User talk:Katie Ryan A

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You have been mentioned on Jimbo Wales' talk page

Hello and welcome to Wikipedia. As a courtesy, I am leaving you a note to let you know that there is a discussion centering around comments you made recently about feeling uncomfortable editing on Wikipedia due to some comments during the Chelsea Manning naming debate. I discovered the discussion and while reading noticed that you had not been notified. While this is not a requirement, it is considered best practice to do so. The original posting editor should have informed you but was not required by policy.

You may find the discussion located at User talk:Jimbo Wales/Archive 143#This comment makes me sad.. In a nut shell, an editor is expressing their disappointment in having editors feel uncomfortable editing Wikipedia due to such uncivil comments as you mention. Many of these rude comments are being given as evidence in an Arbitration case involving the name change and homophobic/transphobic issues as well as edit warring etc. Please feel free to join the discussion. If you have any questions feel free to drop me a note at my talk page.--Mark Miller (talk) 03:52, 14 September 2013 (UTC)

Thanks!

Thank you for the "Thanks"...I continue to be shocked at the recent bias against transgender individuals' articles on Wikipedia. The attempts to dehumanize them is unacceptable. The fact is is that before the Chelsea/Bradley Manning dispute in August, there doesn't have been much controversy about renaming articles to accommodate gender transitions. I have no idea why this animosity has suddenly emerged this summer. I hope that respectful policy can be enacted to make renames just a matter of course, not subject to debate. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 13:47, 17 September 2013 (UTC)

The whole case has been a bit crazy for the trans community and the polarization is happening everywhere. It has brought a lot of trans issues into the mainstream press, and there has been a lot of positive coverage of the problems we face. However, Chelsea Manning was a polarizing subject before anyone knew she was trans, so her case isn't very helpful towards the cause when people can't seperate their disapproval with her actions from her gender identity. The people that bother me the most are the ones who claim that they support trans people and understand and respect transitioning as necessary, but then go on to say that Chelsea deserves to be denied her transition because they don't like her. I've never heard this sort of outrage about providing heart medication to convicted murderers...

One of my favorite arguments I've seen on-wiki is that she has male genitalia and it is therefore inaccurate to refer to her as anything but male. If that logic somehow gets put into the guidelines here (not that there is any chance it will), then I look forward to putting together a team of "gender police". They would go through articles on every person on wikipedia, converting them to gender-neutral language until someone could provide a reliable source on the configuration of that person's genitals. Otherwise calling them by the pronouns they prefer would be original research, right? Katie R (talk) 14:15, 17 September 2013 (UTC)

Thank you for your answer to my question on the reference desk about changing the HD serial number

However, I still wonder why there are special programs for changing the HD serial number (see ibid. and the second page as well), if there's a simple command <uniqueid>?

Additionally, your link about the command <uniqueid> claims this command "displays or sets the GUID partition table (GPT) identifier or master boot record (MBR) signature for the disk with focus". So, are you still sure this refers to changing the HD serial number? 87.68.62.25 (talk) 19:34, 19 September 2013 (UTC)

No, it is distinct from the serial number, which will be a manufacturer-specific thing to change. Like I said on the reference desk, the thing that uniqueid sets is commonly called the disk signature. This is what is usually used by the operating system to uniquely identify the disk, not the serial number, so I thought it may still be of interest depending on why you needed to change the serial number in the first place. Katie R (talk) 19:47, 19 September 2013 (UTC)

Thankxs. 87.68.62.25 (talk) 19:55, 19 September 2013 (UTC)

A kitten for you!

I didn't need a reason, i just think the advice you give on the help desk is very valuable. Also what you went through with the Chelsea/Bradley Manning rename was terrible and you should have earned a medal for putting up with that. Thanks for sticking around Katie and keep up the good wikiing =]. I hope to continue seeing you around the help desks for a long long time!

ツ Jenova 20 ^(email) 14:24, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Removed hat and some explanation

I removed your hat here . I find it wrong for you to suggest there is something wrong with me pointing out that AFAIK a person does not identify as female after some has said they do, as somehow wrong. I would add you seem to have missed the point of the pronoun issue (which wasn't really what the discussion was about).

AFAICT, no one is suggesting we should sit around someone's preferred pronoun in the absence of anything. However the person we're talking about here said things in the past which the vast majority consider to be clear self identification as female. Some people therefore began to use the female pronoun. Once or twice, people proffered correction to others who used the male pronoun. This is perfectly normal and reasonable behaviour although care has to be taken to make sure you're correct as the risk of harm is generally a bit greater from offering a correction than not offering one. But it's still the sort of stuff which happens all the time on wikipedia and other online communities without comment or complain. If you believe someone has clearly self identified as a certain gender identity, there's no harm in offering a simple correction. No one is saying there needs to be extensive speculation about the gender identity. If someone does object to such corrections, whatever their actual gender identity, they're obviously entitled to request people don't make them and no one has suggested otherwise.

However the person we're talking about here did none of this. About 2 years back, they made an extensive complaint, including apparently misidentifying the source of some commentary they objected to and accusations of "nigger" jokes which most people found nonsense and some commentary which suggested people should take care when commenting on their gender identity. While they did offer some followup, most of these didn't help much and they then proceeded to disappear as they always do offering little explanation for their complaint. Nor any apology or even real acknowledgement that they had made some highly offensive but poorly supported claims and apparently even one mistaken claim (incorrect attribution). Since then, except perhaps for once or twice early on, I've been careful not to comment on their gender identity until this case, where someone said that they claim to be female, something which I believed and still believe to be wrong so I mentioned that.

You can perhaps say I went over the line with my second comment about what I previously believed but this was a fairly complicated case as

1) It's apparent many people still believe the person we're talking about is female however the reasons for this seem to significantly be because others call them female

2) My honest impression from what they've said (i.e. ignoring what others have said) was that they're male and didn't really mind people knowing that or identifying them as such provided care was taken although precisely how much care was unclear and looking back at the earlier discussion I started to become less certain over the whole thing.

3) It's apparent as I've said that the person we're talking about here may have some objections to something relating to people commenting on their gender identity but precisely what is unclear because the discussion from which this arises is very confused and the person we're talking about here has offered no explanation

4) My comment which rereading it I feel I decent job of (even though I probably didn't have to say what I previously believed); was intended to convey the fact that wide confusion of precisely what the person we're talking about here has said we should and shouldn't do. And while I've done my best to respect their extremely unclear desires as I guess have others, I can understand why people are confused over this whole matter. And in fact I came away from rechecking the earlier discussion which started the whole thing from do years ago even more confused than I was before. (Noting of course that a key part of the reason for the confusion is that the person involved made as a I said a massive complaint including widespread accusations of Ad hominem attacks, which few people really understood because the stuff that were complaining about didn't actually seem to be harmful or in any way what they were suggesting it was, and part of the stuff they were complaining about didn't even come from who they were proscribing it to, yet they offered no further explanation.)

To be clear, the issue is not over the existence over the confusion of the identity, which the person we're talking about here, and anyone else, is entitled to if they desire. But over the confusion over whether that's what they desire perhaps including people never mentioning it in any way, or they don't actually mind people believing and mentioning they're gender identity X provided people don't go too far like use it to make what they regard as personal attacks, or what. While there obviously should always be some care taken, since this can be a sensitive subject matter, I don't feel and I don't think there's any community consensus that agrees that under normal circumstances that goes as far as to never mentioning someone's clear self identification (which BB believe) when it's highly relevant, or correcting that comment when it's apparently incorrect (as I believe). In fact, one of my beliefs before my first reply in the matter (something which I still actually think may be the case) was that the person involved possibly objected to people saying they'd self identified as female, which was partly what the previous fuss was about, so mentioning when someone had made what I thought and still believe to be a good faith error seemed not only reasonable but important.

In any case, although I still don't feel I crossed any line, I've modified my response to remove mentions in that response of gender identity . Again I'm not saying and I don't think anyone is saying that we should have extensive discussions about the person we're talking about, or anyone's gender identity, but this is quite a different thing from mentioning it when you believe it is highly relevant (as BB did), and mentioning that you believe someone is mistaken when they make a point blank statement which they believe to be correct about something having claimed to be female when AFAIK the person has done no such thing and some brief followup mentioning there's extensive confusion about precisely what we should and shouldn't about the issue.

P.S. I appreciate the irony over this extensive discussion, but I see no choice since I feel as I'm sure is clear, that I did not do anything substantially wrong here and therefore am entitled to offer some explanation from where I'm coming. While I appreciate gender identity can be a sensitive subject, I'm sure you appreciate accusing someone of being insensitive in that regard is also a sensitive issue for many. Given the sensitivity, I've avoided referring to the person by name, although it's obviously easily possible to know who I'm talking about. But I see no way to avoid this since I cannot explain my position without mentioning what happened and why from my POV. I did consider emailing but I feel I prefer my response to be public come what may. As per WP:TPG you can of course delete my response as you discretion.

Nil Einne (talk) 07:17, 5 October 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for your kindness & time

(cf your help on "Apple 17' display") . Please, take 2 minutes, put down your hat, so you'll have a close look at my roses, & smell their fragrance (the rose chafer is harmless) . T.y.Arapaima (talk) 16:00, 11 October 2013 (UTC)

disk image

Thanks, I only just saw your answers at the ref desk. After about 24 hours stuck in a loop going from "scanning and repairing disk" to "unexpected error, restart and continue windows installation" I have pretty much given up. I should say, the computer's owner has given up, and will take it to a shop or maybe get a MAC, he hates windows so. I was never able to get into safe mode like you do with Windows 7. I might look into this later in the week, but my family is coming into town as we speak, and I will be enjoying my niblings. μηδείς (talk) 18:10, 26 December 2013 (UTC)

Okay, just let me know if you want any more help - I saw you posted it several days ago so I figured you may have already decided to give up on it. I work with this stuff, but in the Windows Embedded world where everything is just a bit different and we haven't moved to 8 yet because we don't need to. I've had pretty terrible experiences with the Windows 8 auto-recovery stuff at home too, but I chalked that up to using a motherboard and hard drive scavenged from the scrap bin at work to build that system. Enjoy your time with your family. :-) Katie R (talk) 19:26, 26 December 2013 (UTC)

Barnstar!

Thanks for the answer dated 13:48, 8 January 2014 (UTC) at the ref desk. I couldn't find the dif for some odd reason. The barnstar is not topically appropriate either, but I like the one that spins. Hehe. μηδείς (talk) 01:41, 10 January 2014 (UTC)

		The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
		For you patient answer at the humanities desk μηδείς (talk) 01:41, 10 January 2014 (UTC)

Thanks! I try to be pretty active in fighting for trans awareness and rights in the real world and other parts of the internet, and it feels like I have to explain the same basics over and over because even the people that I know want to be accepting and supportive have big misconceptions about us and the issues we face. It's great to know that it's appreciated. :-) The spinny one is nice - the special barnstar is fun for anything vaguely LGBT-related because of the rainbow. Katie R (talk) 13:25, 13 January 2014 (UTC)

Request to Continue an Old Conversation With You

Folding this up because it is getting long... Feel free to keep discussing things here.

Dear Katie,

I would like to continue this conversation from several months ago with you:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Archives/Humanities/2014_January_4#Sexual_preferences_of_transgendered_people

I was busy over the last several months, which is why I didn't respond to you sooner.

If it is okay with you, I will write a response (which I will post here) to your last comment on that link.

Have a good day and take care,

Sincerely,

Futurist110 (talk) 13:14, 7 May 2014 (UTC)

Sure, I have no problem continuing that discussion. I've been very busy, so I may be slow to respond, but I'll definitely get back to you. Katie R (talk) 15:19, 7 May 2014 (UTC)

OK--in that case, let me respond to your last post on that page here right now.

For reference, here is your last post on that page:

"I didn't think you had any sort of negative attitudes towards any of this, but like you said it's that initial response that set me off. I do understand why you worded it the way you did, considering how the question was asked. I didn't want anyone going away from this thread thinking that being trans was defined by surgery, because that is one of the misconceptions that leads towards the attitudes that we (and hopefully most people) realize are horrible.

The question about classifying pre-transition sex is complicated - it really depends on the situation and how the people involved feel about it. I know someone who was dating a lesbian and they both agreed they were having lesbian sex even though at the time she still considered herself a very femme gay man.

The mention of disclosure is complicated too, but I can tell you're aware of that.

I'm happily married, and have been since before realizing that I was trans, so it's not an issue I've personally had to put much thought into.

I don't have a source for you on the numbers - I do most of my wikipedia editing from work, and I can't research it here. I've seen those numbers quoted by bloggers on the subject that I trust to use accurate sources, assuming that I remembered them right. It certainly seems to match for the trans people I know that have talked about it.

Gender-fluid, but not transgender is how I started out! :-P Then I realized that girl me was always happy and relaxed and I was always dissapointed when ended up back in boy mode. But anyways, I think we're getting far enough off topic and close to archiving that we can probably end the talk here. If you ever want to talk more about this sort of stuff feel free to contact me on my talk page. I haven't gotten around to enabling email on my account yet, but I'll do it tonight if I remember."

Yeah, again, I am sorry for my initial response there, and Yes, I agree that being trans is not defined by surgery.

I see what you mean in regards to pre-transition sex--essentially, you are saying that it depends on the personal views of the people who are transitioning, correct? For instance, there could be more cases like with your lesbian couple, and there could possibly be cases in reverse.

In regards to disclosure, I am assuming that you mean revealing the fact that one is trans, correct? And Yes, that is something which needs to be done very carefully and delicately.

If you don't mind me asking, I am assuming that you are married to a woman, correct?

Thanks for this info.

It is certainly interesting to hear your story in regards to figuring out you were trans. Personally, I don't think that I am trans. After all, the ideas of functioning as a male sometimes and as a female at other times both appeal to me (actually being a male, bodily-wise, is less appealing to me, though). I can elaborate more on this if you want.

Anyway, have a good day,

Sincerely,

Futurist110 (talk) 07:28, 8 May 2014 (UTC)

1. I think that my disclosure comment was a response to "As a side note, though, I do think that it is a good idea for transgender people to tell people whom they are dating about their "status" (for a lack of a better word) before their relationship gets too deep/serious." It's a complicated issue, but not one I've had to personally deal with or put much thought into.

2. Yes, I'm married to a woman. We just had our fifth anniversary. :-)

3. There are certainly lots of gender-fluid or otherwise non-binary people out there who have taken some steps towards medically transitioning.

4. I've heard it can be a lot harder to get started out though, because they aren't following the path set out in the WPATH Standards of Care.

5. No matter what, I highly recommend finding a support/discussion group in your area, even if you only participate via something like Facebook.

6. You'll get to meet and discuss things with people that fall under the transgender umbrella in all sorts of ways, and hopefully meet others who feel a lot like you. Katie R (talk) 12:03, 8 May 2014 (UTC)

Dear Katie,

1. That's what I already previously suspected.

2. Congratulations for you! I am very glad that your spouse was willing to stay/remain with you after you realized that you are trans (and presumably transitioned? Or I am wrong on this?)

3. Will their insurance still cover their steps even though they are not transgender, though? Honestly, if insurance is not going to cover this, and even if I am sure that I want to begin transitioning, then I might need to delay/postpone at least some of my plans in regards to this. After all, I am not made of money.

4. Can they follow that path that you are talking about, though? Or is it simply not an option for them at all?

5. I'll see what I can do in regards to this, though nowadays I prefer not to talk about this sort of stuff on Facebook just to be safe. I'll see what other websites and whanot I can find, though.

6. Yeah, this would probably be nice. :)

Also, out of curiosity (if you don't mind answering):

1. How much does transitioning and/or getting a sex change hurt one's chances of getting a job and/or of keeping one's job?

2. What exactly (other than not doing what Angie Zapata did) should people who transition and/or get sex changes need to do in order to try their best to avoid becoming victims of violence? (This is an important question in regards to personal safety.)

3. A person question for you -- did you ever, prior to begining your transition, feel like a female trapped in a male's body? (Again, since you said that you are a female, I obviously consider you to be a female regardless of your answer to this question -- I am simply asking this question out of curiosity.)

4. How hard is it to be gender-fluid (meaning functioning as a male on some days and as a female on other days) at work?

5. Does transitioning (from a male to a female) affect one's total lifespan, on average? If so, then how?

6. I apologize for asking this question, but out of curiosity -- let's say that I hypothetically get castrated (Yes, castrated, as in becoming a eunuch) and then get hormone replacement therapy (the one that people who transition from physically male to physically female get), but still keep my penis for the time being. Will I still be able to get erections at this point in time if I still want to get them (and Yes, this is genuinely a completely serious question)?

7. How hard and expensive is it to change one's name and one's sex/gender on one's documents/records?

I think that these are all of the questions which I have for now. Anyway, have a good day and take care,

Sincerely,

Futurist110 (talk) 07:14, 9 May 2014 (UTC)

A. My wife has been incredibly supportive - it's obviously been tough for both of us, but we're making it work. She's straight, but the key thing was focusing on that she's in love with me, and I'm still the same person.

B. Insurance is a tough call - mine doesn't cover anything (not even mental health), but I'm hoping that changes next year when my employer is forced to move to ACA-compliant insurance. If your insurance covers transition expenses it will likely frame it in terms of "gender identity disorder," which I would expect to cover pretty much any case where someone would want to transistion. You can do a lot of things cheaply (that wouldn't be covered anyways) - building up a new wardrobe slowly, wearing a feminine haircut, doing your nails, makeup, shaving or waxing body hair, and probably a million other things like that. If you have dark hair, laser facial hair removal costs somewhere around $1500 by the end if you get it done through a cosmetic surgery office, and your insurance may cover the cost. If it doesn't, some salons will do it as well, but the savings isn't a ton and I don't know if the technicians are as experienced.

C. WPATH overall is controversial - it has steps such as living full-time for a certain amount of time, which might not make sense for everybody, and slows down the process for people who are ready to keep moving. Many insurance programs mention WPATH as the standard they cover, but a lot of therapists and doctors are willing to tweak the program to fit your needs and still get it covered by insurance.

D. The group I'm in meets in real life but also has a secret facebook group. I haven't made it to a meeting because the town is about an hour away. People can see that you're in it, but that's all. The public description mentions that it is for friends and allies of trans people too. If your town or one near you has some sort of LGBT resource center, that's the place to start. Pride month is coming up, so you can probably get information at a nearby pride event.

Now to your next set of questions...

1. Surveys of transgender people show that a huge number of them have faced employment discrimination because of their status. I'm not Katie at work yet because of the conservative environment, and I'm still trying to work out the best way to change that. I think I'm going to aim for getting LGBT-inclusive policies in place before actually coming out, but that's hard because I can't explain how they would affect me personally if I don't come out at the time. I don't know of any other LGBT workers here, even though statistically there must be a few. I've been parking with a rainbow flag bumper sticker facing the front door of the building for a year hoping that it would convince another LGBT worker that they could talk to me about things and give me an ally in working towards change. Of course, there are also tons of employers that are very supportive. Check the HRC's Corporate Equality Index to get an idea. It breaks down hundreds of companies LGBT policies, including insurance that covers transition.

2. I don't have a good answer for you there. I honestly just don't worry about it. I've never felt threatened going out, but in my area you're probably more likely to get prayers and threats of eternal damnation thrown at you rather than slurs and violence.

3. No, it's really a big misconception that this is an essential part of being trans. When the media writes about a trans person they love to focus on cliches like that or a history of sexual abuse, even though that doesn't fit the narrative of a huge chunk of the trans population. There have been things I realize in retrospect should have stood out, such as the fact that for as long as I can remember I've been female in the majority of my daydreams, and I never really questioned it.

4. No idea. I haven't spoken to any gender-fluid people about that.

5. Not that I know of, but that's probably a question for the doctor prescribing hormones.

6. That's called a bilateral orchiectomy. It's a somewhat common choice - it's an outpatient procedure that eliminates testosterone production, and is much cheaper than full reassignment surgery. I've heard that without insurance it falls in the $1000 area. Without testosterone, you don't need a spiro prescription, which is the one that can lead to kidney problems in some situations, and hormones are easier to balance overall. It does mean that you're committing to medication for life at that point - your body needs sex hormones, so you'll need to keep taking estrogen. (Or go back to testosterone, I guess) I don't know how erections work with an orchi, but they get harder to maintain as HRT progresses anyways. I don't know about the experience of gender-fluid or other non-binary people in this area, but a lot of trans women don't mind and find plenty of other things they enjoy more than using their penis anyways.

7. It varies by state, and sometimes by county. In Michigan I think it costs $120, and you need to schedule a court date for the name change. Court dates are scheduled on a quarterly basis here, so it can take up to three months. A posting of public notice will be made (usually in the classifieds of your local newspaper), it's a requirement for notifying debt collectors and such, but if you want privacy the judge can waive that requirement with good cause. Most judges will consider transitioning good cause for wanting privacy. Right now there is no way to change my gender on my birth certificate and driver's license. Some states let you do it easily, some don't let you at all, and others require certain steps to be taken such as sexual reassignment surgery. Several states with that requirement have accepted documentation of an orchiectomy as meeting the requirement.

8. If you find a local group, they'll be able to talk about their experiences with local employers, violence, doctors that are willing to work with non-binary people, and getting name changes. I think I covered most of your questions, but feel free to keep talking about it. It's a huge subject, and I know there is a ton to learn as you jump into it. Katie R (talk) 12:27, 9 May 2014 (UTC)

Don't worry, Katie--I will respond to you within the next several days. I simply have some stuff to do right now, which is why I did not respond to you yet. Futurist110 (talk) 20:55, 12 May 2014 (UTC)

Dear Katie--I owe you a response. I have had finals for my classes recently, which is why I didn't get around to this until now. Anyway, here goes:

First of all, though, please forgive me if I say anything here which might be interpreted as offensive. I try my best to avoid saying such things, but sometimes one can make mistakes.

A. I am very glad to hear this. Hopefully I can eventually find a wife such as this as well once I will go into dating. I am still pretty young right now, so I don't intend to get married until 10-15 years from now. I apologize for saying this, but honestly, if my future wife later discovered that he was a male and began transitioning, then I am not sure that I would be too eager to remain married to him; I mean, I would love to remain great friends with him, but in regards to physical/sexual attraction, I don't appear to have any attraction towards trans-men whatsoever, and no offense, but physical/sexual attraction is a part of the deal for me when I will decide to get married. Futurist110 (talk) 07:02, 24 May 2014 (UTC)

B. Thank you very much for this info. Overall, $1,500 doesn't sound like too much in the grand scheme of things.

C. Thank you very much for this info. Honestly, I suppose that I could live full-time as a woman for a year or two or three if necessary if this will make the difference in regards to insurance coverage and if I decide to transition. Of course, even in such a scenario, I will still resume functioning as a male sometimes after the 1/2/3/whatever years are over.

D. Thank you very much for this info. Also, I was wondering if I should (eventually, in several years; I myself am in no rush to transition) see a gender therapist as well.

---

1. Thank you very much for this info, and I am sorry that you are unable to be your true self at work yet. Based on what you said here, I suppose that I can function as a male at work (once I will finish my studies and get a full-time job) as long as necessary and very slowly begin adding some small feminine traits to my outfits, if that will not be against the workplace rules, that is.

2. I am very glad that you do not have this problem and that people in your area appear to have never threatened you.

As for me, I suppose that if I ever want to be on the safe side, I can simply dress up as a man if I feel that this is necessary (even if I want to dress up as a woman).

3. What exactly do you mean by "a history of sexual abuse"? I don't think that I have ever heard of this as being a characterization of transgender people. Also, I find it interesting that your specific case appears to be more focused on the euphoria of being a female and that your case does not appear to have that much dysphoria in regards to your birth sex. (Or am I wrong on this?)

4. Well, in that case, I guess that I will need to research this more for myself.

5. Thanks for this info, and Yes, if I will transition, then I will ask the doctor(s) prescribing hormones to me about this.

6. Thank you very much for this info. Yeah, honestly, it appears that I would love to get a bilateral orchiectomy (get castrated) even before I decide whether or not to transition. Also, I've got a question--couldn't one theoretically stop taking any sex hormones at all? After all, I think that I read about some males who became eunuchs and who have stopped taking any sex hormones at all, and I don't think that any of them had any un-fixable problems as a result of this. As for a castration, I appear to have discovered that there is a doctor in the San Francisco area named Marci Bowers who is willing to perform orchiectomies on biological/genetic males even if they are not planning to transition, assuming that certain conditions are met. Of course, I wonder if I myself can get an orchiectomy while I am asleep--I appear to be very sure that I want to do this, but I do appear to have become a bit squeamish at this procedure itself. Thus, if possible, I think that it would be better and more comfortable for me to temporarily get put to sleep via anesthetic before I get an orchiectomy. Do you know if this is possible? Also, I am aware that many trans-women don't like their penises, but then again, I myself am not transgender; Personally, I appear to be rather ambivalent about my penis--it does seem to be rather useful for giving me the option of peeing standing up without assistance, but then again, I might very well be able to live without a sexually functioning penis or even without any penis (after all, I could use my fingers, a strap-on dildo, and/or something else to pleasure and to satisfy my future wife in bed). As a side note, if someone gets an orchiectomy, begins taking female hormones, and still has a penis, is such an individual no longer capable of getting orgasms and/or ejaculating as long as he or she still has a penis? I apologize for my ignorance in regards to this, but I am genuinely curious about this.

7. Thank you very much for this info. In regards to getting a name change, maybe I would like to do it eventually, though personally, due to me being gender-fluid (or something along those lines), I wouldn't mind if people referred to me by my old (birth) name even after I got a sex change. Of course, it appears to be rather nice that the female version of my current name sounds almost the same as my current name.

8. Thank you very much for this info, and Yes, I will see what I can do in regards to this.

Also, a couple more questions for you, for now (if you don't mind responding to them, of course):

1. Will getting an orchiectomy (getting castrated) and using female hormones for a certain amount of time gradually result in a former biological/genetic male losing most of his or her body hair (assuming that he or she begins transitioning in his or her 20s or beyond, after he or she has already completed going through male puberty)? For reference, I myself personally detest all of my body hair (and unfortunately I have a lot of it), excluding certain hair on my head, of course.

2. Will getting an orchiectomy (getting castrated) and using female hormones for a certain amount of time gradually result in hair restoration if one is already going bald? This is a problem which I myself appear to have due to my genetics. I myself am still very young, and I already appear to be going bald; this appears to be a trait which I inherited from my maternal grandfather, who also apparently began to go bald at a very young age.

3. How old are you? As for me, I myself am 21 years old. My current guess would be that you are in your late 20s or early 30s, if you are curious.

4. What was your name before you began transitioning? Ryan? Another name? As for me, I will respond to this question if and after you are willing to respond to it. (I'm sorry, but I don't want to give away too much of my personal info without someone else likewise telling me the same info about him or her.)

Anyway, have a good day and take care.

Sincerely,

Futurist110 (talk) 07:02, 24 May 2014 (UTC)

1. I never experienced dysphoria that I was aware of until I started realizing I'm trans. Since then I've realized that I've been suffering from depression since puberty, and that transitioning is helping with it. The biggest part of my physical dysphoria right now is body hair - it takes a lot of shaving, and although I'm usually happy with the result I hate having to do it. It's just a reminder of another step I have to do that most women don't. My understanding is that HRT will help with body hair over time, at least in places where most women don't have it. Your body eventually starts producing the fine vellus hair that cis women have rather than dark coarse hair. It can also always be lasered off. The details of how it works may vary for you. I don't know if you'll gain any hair back. I've heard some people have had a few spots fill in, but I also know people who transitioned much later in life and it doesn't do anything for them.

2. I'm 27. My name is Katie, and my middle name is Ryan. My old name really doesn't matter at all.

3. Now back to your first set of questions... A common idea is that there must be a "reason" someone is trans, and a lot of people think that childhood sexual abuse causes it. It seems like it is mainly older people who feel that way, and for a while it was reinforced by the occasional sensational news story with "shocking" looks into the life of people who had transitioned. They only focused on extreme cases that matched what people expected to hear - someone like me would be too boring for a show like that. It's been a long time since I've heard of a story like that, and it's a very good sign that you've never heard that at all. It means things are getting better. :-) I actually had to deal with that attitude from my own father - one of his first thoughts was trying to figure out if anyone had the chance to abuse me.

