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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Lowercase sigmabot III (talk | contribs) at 01:19, 11 March 2016 (Archiving 2 discussion(s) from Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Signpost) (bot). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Archive 5←Archive 7Archive 8Archive 9Archive 10Archive 11→Archive 15

RSS

The RSS version seems to be broken. Please, fix.—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); April 10, 2015; 14:42 (UTC)

@Ezhiki: I sent Yuvipanda a message. ResMar 15:52, 10 April 2015 (UTC)
Thanks; appreciated. I wasn't sure if there was anyone who I could bug directly. Cheers,—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); April 10, 2015; 15:59 (UTC)
Might as well @YuviPanda (WMF) and Yuvipanda: too. ResMar 18:13, 10 April 2015 (UTC)
Any news? The link now works, but continues to display an outdated issue.—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); May 21, 2015; 19:22 (UTC)

Single page view link in mailing lists

Hi. In the last couple of issues, in the mailing list version, the link for the "Single page view" has been broken because of a missing underscore: https://i.imgur.com/CyXhLqP.png -- However, I can't figure out how that even got there, given that the automated output (Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Newsroom/Coordination#Mailing list output for this issue) just links to the redirect...?? (fwiw, I do appreciate having the exact-issue link, instead of the redirect, for when I occasionally get backlogged and want to read back-issues.) Hope that helps! Quiddity (talk) 16:57, 11 April 2015 (UTC)

@Quiddity: It's a known issue. Jarry wrote the automated tool back when and hasn't updated it to fix this issue. ResMar 21:16, 11 April 2015 (UTC)

Disruption?

Did I spotted a disruption in the signpost at featured content portal? -The Herald the joy of the LORDmy strength 17:14, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

Banner has been returned to the page, with noinclude this time to fix the erroneous transclusion. ResMar 17:34, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

And is it still our editor emeritus doing this? Is there, then, something wrong with bot's summary or is it ed himself initiating it? -The Herald the joy of the LORDmy strength 18:57, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

No, Gamaliel published this week. The bot is not maintained so the message has not been updated to reflect that. ResMar 20:21, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

Missing issues

As you know, I'm categorizing the Signpost articles and archives and Issue #6 and #7 are missing from this list (Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Archives/2015). Can some intrepid staffer post the contents of those two issues? Thanks! Liz Read! Talk! 21:30, 10 May 2015 (UTC)

Oh, and issue #12 and issue #17 are also missing so I'd appreciate it if they could be added as well. Liz Read! Talk! 21:53, 10 May 2015 (UTC)
I've added all of them. Ed [talk] [majestic titan] 22:12, 10 May 2015 (UTC)
Thanks, Ed! I've now caught up to April 2015. When I get more energy, I'll go back to the beginning or update the links to WikiProjects articles, Category:WikiProjects featured in The Signpost which Ottawahitech used to work on but she is taking a wikibreak right now. Liz Read! Talk! 00:01, 11 May 2015 (UTC)

Single page version is broken

The newly posted single page version is broken. Can someone who knows how to set it up please have a look: I see red links and a template loop error. Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Single is not much better.--JohnBlackburnewordsdeeds 22:48, 23 April 2015 (UTC)

OK, both seem fixed now (though I had to purge Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Single for it to pick up whatever had been changed). Thanks to whoever saw to it.--JohnBlackburnewordsdeeds 23:57, 23 April 2015 (UTC)
We frequently find we have to purge the cache for the same reason. Something to do with the publishing bot, I think. Gamaliel (talk) 23:58, 23 April 2015 (UTC)
@Gamaliel: Purge#Theory is a Wikimedia-wide problem... I don't think we can fairly blame the bot for this. :-) Ed [talk] [majestic titan] 01:12, 11 May 2015 (UTC)

I love this thing!

This thing is the best! User page Contributions 14:06 5-13-15 (UTC)

Hi Writer freak. I assume you're talking about the Signpost as the thing you love, and we are so happy to hear that! If you ever want to take a crack at contributing, you can always check out the newsroom to dive in. Thanks! Go Phightins! 03:03, 16 May 2015 (UTC)

Tweaked sidebar

I've tweaked your sidebar, creating a proposed change in a sandbox:

Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Templates/Navigation/sandbox

Any preferences or comments? --Jules (Mrjulesd) 12:44, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

