Misplaced Pages

:Misplaced Pages Signpost/Boneyard/Newsroom/Old - Misplaced Pages

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
< Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages Signpost | Boneyard

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Carcharoth (talk | contribs) at 21:53, 22 September 2006 (→Prominent admin Kelly Martin announces that she is leaving the English Misplaced Pages: humour moment). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 21:53, 22 September 2006 by Carcharoth (talk | contribs) (→Prominent admin Kelly Martin announces that she is leaving the English Misplaced Pages: humour moment)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) Shortcut
  • ]

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

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

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

A couple of sensitive stories

Karmafist is back, after his block was at least temporarily lifted. He has apologized to some extent, although there is still an outstanding request for him to admit any and all sockpuppetry and vandalism as a condition for remaining on Misplaced Pages. And, of course, there is still some hostility towards him for his past activities. His talk page is a good starting-point for all the details. The story requires some sensitivity but shouldn't be too tough to write.

There's another story out there that's so sensitive it would require OFFICE approval to even mention it on the Signpost. I won't say any more, because there's no way anything can be written about it now. But if you know what I'm talking about (and you probably do) this is one to keep an eye on. Casey Abell 03:28, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

I think Karmafist is worthy of a story, having been indef-blocked for a week, etc. Any private OFFICE story is basically off-limits. Ral315 (talk) 04:47, 18 August 2006 (UTC)
Agree on OFFICE, though the real point is that the story may not stay private (i.e., out of the respectable outside media) forever. But we'll just have to wait on that one. As for Karmafist, it's just an incredible saga. The desysopping for wheel-warring with Jimbo, the failed RfA to get back his adminship, the ArbCom decision against him, the escalating series of blocks for incivility and personal attacks and the polemical welcoming message to newbies, his pronouncements on Misplaced Pages Review about creating a bunch of Siegenthaler incidents through subtle sockpuppet vandalism, the blocking of a number of apparent sockpuppets, the final indefinite block of Karmafist himself, and now his half-repentant, half-defiant return to Misplaced Pages. It's almost enough for a book...oh wait, Karmafist has long threatened to write his own book about the encyclopedia. Anyway, there's a lot of interesting material, to say the least. Casey Abell 05:41, 18 August 2006 (UTC)
It might be worthwhile as a news story; I'm not too familiar with these particular details. However, I don't think it's a good trend to focus on problem users -- it just gives them an incentive to try to "get into the paper". I'd much rather see the occasional profile on a good user. — Catherine\ 03:26, 20 August 2006 (UTC)
Hey, do a story on me! (Just kidding.) Unfortunately, problem users get into the paper every week in the TROLL report. And with ArbCom taking their sweet time to close cases, those same users get into the paper week after week after week...
Anyway, Karmafist has already been in the paper plenty of times due to his ArbCom dustups. I don't think a Signpost story summing up the whole sorry saga would provide much more motivation. But you could always balance his story with one about a non-problem user. Casey Abell 19:38, 21 August 2006 (UTC)
Karmafist is now claiming to have received an e-mail from Jimbo. He quotes Jimbo as saying:
Actually, what I think I should do is contact journalists in your area. I think they will find it very interesting that a local elected official and head of the Democratic Party is advocating that people vandalize wikipedia and advising them on the best way to do it.
Knock it off. It is one thing to have an honest dispute, it is another thing to advocate viciously immoral behavior.
I have no idea if this e-mail is genuine, or if anything will develop from it even if it is genuine. But the Karmafist saga keeps getting curiouser and curiouser. Casey Abell 02:54, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
Oh well, Karmafist got indef blocked again. On Misplaced Pages Review he's still talking about how he has a sockpuppet getting near admin status, so he can start posting deleted versions of pages. Nothing's come of that so far, though Karmafist's chatter did produce some talk on the RfA discussion page about running routine checkusers on admin candidates. In an odd note, Everyking announced on Misplaced Pages Review that he would have kept Karmafist indef blocked in the first place. Casey Abell 13:44, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

