Wikipedia:Village pump (miscellaneous)

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The miscellaneous section of the village pump is used to post messages that do not fit into any other category. Please post on the policy, technical, or proposals sections when appropriate, or at the help desk for assistance. For general knowledge questions, please use the reference desk.

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Data Citation Corpus

DataCite launches first release of the Data Citation Corpus: https://makedatacount.org/first-release-of-the-open-global-data-citation-corpus/

This appears to be a large database of citations taken from open source journals. The first iteration is citations that contain DOIs.

It is funded by Wellcome Trust serious backing. The first version is available as a data file: https://makedatacount.org/data-citation/

You can explore it visually with a dashboard: http://corpus.datacite.org/dashboard -- GreenC 15:04, 16 February 2024 (UTC)

• Wikipedia is currently not a source of the citations, which has pros and cons, for Wikipedia. Cons because hey, what about us. And pros because it can be a reliable source in creating/modifying citations on Wikipedia (reliable in the sense it has not been influenced by Wikipedia). -- GreenC 15:02, 16 February 2024 (UTC)

  I wonder how much that duplicates the citations in Wikidata. WhatamIdoing (talk) 17:40, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

  @GreenC In Arabic, we use the citation in Wikidata, seen here. Mohammed Qays (talk) 21:30, 24 February 2024 (UTC)

Vector 2022 flashed before my eyes

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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Today is Thursday, so anything is possible, but this was a weird one. A page I was looking at rendered in Vector 2022 for no reason that I could detect. I tried reloading the page. That didn't help. I went to some other page thinking I might have turned on V22 by accident, but no; other pages were fine, it was just this one. Eventually, I did a force refresh (which I believe flushes the browser cache for just that one page) and got back to normal. By "normal", I mean "not Vector 2022". I remember looking at the URL bar and didn't see anything unusual there. Anybody have any clue what might have been going on? RoySmith (talk) 22:04, 22 February 2024 (UTC)

Just a wild stab in the dark, but I see (two talk sections up) there was a deployment of a new feature. Possibly related? Barnards.tar.gz (talk) 22:36, 22 February 2024 (UTC)

I posted at WP:VPT about the same issue, everythings fine bar one page that forces Vector 2022. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested «@» °∆t° 23:27, 22 February 2024 (UTC)

I recommend moving this to WP:VPT so technical editors can see this and help you out. –Novem Linguae (talk) 23:33, 22 February 2024 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Finding non-redirects that have class=redirect

I want to find articles under a specific category that have a wikiproject 'class' hard set to 'redirect', but that are not actually redirects. Is there a tool to do this? I took at look at PetScan but I don't see a suitable combination of filters. Thanks. Praemonitus (talk) 14:57, 24 February 2024 (UTC)

@Praemonitus, I suggest moving this question to Wikipedia:Village pump (technical). WhatamIdoing (talk) 04:23, 27 February 2024 (UTC)

@WhatamIdoing: oh okay, thank you. Praemonitus (talk) 04:31, 27 February 2024 (UTC)

Ar-Wiki breaking neutrality on homepage

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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For the past few months, Ar-Wiki hosts a banner against "Israeli propaganda" and "Genocide in Gaza" on the frontpage. WMF does not mind it (after a huge number of attempts contacting them), and the chatter at the relevant meta-wiki is full of "justifications". Personally, I'm stopping my donations and contributions for now, as I don't donate to a website / organization endorsing a political opinion on the frontpage, especially not one that is against the alleged "propaganda" of the country I was born in. In my view they have broken the contract with us Wikipedians, promising a free and neutral encyclopedia.

I hope each and every contributor here will make their own decision whether to support the political opinion on ar-wiki's frontpage. By contributing to WMF, you're of course contributing to and are part of that message. Eventually donating to WMF (through the English Wikipedia) means donating for the hosting of a website influencing Arab readers and attempting to sway public politics. Have a good day, Bar Harel (talk) 05:17, 25 February 2024 (UTC)

This has nothing to do with enwiki, and the village pump is not a soapbox for ranting about "wmf bad." Firestar464 (talk) 21:36, 25 February 2024 (UTC)

I don't donate to the WMF, and en.wiki has nothing to do with ar.wiki's affairs. Go complain there. 🌺 Cremastra (talk) 22:02, 25 February 2024 (UTC)

