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Volume 2, Issue 42 16 October 2006 About the Signpost
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Wikipedia partially unblocked in mainland China $100 million copyright fund stems discussion
Floyd Landis adopts "the Wikipedia defense" as appeal strategy News and notes: Logo votes begin, milestones
In the news Features and admins
The Report on Lengthy Litigation
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Wikipedia partially unblocked in mainland China

By Michael Snow, 16 October 2006

For the first time in nearly a year, users in mainland People's Republic of China can read much of Wikipedia's content without resorting to various circumvention techniques. Internet regulators last week partially lifted the blocking of Wikipedia. However, as Andrew Lih commented, "the most important part of Wikipedia for PRC users - the Chinese version - is still not generally accessible."

The lifting of the block was reported Tuesday, 10 October, on the Wikimedia Foundation mailing list by Mountain and Shi Zhao, two prominent contributors to the Chinese-language Wikipedia. They indicated that the English Wikipedia and most others could now be accessed, but the Chinese Wikipedia remained blocked.

Although not the first time Wikipedia has been blocked in the mainland of China, this has easily been the longest. The current round of blocking began on 18 October or 19 October 2005, meaning that the Chinese Wikipedia will have been blocked for a full year as of later this week. Two previous blocks in 2004 lasted for only a few days or weeks.

Media reaction

The new development was soon noticed by the outside media, although not always without some confusion about the facts. Editor & Publisher published a story on 11 October about the unblocking, relying in part on the article Blocking of Wikipedia in mainland China. It seemed to treat an edit by an unregistered user as if it were an official Wikipedia statement on the matter.

Reporters Without Borders, in its statement about the lifting of the block, said, "We congratulate those in charge of Wikipedia, especially Jimmy Wales, who could have chosen to censor their own site to get official blessing. Instead they stuck to their principles and spurned self-censorship." Alluding to internet companies that have been more accommodating to the PRC government in restricting access, the organisation called Wikipedia an example for them to follow.

The New York Times came out with a more carefully reported article about the story on 16 October. The article included a quote from Jimmy Wales that, "We are pleased to see the change, but would like to see the Chinese version unblocked, too".

Mixed access results

Andrew Lih, who is based in Beijing and currently working on a book about Wikipedia, collected reports from various people about what they could and could not access. While there were some reports of being able to access at least part of the Chinese Wikipedia, he concluded that the majority of users probably could not. Reporters Without Borders said it had confirmed this in its tests as well. Lih updated his results on 16 October with a chart showing the accessibility of the English and Chinese versions, respectively, from a number of different locations.

In addition, the PRC has resumed filtering a variety of topics that are generally censored on all websites, such as the Falun Gong movement. Some relatively sensitive subjects could be accessed without resulting in a block, however, at least on the English Wikipedia.

The action reportedly came as the so-called "Great Firewall" was going through an upgrade. It's not known whether this had any connection to the partial lifting of the block. As in the past, no official explanations were available, so it is difficult to know the reasons for the change or whether this is merely a temporary reprieve.


$100 million copyright fund provokes discussion

By Ral315, 16 October 2006

In a mailing list post on Sunday, Jimbo Wales discussed a possible scenario—what copyrighted works would the Wikipedia community want purchased and released under a free license, with a budget of US$100 million? Wales indicated that an anonymous donor might be willing to purchase a number of works and freely license them.

Suggestions poured in about what the money could be used for. Some users suggested that the money be used to try and reduce copyright terms, but Wales noted that the money was not for general use, and would be handled by an outside party, not the Wikimedia Foundation. Other suggestions included a variety of images, books, textbooks, encyclopedias, fonts, newspapers, and other sources.

No specific information is available on the source of such a fund, or on a timetable for the fund's development. Wales did note that he wished for the fund to be sustainable, and was open to suggestions on how to ensure this.

Replaceable fair use

In a marginally related area, fair use images, where a free image could easily be generated to replace them, can now be deleted after a template indicating its status stays on the image for seven days. Previously, such images were marked as replaceable, but weren't as easily deletable unless a free alternative was added.


Floyd Landis adopts "the Wikipedia defense" as appeal strategy

By Michael Snow, 16 October 2006

Cyclist Floyd Landis, who finished first in the 2006 Tour de France but is fighting a positive doping test that would strip him of the title, is now pushing his case on the Internet. Facing an appeal before the United States Anti-Doping Agency next year, Landis dubbed this approach "the Wikipedia defense".

Landis announced on October 12, 2006 that he had published a number of documents in the case "to support his innocence in the alleged positive doping test". These included his attorney's motion for dismissal, a document package containing test information, and a PowerPoint presentation criticizing the test. This action earned considerable but sometimes skeptical media coverage in the ongoing saga over the disputed race.

Landis did not set up an actual wiki, but attempted to draw on the collective resources of cycling fans, using the internet to allow widely distributed review of evidence in his case. He succeeded in getting the community to establish its own wiki independent of him personally, based largely on the Daily Peloton Forum discussions noted below. The topic had already drawn intense interest in a variety of places, including Landis's Wikipedia entry, which has figured as something of a battleground. The release serves as both a public relations strategy and a way to potentially strengthen his appeal. As Landis put it, "Why turn down free brainpower?"