Mark Cuban edits his own article

On his blog NBA owner, entrepreneur, and wild and crazy guy Mark Cuban has admitted editing his own Misplaced Pages article. He wrote under the user name Mcuban. Some of Cuban's edits were relatively uncontroversial, but he also excised a lot of criticism of his actions as owner of the Dallas Mavericks. (Another editor has since restored the criticism.) And he apparently believes that Mantanmoreland, who has also edited Mark Cuban, is Gary Weiss, a journalist critical of some of Cuban's business activities. On his blog a disgruntled user warned Cuban that admin Slim Virgin would defend Mantanmoreland's critical edits. Meanwhile, admin JoshuaZ has left a reminder of WP:AUTO on Cuban's talk page. Another editor left a message on the page imploring Cuban to "rescue" the Pittsburgh Pirates.

It's an interesting story that could develop further, especially if more criticism of Cuban appears in the article. Casey Abell 12:29, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

UPDATE: This really is getting interesting. Mark Cuban has seen lots of activity today, with Mantanmoreland reverting edits that he says were made by Cuban's meatpuppets. There have been no more edits by Mcuban himself, but the article could become a real battleground over Cuban's activities on sharesleuth.com. Cuban has said that he will take positions (in particular, short sell) companies that he discusses on the website before those discussions are published. This has been bashed as unethical, and is the subject of less than flattering comments in the Misplaced Pages article. Stay tuned. Casey Abell 17:31, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

ANOTHER UPDATE: Cuban has edited the talk page of his article and sounds conciliatory in his comments about other editors' additions. He even says that he has enjoyed learning some of the ins and outs of Misplaced Pages policies and etiquette. He does seem pretty certain of his identification of Mantanmoreland as Gary Weiss, though. Casey Abell 03:54, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Cuban's attention to his own article (and his remarks on his blog about the article's supposed inaccuracies) have prompted other editors to splatter the article with ever more footnotes. Right now Mark Cuban boasts no fewer than 63 footnotes for only about 2,300 words of prose. In case you're counting, that's one footnote every 36 words. Even by doctoral dissertation standards, this is Footnotemania.

The contentious paragraph about ShareSleuth.com has been excruciatingly balanced and footnoted. The four-sentence paragraph gets five footnotes, with one sentence getting three. It's either referencing gone bonkers or super-scholarly accuracy, depending on your personal tolerance for footnotes. Casey Abell 12:45, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

Blackboard E-Learning patent

The Misplaced Pages is in the news over a collaborative effort to record examples of prior art on the History of virtual learning environments page, because of an E-learning patent issued to Blackboard Inc.. see:

07:08, 28 August 2006 (UTC) Insert non-formatted text here

More paid editing on the Misplaced Pages

See:

"...public relations firm Kellen Communications is reacting by posting and editing Misplaced Pages-compliant articles about its clients on Misplaced Pages and monitoring the Web site regularly to ensure that those clients are accurately portrayed."

Some of the company's websites are http://kellencompany.com/, http://www.kelleninteractive.com/ and http://kellenpr.com/. Soneone might want to check their client lists . With a relatively quick check, I found an Atlanta Comcast IP adding some of their clients to external links sections in articles (71.204.14.32 (talk · contribs) on 16 August 2006). The IP was warned for spamming. One of their other services is SEO.

When do I get hired for my Misplaced Pages editing expertise? ;-) 11:23, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

They seem to have removed the release from their site. -- Zanimum 17:33, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
Darn! I should have made a copy of the press release, instead of just copying a small segment of it. Unfortunately, from a quick check using a couple of news search engines, it doesn't look like they released the press release through any of the major press release services. Most of the rest of the press release, from what I can recall, was a warning that business need to be prepared for a Wiki world, and the dangers of misinformation on the Misplaced Pages. 06:37, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
Like the misinformation they likely would have tried to spread? -- Zanimum 19:32, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

Resignation of CFO.

http://mail.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2006-August/009515.html -- Jeandré, 2006-08-28t20:52z

Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages Youth Foundation

This organization is looking to expand their membership, and were puzzled on how to do so. Perhaps a mention in the Signpost? This article isn't time-sensitive, so we can wait for next week if we decide to write it. If you have any questions, please contact me at my talk page. Ian Manka Talk to me! 03:53, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

