:Love or dutyb.jpg, an 1871 chromolithograph by Gabriele Castagnola, has been re-featured after an unusual month of activity. Spikebrennan suggested a Valentine's Day nomination on February 8 (Wikipedia_talk:Featured_picture_candidates#Valentine.27s_Day). I located the image at the Library of Congress archives and restored it as Image:Love or dutya.jpg, where it passed featured picture candidacy on a rushed but unanimous vote (Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/"Love or Duty"). After it ran on the main page some editors objected on procedural grounds (Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/delist/Love or duty). So the image got de-featured and renominated as Image:Love or dutyb.jpg, where it passed on a second unanimous vote (Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Love or Duty).

This may be the first time that a featured picture has been nominated, promoted, highlighted on the main page, delisted, and repromoted in less than 30 days. Durova^Charge! 21:57, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

The Wikipedian's Court

The following is a Wikipedian Signpost suggestion:

File:Gavel.jpg Extra, Extra, Read all about it! Wikipedia gains its first court! The Wikipedian's Court is used to resolve edit conflicts. So if you feel like there has been a serious edit conflict, vandal, or a bad user then report it to The Wikipedian's Court. If you like justice, then help out in the jury. Wikipedia is a good source of information. Let's keep it that way.

Signed, Nothing444 00:02, 5 March 2008 (UTC)