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Revision as of 03:01, 30 September 2012 editThe ed17 (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Administrators73,686 edits →Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages Signpost/2012-09-24/News and notes: reply← Previous edit Revision as of 14:16, 30 September 2012 edit undoAlanscottwalker (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers74,613 edits →ANext edit →
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As for what to say in the introduction, I think an easy solution is just to take out the word 'ongoing' and otherwise not shut the door completely. That's my preference. Let me know what you think. ]<sup> ]&#124;]</sup> 21:25, 29 September 2012 (UTC) As for what to say in the introduction, I think an easy solution is just to take out the word 'ongoing' and otherwise not shut the door completely. That's my preference. Let me know what you think. ]<sup> ]&#124;]</sup> 21:25, 29 September 2012 (UTC)


==Arbitration==



Hi Ed. You are not named as a party but your are mentioned at ] FYI. ] (]) 14:16, 30 September 2012 (UTC)

Revision as of 14:16, 30 September 2012

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The Free Corps' Final Stand
To either side along the bluff rim, the defenders' lines had collapsed and were pinching in upon the ramphead. In moments, all would be caught in a vice from which none would escape. They had to fall back at once, to reform their lines at the perimeter of the Gardens of Life where they might consolidate their strength and gain the support of the Black Watch. But they needed time to do that, and someone must give them that time.
Red hair flying, the Free Corps Commander snatched the crimson and gray battle standard of his company and rammed it between the ramp stones. Here the Free Corps would make its stand. Rallying his Bordermen to him, he formed a narrow phalanx at the center of the ramphead. Then he ordered the Elves and Trolls to fall back. No one questioned the order; Stee Jans had been given command of the army. Quickly they abandoned the Elfitch, moving back toward the ranks of the Black Watch that ringed the Gardens of Life. In moments, the remnants of the Free Corps stood alone.
"What is he doing!" Ander screamed to Allanon, horrified. But the Druid did not answer.
The Demons attacked. Up the ramp they charged, howling with rage. Incredibly, the Free Corps withstood the assault and thrust it back. All the while the Elven defenders continued to slip free of the noose that threatened to snare them. Again the Demons came up the Elfitch, and again the Free Corps thrust them back. No more than two dozen Bordermen remained alive. At their head stood the tall figure of Stee Jans. Regrouping before the Gardens of Life, the defenders who had fled the Elfitch looked back, watching the tiny knot of men who still held against the Demon rush. A silence settled over their ranks. They knew how this must end.
Now the whole of the Carolan lay open. Stee Jans wrenched free the battle standard, lifted the gray and crimson pennant high above his head, and the Free Corps battle cry rang out. Then slowly, deliberately, the little band began to move back across the Carolan, back towards the Elven defenders who ringed the Gardens of Life. Not a single Borderman broke formation. Not a single Borderman ran.
Ander's breath escaped from his lips with a sharp hiss. It was a hopeless retreat. At his elbow, Browork's battered face shoved into view.
"It's too far, Bordermen!" he muttered, almost to himself.
A wave of Demons edged over the lip of the ramphead, snarling. North and south among the Carolan, they began to mass.
"Run!" Ander whispered. "Run, Stee Jans!"
But there was no time left to run. Shrieks filled the morning air, and the whole of the Demon army swept forward...
—Terry Brooks, The Elfstones of Shannara (New York: Ballantine Books, 1982), 531–32.



Archives

See the Archive index for all archived discussions between 2006 and 2012


Great American Wiknic

In the area? You're invited to the Great American Wiknic.

Place: near Minnehaha Falls at Minnehaha Park, Minneapolis
Date: Saturday, July 7, 2012 (rain date July 8)
Time: 12–3 pm

  • Accessible from the Minnehaha Park light rail station, bus, walk, bike, or car
  • If driving, free parking available at 46th Ave. S, and pay parking in the park
  • Food and drink options nearby, or bring your own... maybe even to share!

See the meetup talk page for more. —innotata 00:10, 16 June 2012 (UTC)

Wikimedia Highlights from May 2012

Highlights from the Wikimedia Foundation Report and the Wikimedia engineering report for May 2012, with a selection of other important events from the Wikimedia movement
About · Subscribe/unsubscribe · Distributed via Global message delivery, 02:56, 16 June 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 18 June 2012

Arb report

Hey Ed. Sorry to be a pain, but I was wondering if you could take a look at Misplaced Pages talk:Misplaced Pages Signpost/2012-06-18/Arbitration report. Cheers, Jenks24 (talk) 08:46, 20 June 2012 (UTC)

I've reworded the statement to allay any accusations of perceived "editorialising". My statement was made based on a casual observation, I have no opinion on the RM and I do not like to get involved in heated arguments such as that RM where it does not concern me. James • 9:21pm • 11:21, 20 June 2012 (UTC)
See also my comment there. Ncmvocalist (talk) 14:35, 20 June 2012 (UTC)
I've commented. Ed  21:21, 20 June 2012 (UTC)

For future reference

For whatever it's worth, happy reading : ) - jc37 18:05, 20 June 2012 (UTC)

It looks like (from what I've been seeing) that I should have placed some emphasis on making it easier to remove adminship... harumph. I didn't think it played that big of a role. Thanks for the note. :-) Ed  20:44, 20 June 2012 (UTC)
You're welcome. And btw, nice article. I've glanced over it twice, and will likely be spending some research time on it : ) - jc37 20:57, 20 June 2012 (UTC)
Thanks! The responses have been illuminating. Incidentally- I know you ran for bureaucrat a bit ago. I don't know if I !voted (I rarely go/vote there anymore), but I thought you would have made a fine 'crat. I'm sorry it ended the way it did. Ed  21:21, 20 June 2012 (UTC)
Lol no worries. It seems it was an RfB (which went full term) with the lowest turnout in ages, so you're in good company for having missed it : )
And thank you, that's kind of you to say. - jc37 21:30, 20 June 2012 (UTC)
Nice work with this article Ed - it's certainly had a significant impact! Nick-D (talk) 08:19, 21 June 2012 (UTC)
Yes, much more of an impact than I had been expecting! Ed  17:47, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
  • Ed, just wanted to appologize if my comment on the article talk page came off as attacking you. I didn't mean it that way and I understand in a short article you're not going to hit on everyones viewpoint. The removal of adminship issue is just one of those factors that I feel is key to RFA reform, but is often just dismissed by many of the people who participate in the "RFA is broken" threads on WT:RFA. Overall good job.--Cube lurker (talk) 12:05, 21 June 2012 (UTC)
    • Sorry, I missed this with the comments below. There's no need for an apology. You and quite a few others hold that viewpoint, but I didn't realize that until the comments started coming in! Regards, Ed  17:47, 23 June 2012 (UTC)

Congrats and a story suggestion

Congrats on the new position as editor-and-chief, while its been a while since the title was bestowed on you I am now only learning about it. I have full faith and confidence in you that you will be able to bring us the news in the best possible way, and I hope that your tenure at the signpost works as well for Misplaced Pages as your tenur with the bugle has been.

On that note I have a story suggestion for you as it relates to the bugle: some days back Yahoo! ran a piece on the DD(X) destroyer class, which caused pages related to it see a massive influx of viewers from the net who arrived at Misplaced Pages to look at the destroyer's article here and learn more about it. Additionally, while we (milhist) are not credited with the article content that was up on Yahoo!, a lot of it did sound like it had come at least in part from Misplaced Pages. There could be a story in their somewhere, or perhaps an honorable mention for our project. TomStar81 (Talk) 22:01, 20 June 2012 (UTC)

Hey Tom. Thanks! Being EIC is certainly a big change from the previous, but it's gone well so far. If you'd like, you could propose that at WT:MHNEWS... the Bugle doesn't typically cover that sort of material, but that's because we mainly focus on in-house stuff, and discussion there could help. Regards, Ed  07:20, 21 June 2012 (UTC)

GOCE July 2012 Copy Edit Drive

Invitation from the Guild of Copy Editors

The Guild of Copy Editors invites you to participate in their July 2012 Backlog elimination drive, a month-long effort to reduce the size of the copy edit backlog. The drive begins on July 1 at 00:00 (UTC) and ends on July 31 at 23:59 (UTC). Our goals are to eliminate the articles tagged in April, May and June 2011 from the queue and to complete all requests placed before the end of June. Barnstars will be awarded to anyone who copy edits more than 4,000 words, and special awards will be given to the top 6 in the following categories: "Number of articles", "Number of words", "Number of articles of over 5,000 words", "Number of articles tagged in April–June 2011", and "Longest article". We hope to see you there! – Your drive coordinators: Dank, Diannaa and Stfg.

>>> Sign up now <<<

To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list. Newsletter delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 19:17, 21 June 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost - In the news section

Hi there. I noticed the role was empty an took on the task of writing this weeks 'In the news' section. However, I have never written for The Signpost before and I was wondering if you could give me some feedback on my article which can be found here.

Thanks

Oddbodz (talk) 21:15, 21 June 2012 (UTC)

Hi. We haven't run "In the news" for awhile because there hasn't been enough outside news to cover. You should try to follow the format of Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages Signpost/2012-03-12/In the news, and we'll need more than one item to cover (if we don't have more, we'll put it under "in brief" in news and notes). "In brief" is meant for brief mentions of other news items not worthy of a full-length story. Also Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages Signpost/Newsroom/Resources#In the news may help you. Regards, Ed  22:30, 21 June 2012 (UTC)

'Bogus' GA 'reviews'

I'm not quite sure what to do about this "review" I got for my GAN... - The Bushranger One ping only 02:51, 23 June 2012 (UTC)

(tps) I deleted the review; the user didn't modify anything else GA-wise, so it looks like a 'new user who doesn't know the process' deal. If he asks about it I'll explain it to him. Wizardman Operation Big Bear 03:07, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
Thanks. - The Bushranger One ping only 03:26, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
Thanks Wizard, I didn't know you have my talk page watchlisted! Ed  03:55, 23 June 2012 (UTC)

Proposal

Per our discussion above, I thought you might be interested in this. Enjoy : ) - jc37 17:36, 23 June 2012 (UTC)

You're going to want a short summary/intro at the top; I wasn't sure what you were asking for until I got to the bottom! Ed  17:39, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
I tried to make it clearer. Hope this helps : ) - jc37 17:44, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
And one more thought, if your usergroup isn't intended to moderate behavior, why are you calling it "moderator"? ;-) Ed  17:49, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
Best thing I could think of. In my experience moderators typically deal with the "substance"/text/discussions. (Though nod, depending on the website/software, some deal with policing behaviour.) And it nicely abbreviates to "mod". (Compare to admin - the abbreviated form of administrator.) If you have another suggestion, I'm all ears : ) - jc37 17:58, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
Fair enough, and now that I think about it more, I can't come up with a better name either. Ed  18:12, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
I know the feeling. And believe me, I tried. Nothing I found came close to being as clear or as universally understood. If something comes to you though, please drop me a note. - jc37 18:25, 23 June 2012 (UTC)

Uh oh

Was the current run of the Bugle supposed to be titled "GOCE July 2012 Copy Edit Drive"? That is how it is being delivered. Cheers,
⋙–Berean–Hunter—► 18:44, 23 June 2012 (UTC)

...whoops. I really do need to use preview. It doesn't look like I can stop or change it, so I guess I'll just edit the project news section with an apology. Thanks Berean. Ed  18:48, 23 June 2012 (UTC)

Whack!

You've been whacked with a wet trout.

Don't take this too seriously. Someone just wants to let you know that you did something silly.

Don't break the Bugle again! Nick-D (talk) 23:06, 23 June 2012 (UTC)

Hey, he didn't break the bugle (dented it maybe...) - jc37 23:08, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
I have high standards ;) Nick-D (talk) 23:31, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
Well, as long as it still plays... : ) - jc37 23:37, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
Yeah yeah Nick, just remember that I'll be waiting with a trout for the next time you screw something up. ;-) Ed  06:05, 24 June 2012 (UTC)
The Surreal Barnstar
For dispatching what may be the most creative edition of The Bugle ever put out from the Military history Project press I hereby award you The Surreal Barnstar. In the (possibly paraphrased) words of a cartoon square I recall reading some years ago, "To err is human, but to really @#$% things up requires a computer." Enjoy :) TomStar81 (Talk) 02:12, 24 June 2012 (UTC)
Thanks Tom. xD Ed  06:05, 24 June 2012 (UTC)

The Bugle: Issue LXXV, June 2012

Full front page of The Bugle Your Military History Newsletter

The Bugle is published by the Military history WikiProject. To receive it on your talk page, please join the project or sign up here.
If you are a project member who does not want delivery, please remove your name from this page. Your editors, Ian Rose (talk) and Ed  19:32, 23 June 2012 (UTC)

Help needed with project banner code

Eddie.. are you aware of anyone with the coding skills to help out with the ships banner? All I ever get are plugs for the meta banner. Brad (talk) 13:07, 24 June 2012 (UTC)

Hey Brad, I was going to say that User:MSGJ is the one, but then I read the linked page. I'd try User:TheDJ, who I know can do it but isn't very active, or User:WOSlinker, who may also advocate for WPBannerMeta.. Ed  20:01, 24 June 2012 (UTC)
Who takes care of the milhist banner and why hasn't milhist been brainwashed into accepting the meta banner? Brad (talk) 00:15, 25 June 2012 (UTC)
Oh duh, that'd be Kirill. Not sure why I didn't think of him... and I'd suspect it's for many of the same reasons you have. Ed  06:08, 25 June 2012 (UTC)
Long time without update but Kirill made some changes and never came back to address the remainder. So, fed up without the help I needed, I converted Ships over to the meta banner. The MB has its quirks but is not totally unworkable for what Ships needed. The change over happened about two weeks ago. Since no one seemed to care I didn't bother asking about going with the MB. Three months later and here we are. Brad (talk) 07:25, 23 August 2012 (UTC)

Tb

Hello, The ed17. You have new messages at Misplaced Pages talk:The Core Contest.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

(I love using this template, it's like getting a decal and sticking it on someone's user page.....) Casliber (talk · contribs) 19:25, 24 June 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 25 June 2012

SignPost

I recently posted a 

suggested story for the Signpost and in poking around noticed we had a new Signpost editor. A long time ago (maybe six months or so) I was invited to write an op-ed on COI for the Signpost and I guess it must have faded away with the changing of the guard. If you're interested, the offer is still there.

