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Wikivoyage:Travellers' pub/2015

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Seasons Greetings

My fellows and friends. We celebrate travelling so its time to celebrate this holiday season. Living in Pakistan, its not actually holidays or time for celebrations for me but I feel great joy during this time of the year and so its my pleasure to send seasons greetings over to you guys. This is time to reflect upon the good things and recall we had in 2014. I really loved working with you guys in 2014 and I hope that the the coming year 2015 will be more fun. I also hope that 2015 will bring everyone here happiness and success. So please accept my aplogies for any misconduct if I did. Have a magical and wonderful holiday season. I wish you and your family, Merry Christmas and a joyous New Year. Thank you very much everyone! --Saqib (talk) 15:28, 23 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

С Рождеством и Новым Годом - Matroc (talk) 22:51, 25 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
שנה טובה לכולכם. ויקיג'אנקי (talk) 02:27, 1 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry for the delay but I've been in holiday, so, even if late: buon Natale e felice anno nuovo a tutti da it:voy! :-) --Andyrom75 (talk) 08:33, 7 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Happy Birthday

Do you guys know Wikipedia today received the prestigious Erasmus Prize? And while everyone busy wishing happy birthday to Wikipedia. Lets not forget or ignore the birthday of our beloved Wikivoyage. I appreicate great work of the community. Keep it up your good work guys! I love you all. --Saqib (talk) 21:22, 15 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Happy Birthday Wikipedia :-) I hope WP/WV collaboration will grow this year too, notably with WikiData. Nicolas1981 (talk) 10:01, 16 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Wikimania

Wikimania 2015 will be in Mexico City this year. If you are interested in attending, please sign up. There are some free scholarships available to cover the cost of round-trip travel, shared accommodation, and conference registration. Scholarships are "merit-based" rather than "need-based"; the selection criteria appear to be all about what you do for the movement. I believe that any active contributor except people who have paid positions (e.g., most Wikipedians in Residence) are eligible. To apply for a scholarship, please fill out the application form at https://scholarships.wikimedia.org/apply The scholarship application deadline is this Monday, 16 February. WhatamIdoing (talk) 23:03, 9 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Anyone interested should do so, the Wikivoyage presence in Hong Kong in 2013 was good, but unless I am mistaken, London 2014 was a lost opportunity for 'voyage' promotion. It would be really good to see 2015 a revival. sats (talk) 00:58, 10 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Would be great to have some Wikivoyage guys around in Mexico. I did a presentation together with James in Hong Kong. But unfortunately I have to free days left this year to attend the Wikimania in Mexico. If somebody needs some information or help for a presentation or sth. lease let me know. -- DerFussi 07:56, 10 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Next year i am going to keep some days off for the conference... --DerFussi 08:07, 10 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
It would be great to encourage more Wikivoyagers from Latin America. The heaviest editing of articles tends to be in Europe/North America, so more representation in that part of the world would be welcome. Andrewssi2 (talk) 20:30, 10 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
For that matter, es.voy really could use a shot in the arm. The community there seems to be not much more than two or three semi-regulars. -- AndreCarrotflower (talk) 23:36, 13 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Inspire Campaign: Improving diversity, improving content

This March, we’re organizing an Inspire Campaign to encourage and support new ideas for improving gender diversity on Wikimedia projects. Less than 20% of Wikimedia contributors are women, and many important topics are still missing in our content. We invite all Wikimedians to participate. If you have an idea that could help address this problem, please get involved today! The campaign runs until March 31.

