Sony emails reveal corporate practices and undisclosed advocacy editing
In November 2014, confidential data from Sony Pictures Entertainment, including thousands of emails and documents, were released on the Internet. Originally attributed to North Korean hackers, the incident prompted the scuttling of the planned Christmas release of the film The Interview. The incident may have also played a role in the departure from Sony of Amy Pascal, chair of the Motion Pictures Group of Sony and one of the most powerful figures in Hollywood, and Charles Sipkins, executive vice president of communications, a person described as "a crisis PR specialist".
Trade secrets and embarrassing revelations still are emerging from the mountain of leaked data, especially after a searchable database was created by WikiLeaks on April 16. A Signpost investigation of the released data has revealed Sony's corporate practices regarding Wikipedia and uncovered what appears to be undisclosed advocacy editing of Wikipedia by Sony employees and possibly by others.
Many of the emails contain harmless or positive uses of Wikipedia. A number of the emails contain links to Wikipedia articles as background information about intellectual properties that Sony was developing or considering developing, including Golgo 13, Q*bert, and the Suicide Squad. Some emails contain nothing apart from a link to a Wikipedia article, perhaps as a reminder for future consideration. There is even a 2013 email from Sue Gardner thanking Amy Pascal for her donation to Wikipedia.
Other emails indicate that Wikipedia is a standard part of film promotion for Sony. Numerous marketing strategy documents contain the instruction "Please create a Wikipedia (or other collaborative website) page if you are able", and Wikipedia is listed on other documents as one of their "standard tactics" for social media promotion.
The emails reveal that for some movies, the marketing tactics go beyond simply starting a new page for an upcoming film. In a late January 2014 email, director and producer David O. Russell inquired about his film American Hustle: "I had asked weeks ago how the wiki page is looking. Can anyone please tell me ? It can be maintained." A Sony employee responded with a list of changes made to the articles for Russell and the film, with special attention to awards nominations. (Hustle had been nominated for ten Academy Awards earlier that month but would receive no wins at the 86th Academy Awards in March.) The changes listed in the email coincide with a number of December 2013 edits from the IP address 172.248.119.172, which originates from Marina Del Rey, California—a short distance from Sony's headquarters in Culver City, California. The employee also complained that editing these articles is "not an easy task ... our changes are instantly changed back by the Wikipedia editors."
| “ | I have to mention, that it's not an easy task because several times our changes are instantly changed back by the Wikipedia editors. | ” |
| — A Sony employee, February 1, 2014 | ||
Sony employees also turned their attention to Wikipedia articles about Sony executives. In an April 2014 email that was forwarded to Sony CEO Michael Lynton, a Sony employee wrote: "We edited Michael’s Wikipedia page in order to provide more complete and updated professional information and also to reflect the personal information that Michael preferred was included." This coincides with a major expansion of Lynton's article by Monstermike99. The added material is sourced and formatted properly, but it also contains promotional language and praise for Lytton's "leadership", including a paragraph that begins "Lynton and Pascal are dedicated to environmental sustainability at Sony Pictures."
Later that month, the same employee wrote an email to Amy Pascal stating: "Your official Wikipedia entry has been edited to reflect the updated biography that you recently approved." This coincides with another major expansion by OnceaMetro. Like the edits to Lytton's article, the edits are properly sourced and formatted, but contain promotional language, including the sentence, "Lynton and Pascal are dedicated to environmental sustainability at Sony Pictures."
None of the edits were accompanied by a declaration of paid editing as required by Wikipedia's terms of use. The Signpost spoke with a representative from Sony, who declined comment on this matter.
The accounts Monstermike99 and OnceaMetro continue to edit Wikipedia, including a number of articles on CEOs, hedge fund managers, and other business and finance executives. According to the editor interaction analyzer tool, articles that both accounts have edited include those on investor Jonathan M. Nelson, Time Warner CEO Steve Ross, and hedge fund manager Steven A. Cohen. A former Sony vice president founded an eponymous company in January that refers to itself as "a corporate, crisis and financial communications firm." The firm's public client list includes News Corporation, Yahoo!, and The Chernin Group. The founder and CEO of this firm did not return a request for comment from the Signpost by press time.
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UK political editing; hoaxes; net neutrality
UK political editing
Wikipedia appears to have been drawn into the drama of the upcoming (May 7), hotly contested UK general election.
On April 21, The Guardian, a centrist, liberal newspaper, reported that British Conservative Party co-chairman Grant Shapps had been "accused of editing Wikipedia pages of Tory rivals", using Wikipedia account Contribsx:
| “ | Wikipedia has blocked a user account on suspicions that it is being used by the Conservative party chairman, Grant Shapps, "or someone acting on his behalf" to edit his own page along with the entries of Tory rivals and political opponents. | ” |
The story was soon picked up by the Daily Mail, channel4.com and many others. The following day (April 22) the Liberal Democrats' Nick Clegg was reported in The Guardian to have made political capital of Shapps' embarrassment:
| “ | Nick Clegg has mocked Grant Shapps after Wikipedia blocked a user account over suspicions that it is being used by the Conservative party chairman “or someone acting on his behalf” to edit his own page and those of rivals.
The deputy prime minister said he believed Shapps’s denials but then suggested the contested account going by the name of “Contribsx” could have been run by Michael Green—the alter ego used by Shapps to write a series of get-rich-quick guides. |
” |
Hours later though, conservative The Daily Telegraph shot back, alleging that the administrator who had accused the Tory co-chairman of deceptive Wikipedia editing and blocked the account—Wikimedia UK employee and former Wikipedia arbitrator Chase me ladies, I'm the Cavalry, Richard Symonds—is a committed Liberal Democrat activist, as indeed are several of his Wikimedia UK colleagues. (Symonds denied the personal accusation in a subsequent Guardian interview.)