I don't know; to me, it's just another club/WikiProject/whatever. Opinions, anyone? Ral315 (talk) 05:42, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
Also, please use the tip line for this; this page should be basically just progress on articles. It keeps everything cleaner. Ral315 (talk) 05:43, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
Sorry. If you have any questions, please contact me at my talk page. Ian Manka Talk to me! 22:17, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
This is the Tipline. Your link to the Tipline revers to this page??--Daanschr 07:21, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
This was on another page, and was then moved here. Sorry for the confusion. Ral315 (talk) 17:00, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

Lake Express ferry

The editing of the Lake Express and S.S. Badger articles has been in the news, and even slashdotted by CmdrTaco. See:

06:32, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

Growing Good Article Concept

The Good article concept continues to grow with a new Russian good article page and a new French take on good articles. See the interlanguage link from WP:GA for more info. 74.116.113.241 16:31, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

They are "Хорошие статьи" and "Sélection", respectively. It's more like a portal for the portals. Weird. -- Zanimum 19:28, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

Republican candidate to sue Misplaced Pages ?

Chuck Morse, a Republican candidate is contemplating sueing Misplaced Pages for damaging his reputation.

See: http://www.thetranscript.com/localnews/ci_4260986 Kpjas 05:50, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

More in blog entries: Kpjas 05:56, 31 August 2006 (UTC)
If/when he actually files a suit, it's news - until then, it's political self-promotion. Non-notable. JesseW, the juggling janitor 06:36, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

Another (petty?) example of Misplaced Pages POV dispute

Panama Canal PR Shills Take Yes Campaign Online, Hijack Misplaced Pages

wiki-style public policy creation fails

An experiment in colaborative wiki-style public policy creation failed because of poor planning. See Web Policy Goes Wrong.

"A Government minister's attempt to get web users to help form policy has backfired....Administrators were forced to withdraw the page after it was defaced by more than 170 people over a frenzied few hours."

A quibble--they didn't withdraw the page, the locked it.

Although the article doesn't provide the specifics, what it was refering to was the jot.com-based DEFRA Wiki for the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

If the article disappears, I've saved a copy. 11:04, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Wiki-style textbooks to aid poorer nations

Students in developing countries are to get free textbooks written using "wiki" technology that lets anyone add to or edit an online document. More at http://www.newscientisttech.com/article.ns?id=dn9906. --Omaryak 23:07, 3 September 2006 (UTC)


A couple more articles for the "In the News" section:

The New Scientist article above is from 9/1/06.

--Omaryak 04:38, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

Raw Thought: Who Writes Misplaced Pages?

Raw Thought: Who Writes Misplaced Pages? by Aaron Swartz (aka User:AaronSw). I'm not sure I agree with the conclusions, but think the idea is interesting and that further study needs to be do to clarify things with some better statistics. 07:39, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

I would prefer to save this one for after the Board elections, so as not to influence his board candidacy. Ral315 (talk) 11:43, 5 September 2006 (UTC)
Pffft....what a horrible understanding of Misplaced Pages and its users based on suspect isolated evidence. The following comment is jaw dropping: "But it's the outsiders who provide nearly all of the content." Maybe in the articles he reviewed, but in all likelihood he just clicked on Recent changes and got a number of short articles that are so common in Misplaced Pages. If he'd actually taken an inkling of time and reviewed the longer articles, he'd have found it's usually the "insiders" who provide the bulk of the material. I know from experience; I consider myself an "insider" and I've significantly written or expanded tons of articles, many of them with great length. The same is true for plenty of other "insiders" out there. Take a look at the people who write the Featured Articles; almost all of them are regulars. Bad article to include in my opinion just because it's so factually wrong and methodologically misguided (that is, he looked in places that are not indicative of the situation at all).UberCryxic 18:56, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Logo changes at Wikiversity, Wikt. and Wikibooks

Voting is about to begin at Meta with logo change proposals for Wikiversity, Wikibooks and Wiktionary. All proposals will use approval voting and will begin on 7th September. smurrayinchester 14:12, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

Editing stats...

