Misplaced Pages

:Village pump (miscellaneous): Difference between revisions - Misplaced Pages

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editContent deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 20:01, 15 December 2008 editTenOfAllTrades (talk | contribs)Administrators21,283 edits →Prominent inclusionists?: Ah, the two-party system.← Previous edit Latest revision as of 18:07, 2 January 2025 edit undoJayCubby (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users5,476 edits →How to handle plagiarism from Misplaced Pages?: ReplyTag: Reply 
Line 1: Line 1:
<noinclude>{{Villagepumppages|Miscellaneous|The '''miscellaneous''' section of the village pump is used to post messages that do not fit into any other category. Please post on the ], ], or ] pages, or - for assistance - at the ], rather than here, if at all appropriate. For general knowledge questions, please use the ].|WP:VPM}}<!-- <noinclude>{{short description|Central discussion page of Misplaced Pages for general topics not covered by the specific topic pages}}{{pp-move-indef|small=yes}}{{Village pump page header|Miscellaneous|alpha=yes|The '''miscellaneous''' section of the ] is used to post messages that do not fit into any other category. Please post on the ], ], or ] sections when appropriate, or at the ] for assistance. For general knowledge questions, please use the ].


Discussions are automatically archived after remaining inactive for a week.|WP:VPM|WP:VPMISC}}
<!--
-->__NEWSECTIONLINK__<!-- -->__NEWSECTIONLINK__<!--
{{User:MiszaBot/config

-->{{User:MiszaBot/config
|archiveheader = {{Misplaced Pages:Village pump/Archive header}} |archiveheader = {{Misplaced Pages:Village pump/Archive header}}
|maxarchivesize = 200K |maxarchivesize = 250K
|counter = 17 |counter = 44
|algo = old(7d) |algo = old(7d)
|archive = Misplaced Pages:Village pump (miscellaneous)/Archive %(counter)d |archive = Misplaced Pages:Village pump (miscellaneous)/Archive %(counter)d
}}-->{{User:ClueBot III/ArchiveThis
}}<!--
|header={{Misplaced Pages:Village pump/Archive header}}

|archiveprefix=Misplaced Pages:Village pump (miscellaneous)/Archive
-->]
|format= %%i
]
|age=192
]
|numberstart=44
]
|minkeepthreads= 5
]
|maxarchsize= 250000
}}
] ]
<!--
]
]<!--


-->{{centralized discussion|compact=yes}}__TOC__<div style="clear:both;" id="below_toc"></div>
-->__TOC__
]
<span id="below_toc"/>
]</noinclude>
] ]
]</noinclude>


== How to handle ]? ==
== A "new" wikipedia ==

Hello, My name is Graham I am 13 years old and use wikipedia alot for school. What i think would be great is a Misplaced Pages for kids, because normal wikipedia is very complitcated and hard to understand often in 9th,8th,7th grade etc. Would be great, thanks. <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding ] comment added by ] (]) 16:50, 23 November 2008 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
:Have a look at ]. ] 17:01, 23 November 2008 (UTC)
::The simple English Misplaced Pages has simple content, but its interface and syntax rules and programming are the same as regular wikipedia. What Misplaced Pages could use would be a very simple instruction manual. The Wiki syntax language is quite simple to use once you understand it. ] (]) 02:54, 24 November 2008 (UTC)
:::I think the OP is saying that WP's ''content'' is complicated. I don't think he was talking about editing. ] (]) 09:07, 27 November 2008 (UTC)
::::What ''would'' be pretty siiick is if there could be some kind of mirror site or something that had all the same info as wikipedia, but wasn't wikipedia so it could be used as a source for school. And yes, I know it won't happen. But it would still be cool. And I do know that there are ways to get around wikipedia's not being allowed, so nobody tell me something like that (if anyone even says anything). So now i'm gonna just stop talking. yeah... ] (]) 01:05, 2 December 2008 (UTC)
:::::There's hundreds of ]. Just take a random chunk of text from a Misplaced Pages article and google it. I don't see why they would be a more reliable source than Misplaced Pages itself though. <font face="Broadway">]]</font> 01:25, 2 December 2008 (UTC)
::::::Simple English Misplaced Pages is not simple content. The content is the same, but uses simple words. The interface looks the same, but again, uses more simple words. For example, have a look at the article , not a simple topic, but it uses simple words. ] <sup>(]) </sup> 16:49, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
:::::I think what Pereo9 is getting at is that someone could select a stable, reliable version of a large number of articles and use it to construct a static version of Misplaced Pages that could be cited. Anyone could do this and I imagine there are some similar efforts to this underway. ] 21:52, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

:something like by any chance? ] (]) 20:29, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

== Personal information of minors ==

If someone has created an account with what appears to be their real name and has identified themselves as a minor and has also given other personal information about themselves on their user page (where they live) - do we just notify them that that is not necessarily a safe thing to do or can administrators go in and remove that data? ] (]) 20:49, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

:You should delete the information, inform the user and request ].&nbsp;–&nbsp;] (]) 21:26, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
:See ] for the guidance from ArbCom on this subject. - ]] 07:34, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

== 2 questions: one about contributions ==

Hi.<br/><br/>First off, is this the right page for me to be asking this question--I'm still a bit of a beginner here.<br/><br/>Second, I want to contribute to Misplaced Pages, as I indeed like it a lot, but I loves my privacy.<br/>What would happen if I sent cash--from $20 to $100--in a reasonably opaque envelop, with my username, an email address I got for free (in my case Yahoo! but I suppose there are many others), and maybe post a message on my username:talk page. Would it be accepted, used well, and would no one else accredit it to anyone but me?<br/><br/>Thanks<br/>] (]) 20:47, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
:Generally speaking, you're not advised to ever send cash through the mail system - it's not secure and passes through the hands of many people who are capable of detecting it and have no qualms about taking it. Instead, you might consider setting up a proxy to donate on your behalf, or creating an anonymous Paypal account associated with your Misplaced Pages user to donate with (in this case, only Paypal would be able to link your user to your real life identity). ] 21:47, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
::Your warning is not to be taken lightly and is noted, however, it's not the first time I've sent cash via the mails; further I don't even want Pay Pal to know about me. Again, the question is, what if I did it, and what if the letter reached Wikimedia's fund address. What would they do with the letter?] (]) 21:54, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
:::I'm sure they would accept the donation, but keep in mind that there is additional administrative cost to processing an unusual cash donation, and you might receive a warning on your talk page about it. As for whether you'd receive credit, I don't know - I'm speculating and you're better off getting in touch directly with the people who process donations. Try the e-mail address info (at) wikimedia.org. ] 22:18, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

== Beagle Boys ==

I really don't like IP addresses as user names. But I haven't come here to propose disallowing them; that has been proposed many times already and I guess there's a good reason why we have them. No, I just came here because I feel it's always better to take things in good humor. So I propose to refer to them as ]. &mdash; ] 19:52, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

== Fishery templates ==

The fishery articles use a number of ] to form a somewhat hierarchical network across the articles. Since these have been installed, the traffic for fishery articles has much increased, particularly for the lower level articles. However, every now and then, someone comes along, and wants, usually without discussion, to introduce their own idea of layout, or simply removes templates or pushes them out of the way. Sometimes editors come along who seem malicious. Is there some forum where I can get these issues properly considered by capable editors without axes to grind? --] (]) 02:12, 9 December 2008 (UTC)
: This has been posted on several forums, and the user has been pointed to the steps listed in ]. &mdash; ] 04:27, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

== pseudonym?Emily C. Orr ==

Does anyone know if the 19th century author, Emily C. Orr is a pseudonym? "She" wrote, "Thoughts For Working Days"; published in 1894 in London, England by the Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge. The New York publisher was E.& J.B. Young & Co.
"She" also wrote "Thoughts For Men & Women".