I don't see how this one is any better than the one we have now. It makes a conscious effort to re-expose all of the items in the sidebar, whereas the point of the design is that it hides as much as possible, for compactness and obstructiveness, while still making it available on click-through. ResMar 14:18, 18 May 2015 (UTC)
OK I'll leave it as it is if that is the consensus from you folks. I guess it's a question of compactness versus obviousness, I'm not a great fan of hidden text without obvious "show" or "hide". --Jules (Mrjulesd) 14:42, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

Hello

Hello, this is my first time to have been envolved with the Signpost (I've written four in-briefs in the "in the news"-section). I hope I haven't destroyed anything. It was pretty hard to understand ho I could help contribute, I got the the "/Newsroom"-page and was..."where do I click to help out" or something like that...:P But I wanted to say hi, and thank you all for your great work with the 'post! (t) Josve05a (c) 22:58, 20 May 2015 (UTC)

@Josve05a: You should have seen it back in the day! The current look is the result of work on my part to make things more readable for non-regulars. There is so much information to acquisse to that it's difficult to direct people to it neatly. If you want to contribute here is where you should go first. ResMar 19:00, 21 May 2015 (UTC)

Linking editors' names

  • What, pray tell, is this about? Why would Gamaliel remove the link to Hafspajen's user page? I get that this most recent edition was a rush job, but that doesn't excuse removing a link where it already exists, especially when the remover and the removed have had disagreements in the past. Has Signpost really changed so much since I handled FC for a year +?  — Chris Woodrich (talk) 23:24, 21 May 2015 (UTC)
We're not going to link to a page that hosts attacks against Signpost contributors. Gamaliel (talk) 23:45, 21 May 2015 (UTC)
  • So you are being vindictive. If anyone actually apologized to the editor (Haf was right about Pilot's copyvios, after all), then I'd expect you'd find those "attacks" removed. — Chris Woodrich (talk) 23:50, 21 May 2015 (UTC)
  • Vindictive: "having or showing a strong or unreasoning desire for revenge." Haf said things you don't like, so you stir the pot and don't link their name, then revert someone who fixes the error. Don't see how that isn't vindictive. Especially when your reason, "We're not going to link to a page that hosts attacks against Signpost contributors.", is laughably false; Hafs user page hasn't even existed on the English Wikipedia since 27 April. — Chris Woodrich (talk) 05:36, 22 May 2015 (UTC)
  • If you want to you can pretend that a user page and a user talk page are just two random pages that have no relationship to one another, but don't come in here pretending it's the smoking gun Perry Mason just used to disprove the district attorney's case. Not using the Signpost to link to attacks on Signpost contributors, regardless of who those contributors are, is a simple principle, but one that, like the definition of vindictive, some people apparently are having a difficult time comprehending. I don't know what it is about FC that causes all of you to abandon AGF, sling around outrageous and transparently false accusations at the drop of a hat, and lose your collective minds to drama. Gamaliel (talk) 14:20, 22 May 2015 (UTC)
  • I've reinstated the link. Credit is due where credit is due. The matter of the "attacks" should be dealt with in another venue. (Also I believe the Signpost editors requested specifics on just these issues, so I do not personally regard them as attacks but rather as clarification, but as I say - that does not affect the issue that the Signpost should give credit.) Yngvadottir (talk) 23:58, 21 May 2015 (UTC)
A side note: the linked page (Hafspajen) doesn't even mention the Signpost. It says simply "Je Suis Hafspajen", a sign that the editor feels persecuted, but nothing explicitly linked to this publication or any of its editors. There is discourse on the user's talk page, but we're not linking that, and (as Yngvadottir said) it's mostly clarificatory in nature, though the ill will between both sides is fairly obvious. — Chris Woodrich (talk) 00:03, 22 May 2015 (UTC)
  • Gamaliel, if you want this to go away, don't do it by blanking. A bit of common sense would work. The particular user/talk page is NOT, by any stretch of the imagination, an attack page. I'm seriously getting a bit tired of this stuff. Drmies (talk) 06:58, 23 May 2015 (UTC)
  • Gamaliel appears to have accepted in hindsight that the revert was reasonable. Frankly, we'd all be pleased to move on from the messy series of incidents involving Haf and Pilot. Let's do so. Tony (talk) 16:55, 23 May 2015 (UTC)

Featured content

Could someone please set up the FC page? I don't mind doing the rest of the content, but the setup's beyond me at the moment. Xanthomelanoussprog (talk) 16:05, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

It looks like Juliancolton has set it up properly today. Gamaliel (talk) 16:07, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

Technical notes on importing blog posts / web pages

ResMar asked in the Newsroom:

maybe you can help me. How difficult do you think it'd be to reverse the wikicode-to-html script you've made? Ae. writing something for the opposite process. At the moment it's a mass of doldrums find&replace operations that rather reduce our desire to republish WM Blog content at all.