48% of editing on Misplaced Pages takes place on en

  • 52.1% of editing on en is from the USA, GB: 15.9%, CA: 7.3%, AU: 4.4%, DE: 1.8%, NL: 1.6%, FR: 1.0%, all others: 15.8%

Carnildo re-adminned

Carnildo, who was de-sysopped after the pedophilia userbox war, has been re-adminned with a 61% vote (112/183). As you might expect, this has set off an unholy stink. It's too late for this week's Features and admins, but should find a place in next week's. Casey Abell 18:51, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

Inevitable this would get here, wouldn't it? It may deserve a whole section on its own, depending on outcomes of it. – Chacor 18:52, 5 September 2006 (UTC)
Hey, this week won't be published until Wednesday most likely. ForestH2 t/h/c 23:34, 5 September 2006 (UTC)
Published. ForestH2 t/h/c 03:03, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

Software learns new words from Misplaced Pages

Putting Misplaced Pages On Notice About Their Biased Anti-ID Intelligent Design Entries

Putting Misplaced Pages On Notice About Their Biased Anti-ID Intelligent Design Entries from the Center for Science & Culture, part of the Discovery Institute. As if there isn't enough Sturm und Drang over the Charles Darwin/Evolution/Intelligent Design axis of articles. They give an email address at wikimedia.org, so I imagine that email inbox will be innundated. 09:28, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

FoxTrot

Misplaced Pages's Thomas Edison article was the subject of today's (2006-09-07) Foxtrot cartoon strip. – Chacor 12:36, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

At least this one didn't encourage vandalizing Thomas Edison... Ral315 (talk) 16:32, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
Link to comic strip: here. If you have any questions, please contact me at my talk page. Ian Manka Talk to me! 17:28, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

In the news

Kpjas 07:32, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

Interesting. ForestH2 t/h/c 14:06, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

NPR story

A story about encyclopedias in the modern age, including an interview concerning Misplaced Pages, will air monday (the 11th) at approx. 6:50 and 8:50 eastern, and will be available on the NPR website for free download the following day. --InShaneee 15:26, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

"Misplaced Pages Wins Users and Critics" has now aired, and is available here. --InShaneee 14:25, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
Yes, I heard this story this morning. I thought it was rather comprehensive, but lacked in certain aspects. Flcelloguy (A note?) 22:06, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

Followup to Everyking story

Everyking promptly applied to get his adminship back. His RfA was snowballed out by Tony Sidaway after only a few hours, with the vote at 11/32/5. Except Tony doesn't think RfA is a vote (wink). Anyway, the RfA generated a lot of comment, mostly but not entirely negative. Casey Abell 13:44, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

I guess we could put this in F & A. Sugarpine 14:32, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

More 'in the news'

BBC News article on Misplaced Pages

EVOCATIVEINTRIGUE TALKTOME | EMAILME 11:12, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

Looking at the timestamp on that, might have already been covered, so I'd check the archives. – Chacor 11:14, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
It's already been covered here, although the August 29 update to the article, in response to Jimbo's criticism, is new. Casey Abell 12:20, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
Figures released by web monitoring company ComScore show Misplaced Pages as the 16th most visited online property in July 2006 with 6.5 million visitors (up 253 per cent compared to a year ago).
from Kpjas 12:32, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

Citynews broadcast a story regarding 9/11 conspiracy theories on 11 September 2006, and the reporter (Cynthia Mulligan) had Conspiracy theory on her computer monitor. She did not actually mention Misplaced Pages, nor did the camera focus on the screen too long, but it was definitely us on screen. -- Zanimum 15:29, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

Lighthearted in the news mention

Wikipe-tan has sneaked into UK computer games magazine Games TM. See here. - Hahnchen 01:39, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

Wall Street Journal

...did a little tete a tete (to put it politely) between Jimbo and Dale Hoiberg (editor-in-chief of Britannica) . Credit where credit is due: i discovered it via ArsTechnica here; it's a nice little analysis of the faceoff. JoeSmack 05:08, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

More blogish but very interesting. Sugarpine 02:34, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

