Shirt a Phobia

Administrators’ newsletter – June 2017

Administrator changes

Doug Bell • Dennis Brown • Clpo13 • ONUnicorn

ThaddeusB • Yandman • Bjarki S • OldakQuill • Shyam • Jondel • Worm That Turned

Guideline and policy news

An RfC proposing an off-wiki LTA database has been closed. The proposal was broadly supported, with further discussion required regarding what to do with the existing LTA database and defining access requirements. Such a tool/database formed part of the Community health initiative‘s successful grant proposal.
Some clarifications have been made to the community banning and unblocking policies that effectively sync them with current practice. Specifically, the community has reached a consensus that when blocking a user at WP:AN or WP:ANI, it is considered a “community sanction”, and administrators cannot unblock unilaterally if the user has not successfully appealed the sanction to the community.
An RfC regarding the bot policy has closed with changes to the section describing restrictions on cosmetic changes.

Technical news

Users will soon be able to blacklist specific users from sending them notifications.

Miscellaneous

Following the 2017 elections, the new members of the Board of Trustees include Raystorm, Pundit and Doc James. They will serve three-year terms.

19:04, 5 June 2017 (UTC)

From the editors: Signpost status: On reserve power, help wanted!
Inviting new writers, editors, and ideas

News and notes: Global Elections
WMF Board election results, and FDC elections begin

Arbitration report: Cases closed in the Pacific and with Magioladitis
Two cases were closed from 19 February to 27 March.

Op-ed: Wikipedia’s lead sentence problem
Lead sentence metadata is out of control and a serious impediment to readability

Featured content: Three months in the land of the featured
Eighty-eight articles, forty-three lists, five topics and twenty-two pictures were promoted

In the media: Did Wikipedia just assume Garfield’s gender?
Garfield is male, and other places Wikipedia made the news

Recent research: Wikipedia bot wars capture the imagination of the popular press
…but are they real?; personality and attitudes to Wikipedia; large expert review experiment

Technology report: Tech news catch-up
Bots, scripts, tools, and changes from February to June 2017

Traffic report: Film on Top: Sampling the weekly top 10
Two weeks of film dominance: Baahubali and the Academy Awards

15:29, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

15:44, 19 June 2017 (UTC)

News and notes: Departments reorganized at Wikimedia Foundation, and a month without new RfAs (so far)
While the English Wikipedia community produces no new requests for adminhood in June, the Wikimedia Foundation makes changes to the Product and Technology departments.

In the media: Kalanick’s nipples; Episode #138 of Drama on the Hill
The anatomy of Uber CEO Travis Kalanick’s chest area has been the talk of the month. But so have high-profile edits, hacked articles, and one particular newborn growing up.

Op-ed: Facto Post: a fresh take
Exploring sourcing issues in Wikimedia projects, a solution in Wikidata and fact mining, and a newsletter to continue the conversation.

Featured content: Will there ever be a break? The slew of featured content continues
22 featured articles, 17 featured lists, 7 featured pictures

Traffic report: Wonder Woman beats Batman, The Mummy, Darth Vader and the Earth
Summer blockbusters and sports, Trump and world events.

Recent research: Utopian bubbles: Can Wikipedians create value outside of the capitalist system?
A researcher applies Marxist critiques of political economy to investigate whether gamification, a culture of altruism, and other anti-corporatist influences on peer production can create a sustainable gift economy in a project like Wikipedia.