On Thursday 10 December, the three scrutineers for this year's Arbitration Commmittee election—Wikimedia stewards Mardetanha, Shanmugamp7, and Einsbor—announced the results, a little more than three days after the close of voting. The nine new arbitrators, who will take up their roles on 1 January, are Opabinia regalis, Casliber, Keilana, GorillaWarfare, Drmies, Kirill Lokshin, Gamaliel, Callanecc, and Kelapstick (all two-year terms but for Gamaliel, who will have a one-year term). Three have already served terms on the Committee (Casliber, GorillaWarfare, and Kirill Lokshin); two current arbitrators who stood for election—Thryduulf and LFaraone—were unsuccessful. Five retiring arbitrators did not seek re-election: Euryalus, Seraphimblade, Roger Davies, AGK, and NativeForeigner. A graphical representation of the Committee's membership from 2014 to 2018 appears on the election page.
There were several notable features of the election, related to the much larger number of voters. A remarkable 2674 editors participated, nearly five times that for last year's election (Figure 2); this means that an astonishing 53,480 voter choices were made—a total of 2674 voters × 20 candidates. The sole apparent reason for this precipitous increase was the posting of notifications before the election to all eligible voters' talkpages. Embracing a much larger part of the eligible electorate was associated with a huge rise in the proportion of neutral votes, since this attracted many voters on the periphery of the traditional core of ArbCom-interested editors: last year, 35% of votes cast were neutral; this year, 50% were neutral. Figure 3 shows the breakdown of supports, neutrals, and opposes for the past seven elections (starting with the introduction of Securepoll in 2009). Over the years, the contour of the grey bars (proportion of neutral) is similar to that of the number of voters (Figure 2).
Related to the surge in neutrals was a slight drop in the proportion of supports (from an average of 30.0% to 28.8%), and a major drop in opposes, from 34.8% to 21.3%; it is unclear why this should have been associated with the broadening of the electorate, and readers may be able to provide further interpretations of this phenomenon. So much was the drop in opposes that, unlike last year, there were significantly fewer of them than supports.
Another consequence of surge in voter numbers was a reduction in raw proportional support for the most popular candidates. Last year, the top four candidates were supported by between 50% and 60.5% of voters; this year, the top four were supported by just over 40% of the electorate, and the other successful candidates ranged from the high 30s down to 27.6%.
Community members have provided interesting and informative tables and graphs on the election talkpage. Among these are one showing the distribution of voters' edit counts over the past three elections, prepared by Opabinia regalis, and a table of the alignment of each voter guide with the result, prepared by Smallbones.
The Signpost's editor-in-chief Gamaliel was a candidate in the election. In line with our conflict-of-interest policy, he was not involved in any way with the preparation or writing of this article. Mdann52 serves on the Signpost's editorial board and has just been appointed as a trainee ArbCom clerk, but was also not involved in this story.
This is the third in a series of recent Signpost op-eds about Wikidata, including "Wikidata: the new Rosetta Stone" and "Whither Wikidata?".
Wikidata has recently celebrated its 3rd birthday. In these three short years it has managed to become one of the most active Wikimedia projects, won prizes, and is starting to show its true potential for improving Wikipedia. It is being used more and more both inside and outside Wikimedia every day. At the core of Wikidata is the desire to give more people more access to more knowledge. This is what we should be held accountable to. And I am the first to admit that we still have a long way to go.
We built Wikidata with a few core beliefs in mind that shine through everywhere. The most fundamental one is that the world is complicated and there is no single truth--especially in a knowledge base that is supposed to serve many cultures. This belief is expressed in many decisions, big and small:
All this comes at a cost. My life would be a lot easier if we decided to just build a simple yet stupid database ;-) However we went this way to allow for a more pluralistic worldview as we believe it is crucial in a knowledge base that supports all Wikimedia projects and more. Here are some examples where we are starting to show this potential:
The goal here is to describe the world in a useful way. Even with the possibilities we have built into Wikidata, it will not be possible to truly represent the whole complexity of the world. Natural language, and thus Wikipedia, is much more suited for that and will continue to be. But there is value in a knowledge base for the many pieces of information we encounter every day that do not require that level of nuance. Today already a lot of great things are being built using data from Wikidata. Here are just a few of them:
Structured data is changing the world around us right now. And I am working towards having a free and open project at the center of it that is more than a dumb database.