4. I had heard that your body needs some sort of sex hormones, I think I heard it caused thyroid problems if you have none. However, it's not something I've researched in particular, and medical questions like that and anesthetics for an orchi are definitely questions for medical professionals.

5. I also learned very recently that WPATH has changed pretty significantly - a lot of the requirements that slow people down have been removed, and informed consent is considered acceptable. Informed consent basically lets you manage what steps you're ready for (especially in regards to HRT), as long as you're informed about the effects. It's harder to find doctors that practice it, but it is a very good thing for people who are non-binary. It also gives people who used to have to self-medicate (via online pharmacies) a way to get a legal prescription and have their hormone levels tested and doses adjusted properly.

Katie R (talk) 11:59, 27 May 2014 (UTC)

Dear Katie,

1. I am glad that your transitioning is helping you deal with your depression. Thus, maybe your depression was a hidden case of gender dysphoria for you--of course, this is only speculation on my part. I am sorry about your problem with your body hair; I myself strongly dislike all of my body hair as well, and unfortunately, I have a lot of it. Yeah, I suppose that I can consider laser hair removal as well, though I am not made of money, and thus, I need to be careful to avoid overspending on things such as this. If it won't do anything in regards to hair restoration, then I might need to seek other ways to restore the hair on the top of my head if I will transition later on.

2. Thank you for this info. In regards to your old name, you don't have to tell it to be if you want to. I was simply curious about this in order to see how much nicer your current name is in comparison with your old name. That said, I am aware that some/many transgender people dislike remembering things from the time before they transitioned, and thus, I apologize if you were offended by this question of mine. I guess that I am more at ease with my current life because I myself am not transgender and don't completely detest all aspects of male-hood.

3. Isn't the main reason that someone is trans the fact the most or all trans-people have brains which are more similar to the gender that they identify with rather than to the sex which they were assigned at birth? Based on what I have read, this appears to be the main reason that someone would be trans, at least in most cases. Am I mistaken in regards to this? Honestly, I don't see how childhood sexual abuse would cause someone to be transgender. Also, I am sorry that you had to experience these views from your own father. :( I hope that both of your parents are fully supportive of your transition nowadays, though.

4. Thank you very much for this information. I guess that I myself will need to do more research on this later on.

5. Thank you very much for this information. It might end up being of use to me later on.

Also, I don't think that you've answered this question of mine yet: "As a side note, if someone gets an orchiectomy, begins taking female hormones, and still has a penis, is such an individual no longer capable of getting orgasms and/or ejaculating as long as he or she still has a penis? I apologize for my ignorance in regards to this, but I am genuinely curious about this."

Finally, is it okay if I tell you more about my own case in regards to gender identity, desiring to eventually get a sex change, et cetera? I would like to hear your thoughts in regards to it. Thank you very much.

Have a good day,

Take care,

Sincerely,

Futurist110 (talk) 07:19, 3 June 2014 (UTC)

Yeah, I meant to imply that the depression was part of dysphoria that I simply wasn't even aware of at the time. As for hair, the normal solution is a wig, and I know one trans woman who keeps her head shaved... It's whatever works best for you. The gendered brain idea is interesting but also controversial. It's been a while since I looked into it, but I remember people discussing flaws in the sample size and diversity. People are also worried that if it becomes a standard explanation of why people are trans, then it also has the possibility to make things worse for people who need to transition. Imagine if it became a standard test to see if someone is "really" trans, and was used as a requirement for things like HRT, surgery or legal name/gender changes. Poorer people may not be able to afford the brain scan and false negatives would affect people who do feel a need to transition. On the orchi side I don't really know for sure. Orgasms are certainly still possible, and are even with full reassignment surgery, but erections and ejaculation are affected, and I don't know enough about orchis to know how things work in the long run.

Feel free to discuss your situation with me. :-) Katie R (talk) 18:55, 4 June 2014 (UTC)

Dear Katie,

You previously wrote this:

"Yeah, I meant to imply that the depression was part of dysphoria that I simply wasn't even aware of at the time. As for hair, the normal solution is a wig, and I know one trans woman who keeps her head shaved... It's whatever works best for you. The gendered brain idea is interesting but also controversial. It's been a while since I looked into it, but I remember people discussing flaws in the sample size and diversity. People are also worried that if it becomes a standard explanation of why people are trans, then it also has the possibility to make things worse for people who need to transition. Imagine if it became a standard test to see if someone is "really" trans, and was used as a requirement for things like HRT, surgery or legal name/gender changes. Poorer people may not be able to afford the brain scan and false negatives would affect people who do feel a need to transition. On the orchi side I don't really know for sure. Orgasms are certainly still possible, and are even with full reassignment surgery, but erections and ejaculation are affected, and I don't know enough about orchis to know how things work in the long run. Feel free to discuss your situation with me. :-)"

Now, please let me respond to you in regards to this:

Thanks for clarifying your situation with your depression; this is what I already previously suspected. As for wigs, they might work, though I don't intend to wear a wig all of the time (of course, I myself don't plan to function as a female all of the time either even if/after I get a sex change). Why exactly does this trans-woman keep her head shaved? Is it okay if you tell me? As for the gendered brain idea, I am not trying to generate controversy--I am simply trying to honestly and accurately analyze this situation. Also, the problem with your standard test scenario is that I don't necessarily see why someone needs or should need to be transgender in order to transition. After all, why exactly shouldn't a gender-fluid person be able to transition? Likewise, why exactly shouldn't someone who has a brain/mind of one sex/gender but who for some reason prefers the body and/or the life(style) of the other sex/gender be able to transition? From my perspective, your standard test scenario here appears to be an extremely good example of gate-keeping. Personally, I myself appear to be very open and tolerant in this regard. Honestly, I think that any adult who is mentally sane should eventually be able to get rid of gender-/sex-specific body parts of his or hers which he or she dislikes for some reason in a safe, medical setting regardless of whether or not he or she ever plans to transition/get a sex change. After all, I don't see why someone who has the brain/mind of one sex/gender should necessarily like all of his or her gender-/sex-specific body parts. Likewise, doing this in a safe, medical setting would be much better than having these individuals try doing this by themselves and/or "in back alleys", both of which are (much) more dangerous (and for the record, I think that I did previously read about some cases of back-alley castrations and castration attempts occurring). As for your test scenario, such a test could be made free, though I share your concern about false negatives; in addition, all of my points above still appear to be valid ones. Thank you very much for this information about orchis; I've previously read that there appeared to be some cases of people getting sex changes and then being unable to get orgasms any longer afterwards or something like that; however, I could be wrong on this. Also, I apologize for asking, but if you don't mind telling me, did you yourself ever get an orchi yet?

As for my own situation, here is a decent summary of it (I have copied and pasted a lot of the text below from one of my previous messages (on another forum) to another individual with whom I have also shared this information online):

Basically, I would like to (eventually) get a sex change because I find the female body to be much nicer than the male body (in regards to looks, lack of body and facial hair, aesthetics, smell, in regards to getting long hair on one's head more quickly, et cetera), as well as due to the fact that I want to have ovaries and a uterus and thus to get pregnant and to get periods. In addition, it appears that females have a broader and better collection of clothes and outfits to wear than males do (for instance, it is acceptable for females to wear pants but not for males to wear dresses).

In regards to functioning, even after I would get a sex change, I would still like to function as a male for a part of the time (though obviously not all of the time) while still having a female body. Of course, I would also like to function as a female sometimes as well. Also, sometimes I would simply prefer to ignore gender/sex altogether, if you get what I mean. This is what I previously meant by my gender-fluidity. Also, I would like to point out that I myself don't feel trapped in a male body, though I still prefer to have a female body over a male body.

As a side note, I prefer to have an androgynous face over a female face, and interestingly enough, mentally/brain-wise, I do appear to have a bit of a male lean. However, functioning as a female sometimes still strongly appeals to me. While many/most people prefer to have bodies which fully correspond with their brain/mind, I myself find the activity of functioning as a male (which, even with a female body, I plan to sometimes do, but not always do) to be much more appealing than actually being a male.

Whether or not I will actually get a sex change will depend on various factors, such as whether or not my insurance will cover it, whether or not my future girlfriend/wife will support me in regards to this, whether or not (and exactly to what extent) my job opportunities will be affected by this, et cetera.

Finally, I would like to point out that I hope that we will eventually be able to fully change people's bodies and to fully change people's brains to fit the sex/gender that they want it to fit. I would also love to see much greater equality, acceptance, and tolerance of LGBT people in the United States and worldwide. Honestly, hatred of LGBT people should have no place anywhere in the 21st century and beyond.

Anyway, I think that I wrote enough on this topic for now.

Have a good day. Take care.

Sincerely,

Futurist110 (talk) 06:16, 5 June 2014 (UTC)

Dear Katie,

If there is anything which I wrote which you found to be offensive and/or want me to clarify, then please let me know. Again, I try to be careful to avoid saying offensive things, and thus, if you have a problem with anything I said, then please let me know so that I can examine and/or explain it. Also, please take as much time as you need responding to me, though I simply want to remind you that over a week has passed since my last comment to you.

Anyway, have a good day and take care,

Sincerely,

Futurist110 (talk) 02:46, 14 June 2014 (UTC)

Just been busy - I edit from work, and haven't really had the time to put into a response. I'll try to get to it soon Katie R (talk) 11:47, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

Yeah, please take as much time as you need. However, could you please tell me when you think you will be able to respond to me (as in--during what time frame)? For instance, do you think that you will be able to respond to me within two weeks? Within a month? Within two months? Futurist110 (talk) 03:00, 8 July 2014 (UTC)

Ping me again on Monday to remind me - I should have time to get back to you then. Katie R (talk) 11:26, 8 July 2014 (UTC)

Dear Katie,

It is now Sunday, but I am posting this message right now in order to avoid forgetting to post it later on. Anyway, I want to remind you to please respond to me whenever you are able to, which you said will be on Monday. As a side note, you might see this message of mine for the first time on Monday, so yeah. Futurist110 (talk) 20:55, 13 July 2014 (UTC)

1. I'm going to try to answer all your questions, let me know if I miss anything you wanted to discuss more. :-)

2. The woman I know who keeps her head shaved does it because she prefers it to dealing with wigs, I don't know more about her particular reasoning. She does get tired of people assuming she has cancer though ...

3. I agree that anyone should be able to transition without gatekeeping, I was just letting you know about the controversy I have seen discussed in trans groups when it comes to the gendered brain concept.

4. I haven't had any surgeries yet, and I don't know what ones I'll need in the long run. I'm still pretty early on in transitioning.

5. Thanks for sharing your story - it's always interesting to hear other people's experience of gender.

6. I haven't really talked much with anyone who considers themselves genderfluid.

7. If you start living in "girl mode" more, I would love to hear how it makes you feel. :-)

8. The one particular point I want to comment on is "whether or not my future girlfriend/wife will support me in regards to this." You should make sure you find someone who you can be open about this with and that will support you - I've seen the harm that gender dysphoria can cause with someone who doesn't transition due to family pressure. Katie R (talk) 12:08, 15 July 2014 (UTC)

Dear Katie,

1. I will ask you some additional questions somewhere below in this response of mine.

2. Thank you for your response in regards to this. And Yes, nowadays one doesn't see many bald women, which is why I am not surprised that unfortunately some people think that she has cancer.

3. This is good to hear. As for the controversy in regards to this concept, honestly, I think that this whole controversy should be limited to whether or not this theory applies to every single transgender person. However, as I previously said, I don't think that one being transgender should be a requirement for getting a sex change. Getting a sex change is certainly an extremely big, serious, and important matter and thus it should be carefully thought out before one goes through with it (as far as I know, while the overwhelming majority of people who get sex changes are happier and better-off as a result of this, it doesn't hurt to be safe in regards to this by very seriously analyzing and thinking this over before one actually goes through with it). However, if after careful thought, consideration, and analysis one decides to go through with transitioning and with getting a sex change, then he or she should not be prevented from doing this. After all, individuals themselves should be able to decide and to control what happens to their own bodies.

4. Thanks for this info. Out of curiosity--if you don't mind me asking, how long ago exactly did you realize that you are a woman and how long ago exactly did you begin transitioning?

5. No problem. :) In addition, I would also like to point out that until around a year ago, I simply suppressed and ignored my thoughts and feelings in regards to this. In other words, until this time, I simply didn't bother thinking about the options in regards to this and felt that I should simply be happy with being a biological male simply because that is what I currently am. It was only during the last year or so that I began figuring out and exploring all of my options in regards to this, as well as making myself much more educated about transgenderism. (Back when I was uneducated about transgenderism, I unfortunately didn't understand why transgender people felt the way that they did; I believed that they were denying reality, that they should be happy with their current bodies, and that gender is overrated in the sense that one shouldn't focus so much on it. Thankfully I did not actually say anything such as this to anyone, transgender or not; rather, I simply kept these thoughts inside of my head up to the point when getting educated in regards to this (including actually personally meeting a transgender/genderless (his gender identity is a little complicated to explain) person for the first time ever a little more than three years ago) thankfully caused me to abandon these thoughts and to feel extremely sad, ashamed, and awful about having such thoughts in the first place. I beg for forgiveness, including from you, for previously having such thoughts (which I thankfully never acted upon in any way); ignorance and intolerance can be quite nasty and extremely unpleasant things; heck, I myself appear to be much more educated and tolerant, including in regards to transgenderism, than I was several years ago.) As I thankfully became much more tolerant (by learning more about logic and thus gradually using logic to cause myself to adopt more libertarian views, including in regards to individuals' own lives, goals, and desires), accepting, and educated (such as finding out that males and females do, in fact, have different brains) in regards to transgenderism, I gradually began questioning why exactly I myself should be happy with my current body and with my current life. (Also, for reference, I myself still think that gender is overrated; this thought could have been an earlier indication of my gender-fluidity; however, I certainly understand why most people do not appear to share this view of mine, and I am completely fine with this.) Anyway, I seriously hope that this explanation was extremely useful to you, and again, I am extremely sorry about my previous extremely ignorant and uneducated thoughts in regards to transgenderism. :( Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned these extremely unfortunate and unpleasant previous thoughts of mine, but I hope that you are able to understand my experience in regards to this. Anyway, after I myself began exploring my own goals, desires, wishes, and hopes in regards to this, I gradually figured out that I appear to be gender-fluid, at least to some degree, and that there are certain aspects of "femaleness" which I myself appear to want to acquire (for a lack of a better word) for myself.

6. Well, now you have! :)

7. Will do, but unfortunately, my extremely large amount of body hair prevents me from functioning as a female; heck, I wish that I had no hair on my body other than on the top of my head. For now, the closest that I came to functioning as a female was to put a shirt (unfortunately, we only have one wig, and we don't know where exactly in our house it is currently located) on the top of my head (to simulate female hair; yes, I know--this might appear to be extremely silly) right after I got shaved to see a very rough approximation of what I would look like as a female. Frankly, I was rather pleased with the way that I looked; heck, I think that I might very well make a beautiful woman (albeit an androgynous-looking one, since I will still want to frequently function as a male even if/after I will get a sex change) if/after I will transition and get a sex change. I did and do sometimes think about the idea of me transitioning and having a female body, and frankly, this idea also appears to at least somewhat appeal to me (the reason that I said somewhat is because getting a sex change brings its own set of circumstances and (possible) difficulties with it). As a side note, I myself have also already picked out a possible female first name and female middle name for me in the event that I decide to transition and to get a sex change.

8. Agreed; this is why I myself am going to be extremely open in a future relationship in regards to this immediately. As a side note, I would like to point out that I would like to get castrated (get an orchiectomy) before I decide whether or not to proceed further with transitioning; after all, even if I, for some reason(s), will decide to remain a biological male for now, the idea of being a euncuh still appears to appeal much more to me than being a non-castrated biological male. After all, it is worth noting that castration is extremely effective as birth control (and frankly, while I remain a biological male, I want to acquire as much control over my own reproduction as possible; due to biology and the current law in regards to this, castration appears to be the most move for me in regards to this) and that castration can also help in regards to regulating and controlling one's sex drive. Finally, I also read that, without hormone replacement therapy, castration also causes biological males to develop female smells, female thoughts, more female-like bodies, et cetera, which also has its appeal to me. I will obviously tell about my future dates about this as well, and I would like to point out that I read about a surgeon in San Francisco (her name is Marci Bowers) who is apparently willing to castrate males who do not want to transition as well (if I can't get castrated anywhere else which is closer, then hopefully I can go to her in order to get this done; after all, it is much more appealing to me (for extremely obvious reasons) than self-castration and back-alley castration).

For now, I have just one question for you--if you don't mind me asking: back before you began transitioning, how exactly did having sex with your (future) wife feel like for you? Were you dissatisfied with your genitals and with your body and/or role during this sex?

Anyway, have a good day and take care. :)

Sincerely,

Futurist110 (talk) 07:23, 18 July 2014 (UTC)

Dear Katie,

Since you did not respond to me yet, is it okay if I ask you several additional questions right now? Futurist110 (talk) 03:34, 20 July 2014 (UTC)

Sure, go ahead. :-) Katie R (talk) 11:22, 21 July 2014 (UTC)

Sorry for the late reply. Anyway, here goes:

1. Can you please share some examples of this part? -- "I've seen the harm that gender dysphoria can cause with someone who doesn't transition due to family pressure." I am not disputing that you are telling the truth here; I am simply interested in hearing stories in regards to this.

2. Exactly how tall are you? Personally, I am thinking that you are 6 feet, 0 inches (like myself) or taller. As a side note, I find the height of trans-women who transitioned after puberty to be very appealing due to the fact that I myself like tall women.

3. Did you ever get physically/sexually aroused by wearing female clothes, putting make-up, and/or doing other "female" things before you transitioned? In other words, did you experience autogynophilia? (As a side note, I am aware that this does not appear to be the case with most transgender people.)

4. During your childhood and early teenage years, did you already have a preference for things such as female pronouns over male pronouns (in the sense that you preferred to be referred to using the word "she" rather than using the word "he", et cetera)?

5. Out of curiosity--what race/ethnicity are you? As for me, I am White and of Russian, Belorussian, and Jewish ancestry. For the record, as of right now, I am assuming that you are White and of European descent due to the fact that this appears to characterize most people who live in Michigan right now.

6. Which languages can you speak fluently, besides English? As for me, Russian, and that's it (I also previously used to speak Hebrew fluently back when I was a small child, but I literally forgot almost all of it by now due to not using it.).

7. Are your parents and siblings (if you have any siblings) currently supportive of your transition?

8. Exactly how many siblings do you have? As for me, I just have one younger sister, and that's it.

9. How many of your friends and acquaintances did you tell by now about the fact that you are trans?

10. If the answer to question #9 is one or more, then what exactly was the reaction of these friends and/or acquaintances of yours after you told them about this?

11. I apologize if this question is offensive, but anyway: Do you currently consider yourself to be very "passable" (for the lack of a better word) as a female? As far as I know, this is one of the goals that transgender people at least generally aim for (for obvious reasons).

12. How much body hair did you have before you began transitioning? For instance, did you have a lot of chest hair (like I unfortunately do)?

Anyway, I apologize if anything which I asked and/or said here is offensive. You don't have to answer any of these questions if you don't want to. I myself am simply extremely curious in regards to this. Also, please feel free to ask me whatever you want to. As a side note, I will probably be unable to respond to you for the next couple of days due to the fact that I will be getting (probably extremely intense) surgery tomorrow to fix my underbite (in regards to my teeth) and due to the fact that I will probably spend the next couple of days in the hospital afterwards recovering from this surgery. (And No, I am not joking about any of this.) Anyway, have a good day and take care. Also, if I will have any additional questions to ask you in the future, then I will certainly do so. Futurist110 (talk) 03:08, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

Dear Katie,

I already came back home from the hospital a while back. Anyway, I've got three additional questions for you:

13. Do you and your wife currently have any children (including adopted children)?

14. Do you and your wife plan to have and/or to adopt any (additional) children in the future?

15. Did you freeze some of your sperm before you began transitioning?

Again, please feel free not to answer any of these questions if you consider them to be too personal, et cetera. I am aware that many of the questions which I have asked are of an extremely personal nature and could be considered to be very offensive by some people. I am simply extremely curious about this topic, which is why I asked all of these questions.

Anyway, have a good day and take care. :) Futurist110 (talk) 02:55, 12 August 2014 (UTC)

Dear Katie,

I don't want to rush you or anything, but since it already appears to have been more than a month since your last response to me, I was wondering when exactly you think you will be able to respond to me. Within one week? Within two weeks? Within one month? Longer than this? Also, again, I might simply be overly cautious, but if there is anything I said and/or asked which strongly offended you, then you are certainly welcome to strongly criticize me for this. I understand that this is an extremely sensitive issue and that thus, one can offend others extremely easily when one discusses this issue.

Anyway, have a good day and take care. :) Futurist110 (talk) 06:38, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

@Katie Ryan A: Katie, I just wanted to apologize to you if my questions from six years ago were too nosy and intrusive. I don't know if these nosy and intrusive questions of mine are the reason that you left Wikipedia or if there is some other reason that you left Wikipedia six years ago, but anyway, wherever you are right now, I do hope that you're okay and doing well. For what it's worth, I myself might be on the autism spectrum, so sometimes I could fail to realize proper personal boundaries. So, again, I'm sorry and I hope that you would at least consider eventually returning to Wikipedia. I miss you, and I might not be the only one on Wikipedia who still misses you even after six years. Futurist110 (talk) 00:16, 9 October 2020 (UTC)

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The Signpost: 11 June 2014

News and notes: PR agencies commit to ethical interactions with Wikipedia
Eleven public relations agencies have declared their intention to follow "ethical engagement practices" in Wikipedia editing. The results were published last Tuesday: a joint statement from the participating PR agencies—representing five of the top ten global agencies and all but one of the top ten in the United States—clarifying their views and practices with regards to the Wikimedia projects.

Traffic report: The week the wired went weird
It seems that, more than commemorating the great moments in our history, more than even anticipating great sporting events, what our audience wants is the weird.

Paid editing: Does Wikipedia Pay? The Moderator: William Beutler
William Beutler (WWB), author of the blog The Wikipedian, is a long-time editor and community-watcher. He is also a paid editor (WWB Too). Well—not anymore—because he gave up direct editing of articles in 2011. Instead, for the past three years he has followed Jimmy Wales' Bright Line rule in acting as a researcher and consultant for companies and clients that want to suggest changes to Wikipedia articles and engage on the Talk page.

Special report: Questions raised over secret voting for WMF trustees
Last week we reported the announcement of two new affiliate-selected WMF trustees. The board of trustees is the most powerful and influential body in the movement, and chapters have been permitted to select two of the 10 seats since 2008, for two-year terms that start in even-numbered years.

Featured content: Politics, ships, art, and cyclones
Five articles, one list, twelve pictures, and one topic were promoted to 'featured' status last week on the English Wikipedia.

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The Signpost: 18 June 2014

News and notes: With paid advocacy in its sights, the Wikimedia Foundation amends their terms of use
The Wikimedia Foundation has amended its terms of use to ban editing for pay without disclosing an employer or affiliation on any of its websites. The broad scope of these changes will allow the WMF to selectively enforce their terms of use to avoid ensnaring well-meaning editors.

Featured content: Worming our way to featured picture
Five articles, five lists, 22 pictures, and one portal were promoted to 'featured' status on the English Wikipedia last week.

Special report: Wikimedia Bangladesh: a chapter's five-year journey
The Bangladesh chapter of the Wikimedia movement was formed in 2009. They received official local registration from the national authorities on 10 June 2014. The long road in between was subject to much persistence, patience, and luck—along with a good deal of worry.

Traffic report: You can't dethrone Thrones
To the surprise of absolutely no one, the 2014 FIFA World Cup was the main draw this week, taking four slots. People appeared desperate to bone up on their trivia; checking not only this year's World Cup, but the last one. Even so, they still couldn't push Game of Thrones from the top ten. It will be interesting to see what happens come next week's season finale.

WikiProject report: Visiting the city
This week, the Signpost came in from the hinterland to interview members of the Cities WikiProject.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:58, 22 June 2014 (UTC)

The Signpost: 25 June 2014

News and notes: US National Archives enshrines Wikipedia in Open Government Plan
The US National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) have committed to engaging with Wikimedia projects in their newest Open Government Plan. The biannual effort is a roadmap for how the agency will accomplish its goals in the digital age.

Traffic report: Fake war, or real sport?
Despite the interest generated by its season finale, Game of Thrones still couldn't top the World Cup, which still dominated interest, as evidenced by the fact that this top 10 is virtually identical to last week's, just with a different dead celebrity.

Exclusive: "We need to be true to who we are": Foundation's new executive director speaks to the Signpost
In her first interview since taking office, Lila Tretikov, the Wikimedia Foundation's new executive director, speaks about grantmaking, the global south, and the gender gap.

Discussion report: Media Viewer, old HTML tags
Discussions on the English Wikipedia this week include...

Featured content: Showing our Wörth
Ten articles and eleven pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.

WikiProject report: The world where dreams come true
This week, the Signpost visited the land of Disney, blockbusters, explosions, dream sequences, and cultural masterpieces: film.

Recent research: Power users and diversity in WikiProjects
In a recent paper, Jacob Solomon and Rick Wash investigate the question of sustainability in online communities by analysing trends in the growth of WikiProjects.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:51, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

The Signpost: 02 July 2014

In the media: Wiki Education; medical content; PR firms
The Los Angeles Times highlighted a recent Wiki Education Foundation (WEF) course at Pomona College in their article "Wikipedia pops up in bibliographies, and even college curricula". We interviewed Char Booth, the campus ambassador for the course, for additional details.

Traffic report: The Cup runneth over... and over.
With Game of Thrones over for another year, the World Cup dominated yet again. And that is pretty much that. This list isn't likely to be particularly eventful until the Cup is won.

News and notes: Wikimedia Israel receives Roaring Lion award
Wikimedia Israel (WMIL) has won a Roaring Lion in the category of Internet and cellular for its public outreach during the tenth anniversary of the Hebrew Wikipedia in July 2013.

Featured content: Ship-shape
Six articles, five lists, seventeen pictures, and one topic were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.

WikiProject report: Indigenous Peoples of North America
This week, the Signpost visited the Indigenous peoples of North America WikiProject.

Technology report: In memoriam: the Toolserver (2005–14)
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Wikimedia Deutschland's Toolserver project was switched off, marking the end of one of the Wikimedia movement's longest running Chapter-led projects. The Toolserver, which was in fact a collection of servers, first came online in 2005, hosting hundreds of webpages and scripts ("tools") made available for use by Wikimedia readers, editors and administrators.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 04:23, 6 July 2014 (UTC)

The Signpost: 09 July 2014

Special report: Wikimania 2014—what will it cost?
Last May, James Forrester announced to the world that London had been awarded the 2014 Wikimania conference. Functioning as the Wikimedia movement's annual conference, it is separate from the chapter-focused Wikimedia Conference. The first, located in Frankfurt, took place in 2005 and had 380 attendees. London, the tenth, is now expected to attract 1500. With Wikimania ambition, attention, and attendance rising significantly over the last nine years, how have this year's monetary costs come to be?

Wikicup: Wikicup's third round sees money, space, battleships and more
After an extremely close race, round three is over. 244 points secured a place in Round 4, which is comparable to previous years—321 was required in 2013, and 243 points in 2012.

Wikimedia in education: Exploring the United States and Canada with LiAnna Davis
The Wikimedia Education Program currently spans 60 programs around the world; students and instructors participate at almost every level of education. The Education program Signpost series presents a snapshot of the Wikimedia Global Education Program as it exists in 2014.

Featured content: Three cheers for featured pictures!
Five articles, six lists, and nine pictures were promoted to 'featured' status last week on the English Wikipedia.

News and notes: Echoes of the past haunt new conflict over tech initiative
As with the troubled release of the Wikimedia Foundation's (WMF) flagship VisualEditor project, the release of the new Media Viewer has also been met with opposition from the English Wikipedia community.

Traffic report: World Cup, Tim Howard rule the week
Unsurprisingly, the World Cup continued to dominate the English Wikipedia's viewing statistics. In particular, the record-breaking performance of US goalkeeper Tim Howard and the tournament-ending injury to Brazil's Neymar drove large amount of views to their articles.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 04:53, 13 July 2014 (UTC)

The Signpost: 16 July 2014

Special report: $10 million lawsuit against Wikipedia editors withdrawn, but plaintiff intends to refile
On the same day the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) announced it would offer assistance to English Wikipedia editors embroiled in a legal dispute with Yank Barry, the lawsuit has been withdrawn without prejudice at the request of Barry's legal team—but this action is being described as "strategic" so that they can refile the lawsuit with a "new, more comprehensive complaint."

