It seems the last time we actually had an obituary was some time around July. Not optimal. The obvious thing would be to just shove everyone into a single obituary to catch us up, but this feels somewhat disrespectful -- one editor gets a whole article if they happen to die while we're caught up, and otherwise they are one in a list of seven? However, it occurs to me that the rate at which people die (or at least the rate at which [[WP:RIP|new entries are added to the list of deceased editors) is not very fast -- we do 4 issues every 3 months, and there have been seven obituaries at WP:RIP between last July and now, so I think that just doing one or two per issue would catch us up through all of them in the next three issues, without having to crowd it up too much. I am doing two for this issue; the next issue should be Wardxmodem and Afil, then after that TomCat4680 and JarrahTree, then after that Yashthepunisher -- and anyone who is added after that (note that they are not always strictly chronologically added, as someone can just stop editing for a while and it is only found out they've passed away later). jp×g🗯️10:03, 27 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I've prepped an obit for next issue and next next issue. Still needs to have some formatting, title, and actual authors put in (e.g. the poeple who actually wrote them on WP:RIP, not me who just created the page). jp×g🗯️02:32, 4 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Hello! Since the deadline for next issue hasn't been agreed to, yet, I just wanted to let you know that any choice would be fine to me: I've resumed uni classes, so I won't have much spare time, anyway... : D Oltrepier (talk) 11:52, 6 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
But thanks for jumping in there. (We should look again at having the publication script automatically set a default publication date for the upcoming issue.)
@JPxG can you confirm you will be available to finalize and publish this issue tonight? Otherwise it would be good to update the deadline template and/or initialize the usual contingency plans (assuming Bri could take on publication).
Right now e.g. ITM still looks very drafty and N&N hasn't even been started yet. RR already has one item that folks are welcome to copyedit, I hope to have the rest up in publishable soon too, but more likely by like 4:00 UTC. I could then also help out with wrapping up ITM if needed.
I am working on some code that, if finished, might make some stuff easier. I guess we will have to see what we got. jp×g🗯️00:00, 18 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
OK. Given the current state of the issue (6 out of 8 draft sections not even yet marked as "Ready for copyedit"), I just took the liberty of moving the deadline by a day - feel free to adjust with a more precise estimate. Regards, HaeB (talk) 03:57, 18 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I was thinking this myself. There is some very good stuff in this issue, though, so I think it will be good-- just needs some time, which I shall have tomorrow. jp×g🗯️04:22, 18 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I started News and notes, but it doesn't really have any content other than two RfAs to report. I won't have hurt feelings if it's held over. ☆ Bri (talk) 04:31, 18 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
@Bri and JPxG: Well, there was a lot of news about the Le Point situation in France, as I reported previously, but maybe that's more suitable for ITM.
There sure is more material worth covering, e.g. [1] (in particular the CentralNotice policy changes) and [2] (in particular recent lawsuits we haven't covered yet). Regards, HaeB (talk) 08:04, 18 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Besides these, I have another hopefully interesting piece for N&N almost written up, which should help in providing this section with enough substance for publication. I should be able to post that in about 10h from now and also get RR into publishable shape. Regards, HaeB (talk) 07:22, 19 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Now that I have finished the software to look at the noticeboards and village pumps, I think there is probably some recent stuff we can use for N&N. Unfortunately it took quite a bit longer than I expected, as I am now completely pooped. The issue has a lot of good stuff I would like to expand on a little and then it looks like it will be good to roam.