On Wikipedia itself, Risker had requested an arbitration case by that time. Within less than a day, this request reached ten accepts and one recuse, making an arbitration case inevitable. The arbitration case request was the subject of a report in the International Business Times on April 22. The case has now been opened. It will be held entirely in camera, with email evidence submissions accepted until 7 May (the date of the UK election).
Dan Murphy of The Christian Science Monitor, commenting on the story from the other side of the Atlantic, looked at the bigger picture (April 22), focusing on Wikipedia's susceptibility to spin from all sides in an article titled "Did leading UK politician edit his Wikipedia page? Possibly, but the problem goes deeper."
Shapps has forcefully denied the claims that he or someone authorised by him was behind the account's edits, telling the BBC on April 22 that the allegations were "categorically false and defamatory. It is the most bonkers story I've seen in this election campaign so far."
Shapps's past (acknowledged) Wikipedia editing had previously attracted The Guardian's attention in 2012 (see previous Signpost coverage). Media interest in the story shows no sign of abating, with the Daily Mail and The Times publishing articles in the small hours of April 23: "Wikipedia official who accused Shapps is a Lib Dem: Online administrator once described himself as 'Liberal Democrat to the last'", "Lib Dem behind Wikipedia meddling claims". City A.M. then reported that the "Lib Dems deny involvement in Grant Shapps Wikipedia case" and The Conversation followed a few hours later with a piece by Dr. Taha Yasseri, who identified himself on Chase me's talk page as a former Wikipedia administrator and checkuser, writing that "Wikipedia sockpuppetry is a problem, but baseless accusations are no better". A.K.
Wikipedia hoaxes
The Washington Post and The Daily Telegraph both ran stories on Wikipedia hoaxes last week.
The Telegraph's Jamie Bartlett asked, "How much should we trust Wikipedia?" (April 16), noting that a hoax made up by a friend about the origin of the butterfly swimming stroke had recently come to be quoted in a reputable newspaper (the Guardian, as Ianmacm pointed out in the discussion on Jimmy Wales' talk page).
The Washington Post's Caitlin Dewey provided another in-depth write-up of the Jar'Edo Wens hoax (April 15, see previous Signpost coverage) along with coverage of a recent breaching experiment by Gregory Kohs of Wikipediocracy and MyWikiBiz.
Dewey thinks there is a numbers problem at the core of Wikipedia:
| “ | There are 4.8 million pages on the site’s English version, but only 12,000 veteran editors. That works out to roughly 400 pages per volunteer—far more than at any other time in the site’s history. [...] The site’s editor base has atrophied since 2007, and today’s editors are largely young, white, Western men. It’s no coincidence that, in Kohs’s vandalism experiment, an error on an obscure New York canal was corrected, while lies about Ecuadorian customs, Indian legends and Japanese history were not. Likewise the Wiki-troll Jagged85, who meddled with articles about Islamic history for years; it was only when he messed with a video game page that he finally got kicked off. A.K. | ” |
For more Signpost coverage on hoaxes see our Hoaxes series.
Wikimedia: violating net neutrality?
IBNLive wonders about "Wikipedia Zero: Is Wikimedia violating net neutrality in 59 countries?" (April 17).
| “ | Wikipedia Zero has been launched in 59 countries with 67 operators and Wikimedia estimates that "400 million people can now access Wikipedia free of data charges." This might appear to be incongruent with Wikimedia's public positioning as a supporter of net neutrality. "We support net neutrality, and believe it is crucial for a healthy, free, and open Internet," a post on the official Wikimedia blog says. In its defence, Wikimedia distinguishes its zero-rating program as non-commercial and highlights its operating principles that prohibit any exchange of payment and exclusivity. [...] These principles, according to Wikimedia, "are designed to balance the social impact of the program with Wikimedia's other values, including our commitment to net neutrality." The foundation says that it sees free access to resources such as Wikipedia as a "social justice issue," and "it is absolutely in the interests of the public to use the Internet to provide free access to education, knowledge, medical information, or other public services." Wikimedia believes that Wikipedia Zero can serve as a model for others to follow. Mark Zuckerberg also echoes similar sentiments, "net neutrality is not in conflict with working to get more people connected. These two principles—universal connectivity and net neutrality—can and must coexist," he says. |
” |
This discussion comes in the context of a major Indian net neutrality campaign that has seen Mark Zuckerberg embattled in India, and which has led to widespread condemnation of zero-rated services such as Airtel Zero and Facebook's Internet.org. Internet.org generally includes free Wikipedia access—although not under the official Wikipedia Zero umbrella.
Even so, Wikipedia Zero has had its share of mentions in the context of this debate. DNA India for example listed Wikipedia Zero among services flouting net neutrality in its piece "Net Neutrality: Whose internet is it anyway?" (April 19):
| “ | The principle of net neutrality means allowing equal access to every website or app by an internet service provider (ISP). The term was coined by American academic Tim Wu in 2003, and gained wide recognition in the debate in the US that unfolded with service provider Comcast throttling traffic at BitTorrent. This ensued in the decision taken by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to have an open internet in 2010. In India, without a debate, the issue of net neutrality has been widely flouted by ISPs over the years. ISPs routinely offer preferential services to bigger organisations in tie-ups. Some examples include Facebook's Internet.org, Aircel's Wikipedia Zero and its free access to Facebook and WhatsApp, Airtel's free access to Google, and Reliance's free access to Twitter. | ” |
The Indian Express, too, criticised Wikipedia Zero when it commented that "Not just Airtel Zero: Facebook to WhatsApp, everyone has violated Net Neutrality in India" (April 14):
| “ | Aircel and Wikipedia: In 2013, Aircel had announced that it will offer free access to Wikipedia on mobile phones. The partnership is currently valid for 3 years.