Why Misplaced Pages can be an advertiser's problem

Marketwatch: Why Misplaced Pages can be an advertiser's problem: Refers to Steve Rubel's entry to his blog Micro Persuasion: "Study: Misplaced Pages Dominates Brand Search Results". The blog entry is interesting, but I think it gives some misguided advice. 11:39, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

Dawson College shooting in Montreal

The shooting tragedy aside, I recommend a Signpost mention next week of the Misplaced Pages article on this topic. Looking at the article and its development, and the talk page, I see a model of how the wiki model should work. Some specific points

  • Rapid response and aggregation of news as it came out, with good sifting through of contradictory reports
  • Adherence to NPOV a NOR, by and large and where violated, quickly fixed
  • Good blend of sympathy but goal orientation (write a good article) in the talk pages
  • Better synthesis than most if not all conventional news outlets
  • Collaboration between established editors, new users, and anons
  • Good follow-up line editing and maintenance of encyclopaedic tone during the whole period

Of course all is not perfect

  • The natural home for this would have been Wikinews, not Misplaced Pages
  • Coordination between the corresponding item on Wikinews, and on what became 2 forked French wikipedia versions of the story, could have been better
  • There was some vandalism, but reverted quickly

Martinp 12:29, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

The article mentioning in an editorial by the Montreal Gazette, and syndicated in Victoria Times Colonist, Guelph Mercury, and the Regina Leader-Post. -- Zanimum 15:42, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Oh yeah, forgot. And you can use this directly... "Citytv program Citynews has recently hired Call for Help alumni and commandN co-host Amber MacArthur as their New Media specialist. Amber MacArthur showed a pre-noon version of Misplaced Pages's article on the Dawson College shooting in first story for the program, regarding the Internet's reactions to the events. The segment aired 14 September 2006, during the six-o-clock broadcast. Citynews Education specialist Cynthia Mulligan reported on 9/11 conspiracy theories three days prior, briefly showing the article "conspiracy theory" on her computer monitor, in the background. She did not mention the site. In October, MacArthur will be launching a weekly series on news channel CP24, focusing on tech and pop culture matters." -- Zanimum 19:31, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

PBS: "Misplaced Pages even covers 9/11 conspiracy theories in a relatively balanced way"

"September 11, 2001 attacks — Misplaced Pages entry: Though I’ve had plenty of reasons to shun Misplaced Pages and its attempts at a neutral point of view, I’ll give it credit for this entry, which covers a vast array of details about the attacks. There are simple timelines, photos, and the entry even includes some of the conspiracy theories in a relatively balanced way."

--Aude (talk contribs as tagcloud) 20:06, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

Sidebar redesign final vote!

It's that special, special time! No, grandma's not coming over. No, not time to clean out the fridge. It's sidebar redesign voting time! Yes, the community has narrowed it down to 3 different options, and a vote for the same old original sidebar is a choice one could vote for as well. Voting for multiple options is allowed, and discussion on the whole shebang is right there on the vote page itself.

This would be good to put in the next Signpost! ZMOG! JoeSmack 06:43, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

More Carnildo soap opera

The Carnildo resysopping continues to splatter debris all over the encyclopedia. Giano of multiple featured-article fame has been grumbling about the resysopping for days, because he was one of the users Carnildo blocked and accused of "hate speech" in the pedophilia userbox war. (The comment is still in Giano's block log, and it apparently will stick forever, or until the Internet crumbles into silicon dust.)

Tony Sidaway finally responded to Giano's grumbles with a three-hour block at 21:07 14 September that was almost immediately reversed by FloNight. It's not often that a multiple-FA contributor gets blocked, so Sidaway's action set off another stink in the seemingly endless series of Carnildo-resysopping-related stinks.

