Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2015-04-15/From the editors
If it wasn't for Easter, Fast and Furious related articles would have taken the top four spots this week. The latest installment of the movie franchise, Furious 7, tops the chart for the second straight week. And for real Furious aficionados, be sure to scroll down to see our Furious only chart, which reveals that all seven movies were ranked among the 200 most popular articles this week.
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.
For the week of April 5 to 11, 2015, the most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the most viewed pages, were:
| Rank | Article | Class | Views | Image | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Furious 7 | 
|
2,617,928 |  |
A second week at #1, and up from 1.8 million views last week. The seventh installment of this long-running series, whose grip on sanity has decreased as its profitability has increased, opened on April 3. In keeping with tradition, this movie is so insane it shook off the death of its lead actor, Paul Walker, midway through and kept on trucking. And, again in keeping with tradition, it has outgrossed its predecessors, taking $67 million on its first day – more than The Fast and the Furious 3 earned in its entire run. |
| 2 | Paul Walker |
|
2,236,641 |  |
Up from #5 and 875K views last week. See #1. |
| 3 | The Fast and the Furious |
|
1,317,476 | |
Up from #6 and 748K views last week. See #1. |
| 4 | Easter | 
|
993,500 |  |
Up from #7 and 718K views last week. It's hard to remember these days, under the onslaught of bunnies, chocolate eggs, and marshmallow peeps, that Easter, not Christmas, is the most sacred date of the Christian calendar. |
| 5 | Vin Diesel |
|
769,895 |  |
Up from #22 and 456K views last week. Vin Diesel, a.k.a Mark Vincent a.k.a Melkor (his D&D name, and before you say that's irrelevant, he had it fake-tattooed on his stomach while filming XXX) is the nominal star of Furious 7, though Paul Walker (#2) has been in most people's thoughts. He also recently became a father for the third time, so between that and Furious 7's grosses, he has a lot to smile about, even if he will doubtless be remembering his departed friend. By the way, his new daughter's name is Pauline, after Walker. |
| 6 | Game of Thrones (season 5) | 
|
738,303 |  |
Up from #19 and 476K views last week. And it's baa-aack. 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. |
| 7 | Daredevil (TV series) |
|
714,339 |  |
The first season of this new Netflix series created by Drew Goddard (pictured) and based on the comic book character debuted on April 10. Critical reaction has been generally favorable. |
| 8 | Better Call Saul |
|
593,396 |  |
Up from #23 and 456K views last week. The season finale of this television show spinoff of Breaking Bad (a former chart favourite on Wikipedia) starring Bob Odenkirk (pictured), debuted on AMC on April 6. |
| 9 | Zlatan Ibrahimović |
|
570,145 |  |
After a recent loss, this Swedish footballer with Paris Saint-Germain F.C. (PSG) ranted that "In 15 years I’ve never seen a [good] referee in this shit country ... [they] don’t even deserve PSG". (I've seen the video and he said it in French, but I guess that is what he was saying.) He later apologized, but was criticized by French politicians, and Ligue 1 imposed a four-match ban. |
| 10 | Interstellar (film) |
|
564,409 |  |
The science fiction blockbuster holds steady at #10 for a second week, down slightly from 586K views last week. |
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Time profiles (April 14) Lila Tretikov, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation. Time paints a grim picture of the challenges faced by Tretikov and the encyclopedia, many of which were discussed in a recent Signpost's special report: a "meager annual budget", the gender gap, "critical gaps in coverage" (such as the Global South), the shrinking ranks of active editors, and the lack of contributions from those who access Wikipedia content through mobile devices, search engines, and personal digital assistants. Time speculates that Wikipedia could contract suddenly, with something similar to the almost 25% dropoff in active editors on the Italian Wikipedia in 2013, or dwindle gradually, a possibility that Andrew Lih (Fuzheado) compared to "the boiling frogs scenario". William Beutler (WWB), author of the blog The Wikipedian, told Time "I do not envy Lila Tretikov’s position."
Time outlined efforts by Tretikov and the WMF to address these issues, such as the Inspire Campaign and Wikipedia Zero. Time wrote that "Tretikov is focusing the Foundation’s limited resources on how readers and editors use the site," including gathering data about user preferences, increasing the number of WMF engineers, and improving and creating editing software like mobile apps.
