Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Signpost/Newsroom/Suggestions/Archive 4

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Mark Cuban edits his own article

On his blog NBA owner, entrepreneur, and wild and crazy guy Mark Cuban has admitted editing his own Wikipedia article. He wrote under the user name Mcuban. Some of Cuban's edits were relatively uncontroversial, but he also excised a lot of criticism of his actions as owner of the Dallas Mavericks. (Another editor has since restored the criticism.) And he apparently believes that Mantanmoreland, who has also edited Mark Cuban, is Gary Weiss, a journalist critical of some of Cuban's business activities. On his blog a disgruntled user warned Cuban that admin Slim Virgin would defend Mantanmoreland's critical edits. Meanwhile, admin JoshuaZ has left a reminder of WP:AUTO on Cuban's talk page. Another editor left a message on the page imploring Cuban to "rescue" the Pittsburgh Pirates.

It's an interesting story that could develop further, especially if more criticism of Cuban appears in the article. Casey Abell 12:29, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

UPDATE: This really is getting interesting. Mark Cuban has seen lots of activity today, with Mantanmoreland reverting edits that he says were made by Cuban's meatpuppets. There have been no more edits by Mcuban himself, but the article could become a real battleground over Cuban's activities on sharesleuth.com. Cuban has said that he will take positions (in particular, short sell) companies that he discusses on the website before those discussions are published. This has been bashed as unethical, and is the subject of less than flattering comments in the Wikipedia article. Stay tuned. Casey Abell 17:31, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

ANOTHER UPDATE: Cuban has edited the talk page of his article and sounds conciliatory in his comments about other editors' additions. He even says that he has enjoyed learning some of the ins and outs of Wikipedia policies and etiquette. He does seem pretty certain of his identification of Mantanmoreland as Gary Weiss, though. Casey Abell 03:54, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Cuban's attention to his own article (and his remarks on his blog about the article's supposed inaccuracies) have prompted other editors to splatter the article with ever more footnotes. Right now Mark Cuban boasts no fewer than 63 footnotes for only about 2,300 words of prose. In case you're counting, that's one footnote every 36 words. Even by doctoral dissertation standards, this is Footnotemania.

The contentious paragraph about ShareSleuth.com has been excruciatingly balanced and footnoted. The four-sentence paragraph gets five footnotes, with one sentence getting three. It's either referencing gone bonkers or super-scholarly accuracy, depending on your personal tolerance for footnotes. Casey Abell 12:45, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

Blackboard E-Learning patent

The Wikipedia is in the news over a collaborative effort to record examples of prior art on the History of virtual learning environments page, because of an E-learning patent issued to Blackboard Inc.. see:

BlankVerse 07:08, 28 August 2006 (UTC) Insert non-formatted text here

More paid editing on the Wikipedia

See:

"...public relations firm Kellen Communications is reacting by posting and editing Wikipedia-compliant articles about its clients on Wikipedia and monitoring the Web site regularly to ensure that those clients are accurately portrayed."

Some of the company's websites are http://kellencompany.com/, http://www.kelleninteractive.com/ and http://kellenpr.com/. Soneone might want to check their client lists [1]. With a relatively quick check, I found an Atlanta Comcast IP adding some of their clients to external links sections in articles (71.204.14.32 (talk · contribs) on 16 August 2006). The IP was warned for spamming. One of their other services is SEO.

When do I get hired for my Wikipedia editing expertise? ;-) BlankVerse 11:23, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

They seem to have removed the release from their site. -- Zanimum 17:33, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
Darn! I should have made a copy of the press release, instead of just copying a small segment of it. Unfortunately, from a quick check using a couple of news search engines, it doesn't look like they released the press release through any of the major press release services. Most of the rest of the press release, from what I can recall, was a warning that business need to be prepared for a Wiki world, and the dangers of misinformation on the Wikipedia. BlankVerse 06:37, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
Like the misinformation they likely would have tried to spread? -- Zanimum 19:32, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

Lake Express ferry

The editing of the Lake Express and S.S. Badger articles has been in the news, and even slashdotted by CmdrTaco. See:

BlankVerse 06:32, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

Republican candidate to sue Wikipedia ?

Chuck Morse, a Republican candidate is contemplating sueing Wikipedia for damaging his reputation.

See: http://www.thetranscript.com/localnews/ci_4260986 Kpjas 05:50, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

More in blog entries: [4] [5] Kpjas 05:56, 31 August 2006 (UTC)
If/when he actually files a suit, it's news - until then, it's political self-promotion. Non-notable. JesseW, the juggling janitor 06:36, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

Another (petty?) example of Wikipedia POV dispute

Panama Canal PR Shills Take Yes Campaign Online, Hijack Wikipedia [6]

FoxTrot

Wikipedia's Thomas Edison article was the subject of today's (2006-09-07) Foxtrot cartoon strip. – Chacor 12:36, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

At least this one didn't encourage vandalizing Thomas Edison... Ral315 (talk) 16:32, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
Link to comic strip: here. If you have any questions, please contact me at my talk page. Ian Manka Talk to me! 17:28, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

Clarin & the Spanish Wikipedia

There has been a strange case invloving the article es:Noche de los lápices and the Argentinian newspaper Clarín (newspaper) (http://www.clarin.com/)

The 14th September an anonimous change was made in the article es:Noche de los lápices, the vandal changed the story about seven students that dissapeared during the militar dictatorship in Argentina so that it looked as if the whole story was a lie, an invention from some terrorist organisations.

