Summary: When one edits this page for too long, one is tempted to appoint oneself as the psychoanalyst for the human race, or at least the English-speaking portion thereof. Since nearly everyone uses Wikipedia, the constant stream of TV updates, pointless celebrity scandals, and inquiries after who has died can seem like a dreary peek into humanity's surprisingly banal collective consciousness.
So when two notable deaths occur in the same week, one a treasure of the world widely regarded as a true Great Man in a time of comparative minnows who died peacefully in his sleep after a long life; the other a mid-tier actor who died in a car crash, the cynic can smugly note that the latter got nearly twice as many views as the former, and that humankind once again rushed to scandal, while ignoring the passing of history. Except for one thing: stats can lie. In fact, actor Paul Walker's tragic and grisly death was announced on 1 December, the day this list began counting, while Nelson Mandela's passing was announced late on 5 December, two days before the end. Per day, Mandela's death generated more than twice the views of Walker's. While the public sympathise with the tragedy of Walker's death, it appears they aren't being led by sensationalism alone.
The 95-year-old father of the new South Africa, Nobel Peace Prize winner and global inspiration finally succumbed to his long illness on December 5, triggering tributes from around the world.
The Cuban doctor who identified the Aedesmosquito as the vector for yellow fever got a Google Doodle on what would have been his 180th birthday on December 3.
A sudden spike near the end of the week for this medical condition (better known as "ringing in the ears") may have been due to the announcement of a purported treatment developed at the University of Texas.
Production has shut down on the next installment of what had been a money-printing franchise with the death of its returning star, Paul Walker. Director James Wan has insisted it will be finished.
The South African photojournalist, who committed suicide shortly after winning the Pulitzer Prize for his photograph of a starving young girl in Sudan being eyed by a hungry vulture, became a topic of discussion on Reddit this week.
The digital currency is back in the news this week. Bankers have suggested it may prove a legitimate competitor to real money, even though others have argued they are best described as a store of value rather than a functional currency. An attempt to declare "Bitcoin Black Friday" to try and get people to actually spend them instead of hoarding them (Except that, from one point of view, hoarding them is exactly the right thing to do if their value continues to skyrocket as it has done) led to the purchase of a great deal of gold, swapping one store of value for another.
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Walescaught headlines last week when he referred to former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden as a "hero", who over past months has leaked thousands of documents describing efforts by the NSA to snoop on individuals, both US citizens and foreigners. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Wales noted that it is difficult for him as a US citizen to go to other countries and lecture and implore leaders not to censor the internet:
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It makes it very difficult for someone like me to go out as I do speak to people in authoritarian countries and say: You shouldn't be spying on activists, you shouldn't be censoring the internet, when we [in the US] are complicit in these acts of extraordinary intrusion into people's personal lives.
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Wales went on to say that the spying program would have had little popular appeal if put to a vote by the people. Consequently, he commended Snowden for bringing it to public attention, while scrupulously ensuring that in doing so he did not put any individual in harm's way. Snowden, Wales said, "has exposed what I believe to be ... an affront to the 4th amendment". Clearly outraged, Wales even mentioned that the Wikimedia Foundation had considered moving its servers outside the US, but presently has no plans to do so.
German Wikipedia court ruling
Loek Essers of the International Data Group (IDG) News Service has reported that a German court has held Wikipedia liable for its content, but it still does not have to fact-check the information in advance. Essers stated in his 27 November 2013 article that the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart ruled against the Wikimedia Foundation, reversing an earlier decision. The full text is here and was only published recently, although the appeals court had actually ruled in early October. The ruling originates from a libel suit brought by a TV station owner who had been the subject of an article on the German Wikipedia that stated: "he had made the Hitler salute on television, and that he had trivialized sex with children in a counseling session."