Off the top of my head I would suggest two options for you to convert these blog posts with reasonable effort:

  1. Copypaste the blog post from your browser into LibreOffice Writer and export it from there as wikitext using the "Wiki Publisher" extension (see here for some more detail, although you likely won't need step 4 and the Python script there). It will still need some manual fixes (e.g. for images), but should save a lot of time by preserving links and most formatting.
  2. Or just try to find the original draft wiki page that the post was generated from, at m:Wikimedia Blog/Drafts#Archived drafts. The problem with that option is that while the blog team tries to do most editing on that kind of public draft page, there may occasionally still be differences to the finalized version published on the blog. You could either ask the blog admin who published that post (currently most likely Andrew) if there were such edits, or simply compare the text side-by-side.

There are various other possibilities; you can find some pointers here and here.

And by the way, in the big picture, this problem (going from wikitext to HTML and back) is exactly what Parsoid has been solving in the last few years, as a prerequisite for VisualEditor (i.e. for editing in HTML instead of wikitext). It's not that difficult in most situations, but there is a long tail of rare tricky special cases - especially for certain templates - and sometimes the roundtrip wikitext -> HTML -> wikitext conversion arrives back at a slightly different version of the original source. These are the "dirty diffs" which have caused some of the editor frustration when VE was first rolled out as beta in 2013. To keep grips on that, the developers are constantly running new versions of the Parsoid code against a huge test database of more than 100,000 articles. Anyway, I digress, but the point is that the cleanest solution for the problem you describe ("reverse the wikicode-to-html script") would likely involve first rewriting the script to use Parsoid HTML output, i.e. the kind of HTML that can be converted back 1:1, and then rely on Parsoid to obtain the wikitext back if someone wants to syndicate a blog post on-wiki. I've actually considered doing the former, and chatted a bit about it with some Parsoid engineers, but it's not quite on top of my list currently, as the current version works well enough for its present purpose.

Regards, Tbayer (WMF) (talk) 06:00, 28 May 2015 (UTC)

Having VisualEditor enabled in Wikipedia namespace might make option two quite a bit easier, but then that will probably open up a whole different set of unrelated issues. Gamaliel (talk) 15:16, 28 May 2015 (UTC)
Yes (I think you mean option 1), VE is a great way to import HTML formatting too, and it's enabled in user space, so you can try importing blog posts right now by copypasting them into your sandbox. But unfortunately it doesn't import HTML links currently, which is why I didn't mention this option above. It might be a good alternative for posts with few or no links, though. Regards, Tbayer (WMF) (talk) 16:20, 28 May 2015 (UTC)
I didn't even think about the sandbox, thank you! I'll try that with my next blog import. Gamaliel (talk) 18:57, 28 May 2015 (UTC)

Missing issue?

I never recived my issue of the signpost this week. Where did it go? Did my dog eat it while I was outor something? (t) Josve05a (c) 00:39, 30 May 2015 (UTC)

It wasn't delivered to my talk page either and I checked to see if I was on the mailing list and, yep!, I'm there. Liz Read! Talk! 14:32, 30 May 2015 (UTC)
A spot-check on the subscriptions page shows that the bot seems to have only delivered the issue ~50% of the time. I know not why. ResMar 14:50, 30 May 2015 (UTC)

Discussion report

Feel free to delete or scrap Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2015-05-27/Discussion report if it does not live up to standards, or if it just isn't wanted. (t) Josve05a (c) 08:17, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

Looks good to me, for what that's worth. Where is the rest of this week's report? No, I don't feel worthy of contributing.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 17:26, 29 May 2015 (UTC)
And I see it's ready. I'll have time to read Monday.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 15:36, 30 May 2015 (UTC)

Delivery Dilemma

Hello Signpost readers, I just wanted to drop a note to let you all know that we are aware of some inconsistency with the delivery bot, and that some of you have missed talk page delivery for at least one recent issue. We are aware that there is a problem, and are working to rectify it. Thank you for your patience. Go Phightins! 03:47, 7 June 2015 (UTC)

WA programmatic efforts

I'm very supportive of the efforts of Western Australian Wikimedians in designing and conducting a few creative activities. Tony (talk) 09:04, 18 June 2015 (UTC)

