My Website ttp://shotgunsolutionpaytodie.blogspot.com has been blacklisted by a bot and I don't know why or how to solve this. I added it up on english wikipedia without having created an account first, so on IP basis. Is this why it blacklisted me? This account on metawiki doesn't work for the english wikipedia, should I create another account there? It's all kinda confusing....

Hello! We want to open all files in an new window or a new tab (target="_blank"). All links to another sites will be open in the same site (target="_self"). do you know a solution? Thanks SABINE - 04-08-2009, 11.00 Uhr

you, as a visitor with your browser have one chance to open the new site with the right click on the link: "open Link in a new window" - otherwise see the options-general in Firefox, here you can choose the browsers behavior. IE8 sets this in his Internetoptions - general - hope it helps Reinhard —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.168.34.26 (talk • contribs) 25 October 2009. sxdfasdfasdfasdf

Hi, I created a PDF file from 7 pages of Wiki. But while taking printouts it showed a problem. The spaces between words is showing as a box in the printouts. Please let me know if there is any solution for this. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Raje sam (talk • contribs) 11 March 2009.

hi, I don't know if this is the right place, I made a translation of the main page into my native language (venetian - veneto). I put it here: Pazina prinzipal. Can someone please link this page from the english main page? thank yu very much bye bye —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 79.24.53.53 (talk • contribs) 14 March 2009.

Hello everybody,

I try to create an external page (just a search field, like the wikipeda splash screen with the search field) before the main page of wiki is entered and don't get it to work properly. I want to use some skin methods (like text(), msg(), and other methods from the wiki library but I just got half of them working. I am not shure if I instantiate them at the right time or if I miss something.

For example if i do

$skin = $wgUser->getSkin();

$skin->tooltipAndAccesskey( 'search-go' ); // --- print the 'search' label for button

works all ok.

But a

$tpl = new UcbTemplate(); // --- init skin 'ucb'

$tpl->text('searchaction'); // --- empty string

returns nothing but an empty string.

My main problem is I am not sure if I initialized everything the right why. I just want to have that splash screen dynamic and try to get all the strings from the wiki definitons just to be dynamic, so the user is able to switch languages of the splash screen and I do not have to define all these strings in that splash screen (to prevent double work). So basically I try to find a way to use the skin methods (also the inherited ones like msg, text, etc

So the initialization part of my splash screen is just the ones that is used in the index php, calling

require_once( "$preIP/includes/WebStart.php" );

require_once( "$preIP/includes/Wiki.php" );

$mediaWiki = new MediaWiki();

If I print out the $skin object to see what in there nothing is initialized, I see not the skin name 'ucb' and all that. So I think my initialization process is wrong or I am missing something. I also googled for an hour but nothing similar turns out. And first of I thought building a seperated / additional start page for wiki would be simple just putting out some strings (defined in wiki) and making that search box, maybe to integrate and outout of the newest additions in wiki. This would be alo interesting if there is a class or method where I could put out newest wiki additions.

Can anybody give me a start point where to look or how to initialze wiki or in what order I have to do the initialization part to use wiki methods? I am new to wiki and try to find out how it works but that can't be done in one day also my time is a little limited at this time.

So any help or hints are greatly appreciated. Maybe there is somebody out there that did the same thing and can drop me some science on that.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Andreas W Wylach —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Derdre (talk • contribs) 20 March 2009.

Why is it on topics where there is a potential for harm to the general public is there not a section that allows for common sense warning statements

I have noticed that there have been several topic pages that have had what seemed to be common sense warning statements posted that would have been good information for the general public to have in order to better protect themselves from potential harm either to themselves or those important to them.

Two examples are a common sense warning involving the potential dangers to a persons computer where P2P file sharing of any type is concerned on the "Lime Wire" page, and on an even more important level a common sense statement warning people to simply research deeper into the dangers involving the possible adverse health effects of the most common artificial sweeteners on multiple pages involving those products.

Both of these statements (which were removed in a very short time frame) were listed in the areas of the articles involving criticisms or known problems of these specific items.

It would almost seem that any article involving a potential hazard where a profit is being made by someone is being very tightly "policed" by those with a vested interest in keeping knowledge of the potential harm to the public under wraps.

I would hope that a project that puts itself out there as something intended to bring all possible knowledge into the public light for the betterment of the common man (as described by your founder in a TV spot on the "USA" Network) would zealously protect the right of the public to know all sides and would not allow information that could prevent harm to be suppressed.

If I may make a suggestion - simply put a link to a subpage or a discussion board where such public safety minded warnings/statements could be posted without the threat of being removed by someone with an agenda involving keeping information out of the public view (for example a chemical company not wanting the public to know where to look for data challenging it's own PR statements about a highly profitable product) - with a disclaimer that the statements posted are not a part of the official article but are posted responses to the article involved and that the person viewing the sub page/discussion board should use the information contained therein as a potential starting point for further research of their own.

As a matter of fact I challenge you to take this bold step in the spirit of what Wikipedia has claimed itself to be.

Thanks --- —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.62.153.254 (talk • contribs) 27 March 2009.