B. Clarke <small><span class="autosigned">—Preceding ] comment added by ] (] • ]) 18:29, 9 December 2008 (UTC)</span></small><!-- Template:Unsigned --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
:You should ask this at the ], where you'll find editors much more knowledgable on literature.-<font face="cursive" color="#808080">]</font> 19:37, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

== Let's just ] the virgin killer wars and get back to ] ==

],],], ]. I relisted virgin killer on IFD for the sole reason that for a fair-use image, the controvery that it has created makes it seem rediculous to keep. Thousands of users have had their acess impeded for the sake of "policy."<nowiki>]<nowiki>]</nowiki> I say ] and ]. So lets let all those users back in by ] for the sake of the project and it's content. I have asked for wider input on ths to see if the ] ] agree.--] (]) 23:29, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

:Looks like it got speedily kept already. <font color="629632">]</font> <sup><font color="7733ff">]</font></sup> 23:36, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

I see, Well, I would like to keep this up as a more general discussion with fresh eyes as weather to ''grant the image an IAR exemption'' rather than delete it. I want the communtity to establish a consensus as to weather or not ] or a few other policies should apply to this image. If the community agrees to grant an exemption, then we might re-nominated with that in mind. If the issue permenantly subsides and the IWF and the WMF can reach an agreement, then we can put this issue to rest.--] (]) 00:15, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

:The issue has already been put to rest, as there has been broad consensus to keep the image as it is, and continued renomination at this point would be rather ] and probably disruptive. The IWF action is now essentially a non-issue, as they have retracted their block. ] (]) 01:54, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

== ] ==

Could somebody who knows Roman History check the edits made by http://en.wikipedia.org/Special:Contributions/24.18.119.54? I'm not sure what they're doing is vandalism or is actually improving these articles. <font family="Arial">]'']''</font> 02:53, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

:Tricky. Particularly since some of these articles are of extremely un-notable Romans. But they do need checking (and deleting altogether in some cases). -- ] | ] 04:58, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

::I've passed this on to ]. Any further discussion should be held there. -- ] | ] 20:36, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
:::Thanks. I was looking for a ] and couldn't fine one. :) <font family="Arial">]'']''</font> 00:21, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

== ] pattern of anon IP edits ==

I guess ] threatened to sue Misplaced Pages in 2007, which may or may not have anything to do with the ongoing push-pull going on in the last couple months at that article. But is seems odd to me that there has been (what looks to me as) an incessant pattern of anon IP editors dropping in to the article and scrubbing out the non-flattering content. I am interested in third opinions about this. ] (]) 18:59, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

== Article type/subject area statistics request ==

This is either a request for information that already exists, or a suggestion for creating it... I have often wondered what types of articles make up the bulk of wikipedia, and would love to see, for instance, a pie chart showing this. E.g. what percentage of all articles are about places, about people, companies, entertainment, etc. It seems to me (particularly when I use the 'random article' function) that certain more or less un-historically important categories (TV shows of the late 20th c, minor bands, etc) are massively represented compared to other, more significant areas, but I'd love to see it in numbers. -] (]) 01:31, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
:Someone actually did a small sample of this fairly recently, in fact: ]. ] (]) 03:13, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
::Excellent - that was pretty much exactly what I was looking for. Thanks, Melodia! -] (]) 11:57, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

== Poor researching by regular editor ==
{{resolved}}

http://en.wikipedia.org/The_Church_of_the_SubGenius
From now on, you should consider this a guideline for your editors: If you don't know anything about it, find someone who does. Deleting an article on the ] is about as lacking in cultural knowledge as deleting an article on ], ], or ]. Seriously, Kraftlos needs to be spanked for putting a Notability on the Church of the SubGenius. With three books, two of which were published by ], and a film featuring ] and ] of ], this one is a no-brainer. Even a basic search of the WWW provides several hundred thousand references to it. That should be relevance enough.
] (]) 20:23, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

: The point of wikipedia is that anybody can edit anything however they see fit, and that enough other people will (or, at least, should) counter-edit until errors are removed. Expecting that nobody will ever make any errors in the first place is silly. The proper response is not to put a comment here, as some sort of demonstration of your cultural smarts, but to edit the article as you see fit. Go ahead and remove the box if it's wrong. - ] (]) 23:21, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

::I note that the article was never deleted, only that its notability was questioned. -- <font style="font-family:Monotype Corsiva; font-size:15px;">] </font> ] 22:11, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

== Where do I post a request for expansion of an article? ==

The page for article expansion has been archived and more or less abandoned. So if I think there is an article that needs help (specifically, the article on ] although I would like to know the answer in general as well), where do I post such a request? Please don't tell me to do it myself, since the reason I'm asking is because I want information about the topic. ] (]) 09:44, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
*], ] or a suitable ]. - ]|] 12:27, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

::thanks man ] (]) 23:53, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

:::Another option, if you think that an important aspect of a topic, or an entire topic that is important, is being neglected, is to post a note at the talk page(s) of the WikiProject(s) that are listed on the article talk page. Best to explain why the aspect/topic is important, not just say "Please work on this", since WikiProjects always have plenty of work yet to be done. -- <font style="font-family:Monotype Corsiva; font-size:15px;">] </font> ] 22:06, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

== WWE Hardcore Title page ==

Why is stated that the reigns for the Hardcore Title at Wrestlemania 2000 are not recongised by the WWE, when they are recongised in all of the WWE Superstars bio pages. But when i change the info it gets deleted --] (]) 17:07, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

:Do you have a ] for your changes.&nbsp;–&nbsp;] (]) 17:41, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

== elapsed time ==

is anyone aware of a template that calculates '''future and elapsed time (T+/T-)''' rendered: ''xx years, xx months, xx days''. my first choice was {{tl|For year month day}}, however, it apparently cannot handle the future. --] 19:16, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

:This is better asked at either ] or ]. -- <font style="font-family:Monotype Corsiva; font-size:15px;">] </font> ] 22:03, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

== World Club Championship? ==

What channel are Manchester United playing their games in the world club championship on in england
--] (]) 02:47, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

:Questions unrelated to editing Misplaced Pages should be asked at the ]. -- <font style="font-family:Monotype Corsiva; font-size:15px;">] </font> ] 22:01, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

== And now for something completely different ... ==

I've been trying to update the ] to include all the latest information about ''WikiPedia'' – could someone please check that I've included all the ] spells? <small>In other words, what do you think of the updated page?</small> ''']''' <sup>'''] / ]</sup>''' 14:59, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

:Some folks really do spend wayyyyyyy too much time here! LOL! ] (]) 20:25, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