Time notes that some of these efforts have brought the WMF into conflict with the editing community, especially the controversy involving Media Viewer (see previous Signpost coverage). Time highlighted a comment on the German Wikipedia from the controversy: “I want victory over the WMF. I want the WMF to shudder when they remember this case.”
Tretikov said to Time that “It’s not realistic to have everybody always in the boat with you,” which may sound ominous to those who wish the WMF to be more responsive to active editors, who Time writes "seem to have divergent views about almost everything." Beutler summed up his view of the problem for Time:
| “ | The Wikipedia community is full of old timers who are used to getting their way and don’t like things changing, and I think it’s important that the community always be forced to rethink, is Wikipedia everything that it can be right now? | ” |
In The Huffington Post UK, Jimmy Wales writes "To Protect the Most Fundamental Rights of Internet Users, We Must Always Be Skeptical of Any Call for Regulation" (April 13). Wales credited "The 'anarchical' character of the Internet" for allowing people to contribute and share knowledge and placed Wikipedia in this tradition. Wikipedia "is based on this simple, yet revolutionary, concept of allowing free and unlimited access to the sum of all human knowledge."
Wales echos libertarian thought when warning of the harmful effect of "even seemingly minor regulation," citing regulations that allow Internet censorship in China and the global surveillance disclosures of Edward Snowden. He writes "even milder regulations by progressive democratic governments must be observed skeptically."
Wales concludes:
| “ | In order to protect the most fundamental rights of Internet users, we must always be skeptical of any call for regulation. Current regulation must also be carefully and durably observed for any unnoticed expansion of its implementation. The Big Brother will always want to collect more information about us in order to gain power and control. We should not make it easy on him. | ” |
In the libertarian magazine Reason, where he is a contributing editor, Mike Godwin writes "What the 'Zero Rating' Debate Reveals About Net Neutrality (April 8). Godwin is former general counsel for the Wikimedia Foundation and is general counsel and director of innovation policy at The R Street Institute, a libertarian think tank.
Godwin opposes "net-neutrality absolutists" who are concerned that "zero-rated services", such as Wikipedia Zero, which are free of mobile usage charges, have troubling implications for net neutrality. He argues that "In the long run, increased demand and increased capacity, together with the free informational resources that Wikipedia and its sibling projects provide, will promote increased Internet access in the developing world."
At Medium's The Message, librarian Jessamyn West tracks the history (April 13) of a fake quotation about American author Henry David Thoreau, attributed to another famous American author, Louisa May Alcott. The original edit, from December 2007, read:
| “ | Thoreau also wore a neck-beard for many years, which he insisted many women found attractive. However, Louisa May Alcott reportedly mentioned to Emerson that Thoreau's facial hair "will most assuredly deflect amorous advances and preserve the man's virtue in perpetuity." Thoreau did in fact die a virgin. | ” |
Within hours, the edit was removed by an editor asking for a reference. The same day, a reference was duly supplied, to the entirety of the sixteen volume collection The Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Another editor removed the final sentence about Thoreau's virginity, thanked the hoaxer for the reference, and asked for "a proper volume/page reference". The hoaxer did not respond and no further action was taken. When the hoaxer attempted to remove their own hoax in April 2008, they were reverted by another editor, who wrote "the information is referenced; if you say it's wrong, prove it." Protected by the faux reference, the hoax remained in the article until it was removed by Mr. Granger in March 2014. During the six years it was on Wikipedia, the fake quote made its way into articles, blogs, speeches, and even quizbowl questions.
West attempted to decisively "prove it" a hoax. Unsatisfied with simply not locating the quotation in Emerson's journals in Google Books, she contacted John Overholt, Curator of Early Modern Books & Manuscripts at Harvard University's Houghton Library. (Overholt also created the Tumblr blog First Drafts of History, featuring first edits of Wikipedia articles.) Overholt told West
| “ | There are five “perpetuity”s in the 15 volumes, and definitely none of them are that quote. There are no instances in which “Thoreau” and “beard” appear together, nor any variation of neckbeard. There are only a handful of references to Louisa May Alcott in the set, and none of them are that anecdote. So I think you can consider it conclusively debunked. | ” |
West concluded "I hope we’ve all learned something about the nature of online citation and that if you really need to know something for certain, ask a librarian."
