A recent invocation of the new office protection policy has attracted attention, with some questioning the process altogether.
An article on Jack Thompson, a Florida attorney who has garnered considerable criticism in gaming circles for his views on violence and obscenity in video games, was removed on Friday, and replaced with a one-sentence description of Thompson. In blanking the article, Danny, an assistant to Jimbo Wales, cited the new office protection policy, implemented by Jimbo Wales last month. The policy allows Danny to protect an article when the Foundation deems it necessary (usually relating to legal matters.)
The article had been criticized for its overwhelmingly negative portrayal of Thompson, and its lack of sources. In its last version before it was blanked, the article contained at least 21 uncited statements. Danny stressed that the move was temporary, and in response to complaints about the action, said "An article about Jack Thompson will be created. It will, I hope, be a very thorough article. It will also be properly and fully cited."
This is not the first time that the policy has been invoked; Harry Reid was protected for a time in February, and Brian Peppers was deleted through the office actions policy (see archived story). However, the high profile of the article within the tech community has led to a renewed debate about the issue.
Many editors on the article criticized Wikipedia for blanking the article. Silensor called the action "censorship by way of litigation threats." However, Mindspillage noted that the article would be unprotected, and rewritten, after a short period of time. Nortelrye said, "I've not seen them capitulate in the face of legal threats, and I don't expect that they will do so in this situation. ... If you really care about Wikipedia and its mission, you'll let them handle it according to their policies."
A proposal regarding what to do on April Fool's Day was started, with the goal of organizing and coordinating what the Main Page would look like. Last year, there was no coherent policy in place, and throughout the day several elements of the site were modified, including the changing of system messages and the introduction of hoax articles (see archived story). The proposed policy would have an unusual – but true – featured article on the main page, along with weird, but factual, news stories in In the News, along with strange and unusual anniversaries and Did you know items.
The Hockessin Community News began a special series on 2 March, featuring articles about Wikipedia and Wikipedians from the Delaware area. In the March 2 issue (pages eight and nine), an article on the Congressional astroturfing appeared, along with an article profiling Tim Westbrook (Stilltim). In the March 9 issue (pages eight and nine), Mark Pellegrini (Raul654), the featured article director as well as a bureaucrat and Arbitration Committee member, was featured. The articles were written by reporter Kevin Barrett, who attended a meetup in Newark, Delaware in late February. The articles are the first part of the series, which is expected to continue in next week's issue.
This week, a proposed Wikiepic project was created, with the goal being to create a "freeform mythology or fantasy world". Nicknamed "the neverending wiki", the proposed project would allow contributors to write stories and eventually form an epic.
A poll regarding changing the appearance of the Main Page continues this week, with the vote on the redesign ending on 18 March.
"What's next? Time peeks into the future", a summary of this week's Time Magazine cover story, says "...as Time tech expert Lev Grossman writes, we're living in an age of individual innovation spurred on by the Internet as well as what he calls "individual altruism" — a form of group project best represented by resources like Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that is edited by the masses instead of an elite cadre of professional editors." The story was also prominently displayed on the front page of the CNN.com website (which features Time content).
Ten users were granted admin status last week: (aeropagitica) (nom), Stifle (nom), Cyde (nom), Obli (nom), JDoorjam (nom), Deckiller (nom), Meegs (nom), Flowerparty (nom), Vary (nom) and Naconkantari (nom).
Sixteen articles were featured last week: Hurricane Floyd, Frog, Noah's Ark, Red vs Blue, Lothal, Bath School disaster, Manuel I Comnenus, Eric A. Havelock, George Washington Dixon, Starship Troopers, Joan of Arc, Chetwynd, British Columbia, X Window core protocol, Bulbasaur, The Illuminatus! Trilogy and Che Guevara.
The following featured articles were displayed last week on the main page as Today's featured article: Barbara McClintock, Battle of Badr, TARDIS, Kerala, Marian Rejewski, Scotland in the High Middle Ages and Amateur Radio Direction Finding.
Two featured articles were de-featured last week: The Foundation Series and Traditional counties of England.
Three lists reached featured list status last week: List of Presidents of Portugal, English football champions and List of Canadian provinces and territories by area.
The latest portals to reach featured status are Portal:Tropical cyclones and Portal:New Zealand.
Seven pictures reached featured picture status last week:
Nichalp, a bureaucrat, announced earlier this week that a recent code change has allowed for renaming of users with up to 20,000 edits. A prior technical limit of 6,800 edits had existed. Nichalp stated that he had learned of the change from viewing the HTML source of the user renaming function. The first three users over this limit to be renamed were Dcoetzee (to Deco), Aranda56 (to Jaranda), and Snowspinner (to Phil Sandifer). All of these were done by bureaucrat Raul654. [1]
Server-related events, problems, and changes included:
The Arbitration Committee closed one case this week.
A case brought against Leyasu was closed on Tuesday. As a result, Leyasu and Danteferno have been placed on revert parole, allowing a maximum of one revert per page per day for one year. Leyasu has also been placed on personal attack parole and probation, and Danteferno was warned against incivility and personal attacks. Both users had edit warred on Gothic metal, and Leyasu had failed to cite sources in the matter.
A case was accepted this week involving administrators involved in a userbox-related edit war. It is in the evidence phase.
Additional cases involving Lou franklin (user page), editors on Depleted uranium, ZAROVE (user page), -Ril- (user page), and Agapetos angel (user page) are in the evidence phase.
Cases involving Licorne (user page), editors on Shiloh Shepherd Dog, Tony Sidaway (user page), editors on bible verse articles, Lapsed Pacifist (user page), Jason Gastrich (user page), users IronDuke and Gnetwerker, Instantnood (user page), and Boothy443 (user page) are in the voting phase.
No motions to close are currently on the table.