Traffic report: World Cup dominates for another week
This week it's still more and more World Cup, with five entries out of the top ten (and 14 out of the Top 25).

Wikimedia in education: Serbia takes the stage with Filip Maljkovic
It all started in late 2005, when we first held lectures about Wikipedia in two educational institutions (universities) ...

Featured content: The Island with the Golden Gun
Eight articles, three lists, and 28 pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia last week.

News and notes: Bot-created Wikipedia articles covered in the Wall Street Journal, push Cebuano over one million articles
The Swedish Wikipedia's prolific Lsjbot, which has created a significant proportion of the site's 1.7 million articles and has nearly single-handedly pushed it to being the fourth-largest Wikipedia, was covered in the Wall Street Journal this week. The newspaper reported that the bot has created 2.7 million articles, which is apparently a reference to the Waray-Waray and Cebuano Wikipedias, where Lsjbot is also active, and that "on a good day", it creates 10,000 articles.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:26, 18 July 2014 (UTC)

The Signpost: 23 July 2014

Wikimedia in education: Education program gaining momentum in Israel
"Great success" in Israel universities is leading to collaboration and editing in high schools.

Traffic report: The World Cup hangs on, though tragedies seek to replace it
Last week I predicted that the World Cup dominance on the report would be over—but I was wrong. The World Cup Final fell on the 13th of July, which was actually the first day of the week covered by this report, not the last day of the last report. Hence, five of the Top 10 this week are again World Cup related-topics.

News and notes: Institutional media uploads to Commons get a bit easier
Galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAMs) today are facing fewer barriers to uploading their content onto Wikimedia projects now that the new GLAM-Wiki Toolset Project has been launched. The tool, which is the fruit of a collaboration between Europeana and several Wikimedia chapters, relieves GLAMs from having to write their own automated scripts and gives them a standardized method of uploading large amounts of their digitized holdings.

Forum: Did you know?—good idea, needs reform
The English Wikipedia's did you know (DYK) section has been a feature of the site's main page since February 2004. From the beginning, the section has served as a place to highlight Wikipedia's newest articles. But over the last few years, the did you know section has gotten steadily larger and more complex, and non-notable or plagiarized articles have occasionally slipped through the reviewing process, leading numerous editors to call for reforms to the system. We asked two editors to share their views.

Featured content: Why, they're plum identical!
Ten articles, five lists, and 25 pictures were promoted to featured status on the English Wikipedia last week.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:31, 26 July 2014 (UTC)

The Signpost: 30 July 2014

Book review: Knowledge or unreality?
In Common Knowledge: An Ethnography of Wikipedia, Dariusz Jemielniak discusses Wikipedia from the standpoint of an experienced editor and administrator who is also a university professor specializing in management and organizations. In Virtual Reality: Just Because the Internet Told You, How Do You Know It's True?, Charles Seife presents a more broadly themed work reminding us to question the reliability of information found throughout the Internet.

Recent research: Shifting values in the paid content debate
Kim Osman has performed a fascinating study on the three 2013 failed proposals to ban paid advocacy editing in the English language Wikipedia. Using a Constructivist Grounded Theory approach, Osman analyzed 573 posts from the three main votes on paid editing conducted in the community in November 2013.

News and notes: How many more hoaxes will Wikipedia find?
Another hoax on the English Wikipedia was uncovered this week—not by any thorough investigation, but through the self-disclosure of an anonymous change made when the editors were in their sophomore year of college. The deliberate misinformation had been in the article for over five years with plenty of individuals noticing, but not one suspected its authenticity. This leads to one obvious question: how many more are there?

Wikimedia in education: Success in Egypt and the Arab World
A "program of heroes" is leading the charge in Egypt.

Traffic report: Doom and gloom vs. the power of Reddit
We indeed moved far away from football this week, and further into much more serious issues of war and death. The Israel-Palestinian conflict continues to dominate the news, and the top 10, with Gaza Strip, Israel, and Hamas. The top 25 also includes Palestine and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Death also lies behind the popularity of James Garner, the American actor who died on July 19th, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, and deaths in 2014.

Featured content: Skeletons and Skeltons
Two articles, four lists, and seven pictures attained featured status on the English Wikipedia last week.

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The Signpost: 06 August 2014

Technology report: A technologist's Wikimania preview
As the start of Wikimania proper on 8 August approaches, the Signpost looks ahead to what its dozens of presentations might offer the technologically-inclined, whether attending in person or taking advantage of what promises to be a strong digital offering.

Traffic report: Ebola
Serious news continues to dominate the most popular articles chart on Wikipedia this week, with the Ebola virus disease far and away in the top spot. In the top 25, we see the related articles Ebola virus, which talks about biological aspects, at #18 and 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak at #19.

Featured content: Bottoms, asses, and the fairies that love them
Eight articles, fifteen pictures, and two topics were promoted to featured status on the English Wikipedia last week.

Wikimedia in education: Leading universities educate with Wikipedia in Mexico
"Major growth" expected in Mexican university after a Wikipedia program is formally accepted by the school's administration.

News and notes: "History is a human right"—first-ever transparency report released as Europe begins hiding Wikipedia in search results
The Wikimedia Foundation has published its first transparency report, covering from July 2012 to June 2014. The move comes on the same day the organization announced that Google, in order to comply with a recent court order upholding the "right to be forgotten", has removed a number of Wikipedia articles from their European search results.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:51, 9 August 2014 (UTC)

The Signpost: 13 August 2014

Special report: Twitter bots catalogue government edits to Wikipedia
Slate reports that Tom Scott, co-creator of the emoji social network Emojli, created a Twitter bot called Parliament WikiEdits to automatically tweet a link to any Wikipedia edits made from an IP address belonging to the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Scott's bot initially did not tweet any links to edits made from Parliament and, according to Scott, an "insider" reports that their IP addresses changed. Despite this, Scott's Twitter bot has inspired similar creations in numerous other countries.

Traffic report: Disease, decimation and distraction
It's been a grim few weeks. It says something that formerly arresting crises like the war in Ukraine, Boko Haram and the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, despite still being ongoing, have fallen out of the top 10 to make way for the 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak and the equally if not more intense conflict against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.

Wikimedia in education: Global Education: WMF's Perspective
"Education is at the core of the Wikimedia Foundation’s mission."

Wikimania: Promised the moon, settled for the stars
Wikimania 2014 was held last week in the Barbican Centre in London. Below, the Signpost's former "Technology report" writer Harry Burt (User:Jarry1250) shares his thoughts on a bustling conference.

News and notes: Media Viewer controversy spreads to German Wikipedia
Wikimedia Foundation staff members have now been granted superpowers that would allow them to override community consensus. The new protection level came as a response to attempts of German Wikipedia administrators to implement a community consensus on the new Media Viewer. "Superprotect" is a level above full protection, and prevents edits by administrators.

Op-ed: Red links, blue links, and erythrophobia
Erythrophobia is the fear of, or sensitivity to, the colour red. Recently, I have seen more and more erythrophobic Wikipedians; specifically, Wikipedians who are scared of red links. In Wikipedia's early days, red links were encouraged and well-loved, and when I started editing in 2006, this was still mostly the case. Jump forward to 2014, and many editors now have an aversion to red links.

In the media: Monkey selfie, net neutrality, and hoaxes
The Observer reported (August 2) that Google would "restrict search terms to a link to a Wikipedia article, in the first request under Europe's controversial new 'right to be forgotten' legislation to affect the 110m-page encyclopaedia."

Featured content: Cambridge got a lot of attention this week
Eight article, six lists, and two topics were promoted to featured status last week.

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The Signpost: 20 August 2014

Interview: Improving the visibility of digital archival assets using Wikipedia
Dorothy Howard interviews Michael Szajewski, archivist for digital development and university records at Ball State University.

Traffic report: Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero
Comedian Robin Williams' untimely death takes the top spot.

WikiProject report: Bats and gloves
At the plate with WikiProject Baseball!

Op-ed: A new metric for Wikimedia
Denny Vrandečić argues that "We should focus on measuring how much knowledge we allow every human to share in, instead of number of articles or active editors."

Featured content: English Wikipedia departs for Japan
Ten articles and three pictures were promoted to featured status last week.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:09, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

The Signpost: 27 August 2014

In the media: Plagiarism and vandalism dominate Wikipedia news
Journalistic integrity, Congressional edits, and other news.

News and notes: Media Viewer—Wikimedia's emotional roller-coaster
More discussions about Media Viewer, Superprotect, and software development

Traffic report: Viral
"This was a week when an actual virus, Ebola, competed for attention with several viral social phenomena; most notably the Ice Bucket Challenge..."

Featured content: Cheats at Featured Pictures!
Sixteen articles, five lists, five pictures, and one topic were promoted.

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The Signpost: 03 September 2014

Arbitration report: Media viewer case is suspended
"On 1 September, the Arbitrators voted to suspend the Media Viewer case for 60 days. After the suspension period is up, the case is to be closed unless the committee votes otherwise. The case suspension comes in response to several new initiatives and policies announced by the Wikimedia Foundation that may make the case moot. In the same motion, the committee declared that Eloquence's resignation of the administrator right was "under the cloud" and that he can only regain the right through another RfA."

Featured content: 1882 × 5 in gold, and thruppence more
Two articles, one list, and ten pictures were promoted

Op-ed: Automated copy-and-paste detection under trial
Doc James and some collaborators are working on quick detection of copyright violations

Traffic report: Holding Pattern
"This week we saw three of the top ten articles remain in place, with the Ice Bucket Challenge at #1, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at #2, and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant at #5, all for a second straight week..."

WikiProject report: Gray's Anatomy (v. 2)
"This week, the Signpost went out to meet WikiProject Anatomy, dedicated to improving the articles about all our bones, brains, bladders and biceps, and getting them to the high standard expected of a comprehensive encyclopaedia."

Recent research: A Wikipedia-based Pantheon; new Wikipedia analysis tool suite; how AfC hamstrings newbies
The latest roundup of research about Wikimedia

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 08:03, 6 September 2014 (UTC)

The Signpost: 10 September 2014

Op-ed: Media Viewer software is not ready
Last month, I wrote an open letter to the Wikimedia Foundation, inviting others to join me in a simple but important request: roll back the recent actions—both technical and social—by which the Wikimedia Foundation has overruled legitimate decisions of several Wikimedia projects.

Traffic report: Refuge in celebrity
Even though it's not quite 3/4 over, it's safe to say that 2014 will go down as a year of war, mass murder, plane crashes and terrible diseases. While certainly paying it some heed, it's not surprising that Wikipedia viewers tried this week to find any alternative to that litany of tragedy and pain, and their chosen method of escape was, as usual, celebrity.

Featured content: The louse and the fish's tongue
The amazing and strange tongue-eating louse replacing a fish's tongue! Because isopods, the subject of a new featured article, are both awesome and really damn weird!

WikiProject report: Checking that everything's all right
This week, the Signpost decided to have a look around with WikiProject Check Wikipedia a maintenance project not concerned so much with articles' content, but in all the tiny errors that are to be found scattered within them. Their front page gives a list of things they mainly focus on ...

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:55, 14 September 2014 (UTC)

The Signpost: 17 September 2014

In the media: Turkish Twitter outrage, medical translation, audience metrics
The Hürriyet Daily News reports on a series of posts on Twitter from Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism Ömer Çelik.

WikiProject report: A trip up north to Scotland
As Scotland is deciding its future this week, we thought it might be a good idea to get to know the editors of WikiProject Scotland and talk to them about the project.

News and notes: Wikipedia's traffic statistics are off by nearly one-third
A prominent Wikipedia researcher has discovered that the encyclopedia's widely used article traffic statistics are missing out on approximately one-third of total views.

Traffic report: Tolstoy leads a varied pack
There is no unifying theme we can slap on top article popularity this week.

Featured content: Which is not like the others?
Four articles, two lists, and 51 pictures were promoted to "featured" status this week on the English Wikipedia.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 05:36, 18 September 2014 (UTC)

The Signpost: 24 September 2014

Featured content: Oil paintings galore
Six articles, four lists, one topic, and 17 pictures were promoted to "featured" status this week on the English Wikipedia.

In the media: Indian political editing, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Congressional chelonii
The Hindustan Times speculates (September 18) that politicians and their supporters are "sanitizing" their articles in advance of the 2014 Maharashtra State Assembly election. The Times notes the absence of significant controversies in the articles of particular politicians and the presence of heavily promotional language.

Recent research: 99.25% of Wikipedia birthdates accurate; focused Wikipedians live longer; merging WordNet, Wikipedia and Wiktionary
0.75% of Wikipedia birthdates are inaccurate, reported Robert Viseur at WikiSym 2014. Those inaccuracies are "low, although higher than the 0.21% observed for the baseline reference sources". Given that biographies represent 15% of English Wikipedia, the third largest category after "arts" and "culture", their accuracy is important.

Traffic report: Wikipedia watches the referendum in Scotland
This could be the beginning of a new era for this list. Until now, decisions to remove suspicious content have been largely educated guesswork. This week though, we have a new collaborator who can shine a light on the origins and patterns, sorting once and for all the webwheat from the cyberchaff.

WikiProject report: GAN reviewers take note: competition time
A year and a week later, we're with some of the members of WikiProject Good Articles, who wanted to share the news of their upcoming contest within the project, the GA Cup. The aim of this friendly competition, which is held in the same light friendly manner of the WikiCup and the Core Contest, is to reduce the backlog of unreviewed articles at Good article nominations which has been a constant problem for quite a few years for those running the GA process.

Arbitration report: Banning Policy, Gender Gap, and Waldorf education
Banning Policy finishes the workshop phase on 23 September. Parties have proposed findings of fact on the topics of the 3RR, the role of Jimbo Wales, and proxying for banned users. A request for arbitration was posted on 20 September about Landmark Worldwide.

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The Signpost: 01 October 2014

From the editor: The Signpost needs your help
Contributing to the Signpost can be one of the most rewarding things an editor can do.

Dispatches: Let's get serious about plagiarism
This article was first published in the Signpost in 2009. Written by several long-standing editors, including the late Adrianne Wadewitz, the article was subjected to extensive commentary and ultimately influenced the English Wikipedia's plagiarism guideline. With recent debates about close paraphrasing vis-à-vis plagiarism, we feel that this dispatch retains its relevance and deserves a second airing.

News and notes: Wikipedia article published in peer-reviewed journal; Wikipedia in education
The argument on Wikipedia over the benefits of crowdsourcing versus the primacy of "expert" contributors stretches back to co-founder Larry Sanger's break with the project to start the alternative Citizendium.

WikiProject report: Animals, farms, forests, USDA? It must be WikiProject Agriculture
This week, the Signpost went down to the farm to have a look at the work of WikiProject Agriculture, which has been in existence since 2007 and has a scope covering crop production, livestock management, aquaculture, dairy farming and forest management.

Traffic report: Shanah Tovah
Jews wished each other Shanah Tovah ("Good year") this week as Rosh Hashanah was our most popular article. It was also a week not dominated by heavy news and tragedies, so aside from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (#2, sixth week in the Top 10), our popular article list runs the gamut of current events including new television series Gotham (#3), the 2014 Asian Games (#4), and Reddit-fueled popularity for German director Uwe Boll (#7).

Featured content: Brothers at War
As the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the American Civil War draws to a close, the race to improve content continues. The Battle of Franklin, fought on November 30, 1864, will, quite appropriately, be Picture of the Day for November 30, 2014, its 150th anniversary. If you want to help commemorate the American Civil War, why not help out at the Military History WikiProject's Operation Brothers at War. Or help out with the World War I centennial, just starting up, Operation Great War Centennial.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:25, 4 October 2014 (UTC)

The Signpost: 08 October 2014

In the media: Opposition research firm blocked; Australian bushfires
Also, Wikimedia Norge and Nobel Peace Center edit-a-thon

Featured content: From a wordless novel to a coat of arms via New York City
2 Featured articles, 4 Featured lists, 62 Featured pictures, and 2 Featured portals were promoted.

Traffic report: Panic and denial
The first case of the Ebola virus on US shores sent people into a tizzy, rushing to their keyboards to try and learn what they could.

Technology report: HHVM is the greatest thing since sliced bread
No seriously, it is.

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The Signpost: 15 October 2014

Op-ed: Ships—sexist or sexy?
Why does Wikipedia still use the gendered pronouns "she" and "her" for ships?

In the media: College player falsely linked to sports scandal by Wikipedia; the Nobel Prizes
Ben Koo of the sports blog Awful Announcing investigated how player Joe Streater's name became involved in recent years with a historic sports scandal.

Arbitration report: One case closed and two opened
The Banning Policy case was closed on 12 October. Arbcom affirmed that users have "considerable leeway" in terms of how their talk pages are managed.

Featured content: Bells ring out at the Temple of the Dragon at Peace
Nine articles and twenty-six pictures were promoted to featured status on the English Wikipedia.

Technology report: Attempting to parse wikitext
This week we sat down with The Earwig to learn about his wikitext parser.

Traffic report: Now introducing ... mobile data
We are pleased to report that the WP:5000 has now been updated to include mobile views, including a column reflecting the percentage of views coming from mobile devices.

WikiProject report: Signpost reaches the Midwest
Today, it's the turn of WikiProject Ohio to give us an interview probing deep into of how they manage to run a project covering one fiftieth of the United States, and the workings of how they manufacture their successes and other articles.

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The Signpost: 22 October 2014

Featured content: Admiral on deck: a modern Ada Lovelace
Four articles, four lists, and fifty-three pictures were promoted to featured status.

Op-ed: Hong Kong's Umbrella Revolution—a wiki-protest
Our op-ed writer this week opines that the organization of Hong Kong's "Umbrella Revolution" resembles how Wikipedia is organized.

In the media: The story of Wikipedia; Wikipedia reanimated and republished; New UK government social media rules; death of Italian Wikipedia administrator
Among many newsworthy stories this week, the Signpost notes the passing of Italian Wikipedia administrator and former Wikimedia Italia treasurer [Cotton

Traffic report: Death, War, Pestilence... Movies and TV
Ebola, movies and television articles appear in this week's top ten.

WikiProject report: De-orphanning articles—a huge task but with a huge team of volunteers to help
PaintedCarpet explains that "WikiProject Orphanage aims to connect all Wikipedia pages, so that pages can be found and read more easily."

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The Signpost: 29 October 2014

Featured content: Go West, young man
By the way, there is a monster at the end of this article

In the media: Wikipedia a trusted source on Ebola; Wikipedia study labeled government waste; football biography goes viral
Noam Cohen reports in The New York Times (October 26) that Wikipedia's "Ebola Virus Disease article has had 17 million page views in the last month," an indication of the public's reliance on the online encyclopedia.

Maps tagathon: Find 10,000 digitised maps this weekend
Rather than the usual WikiProject Report, this week our guest author Jheald is telling us about a campaign to identify thousands of old maps which have been digitised, to make them available for georeferencing and upload

Traffic report: Ebola, Ultron, and Creepy Articles
Ebola virus disease leads the Report for the fourth straight week. The rest of the list is primarily a mix of pop culture topics, including movie Avengers: Age of Ultron (#4) whose trailer was leaked early, and the death of Oscar de la Renta (#7). A BuzzFeed article on creepy Wikipedia articles, no doubt well-timed with Halloween (#9) around the corner, was responsible for three articles in the Top 25, including June and Jennifer Gibbons (#10), Taman Shud Case (#17), Joyce Vincent (#25). And the internet-run-amok controversy of Gamergate cracked the Top 25 for the first time at #19.

Recent research: Informed consent and privacy; newsmaking on Wikipedia; Wikipedia and organizational theories
In new research conducted in light of proposed changes to data protection legislation in the European Union (EU), authors Bart Custers, Simone van der Hof, and Bart Schermer conducted a comparative analysis of social media and user-generated content websites’ privacy policies along with a user survey (N=8,621 in 26 countries) and interviews in 13 different EU countries on awareness, values, and attitudes toward privacy online.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:30, 31 October 2014 (UTC)

The Signpost: 05 November 2014

In the media: Predicting the flu, MH17 conspiracy theories
"Rachel Feltman, in The Washington Post (November 4), examined research in which a team, mostly from Los Alamos National Laboratory, headed by Kyle Hickman developed a model that enabled them "to successfully predict the 2013-2014 flu season in real time" by employing "an algorithm to link flu-related Wikipedia searches with CDC data from the same time." Apparently when individuals search for information about the flu and its symptoms in Wikipedia when they feel ill, this generates data useful in forecasting the the flu season."

Traffic report: Sweet dreams on Halloween
"It is, perhaps, ironic that humanity chose the week of Halloween to finally put its fears to bed. Let's face it: 2014 has been a year of tragedies, conflicts, plagues and pain, and eventually something had to break... Whether we at last came to terms with our limited ability to affect events, shoved those events under the carpet, or just decided to let go and move on, we turned our eye to more positive things, such as sports heroes, hotly anticipated movies, and lifelong learning; two Google doodles appeared in the top 25 for the first time since the beginning of August."

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The Signpost: 12 November 2014

In the media: Amazon Echo; EU freedom of panorama; Bluebeard's Castle
"Technology media outlets are abuzz after the November 6 unveiling of the Amazon Echo, an Internet-connected voice command device"; "The EUobserver talks (November 4) with Dimitar Dimitrov (User:Dimi z) about the lack of freedom of panorama in some European Union countries and its implications for Wikimedia projects"; "Scott Cantrell, classical music critic for the Dallas Morning News, recounts efforts to verify an uncited claim in the Wikipedia article for the Béla Bartók opera Bluebeard's Castle."

Traffic report: Holidays, anyone?
This was very much a week dominated by holidays and pop culture over current events, with new film Interstellar taking the top spot followed by holidays Day of the Dead (#2), Guy Fawkes and his Night (#4 and #5), and Halloween (#8, and its third week on the list). And a foursome of television shows, all return visitors, appear to setting up residence on the greater Top 25: The Walking Dead (#11), American Horror Story: Freak Show (#14), Gotham (#16), and The Flash (#18).

Featured content: Wikipedia goes to church in Lithuania
Nine articles, two lists, and 55 featured pictures were promoted during the week of 26 October.

WikiProject report: Talking hospitals
We return to our interview format this week, speaking with the participants of WikiProject Hospitals. This project, formed in 2010, has no Featured content and only three Good articles, yet aided by around 30 hard-working Wikipedians covers a topic that is essential to life.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:46, 17 November 2014 (UTC)

A kitten for you!

Dear Katie,

How are you doing right now? You haven't posted on Wikipedia at all for the last 3.5 months; thus, I seriously hope that everything is going okay for you.

Have a good day and take care,

Sincerely,

Futurist110 (talk) 03:10, 19 November 2014 (UTC)

The Signpost: 26 November 2014

Featured content: Orbital Science: Now you're thinking with explosions
Four articles, four lists, eleven pictures, and one topic were promoted.

In the media: A Russian alternative Wikipedia; Who's your grandfather?; ArtAndFeminism
Numerous media outlets are reporting on a November 14 statement on the website of the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library announcing the formation of a Russian "alternative" to Wikipedia, a "regional electronic encyclopedia" dedicated to "Russian regions and the life of the country".

Recent research: Gender gap and skills gap; academic citations on the rise; European food cultures
The monthly roundup of research related to Wikimedia.

WikiProject report: Back with the military historians
It's time for this year's edition of the Report looking at possibly our largest wikiproject: Military history. Since our last interview in June 2013, the project has had no break in its huge quest to document everything in their scope, that is, militaries and conflicts of the past. As usual, its participants were eager to answer the questions posed by The Signpost and update us on how they are doing.

Traffic report: Big in Japan
Often times in popular culture, a subject will be quite popular among a distinct niche of people or region of the world, but little-known elsewhere -- like a musical artist that is boasted to be "big in Japan". The Traffic Report provides a bevy of examples this week.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:22, 28 November 2014 (UTC)

The Signpost: 03 December 2014

Op-ed: Who edits health-related content on Wikipedia and why?
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In the media: Embroidery and cheese
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Featured content: ABCD: Any Body Can Dance!
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Traffic report: Turkey and a movie
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WikiProject report: Today on the island
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The Signpost: 10 December 2014

Op-ed: It's GLAM up North!
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In the media: Wikipedia is "a rancorous, sexist, elitist, stupidly bureaucratic mess"
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Traffic report: Dead Black Men and Science Fiction
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Featured content: Honour him, love and obey? Good idea with military leaders.
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The Signpost: 17 December 2014

Arbitration report: Arbitration Committee election results
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Featured content: Tripping hither, tripping thither, Nobody knows why or whither; We must dance and we must sing, Round about our fairy ring!
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In the media: Wikipedia's year in review video; Checking in with Wikipedia's founders
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Traffic report: A December Lull
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The Signpost: 24 December 2014

From the editor: Looking for new editors-in-chief
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In the media: Wales on GamerGate
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Featured content: Still quoting Iolanthe, apparently.
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WikiProject report: Microsoft does The Signpost
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Traffic report: North Korea is not pleased
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The Signpost: 31 December 2014

News and notes: The next big step for Wikidata—forming a hub for researchers
Wikidata, Wikimedia's free linked database that supplies Wikipedia and its sister projects, is gearing up to submit a grant application to the EU that would expand Wikidata's scope by developing it as a science hub. The proposal, supported by more than 25 volunteers and half a dozen European institutions as project partners, aims to create a virtual research environment (VRE) that will enhance the project's capacity for freely sharing scientific data.

In the media: Study tour controversy; class tackles the gender gap
A "study tour" by the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation for the purpose of researching development projects has been the subject of much controversy and criticism in the Indian press... The Indian Express described a government report about the trip as having copied extensively from the Wikipedia articles for Port Blair and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

Traffic report: Surfin' the Yuletide
Unlike last year, Wikipedia viewers seem to have embraced the Christmas spirit, with three topics in the top 10 (and eight in the top 25) focused on the holiday season.

Op-ed: My issues with the Wiki Education Foundation
Chris Troutman has been a campus ambassador for six classes in the Los Angeles area over the past four consecutive semesters. He is currently a Wikipedia Visiting Scholar at University of California, Riverside.

Featured content: A bit fruity
Three articles, three lists, fifteen pictures, and one topic were promoted.

Recent research: Wikipedia in higher education; gender-driven talk page conflicts; disease forecasting
A paper titled "Factors that influence the teaching use of Wikipedia in Higher Education" uses the technology acceptance model to shed light on faculty's (of Universitat Oberta de Catalunya) views of Wikipedia as a teaching tool.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:11, 2 January 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 07 January 2015

In the media: ISIL propaganda video; AirAsia complaints
ISIL hostage quotes Wikipedia in propaganda video; AirAsia articles draw complaints regarding Flight 8501; Article errors reveal US political approaches to Wikipedia editing; Rhode Island Governor numbering debate

Interview: Interview with Jakob, one of Wikipedia's more prolific waterway contributors
User:Jakec has been a Wikipedia editor for over two years and has been a writer of many recent Did you know articles on Wikipedia, including multiple articles on rivers and streams in the state of Pennsylvania.

Featured content: Kock up
Two lists and twelve pictures were promoted.

Traffic report: Auld Lang Syne
We end 2014 and and start 2015 with the normal array of year-end activities, including movie watching with Bollywood film PK (#1) topping the list, followed by The Interview (#2), 2014 in film (#10), and five other films in the rest of the Top 25, plus a number of articles about the subjects of these films. We celebrated the New Year by singing "Auld Lang Syne" (#11), or perhaps watching Adam Lambert (#9) perform with Queen. But we could not avoid a final tragedy with the crash of Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 (#4) on December 28.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:39, 9 January 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 14 January 2015

Op-ed: Articles for creation needs you
Ever since the Wikipedia Seigenthaler biography incident in 2005 triggered the restriction against un-registered editors creating new pages, WikiProject Articles for creation (AfC) has stood in the breach. The WikiProject's purpose is to review draft submissions from IPs (and frequently new registered editors) to sort the wheat from the chaff.