Very simply we do not advise people to use or not use, say aspartame. There are two [many] reasons for this (possibly three), first were we to do that we would be taking a responsibility for someone's health - suppose someone dies from hyperglycemia, and they have been reading our warnings on aspartame, we would be open to court action, even if someone died of aspartame poisoning, it could be claimed that our warnings were not strong enough. Secondly we are NPOV - we do not have an "opinion". Thirdly the information is there: with links to references

The artificial sweetener aspartame has been the subject of controversy since its initial approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1974. Concerns have been raised about the quality of the research supporting its safety and the long-term effects that increased consumption could have on the public.[22][23][24] Some scientific studies, combined with allegations of conflicts of interest in the sweetener's FDA approval process, have been the focus of vocal activism, conspiracy theories and hoaxes regarding postulated risks of aspartame.[25][26]

We even have an article en:Aspartame controversy with 97 references. Similarly LimeWire is nearly half "Criticism" with a prominent link to the "Risks" section of "File sharing".

Fourthly we could end up with warnings on every page - knife, hammer, stroboscope, shoe (tight shoes permanently deform children's feet), dog, Bulbophyllum abbreviatum (allergies), Superman (remember you cannot fly)....

Fifthly: we already have a disclaimer linked to from every page, it includes the following:

Not professional advice

If you need specific advice (for example, medical, legal, financial, or risk management) please seek a professional who is licensed or knowledgeable in that area.

Sixthly, seventhly and eighthly it would obscure content and frighten the horses, and maybe be a case of en:WP:BEANS.

Ninthly it would be (another) maintenance nightmare.

Rich Farmbrough 23:45 1 September 2009 (GMT).

Thanks for info...

Hello. Comments are welcome on the draft policy for opt-in global sysops. Please don't comment about implementation, which is entirely up to the local wikis who choose to enable them. Rather, is the policy wording adequate? Are there situations it doesn't cover, or sentences that are too vague? Do you have suggestions?

Global sysops will be live (only on wikis that decide to enable them) once the first wiki enables them. —Pathoschild 22:24:35, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

I've been looking to install the skin found here: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gallery_of_user_styles

The one called "Black Background w/ banner, similar to game forums"

I followed the instructions, placing the CSS file in myskin, renaming to main.css, changing the localsettings, however it just wouldn't work. When I manually change my skin to the "myskin" one it doesn't have any formatting at all! I'm probably doing something very simple wrong but any help would be appreciated. Thanks! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 94.195.15.181 (talk • contribs) 5 April 2009.

I not sure my solution is match to your task. All Wiki engines and included themes is not friendly with dark backgrounds, while white background is burning our eyes. But, you can upload own css file. I try to upload monobook.css or common.css (with same content). You need to register to upload own CSS. I've spent 3 weeks and tear out many hairs to get almost working CSS for dark BG. It's --

/* this magic set is from 'Глобальный сброс Эрика Мэйера' */
html,body,div,span,applet,object,iframe,
h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6,p,blockquote,pre,
a,abbr,acronym,address,big,cite,code,
del,dfn,em,font,img,ins,kbd,q,s,samp,
small,strike,strong,sub,sup,tt,var,
dl,dt,dd,ol,ul,li,
fieldset,form,label,legend,
table,caption,tbody,tfoot,thead,tr,th,td

{
background-color:#080808!important;
color:#eeeeee!important;
font-size:16px!important;
#font-family:Arial;
-moz-border-radius:6px;border-radius:6px;
text-decoration:none;
border:none;
/*font-style: normal;*/
}

input{font-size:16px;}/*'important' here is work, but search line size bad*/

a,a*{color:#00aaff!important;}
a:visited,a:visited*{color:#9060ff!important;}
a:link.new{color:#ff0000!important;}
a:visited.new{color:#ee0077!important;}

a.external{color:#ff7700!important;}
a.external:visited{color:#aa7733!important;}
a:hover,a:hover*{text-decoration:underline!important;}

h1,h1*,h1.firstHeading{font-size:24px!important;}
h2,h2*{font-size:20px!important;}
big,big*{font-size:18px!important;}
h3,h3*{font-style:bold;}
strike,strike*,.strike{text-decoration:line-through;}

.editsection,.editsection*{font-size:16px!important;}
small,small*{font-size:14px!important;}
.prefsectiontip{font-size:14px!important;color:#cc9977!important;}

#content{border:none;}
#toc,#toc*,.toc,.toc*{font-size:16px!important;}

pre{
color:#ffddaa!important;
/*	background-color: #000000;*/
font-family:monospace;
}

div.thumb{border-color:#000000!important;}
div.thumbinner{border:1pxsolid#00aaff;background-color:#000000!important;}

#preftocli,#preftocli.selected{
/*	background-color: #222222;
	color: none;*/
border:none;
margin-left:0px;
margin-right:1px;
}
#preftocli.selected/* , #p-cactions li.selected */
{
/*	background-color: #222222;*/
border:1pxdashed#ffaa55;
}


#footer{border-top:none;border-bottom:none;font-size:14px!important;}

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 93.182.12.2 (talk • contribs) 29 August 2009.

I recently set up my own wiki using MediaWiki software for a facebook group I am a member of. AANR I am attempting to copy templates from Wikipedia in order to boost the functionality of my wiki, but I am encountering numerous problems that I have so far been unable to solve.

The most apparent one to me at the moment involves receiving an error message of "Template loop detected." I understand what this is, but not why or what I can do to fix it. Example page: Template:!. I've been browsing for answers for hours and am just completely burnt out.

I already have the ParserFunctions extension installed if that makes any difference.

Any help at all would be most appreciated.

Thanks! Adam Christ —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.5.204.173 (talk • contribs) 29 April 2009.

You pasted the documentation there instead of the template. That template is the single "|" character. Rich Farmbrough 23:48 1 September 2009 (GMT).

I am trying to add a dropdown box with a number of selectable entries to a template page.

The help and documentation doesn't mention dropdown boxes.