== number of edits over time ==

I noticed I was suddenly able to keep up with ] again, and realised it had gone past midnight in the united states. Do we have any pretty graphs of number of edits per time interval to show how much variation there is in number of edits? --]] 07:45, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

== Really bad article ==
{{resolved}}
I couldn't figure out how to properly flag this, so I'm posting it here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/Aterhov <small><span class="autosigned">—Preceding ] comment added by ] (] • ]) 19:01, 14 December 2008 (UTC)</span></small><!-- Template:Unsigned --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

:Page has been deleted. -- <font style="font-family:Monotype Corsiva; font-size:15px;">] </font> ] 21:56, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

== Threats of violence form letter ==


Hey all, hope everyone here is doing well. Today I woke up to discover that a podcaster I follow had plagiarised part of an article I wrote, as well as parts of some other articles (some of which I had contributed to, others not). The podcaster did not cite their sources, nor did they make it clear that they were pulling whole paragraphs from Misplaced Pages, but they ran advertisements and plugged their patreon anyway. This is not the first time an article I wrote for Misplaced Pages has been plagiarised and profited off (earlier this year I noticed a youtuber had plagiarised an entire article I had written; I've also noticed journalists ripping off bits and pieces of other articles). Nor is this limited to articles, as I often see original maps people make for Wikimedia Commons reused without credit.
While participating in a recent ] thread at ], I noticed that, while there are ] to threats, there is doesn't seem to be a form letter to serve as an example of how a good contact attempt to a law enforcement agency should look. I've quickly thrown one together at ], and would like some further outside input. &mdash;/]/<sup><small>]</small></sup>/<sub><small>]</small></sub>/ 19:09, 14 December 2008 (UTC)
==Prominent inclusionists?==
I desperately come here for advice. Anyone here know any prominent inclusionists who help form wikipolicy? Unfortunately, I know a hell of a lot of prominent, powerful, deletionists, but not one prominent inclusionist. I look forward to your reply. ] (]) 07:54, 14 December 2008 (UTC)
* So become one. But beware, with great power... –] 08:45, 14 December 2008 (UTC)
**Users ] and ] are models of intelligent and discriminating inclusionism and the former seems to have been quite influential in forming policy. ] (]) 13:13, 14 December 2008 (UTC)
***You may find some through ]. ] has a fantastic track record of rescuing articles from deletion, but has perhaps less policy weight than the aforementioned users. <font color="404040">]</font> 17:15, 14 December 2008 (UTC)
****If you have any interest in fictional topics, see the opposing editors at ]. They probably have a similar mindset to you. :) (Just read the RfA, and especially its talk page, to understand!) —<font face="Palatino Linotype">]</font> (] • ]) 19:20, 14 December 2008 (UTC)
*****Thank you all. Really wonderful suggestions. Another user suggested ] to find those who are attempting to influence wikipolicy. Thank you again all. <p> ] doesn't seem interested in policy. ] (]) 23:56, 14 December 2008 (UTC)
****** Which shouldn't happen, because deletion of inappropriate content is necessary for the health of the project. Why are you using an article talk page as a project soapbox, exactly? This thread should be continued elsewhere, if at all. ] - ] 00:24, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
******* I refactored my comments, anyone else have some good suggestions? ] (]) 00:36, 15 December 2008 (UTC)


Obviously I'm not against people reusing and adapting the work we do here, as it's freely licensed under creative commons. But it bugs me that no ] is provided, especially when it is ]; attribution is literally ''the least'' that is required. I would like attribution of Misplaced Pages to become more common and normalised, but I don't know how to push for people off-wiki to be more considerate of this. In my own case, the 'content creators' in question don't provide contact details, so I have no way of privately getting in touch with them. Cases in which I have been able to contact an organisation about their unattributed use of Misplaced Pages/Wikimedia content often get ignored, and the unattributed use continues. But I also have no interest in publicly naming and shaming these people, as I don't think it's constructive.
:I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The only "-ist" I espouse being is ''encyclopaedist''. The only times that people use "deletionist" and "inclusionist" is to call other editors names, something which I wholeheartedly disagree with (c.f. ], for example, or my own talk page in 2007). Yes, I've given Misplaced Pages the ], the big green box that opened the floodgates when it came to the ] wording on people notable for just one event, and the ] that helped with a formulation of ] that a lot of people could back, along with many other things. But I did and do those purely as an ''encyclopaedist'', not as any other "-ist". And I certainly disagree with the notion that Misplaced Pages policy is mainly formed by "a hell of a lot of prominent, powerful, deletionists". That's more name calling. I said in 2007 that I don't recall ever having seen the use of either "deletionist" or "inclusionist" improve a discussion, and it is still true, even here. ] (]) 00:54, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
::Uncle G, Colonel Warden was right you ''are'' " model of intelligent and discriminating inclusionism", because to get anything done here on wikipedia, you have to build consensus, that means ignoring or keeping to yourself the obvious, stroking egos, and building alliances.
::I really love your appeal to unity, which I am sure appeals to Wikipedians.
::It is like Barack Obama's patriotic speeches:
:::We are not conservatives or liberals, blacks or whites, we are all Americans.
::Nevermind that their '''are''' actually black people and white people and conservative people and liberal people. Mr. Obama is going to ignore the obvious to build unity and consensus.
::The terms deletionism and inclusionism came from outside observers of Misplaced Pages, dozens of journalist in the media, ] (where this message was before you moved it). It is a reality, even if it is publicly condemned as an ] by consensus building "models of intelligent and discriminating inclusionism".
::I didn't post this question to build consensus, I don't have the patience or charisma that you do Uncle G. I posted this question to find like minded editors who are troubled by what is happening on wikipedia. I look forward to more suggestions. ] (]) 01:50, 15 December 2008 (UTC)