I would exhort everyone to take a look in the collapser down here and see if there's anything worth throwing in there... I plan to write some more on these for the next issue's discussion report (as we have basically stopped having those except as occasional features) but we could spare some for this one as well. jp×g🗯️19:49, 19 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Oh, uh, no notice on this, and I didn't get any either: I have apparently been scheduled for three back-to-back shifts with zero notice on the days I was supposed to have off, including the day I have to drive two hours the other direction for a DMV appointment I had to wait a month for which is necessary to register my vehicle -- hell yeah dude that's awesome. Well I guess I am just sleeping in my fucking car tonight so you will have to publish without me. jp×g🗯️20:05, 19 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I've reset the publication countdown to Friday evening (my time; US Pacific), and have done some copyediting. News and notes is still open for editing if somebody can get more content there. I'd like to declare In the media done, unless something really big comes up. ☆ Bri (talk) 00:12, 20 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I will not be able to run Wegweiser (which populates the module database and enables e.g. the single-talk page to work) because the scripts are on my computer and I will be sleeping in my car today and possibly tomorrow. As a stopgap it is also possible to populate the module database with SignpostTagger. I believe SPS.js is working properly and you should be able to use it without issue. One of the problems a few issues ago was that there was a redirect in the Next issue space, but all other script bugs are fixed. jp×g🗯️07:16, 20 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I am marking all the articles as approved but make sure they are c/ed before running (if not already). Particularly the obit needs to have its original authors filled. jp×g🗯️07:27, 20 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I just added another story to N&N (and removed the story placeholder). It could still use some copyediting - in particular to style the quotes consistently - and an image and a more interesting headline would be nice. But it should otherwise be publishable already. Note though that the "Brief notes" section still has two open TKTKs.
I can look into those things myself later, but should first get the rest of R&R up (to Bri's question below: I will have something publishable by the deadline, although I could also make use of some more time if that happens to be the case). Regards, HaeB (talk) 00:26, 22 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Not this year, but you get the picture
I just realized that publication will be on the first full day following the Northern Hemisphere's spring equinox. Maybe a related quick note from the editor is appropriate? Any ideas? ☆ Bri (talk) 14:07, 20 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
@Bri Maybe a Hanami-style note would be fun enough?
By the way, I wanted to copy-edit ITM a little more, since I haven't managed to do anything in thr last few days (I'm so sorry for that...). Oltrepier (talk) 17:56, 20 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Very nice idea for an angle. As a by-the-way, I'm surprised the Hanami article doesn't mention Seattle (shown in my picture here); it has deep historical connections to Japan.
@JPxG: I'm comfortable approving Traffic report, In the media, Recent research, and News and notes, and of course my own From the editor(s). But did you want to retain say-so over the Opinion item? ☆ Bri (talk) 17:44, 21 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Waiting just a bit longer before publishing, to see if any volunteer copyediting happens on In the media or News and notes. It will be tonight, though (Pacific Time). ☆ Bri (talk) 02:24, 22 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
OK everybody, please stay out of the pages until it is published. I will start in about 10 minutes. @Smallbones: apologies in advance but I'm going to chicken out and wait for JPxG's approval on the Opinion piece you authored. ☆ Bri (talk) 02:44, 22 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I haven't had any feedback or seen any complaints, could you let me know what the hangup is? It's an opinion piece so there is a little leeway - I do get to state my own opinion! Will it be published late? Like say an hour late? Waiting for three weeks again (without an answer!) - I would not consider that to be acceptable. Sorry to send my complaint to you @Bri:. Are we going to hear from @JPxG: within an hour? Smallbones(smalltalk)02:58, 22 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I just ran the publishing script without the Opinion sorry. There was an error during the page moves, but I think I straightened it out manually. ☆ Bri (talk) 03:05, 22 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Spot checked some talkpage subscribers, looks good. I'm going to hang up the PC until tomorrow. Happy weekend, all! ☆ Bri (talk) 03:08, 22 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
The opinion by Smallbones is good and should be run -- I thought I had gotten to it when I was going over the submissions. jp×g🗯️07:26, 22 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
@GZWDer: - thanks for letting us know about this. I'll also send an email to legal and try to get a statement. Just to ask a couple of small specific questions and get any statements you wish to make.
I've tried to get a sense of what this is all about by reading about half of the 68 page file linked at GZWDer's link (just the first 21 pages and the last 8 pages). This note is to let other Signposters see if this is an article that they'd like to write up. It will be difficult IMHO, but has lots of things in it that most editors can relate too.
It doesn't seem to be related to India, heritage, Elon Musk, etc.