Can anyone help me out ?

Thanks in advance —The preceding unsigned comment was added by ColmDelaney (talk • contribs) 19 June 2009.

Hi all,

In our project, each one of us used to have access to our wikipedia(customized only in logos and extensions allowed).Recently, one of our project member lost access to it. The eror message that he got is as follows.

Notice:Undefined index:standarf in D:\sites\Wikipedia\includes\skin.php on line 116.

Warning:Skin::require_once(D:\sites\Wikipedia\skins\.php)[function Skin-require-once] failed to open stream. No such file or directory in D:\sites\Wikipedia\includes\skin.php Fatal error: Skin::require_once()[function require]:Failed opening required 'D:\sites\Wikipedia\skins\.php' (include_path=D:\sites\Wikipedia;D:\sites\Wikipedia\includes;D:\sites\Wikipedia\languages;c:\php;c:\php\ext)in D:\sites\Wikipedia\includes\skin.php on line 122.

Please help me to solve this issue.

I would really appreciate if someone could provide any inputs on this error.

Thanks in advance. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Ramya r (talk • contribs) 29 June 2009.

I want to download the pages-articles-xml.bz2 file for importing of wikitaxi which build database base on this dump file for a offline wiki. The size of this dump file shows 5.1G in page, however, the dowload file size is actually 1.09G, how this can happen?

Looking for your answers.

Thanks a lot —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 170.148.96.107 (talk • contribs) 26 August 2009.

URl to the dump page please. Rich Farmbrough 00:08 2 September 2009 (GMT).

I did not know where else to turn to (besides the local wiki, which I have already asked, but the local knowledge base seems to be somewhat limited about the higher ideas) to get an answer to this question.
What it is that I am asking about is involving the transclusion process. Now I know you can edit subpages to not be included when being called from another page, and I have also read up on how you can have stuff only be shown on the calling page, but not on the local view of that transcluded page.
My question is, can you select, without changing the page you are getting the text and information from, only certain parts (sections) from that source page?

So, for example: Page 1 being the page that has the information you want on another page, and Page 2 being the display page of that information.

• Page 1

== Section 1 ==

The section one text is here.
== Section 2 ==

The section two text is here.
== Section 3 ==

The section three text is here.

• Page 2

This is the text of page 2, and collects information from other pages to display.

== Section 2 ==

The section two text is here.

I hope this makes it clear what it is I am asking.

Also, a related question, is it possible, using the above example as a guide, to transclude that information section from another wiki? Specifically, I am a GuildWars Wiki user, and I want to be able to show information (page chunks) from the metawiki or english wiki on the GuildWars wiki page, using the usual transclusion style re-posting of that information. I am not sure if you would be able to get a hold of me here on this wiki, so this is my talk page on GWW GWW 13eowulf Talk page

If anyone knows for sure one way or the other, please let me know. And if you could, please post the links you found your information on. It would be very helpful. — The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.182.174.55 (talk) diff, please sign discussions with --~~~~ (UTC)

Hello, I could think of making what You are asking for like this: You put on page 1, where it should only display the information the subpages as inclusions, then if someone clicks on the section of the subpage he will be redirected to it and edit only that subpage. Here is an example of how it looks:

page 1, which should not be edited

• -> page 2, which is displayed on page 1 and will be edited when the headline is clicked.
• -> page 3, which is displayed on page 1 and will be edited when the headline is clicked.

Could look like this:

• the display page looks like:

{{Page 1}}
{{Page 2}}
{{Page 3}}

• the page 1 with the exact name 'Page 1' looks like:

<noinclude>
This is the text of page 1, and collects information from other pages to display.
</noinclude>
== Section 1 ==

The section one text is here.

• the page 2 with the exact name 'Page 2' looks like:

<noinclude>
This is the text of page 2, and collects information from other pages to display.
</noinclude>

Alternatively, you can use the following dpl

<dpl>
 mode=userformat
 title=page title
 includepage=%section number
 secseparators= ==%SECTION%==
</dpl>

Where the details in the italics are what you are wanting to transclude into the destination page. PuppyOnTheRadio

Hello, I need help with {{REVISIONDAY}}. I want it to show the revision day of the TEMPLATE instead of the date of the site where it is included. The background is that I have a template and I want to show when it was changed the last time on every page I include it. Is this possible or must I hardcode the date in the template and change it everytime by hand? Thank you! --AndreR

See template:last edit and related recursively converted templates. Hillgentleman 14:25, 1 April 2010 (UTC)

I have found huge value in Facebook as a means of maintaining a community awareness of people I care about as well as a means for creating action or values oriented groups. For instance Canadian Against Proroguing Parliament.

But I am deeply worried that this sense of a wonderful 'public' space is really an illusion similar to a mall which feels like a public space but is really a private property. And Facebook is that type of private property.

However a non-profit foundation could run a wiki-like Facebook that would give the world a greater security around the sustainability of the communities we build.

I'm not an organizer, nor talented in technologies. But I sure wish that Facebook had the public substance. I suppose besides funding it there would be many problems, but surely they would not be a different order of magnitude than those face by Wikipedia and Wikimedia.

Thank you for the opportunity to let my lonely howl out.