WikiProject report: Articles for creation: the inside story
This anniversary issue, the WikiProject report is returning to WikiProject Articles for creation for one of our largest interviews ever. Last looked at in 2011, AfC is the method used by unregistered or new users to create articles, and provides an effective filtering system to remove all unsuitable or unsourced submissions to save them needing to be found and deleted later.

News and notes: Erasmus Prize recognizes the global Wikipedia community
On the fourteenth anniversary of the founding of the English Wikipedia, the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation has announced that its prestigious annual Erasmus Prize will be awarded to the worldwide community that has built Wikipedia.

In the media: Wikipedia's birthday brings tributes, app, award; Castro death rumors
Wikipedia turned 14 on January 15. A few media outlets took note of the anniversary.

Featured content: Citations are needed
Six featured articles, five featured lists, and sixteen featured pictures were promoted this week.

Traffic report: Wikipédia sommes Charlie
It's a grim certainty what topic most interested Wikipedia viewers this week. The horrific attacks on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine have drawn anger and resolve from around the world, and also the attention of an English-speaking world that had previously never heard of it.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:27, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 21 January 2015

From the editor: Introducing your new editors-in-chief
A letter from departing Signpost editor-in-chief The ed17.

Anniversary: A decade of the Signpost
Celebrating and remembering ten years of community journalism.

Interview: WWII veteran honors shipmates through Wikipedia editing
Over seventy years ago, the US destroyer Mahan was patrolling off Ponson Island in the Philippines when eleven Japanese kamikaze aircraft appeared over the horizon and attacked. George Pendergast, who edits Wikipedia with the username Pendright, was eighteen years old when he joined Mahan 's crew in April 1944.

News and notes: Annual report released; Wikimania; steward elections
The municipality of Esino Lario in Italy will host Wikimania 2016.

Op-ed: Let's make WikiProjects better
Our contributor opines that WikiProjects are failing to live up to their potential. WikiProject X is a new project funded by a Wikimedia Foundation Individual Engagement Grant that focuses on figuring out what makes some WikiProjects work and not others.

In the media: Johann Hari; bandishes and delicate flowers
Quotes from Jimbo on Wikipedia in education; net neutrality; preserving musical heritage; Wikipedia in audio; a cheerful vandal credits high school with papal visitations.

Featured content: Yachts, marmots, boat races, and a rocket engineer who attempted to birth a goddess
Nine articles, one list, and ten pictures were promoted.

Arbitration report: As one door closes, a (Gamer)Gate opens
ArbCom's three open cases are GamerGate, Wifione, and Christianity and sexuality.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 10:13, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 28 January 2015

From the editor: An editorial board that includes you
The editorial board is not complete without you. We are looking for Wikipedians with all kinds of experience levels.

In focus: Thirteen editors sanctioned in mammoth GamerGate arbitration case
The English Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee has closed the colossal GamerGate arbitration case, whose size—involving 27 named parties—recalls large and complex cases of the past.

In the media: A murderous week for Wikipedia
A murder suspect edits Wikipedia, Russia is kidding when it says it wants to censor Wikipedia.

Forum: Evaluating the Arbitration Committee's handling of GamerGate
Does the committee facilitate stability... or is it a circus. Two users, two perspectives.

Traffic report: A sea of faces
It is pretty clear what the theme is this week: people.

Recent research: Bot writes about theatre plays; "Renaissance editors" create better content
A paper presented at the International Conference on Pattern Recognition last year presents an automated method to improve Wikipedia's coverage of theatre plays.

Special report: Traffic in the fog—most-viewed articles of 2014 include death, Facebook, and Ebola
As with last year, music stars were the majority of celebrities on the list, as their frequent concerts and media appearances keep their flames alight longer than others of their stripe.

Featured content: Like Jack Kerouac's On The Road, this week's issue was written on amphetamines
Ten featured articles, three featured lists, and 22 featured images were promoted this week.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:15, 29 January 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 04 February 2015

News and notes: No men beyond this point: the proposal to create a no-men space on Wikipedia
The Signpost talks with the creator of a grant proposal to create an on-wiki exclusive space for women to discuss issues.

Op-ed: Is Wikipedia for sale?
Hundreds of posted jobs offer money to edit Wikipedia. These jobs appear to be thriving, with tens of thousands of dollars changing hands each month.

In the media: Gamergate and Muhammad controversies continue
Media fallout continues from the January 29 decision in the mammoth Gamergate arbitration case.

Traffic report: The American Heartland
The American heartland appears to dominate the Report this week, with Chris Kyle leading the Report.

Featured content: It's raining men!
Three featured articles, five featured lists, and thirty-nine featured images were promoted this week.

Arbitration report: Slamming shut the GamerGate
One case has been closed, two cases remain open, a third is undergoing a review, and three clarification or amendment requests remain open.

WikiProject report: Dicing with death – on Wikipedia?
A small band of dedicated editors seek to improve articles relating to a less lively topic. If you haven't yet guessed, this week's focus is WikiProject Death.

Technology report: Security issue fixed; VisualEditor changes
The Signpost has arranged to mirror Tech news from the Meta-Wiki.

Gallery: Langston Hughes
A new Signpost feature.

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The Signpost: 11 February 2015

From the editors: We want to know what you think!
Please take this survey about the Signpost.

News and notes: One editor faces likely ban for work on Wikipedia; Jimmy Wales awarded $1 million
Also: GLAM-Wiki Conference; Ombudsman Commission announced; Slovak Wikipedia now has 200,000 articles

In the media: Is Wikipedia eating itself?
Edina edit war illustrates disconnect between new and experienced editors; Wikipedia is "astroturf's dream come true"; Canadian government investigating even more Wikipedia editing; academics on Gamergate as "clash of civilizations"?

Featured content: A grizzly bear, Operation Mascot, Freedom Planet & Liberty Island, cosmic dust clouds, a cricket five-wicket list, more fine art, & a terrible, terrible opera...
Two articles, three lists, and twenty five pictures became featured.

Traffic report: Bowled over
Wikipedia presents itself as a repository for the world, and while that is a noble sentiment, it is still true that, Conservapedian complaints notwithstanding, the English language Wikipedia is very often the American Wikipedia, and never has that been more apparent than this week.

WikiProject report: Brand new WikiProjects profiled
This week, we bring three of the most recently created WikiProjects to come into being on the English Wikipedia. While many long-established projects are becoming inactive, (as we have covered before), that doesn't stop new ones forming every now and then to cover a topic that a group of editors feel should be better cared for.

Gallery: Feel the love
This week, we feature subjects that are about love of all kinds.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 10:44, 12 February 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 18 February 2015

Editorial: Recent retirements typify problem of admin attrition
Go Phightins! shares his thoughts on admin attrition and the size of the administrative backlog.

In the media: Students' use and perception of Wikipedia
The Australian ("Wikipedia not destroying life as we know it", February 11) and Times Higher Education ("Wikipedia should be 'better integrated' into teaching", February 10) reported on a recent study performed at Monash University, titled "Students’ use of Wikipedia as an academic resource – patterns of use and perceptions of usefulness".

Special report: Revision scoring as a service
The authors of this report inform us that the "goal in the Revision Scoring project is to do the hard work of constructing and maintaining powerful AI so that tool developers don't have to. This cross-lingual, machine learning classifier service for edits will support new wiki tools that require edit quality measures."

Gallery: Darwin Day
Darwin Day is observed annually on February 12 to commemorate the life and work of scientist Charles Darwin. Here is a selection of images of life on the Galápagos Islands, where Darwin made key observations leading to his scientific theory of evolution by natural selection.

Traffic report: February is for lovers
This week saw the 57th Annual Grammy Awards (#13 on the Top 25) held on 8 February dominating the traffic chart, as music lovers checked out Sam Smith (#3) picking up four awards, Beck taking album of the year, and performances including Sia (#9), Madonna (#11), and Annie Lennox (#16). But Valentine's Day (#1) proved the perfect time for the release of Fifty Shades of Grey, with the movie coming in at #5, the book of the same name at #2, and the primary actors at #14 and #15.

Featured content: A load of bull-sized breakfast behind the restaurant, Koi feeding, a moray eel, Spaghetti Nebula and other fishy, fishy fish
Five pictures, six lists, and seventeen pictures were promoted

Arbitration report: We've built the nuclear reactor; now what colour should we paint the bikeshed?
The most significant item on ArbCom's agenda this fortnight has been the closure of the Wifione case and subsequent fallout, although the fallout from GamerGate continues to linger.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:23, 20 February 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 25 February 2015

News and notes: Questions raised over WMF partnership with research firm
A report from the external research firm Lafayette Practice has declared that the Wikimedia Foundation is the "largest known participatory grantmaking fund." Several concerns have been raised with the report, the phrase being used (participatory grantmaking), the now-former Wikipedia article on that phrase, and an alleged conflict of interest by WMF staff members.

Op-ed: Text from Wikipedia good enough for Oxford University Press to claim as own
Doc James tells us that "The one good thing that has come out of all of this is that Wikipedia’s content passing a major textbook publisher review processes is some external validation of Wikipedia’s quality."

In the media: WikiGnomes and Bigfoot
Andrew McMillen's February 3 profile of and his quest to rid Wikipedia of the phrase "comprised of" has been one of the most widely circulated and commented upon media stories about the encyclopedia recently.

Featured content: The Moon, Mars, Venus, and Saturn, in no particular order. Also, Kaiser Kong.
Eleven articles and twenty pictures were promoted in the week covered by this report.

Gallery: Far from home
The Gallery is an occasional Signpost feature highlighting quality images and articles from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons based on a particular theme, as well as an article you could help improve. This week, we feature subjects that are "far from home".

Traffic report: Fifty Shades of... self-denial?
An odd juxtaposition this week, as interest in Fifty Shades of Grey coincided with the observance of the Chinese New Year and the annual festival of penance, Ash Wednesday.

Recent research: Gender bias, SOPA blackout, and a student assignment that backfired
A monthly roundup of Wikimedia-related research

WikiProject report: Be prepared... Scouts in the spotlight
This week's project is on a youth activity, one of the largest in the world; its project is commensurately large, containing around 136 active editors. It's WikiProject Scouting, a group of editors whose remit is everything relating to the Scouting movement, which has around 42 million members worldwide and celebrated the centenary of its founding only eight years ago.

Blog: Join the Wikimedia strategy consultation
Editor's note: the Blog will be a recurring Signpost section that will highlight a recent post from the Wikimedia blog, run by the Wikimedia Foundation. This week's installment is written by Philippe Beaudette, the Foundation's Director of Community Advocacy, and focuses on planning for the future of the Wikimedia movement.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 04:38, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 25 February 2015

News and notes: Questions raised over WMF partnership with research firm
A report from the external research firm Lafayette Practice has declared that the Wikimedia Foundation is the "largest known participatory grantmaking fund." Several concerns have been raised with the report, the phrase being used (participatory grantmaking), the now-former Wikipedia article on that phrase, and an alleged conflict of interest by WMF staff members.

Op-ed: Text from Wikipedia good enough for Oxford University Press to claim as own
Doc James tells us that "The one good thing that has come out of all of this is that Wikipedia’s content passing a major textbook publisher review processes is some external validation of Wikipedia’s quality."

In the media: WikiGnomes and Bigfoot
Andrew McMillen's February 3 profile of and his quest to rid Wikipedia of the phrase "comprised of" has been one of the most widely circulated and commented upon media stories about the encyclopedia recently.

Featured content: The Moon, Mars, Venus, and Saturn, in no particular order. Also, Kaiser Kong.
Eleven articles and twenty pictures were promoted in the week covered by this report.

Gallery: Far from home
The Gallery is an occasional Signpost feature highlighting quality images and articles from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons based on a particular theme, as well as an article you could help improve. This week, we feature subjects that are "far from home".

Traffic report: Fifty Shades of... self-denial?
An odd juxtaposition this week, as interest in Fifty Shades of Grey coincided with the observance of the Chinese New Year and the annual festival of penance, Ash Wednesday.

Recent research: Gender bias, SOPA blackout, and a student assignment that backfired
A monthly roundup of Wikimedia-related research

WikiProject report: Be prepared... Scouts in the spotlight
This week's project is on a youth activity, one of the largest in the world; its project is commensurately large, containing around 136 active editors. It's WikiProject Scouting, a group of editors whose remit is everything relating to the Scouting movement, which has around 42 million members worldwide and celebrated the centenary of its founding only eight years ago.

Blog: Join the Wikimedia strategy consultation
Editor's note: the Blog will be a recurring Signpost section that will highlight a recent post from the Wikimedia blog, run by the Wikimedia Foundation. This week's installment is written by Philippe Beaudette, the Foundation's Director of Community Advocacy, and focuses on planning for the future of the Wikimedia movement.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 09:59, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 04 March 2015

From the editor: A sign of the times: the Signpost revamps its internal structure to make contributing easier
We received a large amount of feedback in our survey indicating that our readers found the idea of contributing to the Signpost difficult due to our opaque internal structure.

News and notes: Wikimedia Foundation and OTRS team both publish reports, indicate operating changes
The Wikimedia Foundation released their Quarterly Report last week covering the three months October to December of 2014.

Editorial: Conspiracy theories distract from real questions about grantmaking report
Last week, my colleagues on the Signpost produced a news report covering a minor controversy about a report commissioned by the Wikimedia Foundation. Written by the staff of The Lafayette Practice, a French research firm, it proclaimed the WMF as a leader in the practice of participatory grantmaking.

Traffic report: Attack of the movies
The Report this week is dominated by the Academy Awards, taking the top 4 spots and 13 of the Top 25.

Arbitration report: Bradspeaks—impact, regrets, and advice; current cases hinge on sex, religion, and ... infoboxes
In the first of what the author hopes will become a regular feature of the Arbitration report, the Signpost speaks to veteran arbitrator Newyorkbrad, who recently retired from the committee after almost seven years of arbitrating. The Signpost was keen to hear his thoughts on his time on the committee and on the past, present, and future of ArbCom.

Interview: Meet a paid editor
Before being indefinitely blocked, User:FergusM1970 made more than 4600 edits on the English Wikipedia, spread over eight years. In the last two years, he was paid to edit several articles for clients that included the Venezuelan energy company Derwick Associates. We spoke with him about his experiences.

In the media: Kanye West rebranded; Wikipedia in court; editors for hire
Numerous news outlets are reporting that the domain loser.com now redirects to the Wikipedia article for rapper Kanye West. Page views on West's Wikipedia article skyrocketed to almost 250,000 views on March 2, up from less than 19 thousand the previous day.

Featured content: Ploughing fields and trading horses with Rosa Bonheur
Two featured articles, four featured lists, and 38 featured pictures were promoted this week..

Technology report: Bugs, Repairs, and Internal Operational News
The Signpost has arranged to mirror Tech news from Meta-Wiki to supplement the long-form tech coverage in our infrequent Technology report..

Blog: Black History Month edit-a-thons tackle Wikipedia’s multicultural gaps
Black History Month is celebrated annually in the United States in February, to commemorate the history of the African diaspora. For this occasion, Wikipedians worked together to honor black history and to address Wikipedia's multicultural gaps in the encyclopedia, hosting Wikipedia edit-a-thons throughout the United States, from February 1 to 28, 2015.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:43, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 11 March 2015

Special report: An advance look at the WMF's fundraising survey
The Wikimedia Foundation gave the Signpost an advance copy of the results of a survey of English Wikipedia readers regarding Wikimedia fundraising, due for official release today.

News and notes: WikiWomen's History Month—meetups, blog posts, and "Inspire" grant-making campaign
The community has arranged a number of commemorative initiatives focused on the gender gap, under the banner "WikiWomen's History Month".

In the media: Gamergate; a Wiki hoax; Kanye West
ThinkProgress tech reporter Lauren C. Williams wrote a long article on how the Gamergate controversy has spilled over onto Wikipedia.

In focus: WMF to NSA: "stop spying on Wikipedia users"
In an effort to protect and maintain the privacy of Wikipedia's thousands of editors, the Wikimedia Foundation has filed a lawsuit against the United States' National Security Agency, Department of Justice, and the Attorney General.

Traffic report: Wikipedia: handing knowledge to the world, one prank at a time
A dull week, with only three new entries in the top 10; a UFC champion, a Google Doodle and a Hindu festival involving people throwing powder at each other (though that does sound fun).

Featured content: Here they come, the couple plighted –
Six featured articles, three featured lists, and forty featured pictures were promoted this week.

Op-ed: Why the Core Contest matters
I continue to be excited about the Core Contest because I see it as a way of encouraging the expansion of broad articles that are typically neglected by our article improvement incentives.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:27, 12 March 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 18 March 2015

From the editor: A salute to Pine
We announce with sadness and gratitude that Signpost publication and newsroom manager Pine will be stepping back to focus on other Wikipedia and Wikimedia-related endeavors.

News and notes: SUL finalization imminent; executive office shake-ups at the Foundation
This process is now entering its long-awaited final phase with the upcoming SUL finalization, scheduled for April 15, less than a month away. ... Wikimedia Foundation chief talent and culture officer Gayle Karen Young announced her retirement from the Foundation this week. Young will be replaced in that role by interim chief operating officer Terry Gilbey. According to the Foundation's job description for the title as it was applied in the past, Gilbey will be in charge of "overall administration and business operations of the Wikimedia Foundation."

In the media: NYPD editing articles regarding allegations of police brutality and misconduct
On March 13, Kelly Weill of Capital New York revealed that numerous Wikipedia edits originated from 1 Police Plaza, the headquarters of the NYPD. Most of the attention has focused on a number of their edits to articles about incidents of alleged police brutality and controversial police practices.

Op-ed: Does the Wikimedia fundraising survey address community concerns?
The publication of the Wikimedia survey findings on fundraising questions came three months after significant concerns were voiced about the design and wording of the December 2014 fundraising banners and e-mails.

Featured content: A woman who loved kings
Four featured articles, four featured lists, and thirty-five featured pictures were promoted this week.

Traffic report: It's not cricket
If not for Kayne West's dubious repeat at #1, the 2015 Cricket World Cup (#2) would have made the top spot, albeit in a generally slow news week.

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The Signpost – Volume 11, Issue 12 – 25 March 2015

News and notes: Wikimedia Foundation adopts open-access research policy
Last week the WMF announced the release of its long-awaited open-access policy.

Op-ed: How my father's railroad image collection now benefits the world: the value of digitization
Once when I was young, growing up in the 1990s, my father pulled his collection of railroad slides out from the basement, set up his projector, and shared a glimpse into American railway history with our family.

Featured content: A carnival of animals, a river of dung, a wasteland of uncles, and some people with attitude
Four featured articles, three featured lists, and twenty-two featured pictures were promoted this week.

Special report: Wikimedia Commons Picture of the Year 2014
The Wikipedia Commons annual Picture of the Year contest has concluded, with 6,698 people voting, its largest participation yet.

Traffic report: Oddly familiar
This week's list is reminiscent of lists from the early days of this project: a preponderance of famous faces, Reddit threads, and Google Doodles.

Recent research: Most important people; respiratory reliability; academic attitudes
The authors attempt to answer the question "Who are the most important people of all times?" Their findings clearly show that different Wikipedias give different prominence to different individuals.

Blog: The Wikipedia Library Team reflects on its new Visiting Scholars program
A university gives a top Wikipedia editor free and full access to the university library's entire online content—and the Wikipedia editor, who is unpaid and not on campus, then creates and improves Wikipedia articles in a subject area of interest to the institution.

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The Signpost, 1 April 2015

In focus: WMF's latest strategy document shows successes, vagueness, and the need for better data
The Wikimedia Foundation this week released a State of the WMF report, a 38-page "snapshot" of where it is and where it wants to go in the future.

In the media: Wiki-PR duo bulldoze a piñata store; Wifione arbitration case; French parliamentary plagiarism
TruthRevolt targets another editor; edit stage right; the Nine Best Hoaxes to Have Hit Wikipedia

Featured content: Stop Press. Marie Celeste Mystery Solved. Crew Found Hiding In Wardrobe.
Six featured articles, first featured lists, and twenty-four featured pictures were promoted this week.

Traffic report: All over the place
The Report is more of a mix of random topics than usual this week. The top spot is taken by Bhutanese passport, a Wikipedia article which contained a crazed spoken word version which drew widespread attention.

News and notes: New edits-by-mail option will "revolutionize" Wikipedia and its editor base
The Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) will announce later today that it will begin accepting edits by mail for all of the projects under its scope, including Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Commons.

Special report: Pictures of the Year 2015
The Wikimedia Commons' annual Picture of the Year contest has concluded. The first 53 top-voted entries were disqualified because they were all nude.

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The Signpost: 01 April 2015

In focus: WMF's latest strategy document shows successes, vagueness, and the need for better data
The Wikimedia Foundation this week released a State of the WMF report, a 38-page "snapshot" of where it is and where it wants to go in the future.

In the media: Wiki-PR duo bulldoze a piñata store; Wifione arbitration case; French parliamentary plagiarism
TruthRevolt targets another editor; edit stage right; the Nine Best Hoaxes to Have Hit Wikipedia

Featured content: Stop Press. Marie Celeste Mystery Solved. Crew Found Hiding In Wardrobe.
Six featured articles, first featured lists, and twenty-four featured pictures were promoted this week.

Traffic report: All over the place
The Report is more of a mix of random topics than usual this week. The top spot is taken by Bhutanese passport, a Wikipedia article which contained a crazed spoken word version which drew widespread attention.

News and notes: New edits-by-mail option will "revolutionize" Wikipedia and its editor base
The Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) will announce later today that it will begin accepting edits by mail for all of the projects under its scope, including Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Commons.

Special report: Pictures of the Year 2015
The Wikimedia Commons' annual Picture of the Year contest has concluded. The first 53 top-voted entries were disqualified because they were all nude.

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The Signpost: 08 April 2015

Op-ed: We are drowning in promotional artspam
Wikipedia has been gravitating towards a vehicle for business and product promotion for too long.

News and notes: Advancement department to be created at the Foundation, milestone fixes
March saw a number of high-level hirings and executive reorganizations in the Wikimedia Foundation.

In the media: Wikipedia on 60 Minutes, Kickstarter, and in the classroom
The venerable CBS news program 60 Minutes profiled Wikipedia and the Wikimedia community.

Traffic report: Resurrection week
How appropriate that the theme of Easter week would be resurrection from the dead.

Featured content: Partisan arrangements, dodgy dollars, a mysterious union of strings, and a hole that became a monument
Four featured articles, seven featured lists, and 23 featured pictures were promoted this week.

WikiProject report: WikiProject Christianity
With Holy Week having recently drawn to a close, it is an apt time to examine WikiProject Christianity, which was created in 2006, and boasts over 200 active members.

Arbitration report: New Functionary appointments
The Committee has voted on the 2015 appointments to the Functionary team.

Technology report: Bugs, Repairs, and Internal Operational News
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community.

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The Signpost: 15 April 2015

News and notes: Erik Möller leaving Foundation; annual plan grants under community review
The Wikimedia Foundation's vice president for engineering, Erik Möller, will leave the WMF on April 30.

In the media: Saving Wikipedia; Internet regulation; Thoreau quote hoax
Time profiles Lila Tretikov, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, and paints a grim picture of the challenges faced by Tretikov and the encyclopedia.

Blog: Single-User Login provides access to all wikis
Later this month, everyone will be able to use the same user name on every wiki, thanks to Single-User Login.

Traffic report: Furious domination
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.

Featured content: Au-delà de les Alpes, le chien lit de Sainte Bernard. Sous les pavés, les trimes d'argent! Mes enfants, suivez-moi!
Six featured articles, four featured lists, and fourteen featured pictures were promoted this week.

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The Signpost: 22 April 2015

Special report: Sony emails reveal corporate practices and undisclosed advocacy editing
A Signpost investigation of the released data has revealed Sony's corporate practices regarding Wikipedia and uncovered what appears to be undisclosed advocacy editing of Wikipedia by Sony employees and possibly by others.

In the media: UK political editing; hoaxes; net neutrality
Wikipedia appears to have been drawn into the drama of the upcoming, hotly contested UK general election.

News and notes: Call for candidates as the movement approaches the Wikimedia Board elections
The Affiliates Committee this week announced the organization of a community referral for comment, currently open on the meta-wiki, to address upcoming changes to the way that the Affiliations Committee will review movement-affiliated user-groups in the future.

In focus: 2015 Wikimedia Foundation election preparations underway
2015 will see through the biennial community election for the three community-elected seats on the Board of Trustees—the "ultimate corporate authority" of the Wikimedia Foundation and the level at which the strategic decisions regarding the Wikimedia movement are made.

Featured content: Vanguard on guard
Six featured articles and fifteen featured pictures were promoted this week.

Traffic report: A harvest of couch potatoes
Couch potatoes rule this week, as 9 of the top 10 slots were taken by either movies, TV, or sports.

Gallery: The bitter end
The Gallery is an occasional Signpost feature highlighting quality images and articles from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons based on a particular theme.

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The Signpost: 29 April 2015

Wikimania: Choice of small village for Wikimania 2016 ruffles feathers
Esino Lario is set to host Wikimania 2016, but volunteers and others have raised a host of concerns that raise serious questions about the town's suitability for hosting such a large conference.

News and notes: Wiki Loves Monuments evaluation sees diminishing returns and increasing cost
The evaluations reveal that in the last three years, WLM has possibly fallen victim to its own success and seen diminishing returns.

In the media: Scottish MEP blocked for edit warring; ranking articles by importance
David Coburn, a Member of the European Parliament for the Scotland region for the UK Independence Party, was blocked from editing Wikipedia on April 6.

Featured content: Another day, another dollar
Ten featured articles, nine featured lists, and twenty-eight featured pictures were promoted this week.

Traffic report: Bruce, Nessie, and genocide
Though the continued predominance of movies, TV, and sports noted in last week's report largely continues, three additional topics joined the Top 10 this week.

Recent research: Military history, cricket, and Australia targeted in Wikipedia articles' popularity vs. quality; how copyright damages economy
Reader demand for some topics (e.g. LGBT topics or pages about countries) is poorly satisfied, whereas there is over-abundance of quality on topics of comparatively little interest, such as military history.

Technology report: VisualEditor and MediaWiki updates

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The Signpost: 06 May 2015

News and notes: "Inspire" grant-making campaign concludes, grantees announced
The Wikimedia Foundation this week announced the winning grantees in March's "Inspire" grant-making campaign.

Featured content: The amorous android and the horsebreeder; WikiCup round two concludes
Seven articles, three lists, and ten pictures were promoted to "featured" status this week. The second round of the WikiCup has ended.

In the media: Guggenheim image donation; Wiki campaign gets advertising award
artnet and The Next Web report (May 6) that the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is releasing a hundred images of works in its collection under Creative Commons licences in conjunction with a May 19 editathon.

Special report: FDC candidates respond to key issues
Elections have begun for five community members of the Funds Dissemination Committee, the Foundation's volunteer body for judging and recommending millions of dollars worth of annual grants to affiliates in the movement. The election lasts just eight days, from Sunday 3 May until 23:59 UTC on Sunday 10 May, so at the time of publication, voters will need to act promptly.

Traffic report: The grim ship reality
Like colliding ocean liners, rousing entertainment and harsh reality merged ungainly in this week's top 10 list. The much heralded pay-per-view pummeling of Manny Pacquiao by Floyd Mayweather, Jr. dominated the list's top slots, giving this list one of its highest total view counts in months.

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The Signpost: 13 May 2015

Foundation elections: Board candidates share their views with the Signpost
Three community-elected seats on the Board of Trustees—the ultimate governing authority of the Wikimedia Foundation—will be decided by Wikimedians in the election to be held 17–31 May.

News and notes: Swedish Wikimedia chapter organizes simultaneous Wikidata contests
This week has been a busy one for the Wikidata project, with nearly simultaneous Wikidata contests, both organized by Wikimedia Sweden, now underway.

Traffic report: Round Two
Casual viewers may think I've posted the same list twice. But no, readers just happen to be really interested in May 2's Big Fight. In fact, last week was just the weigh-in and the trash talk. This week, the numbers actually increased.

In the media: Grant Shapps story continues
Grant Shapps, who was the co-chairman of the UK's Conservative Party until this week, has been accused of maliciously editing the Wikipedia biographies of his party's rivals.

Op-ed: What made Wikipedia lose its reputation?
There is a public misconception of Wikipedia: that any anonymous editor can edit Wikipedia at any time, and cannot be tracked or identified.

