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.org
Year: 2006 Week: 46 Number: 50
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An independent internal news bulletin
for the members of the Wikimedia community
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=== Headline news ===
[GCF] - The Great Chinese Firewall does not block the Chinese language Wikipedia
anymore. Recently the block was partially lifted so that there was again access
to the English language Wikipedia. But now there are strong signs that the
block of the zh.wikipedia is (totally?) lifted.
According to a blog posting it was written in "Fortune magazine" that Shi Zao
had stated that the block is lifted because "a well-connected friend wrote a
letter to the Propaganda Department a week before Wikipedia became unblocked"
and that "The Government is now convinced that Wikipedia is neutral".
Whatever the reason of the lift the number of newly created user accounts on the
Chinese Wikipedia has tripled and the number of new articles has increased with
75%.
http://tinyurl.com/yfwyal
http://www.andrewlih.com/blog/2006/11/10/chinese-wikipedia-now-fully-unblocā¦
http://www.andrewlih.com/blog/2006/11/13/chinese-wikipedias-surge-in-growth/
=== Technical news ===
[Backdoor closed] - Blocking a user now blocks the last IP address they used
immediately if you check the default option (which was renamed in this patch)
to "Automatically block the last IP address used by this user, and any
subsequent addresses they try to edit from". Previously the IP address was only
blocked when they attempted to edit a page. The patch also makes CheckUser run
much faster.
http://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=5149
[Search wiki] - Newly created articles can now be found a lot faster when using
the wiki search function. A new server now works full-time updating the search
index, so all wikis should be re-indexed every 30 hours. Updating the index was
previously problematic; it could take many weeks before new articles could be
found.
Administrators might want to add a notice to [[MediaWiki:Searchresulttext]] to
inform users that it can take 30-48 hours before new pages can be found with
the search function.
[BCC] - When you send an email using the "Email this user" function, you now
have the option of sending a copy of that message to yourself. The privacy is
guaranteed; you and the target user will not see each other's email addresses.
If you respond to an email you receive from the wiki though, your email address
will be visible as normal since the email was not sent through the wiki. The
option is a checkbox at the bottom of the Special:Emailuser page, not a new
option in your Preferences. If you send an email to yourself to test it you
only get one email. To localize, translate [[MediaWiki:Emailccme]] and
[[MediaWiki:Emailccsubject]].
[More email] - The email notification feature is now enabled on Commons. This
optional feature sends an email to users to notify them of edits to their talk
page or to pages on their watchlist.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Preferences
[Search-l] - There is now an internal search function for the mailing list
archives on the index pages. The search index should be updated every 24 hours.
Indexing of the archives by external search engines is now forbidden, but since
several lists are mirrored elsewhere (such as
gmane.org or
nabble.com) that
will not make much difference for people who do not like their name to show up
when "Googling" for their name.
http://mail.wikimedia.org/
[#wikimedia-admin] - A new IRC channel for Wikimedia sysops to discuss and
coordinate administration. Access to the sysops-only channel is by invitation
only. See the posting by [[meta:User:Pathoschild]]. This channel can now be
accessed through Wikizine's IRC service.
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/11643/focus=11643
=== New project proposals ===
[Lookup directory wiki] - The Lookup directory wiki is a new idea which would
allow anyone to create professional, unbiased articles about any person or
group of persons in the world. This differs from Wikipedia, which only accepts
articles on famous or notable individuals or groups. First responses on
Foundation-l about this idea are very negative.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Lookup_directory_wiki
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/11544/focus=11544
=== Foundation ===
[Board] - Anthere (Foundation chair) has provided more information in a long
post to the Foundation mailing list about the proposed Board reorganisation,
the board retreat outcome, and the Foundation and chapters.
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/11632/focus=11632
[Stewards] - a new steward election will be held soon. The most likely date for
the election to start is 25th of November. This date can still change. Like it
is now all existing stewards will need to reapply if they wish to remain
steward. The rules of this procedure are still under discussion. All existing
and interested users for the function of steward can best apply as soon as
possible.
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/11654/focus=11654
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewards/elections_2006-2
[WMF-Resolutions] - Several new resolutions including; creation of a workgroup
to take beter care of the WMF internet domains and a summary of actions and
outcomes the Board has committed itself to after the 2006 Board retreat in
Frankfurt am Main.