All proposals are welcome - research projects, technical solutions, community organizing and outreach initiatives, or something completely new! Funding is available from the Wikimedia Foundation for projects that need financial support. Constructive, positive feedback on ideas is appreciated, and collaboration is encouraged - your skills and experience may help bring someone else’s project to life. Join us at the Inspire Campaign and help this project better represent the world’s knowledge! MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:22, 5 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I 100% support this. How come this campaign does not appear on Wikivoyage? (At least not for me) --Andrewssi2 (talk) 20:52, 5 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
It did yesterday. I don't understand why it doesn't today (for me, either). Ikan Kekek (talk) 21:21, 5 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
It only displays on 20% of pages, and only if your language (in Special:Preferences) is set to cs, de, en, es, it, mk and nb. If you've set your language to British English (for example), you won't see it. WhatamIdoing (talk) 02:40, 6 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
That's weird. There was no such restriction on the announcement for voting for Commons Picture of the year. Ikan Kekek (talk) 02:49, 6 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, that one was appearing pretty much every single time :) I hope they could increase this campaign to more than 20% Andrewssi2 (talk) 03:19, 6 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Maybe the only 20% of pages is to show how little 20% is? Hobbitschuster (talk) 15:34, 6 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
If so, that wouldn't be an effective way to spread the message. Ikan Kekek (talk) 20:31, 6 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
No, there's no secret message in the number choice. They try not to flood sites with banners, and there are always multiple campaigns running at the same time (see the list at m:Special:CentralNotice; most of that, especially if it has an incomprehensible name, is testing for fundraising). They set priority (some fundraising tests run at "emergency", probably so that their statistical analysis works out), time, language, location, and probability. If you set a language, then it only appears on those pages. (Picture of the Year did all languages except Uzbek.) If you set a less-than-100% probability, then you have a higher likelihood of core community members seeing it (vs people who rarely visit the site), a lower likelihood that people like me will have to click the banner off a dozen or more times (almost every time they run a banner for logged-in users, I see it at five projects times two accounts), and a lower probability that when you click off banner X that it will immediately be replaced by banner Y, and then banner Z. I suppose that I ought to remind them that a lot of people pick en-gb instead of en... but I think that some people have picked en-gb specifically to avoid some notices, so maybe I shouldn't.  ;-) WhatamIdoing (talk) 02:28, 7 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
It seems odd that we have more material at LGBT travel than Tips for women travellers, given that women are a much larger group. Probably more material for both groups would be a good idea.
Also interesting that we have nothing specifically for straight men, another large group with their own travel concerns. Pashley (talk) 02:51, 7 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
What issues do straight men traveling exactly have? This one actually puzzles me... I can't think of one issue at all Andrewssi2 (talk) 06:41, 7 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I can't think of any, either, but I can think of types of establishments that are particularly interesting to and directed at heterosexual men. Of course, many of us don't have the slightest interest in them. Ikan Kekek (talk) 08:42, 7 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I can think of a bunch. For one thing, there are a whole range of scams that mainly target travelling men.
I know quite a few couples composed of Western guy + Asian girl, mostly apparently quite happy. Two, though, where her line was "I'll love you forever" until she got a visa, then she filed for divorce a few months after reaching the US or Australia. How can a man avoid that?
More generally, how do you relate to a woman from a low-income country? I'm old enough to have lived through the 60s era of "free love", but on a recent trip to the Philippines I was getting more feminine attention than I ever did then. Of course nearly all these women have an agenda, looking for a rich husband or a sugar daddy. Is that a problem? How should it be handled? Pashley (talk) 10:26, 7 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Isn't that (at least in part) dealt with in "common scams"? Also: I think the article for woman travellers (the way it is written now) is a wee bit condescending. The thing with the spiked drink, that is so prominently mentioned for example a) happens to males as well b) happens all over the world not only while travelling c) is common knowledge and falls in the captain obvious department. And for the sugar daddy thing: I do think a good number of men in this kind of relationship know or don't want to know what is going on. Hobbitschuster (talk) 17:07, 7 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I'm a little unsure about addressing the "passport girl" or "mail-order bride" as that's veering into permanent immigration, which is questionable in terms of project scope. K7L (talk) 19:52, 7 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, I don't think getting married to a female from a low income country is a 'travel issue' so much as a 'making good life decisions' issue. It should perhaps merit some text in "common scams" as Hobbitschuster suggests.
The article for women travellers should really be written by women. I don't know if the condescending bit are written by men or not, but It is obviously hard for men to contribute in a meaningful way to that. --Andrewssi2 (talk) 19:57, 7 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
In my opinion too, common scams would be the right article for said issue, as far as we need to cover it here. Remember, the article "Marriage in China" was deleted a year ago or so for being out of WV's scope.
Concerning the original post in this thread, each of us could start spreading the word among female friends and relatives (especially to persons who like writing!) — how easy it is to contribute to WV, WP and other projects and how useful and helpful even small contributions are. ϒpsilon (talk) 20:18, 7 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
(fixed indents that I broke) Technically it is easy to contribute, but WP has earned (a deserved) reputation for being dominated by males who are not pre-disposed to females contributing and I think many of these potential women contributors are aware of that. Since joining Wikimedia we also have to deal with this association. Andrewssi2 (talk) 20:29, 7 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

OMG that tips for women travelers article is... really bad. And misleading. And patronizing. I just deleted the complete stay safe section. I will write a new proposal in the next week, but I much prefer having nothing over advise that I imagine American grandparents give their granddaughters when they go to Aruba for Spring break or something. As for the female contributors, I really doubt reputation is what keeps women from participating as much as men :-) There's a lot of research into this issue (it's not a Wikimedia issue specifically), and there are plenty of other reasons. Either way, we probably shouldn't make assumptions like that :-) By the way, I wouldn't be surprised if the male-female division on WV would be better than it is over at WP. Not sure though. In any case, all extra attention for the issue is great. JuliasTravels (talk) 20:53, 7 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Maybe it is that (due to whatever reasons) some males seem to positively define themselves by the attention they get and their public persona whereas this isn't as common in females. I may be mistaken of course, but there seems to be - through the ages - a higher number of probably insane celebrities in the veins of Kurt Cobain than there were people like Amy Winehouse. Of course there are female celebrities and female people that define themselves by the attention they get, but there seems to be some kind of " I have to create something for posterity" that has at least historically been more common in males. Anyway I am probably not making much sense. And I don't say writing on WP or WV is in any way similar to being a rockstar or wanting to be one. Hobbitschuster (talk) 21:25, 7 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Males of various species are prone to mark territory... are Wikipedians attempting to fend off the edit warriors and the POV pushers from their WP:OWN creations any different from a four-footer instinctively defending its turf? :_) K7L (talk) 23:23, 7 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I agree we should strive to establish a better balance. Like probably many people here, I am ready to work on this task, but not sure how to proceed/what to do. So all ideas are welcome, especially from women or gender diversity specialists. Thanks! Nicolas1981 (talk) 02:42, 13 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Nominations are being accepted for 2015 Wikimedia Foundation elections