John Verdon

John, you have an idea here that is both simple and danged good. I'll see if I can't forward it upward and onward. Thanks, Jusdafax 07:08, 26 February 2010 (UTC)

The problem with Facebook-type sites is that (as with many other services such as email) it's hard to make them completely open since users want some information kept private. That lack of openness creates barriers to entry, hindering competition, which is the greatest safeguard against abuse. Lacking such openness, I think it's best to stick with a company like Google with a "don't be evil" ethic. en:Google Buzz looks promising. Tisane 03:11, 22 March 2010 (UTC)

Hello, I am a consulting engineer and industrial (process plant) contractor who has compiled the full range of tools needed to help indigenous people identify, develop and profitably operate basic industry that fits their locale. I want to give these tools to a collaboration that uses wiki methods to attract like-minded others who can also contribute (investors, attorneys, accountants, programmers, business managers, tradesmen, etc.). Bottom-up (locally owned) basic industry means hard currency in the hands of the people, enabling them / motivating them to self-reliance and improved quality of life. The wiki system seems like a good way to find, screen and control collaboration. Can interested parties contact me via wiki or the email address I have used to log on?

I've downloaded Mediawiki and started a website...beta version may be found at: yadabyte.org. I've been inspired by the collaboration present in all wiki projects, working on a masters, want to take it a step further than encyclopedic entries and collaborate toward apolitical social action. To get off the ground, I need to build a cadre of trustworthy people before opening it up to the world. The Wiki community is the obvious place to start.

So my question is, how do I obtain help for this project from members of the Wiki community without stepping on toes, appearing to try to steal from wiki...? We need templates built, admin help...you name, we need it.

Thanks in advance for any guidance or help.

Chad Stevens YadaWonk1 19:14, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

You should explore the metapedia project: en.metapedia.org (I can't put the link correctly, it is blacklisted. Why?) Pronoein 16:20, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

it seems wiki has gotten quite sloppy and beauacratic, it took me 45 minutes to get to this subject entry option. my stupidity or preseverance ? the skinny: wiki sure don't make it easy to make an account, not that it was ever needed, i liked that the freedom of it all. some places want a life history to ask a question, i have no time for them. next the TRY BETA i gave up on after the fifth try. i'm glad it wasn't a fire in the building and this was the only contact. you would have all burnt. an annoyed and interested user, tom mcintyre p.s. the rest of this page is mind boggling, i hope i figure out how to submit this e-mail in a realistic lenght of tome, and it gets to someone that hopefully finds it of constructive value. whatever happened to user friendly, wiki needs to dig out from what seems a long ago lost and buried definition and original intention ? i'm sure going over everthing you'll arrive at millions of "why was that done, what were we thinking ? talk about over zealous editing." time for a MAKE OVER !

Could you give links and explanations to reproduce the sloppiness you experimented? I don't have this experience with wikipedia. Also remember to sign. Pronoein 16:00, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

I am unable to understand how to contribute here. Immunize 18:30, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

The page is here [1] Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 02:00, 14 March 2010 (UTC)

They probably meant editing, not donations. See Help:Editing and Help:Editor. Ruslik 10:02, 14 March 2010 (UTC)

Yes, I meant how to edit hear, not how to donate. Immunize 23:01, 24 March 2010 (UTC)

I have currently developed an application that taps into the power of Wikipedia to translate terms across languages.

As you know, for most of it's articles, Wikipedia provides the equivalent expression of that concept in other languages. With MemeMiner you can effortlessly find out how a certain idea is expressed across the language spectrum.

I've used some some AJAX / JSON / jQuery magic for the interface.

Is there a place I can post the news, an official repository for WikiApps or the sorts?

Feedback appreciated!

I like it and will use it. Can you make an OpenSearch plugin? You want to post notices at w:Wikipedia:Village Pump (miscellaneous) and w:Help:Searching. Paradoctor 19:51, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

I propose relocating Wikimedia servers to a jurisdiction that does not enforce copyright laws, and then allowing useful content to be added to Wikimedia projects regardless of licensing. Copyright in general causes more harm than good and, if feasible, should be circumvented whenever it proves a hindrance; see Against Intellectual Property. To those who say that our goal is to provide free-licensed content, I respond that we already host "fair use" content on enwiki that cannot be redistributed freely in most countries. This is just taking it a step further. It is cumbersome having to obtain permission to redistribute images and such under the CC-by-SA 3.0, and to prove such permission, etc. Many pages that should have illustration don't because someone wasn't willing to release it under a free license.

So, what jurisdiction could we use? Somalia, perhaps? I hear their communication infrastructure is pretty good, despite anarchy. See en:Anarchy_in_somalia#Communications.

This proposal will of course require a change to Foundation:Resolution:Licensing policy (which presently only authorizes very limited use of non-free content). Tisane 03:05, 22 March 2010 (UTC)

It would be violating copyrights in many countries then. Remember freedom of persona (for images). --Bsadowski1 03:15, 22 March 2010 (UTC)

I wouldn't take long under such a proposal for Wikipedia to start being blocked in many countries. Ottava Rima (talk) 03:29, 22 March 2010 (UTC)

Is that true? What about all those Russian warez sites that are freely accessible? Tisane 03:41, 22 March 2010 (UTC)

You mean the ones that are constantly shut down every day or discontinue their links? I doubt WMF would be successful constantly having to change its addresses all the time to keep up with blocks. Ottava Rima (talk) 03:45, 22 March 2010 (UTC)

Aassuming the jurisdiction in which the server is located doesn't enforce copyrights, who would block the sites? Governments outside that jurisdiction? What governments, other than the Chinese, block foreign Internet sites? (And the Chinese have other, non-copyright reasons for wanting to block Wikipedia, anyway.) I don't know of any governments that block foreign sites for copyvios, do you? Tisane 10:34, 22 March 2010 (UTC)

