Wikipedia:WikipediaWeekly/Episode102

Episode 102: Visual Editor and RFCs - 30 September 2013 Released: TBD * Listen on archive.org • Metadata page on archive.org

Downloads

This episode available at: YouTube

Planned time

• Google Hangouts, Monday, Sep 30, 9pm Eastern US time. Contact: Andrew Lih or Facebook group [1]
• Facebook planning and discussion page for Wikipedia Weekly [2]

Participants:

• Fuzheado
• Emily
• James Hare (maybe)

Roundtable Topics

There was a showdown over Visual Editor this week, as the WMF yielded to pressure to change the visual editor's status to non-default, and opt-in. We need to have a serious discussion about what it means to have "community consensus" vs WMF's actions. Can anyone wrap their arms around what "the community" means anymore? People who have the special knowledge and time to seek out RFCs tucked into corners of Wikipedia? Ones who go to Wikimania and are involved with chapters? Newbie editors who don't even know what Village Pump is, much less the many sub-pages where discussions take place?

• Visual Editor showdown and removal as opt-out. Is this really the community consensus? Should we have the concept of "fair notice?" Why does that RFC supposedly speak for the "community?"
  • The "Default State" RFC that started in response to Visual Editor, with a majority unfavorable towards VE being the default (472-117, but this is a nonbinding vote) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:VisualEditor/Default_State_RFC
  • Response from Wikimedia, James Forrester - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:VisualEditor/Default_State_RFC#Wikimedia_response
  • The chunk of code that was put forth by User:Kww that would disable Visual Editor by anons and new users: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Kww/common3.js
  • Phillippe Beaudette's comment that this was harmful and dangerous: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3AKww&diff=573890336&oldid=573812058
  • User:Kww goes ahead and changes the default via Javascript code: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Archive253#Comments_requested_before_I_implement_consensus_at_WP:VisualEditor.2FDefault_State_RFC
  • Visual Editor manager James Forrester announces that they yield, and English Wikipedia will default to opt-in for all users but, "We continue to believe that this is a mistake" - https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=574252698#VisualEditor_now_opt-in_only_for_all_users_on_English_Wikipedia
  • The Register's Orlowski takes pleasure in the resulting debate
• Are Foundation employees also community members? Extensive debate on Village Pump - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(proposals)#Wikimedia_Foundation_employees_are_members_of_the_community
• Just announced on WMF blog: ideas to "humanize" mobile editing with new interfaces
  • https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/09/25/humanizing-wikipedia-editing-mobile-experiments/
• Also on WMF blog: Sarah Stierch on Culture of Evaluation: study " to see if the programs and projects they are doing, often to inspire and engage people to participate in the Wikimedia movement, work"
  • http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/09/27/survey-strong-culture-of-evaluation-room-for-growth/
• Exhaustive Arbcomm workshop on Manning case
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Manning_naming_dispute/Workshop
• WikiExperts and their press release about Fortune 500 companies
  • http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/164-of-fortune-500-companies-have-brand-damaging-warnings-on-their-wikipedia-profiles-225008532.html
• Jimmy Wales elaborates more on his views on paid editing: paid editing vs paid advocacy
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&diff=prev&oldid=574601308
• Should the Wikimedia community logo be trademarked? -
  • https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Trademark_practices_discussion#It.27s_time_to_reclaim_the_community_logo

• MUST TALK about Emily's Wiki project -

News and notes

• Gender difference in German and Swedish biographies (10x in some cases, more males than females)
  • https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/09/29/research-newsletter-september-2013/

Top articles this week

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:West.andrew.g/Popular_pages
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:TOP25

3	Breaking Bad 	1,094,844
4	Facebook  	663,781
5	Lycos 	633,791
6	List of Breaking Bad episodes	605,400
7	Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 	580,701
8	Grand Theft Auto V 	554,242
9	Breaking Bad (season 5)	526,088
10	Alive	487,729
11	Undefined	483,923
12	Alive!	467,651
13	Google 	400,116
14	Dexter (TV series) 	371,813
15	Max Martin 	352,775
16	Deaths in 2013	344,294
17	G-force 	338,360
18	The Big Bang Theory 	323,275
19	List of Bollywood films of 2013	320,177
20	Lorde 	305,200

Podcasters' picks

• Andrew - Conventry University in UK will be doing Wiki Makes Video project - http://pastspeaks.com/2013/09/23/andrew-lih-and-the-future-of-online-public-history/
• Emily - Generation Wikipedia!
• add more