For Wikidata to truly give more people more access to more knowledge, the data in Wikidata needs to be of high quality. Right now, no one denies that the quality of the data in Wikidata is not as good as we would like it to be and that there is still a lot of work to do. Where opinions differ is how to get there. Some say adding more data is the way to go, as that will lead to more use and thereby more contributions. Others say removing data and re-adding it with more scrutiny is the only way to go. Others say let’s improve what we have and make usage more attractive. All of them have merit depending on where you are coming from. At the end of the day what will decide is action based on community consensus. Data quality is a topic close to my heart, so I have been thinking a lot about this. We are tackling the topic from many different angles:
More eyes on the data: The belief behind this is that the more people are exposed to data from Wikidata the better the quality will become. To achieve this, we have already done quite some work including improving the integration of Wikidata’s changes in the watchlist and recent changes on Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects. Next we are building the ArticlePlaceholder extension and automated list articles for Wikipedia based on the data in Wikidata. We will additionally make it easier to re-use the data in Wikidata for third parties. We will also look into building more streamlined processes for allowing data-reusers to report issues easily to create good feedback loops.
Automatically find and expose issues: The belief behind this is that to handle a large amount of data in Wikidata, we need tools to support the editors in their work. These automatic tools help detect potential issues and then make editors aware of them, so they can look into them and fix them as appropriate. To achieve this, we already have internal consistency checks (to easily spot issues like people who are older than 150 years or an identifier for an external database that has the wrong format). We have also worked on checking Wikidata’s data against other databases and flagging inconsistencies for the editors to investigate. Furthermore, more and more visualizations turn up that make it easier to get an overview of a larger part of the data and spot outliers and gaps. And probably the most important part is machine-learning tools like ORES that help us find bad edits and other issues. We have made great progress in this area in 2015 and will realize more of this potential in 2016. Overall the fact that Wikidata consists of structured data makes it much easier to automatically find and fix issues than on Wikipedia.
Raise the number of references: The belief behind this is that we should have references for many of the statements in Wikidata, so people can verify them as needed. This is also important to stay true to our initial goal of stating what other sources say. We have just recently made it easier to add references hopefully leading to more people adding references. More will be done in this area. The primary sources tool helps by suggesting references for existing statements. And the recently accepted IEG grant for StrepHit will boost this even further. And last but not least, there is a rather active group of editors working on WikiProject Source MetaData. All this will help us raise the number of referenced statements in Wikidata. We have already seen it increase massively from 12.7% to 20.9% over the past year because of these measures as well as a change in attitude.
Encourage great content: Wikidata as a project needs to build processes that lead to great content. It starts with valuing high-quality contributions more and highlighting our best content. We have showcase items for a while now which are supposed to put a spotlight on our best items. The process is currently undergoing a change to make it run more smoothly and encourage more participation.
Make quality measurable: We are working on various metrics to meaningfully track the quality of Wikidata’s data. So far the easiest and most-used metric is the number of references Wikidata has and how many of those refer to a source outside Wikimedia. We should however take into account that Wikidata also has a very significant amount of trivial, self-evident, or editorial statements that do not need a reference. One example of this is the link to the image on Wikimedia Commons. More than three million statements are "instance of: human"! The percentage of references to other Wikimedia projects is especially high for these trivial statements. On the other hand, the percentage of references to better sources is much higher for non-trivial statements like population data. The existing metric is too simplistic to truly capture what quality on Wikidata means. We need to dive deeper and look at quality from many more angles. This will include things like regular checks of a small random subset of the data.