Michelle Paulson, Legal Counsel for the Foundation, released a statement in a blog post titled: "In legal victory, German court rules Wikimedia Foundation need not proactively check for illegal or inaccurate content". It stated: "One key distinction that was important to the court in its determination was whether Wikipedia was 'alleging' statements in the German-language Wikipedia article (as the plaintiff argued) or simply 'distributing' them through publication. The court accordingly ruled that, as a service provider, rather than a content provider, the Wikimedia Foundation is not liable for user-generated content, nor does it have a duty to proactively check articles for allegedly illegal or inaccurate content." She also wrote that the court found that the Foundation cannot be held liable for financial damage as a service provider. In the blog post, readers are directed to the ongoing discussion of the issue at Wikipedia Diskussion:Kurier. The German court did require the WMF to remove some statements.
In brief
Wikipedia-copying professor-witness troubles US judge – An article from Bloomberg News noted that Georgetown University Law Professor James Feinerman's copying of Wikipedia to write a report on China's alleged efforts to induce its citizens to steal IP undermines his credibility as a witness. Calling Wikipedia "inherently unreliable", US district judge Jeffrey White claimed that Feinerman's credibility as an expert witness is severely hindered, and ruled that Feinerman should not be permitted to testify, as "any probative value is substantially outweighed by the potential for prejudice and to confuse the issues."
Wikipedia more reliable than CIA world factbook – Probably not, although Tim Dorstall, a writer for Forbes, said this week that Wikipedia uses a more accurate measure of income inequality than the CIA World Factbook. At the time of our publishing, the renowned factbook has not commented on the article.
Amid great anticipation, the international prize winners have just been announced for the fourth annual Wiki Loves Monuments, now the world's largest photographic competition and one of the biggest events on the Wikimedia movement's calendar. The competition is held throughout each September, for which there are three selection criteria: technical quality (sharpness, use of light, perspective etc.); originality; and usefulness of the image for Wikipedia. To be eligible for the international finals, each photograph must (i) be self-taken, (ii) be self-uploaded during September 2013, (iii) be freely licensed, (iv) contain an identified monument, and (v) be nominated through one of the national contests.
These rules and criteria are mostly adopted for the national contests as well, which each send up to 10 images to compete at the international level. This year, 52 countries took part, up from 35 last year; an unexpected bonus was the inclusion of Antarctica, supported by Wikimedia Argentina. Many of these national competitions were made possible by Wikimedia chapters, which offered them help in promotion, legal issues, finding sponsors and partners, and the funding of prizes.
The winning photographs
The first prize has gone to David Gubler's photograph of a Swiss train crossing a viaduct. The Jury's report praised the harmony between the viaduct, the natural setting, and human life; the panoramic view with the blend of colours drawing attention to the centre; and the compositional symmetry of shadows and mountains.
The Wiesen Viaduct was built between 1906 and 1909—a single-track limestone structure 89 metres (292 ft) high, 204 metres (669 ft) long, with a main span of 55 metres (180 ft); part of the town of Wiesen is visible in the top-left corner, and the railway station is about 100 metres (330 ft) beyond the end of the viaduct. On Google Earth the structure is represented by a 3D schematic, and the vantage point appears to be on a very steep slope. We asked David whether this point was difficult to access: "Sorry to disappoint you," he said, "but there's a public hiking trail going to the viewpoint this picture was taken from. Unfortunately it's not visible on the satellite image, thus the position marker is only approximate. Some hiking equipment is nevertheless always a good idea." How planned was the timing, in terms of getting the shadows and the passage of the train right?
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Well, passenger trains are easy to predict, at least in Switzerland :) ... Given the time(s), I use a sun calculator, and together with Google Maps I can figure out the optimal time to be there in terms of lighting. If I have doubts about mountains casting shadows, I sometimes check with the 3D model in Google Earth. Unfortunately its built-in sunlight simulator is worthless for this purpose, so this needs to be done manually which is a bit tedious, but quite precise if you don't mess up somewhere along the process.
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The second prize went to Chen Yi Chieh for his depiction of the Shi family abode in the small town of Lukang in central Taiwan. The jury was pleased with how the imagery, history, tradition and narration were all captured in one image. "Excellent management of lights and shadows: they give a mysterious feeling to this abode while the perspective shows an attractive view of the site."
