Year: 2009 Week: 6 Number: 105

Technical news

• [Oversight] - the OverSight function to remove edits is replaced with a new OverSight function. Edits are now not longer removed from the history but hidden. A revision of a page can be hidden (not new), but you can also comments, log entry's, user names or an ip address. And also define of that will be hidden also from administrators or not. This is live on all wikis (if there are users who have OverSight status)
• http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.science.linguistics.wikipedia.technical/41519
• [AbuseFilter] - A new extension "AbuseFilter" is nearly ready to be used and will probably be go live fairly soon on the English Wikipedia. This extension makes it possible to create rules that will invokes certain automatic reactions to user behavior of a user according to the programmed rules. That reaction can be like giving a warning, blocking a user or some other action. It is like the name indicates intended to help to protect the wiki against vandalism. This is a very powerful tool.
• http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:AbuseFilter
• http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.science.linguistics.wikipedia.technical/41442 -- posting of Brion about it
• http://wiki.werdn.us/test/view/Main_Page -- developer test-wiki
• [Auto NOINDEX] - From now on when you block a user the user page and talk page those pages get the status "NOINDEX" so it will no longer show up in google anymore.
• https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11443
• [E-mail us] - The email contact form to send an email to Wikipedia is gone. If you get surpisingly few emails in your local contact queue maybe this can the reason.
• http://ticket.wikimedia.org/otrs/webform.pl
• https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=15624
• [Interwiki OTRS] - the links to OTRS tickets using the [[OTRS:Ticketnumber]] works again after around 6 months. When you make a new link use the new prefix [[Ticket:Ticketnumber]] instead because that has better changes to keep working in the long run.
• https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=15681
• [Suppressredirect] - ever had to revert page-move vandalism? or just move a page without leaving a redirect? This is no possible for sysops on all Wikimedia wikis thanks to a vote on Meta.
• https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=14998
• [Sex] - there is in the preferences section (user profile) an option now to specify your gender. That information is to support the function to present different interface messages depending on your sex. In some languages is text gender specific.
• https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=13040
  

Request for help

• [Licensing] - the saga on the licensing migration to CC-BY-SA continues! There is a new page on Meta for coordinating the migration (including an FAQ). Please join in the discussion!
• http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/36090
• http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Licensing_update
• [Wikimania] - work on Wikimania 2009 is under heavy development, but they need your help with translations and expanding the existing pages. More information about volunteering, call for participation, and registration will be released soon.
• http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimania-l/2009-February/001329.html
• http://wikimania2009.wikimedia.org/wiki/Volunteers
• http://wikimania2009.wikimedia.org/wiki/T
  

Policy

• [Wikibooks logo] - It has been a process of years but now it is there; a new, final and live logo for Wikibooks.
• http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikibooks/Logo
• http://www.wikibooks.org/
• [New ombudsmen] - There are new ombudsmen (you know, the people who review privacy policy/checkuser abuse cases) and an increase in number from 3 to 5.
• http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049125.html
• http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ombudsman_commission
  

Foundation

• [Stewards] - the steward election is open and this until 22 February. Request for comments about the current stewards is also open.
• http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewards/elections_2009
• http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewards/confirm
• [Mozilla grant] - The Mozilla Foundation is giving the WMF $100,000 (USD) for the development of improved Theora encoders and more powerful playback libraries. Theora is the video-format that Wikipedia&Co is using as the only high profile website. Mozillas FireFox version 3.1 that is to be released soon will have build in support for playing Ogg Theora video. It is intended that the results of this grant will flow back for improved playback in FireFox.
• http://blog.mozilla.com/blog/2009/01/26/in-support-of-open-video/
• http://www.0xdeadbeef.com/weblog/?p=977
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Firefox#Version_3.1
• [Committees] - the Wikimedia Foundation board has reviewed the committees structure at its last meeting. The result was the official closure of a few inactive committees and a resolution describing how committees work (including a list of current committees).
• http://article.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/35989
• http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Wikimedia_Committees
  