This is a message from the 2015 Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee. Translations are available.

Greetings,

I am pleased to announce that nominations are now being accepted for the 2015 Wikimedia Foundation Elections. This year the Board and the FDC Staff are looking for a diverse set of candidates from regions and projects that are traditionally under-represented on the board and in the movement as well as candidates with experience in technology, product or finance. To this end they have published letters describing what they think is needed and, recognizing that those who know the community the best are the community themselves, the election committee is accepting nominations for community members you think should run and will reach out to those nominated to provide them with information about the job and the election process.

This year, elections are being held for the following roles:

Board of Trustees
The Board of Trustees is the decision-making body that is ultimately responsible for the long term sustainability of the Foundation, so we value wide input into its selection. There are three positions being filled. More information about this role can be found at the board elections page.

Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC)
The Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) makes recommendations about how to allocate Wikimedia movement funds to eligible entities. There are five positions being filled. More information about this role can be found at the FDC elections page.

Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) Ombud
The FDC Ombud receives complaints and feedback about the FDC process, investigates complaints at the request of the Board of Trustees, and summarizes the investigations and feedback for the Board of Trustees on an annual basis. One position is being filled. More information about this role can be found at the FDC Ombudsperson elections page.

The candidacy submission phase lasts from 00:00 UTC April 20 to 23:59 UTC May 5 for the Board and from 00:00 UTCApril 20 to 23:59 UTC April 30 for the FDC and FDC Ombudsperson. This year, we are accepting both self-nominations and nominations of others. More information on this election and the nomination process can be found on the 2015 Wikimedia elections page on Meta-Wiki.

Please feel free to post a note about the election on your project's village pump. Any questions related to the election can be posted on the talk page on Meta, or sent to the election committee's mailing list, board-elections -at- wikimedia.org

On behalf of the Elections Committee,
-Gregory Varnum (User:Varnent)
Coordinator, 2015 Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee

Posted by the MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of the 2015 Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee, 05:03, 21 April 2015 (UTC) • Translate • Get help[reply]

Advice needed for basic ground work needed for Urdu Wiki Voyage

Hello. There is tremendous amount of enthusiasm among Urdu community to start Wiki Voyage in Urdu. I request you to kindly help by suggesting some basic ground work to make our case strong for Urdu Wiki Voyage.--Hindustanilanguage (talk) 18:46, 24 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I believe that there is a discussion on this subject at meta:Requests for new languages/Wikivoyage Urdu. As I understand it, concerns that have been raised there are related to a lack of familiarity with Wikimedia practices and standards, so enlisting a few experienced editors who are fluent in Urdu and are willing to shepherd the project forward seems like the most likely path to success. -- Ryan • (talk) • 22:23, 24 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]
It is great to see this enthusiasm, and I agree with Saqib that training on the English Wikivoyage first is a good way to make sure the Urdu Wikivoyage will be of good quality. Here is how I propose we work:
  1. Create a new article about a city in Pakistan that does not have an article yet. Create it in your userspace, for instance User:Hindustanilanguage/Shahdadkot
  2. Once you think the article is finished and perfect, post a link here asking for feedback.
  3. We will provide feedback that will allow you to understand everything.
  4. Repeat with another article to check.
Good luck! First feedback: The project name in English is "Wikivoyage", not "Wiki Voyage". Cheers! :-) Syced (talk) 03:29, 27 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Wikimedia Foundation Funds Dissemination Committee elections 2015

This is a message from the 2015 Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee. Translations are available.

Voting has begun for eligible voters in the 2015 elections for the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) and FDC Ombudsperson. Questions and discussion with the candidates for the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) and FDC Ombudsperson will continue during the voting. Nominations for the Board of Trustees will be accepted until 23:59 UTC May 5.

The Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) makes recommendations about how to allocate Wikimedia movement funds to eligible entities. There are five positions on the committee being filled.

The FDC Ombudsperson receives complaints and feedback about the FDC process, investigates complaints at the request of the Board of Trustees, and summarizes the investigations and feedback for the Board of Trustees on an annual basis. One position is being filled.