Chieh told the Signpost: "The Shi family were local gentry who lived on Dayou Street in Lukang during the mid-Qing Dynasty, and prospered in trading and shipping businesses. The residence has more wooden purlins [horizontal beams along the length of a roof] than any other traditional building in Taiwan, and is very well preserved even today. The panelled doors and windows in the façade maintain the original architectural style, and a floor well in the foyer provides light and fresh air. Above the storefront—the residence was also a place of business—there is space for storage. The residence was listed as a Changhua County historic site in 2009."
The high-resolution version reveals a buddha in the glass case in the middle, and possibly artefacts representing ancestors or pagan gods. The dangling pot is an incense holder.
Second prize ... Chen Yi Chieh's mystery-infused picture of the historic Shi family abode in Lukang, Taiwan.
The third prize went to Tamás Thaler for his photograph of the main reading room of the Eötvös Loránd University Library in Budapest (picture below). Taken from a corner of this magnificent room as though privately glimpsing, the image presents diagonal geometrical relationships on a number of levels, and a clever relationship between cool and warm hues. Dislodged chairs and a library official turning away from the camera present subtle variations from a pristine condition.
The top 15 images ranked by the international jury are eligible for a prize. The grand prize is a trip to Wikimania 2014 in London, including conference access, accommodation, and more (maximum value €2000), and a large-scale aluminum print of the winning photo (sponsored by Europeana). The second and third prizes are photography-related vouchers of €500 and €400, respectively. There are 12 other monetary prizes for the remainder of the most highly ranked 15: photography-related vouchers worth €300, €200, €100 (two prizes), and a further eight worth €50. The winners may choose their prize in order of their ranking. In addition, three special awards were made, for pictures from Arabic-speaking countries, and from Asian countries (both sponsored by Guiddoo); and for the best picture related to the first world war (sponsored by Europeana).
Third prize ... Tamás Thaler's view of a university reading room in Budapest.
The numbers
The sheer scale of the event is worth taking a moment to consider. Inspired by a 2010 pilot in the Netherlands alone, WLM has grown into an industry, as it were, with its own website, partners and sponsors, help desk, and Facebook profile. This year, more than 370,000 files were uploaded by nearly 12,000 photographers from 53 countries—totalling nearly 1,300 Gb (1.3 terabytes). While file sizes averaged about 3.5 Mb, the range was huge, reaching up to half a gigabyte in a potentially wall-sized image 16,072 × 20,954 pixels by Gangulybiswarup. More than 14,500 files were of at least 3264 × 2448 in resolution.
The efforts of the most prolific contributors were impressive: more than 1000 images were uploaded by each of the 56 most productive photographers; of them, nine uploaded more than 4000 images each. The largest number of entries was an extraordinary 8386, by Barbara Maliszewska from Poland. This competition-fuelled output by the top uploaders was a factor in boosting the national figures significantly. In the race among countries, Poland was first, with 48,000 entries (figure rounded), of which the top three Polish contributors uploaded 36%. Ukraine was second (36,000, of which the top three contributors uploaded 25%), Germany was third (36,000; top three 39%), Armenia fourth (24,000; 45%), Spain fifth (23,000; 54%), France sixth (21,000; 30%), Russia seventh (19,000; 11%), the UK eighth (12,000; 26%), India ninth (12,000; 37%), Austria tenth (11,000; 41%), the US eleventh (10,000; 22%), and Italy twelfth (8,000; 36%). WLM has provided full statistics here, with links to breakdowns country by country.
The jurists
Fourth prize: a staircase in a 17th-century weaver house at 2 Nadrzeczna St in Nowa Ruda, Poland (photographed by Andres Knotaktowy)One of the 10 Indian finalists, Hriya's representation of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, the 16th-century mosque Jama Masjid, Champaner in Gujarat state, western India.