There are many websites blocked by US service providers. Didn't you stop to think that you probably wouldn't have been the first to come up with such an idea and that it obviously hasn't gone into effect for a reason? Furthermore, no search engine in its right mind would bother linking to such sites. Ottava Rima (talk) 17:24, 22 March 2010 (UTC)

Don't service providers usually block sites for malware, phishing, etc., rather than copyvios? Programs like SiteAdvisor won't block copyvios, and sites like Napster and The Pirate Bay have not blocked by foreign service providers, at least not extensively. The service providers probably recognize that their customers wouldn't be happy with them blocking useful sites. Tisane 03:33, 23 March 2010 (UTC)

Most of those programs were not hosting the illegal content but provided a service that allowed for P2P trading of any content. Ottava Rima (talk) 03:37, 23 March 2010 (UTC)

There's always abandonia; I think one of the main reasons you don't see more frequently see recent software distributed on warez sites is the higher cost of transferring the large files required for modern programs. Maybe there is a way to distribute copyrighted content p2p rapidly enough to display images and such for MediaWiki pages. Another extension idea! Tisane 04:45, 23 March 2010 (UTC)

There are three countries in the world which do not have any jurisdiction on copyright at all: Afghanistan, Laos and the Marshall Islands. Afghanistan is out for quite obvious reasons, and Laos' infrastructure can best be described as mediocre, so it's not a good location for WMF servers. Marshall Islands is the only viable location, however having Wikimedia servers there will not keep the site running for long because global warming will flood that country in just a few decades. -- Prince Kassad 17:09, 22 March 2010 (UTC)

We'll always have Dryland. Paradoctor 17:46, 22 March 2010 (UTC)

Dollars to donuts, in 2040 people will still be predicting the Marshall Islands' flooding by global warming "in just a few decades." But even if flooding is going to happen, there's no reason they can't hire the Dutch to build them some dikes. Plus, by a few decades from now, there may be another copyright-free jurisdiction available. Tisane 04:50, 23 March 2010 (UTC)

I believe the Dutch will be busy stacking up their own dikes. ^_^ Paradoctor 06:11, 23 March 2010 (UTC)

I think you can't shine the olympinc flame of democracy and universal values with dirty hands. The western world has rules that most people trust, accept and believe. If you break them all, nobody will trust you nor accept you. Now trust is the building brick of wikipedia. It would be so easy to submerge the site with trials, accusations and bad reputation once it goes illegal.
This is not a technical issue but an ethical and strategical one. Though it seems easier to disregard the right of your "ennemies", you won't build trust and sympathy this way. Change the world from within the law - and change the laws - if you want to win the heart of people who abide by these laws. Pronoein 16:22, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

We are having a lengthy discussion on the Village pump of Swedish Wikipedia on whether to stop using the official Wikimedia logos in cross-project navigational templates. The reason for this is that those images (commons:Category:Wikimedia official logos, including sub-folders) are copyrighted. While we obviously are allowed to use them internally, that still means that third-party users of Wikipedia articles can not rely on everything in the article being free to re-use. This is the case anyway on many Wikipedias which allow fair use, but such use has been long banned on Swedish Wikipedia. This means that the logos are the only thing standing in the way of stating that all article content on Swedish Wikipedia is free, from a copyright viewpoint. (Obviously there are still infringements due to trademarks and personality rights.) One of the main arguments against banning the logos from the articles (not from the site framework, of course) is that they are used on all(?) other language projects, and since noone else have questioned their use, why should we?

I therefore have two topics for discussion. Please redirect me if there is a more proper place for these:

1. Has this discussion been held on other projects? If so, were there any convincing rationale for or against the use of the unfree logos?
2. Why do WMF claim the copyright in the first place? It seems to conflict with the philosophy of the project itself. Please note that the topic of discussion is copyright, not trademarking – obviously it is a good thing that the logos can not be used without any restrictions. /Dcastor 13:31, 28 March 2010 (UTC)

There was a discussion on the foundation mail list in 2007, summarised at LSS/foundation-l-archives/2007 week 6. /Ö 14:34, 29 March 2010 (UTC)

Thankyou. Unfortunately the summary seems only to post the problem and doesn't really discuss it. /Dcastor 22:26, 29 March 2010 (UTC)

In the next few days/weeks, we might be be looking to expand our deployments of LiquidThreads, potentially to this wiki. Where do you think it would do good? Werdna 13:45, 30 March 2010 (UTC)

This would break Meta for Mobilephones? Since it was activated on strategy wiki I cant respond on messages anymore :( 04:40, 1 April 2010 (UTC)

Sorry, but I have some concerns. I think LiquidThreads is a great software and it most certainly will be used soon, but imho it is not yet ready to be deployed on larger wikis. There are still some annoying bugs, for examples see my bug list. --Church of emacs talk · contrib 13:17, 1 April 2010 (UTC)

I'm opposed to it as I think it causes far more problems than the current setup and I haven't found one improvement. Ottava Rima (talk) 19:24, 2 April 2010 (UTC)

I think it should be redesigned to not create a new page for each reply. It tends to flood the search results, which can be a pain on sites like MediaWiki.org (and probably this one as well). Tisane 18:49, 2 April 2010 (UTC)

I don't think this is an option. The entire design of LiquidThreads is based on the concept of having one page per post. If you want to change that, write a new/better extension :)
Potential problems with search results can be addressed, as can the bugs I pointed out in the liquidthreads test wiki. We just need a little patience (or devs ;)) until everything works smoothly. Kind regards, --Church of emacs talk · contrib 19:30, 2 April 2010 (UTC)