Oh well, it looks like a follow-up story to last week's feature on Carnildo is almost inevitable. Good luck with keeping it balanced! Casey Abell 16:48, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

UPDATE: The various talk pages of the editors involved are getting overloaded with heated comments. See User talk:Tony Sidaway and User talk:Giano for somewhat depressing examples. Sidaway sounds beaten down by the whole stink. He comments on Giano's talk page:

"I feel like I've walked into a real mess. People setting editors against admins, attacking the arbitration committee, and generally behaving in a way that I've never seen Wikipedians behave before. I think a few people taking wikibreaks wouldn't be a bad idea. --Tony Sidaway 19:26, 15 September 2006 (UTC)"

Multiple-FA writer ALoan ripostes:

"Are you volunteering, Tony? Giano tells me that the fugu in Japan is really most enjoyable. Tell you what - if you don't edit for a week, I won't either. -- ALoan (Talk) 19:47, 15 September 2006 (UTC)"

The story is turning unpleasant, but it does deserve further coverage. Casey Abell 04:05, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

ANOTHER UPDATE: Giano has announced on his talk page that he's left Misplaced Pages. I could comment harshly on this, but I could also get an incivility block. (You can look at my own user page for a carefully worded comment.) It's accurate to say that the encyclopedia has lost a very valuable contributor, if Giano really means to leave.

Also, prolific contributor Ghirlandajo is threatening to leave the English Misplaced Pages over this mess. Casey Abell 16:33, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

Things just keep getting more depressing. Giano's partisans are taking turns attacking Tony Sidaway for driving away Giano while contributing little or nothing to the encyclopedia himself. Sidaway's personal favorite article falling has come in for particular ridicule. Multiple-FA contributor Geogre just posted a long, rambling rant on Giano's talk page which announced he will "Ignore All Assholes" when writing for the encyclopedia. It's not hard to decipher who the target of the screed is.

I can't blame the Signpost if they want to ignore the whole sorry spectacle. Maybe after things have calmed down, a very carefully balanced article might be possible. Casey Abell 00:52, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

Additionally (and this is no longer just about Carnildo's RFA), such prominent editors as User:Paul August and User:Geogre have gone on strike (Geogre is back after a week, Paul August announces that he will be on strike for a full month). In Geogre's words: "I simply can't imagine the amount of disrespect, unilateralism, and pettiness that has been par in the last week or two being tolerated. I have no other way, since I believe in achieving consensus, respecting the minority voices, and never trying to force my will on others, to show my displeasure aside from this. It isn't a storming away. It is a strike." — mark ✎ 09:33, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

Just when I think it can't any worse...it gets worse. Tony Sidaway posted these comments on WP:AN:
"I think that events have proven the wisdom of that block . The issue has quite evaporated now that those who were engaged in pushing a ridiculous shrieking campaign against trusted Wikipedians have stopped. When a nurse lances a boil, sometimes she gets covered in malodorous filth and she may be blamed for the smell. The patient's health prospects are immediately improved, however."
JoshuaZ blocked Sidaway for twenty-four hours for incivility, and the block stuck. ALoan complained about Sidaway's comments on Jimbo's talk page. Sidaway announced that he is taking a one-week wikibreak, though he is "quite unrepentant." He also says that he "will leave the matter in the hands of the arbitration committee and would happily resign from all editing on Misplaced Pages should this improve the encyclopedia." Jeez, what a mess. Casey Abell 13:51, 18 September 2006 (UTC)
WP:AN is going bonkers with prominent admins screaming at each other. I honestly don't believe this stuff. Somehow this has to go into the Signpost, but I sure wouldn't want to write the article. Casey Abell 17:07, 18 September 2006 (UTC)
The discussion is threatening to become slightly longer than War and Peace. Things have been shuffled around but you can find lots of stuff here. The screaming seems to have died down, at least a little. Now some people are trying to find a constructive solution, including a possible temporary pause in admin duties for administrators who get too controversial. Lots of stuff for a very interesting Signpost story, though it won't be easy to write. Casey Abell 16:30, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Danny's contest ... WP:DC

Would it be possible to get a blurb in the Signpost about Danny's contest? As you can read in more depth at WP:DC, Danny is running a new contest (his 3rd) with the goal of improving articles, specifically focusing on references... there are hundreds of thousands of articles on the english wikipedia that don't have any references at all, including some shockingly important ones. Danny is putting up prizes for the most improved one or ones, to be judged by a panel of 5 judges. ++Lar: t/c 03:05, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