Agenda

• [FOSDEM] - It is this upcoming weekend again FOSDEM in Brussels, Belgium, Europa, Sol3. On Sunday, the 8th of February, will Brion (Chief Technical Officer) give there a presentation about MediaWiki.
• http://fosdem.org/2009/schedule/events/mediawiki
• http://fosdem.org/2009/interview/brion+vibber
• [MediaWiki meet-up] - It will take place in April 3.-5. in Berlin. The event is for everyone who works on MediaWiki, writes extensions, builds bots, writes scripts for the toolserver, or is otherwise interested in the technical aspects of Wikimedia.
• http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Project:Developer_meet-up_2009

Community

• [Wikimania 2010] - The Wikimania 2010 bidding process has officially opened and the jury (those who review the bids and select the host city) has been selected.
• http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2010/Bids/Timeline
• [EN Wikinews] - Is electing the "Picture of the year 2008". 
• http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews:Picture_of_the_Year_2008
• [Flagged revisions] - after some normal vandalism on high profile pages and media reporting about that EN Wikipedia is moving forwards to use it on there wiki. Jimmy Wales expressed public support for using it. A vote resulted in 59% in favor of doing a trial activation of Flagged revisions. The English Wikibooks is already using it.
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7851400.stm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Flagged_revisions
  

Awards

• [IT Wikipedia] - wins the "Premiolino", which means "little award", and is the most important Italian journalistic award. IT wp wins in the category "New media" for this reason:"(because) it's a great, open, accessible for everyone, democratic encyclopedia, always updated in real time, very useful for every writer". The award consists in a parchment and a 5000€ cheque.
• http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/36862
• [Character Approved] - An American television station "USA Network" has selected several people in different fields to give them an award. Jimmy Wales has been selected in the "New media" category. The prize money of $10,000 goes to the WMF. USA Network is also running clips of the "character approved" people, including Jimbo - and are so sending out a sort of advertisement for Wikipedia on TV for free.
• http://www.usanetwork.com/characterapproved/honorees/wales/
  

Media

• [Google Knol] - ArtsTechnica has an evaluation of Google Knol six months later. There conclusion is that Wikipedia does not need to worry.
• http://tinyurl.com/cr6bm6
• [Negative press] - The Indepentent has published a very negative article about Wikipedia and Wikimedia. Jay Walsh, Head of Communications of the WMF responded by means of the comment function of the article and stated "A number of the facts in the story are blatantly false, and further details are sloppily reported or incorrect."
• http://tinyurl.com/bqmede
• http://blog.reidster.net/2009/02/more-publicity-for-my-wikipedia-work.html -- responds about the article
  

Other news

• [New wiki-manual] - In January, a new user guide about Wikipedia was published by the University Press of Grenoble (France), in French language. The authors of this 80 pages guide are Guillaume Paumier (aka guillom) and Florence Devouard (aka Anthere). The user-guide is published under the GFDL and has already been transferred to Wikibooks. The book is for sale in paper version and electronic version.
• http://fr.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikipédia
• http://www.pug.fr/titre.asp?Num=1072
• http://tinyurl.com/bf72r6 -- WM France Press release
• ["Old" wiki-manual] - A user manual for Wikipedia that was published one year ago has been released under GNU/FDL by the publisher O'Reilly's and is now on the EN wp for all.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Wikipedia:_The_Missing_Manual
• [Epistemia] - Once again a new wiki Encyclopedia project is started like Wikipedia but also is different some how. Epistemia has strong emphasis on civil and polite conduct. If you are wishing it was like 6 years ago when Wikipedia was much smaller, and maybe also better from your POV, then maybe you start over at Espistima. The have vacancies there for editors and unborn policy pages to be written.
• http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/36770
• [AnswersWikia] - ... and Wikia (Jimmy&Angela) has started AnswersWikia, what is just like WikiAnswers.com A website where you ask questions and other people can answer those.
  
• http://answers.wikia.com
  

Quote

"Stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau."

-- Irving Fisher, Yale University Professor of Economics, 1929
(two weeks later, the stock market crashed and the Great Depression started)

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