This is a first impression of less than half of the above material, and there is no guarantee that it is correct (i.e. something like a draft of a pre-draft first draft written on the back of a napkin)
The story is about a user back in 2014 that seemed to have won a court decision (or maybe it just took a long time to get thru the courts the first time!) But this decision was written very recently. It's all about the HeWiki, nothing about ENwiki, nothing about the current war, apparently nothing about politics (?). The user had some claim to be a productive editor but ran into problems with other editors, something like what an LTA might run into. Defamation settlement (I didn't see any money involved) requires some apologies and removal of material. Smallbones(smalltalk)20:38, 9 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
As usual, we are preparing this regular survey on recent academic research about Wikipedia, doubling as the Wikimedia Research Newsletter (now in its fifteenth volume). Help is welcome to review or summarize the many interesting items listed here, as are suggestions of other new research papers that haven't been covered yet. Regards, HaeB (talk) 06:05, 11 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
A very long time ago, I wrote some software that could retrieve noticeboard/VP threads (active and archived), and parse them for metadata (length, timestamps, users mentioned/signatures present, as well as the actual text etc). I am thinking that this may be useful for outlining skeletons for discussion reports: a script that just answers the question of "what the hell were people talking about the last couple of weeks?"
I think part of the reason this column is hard to write is because it not only requires analysis and writing about the actual discussions, but also a great deal of trawling through mountains of quotidian "hey guys there's a vandal" filings to unearth stuff that actually has an impact on the editing community in some way.
I like "quotidian". But more seriously, maybe we should just start running the scripts and seeing "if you build it, they will come", where they are interested in writing the column. Another idea -- we did an experiment with LLM (AI) summaries in the past, would the EiC be in favor of continuing the experiment with this? ☆ Bri (talk) 17:57, 14 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I like the word "quotidian" also. In French "quotidien" (or "journal quotidien" in full), logically enough, means daily newspaper. Just like the English "daily" for "daily newspaper". I just checked my memory and the Google AI confirmed it. If we want to write more about our daily activities (which I'm not against) we'd probably need at bit of AI (which I'm just a bit skeptical about). Run the bot, store the output where people can browse (but not part of the newspaper), and let people know we have it in case they want to write an article and *check every AI detail*. This may make it more, not less, time consuming, but it wouldn't be a bad experiment. Make sure to label it "AI aided" or similar up top. Now how are we going to make that announcement? Smallbones(smalltalk)17:43, 16 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Is there an example of how the output of such a script would look like concretely? But yes, in generally I agree it would be useful to experiment more with automation there, including LLM summaries (especially considering that technology has progressed quite a bit since e.g. these 2022 experiments), as an intermediate tool followed by manual review. Regards, HaeB (talk) 21:45, 17 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Okay, so after quite a bit of sifting through manure and remembering API stuff, I have in my hand a list of 1,395 Village Pump threads from the last couple archives of each, ostensibly since the beginning of this year (although archives on slow-moving boards can go back pretty far). There are some, uh, quirks: mostly that I have not finished writing the software, so it does not work very well and a bunch of stuff is manual.
Nonetheless, sorting by length gives at least a very obvious solid basis for some stuff we could write about. Here are the top 40 for example: jp×g🗯️11:37, 19 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
The links do not work properly because I copied this out of a text file and haven't finished the thing that makes it output correctly, but the general idea is here. Compare to, e.g. a random selection of stuff from e.g. Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)/Archive 201, which is almost all stuff of no account, I think this provides a pretty good basis for actual writing. I don't really have time to actually write stuff out of it for this issue, but I think it is at least something. jp×g🗯️11:42, 19 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
This does look useful (obviously one would want to confine it to more recent ones; looks like these results go back almost a year or more - but I assume that's on the agenda). I would consider including the number of editors who commented as an additional metric. Regards, HaeB (talk) 18:03, 19 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I believe everything is now fixed, and I ran it over everything from 2025 -- sortable table (that counts first timestamp, last timestamp, discussion size, signature count and unique userlinks) is at Special:Permalink/1281329629.
I put in a top story for an Anti-Defamation League report that I don't have time to summarize or even read fully. However, I suggest that the writer consider this for incorporation.