This discussion is really better for Babel since it is a Meta deal and this is really more for all of wmf (I know Werdna posted there but most of the conversation has been here). I'll post my thoughts there as well, I love the idea but to be honest at least so far it has frustrated me more then anything :( I'm not totally sure I'd want it here at the moment. 10:25, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

All are welcome to comment on or participate in the Wikiversity Open Letter Project to the Wikimedia Foundation concerning Jimbo Wales' recent out-of-process delete, block and desysop actions and threatening behaviours on Wikiversity. The goal of the project is to facilitate communication between the foundation and the community so as to clarify the situation. For backgrounds, here are some discussions: Wikiversity:Community Review/Wikimedia Ethics:Ethical Breaching Experiments/Summary and Leigh Blackall's blog; and on Meta: Talk:Wikiversity/Problems and Requests for comment/Remove Founder flag. Hillgentleman 14:20, 1 April 2010 (UTC)

Why is it blacklisted? I can't link to it. Isn't it part of the wikimedia foundation? Pronoein 16:32, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

It is not a part of Wikimedia Foundation, it is not found in the Complete list of Wikimedia projects. --Ainali 18:20, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Metapedia is an extremely right-wing site and has nothing to do with the Wikimedia Foundation. It should not be confused with "Meta-Wiki", which is this wiki and a part of the Wikimedia Foundation wiki family. --Church of emacs talk · contrib 18:51, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

so i went to my user contribution page on en.wikipedia.org. i noticed they have a new edit counter thingy with a nice link to 'opt in' by creating a page on meta.wikimedia.org.

the thing is, when i edit the page... it starts yellling at me in all caps about how i shouldnt be editing, this is not your sandbox, attention this means you.

now i understand the need to chase off clueless folks mucking up the site. but... is it necessary to yell in all caps?? thank you Decora 17:12, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

#newarticletext{display:none;}

or something like that in your monobook.css should remove it ;)

The warning has been added because apparently many people think this is their personal (test) wiki. I guess we could make it a bit less flashy, though. --Church of emacs talk · contrib 14:38, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

Hello,

On mg.wikipedia, I have a problem : for unknown reasons, my bot can not login, this problem persists for days, and I can't determine the cause of this problem. Can anyone here could help me to find this problem and solve it eventually ? Thanks in advance. --^{交談 homewiki} 16:02, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

You need to upgrade your software - more. Beau (talk) 16:42, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

Which software should I upgrade ? I am using pywikipedia and I don't know exactly what file to change --82.120.41.216 17:09, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

pywikipediabot needs to fix their login code (not sure whether they did this already), after that you need to upgrade pywikipediabot to a version that supports the new login code. --Catrope 20:43, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

Hello, Wikimedians.

This weekend I plan on finalizing the timeline for phase two of the Living Person Task Force: a community findings recommendation.

What we are interested in is people from all size wikis participating in discussing common interests and problems on interpersonal and intrapersonal interaction relating to Wikimedia projects. This includes statistics gathering, examination of how projects handle OTRS complaints/issues, image use, quotation use, and sourcing. It is very important that we get participation in these areas, if anything just to received feedback on the wiki. I have subpages set up for these discussion on the Strategy site.

In six to eight weeks we'd like to develop recommendations from the Task Force that are more in-depth than the proposed recommendations to be submitted to the Board this month, to assist in developing projects identify and set up structures for the issues that come with societies.

If you have experience dealing with living people on any of our wikis, or if you have ideas on how policies can be established/improved, please participate in the discussions so that we can adequately asses the projects as a whole.

Thanks for your time, see you on the wiki!

Keegan 20:25, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

I have an idea relating to abbreviated pages that require a little mathemagical skill. I'm trying to find something that will return the number of sections on a page as a variable, so that a psuedo TOC can be created for a talk page on a separate page, or something similar. I'm not admin, just a bog standard User/coder, and as far as I can see no-one has done anything similar to this previously, so I have no examples to cite/steal from. PuppyOnTheRadio

Hi people, I got a question concerning the translation of messages. How can I translate the messages used in "my preference" I can not find them in Especial:allmessages. cheers, Adler.fa 07:34, 14 April 2010 (UTC)

I am a Russian. My name is Галактион Терёшин, and my IP-address is 94.26.144.199.

1. When I wrote and edited articles in the Russian Wikipedia (for instance, the article "Аксиоматика теории множеств" = Axiomatic set theory), some administrators and other users bullied at me. I bear in mind Zimin V.G., Yaroslav Blanter, Ilya Voyager, Alex Smotrov etc.
2. When I wrote and edited remarks and additions to articles in the Ukrainian Wikipedia (for instance, a remark to the article "Правило Лопиталя" = L'Hopital's rule), some administrators and other users bullied at me again. I bear im mind Gutsul, Leonst, Yakudza, Drundia, Movses etc.
3. I don't want to work with those persons who bullied at me. 94.26.144.199 10:29, 14 April 2010 (UTC)

1. Вам сюда - ru:Википедия:Заявки на арбитраж. --Igrek 12:11, 14 April 2010 (UTC)

What for? 94.26.144.199 14:16, 14 April 2010 (UTC)

Administrator Yaroslav Blanter uses the Russian Wikipedia in order to spread defamation about me.

Administrator Leonst uses the Ukrainian Wikipedia in order to spread defamation about me.