FYI - I run a firm called EthicalWiki that helps educate and consult companies on how to improve articles they have a COI with, ethically and with quality content. You can see some of my works at User:King4057 12:51, 30 June 2012 (UTC)

Hi there, I'll look into this tonight when I have more time. Regards, Ed  19:36, 1 July 2012 (UTC)
Alright then, I'm back. I'm going to be writing about your suggestion in our "In the news" section tomorrow (UTC) shortly before we publish for this week. The topic faded away because it faded away on-wiki, which is our principal readerbase, but I'd be happy to run an op-ed from you on the subject as they do not have to be timely. Would 30 July or 6 August work for you? (and when you have it done, listing it at the opinion desk would be appreciated!) Ed  07:16, 2 July 2012 (UTC)
Happy to help. I know the CIPR was asking in a video interview about the response of the Misplaced Pages community and this should be a good way to potentially get some feedback. I'll shoot for 7/30. User:King4057 19:06, 2 July 2012 (UTC)

Newsletter

Anything to add? J Milburn (talk) 17:04, 30 June 2012 (UTC)

Looks good to me! Ed  19:36, 1 July 2012 (UTC)
EdwardsBot has been unable to send it all of today, and I know that if I try to get my bot to do it, I'll make a hash up. I'll try again when I'm a little fresher tomorrow... J Milburn (talk) 23:27, 1 July 2012 (UTC)
Heh, gotcha. The bot has been having Toolserver-related issues lately, which I'm sure annoys MZM to no end. :/ Ed  07:16, 2 July 2012 (UTC)

WikiCup 2012 June newsletter

Apologies for the lateness of this letter; our usual bot wasn't working. We are now entering round 4, our semi-finals, and have our final 16. A score of 243 was required to reach this round; significantly more than 2011's 76 points, and only a little behind 2010's 250 points. By comparison, last year, 150 points in round 4 secured a place in the final; in 2010, 430 were needed. Commiserations to Pool A's Minas Gerais igordebraga (submissions), who scored 242 points, missing out on a place in the round by a whisker. However, congratulations to Pool B's Conradh na Gaeilge Grapple X (submissions), whose television articles have brought him another round victory. Pool A's Wales Cwmhiraeth (submissions) came second overall, with an impressive list of biological did you knows, good articles and featured articles. Third overall was Pool D's New York City Muboshgu (submissions), with a long list of contibutions, mostly relating to baseball. Of course, with the points resetting every round, the playing field has been levelled. The most successful Pool was Pool D, which saw seven into the final round. Pool B saw four, C saw three and Pool A saw only the two round leaders.

A quick note about other competitions taking place on Misplaced Pages which may be of interest. There are 13 days remaining in the June-July GAN backlog elimination drive, but it is not too late to take part. August will also see the return of The Core Contest- a one month long competition first run in 2007. While the WikiCup awards points for audited content on any subject, The Core Contest about is raw article improvement, focussing heavily on the most important articles on Misplaced Pages. As ever, if you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article candidates, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Misplaced Pages:WikiCup/Reviews. Questions are welcome on Misplaced Pages talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Misplaced Pages:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. J Milburn (talk • email) and The ed17 (talk • email) 11:12, 2 July 2012 (UTC)

FYI

Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages Signpost/2012-07-02/Discussion report. Is the entry accurate? Ed  07:03, 2 July 2012 (UTC)

Hi.
I didn't edit it directly, as I don't know who is "allowed" to. (Don't want to step on anyone's toes. : )
There's a typo: >
And to me, it makes it sound like a moderator receives block and protect. And WMF said that it needs to be the standard RFX process.
As a suggestion (to try to keep your existing phrasing), replacing the first sentence with:
  • "Moderators" would face the standard RFX process but would receive fewer tools. Moderators would not receive: "Any tools which directly deal with the assessing of editor behaviour. In particular: block or protect."
Otherwise, looks good to me. And thank you for the note : ) - jc37 13:27, 2 July 2012 (UTC)
From what I can tell press time is an hour away, so I went ahead and was "bold" - Obviously feel free to revert. - jc37 05:09, 3 July 2012 (UTC)
Thanks. I've been at work but was going to fix it when I got back. Plus, I'm the one who publishes it, so I wouldn't have let it go out without being corrected. ;-) Ed  05:36, 3 July 2012 (UTC)
(facepalm) - Oh.
Incidentally, I've withdrawn the proposal (for various reasons).
For my next proposal on this (whenever that is), I may ask you to look it over first. You seem to have a good eye for clarity : ) - jc37 17:57, 3 July 2012 (UTC)
Don't facepalm, it's fine! I saw the withdrawal, unfortunately. I'd be happy to look over a finetuned proposal before you submit it; feel free to drop me a note here or send an email. Ed  22:27, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 02 July 2012

tb

Hello, The ed17. You have new messages at Waldir's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Re:Newsletter delivery

Thank you!--Midgrid(talk) 19:52, 4 July 2012 (UTC)

COI op-ed for the Signpost

I thought I would share my draft op-ed so far. I'm asking a few editors for feedback and making some tweaks from there. User:King4057 15:47, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. I'm literally running out the door right now, but my first-glance thought is that I wouldn't make it much longer. Some detail is good, but people won't read the whole thing if it's too long. :-) I'll provide more detailed feedback later. Ed  19:22, 5 July 2012 (UTC)
I was thinking that too. I just cut it back quite a bit, but it may still need some shortening. User:King4057 20:33, 5 July 2012 (UTC)
That length is fine. Another thought is that the SP, or Misplaced Pages in general, does not use bolding like you do. Is there a different way of framing your principal points? Ed  07:46, 6 July 2012 (UTC)

Flip. Flop.

Re this . . . by a "Romney-like stand", do you mean they 'd have to play the leading role in implementing PC in some sector of the project, pat themselves on the back for years for a job well done, and then make opposing wikiwide PC a central tenet of their Arbcom campaign, while waffling on exactly what PC is and is not? Rivertorch (talk) 06:29, 7 July 2012 (UTC)

Sort of. I didn't mean a literal interpretation. Mostly I meant that they'd have to waffle between the two to cater to both sides or they wouldn't get elected... but the overarching thought in the comment was that we probably don't want to bring that much politics onto WP. Ed  14:08, 7 July 2012 (UTC)

This Month in GLAM: June 2012


This Month in GLAM – Volume II, Issue VI, June 2012

Headlines
Read this edition in full • Single-page

To assist with preparing the newsletter, please visit the newsroom. Past editions may be viewed here.

Unsubscribe · Global message delivery 12:49, 7 July 2012 (UTC)

Wikimania

Ed, as we mentioned a while ago at WT:MIL, there will probably be an informal Milhist session during the unconference. Please let me know if you want to meet for anything else. I'm going to be attending mostly tech sessions during the conference, and I'll have access to email and to Misplaced Pages several times a day throughout.

Dan

We'll figure it out as we go along. :-) Ed  07:19, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

DC

Ed, any chance I'll see you at Wikimania this week? -- Lord Roem (talk) 02:49, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

Hopefully! I'm flying in late Wednesday and leaving in the evening on the 16th. Ed  07:19, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

Re: CSS question

Try that :) It's a very common CSS problem, because, as you say, there's no float:center. - Jarry1250  10:51, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

That's ... frustrating. :-) Thanks for the help! Ed  19:00, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 09 July 2012

Credo Reference Update & Survey (your opinion requested)

Credo Reference, who generously donated 400 free Credo 250 research accounts to Misplaced Pages editors over the past two years, has offered to expand the program to include 100 additional reference resources. Credo wants Misplaced Pages editors to select which resources they want most. So, we put together a quick survey to do that:

It also asks some basic questions about what you like about the Credo program and what you might want to improve.

At this time only the initial 400 editors have accounts, but even if you do not have an account, you still might want to weigh in on which resources would be most valuable for the community (for example, through WikiProject Resource Exchange).

Also, if you have an account but no longer want to use it, please leave me a note so another editor can take your spot.

If you have any other questions or comments, drop by my talk page or email me at wikiocaasi@yahoo.com. Cheers! Ocaasi 17:34, 11 July 2012 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, The ed17. You have new messages at Drmies's talk page.
Message added 21:24, 12 July 2012 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Drmies (talk) 21:24, 12 July 2012 (UTC)

A cheeseburger for you!

Ed, you're a good man. I'd leave you a big fat penis for a barnstar, but I have been told that they are restricted, so a cheeseburger is the most masculine I can drop of you. Drmies (talk) 03:50, 13 July 2012 (UTC)

Four million

Thank you. --Meno25 (talk) 14:30, 13 July 2012 (UTC)

Hello, Ed! You noted that "that kind of change would need more discussion", but the banner went up despite a clear lack of consensus (due to concerns that the compromise wording addressed). —David Levy 04:15, 14 July 2012 (UTC)

Hi David! My view is that if we're going to have a banner, like we've done in the past, it needs to be focused on the reason we're posting one. That reason is the 4,000,000th article, not a repeated call for contributors (we already have "the 💕 that anyone can edit."). The banner text currently in place has been previously used and agreed upon; your wording involved discussion with three editors over a matter of minutes. Regards, Ed  04:55, 14 July 2012 (UTC)
My view is that if we're going to have a banner, like we've done in the past, it needs to be focused on the reason we're posting one. That reason is the 4,000,000th article, not a repeated call for contributors (we already have "the 💕 that anyone can edit.").
The idea wasn't to fundamentally alter the banner's purpose; it was avoid implying that we care only about the quantity of articles.
Perhaps this attempt was less successful than intended, but the concern on which it was based remains (and is the reason why the current wording lacks consensus).
The banner text currently in place has been previously used and agreed upon;
But when the banner was discussed this time, it clearly failed to achieve consensus. For some reason, it went up anyway.
your wording involved discussion with three editors over a matter of minutes.
Yes, but it replaced wording that definitely lacks consensus (and specifically addressed the reason why). If it lacks consensus too, the banner should be removed for the time being. —David Levy 05:25, 14 July 2012 (UTC)
And just how many outside people (non-editors) do you actually think read it that way? Obviously we care about the quality of the articles or we wouldn't have a "featured" article right beneath. Anyway, I'm not going to argue with you about it here; it won't achieve anything besides unneeded acrimony. Good luck on Talk:MP, though. Ed  05:52, 14 July 2012 (UTC)
I didn't intend to debate it here (which I agree serves no practical purpose). My point is that you undid the revision on the basis that "that kind of change would need more discussion", but the current version was discussed and shown to lack consensus.
Why, in your view, should it nonetheless be displayed? Why shouldn't the banner be removed until consensus is reached? —David Levy 06:17, 14 July 2012 (UTC)
(talk page stalker)Removing the banner celebrating a significant achievement would look really silly, as would changing it significantly now it's been posted. Nick-D (talk) 06:30, 14 July 2012 (UTC)
So consensus (or the lack thereof) should be ignored?
To be clear, I don't aspire to eliminate the banner. I opposed its display (as did others), but I sincerely seek a compromise that addresses both sides' concerns. I thought that we'd found one (wording collaboratively devised by a strong proponent of the banner and me), and I'm prepared to continue brainstorming. —David Levy 06:44, 14 July 2012 (UTC)

John's got a stomach bug

If anyone is trying to find me, I'm going to hang with John until we see whether he needs to go to a doctor. I'll be back as soon as I can. - Dank (push to talk) 16:17, 14 July 2012 (UTC)

We were worried, we flew back to NC, he saw the doctor, he's fine. Sucks to come back early, but I understand the videos of the conference are going to be up shortly on Commons, and I already got a chance to see most of the people I wanted to see, so ... meh. Great to meet you, Ed, you gave me a lot of ideas. - Dank (push to talk) 22:50, 14 July 2012 (UTC)
That's sad, but you do what you have to do! I'm disappointed I couldn't meet him, but I'm very glad to hear he's okay. Ed  23:11, 14 July 2012 (UTC)

GOCE July 2012 mid-drive newsletter

Guild of Copy Editors July 2012 backlog elimination drive mid-drive newsletter

Participation: Out of 37 people signed up for this drive so far, 25 have copy-edited at least one article. It's a smaller group than last drive, but we're making good progress. If you've signed up but haven't yet copy-edited any articles, every bit helps; if you haven't signed up yet, it's not too late. Template:J

Progress report: We're almost on track to meet our targets for the drive. Great work, guys. We have reduced our target group of articles—May, June, and July 2011—by about 40%, and the overall backlog has been reduced by 264 articles so far, to around 2500 articles.

Copy Edit of the Month: Starting in August, your best copy-editing work of the month will be eligible for fabulous prizes! See here for details. – Your drive coordinators: Stfg, Allens, and Torchiest.

>>> Sign up now <<<

To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list. Newsletter delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 16:57, 15 July 2012 (UTC)

Nice meeting you at Wikimania

You've come a long way since your "Disruption, trolling, vandalism, no useful edits" days :-P Keep up the good work. --Cyde Weys 01:40, 16 July 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. :P Nice seeing you too, and I hope we all get together again sometime! Ed  01:51, 16 July 2012 (UTC)

Probably should go here too... nice meeting you in person! Hopefully it won't be the last time. Keep up the good work on the Signpost. Regards, Lord Roem (talk) 05:03, 16 July 2012 (UTC)

Same to all that. Note that I won't be sad if you ever stop clerking and come back to the SP, even if it's not on the now-occupied Arb report. ;-) Ed  05:34, 16 July 2012 (UTC)

Last week's Signpost still up?