Personally I do not mind the occasional update about what is going on with other Projects, and this is probably the best place on English Wikipedia for those updates. Commander Keane (talk) 01:01, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

Your meta.wikimedia.org link is the correct place to discuss this. Nothing we can do here. –Novem Linguae (talk) 01:04, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

If Wikipedia turns political, and the benefactors leave (because we lied to them about creating a neutral encyclopedia), enwiki is wiped. Do you think Google would appreciate us using donor funds and lying to them in order to host a political message on a supposedly "neutral" encyclopedia? You're welcome to check what happened to Websummit, so unless you agree with Wikipedia promoting political messages on the front page and risking the existence of this project, it is relevant to each and every person here, before we become websummit 2.0 and the project shuts doors. Bar Harel (talk) 06:40, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

"Unlike many Wikipedias in languages with a global span, like English, Spanish or Arabic, Hebrew Wikipedia resembles its Polish or Hungarian counterparts in being more of an "Israeli Wikipedia." It can be seen as having an implicit pro-Israeli bias." That's his opinion of course. According to many people, WP has all kinds of biases. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 08:13, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

What's Google got to do with it? Phil Bridger (talk) 10:19, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

@Phil Bridger we give donors the premise of neutrality as one of the five pillars of the project. We can't expect donations from large companies when we host political agendas on the main page and claim to be "neutral". I don't think many donors would appreciate us using the funds and resources to push a political agenda. A few months ago the same happened at Web Summit, and funds were pulled.

I'm not a legal expert so I'd appreciate one to chime in, but in our case it's an NGO and might amount to deceptive business practices. While the terms and conditions state that Wikimedia has no control over the editorial content, that would still be a weak case when a donation button appears on Wikipedia, with the premise of the five pillars, and then the funds are used to host content blatantly ignoring it. Furthermore, it is not "de minimis", as it is not a couple of articles that can be corrected. It is placed on purpose on the front page, and as a banner on every page on the website.

Regardless of the current case, I'm actually intrigued by what is WMF's responsibility with the use of donor funds. I'm sure they can't use it to purchase airplanes, but where is the border defined. Bar Harel (talk) 10:53, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

One of the only few sentences in the donation page is:

"Wikipedia is different: not perfect, but also not here to make a profit or to push a particular perspective."

arwiki is deliberately pushing a particular perspective on every page on the website. Again, I'm not a legal expert, but you do the thinking. Bar Harel (talk) 11:03, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

I like the point User:Gråbergs Gråa Sång brought up. This is you, who is from IsraeliWiki, trying to drag EnWiki into a political war with ArWiki. Go complain to Meta or ArWiki, not an uninvolved, unaffected third party that doesn’t give a crap. Dronebogus (talk) 12:07, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

Let's remember that Wikipedia (any language version) ≢ the WMF. The writers own the content. Phil Bridger (talk) 10:19, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

References

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

RfC at Meta proposing to require consensus from the broader Wikimedia community prior to local Wikiprojects implementing blackouts or other advocacy

Interested editors may find the RfC here. BilledMammal (talk) 01:31, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

User:BilledMammal, the RfC is unsigned due to a tilde typo. -- GreenC 02:19, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

This may have been intentional. Some folks prefer to not sign their RFCs. I disagree with this practice of obfuscating who starts RFCs, but I think the idea is that it reduces bias or something. –Novem Linguae (talk) 02:43, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

What does that even mean? What does "Recently, however, communities have started to take position on more contentious topics" refer to? Bon courage (talk) 02:21, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

It probably refers to Arabic Wikipedia adding pro-Palestine banners and doing a one day pro-Palestine blackout. –Novem Linguae (talk) 02:45, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

Is there a way to send a notification to all of the other communities and projects? By turning Wikipedia into a tool promoting political messages, all of WMF's assets are in danger, and that applies to every language of every project. Bar Harel (talk) 06:59, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

Unless the politics is the right kind.[1] Given the precedent has been set for using Wikipedia assets for 'blackouts or other advocacy', the question is: who decides how? Bon courage (talk) 08:00, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

From your link: "In making this decision, Wikipedians will be criticized for seeming to abandon neutrality to take a political position. That’s a real, legitimate issue. We want people to trust Wikipedia, not worry that it is trying to propagandize them."

arwiki atm is promoting political propaganda on its homepage. It's not really a question - in the meta thread it is being defended as the "right thing to do". Bar Harel (talk) 09:24, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