The international jury comprised five members, each bringing different expertise. The jury faced an enormous field of more than 500 images—up to ten from each national competition. Did this field present any surprises? Jurist Diego Delso told the Signpost:
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Well, always, that's why this is fun. Some pictures were really original, while others played very well with shapes, colors or contrast. From the other side, some pictures had a very small number of megapixels; they looked nice as thumbs but were definitely too small to show in full size or to print out.
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We asked jurist Heta Pandit—a writer, academic, and heritage expert—whether she has any advice for next year's aspiring prizewinners in relation to the criteria for technical quality and originality: "Yes, if there was one thing missing, it was originality. I would have also liked to see some more human element. The relationship between monuments, nature and people is so important." She stressed that the centrality of "the magic of the symbiosis between man, nature and man-made monuments was missing. A lot of the pictures were like tourist brochures for the originating country; that was a little disappointing." Diego Delso told us:
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This year we focused more on technical quality and only deviated from it when the 'wow' effect was very significant. I think that a minimum threshold of quality is a must. I think this should be the direction for future WLMs. Regarding originality, well, you recognize it when you see it. Those are the pictures I've never thought of or seen before and they give me new ideas for my future work.
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Was choosing the winners a relatively solitary process, or did it involve contact with the other jury members? Diego Delso said: "Yes, there was interaction among the jury members, especially in the phase to decide which pictures, shouldn't make it to the final phase, ... That was the most interesting part of the deliberations of the jury, with intensive exchanges. After we filtered the candidates for the final round the results were just the sum of each jury member's marks." Heta Pandit told us: "There were three jury members who were more active than others and I was happy to consult with them, but not about the merits and demerits of a particular entry. We just shared our opinions across the board without any fear of contest."
I'm especially excited by the diversity in the countries participating. Much more than last year, countries from South America, Asia and the Middle-East have joined us, increasing the diversity of the cultural heritage represented in the submissions.
We did note that in some countries enthusiasm is decreasing because the first time is most exciting—which is a reason to start thinking about the future of Wiki Loves in an open way. I encourage everyone who would like to help organise in the future to participate in this discussion on Commons. One of the things being considered is to change the exact scope of the contest every few years—for example, to natural heritage.
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Lodewijk said he is particularly gratified by the dedication of the hundreds of volunteers involved around the world: "In many cases it was one of the first projects they had organised that aims for a more general population; I hope this can be a catalyst in more fruitful collaboration in and outside the movement."
Fifth prize: the magnificent Friedrich von Thiersch Hall in Wiesbaden, Germany, built in 1905–07 and seating 1350 people (photographed by Martin Kraft). Another photographer can be seen capturing the room from a different angle.
In brief
WMF trademark status changes: The Wikimedia Foundation's legal team has closed the community consultation on the Wikimedia community trademark. Based on the feedback, they will recommend to the Foundation's Board of Trustees that they "withdraw trademark registration and protection for the Community logo."
Two FDC applicants launch appeals: Two Wikimedia entities who applied to the Funds Dissemination Committee in this round (see last week's Signpostcoverage) have appealed the committee's recommendations to the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees. Wikimedia Israel believes that the US$200k it would receive under the FDC's current plan is not enough, as approximately $185k of it will be mostly taken up by two paid positions and office space. They told the Board that "to continue improving in realizing the Movement’s Goals, WMIL now needs more resources to scale up". Wikimedia India, which asked for $176k and would receive just $53k, stated that "Recommendations should be targeted at achieving mission goals of the movement. The point held against us is not that we are straying away from the 5 year goals or targets of WMF, but we are planning to grow very ambitiously towards it. If we can not be allowed to grow faster, is that not against the focus in the global 5 year plan on Global South about?"
ArbCom election voting closes: The English Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee elections have closed for voting. After the scrutineering period, which is conducted by four stewards that are not based on the English Wikipedia, the results will be announced.
Submit your project's news and announcements for next week's WikiProject Report at the Signpost's WikiProject Desk.
What motivated you to join WikiProject Wine? Do you prefer red or white? Have you contributed to articles about any other beverages?