If I knew something about your template, I would fix it myself. - Dank (push to talk) 10:33, 17 July 2012 (UTC)

No worries, that's manual for now while we test it. I'm updating it now. Ed  10:34, 17 July 2012 (UTC)
It seems to be fixed for me :) Nick-D (talk) 10:35, 17 July 2012 (UTC)
Not for me ... for instance, the Featured Content is last week's, and I think others as well. - Dank (push to talk) 10:37, 17 July 2012 (UTC)
WP:SIGNPOST is still off though. ;-) Am updating. Ed  10:37, 17 July 2012 (UTC)
Fantastic job on your write-up of the conference, btw. - Dank (push to talk) 15:33, 17 July 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 16 July 2012

Duplicate Signpost postings

Hi. It looks like LivingBot updated m:Global message delivery/Spam twice, resulting in double postings. This led to EdwardsBot being blocked on de.wikipedia.org. I don't think there's much to be done now, but we should try to avoid this. :-) --MZMcBride (talk) 15:13, 17 July 2012 (UTC)

My internet died partway through Jarry's automated process. I made sure it wouldn't break anything on en.wp when I redid the step ... but I forgot to check the meta implications, as you are aware. Sorry! Ed  20:27, 17 July 2012 (UTC)

Agincourt FAC

I've updated the article in response to the last few comments from the ACR, so you can nom it whenever you get a chance.--Sturmvogel 66 (talk) 16:26, 17 July 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! Ed  20:27, 17 July 2012 (UTC)

The 'Special report' in this week's Signpost

Hi Ed. I'm a long-term fan of the Signpost, but I'm really disappointed by the 'Special report' in this week's edition. It is conflating two entirely separate issues - the establishment of the WCA, and the arbcom case against Fæ - and appears to be manufacturing non-existent controversy around the WCA as a result. I would strongly urge you, as editor in chief, to separate the two issues into two articles - one covering the WCA, and another covering the arbcom case around Fæ. Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 16:40, 17 July 2012 (UTC)

I know nothing about the WCA and very little about WMUK ... but I have to admit that I thought it was quite striking that the WCA would choose a leader who may be about to be banned from Misplaced Pages; it suggests there's a disconnect somewhere, and certainly struck me as newsworthy. But again ... I know nothing at all about the merits. - Dank (push to talk) 16:59, 17 July 2012 (UTC)
I must disagree – they are very related. Fae is both the chair of Wikimedia UK and the elected chair of the WCA (the election took place during Wikimania). Ed  20:27, 17 July 2012 (UTC)
While I think that this is an important issue to cover (and the obvious problems with the WCA selecting an editor in poor standing on this Misplaced Pages as its first chair clearly need to be covered as it does decrease the organisation's credibility considerably), the breathless tabloid style of the article really does it no favours. The first of the dot points about Fæ's alleged misconduct should have been omitted as it's obviously not actionable (if people want to upload photos of themselves with no clothes on to Commons for some reason, this seems to be fine - and probably rightly so, I guess). Nick-D (talk) 12:08, 19 July 2012 (UTC)
Thanks for the feedback! Ed  06:57, 20 July 2012 (UTC)

Queering Misplaced Pages edit-a-thon

Hi! I'm helping to organized a Queering Misplaced Pages edit-a-thon in Los Angeles. I was wondering if we could publish a report in the Signpost after the event? It is Sunday, so there is not much time to write it up. Let me know if that is possible. Thanks! Wadewitz (talk) 20:56, 17 July 2012 (UTC)

To clarify, you are looking to author a separate page for this week's Signpost? Ed  22:39, 17 July 2012 (UTC)
A separate article would be nice, yes, but if that is not possible, a small notice would still be good! Wadewitz (talk) 22:13, 19 July 2012 (UTC)
We don't typically have separate pages for anything but the biggest events, but I'll make sure it's in News and notes. :-) Ed  18:51, 20 July 2012 (UTC)
Great! Thanks! Wadewitz (talk) 17:15, 22 July 2012 (UTC)
Misplaced Pages talk:Meetup/LA/7 - short summary of the event. Wadewitz (talk) 17:02, 24 July 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for adding Brandon Harris tot he Signpost article

and nice to meet you, however, briefly, at Wikimania.SPhilbrick(Talk) 15:12, 18 July 2012 (UTC)

Anytime. I had meant to add him before publishing, but it slipped my mind -- thanks for the reminder. Nice to meet you too! See ya around the wiki, Ed  07:38, 19 July 2012 (UTC)

Shocking language!

I thought you wrote a bit nicer than this. Rcsprinter (talk) @ 20:30, 19 July 2012 (UTC)

Sorry, I got a little angry that day. ;-) Ed  06:57, 20 July 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for the Signpost work

The Content Creativity Barnstar

Hello, ed17! I want to thank you for your hard work writing the Signpost every week. You don't just collect some links and quotes, you actually analyse and comment in depth a lot of stuff. That's why I'm giving you the Content Creativity Barnstar. Feathers are really old fashioned, but fortunately good writing isn't. Good luck! --NaBUru38 (talk) 01:42, 20 July 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! I'm not sure that I'm quite as good as you say I am, but I'm continuing to learn as I go! Ed  06:57, 20 July 2012 (UTC)

Nomination for deletion of Template:Infobox Shannara location

Template:Infobox Shannara location has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for discussion page. Chris Cunningham (user:thumperward) (talk) 09:40, 20 July 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for the note. Ed  18:51, 20 July 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 23 July 2012

Signpost feedback

You know, if you are looking for constructive feedback, might I suggest a new feature? I've had in my head that the post may benefit from a "classifieds" page that lists the weekly articles up at the bounty board and the reward board, and in my mind's eye, would allow editors looking for help or interested in testing the waters to place an "ad" such as it were on the page to see if they could find other liked minded people for whatever project or goal they need help with (ie: "project x is being reactivated, any interested editors are asked to join", "seeking an editor adept at .svg conversions for photo project", etc). It could be worth a look into if the other post members think the idea has a chance.

On an unrelated note, read that you got flack this week for your controversy article. I wanted you to know that in my case at least this was the first I was hearing of any controversy, and while the article in the post was apparently controversial, I found it illuminating in that it did sum up an interesting issue for me. Nice to know that when push comes to shove some people still have the balls to tell it like it is for the rest of the world to know. TomStar81 (Talk) 14:05, 24 July 2012 (UTC)

We already have that in the WikiProject Report, Tom! ;-)
Thanks for the feedback! We're doing our best. Ed  16:35, 24 July 2012 (UTC)

Help requested...

Ed, can you take a look at the edit-war underway at Roger Federer (and the discussion heatedly underway at its talk page), brought to my attention here, and see if it needs full protection to ensure proper discussion? My Internet is being 100% derp today so I can't do much. - The Bushranger One ping only 00:38, 26 July 2012 (UTC)

I'm not The ed17, but... done. - jc37 01:19, 26 July 2012 (UTC)
Sorry Bushranger, I wasn't online, but it looks like one of my talk page stalkers got it for you. ;-) Thanks Jc! Ed  07:24, 26 July 2012 (UTC)

Signpost op ed

Hi Ed, I'm hoping to do an opinion editorial on my dispute resolution work - is it too late to get something in for the upcoming issue? Steven Zhang 01:42, 26 July 2012 (UTC)

Hi Steven, it's not too late, and we don't have anything scheduled for this week right now, so I'm fine with a preliminary green light. Let me know when you have a draft ready. :-) (not to censor it or anything, just copyediting) Ed  07:24, 26 July 2012 (UTC)
I'll do my best to get a draft ready in the next day - I've got a lot on but it'd be great to have an opinion piece on dispute resolution to coincide with the Wikiproject Dispute Resolution report. I'm not a good writer though so I'll do what I can. Steven Zhang 07:28, 26 July 2012 (UTC)
If you have a wiki friend interested in DR too, you could always have him/her coauthor it to help you out! Ed  07:39, 26 July 2012 (UTC)
Hey there - heads up - Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages Signpost/2012-09-03/Op-ed - I'll have it up by the next issue :-) Szhang (WMF) (talk) 23:48, 27 August 2012 (UTC)

Wikimedia Highlights from June 2012

Highlights from the Wikimedia Foundation Report and the Wikimedia engineering report for June 2012, with a selection of other important events from the Wikimedia movement
About · Subscribe/unsubscribe · Distributed via Global message delivery, 21:30, 26 July 2012 (UTC)

GOCE July drive wrap-up

Guild of Copy Editors July 2012 backlog elimination drive wrap-up

Participation: Out of 45 people who signed up this drive, 31 have copy-edited at least one article. Lfstevens continues to carry most of the weight, having edited 360 articles and over a quarter of a million words already. Thanks to all who have participated! Final results, including barnstars awarded, will be available early in August here.

Progress report: We are once again very close to achieving in our primary goal—removing the oldest three months from the backlog. Only 35 such articles remain at press time. The total backlog currently sits at under 2400 articles, down from 8323 when we started out over two years ago. We are just two articles away from completing all requests made before July 2012 (both are in progress).

Copy Edit of the Month: Starting in August, you'll be able to submit your best copy-editing work for palaver, praise, and prizes. See here for details. – Your drive coordinators: Stfg, Allens, and Torchiest.

To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list. Newsletter delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 00:20, 28 July 2012 (UTC)

Re:Afd

There are two reasons why I did not restart a merge discussion:

  • Merging has already been discussed from Hell to Breakfast and back to Texas with no consensus, and restarting the age old merge debate is unlikely to get any fresh blood on the case, which is what we need here, and
  • Our hand has been forced on the matter on account of this: Misplaced Pages:Featured topic removal candidates/Iowa class battleships/archive1. I am not going to work alone or with others to bring up Kentucky and/or Illinois if our entire workload is gonna end up null and void by merging. This forces the issue, but in its resolution we will know which of the two options we are going to take to keep the Iowa's as an FT.

Its extreme, but it works, and right now with the FTRC open we really do not have time for diplomacy (IMO). TomStar81 (Talk) 06:13, 28 July 2012 (UTC)

Well, I was under the impression that we had a consensus to merge—just no one had done it yet. :-) Ed  22:55, 28 July 2012 (UTC)
Which is ironic, because I was under the impression that all had ended without consensus. Which just proves a point that this afd will force the merge issue at the same time it serves as a motion of confidence for or against the retention of the individual articles. Incidentally, you should weigh in at the afd, the more people that do the clearer the consensus will be for or against retention and the more people who weigh in the sooner consensus can be reached and the afd closed. TomStar81 (Talk) 01:21, 29 July 2012 (UTC)
Heh, well, to each our own view! I'll go !vote to merge over there. Ed  08:17, 29 July 2012 (UTC)

The Bugle: Issue LXXVI, July 2012

Full front page of The Bugle Your Military History Newsletter

The Bugle is published by the Military history WikiProject. To receive it on your talk page, please join the project or sign up here.
If you are a project member who does not want delivery, please remove your name from this page. Your editors, Ian Rose (talk) and Ed  09:53, 29 July 2012 (UTC)

Bugle problem

Hi Ed, for some reason all the links in the version delivered to my talk page are pointing to the May edition... I think that you may need to re-send ;) Regards, Nick-D (talk) 10:19, 29 July 2012 (UTC)

Y'know, I previewed all this and tried to make doublecheck that everything was right, yet I still screwed up because I didn't click the links. Sigh. I've redirected the May pages and will un-redirect them in two weeks or so. Ed  19:17, 29 July 2012 (UTC)
That's a good fix. Incidentally, you're now on a Hat-trick for breaking the Bugle, and I'm a bit scared of what you'll do next time ;) (please don't block me as part of it!). Nick-D (talk) 10:22, 30 July 2012 (UTC)
Troll's on you, kind sir – I'm only on whatever you'd call a two-trick. ;-) Ed  12:38, 30 July 2012 (UTC)
To be 'on a hat trick' means that you've done two of whatever, and are well positioned to follow up with the third action. If you were from a civilised country you'd know that. ;) Nick-D (talk) 10:03, 1 August 2012 (UTC)
"A hat-trick or hat trick in sport is the achievement of a positive feat three times during a game, or other achievements based on threes." Tell me again how I need to live in a civilized country. ;-) Ed  14:38, 1 August 2012 (UTC)

Signpost issue

An hour ago, User:LivingBot updated Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages Signpost/Issue with the edit summary "(on behalf of User:The_ed17) bot publishing Signpost Volume 8, Issue 31 for 30 July 2012". That is usually the update which signals the last stage of publishing the Signpost, as the Issue subpage is intended for watchlisting, but the table of contents is still showing last week's. — Richardguk (talk) 11:56, 31 July 2012 (UTC)

The contents page was fixed by User:Tony1 after 2 hours. You might want to check that the publishing procedure is being implemented in the correct sequence. Anyway, thanks for all the work that you and the team put in each week. — Richardguk (talk) 14:34, 31 July 2012 (UTC)
The regular page at WP:SIGNPOST is still being manually updated; today was a weird day because I had to get up at 5am my time for work, so I had Tony keep an eye out for any problems. Thanks for noticing this, and we'll do better in the future. :-) Ed  16:00, 31 July 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 30 July 2012

Anything...

...to add? J Milburn (talk) 20:01, 31 July 2012 (UTC)

I've gone ahead and sent it a little earlier than usual, as I have an early start tomorrow and want to get to bed. Hope there are no objections! J Milburn (talk) 22:14, 31 July 2012 (UTC)
No worries, I was at the end of the world with little access to wifi today anyway. :-) Ed  02:15, 1 August 2012 (UTC)

WikiCup 2012 July newsletter

We're approaching the beginning of 2012's final round. Pool A sees Wales Cwmhiraeth (submissions) as the leader, with 300 points being awarded for the featured article Bivalvia, and Pool B sees Conradh na Gaeilge Grapple X (submissions) in the lead, with 10 good articles, and over 35 articles eligible for good topic points. Pool A sees New York City Muboshgu (submissions) in second place with a number of articles relating to baseball, while Pool B's Minnesota Ruby2010 (submissions) follows Grapple X, with a variety of contributions including the high-scoring, high-importance featured article on the 2010 film Pride & Prejudice. Ruby2010, like Grapple X, also claimed a number of good topic points; despite this, not a single point has been claimed for featured topics in the contest so far. The same is true for featured portals.

Currently, the eighth-place competitor (and so the lowest scorer who would reach the final round right now) has scored 332, more than double the 150 needed to reach the final round last year. In 2010, however, 430 was the lowest qualifying score. In this competition, we have generally seen scores closer to those in 2010 than those in 2011. Let's see what kind of benchmark we can set for future competitions! As ever, if you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article candidates, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Misplaced Pages:WikiCup/Reviews. Questions are welcome on Misplaced Pages talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Misplaced Pages:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. J Milburn (talk • email) and The ed17 (talk • email) 22:35, 31 July 2012 (UTC)

Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages Signpost/2012-07-30/Recent research

Ed (or TSP'ers, whoever get this first), there seems to be a problem with the format in the references section on this page. Something about the pdf format needing to be a certain way. In any event, its causing big red letters to appear, and that can't be good. TomStar81 (Talk) 07:43, 1 August 2012 (UTC)

It looks like this has been addressed. Thanks Tom! Ed  14:38, 1 August 2012 (UTC)

This Month in GLAM: July 2012


This Month in GLAM – Volume II, Issue VII, July 2012

Headlines
  • USA report: World Digital Library Wikipedian in Residence
  • UK report: British Library update; UK representation at Wikimania 2012; brief news
  • Spain report: Wikipedian in Residence for a whole town; Backstage Pass at National Art Museum of Catalonia
  • Germany report: Wikipedian in Residence updates; WikiCon 2012; Hamburgmuseum workshop
  • Italy report: July's case studies shed new light on African GLAMs
  • Mexico report: Second editathon with Misplaced Pages Student Clubs; participation in Mexico City's Creative Commons Film Festival; private art gallery donates 650+ images
  • Africa report: A month in Africa's GLAMs
  • Wikimania report: Wikimania gets GLAMorous
  • Open Access report: Open Access at Wikimania; Year 2 of Wikimedian in Residence on Open Science; Open Access Media Importer tested; WikiProject Medicine goes publishing
  • Calendar: August's GLAM events
Read this edition in full • Single-page

To assist with preparing the newsletter, please visit the newsroom. Past editions may be viewed here.