If Wikipedia is an encyclopaedia, then Wikipedia needn't use for spreading defamation. -Галактион Терёшин 94.26.144.199 07:12, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

• They are encyclopedias. There is no 'need' to use it to defame you. If people are doing this then they may be MISusing it, but not because they need to. This is a valid complaint to file but should be done in proper terms, which are of course understandable due to the language barrier. Ty 00:27, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

I have stated the facts. Галактион Терёшин 94.26.144.199 07:37, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

(Originally posted to Wikinews-l. It was requested I post it here too)

This might seem a little callous against our SR brethren, but SRWN is dead. Take a look at Recent Changes - It is a serious fight to find anything happening that isn't a bot. Yes, the article count is increasing, scarily so... but that is only because news is being copied wholesale from other sites. In the end, 99.9% of their articles never get touched by a human.

Take a look at one history for example. One bot uploads it, another fixes it... that's the entire wiki.

The real truth in death I think comes from the Wikimedia Stats page. Take a look at the new reporters chart. The last new reporter they had was in December.

Sure, it is great they have a lot of articles, gaining at the rate of about 100 a day... but wow can we even say that this project NPOV when all the stories are bot imported, and never touched by human hands?

Food for thought. --ShakataGaNai ^{^_^} 17:42, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

I'm afraid I have to agree with this overall assessment of the project. From looking at sr.wikinews' recent changes list, it appears that the vast majority of edits are made by a single bot that creates articles and automatically places them on the main page - it would seem with almost no human oversight. This is particularly worrying, given that the sites it imports things from - such as VOA, Beta and other US gov't. news sources - have a reputation for frequent, pro-US bias. I've only occasionally seen a human-created article there. However, I'm not sure if there is enough (human) inactivity to warrant closure - I've seen wikis with fewer active editors that haven't been proposed for closure. 21:09, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for support on one of our project. We are working very hard to achieve something and with coments like this above realy fill like continue to work even harder. Just as information for you that from couple days ago almost every news which came out from bot is veryfied by human hands, myself and another user Mickey. Also to not go further, only that our activities are extended to university level, Micky is holding classis about Vikinews and Vikipedia and we are expecting even more visitors. If you check out that in past couple of months we were had more than 800.000 visitors per month, last month 240.000. And even this last number is high for small comunity as ours. How many people understand and speak Serbian language? How many english? Think about, open your mind and before you come out and set a fire on somebodies effort try to be more openminded. I realy do not understand the reason of this request of yours and I am deeply dissapointed, so far... But more information is going to come very soon from Vikivesti members (users). Thanks--Laslovarga 23:17, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Please don't think that I'm trying to put down your project. Not at all; to the contrary, I can appreciate the effort it takes to run a wiki with a limited userbase. (And I wasn't the one proposing the project's closure either.) I just find this mass-importation to be somewhat disconcerting, and arguably against the WMF's overall goal of creating free, *original* content. 23:42, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

@Tempodivalse SR.WN is not his project. It is not my project. It is our project. :) Any person of good will is welcome. Many projects of WMF use *not original works*. For example, a lot of pictures and texts taken from other sites. --MikyM 00:17, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Take looking all wikinews. The last new reporter by wn:

• French - Feb
• Spanish - Feb
• Polish - Feb
• German - Feb
• Japanese - Feb
• Italian - Feb
• Chinese - Feb
• Hungarian - Feb
• Portuguese - Jan
• Swedish - Jan
• Arabic - Jan
• Romanian - Jan
• Catalan - Jan
• Norwegian - Jan
• Tamil - Jan

--MikyM 00:35, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Mm, well I take that partially back about original content (i wasn't thinking about things like Wikisource). Apologies if I sounded as though I was putting down sr.wn; that wasn't my intention. I'm just saying that it's still disappointing that the project has elected to basically be a mirror of other sites. I know you write exclusive stuff, but the problem is that it's completely drowned out by automated imported material. I looked through about thirty-forty articles displayed on the main page lists; I've only seen two or three that were actually written by a user here and only one "exclusive" piece. Seems to me like the whole point of having a Wikinews edition is to focus on writing things yourselves, not being complete copy of another news source. If the readers want to see news from Beta, why not just go to the Beta site instead?

Side note, I wasn't aware of whether Beta is considered neutral or not (I was mistaken about it being US-funded, I think i'm confusing it with another news service), but I've seen sr.wn copy things from Serbian VOA - which is largely funded by the US government. The english version of it, at the least, has a rather heavy pro-US bias, although I can't be certain about the Serbian edition.

Anyways, I hope there are no hard feelings; I totally appreciate the work you're doing there, but it seems like this particular aspect is worth wider input, i personally think it's a bit disconcerting. I certainly wouldn't want the wiki to be closed, in any case. Best regards. 01:24, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

@Tempodivalse, thank you for understanding. And yes, we had some news taken from VOA (I think 10-15 in total), sometime last year, but we abandoned it almost immediately because of same reasons as you mentioned. And, as we told, more Wikireporters are coming and our base is going to growe, we are working hard on it. Just a note, all this information what we provide so far is more for person who started this up, but looks like he is somewhere behind and waiting for other to make a comments and than see with what are going to come out and than with new indictment...., for whatever reason he has....Best regards to you.--Laslovarga 01:46, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

As a designer of the model, I should say a couple of points:

• Wikinews should be driven as a collaborative news source.
• Collaborative news source needs community.
• To have community, one news source has to build reader base first.
• To build reader base, one news source actually has to have news. (Unless you are targetting ~0% of enthusiasts inside of the population, which English and Chinese editions can, but others can't.)
• So, the purpose of bot-generated news is to build reader base, which purpose is to build community, which purpose is to make collaborative news source.