Wikipedia might be an instant go to for many of us, but that still doesn't justify why it should be free of charge on a particular network, when accessing other sites means incurring data charges for users. |
” |
| “ | Indian journalist Nikhil Pahwa has responded to Zuckerberg's editorial, by pointing out research after research that shows zero services around the world universally tend to do badly for the people who use them. It all seems to amount to economic racism—exploiting the poor in under-developed parts of the world to become your customers under the guise of some apparent charitable purpose. While offering them a shoddy, stunted version of the real thing. As Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of payments app PayTM, puts it: "It's poor internet for poor people".
In perfect irony, Zuckerberg talks about seeing the wonder of a kid in a remote Indian village discovering the power of the internet. The upshot being that if Zuckerberg—himself a child prodigy—ever was brought up on internet.org, he couldn't have ever built a Facebook. |
” |
India's savetheinternet campaign for net neutrality had by April 20 resulted in close to one million emails from Indian citizens to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
The campaign was galvanised by a YouTube video made by Indian stand-up comics collective AIB. The video, which encourages viewers to write to TRAI demanding strict adherence to the net neutrality principle, has to date received over 2.5 million views. A.K.
In brief
- Fight over monkey image continues: Amateur Photographer reports (April 21) that David Slater, whose photography project in Sulawesi resulted in the famous "monkey selfie" that made headlines last year, will initially focus on pursuing infringers in the UK, having been warned that court action in the United States could be prohibitively expensive. Slater was quoted as saying, "Trust me, I am trying my best to pursue this matter, if not for me then for the benefit of the photographic community. One thing seems certain—photographers will have their online images stolen often in the coming years. If they fail to serve justice, high-profile cases like mine will only promote even more theft, especially from the US." There was no comment from the Wikimedia Foundation on the matter. A.K.
- Big Think: In a "Big Think" video (uploaded April 10), Harvard law professor Jonathan Zittrain talks about "Why Wikipedia Works Really Well in Practice, Just Not in Theory", and discusses an idea to deal with Wikipedia's shortage of good-faith editors: significantly expanding Wikipedia's population of student editors. A.K.
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Call for candidates as the movement approaches the Wikimedia Board elections
Affiliations Committee launches referral for comment on user-group application procedures
The Affiliates Committee this week announced the organization of a community referral for comment, currently open on the meta-wiki, to address upcoming changes to the way that the Affiliations Committee will review movement-affiliated user-groups in the future.
The Affiliations Committee was established on January 15, 2006 by a resolution by the Board of Trustees under its former name, the "Chapters Committee", a board-responsible group whose original mandate was the coordination and organization of the officially legally recognized movement-affiliated chapters, then at an early stage of organization. Following extensive community, Foundation, and Board dialog in 2012 through 2013 on the role that chapters and local affiliates play in the movement, AffCom's scope was expanded to include newly created "user-groups", small and flexible local organizations that need not be incorporated, and thematic organizations, sub-national organizations covering specific topic areas.
There is only one thematic organization at this time, the Amical Wikimedia project, which covers Catalan language and culture. With small start-up requirements, no need for expensive incorporation, and a great deal of organizational flexibility, the growth in the number of user groups, on the other hand, has been explosive—there are currently 31 recognized user groups, joining 41 (far larger and almost mostly older) Wikimedia chapters. Dealing with this influx has been a primary concern of AffCom for some time now: the affiliation procedure used for early user groups was adapted from the one used for chapters, but since the expansion of AffCom's scope it has twice found reason to modify the approval process for the purposes of simplicity and expediency.
This third round of modifications follows along much the same line of thought. The current requirements are: three active Wikimedian editors; information about the groups is published somewhere on-wiki; a "clear purpose and scope", subject to definition by the committee, as well as "clarity on structure"; and the presence of two "contact people" for association with the Foundation. Proposed user groups fill out applications and are assigned committee liaisons who review applications, vet requirements, and then issue approval on the part of the committee—or, if there are irresolvable issues in the application, a denial, something that has so far happened only extremely rarely.
There are now just two requirements: three or more active Wikimedians (defined as having made 10 edits within the previous 12 months) and agreement with a new user-group code of conduct, drafted with assistance from the Foundation's Legal and Community Advocacy department. User groups will now apply using a simple form, a mock-up of which is presented in the RfC. Review will continue to be the purview of two liaisons, but instead of explicitly assigning two committee members to the task, approvals from any two members of the committee will now trigger total committee approval. As the RfC states, "Committee and Foundation staff can watch applications and raise objections, but the aim is to approve the group after a 48 hour waiting period." This is down from a current projected wait time of 2–4 weeks.
More details on why AffCom is seeking community input on this decision is available in an FAQ put together by the committee in support of the process, a document that is likely to be of particular interest to current user groups, which will, pending 30 days in which they may object, automatically be rolled over to the new requirements and procedures schema. Reiterating a theme that has become refreshingly common across the movement (see this month's "State of the Wikimedia Foundation" report), the Affiliations Committee stated that the RfC signals they are "committed to the effort to increase dialogue between the community and Wikimedia Foundation entities. The committee maintains open dialogue with the community at all times, and these changes have been made largely based on that dialogue." R
Still more high-level organizational changes at the Wikimedia Foundation
Executive director Lila Tretikov laid out further high-level changes at the WMF in a lengthy post on the mailing list this week, reproduced in full below:
Dear Wikimedians,
Today we had a meeting at the Foundation to announce changes in our Product and Engineering team structure. They represent the outcome of many conversations with people from across the Wikimedia community and within the Foundation. These changes will organize our teams around the needs of people they serve, and empower them to focus deeply on their audiences to deliver great outcomes.