Already done here. Casey Abell 03:51, 16 September 2006 (UTC)
Thanks... Danny really is looking for as much publicity as he can get on this, and lots of entries, so if you could provide an update on progress for this week's Signpost that would be awesome. (of course, as a judge, the less entries the better for me personally, but.. :) ) ++Lar: t/c 13:37, 17 September 2006 (UTC)
I will definitely make sure that the contest receives all the coverage appropriate, including any updates necessary, but I can't guarantee coverage on any specific week if it's not appropriate. (Does that make sense? :-) ) Thanks! Flcelloguy (A note?) 01:50, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

Misplaced Pages: Getting To Truth by Community

ABC News - Misplaced Pages: Getting To Truth by Community Kpjas 06:06, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

Clarin & the Spanish Misplaced Pages

There has been a strange case invloving the article es:Noche de los lápices and the Argentinian newspaper Clarín (newspaper) (http://www.clarin.com/)

The 14th September an anonimous change was made in the article es:Noche de los lápices, the vandal changed the story about seven students that dissapeared during the militar dictatorship in Argentina so that it looked as if the whole story was a lie, an invention from some terrorist organisations.

Two hours later the online newssite of the newspaper Diario Clarin (Clarín (newspaper); considered the third online newspaper in Spanish language) published that «En Misplaced Pages, la Noche de los Lápices apareció como "un invento creado por organizaciones terroristas» "In Misplaced Pages, the Noche de los Lápices appeared as an invention. created by terrorist organisations" ( the article has been changed and toned down since) . The news piece was on the front page of the web page for several hours.

The vandalism was eliminated almost inmediately after the news appeared in Clarin. You can see the time line in es:Misplaced Pages:Café#Noche de los Lápices Argentina:

http://es.wikipedia.org/search/?title=Noche_de_los_l%C3%A1pices&direction=prev&oldid=4711637

10:18 (act) (prev) 15:18(CEST) 14 sep 2006 24.232.220.225 (Discusión)

Vandalismo http://www.clarin.com/diario/2006/09/14/um/m-01271295.htm

11:51 (Argentnian time) | En recuerdo de La Noche de los Lápices, quieren declarar al 16 de setiembre Día de la juventud

http://www.clarin.com/diario/2006/09/14/um/m-01271296.htm

19:48 (Argentnian time) | En Misplaced Pages, la Noche de los Lápices apareció como "un invento creado por organizaciones terroristas"

(Esta nota fue modificada por eso la hora no es la hora original, pero no es difícil deducirla./ The note has been changed so that the time stamp is not the original one)

http://es.wikipedia.org/search/?title=Noche_de_los_l%C3%A1pices&direction=next&oldid=4711637

12:15 (act) (prev) 17:15(CEST) 14 sep 2006 Dajuliani (Discusión | contribuciones) (Revirtiendo cambios/Reverting changes)

Cambios revertidos

Funnily enough, Clarin is an Internet provider and the ISP vandalizing the article belongs to Clarin. The whole story is in (only in Spanish) the weblog of es:usuario:Dodo. es:usuario:Ecemaml comments in the weblog that in those two hours, Clarin saw the vandalism and made a screenshot (and an article!) of the vandalized page to ilustrate the article as there was no diff link to the next change (you can see the image in ). Another funny fact is that Clarin publishes its own enciclopedia using Misplaced Pages as source , in spite of being quite hostile .

Of course the news have spread: , Página/12 (, newspaper form the Clarin Group), ,

Not so funny are declarations Clarin published later: Sola, the Governor of Buenos Aires, said he was worried about the fact and the ombudman of Buenos Aires said she was preparing a lawsuit against wikipedia (): "Repudiamos el contenido de esa nota y estamos prepando una presentación formal contra la enciclopedia por la falta de control sobre los contenidos en un instrumento tan vulnerable como Internet al que acceden millones de jóvenes estudiantes" ("We reject the content of that note and we are preparing a lawsuit against the enciclopedia because of lack of control about the content in such a vulnerable instrument as is Internet, that millions of young students access").