Unsubscribe · Global message delivery 17:22, 3 August 2012 (UTC)

Re:

Nice :D Icy // ♫ 21:36, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

80% (or 90?) of the credit belongs to Sturmvogel 66. I just wrote the background and did some copyediting. :-) Ed  06:40, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

Precious

precision
Thank you for your constant flow of featured content on battleships (planning 2021), for editing the Signpost, and for your diligence in language questions without a battle, - repeating: you are an awesome Wikipedian (5 AND 6 April 2009 - what did you do then to be noticed by two?)! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:57, 7 August 2012 (UTC)
I can't take all that credit, I done very little article writing lately. I did, however, have a major scare when I finished publishing the Signpost to find that I had a new messages banner. Typically that means I screwed something up. This was a bit more pleasant, though. ;-) . I got two in a row from different people, I think? Thinking back, I'm really surprised I got those; I feel like I was much more immature then... which is to say, I'm certain I was much more immature then. I've learned a lot in the last three years.
Thanks very much, Gerda – this honestly means a lot! Ed  09:06, 7 August 2012 (UTC)
If you think you didn't deserve the credits then, you are welcome now! I also learned a lot in the last three years, - I started in August 2009 and remember well, - first article deleted, a little later on DYK, did you know? - Feel free to check my hook suggestions before they go on the Main page ;) - I got the idea of looking for some awesome Wikipedian every day from esteemed predecessors. (One of them was hit by the Bozeman Carnegie Library effect, but is back to write Temple Emanu-El.) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:36, 7 August 2012 (UTC)
I started in March 2006 and basically treated the site like Myspace. I came back a couple years later and was better - I wrote articles too! - before I settled into Milhist articles... although I really should note that the reason my Milhist articles did okay at FAC was from two failed FACs for The Sword of Shannara.
I really should write more, but it seems like it just gets harder and harder to find the time. Awesome Wikipedians is a great program in my book... it's definitely a good way to boost an editors' spirits. Maybe you should also try to keep an eye out for promising new users (at DYK, perhaps?) and award it to them too? Just me thinking out loud! Ed  20:24, 7 August 2012 (UTC)
Thanks for your comments and suggestion. I "inherited" the program, learned it from Rlevse who made my day 2 years ago. I gave some Precious to new users on their first or second DYK. - I gave one to Br'er Rabbit when he was Alarbus. The reformation mentioned there, he knew, for others I have a link on my user ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:55, 17 August 2012 (UTC)
Cool! I don't think anyone is disputing Jack's article work, just his interactions with certain users. :-) Ed  00:45, 18 August 2012 (UTC)
or his treatment by certain users? (Look for my name to find a small example, "Polite is irrelevant".) ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 05:29, 18 August 2012 (UTC)
It goes both ways, yes. :p Ed  05:34, 18 August 2012 (UTC)
Thank you, not everybody seems to see that ;) - thank you also for taking responsibility for TFA 21 August! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 06:03, 18 August 2012 (UTC)
Donut
4 making a donut ;)
(&& 23rd;) at this point, I doubt anyone will try and page ban him for it. Br'er Rabbit (talk) 06:08, 18 August 2012 (UTC)
(edit conflict) Well, there's the related issue of frustrated people lashing out after snarky edit summaries too. Still, at least some of the abuse directed at Jack clearly isn't warranted. Also I'm not really taking responsibility... it's just to prevent another mishap like José Paranhos, Viscount of Rio Branco, which ran after Lecen asked it not run, just because Raul is on break. Ed  06:13, 18 August 2012 (UTC)
Thank you for however you call it, very helpful, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 06:17, 18 August 2012 (UTC)
Meh ;)
Tip. You really should not make such cut-and-paste moves. If you had actually moved the page to the correct date you would have maintained the attribution of the blurb in the edit history. You did make reference to the source of the blurb in the edit summary, so I'll go light on ya. Besides, if you did it now, it would break some diffs I've added at ArbWorld. Br'er Rabbit (talk) 06:23, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

Psh, it's not like the TFAR summaries aren't copy/pasted too. ;-) I was going to ask what I did to deserve mention at Arbcom, but I never saw your suggestion to move Olmec for Sturm's article, just your post on his page. Ed  06:30, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

You mean Teh Raul hasn't been writing those blurbs, just copying the ledes out of articles? Horrors. Is that {{minnow}} worthy? I posted at Sturm's talk because I doubt that he would have seen the removal of my suggested move. Last I looked, he had not commented on it.
Anyway, you've backed-up precedent that, uh, it's wiki in Teh House of TFA, too. Have a Donut ;) Br'er Rabbit (talk) 06:54, 18 August 2012 (UTC)
You forgot the chocolate frosting! I consider it an anomaly and will be happy when Raul returns... but we have slightly different views on the subject of a FA director. ;-) Ed  07:09, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 06 August 2012

Nomination for deletion of Template:Royal Netherlands Navy cruisers

Template:Royal Netherlands Navy cruisers has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for discussion page. DH85868993 (talk) 12:07, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

Douglas World Cruiser merge proposal

This proposal has probably dragged on long enough. FWiW Bzuk (talk) 18:56, 7 August 2012 (UTC).

Agreed, but since I !voted there, I'm WP:INVOLVED as it were...perhaps you could ping Ed? - The Bushranger One ping only 18:57, 7 August 2012 (UTC)
Pinged. FWiW Bzuk (talk) 19:15, 7 August 2012 (UTC).
I'll look at this tonight, when I'm not running out the door to work. :-) Ed  20:24, 7 August 2012 (UTC)
I've offered some thoughts there (because no one thought of the other possible merge target!) and will close in a day or two if no one thinks I am now impartial. :-) Ed  07:14, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! FWiW Bzuk (talk) 16:59, 10 August 2012 (UTC).

Fall 2012 Online Ambassador Program

Hi, Ed!

I know you were busy last semester, but if you're planning to work with a class in the US and Canada Education Program this Fall, please add your name to this census. Once the new class list is available, I will notify you guys so you can sign up for a class (or two) that interests you. I hope you're still interested in supporting these students for the coming term and have the time. Thanks so much! JMathewson (WMF) (talk) 20:38, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

Hi. I'm still rather busy in real life, and the majority of my on-wiki time is devoted to the Signpost, but if there's a class I take a liking to, I'd think about it. Will there be any history courses this semester? (that's what I'm majoring in, so I'd be more interested in the topic, plus I'd be able to help students faster so I could also accomplish my other tasks here!)
Hopefully that doesn't come across as sounding like a slob who wants special treatment. While I still support the idea of getting college students to edit – my academic writing improved by leaps and bounds because of this site – I honestly don't have a lot of excess time that I can devote to it. :-) Thanks and apologies, Ed  07:14, 8 August 2012 (UTC)
I understand! We actually will likely have quite a few history classes, so I'll just keep you updated. JMathewson (WMF) (talk) 22:22, 8 August 2012 (UTC)
Thank you very much! I'm glad that didn't come across badly, and I hope I'll be able to help in some way. Ed  07:48, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

New Ed program wiki newsletter

Saludos! LiAnna suggested that I get in touch with you. We have been working on creating a community-based newsletter, much like This Month in GLAM. We have some articles, with LiAnna's coming but we are having technical issues. Im hoping you can help us out tweaking it. We want the first issue to go out on 15 August, mid-month as TMIG goes out at the end of the month. Could you go over to and take a look? Thank you! Thelmadatter (talk) 01:25, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

Hi. For one, you need a header linking the individual articles together and giving your pages a common theme (or brand). Second, you need a uniform way of crediting the authors. Third, on your main page, your logo should be the biggest thing there, with the issue and headlines being secondary. Also having "Headlines" there is a bit redundant and therefore unnecessary, in my opinion. For formatting inspiration, you may be interested in the Bugle for a good example of the multi-page format (disclaimer: I'm a co-editor), or the Ichthus for the older but more compact single-page style. Last, "This Month In Education" is rather bland and generic. Why not pick something more unique or quirky, something that will grab the attention of people who wouldn't otherwise read it?
Just a few thoughts. Hope they prove helpful, and good luck! Ed  07:46, 10 August 2012 (UTC)
Those are great suggestions but unfortunately I am useless at the technical stuff. Most of that has been done by Beat Estermann and what we really could use is another pair of hands to get this off the ground. Im doing mostly the contacting of writers and subcribers as I have more time than technical ability. Do you have any time to help out in this way? If not, can you recommend someone?Thelmadatter (talk) 13:59, 10 August 2012 (UTC)
Technically speaking, I'm about as good as a water buffalo. I can roughly understand what it does when I'm looking at it, but I can't write any of it myself. So, I can copy over some code and get it organized similar to the Bugle, if you'd like, but (assuming you like my suggestion) you'll need to decide on a name. Ed  21:00, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

Signpost opinion piece

Hi Ed. This week I have prepared an opinion piece to sync up with the release of the Wikiproject report on Dispute resolution - on my progress as a fellow thus far and where I see us going in future with dispute resolution. It looks like someone has beat me to the punch however, Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages Signpost/2012-08-13/Op-ed - I'm wondering if it's possible this opinion piece could be delayed a week and mine could be published to sync up with the DR wikiproject report - I think it would have a greater impact. Could you let me know ASAP? Thanks. Szhang (WMF) (talk) 23:16, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

Hi. The op-ed you see will be a response to Brandon Harris' op-ed, and we'll have a second op-ed as well, so I can't give you a spot this week. The best I can offer is a possible next week or a certain August 27th. Apologies, Ed  06:41, 12 August 2012 (UTC)
I see. It's a real shame because I think it would have had a greater impact if the op ed synced up with the DR wikiproject report...I suppose I'll have to do it next week then. Szhang (WMF) (talk) 06:58, 12 August 2012 (UTC)
Again, my apologies, but I can't push them back. Perhaps you could ask Mabeenot to push the DR WikiProject Report back a week, as he has his interviews planned and prepared well in advance? (that's his section; I don't make the decisions there. :-) ) If he can't, though, I'm afraid there's nothing I can do. Regards, Ed  07:31, 12 August 2012 (UTC)
Eh, its OK. I'll just do a WMF blog post and have Mabeenot add a big link to it or something. Szhang (WMF) (talk) 07:42, 12 August 2012 (UTC)
Well, that's your choice. The WMF blog isn't as well-trafficked as the Signpost though. ;-) Ed  07:55, 12 August 2012 (UTC)
Don't really have much choice - I didn't take the op ed page in time (I'd always planned for my op ed piece to sync up with the DR project report) :-) Szhang (WMF) (talk) 08:26, 12 August 2012 (UTC)
Like I said, ask Mabeenot if he will flip the WP:Korea interview with yours, and we can run your op-ed next week with the WikiProject report? Ed  08:36, 12 August 2012 (UTC)
Hmm, I'll poke them - it would be published on 20th August? Szhang (WMF) (talk) 08:39, 12 August 2012 (UTC)
Just to clarify: While I don't have a current comparison available, it seems that, based on older data, the average posting on blog.wikimedia.org actually gets significantly more pageviews than the average Signpost piece, especially when promoted in social media channels (which we're trying to do for Signpost pieces too when the opportunity arises, see e.g. ).
This is of course a reflection of the different scope of each publication - the blog also caters to general readers -, and I believe Ed may have been referring to an audience of active users on the English Misplaced Pages, or such. Regards, Tbayer (WMF) (talk) 23:27, 12 August 2012 (UTC)
Interesting, I was mistaken – I was under the impression that we had more readers, albeit I don't remember where that came from. Still, as you hinted at (thanks for giving me a way out of looking foolish, but I try to be honest :-) ), I believe we'd have more en.wp readers than the WMF blog, so an op-ed on the English Misplaced Pages's dispute resolution would have more impact when published on the English Misplaced Pages. Ed  08:24, 13 August 2012 (UTC)
  • Steven, greater impact by having yours come a week after the Wpr rep. It's not just the longer timespan, but your ability to reflect on talk-page comments that appear this week. Tony (talk) 08:42, 12 August 2012 (UTC)
  • (edit conflict) Assuming Mabeenot's WP:Korea interview is ready and he is willing to switch them – yes. With regards to Tony's point, there's also that point of view too, where multiple weeks will keep DR in the news for a longer period of time. Ed  08:46, 12 August 2012 (UTC)
  • Sorry, it's after 5am here, so I'm going to sleep. ;-) Send me an email and I'll reply around 17-18:00 UTC. I'll be on again tomorrow around 6UTC and will log onto IRC then. Apologies, Ed  10:21, 13 August 2012 (UTC)
  • Hey, sorry about the short notice - I think it might be best if I do this on a week where I have more than 9 hours to prepare something - since it may have a big impact - I want it to be good. So sorry about the short notice! Szhang (WMF) (talk) 19:00, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

Please move talk page

I was creating a talk page while you moved the associated page. Here is the result:

Can you move the talk page to be the talk for the "Response"? And not keep the redirect? If that's too much fiddling, my comment can just be copy/pasted (I have a local copy), and the old page deleted. Thanks. Johnuniq (talk) 10:14, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

Done with my apologies. Ed  10:21, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of Eretria (Shannara)

The article Eretria (Shannara) has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:

no assertion of notability

While all contributions to Misplaced Pages are appreciated, content or articles may be deleted for any of several reasons.

You may prevent the proposed deletion by removing the {{proposed deletion/dated}} notice, but please explain why in your edit summary or on the article's talk page.