Featured content: Four first-time featured article writers lead the way
Eight articles, one list, and five pictures were promoted to featured status on the English Wikipedia in a slow week.

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The Signpost: 20 May 2015

From the editor: Your voice is needed: strategic voting in the WMF election
The Wikimedia Foundation's bi-annual Board of Trustees election is open for voting. Of the ten seats on the board, three are elected representatives of the global Wikimedia community—you.

In focus: The awful truth about Wikimedia's article counts
The article counts of many Wikimedia wikis suddenly changed on 29 March 2015: as the Signpost reported at the time, sixty-five wikis fell below milestones tracked at the Wikimedia News Meta page, and three increased to new milestones.

Traffic report: Inner Core
The list is topped this week by Danish scientist Inge Lehmann, thanks to a Google Doodle celebrating her 127th birthday. Lehmann discovered in 1936 that the Earth has a solid inner core. It is sometimes surprising to realize how recently such basic scientific knowledge of the Earth, which we now take for granted, was discovered.

News and notes: A dark side of comedy: the Wikipedia volunteers cleaning up behind John Oliver's fowl jokes
Wikipedia editors logging in on May 19 found themselves walking into an unexpected amount of anti-vandal work to keep the site in line with its extensive biographies of living persons policy. A plethora of Wikipedia articles related to the United States House Committee on Appropriations, and the fifty-one representatives serving on it, have been hit by a raft of anonymous editors making often vulgar edits referencing "chicken fucker," or more creative combinations: "sexual conduct", "sexual congress", "fornicator", "intimate relations", or "trysts with chickens."

Featured content: Puppets, fungi, and waterfalls
Three articles, seven lists, and seven pictures were featured on the English Wikipedia.

In the media: Jimmy Wales accepts Dan David Prize
Jimmy Wales and five others accepted the 2015 Dan David Prize at Tel Aviv University on May 17. The prize comes with US$1 million, ten percent of which goes to doctoral and postdoctoral scholarships.

WikiProject report: Cell-ebrating Molecular Biology
This week, we had the pleasure of interviewing WikiProject Molecular and Cellular Biology, which has come a long way since our last interview in 2008. Like most projects, it has a long member list, but only a small subset of that group regularly contributes. With 28 featured articles and 58 top-importance start class ones, the project has clearly had some success, but has a ways to go. We talked to three regular project contributors.

Arbitration report: Editor conduct the subject of multiple cases
The Arbitration Committee has an unusually large case load at present. Although perhaps not on a par with the high-profile, multi-party cases seen towards the end of last year and the beginning of this year, with five open cases the arbitrators are likely to be kept busy for the next several weeks.

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The Signpost: 03 June 2015

News and notes: Three new community-elected trustees announced, incumbents out
The Wikimedia Foundation's volunteer election committee has announced the election results for the three vacant seats on the Board of Trustees. Dariusz Jemielnak, James Heilman, and Denny Vrandečić are set to take up their two-year terms on the Board. They will replace the three incumbents, all of whom stood this time unsuccessfully: Phoebe Ayers, Samuel Klein, and María Sefidari.

Blog: How Wikipedia covered Caitlyn Jenner’s transition
Caitlyn Jenner—the American hero of the 1976 Olympics, a film actor, and prominent member of Keeping Up with the Kardashians—may now be the most famous openly transgender person in the world.

Discussion report: The deprecation of Persondata; RfA – A broken process; Complaints from users on Swedish Wikipedia
Since the dawn of Wikipedia, or at least since 22 December 2005, the template named Persondata has existed.

Featured content: It's not over till the fat man sings
Two featured articles and ten featured pictures were promoted this week.

Technology report: Things are getting SPDYier
Over the past few weeks, developers have been working on improving Wikimedia's performance when users connect to it using SPDY.

Special report: Towards "Health Information for All": Medical content on Wikipedia received 6.5 billion page views in 2013
Wikipedia appears to be the single most used website for health information globally, exceeding traffic observed at the NIH, WebMD, WHO et al..

In the media: Anonymous Australian editing targets football player, shooting victim
More UK government vandalism; legend has it; minding the gender gap

Traffic report: A rather ordinary week
The traffic report is nothing unusual this week, with a Google Doodle for astronaut Sally Ride topping the list, the accidental death of famous mathematician John Forbes Nash, Jr. at #2, and the normal fare of recent popular American movies and television.

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The Signpost: 10 June 2015

News and notes: Chapter financial trends analyzed, news in brief
This week saw the publication of the Chapter-wide Financial Trends Report 2013, a now-completed research project that examines the finances and outlays of the 36 movement-affiliated chapters.

Traffic report: Two households, both alike in dignity
"Happy families are all alike," Leo Tolstoy said, "but unhappy families are unhappy after their own fashion."

In the media: Arbitration case attracts media coverage; Wikipedia in Israel
UK media covers Wikipedia Arbitration case; Lila Tretikov visits Israel.

Featured content: Just the bear facts, ma'am
Four featured articles, two featured lists, one featured topic, and twenty-eight featured pictures were promoted this week.

Technology report: Wikimedia sites are going HTTPS only
Today it was announced that Wikimedia sites are going to become HTTPS only, finishing up 10 year effort of rolling out HTTPS.

Blog: Making Wikipedia’s medical articles accessible in Chinese
The Medical Translation Project, an ambitious attempt to improve and translate Wikipedia’s medical content from English into other languages, began in 2012.

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The Signpost: 17 June 2015

In the media: Wikipedia wins Asturias Prize; printing out Wikipedia; HTTPS switch
The Princess of Asturias Foundation announced that Wikipedia would be the recipient of the 2015 Princess of Asturias award in the category of International Cooperation.

Arbitration report: An election has consequences
The Arbitration Committee delivered its final decision in a case that reached the attention of the UK national press.

In focus: Three weeks to save freedom of panorama in Europe
This would end a long-standing tradition in many countries that the skyline and the public scene should belong to everybody.

Op-ed: Making a difference in Wikipedia, one GA at a time
We need to be ever-diligent in ensuring that articles remain of high quality.

Technology report: HTTPS-only rollout completed; proposal to enable VisualEditor for new accounts
The rollout of HTTPS only has now been completed across all Wikimedia wikis.

Interview: A veteran’s Wikipedia edits help him understand the brutality behind Yugoslavia’s wars
We interviewed an Australian veteran who deployed to the region as a peacekeeper and now writes articles on the region's history to help him understand what he encountered there.

News and notes: Labs outage kills tools, self; news in brief
A more than usually severe outage Wikimedia Labs occurred after a massive database corruption implosion on June 17.

Featured content: Great Dane hits 150
Six featured articles, seven featured lists, and seven featured pictures were promoted this week.

Discussion report: A quick way of becoming an admin
Author's note: This might be a violation of WP:BEANS; read at your own risk.

WikiProject report: Western Australia speaks – we are back
It wouldn't be the WikiProject report if we didn't feature an Australian topic once in a while, so this week we're looking at the left side.

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The Signpost: 24 June 2015

From the editor: The Signpost tagging initiative
Over more than a decade of weekly publication, The Signpost has accumulated an incredibly lengthy and detailed record about the issues, controversies, successes, and failures of the English Wikipedia community and the movement at large.

Op-ed: Content Translation beta is coming to the English Wikipedia
The Wikimedia Foundation's Language Engineering team plans to introduce Content Translation—a tool that makes it easier to translate Wikipedia articles into different languages—as a beta feature on the English Wikipedia.

Special report: Small impact of the large Google Translation Project on Telugu Wikipedia
During 2009–2011 Google ran the Google Translation Project (GTP), a program utilising paid translators to translate most popular English Wikipedia articles to various Indian language Wikipedias.

Featured content: One eye when begun, two when it's done
Four articles and nine pictures were promoted to featured status this week.

Recent research: How Wikipedia built governance capability; readability of plastic surgery articles
One paper looks at the topic of Wikipedia governance in the context of online social production.

Technology report: 2015 MediaWiki architecture focus and Multimedia roadmap announced
This past week saw the kick-off of the 2015 MediaWiki architecture focus of improving our content platform.

News and notes: Board of Trustees propose bylaw amendments
The Board of Trustees is the "ultimate corporate authority" of the Wikimedia Foundation and the level at which the strategic decisions regarding the Wikimedia movement are made ...

In the media: Turkish Wikipedia censorship; "Can Wikipedia survive?"; PR editing
The Hürriyet Daily News reports that the Turkish Wikipedia has posted banners on the top of the encyclopedia to warn users that a number of articles are being blocked by the Turkish government.

Blog: 7,473 volumes at 700 pages each: meet Print Wikipedia
After six years of work, a residency in the Canadian Rockies, endless debugging, and more than a little help from my friends, I have made Print Wikipedia.

Arbitration report: Politics by other means: The American politics 2 arbitration
Clausewitz' pithy summary of warfare as "politics by other means" seems to be the motto of some Wikipedia editors.

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The Signpost: 01 July 2015

News and notes: Training the Trainers; VP of Engineering leaves WMF
This week The Center for Internet and Society published a promotional blog post highlighting the heritage of the center's creation of the Train the Trainer program.

In the media: EU freedom of panorama; Nehru outrage; BBC apology
A week now remains until the vote, expected on 9 July, when the European Parliament will express either its approval, disapproval, or lack of opinion on the question of freedom of panorama in the European Union.

WikiProject report: Able to make a stand
Here to share their wisdom are Dodger67, Penny Richards, LilyKitty, and Mirokado of WikiProject Disability

Featured content: Viva V.E.R.D.I.
Four featured list and twelve featured pictures were promoted this week.

Traffic report: We're Baaaaack
For the week of June 21 to 27, 2015, the 10 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the most viewed pages.

Technology report: Technical updates and improvements
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community.

Blog: These Texans are on a quest to improve Wikipedia’s coverage of their state’s revolution
Like many editors of the world's largest encyclopedia, Karanacs was browsing the site's articles and found that they were of relatively poor quality—and that the traditional narrative she'd learned was not necessarily accurate.

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The Signpost: 08 July 2015

Editorial: So you want to get your message out. Where do you turn?
It seems like a good time to discuss the various communications channels available to community members.

News and notes: Wikimedia Foundation annual plan released, news in brief
Lila Tretikov this week posted an email to the wikimedia-l mailing list announcing the final publication of the Wikimedia Foundation's 2015 annual plan.

In the media: Wikimania warning; Wikipedia "mystery" easily solved
The mayor of Esino Lario warns that Wikimedia 2016 is "at risk of disappearing".

Traffic report: The Empire lobs back
It's July 4 weekend and on this list that means only one thing: Wimbledon. Sure, the American Independence Day gets noticed too, but it can't hold a candle to that staggeringly British sporting event.

Featured content: Pyrénées, Playmates, parliament and a prison...
12 featured articles, 2 featured lists, and 15 featured pictures were promoted this week.

Technology report: Tech news in brief
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community.

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The Signpost: 15 July 2015

Op-ed: On paid editing and advocacy: when the Bright Line fails to shine, and what we can do about it
"How long will this take?" This is one of the first questions new clients ask. They come to us because the Wikipedia entry about the company at which they work is wrong, incomplete, or even just outdated. The answer varies ...

Traffic report: Belles of the ball
However coy they may be about it in public, Americans love to win. And when they do, they make no secret of it.

WikiProject report: What happens when a country is no longer a country?
We return this week with an interview with a historical project that's still fairly active, WikiProject Former countries.

In the media: Shapps requests WMUK data; professor's plagiarism demotion
In The Register, Andrew Orlowski reports that three weeks ago, Grant Shapps filed a request with Wikimedia UK (WMUK) under the Data Protection Act 1998 "for all data relating to him".

Blog: Wikimedia Foundation releases third transparency report
The Wikimedia Foundation is pleased to announce the release of our latest transparency report.

News and notes: The Wikimedia Conference and Wikimania
Wikimania 2015 is underway in Mexico City, and one of its sessions—a scheduled follow-up to the annual Wikimedia Conference that was held in Berlin in May—is good reason to provide a retrospective of that Conference.

Featured content: When angels and daemons interrupt the vicious and intemperate
One featured article, seven featured lists, and 14 featured pictures were promoted this week.

Technology report: Tech news in brief
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community

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The Signpost: 22 July 2015

From the editor: Change the world
We want to take a moment to ask you to consider contributing to the Signpost.

News and notes: Wikimanía 2016; Lightbreather ArbCom case
Wikimania features remarks from some leading players from the Wikimedia Foundation as well as the free knowledge movement.

Wikimanía report: Wikimanía 2015 report, part 1, the plenaries
WMF's Executive Director, Lila Tretikov, gave the opening plenary address.

In the media: Novelists annotate Wikipedia; Wales promotes TPO; Working for free
Three novelists "have found a way to control the Wikipedia narrative" by using the annotation website Genius to annotate their own Wikipedia articles.

Traffic report: The Nerds, They Are A-Changin'
Summary:When I was a kid, being a nerd meant wanting to go to Pluto.

WikiProject report: Some more politics
WikiProject Politics of the United Kingdom

Featured content: The sleep of reason produces monsters
Three featured articles, two featured lists, and 29 featured pictures were promoted this week.

Gallery: "One small step..."
46 years ago this week, humanity set foot on the Moon.

Technology report: Tech news in brief
Community technical news.

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The Signpost: 29 July 2015

News and notes: BARC de-adminship proposal; Wikimania recordings debate
An RFC proposes to create a "Bureaucrats' Admin Review Committee" (BARC) composed of bureaucrats empowered to remove adminship rights.

Op-ed: My life as an autistic Wikipedian
Two years ago, I discovered that I was on the autism spectrum.

Recent research: Wikipedia and collective intelligence; how Wikipedia is tweeted
An article argues that Wikipedia displays some key characteristics of a collective intelligence process.

In the media: Is Wikipedia a battleground in the culture wars?
"Editors representing rival political tribes [are] frequently attempting to impose their respective narratives as the official version of one or another cultural controversy."

Featured content: Even mammoths get the Blues
Five featured articles, five featured lists, and sixteen featured pictures were promoted this week.

Traffic report: Namaste again, Reddit
For the first time since this list began, India-related topics have claimed both the top two slots.

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The Signpost: 05 August 2015

Editorial: Wikipedia better equipped to deal with systemic bias than traditional publishers
That particular artists would be omitted through oversight or happenstance is reasonable, but that one of the world's leading publishers of art books is completely unaware of their major omissions is startling.

Op-ed: Je ne suis pas Google
The public interest in remembering the facts about trials and convictions is, in my view, at least as strong as any "right to be forgotten."

News and notes: VisualEditor, endowment, science, and news in brief
VisualEditor is now on slow roll-out on the English Wikipedia.

WikiProject report: Meet the boilerplate makers
The Report checks in with WikiProject Templates.

In the media: Probe into Nehru edits launched; dangers of the right to be forgotten
The Indian government has launched an investigation into the source of Wikipedia edits regarding Jawaharlal Nehru that caused outrage in that country.

Traffic report: Mrityorma amritam gamaya...
Death is no stranger to this list, but it has never cast such a pall as this week, when for the first time half the slots in the top 10 were devoted to it, including the top 3.

Featured content: Maya, Michigan, Medici, Médée, and Moul n'ga
Three featured articles, seven featured lists, and twenty-two featured pictures were promoted this week.

Blog: Get help editing Wikipedia with the new “Co-op” mentorship program
What if there was a gathering place on Wikipedia for newer editors to find a mentor?

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The Signpost: 12 August 2015

News and notes: Superprotect, one year later; a contentious RfA
Superprotect was a novel page protection level implemented on August 10 last year, without warning.

In the media: Paid editing; traffic drop; Nicki Minaj
The Atlantic discusses "The Covert World of People Trying to Edit Wikipedia—for Pay".

Forum: Community voices on paid editing
The community speaks out on paid editing.

Wikimanía report: Wikimanía 2015, part 2, a community event
Our ongoing Wikimanía coverage.

Traffic report: Fighting from top to bottom
The charts are led this week by UFC women's champion Ronda Rousey, who won her last match at UFC 190 (#9) in 34 seconds.

Featured content: Fused lizards, giant mice, and Scottish demons
Watch out for icebergs.

Technology report: Tech news in brief
Wikimedia technical news.

Blog: The Hunt for Tirpitz
During World War II, the German battleship Tirpitz was a major threat to Allied convoys travelling across the North Atlantic and Arctic Sea.

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The Signpost: 19 August 2015

Op-ed: WP:THREATENING2MEN: The English Wikipedia's misogynist infopolitics and the hegemony of the asshole consensus
Nothing makes Wikipedians more angry than a discussion of gender and feminism on Wikipedia.

In the media: Politically controversial science; "Wikipedia hates women"
A new article in PLOS ONE about Wikipedia's science coverage has attracted media attention.

Featured content: Dead parrots, live frogs, a symbolic kiss and what do we get? Enrique Iglesias!
This week's featured content.

Travelogue: Seeing is believing
Tony the Tiger tours New York City.

Traffic report: Straight Outta Connecticut
It's a long way from the leafy bowers of Greenwich, Connecticut to the concrete barrens of Compton, California.

Technology report: Tech news in brief
Community technical news.

Blog: How Wikipedia responds to breaking news
Wikipedia is capable of covering news like any news agency.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:01, 20 August 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 26 August 2015

In focus: An increase in active Wikipedia editors
Does the data mean good news for the encyclopedia?

In the media: Russia temporarily blocks Wikipedia
The Russian Wikipedia is blocked, more blocks may be on the on the horizon.

Op-ed: Wikimania—can volunteers organize conferences?
Should paid event staff supplement the work of volunteers?

News and notes: Re-imagining grants
The Wikimedia Foundation's grant structure.

Featured content: Out to stud, please call later
This week's featured content.

Arbitration report: Reinforcing Arbitration
The recently closed Arbitration Enforcement case.

Recent research: OpenSym 2015 report
A look at the research presented at the OpenSym 2015 conference.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:59, 28 August 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 02 September 2015

Special report: Massive paid editing network unearthed on the English Wikipedia
Nearly 400 accounts blocked in largest paid-editing bust ever.

News and notes: Flow placed on ice
The WMF collaboration team announced this week that Flow will no longer be under active development.

Discussion report: WMF's sudden reversal on Wiki Loves Monuments
A conflict regarding fundraising banners on the Italian Wikipedia is resolved.

Featured content: Brawny
This Signpost "Featured content" report covers material promoted from 16 August to 24 August.

In the media: Orangemoody sockpuppet case sparks widespread coverage
Also vital statistics regarding Ja Rule.

Traffic report: You didn't miss much
The late-summer smash success of Straight Outta Compton remains the chief talking point of the English-speaking world, interrupted only by the welcome return of a Google Doodle.

Technology report: Tech news in brief
Community technical news.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:07, 3 September 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 09 September 2015

Gallery: Being Welsh
The National Library is now releasing some of the nation's most treasured collections to Wikimedia Commons for everyone to use and enjoy.

Featured content: Killed by flying debris
Tony1 interviews a prolific featured content participant, Ian Rose.

Op-ed: DYK, or proudly displaying incorrect information on the Main Page with alarming regularity
Fram tells us why DYK is a problem.

News and notes: The Swedish Wikipedia's controversial two-millionth article
First bot-created article generated from Wikidata; the Orange Bar of Doom has finally met its doom; active editor numbers still on the rise; arbitrator to resign; ne templates added in wake of Orangemoody case

Traffic report: Mass media production traffic
This week's theme in popular articles revolved entirely around mass media productions.

Technology report: Tech news in brief
section begin "tech-newsletter-content"

In the media: Calling all scientists!; More Wikipedia editors in the Netherlands than all of Africa combined
A recap of Wikipedia in the media this week

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:00, 11 September 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 16 September 2015

Editorial: No access is no answer to closed access
On Wikipedia's commitment to open access and its obligations to readers and editors.

News and notes: Byrd and notifications leave, but page views stay; was a terror suspect editing Wikipedia?
WMF CFO to depart, notifications come and go, and questions about the possible editing by a recently arrested terrorism suspect.

In the media: Is there life on Mars?
Probably not. Also, Whitehall still editing Wikipedia.

Featured content: Why did the emu cross the road?
This week's featured content.

Traffic report: Another week
No particular trends to spot in this week's top article traffic.

Technology report: Tech news in brief
Community technical news.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:43, 19 September 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 23 September 2015

In the media: PETA makes "monkey selfie" a three-way copyright battle; Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
PETA launches a copyright lawsuit over the infamous photograph.

Op-ed: Can we please stop bashing Wikipedia?
No, really, just stop.

Featured content: Inside Duke Humfrey's Library
This week's featured content.

WikiProject report: Dancing to the beat of a... wikiproject?
This time of year features the Latin Grammy Awards, so here for an interview are WikiProject Latin music.

Traffic report: ¡Viva la Revolución! Kinda.
This week, drug lord and wannabe Bolivar Pablo Escobar was joined by a whole host of somewhat more primetime-friendly political insurgents.

Technology report: Tech news in brief
Community technical news.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:24, 25 September 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 30 September 2015

News and notes: Wikimedia Foundation fundraising report, Montreal to host 2017 Wikimania
A year of fundraising and a controversial decision.

In the media: Irish legislative editing; coffee quarrel; more sports vandalism
More Wikipedia editing in the news.

Op-ed: Wikipedia needs more administrators
Low numbers of active admins and high standards for adminship make a troubling combination.

Recent research: Wiktionary special; newbies, conflict and tolerance; Is Wikipedia's search function inferior?
A look at newly published Wikipedia research.

Tech news: Tech news in brief
Community technical news

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:35, 3 October 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 07 October 2015

Op-ed: Walled gardens of corruption
Kazakhstan and Wikipedia: A marriage made in hell.

Traffic report: Reality is for losers
English speakers, like most of humanity, are primarily a northern-hemispheric people, and as autumn draws close and the days grow shorter, as a group we tend to huddle around our flickering screens and remember what matters: TV, movies, sports and, of course, crazy doomsday prophecies.

Featured content: This Week's Featured Content
Some of Wikipedia's newest featured content.

Gallery: Winners of Wiki Loves Monuments 2015 in Pakistan
These winners of the Wiki Loves Monuments Pakistan 2015 contest were shared with the Social Media mailing list recently.

Arbitration report: Warning: Contains GMOs
A new case was opened for ArbCom as the Genetically modified organisms case was accepted and opened on 28 September.

Technology report: Tech news in brief
A reproduced version of the Wikimedia tech newsletter.

In the media: Jailed Saudi blogger wins award; PR editing and Wiki-embarassment; Pakistan's third-richest person?
A summary of Wikimedia's mentions in the media.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:21, 11 October 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 14 October 2015

Op-ed: WikiConference USA 2015: built on good faith
We believe that human interaction can only make Wikipedia stronger.

WikiConference report: US gathering sees speeches from Andrew Lih, AfroCrowd, and the Archivist of the United States
Three days at the US National Archives.

Editorial: Why the news media needs a Wikipedian in residence
The news coverage we usually see about Wikipedia is neither in-depth, nor specialized, nor systematic.

News and notes: 2015–2016 Q1 fundraising update sparks mailing list debate
Everyone's talking about money.

Traffic report: Screens, Sport, Reddit, and Death
For the second consecutive week, the most viewed article had less than one million views, the only two weeks that has happened in all of 2015.

Featured content: A fistful of dollars
This week's featured content.

Technology report: Tech news in brief
Community technical news.

Blog: Third Wikimedia Spain conference takes place in Madrid
On September 25, 26 and 27, Wikimedia Spain celebrated its third Wikimedia Conference at the Colegio Mayor Universitario Isabel de España in Madrid.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:38, 18 October 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 21 October 2015

Editorial: Women and Wikipedia: the world is watching
Time to clean up our mess.

News and notes: Wikimedia lawsuit against NSA dismissed; Affiliates mailing list launched
District court judge decrees that the WMF lacks standing.

In the media: "Wikipedia's hostility to women"
"The lunatics are running the asylum."

Special report: One year of GamerGate, or how I learned to stop worrying and love bare rule-level consensus
Examining the conflict and its participants.

Featured content: A more balanced week
Featured content

Op-ed: Wikipedia is significantly amplifying the impact of Open Access publications
When given a choice between journals of similar impact factors, editors are significantly more likely to select the “open access” option.

Arbitration report: Four ArbCom cases ongoing
Open cases before the Arbitration Committee.

Traffic report: Hiding under the covers of the Internet
We live in a harsh, uncertain world.

Technology report: Tech news in brief
Community technical news.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:02, 25 October 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 28 October 2015

From the editor: The Signpost's reorganization plan—we need your help
A call for volunteers.

News and notes: English Wikipedia reaches five million articles
The community reacts to another milestone.

In the media: The world's Wikipedia gaps; Google and Wikipedia accused of tying Ben Carson to NAMBLA
The week's news coverage about the encyclopedia.

Op-ed: It’s time to stop the bullying
Gangs of bullies and trolls rove the internet and make life difficult for the rest of us.

Arbitration report: A second attempt at Arbitration enforcement
A divisive case before the Committee opens.

Traffic report: Canada, the most popular nation on Earth
What's this all aboot, eh?

Recent research: Student attitudes towards Wikipedia; Jesus, Napoleon and Obama top "Wikipedia social network"; featured article editing patterns in 12 languages
New research about Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects.

Featured content: Birds, turtles, and other things
This week's featured content.

Technology report: Tech news in brief
Community technical news.

Community letter: Five million articles
The community celebrates.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:12, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 04 November 2015

Op-ed: You are invited to participate in the Community Wishlist Survey
The WMF wants your ideas for technical improvements.

News and notes: Wikimedia Foundation finances; Superprotect is gone
WMF funding and the death and life of a controversial feature.

In the media: Ahmadiyya Jabrayilov: propaganda myth or history?
The difficulties of verifying encyclopedia content.

Traffic report: Death, the Dead, and Spectres are abroad
The week in article traffic.

Featured content: Christianity, music, and cricket
This week's featured content.

Gallery: Princess of Asturias Awards 2015 ceremony
Wikipedia received the 2015 Princess of Asturias Award for global cooperation on October 23.

Technology report: Tech news in brief
Community technical news.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:29, 7 November 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 11 November 2015

Op-ed: As one thousand of us requested, Superprotect has been removed
Assessing the end of a controversial feature.

Arbitration report: Elections, redirections, and a resignation from the Committee
It's that time of the year again.

Discussion report: Compromise of two administrator accounts prompts security review
Fallout from a recent security breach.

Featured content: Texas, film, and cycling
Featured content

In the media: Sanger on Wikipedia; Silver on Vox; lawyers on monkeys
Are the inmates running the asylum? Are journalists copying Wikipedia? Are monkeys filing lawsuits?

Traffic report: Doodles of popularity
More doodles, more traffic.

Gallery: Paris
Reflecting on the tragedy in France.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:08, 15 November 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 18 November 2015

Special report: ArbCom election—candidates’ opinions analysed
Our annual election coverage.

In the media: Icelandic milestone; apolitical editing
Icelandic Wikipedia hits 400K articles; how do Wikipedia editors stay neutral?

Discussion report: BASC disbanded; other developments in the discussion world
Discussions around the encyclopedia.

Arbitration report: Ban Appeals Subcommittee goes up in smoke; 21 candidates running
Updates on the Committee. You know, besides the election.

Featured content: Fantasia on a Theme by Jimbo Wales
The week in Featured Content.

Traffic report: Darkness and light
Paris and Diwali.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:28, 21 November 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 25 November 2015

Op-ed: Wikidata: the new Rosetta Stone
Wikidata is set to become the main open data repository worldwide.

News and notes: Fundraising update; FDC recommendations
Updates on the Wikimedia Foundation.

In the media: Erasmus Prize awarded to Wikipedia; trouble on the Russian Wikipedia
The worldwide community wins a prestigious award while the Russian community struggles with government interference.

Recent research: Do Wikipedia citations mirror scholarly impact?; co-star networks in silent films
Scholarly research about Wikipedia and related projects.

Featured content: Caves and stuff
Featured content

Traffic report: J'en ai ras le bol
The week's most read articles.

Arbitration report: Third Palestine-Israel case closes; Voting begins
Another long-running case has been closed, while the voting process for this year's Arbitration Committee Elections has begun.

Technology report: Tech news in brief
Community technical news.