The voting phase lasts from 00:00 UTC May 3 to 23:59 UTC May 10. Click here to vote. Questions and discussion with the candidates will continue during that time. Click here to ask the FDC candidates a question. Click here to ask the FDC Ombudsperson candidates a question. More information on the candidates and the elections can be found on the 2015 FDC election page, the 2015 FDC Ombudsperson election page, and the 2015 Board election page on Meta-Wiki.

On behalf of the Elections Committee,
-Gregory Varnum (User:Varnent)
Volunteer Coordinator, 2015 Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee

Posted by the MediaWiki message delivery 03:45, 4 May 2015 (UTC) • Translate • Get help

Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees elections 2015

This is a message from the 2015 Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee. Translations are available.

Voting has begun for eligible voters in the 2015 elections for the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees. Questions and discussion with the candidates for the Board will continue during the voting.

The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees is the ultimate governing authority of the Wikimedia Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization registered in the United States. The Wikimedia Foundation manages many diverse projects such as Wikipedia and Commons.

The voting phase lasts from 00:00 UTC May 17 to 23:59 UTC May 31. Click here to vote. More information on the candidates and the elections can be found on the 2015 Board election page on Meta-Wiki.

On behalf of the Elections Committee,
-Gregory Varnum (User:Varnent)
Volunteer Coordinator, 2015 Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee

Posted by the MediaWiki message delivery 17:20, 17 May 2015 (UTC) • Translate • Get help

WMF Board of Trustees

Hey All. I am running for the WMF Board of Trustees. I hope to bring more development resources to community lead ideas. Voting is here Thanks Travel Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 13:22, 17 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Voted. Good luck Doctor! --Saqib (talk) 13:32, 17 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks User:Saqib Travel Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 11:21, 19 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Lots of people are running! Good luck. I'll try to get my vote in before the cutoff on May 31. There are a lot of candidate statements to read! Ikan Kekek (talk) 12:07, 21 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I have voted as well. -- DerFussi 04:43, 26 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Happy Fourth of July to all Americans around here

While I am not an American and probably something like half the regulars here aren't either, I still wanted to wish the United States Happy Birthday and by extension all those who celebrate it a nice day. Have a good one! —The preceding comment was added by Hobbitschuster (talk • contribs)


Discussion that may be of interest

On Jimbo's talk page Travel Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 16:33, 21 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

What does a Healthy Community look like to you?

Hi,
The Community Engagement department at the Wikimedia Foundation has launched a new learning campaign. The WMF wants to record community impressions about what makes a healthy online community. Share your views and/or create a drawing and take a chance to win a Wikimania 2016 scholarship! Join the WMF as we begin a conversation about Community Health. Contribute a drawing or answer the questions on the campaign's page.

Why get involved?

The world is changing. The way we relate to knowledge is transforming. As the next billion people come online, the Wikimedia movement is working to bring more users on the wiki projects. The way we interact and collaborate online are key to building sustainable projects. How accessible are Wikimedia projects to newcomers today? Are we helping each other learn?
Share your views on this matter that affects us all!
We invite everyone to take part in this learning campaign. Wikimedia Foundation will distribute one Wikimania Scholarship 2016 among those participants who are eligible.

More information


Happy editing!

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:42, 31 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

VisualEditor News #4—2015

Read this in another language • Subscription list for this multilingual newsletter

VisualEditor

Did you know?

You can add quotations marks before and after a title or phrase with a single click.

Select the relevant text. Find the correct quotations marks in the special character inserter tool (marked as Ω in the toolbar).

Screenshot showing the special character tool, selected text, and the special character that will be inserted


Click the button. VisualEditor will add the quotation marks on either side of the text you selected.

Screenshot showing the special character tool and the same text after the special character has been inserted


You can read and help translate the user guide, which has more information about how to use VisualEditor.

Since the last newsletter, the Editing Team have been working on mobile phone support. They have fixed many bugs and improved language support. They post weekly status reports on mediawiki.org. Their workboard is available in Phabricator. Their current priorities are improving language support and functionality on mobile devices.

Wikimania

The team attended Wikimania 2015 in Mexico City. There they participated in the Hackathon and met with individuals and groups of users. They also made several presentations about VisualEditor and the future of editing.

Following Wikimania, we announced winners for the VisualEditor 2015 Translathon. Our thanks and congratulations to users Halan-tul, Renessaince, जनक राज भट्ट (Janak Bhatta), Vahe Gharakhanyan, Warrakkk, and Eduardogobi.

For interface messages (translated at translatewiki.net), we saw the initiative affecting 42 languages. The average progress in translations across all languages was 56.5% before the translathon, and 78.2% after (+21.7%). In particular, Sakha improved from 12.2% to 94.2%; Brazilian Portuguese went from 50.6% to 100%; Taraškievica went from 44.9% to 85.3%; Doteli went from 1.3% to 41.2%. Also, while 1.7% of the messages were outdated across all languages before the translathon, the percentage dropped to 0.8% afterwards (-0.9%).