Featured content

I'm on 'oliday next week- probably won't have internet access. Xanthomelanoussprog (talk) 14:37, 19 June 2015 (UTC)

Do enjoy your 'liday, though. ResMar 15:36, 19 June 2015 (UTC)

Help plan a new software feature for easy subscription to newsletters

We are developing a MediaWiki extension that will enable users to subscribe to community newsletters much more easily. We are very excited to hear your feedback on the features we have planned. Feel free to share your thoughts here. - Tinaj1234 (talk) 12:38, 9 June 2015 (UTC)

Responded on Phab. ResMar 15:37, 19 June 2015 (UTC)

Issue problems

I have noticed that the Signpost often does not come out until Sunday or Monday. Why don't you fix this problem?--Moran25004 (talk) 08:25, 30 June 2015 (UTC)

It's not published until Friday often, unfortunate but not a game breaker. The deliverance issues are not limited to us and have to do with a bug in the software: Special:MassMessage isn't quite working like it ought to. No word yet on a fix. ResMar 13:34, 3 July 2015 (UTC)
Is there a Phabricator ticket for that bug? Regards, Tbayer (WMF) (talk) 21:21, 7 July 2015 (UTC)
I believe so, but am not certain. ResMar 01:53, 8 July 2015 (UTC)

Content Translation is now live

It might be worthwhile following up on the op-ed from the previous edition, the Content Translation tool is now indeed live on en.wp. People can access it by going to "beta" and selecting "content translation" - the system is then available as a dropdown in "contributions". You can follow the new articles that are created by filtering Recent Changes for the "Content Translation" tag: https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&tagfilter=contenttranslation

The first mainspace creations for En.wp with the tool were published simultaniously:

Machine translation exists for new English articles when the source language is: Catalan, Welsh, Spanish, Basque, Galician, or Serbo-Croatian (sh). New source-language Machine Translation options can potentially be added if people want to help develop the (open source) Apertium system https://www.apertium.org/.

For those interested in the ongoing development of the system, a prototype of now the next version of the CT "dashboard" might look is here - http://pauginer.github.io/prototypes/translation/translation-lists/index.html. Sincerely, Wittylama 12:26, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

This is mentioned in tech report, probably will be in N&N, in brief. ResMar 13:27, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

Budweiser

From 'Featured articles':

'...an alcoholic beverage made from rice and wood called "Budweiser".'

I think not. It may well taste that way, but our article on the beverage says that it is made with "up to 30% rice in addition to hops and barley malt", which seems more plausible. You may want to take a look at the supposed prizes for the Budweiser Shootout too... AndyTheGrump (talk) 05:07, 11 July 2015 (UTC)

…and "matured over beechwood". The beechwood is boiled in bicarbonate of soda first. Beer yeast doesn't normally ferment rice, so there must be some kind of process to convert the rice starch to fermentable sugars. It appears that American six-row barley has a higher percentage of protein (which causes protein haze) and the substitution of adjuncts such as rice reduces the difficulty of clearing the wort. The "beechwood" bit is ostensibly to remove yeast from the liquor. I seem to remember that high-volume production of lager beers uses a column process, where the wort is pumped in at the base and travels upward, but I can't find any reference to that- it supposedly took four hours to make a batch. Xanthomelanoussprog (talk) 06:15, 11 July 2015 (UTC)

Would I just be bragging if

I just celebrated my 50th birthday by traveling to New York City to visit articles that I have created. I don't know if this has ever been done before. I don't know if it would be a good interview subject or a good op-ed piece. I arrived in NYC on June 23 and departed on June 29. On June 23 before my birthday, I visited Ground Zero (I'll upload some pictures soon), which I have not been involved in editorially. On Wednesday June 24th I commenced my celebration by attending a 2PM matinee at the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center which featured Misty Copeland (, , page creator). That evening, I attended The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (, page creator), starring Alex Sharp (DYK nominee, page creator). On Friday June 26, I attended the Museum of Modern Art to visit Drowning Girl (, , , page creator) see here, Girl with Ball (, , page creator) and Campbell's Soup Cans (, , page creator) see here. On Saturday June 27, I attended Kinky Boots (, , , page creator). On Sunday June 28, I attended the inaugural exhibition at the newly located Whitney Museum of American Art, which houses Little Big Painting (, page creator). I apologize that I have not spent any editorial time on the New York culinary delicacies that made up my June 25th evening. Is there a signpost article in this story?--TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 13:10, 30 June 2015 (UTC)