All of those building blocks are being worked on or are already in place. Already today in its arguably imperfect state, Wikidata is helping Wikipedia raise its quality by finding longstanding issues on Wikipedia that only became apparent because of Wikidata, like a Wikipedia having two articles about the same topic without being aware of it. Or two Wikipedias having different data about a person without any useful reference. Wikidata gives a good way to finally expose and correct these mistakes. Once we have a data point and a good reference for it on Wikidata, it can be scrutinised more thoroughly and then used much more widely than before.
Do we trust our own model and way of working? Wikipedia started just the same way as Wikidata. It didn’t have high-quality data and it certainly didn’t have a lot of references for its articles. But with a lot of dedicated work this changed and today Wikipedias (at least the biggest ones!) are of fairly high quality. I see no reason why we can’t do this for Wikidata once again--with an amazing community, better tools at our hands, and the lessons we have learned in Wikipedia. But let’s also not fall into the trap of demanding perfection.
At the end of the day, Wikidata is a chance to raise the quality bar across all our projects together. Let’s make it reality. That’s how we give more people more access to more knowledge every day.
Digital Trends reports (Dec. 10) on political editing in the context of the presidential primaries in the United States.
| “ | The United States is currently in the grip of a presidential primary, meaning people are looking for impartial information on the parties and politicians involved. Wikipedia will be the go-to source for a great swathe of this knowledge. But who's writing these entries, and for what purpose? It turns out, both ends of the political spectrum are making their voices heard—a process that can distort the truth. | ” |
The article, written by Brad Jones and titled "Beneath every presidential candidate's Wikipedia page lies a vicious tug-of-war", discusses editing at the Bernie Sanders article and features comments from Calidum, one of many editors to have contributed to that Wikipedia biography.
| “ | The run of the mill vandalism I see everyday isn't that big of an issue to me, because it's quickly dealt with," Calidum [says]. "Sometimes I even laugh at it before reverting it." But there's another kind of edit that's a more serious concern to upstanding users like him.
"The bigger issue for me, and I would assume many editors, though I can't speak for them, is people who use Wikipedia to push a certain agenda or engage in battleground behavior. Those are not as frequent as vandalism, but far too common," Calidum tells me. "And, while the community has ways of dealing with vandalism, its ability to handle point-of-view pushers and similar problematic editors is lacking. |
” |
Jones says he got in touch with Calidum because of a particular edit to the Sanders biography made by an account named Autoerotic Mummification, since indefinitely blocked as a sockpuppet of Grundle2600.
| “ | As you may well have guessed by now, Grundle2600's political views tend to the right. [...] There are no doubt plenty of trolls who visit Wikipedia solely for the purpose of vandalism. Grundle2600 doesn't seem to be part of that contingent. He's clearly making edits that he believes are useful, and isn't swayed by the Wikipedia community's point of view. | ” |
Jones then moves on to the question of what oversight there is on Wikipedia, quoting James Alexander, manager of Trust & Safety at the Wikimedia Foundation, and Juliet Barbara, the Foundation's Senior Communications Manager.
| “ | James is one of 280 paid employees on the books of the Wikimedia Foundation. Their job isn't to decide what sort of content ends up on the site. Instead, it's to ensure that the platform provides an open and neutral space for its community, who are then free to shape its output for themselves. [...]
Of course, there are systems in place should things get out of hand. "We probably get one or two threats of harm per week," James told me. He's part of a group of staff members who can be contacted at any time about a serious situation, whether he's at his computer or fast asleep in bed. But such situations don't include routine edits. The Wikimedia Foundation is keen to wash its hands of any decision-making that influences what sort of viewpoint is represented on the site. To maintain true neutrality, it's crucial that the community is trusted to police itself. |
” |
Juliet adds that Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee is there to handle conflicts between editors and that undisclosed paid advocacy is another issue—though one that seems to have become less prevalent in party politics:
| “ | The fact that it's so obvious means that it's no longer a viable option for political parties. "They're trying to help explain to their candidates and their members the right way to do it," James continues, without mentioning a particular party by name. "They're getting better." [...]