Does anyone here have advice for how to handle plagiarism from Misplaced Pages? Is there something we can do to push for more attribution? --] (]) 13:59, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
:'''Me'''. I don't know how prominent I am, but I tend to err on the side of keeping in close cases. Many cases aren't close and I've done my share of speedy, prod, and prod2 tags as well as my share of "Delete" recommendations at xFD. However, if the topic is "marginally notable" I'll usually give a "weak keep" or remove the PROD or questionable SPEEDY tag, or at the very least recommend a keep+redirect so the edit history is kept, or boldly-redirect a PROD to avert history loss in the inevitable AFD. By the way, every editor who participates in xFD or takes any other actions that result in articles being deleted or not deleted is by definition affecting Wikipolicy - either by affirming the existing policy or by indicating that the existing policy does not have unanimous consent and may not even have ]. This applies whether or not they participate in the Wikipedia_talk: policy discussion pages. ]/<small><small>(])/(])/(])</small></small> 02:24, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
::davidwr, any suggestions were editors such as yourself tend to congregate? For example, I notice that editors who tend to support ] tend to congregate there, and editors who like to enforce perceived and actual copyright violations tend to congregate at ]. An editor suggested ] today, for those who have different views about article content. Any suggestions davidwr? ] (]) 04:10, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
:::]. I would be quite careful about where you take this train of thought. You are a couple of steps from creating a group whose purpose is to direct its members to influence policy/process over the consensus that may be existing on those topics, which is the definition of ]. Such a group may be subject to accusations of meatpuppetry and its members may be subject to administrative sanctions. I would also suggest that if you find that you find yourself in the minority viewpoint in a numerous related discussions, it may be worth considering if you actually have a minority policy viewpoint, rather than assuming that there are a bunch of editors who share your viewpoint that you can't find. - ]] 08:24, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
::::I see nothing wrong with <strike>tag teams</strike> ''groups of like-minded editors'' as long as there is full disclosure when two or more people are voicing an opinion on the same subject and they behave with civility. In fact, if, say, 7 editors are editing an article, then over the next month 20 new editors edit it in ways the first 7 don't like, you could argue that the 20 now form the basis for a new consensus, or at least they've done away with the existing consensus. If that 20 grows to 50, then there's a clear new consensus. Technically, 7 people can block consensus in a group of 57, but it's very hard absent proof of real meatpuppetry. If those 50 were all students at the same college with the same professor, then yeah, you might be able to prove puppetry but otherwise, it would be hard. There are already groups like ] whose primary purpose is to watchlist articles as a group to preserve their <strike>POV</strike> ''idea of what NPOV means''. I wouldn't be surprised if there are similar groups that watchlist other controversial articles, such as those related to Israel and Palestine. If you are in such a group, make very sure you are open about it and expect people to treat the unified voice of 5 members of the group as 1 voice rather than 5. By the way, what appears to be a minority may be a silent majority. The problem is, in a project like Misplaced Pages, silence implies either ignorance of or consent to the status quo. I may not agree with the status quo but I may consent to it in the interest of not wasting time. ]/<small><small>(])/(])/(])</small></small> 18:48, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
:::No clue. The type of article-rescue I do doesn't require collaboration. ]/<small><small>(])/(])/(])</small></small> 18:48, 15 December 2008 (UTC)


:Sadly there are plenty of lazy sods who think that copying directly from Misplaced Pages is "research". This has happened with some of the articles that I have been involved with. It's rude, but hard to stop.--'''''] <sup>]</sup>''''' 14:13, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
:I think we exist but have a measurably lower sense of self-prominence. — ] 19:02, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
::I would start by writing to the podcaster and politely explaining to them that they are welcome to use the material but are required to provide attribution. They may simply be unaware of this and might be willing to comply if properly educated. Failing that, I assume the podcast was being streamed from some content delivery service like YouTube. You might have better luck writing to the service provider demanding that the offending material be taken down.
::Realistically, crap like this happens all the time, and there's probably not a whole bunch we can do to prevent it. ] ] 14:37, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
:::To support RoySmith's point, for those who may not have seen it, here is a very long youtube video about youtube and plagiarism . (Works just having it on as background audio.) ] (]) 14:59, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
::::Funnily enough, plagiarism from Misplaced Pages comes up a couple times in that video. ] also made a , which I think was a useful addition in the conversation of crediting Wikipedians. --] (]) 15:10, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::Thanks, I'll give that a listen. ] (]) 15:18, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
:::Aye, I figured it be an uphill battle trying to accomplish even minor changes on this front. As I can't find a way to contact the creator directly, sending an email to the hosting company may be the best I can do, but even then I doubt it'll lead to anything. Thanks for the advice, anyhow. --] (]) 15:12, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
::::If it's a copyright violation (e.g., exact wording), rather than plagiarism (stealing the ideas but using their own words), then you could look into a ] notice. ] (]) 03:25, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::@]: It was more-or-less word for word, with a couple tweaks here and there. I don't want the episode pulled, I really just want Misplaced Pages cited, but I can't figure out any way to get in direct contact with any of the people involved. --] (]) 10:16, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
::::::It's possible that the way to get in touch with them is a DMCA takedown notice. Having your platform take down the whole episode tends to attract attention. You could make it easy on them by suggesting a way to fix the problem (maybe they could add something like "This episode quotes Misplaced Pages in several places" to the end of the notes on the podcast?). ] (]) 18:33, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::::I'm curious as to what the plagiarized article in question is. Often there is no majority authorship of an article (in terms of bytes added), which might complicate DMCA claims. ''']]''' 18:35, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
::::::::Anyone who contributed enough content to be copyrighted can issue a DMCA notice. The glaring problem with this approach is that the DMCA only applies if the copy is published in the United States. ] (]) 18:51, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::::::What about servers or companies based in the States (perhaps I've misremembered what little I know of copyright law)? ''']]''' 18:56, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
::::::::@]: It's an article I wrote 99.9% of, minus minor copyedits by other users. I'm cautious about revealing which one as I think it would make it easy to figure out the podcast in question, and I'd still prefer to handle this privately rather than go full hbomberguy. Also, having now gone through more of the episode, it's not just that one article that got text lifted from it; text was also copied in whole or in part, without attribution, from other Misplaced Pages articles I have contributed to (but didn't author) and an article on another website that publishes under a CC BY-NC-ND license. I don't know how I would handle notifying the other parties that got plagiarised either. I haven't combed through the entire episode yet, but already a sizeable portion consists of unattributed text, either identical to the source or with minor alterations. --] (]) 19:29, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
::One man deserves the credit, one man deserves the blame... ] ''']]''' 00:42, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
:Hmm... would ] be of help? ''']]''' 01:17, 30 December 2024 (UTC)
:Unfortunately, you're talking about a medium where many people's understanding of copyright law, even when they do demonstrate an awareness that it exists and is applicable, is largely demonstrated by videos posted on YouTube of clips from movies and TV shows with the note "Copyright infringement not intended". Which, I sometimes leave a comment pointing out to them, is akin to dashing out of a clothing store with an armful of unpaid-for merchandise while shouting "Shoplifting not intended". ] (]) 14:10, 2 January 2025 (UTC)