Please consider improving the article to address the issues raised. Removing {{proposed deletion/dated}} will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. Widefox (talk) 17:01, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 13 August 2012

A request

Ed, José Paranhos, Viscount of Rio Branco will be tomorrow's TFA. Would you mind raising its level of protection? I don't want to spend the day reverting vandal edits. I would be really grateful. Regards, --Lecen (talk) 21:59, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

Hi Lecen, hope you're well! I'm not allowed to preemptively protect any article (see WP:SEMI, second section), but if there's a fair bit of vandalism, I'll be happy to protect it. Ed  07:31, 16 August 2012 (UTC)

Clarification regarding RSN closure

Hi Ed! I wanted a clarification about an RSN discussion closed by you. I observed that User:DBigXray is removing links to this site (pakdef.info) from the articles, many of which are on my watchlist. While doing so editor has removed many valid sources and external links from the articles, for example: 1, 2, 3. Can you please explain in the light of result you concluded from the relevant discussion at RSN and per Misplaced Pages policies, that are any type of links to this site forbidden forever? --SMS 12:30, 16 August 2012 (UTC)

  • I am here as I am upset to see that SMS has wrongly done a rollback of all my edits using WP:Rollback button which is itself blatant misuse of this right. Whats more disturbing is he has reverted back the references and links from self published source Pakdef info saying this WP:SPS is a valid source, thereby clearly disregarding the current consensus. Also its to be pointed that while replacing with a different source he is using misleading edit summaries such as this I had waited almost a year but it seems like some editors have no intentions of removing the SPS but they are readding it after removal and also willing to edit war to keep these tainted sources into a wiki articles , rather than looking for better sources.
  • Even using pakdef.info as a mirror source of a RS is inappropriate, because it is proven that pakdef.info tweaks the actual data and content from other sources in order to support its stated objective of Glorifying pakistan (by hook or crook). I guess this also explains why this seems to be a favourite source of some editors here. Misplaced Pages is trusted among its users only due its policies on WP:RS which in my opinion should never be compromised, specially with history related articles.--DBigXray 13:42, 16 August 2012 (UTC)
  • Hi. The site is an unreliable self-published source and so cannot be used as a reference in articles, though there's nothing preventing it from being an external link should there be significantly unique content. DBigXray: please note that SMS used undo, not rollback, so there was no misuse there. Ed  00:32, 17 August 2012 (UTC)

Dead horses

If he was willing to back away from the dead horse, I wouldn't have filed the request. You're being presented with two editors who cannot work together productively and are both requesting an interaction ban. I would think that the best solution is to grant it to them. Unfortunately, closing the ANI report only perpetuates the problem. Still-24-45-42-125 (talk) 06:49, 17 August 2012 (UTC)

If you and Guy truly don't want to interact with each other... then don't interact with each other. Really, this should be frighteningly simple. Ed  07:09, 17 August 2012 (UTC)
Still* already pointed out, he believes the other editor's self control is inferior to said user's goal to not interact. I tend to agree. (Please see and .) Ihardlythinkso (talk) 07:25, 17 August 2012 (UTC)
This is a lot different in that both editors want it, not just one, as in your diffs. Ed  07:32, 17 August 2012 (UTC)
In my diffs, the user confirmed understanding was corrected and agreed on new behavior. Then self-discipline broke down. (At least that is how I interpret it.) Ihardlythinkso (talk) 08:46, 17 August 2012 (UTC)
Here, both editors want to be apart from each other. There, Guy isn't so inclined, for whatever his reasons. Ed  10:48, 17 August 2012 (UTC)
Actually, my request included a recent diff in which Guy said he was so inclined. If you're not sure whether he's still inclined, you could just ask him. Still-24-45-42-125 (talk) 13:20, 17 August 2012 (UTC)
I think User:Ed is saying he believes the other user also supports an interaction ban. Ihardlythinkso (talk) 13:58, 17 August 2012 (UTC)
Hmm, that's not how I read it, but I guess he could clarify. Still-24-45-42-125 (talk) 14:02, 17 August 2012 (UTC)
Ihardlythinkso is right. Ed  00:45, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

Ok, so what am I missing here? I would imagine that if two users both agree to an interaction ban, it could just be granted. StillStanding (24/7) (talk) 03:01, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

What am I missing when two editors who supposedly want to ignore each other can't? Good lord, do you really need me to come in and say 'okay, will you two agree for me to block you should you contact the other?' Ed  03:30, 18 August 2012 (UTC)
In a word, yes! I don't have any intention of contacting him, so the threat of blocking doesn't perturb me. But he has intentions that differ from his ability to control himself, so it would actually help him stay on the wagon. StillStanding (24/7) (talk) 03:40, 18 August 2012 (UTC)
User_talk:Guy_Macon#Interaction_ban?. Now can you please (1) take his page off your watchlist (2) leave drama areas for a few days and (3) write an article or two to prove you're not just here for the drama? Thanks, Ed  03:48, 18 August 2012 (UTC)
  1. Long gone.
  2. I'm avoiding ANI, etc., as these seem to be counterproductive.
  3. Editing articles right this moment.
Thanks. StillStanding (24/7) (talk) 04:02, 18 August 2012 (UTC)
W/ regards to 2 and 3: no, thank you. :-) Ed  04:05, 18 August 2012 (UTC)
Remotely related: today I finally saw your response to Precious above, I replied there, and - in a way - here --Gerda Arendt (talk) 11:47, 17 August 2012 (UTC)
Replied above! Ed  00:45, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

Snow

Hi Ed, You might be bemused by this photo of what constitutes heavy snow around these parts ;) Regards, Nick-D (talk) 23:59, 17 August 2012 (UTC)

That made me chuckle. If you ever want to see real snow, my apartment's couch is unoccupied. ;-) Ed  00:45, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

May I sent you an email?

Just wanted to ask before I shoot off something. ViriiK (talk) 04:09, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

Yes, of course. Ed  04:18, 18 August 2012 (UTC)
Hello, The ed17. Please check your email; you've got mail!
It may take a few minutes from the time the email is sent for it to show up in your inbox. You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{You've got mail}} or {{ygm}} template.

ViriiK (talk) 04:37, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

Human baby

I know you were lying, but it was very nice nonetheless. I promise you that I will do my best, Ed. Fatherhood is really nice and I kind of wish I had started earlier--but things go as they go. Drmies (talk) 04:35, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

Oh obviously. You may be sad you didn't start earlier, but maybe you wouldn't have been as prepared then as you are now. :-) Ed  06:27, 18 August 2012 (UTC)
Thank you, made my day ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 06:31, 18 August 2012 (UTC)
Yep, and everything would have been different. Still, that first night home on a reversed schedule (he doesn't like to sleep at night, apparently) is always rough. Think about that, Ed, next time you're sitting at the family table--thank the poor people who took care of you. You know, this makes me think of my father (our boy has his first name for a middle name--couldn't give him a Dutch name for a first name) and all the things I should have asked him and told him before he died. Drmies (talk) 14:20, 20 August 2012 (UTC)
I can't imagine, but I will do that. I'm sorry for you, Doc, but just remember that he's watching you from up above somewhere... and I'll bet he's laughing at you a bit too. :-) Ed  03:47, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

A notice.

Once the interaction ban is official, I'd like to post exactly the following notice on my user page:

User:Guy Macon and I have voluntarily entered into an interaction ban.

This way, I can refer to it in case someone brings up Macon. StillStanding (24/7) (talk) 00:29, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

That's fine Ed  00:37, 19 August 2012 (UTC)
Done. I also saw the last thing you said to him, and I'm fine with not discussing each other's work. I consider the matter closed. StillStanding (24/7) (talk) 01:51, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

TFA change

Re: this -- I'm OK with that one, but in the future please don't do that again. Raul654 (talk) 21:55, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

Hi, thanks for the note. As I said above, that was an anomaly – I'm certainly not planning on repeating it! Hope you had a good break, Mark. Regards, Ed  22:13, 19 August 2012 (UTC)
Sadly, not as peaceful as I had hoped. Real life right now is crazy. I'm helping to bring Blue Waters's storage system online and that's a bit of stress that won't be helped by a wikibreak. Raul654 (talk) 22:21, 19 August 2012 (UTC)
That sounds like a ridiculous amount of work... good luck to you. Thankfully, it looks like Dabomb is back to help you on-wiki. Ed  22:39, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

Thanks

I appreciate that you took the time to lock that article. As it is a BLP, would you mind taking a look at it for bias or problems in your opinion, and make changes, if any, to ensure it is in compliance with our BLP policies? I realize this may put you in a position of having to make a content decision, but considering that the article is locked, only admins can make such changes at this time. Again, thanks. -- Avanu (talk) 05:49, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

I've copyedited a sentence away from a source, but I don't see any problems with BLP in that paragraph right now. Ed  05:58, 20 August 2012 (UTC)
Much appreciated. -- Avanu (talk) 06:04, 20 August 2012 (UTC)
I mentioned that you locked the article in this AN/I report ( Misplaced Pages:Administrators' noticeboard/Edit warring#User:Casprings and User:JamesAM reported by User:Avanu (Result: Protected) ), so I'm letting you know you were mentioned. -- Avanu (talk) 01:36, 21 August 2012 (UTC)
(talk page stalker) I assume this is the link you meant. - The Bushranger One ping only 03:41, 21 August 2012 (UTC)
Thanks for the note, Ed  03:47, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

Re: Signpost

Hi! Sorry, I didn't get your message about the signpost @ my en.wiktionary talk page until just now. I can try to provide some comments in the next 12 hours. How exactly would you like me to provide them? Do you have specific questions for me to answer, or would just a statement sent via email suffice? Thanks for the interest. Best, Tempodivalse 14:57, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

You've got mail! Apologies for taking so long; I hope I'm in before the deadline. But it took some time to think out what I was going to say. Cheers, Tempodivalse 23:28, 20 August 2012 (UTC)
Thanks, it's fine and it's in time. :-) Regards, Ed  03:47, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 20 August 2012

GOCE news and September drive invitation

Invitation from the Guild of Copy Editors

The Guild of Copy Editors invites you to participate in its events:

  • The August 2012 Copy Edit of the Month Contest is currently in the submissions stage. Submit your best August copy edit there before the end of the month. Submissions end, and discussion and voting begin, on September 1 at 00:00 (UTC).
  • September 2012 Backlog elimination drive is a month-long effort to reduce the size of the copy edit backlog. The drive begins on September 1 at 00:00 (UTC) and ends on September 30 at 23:59 (UTC). Our goals are to copy edit the articles tagged longest ago and to complete all requests placed before the end of August. Barnstars will be awarded to anyone who copy edits at least one article, and special awards will be given to the top six in the following categories: "Number of articles", "Number of words", "Number of articles of over 5,000 words", "Number of articles tagged longest ago", and "Longest article". This drive features a much easier signup process. We hope to see you there! – Your drive coordinators: Stfg, Allens, and Torchiest.
>>> Sign up now <<<

To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list. Delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 19:09, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

Todd Akin

Please consider un-protecting semi-protect Todd Akin. There have been a lot of work done at Todd Akin rape and pregnancy controversy‎ so most of this controversy has been processed already. With 80,000 page views, we ought to give readers the material they are looking for. We the many eyeballs/watchlist on this article already it's unlikely that vandalism will be an issue. Cwobeel (talk) 16:59, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

I've provisionally unlocked the article. Ed  23:32, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

Question about voluntary interaction ban

One of StillStanding-247's disagreements with me was with the practice that I and several other DRN volunteers have of taking an informal poll to gauge consensus, explaining the concept of consensus to any "me against the world" editors, and (after a while for discussion) closing the DRN case if the consensus is overwhelming. He calls this "counting heads as opposed to trying to resolve the underlying content dispute." and " "consensus" that controls the article by virtue of veto power". (quotation marks around "consensus" in original).

Now he is. IMO, pushing the same POV

Especially problematical is his comment that "just as an admin closing an RfC is obligated not to just count up editors and must instead exclude views that do not comply with policy and facts, a DRN volunteer should do the same." This clearly refers to my actions in closing the DRN case (after seeking a second opinion by another DRN volunteer).

I am of course not going to respond to this, but would it be out of line to place a neutrally-worded notice on Misplaced Pages talk:WikiProject Dispute Resolution and/or Misplaced Pages talk:Dispute resolution noticeboard with the wording "There is a discussion at (link) regarding WP:CLOSE and WP:DRN"? IMO, WP:CLOSE does indeed apply to WP:DRN, but StillStanding-247's understanding of it does not. --Guy Macon (talk) 01:02, 24 August 2012 (UTC)

It's really determined by how you use it. If it's 10 to 1, okay. If it's 7 to 3, no, that's not a good enough consensus to warrant a quick close. (just general thoughts there, I haven't done anything at DRN.) As long as you're following that, I doubt anyone else will have an issue with it... and no, I don't think you should place a notice there, not because of SS247, but because it's really unimportant in the grand scheme of things. :-) Do you see where I'm coming from? Otherwise perhaps you could ask a DRN volunteer to start a discussion about the role of WP:CLOSE in DRNs? Ed  01:22, 24 August 2012 (UTC)
Sounds good to me. Thanks! BTW, my normal practice is to only do a consensus close when one editor has a position, four or more oppose him, they have tried and failed to convince each other on the article talk page, discussion at DRN is going nowhere, and there are no overriding policies in play (IOW, I don't care how many people agree not to, we still follow WP:V, WP:RS, etc.). --Guy Macon (talk) 01:31, 24 August 2012 (UTC)

Two quick comments:

1) I wasn't specifically talking about Macon. The practice I described is fairly routine for WP:DRN, with deviations as the exception. I've done my best to avoid talking about him.