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolutions#November_2006
[$] - reported in the previous edition of Wikizine "The WMF received by means of
PayPal $42,025 US dollars in the month of October. That is the highest amount
ever when there is no fundraiser." $10,000 of that amount came from the W. Glen
Boyd Charitable Foundation. Sadly, $220,30 were lost in PayPal fees. People
from the European Union who want to donate can use the Belgian Foundation
account instead of PayPal. When this way is used the Foundation will receive
100% of the donated money.
http://www.wgbcf.org/
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Fundraising
=== Community ===
[EN.wikisource] - Dannyisme reports recent changes to the English Wikisource and
invites users to participate.
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/11543/focus=11543
[EN.Wikibooks] - the Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme, an
initiative of the United Nations Development Programme, has released 15 books
to the English-language Wikibooks.
http://www.apdip.net/news/wikibooks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia-Pacific_Development_Information_Programme
=== Media ===
[Interview] with Jason Calacanis about advertising on Wikipedia - time index
13:53
http://wikipediaweekly.com/podpress_trac/web/13/2/Episode%204%20-%20Advertiā¦
[The can do it] - If the really want it is possible for the external media to
report correctly about Wikipedia, even if it the need to put up an correction.
http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/350
[Wikinews] gets cited by (real) press. If it is not the first time is definitely
still very rare.
http://deepquote.net/m3m5l8t9qbns
=== Stats ===
[zh.wp] The Chinese Wikipedia has reached 100,000 articles.
http://zh.wikipedia.org
[Smaller wp] - The Cree Wikipedia has reached 100 articles. Cree is a very small
Native American language. And the Basque Wikipedia has reached 15,000 articles.
Also a small language, but from Spain and France.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cree_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_language
[+11%] - according to ComScore "Wikipedia sites" has grown in traffic with by
11% in October compared with September.
http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1063
=== Editorial ===
Wikizine made it to number 50! Exactly one year ago number 0 was sent out, the
last experimental edition before the official launch of Wikizine. Wikizine has
grown slowly but steadily since then, though the format has not changed
significantly. Since the end of June, this ezine is also been available in the
form of a blog and as an RSS/Atom feed. These new ways to read Wikizine have
helped increase the readership. Where edition 0 was sent out to 55 readers, the
ezine today has a total weekly reach of at least 900 people.
A new small improvement; on the blog there is now a working search box, so you
can quickly find something that previously appeared in Wikizine.
For the next year there are no plans to change anything important on Wikizine.
The ezine and the blog will remain ad-free, but we are looking for other ways
to pay for Wikizine's expenses. Several people have very recently joined the
volunteer staff, especially for proofreading, so improvement in that regard is
to be expected.
Unfortunately, news submissions by readers about the different projects and
languages remain very rare. This is in most cases the only way for Wikizine to
know what is going on in most of the hundreds of wikis in the Foundation
community. The result is an over-representation of news from English-language
projects. As Wikizine reaches more people and becomes better-known, a slight
improvement is to expected for the next year.
Thanks for reading Wikizine,
Walter Vermeir (Editor-in-chief)
http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/announce-l/2005-November/000013.html -
Wikizine issue 0
http://en.wikizine.org - Wikizine blog version
=== Other news ===
[ValueWiki] - People who love the stock exchange might be interested in the
ValueWiki project. This wiki, which is not run by the Wikimedia Foundation,
attempts to centralize all stock-related information for United States
companies. Currently the wiki has very little content, but it is good content.
Extra functions are being added like a web-based chat system and user voting
for every single article.
http://www.valuewiki.com/
=== Did you know ... ===
... that you can override the AntiSpoof-function for username creation?
On the wikis is there a check when you want to created a new account of the
proposed username is not to similar to an existing account. For example if
there is already a user "Juul" and try to make a user "Juu1" (use of
the number
one) it will not be allowed by the software. But if you are a sysop you do can
make such an account. Make sure you are logged in and make the new account
(link on special pages). If you use the button beside the button create new
account labeled "by email" and you have provided an emailadres you can cleanly
created an account for someone else.
=== Quote ===
"Information is freedom"
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Number of subscribers: 545
Unique Visitors website this week: 338
Editor(s): Walter, Gary Kirk
Corrector(s): Gary Kirk, Pathoschild
Thanks to: Andrew Lih
E-mail: ihavenews AT wikizine DOT org
//////////////////////////////////////////
Wikizine.org makes no guarantee of accuracy,
validity and especially but not limited to,
correct grammar and spelling.
Wikizine.org is not a publication of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Content is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Publisher:[[meta:user:Walter]]