Blog: Wikimedia Foundation, Wikimedia Deutschland urge Reiss Engelhorn Museum to reconsider suit over public domain works of art
The suit concerns copyright claims related to 17 images of the museum’s public domain works of art.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:27, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 02 December 2015

Op-ed: Whither Wikidata?
Issues of quality and verifiability threaten the project.

News and notes: Online harassment consultation; High voter turnout at ArbCom elections
How the community can have its say on two important matters.

In the media: Is Wikidata as transparent as it seems?; Wikimedia Fund-raising drive launches
Concerns about Wikidata and WMF fundraising.

Traffic report: Jonesing for episodes
The new Netflix series heads the list.

Featured content: This Week's Featured Content
Newly promoted featured content.

Technology report: Tech news in brief
Community technical news.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:21, 6 December 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 09 December 2015

News and notes: ArbCom election results announced
The three scrutineers announced the results, a little more than three days after the close of voting.

Op-ed: Wikidata: Knowledge from different points of view
A response from Wikidata.

In the media: Political editing in the context of the US presidential primaries
Another election, another series of edit wars.

Gallery: Wiki Loves Monuments 2015 winners
The top 25 images.

Traffic report: So do you laugh, or does it cry?
Another death tops the report this week.

Featured content: Sports, ships, arts... and some other things
This week's featured content.

Technology report: Tech news in brief
Community technical news.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:38, 12 December 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 16 December 2015

In focus: Drone photography: New possibilities and new challenges
Creating content in the sky.

In the media: Wales in China; #Edit2015
Jimmy Wales finds his words edited on the Internet.

Arbitration report: GMO case decided
Keeping up with the committee.

Featured content: An unusually slow week
Featured content

WikiProject report: Women in Red—using teamwork and partnerships to elevate online and offline collaborations
Tackling content gaps through collaboration.

Traffic report: A feast of Spam
More data, more problems.

Gallery: WikiConference USA 2015: images, slide decks, and videos
A look back at October.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:57, 19 December 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 30 December 2015

News and notes: WMF Board dismisses community-elected trustee
In a monumental move, the Board ousted one of its own

Arbitration report: Second Arbitration Enforcement case concludes as another case is suspended
The latest news from ArbCom

Featured content: The post-Christmas edition
A report covering material promoted from 13 to 26 December

Traffic report: The Force we expected
In a development that should surprise no one, Star Wars takes the first place prize

Year in review: The top ten Wikipedia stories of 2015
We review the top ten stories that defined the Wikimedia movement in 2015

In the media: Wikipedia plagued by a "Basket of Deception"
The latest news coverage from around the movement

Gallery: It's that time of year again
Christmas time is here.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:34, 30 December 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 06 January 2016

News and notes: The WMF's age of discontent
Trouble with the Board of Trustees

In the media: Impenetrable science; Jimmy Wales back in the UAE
Wikipedia's science articles are "effectively incomprehensible"

Arbitration report: Catflap08 and Hijiri88 case been decided
Current Committee decisions

Featured content: Featured menagerie
Featured content

Recent research: Teaching Wikipedia, Does advertising the gender gap help or hurt Wikipedia?
Current academic research on Wikipedia and related projects

WikiProject report: Try-ing to become informed - WikiProject Rugby League
Sports!

Technology report: Tech news in brief
Community technical news

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 06:46, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

The Signpost: 13 January 2016

In the media: War and peace; WMF board changes; Arabic and Hebrew Wikipedias
A look at movement coverage "in the media"

Community view: Battle for the soul of the WMF
Liam Wyatt shares his thoughts in "community view"

Editorial: We need a culture of verification
Our co-editor-in-chief, Gamaliel, shares his thoughts on the 15th anniversary of Wikipedia

In focus: The Crisis at New Montgomery Street
William Beutler discusses problems inside the WMF.

Op-ed: Transparency
James Heilman talks about why he was removed from the WMF board.

Traffic report: Pattern recognition: Third annual Traffic Report
What was the most-viewed article of 2015? Read to find out!

Special report: Wikipedia community celebrates Public Domain Day 2016
WE LOVE PUBLIC DOMAIN DAY!

News and notes: Community objections to new Board trustee
A look at community objections to a new Board trustee

Blog: Inside the game of sports vandalism on Wikipedia
Jeff Elder talks sports vandalism on the Wikimedia blog

Featured content: This Week's Featured Content
A review of the featured content promoted this week

Arbitration report: Interview: outgoing and incumbent arbitrators 2016
We sat down with both incoming and outgoing arbitrators to get their thoughts on the committee.

Technology report: Tech news in brief
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:17, 16 January 2016 (UTC)

The Signpost: 20 January 2016

News and notes: Vote of no confidence; WMF trustee speaks out
The continuing controversy over a new Board appointment.

Op-ed: Not a pretty picture: Thoughts on the "monkey selfie" debacle
Is Wikimedia taking the right approach?

In the media: 15th anniversary news round-up
The news media remembers we're still around.

Traffic report: Danse Macabre
A cheery week.

Featured content: This week's featured content
Newly promoted content.

Blog: Fifteen years ago, Wikipedia was a very different place
A talk with MediaWiki developer : Magnus Manske.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:21, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

The Signpost: 27 January 2016

Op-ed: Lila Tretikov: the WMF needs your input in developing our strategy
Participate in the new strategy initiative.

News and notes: Geshuri steps down from the Board
Newly appointed trustee leaves following a community outcry.

In the media: Media coverage of the Arnnon Geshuri no-confidence vote
Board turmoil gets the attention of journalists.

Recent research: Bursty edits; how politics beat religion but then lost to sports; notability as a glass ceiling
Current research involving Wikipedia.

Traffic report: Death and taxes
Some things never change.

Featured content: This week's featured content
Newly promoted content.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 05:24, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

The Signpost: 03 February 2016

From the editors: Help wanted
Help us continue to publish on a weekly (-ish) basis.

Special report: Board chair and new trustee speak with the Signpost
New member María Sefidari joins the Board of Trustees.

In focus: The Knight Foundation grant: a timeline and an email to the board
James Heilman speaks out about the events leading up to his dismissal from the Board.

Op-ed: So, what’s a knowledge engine anyway?
Examining the issues at the heart of recent Board disputes.

News and notes: Harassment survey 2015; Luis Villa to leave WMF; knowledge engine background
A survey released, another major departure from the Foundation.

Arbitration report: Catching up on arbitration
More cases, more problems.

Traffic report: Bowled
Some sort of sporting contest tops this week's traffic.

Featured content: This week's featured content
Newly promoted content.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:29, 9 February 2016 (UTC)

The Signpost: 10 February 2016

Special report: New internal documents raise questions about the origins of the Knowledge Engine
.

In focus: An in-depth look at the special report's newly revealed documents
.

News and notes: Another WMF departure
.

In the media: Jeb Bush swings at Wikipedia and connects
.

Featured content: This week's featured content
.

Traffic report: A river of revilement
.

Blog: Wikimedia Foundation removes The Diary of Anne Frank due to copyright law requirements
.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 05:28, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

The Signpost: 17 February 2016

Special report: Search and destroy: the Knowledge Engine and the undoing of Lila Tretikov
Examining the impact of the knowledge engine

Op-ed: Shit I cannot believe we had to fucking write this month
A new column that examines the articles that are helping to fight systemic bias

Featured content: This week's featured content
One article, three lists, and five images attained featured status this past week

Traffic report: Super Bowling
The biggest annual event in America takes over Wikipedia viewership

Technology report: Tech news in brief
The news for the nerd inside of us

Blog: Antonin Scalia and the editor tracking his legacy
The American Supreme Court justice's impact on the life of a Wikipedia editor

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:32, 19 February 2016 (UTC)

The Signpost: 24 February 2016

Special report: WMF in limbo as decision on Tretikov nears
The Board of Trustees may be deciding the direction of the Foundation.

Op-ed: Backward the Foundation
Parting words from a WMF employee,

Traffic report: Of Dead Pools and Dead Judges
Another grim week in traffic statistics.

Blog: Wiki Loves Africa brings the continent’s fashion to the world
Wiki Loves Africa photo competition focuses on continent’s varied fashion traditions from north, south, east, and west.

Arbitration report: Arbitration motion regarding CheckUser & Oversight inactivity
Committee motions and business.

Featured content: This week's featured content
Newly promoted featured content.

Technology report: Tech news in brief
Community technical news.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 05:04, 25 February 2016 (UTC)

The Signpost: 02 March 2016

News and notes: Tretikov resigns, WMF in transition
A tumultuous time at the Wikimedia Foundation

Featured content: This week's featured content
Newly promoted articles and images.

Traffic report: Brawling
Politics and wrestling top the traffic statistics.

Recent research: Wikipedia and paid labour; Swedish gender gap; how verifiable is "verifiable"?
Current academic research about the encyclopedia and related projects.

Blog: Wikimedia Foundation details requests to alter or remove content in new transparency report
The WMF reports on incoming requests.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:00, 8 March 2016 (UTC)

The Signpost: 09 March 2016

News and notes: Katherine Maher named interim head of WMF; Wales email re-sparks Heilman controversy; draft WMF strategy posted
Controversy, change, and everything between.

In the media: Wikipedian is break-out star of International Women's Day; dinosaur art; Wikipedia's new iOS app and its fight for market share
Perhaps we're turning over a new leaf as a front-runner in the fight for equality?

Op-ed: A modest proposal for Wikimedia’s future
A look at the future of our parent foundation.

Featured content: Five articles, four lists, a topic, and five images were promoted this week.
This week's featured content

Technology report: Wikimedia wikis will temporarily go into read-only mode on several occasions in the coming weeks
Finally, a break for the vandalism fighters!

WikiCup report: First round of the WikiCup finishes
Your detailed look at one of Wikipedia's largest contests.

Blog: The new alchemy: turning online harassment into Wikipedia articles on women scientists
By night, she smites trolls on the Internet with positive punishment: for each harassing email she receives, one Wikipedia article on a woman in science is created.

Systemic bias: Revenge of "I can’t believe we didn’t have an article on ..."
Wherein I am STILL fucking angry about systemic bias and am highlighting kick-ass articles we created and improved this month in our never-ending quest to fix it.

Traffic report: All business like show business
The Oscars, Super Tuesday, and Super Saturday"

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:53, 13 March 2016 (UTC)

The Signpost: 16 March 2016

News and notes: Wikipedia Zero: Orange mobile partnership in Africa ends; the evolution of privacy loss in Wikipedia
Parties could not agree on extending the 2009 agreement.

In the media: Wales at SXSW; lawsuit over Wikipedia PR editing
Two board members on stage at the popular yearly event.

Op-ed: Hard work needed to address Wikimedia’s leadership challenges
The road ahead for the WMF.

Discussion report: Is an interim WMF executive director inherently notable?
Wikipedia news sparks editing disagreements.

Featured content: This week's featured content
Featured content

Technology report: Watchlists, watchlists, watchlists!
An interview with a MediaWiki developer.

Traffic report: Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States
Time to move abroad.

Wikipedia Weekly: Podcast #119: The Foundation and the departure of Lila Tretikov
The popular podcast returns.

Blog: It “revolutionized the way German-speaking people inform themselves about the world”: Fifteen years of the German Wikipedia
A Deutschland anniversary.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:13, 19 March 2016 (UTC)

The Signpost: 23 March 2016

Interview: Exclusive: interview with interim ED Katherine Maher
The Signpost speaks with the incoming WMF interim executive director.

News and notes: Lila Tretikov a Young Global Leader; Wikipediocracy blog post sparks indefinite blocks
The outgoing ED to be honored at Davos.

In the media: Angolan file sharers cause trouble for Wikipedia Zero; the 3D printer edit war; a culture based on change and turmoil
Piracy and controversy.

Traffic report: Be weary on the Ides of March
Are readers exhausted?

Editorial: "God damn it, you've got to be kind."
All of us can do better.

Featured content: Watch out! A slave trader, a live mascot and a crested serpent awaits!
The week in newly promoted content.

Arbitration report: Palestine-Israel article 3 case amended
Motions from the Committee.

Wikipedia Weekly: Podcast #120: Status of Wikimania 2016
Discussing the upcoming Italian Wikimania.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:24, 27 March 2016 (UTC)

The Signpost: 1 April 2016

News and notes: Trump/Wales 2016
A surprise political announcement.

In the media: Saskatoon police delete Wikipedia content about police brutality
Police haul away some article content.

WikiProject report: Why should the Devil have all the good music? An interview with WikiProject Christian music
Rock out to this interview with project editors.

Traffic report: Donald v Daredevil
¿Quién es más macho?

Featured content: A slow, slow week
.

Technology report: Browse Wikipedia in safety? Use Telnet!
Set your Wayback Machine.

Recent research: "Employing Wikipedia for good not evil" in education; using eyetracking to find out how readers read articles
Current research about Wikimedia projects.

Wikipedia Weekly: Podcast #121: How April Fools went down
A roundtable discussion about current Wikimedia issues.

Blog: Growing hashtags: Expanding outreach on Wikipedia
Using hashtags to track the results of Wikimedia outreach.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:12, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

The Signpost: 14 April 2016

Op-ed: Should prison inmates be permitted to edit Wikipedia?
They do have plenty of time on their hands

News and notes: Denny Vrandečić resigns from Wikimedia Foundation board
More turnover in the foundation

In the media: Wikimedia Sweden loses copyright case; Tex Watson; AI assistants; David Jolly biography
Copyright laws, prisoners, and the future of technology

Featured content: This week's featured content
Featured content

Traffic report: A welcome return to pop culture and death
American politics seem to have finally bored people

Arbitration report: The first case of 2016—Wikicology
The drought is finally over!

Gallery: A history lesson
A look at political satire, brought to you by Wikipedia and Commons

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The Signpost: 24 April 2016

News and notes: Lunar project; steering group formed to search for next executive director
Maybe the rover could find an ED on the moon...

Op-ed: Knowledge Engine and the Wales–Heilman emails
When is competing with Google not competing with Google?

Special report: Update on EranBot, our new copyright violation detection bot
Help wanted!

Traffic report: Two for the price of one
What's better than one traffic report? Two!

Featured content: The double-sized edition
10 articles, 6 lists, and 11 pictures have been promoted in this cycle

Arbitration report: Amendments made to the Race and intelligence case
When it rains, it pours

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The Signpost: 2 May 2016

News and notes: Wikimedia Switzerland's board and paid-editing firm; passing of Ed Dravecky
Wikimedia Switzerland board members involved in paid-editing firm

In the media: Wikipedia Zero piracy in Bangladesh; bureaucracy; chilling effects; too few cooks; translation gaps
More reports surface of pirates' new favorite database: Wikimedia Commons

Traffic report: Purple
Prince's death breaks traffic report records

Featured content: The best ... from the past two weeks
Seven articles, six lists, and four pictures were promoted these weeks

Arbitration report: Two editors unbanned; Wikicology case enters workshop phase; Gamaliel restricted from Gamergate at his own request
Arbitration news

Recent research: The eight roles of Wikipedians; do edit histories expose social relations among editors?
Making sense of Wikipedia's social network

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The Signpost: 17 May 2016

News and notes: Affiliates' nomination of WMF trustees announced; FDC's straight talking to WMF
Christophe Henner and Nataliia Tymkiv respond to the Signpost's questions

Op-ed: Swiss chapter in turmoil
Paid-editing controversy

In the media: Wikimedia's Dario Taraborelli quoted on Google's Knowledge Graph in The Washington Post
Citations needed

Featured content: Two weeks for the prize of one
Nine featured articles, eight featured lists, and six featured pictures

Traffic report: Oh behave, Beyhive / Underdogs
Prince gives way to Captain America

Arbitration report: "Wikicology" ends in site ban; evidence and workshop phases concluded for "Gamaliel and others"
News from two arbitration cases

Wikicup: That's it for WikiCup Round 2!
35 competitors move on to round 3

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The Signpost: 28 May 2016

News and notes: Upcoming Wikimedia conferences in the US and India; May Metrics and Activities Meeting
Dates and venues for WikiCon USA 2016, WikiCon India 2016, 2016 Glam Boot Camp and 2016 Wikimedia Diversity Conference

Special report: Compensation paid to Sue Gardner increased by almost 50 percent after she stepped down as executive director
Sue Gardner appears to be earning more money as the WMF's special advisor than she did as its executive director

In the media: The perils of Wikipedia's monopoly; Wikipedians' fragility; Street Sharks hoax
Not everything you read online is fact

Featured content: Eight articles, three lists and five pictures
Another eight featured articles, three featured lists and five featured pictures

Op-ed: Journey of a Wikipedian
Mental health carries a powerful stigma. The more we are open about it, the less that weighs all of us down

Arbitration report: Gamaliel resigns from the arbitration committee
Gamaliel and others case nears its end, and there are new 30/500 rules

Recent research: English as Wikipedia's Lingua Franca; deletion rationales; schizophrenia controversies
Round-up of recent Wikipedia research

Traffic report: Splitting (musical) airs / Slow Ride
We've recently come into possession of a new tool.

Blog: Freely licensed magic at Eurovision
Albin Olsson has been right there with them, capturing dramatic images of singers from around the world.

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The Signpost: 05 June 2016

News and notes: WMF cuts budget for 2016-17 as scope tightens
The Signpost analyzes the WMF's revised annual plan

In the media: Jimmy Wales on net neutrality—"It's complicated"—and his $100m fundraising challenge
Recent press interviews

Featured content: Overwhelmed ... by pictures
One article, one list, and seven images were featured this week

Traffic report: Pop goes the culture, again.
Film and television maintain a strong grasp on Wikipedia's readership

Arbitration report: ArbCom case "Gamaliel and others" concludes
The final results of the heated case

WikiProject report: WikiProject Video Games
We sat down with the writers of some of the most vistied Wikipedia articles

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The Signpost: 15 June 2016

News and notes: Clarifications on status and compensation of outgoing executive directors Sue Gardner and Lila Tretikov
WMF board chair Patricio Lorente answers questions

Special report: Wikiversity Journal—A new user group
Wikimedia enters academic publishing

Featured content: From the crème de la crème
Eleven featured articles, nine featured lists and fourteen featured pictures

In the media: Biography disputes; Craig Newmark donation; PR editing
Recent media coverage of Wikipedia and Wikimedia

Op-ed: Commons Picture of the Year; Wikidata licensing
Two for the price of one—do the popular Commons image contest and Wikidata licensing serve the community as well as they should?

Traffic report: Another one with sports; Knockout, brief candle
Wikipedia's most read articles in the last two weeks

Blog: Why I proofread poetry at Wikisource
Poetry: “it is the stuff of the soul; it speaks to the body, the mind, and the spirit alike.” Sonja Bohm worked for years to get all of Florence Earle Coates’ poetry online, and now proofreads poetry on the English Wikisource, the free library. We asked why.

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The Signpost: 04 July 2016

News and notes: Board unanimously appoints Katherine Maher as new WMF executive director; Wikimedia lawsuits in France and Germany
News from Wikimania and the courts

Op-ed: Two policies in conflict?
Paid-contributions disclosure vs. outing

In the media: Terrorism database cites Wikipedia as a source
Reliability worries

Featured content: Triple fun of featured content
Six articles, nine lists, one topic and thirteen pictures promoted

Traffic report: Goalposts; Oy vexit
European football and politics dominate the top-10

Blog: Jimmy Wales names Emily Temple-Wood and Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight as Wikipedians of the Year
From the Wikimedia Foundation blog

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The Signpost: 21 July 2016

News and notes: Board faces diversity and skill-base issues in new FDC appointments
Four seats to be filled in top WMF grantmaking body; General Counsel and Secretary Geoff Brigham leaves Wikimedia

Discussion report: Busy month for discussions
New ArbCom restrictions; genetically modified food safety

In the media: Women in science editathon gets national press; Wikipedia "shockingly biased"
Female scientists in India; Cracked.com probes Wikipedia's weaknesses

Featured content: A wide variety from the best
Promotions in four featured-content forums

Traffic report: Sports and esports
Northern summer makes sport the winner

Arbitration report: Script writers appointed for clerks
Plus a clerk appointment and two motions

Recent research: Using deep learning to predict article quality
Plus navigating the Chinese Wikipedia, and talkpage sentiment

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The Signpost: 04 August 2016

Editorial: Wikipedia policy suppresses sharing of information
And the Signpost loses and gains a co-editor-in-chief

News and notes: Foundation presents results of harassment research, plans for automated identification; Wikiconference submissions open
WMF and Alphabet are developing an algorithm designed to detect personal attacks

In the media: Paid editing service announced; Commercial exploitation of free images; Wikipedia as a crystal ball; Librarians to counter systemic bias
Plus Android and Taylor Swift

Obituary: Kevin Gorman, who took on Wikipedia's gender gap and undisclosed paid advocacy, dies at 24
Condolences are being left on his English Wikipedia talk page

Traffic report: Summer of Pokémon, Trump, and Hillary
Pokémon Go led the chart for two weeks running

Featured content: Women and Hawaii
Eight articles, two lists and fourteen pictures were promoted

Recent research: Easier navigation via better wikilinks
Plus: new Wiki Studies journal, Wikipedia usage on Twitter and more

Blog: All-new notifications page helps Wikimedians focus on what matters most
WMF announces enhancements to the notifications system

Technology report: User script report (January to July 2016, part 1)
New user scripts and other tech news

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The Signpost: 18 August 2016

News and notes: Focus on India—WikiConference produces new apps; state government adopts free licenses
Conference draws highly diverse and productive participation, and several years' advocacy pays off in a new government policy

Special report: Engaging diverse communities to profile women of Antarctica
Guest post recaps in-depth engagement of experts to address Wikipedia gender gap while improving coverage of their field

In the media: The ugly, the bad, the playful, and the promising
Wikipedia coverage ranged from sobering to playful in this issue's roundup

Featured content: Simply the best ... from the last two weeks
Eight articles, eleven lists, one topic and five pictures were promoted

Traffic report: Olympic views
Politics gives way to sports, TV and film

Technology report: User script report (January–July 2016, part 2)
A review of numerous useful Wikipedia customizations

Arbitration report: The Michael Hardy case
New case opened, and a reminder to administrators not to impose blocks based on private information

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The Signpost: 06 September 2016

News and notes: AffCom still grappling with WMF Board's criteria for new chapters
The Board’s two-year moratorium on new chapters and thematic organisations has expired; presentation of new criteria is reigniting smoldering controversies and introducing new ones

Special report: Olympics readership depended on language
A comparison of the 15 most-read articles related to the Olympics, in seven language editions of Wikipedia

In the media: Librarians, Wikipedians, and a library of Wikipedia coverage
Wikipedia gaining ground in credibility among librarians; and a healthy helping of media coverage

WikiProject report: Watching Wikipedia
An interview with WikiProject TV member CAWylie

Featured content: Entertainment, sport, and something else in-between
Twelve articles, eight lists and four pictures were promoted

Traffic report: From Phelps to Bolt to Reddit
An update on two weeks of Wikipedia traffic, based on a new and improved tracking tool

Technology report: Wikimedia mobile sites now don't load images if the user doesn't see them
New scripts and technical news

Recent research: Ethics of machine-created articles and fighting vandalism
One study encounters critique of its ethics from Wikipedians; another critiques the ethics employed by Wikipedia

Blog: Upload of free photos from Swiss library underway
Switzerland's largest public science library is uploading 134k photos

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The Signpost: 29 September 2016

News and notes: Wikipedia Education Program case study published; and a longtime Wikimedian has made his final edit
Medical school class's Wikipedia contributions profiled as case study; and a remembrance of Ray Saintonge, Wikimedian since 2002

In the media: Wikipedia in the news
This edition's roundup of media coverage

Featured content: Three weeks in the land of featured content
Nineteen articles, eleven lists, one portal and twelve pictures were promoted

Arbitration report: Arbcom looking for new checkusers and oversight appointees while another case opens
TRM, CUOS '16, R&I, RfC

Traffic report: From Gene Wilder to JonBenét
Four weeks of Wikipedia's most popular articles examined

Technology report: Category sorting and template parameters
Titles with numbers now sort numerically, and a new tool to check how template parameters are used

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The Signpost: 14 October 2016

News and notes: Fundraising, flora and fauna
Wikimedia Foundation reports on fundraising challenges and new initiatives; Indian botanists rally to build Wikimedia Commons' photo collection

Discussion report: Cultivating leadership: Wikimedia Foundation seeks input
A new "peer academy" is proposed to find and support leadership in volunteer communities

In the media: A news columnist on the frustrations of tweaking his Wikipedia bio
And this edition's roundup of media coverage

Technology report: Upcoming tech projects for 2017
A new editor, a new parsing algorithm, and another server switch

Featured content: Variety is the spice of life
Twelve articles, twelve lists and twenty-one pictures were promoted

Traffic report: Debates and escapes
Donald Trump remains a view-magnet, others change their channel

Recent research: A 2011 study resurfaces in a media report
We explore the study, which sought insights from Wikipedia metadata into global events

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The Signpost: 4 November 2016

News and notes: Finally, a new CTO; trustee joins Quora; copyright upgrade impending
Victoria Coleman to fill long-vacant CTO role; Trustee Kelly Battles joins Quora executive team; last week for community input on Creative Commons 4.0 license

In the media: Washington Post continues in-depth Wikipedia coverage
Plus our roundup of recent media stories

Wikicup: WikiCup winners
Winners of the tenth annual WikiCup competition announced and profiled

Discussion report: What's on your tech wishlist for the coming year?
Progress on the 2015 Community Wishlist for tech features; and plans for a new Wishlist

Technology report: New guideline for technical collaboration; citation templates now flag open access content
Proposed best practices for communication and community involvement, and an improvement to Wikipedia's citation infrastructure

Featured content: Cream of the crop
Fourteen articles, six lists and fourteen pictures were promoted

Traffic report: Un-presidential politics
Two weeks of insights into the mind of the mob

Arbitration report: Recapping October's activities
Two cases closed, and an administrator loses editing rights

Recent research: Why women edit less, and where they are overrepresented; article importance and quality; predicting elections from Wikipedia
A recap of recent research in our realm

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The Signpost: 4 November 2016

News and notes: Arbitration Committee elections commence
An overview of the English Wikipedia ArbCom election; brief notes as Asian and African initiatives wind down

In the media: Roundup of news related to U.S. presidential election and more
Election prompts media to explore themes important to Wikipedians, including news literacy, privacy, and data security

Blog: The top fifteen winning photos from Wiki Loves Earth
115,000 images were submitted as part of the annual competition.