We’re bringing together our Product and Engineering departments to form new audience teams, reporting to Damon Sicore, our VP of Engineering. We’re grouping core research, architecture, performance, and security functions together, and will begin the search for a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to lead our engineering future. And we’re integrating support for Community Engineering into the broader Community Engagement team. These changes are effective today.
Earlier this year we set out some goals for our work at the Foundation, described in our Call to Action for 2015. These goals came out of conversations with you, and with Foundation staff. You’ll see that the first thing we identified was the need to improve our technology and execution. These goals focused on defining commitments, data-driven decision making, support for community engineering requests, and a commitment to engineering leadership.
The new changes reflect these commitments. We have organized our product engineering around six teams each with unique audiences. This includes a Community Tech team dedicated to supporting tools for core contributors, as well as teams for Editing, Reading, Search & Discovery, Infrastructure, and Fundraising Tech.
In particular, I wanted to share more about the plans for the Community Tech team. The creation of this team is a direct response to community requests for more technical support. Their mission is to understand and support the technical needs of core contributors, including improved support for expert-focused curation and moderation tools, bots, and other features. Their mandate is to work closely with you, and the Community Engagement department, to define their roadmap and deliverables. We are hiring for a leader for this team, as well as additional engineers. We will be looking within our communities to help. Until then, it will be incubated under Toby Negrin, with support from Community Engagement.
We’re also committed to our long-term technology future. A new CTO will support teams and functions dedicated to performance, architecture, security, privacy, structured data, user experience, and research. Their mandate is to keep Wikimedia fast, reliable, stable, and secure -- and to support the Engineering team in their development of excellent products and features.
You may notice there is no standalone Product department. We are moving away from a matrix management structure. Instead, product managers, designers, analysts, engineers, and others working together will report to the same manager, who will report through to the VP of Engineering. This is because we believe that everyone is responsible for user experience and each team is ultimately responsible for delivering on the product vision and a roadmap. It also gives teams ability to make decisions that are best for their audiences, based on their user’s feedback. This represents a maturation of our organization and processes, and will give each new teams more focus, dedicated focus, and more support.
I want to thank everyone who has worked so hard to bring this new structure together. Thank you to everyone in the community, for being thoughtful and honest with your needs, criticisms and encouragements. Thank you to our engineers, designers, researchers, and product managers, who have given us extensive feedback about what works best for you. Thank you to our new team managers and leads for stepping up into new roles. And thank you to Erik and Damon, who have worked closely for many months to make this happen.
You can find more information about this new structure, the new teams, their missions, and leadership, as well as other questions in a FAQ on Metawiki. We will update the Wikimedia Foundation site Staff page soon to reflect these new teams.
These changes come hot on the heels of last week's resignation of Erik Möller, long-time Wikimedian staffer and formerly executive vice president of product and strategy (and a named party in the re-organization effort).
This week in wiki-history
From the Signpost April 18, 2005 edition, "Wikimedia Foundation granted tax exemption":
The Wikimedia Foundation announced last week that it had officially been recognized as a tax-exempt charitable organization in the United States, almost two years after the Foundation was created, with the exemption being retroactive to its founding.
Foundation president Jimmy Wales reported last Saturday that he had received a letter from the IRS confirming that the Wikimedia Foundation would be considered a public charity under title 26 (Internal Revenue Code), section 501(c)(3) USC. This communication, confirming what had long been anticipated, came just over six months after submitting a final application for recognition of non-profit status.
The tax exemption will allow American taxpayers to deduct contributions to Wikimedia on their income tax returns if they itemize deductions. Since the decision is retroactive to the Wikimedia founding date of June 20, 2003, all contributions made to the Foundation since then are considered tax-deductible.
Wikimedia CFO Daniel Mayer noted that unfortunately this came one day after April 15, the deadline for people to send in their income tax returns. He indicated that the Foundation would be emailing individual donors with the information. If the donation is significant enough to justify the effort, an amendment can be filed to take advantage of the deduction for the 2003 or 2004 tax years, and obtain any return that would be due. An amendment is filed with form 1040X (pdf file).
In addition, this may make it easier for Wikimedia to find new sources of funding, since many grant-making organizations make qualification for 501(c)(3) status a requirement as part of their grant applications.
