Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-07-16/From the editors Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-07-16/Traffic report Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-07-16/In the media
As Wikimania, the annual conference targeted at Wikimedians and often well attended by those with a technical slant, draws to a close, comments have already begun to come in from attendees regarding the many tech-related features of the conference.
The Foundation will be pleased with the reception of many of their major projects on show during Wikimania, including Page Triage, a more feature-heavy version of Special:NewPages, and the landmark Visual Editor project (see previous Signpost coverage). The latter, attendees were told, should be live on its first wikis by December, confirming the expected six month delay after a design u-turn earlier this year. Developers also confirmed that the tool would continue to support manual mode for the foreseeable future, much to the relief of several hardened editors in the crowd. It is unclear whether the projects will retain support as they near fruition in the months to come.
Perhaps the most thought provoking of the talks, however, proved to be that of WMF Senior Designer Brandon Harris, whose proposed "Wikipedia in 2015" designs raised numerous eyebrows among the Wikimania attendees. The four-pronged suggestions incorporate not only a drastic new skin for Wikipedia pages (Athena, mockup illustrated right) but also possible designs for the Echo notifications project, Agora (a centralised design and icon repository), and Flow, an eventual replacement for user talk pages. All are marked as being of a strictly "future" nature: but their dramatic difference from current systems and designs no doubt took many in the crowd by surprise. Whether the Foundation has the willpower and legitimacy to push through such large scale design changes remains an open question, but they are aware of the issues that may arise: as Harris stated, "Athena is supposed to be a kick in the head. It's a process, not a final design. It's a conversation about what we need to do; not what we are doing." In the interim, some of the suggestions could find their way into the front pages of WikiProjects – or so a well-received talk by WMF Deputy Director Erik Möller suggested.
Slides for some talks are already available, while many more, plus videos of each of the talks, will be made available over the coming weeks.
| “ | In June 2012:
|
” |
—Engineering metrics, Wikimedia blog | ||
The Wikimedia Foundation's engineering report for June 2012 was published this week on the Wikimedia Techblog and on the MediaWiki wiki, giving an overview of all Foundation-sponsored technical operations in that month (as well as brief coverage of progress on Wikimedia Deutschland's Wikidata project). Of the four headlines in the report, three have already been covered in the Signpost: the Berlin hackathon, described as "the largest gathering of Wikimedia technologists to-date"; the deployment of a second Visual Editor prototype backed by new parser Parsoid; and the launch of IPv6 support during IPv6 World Launch day. Finally, a fourth headline focussed on the commencement of development work on a new Wiki Loves Monuments mobile app, which is to be built by the Foundation's inhouse mobile team.
The monthly report also included news of a "distributed spam attack on [the Wikimedia] mail system involving what appeared to be a few thousand malicious hosts"; having blocked the attack, it "took a day for the mail system to catch up". Elsewhere, on the mobile platform there was a significant release for both the iOS and Android apps (bringing a "dramatic speed improvement" to both apps); testing conducted to allow telecommunications provider Orange to roll out free Wikipedia access to users in six countries and other providers to roll it out in Bangladesh and Montenegro; and "significant progress" on getting Wikipedia available cheaply over the SMS protocol. Just as significant was work on improving sister projects' mobile sites, and then setting up redirection to those mobile sites for users of mobile devices – a project that upgraded Wiktionary, Wikinews, and Wikisource wikis during June and has since been expanded to include Wikiquote, Wikibooks and Wikiversity wikis.
On the negative side, for the umpteenth month in a row, volunteer developers seem to be struggling to get timely code review, contributing to fears that now that unreviewed code does not block deployment, code could be sitting around for months without a review. In addition to publishing a headline figure of approximately 350 unreviewed revisions, the monthly report also contained the first fruits of the Foundation's attempt to generate proper statistics on the composition of the backlog, showing that just 76 were overtly waiting for the original submitter to take action, 49 were overtly awaiting reviewer action and 203 were in a grey area normally indicative of awaiting a reviewer. There was also little progress on the long-running TimedMediaHandler project (now in its 26th month of active development) but nevertheless good news: a final push is expected in late July to prepare the extension, which dramatically improves MediaWiki's support for video display, for a full Wikimedia deployment.
.png)
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.
Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-07-16/Essay Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-07-16/Opinion
Ground shifts while chapters dither over new Association
18 June 2012
Foundation finance reformers wrestle with CoI
11 June 2012
Finance debate drags on as editor survey finds Wikipedia too bureaucratic
14 May 2012
Projects launched in Brazil and the Middle East as advisors sought for funds committee
9 April 2012
Funds, fiduciaries, and the Foundation: the complex dynamics of scaling
9 April 2012
Berlin reforms to movement structures, Wikidata launches with fanfare, and Wikipedia's day of mischief
2 April 2012
An introduction to movement roles
2 April 2012
Chapters Council proposals take form as research applications invited for Wikipedia Academy and HighBeam accounts
19 March 2012
Sue Gardner tackles the funds, and the terms of use update nears implementation
12 March 2012
Chapter-selected Board seats, an invite to the Teahouse, patrol becomes triage, and this week in history
5 March 2012
Finance meeting fallout, Gardner recommendations forthcoming
27 February 2012
Fundraiser row continues, new director of engineering
20 February 2012
Fundraising proposals spark a furore among the chapters
13 February 2012
Wikimania a success; board letter controversial; and evidence showing bitten newbies don't stay
8 August 2011
During Wikimania (July 12–15), the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) board finalized and enacted long-discussed reforms of the movement's financial structures, and considered procedures for creating new ways for Wikimedians to organize themselves into offline communities. The board moved on the controversial image filter issue, approved the 2012–13 annual plan, and issued a statement on the wikitravel proposal. It also appointed the two new chapter-selected trustees and elected the four office-bearers.