For documentation messages (on mediawiki.org), we saw the initiative affecting 24 languages. The average progress in translations across all languages was 26.6% before translathon, and 46.9% after (+20.3%). There were particularly notable achievements for three languages. Armenian improved from 1% to 99%; Swedish, from 21% to 99%, and Brazilian Portuguese, from 34% to 83%. Outdated translations across all languages were reduced from 8.4% before translathon to 4.8% afterwards (-3.6%).

We published some graphs showing the effect of the event on the Translathon page. We thank the translators for participating and the translatewiki.net staff for facilitating this initiative.

Recent improvements

Auto-fill features for citations can be enabled on each Wikipedia. The tool uses the citoid service to convert a URL or DOI into a pre-filled, pre-formatted bibliographic citation. You can see an animated GIF of the quick, simple process at mediawiki.org. So far, about a dozen Wikipedias have enabled the auto-citation tool. To enable it for your wiki, follow the instructions at mediawiki.org.

Your wiki can customize the first section of the special character inserter in VisualEditor. Please follow the instructions at mediawiki.org to put the characters you want at the top. In other changes, if you need to fill in a CAPTCHA and get it wrong, then you can click to get a new one to complete. VisualEditor can now display and edit Vega-based graphs. If you use the Monobook skin, VisualEditor's appearance is now more consistent with other software.

Future changes

The team will be changing the appearance of selected links inside VisualEditor. The purpose is to make it easy to see whether your cursor is inside or outside the link. When you select a link, the link label (the words shown on the page) will be enclosed in a faint box. If you place your cursor inside the box, then your changes to the link label will be part of the link. If you place your cursor outside the box, then it will not. This will make it easy to know when new characters will be added to the link and when they will not.

On the English Wikipedia, 10% of newly created accounts are now offered both the visual and the wikitext editors. A recent controlled trial showed no significant difference in survival or productivity for new users in the short term. New users with access to VisualEditor were very slightly less likely to produce results that needed reverting. You can learn more about this by watching a video of the July 2015 Wikimedia Research Showcase. The proportion of new accounts with access to both editing environments will be gradually increased over time. Eventually all new users have the choice between the two editing environments.

Let's work together

  • Share your ideas and ask questions at mw:VisualEditor/Feedback. This feedback page is now using Flow instead of LiquidThreads.
  • Can you read and type in Korean or Japanese? Language engineer David Chan needs people who know which tools people use to type in some languages. If you speak Japanese or Korean, you can help him test support for these languages. Please see the instructions at mediawiki.org if you can help.
  • If your wiki would like VisualEditor enabled on another namespace, you can file a request in Phabricator. Please include a link to a community discussion about the requested change.
  • Please file requests for language-appropriate "Bold" and "Italic" icons for the styling menu in Phabricator.
  • The design research team wants to see how real editors work. Please sign up for their research program.
  • The weekly task triage meetings continue to be open to volunteers, usually on Tuesdays at 12:00 (noon) PDT (19:00 UTC). Learn how to join the meetings and how to nominate bugs at mw:VisualEditor/Weekly triage meetings. You do not need to attend the meeting to nominate a bug for consideration as a Q1 blocker, though. Instead, go to Phabricator and "associate" the main VisualEditor project with the bug.

If you aren't reading this in your favorite language, then please help us with translations! Subscribe to the Translators mailing list or contact us directly, so that we can notify you when the next issue is ready. Thank you!

—Elitre (WMF), 22:28, 14 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]


How can we improve Wikimedia grants to support you better?

Swept in from the pub

Hello,

The Wikimedia Foundation would like your feedback about how we can reimagine Wikimedia Foundation grants, to better support people and ideas in your Wikimedia project. Ways to participate:

Feedback is welcome in any language.

With thanks,

I JethroBT (WMF), Community Resources, Wikimedia Foundation. 05:22, 19 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Wikivoyage broken on Chrome?

Since this morning I can not use Wikivoyage on Google Chrome in both normal and incognito modes. It appears to hang and then eventually timeout and crash.

I am using Version 44.0.2403.157 (64-bit) for Mac OSX. (Yay autoupdating of browsers that break things)

Firefox on the same machine is fine.