As our March 7, 2005 issue reported just before this announcement, "The Wikimedia Foundation's fundraiser for the first quarter of 2005 surpassed its goals and ended early ... with nearly US$100,000 having been raised." In 2012 the Foundation netted $25 million in just nine days, and this year's total was $58 million—just short of a 500-fold increase in the intervening decade, after adjusting for inflation. R
Brief notes
- User manipulation of revision tags forthcoming: Revision tags are a long-time software feature that automatically logs edits that match certain patterns and collects them for analysis and review. Presented in page diffs after edit summaries, examples of revision tags commonly seen on Wikipedia include "minor edit"; "bot edit"; "page blanking"; and "VisualEditor", amongst others. Currently these tags are hard-coded into the system, but this week a long-standing feature request was finally fulfilled that will allow the creation, maintenance, and application of local copies of revision tags by individual MediaWiki projects' administrators, via the new Special:Tags page. The feature will be rolled out with other software updates in the coming weeks. R
- Wikimedia France releases their partnership policy: Wikimedia France have released their partnership policy, available now on the meta-wiki in both the French original and a translated English version. In a mailing list announcement Anne-Laure Prévost, special adviser on partnerships and institutional relationships for WMFR, stated that "the objective of such a policy is to help communicate our vision of partnerships and share it with future partners and stakeholders ... [and] to clarify our scope of activity." This is the second such public release of a chapter policy by the Wikimedia France in the last month or so: as reported by the Signpost at the time, early March saw the release of a separate travel disbursement policy. Further such releases seem forthcoming: as reported in the Signpost last week, Wikimedia France is one of the six organizations whose annual plan grant is currently under community review, and one element of the organization's proposal, under the axis of "Developing international links", is "to continue its work to make [Wikimedia France's] tools available so that others can benefit from them, and to provide more consistent monitoring to take advantage of what the movement can contribute." R
- WMF finishes software security check: The Wikimedia Foundation this week announced the conclusion of a penetration test conducted in partnership with the security firm iSEC Partners, the results of which have been published on MediaWiki. The security audit was sponsored by the Open Technology Fund, "an organization established in 2012 to support freedom of information on the Internet". In summary: R
| “ | This assessment reinforced the uniqueness of the information security challenges that the WMF faces. For example, where common security guidelines recommend hiding the usernames of privileged accounts so an external attacker might not be able to target their attacks to accounts with specific privileges, the WMF relies on this type of transparency for our community to function. This means that MediaWiki truly can’t rely on any “security through obscurity” tactics, and instead must rely on strong security fundamentals. We take this challenge to do things the right way seriously, and hope to inspire other organizations to do the same. | ” |
- Help out with the GLAM newsletter: If you've got the GLAM bug, the GLAM newsletter is the paper for you. On the heels of the newsletter's fiftieth issue publication manager Romaine reached out on the foundation-l mailing list to solicit volunteers from the community interested in contributing. The newsletter was started in December 2010 by Rock drum, also formerly a oft-seen Signpost editor; a new logo idea is under discussion as well. R
- Italian Wikisource at the library: Following work by Italian Wikimedian Aubrey, the Italian Wikisource has been indexed by MediaLibrary Online, a digital library platform in use by approximately 4,000 libraries throughout Italy. R
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2015 Wikimedia Foundation election preparations underway
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 Samuel Klein (top), Phoebe Ayers (middle), and María Sefidari (bottom) |
2015 will see through the biennial community election for the three community-elected seats on the Board of Trustees—the "ultimate corporate authority" of the Wikimedia Foundation and the level at which the strategic decisions regarding the Wikimedia movement are made. This election, which last took place in August 2013, will be facilitated by a volunteer election committee, an independent body tasked with planning voting criteria, checking candidacies, drafting organizational documents, and auditing votes, the composition of which has now been solidified following a call for candidates some time ago. This week elections committee coordinator Gregory Varnum began the long election campaign with an announcement to the foundation-l mailing list stating that candidacy nominations are now open.
The elections of Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation have been held regularly since 2004, and on a biennial basis since 2009. Up to ten trustees sit on the Board at any time, divided into four groups: a founder's seat occupied by Jimbo Wales; two seats filled by chapters and thematic organizations; three filled by open community voting, per this election; and four occupied by members that the rest of the Board chooses to fulfill "necessary technical expertise". The three community-elected seats at issue in the coming elections are currently held by Samuel Klein, Phoebe Ayers, and Maria Sefidari (pictured), all of whose terms expire in July 2015.
While these elections were originally called the "Board elections" this year's election will be the second such round following the 2012 movement structure reorganization, and so, as in 2013, two other elections will be held concurrently. Five community members will be elected to the Funds Dissemination Committee, the body responsible for the review and submission of recommendations to the Board regarding applications for funds from movement affiliates to the Foundation. The FDC has nine voting members, all serving two-year terms, staggered between five community-elected members, whose seats are now up for re-election, and four members elected with FDC input by the Board of Trustees. In its foundational years the FDC originally consisted mainly of members elected through the latter category; only two community-elected members joined the committee in the 2013 election, and so this year's election will be the first one in which the full five community seats are up for grabs. As with community-elect trustees, community-elect committee personnel will serve a two-year term to expire in 2017, at which point the next election will take place.
Finally, one candidate will be selected to serve a two-year term as FDC ombudsperson. Serving as an independent regulator for the body, the ombudsperson will be responsible for receiving, publicly documenting, investigating, and reporting on complaints issues against the FDC process, as well as for the publication of an annual report, delivered to the Board of Trustees, that seeks to identify any systemic problems in the FDC process that warrant Board review. Portuguese Wikipedian Susana Morais is the current ombudsperson.
As in earlier years the elections will be held electronically using SecurePoll software. Though some analysis on voting patterns will be done as a part of the election committee's verification activities, the contents of individual votes are strictly confidential. No member of the election committee or the Board has immediate access to the votes tally, as the responsible encryption key is being held by "an independent third party" and will not be used until after the election is concluded. The votes will be tallied and the candidates with the highest rank in terms of percentage of support votes—calculated as the number of support votes over the combined total of supports and opposes—will be recommended to the Board for appointment.
In his announcement to the mailing list, elections committee coordinator Gregory Varnum stated that this year the Board and the FDC staff "are looking for a diverse set of candidates from regions and projects that are traditionally under-represented on the board and in the movement as well as candidates with experience in technology, product or finance." The two committees have jointly published a pair of letters to this effect, outlining more precisely the candidates that the bodies hope to attract (though whether or not the desired candidates will be elected is the onus of the community). Also to this effect this year the election committee is also accepting community nominations for nominees, whom the election committee will directly contact with further information on how they can run. Varnum states that this came about from the revelation that "those who know the community the best are the community themselves", and it represents a significant step forward in terms of the provocativeness with which the election is organized—and likely a necessary one, given the last election's unexpectedly low voter turnout.
The candidacy submissions phase of the voting will last from April 20 to May 5 for Board nominees, and from April 20 to April 30 for both the FDC and FDC ombudsperson nominees. Voting is scheduled to take place from 17 to 31 May 2015; the election committee will announce the results on or before 5 June 2015, at which time the voting results will also be analyzed and made available for review.
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Vanguard on guard
Featured articles
Six featured articles were promoted this week.