The board finalized the overall framework of the new Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC). The FDC will recommend funding for operational expenses and bundled specific projects to "eligible" entities that apply to it – largely, chapters that have satisfied significantly tighter requirements for governance and transparency, and the foundation itself. Expected to start in October 2012, the FDC will usher in a completely new financial structure for the chapters. Applications for the first round of funding must be submitted by October 1, 2012. Applicants that do not meet the FDC's criteria will be able to apply to the foundation's Grant Advisory Committee.
The FDC will be volunteer-run and entirely WMF board-appointed until mid-2013. Community members interested in serving either as one of the seven initial voting FDC members (membership criteria) or as the ombudsperson – who will look as disagreements over the FDC's work – can file (self-) nominations on Meta. According to the committee's charter, the FDC will have four voting members appointed by the WMF's board of trustees and five selected by a community vote to be held simultaneously with elections for the three WMF community-selected trustees (due next in mid 2013).
The board approved the WMF's annual plan for the 2012–13 fiscal year (beginning July 2012). The budget involves both the foundation's own core spending as well as about US$11.4M for the FDC, and overall amounts to $42M. The WMF's own operational core spending plans will increase by nearly 7.5%, from $28.3M in 2011–12 to $30.4M in 2012–13. The overall revenue amounts to $46M, including $4M rainy-day reserves to safeguard running of the projects and other WMF core tasks in case of unexpectedly low donation revenues over time.
The WMF board considered the long-running reform debate on Wikimedia movement roles, affecting how communities can organize themselves on the ground in affiliation with the WMF. At the Berlin conference in March 2012, the board established four new options for affiliation that are now open to offline communities beyond the traditional national chapter model.
Alongside the national chapters, which will be the main recipients of FDC funds and involve formal issues related to national legal frameworks, there will be three new options for structural affiliation with the movement. Communities will be able to set up user groups such as meetups at a more informal level, requiring no incorporation but allowed limited WMF trademark privileges. Secondly, new thematic organizations will be able to promote free content by focusing on particular topics or in languages that cross borders. In a third innovation, so called movement partner organizations that are working in line with Wikimedia’s goals but are not part of the movement, such as Creative Commons, can also apply for recognition. Subnational chapters such as those already established in NYC and Washington DC will continue and their model can be expanded beyond the US.
The Chapters Committee, to be turned into the Affiliations Committee (AffCom), was directed in Berlin to work out a new framework to handle the recognition processes of new entities up until WMF board approval. While draft proposals to concretize the committee's conduct and model requirements for the new participation models were published by the Chapters Committee in June, the WMF board did not vote on the AffCom charter during its July meeting.
Community-elected WMF trustee Samuel Klein told the Signpost that the board is working on a resolution approving the new framework and that the issue seems uncontroversial. The board is expected to finally approve the Affiliations Committee charter within the next weeks. Wikimedia chapters are working to adapt to the new organizational environment by setting up a new entity to promote their interests, called Chapters Association (see also this week's Signpost Special report).
In May 2011 the board passed a major resolution on how to handle controversial content. The board asked the WMF staff to create and implement a personal image-hiding feature for all visitors of WMF sites. The initiative followed the so-called Harris report on controversial content (previous Signpost coverage), and the subsequent movement-wide poll on how to design a tool that would meet the requirements set by the board (previous Signpost coverage). The issue sparked considerable global controversy for months, including open revolt by the German Wikipedia (Signpost coverage in September and October 2011).
At Wikimania the board formally acknowledged the divisiveness of the filter, rescinding its request for the development of the filter mechanism while reaffirming the general principles it had espoused concerning controversial content. WMF staff are no longer directed to develop and implement such a tool, although they may re-engage with the communities to work out a more consensual solution within the preserved general framework of the May 2011 resolution. An updated Q&A reflecting the modification will be developed and Jimmy Wales has started a new conversation exploring what, he told the Signpost, could be a "simpler and more straightforward low-impact solution."
The board published a statement on the travel guide proposal, which has been under community discussion on Meta since April 2012. The community proposal aims to create a new project that would provide free travel-guide content by re-unifying, under the umbrella of the WMF, volunteers of external projects such as WikiTravel and Wikivoyage. The board would like to see continuing community deliberations via the ongoing RfC for at least the next six weeks, with the hope of a consensual conclusion. If a decision in favor is reached, the WMF would be prepared to commit limited technical assistance.