I've found Misplaced Pages plagiarized in scientific journal articles. I have no tolerance for that and I contact the publishers directly. But little to nothing comes of it. In the one instance, I waited almost a year but nothing really happened. Upon pushing the matter, the publishers allowed the authors to make some trivial changes but there was no retraction. (See my banner notes at the top of ] if you are interested in this example.) Fortunately, this kind of plagiarism may be common in less prestigious journals and by less prestigious authors from universities in countries that may not care about plagiarism of Western sources. ] (]) 08:39, 24 December 2024 (UTC)
:Misplaced Pages should be a ], with representative specimens labelled, fenced, and neatly presented. Misplaced Pages is not &ndash; or shouldn't be &ndash; a jungle; we're evolving past the stage of being a random hodgepodge of dense prose, slapdash lists, or impenetrable tangles of words. Sometimes the cleanup takes trellises, stakes, and water, sometimes it requires machetes. Is the gardener who pulls weeds and trims the ] a 'deletionist'?
::@] Wrong section? You wanted to post below? <sub style="border:1px solid #228B22;padding:1px;">]&#124;]</sub> 17:03, 24 December 2024 (UTC)
:We're all ''editors''. Slapping labels on each other is a derisive, dismissive, insulting practice; editors who engage in it ought to be embarrassed. (What's the old saying &mdash; anyone more liberal than I am is a communist, anyone more conservative is a fascist....) Pretending that all opinions and approaches to article content on Misplaced Pages can be divided into just two overarching categories is beyond the absurd. (Look how well that approach works in U.S. politics.) In reality, we have thousands of volunteers with millions of hours of collective experience. May of those editors have rational, detailed, nuanced opinions about article inclusion, editing, categorization, deletion, expansion, formatting, and organization.
:::Yes, it was. Sorry about that. I moved my comment (along with yours) to the proper spot. ] (]) 21:12, 24 December 2024 (UTC)
:The way to deal with those evil 'deletionists' isn't to go form your own private mob. The mature approach is through calm, clear, concise presentation of rational, detailed arguments. The 'deletionist' bogeymen aren't part of some secret cabal bent on destroying Misplaced Pages. Try engaging with them as thinking adults rather than as enemies to be thwarted. ](]) 20:01, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
:::@] PS. Make sure to use ] and comment on those articles! <sub style="border:1px solid #228B22;padding:1px;">]&#124;]</sub> 17:04, 24 December 2024 (UTC)
::::I'll check it out. ] (]) 21:12, 24 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::Looks like ] has a ... somewhat questionable reputation to put it politely. ] (]) 10:10, 26 December 2024 (UTC)
:Some years ago, we found a source saying that the 20% of lowest-ranked journals had a higher risk of copyright violations. (They did tend to be journals from developing countries or otherwise with limited resources – think "Journal of the Tinyland Medical Society".) I have discouraged using journals from the lowest ranked quintile ever since. ] (]) 04:42, 26 December 2024 (UTC)
::As an aside, I'm pretty sure I've been the "benefactor" of scholarly citogenesis several times—uncited additions from a decade ago that I'm scouring for cites and pondering whether to rewrite from scratch, when I find a passage that pretty much has the same structure and specifics (uncontroversial stuff, mind) and I smile. I do wonder if I should be so happy, but I figure they're qualified to conduct original research and this isn't likely to introduce poor quality infomation. <span style="border-radius:2px;padding:3px;background:#1E816F">]<span style="color:#fff">&nbsp;‥&nbsp;</span>]</span> 04:48, 26 December 2024 (UTC)
:::When the plagiarism is substantial, please remember to tag the talk page with {{tl|backwardscopy}}. ] (]) 21:49, 27 December 2024 (UTC)
:Copyright infringement of Misplaced Pages by other people is not immoral, so I don't believe it's in anyone's best interest to try to police it at all. We write this stuff with the hopes that it is accurate and that it will be shared. The podcaster in question shared it. Presumably, if you are proud of it, you also consider it accurate. Big Success. No Stress.
:Additionally, it does not do to mix complaints about plagiarism and copyright infringement together. Copyright is law, and plagiarism is not law. Just like us, the podcaster is fully within their rights as the users of text to copy it without attribution when their use ''isn't'' a copyright violation. If it was enough text for you to notice this, I'll trust you that it was a lot of text. But, just FYI, if someone copies a little from an article (or even a little from several articles), they would not ''need'' a license to do that and their lack of compliance with the unneeded license would not constitute copyright infringement. ] (]) 08:37, 2 January 2025 (UTC)
::I disagree, plagiarism of Misplaced Pages content is immoral, as the plagiarizer is (at least implicitly) claiming authorship of someone else's work, and is also a violation of the licensing terms (attribution is required). As an editor who has seen their contributions to Misplaced Pages plagiarized, I do not expect widespread recognition of my work, but I do resent some else taking credit for it. ] 17:10, 2 January 2025 (UTC)
:::I wouldn't go so far as to call it immoral, which implies deliberate malfeasance. Copyright law is complicated. There are a myriad of permissive licenses in use, some of which require attribution, some of which don't. It's unrealistic to expect most people to understand anything beyond "Misplaced Pages is free".
:::What bothers me more is when you explain to somebody that it's OK that they're using your stuff but they need to add an attribution and they argue with you. That's when it crosses the line from ignorance to deliberate. ] ] 17:22, 2 January 2025 (UTC)
::::On your first point {{greentext|Misplaced Pages is free}}, ] doesn't explain that Misplaced Pages's content is copyrighted (unless you go into one of the policy links), and the footer is the kind of thing I'd ignore on any other website. I wonder if it could be reworded to something like{{silver|You are free to reuse text under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License; additional terms may apply}}.
::::<br>
::::Though with most of the instances of plagiarism there are no measures we could take to prevent plagiarists. ''']]''' 18:07, 2 January 2025 (UTC)


== Indigenous territory ==
== ] ==


Are there Indigenous territory in Ecuador, Suriname? What about Honduras, Guatemala, and Salvador? ] (]) 05:20, 23 December 2024 (UTC)
This file has been included in the ] article. While it is an excellent image, I feel a significantly reduced version should be created for article use. 9.64 MB is quite a download for bringing up an article, and a heavily trafficked one at that. Does anyone agree... or am I alone on this one? - ]] 09:33, 15 December 2008 (UTC)


:I am not sure what specifically is being asked, but I'm fairly sure you didn't mean to ask it at the village pump? <span style="border-radius:2px;padding:3px;background:#1E816F">]<span style="color:#fff">&nbsp;‥&nbsp;</span>]</span> 05:26, 23 December 2024 (UTC)
== Query: "Allegation" v "Conjecture" ==
::This might be a question for the ]. ] (]) 07:27, 23 December 2024 (UTC)
:::I suggested ] on their talkpage. ] (]) 07:43, 23 December 2024 (UTC)
:{{small|It's a good bet that all of the territory has been there longer than any colonizer. ] (]) 21:18, 27 December 2024 (UTC)}}


== Query to find uncategorized Commons images used on a Misplaced Pages ==
I was pretty sure they were quite distinct, but a short time ago I found an editor who was quite adamant that they were quite the same.


Hello, before I added a category, file was uncategorized on Commons, but was used on a page on the Greek language wikipedia. Maybe using Petscan?, is there a way of searching say all pages in the category Museums in Greece, and its subcategories, to list images used on those pages that are uncategorized in Commons? Thank you, ] (]) 08:06, 28 December 2024 (UTC)
"Conjecture is absolutely fine in a BLP, as per BLP policy/guidelines" with "By definition, all allegations are conjectural" and "Thus conjectures MADE BY SOURCES are just peachy. And nothing I have suggested is a conjectural interpretation of a source. You ARE A FLAT OUT LIAR so I am not sure if I am even going to bother to rebut the rest of your comments."