ADL applied analytics to the set of what they call 30 bad faith pro-Hamas editors to highlight unusual editing patterns. One result was that they edited more actively than other groups, even a group of editors involved in the PIA topic, and a similarly sized group randomly selected from the 5,000 most active English Wikipedians. The "bad faith" editors as a whole were about 50% more active than the next most active group, measured by total edits over the past 10 years. The top 5 "bad faith" editors were also 40% more active than the next most active group, measured by edits per day undertaken by the top 5 editors in control groups. Evidence said to indicate coordinated editing included a "tandem editing" metric, which looked at edits made by group members within an hour of each other on the same page over the last ten years. In this metric, the "bad faith" group made over 50% more "tandem" edits than the PIA group (71,855 versus 45,925), and almost 150 times as many than the most-active Wikipedians control group (486).
I just added – S to about half of both halves of Itm. I think they mostly wrote themselves this month, so anybody should remove my initial and/or add their own if they feel like it. The 2 Gaza related stories aren't really my work. BTW, I put my take on the ADL story on User talk:Jimbo Wales which I guess addresses Bri's comment above, but it's not journalism. Smallbones(smalltalk)21:46, 19 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
A news source has posted a dossier relating to Tech for Palestine (as in this). We'll have to decide what to do with it for The Signpost. I'm not even sure if it's OK to post a link. ☆ Bri (talk) 22:54, 20 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
They have identified ~ 250 edits done due to TfP -I have more edits in a single day, at times. I believe the expression is " A storm in a teacup"? Huldra (talk) 22:07, 30 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I'm happy to republish to include the 21:4 Opinion. Would this entail moving articles back to "next issue" and re-running the publishing script? Or manually inserting Opinion into the main page? I think the first option would result in two mass messages which may ruffle feathers. The second would not update the contents page delivered to talkpages. ☆ Bri (talk) 14:28, 22 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Next step, I'll prepare a new mass-message to notify talkpage deliverees that there's a new section, but I won't send it until it's been discussed. ☆ Bri (talk) 15:09, 22 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you very much @Bri and JPxG: I understand the extra work involved and appreciate it. The last step, about sending a new talkpage message sounds to me like a step too far. It was just an oversight which was corrected and I don't want to magnify it. Smallbones(smalltalk)15:25, 22 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Reconsidered the mass message, I don't think it is necessary because the single-page TOC appears to be transcluded to the subscribers' talkpages, and has magically updated already. So, I think we're done with re-publishing! ☆ Bri (talk) 15:19, 22 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah, transcluding the page onto the talkpage MMS makes it possible to do stuff like correct typos (or in this case retropublish) without spamming thousands of edits and blowing up everyone's notifications. The main drawback is the difficulty of doing it manually, and also that the email and global message delivery doesn't include it. Ah well. I have just gotten home and I see that everything has been done -- I've also run the script to update the modules. Thanks to everyone!! jp×g🗯️16:03, 22 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Maybe this goes without saying, but this kind of "retropublishing" should remain a very rare exception, for many reasons. Regards, HaeB (talk) 02:33, 24 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
WikiWikiWeb, the first wiki, launched March 25, 1995, 30 years ago; can we include this? It was not noted at WP:OTD. There's some coverage about this in the media, as well, and the wiki's founder, Ward Cunningham, has recently been interviewed by Yaron Koren on the "Between the Brackets" podcast!
Good news, Ziyad has been released from prison. I have added a small section to N&N (will tidy it up and add the link to previous coverage later, do let me know if his release has been covered in the Signpost already). Osama Khalid is still in jail. --AndreasJN46616:40, 31 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
@Jayen466 There's excellent news, indeed, so thank you for the update!
WMF to "convene a working group of active editors, Trustees, researchers, and advisors to explore recommendations for common standards for NPOV policies"
To support the Wikimedia communities and reaffirm our commitment to neutrality, the Wikimedia Foundation will convene a working group of active editors, Trustees, researchers, and advisors to explore recommendations for common standards for NPOV policies that can protect Wikipedia, increase the integrity of the projects, and equip the volunteers trusted to administer these policies with more support.
@Bri @JPxG Would it be outrageous if I asked you to move the deadline one or two days further? I just wanted to make sure I can actually give you a decent amount of help for this issue... Oltrepier (talk) 20:04, 1 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]