@TonyTheTiger: Ah! I live in New York City, so if you'd mentioned that you're here a few days ago we could have done an in-person interview (meeting other Wikipedians is personally interesting to me). ResMar 14:17, 30 June 2015 (UTC)
I have facetime and we can always talk, chat or ping back and forth.--TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 16:32, 30 June 2015 (UTC)
Definitely you should have mentioned beforehand so some of us from Wikipedia:Meetup/NYC could meet, talk shop, visit some of those places together, share dinner, or whatever. Jim.henderson (talk) 11:50, 2 July 2015 (UTC)
TonyTheTiger this sounds like it could be the next travelogue article for the Signpost. I'm no longer in charge here, but I like your suggestion and hope that the authorities will agree. --Pine✉ 16:50, 2 July 2015 (UTC)
Pine, I am not familiar with the travelogue feature, but I believe that would be suitable.--TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 02:55, 3 July 2015 (UTC)
Perhaps. An issue of manpower is the biggest blocker (and, I'll be honest, I don't like travelogues). ResMar 13:35, 3 July 2015 (UTC)
Pine, any chance that you would do this as a one-off travelogue article.--TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 02:44, 8 July 2015 (UTC)
TonyTheTiger I'm afraid I'm too busy with other priorities to write this myself, but I have an idea. How about discussing this with Ed_Erhart (WMF) for a possible entry in the Wikimedia Blog? Ed is the former editor-in-chief of the Signpost. Perhaps you two can work something out. I believe that WMF Communications likes having community content be published in the blog. --Pine✉ 21:12, 15 July 2015 (UTC)
Pine, do you have a suggestion on how to communicate with Ed_Erhart (WMF)? He neither responds to his User talk page nor to his listed email address.--TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 06:44, 28 July 2015 (UTC)
I'll see if I can get someone for you from WMF Communications. --Pine✉ 06:45, 28 July 2015 (UTC)

@TonyTheTiger: Not sure how I completely missed this for a month, my apologies. We will absolutely cover something like that in some format. If you would prefer, we can setup an interview on-wiki, or if you would like to write an op-ed focusing on where you visited, what you learned, how it motivates you to keep contributing to Wikipedia, etc., that is a good option too. Let me know what you think. Thanks! Go Phightins! 12:44, 28 July 2015 (UTC) (SP EIC)

  • Go Phightins!, although I have been getting distracted from WP by RL, this trip reinvigorated my interest in filling in redlinks. I think a directed interview is most likely to be something useful. My issue is that I was interacting with the primary source by visiting and we on WP are a tertiary source. Hearing individual secondary commentary was quite exhilarating although almost none of the secondary commentary that I experienced was from reliable sources. People who love Misty Copeland, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Kinky Boots or one of the artworks made me feel proud. Seeing the long queues for the various WP article subjects reminds me that people continue to want to see all of these things. I am not sure what I couild do with an op-ed.--TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 04:23, 29 July 2015 (UTC)
I missed the ping (my bad; I saw it and meant to reply) but haven't gotten an email from you, sorry. I think this is something more suitable for the Signpost if they want it. :-) Ed Erhart (WMF) (talk) 17:35, 28 July 2015 (UTC)

The face of indifference?

I wouldn't have thought I'd be quoted or referenced at Signpost. But, I have been. GoodDay (talk) 13:42, 22 August 2015 (UTC)

Death spiral flattening?

I've started a page at Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2015-08-26/Increase_in_active_editors not sure if it will be ready per the deadline for this week. But it has begun. ϢereSpielChequers 16:46, 24 August 2015 (UTC)

Direct further discussion at the ticket. ResMar 16:33, 25 August 2015 (UTC)

A couple of corrections on the current draft

From this draft page: it's GILBEY, not Gibley. And Philippe Beaudette has remained a community member and administrator throughout the time that he has been a WMF employee; it's not quite right to say that "[b]efore that he had served as an administrator on the English Wikipedia" because he always has done so. Risker (talk) 15:53, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

Thank you. I've fixed both items. Gamaliel (talk) 16:45, 2 September 2015 (UTC)
Apologies for the typo, as for the latter case I did not mean ttho imply that he lost admin rights on joining e WMF, though I can see how it would read that way. ResMar 16:57, 2 September 2015 (UTC)
No worries, ResMar, that's the whole idea behind collaborative editing, that together we make things better. Risker (talk) 17:04, 2 September 2015 (UTC)
(from a public terminal) And I shouldn't edit Wikipedia before coffee (look at those typos!). 150.210.231.30 (talk) 19:25, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