2) The ratio is a misleading measure. For example, 3 to 1 sounds like a big deal, and it would be if we're talking 30 vs. 10 in an RfC. However, when you literally have 3 and 1, all it takes is one person changing their mind and it's 2 to 2. Likewise, with just 3 on one side, it's easy for them to be effectively meatpuppets. In short, ratios are less important than the total difference between the counts. This isn't usually a problem for RfC's because those bring in many votes, but it's a serious problem for DRN's. I'm StillStanding (24/7) (talk) 07:23, 24 August 2012 (UTC)

Yes, but if a dispute has gotten to the level of needing DRN, I think the participants' arguments will be set in stone. ;-) Ed  07:30, 24 August 2012 (UTC)
I don't want to belabor this, but I must express disagreement. The whole point of dispute resolution is to resolve the dispute, not shut the minority up. Often, the reason it reaches DRN in the first place is that people ignore WP:CONSENSUS by voting their preferences instead of explaining their reasons. In such cases, DRN has the opportunity to break the deadlock by encouraging participants to explain themselves instead of just pushing for their view. I'm StillStanding (24/7) (talk) 07:38, 24 August 2012 (UTC)
I agree, but there's a good counterargument that we shouldn't spend more time and drama on a topic than is necessary -- say, when the 'minority' view is really a fringe view and should be immediately discounted. Ed  07:42, 24 August 2012 (UTC)
I don't disagree with that. I'm StillStanding (24/7) (talk) 07:45, 24 August 2012 (UTC)
It's in a situation like this where (I imagine) Guy and you could use a straw poll to doublecheck your gut feeling, then close the DRN if said feeling is confirmed. Ed  07:46, 24 August 2012 (UTC)
Well, a straw poll can be a very useful technique, since it's where editors reveal whether they have reasons or preferences. The trick is not to just count up preferences and call it a day. :-) I'm StillStanding (24/7) (talk) 07:48, 24 August 2012 (UTC)
Which is true as well -- while numbers can assist in determining consensus, they shouldn't be the only barometer. Ed  08:05, 24 August 2012 (UTC)
I'm sorry, but we're just going to have to agree to agree, so there's nothing more to be said. I'm StillStanding (24/7) (talk) 08:33, 24 August 2012 (UTC)


Ed, I think a good round of dispute resolution can sometimes help the entrenched participants see new ways of looking at the problem. I've participated in several now where people were simply stuck in their ways, and something as simple as changing "Jeff Bezos is a jerk" to "According to TechBlogToday, 'Jeff Bezos is a jerk'." Sometimes it is as simple as reminding people of Misplaced Pages's policies, because often a debate is happening because people don't know a policy, yet they inherently feel that something is not quite right. If we instead, as you say Ed, have DRN where the people are dismissed or the minority points are ignored, you probably just need a different set of DRN volunteers for that debate. It takes finesse and diplomacy to be able to bring people in arguments together. -- Avanu (talk) 15:23, 24 August 2012 (UTC)

It has always been true that anyone who files a case at DRN can ask for a new set of dispute resolution volunteers, but this could be made more clear in the instructions. I will make that happen. (I wasn't going to respond to this thread, but I wanted to give Avanu credit for an excellent idea. --Guy Macon (talk) 19:40, 24 August 2012 (UTC)
We're talking at different levels here. I'm talking about, say, a content dispute where multiple people have consensus for one thing, and a single person is fighting tooth and nail for a different thing. Otherwise yes, I fully agree with what you say there Avanu. Guy, that's fine, that's certainly within the spirit of the interaction restrictions! Ed  06:51, 25 August 2012 (UTC)

OMT

Hey Ed .. thanks for the OMT link. So far the only thing I've done in the Military History stuff is minor Bio things. Mostly I just do my own quiet thing in NASCAR old obscure history stuff .. but I do like working with others to. I'll definitely follow up on that .. thank you. — Ched :  ?  07:19, 25 August 2012 (UTC)

You're quite welcome, Ched. We're a pretty open group willing to work with any Wikipedian. If you're looking to help out at some point, Parsecboy or Sturmvogel 66 would be the ones to contact; they always have FACs and GANs up. If you're looking to write from scratch, all of us can help you with sources and formatting. :-) Good luck! Ed  22:22, 25 August 2012 (UTC)

Belchfire and the WikiProject Conservatism posse

Thanks for keeping an eye out. Ever since I started assembling the RFC about the WikiProject's behavior, they're stepped things up a few notches by reverting pretty much any change I make. I've kept myself to 2RR, and more commonly to 1RR, in the spirit of BRD, while focusing on launching RfC's whenever they stonewall. As for vitriolic personal comments, if you could point out any examples, I would be glad to redact them and avoid anything similar. Given the provocation, I think my comments have been quite mild, but who knows. Also, this might interest you, although none of it appears verifiable. I'm StillStanding (24/7) (talk) 08:19, 25 August 2012 (UTC)

Viriditas just left me a comment suggesting that they're trying to get me blocked. I think they're basically messing with me in the hopes that I lose my temper and give them some excuse. For example, they're violating WP:TPG on Talk:Ronald Reagan by archiving my threads so as to shut me up, and edit-warring when I remove it. I've stopped at 2RR and dropped warnings on both their pages. I suspect they'd like me to visit WP:ANI, but I don't think I'll bother. I'm StillStanding (24/7) (talk) 09:19, 25 August 2012 (UTC)
I still believe you're in the wrong topic area to survive here long... RfCs can be a good idea if they aren't overused. Ed  22:22, 25 August 2012 (UTC)
I think it's way too late for me to run away and limit myself to articles on basket weaving and metal bands. So I might as well keep editing what's on my watchlist, always following the spirit and letter of policy.
The RfC I mentioned above is really weird. The topic itself is minor and seems to be rather obvious, but the sort of reaction its garnered is amazing! I'm StillStanding (24/7) (talk) 01:02, 26 August 2012 (UTC)

End of WikiCup round

Hey Ed- I'm afraid I am going to be well away from the Internet pretending to be someone I'm not come the end of this month; as such, I'm going to have to ask you to deal with all the end-of-round WikiCup stuff. I'll do what I can to help prep, but, on the night itself, at the very least, I'll need you to update the pools and send out the newsletter. Is that alright with you? J Milburn (talk) 21:25, 25 August 2012 (UTC)

Fair enough. :-) I already know how to send the newsletter, and the pools will be relatively easy, I suspect? (just put the top eight in one table, right?) I'll have to clear the submission pages too, right? Ed  22:22, 25 August 2012 (UTC)
Yeah, but that's something that could be done in the last couple of days anyway- I'm just letting you know now so if we get to Friday evening without stuff being done, you know it's down to you! J Milburn (talk) 22:28, 25 August 2012 (UTC)
Alright, sounds good! Ed  22:39, 25 August 2012 (UTC)

Signpost question

Hi Ed, I'd like to submit a short (probably single paragraph) story on yesterday's Misplaced Pages Takes the Australian War Memorial event for the next edition of the Signpost. I'm pretty clueless about where I should post this though! Could you please point me in the right direction? Thanks, Nick-D (talk) 10:59, 26 August 2012 (UTC)

Would youlike to post it here and I'll copy it over? I can't guarantee it will all appear -- I don't know what Jan is planning yet -- but at the least I'll put a condensed three sentences or so in "In brief". :-) Ed  06:49, 27 August 2012 (UTC)
'In brief' would be perfect. Here's my contribution:
Misplaced Pages Takes the Australian War Memorial was held on 25 August. Three editors visited the AWM as part of a project to document its historic World War I galleries, which will soon be closed for a major redevelopment ahead of the centenary of the Gallipoli Campaign in 2015. The photos taken during this event are being uploaded on Wikimedia Commons here.
Feel free to edit/tweak ruthlessly! There's a longer version at Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Military history/News/August 2012/Project news. Regards, Nick-D (talk) 11:20, 27 August 2012 (UTC)
I've always taken the view that "anyone can edit" means that professionals should also be editing ... but we make it so damn difficult. Kudos for doing that and reporting on it too, Nick. If AWM people have any suggestions for how we can make their life happier, I'm all ears. - Dank (push to talk) 19:51, 27 August 2012 (UTC)
It's added in "In brief", with a picture! Ed  23:25, 27 August 2012 (UTC)

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If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of 'file' pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Misplaced Pages page when you are logged in), and then selecting "File" from the dropdown box. Note that all non-free media not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. Hazard-Bot (talk) 04:00, 27 August 2012 (UTC)

Wikimedia talks

Which one is the one that talks about us and the Arizona article?--Sturmvogel 66 (talk) 04:46, 27 August 2012 (UTC)

It was in the closing plenary by David Ferriero, the head of NARA. Ed  06:49, 27 August 2012 (UTC)
Doesn't look like it's up yet.--Sturmvogel 66 (talk) 22:02, 27 August 2012 (UTC)
I found it here. Ed  23:25, 27 August 2012 (UTC)
Thanks.--Sturmvogel 66 (talk) 23:35, 27 August 2012 (UTC)

Clarification

Ed, could you clarify what you meant when you said "pattern of revert warring and vitriolic personal comments"? I barely even edit articles anymore; mostly, I discuss them on talk pages and set up RfC's. As for personal comments, I've always thought that, despite some pretty obvious baiting, my comments have been mild. If you see things differently, it would really help me understand better if you could point to some examples. I'm StillStanding (24/7) (talk) 08:15, 27 August 2012 (UTC)

The comments taken by themselves are innocuous, but taken together there's a pretty vicious pattern of sarcasm and baiting, and you're going to be called out on not having a collegial attitude suitable for Misplaced Pages collaborations. Ed  23:25, 27 August 2012 (UTC)
Thank you for your clear and direct response: I much appreciate that approach.
I likewise prefer to be direct, so I'll tell you what I would tell the RFC/U committee: The reason that my comments, taken by themselves, are innocuous is that I am quite intentionally not allowing myself to be baited by a consistent pattern of hostility that includes incivility, edit-warring and abuse of process. Given this high level of provocation, the fact that my remarks are still individually innocuous is a testament to my attempt to come as close to a collegial attitude under these trying circumstances.
Still, I am responsible for my comments, even when provoked. The reason I asked for examples is that sarcasm detection in an environment without tone of voice is notoriously unreliable, so I wondered if perhaps I was being ambiguous in a way that could be taken as sarcastic. If so, there are things I could do to make it more clear when sarcasm isn't intended. As I said, I prefer to be direct, and sarcasm is indirect. I'm StillStanding (24/7) (talk) 02:48, 28 August 2012 (UTC)
I don't have time for diffs at the moment, but there are many users warning you about this, and I've even gotten emails about it. Perhaps you could listen to their advice? Given the areas you refuse to stop editing in, I understand the frustration you're feeling, but that's not going to matter when you're dragged to ANI next and the community decides to block you. Ed  05:06, 28 August 2012 (UTC)
Well, no, they're planning an RFC/U first, and it'll be a huge pile-on, like a bonfire for burning books. They'll toss in all of these wonderful out-of-context diffs, provide insultingly inaccurate summaries of my history and try to rile up a lynch mob mentality. They'll succeed, too. As soon as the RFC/U has poisoned the well, they'll move to ANI and have me blocked "by the community".
At this point, backing off wouldn't protect me, so there's no reason to back off. Instead, I'll press forward and spend my remaining time keeping articles neutral and accurate. I'm StillStanding (24/7) (talk) 05:28, 28 August 2012 (UTC)
Like your Christian-right crap which you didn't even bother to read what section you were modifying and yet you still pressed for inclusion. Especially your bias was obviously showing that you wanted to label a political party a religious organization which is not the case at all. ViriiK (talk) 05:34, 28 August 2012 (UTC)

Featured Content for Signpost August 27 missing Featured Pictures

Hi Ed, the Featured Content article for the August 27 Signpost is missing two Featured Pictures that were promoted last week, Misplaced Pages:Featured picture candidates/Line integral of scalar field and Misplaced Pages:Featured picture candidates/Curiosity's Seven Minutes of Terror. I'm not sure who I should contact about fixing this. Pine 08:30, 27 August 2012 (UTC)

Hi, this week's content report only covers up to 25 August (see "This edition covers content promoted between 19 and 25 August 2012"), and the two FPCs were closed on the 26th. Ed  23:25, 27 August 2012 (UTC)
Thanks, my mistake, I thought that said 26th. Pine 01:55, 28 August 2012 (UTC)
Heh, no worries! Ed  05:06, 28 August 2012 (UTC)

Douglas World Cruiser merge proposal completed

All the information from Chicago (aircraft) has now been merged into Douglas World Cruiser and First aerial circumnavigation. Thanks for your consideration. FWiW Bzuk (talk) 22:59, 27 August 2012 (UTC).

You're welcome; thanks for putting the effort in. Ed  23:25, 27 August 2012 (UTC)
Will the Chicago (aircraft) that is redundant, be removed? I don't know how to do that. FWiW Bzuk (talk) 12:46, 30 August 2012 (UTC).
Ah, sorry, redirected now. Ed  20:06, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

Possible interaction ban issue

A kindly third party alerted me to this. Given the context -- it was posted right after you warned Belchfire about his interactions with me (and vice versa) -- and his caginess about who it refers to, I don't think it would be unreasonable to infer that he might be talking about me and congratulating Belchfire.