Agne: I joined Wikipedia in 2007, around the same time that I decided to start pursuing various accreditation in the wine industry (an enology degree, level 3 of WSET's Master of Wine program, level 2 in the Court of Master Sommeliers, CSW in the Society of Wine Educators, etc). I found that researching for and writing Wikipedia articles for WP:WINE was a very effective study tool and I took off from there.
I honestly don't have a preference between red or white though I probably drink more reds. I live in Washington State which has a abundance of delicious reds but few wines in the world top a great white Champagne. I am a certified Cicerone (Beer sommelier) and a fan of Single malt Scotch but I rarely contribute to articles in those categories outside of a few free-use pictures.
Bahnfrend: I've been a Wikipedia editor since 2009. I'm interested mainly in transport, but I also edit in other areas, including Scotch whisky and various topics related to my home state of Western Australia. For quite a while now, Western Australian wines have been highly regarded interstate and overseas, but Wikipedia has not had much information about them. So, for example, there's been a popcat tag in Category:Wineries in Western Australia for more than seven years. Having noticed this problem of lack of coverage, I have recently started creating and otherwise editing a few articles about WA wines, and about the related topic of WA restaurants. As far as my drinking preferences are concerned, I like both red and white, and I'm particularly partial to the occasional rosé.
Are the wines of some countries and regions better covered than others? What can be done to improve Wikipedia articles about neglected geographic areas?
Agne: Like most areas of Wikipedia, there is a distinct thread of systematic bias that runs through our coverage. However this is not an "anglo-centric" bias, as countries like Australia, New Zealand and Wine from the United Kingdom are poorly detailed, but rather a "Traditional wine region" versus "Emerging wine region" bias with the bulk of coverage more detailed in areas of French, German, Spanish and Italian as opposed to emerging wine regions from South America like Chile, Argentina, Peru and Uruguay that only have scant coverage. Even in our American wine articles, though we have an article for almost every entry on the List of American Viticultural Areas, the vast majority of these articles are mostly stubs.
As for what can be done, this is usually where a Wikipedia Project can step in and shine some light on these poorly covered areas but, like with many Wiki-projects, WP:WINE has been hit hard with declining editorship and activity.
Bahnfrend: I agree with Agne's comments. One other thing that editors of English Wikipedia can do is translate articles from other Wikipedias. I've done a lot of translation of articles about transport topics, but I haven't really looked very closely at what wine-related articles might be suitable for translation. That said, I'm very confident that there's plenty of such material in, eg, German Wikipedia.
How is the notability of a wine or vineyard determined? Does the project ever deal with new wine producers attempting to use Wikipedia for advertising purposes?
Agne: Spam, advert and COI editing is a significant problem in our wine articles but thankfully it seems to mostly be centered on the creation of Wikipedia articles for wineries rather than using "sneaky spam" to try and plug a winery in an article about a grape variety or wine region. We have a project-level notability guideline at Wikipedia:Notability (wine topics) that we use a benchmark in notability discussions but everything ultimately falls back to Wikipedia's general notability guideline. The big thing that we look for is the presence of significant coverage from outside, independent and non-local sources that can attribute to the global (or at least national) notability of a winery. Far too often people think of wineries as "special" because they make wine when, in actuality, they are really no different than the mom and pop pizza joint down the road and their notability should be evaluated the same way any local, small town restaurant or business would be evaluated.
Bahnfrend: Here in Australia there are several well-known national and regional independent publications suitable for use as reliable sources for wine-related articles, particularly about wineries. Consequently, most wineries in Australia of any significant size or age probably meet the notability guidelines. However, some of the sources are available only in print. In my experience, most other Wikipedia editors strongly prefer to rely mainly on online sources. For that reason, many Wikipedia articles have few, if any, print sources, even though in lots of cases there are plenty of print sources available. I spend a great deal of time adding print references to articles on various topics. At the moment, I'm putting together a collection of print references that I can use for articles on Western Australian wine. Many of them are now available at bargain prices because they're out of date. However, they are still useful sources of information for, eg, the "History" sections of articles about wineries.