:{{ping|Maculosae tegmine lyncis}} Something like this seems to already exist: ]. ] (]) 18:21, 1 January 2025 (UTC)
The issue was about a source making a decidedly conjectural prediction (I noted also ] in claiming that such a prediction of future events was a conjecture). But what is the word "conjecture" supposed to mean in WP? Is "allegation" a simple subset of "conjecture"? Many thanks! ] (]) 12:42, 15 December 2008 (UTC)


== Font query ==
: It would be helpful if you would link to the discussion in question for more background. ] is defined as "An assertion, especially an accusation, not necessarily based on facts", or "the act of alleging" which could include legal testimony; ] is "A statement or an idea which is unproven, but is thought to be true". To me, there is a fine difference: "conjecture" says "I think this is true, but it needs to be rigorously tested/proven" (e.g. scientific hypothesis) while "allegation" says "I state this is true, although I present no proof" (e.g. legal testimony/accusation). As far as Misplaced Pages goes, neither allegation nor conjecture is appropriate in articles unless that allegation/conjecture is found in a reliable source (see ]). The allegation/conjecture should not be misrepresented as proven fact; that would not be ], but it would be misuse of the source. If controversial, the statement should be specifically attributed to the source in question ("A says X" rather than just "X") and mainstream opposing viewpoints should be represented. ]] 13:58, 15 December 2008 (UTC)


My font on Misplaced Pages (page & edit window) has changed, don't know why, is this a site setting, a Chrome setting. I'm not sure where to search for the issue. Appreciate any input. Thanx, - <span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS">] <small>(])</small></span> 16:25, 30 December 2024 (UTC)
::There were, in fact,more than one instance where this arose in ]. One example arose where a person used a source to say Palin '''might''' run for office in 2012, while she denied it. To me, that fell into "crystal ball gazing." The other was where a cite was given to indicate that Palin was a "young earth creationist" who believed dinosaurs were "Jesus ponies" on the basis that an article said that people who had Palin's religious beliefs, believed that. I considered both to be, in fact, conjecture which requires extreme care in a BLP. Only the first was WP:CRYSTAL. Does projection future political runs fall intot he area of "conjecture" and does attribution of religious beliefs fall into that category? I am trying to present this in as neutral a manner as possible, to be sure. (BTW, I thought "conjecture" was more on the line of "this may be true or turn out to be true, but I have no basis to assert that it is true." Thanks! ] (]) 14:16, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
::: In the first example, the paragraph at the end of the "2008 vice-presidential campaign" section in strikes me as ideal. In that paragraph, we lay out the fact that speculation exists and Palin's response without making any prediction of our own as to whether she will end up running or not. I haven't dug into the history to try to identify the statement you mention to see how different it was from that version.
::: In the second example, there are multiple issues. First, if Palin doesn't self-identify with those religious beliefs, it's probably against ] to attribute the beliefs to her. Second, I'd look closely to see if the source is really ]; something talking about "Jesus ponies" sounds fringe to me. Third, if the source addresses "Religious group X" but not Palin specifically, it's close enough to ] to fail the stringent requirements of ]. And if all that passes, I still doubt the statement is ] enough to not be a violation of ]. ]] 19:30, 15 December 2008 (UTC)


:I would try ] as tech minded editors would probably know. -- <small>LCU</small> ''']''' <small>''«]» °]°''</small> 18:58, 31 December 2024 (UTC)
==Please help with a scientific workshop on editing Misplaced Pages==
:@] Mediawiki does not specify a specific font, it just tells your browser to use it's default sans-serif one. If your font has changed this will be due to your browser. ] (]) 23:29, 31 December 2024 (UTC)
::Thank you. - <span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS">] <small>(])</small></span> 23:31, 31 December 2024 (UTC)


== Moving another user's essay to project space ==
As you can read on my ], the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) is hosting a workshop this Tuesday, the 16th, to give their scientists a crash course in editing Misplaced Pages, especially for creating cell-biology articles. ] and I are running the workshop, but we could benefit from your help! We'd like to find friendly, online Wikipedians who will greet the newbie scientists and offer to help them with their first articles. It seems like a great way to bring the scientific and Misplaced Pages communities a little closer.


I'd had it in mind for quite some time to write an essay in project space about announcements. I've seen entire sections consisting of sentences with the word "announced" in them, giving the impression that the subject's history consists not of events and actions at all but only of announcements that such events or actions were planned, leaving the reader to wonder whether any of them ever actually happened. I wanted to exhort people who add to an article, in November 2024, "In November 2024 it was announced that X would be joining the series as a regular character in the new season" to return after the new season begins and ''replace'' the text about the announcement with "In April 2025, X joined the series as a regular character" or, if X didn't join the series after all, to remove the sentence as probably irrelevant, unless some mention is to be made of why X's addition to the series didn't come to pass.
The workshop will run from 12:30-2:30pm local San Francisco time. Tim and I will be speaking until ~1pm, and the participants won't start their user pages until 12:45pm at the earliest. We'll ask them to add the template {{tl|ASCB workshop}} to their user page, which will add them to the {{cl|ASCB 2008 Misplaced Pages workshop participants}} category. Then you'll be able to see who's participating and welcome them. Other help with categorization, finding/formatting images and references, etc. would be much appreciated. ] (]) 14:48, 15 December 2008 (UTC)


So one day recently I sat down to begin such an essay, but first checked the status of the obvious shortcut, ]{{emdash}}and found that it already existed as a redirect to ] belonging to ]. That essay is quite thorough and covers most of the ground that I had had in mind, and I think it would be useful to have it in project space. So, while noting that that user hadn't edited in over two years but thinking the might see and respond to a ping if they even ''read'' Misplaced Pages while logged in, I went to their talk page to leave basically the same message that I've written here, to ask if they would be averse to having their essay moved to project space.
: As a one-time classicist, now a lawyer I can't help with the scientific stuff , but happy to help with welcoming and other wiki stuff.&nbsp;–&nbsp;] (]) 15:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)


That was four weeks ago, and there've been no edits in that time by the user. I was wondering whether it would be reasonable, without express permission, either to move or copy the essay to project space and retarget ] there. Also, if that were to happen, I'm seeking a good title. Floating around in my head:
Thank you very much, ]! Welcoming and wiki-stuff is just what we're hoping for; the scientists will probably want to take care of the science themselves. ;) We'd just like to keep Misplaced Pages from seeming too poluphloisboisterous in their first steps, ] (]) 17:17, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
] (]) 17:35, 30 December 2024 (UTC)
:What a good notion! That type of language in articles irks me too. Especially personal life sections that read "they announced they were engaged, they announced the wedding date, they got married, they announced they were expecting, they had a baby" and so on. (Sorry I don't have an answer to your questions, but I do like the idea.) ]&nbsp;] 23:25, 30 December 2024 (UTC)
::Articles about companies, particularly finance companies, drive me crazy in that way. You'd think from some of their articles that they're more noted for their announcements than for what they've actually done. "In October 2018, ABC announced that they were acquiring at 30% share in GHI. In February 2019, they announced the coming release of version 5 of their product." Did the GHI buy-in ever happen? Did they ever release version 5? Who knows??? The article doesn't say! ] (]) 00:02, 31 December 2024 (UTC)
:::Even more annoying is when media happily passes on announcements, but fails to pay any attention when they actually happen, so we're left sourceless. ]&nbsp;] 00:20, 31 December 2024 (UTC)
::::To go off a bit on a tangent, this is like when the media report someone's arrest (which goes on to be covered here) and then never follow up (leaving Misplaced Pages readers in the lurch). ] (]) 00:39, 31 December 2024 (UTC)

Latest revision as of 18:07, 2 January 2025

Central discussion page of Misplaced Pages for general topics not covered by the specific topic pages
 Policy Technical Proposals Idea lab WMF Miscellaneous 
Shortcuts 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 sections when appropriate, or at the help desk for assistance. For general knowledge questions, please use the reference desk.

Discussions are automatically archived after remaining inactive for a week.

« Archives, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80
Centralized discussion For a listing of ongoing discussions, see the dashboard.

How to handle plagiarism from Misplaced Pages?