- The Tower House (nominated by Dr. Blofeld, KJP1, and Gareth E Kegg) The Tower House in Holland Park, London, was the home of the architect and designer William Burges. He is regarded as one of the greatest of the Victorian "art-architects", with a short but illustrious career beginning in 1863. By 1875, Burges was no longer receiving major commissions, and the Tower House was his last significant work. It was described by the architectural historian J. Mordaunt Crook as "the most complete example of a medieval secular interior produced by the Gothic Revival, and the last". The house is built of red brick, with Bath stone dressings and green roof slates from Cumberland, and is named after its distinctive cylindrical tower with a conical roof. The ground floor contains a drawing room, a dining room, and a library, while the first floor has two bedrooms and an armoury. It has not always been as protected as it ought; from 1962 to 1966 it stood empty and suffered vandalism and neglect. A survey of the house undertaken in January 1965 revealed that the exterior stonework was badly decayed, dry rot had eaten through the roof and the structural floor timbers, and the attics were infested with pigeons. Vandals had stripped the lead from the water tanks and had damaged the mirrors, fireplaces, and carving work. The most notable loss was the theft of the carved figure of Fame from the dining room chimneypiece. The house was later owned by the actor Richard Harris, followed by Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, both of whom had restoration work carried out.
- HMS Illustrious (nominated by Sturmvogel 66) HMS Illustrious (87) was a British Royal Navy aircraft carrier, launched in April 1939 and scrapped in 1957. She participated in the Battle of Taranto in 1940 when her aircraft sank one Italian battleship and badly damaged two others. The completion of Illustrious was delayed by two months to fit her with a Type 79Z early-warning radar; she was the first aircraft carrier in the world to be fitted with radar before completion. The main armament of the Illustrious class consisted of sixteen quick-firing (QF) 4.5-inch (110 mm) dual-purpose guns in eight twin-gun turrets, four on each side of the hull in sponsons.
- Blackrock (film) (nominated by Freikorp) Blackrock is a 1997 Australian film about the rape and murder of a young girl after a party in Blackrock, a fictional "Australian beachside working-class suburb". The film follows Jared, a young surfer who witnesses his friends raping a girl. When she is found murdered the next day, Jared is torn between revealing what he saw and protecting his friends. The movie was based on the murder of Leigh Leigh, a 14-year-old girl from the east coast of Australia who was murdered in 1989. Twenty detectives, led by Detective Sergeant Lance Chaffey, were originally assigned to the case. An 18-year-old pleaded guilty to her murder and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. A truly sad case. (In happier news, or perhaps additional sad news, Blackrock features the first credited film performance of the late Heath Ledger.)
- 2014 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final (nominated by Cptnono) The 2014 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final was played on September 6, 2014, at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania. The match determined the winner of that year's U.S. Open Cup, an annual American soccer competition open to all United States Soccer Federation-affiliated teams, from amateur adult club teams to the professional clubs of Major League Soccer (MLS). The 2014 competition was the 101st edition of the oldest soccer tournament in the United States.
- Love It to Death (nominated by Curly Turkey) Love It to Death, released in 1971, is the third album by the American rock band Alice Cooper (not to be confused with the lead singer of the band, whose name was also Alice Cooper). The original album cover featured the band's lead singer posed with his thumb protruding so it appeared to be his penis; Warner Bros. soon replaced it with a censored version. The band had taken the name Alice Cooper in 1968 and became known for its outrageous theatrical live shows. The loose, psychedelic freak rock of its first two albums failed to find an audience. The Love It to Death tour featured an elaborate shock rock live show: during "Ballad of Dwight Fry"—about an inmate in an insane asylum—Cooper would be dragged offstage and return in a straitjacket, and the show climaxed with Cooper's mock execution in a prop electric chair during "Black Juju".
Roses, my Emperor? Wow! you have brought us exceedingly many!
Bugger it! Crushed beneath! Help! I will die! (Now I'm dead.)
Featured pictures
Fifteen featured pictures were promoted this week.
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- The Resurrection (created by Cecco del Caravaggio, nominated by Crisco 1492) The Resurrection is one of Caravaggio's most notable works. The angel is surely into heavy weightlifting, throwing around soldiers and stones like that.... The painting is part of the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Dating from 1619, it was originally intended for the private devotions of the Tuscan ambassador to Rome at his private chapel in Florence. It depicts the Resurrection of Christ, the moment described in the Gospel of Matthew 28:2: There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow ...
- A Session of the Painting Jury (created by Henri Gervex, nominated by SchroCat) A Session of the Painting Jury is an 1885 painting by Henri Gervex depicting a meeting of the Paris Salon in 1883; several identifiable artists are voting on which pictures should be exhibited. This painting itself was exhibited in the Salon in 1885 and was acquired by Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau, a future French Prime Minister; he later gifted it to the state.
- Dusky lory (created and nominated by Crisco 1492) Dusky lory (Pseudeos fuscata), Gembira Loka Zoo, located in the Yogyakarta Special Region in Java, Indonesia. One thing that regular readers of the Signpost can all agree on is that Chris Woodrich contributes a great number of wonderful images. He has done it once again with this beautiful photo of a dusky lory at the Gembira Loka Zoo, a botanical garden, orchid nursery, artificial lake, and park housing a collection of more than 470 animals. The dusky lory is a monotypic species of parrot in the Psittaculidae family, and the only species of the genus Pseudeos. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, unless a cracker empire allows them to live in opulence due to a radical increase in global cracker demand and low-cost imports from China.
- Danish West Indian daler (created by the Kingdom of Denmark for the Danish West Indies. From the National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution; prepared and nominated by Godot13) The Danish West Indies 10 daler gold coin was struck only in 1904, and only 2,005 were produced. Talk about a rare coin. The daler as a unit of currency had replaced the rigsdaler in 1849. No subdivisions of the daler were issued until 1859, when coins denominated in cents were introduced.
- The Roses of Heliogabalus (created by Lawrence Alma-Tadema, nominated by Brandmeister) The Roses of Heliogabalus was painted by the Anglo-Dutch artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema in 1888, based on a probably invented episode in the Augustan History from the life of the third-century Roman emperor Heliogabalus. The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy summer exhibition in 1888. It is currently owned by the Spanish billionaire businessman and art collector Juan Antonio Pérez Simón, who has it regularly checked for black spot.
- Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (created by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, nominated by Crisco 1492) This is a scene from a public performance in the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain Open Air Theatre in Lijiang, Yunnan. Nakhi people are seen carrying the typical baskets of the region. This photo achieved third place in the Wikimedia Commons 2014 Picture of the Year contest (see previous Signpost coverage).
- Marktplatz of Schwäbisch Hall (created and nominated by Petar Milošević) Schwäbisch Hall is a town in the German state of Baden-Württemberg and capital of the district of Schwäbisch Hall. The town is located in the valley of the Kocher in the northeastern part of Baden-Württemberg. Schwäbisch Hall has a mix of historic buildings and modern buildings. Salt was distilled here by the Celts on the site of Schwäbisch Hall as early as the fifth century, leading inevitably and inexorably to the "Dusty Cracker Empire" as we know it today. "Pardon me, but would you have any Dusty Crackers to go with that Grey Poupon…"
- A Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling (created by Hans Holbein the Younger, nominated by SchroCat) A Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling (1526–1528) by Hans Holbein the Younger was painted during Holbein's first visit to Britain. The sitter was unidentified for years, although now it is thought to be Anne Lovell, the wife of Francis Lovell of East Harling, a squire to Henry VIII. The painting was acquired in 1992 by the National Gallery in London, which considers it to be "a wonderfully preserved example of Holbein's art at its most evocative".
- Augusta Savage (unknown creator, owned by Harmon Foundation / NARA, nominated by Yann) Born 1892 in Green Cove Springs, Florida, Augusta Savage was an African-American sculptor. She began making clay figures as a child, mostly small animals, but her father would beat her whenever he found her figures. He believed sculpture to be a sinful practice, because of the prohibition of "graven images" in the Bible. After the family moved to West Palm Beach, she sculpted a figure of the Virgin Mary. Upon seeing it, her father changed his mind, and her talent became recognised and encouraged. She moved to Paris in 1929 to study, and returned to the US in 1931. Her sculpture is described as "realistic, expressive, and sensitive"- Savage modelled in clay and plaster, but could rarely afford to have her work cast in bronze. She had considerable success as a teacher, opening "her studio to anyone who wanted to paint, draw, or sculpt." Savage opened two galleries, whose shows were well attended and well reviewed, but few sales resulted, and the galleries closed. Deeply depressed by the financial struggle, she gave up sculpting in 1945. In the 1940s Savage moved to a farm in Saugerties (near Woodstock, New York), where she stayed until 1960.
- Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend (after Godfrey Kneller; nominated by Crisco 1492) Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend (1674–1738) was a British Whig statesman. He served for a decade as Secretary of State, directing British foreign policy. He was often known as Turnip Townshend because of his strong interest in farming turnips and his role in the British agricultural revolution.
- Flower Still Life (created by Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, nominated by Hafspajen) This is one of many exquisitely detailed paintings of flowers by Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, a highly successful still life painter of the Dutch Golden Age. When tulips became a luxury item, a profusion of varieties followed, like the ones in the painting, white and yellow with red stripes. These paintings are valuable as historic documents for botanical purposes, since the flowers are depicted with great accuracy. Centuries later, Tiny Tim, who had a daughter named Tulip, would again bring tulips to the attention of the global public with his song "Tiptoe Through the Tulips". The popular song was originally published in 1929, but Tiny Tim's version, with his ukulele, stands as truly unique.
- HMS Vanguard (created by CPOA(Phot) Tam McDonald, nominated by TomStar81) Getting tired of motorboating? We have just the aquatic vehicle for you, assuming you're the Queen of England or one of Her Brittanic Majesty's close friends. The Royal Navy ballistic missile submarine HMS Vanguard is seen here as she returns from a patrol to Faslane in November 2010. Introduced in 1994, the Vanguard-class submarines are armed with up to 16 UGM-133 Trident II missiles. Considered a war machine that you simply don't want to mess with, unless you're Scottish and just want the English to move them to Portsmouth or Croydon or anywhere well south of the border.
- Summer Evening on Skagen's Southern Beach (created by P.S. Krøyer, nominated by Hafspajen) Summer evening on Skagen's Beach. Anna Ancher and Marie Krøyer walking together. is an 1893 painting by Peder Severin Krøyer, it is considered as one of his masterpieces. Krøyer was one of the most notable members of the Danish artistic community known as the Skagen Painters. The work shows the painter Anna Ancher and Marie Krøyer, the artist's wife, strolling on Skagen's southern beach. P.S. Krøyer started painting in Skagen in the summer of 1882 and settled there permanently in 1889, after marrying Marie Triepcke. He became the central member of the group.
- Mehmed IV (created by a unknown artist, nominated by Crisco 1492 ) After he took the throne at age six, Sultan Mehmed IV's reign was significant as he changed the nature of the Sultan's position forever by giving up most of his executive power to his Grand Vizier. Sultan Mehmed IV was known as Avcı, "the hunter", as this outdoor exercise took up much of his time. His reign is also notable for a brief revival of Ottoman fortunes led by the Grand Vizier Mehmed Köprülü and his son Fazıl Ahmet. They regained the Aegean islands from Venice, and also won Crete, during the Cretan War (1645–1669). They also fought successful campaigns against Transylvania (1660) and Poland (1670–1674).
- Proposed design for the Susan B. Anthony dollar (created by Frank Gasparro, nominated by RHM22) Frank Gasparro's proposed obverse design for the Susan B. Anthony dollar. The Susan B. Anthony dollar was a United States dollar coin minted from 1979 to 1981, and again in 1999. Social reformer Susan B. Anthony was selected as the design subject. The reverse design of the Eisenhower dollar was kept. Both sides of the coin were designed by Frank Gasparro, the Chief Engraver of the United States Mint. This dollar coin was originally designed by Gasparro with a traditional "Liberty" design featuring an anonymous female head in profile, but a campaign to place Susan B. Anthony on the dollar prevailed, in part due to the stirring words of the League of Women Voters:
[T]he time has come, and is indeed long past, for the likeness of a prominent American woman to be placed on a denomination of U.S. currency. We believe strongly that the likeness should be that of an actual woman and not that of an imaginary or symbolic figure. Susan B. Anthony contributed immeasurably to the advancement of human dignity in this nation. It is entirely fitting and appropriate that her memory be honored through this measure.
Good articles
These sixty-four good articles were promoted between 5 to 11 April, the week covered in this Signpost. (We simply can't produce these in three days!)
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A harvest of couch potatoes
Couch potatoes rule this week, as 9 of the top 10 slots were taken by either movies, TV, or sports. The surprising success of Furious 7 maintained its domination for the third week running, even eclipsing the return of Game of Thrones, the most popular fictional topic last year. Game of Thrones even had to compete with the première of Daredevil, the latest televisual extension of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which opened on Netflix this week to stellar reviews. Aside from the late B. R. Ambedkar, the only other intrusion of the real world into this bubble of fantasy and pop culture was the murder of Odin Lloyd, which, let's face it, has as much to do with football as it does with crime.
For the full top-25 list, see WP:TOP25. See this section for an explanation of any exclusions. For a list of the most edited articles of the week, see here.
As prepared by Serendipodous, for the week of April 12 to 18, 2015, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the most viewed pages, were:
Rank Article Class Views Image Notes 1 Daredevil (TV series) 
1,492,776 
The first of four projects started as part of a deal between Marvel Studios and Netflix, this TV series was released in its entirety on the service on April 10. It's impossible to gauge the public response to this ("ratings" don't really have meaning when applied to Netflix shows) but the critical response has been ecstatic (Rotten Tomatoes currently rates it at 97%) and if its Wikipedia position is anything to go by, the public appear to have taken to it too. 2 Furious 7
1,359,495 
"Fast and furious" pretty much sums up the seventh instalment of this long-running series, as it has managed to accrue an astonishing $1.13 billion worldwide in just its first 15 days on release, including the highest opening weekend gross ever in China. But while box office is certainly the prime mover of Wikipedia views when it comes to movies, it isn't really enough. For a movie to get this kind of attention on Wikipedia, it either needs to be controversial, like Fifty Shades of Grey or American Sniper, or genuinely beloved, like Guardians of the Galaxy. I don't know if it is too early to make the call, but Furious 7 already has an IMDB rating (one of the surest indicators of audience affection) of 7.9; to put that in perspective, a rating higher than 8 makes a film eligible for the top 250 list. 3 Game of Thrones (season 5)
1,269,257 
And it's baa-aack. The TV show that has become synonymous with the Top 25 Report aired its season première on April 12, to record ratings. I am not the world's greatest fan of Game of Thrones, but I swear, even if you thought it was televisual swill, after curating this list for three years solid you'd have the dadadadaDUM! dadadadaDUM! dadadadaDUM! crashing around your skull too. 4 Jordan Spieth 
1,210,126 
This American golfer's stellar performance in the 2015 Masters Tournament drew much attention. On April 10, Spieth broke the 36-hole Masters scoring record by posting 14-under 130 through two rounds, and on April 11 he broke the 54 hole record at the Masters by shooting a 200 total (16 under par). 5 Paul Walker
1,160,566 
Furious 7 will be the last, and definitely biggest, film of Paul Walker's career, and was completed despite his tragic death midway through production. How much of the film's current record grosses was in memoriam to a fallen star is impossible to say. 6 Aaron Hernandez
1,047,045 
What is the only thing America loves to follow more than sports stars? Disgraced sports stars. This very-quickly-former New England Patriot got similar views back in 2013 when he was only a suspect in the murder of Odin Lloyd, but shot back into the list on April 15 when he was finally convicted of first-degree murder and was handed a mandatory sentence of life in prison. 7 Game of Thrones 
974,531 See #3. 8 Daredevil (Marvel Comics)
821,055 
Stan Lee's blind vigilante got a gritty and edgy adaptation for TV this week (see #1). 9 B. R. Ambedkar
789,883 
The architect of India's Constitution and campaigner for the rights of untouchables got a Google Doodle to celebrate his 124th birthday on April 14. 10 List of Game of Thrones episodes 
692,095 Most likely people searching for air dates (see #3)..
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The bitter end
This window in the Cologne Cathedral depicts the stoning of Saint Stephen, the first martyr of Christianity, who was stoned to death for blasphemy.
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This painting by the French artist Paul Delaroche depicts the execution of Lady Jane Grey, who ruled England for nine days in 1553. A dispute over succession led to the end of her rule and her eventual execution for treason the next year.
This illustration of an execution by elephant comes from the Akbarnama, the official chronicle of the reign of Akbar, the third Mughal emperor. The book and its 116 paintings by at least 49 different court artists took seven years to complete.
Scottish immigrant Alexander Gardner took numerous photographs of US President Abraham Lincoln. Here, he has captured the execution of the conspirators in Lincoln's assassination.
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