Has it been more difficult to write articles about specific wines or broader articles about classifications and nationalities? What kinds of articles present the greatest challenge for members of the project and how can editors outside of the project chip in?
Agne: While we have a basic starting point for many of the national wine articles on Template:Wine by country, it is more challenging getting editors to go into the nitty gritty of fleshing out those articles are writing the supplementary articles on the individual wine regions and native grape varieties and wine styles being produced within those countries. Part of the challenge is difficulties in finding reliable sources as many of the best wine reliable sources are not online and/or written in languages other than English. But another challenge is that unlike "easy" articles like one on a winery, starting an article on a wine region usually leads to red links to a bunch of other articles that still haven't been written which makes the task feel more daunting.
Bahnfrend: Again, here in Australia there are suitable reliable sources, and especially print sources, for such articles. Someone just has to make the time to find and consult them, and then create the articles.
Agne: Currently there is very little collaboration which may be in part because of the general declining editorship and activity levels that span across the board on Wikipedia.
What are WikiProject Wine's most pressing needs? How can a new member help today?
Agne: Like with most projects the most pressing needs are people and time. My one advice for any new member would be to be WP:BOLD. If you see an area that piques your interest and is lacking coverage then dive in.
Bahnfrend: Having done just that in the last few months, I can only endorse that recommendation.
Anything else you'd like to add?
Agne:With the holidays coming up, I encourage folks to be adventurous with their wine picks. Instead of falling back to just getting the same old Champagne every year, try something new like a smaller production Grower Champagne or a even a sparkling wine from a new and exciting region like the UK, Argentina, Tasmania and Prosecco. Wine is something to have fun with and is a neat little way to travel the world in wine glass.
Bahnfrend: I agree. Wikipedia editors should be just as bold with their wine choices as they are encouraged to be with their editing.
Next week, we'll go global. Until then, explore other cultures in the archive.
The views expressed in this interview are those of the author and interviewee; responses and critical commentary are invited in the comments section. The Signpost welcomes proposals for such interviews and op-eds at our opinion desk.
The 2007 pony swim at Chincoteague, Virginia. The promotion of the article on the history of that settlement made Wehwalt's century of FAs.Franklin Peale, 3rd Chief Coiner of the United States Mint at Philadelphia ... another on Wehwalt's list of FAC to-dos.Baseball legend Babe Ruth in 1920, in New York Yankees uniform ... destined for the FAC room at the hands of Wehwalt.On 7 December, editor Wehwalt reached the momentous milestone of 100 featured articles with History of Chincoteague, Virginia. Quite apart from the reading and research, that's around three-quarters of a million words of finalised text, not counting footnotes, image captions and the rest. Having some familiarity with the FAC process myself, I am well aware of the effort and dedication involved in such an achievement. Wehwalt is a modest fellow, very matter-of-fact about his editorial accomplishments, as I discovered when he agreed to answer a few of my questions.
First, congratulations on your century, a terrific achievement! Would you tell us what brought you to Wikipedia in the first place?
There's something intriguing about an encyclopedia that stays up to date, after growing up with the paper World Book and annual supplements. I sort of put my head in to see what was going on and have never taken it out.
Your choice of username is unusual; would you explain it?
Sure. It's from Wagner's Die Walkure – it's the alias Siegmund gives himself. There's a place near the end of Act 2 when another character calls "Wehwalt! Wehwalt!" that sends shivers down my spine.
Yes, it's when Hunding, offstage, calls Siegmund out to fight. The word of course means "woeful", not a characteristic I've observed particularly in your editing.
I would translate it as "filled with woe". Sometimes true, sometimes not.
Fortunately for us, mostly not; your rate of production is astonishing. Your first FA was promoted in May 2007, so you've reached your century within 80 months – that's an average rate of, well, more than one a month over all that time. And you do other things for the encyclopedia, too – you are an admin, you review articles, you fight for causes. My question is: do you ever get tired?
Very funny! I don't write all the time by any means. Sometimes I'm in a rush because I have a deadline of some sort, but the process is really pretty leisurely. As for the drama, I leave that for others these days, I hope.
