Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Archives/2015-03-04

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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