Youve made your view on this very clear already. You can stop now. This project cannot do anything about another project, and hysterical claims of "political propaganda" arent really something that gets dealt with at the village pump last I checked. This isnt an en.wiki problem, kindly stop trying to make it one. nableezy - 16:57, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

Same editor using different usernames

Editor using different usernames (Blackhawk333 and KnowledgeHunter6788), per

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=St._Aloysius_College_(Mangalore)&action=history

Nirva20 (talk) 16:40, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

The proper location to report this is Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations. Please read the instructions beginning with Before opening an investigation ... before editing there. I will add that, while I do not perform sockpuppet investigations, I think that your evidence is weak. More evidence of the two editors apparently supporting each other would help your case. Donald Albury 17:19, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

::Based on your comments, I will drop it. I just assumed that two editors making identical edits ... Nirva20 (talk) 17:20, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

I agree that they're probably the same editor due to identical "deemed to be university" edits. Try filing an WP:SPI. They can decide if the behavior is rule breaking enough to justify blocks. –Novem Linguae (talk) 17:19, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

Thanks to both of you for your input. Nirva20 (talk) 17:22, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

"Deemed to be university" is a pretty common phrase in India, so that in itself is not evidence of sockpuppetry. But, of course, it is not evidence against it. Phil Bridger (talk) 18:07, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

Out of curiosity… what is a “Deemed to be University”? Blueboar (talk) 20:09, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

Nevermind… I found that we have an article on Deemed university. Blueboar (talk) 20:28, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

@Nirva20, were you aware that "deemed-to-be-university" is a legal status in India? I've never heard of it myself, but those editors are probably correct. WhatamIdoing (talk) 04:32, 27 February 2024 (UTC)

Probably so. Yours, Nirva20 (talk) 04:37, 27 February 2024 (UTC)

Could Wikipedia sue Neri Oxman?

As I ask in my post, does anyone know if Wikipedia/Wikimedia has ever sued someone for copyright infringement? Reagle (talk) 18:59, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

Wikipedia/Wikimedia cannot sue anyone for copyright infringement because it does not own the copyright for its content. Ruslik_Zero 19:59, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

Yes, I think you're right unless the Vizio case changes things. Reagle (talk) 20:36, 1 March 2024 (UTC)

What would be the point? While it is technically possible, and not very uncommon, to CI WP-text, it is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0 anyway. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 20:15, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

Heh. Funny you should mention that. I was at a talk this past weekend when I saw one of my own photos pop up on the screen, unattributed. They had obviously downloaded it from commons. For a moment I thought about pointing out to them that by failing to honor the "BY" part of CC-BY-SA, that had violated my copyright, but I behaved myself. RoySmith (talk) 22:38, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

I strongly prefer to use CC images in my slide decks (as a professor) and always link to the original image or have a credits slide (if the image is a background and can't be clicked on). I've assumed that's "reasonable" but not sure if that has been adjudicated? Reagle (talk) 20:53, 1 March 2024 (UTC)

The point would be akin to @RoySmith's case. Some people contribute to Wikipedia with the expectation that the license will be abided by. In any case, it doesn't sound like a copyright infringement ''of'' Wikipedia content has ever been litigated. Reagle (talk) 20:38, 1 March 2024 (UTC)

That article seems very confused. In the first paragraph it says, "Neri Oxman plagiarized from and violated Wikipedia’s copyright", but later says, "users retain their copyright, rather than assigning or transferring it to the Wikimedia Foundation". The latter is correct, so individual users could potentially sue, but not "Wikipedia", by which I assume the article means the Wikimedia Foundation. Even so it would be very difficult to show any loss, so, if I was a lawyer, I would advise against suing. Phil Bridger (talk) 20:49, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

You could probably get the minimum statutory damages, which in the US is US$750 per infringed work,[2] as long as the work isn't online. If it's only online, you'd send a DMCA takedown message and get nothing. See Wikipedia:Standard license violation letter and Wikipedia:Standard CC BY-SA violation letter if you ever find yourself wanting to start that process. WhatamIdoing (talk) 04:45, 27 February 2024 (UTC)

The only time I've noticed someone using content I added to Wikipedia without attribution, I notified the administrator of the Facebook group and it was taken down. Anything beyond that seemed to require more effort than it was worth. Donald Albury 14:56, 27 February 2024 (UTC)