Where do I raise this issue? --Andrewssi2 (talk) 00:17, 27 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I'm on Chrome 44.0.2403.157 m for Windows, and while I saw one hang on the recent changes page that caused Chrome to crash, that was an isolated incident and the site has otherwise been fine. If the breakage is specific to the browser then the fault likely lies with Chrome - they allow bug reports via . -- Ryan • (talk) • 00:28, 27 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I just tried again a couple hours later and it is working fine. Possibly a caching issue that fixed itself. --Andrewssi2 (talk) 01:36, 27 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]
hmm, issues started again. I have logged it with the Chrome team. --Andrewssi2 (talk) 06:51, 27 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I have another weird issue with a specific detail, that I only had since a couple of hours. Namely, https://en.wikivoyage.org/w/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&limit=500 (500 last recent changes) won't load at all on Safari. Regular Recent changes (with 50 edits) shows up normally on Safari as do all articles. On Firefox I have no problems.
Also another interesting thing (which has gone on for more than a week) is that the "Welcome to Wikivoyage! Help us to improve our travel guides by contributing to an article today!
Welcome, Wikipedians | Policies and guidelines | Follow us on Facebook and Twitter" message occasionally sits at the bottom of the page, and when this occurs the message's font size is remarkably larger than otherwise. ϒpsilon (talk) 08:07, 27 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Might be same issue, since it is typically that page (with the 500 results) that typically crashes Andrewssi2 (talk) 08:18, 27 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]
https://en.wikivoyage.org/w/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&limit=500 (500 last recent changes) works for me in Safari 8 on Mac OS 10.10 (right now). WhatamIdoing (talk) 16:29, 28 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I've also noticed it's working again. ϒpsilon (talk) 16:35, 28 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]
All good again on my side. Andrewssi2 (talk) 22:51, 31 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Introducing the Wikimedia public policy site

Hi all,

We are excited to introduce a new Wikimedia Public Policy site. The site includes resources and position statements on access, copyright, censorship, intermediary liability, and privacy. The site explains how good public policy supports the Wikimedia projects, editors, and mission.

Visit the public policy portal: https://policy.wikimedia.org/

Please help translate the statements on Meta Wiki. You can read more on the Wikimedia blog.

Thanks,

Yana and Stephen (Talk) 18:12, 2 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

(Sent with the Global message delivery system)

Wiki Loves Monuments has started!

Hello all! Wiki Loves Monuments, the yearly photo contest has started. People go out, take pictures of monuments, and upload them so they can be used in wikis like Wikipedia and Wikivoyage. More images of the local culture help Wikivoyage to be illustrated in a better way. Therefore a CentralNotice banner will be set up. For the banner we need a good text. So: What is a good text for in the CentralNotice banner to be shown above Wikivoyage so that visitors from Wikivoyage like to participate in Wiki Loves Monuments? Romaine (talk) 23:25, 1 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I thought the notice we had last year worked well.
Wiki Loves Monuments is a marvelous project! I hope that anyone with a decent camera or a cellphone that takes good pictures will consider participating. Ikan Kekek (talk) 00:19, 2 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
What is the fastest/easiest way to know what monuments need pictures in the area I am in right now? Syced (talk) 03:15, 2 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Where are you now? Ikan Kekek (talk) 03:23, 2 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I believe this question would be useful to everyone, but in my specific case I am in Tohoku/Tokyo/Okinawa these days. Syced (talk) 04:14, 2 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I doubt there's a really simple answer. I think the thing to do would be to check the relevant Wikivoyage and Wikipedia articles for the name of the city, island, etc. and then search for that point of interest on Commons and see what, if anything, comes up. I asked where you were just on the off chance that I might be familiar with Commons coverage, but in these cases, I'm not. Ikan Kekek (talk) 04:45, 2 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, the points of interest might be the most important for us. Checking Commons for coverage in advance is usually not necessary (sometimes checking is anything but straight forward): unless the place is very big (such as Tokyo), there probably is limited coverage, and your image will either be the only ones or catching some aspect that is not covered by the earlier images. The chances can be increased by taking some good (typical) general images, but also using some creativity to find more unusual angles, details etc.
Checking Commons coverage for the city or general area may be worthwhile to see whether it is mostly lacking or biased – the latter common for touristy places. For some places there may e.g. be good coverage on architecture but none on street life or nature (or vice versa), or only on some parts of a city. No reason to restrict oneself to monuments.
For some areas there are also lists about monuments. In rare cases they might be found through the Wikipedia page for the area, but more probably through some relevant governmental or regional agency. For countries with a strong Wikimedia chapter or community, there might be a project page with links to such lists, perhaps with comments on Commons coverage and copyright. In Sweden even "photo safaris" are arranged.
Commons says copyright expires 50 years after the death of the author and that freedom of panorama is only for buildings at places open to the public. For artistic works of architecture there seems to be some confusion.
--LPfi (talk) 07:23, 2 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Syced, first of all you should check whether your country takes part in the competition. To my understanding, Japan is not part of it. A country organizing WLM should prepare lists of cultural heritage, and those you would use for finding the monuments. --Alexander (talk) 07:26, 2 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Open call for Individual Engagement Grants

Greetings! The Individual Engagement Grants program is accepting proposals from August 31st to September 29th to fund new tools, community-building processes, and other experimental ideas that enhance the work of Wikimedia volunteers. Whether you need a small or large amount of funds (up to $30,000 USD), Individual Engagement Grants can support you and your team’s project development time in addition to project expenses such as materials, travel, and rental space.