Gallery: Around the world with Wiki Loves Monuments 2016
A sampling of photo submissions to the annual photography campaign

Featured content: Featured mix
Eight articles, two lists and nine pictures were promoted

Special report: Taking stock of the Good Article backlog
A close examination of the efficacy of the GA Cup contest, a longstanding effort to reduce the backlog of articles awaiting review

Op-ed: Fundraising data should be more transparent
Empowering volunteers and local chapters to engage with fundraising would yield varied benefits

Traffic report: President-elect Trump
Someone is likely to dominate traffic for a long time

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The Signpost: 22 December 2016

Year in review: Looking back on 2016
Roundup of the year's news from the Wikimedia world, featuring Wikipedia's 15th anniversary and organizational disarray at the Wikimedia Foundation

News and notes: Strategic planning update; English ArbCom election results
WMF reflects, to some degree, on its past approaches to strategic planning

Special report: German ArbCom implodes
The German Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee loses more than half its members amid political feud

In focus: Active user page filter prevents vandalism and harassment
A proposal from the Inspire Campaign to address harassment was recently implemented to prevent unconstructive and malicious editing on user pages

Op-ed: Operation successful, patient dead: Outreach workshops in Namibia
Even a well executed outreach event can yield disappointing results

In the media: In brief: Coverage of gender gap initiatives, banner fundraising, and more
Wikipedia women in the news, and media reacts to 2016 ad banner campaign

Featured content: The Christmas edition
Twenty-three articles, ten lists and twenty-one pictures were promoted

Technology report: Labs improvements impact 2016 Tool Labs survey results
And a roundup of recently-added tools

Traffic report: Post-election traffic blues
Four weeks of popular article analysis

Blog: Wiki Loves Monuments contest winners announced
Winning photos in world's largest photography contest reveal a world of monuments—and the volunteers who love them

Recent research: One study and several abstracts
Privacy and Tor, and several other studies

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The Signpost: 17 January 2017

From the editor: Next steps for the Signpost
Building toward better recruitment and retention

News and notes: Surge in RFA promotions—a sign of lasting change?
A close look at the history of approving administrators on English Wikipedia, and a roundup of news

Interview: What is it like to edit Wikipedia when you're blind?
The wiki environment can appear deceptively uniform, but it masks strikingly different editorial experiences

In the media: Year-end roundups, Wikipedia's 16th birthday, and more
The latest media reports

Featured content: One year ends, and another begins
Twelve articles, thirteen lists and twelve pictures were promoted

Arbitration report: Concluding 2016 and covering 2017's first two cases
Various minor developments

Traffic report: Out with the old, in with the new
If you're reading this, you escaped 2016 alive

Technology report: Tech present, past, and future
Data sets now available on Commons, wishes to be worked on in 2017, and a recap of the Wikimedia Developer Summit

Recent research: Female Wikipedians aren't more likely to edit women biographies; Black Lives Matter in Wikipedia
And several other research papers reviewed and summarized

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The Signpost: 6 February 2017

Arbitration report: WMF Legal and ArbCom weigh in on tension between disclosure requirements and user privacy
The two statements prompt extensive community discussion; plus, our updates on recent ArbCom decisions

Special report: Wolves nip at Wikipedia's heels: A perspective on the cost of paid editing
Undisclosed paid editing by a financial broker mired in scandal spans years, impacting Wikipedia's editors and readers

News and notes: Official WMF rebuke to Trump policy; WMF secures restricted funds
Foundation's latest foray into political waters, and grants funding structured data and anti-harassment measures, met with enthusiasm and concern

In focus: WMF strategy consultant brings background in crisis reputation management; Team behind popular WMF software put "on pause"
Several developments in the $2.5 million strategic planning process explored, and a team within the software production department is sidelined

WikiProject report: For the birds!
Our second interview with the productive WikiProject Birds crew

Op-ed: How to make editing workshops useful, even if participants don't stick around
Veteran editing workshop leader responds to a previous Signpost op-ed

In the media: Presidential politics, periodic table, and our periodic roundup of updates
Wikipedia's response to Trump inauguration and a fruitful, public "edit war" lead our media updates

Technology report: Better PDFs, backup plans, and birthday wishes
Plus the latest scripts, bots, and tech news

Traffic report: Cool It Now
Three weeks of the most popular Wikipedia articles

Featured content: Three weeks dominated by articles
Twenty-eight articles, seven lists, two topics and four pictures were promoted

Forum: Productive collaboration around coordinated protest marches; Media and political personalities comment on Wikipedia at its 16th birthday celebration
Women's marches on seven continents attracted strong Wikipedia engagement; Media luminaries and a presidential candidate joined WMF boss Katherine Maher at a New York gathering

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The Signpost: 27 February 2017

From the editors: Results from our poll on subscription and delivery, and a new RSS feed
The Signpost's poll suggests we should take a cautious approach to the Newsletter Extension, under development; and our RSS feed is functional once again

Recent research: Special issue: Wikipedia in education
This month's edition focuses on research about the role of Wikipedia in education

Technology report: Responsive content on desktop; Offline content in Android app
Demonstrations of developers' experiments and works in progress

In the media: The Daily Mail does not run Wikipedia
Is the Daily Mail fake news and your media roundup

Gallery: A Met montage
A selection of CC0 images from the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Special report: Peer review – a history and call for reviewers
An overview of English Wikipedia's peer review process

Op-ed: Wikipedia has cancer
Increased WMF spending every year is not sustainable

Featured content: The dominance of articles continues
Fifteen articles, two lists, and six pictures were promoted

Traffic report: Love, football, and politics
They may not mix in life, but they do in popularity

Blog: WikiIndaba 2017: A continent gathers to chart a path forward
Republished from the Wikimedia blog

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The Signpost: 9 June 2017

From the editors: Signpost status: On reserve power, help wanted!
Inviting new writers, editors, and ideas

News and notes: Global Elections
WMF Board election results, and FDC elections begin

Arbitration report: Cases closed in the Pacific and with Magioladitis
Two cases were closed from 19 February to 27 March.

Op-ed: Wikipedia's lead sentence problem
Lead sentence metadata is out of control and a serious impediment to readability

Featured content: Three months in the land of the featured
Eighty-eight articles, forty-three lists, five topics and twenty-two pictures were promoted

In the media: Did Wikipedia just assume Garfield's gender?
Garfield is male, and other places Wikipedia made the news

Recent research: Wikipedia bot wars capture the imagination of the popular press
...but are they real?; personality and attitudes to Wikipedia; large expert review experiment

Technology report: Tech news catch-up
Bots, scripts, tools, and changes from February to June 2017

Traffic report: Film on Top: Sampling the weekly top 10
Two weeks of film dominance: Baahubali and the Academy Awards

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The Signpost: 23 June 2017

News and notes: Departments reorganized at Wikimedia Foundation, and a month without new RfAs (so far)
While the English Wikipedia community produces no new requests for adminhood in June, the Wikimedia Foundation makes changes to the Product and Technology departments.

In the media: Kalanick's nipples; Episode #138 of Drama on the Hill
The anatomy of Uber CEO Travis Kalanick's chest area has been the talk of the month. But so have high-profile edits, hacked articles, and one particular newborn growing up.

Op-ed: Facto Post: a fresh take
Exploring sourcing issues in Wikimedia projects, a solution in Wikidata and fact mining, and a newsletter to continue the conversation.

Featured content: Will there ever be a break? The slew of featured content continues
22 featured articles, 17 featured lists, 7 featured pictures

Traffic report: Wonder Woman beats Batman, The Mummy, Darth Vader and the Earth
Summer blockbusters and sports, Trump and world events.

Recent research: Utopian bubbles: Can Wikipedians create value outside of the capitalist system?
A researcher applies Marxist critiques of political economy to investigate whether gamification, a culture of altruism, and other anti-corporatist influences on peer production can create a sustainable gift economy in a project like Wikipedia.

Technology report: Improved search, and WMF data scientist tells all
Search now can include sister projects; EpochFail

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The Signpost: 15 July 2017

News and notes: French chapter woes, new affiliates and more WMF team changes
The English Wikipedia sees its first new admin of the season, discord rocks Wikimedia France, some tweaks to the WMF reorg, and a new WMF annual plan mark this issue's community news.

Featured content: Spectacular animals, Pine Trees screens, and more
Recently promoted articles, lists, and pictures.

In the media: Concern about access and fairness, Foundation expenditures, and relationship to real-world politics and commerce
A grab bag of alt-right speech, classical scholars, the dark web, elicited European tourism, $500,000 golden parachutes, forgery, the Great Firewall, net neutrality, nukes, paid editing, porn, and terrorism.

Recent research: The chilling effect of surveillance on Wikipedia readers
A closer look at the research that found that the 2013 Snowden revelations coincided with a significant drop of pageviews for privacy-sensitive Wikipedia articles

Op-ed: Why Task Forces are Dying in 2017
...and is there anything we can do to stop it? Opinions and examples from across the project.

Gallery: A mix of patterns
An interesting mix of patterns and colors to brighten your day...

Humour: The Infobox Game
Enjoy the Parameters: The Infobox Game can be enjoyed by everyone, not just those interested in water buffalo breeds, volcanic hotspots or the mysterious heteroisoform, and some day just might spawn an important facet of the financial derivatives industry.

Traffic report: Film, television and Internet phenomena reign with some room left over for America's birthday
Popular interest in celebrities, blockbusters and an upcoming season of a popular television show drive traffic, with a smattering of world events, holidays and a Reddit storm around – surprise – free porn for the U.S. Congress.

Technology report: New features in development; more breaking changes for scripts
Syntax highlighting, changes to Recent Changes, Wikidata on the enhance watchlist, accessible editing buttons and jQuery upgrade may break scripts.

Wikicup: 2017 WikiCup round 3 wrap-up
The heat turns up on the 32 contestants who entered round three: 13 featured articles, 82 good articles, 167 DYKs, but we had to pick just eight of them to advance.

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The Signpost: 5 August 2017

News and notes: Non-English special edition! 99% no news about English-based wiki communities!
Wikimania in Montreal, lawsuit in Sweden, challenges in France

Recent research: Wikipedia can increase local tourism by +9%; predicting article quality with deep learning; recent behavior predicts quality
Local tourism gains +9% when Wikipedia articles are improved; significant improvements in predicting article quality with deep learning; recent editor behavior is a strong predictor of content quality

WikiProject report: Comic relief
An interview with a project that is centered around comics.

In the media: Wikipedia used to judge death penalty, arms smuggling, Indonesian governance, and HOTTEST celebrity
Wikipedia and reliable sources of information continue to define each other

Traffic report: Swedish countess tops the list
Plus plenty of sports, film, and television

Blog: Canadian Supreme Court rules against Google in favor of worldwide court orders
The Canadian Supreme Court ruled that Google must remove search results worldwide, dismissing concerns that this may impede freedom of expression for people outside of Canada or inspire other countries to censor speech.

Special report: Sharing Wikipedia offline medical information in the Dominican Republic
Wikimedia contributors support each other's projects in many unexpected ways

Featured content: Everywhere in the lead
Recently promoted articles, lists and pictures – with a very heavy one in the mix

Technology report: Introducing TechCom
The Architecture Committee adopts a new charter and name; and the latest in script, bot, and tech news

Humour: WWASOHs and ETCSSs
An elite squad of highly insightful editors can lead the way for other editors who may need to retrain their faces into forming a smile.

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The Signpost: 6 September 2017

From the editors: What happened at Wikimania?
Please share your Wikimania 2017 experiences!

News and notes: Basselpedia; WMF Board of Trustees appointments
Some of the goings-on from Wikimania 2017.

Featured content: Warfighters and their tools or trees and butterflies
Take your pick of the best of Wikipedia.

Traffic report: A fortnight of conflicts
White supremacists v. anti-fascism groups, Mayweather v. McGregor, Moon v. Sun.

Special report: Biomedical content, and some thoughts on its future
Wikipedia's medical and scientific content has come a long way since 2001. Here are some thoughts on how it may continue to evolve.

Recent research: Discussion summarization; Twitter bots tracking government edits; extracting trivia from Wikipedia
A list of recent research publications on various topics.

In the media: Google's Ideological Echo Chamber; What makes someone successful?
Plus the latest reports of vandalism and mistakes in Wikipedia.

WikiProject report: WikiProject YouTube
WikiProject YouTube is a new project on both English and Simple English Wikipedia.

Technology report: Latest tech news
Syntax highlighting, failed login notifications, watchlist filters, and more.

Wikicup: 2017 WikiCup round 4 wrap-up
Ships, typhoons, birds, and more!

Humour: Bots
They do the things you don't want to do (and sometimes things you don't want done).

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The Signpost: 25 September 2017

News and notes: Chapter updates; ACTRIAL
News from Wikimedia France, Wikimedia Macedonia, and Wikimedia Israel's; Autoconfirmed article creation trial begins

In the media: Monkey settlement; Wikipedia used to give AI context clues
Also: Jeopedia, Dubaipedia, shaping science, fake quote reused by scholarly sources

Humour: Chickenz
The best that poultry has to offer

Recent research: Wikipedia articles vs. concepts; Wikipedia usage in Europe
Plus the latest research publications.

Technology report: Flow restarted; Wikidata connection notifications
Plus more tech news, and the latest scripts and bots

Gallery: Chicken mania
Complimenting this issue's Humour about chickens...

Special report: Two steps forward, one step backward: The Sustainability Initiative
Finally we're seeing some initial successes, but the Wikimedia movement is still far from being environmentally sustainable.

Traffic report: Fights and frights
Boxing, hurricanes, clowns, and more!

Featured content: Flying high
Newly featured birds, planes, and high achievers

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The Signpost: 23 October 2017

News and notes: Money! WMF fundraising, Wikimedia strategy, WMF new office!
The Wikimedia Foundation publishes the latest fundraising report, convenes over the close of the strategic plan discussion, and moves into a new space.

Featured content: Don, Marcel, Emily, Jessica and other notables
A variety of topics promoted.

Humour: Guys named Ralph
If your name is Ralph, well sorry.

In focus: Offline Wikipedia developed at OFF.NETWORK Content Hackathon
Advocates for sharing offline information gather to make content, software, hardware, and social decisions.

Blog: The future of offline access to Wikipedia: The Kiwix example
A chat with a developer of open source software which allows users to download web content for offline reading, and the future of offline access to Wikipedia.

In the media: Facebook and poetry
Fighting fake news and plagiarism.

Special report: Working with GLAMs in the UK
Wikimedia UK's partnerships and achievements working with GLAM institutions.

Traffic report: Death, disaster, and entertainment
Readers interested in the the death of Hef, Puerto Rico, films and television.

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The Signpost: 24 November 2017

News and notes: Cons, cons, cons
The first ever Wikidata conference was a con we wanted. Problematic paid editing while in a position of trust: not so much.

Arbitration report: Administrator desysoped; How to deal with crosswiki issues; Mister Wiki case likely
Arbitration matters from October and November.

Technology report: Searching and surveying
A new advanced search interface; the Community Wishlist Survey is back.

Interview: A featured article centurion
Brianboulton talks about featured articles on his 100th promotion.

WikiProject report: Recommendations for WikiProjects
A novel approach to recruit members for your project!

In the media: Open knowledge platform as a media institution
Wikipedia seen as flawed but important; conservative think-tank fellow wants his say; volunteer in Madison wants to close the gender gap.

Traffic report: Strange and inappropriate
Readers intrigued by the Netflix show Stranger Things, and by sexual assault allegations.

Featured content: We will remember them
War memorials, soldiers, extinct species, and devastating hurricanes are some of the most recently promoted featured content.

Recent research: Who wrote this? New dataset on the provenance of Wikipedia text
And other new research publications.

Humour: Good faith (but still incomprehensible)
The entertainment value of Wikipedia.

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The Signpost: 18 December 2017

Special report: Women in Red World Contest wrap-up
Global article creation contest/editathon exceeds expectations.

Blog: Close encounters of the Wikipedia kind
Astronaut is first to specifically contribute to Wikipedia from space.

Featured content: Featured content to finish 2017
Seventeen articles, twenty-nine lists, three pictures and one featured topic were promoted.

In the media: Stolen seagulls, public domain primates and more
The media discuss online copyright issues, Wikipedia's coverage of the capital of Israel and creation of a "reasonably clean, honest and reliable" work on Earth and in space.

Arbitration report: Last case of 2017: Mister Wiki editors
Evidence phase in Mister Wiki editors case is complete; the community is proposing remedies and the Arbitration committee is slated to make a decision by end of year. Meanwhile, voting has closed on 2017 elections.

Gallery: Wiki loving
Winners of the international photo competitions Wiki Loves Earth and Wiki Loves Monuments.

Interview: Interview with Charlesjsharp, regular contributor of Wikipedia's Featured Pictures
Looking back on a decade of contributions including over 1,000 images and over three dozen Featured Pictures, Charles shares his wildlife photography experience and tips.

Recent research: French medical articles have "high rate of veracity"
And other recent research publications.

Technology report: Your wish lists and more Wikimedia tech
Including improved blocking tools, new user scripts, and the latest technical news.

Traffic report: Notable heroes and bad guys
We like our heroes and bad guys.

Humour: On their way to the WMF Incubator
u-nye-loo-lay-doo? Dochvetlh vISoplaHbe’.

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The Signpost: 16 January 2018

News and notes: Communication is key
Two new WMF Communications department leadership appointments; a new way for Wikimedia communities to communicate their capacities.

In the media: The Paris Review, British Crown and British Media
Wikipedia manipulated and copied – again

Featured content: History, gaming and multifarious topics
Historical and pop culture articles promoted.

Interview: Interview with Ser Amantio di Nicolao, the top contributor to English Wikipedia by edit count
How do you make an average of 3,600 edits a week for over a decade? And what do you learn when you've done it?

Technology report: Dedicated Wikidata database servers
Plus the latest technology upgrades, tools and news.

Humour: Why don't we have an article about _________?
Notable missing articles.

Arbitration report: Mister Wiki is first arbitration committee decision of 2018
In deciding to de-sysop an admin for efforts to evade discussion and review of paid edits made on behalf of a PR firm, Arbitration Committee doesn't significantly change the rules around paid editing, and leaves it up to the community whether to apply special restrictions to administrators.

Traffic report: The best and worst of 2017
A look back at the most popular articles in a tumultuous and intriguing year.

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The Signpost: 5 February 2018

Op-ed: Do editors have the right to be forgotten?
Should an editor's block history be a permanent "rap sheet", or does Wikipedia forgive and forget? A reform initiative has begun.

Featured content: Wars, sieges, disasters and everything black possible
Exemplary content recognized between January 12 and January 20, 2018

Recent research: Automated Q&A from Wikipedia articles; Who succeeds in talk page discussions?
Also: Polish quality, Russian political mythologization, and multilingual analyses

Blog: New monthly dataset shows where people fall into Wikipedia rabbit holes
The Wikimedia Foundation's Analytics team compiles a clickstream dataset, now available as a series of monthly data dumps for English, Russian, German, Spanish, and Japanese Wikipedias.

Interview: Interview with The Rambling Man, Wikipedia's top contributor of Featured Lists
Lessons on Creating a Featured List

Traffic report: TV, death, sports, and doodles
The most popular articles for January 14 to 27

Special report: Cochrane–Wikipedia Initiative
A partnership to improve and update Wikipedia's medical content

Arbitration report: New cases requested for inter-editor hostility and other collaboration issues
Politeness and collegial behavior about to be taken up by Arbcom, and perhaps a revisit of the infobox question.

In the media: Solving crime; editing out violence allegations
Also, did UCF really win?

Humour: You really are in Wonderland
Enjoy the humour of another contributor

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The Signpost: 20 February 2018

News and notes: The future is Swedish with a lack of administrators
Sweden selected for Wikimania 2019; research report on shaping the future; a scarcity of RfAs.

Recent research: Politically diverse editors write better articles; Reddit and Stack Overflow benefit from Wikipedia but don't give back
There might be good things about an edit war.

Arbitration report: Arbitration committee prepares to examine two new cases
Editor in self-imposed exile and infobox wars a thorn in the side of arbitration committee.

Traffic report: Addicted to sports and pain
The Superbowl, the Winter Olympics, death, and accusations of unspeakable things.

Featured content: Entertainment, sports and history
An eclectic mix of promotions.

Technology report: Paragraph-based edit conflict screen; broken thanks
And other recent tech news.

Humour: Impossible and unexplained traffic report
Stubs get a lot of pageviews.

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Signpost issue 4 – 29 March 2018

Op-ed: Death knell for The Signpost?
Is The Signpost on its last legs?

News and notes: Wiki Conference roundup and new appointments.
Wikimedia events, group recognition, and individual appointments are ongoing.

Arbitration report: Ironing out issues in infoboxes; not sure yet about New Jersey; and an administrator who probably wasn't uncivil to a sockpuppet.
Arbcom considers new discretionary sanctions for infoboxes and an extension of 1RR.

In the media: The media on Wikipedia's workings: the good and not-so-good
Diplomats join Wikipedia for International Women's Day, the perfect "Human", how fringe theories are sustained, and perennial plagiarism from our pages.

Traffic report: Real sports, real women and an imaginary country: what's on top for Wikipedia readers
Wakanda still fascinates; the Oscars happened; Winter Olympics come to a close; and International Women's Day gets over a million page views.

Featured content: Animals, Ships, and Songs
A plethora of content.

Technology report: Timeless skin review by Force Radical.
Reviewing a browser skin providing equal emphasis on both content and editing tools simultaneously.

Special report: ACTRIAL wrap-up.
Retrospective on article creation trial.

Humour: WikiWorld Reruns
Nostalgia and trips down Memory Lane.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:49, 29 March 2018 (UTC)

The Signpost: 26 April 2018

From the editors: The Signpost's presses roll again
Following Kudpung's op-ed "Death knell sounding for The Signpost?" in the 29 March issue, user comments encouraged a burst of enthusiasm to keep the newspaper in print.

Signpost: Future directions for The Signpost
How to revive and evolve The Signpost? Big blue-sky proposals and small concrete proposals from the community and from two regular Signpost contributors.

News and notes: Photo of Kim Jong-un. Stephen Hawking death tops hits on many Wikipedias.
Finally a free image Kim Jong-un. WMF wins legal battle. Stephen Hawking death tops all Wikipedia hits.

In the media: The rise of Wikipedia as a disinformation mop
Internet companies use Wikipedia to police truth; Citogenesis proven yet again; early birthday greetings; and trains

In focus: Admin reports board under criticism
A recent Community Health Initiative survey found only 27% of respondents are happy with the way reports of conflicts between Editors are handled on the Administrators' Incident Noticeboard (ANI).

Special report: ACTRIAL results adopted by landslide
New major editing policy starting immediately: creation of articles in mainspace is to be limited to users with confirmed accounts

Opinion: Guideline for Organization Notability revised
The standards have been raised for sources used in judging the notability of nonprofit and for-profit organizations.

Op-ed: World War II Myth-making and Wikipedia
Wikipedia's myth of the clean Wehrmacht and what you can do about it. Or, how not to be one of "the worst distributors of pro-Nazi perspectives and the Wehrmacht myth".

Community view: It's time we look past Women in Red to counter systemic bias
Can Wikipedia mobilize the same energy to fill other gaps in coverage?

Discussion report: The future of portals
What should we do about Portals? Keep them, delete them, or mark them as historical? Or should they be more closely connected with their WikiProject(s)?

Arbitration report: No new cases, and one motion on administrative misconduct
Quiet month for the Arbitration Committee

WikiProject report: WikiProject Military History
Combat, weapons, monuments and personalities.

Blog: Why the world reads Wikipedia
What we learned about reader motivation from a recent research study

Humour: Our Favorite Places to Whine About Stuff
You might not get all excersized about essays but they can be as fun as talk pages

Traffic report: A quiet place to wrestle with the articles of March
The most popular articles from March 25 to April 14.

Technology report: Coming soon: Books-to-PDF, interactive maps, rollback confirmation
Plus the latest tech news and userscripts.

Featured content: Featured content selected by the community
Material promoted from March 2 through April 20.

Gallery: A look at some famous and not as well-known border tripoints
Honoring a day in military history, as well as peaceful borders

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:51, 26 April 2018 (UTC)

The Signpost: 24 May 2018

From the editor: Another issue meets the deadline
A busy office with minimal staff.

Op-ed: Has the wind gone out of the AdminShip's sails?
Kudpung has some thoughts on the reasons for becalmed forums and the reluctance of candidates to (wo)man the rigging.

Opinion: Integrating my many lives on Wikipedia
Thoughts on how looking for the truth on Wikipedia brings out unexpected things in the real world.

WikiProject report: WikiProject Portals
After a recent Village Pump discussion, the Signpost looks at WikiProject Portals.

Discussion report: User rights, infoboxes, and more discussion on portals
A busy month for discussions on major topics.

Featured content: Featured content selected by the community
Science, sportspeople, video games, and history feature heavily in the community's picks this month.

Arbitration report: Managing difficult topics
Has an attempt to prevent historical revisionism become a content battleground?

News and notes: Lots of Wikimedia
De-recognition of Brazil user groups; brute-force attack on Wikipedia; Wikimedia Conference 2018; and assorted other silly things.

In the media: Wikipedia in Turkish politics; COI politics in Wikipedia; most cited work
And the burning question of the day, is the monkey selfie going to space with the rest of Wikipedia?

Traffic report: We love our superheroes
No surprises here as the summer movie season begins.

Technology report: A trove of contributor and developer goodies
Improved mobile app, searching, citations, inline maps, voting, and more.

Blog: Why I write about women on Wikipedia
Editor SusunW delves into reasons why she has created hundreds of articles about women.

Recent research: Why people don't contribute to Wikipedia; using Wikipedia to teach statistics, technical writing, and controversial issues
Too many women still don't know that Wikipedia is editable.

Humour: Play with your food
Down the rabbit hole into the realm of third-grade mind.

Gallery: Wine not?
May 25 is National Wine Day in the United States.

From the archives: The Signpost scoops The Signpost
The dark and twisted world of Wikipedia's most powerful media institution: The Signpost.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:18, 24 May 2018 (UTC)

The Signpost: 29 June 2018

From the editor: The Admin Ship is still barely afloat, while a Foundation project risks sinking
A Wiki not so Simple, a mayor motivating an editathon, a Marshall Plan, and a Wikimania under a cloud of criticism

Special report: NPR and AfC – The Marshall Plan: an engagement and a marriage?
Further developments on New Page Review and Articles for Creation work sharing

Op-ed: What do admins do?
Admins volunteer to be abused – or so it seems

Opinion: Google isn't responsible for Wikipedia's mistakes
So it shouldn't get credit for our work, either.

News and notes: Money, milestones, and Wikimania
Major grants announced, a new milestone for Afrikaans Wikipedia, a new WMF technical engagement team, an effort to start up a new library, two new admins – or maybe three fewer depending on your math.

In the media: Much wikilove from the Mayor of London, less from Paekākāriki or a certain candidate for U.S. Congress
Several online battles are juxtaposed with stories about cooperation and good deeds, Arbcom hovering over it all; notwithstanding, a good action movie script is not necessarily found here.

Discussion report: Deletion, page moves, and an update to the main page
Community discussions include style updates to project-wide icons and the main page, procedural questions on royal names and jettisoning unsuitable drafts, and deeper questions of compliance with European privacy laws and the perennial issue of shrinking admin corps.

Featured content: New promotions
Enjoy the superb content

Arbitration report: WWII, UK politics, and a user deCrat'ed
British politics case enters workshop phase and German war effort closes workshop, goes to Arbcom for proposals.

Traffic report: Endgame
Two celebrities hang themselves, and the FIFA World Cup is underway

Technology report: Improvements piled on more improvements
An AI assistant comes to watchlists; better mobile compatibility; new bots, tools and scripts; and more

Gallery: Wiki Loves Africa
Colorful and moving.

Blog: Wikipedia should be open for editors in Turkey
WMF appeals to Turkish Minister of Transport, Maritime, and Communications Ahmet Arslan to lift the block of all language versions of Wikipedia for over a year.

Recent research: How censorship can backfire and conversations can go awry
Studying ourselves: 'driven by a sense of mission' according to researchers.

Humour: Television plot lines
In our next episode...

Wikipedia essays: This month's pick by The Signpost editors
Some essays are funny, some are serious; some are just, well what exactly?

From the archives: Wolves nip at Wikipedia's heels: A perspective on the cost of paid editing
Revisiting an editor's warning to count our kidneys and keep the wolves at bay

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:29, 30 June 2018 (UTC)

The Signpost: 31 July 2018

From the editor: If only if
Ships and shoes – and if you don't like it here, just go away!

Op-ed: The last leg of the Admin Ship's current cruise
How admin would-bes run the gauntlet.

Opinion: Wrestling with Wikipedia reality
Wikipedia referees wag a finger at Professional Wrestling editors.

News and notes: Another newspaper for Wikipedia; Wikimania 2018 ends; changes at NPR
New admins and Kudpung finally leaves NPP after 7 years.

In the media: Blackouts in Europe; Wikipedia and capitalists; WMF Jet Set
One secret cabal that watches out for conspiracy theories, and another one out to stymie venture capitalists?

Discussion report: Wikipedias take action against EU copyright proposal, plus new user right proposals
And more: a new user group for editing code, Women in Red, and arbitrator articles.

Featured content: Wikipedia's best content in images and prose
Spanning the gamut from warfare and destruction to pop culture to celebrations of nature and humanity's achievements.

Arbitration report: Status quo processes retained in two disputes
We don't have "state agents" in a political debate, but couldn't talk about it if there were.

Traffic report: Soccer, football, call it what you like – that and summer movies leave room for little else
Finding the mathematician and Supreme Court nominee in this list is like playing Where's Waldo?.

Technology report: New bots, new prefs
Useful new gadgets.

Gallery: Independence days, national holidays, and football – all in July
Depictions of July events in several countries.

Blog: Motivation of two editors
Those who study ancient Egypt.

Recent research: Different Wikipedias use different images; editing contests more successful than edit-a-thons
And other recent findings, plus a roundup of research presentations at Wikimania.

Humour: It's all the same
Merge WikiProject Professional wrestling and ANI.

Essay: Wikipedia does not need you
Get over it!