The tenure of the two chapter-selected board members, Phoebe Ayers and Arne Klempert, ended with the July board meeting. They were replaced by the newly appointed chapter-selected trustees Alice Wiegand, former vice-chair of Wikimedia Germany, and Patricio Lorente, former president of the Argentinian chapter. (Of the 10 board seats, the chapters select two board members and the communities three on a staggered two-year basis; the next election for community-elected trustees will be in 2013).
The board selected its office-bearers: Kat Walsh, one of the three community-elected trustees, succeeded Ting Chen as chair; Ting Chen will not run for re-election as trustee in 2013. Two "expert" trustees Jan-Bart de Vreede and Stu West were reconfirmed in their offices as vice-chairman and treasurer, while the outgoing Phoebe Ayers was succeeded as secretary by Bishakha Datta, the "expert" trustee from Mumbai.
The minutes of board meetings between March and June 2012 were published, covering issues such as the Berlin conference meeting and deliberations on the WMF's budget for 2012–13.
Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-07-16/Serendipity Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-07-16/Op-ed Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-07-16/In focus
No cases were closed or opened, leaving the number of open cases at three.
The case concerns alleged misconduct in aggressive responses and harassment by Fæ toward users who question his actions. The case was brought before the committee by MBisanz and also involves Michaeldsuarez and Delicious carbuncle. In response to a workshop proposal calling for the removal of his adminship, Fæ's administrator rights were removed at his request on 18 June.
Proposed findings of fact include Fæ's violation of clean-start restrictions: his failure to disclose other accounts during his request for adminship (where he claimed to be making a clean start with no imposed sanctions), and neglecting to mention that he left during an active request for comment. Fæ's mischaracterisation of good-faith concerns and harassment were noted, as were personal attacks directed at others, deceiving the community with attempts to withhold key evidence, lack of response to good-faith criticism, use of ad hominem attacks to discredit others, and accusations of copyright infringement. Also noted were harassment from Michaeldsuarez, and Delicious carbuncle's posting of identifying information.
Part of the proposed decision stipulates that, given Fæ's resignation under controversial circumstances, he must start an RfA if he wants to regain adminship, and must publicly declare his past accounts. There are remedies calling for Fæ's file contributions to be reviewed, a limitation to one account, and admonishment for him and Delicious carbuncle. A newly proposed remedy calls for Fæ to be indefinitely banned from the site, following his attempts to solicit intervention from the Foundation, and his claims that publicly listing all his accounts would be too onerous due to "ongoing security risks". In the same remedy, it was noted that at the time of his appeal he was still an official on the Wikimedia UK chapter. He was further criticised for attempting to dodge good-faith concerns. A few arbitrators believe that if Fæ's claims are valid then he must be removed from the community.
The case concerns behavioural issues related to Ohconfucius, Colipon, and Shrigley. The accused parties deny TheSoundAndTheFury's claims, and have decried his alleged "POV-pushing". According to TheSoundAndTheFury, the problem lies not with "these editors' points of view per se [but is] fundamentally about behaviour".
Proposed findings of fact include that involved parties edited in a biased fashion—in particular that edits by Homunculus favoured the Falun Gong movement and discredited the Communist Party of China, whereas Ohconfucius and Colipon edited with the reverse bias. It was found that Ohconfucius engaged in uncivil conduct. Ohconfucius and Homunculus have edit-warred on topics related to the movement.
It was proposed that Colipon, Homunculus, and Ohconfucius be topic-banned from articles concerning the movement and related government persecution. Mandated external review by uninvolved administrators was also proposed; editors placed on review would be required to seek consensus for major edits (beyond grammatical and aesthetic changes); and once a consensus has been reached, the discussion must be reviewed by an uninvolved editor, after whose approval the editor under mandated review may proceed.
The case, filed by P.T. Aufrette, concerns wheel-warring on the Perth article after a contentious requested move discussion (initiated by the filer) was closed as successful by admin JHunterJ, and after a series of reversions by the other involved parties (all admins).
Some findings of fact: JHunterJ closed the request and moved the article accordingly, but responded to criticism problematically; Deacon of Pndapetzim was involved in discussion regarding the merits of moving the article, made edits to related topics, and reverted the original decision without discussion; Kwamikagami upheld the original decision without discussion; Gnangarra upheld the reversed decision without discussion; and the page moves on 9 and 10 June required the use of redirect suppression and were therefore covered by the wheel-warring portion of the administrator policy.
It is proposed that Gnangarra, Deacon of Pndapetzim, and Kwamikagami be desysopped; but only the last of these has reached the required threshold for enforcement (subject still to reversals in the voting). Arbitrator Newyorkbrad has voiced his opposition to these remedies, calling them "completely disproportionate and excessive" (due to admissions of poor judgement and subsequent disengagement), noting that both Kwamikagami and Gnangarra have been good contributors to the project and have, for the most part, unblemished records. It has also been proposed that JHunterJ be reminded to respond calmly and courteously to queries regarding administrative actions. Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-07-16/Humour