I JethroBT (WMF), 09:34, 5 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

There is less than one week left to submit Individual Engagement Grant (IEG) proposals before the September 29th deadline. If you have ideas for new tools, community-building processes, and other experimental projects that enhance the work of Wikimedia volunteers, start your proposal today! Please encourage others who have great ideas to apply as well. Support is available if you want help turning your idea into a grant request. I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 15:30, 24 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Reimagining WMF grants report

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Last month, we asked for community feedback on a proposal to change the structure of WMF grant programs. Thanks to the 200+ people who participated! A report on what we learned and changed based on this consultation is now available.

Come read about the findings and next steps as WMF’s Community Resources team begins to implement changes based on your feedback. Your questions and comments are welcome on the outcomes discussion page.

Take care, I JethroBT (WMF) 17:02, 28 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

ja:voy

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There's anyone that know any Japanese speakers to develop (i.e. to take it out from the incubator) the Japanese version of Wikivoyage? WT has a lot of access from Japan because of our absence, so it would be great to cover that area too. --Andyrom75 (talk) 21:18, 29 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Definitely would be great but I haven't noticed many Japanese natives active here. Perhaps User:JRHorse ? Andrewssi2 (talk) 23:02, 29 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I have limited knowledge of Japanese (4 years of study... can carry on a casual conversation, read stuff with enough time, and write simple stuff [probably poorly]). Not sure how much time I'd be able to put into it, since it takes me a lot more time to read/write anything, but I can certainly contribute at least some. --Bigpeteb (talk) 14:54, 30 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Japanese WT is still actively edited. I believe Shoestring is the most active editor and admin there. When we forked, Japanese WT simply wasn't interested and they stayed put. Trying to start a new Wikivoyage afresh will be a difficult feat with a still active community over there. James A ▪ talk 15:04, 30 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Out of interest, what other language communities stayed behind on WT? --Andrewssi2 (talk) 05:58, 1 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
ja was the only notable one that I can remember. I think we forked all other language versions regardless of the community, except if there was really little content, but didn't end up forking ja's content. Although I may be mistaken. James A ▪ talk 12:11, 1 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I haven't checked the existence of other languages, I've just noticed that Japan is a great source of web access for WT. I think that the first step would be to take out ja:voy from the incubator and someone that can speak/read japanese would be very helpful (although not native), then we can invite people from ja:w and maybe ask again to the WT users that are still there. Any volunteers? --Andyrom75 (talk) 11:20, 4 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I speak/read Japanese. Recently I am quite busy developing for Wikimedia Commons so I won't have much time for wikignoming, but I could do communication things. Syced (talk) 07:11, 5 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Syced, maybe you could try to recruit someone from the Japanese Wikipedia community. You could guide them to "rescue" ja:voy :-) --Andyrom75 (talk) 08:04, 8 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think this kind of solicitation would be allowed on WT. What we can do is set up a page here explaining (in Japanese) what WT and WV are, why WV has more to offer, and saying that anyone interested in creating a Japanese-language WV should put their signature at the end of that page. When we have enough motivated people we can fork and let them know. Syced (talk) 04:16, 10 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Actually this page exists and it is not bad: https://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wy/ja/Wikivoyage:%E3%82%A6%E3%82%A3%E3%82%AD%E3%83%9C%E3%83%A4%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A5%E3%81%A8%E3%81%AF Syced (talk) 07:16, 15 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Syced, I was saying to insert such promo on Wikipedia, and not on WT, in order to try to pull some user from there to the incubator. --Andyrom75 (talk) 15:41, 23 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Ah indeed sorry, good idea :-) Syced (talk) 07:04, 27 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Page invisible

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Seems like Yakutia went invisible. And now this page... database error? /Yvwv (talk) 18:05, 14 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Visible now? /Yvwv (talk) 18:15, 14 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for reporting this. This is currently being handled and the corresponding bug report is phab:T115505. As more information on the reasons becomes available that bug report will receive updates. Purging the page should help. Sorry for the inconvenience! --AKlapper (WMF) (talk) 18:30, 14 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Incredibly inane article - apparently this passes for travel "journalism" these days

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I know this might not be the right place for this, but when I first saw this article earlier today, I honestly asked myself how little work went into this sad excuse for travel writing. I mean - come on - First of all, there are many airports with faster rail connections, Second of all, there are many airports with cheaper rail connections. And also: What makes those five special? And to think that this type of "travel writing" probably gets more clicks than some of our articles do... /rant Hobbitschuster (talk) 19:46, 23 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

This type of travel writing definitely gets more clicks than most of our articles. Those five airports would have been chosen either because of the limited travel experience of the writer or because there's a conflict of interest and touting going on. Gizza (t)(c) 21:41, 23 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
As far as I can see, nearly all "listicles" — arbitrary lists posing as articles — are rubbish, almost invariably without any discussion and often without even a good list. This one lacks London Heathrow & both Shanghai airports which have subways right to the airport, Amsterdam with excellent trains, likely others. The listicle does seem to be effective as clickbait, though. Pashley (talk) 23:51, 23 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Good that we have the luxury of not needing clicks to justify content :) --Andrewssi2 (talk) 08:31, 24 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
This kind of articles are like cat videos on YouTube, more for entertainment and killing time than for anything else. ϒpsilon (talk) 08:50, 24 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I knew Wikipedia had "made it" when people started commenting on article like these "A look into Wikipedia gave me more and more accurate information then this". Let's hope we one day achieve this for travel content ;-) Hobbitschuster (talk) 20:44, 24 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

VisualEditor News #5—2015

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Read this in another language • Subscription list for this multilingual newsletter

VisualEditor

Did you know?