In anticipation of the release of these documents, Landis had been personally posting on the forums at the Daily Peloton cycling website. He is largely out of action while rehabilitating from hip resurfacing surgery performed in September. As the documents were about to be released, Landis said, "I am sure you guys will find every mistake, even things we haven't noticed."

In forum discussions, Landis agreed with sympathetic posters who pointed to this as a "wisdom of crowds" approach, while asking others not to judge him based on incomplete information from media reports. He encouraged people to look at all of the evidence, saying, "We'll call it the Wikipedia defense, and I would have given everything to you sooner but had a very hard time selling the idea to the lawyers." At the same time, he said that not all of his arguments against the test had been revealed: "We are not going to compromise our defense by telling all of it."


News and notes

By Flcelloguy, October 16, 2006

Logo votes begin

The fourth and final phase in the search for new logos for Wikibooks, Wikiversity, and Wiktionary began this week. The previous phase had identified the best variant of proposed logos, and a vote will now take place to determine the new logo for each of the three projects. This is the third vote in the process of designing and choosing new logos, and the votes will last until October 31.

Milestones

This week, the Telugu Wikipedia reached 21,000 articles, becoming the first language of the Indian subcontinent to surpass 20,000 articles. Telugu is one of 23 national languages of India with approximately 80 million total speakers. In addition, according to Alexa Internet, Wikipedia reached 60 million unique visitors in one day for the first time ever. Wikipedia now routinely ranks among the top 15 websites in the world by the number of page hits.

Briefly


Wikipedia in the news

By Trödel, October 16, 2006

Use of Wikipedia free image content

The NOAA, the BBC and the online news site PhysOrg.com have made use of images created by Wikipedians and released under GFDL, CC, or public domain licenses.

Stanford newspaper doesn't want to be deleted

A recent effort to discuss deletion of a number of anonymously created articles upset the editors at The Stanford Review. The editorial discusses the deletion process and the efforts users put into what it calls "seemingly useless task," but credits Wikipedians with "often remarkably good" claims and correctly identifying opponents as having a self-interest in deletion.

Australian literature articles

An article by Jenny Sinclair (who has edited as User:Jenny Sinclair) in The Australian uses the lack of articles on notable Australian writers to explain how Wikipedia works, the nature of Wikipedia's "patchy, arbitrary" coverage, and the impact Wikipedia is having on the internet generation. After discussing the reasons Wikipedia has become a must use resource, Sinclair urges Australians to improve the Wikipedia articles on literature and signs off the article intending to "create that listing for Jessica Anderson."

Filipino coverage

The Philippine News implores readers to Try Wikipedia. After discussing the coverage of Filipino articles, the article discusses the "anyone can edit" policy, and the process of correcting questionable information. The author acknowledges being "involved in the act" of "debating whether or not certain points should be included or removed."

Al-Jazeerah

In an opinion piece, The French Definition Of a 'Genocide', PART TWO: Algerian Genocides, the Al-Jazeerah Information Center references the Wikipedia article on Accusations of French genocide against Algerians to provide background information about the conflict.

Other items


Features and admins

By Ral315, 16 October 2006

Features and admins

Four users were granted admin status via the Requests for Adminship process this week: StuffOfInterest (nom), Yomangani (nom), ChrisGriswold (nom), and Crzrussian (nom), who was resysopped with 85% support after voluntarily resigning his adminship on August 9 in the wake of controversy.

A notable failed request was TawkerbotTorA (nom), a bot that would have blocked Tor exit nodes, allowing existing accounts to edit from the anonymity network but blocking IP edits, and preventing new account creation from the network. The bot would have made blocks from a published list of nodes, unblocking the nodes when taken off the network. The intent of the system was to reduce vandalism performed from the Tor network while still allowing legitimate users to edit pseudo-anonymously. Jimbo Wales reportedly supported the request, though he did not weigh in on the page. The request received 65% support, judged by bureaucrats as no consensus.

Featured content

Twelve articles were promoted to featured status last week: Battle of Schellenberg (nom), Frank Macfarlane Burnet (nom), Jake Gyllenhaal (nom), 0.999... (nom), Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (nom), Final Fantasy IV (nom), Redshift (nom), 2004 Atlantic hurricane season (nom), Star (nom), Demosthenes (nom), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (nom), and Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (nom).

Five articles were de-featured last week: Bishōjo game, A Day in the Life, BZFlag, War elephant, and Telephone exchange.

No portals reached featured status last week.

Three lists were featured last week: List of inhabited islands of Croatia, List of calypso-like genres, and List of DanceSport dances. List of DanceSport dances becomes the 150th featured list, excluding former featured lists.

The following featured articles were displayed last week on the Main Page as Today's featured article: Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Enzyme, FA Premier League, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Photon, and Banff National Park.

The following featured pictures were displayed last week on the Main Page as picture of the day: Aloe aristata, Willow flowers, Tower Bridge, Amur Tiger, Plasma lamp, Martian sunset, and American Bison.