Can you give a brief outline of your methods; for example, do you tend to write in long or in short chunks? Do you compose straight on to the article page, or do you use sandboxes? Do you incorporate refs as you go along, or when you've finished drafting a section? Are you a fluent writer or, like me, an incorrigible redrafter and meddler with almost every sentence?
I tend to write a section at a time, broken into paragraphs. I try to include the refs as I go along – it's easier to avoid mistakes that way, but sometimes I it works better to write a couple of paragraphs and then supply the references. I can get the idea, and the enthusiasm to do an article from anywhere. I did Thaddeus Stevens because I saw the movie, Lincoln. I was in an airport once in Canada and I saw an exhibit on John Diefenbaker, and my reaction was "Hm, I wonder if our article on him's any good". I usually write in sandboxes, and if it's a renovation of an article, generally transfer it over a section at a time. If it's brand new, then all at once when it's reasonably finished. I have to polish what I write to fix typing or similar mistakes. Sometimes I'll rearrange things, but I'm usually confident the structure is OK.
I've been looking at the range of your FAs, which cuts across quite a few of the featured article categories. You've done history, politics, musicals, opera, coins, and a quite a few oddball characters. Something for almost everyone, in fact. Which is the area you find most enjoyable and/or satisfying to work in?
It's hard to say. The coins and the politics articles are fun to do, but I'm always looking for a subject I feel enthusiastic about, that I feel really is worth doing – like Avery Brundage, or Ezra Meeker.
Which article has been the hardest for you, and why?
There were a couple. John A. Macdonald I left in the middle for about six months – it just wasn't working for some reason, then I went back and finished it. William Jennings Bryan presidential campaign, 1896 was difficult because his Cross of Gold speech so dominates that article. So I left it alone, finished the rest of the article, and then wrote the speech section ... although there are various projects that have been played with but never completed, perhaps one of these days, for example The Writer 2.0; I got about halfway done with Al Davis and then lost enthusiasm.
Some editors are daunted by the FA process and steer clear. Briefly, what advice would you give to FAC tenderfeet?
Spend as much time as you can reading the article to yourself before getting to FAC. And the more eyes the better. We're not the best judges of our own prose. Once you're in the FAC process, if you're not certain, ask. And most of the regulars are willing to give advice, as are the coordinators. And make sure you do your share of reviews.
I'd go along with all those, and maybe add: "Make certain you fully understand the FA criteria before you nominate."
And be kind and thank the reviewers, starting with you, Brian, since you must have done about 80 of the 100.
It's been a pleasure. You must by now be planning your second FA century, so what can we expect, at least in the nearish future?
Well, I'm gearing up for Oklahoma! – Ssilvers and I are trying to finish up the remaining Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals. I've got an interesting coin-related article, Franklin Peale, a 19th-century Philadelphia Mint official who was a member of the eccentric Peale family. And I'd like to get Babe Ruth done for the centennial of his major league debut next year, it's part done.
Some fascinating stuff there, and we'll look forward to reading these articles. Thanks for your time, and for all that you have done for the encyclopedia these past seven years.
This scary Sicilian Wall Lizard, now the subject of a featured picture, did not appear in "Home", the first episode of The X-Files that warned viewers about its graphic content.
This Signpost "Featured content" report covers material promoted from 1 December 2013 through 7 December 2013.
Featured articles
Three featured articles were promoted last week.
Home (The X-Files) (nom) by Gen. Quon. "Home", originally airing on October 11, 1996, was the first episode of The X-Files to advise viewer discretion for graphic content. Critics generally praised the disturbing plot, though some considered the violence excessive. The 2007 "pony swim" at Chincoteague, a roundup of feral horses
History of Chincoteague, Virginia (nom) by Wehwalt. Chincoteague, a town and island in Accomack County on the Eastern Shore of Virginia (US), has been a foraging ground for Native Americans and home to 17th-century European settlers, feral horses, Union sympathizers during the Civil War, and seafood and poultry industries. Today, its principal business is tourism.