But what about Grundle2600, who's spent seven years being told that his edits don't fit the bill? Is he a dedicated editor trying to ensure a balanced view, or a political missionary looking to enforce his agenda? That depends on who you ask—and it's the reason the war to mold Wikipedia won't end as long as the site exists. |
” |
Singer Scott Weiland (#1) who died this past week wrote many cryptic lyrics, including "So do you laugh or does it cry?", in 1994's "Interstate Love Song". And things that either make us laugh or cry are the things that tend to dominate this Report every week. But aside from Weiland's death, the Top 10 is entertainment-dominated this particular 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 November 29 to December 5, 2015, the ten most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the most viewed pages, were:
| Rank | Article | Class | Views | Image | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scott Weiland | 
|
1,149,112 | _Open_Air_St._Gallen_(rotated).jpg) |
The former lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots was found dead on his tour bus in Minnesota on December 3, likely the result of a drug overdose. Weiland was an unabashed rock star-type who came out of a 1990s grunge-era that was very ambivalent about 70s rock glamour. Sadly, Weiland's long history of drug use made his death not terribly shocking to many. |
| 2 | Tyson Fury |
|
1,076,733 |  |
On November 28, the British professional boxer defeated Wladimir Klitschko (#14) in a match held in Düsseldorf to become the unified heavyweight champion. This ended Klitschko's reign, the second longest in heavyweight history. |
| 3 | Lucy Maud Montgomery |
|
1,063,021 |  |
The author of Anne of Green Gables was honored with a Google Doodle on her 141st birthday on November 30. |
| 4 | 
|
1,057,020 |  |
Always a popular article, but rarely this high on the chart. Founder Mark Zuckerberg's (#18) recent announcement that he planned to give away 99% of the gazillions he has earned from giving us the ability to "like" posts about internet memes and keep informed of the insane racist rantings of your distant relatives likely caused the view bump this week. | |
| 5 | Jessica Jones |
|
914,281 |  |
Down from #1 last week, a drop of a million views. The Netflix series based on this Marvel Comics superhero, starring Krysten Ritter (pictured), debuted on November 20, 2015, and, like its predecessor, Daredevil, shot to the top of this list. Pandemic binge-watching of the latter among MCU fans led to a rapid decline in interest, as everyone scoffed down the entire season in two days. This series seems to be fairly slightly better, at least here. |
| 6 | Krampus | 
|
842,714 |  |
As Yuletide falls in the German-speaking regions of the Alps, children are told not only of jolly Saint Nick with his sack of toys; they are also told of Krampus, whose sack is empty, waiting to be filled with naughty children who will then be carried to his lair. He isn't the only "anti-Santa" out there; the Dutch have Zwarte Piet, and the Haitians have Tonton Macoute, but Krampus's demonic appearance caught the eye of America last year, where he became a leering antidote to the oversaturation of manufactured Christmas cheer, and this year, it seems he's back, no doubt aided by an upcoming movie. |
| 7 | Jessica Jones (TV series) |
|
830,756 | |
See #5 |
| 8 |
|
787,850 |  |
Ironically, it can be hard to google Google to figure out why Google is especially popular in a given week. When I googled "Scott Weiland" (#1), for example, I immediately learned he was dead. Last week Google had only 252,348 views (#80 on raw WP:5000). The only edit of note to Google during this week was a link to Project Fi, which looks like Google's plan to provide cell phone service primarily using Wi-Fi networks. | |
| 9 | Kobe Bryant |
|
659,062 |  |
On November 29, the American basketball star announced that he will be retiring at the end of the current NBA season. This means that every time he plays in a city for the final time on his "farewell tour" (a disambig article that seems ripe for expansion?), it will be a minor news story. |
| 10 | Adele |
|
631,753 | _cropped.jpg) |
"Hello, it's Adele, if you're wondering, after seven weeks yes I'm still here." And will no doubt stay in the Top 25 for a bit longer. |
Eight featured articles were promoted this week.
Two featured lists were promoted this week.
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Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
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UploadWizard will look a bit different. [8]
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 8 December. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 9 December. It will be on all Wikipedias from 10 December. (calendar).Meetings
You can join the next meeting with the VisualEditor team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs you think are the most important. The meeting will be on 8 December at 19:00 (UTC). See how to join.
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