Hey all, hope everyone here is doing well. Today I woke up to discover that a podcaster I follow had plagiarised part of an article I wrote, as well as parts of some other articles (some of which I had contributed to, others not). The podcaster did not cite their sources, nor did they make it clear that they were pulling whole paragraphs from Misplaced Pages, but they ran advertisements and plugged their patreon anyway. This is not the first time an article I wrote for Misplaced Pages has been plagiarised and profited off (earlier this year I noticed a youtuber had plagiarised an entire article I had written; I've also noticed journalists ripping off bits and pieces of other articles). Nor is this limited to articles, as I often see original maps people make for Wikimedia Commons reused without credit.

Obviously I'm not against people reusing and adapting the work we do here, as it's freely licensed under creative commons. But it bugs me that no attribution is provided, especially when it is required by the license; attribution is literally the least that is required. I would like attribution of Misplaced Pages to become more common and normalised, but I don't know how to push for people off-wiki to be more considerate of this. In my own case, the 'content creators' in question don't provide contact details, so I have no way of privately getting in touch with them. Cases in which I have been able to contact an organisation about their unattributed use of Misplaced Pages/Wikimedia content often get ignored, and the unattributed use continues. But I also have no interest in publicly naming and shaming these people, as I don't think it's constructive.

Does anyone here have advice for how to handle plagiarism from Misplaced Pages? Is there something we can do to push for more attribution? --Grnrchst (talk) 13:59, 16 December 2024 (UTC)

Sadly there are plenty of lazy sods who think that copying directly from Misplaced Pages is "research". This has happened with some of the articles that I have been involved with. It's rude, but hard to stop.--♦IanMacM♦ 14:13, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
I would start by writing to the podcaster and politely explaining to them that they are welcome to use the material but are required to provide attribution. They may simply be unaware of this and might be willing to comply if properly educated. Failing that, I assume the podcast was being streamed from some content delivery service like YouTube. You might have better luck writing to the service provider demanding that the offending material be taken down.
Realistically, crap like this happens all the time, and there's probably not a whole bunch we can do to prevent it. RoySmith (talk) 14:37, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
To support RoySmith's point, for those who may not have seen it, here is a very long youtube video about youtube and plagiarism . (Works just having it on as background audio.) CMD (talk) 14:59, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
Funnily enough, plagiarism from Misplaced Pages comes up a couple times in that video. MJL also made a very good response video, which I think was a useful addition in the conversation of crediting Wikipedians. --Grnrchst (talk) 15:10, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
Thanks, I'll give that a listen. CMD (talk) 15:18, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
Aye, I figured it be an uphill battle trying to accomplish even minor changes on this front. As I can't find a way to contact the creator directly, sending an email to the hosting company may be the best I can do, but even then I doubt it'll lead to anything. Thanks for the advice, anyhow. --Grnrchst (talk) 15:12, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
If it's a copyright violation (e.g., exact wording), rather than plagiarism (stealing the ideas but using their own words), then you could look into a DMCA takedown notice. WhatamIdoing (talk) 03:25, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
@WhatamIdoing: It was more-or-less word for word, with a couple tweaks here and there. I don't want the episode pulled, I really just want Misplaced Pages cited, but I can't figure out any way to get in direct contact with any of the people involved. --Grnrchst (talk) 10:16, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
It's possible that the way to get in touch with them is a DMCA takedown notice. Having your platform take down the whole episode tends to attract attention. You could make it easy on them by suggesting a way to fix the problem (maybe they could add something like "This episode quotes Misplaced Pages in several places" to the end of the notes on the podcast?). WhatamIdoing (talk) 18:33, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
I'm curious as to what the plagiarized article in question is. Often there is no majority authorship of an article (in terms of bytes added), which might complicate DMCA claims. JayCubby 18:35, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
Anyone who contributed enough content to be copyrighted can issue a DMCA notice. The glaring problem with this approach is that the DMCA only applies if the copy is published in the United States. Phil Bridger (talk) 18:51, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
What about servers or companies based in the States (perhaps I've misremembered what little I know of copyright law)? JayCubby 18:56, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
@JayCubby: It's an article I wrote 99.9% of, minus minor copyedits by other users. I'm cautious about revealing which one as I think it would make it easy to figure out the podcast in question, and I'd still prefer to handle this privately rather than go full hbomberguy. Also, having now gone through more of the episode, it's not just that one article that got text lifted from it; text was also copied in whole or in part, without attribution, from other Misplaced Pages articles I have contributed to (but didn't author) and an article on another website that publishes under a CC BY-NC-ND license. I don't know how I would handle notifying the other parties that got plagiarised either. I haven't combed through the entire episode yet, but already a sizeable portion consists of unattributed text, either identical to the source or with minor alterations. --Grnrchst (talk) 19:29, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
One man deserves the credit, one man deserves the blame... JayCubby 00:42, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
Hmm... would Misplaced Pages:Standard CC BY-SA violation letter be of help? JayCubby 01:17, 30 December 2024 (UTC)
Unfortunately, you're talking about a medium where many people's understanding of copyright law, even when they do demonstrate an awareness that it exists and is applicable, is largely demonstrated by videos posted on YouTube of clips from movies and TV shows with the note "Copyright infringement not intended". Which, I sometimes leave a comment pointing out to them, is akin to dashing out of a clothing store with an armful of unpaid-for merchandise while shouting "Shoplifting not intended". Largoplazo (talk) 14:10, 2 January 2025 (UTC)

I've found Misplaced Pages plagiarized in scientific journal articles. I have no tolerance for that and I contact the publishers directly. But little to nothing comes of it. In the one instance, I waited almost a year but nothing really happened. Upon pushing the matter, the publishers allowed the authors to make some trivial changes but there was no retraction. (See my banner notes at the top of Talk:Semi-empirical mass formula if you are interested in this example.) Fortunately, this kind of plagiarism may be common in less prestigious journals and by less prestigious authors from universities in countries that may not care about plagiarism of Western sources. Jason Quinn (talk) 08:39, 24 December 2024 (UTC)