Thank you for those violation letters. From their existence, I presume they have been sent, but the cases were low visibility and little has gone before a court -- unlike some of the free software cases. Reagle (talk) 20:41, 1 March 2024 (UTC)

UK GDPR issue came up in AfD, unsure where to head next

Hello, the Article for Deletion (AfD) discussion for Lynn Murray [3] has mentioned that the subject of the article has asked that we delete her page under section 17 of the UK's GDPR law. What are the next steps to follow? I'm unsure where to ask this, the Village Pump seemed like the best place to start. I'm an editor involved in AfD, but not an admin if that helps. Feel free to respond here or in the AfD I've linked. Thank you. Oaktree b (talk) 20:57, 28 February 2024 (UTC)

As someone has already pointed out, Wikimedia is a US entity operating under California/US law. To my knowledge, they don't appear to publicly talk much about GDPR. That said, the contact point is listed at meta:Wikimedia Foundation Legal department (you'll probably want legal@). A couple of other observations: IMDB gives a recent acting role in 2020, and there's some links on the talk page to her (presumably self-published and presumably recent) profiles, both of which give me certain doubts. That said, BLPREQUESTDELETE is generally honoured in marginal cases such as this, so you might want to see how that plays out before anything else. -- zzuuzz ^(talk) 21:58, 28 February 2024 (UTC)

Two thoughts:

• Someone needs to read Right to be forgotten. As I understand it, "____ is a Scottish actor" is not generally considered private information by anyone.
• Have you heard of the Streisand effect? Page views are up.

(I'm not sure that we need an article about this person.) WhatamIdoing (talk) 04:04, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Wikimedia is a US entity operating under California/US law According to the EU, the GDPR is extra-territorial in scope, and applies to any data processor who handles information on EU citizens. Despite Brexit, the data of UK citizens would still be in scope of GDPR compliance as it's not yet repealed it. The Foundation itself maintains a presence in Ireland and the UK for GDPR compliance, though whether that's only for the personal data of editors is unclear from the privacy policy. Sideswipe9th (talk) 04:16, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Designing a new Wishlist: Meet Jack, the new Lead Community Tech Manager

Hello community, I want to introduce Jack Wheeler, who has recently joined the Wikimedia Foundation as the Lead Community Tech Manager and is responsible for the Future of the Wishlist.

Jack would like to have a conversation with the community, to get input for the design of the new Wishlist Survey, starting with how to define a "Wish."

Community Tech would appreciate you chatting with him; your input will be invaluable.

You can check out Jack's first message to the community, where you can find a link to proceed to book time to talk to him, or share your ideas.

Best regards,

On behalf of the Community Tech team, STei (WMF) (talk) 09:36, 29 February 2024 (UTC)

Talking:2024 February 2024 Update from Maryana

Hey all,

I'm following up on the recent request for conversation in the virtual learning and sharing tour, Talking: 2024. Maryana has an update sharing some highlights so far. It has been shared on Diff, Meta-wiki, and wikimedia-l.

CKoerner (WMF) (talk) 19:15, 29 February 2024 (UTC)

How to draftify an article that's already been draftified

• Miss USA 2024
• Draft:Miss USA 2024

I went to draftify Miss USA 2024, a new, un-patrolled article with a single press release as a source. I could not, as Draft:Miss USA 2024 already exists. I'm not sure what to do about this. ☆ Bri (talk) 19:52, 29 February 2024 (UTC)

In this case the mainspace article is an obvious copyright violation of the draft, so it should be tagged with WP:G12. Phil Bridger (talk) 20:07, 29 February 2024 (UTC)

Does WP:G12 work on WP:CWWs? I think the way that's usually handled is a null edit adding attribution. –Novem Linguae (talk) 21:25, 29 February 2024 (UTC)

WP:DRAFTOBJECT suggests that we can't double draftify (Draft:Miss USA 2024 was also draftified), so maybe it should go to AFD. –Novem Linguae (talk) 21:25, 29 February 2024 (UTC)

Thanks for the advice, I'm trying G12 first. ☆ Bri (talk) 00:15, 1 March 2024 (UTC)

WP:G12 does not apply here as it says public-domain and other free content, such as a Wikipedia mirror, do not fall under this criterion, nor is mere lack of attribution of such works a reason for speedy deletion - the correct thing to do would have been too request a history merge of the draft to the article and then list it at AfD. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 00:22, 1 March 2024 (UTC)

The new article and the draft only share about a paragraph, and have significant other differences, perhaps making a history merge not a perfect solution here. –Novem Linguae (talk) 00:41, 1 March 2024 (UTC)

I see that this was solved by a quick redirect, which I think is fine.