British journalist Jon Ronson's March 2015 book So You've Been Publicly Shamed contains a discussion of the online reputation management services provided to one public shaming victim, Lindsey Stone, by Reputation.com. Stone had no Wikipedia presence, but Ronson discussed the work of the company Metal Rabbit with Graeme Wood, who alleged that the Wikipedia article of an unnamed United Nations peacekeeper was edited by the company. Wood wrote a 2013 article on online reputation management for New York which discusses a Metal Rabbit client called "Chad" (not his real name), who is likely the UN peacekeeper. A 2011 profile in the New York Times of Metal Rabbit and its founder, Bryce Tom, noted that "'On a recent Wednesday afternoon, [Tom] was preparing a briefing for a new client, describing how he would 'fix' Wikipedia and the top search results on various search engines. On the walls of his office were framed copies of Google search results and Wikipedia entries of clients: a reality television star, a movie actress and a chief executive officer. Mr. Tom calls it his “wall of fame.'"
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Möller joined WMF as a staff member in 2008 after spending time as a MediaWiki developer and WMF trustee. In his departing comments on the mailing list, he recalled the "many hats" he has worn while a WMF staffer, and listed his work with universities, the building of VisualEditor, and the fact that "we don't shy away from complex issues" such as diversity, community health, SOPA, and the NSA lawsuit as cherished achievements."
| “ | But it's time. As the leadership team begins to coalesce under Lila, I want to open up space for the organization to learn and explore anew—and I’d like to rediscover for myself what it means to tackle challenges outside of my areas of comfort and familiarity. | ” |
Möller's departure comes amid several changes in the WMF's leadership structure, including the promotion of Luis Villa to senior director of community engagement, and the arrivals of Terry Gilbey as chief operating officer and Kourosh Karimkhany as VP of strategic partnerships.
Möller told the Signpost that as Wikimedia moves in new directions, he hopes the dynamics of how it works will continue: "Site experience changes have always been the most contentious, going back to when I was a volunteer [developer]; I know I've been a persistent troublemaker in that regard, ... We can ease the tensions by improving process, delivery and engagement—and I'm confident the team under Lila will do that. But there will always be areas and moments of conflict, and I personally think that's okay. It's one of the ways we all figure stuff out."
Möller said his best memories are of Wikimanias: "it's been amazing to have this opportunity to be in touch with the community once a year. At Wikimania 2006 in Boston, it was a privilege to introduce the Definition of Free Cultural Works together with Mako Hill, which we later adopted to underpin our Licensing Policy. It was great fun to stay at Mako's place, and there I got to spend some time with Aaron Swartz, who I had met on IRC years before, and was just as brilliant as everyone says."
"Wikimania 2007 in Taiwan to me is still the best Wikimania ever. ... So much space for conversation with delightful people, such a dedicated volunteer team, and what an amazing country to visit. It was also Sue Gardner's introduction to the community, which was lovely to be part of."
Möller is still to make a final decision on whether to take a gap year: "it's an important new point in my own life". He looks back fondly at his WMF work: "It was never easy, not for a moment—you always feel the weight of what you're responsible for, the intense scrutiny that you're going to get, the ways people will judge you personally or professionally. When things get heated, sometimes you need to be able to just detach. It can be all-consuming—it's not been rare for me to be at the office till midnight wrapping up on some issue or other."
"We've had many debates over the years over things big and small. I worked pretty closely with Mike Godwin and lots of other people on the migration from GFDL to CC-BY-SA, for example, and the amount of discussion on mailing lists and wikis about that alone fills volumes (or feels that way). Again, it was tough—but also rewarding." GP, T
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Applications in the latest round of biannual annual plan grants (APG) process are now up for community review. APGs are allocated to support the overall annual plans of eligible Wikimedia affiliates to achieve mission objectives; the APG scheme takes up the largest proportion of grantmaking resources. There are six applications:
CIS-A2K: The Centre for Internet and Society is a Bangalore-based Indian NGO concerned with technological advocacy and multidisciplinary research in Internet and society. It is involved with Wikimedia India via the Access to Knowledge (A2K) program, a long-standing project ongoing since 2011, organized and funded in collaboration with the Foundation. They are asking for just over US$200,000 to fund the continuation of "qualitative and quantitative growth of 12 Wikimedia projects across 9 Indian languages and associated communities, in addition to providing need based support to other Indic communities".