Please tell me I'm wrong and I'll drop it. In fact, I'm done here: you have the link and you can decide what to do with it. I'm StillStanding (24/7) (talk) 02:36, 28 August 2012 (UTC)

You'd think this would be easy. I've left a note at his talk page. Ed  05:06, 28 August 2012 (UTC)

I changed my mind. I said I was just walking away and leaving this to you, but now I'm told he's ignoring your note. If he violates the ban but acknowledges his error and agrees not to do it again, I'd be fine with that. But if he violates it and ignores your note, this becomes a problem. I'm StillStanding (24/7) (talk) 22:30, 28 August 2012 (UTC)

He hasn't edited since I left the note, so let's not assume too much here... also the message below is intended, sort of, for you. It would be nice if you could collegially collaborate with the conservatism people, as it would take a lot of heat off you.Ed  02:42, 29 August 2012 (UTC)
I apologize; I misread the date. I've redacted my comment above.
You know, it's a funny thing, but I've been trying to for some time. Somehow, it's been difficult. They're quick to revert, they're very uncooperative on talk pages, and they're often quite uncivil. It's frustrating. I'm StillStanding (24/7) (talk) 02:51, 29 August 2012 (UTC)
So? Always be civil back, and take the moral high ground. That will get you the 'win' in the end. Ed  02:53, 29 August 2012 (UTC)
I agree, at least in principle. In practice, it's not always that easy. Anyhow, thanks for your advice and sorry about my inability to use a calendar. I'm StillStanding (24/7) (talk) 03:02, 29 August 2012 (UTC)
I know it can be difficult, but it's always good to have a reminder every so often. Anytime, and no worries, we've all done worse things before. :-) Ed  03:20, 29 August 2012 (UTC)

I'm tempted to drop what I'm doing to write WP:YOUKNOWWHO, a polemic an essay against coded references. This sort of behavior ranges from childish to conspiratorial, and it's a particularly bad idea for anyone with an interaction ban. I'm StillStanding (24/7) (talk) 21:17, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

Paul Ryan GA

Hello Ed! I am on the Paul Ryan GA Team. As you can see it is quite an assortment of editors. When a certain editor signed up I initially had my reservations, but I decided to put the pedia first and ask everyone to "leave our personal differences at the proverbial door." Well a recent series of confrontations make it impossible for this team to proceed as assembled. I know you're handling the IBan with Guy and the certain editor, and I was hoping you could ask the certain editor to withdraw for the good of the pedia so the GA can go forward. Thanks! – Sir Lionel, EG 12:31, 28 August 2012 (UTC)

I've asked, sort of, above. What he does is up to him. Good luck with the GAN; it's going to be a rough ride no matter how you slice it. I hope the article ends up in a quality, neutral state in the end! Ed  02:42, 29 August 2012 (UTC)
I'm sure that it's fine for me to participate in getting Paul Ryan to GA status. We'll all be collegial. I'm StillStanding (24/7) (talk) 02:52, 29 August 2012 (UTC)

Signpost problem

I don't know if it's just me, but the latest issue of the Signpost seems to have a problem--I'm seeing the right half (with the WikiProject and such) as new, and the left half has articles from last week's Signpost. Just wanted to make you aware of the problem. :) Knight of Truth (talk) 04:29, 29 August 2012 (UTC)

What page are you seeing that on? The Toolserver is having major issues, so I've gotten step one of our semi-automated process done, but nothing else. ;-) Ed  04:31, 29 August 2012 (UTC)
I followed the http://en.wikipedia.org/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Issue link from the watchlist e-mail. Knight of Truth (talk) 04:33, 29 August 2012 (UTC)
Ah, that is because I haven't updated WP:SIGNPOST yet. I suppose I'll do that now while I'm waiting on the Toolserver. Thanks for the note! Ed  04:38, 29 August 2012 (UTC)
This should be fixed now! Ed  05:02, 29 August 2012 (UTC)
Thanks Ed. Just to be clear (because I mentioned the same problem a few weeks ago), Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages Signpost/Issue should be updated only after all editorial updates have been completed (including those at Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages Signpost), because the /Issue subpage is the one intended for watchlisting and is therefore the only publication notification for many readers. — Richardguk (talk) 09:57, 29 August 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 27 August 2012

Newsletter

I've drafted this month's WikiCup newsletter here. Anything you want to add? Also, the final pool is here, ready for copy-pasting. In response to a request on the main talk page, I've opened a brainstorming discussion here on the subject of next year's competition. I've updated the main page and I'm about to wipe the submission pages. Anything else that needs doing? J Milburn (talk) 14:51, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

Looks good to me, but you're the expert on everything Cup-related. ;-) Ed  20:06, 30 August 2012 (UTC)
Just so we're singing from the same book, you actually edited last month's newsletter (I forgot to change the titles). It's the August one, at the bottom of the page, which will need to be sent out in just over 24 hours. J Milburn (talk) 21:17, 30 August 2012 (UTC)
OH, oops. I'll take another look later today. Do you still need me to send it out tomorrow? Ed  02:11, 31 August 2012 (UTC)
Yeah, gonna be away from my computer for a few days. You'll also need to post the new pool to the main WikiCup page- I typically do both at midnight Misplaced Pages time. I don't think anything else will need doing. J Milburn (talk) 12:09, 31 August 2012 (UTC)
Both are done! Ed  00:51, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

Re: OMT

It's going well, I'll be sure to ask if I do need anything in the future. Cheers, --ceradon contribs 20:38, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

WikiCup 2012 August newsletter

The final is upon us! We are down to our final 8. A massive 573 was our lowest qualifying score; this is higher than the 150 points needed last year and the 430 needed in 2010. Even in 2009, when points were acquired for mainspace edit count in addition to audited content, 417 points secured a place. That leaves this year's WikiCup, by one measure at least, our most competitive ever. Our finalists, ordered by round 4 score, are:

  1. Conradh na Gaeilge Grapple X (submissions) once again finishes the round in first place, leading Pool B. Grapple X writes articles about television, and especially The X-Files and Millenium, with good articles making up the bulk of the score.
  2. Wisconsin Miyagawa (submissions) led Pool A this round. Fourth-place finalist last year, Miyagawa writes on a variety of topics, and has reached the final primarily off the back of his massive number of did you knows.
  3. Minnesota Ruby2010 (submissions) was second in Pool B. Ruby2010 writes primarily on television and film, and scores primarily from good articles.
  4. Scotland Casliber (submissions) finished third in Pool B. Casliber is something of a WikiCup veteran, having finished sixth in 2011 and fourth in 2010. Casliber writes on the natural sciences, including ornithology, botany and astronomy. Over half of Casliber's points this round were bonus points from the high-importance articles he has worked on.
  5. Wales Cwmhiraeth (submissions) came second in Pool A. Also writing on biology, especially marine biology, Cwmhiraeth received 390 points for one featured article (Bivalvia) and one good article (pelican), topping up with a large number of did you knows.
  6. New York City Muboshgu (submissions) was third in Pool A. Muboshgu writes primarily on baseball, and this round saw Muboshgu's first featured article, Derek Jeter, promoted on its fourth attempt at FAC.
  7. Michigan Dana Boomer (submissions) was fourth in Pool A. She writes on a variety of topics, including horses, but this round also saw the high-importance lettuce reach featured article status.
  8. Canada Sasata (submissions) is another WikiCup veteran, having been a finalist in 2009 and 2010. He writes mostly on mycology.

However, we must also say goodbye to the eight who did not make the final, having fallen at the last hurdle: Russia GreatOrangePumpkin (submissions), England Ealdgyth (submissions), England Calvin999 (submissions), Poland Piotrus (submissions), North Carolina Toa Nidhiki05 (submissions), Florida 12george1 (submissions), Cherokee Nation The Bushranger (submissions) and North Macedonia 1111tomica (submissions). We hope to see you all next year.

On the subject of next year, a discussion has been opened here. Come and have your say about the competition, and how you'd like it to run in the future. This brainstorming will go on for some time before more focused discussions/polls are opened. As ever, if you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article candidates, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Misplaced Pages:WikiCup/Reviews. Questions are welcome on Misplaced Pages talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Misplaced Pages:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. J Milburn (talk • email) and The ed17 (talk • email) 00:25, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

The Bugle: Issue LXXVII, August 2012

Full front page of The Bugle Your Military History Newsletter

The Bugle is published by the Military history WikiProject. To receive it on your talk page, please join the project or sign up here.
If you are a project member who does not want delivery, please remove your name from this page. Your editors, Ian Rose (talk) and Ed  01:16, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

GOCE September activities

Reminders from the Guild of Copy Editors

A quick reminder of our current events:

  • The August 2012 Copy Edit of the Month Contest is in the discussion and voting stage until midnight September 14 (UTC).
  • The September 2012 Copy Edit of the Month Contest is in the submissions stage until midnight September 30 (UTC), when discussion and voting begin.
  • The September 2012 Backlog elimination drive is now underway! The event runs until midnight September 30 (UTC). The goal is to copy edit articles with the oldest tags and complete all requests placed before September. Barnstars will be awarded to anyone who participates, with special awards given to the top five in the following categories: "Total articles", "Total words", "Total articles over 5,000 words", "Total articles tagged longest ago", and "Longest article". – Your drive coordinators: Stfg, Allens, and Torchiest.

To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list. Message delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 04:34, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

Op ed

You're OK with me doing the op ed this week, yeah? The draft that I'm working on (might be finished by the time you're up) is here. Regards, Szhang (WMF) (talk) 11:50, 3 September 2012 (UTC)

Tweaks

I tweaked the Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages Signpost page that you were just editing. Feel free to revert if you don't like my changes. Pine 10:58, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

I changed the video size back because it severely messed with the page's formatting, but otherwise they look good. Thanks! Ed  11:03, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 03 September 2012

Signpost and the WikiCup

Hi there; just gonna get this request in early. Would it be possible for me to write an article on the WikiCup for the first issue of the Signpost in November? I'm thinking a full page thing with some details about what the competition is, this year's competition, the history of the WikiCup and perhaps some stats. Is this something that you think will fit in? J Milburn (talk) 13:18, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

We can fit that in. I may have someone like Tony1 work with you so it doesn't look like we're allowing people to write about their own projects (e.g. say we allowed the WMF to write a feature about the Education Program), but that's certainly something we'd be looking to cover. :-) Ed  14:23, 5 September 2012 (UTC)

The Olive Branch: A Dispute Resolution Newsletter (Issue #1)

Welcome to the first edition of The Olive Branch. This will be a place to semi-regularly update editors active in dispute resolution (DR) about some of the most important issues, advances, and challenges in the area. You were delivered this update because you are active in DR, but if you would prefer not to receive any future mailing, just add your name to this page.

Steven Zhang's Fellowship Slideshow

In this issue:

  • Background: A brief overview of the DR ecosystem.
  • Research: The most recent DR data
  • Survey results: Highlights from Steven Zhang's April 2012 survey
  • Activity analysis: Where DR happened, broken down by the top DR forums
  • DR Noticeboard comparison: How the newest DR forum has progressed between May and August
  • Discussion update: Checking up on the Wikiquette Assistance close debate
  • Proposal: It's time to close the Geopolitical, ethnic, and religious conflicts noticeboard. Agree or disagree?
Read the entire first edition of The Olive Branch -->

--The Olive Branch 19:34, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

My user page

Thanks! Is it possible to do the same with my Talk page and all its archives? It has my old personally identifiable username all over it and probably many mentions of personally identifiable information. I would like to keep the current string, in particular so it's viewable by anyone who discovers me from my COI account. Corporate Minion 20:34, 5 September 2012 (UTC)

I can't, per WP:TALKCOND. My apologies. Ed  21:24, 5 September 2012 (UTC)

Wikimedia Highlights from July 2012

Highlights from the Wikimedia Foundation Report and the Wikimedia engineering report for July 2012, with a selection of other important events from the Wikimedia movement
About · Subscribe/unsubscribe · Distributed via Global message delivery, 18:50, 6 September 2012 (UTC)

In honor of your service as a Milhist coordinator

The WikiProject Barnstar
In honor of your service as coordinator for the Military History Project from September 2011 to September 2012, I hereby award you this WikiProject Barnstar. - Dank (push to talk) 03:32, 7 September 2012 (UTC)
Thanks Dank! Ed  03:21, 8 September 2012 (UTC)

resource request - war history of the USS Pennsylvania

Hi Ed,

I've emailed you a scan of the book per your request at the resource exchange. Please let me know when you've downloaded it successfully.

Best, GabrielF (talk) 19:44, 8 September 2012 (UTC)

Misplaced Pages:Miscellany for deletion/User:Timeshift9 (2nd nomination)

Hi The ed17. Because you participated in Misplaced Pages:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive714#User talk:Timeshift9#Your userpage 2, you may be interested in Misplaced Pages:Miscellany for deletion/User:Timeshift9 (2nd nomination). Cunard (talk) 06:06, 9 September 2012 (UTC)

Military history coordinator election

The Military history WikiProject has started its 2012 project coordinator election process, where we will select a team of coordinators to organize the project over the coming year. If you would like to be considered as a candidate, please submit your nomination by 14 September. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact one of the current coordinators on their talk page. This message was delivered here because you are a member of the Military history WikiProject. – Military history coordinators (about the project • what coordinators do) 10:00, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Op-ed on help pages for The Signpost

Hi Ed,

Tony contacted me saying there was some interest in my fellowship work on help pages. I've just finished up an op-ed on the topic. Realise it's quite a late submission, but if this could be in this week's Signpost it would be fantastic. I've prodded a couple of people on IRC to take a look at copy-editing it. Thanks. the wub "?!" 16:43, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Yes, that he did. :-) We have a ton of content this week, even beyond the whole Internet Brands-WMF fight, so would next week be okay? Also, to run under the op-ed slot, I'd like to see more of an argument made – why don't you tell us where we are (good), why this is bad (good), and what we are going to do to change it (not clear; tutorial? Interactive .. what? Redesigning how ). Thanks very much! Ed  19:04, 10 September 2012 (UTC)
I would prefer this week if at all possible, since there's only about a month left to go on the fellowship and I would love to get some more attention on this final stretch. Will have a go at beefing up the changes section a bit. If you want to run it in a different (non op-ed) slot that's fine too, I only really picked op-ed because that's where Steven Zhang's was last week. the wub "?!" 19:38, 10 September 2012 (UTC)
Thanks so much for getting it in there. I see what you mean about a ton of content this week! the wub "?!" 17:29, 11 September 2012 (UTC)
You're welcome. Nine total features this week. ;-) Ed  17:30, 11 September 2012 (UTC)

Footnoting archival images

Hi Eddie, I wanted to run something by you. Recently, I have been working on a proposal (with mock-up) for citing historical imagery in articles with regular footnotes, rather than having to click through to the image description page. The idea came about during meetings with several Library of Congress staff recently, which I could talk more about—but I thought I would just show you first. The explanation of the rationale is at User:Dominic/Image citation and the mock-up is at User:Dominic/Image citation/Sample. The idea of changing the manual of style or WP:CITE and editing thousands of articles to add these is pretty daunting, but my eventual goal right now is just to make sure that this is deemed an acceptable practice that people won't revert for being non-standard. Before bringing it the broader community, I'm curious to hear any thoughts you have on that implementation or the idea in general. Thanks! Dominic·t 21:16, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

I'm not a huge fan of using footnotes there – I'd rather just cite it in the caption. Then again, I'm biased towards the Chicago Manual of Style, and it's not like Misplaced Pages follows one of the three major guides. ;-) Chicago provides guidance on this sort of scenario in 3.28 and 3.34, but admittedly this is design for print, not a system of clickable thumbnails.
As you're probably aware, the practice of citing images is widely – universally might be a better word – used in academic writing. Typically these come in captions or in lists either after the table of contents or at the end of the article/book. I don't see a reason that we shouldn't do this; while past practice says "it is assumed that this is not necessary to fulfill attribution requirements of the GFDL or Creative Commons licenses as long as the appropriate credit is on the image description page", I don't think this has been seriously reconsidered since being was written. I don't think you'll have many issues in implementing these sorts of citations, but I don't think you'll find support for the mandatory addition of these to articles; my bet would be on something similar to the current state of alt text, where it's possible and sometimes encouraged, but not required. Ed  02:07, 11 September 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 10 September 2012