I do hope that the decision wasn't based on the sources already cited in the article, as WP:NEXIST is still technically the rule, and a quick search finds sources like this one (300 words directly about the pageant). WhatamIdoing (talk) 04:28, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Heitor Villa-Lobos Suite Populaire Bresilienne

In addition to Kraft and Zigante, Julian Bream recorded four movements of the Suite in 1978. The recording is principally of the 12 Etudes. If possible this should be included in the article. 2A00:23C5:7F92:A801:E1AE:DFCC:23F4:D34E (talk) 09:53, 1 March 2024 (UTC)

These kinds of comments should be placed on the article talk page. Which article? When I figure out which article, I can help you find its talk page. –Novem Linguae (talk) 12:37, 1 March 2024 (UTC)

Ukraine's Cultural Diplomacy Month 2024: We are back!

Please help translate to other languages.

Hello, dear Wikipedians!

Wikimedia Ukraine, in cooperation with the MFA of Ukraine and Ukrainian Institute, has launched the forth edition of writing challenge "Ukraine's Cultural Diplomacy Month", which lasts from 1st until 31st March 2024. The campaign is dedicated to famous Ukrainian artists of cinema, music, literature, architecture, design and cultural phenomena of Ukraine that are now part of world heritage. We accept contribution in every language! The most active contesters will receive prizes.

We invite you to take part and help us improve the coverage of Ukrainian culture on Wikipedia in your language! Also, we plan to set up a banner to notify users of the possibility to participate in such a challenge! ValentynNefedov (WMUA) (talk)

An admirable goal, to be sure, but I'm not sure I like the precedent set by the WMF cozying up to government ministries, no matter where they are. (in cooperation with the MFA of Ukraine) 🌺 Cremastra (talk) 13:49, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Request for comment on Narendra Modi Talk page

{{rfc notice}}

Join the ongoing discussion on Talk:Narendra Modi#"Request for Comment" Thanks BlackOrchidd (talk) 05:50, 3 March 2024 (UTC)

Getting a re-direct deleted

How do I go about getting 2024 District of Columbia Democratic primary deleted? As it's now (via a mistake I made) a re-direct to a re-direct. GoodDay (talk) 17:05, 3 March 2024 (UTC)

Can’t you just edit it so it points to the appropriate article section? Blueboar (talk) 17:21, 3 March 2024 (UTC)

A bot will be along soon to fix the redirect to point directly to its target's target 2024 Democratic Party presidential primaries#Primaries and caucus calendar. There's no need to delete it. However, if you wish, you can fix it manually yourself or add a {{g7}} (or {{Db-error}}) tag requesting deletion. Certes (talk) 17:21, 3 March 2024 (UTC)

I've added a {{Db-error}}, to make certain it gets deleted. Thanks for the help, folks. GoodDay (talk) 17:25, 3 March 2024 (UTC)

Missing Redirects Project

I've made a tool at toolforge:missingredirectsproject for creating suggested redirects. I'd appreciate it if anyone's willing to try it out and give me some feedback. — Qwerfjkltalk 17:57, 3 March 2024 (UTC)

Report of the U4C Charter ratification and U4C Call for Candidates now available

You can find this message translated into additional languages on Meta-wiki. Please help translate to other languages.

Hello all,

I am writing to you today with two important pieces of information. First, the report of the comments from the Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C) Charter ratification is now available. Secondly, the call for candidates for the U4C is open now through April 1, 2024.

The Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C) is a global group dedicated to providing an equitable and consistent implementation of the UCoC. Community members are invited to submit their applications for the U4C. For more information and the responsibilities of the U4C, please review the U4C Charter.

Per the charter, there are 16 seats on the U4C: eight community-at-large seats and eight regional seats to ensure the U4C represents the diversity of the movement.

Read more and submit your application on Meta-wiki.

On behalf of the UCoC project team,

RamzyM (WMF) 16:25, 5 March 2024 (UTC)