Stella Gibbons (nom) by Brianboulton. Gibbons (1902) was an English author, journalist, and poet. She established her reputation with her first novel, Cold Comfort Farm (1932), which won the literary Prix Femina Étranger and has been reprinted many times. Much of her work was long out of print before a modest revival in the 21st century.
Featured lists
One featured list was promoted last week.
List of chief ministers from the Bharatiya Janata Party (nom) by Vibhijain The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is one of the two major parties in the political system of the Republic of India, the other being the Indian National Congress. As of August 2013, 29 BJP leaders have held the position of a chief minister, out of which four are incumbent.
Lyme Park house (nom, related article) created and nominated by Julie Anne Workman. This estate is located south of Disley, Cheshire. It is managed by the National Trust and consists of a mansion house surrounded by formal gardens in a deer park in the Peak District National Park. The house is the largest in Cheshire and is designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building.
Aplysina archeri (nom, related article) by Nick Hobgood and nominated by Mediran. This sponge is a species of tube sponge that has long tube-like structures of cylindrical shape. Many tubes are attached to one particular part of an organism. A single tube can go up to 5 feet high and 3 inches thick.
The Ninth Wave (nom, related article) by Hovhannes Aivazovsky and nominated by Proudbolsahye. This painting is arguably the most impressive and well-known painting by Russian-Armenian marine painter Ivan Aviazovsky. It depicts a sea after a night storm and people facing death attempting to save themselves by clinging to debris from a wrecked ship.
Emily Batty (nom, related article) by Adam Morka and nominated by Keraunoscopia. This Canadian cross-county mountain biker started racing in 1999 and raced in the Canada Cup Series by 2001. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she competed with a broken collar bone and bruised shoulders in the Women's cross-country at Hadleigh Farm, finishing in 24th place.
Wheat Field with Cypresses (nom, related article) by Vincent van Gogh and nominated by Planet Herald. This is one of three similar oil paintings by Vincent Van Gogh as part of his wheat field series. It was executed at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole mental asylum at Saint-Rémy near Arles, France, where Van Gogh was voluntarily a patient from May 1889 to May 1890.
Disclaimer: Summaries on this page borrow shamelessly from the articles cited; see the article histories for attribution.
New featured picture ... Bury Parish Church, Saint Mary the Virgin, UK
On 6 December, the latest version of the MediaWiki software was released. In development from March through October 2013, the release featured anti-spam and counter-vandalism improvements. The patrolling interface has been overhauled, and an extension designed to thwart basic spambots, SimpleAntiSpam, is now part of the core software. Other editing improvements include showing "(no difference)" when viewing a diff with no visible changes, and a confirmation message that lets editors know that their edit was saved. The ability to install some extensions using PHP's dependency manager, Composer, was also added.
The release was delayed by a week while it was debated whether to re-add to the signup page interface messages that had previously been removed. While the messages were eventually re-added, they will be blanked on all Wikimedia wikis and possibly protected (bugzilla:56455#c44).
Not all fixes may have gone live to WMF sites at the time of writing; some may not be scheduled to go live for several weeks.
Engineering report published: The November 2013 report covering the Wikimedia Foundation's engineering activities has been published onwiki (blog version), and in summary form.
CirrusSearch, the new search backend, is being re-enabled on sites that formerly had it. Users are encouraged to test the new backend by adding the url parameter "srbackend=CirrusSearch" when searching or by enabling a Beta Feature.
A bug with the Wikidata property parser function not working was found. It is being tracked as bug 58099.
A legend explaining the "N", "m", "b" and "!" indicators on Special:RecentChanges and Special:Watchlist was added. It can be seen on MediaWiki.org, and will be deployed with the 1.23wmf6 branch. This feature was inspired by one on the Russian Wikipedia.
A bug which overcounted page views since July was discovered. A report has been published by Erik Zachte analyzing the trend after the data was corrected.
An initial alpha release of the Flow discussion system was deployed to a few pages on mediawiki.org. You can test it on mw:Talk:Sandbox, and give feedback at mw:Talk:Flow.
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