@Jason Quinn Wrong section? You wanted to post below? Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 17:03, 24 December 2024 (UTC)
Yes, it was. Sorry about that. I moved my comment (along with yours) to the proper spot. Jason Quinn (talk) 21:12, 24 December 2024 (UTC)
@Jason Quinn PS. Make sure to use PubPeer and comment on those articles! Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 17:04, 24 December 2024 (UTC)
I'll check it out. Jason Quinn (talk) 21:12, 24 December 2024 (UTC)
Looks like the publisher has a ... somewhat questionable reputation to put it politely. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk) 10:10, 26 December 2024 (UTC)
Some years ago, we found a source saying that the 20% of lowest-ranked journals had a higher risk of copyright violations. (They did tend to be journals from developing countries or otherwise with limited resources – think "Journal of the Tinyland Medical Society".) I have discouraged using journals from the lowest ranked quintile ever since. WhatamIdoing (talk) 04:42, 26 December 2024 (UTC)
As an aside, I'm pretty sure I've been the "benefactor" of scholarly citogenesis several times—uncited additions from a decade ago that I'm scouring for cites and pondering whether to rewrite from scratch, when I find a passage that pretty much has the same structure and specifics (uncontroversial stuff, mind) and I smile. I do wonder if I should be so happy, but I figure they're qualified to conduct original research and this isn't likely to introduce poor quality infomation. Remsense ‥ 论 04:48, 26 December 2024 (UTC)
When the plagiarism is substantial, please remember to tag the talk page with {{backwardscopy}}. WhatamIdoing (talk) 21:49, 27 December 2024 (UTC)
Copyright infringement of Misplaced Pages by other people is not immoral, so I don't believe it's in anyone's best interest to try to police it at all. We write this stuff with the hopes that it is accurate and that it will be shared. The podcaster in question shared it. Presumably, if you are proud of it, you also consider it accurate. Big Success. No Stress.
Additionally, it does not do to mix complaints about plagiarism and copyright infringement together. Copyright is law, and plagiarism is not law. Just like us, the podcaster is fully within their rights as the users of text to copy it without attribution when their use isn't a copyright violation. If it was enough text for you to notice this, I'll trust you that it was a lot of text. But, just FYI, if someone copies a little from an article (or even a little from several articles), they would not need a license to do that and their lack of compliance with the unneeded license would not constitute copyright infringement. lethargilistic (talk) 08:37, 2 January 2025 (UTC)
I disagree, plagiarism of Misplaced Pages content is immoral, as the plagiarizer is (at least implicitly) claiming authorship of someone else's work, and is also a violation of the licensing terms (attribution is required). As an editor who has seen their contributions to Misplaced Pages plagiarized, I do not expect widespread recognition of my work, but I do resent some else taking credit for it. Donald Albury 17:10, 2 January 2025 (UTC)
I wouldn't go so far as to call it immoral, which implies deliberate malfeasance. Copyright law is complicated. There are a myriad of permissive licenses in use, some of which require attribution, some of which don't. It's unrealistic to expect most people to understand anything beyond "Misplaced Pages is free".
What bothers me more is when you explain to somebody that it's OK that they're using your stuff but they need to add an attribution and they argue with you. That's when it crosses the line from ignorance to deliberate. RoySmith (talk) 17:22, 2 January 2025 (UTC)
On your first point Misplaced Pages is free, Help:Introduction to Misplaced Pages doesn't explain that Misplaced Pages's content is copyrighted (unless you go into one of the policy links), and the footer is the kind of thing I'd ignore on any other website. I wonder if it could be reworded to something likeYou are free to reuse text under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License; additional terms may apply.

Though with most of the instances of plagiarism there are no measures we could take to prevent plagiarists. JayCubby 18:07, 2 January 2025 (UTC)

Indigenous territory

Are there Indigenous territory in Ecuador, Suriname? What about Honduras, Guatemala, and Salvador? Kaiyr (talk) 05:20, 23 December 2024 (UTC)

I am not sure what specifically is being asked, but I'm fairly sure you didn't mean to ask it at the village pump? Remsense ‥ 论 05:26, 23 December 2024 (UTC)
This might be a question for the Misplaced Pages:Reference desk. WhatamIdoing (talk) 07:27, 23 December 2024 (UTC)
I suggested Misplaced Pages:Reference desk/Humanities on their talkpage. CMD (talk) 07:43, 23 December 2024 (UTC)
It's a good bet that all of the territory has been there longer than any colonizer. —Tamfang (talk) 21:18, 27 December 2024 (UTC)

Query to find uncategorized Commons images used on a Misplaced Pages

Hello, before I added a category, this file was uncategorized on Commons, but was used on a page on the Greek language wikipedia. Maybe using Petscan?, is there a way of searching say all pages in the category Museums in Greece, and its subcategories, to list images used on those pages that are uncategorized in Commons? Thank you, Maculosae tegmine lyncis (talk) 08:06, 28 December 2024 (UTC)

@Maculosae tegmine lyncis: Something like this seems to already exist: commons:Category:Media needing category review by usage. MKFI (talk) 18:21, 1 January 2025 (UTC)

Font query

My font on Misplaced Pages (page & edit window) has changed, don't know why, is this a site setting, a Chrome setting. I'm not sure where to search for the issue. Appreciate any input. Thanx, - FlightTime (open channel) 16:25, 30 December 2024 (UTC)

I would try WP:VPT as tech minded editors would probably know. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested «@» °∆t° 18:58, 31 December 2024 (UTC)
@FlightTime Mediawiki does not specify a specific font, it just tells your browser to use it's default sans-serif one. If your font has changed this will be due to your browser. 86.23.109.101 (talk) 23:29, 31 December 2024 (UTC)
Thank you. - FlightTime (open channel) 23:31, 31 December 2024 (UTC)

Moving another user's essay to project space

I'd had it in mind for quite some time to write an essay in project space about announcements. I've seen entire sections consisting of sentences with the word "announced" in them, giving the impression that the subject's history consists not of events and actions at all but only of announcements that such events or actions were planned, leaving the reader to wonder whether any of them ever actually happened. I wanted to exhort people who add to an article, in November 2024, "In November 2024 it was announced that X would be joining the series as a regular character in the new season" to return after the new season begins and replace the text about the announcement with "In April 2025, X joined the series as a regular character" or, if X didn't join the series after all, to remove the sentence as probably irrelevant, unless some mention is to be made of why X's addition to the series didn't come to pass.

So one day recently I sat down to begin such an essay, but first checked the status of the obvious shortcut, WP:ANNOUNCED—and found that it already existed as a redirect to a user-space essay belonging to User:HuffTheWeevil. That essay is quite thorough and covers most of the ground that I had had in mind, and I think it would be useful to have it in project space. So, while noting that that user hadn't edited in over two years but thinking the might see and respond to a ping if they even read Misplaced Pages while logged in, I went to their talk page to leave basically the same message that I've written here, to ask if they would be averse to having their essay moved to project space.

That was four weeks ago, and there've been no edits in that time by the user. I was wondering whether it would be reasonable, without express permission, either to move or copy the essay to project space and retarget WP:ANNOUNCED there. Also, if that were to happen, I'm seeking a good title. Floating around in my head:

Largoplazo (talk) 17:35, 30 December 2024 (UTC)

What a good notion! That type of language in articles irks me too. Especially personal life sections that read "they announced they were engaged, they announced the wedding date, they got married, they announced they were expecting, they had a baby" and so on. (Sorry I don't have an answer to your questions, but I do like the idea.) Schazjmd (talk) 23:25, 30 December 2024 (UTC)
Articles about companies, particularly finance companies, drive me crazy in that way. You'd think from some of their articles that they're more noted for their announcements than for what they've actually done. "In October 2018, ABC announced that they were acquiring at 30% share in GHI. In February 2019, they announced the coming release of version 5 of their product." Did the GHI buy-in ever happen? Did they ever release version 5? Who knows??? The article doesn't say! Largoplazo (talk) 00:02, 31 December 2024 (UTC)
Even more annoying is when media happily passes on announcements, but fails to pay any attention when they actually happen, so we're left sourceless. Schazjmd (talk) 00:20, 31 December 2024 (UTC)
To go off a bit on a tangent, this is like when the media report someone's arrest (which goes on to be covered here) and then never follow up (leaving Misplaced Pages readers in the lurch). Largoplazo (talk) 00:39, 31 December 2024 (UTC)
Category: