Jimbo Wales this week added a new criterion to the speedy deletion criteria. This new rule allows images without proper source information to be deleted after 7 days.
The full text is as follows:
Jimbo said on his user talk page, "I am hopeful that a major push to sort through these two categories with an aim of eliminating everything in them can be completed in two weeks. If this policy change isn't enough to change the direction on these issues dramatically, we'll have to take some further steps to disallow uploads except to people who have somehow earned the right."
The numerous images uploaded without source information, usually by anonymous or new users, have created a complex legal situation for Wikipedia; the material itself is often a copyright violation.
The decision was not without controversy. A few users complained that those deleting images failed to give warning before they were deleted. However, Nv8200p noted, "Images should not have been uploaded in the first place with the proper tag. The instructions on the upload page are quite clear."
Jimbo later clarified, "In general I agree that users should be warned first, this is why there's a 7 day rule on these. But the simple sad fact is that many of these images are months or years old and nothing has ever been done about them."
A chat with the elected Arbitrators
6 February 2006
Jimbo Wales appoints 11 arbitrators, increases committee size
23 January 2006
Arbitration Committee elections continue; ArbCom member resigns
16 January 2006
ArbCom candidates (part two)
9 January 2006
ArbCom candidates
2 January 2006
Straw poll closes
19 December 2005
Jimbo starts new poll regarding election
5 December 2005
Last chance to run for ArbCom
28 November 2005
ArbCom voting process
14 November 2005
ArbCom duties and requirements
7 November 2005
A closer look: the calls for reform of the ArbCom
31 October 2005
A look back: the 2004 ArbCom elections
24 October 2005
Current ArbCom members
17 October 2005
Criticism of the ArbCom
10 October 2005
About the Arbitration process
3 October 2005
The history of the Arbitration Committee
26 September 2005
Introduction to a special series: A look at the upcoming Arbitration Committee elections
19 September 2005
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A chat with the elected Arbitrators |
Less than three months from today, the Wikipedia community will come together and begin a major event that will shape the Wikipedia for months to come. Eight seats of the Arbitration Committee are up for election, with at least one incumbent member not returning. The Signpost will delve into the issues surrounding this election in a special series.
This week, the Wikipedia Signpost begins a special series documenting the Wikipedia Arbitration Committee and the upcoming 2005 ArbCom elections. The series will document everything from the history of the arbitration committee, the current members, the voting procedure for the upcoming elections, and will culminate in the end of December with the results of the elections.
The Signpost, established in January 2005, has been dedicated to bringing the news of Wikipedia to the dedicated Wikipedians who make this great encyclopedia possible. The elections will mark the first major event to occur while the Signpost is under press, and accordingly, we will offer unprecedented and comprehensive coverage of the election. In addition, we will take a closer look at the history of the Arbitration Committee, at how the need arose for a "judicial branch", and the current operations of the committee. We will offer a perspective from those criticizing the Arbitration Committee, and the flaws some have pointed out. However, we will also document the strides the ArbCom has made, and the progress and innovation it has brought to Wikipedia.
Besides looking at the actual ArbCom, the Signpost will also report on the elections process, the voting techniques used, the significant debate over elections rules and guidelines, and the candidates and current ArbCom members. We will also examine previous elections, especially the 2004 ArbCom elections, and analyze the significance. Once the voting has opened, we will offer reliable coverage of all the events of the week, and the Signpost will also summarize the debate and discussion that is sure to come.
The Wikipedia Signpost hopes that this comprehensive series will help make the Wikipedia community more informed, and we also hope that our coverage will be fair, unbiased, and extensive. On that note, the Signpost is proud to launch the special series on the 2005 Arbitration Committee elections.
Next week — The history of the Arbitration Committee
After tensions grew high last month, a new group was formed within Wikipedia to promote Wiki-Love and community relations. Esperanza, coming from the Spanish word for hope, is "dedicated to strengthening Wikipedia's sense of community". The group was founded by JCarriker, who saw a need for such an organization. "Esperanza is unique... [It] should complement existing insitutions by providing services that they do not. Esperanza will be like Wikipedia's soul... seeking to comfort and maintain its various parts (users)," he said in a statement on the Esperanza page.
The idea immediately proved popular, with several users now including links to the organization in their user signatures. Over 48 Wikipedians have signed up, with positive input. "This is a entirely great idea," Bratsche commented. Echoing those lines, Tim Rhymeless said, "I'd be happy to see Wikipedia, as a community, grow and strengthen [because of Esperanza]."
However, there were also signs of disapproval. Gadfium stated, "I think this is a bad idea. Wikipedia does not need a cabal." In addition, several users were unhappy with the proposed governing organization. The current structure consists of a drafting committee, comprised of JCarriker and Redwolf24, and a provisional government of 15 members, which was filled on a first-come, first-serve basis. Thus, many users were displeased with the current bureaucracy-like power structure. As a response, a message was posted on the Esperanza page, stating that "One of the most brought up reasons for not joining Esperanza is that there's too much bureaucracy. Please note that most of the government things are for fun- it's not really a true authority."
There were many ideas for Esperanza, and all of them are undergoing discussion. One proposal was for a Wikipedian of the Week; however, despite strong support at first, there seemed to be recent opposition to the idea, mainly because it could turn into a "popularity contest" and that it would suggest a cabal. Another proposal was giving birthday greetings out; this also drew some opposition. In addition, an "article lottery", where one nominated article would be randomly picked to be worked on, was proposed. There were many other ideas on the discussion page, but none of them have been implemented yet.
The group has since been made less bureaucratic, leaving only an admin general and a 4 member committee acting as a high court. The parliamentary tasks will be taken care of by the group as a whole. The group currently has about 52 members.
Los Angeles, California Wikipedians are organizing a meetup on 26 September.
The Wikiversity project, which currently resides on Wikibooks, has started a vote to move to wikiversity.org, which currently hosts a near-dormant German Wikiversity project. The vote will last until 1 November.
Lexico Publishing Group, the owners of Reference.com[3], Dictionary.com, and Thesaurus.com, announced in a press release on September 15 that it has added search access to Wikipedia content to its other offerings. According to Hitwise, Wikipedia surpassed Dictionary.com as the most popular reference site for US internet surfers in late May (see earlier story). Several sources reported on the contents of the press release. [4]
However, Reference.com's version of Wikipedia is at least five months old, despite the service itself being new.
On September 17, MSNBC/Newsweek online published "Your Own World", an article from the forthcoming September 26 edition of Newsweek International Edition. In it, they discuss many aspects of the personalization of the web, and the crossover between the web and traditional media. It includes this paragraph: "Take Wikipedia.org, the online, user-generated encyclopedia. Anyone can edit a page, which could theoretically lead to total anarchy. Instead, the community of users are themselves so involved and diligent that spam or misinformation tends to come down as quickly as it goes up. Wikipedia is a nonprofit, but some venture capitalists say that the advertising potential of the site could make it a billion-dollar business (community members have thus far bucked any movement in that direction)."
As a followup to the Wikimania conference, German magazine SAP Info interviewed Jimbo Wales and Elian about how Wikipedia works, in the September 12 article "The Community is Our Editorial Board".
This week, BusinessWeek Online's Online Extra section includes an interview with web usability expert Jakob Nielsen. When asked what new technology or techniques are needed to move the Web to the next level, Nielsen referred, in part, to wikis: "We also need much better collaboration features. The Web is still very much a single-user environment. Wikis -- multi-user Web sites that can be built with many people -- are a great example of what is working. At Wikipedia [the collaborative online encyclopedia], the individual components may not be so great, but they can add up to something valuable. I think there will be many more specialized projects of a similar nature."
Wikipedia was cited in the last week in the following publications:
12 users became admins this week. Meanwhile five articles, two lists and six pictures gained featured status.
Twelve users were granted admin status this week - The Singing Badger (nom), Rx StrangeLove (nom), Lectonar (nom), Android79 (nom), Nv8200p (nom), Katefan0 (nom), dave souza (nom), Drini (nom), Nandesuka (nom), Trevor macinnis (nom), Bmicomp (nom) and Bhadani (nom). Meanwhile a discussion on inactive administrators and whether they should have their sysop status removed has begun.
On featured article candidates this week five articles were promoted - Sun Yat-sen, Blade Runner, Suburbs of Johannesburg, Bhutan and Iowa class battleship. Fractal had its featured article status removed.
There were two new featured lists this week - High Courts of India and List of particles.
There were six new featured pictures this week.
The Arbitration Committee closed two cases this week; one against Ed Poor, and another against OldRight. In addition, the Wikipedia community has banned JarlaxleArtemis, who was found to be creating a number of abusive sockpuppets.
The case against Ed Poor (user page) for "abuses of power" was closed this week, after he voluntarily resigned as a bureaucrat, while still retaining adminship. The Arbitration Committee was satisfied with this, and "closed [the case] without further comment". The dispute originally stemmed from Ed Poor's deletion of AFD (then VFD), and subsequently deleting the request for comment regarding this issue.
A dispute against OldRight (user page, also Old Right) has closed, with the user(s) being put on probation for one year. OldRight was accused of removing sourced information from articles, including The Passion of the Christ and Katherine Harris, as well as adding POV information and original research.
A case against JarlaxleArtemis (user page) is likely to close, after a checkuser operation resulted that the user had created a number of abusive nicknames attacking administrators, most notably Linuxbeak. It was suggested that JarlaxleArtemis may be related to MARMOT, a vandal that surfaced in June 2005. The Arbitration Committee has made a motion to close, which had 2 votes at press time.
Cases against -Ril- (user page), Stevertigo (user page), Rainbowwarrior1977 (user page), and an IP dubbed DotSix are in the evidence phase.
Cases against 12.144.5.2 (user page, a.k.a. Louis Epstein), Rktect (user page), DreamGuy (user page), and Ultramarine (user page) have all reached 4 or more votes, the minimum for a case to be accepted.