History of WP

I used to be an active user. Most active around 2006,7. Back then we had a pretty fun inclusionist/deletionist battle. I think it would be fun to have a segment where "famous" deletionists and inclustionists recount that time. It would be a time capsule of that history saved for posterity. What do you think? - Peregrine Fisher (talk) 06:21, 3 September 2015 (UTC)

I like this idea. I wonder if you could find a way to contact some long dormant editors like kappa who were active in those debates. Gamaliel (talk) 13:06, 3 September 2015 (UTC)

Before publishing this week

Gamaliel, Go Phightins!, and Resident Mario please note:

--Pine✉ 06:43, 3 September 2015 (UTC)

Has there been an outcome to the WLM debate? It seems to be ongoing AFAIK. ResMar 11:54, 3 September 2015 (UTC)
  • I updated the Discussion Report prior to publication. The Report (Josve05a did a great job there I think) took a strident tone, so I thought the title should mirror the tone.
  • Resident Mario has done an impossible amount of work for the Signpost lately. We are hoping to lessen the weekly burden on him but we hope he will be able to continue contributing in an area where he has a particular strength, covering internal WMF issues. Gamaliel (talk) 03:23, 4 September 2015 (UTC)
I'm sorry. I was planning on writing about the RfC regarding the WLM-thing, but got swamped with school work and could not follow it to the best of my abilities, and for this, I thank Gamaliel! (t) Josve05a (c) 06:41, 4 September 2015 (UTC)

Correct section for notification update

I'm sure many of you have noticed by now that the notifications change was reversed. More at [1] I'm wondering what the correct section to cover this is, given it was in the latest issue. Jerod Lycett (talk) 02:38, 15 September 2015 (UTC)

Wanting to help

Hi, I'm interested in helping out. I'm not great at copy editing, but could learn if taught. Not sure where else you're needing help, but would be happy most places. Jerod Lycett (talk) 03:09, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

 Jerodlycett: Yes actually, we need another lead News and notes writer. To read up on what that entails see here and here. To learn how to use Signpost style see here. When you're ready you can jump into the resources and start digging here. ResMar 14:19, 14 September 2015 (UTC)
@Resident Mario: I'm really not sure where to begin on this as it's currently a blank page. Is there anything specific anyone is focusing on? I'd rather not work on the same thing as someone else, it'd be a waste of time. Jerod Lycett (talk) 02:07, 15 September 2015 (UTC)
 Jerodlycett: What I recommend is going to the resources page and then hitting some of the links there. Read what you find. What are the stories that stick out to you the most? What are the discussions that you think are most interesting or most important? Single those out for writing about, either as lead sections or as notes "in brief". It's definitely intimidating at first but you will get the hang of it quickly. ResMar 04:58, 15 September 2015 (UTC)

Perishable statistics

Please don't forget that your pages remain accessible for a great deal of time after the "publication date". When including status updates or statistics, please consider noting the "as of" date or that the data is dynamically updated. I just read the article on wikiwork, and found myself constantly wondering how much of what I was reading is now outdated and how much is current. Thank you for your consideration. ~ MD Otley (talk) 19:36, 17 September 2015 (UTC)

Um, what happened to the Traffic Report?

Got the update ready to go, can't access the page. Serendipodous 17:49, 19 October 2015 (UTC)

I fixed the link in the newsroom. Seems to be an issue with the template, I'll see if I can fix it permanently. Gamaliel (talk) 18:16, 19 October 2015 (UTC)
I ran into the same issue when I was trying to submit the last report, i had to edit the page to add a missing "=" sign [2] before I could submit it.--Milowent • hasspoken 19:16, 19 October 2015 (UTC)
I've added the = to the template that generates the next issue grid in the newsroom so we shouldn't have that problem again. Gamaliel (talk) 19:23, 19 October 2015 (UTC)

Thank you so much for making the newly featured pictures section a photo gallery rather than a text list. It's much better as a gallery because it enables readers to quickly see all the images without having to click through, and the gallery format is superior to a stack of images on the side. Keep up the good work! --Albany NY (talk) 02:00, 21 September 2015 (UTC)

Would anyone object if I fiddle a little with the FP section this week int he name of experimentation? I'd like to try something and see what the community thinks about it. (Also, if you reply here, please ping me as this is not a page that I have watch listed.) TomStar81 (Talk) 22:40, 19 October 2015 (UTC)
@TomStar81: go for it! Gamaliel (talk) 00:09, 20 October 2015 (UTC)
@Gamaliel: Sweet. Ok, first question: are all the FPs for the upcoming publication present in the Featured Content section? I ask so I can determine if the current FPs there are all I should expect or if there will be more incoming. TomStar81 (Talk) 01:28, 20 October 2015 (UTC)
@TomStar81: We have a script that imports them all simultaneously. Everything should be there. Gamaliel (talk) 01:31, 20 October 2015 (UTC)


single page not working

The single page isn’t working: Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Single/2015-10-21. It has the correct syntax but is empty, possibly as it is in Category:Pages where template include size is exceeded. Oddly Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Single looks OK, so I don’t know where the problem lies.--JohnBlackburnewordsdeeds 17:53, 25 October 2015 (UTC)

WP:TAFI

Hello The Signpost. We previously did an interview with you two years ago, and we have just commenced a discussion about whether to do another one, considering how far we have evolved over that time. Please weigh in at that discussion here: Wikipedia talk:Today's articles for improvement#Our old Signpost interview. While you're there, why not vote on some of the TAFI nominations, contribute to other discussions on the talk page, or edit the current TAFI: comedy horror. :)--Coin945 (talk) 18:54, 27 October 2015 (UTC)

Possible typo

Where it says "You can subscribe via template by placing a [X} or [X] template anywhere where you want to keep up with Signpost publications—nominally, your userpage" I think perhaps "nominally" is supposed to say "normally." Marquardtika (talk) 15:48, 27 October 2015 (UTC)

FYI, I went ahead and made the change. Marquardtika (talk) 03:47, 28 October 2015 (UTC)

Pull-quotes and the WP:MOS

[[Pull quotes]] are for blocking text that is already somewhere else in the article. Can we please stop ab-using them? Thank you. Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 04:01, 28 October 2015 (UTC)

In this example, a pull quote is centered between two columns. The text has been "pulled" from the bottom of the first column

A pull quote (also known as a lift-out pull quote) is a key phrase, quotation, or excerpt that has been pulled from an article and used as a graphic element, serving to entice readers into the article or to highlight a key topic. It is typically placed in a larger or distinctive typeface and on the same page. The term is principally used in journalism and publishing.[1]

Placement of a pull quote on a page may be defined in a publication's or website's style guide. Such a typographic device may or may not be aligned with a column on the page. Some designers, for example, choose not to align the quote. In that case, the quotation cuts into two or more columns, as in the example shown. Because the pull quote invites the reader to read about the highlighted material, the pull quote should appear before the text it cites and, generally, fairly close to it.[2]

Pull quotes need not be a verbatim copy of the text being quoted; depending on a publication's house style, pull quotes may be abbreviated for space and/or paraphrased for clarity, with or without indication.

References

  1. ^ Ilene Strizver. "Pull-quotes". www.fonts.com. Archived from the original on 17 July 2010. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
  2. ^ "Designing a Magazine Layout".

Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 04:40, 28 October 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost, like the journalism copy that created this convention, follows its own, distinct style guidelines. ResMar 14:49, 28 October 2015 (UTC)

Main page image overlapping text

For the latest issue (4 November 2015), the image is overlapping the text on my 1280px screen. Opencooper (talk) 07:43, 8 November 2015 (UTC)

On 1280px? Do you have a screenshot? -- [[User:Edokter]] {{talk}} 08:56, 8 November 2015 (UTC)
1280px meaning that the screen is 1,280 pixels wide. Here is a screenshot. Opencooper (talk) 09:04, 8 November 2015 (UTC)

Red print

Have we discussed using light pink rather than bright red for non-existent links? Many of these are names of people or corporations that don't deserve the prominence of the red ink, but may even prefer it.Jzsj (talk) 17:42, 10 November 2015 (UTC)

What does this have to do with the Signpost, specifically? ResMar 18:27, 10 November 2015 (UTC)

Next issue

I am ready to submit the next Traffic Report, but last weeks' articles are still on the editing board in the Newsroom, if we can get a clean slate. Cheers. --Milowent • hasspoken 14:48, 10 November 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost is the American Top 40! --Allygggggg (talk) 19:48, 14 November 2015 (UTC)

Traffic Report formatting

Can someone review the comments on the formatting of the Traffic Report from User:Jacklee at Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2015-11-11/Traffic_report. I don't know if I someone (like me!) added something wrong to this one, or if this is an ongoing issue, and how it might be addressed. Cheers!--Milowent • hasspoken 14:20, 17 November 2015 (UTC)

You failed Bassel

He is a Wikipedian who has been sentenced to death. Arguably he is one of us, arguably he embodies our ideals and notably he is absent from where it counts. Thanks, GerardM (talk) 10:56, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

New traffic report ready

Can't refresh the page to post the new one yet. Serendipodous 13:34, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

Wikipedia and thirst for knowledge

"I see it everyday with my kid and his unending stream of questions. It’s not that he is particularly gifted or special. The reason he can even ask about quantum computing is a direct effect of Wikipedia’s beneficial feedback loop. Unfettered access to knowledge makes him more inquisitive, and not the other way around. He asks increasingly complex questions precisely because he asked about regular, binary computing beforehand and got a response from me (which I culled from Wikipedia)." [3] — Preceding unsigned comment added by 167.56.136.132 (talk) 14:57, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

Mobile view not great

The mobile view of e.g. this is too wide, at least on some browsers (e.g. Android Samsung Galaxy). Seems okay on iPhone, not sure. I realise that mobile and cross-browser support is bloody annoying stuff, but I thought I'd just mention this here in case someone with great CSSfu comes along and knows how to fix it. Thanks! —Sam Wilson 23:18, 15 November 2015 (UTC)

@Samwilson: Old editor-in-chief here. The Signpost on mobile devices has looked terrible for years, and there's no great way around it, so we've traditionally focused on desktop (which is where almost all of our readership [read: editors] is located). That said, Yuvipanda will hopefully be able to fix the app he built at some point (please!). :-) Ed [talk] [majestic titan] 07:57, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
Ah, oh well :-) you're quite right of course, the other day was the first time ever I'd tried to read Signpost on my phone over my wheatbix... normally it looks lovely (on the desktop). The easiest solution is for me to constrain my perusal to the dozy hours after lunch at work! ;) Sam Wilson 10:21, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
It looks terrible on a 10inch android tablet as well. Unfortunately in mobile view all it does is scale up the problems. At least on the tablet I can switch to full desktop however. But it shouldnt be that hard to fix surely? Only in death does duty end (talk) 12:13, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
@Samwilson and Only in death: It's surely possible to fix, but it would require someone very knowledgeable (which we have in Resident Mario) and a time-consuming redesign (time he doesn't have). Ed [talk] [majestic titan] 05:49, 18 November 2015 (UTC)
Well for me it tends to be scale issues of individual sections - certain parts tend to push other sections too wide/narrow etc, and it seems fairly consistant, so I assumed it was a formatting issue. Only in death does duty end (talk) 12:33, 18 November 2015 (UTC)

@Samwilson, Only in death, The ed17, and Resident Mario: One thing that could conceivably be a quick-fix is the current CSS formatting of the main page, which attempts to fit 3 columns onto a mobile screen. Just re-flowing columns to a single stack on mobiles would be an immediate (and I think simple?) improvement (e.g. see {{col-begin}}). Sorry I can't more directly help, but I'm not really familiar with where/how LivingBot stores the template it uses to create the signpost page. T.Shafee(Evo﹠Evo)talk 00:38, 10 December 2015 (UTC)

Another old editor-in-chief here ;) To confirm Ed's hunch above that the Signpost is still most often read on desktop, I ran a quick query over recent pageview data. Indeed, mobile only accounts for 9% of the Signpost's views. That said, recalling the overall pageview numbers from ResMar's recent investigation, these 9% still translate into several hundred mobile views per week. Also, there might of course be more mobile readers if the Signpost's templates were updated to work better on mobile.

query details
hive (default)> SELECT SUM(IF(access_method <> 'desktop', view_count, 0))/SUM(view_count) AS percent_mobile FROM wmf.pageview_hourly WHERE year = 2016 AND project = 'en.wikipedia' AND SUBSTRING(page_title, 0, 28) = 'Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost' AND agent_type ='user';

...
OK
percent_mobile

0.09148588513419552

Regards, Tbayer (WMF) (talk) 01:48, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Hi Tbayer (WMF). The metrics are flawed. Readers are viewing the Signpost on their SmartPhones but they are doing it via the Desktop View. Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 15:18, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

In the discussion above, and the metrics I gave, "mobile" refers to the mobile site (en.m.wikipedia.org; alongside app views which don't play a large role yet). How many people view the desktop site on their phones is a separate question. Agree that numbers on that would be interesting too, do you have any? Regards, Tbayer (WMF) (talk) 16:58, 25 January 2016 (UTC)
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