Hi, thanks for notifying me about the article on Roth's complaints about WP. Did not see my name, so that's okay. I'm concerned that this article does not accurately reflect the public discussion at the time of the book's publication; the article on the novel was more than "technically correct" before Roth wrote to The New Yorker. It reflected part of the wide discussion when the book was published. Because of the topic and the stature of Anatole Broyard in the literary world, there were numerous suggestions by literary critics (which Roth later characterized as nothing more than "literary gossip") of associations/inspiration/and other connections, "accurate or not", as Lorrie Moore wrote, of the parallels between certain aspects of the character Coleman Silk and Broyard. The talk page of the article includes more than 15 references in RS about this. It does not mean the critics could speak for Roth; I included references to these writers because it was part of the public discussion at the time the book was published - really, a larger discussion about race in American society that went beyond the book. I also noted that Roth said Broyard did not inspire the novel, based on a 2008 interview.
To my knowledge, there is no evidence that Roth complained in writing to the NY Times or other publications at the time that published those reviews. The 2008 interview was the first public reference to his disclaimer about Broyard that I came across. I believe his 2012 open letter is the first time he has publicly told the story of his inspiration. The Nobel Prize-winning poet Eugenio Montale published essays on literature under the title "The Second Life of Art". That's what literary criticism is about. To narrow it down to whether or not the critics' speculations about Roth's source of inspiration was correct, or to allow it all to be characterized as "literary gossip", is to misrepresent the public discourse. The reviews generally went well beyond the parallels between Silk and Broyard, and fully acknowledged Roth's creativity in creating his character and plot. Most also addressed the larger issues in American life of race, creation of identity, political correctness, and other topics which Roth explored.Parkwells (talk) 16:39, 11 September 2012 (UTC)
You're welcome. You are mentioned in the sentence "The article was edited again six minutes later by Parkwells (talk · contribs), who over the next two hours added a significant amount of content to the article." The wording was a bit touchy, but I've clarified it to explicitly say that the article was correct... because it was. I do wonder if he was angry because the claim took up one to two sentences in a stub article (before you expanded it, that is), meaning that he saw it as having more weight? Ed  16:45, 11 September 2012 (UTC)

This Month in GLAM: August 2012


This Month in GLAM – Volume II, Issue VIII, August 2012

Headlines
Read this edition in full • Single-page

To assist with preparing the newsletter, please visit the newsroom. Past editions may be viewed here.

Unsubscribe · Global message delivery 17:03, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Military history/Coordinators/September 2012

Just as a friendly reminder, you are one of five people who are listed as serving on the current coordinator tranche of the Military history Project that have not yet indicated whether you will be standing for reelection in the upcoming election. The deadline to clarify is 23:59 today, and having an answer from you will help us determine with a greater degree of certainty who will be returning and who won't, so if you can spare a moment please drop by and amend your status in the table accordingly. Thanks in advance, TomStar81 (Talk) 08:42, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

On an unrelated note, in the event you decide you are not gong to run, to you have anyone in mind that you would entrust The bugle to? We'd need someone to ensure that the newsletter got a little tlc before delivery, hence the question. TomStar81 (Talk) 08:42, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
Would be nice to have you back on the team again, Ed. - Dank (push to talk) 20:38, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
I've reupped. Ed  05:36, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

Newsletter design inspirations

Hi Ed,

Hope you don't mind me contacting you, as I appreciate that you may be busy. I was wondering if I could possible ask you for some inspirational design ideas for a project newsletter that I have been helping to edit on a monthly basis. I've tried all sorts to make it simple, but effective to the eye - and I'm still not satisfied with the current result. The newsletter for WP:ESC is produced monthly (the draft version can be seen here). Would you mind having a look and let me know if you think it could do with some tweaking improvements. Thank you ever so much in advance. Wesley♦ 22:42, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

I'd go even simpler. Find a color that isn't so distracting – remember that it's simply a background. The Signpost and Bugle use white, and that's my personal preference, but YMMV. I'd go for a light, maybe tan-ish, color if you want one. I'd also go for a front page logo with a separate content page, so you can blow up the logo and links on page one ... that way you aren't distracting the reader nor detracting from your 'brand'. Related: you don't have a brand at the moment. ;-) "Eurovision WikiProject newsletter" is pretty generic; it's not always easy, but try to think of a creative name for it! Last, having a prominent Eurovision-related image on the content page is preferable to a wall of text.
On smaller items, I'd sign the editorial so that there's a designated 'point-of-contact' for a random person who reads it. I'd also change the font, but that's because I'm just not a big fan of Eurostile. ;-) I'd find old newspaper typesets -- the ubiquitous Times family is one, but there are more. Ed  05:36, 15 September 2012 (UTC)
Oh Ed, thank you for the good pointers there - most kind of you. I think I can agree with the background color, white is probably best. The project newsletter was only revived in June this year after a two year absence. The old version used grey, blue, and white; while the revival used a different color each month. And then I went for the colors for the 2013 host nation (Sweden: blue/yellow). Do you think using a pastel shade of those would work better?
Now the larger front page idea sounds perfect. The way newsletter have been stored recently are like Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Eurovision/Newsletters/October 2012. I suppose that could be the larger front page, and then do additional content pages branching off from that URL by adding extra /. And I agree a brand name would be good, but there are that many already in use by similar blogsites/fan pages across the web that we'd have to think smart without stealing an already thought of brand. Perhaps "Eur Vision" ('Eur' being a play on the word 'Your') and replace the V in vision with the Eurovision heart motif. Or even Eurovision Express!
As for font, Eurostile is the generic font used by the Eurovision Network, hence why that has been used on the current newsletter, although I am open to new ideas. I have recently found the font type Foco very simple but appealing.
All I need to figure out now is some good HTML coding for layout of the revamp newsletter, I'm not that good at designing latout using codes, and tend to find something similar and just sample that idea. Anyhow, once again thank you it truly is much appreciated. Regards, Wesley♦ 10:35, 15 September 2012 (UTC)
What are you going to do when 2014 comes around? I'm like a regular color scheme.
Think creatively, or ask the project for ideas. That's how Milhist got the Bugle!
It's your choice really, that was just me nitpicking. ;-)
Feel free to copy/paste code from other newsletters. That's how I got the general idea for the Bugle before Kirill came in and cleaned it all up and added more. It's much easier than teaching yourself to code!
Re: a cover photo, I'm going to ask people for ideas in the Signpost this week, and hopefully they'll like and post on the page. Ed  02:26, 17 September 2012 (UTC)
You have been a good help Ed. I have now opted for the same color scheme throughout, and not going down the road of color swapping on a month-by-month basis. A simple tan/pale mustard seems to work, with a gold boarder. The brand name Eurovision Monthly seems to work too (having the word Eurovision in purple Foco font, and Monthly in pastel red Segoe Script. I will take you advice on copy/paste code from other newsletters and use my sandboxes to test them out so that I don't end up creating sub-pages that are not needed. It should keep me busy for a few days at least. Regards, Wesley♦ 02:34, 17 September 2012 (UTC)
Good luck! Let me know if I can help in any way. Ed  02:48, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

Update: I've done some tweaking to the project's newsletter, changing the color scheme to a more softer tone - Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Eurovision/Newsletters/October 2012. Also used the same scheme on the small urgent news version which would be used via the project for urgent project notices that need to be sent out outside the monthly newsletter cycle - Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Eurovision/Newsletters/16 September 2012. I've kept the format for October newsletter in the same collapsible version, but working on implementing the ideas that you suggested into the November/December editions (gives me more time to figure out the HTML codes etc). Thank you again for the help Ed. Wesley♦ 19:56, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

GOCE mid-drive newsletter

Guild of Copy Editors September 2012 backlog elimination drive mid-drive newsletter
  • Participation: Out of 37 people signed up for this drive so far, 19 have copy-edited at least one article, about the same as the last drive. If you've signed up but haven't yet copy-edited any articles, every bit helps; if you haven't signed up yet, it's not too late. Template:J
  • Progress report: We're almost on track to meet our targets for the drive. Great work, guys. We have reduced our target group of articles—August, September, and October 2011—by about 44%, and the overall backlog has been reduced by 58 articles so far, to around 2600 articles. The biggest difference between this drive and the previous one is a stronger focus on large articles, so total word counts are still comparable.
  • Don't forget about the Copy Edit of the Month contests! Voting for the August contest has been extended through the end of the month. You don't have to make a submission to vote!
>>> Sign up now <<<

To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list. Newsletter delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 22:23, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

Roslyn

I quite like what Roslyn has done and am a bit shocked that you haven't received any support yet.

As an observation, Ed, it may be a combination of the short answers and a userpage that acts more like a sandbox. Now to be fair nothing says that the answers have to be infinitely long, nor do we have any policy mandating that a user page have one's entire life story out on it for everyone to see, but in the absence of information most people do what comes easiest to them, and that is usually some iteration of the concept of nothing; in this case, it appears to be taking the form of waiting to see if anyone will 'vouch' for the candidate. In my case, I have looked at the answers given, the short statement, and the user page, and still feel like I don't know Roslyn well enough to make an informed decision, and that bothers me a little since I feel like its part of my duty to ensure that I get to know a candidate enough to obtain a feel for what s/he is like and what they will do if elected. Your vote has me leaning toward a support, but at the moment I am still on the fence. (Incidentally, for what it is worth, this is also the reason I feel that Knight of Gloucestershire and Johnsc12 have not inspired much support among the voters either, though I do note that in the latter case there are preexisting conduct issues that are most likely keeping supports away.) TomStar81 (Talk) 21:20, 17 September 2012 (UTC)
I'm happy with my non-vote, but I'm also happy with Ed's vote. Encouragement is good. - Dank (push to talk) 22:24, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 17 September 2012

Wikimedia Highlights from August 2012

Highlights from the Wikimedia Foundation Report and the Wikimedia engineering report for August 2012, with a selection of other important events from the Wikimedia movement
About · Subscribe/unsubscribe · Distributed via Global message delivery, 19:35, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

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Thanks for helping make Misplaced Pages better. Enjoy your research! Cheers, Ocaasi EdwardsBot (talk) 05:14, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

WP:CUP

Requesting judge input at User_talk:J_Milburn#DYKs_held_for_November. – Muboshgu (talk) 21:20, 22 September 2012 (UTC)

Newsletter question

G'day, Ed. On my talk page, a member has asked me a question about delivery of the The Bugle. Would you mind popping over to my talk page and checking that my advice is correct? Cheers, AustralianRupert (talk) 21:30, 22 September 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 24 September 2012

Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages Signpost/2012-09-24/News and notes

Hi Ed, I've got serious concerns about this article, which I've explained at Misplaced Pages talk:Misplaced Pages Signpost/2012-09-24/News and notes. The use of an anonymous source to criticise the WMUK board is particularly concerning. Nick-D (talk) 10:02, 28 September 2012 (UTC)

Hi Nick, I've read your post and Tony's reply and generally agree with Tony. We had a significant viewpoint from someone who is familiar with the internal workings of WMUK, but they did not wish to be named; given that WMUK members would almost certainly not want to be named, we determined that using an unnamed source would be more accurate than finding someone else. Sorry Nick. Ed  03:54, 29 September 2012 (UTC)
Hi Ed, Given that WP:BLP applies to all pages, I'm really uncomfortable with the use of an unnamed source to criticise individuals (especially as the criticism touched on their legal responsibilities as the board of a registered charity). However, I don't have a dog in that fight and WMUK can look after itself, so I'll butt out. Good work closing that WP:AN thread by the way - I sort-of feel that I should refer the matter to ArbCom, but I have better things to do with my weekend ;) Regards, Nick-D (talk) 02:20, 30 September 2012 (UTC)
BLP is always a concern, but it's also not a blank license to disallow all criticism of (a) individual(s). :-) Thanks, I wouldn't want to eat up the rest of my weekend with Arbcom either. ;-) Ed  03:01, 30 September 2012 (UTC)

File:IMCMEX 2012 area of operations.jpg

Ed17, hope all is well. I am currently employed at a new job, and I have been dabbing in things Misplaced Pages. I uploaded this map at Wiki Commons, and there is this bizarre deletion effort. Can you look into this? I think entire effort is a rush to judgment. Thanks! Marcd30319 (talk) 18:08, 28 September 2012 (UTC)

You have the right idea to contact the Navy's Public Affairs office, but I suspect you'll find that the background is from Google Maps, which would make the image a copyvio. I would ask the Graphic Lab people at Misplaced Pages:GL/MAP to see if they can duplicate the map with a free background; I assume it would be pretty simple. :-) Regards, Ed  03:54, 29 September 2012 (UTC)

Congratulations

Coordinator of the Military history Project, September 2012 – September 2013

In recognition of your election as a co-ordinator of the Military history project for the September 2012 to September 2013 period, please accept these co-ord stars. Thank you for standing and I hope it will be a fruitful year. Regards, AustralianRupert (talk) 05:04, 29 September 2012 (UTC)

Note

Can I borrow you on IRC for a short while? Ta, - Jarry1250  20:25, 29 September 2012 (UTC)

A

Hi!

Ok, here are my thoughts. I have greatly enjoyed this interview series so far and hope it has added constructively to the ongoing dialogue about paid and COI editing. I don't see that issue going away any time soon--in fact I think it's likely to become even more relevant and timely in the near future. So while I don't see the need to continue regularly interviewing people in very similar positions to those already covered, there will likely be episodic opportunities to talk to key players in major events. For example, I would love to interview Roger Bamkin and Does Misplaced Pages Pay seems an ideal forum in which to do that.

Relatedly, I am interested in sharing a development which I have been involved in, a set of ethical principles and practices that paid/PR/COI editors might sign on to. It's fully detailed at WP:COI+. There is an RfC pending in the next month or so, and I would truly appreciate the opportunity to present that document in the signpost, either as part of Does Misplaced Pages Pay? or a separate op-ed.

As for what to say in the introduction, I think an easy solution is just to take out the word 'ongoing' and otherwise not shut the door completely. That's my preference. Let me know what you think. Ocaasi 21:25, 29 September 2012 (UTC)


Arbitration

Hi Ed. You are not named as a party but your are mentioned at Misplaced Pages:Arbitration/Requests#Professionalism and civility FYI. Alanscottwalker (talk) 14:16, 30 September 2012 (UTC)