Six pictures were featured last week:

Vibrissae

PCNA

Roman Baths

Riffle shuffle

Villarceau circles

Pi



The Report On Lengthy Litigation

By David Mestel and Ral315, 16 October 2006

The Arbitration Committee opened three cases this week, and closed two.

Closed cases

  • Ed Poor 2: A case involving Ed Poor. Having been found to have perpetrated disruption to make a point, POV forking and problematic editing, Ed Poor was placed on probation. Previous arbitration cases (1, 2) resulted in Ed Poor's loss of bureaucrat and administrator status.
  • Deir Yassin massacre: A case involving the actions of KimvdLinde and Guy Montag on Deir Yassin massacre. Guy Montag was found to have committed copyright violations, used original research and violated the terms of his probation. As a result, he was Perma-banned from articles relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and his probation was extended to a year from the closing of the case (October 15, 2007).

New cases

  • GreekWarrior: GreekWarrior, an admitted Greek nationalist extremist, received a community ban for "repeated, blatant ethnic insults and hate speech", but, owing to what Tony Sidaway described as his "great willingness to contribute", has asked that it be lifted or restricted to a finite period.

Evidence phase

  • Jean-Thierry Boisseau: A case involving the actions of Jean-Thierry Boisseau on List of major opera composers. Various users accuse him of "a course of bullying, personal attacks, and generally making things awful for all contributors". He strenuously denies the allegations.
  • Rachel Marsden: A case involving the actions of Arthur Ellis, Rachel Marsden, Bucketsofg and others on the Rachel Marsden page. Marsden and Ellis allege that the page contains inaccurate and libellous material, and that this has been protected on the page by various admins. In response, others allege that Ellis has engaged in edit warring on the page.

Voting phase

  • Vivaldi: A case involving the actions of Vivaldi on Jack Hyles and related articles. Arbustoo alleges that Vivaldi has removed "cited criticism" from the article, as well as harassment, incivility and edit warring. However, an anon IP, 205.157.110.11 accuses Arbustoo of removing comments from AfDs. Remedies proposed by Fred Bauder, and not yet voted on by other arbitrators, would place various articles edited by Vivaldi and Arbustoo on article probation, with the intention of removing poorly sourced material, and warn both contributors against edit-warring.
  • Kven: A case involving the actions of Kven-user, the name given to Art Dominique and sockpuppets on the Kven article. Fred Bauder has proposed remedies limiting Kven-user to one account, placing Kven-user on probation, and giving Kven-user the option to appeal some remedies after creating an account and editing properly.
  • Giano: A case involving the actions of Giano, Tony Sidaway and others, in which Sidaway blocked Giano for making "inflammatory" comments regarding the behaviour of the ArbCom and the Wikimedia Foundation. The block was subsequently overturned after discussion on WP:AN/I. Remedies have been proposed formalising the relinquishing of sysop access by former clerk Tony Sidaway and former arbitrator Kelly Martin, but thanking her for her "long and honourable service", as well as one banning John Reid for one week, and a remedy reminding Jdforrester "to maintain decorum appropriate for an arbitrator". These proposals have the support of four to six arbitrators.
  • Kosovo: A case involving the actions of editors on Kosovo, particularly the political status of Kosovo. A temporary injunction has been passed allowing any uninvolved administrator to ban any of the named users from the page. Remedies banning PerfectStorm/C-c-c-c and Bormalagurski for one year, banning Dardanv for one month, limiting Hipi Zhdripi to one account, placing Kosovo-related articles on article probation, and various Kosovo-related article bans, probations, revert paroles and warnings have the support of two to three arbitrators.
  • Ackoz: A case involving the actions and community ban of Ackoz, and his later account, Azmoc. The user previously contributed to Wikipedia under the name Ackoz. He admits to "some trolling" after a three-day block, which led to his ban. However, he has stated that were he unbanned, he would cease his disruptive behaviour, and would be prepared to undergo mentorship. Remedies supported by three arbitrators would unblock Ackoz and place him on probation for one year, leaving open the possibility for a renewed community ban should Ackoz "revert to his previous pattern of sustained trolling".
  • Marudubshinki: A case involving the actions of Marudubshinki. Snottygobble, I@n and others allege that Marudubshinki has operated an unauthorised bot, and misused his sysop powers by unblocking himself and allowing his bot to delete pages. Remedies to desysop Marudubshinki and block him from running a bot has the support of four arbitrators.
  • MONGO: A case involving the actions of MONGO, rootology, and others. The case centers around Encyclopædia Dramatica, and an article posted on the website portraying MONGO in a negative light. Remedies supported by two arbitrators include indefinitely banning PrivateEditor and Rootology, as well as other remedies.

Motion to close

  • Pat8722: A case involving the actions of Pat8722. BorgHunter has accused Pat8722 of edit-warring. Pat8722 has requested that the ArbCom stay the case while he pursues 6 pro se cases in the American courts, and has agreed not to edit Wikipedia in the interim. If closed, no remedies would pass; the closing is disputed, with three arbitrators supporting it and two opposing it.
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