So, there are now stong suspicions on the Spanish Misplaced Pages community that this is a case of a reporter "creating" the news he writes about, but of course, nothing can be proven :) I hope you can make a small note on the Signpost with this material.

Cheers, --Ecelan 08:01, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

n:Folk musician Tracy Grammer corrects record on Dave Carter

Don't know how newsworthy this really is, but. -- Zanimum 21:53, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

See User_talk:Jimbo_Wales#Dave_Carter_and_Tracy_Grammer, contributions by User:Grammer and associated talk pages for further information on this. It puts the focus on Verifiability, and whether a user posting onto Misplaced Pages could be classified as reliable sources. So far, the answer is no. - Hahnchen 01:56, 18 September 2006 (UTC)


100,000th article assessed on the English Misplaced Pages

On Wednesday, September 20, 2006, the 100,000th article assessment was carried out on the English Misplaced Pages. Such assessments provide a basic analysis of the overall article quality as on a six-point scale, and may also assign a level of importance to the topic as Low, Mid, High or Top. Some may include a short set of comments. Assessments are carried out by around 100 WikiProjects on articles within their purview, with a project template on article talk pages indicating the assessment and generating a suitable category. Work is often done by a designated "task force," and the military history project alone has managed to assess over 13,000 articles in this way. A bot crawls through the project assessment categories every 24 hours and compiles a worklist table, a log and statistics for each WikiProject. The data can be used by the Version 1.0 Editorial Team for locating higher quality articles in specific subject areas for inclusion on a CD or DVD release. The project worklists automatically indicate if a particular article has been included in an offline release. It seems that article assessment has finally arrived! Walkerma 03:57, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Election statistics?

Will there be any statistics on the elections? I've made a start at:

I realise this is incomplete, and will need adjusting after the election is finished and after the Election Officials have finished removing duplicate/invalid votes (will this be done in time for the next Signpost issue?). What do people think? I find it interesting that most people voted on the first day (over 600), and that the votes tailed off to form plateau of around 60/day by day 8, and that the last two days are seeing a resurgence of interest. Also, this shows clearly the dominance of voting from enwiki. Also, the grand total (as of 14:07 on 21/09/2006) was 2555. How does this compare to the numbers voting in previous elections? Carcharoth 15:19, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Interesting... enwiki makes up 26.9% of the articles and 41.0% of the edits on Wikipedias (not including other projects). We made up 43.4% of the votes- a bit more than our edits, and a lot more than our articles. Ral315 (talk) 20:07, 21 September 2006 (UTC)
Actually, I made a big mistake in not elimiating people voting again. At least 257 of those, and I still need to eliminate the votes crossed off by the Election Officials. That can be done by using the "<del>" tag used. But as I've said at the page, these preliminary stats are not really accurate in any way yet. Carcharoth 21:33, 21 September 2006 (UTC)
And total number of votes is around 2352, eliminating re-voting, but not eliminating votes crossed off by the Election Officials. Around another 50 since this afternoon. Carcharoth 21:36, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Prominent admin Kelly Martin announces that she is leaving the English Misplaced Pages

As part of the endless Carnildo-Giano-Sidaway-God-knows-who stink, Kelly Martin has announced that she is leaving Misplaced Pages and has requested that all her sysop rights be removed. It's unclear as to whether Martin is leaving the project entirely, or only the English encyclopedia.

This story goes on and on... Casey Abell 18:00, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Kelly is just leaving the English Misplaced Pages. In addition to giving up all of her tools on en-wiki, she has also unsubscribed herself from the admin IRC channel and the ArbCom mailing list. --Cyde Weys 18:04, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

InkSplotch has submitted an RfAR here on the whole mess. This story may last until the Internet crumbles into silicon dust. At this writing two Arbcom members have voted to accept. No other votes are currently recorded. Casey Abell 18:59, 22 September 2006 (UTC)
My guess is that the story will last until the current generation of Misplaced Pages editors and admins hobble off in their bath-chairs to the great wiki-in-the-sky. At least plenty of material is being provided for future generations of sociologists, and they won't have to rely totally on Big Brother for their thesis material... Carcharoth 21:53, 22 September 2006 (UTC)