Wikimedia Armenia: The chapter's proposal asks for slightly more than $120,000, a total that, compared to last year's disbursement of just under $100,000, is just in range of the Funds Dissemination Committee's recommended 20% maximum year-on-year bump. The budget covers two part-time staff hires (0.5 full-time equivalent each) and will cover several educational programs, a Wiki Loves Monuments initiative, and a yearly Wikicamp that last year led to the creation of 6,000 Wikipedia articles, the proofreading of 2,000 Wikisource pages, 6,600 entries in Wiktionary, and 500 files on Commons. 300 articles were also created in Western Armenian: "One of the goals of WMAM this year is the establishment and development of the Western Armenian Wikipedians' community, [to improve] article quality in Western Armenian, as well as find possible ways to open [a] Western Armenian Wikipedia."
Wikimedia France: As one of the largest affiliates, WMFR has set out a proposal for just over $670,000 in funding. The organization outlined their plan in terms of "six axes": training sessions, especially an iteration of the increasingly popular (in chapters) "training the trainers" program to facilitate community-to-community outreach; regional development through the financing of local projects and partnerships with "local authorities", for instance by creating more contributor spaces across France and facilitating photographic work; general public engagement through engagement with local and national fairs and competitions and work to be done on developing the organization's media coverage; international practical action to support the production of content related to the global south; and work on the organization's "quality policy" and communication with donors and the public.
Wikimedia Italy: The bid is for $166,680. The theme is structural: the organization aims to recruit "new volunteers and a re-organization of volunteers' activities on a geographical basis through the introduction of national and local coordinators for the main programs." A reorganization of the staff is forthcoming, with attention to Wikimedia Italy's brand awareness and "diversification of funding" (not unlike the recently begun efforts of the Wikimedia Foundation itself). An educational project is to be launched nationally, a partnership with the OpenStreetMap Foundation is being organized, and more "structured" cooperation with Wikidata are planned. Metrics of note for the organization are: "a more efficient structure, an increased users' involvement, a greater visibility of WMIT's activities among general public and cultural institutions, the systematic introduction of need assessments and indicators." The organization has published a lengthy 102-page annual plan.
Wikimedia Norway: The application is for some $260,000, presenting a threefold plan. First there is the organization's GLAM program, which aims to increase institutional sharing of cultural data to Wikipedia and to Commons. Particular efforts on this front will go towards interactions between institutions and volunteers and staff, the establishment of a Wikipedia Library, a Wikipedian-in-residence, and making inroads outside the capital, Oslo. Second is a Gender Gap Project, recently launched in collaboration with several university libraries and made possible in part by external funding from partnering non-profit institutions. And there is an Academic Wikipedia Program to cooperate with academic institutions to attract new editors among their students and enhance familiarity with Wikipedia in the Norwegian academic and research communities. Three Norwegian university institutions are experimenting with Wikipedia editing at the moment, and the chapter is seeking co-operation with the Norwegian Research Council.
Wikimedia South Africa: Asking for just under $100,000, WMZA is an APG newcomer. The chapter's focus is linguistic, aiming "to support a vibrant multilingual and multicultural content community that generates and disseminates content that is used, and [undertaken] by the local and global community. With 11 official languages, South Africans are well-placed to contribute not only to the English and Afrikaans Wikipedias, but to smaller Wikipedias." Programs are split into three categories. The first is community outreach, focusing on the language projects and outreach efforts like the JoburgpediA project. The second is institutional outreach going out to a variety of South African non-governmental organizations, as well as an intent to "engage" "government entities" in Kiwix, an open-source offline resource project (for more on Kiwix see recent blog posts). The last category is "international collaboration", covering platform support for editors and "awareness of [the] Wikimedia movement", a topic of common interest both to chapter organizations and the Wikimedia Foundation as of late.
Editors are encouraged to peruse the applications and offer critical comment on the talkpages. R
| “ | As a matter of strategy we should be leveraging our open-source roots more as we grow. This means distributed, loosely-coupled teams ... we are working on some structures that will allow teams to either be entirely distributed or mostly co-located, consistent with what we know about best outcomes. ... before we worry about growth and costs we need to worry about effectiveness, but we are thinking about this. | ” |
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