And sr.wn is doing that well. It already has significantly higher ratio of readers and contributors in comparison to number of speakers than any other Wikinews edition. --Millosh 20:39, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

I don't, in fact, have any problem with bot-driven models so long as any article so imported is objectively examined by a human member of the community as to whether it meets all other community guidelines, including bias/NPOV, prior to publication. I'm not aware this is presently the case on sr.wn, but it certainly might be so. The key word in my statement is 'objectively'.

However, Millosh, there is a fundamental flaw with one of the concepts in your model. If you rely on the development of your community through the articles you mirror, that same community would form at the original source of the articles rather than on sr.wn. - Amgine/^{meta wikt wnews blog wmf-blog goog news} 16:45, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Bureaucrat Gutsul, administrator Leonst, user Friend use the Ukrainian Wikipedia in order to disseminate disinformation (false information) about me.

If Wikipedia is an encyclopaedia, then Wikipedia does not have to be used for disseminating disinformation.

Галактион Терёшин 94.26.144.199 11:12, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

This graphic on The Huffington Post - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/images/splash/bnews.gif looks a little too close to the Wikinews Logo - http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikinews/Logo what do you think? - Davodd | Talk 16:54, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Yes it is a copy IMO :) -- ^talk 16:57, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

It's not exactly an original idea, and I think we have to assume that they came up with it themselves. Radio waves being broadcast from the Earth are very appropriate for international news, especially in an electronic medium, and I doubt they mean any harm. The banner at BBC News Online uses a similar concept, come to think of it. Dendodge 17:15, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Mmm, it's a bit close, but i'm not sure if it's enough to claim copyright infringement. A lot of news sources use radio waves being broadcast from Earth as part of their logos. 17:19, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Maybe it's a bit close, but it's a commonly used logo for news websites and I think we should assume it is original. Pmlineditor ∞ 17:20, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Attached our actual breaking news logo. We don't have red ( ) . Otherwise it's a globe... that's kinda typical for news. --ShakataGaNai ^{^_^} 19:26, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

It is a little close, but for example our logo is probably closer to the UN logo than it is to their breaking news logo. Bawolff 20:31, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

It's a bit close but not alike WN's one. --Diego Grez ^{let's talk} 21:34, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Bureaucrats Gutsul and yakudza, administrators A1 and Leonst, users Movses and Drundia have used the Ukrainian Wikipedia in order to create compromising materials (kompromat) about me.

If Wikipedia is an encyclopaedia, then Wikipedia does not have to be used in order to create compromising materials.

Галактион Терёшин 94.26.144.199 07:14, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Can you give links to pages where they "done" it? In other case, please make a request to the uk.ArbCom. -- ^talk 09:15, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Yes, I can. Compromising materials have been created in the page "My talk" (= "Моя сторiнка обговорення"). Галактион Терёшин 94.26.144.199 12:15, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Make a link with [http://linknamefromyourbrowser] not that way. Have you contact the ArbCom? -- ^talk 15:51, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Користувач:Галактион/моя сторінка обговорення (if I understood you). I have no contact with the ArbCom. Галактион Терёшин 94.26.144.199 18:32, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Sorry but page you linked is deleted. Try to contact ArbCom on the uk.wiki and to solve this matter there. All I can see is that you have been warrned (on your talk page) before block. -- ^talk 18:39, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

My son ( a student of BCA Computer Application ) is now studying in 3rd semestar. But he is suffering from depression due to a very strange situation. He got 69% marks in the Madhyamik Exam (Secondary exam), he got 55% marks in Uchya madhymik Exam (Higher Secondary Exam), now he is getting over 70% marks in all the semestar so far (3rd semestar completed)Pallabdutta 16:08, 17 April 2010 (UTC). But I came to know from various sources that when my son will complete the degree (6 semestar) he will not be allowed to sit in the Campus interview of any big well know companies( for employment) because he has got less than 60% marks in the Ucchya Madhyamik exam.. Is it an acceptable explanation ? Every body is telling me that to be eligible to sit in the campus interview of big companies it is compulsory to get 60% marks in the Ucchya Madhyamik exam.(Higher Secondary exam). The situation stands like this:- If any students get 60% marks in the Higher Secondary exam and after that if that students get only 50% marks in all the 6 semestar even then the student will be allowed to sit in the campus interview of big companies because that particular student has got 60% marks in the Higher Secondary exam. Is it not a very strange matter ? Is this matter true or false ? Is it an acceptable or justified condition ? Can you please clarify this point so that my son (student) may get rid of his present depression condition ?

Having gotten no additional replies in over a week to the discussion at English Wikibooks on whether to opt in to global sysops, I look at the results and do feel there is consensus. We have participation in that discussion from 5 of the 6 most active admins. There is one definite objector, but their solution to wait longer before inactive admins are removed won't increase the number of active admins. Two admins are definitely in favor, one admin is somewhat in favor, and another admin only had the objection that global sysops stick to noncontroversial actions, which is explicitly defined in the policy. A longtime contributor is also in favor to protect the section of the site geared toward children. I myself am in favor. While not a vote, that leaves it numerically at one opposed, one neutral, and five in favor, before factoring in arguments. I write all this to justify the call on consensus given that global sysops leaves the criteria for consensus up to the project. Suffice it to say that this level of participation is typical for the English Wikibooks and if we had more, the idea of opting in to global sysops would likely not gain traction on the project. I therefore request English Wikibooks be added to the wiki set for global sysops. -- Adrignola 00:36, 18 April 2010 (UTC)