From the archives: The pending changes fiasco: how an attempt to answer one question turned into a quagmire
They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:51, 31 July 2018 (UTC)

The Signpost: 30 August 2018

From the editor: Today's young adults don't know a world without Wikipedia
Keep straight on – there are trolls in the hedgerows.

Interview: 2018 Wikimedian of the Year, Farkhad Fatkullin
"Imagine a world in which every single human being is a Wikimedian. That's my commitment!"

News and notes: Flying high; low practice from Wikipedia 'cleansing' agency; where do our donations go? RfA sees a new trend
WMF pays possible Orangemoody ring for user research, and ditches MediaWiki for publishing its own blog. Knife-edge closures at RfA.

In the media: Quicksilver AI writes articles
But unfortunately its output is incompatible with open licensing.

Discussion report: Drafting an interface administrator policy
Plus: Simple English Wikipedia stays open, a discussion on draft header templates, bias blind spot by admins offered cash?

Featured content: Featured content selected by the community
Astronauts named Armstrong, babes of the Brits, Cortinarius caperatus and all that.

Special report: Wikimania 2018
"Bridging knowledge gaps, the ubuntu way forward".

Traffic report: Aretha dies – getting just 2,000 short of 5 million hits
Very high and very low hits; love and loss.

Technology report: Technical enhancements and a request to prioritize upcoming work
Citation bot and mapframe enhancements; new licenses for Data space; possible hiccup on 12 September; per-user page, namespace, and upload blocking; and miscellaneous new bots and tools.

Gallery: Leapfrog, historic Thai cave, and a rhythmic beat
Some of the best pictures of 2017.

Recent research: Wehrmacht on Wikipedia, neural networks writing biographies
Readers prefer the AI's version 40% of the time – but it still suffers from hallucinations.

Humour: Signpost editor censors herself
Nothing funny about it.

Essay: Principle of Some Astonishment
Remind you of any Wikipedia articles?

From the archives: Playing with Wikipedia words
The Wikipedia Plays.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:03, 30 August 2018 (UTC)

The Signpost: 1 October 2018

From the editor: Is this the new normal?
We keep on publishing as long as you keep on reading.

News and notes: European copyright law moves forward
Wikipedia dodges a bullet in Brussels... maybe.

In the media: Knowledge under fire
Can Wikipedians help save the world's knowledge and shine a light on current events?

Discussion report: Interface Admin policy proposal, part 2
Plus: signatures, shortcuts, and reliable sources.

Arbitration report: A quiet month for Arbcom
No valid new requests for arbitration, no new cases.

Traffic report: John McCain's death generates over 7 million hits, followed by historical low
Fourth highest view count of the year; lowest view count since 2014; death, sports, and movies ever constant.

Technology report: Paying attention to your mobile
Plus the latest scripts, bots, and tech news.

Gallery: A pat on the back
A pictorial ode to the end of summer.

Blog: After a catastrophic fire at the National Museum of Brazil, a drive to preserve what knowledge remains
As the global community of volunteer Wikimedia editors mourns the destruction of this amazing museum, this post pays tribute to all editors who have contributed restlessly to tell the story of the National Museum, our history.

Recent research: How talk page use has changed since 2005; censorship shocks lead to centralization; is vandalism caused by workplace boredom?
And other recent research papers.

Humour: Signpost Crossword Puzzle
What is a four-letter word for...

Essay: Expressing thanks
You know you should...

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:44, 1 October 2018 (UTC)

The Signpost: 28 October 2018

From the editors: The Signpost is still afloat, just barely
A slightly thinner issue, but out on time.

Op-ed: Wikipedia's Strickland affair
Is a missing article on a Nobel laureate a fail? What if her draft biography was declined as non-notable?

News and notes: WMF gets a million bucks
And it's richer than ever.

In the media: Bans, celebs, and bias
Breitbart begone; rescued by archivists; celebrating trolls?

Discussion report: Mediation Committee and proposed deletion reform
Plus: two pending changes-related discussions, notability, and naming conventions.

Traffic report: Unsurprisingly, sport leads the field – or the ring
Who's reading what?

Technology report: Bots galore!
Bots can do anything you want – well, almost.

Special report: NPP needs you
WMF continues to stonewall development; NPP wishes again relegated to stocking fillers.

Special report 2: Now Wikidata is six
SPARQL adds sparkle to WMF projects.

In focus: Alexa
We are all writing for Amazon.

Gallery: Out of this world!
No special effects here, just beautiful celestial images.

Recent research: Wikimedia Commons worth $28.9 billion
If it weren't free, of course.

Humour: Talk page humour
Wikipedia has a long history of talk page tomfoolery.

Opinion: Strickland incident
The reviewer who declined the article gives his perspective.

From the archives: The Gardner Interview
The "holy-shit" slide.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:10, 28 October 2018 (UTC)

The Signpost: 1 December 2018

From the editor: Time for a truce
Lay down your verbal weapons.

Op-ed: Looking back, looking forward: A beginner's experience on Wikipedia
The experiences of a new user on Wikipedia, told in their own words.

Special report: The Christmas wishlist
What do the WMF devs have in store for the community?

Opinion: The blogosphere migrates to Galaxy WMF
Suppose they gave a blog and nobody came?

News and notes: Reviewer of the year, WikiCup winner, and the 2019 Wikimedia Summit
Looking both backward and forward to events concerning the community.

Reflections: Wikipedia, history, and the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day
A personal reflection on Wikipedia's role as a repository of history.

In the media: Court-ordered article redaction, paid editing, and rock stars
Real-world news competes with the usual celeb fascination for Wikipedia's commentators.

Discussion report: Farewell, Mediation Committee
It was a good 15 years. Plus: admins, notability, substubs, and new padlocks.

Arbitration report: A long break ends
Arbcom takes its first new case since June.

Traffic report: Queen reigns for four weeks straight
The "Queen" of stage and screen, that is. Is there another?

Gallery: Intersections
Biology or technology? Form follows function in nature and the constructed world.

Recent research: Why do the most active Wikipedians burn out?; only 4% of students vandalize
And other new research results.

Essay: No one cares about your garage band
Nope, don't care!

Humour: The dark side of our favorite root vegetable
Wonky carrots invoke terror.

From the archives: Ars longa, vita brevis
ARS might continue, but some Wikipedians might not.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 04:47, 1 December 2018 (UTC)

The Signpost: 24 December 2018

From the editors: Where to draw the line in reporting?
Tell us what you think!

Op-ed: Wikipedia not trumped by Trump appointee
Did World Patent Marketing pay to get Wikipedia to include flattering information on their board member, now the Acting United States Attorney General?

Special report: The Signpost got 380,000+ views in 2018, sounds reasonable enough, right?
A statistical insight into the English Wikipedia's very own online community newsletter.

News and notes: Some wishes do come true
NPP wins the wish list poll; Wikipedia editors will be able to work better at night; new WMF appointments and new arbitrators; and who wants to be an admin?

In the media: Political hijinks
Wikipedia says 'ta' to British M.P. and 'buh-bye' to U.S. President's image vandals.

Discussion report: A new record low for RfA
Plus: reliable sources, notability, and fallout from the self-blocking software changes.

WikiProject report: Articlegenesis
Discovering how new and unregistered users make articles with the members of WikiProject Articles for Creation.

Arbitration report: Year ends with one active case
GiantSnowman asked to chill, and other disputes addressed by Arbcom (or not).

Traffic report: Queen dethroned by U.S. presidents
The band relinquishes its first place hold; Aquaman is swimming into view for late December.

Gallery: Sun and Moon, water and stone
Happy solstice, and happy New Year!

Blog: News from the WMF
In and around the WMF and its projects from the WMF's web site.

Humour: I believe in Bigfoot
Are you a believer?

Essay: Requests for medication
When the desire to continue to have the privilege of editing Wikipedia overrides the body's innate desire to choke the living shit out of some bastard who really has it coming.

From the archives: Compromised admin accounts – again
Compromised accounts – especially those of inactive admins.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:35, 24 December 2018 (UTC)

The Signpost: 31 January 2019

Op-ed: Random Rewards Rejected
Lab rats deflate research to be performed on the Wikipedia community.

In focus: The Collective Consciousness of Admin Userpages
Did you know that there was an admin who thought that the metaphor of the mop was a joke, and now they know it's not?

News and notes: WMF staff turntable continues to spin; Endowment gets more cash; RfA continues to be a pit of steely knives
Rude or just forgetful? Eight-year WMF manager has disappeared; Facebook gives a million bucks, gets no love.

In the media: The Signpost's investigative story recognized, Wikipedia turns 18 and gets a birthday gift from Google, and more editors are recognized
Heroes and unsung heroes: many good news stories about the work we are all doing together.

Discussion report: The future of the reference desk
Plus: plagiarism from Wikipedia, user categories, and admin activity requirements.

Featured content: Don't miss your great opportunity
Get yourself lost in 1730's Paris, and a wide range of other recently promoted content.

Arbitration report: An admin under the microscope
Snowman flames newbies? Or just oversensitive snowflakes?

Traffic report: Death, royals and superheroes: Avengers, Black Panther
The most popular articles of 2018 include a cornucopia of superheroes (Avengers: Infinity War)

Technology report: When broken is easily fixed
Emergency server switch goes smoothly; technical glitches resolved; a new way to transfer files to Commons.

Gallery: Let us build a memorial fit for such pain and suffering
A tour of some of the world's greatest memorials courtesy the Prime Minister of India.

News from the WMF: News from WMF
The world’s largest photo contest, a $1 million gift, Wikipedia’s birthday, WF appoints Valerie D'Costa.

Recent research: Ad revenue from reused Wikipedia articles; are Wikipedia researchers asking the right questions?
And other new research publications.

Essay: How
A narrative to get you oriented to how this place works, and to the key policies and guidelines.

Humour: Village pump
More talk pages you don't want to miss.

From the archives: An editorial board that includes you
Four years - and nothing changed?

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 06:50, 31 January 2019 (UTC)

The Signpost: 28 February 2019

From the editors: Help wanted (still)
This may be too wordy, verbose and loquacious – and possibly redundant – but as you know, it takes others to check our work, and if there were more people in the Newsroom, we'd be able to double check ourselves and produce a better product for our readership; if you think you are up to it, you are welcome to join us and even copyedit the Editor-in-Chief's article intros.

News and notes: Front-page issues for the community
Encyclopedias for Deletion; Corinne; scholarships; partial blocks; and administrators headcount.

In focus: Wikimedia affiliate organizations seek community participation in 2019 board election
This election will select 2 of 10 seats on the board. All Wikimedia users are stakeholders in the election outcome and should participate.

Discussion report: Talking about talk pages
This month's major discussions include a WMF talk page consultation and a proposed current events noticeboard.

Featured content: Conquest, War, Famine, Death, and more!
Horsemen of the apocalypse all represented in recently promoted content, alongside new life, pretty birds, great music, and other miscellaneous topics.

Arbitration report: A quiet month for Arbitration Committee
Snowed in, maybe.

Traffic report: Binge-watching
Netflix shows and TV sports dominate. A US politician breaks into the top 10.

Technology report: Tool labs casters-up
Tool labs goes kaput, bots running wild (not really), interface administrators step into the breach, new gadgets and other tech happenings.

Gallery: Signed with pride
A gallery of user signatures created by Wikipedians themselves.

Recent research: Research finds signs of cultural diversity and recreational habits of readers
When watchers want the whole truth, they wind up with the wiki! And Cultural Context Content comes out of a complete cartography.

Essay: Optimist's guide to Wikipedia
Assume good faith even if it kills you.

From the archives: New group aims to promote Wiki-Love
The creation of the Esperanza group.

Humour: Pesky Pronouns
Not feeling blurbish right now.

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The Signpost: 31 March 2019

From the editors: Getting serious about humor
.

News and notes: Blackouts fail to stop EU Copyright Directive
.

In the media: Women's history month
.

Discussion report: Portal debates continue, Prespa agreement aftermath, WMF seeks a rebranding
.

Featured content: Out of this world
.

Arbitration report: The Tides of March at ARBCOM
.

Traffic report: Exultations and tribulations
.

Technology report: New section suggestions and sitewide styles
.

News from the WMF: The WMF's take on the new EU Copyright Directive
.

Recent research: Barnstar-like awards increase new editor retention
.

From the archives: Esperanza organization disbanded after deletion discussion
.

Humour: The Epistolary of Arthur 37
.

Op-Ed: Pro and Con: Has gun violence been improperly excluded from gun articles?
.

In focus: The Wikipedia SourceWatch
.

Special report: Wiki Loves (50 Years of) Pride
.

Community view: Wikipedia's response to the New Zealand mosque shootings
.

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The Signpost: 30 April 2019

News and notes: An Action Packed April
New Administrators, April Fools, our competitors, and other associated updates

In the media: Is Wikipedia just another social media site?
Harassment, a black hole, the Mueller Report, and Mötley Crüe - just another social media site?

Discussion report: English Wikipedia community's conclusions on talk pages
Plus: another round of paid editing discussion.

Featured content: Anguish, accolades, animals, and art
April's admirable additions.

Arbitration report: An Active Arbitration Committee
Policies and procedures, cases and controversies, and other ArbCom updates

Traffic report: Mötley Crüe, Notre-Dame, a black hole, and Bonnie and Clyde
Round up the unusual suspects

Technology report: A new special page, and other news
Welcoming English Wikipedia's newest admin (bot)

Gallery: Notre-Dame de Paris burns
Photos and videos show the damage

News from the WMF: Can machine learning uncover Wikipedia’s missing “citation needed” tags?
Wikimedia Foundation data scientists are using machine learning to predict whether—and why—any given sentence on Wikipedia may need a citation in order to help editors identify areas of content violating the verifiability policy.

Recent research: Female scholars underrepresented; whitepaper on Wikidata and libraries; undo patterns reveal editor hierarchy
And other recent research results

From the archives: Portals revisited
"The future of portals", a year later

Humour: Jimbo and Larry walk into a bar ...
Some editors will do anything to get a laugh

Opinion: The gaps in our knowledge of our gaps
What we know we don't know, and why it might matter more than you might think

Interview: Katherine Maher marks 3 years as executive director
Maher discusses her tenure as ED, the editing community, harassment and diversity, the WMF's 3-5 year plan, airplane travel, books, and her future.

Community view: 2019 Wikimedia Summit gathers movement affiliate representatives to discuss movement strategy
An overview of Wikimedia Summit 2019, a working conference to discuss the Wikimedia 2030 Movement Strategy Process, preparing draft recommendations for Wikimania 2019 in August.

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The Signpost: 31 May 2019

From the editors: Picture that
The North Face sneaks in advertisements, apologizes after being caught

News and notes: Wikimania and trustee elections
Get ready to go to Wikimania in Stockholm where you might meet two new trustees

In the media: Politics, lawsuits and baseball
Wikipedia finds itself up against China, Pennsylvania politicians and the Detroit Tigers

Discussion report: Admin abuse leads to mass-desysop proposal on Azerbaijani Wikipedia
Neutrality and copyright concerns lead and part 2 of the talk pages consultation.

Arbitration report: ArbCom forges ahead
Resignations, new cases, administrator security, and more

Traffic report: Dark marvels, thrones, a vile serial killer biopic, that's entertainment!
Who will be next to fill the throne at the top of the list?

Technology report: Lots of Bots
Admin bots, approved bots, bots on trial, lots and lots of bots

News from the WMF: Wikimedia Foundation petitions the European Court of Human Rights to lift the block of Wikipedia in Turkey
The WMF keeps working to stop Turkey from blocking Wikipedia.

Recent research: Wikipedia more useful than academic journals, but is it stealing the news?
And other new research publications

Essay: Paid editing
We've been talking about paid editing forever

From the archives: FORUM:Should Wikimedia modify its terms of use to require disclosure?
A debate from 5 years ago on whether we use to prohibit undisclosed paid editing

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The June 2019 Signpost is out!

Discussion report: A constitutional crisis hits English Wikipedia
Could this be a new relationship between the Foundation and ArbCom, and between the Foundation and enwiki?

News and notes: Mysterious ban, admin resignations, Wikimedia Thailand rising
Many administrators resign related to Fram case; Wikimedia Thailand to host Wikimania 2020.

In the media: The disinformation age
Or is it the information error?

On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?
A selection of good news and encouraging stories that are from the Wikiverse.

Traffic report: Juneteenth, Beauty Revealed, and more nuclear disasters
Readers look for info on what they watch, mostly Chernobyl.

Technology report: Actors and Bots
Database changes, new scripts, Tech News, and more.

Gallery: Unlike the North Face, Wiki Loves Earth
Wikimedia photographers surge to contribute to the Wiki Loves Earth campaign even while rogue clothing company The North Face replaces wiki illustrations with advertisements.

Special report: Did Fram harass other editors?
(DELETED ARTICLE)

Recent research: What do editors do after being blocked?; the top mathematicians, universities and cancers according to Wikipedia
And other recent research publications.

From the archives: Women and Wikipedia: the world is watching
"If you don't clean up this mess, the adults are going to come and take your toys away from you."

Opinion: Why the Terms of Use change didn't curtail undisclosed paid editing—and what might
To reduce the incentives driving undisclosed paid editing, Wikipedia could simplify the process and meet outsiders halfway.

In focus: WikiJournals: A sister project proposal
Academic peer review meets Wikimedia.

Community view: A CEO biography, paid for with taxes
How an Irish state-level paid editor tried to turn me into the villain.

Op-Ed: 2019 Wikimedia Affiliate Selected Board Seats Election Results
Wikimedia community organizations elect two members for the Wikimedia Foundation board of trustees.

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The Signpost: 31 July 2019

News and notes: Wikimedia grants less accessible for travel, equipment, meetups, and India
WMF grants program changes position on funding random individuals globally and 100 crore people in one region

In the media: Politics starts getting rough
Are we ready for the sharp elbows?

Discussion report: New proposals in aftermath of Fram ban
Resysop requests on the ’crat board prove controversial; plus, aftermath of Framgate.

Arbitration report: A month of reintegration
Arbitration begins setting new boundaries after the June blow-up

Gallery: Classic panoramas from Heinrich Berann
It looks nice and cool up in those mountains

On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?
A selection of good news and encouraging stories that are from the Wikiverse.

Community view: Video based summaries of Wikipedia articles. How and why?
It's easy, education saves lives.

News from the WMF: Designing ethically with AI: How Wikimedia can harness machine learning in a responsible and human-centered way
Or, how to avoid Artificial Ignorance

Recent research: Most influential medical journals; detecting pages to protect
And other new research publications

Special report: Administrator cadre continues to contract
A new record set: fewer than 500 active admins.

Traffic report: World cups, presidential candidates, and stranger things
and don't forget the movies

In focus: The French Wikipedia is overtaking the German
Who is growing? Who is not?

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The Signpost: 30 August 2019

News and notes: Documenting Wikimania and our beginnings
The oldest surviving Wikipedia edit restored to article history, Wikimania, and the mystery of a disappearing Funds Dissemination Committee.

In focus: Ryan Merkley joins WMF as Chief of Staff
Working with leadership and the community, taking on both operational and strategic responsibilities

In the media: Many layers of fake news: Fake fiction and fake news vandalism
And the media report it all

Discussion report: Meta proposals on partial bans and IP users
Can we survive without IP addresses?

Traffic report: Once upon a time in Greenland with Boris and cornflakes
And some summer flicks with the usual heroes and villains

Op-Ed: We couldn't have told you this, but Wikipedia was censored
Should we break the law or publish the truth?

Opinion: The Curious Case of Croatian Wikipedia
Or how to make a concentration camp disappear?

Community view: Chinese Wikipedia and the battle against extradition from Hong Kong
From streets to Wikipedia - What are editors from Hong Kong facing?

News from the WMF: Meet Emna Mizouni, the newly minted 2019 Wikimedian of the Year
Emna Mizouni was named the 2019 Wikimedian of the Year.

Recent research: Special issue on gender gap and gender bias research
A roundup of many recent publications examining Wikpedia's gender gaps in participation and content, and their possible reasons

On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?
A selection of good news and encouraging stories that are from the Wikiverse

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:41, 30 August 2019 (UTC)

The Signpost: 30 September 2019

From the editors: Where do we go from here?
Our constitutional crisis may continue

Special report: Post-Framgate wrapup
Summary of actions around a formerly banned former administrator: Arbitration Committee action and withdrawn request for adminship

In the media: A net loss: Wikipedia attacked, closing off Russia? welcoming back Turkey?
The internet may not be as stable as it seems

Traffic report: Varied and intriguing entries, less Luck, and some retreads
Luck, Serena, Bianca, 9/11, bad films, mass murderers and other good stuff

News from the WMF: How the Wikimedia Foundation is making efforts to go green
Wikipedia's footprint is equivalent to 251 average US homes’ energy use. Yes we can go green.

Recent research: Wikipedia's role in assessing credibility of news sources; using wikis against procrastination; OpenSym 2019 report
And other recent research publications

Gallery: Finding freely licensed photo collections
Wikimedia Commons is not the only place to find freely licensed photos

On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?
A selection of good news and encouraging stories that are from the Wikiverse

In focus: Wikidata & Wikibase for national libraries: the inaugural meeting
National libraries are planning to leverage Wikidata to interoperate and to bring information to the public

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The Signpost: 31 October 2019

In the media: How to use or abuse Wikipedia for fun or profit
Sweden, Poland, Armenia, Russia, the Vatican, and clueless English pubs.

Special report: “Catch and Kill” on Wikipedia: Paid editing and the suppression of material on alleged sexual abuse
"It's time for Wikipedia to grow up."

In focus: The BBC looks at Chinese government editing
But they aren't entirely sure they see it

Interview: Carl Miller on Wikipedia Wars
A discussion on info wars, government editing and our defences.

Community view: Observations from the mainland
A different point of view

Arbitration report: October actions
An "unblockable" is blocked; a former arb resigns.

Traffic report: Wrestling with a couple of teenagers, a Nobelist, and a lot of jokers
Plus a few celebrities.

Gallery: Wiki Loves Broadcast
The future of public broadcasting has arrived.

Recent research: Research at Wikimania 2019: More communication doesn't make editors more productive; Tor users doing good work; harmful content rare on English Wikipedia
And other new research publications

Essay: Wikipedia is in the real world
Editing can have serious consequences.

News from the WMF: Welcome to Wikipedia! Here's what we're doing to help you stick around
Twenty questions to get you started.

On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?
A selection of good news and encouraging stories from the Wikiverse.

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The Signpost: 29 November 2019

From the editor: Put on your birthday best
"We get by with a little help from our friends"

News and notes: How soon for the next million articles?
And when will we get the second extraterrestrial edit?

In the media: You say you want a revolution
Everybody wants to change Wikipedia.

On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?
A selection of good news and encouraging stories from the Wikiverse.

Arbitration report: Two requests for arbitration cases
Important or imprudent? Pondering portals. And an editor gets transported off-wiki for good.

Traffic report: The queen and the princess meet the king and the joker
Could this be the end of the Terminator?

Technology report: Reference things, sister things, stranger things
The latest tech news and updates.

Gallery: Winter and holidays
Some interesting and unusual winter and holiday images.

Recent research: Bot census; discussions differ on Spanish and English Wikipedia; how nature's seasons affect pageviews
And other new research publications.

Essay: Adminitis
Some humor about the otherwise serious subject of burnout.

From the archives: WikiProject Spam, revisited
Veteran editor: Wikipedia is losing existential battle against spam.

In focus: An update on the Wikimedia Movement 2030 Strategy
Coming to the end of a long road formulating the strategy.

Special report: How many people edit in your favorite language? Where are they from?
Only now can we say!

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The Signpost: 27 December 2019

From the editors: Caught with their hands in the cookie jar, again
You can buy "cleaners" but you might not come away clean.

News and notes: What's up (and down) with administrators, articles and languages
Active administrators and articles achieved are marking milestone metrics, but in diverging directions. Plus, the first time any court has found there exists a constitutional right to read Wikipedia.

Special report: Are reputation management operatives scrubbing Wikipedia articles?
Son of Wiki-PR.

In the media: "The fulfillment of the dream of humanity" or a nightmare of PR whitewashing on behalf of one-percenters?
Praise for possibly pansophic Wikipedia from a Nobel laureate collides head-on with real-world events in December.

Discussion report: December discussions around the wiki
Regarding integrity of information presented by Wikipedia, as well as the processes and people who ensure it remains trustworthy.

Arbitration report: Announcement of 2020 Arbitration Committee
ArbCom election results and status of open and requested cases.

Traffic report: Queens and aliens, exactly alike, once upon a December
We may have scrambled the headlines a bit.

Technology report: User scripts and more
Customise your Wikipedia experience

Gallery: Holiday wishes
Messages of holiday cheer from us to you.

Recent research: Acoustics and Wikipedia; Wiki Workshop 2019 summary
16 recent papers, and other research news

From the archives: The 2002 Spanish fork and ads revisited (re-revisited?)
A look at different approaches taken by Wikipedia's founders in 2002, as seen from the perspective of nine years when it was written; nearly twenty years ago now.

On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?
A selection of good news and encouraging stories from the Wikiverse.

Op-Ed: Why we need to keep talking about Wikipedia's gender gap
There's still a long way to go.

WikiProject report: Wikiproject Tree of Life: A Wikiproject report
Eight years after our last interview, WikiProject Tree of Life continues to thrive.

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The Signpost: 27 January 2020

From the editor: Reaching six million articles is great, but we need a moratorium
How long can we ignore Wiki-PR?

News and notes: Six million articles on the English language Wikipedia
You ain't seen nothing yet.

Special report: The limits of volunteerism and the gatekeepers of Team Encarta
How to survive the asshole consensus.

In the media: Turkey's back up, but what's happening with Dot-org and a new visual identity?
Plus politics and other oddities.

Arbitration report: Three cases at ArbCom
The new arbs have a big load.

Traffic report: The most viewed articles of 2019
As only The Signpost can describe them.

Gallery: Wiki Loves Monuments 2019, we're all winners
The top 15 international photos.

News from the WMF: Capacity Building: Top 5 Themes from Community Conversations
Growing our community and our abilities.

Community view: Our most important new article since November 1, 2015
Well, it's a bit subjective.

In focus: Cryptos and bitcoins and blockchains, oh no!
Everybody needs to make a buck somehow — just not here, thanks.

Recent research: How useful is Wikipedia for novice programmers trying to learn computing concepts?
And other new research publications.

From the archives: A decade of The Signpost, 2005-2015
The first 10 years are the hardest.

On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?
A selection of good news and encouraging stories from the Wikiverse.

WikiProject report: WikiProject Japan: a wikiProject Report
An interview with four members of the WikiProject Japan.

Humour: Predicting the 6,000,000th article
I may fall in love all over again!

Obituary: Remembering Wikipedia contributor Brian Boulton
A mentor to us all

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The Signpost: 1 March 2020

From the editor: The ball is in your court
How to stop abusive commercial editing.

News and notes: Alexa ranking down to 13th worldwide
Falling behind Chinese websites.

Special report: More participation, more conversation, more pageviews
A statistical insight into the English Wikipedia's very own online community newsletter.

In the media: Mapping IP editors, Smithsonian open-access, and coronavirus disinformation
We're all over the map this month.

Discussion report: Do you prefer M or P?
Wikimedia or Wikipedia?

Arbitration report: Two prominent administrators removed
Arbitration Committee and the "blue wall of silence".

By the numbers: How many actions by administrators does it take to clean up spam?
Numbers for vandalism and sockpuppeting included at no additional charge!

Community view: The Incredible Invisible Woman
No more "Hidden Figures", let's work to make women visible on Wikipedia!

In focus: History of The Signpost, 2015–2019
Covering Wikipedia for another five years!

Recent research: Wikipedia generates $50 billion/year consumer surplus in the US alone
And other new research results

From the archives: Is Wikipedia for sale?
How long has Wikipedia been for sale? When will it stop?

Traffic report: February articles, floating in the dark
Kobe sets another record.

Gallery: Feel the love
Renewing our vows.

On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?
A selection of good news and encouraging stories from the Wikiverse.

Op-Ed: What I learned as Wikimedia UK Communications Coordinator
Getting across the Wikipedia experience to the press.

Opinion: Wikipedia is another country
Or: how to best bite a newbie.

Humour: The Wilhelm scream
WikiWorld is back.

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The Signpost: 29 March 2020

Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2020-03-29

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The Signpost: 26 April 2020

Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2020-04-26

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