Two hours later the online newssite of the newspaper Diario Clarin (Clarín (newspaper); considered the third online newspaper in Spanish language) published that «En Wikipedia, la Noche de los Lápices apareció como "un invento creado por organizaciones terroristas» "In Wikipedia, the Noche de los Lápices appeared as an invention. created by terrorist organisations" ([7] the article has been changed and toned down since) . The news piece was on the front page of the web page for several hours.

The vandalism was eliminated almost inmediately after the news appeared in Clarin. You can see the time line in es:Wikipedia:Café#Noche de los Lápices Argentina:

http://es.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Noche_de_los_l%C3%A1pices&direction=prev&oldid=4711637

10:18 (act) (prev) 15:18(CEST) 14 sep 2006 24.232.220.225 (Discusión)

Vandalismo http://www.clarin.com/diario/2006/09/14/um/m-01271295.htm

11:51 (Argentnian time) | En recuerdo de La Noche de los Lápices, quieren declarar al 16 de setiembre Día de la juventud

http://www.clarin.com/diario/2006/09/14/um/m-01271296.htm

19:48 (Argentnian time) | En Wikipedia, la Noche de los Lápices apareció como "un invento creado por organizaciones terroristas"

(Esta nota fue modificada por eso la hora no es la hora original, pero no es difícil deducirla./ The note has been changed so that the time stamp is not the original one)

http://es.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Noche_de_los_l%C3%A1pices&direction=next&oldid=4711637

12:15 (act) (prev) 17:15(CEST) 14 sep 2006 Dajuliani (Discusión | contribuciones) (Revirtiendo cambios/Reverting changes)

Cambios revertidos

Funnily enough, Clarin is an Internet provider and the ISP vandalizing the article belongs to Clarin. The whole story is in [8] (only in Spanish) the weblog of es:usuario:Dodo. es:usuario:Ecemaml comments in the weblog that in those two hours, Clarin saw the vandalism and made a screenshot (and an article!) of the vandalized page to ilustrate the article as there was no diff link to the next change (you can see the image in [9]). Another funny fact is that Clarin publishes its own enciclopedia [10] using Wikipedia as source [11], in spite of being quite hostile [12].

Of course the news have spread: [13], Página/12 ([14], newspaper form the Clarin Group), [15],

Not so funny are declarations Clarin published later: Sola, the Governor of Buenos Aires, said he was worried about the fact and the ombudman of Buenos Aires said she was preparing a lawsuit against wikipedia ([16]): "Repudiamos el contenido de esa nota y estamos prepando una presentación formal contra la enciclopedia por la falta de control sobre los contenidos en un instrumento tan vulnerable como Internet al que acceden millones de jóvenes estudiantes" ("We reject the content of that note and we are preparing a lawsuit against the enciclopedia because of lack of control about the content in such a vulnerable instrument as is Internet, that millions of young students access").

So, there are now stong suspicions on the Spanish Wikipedia community that this is a case of a reporter "creating" the news he writes about, but of course, nothing can be proven :) I hope you can make a small note on the Signpost with this material.

Cheers, --Ecelan 08:01, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

US Patent Office and Wikipedia

I'd be willing to write an article on the US Patent Office and Wikipedia per the Business Week story described here. Let me know on my talk page or (better still) through "e-mail user" if there's interest. PedanticallySpeaking 15:11, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

I don't know if there's enough for a story. Business Week and a couple blogs have reported this, but I can't find official confirmation from the U.S. Patent Office. I consulted with a patent attorney and he too was unable to find any sort of official ruling on this issue. Since I can't verify this report, I'm withdrawing my suggestion for this idea. PedanticallySpeaking 13:55, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

Sergey Brin discusses Wikipedia

One of the new Berkeley videos has Sergey Brin compliments Wikipedia in the beginning of this lecture. He compares Wikipedia to first search engines: "There are things... out there that are very simple and you never think would work." [17] I'm going to add it to his article. - RoyBoy 800 19:20, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

This would be a good one. · XP · 19:21, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
Oops, already at his article (older video), so Signpost probably already mentioned it. But could be worth mentioning again. - RoyBoy 800 19:32, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
Yeah, this is really old news. - Hahnchen 03:27, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

Media coverage

Media coverage on Bengali Wikipedia milestone:

"Bengali Wikipedia crosses 10,000 articles By Frederick Noronha" Sep 30, 2006, 12:10 GMT

At http://tech.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1206718.php/Bengali_Wikipedia_crosses_10000_articles

The news was also syndicated by AP http://www.tech2.com/india/news/internet/bengali-wikipedia-crosses-10000-articles/2068/0


Thanks

--Ragib 06:26, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

Singapore's Straits Times covers Singapore-related articles

Singapore's Straits Times today covered Singapore-related articles in their weekly Digital Life section. Among others, they included mentions about Singapore, Help:Contents, Kumar (drag queen), Elizabeth Choy, Jacintha Abisheganaden, Nick Leeson, Bugis Street, Little India, Singapore and Mustafa Centre, Merlion, Hawker centre, Zouk (club), Sarong Party Girl, Kiasu, Singlish, Haze (in relation to the 2006 Southeast Asian haze), 4-Digits, Huang Na, Creative Technology, Land Transport Authority, Electronic Road Pricing, Housing and Development Board, as well as mentions about the vandalism on George W. Bush (examples they gave include "He is the 43rd and current idiot" as well as "George Warhawk Bush"). They also interviewed User:Sengkang, and someone else whose username isn't listed.

They did, however, erroneously say that anyone could create articles anonymously, something which is not currently allowed on enwp.

– Chacor 13:23, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

Your real name is Chacor? :]
They presumably mean that 'user ids' are anonymous in not revealing your actual name, as opposed to the 'anon IP' meaning of the term which is used locally. --CBD 17:24, 17 October 2006 (UTC)
Well, they also mentioned registering a username, in the same piece. So your interpretation is possible, although I think they meant as an IP. – Chacor 13:43, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia appears in Cisco Systems commercial

This is minor, but in a current Cisco Systems commercial a Wikipedia page can be seen twice on the monitor of a laptop. --Durin 13:51, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

YouTube? __earth (Talk) 13:55, 17 October 2006 (UTC)
I'd argue this isn't minor at all. What's the plot? -- Zanimum 19:22, 17 October 2006 (UTC)
  • I've been trying to find an online version of the ad without success. The Cisco site itself does not seem to have it. The basic premise of the ad (if I remember correctly) is being able to do anything digitial anywhere. At two points, a Wikipedia page appears on a laptop as part of the commercial. The view of the page isn't clear enough to see what the page is, but you can see the logo well enough. The background music of the ad is an instrumental section of Baba O'Riley by The Who. I can't be more specific about details; I saw the ad just once. --Durin 19:43, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

Confirming that I also noted the appearance of a Wikipedia article on a laptop flashed on screen in use by a child (I think it was a child) during a Cisco commercial airing at 9:30 PM (Eastern Standard Time) 20 October 2006 on the SciFi Channel (during a new episode of Battlestar Galactica). I only saw one reference in this commercial. I don't recall the theme of the commercial, unfortunately (i.e. innovation, exploration, education, etc.). --User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 13:21, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Real Quick between a class and then meetings..... Last night on telivision there is a Cisco Systems add and among the technology users is a young girl on Wikipedia's main page. Very Very Very cool !!!

I attempted a search to see if an article was done on this, did not find so thought would put it here and see where we can go

so sorry kinda new - same as above but forgot Dharp66 18:37, 18 October 2006 (UTC)Dharp

  • I already mentioned it above, but thanks for confirming I'm not seeing things :) --Durin 12:56, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

WikiMiniAtlas

This might look like a pretty shameless plug, but I'd like to generate a little publicity for my Wikipedia Javascript-plugin WikiMiniAtlas. It uses coordinate information from geocoded articles to create a draggable and zoomable little popup map of the world with clickable links to all other geocoded articles. A recent update includes a satellite mode and zoomlevels down to <100m resolution. The plugin is used by quite a lot of users on de.WP, as it appeared in the german signpost (I didn't even had to push it myself ;-) ), but the userbase on en.WP is still a bit disappointing. --Dschwen 13:40, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

WikiMiniAtlas showing the South Island of New Zealand

Pyramids of Gizeh in satellite mode

An article from FCW Media Group [18] Stratcom takes a page from Wikipedia reports about successful adoption of wiki technology in military setting ...the Strategic Command’s 24-hour operations and intelligence meeting place. Using a Wikipedia-style approach, the program eliminates the chain of information and lets warfighters collaborate, regardless of their rank or position. Kpjas 08:16, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Cites and Insights on Wikipedia

Lenghty writeup at What About Wikipedia? Samw 20:16, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Interesting traffic analysis

This post by LeeAnn Prescott at HitWise discusses school-year based traffic cycles on Wikipedia, with big traffic boosts coming at finals, and big dips during vacation. Also, the downstream traffic suggests that use patterns shift from research to less academic purposes when school is out, according to Prescott.--ragesoss 07:30, 21 October 2006 (UTC)