You can use the visual editor on smartphones and tablets.

Screenshot showing the menu for switching from the wikitext editor to the visual editor

Click the pencil icon to open the editor for a page. Inside that, use the gear menu in the upper right corner to "Switch to visual editing".

The editing button will remember which editing environment you used last time, and give you the same one next time. The desktop site will be switching to a system similar to this one in the coming months.

You can read and help translate the user guide, which has more information about how to use the visual editor.

Since the last newsletter, the VisualEditor Team has fixed many bugs, added new features, and made some small design changes. They post weekly status reports on mediawiki.org. Their workboard is available in Phabricator. Their current priorities are improving support for languages like Japanese and Arabic, making it easier to edit on mobile devices, and providing rich-media tools for formulæ, charts, galleries and uploading.

Recent improvements

Educational features: The first time ever you use the visual editor, it now draws your attention to the Link and ⧼visualeditor-toolbar-cite-label⧽ tools. When you click on the tools, it explains why you should use them. (T108620) Alongside this, the welcome message for new users has been simplified to make editing more welcoming. (T112354) More in-software educational features are planned.

Links: It is now easier to understand when you are adding text to a link and when you are typing plain text next to it. (T74108, T91285) The editor now fully supports ISBN, PMID or RFC numbers. (T109498, T110347, T63558) These "magic links" use a custom link editing tool.

Uploads: Registered editors can now upload images and other media to Commons while editing. Click the new tab in the "Insert Images and media" tool. You will be guided through the process without having to leave your edit. At the end, the image will be inserted. This tool is limited to one file at a time, owned by the user, and licensed under Commons's standard license. For more complex situations, the tool links to more advanced upload tools. You can also drag the image into the editor. This will be available in the wikitext editor later.

Mobile: Previously, the visual editor was available on the mobile Wikipedia site only on tablets. Now, editors can use it on all devices regardless of size if they wish. (T85630) Edit conflicts were previously broken on the mobile website. Edit conflicts can now be resolved in both wikitext and visual editors. (T111894) Sometimes templates and similar items could not be deleted on the mobile website. Selecting them caused the on-screen keyboard to hide with some browsers. Now there is a new "Delete" button, so that these things can be removed if the keyboard hides. (T62110) You can also edit table cells in mobile now.

Rich editing tools: You can now add and edit sheet music in the visual editor. (T112925) There are separate tabs for advanced options, such as MIDI and Ogg audio files. (T114227, T113354) When editing formulæ and other blocks, errors are shown as you edit. It is also possible to edit some types of graphs; adding new ones, and support for new types, will be coming.

On the English Wikipedia, the visual editor is now automatically available to anyone who creates an account. The preference switch was moved to the normal location, under Special:Preferences.

Future changes

You will soon be able to switch from the wikitext to the visual editor after you start editing. (T49779) Previously, you could only switch from the visual editor to the wikitext editor. Bi-directional switching will make possible a single edit tab. (T102398) This project will combine the "Edit" and "Edit source" tabs into a single "Edit" tab, similar to the system already used on the mobile website. The "Edit" tab will open whichever editing environment you used last time.

Let's work together

If you aren't reading this in your favorite language, then please help us with translations! Subscribe to the Translators mailing list or contact us directly, so that we can notify you when the next issue is ready. Thank you!

—Elitre (WMF), 18:17, 30 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Community Wishlist Survey

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Hi everyone!

The Community Tech team at the Wikimedia Foundation is focused on building improved curation and moderation tools for experienced Wikimedia contributors. We're now starting a Community Wishlist Survey to find the most useful projects that we can work on.

For phase 1 of the survey, we're inviting all active contributors to submit brief proposals, explaining the project that you'd like us to work on, and why it's important. Phase 1 will last for 2 weeks. In phase 2, we'll ask you to vote on the proposals. Afterwards, we'll analyze the top 10 proposals and create a prioritized wishlist.

While most of this process will be conducted in English, we're inviting people from any Wikimedia wiki to submit proposals. We'll also invite volunteer translators to help translate proposals into English.

Your proposal should include: the problem that you want to solve, who would benefit, and a proposed solution, if you have one. You can submit your proposal on the Community Wishlist Survey page, using the entry field and the big blue button. We will be accepting proposals for 2 weeks, ending on November 23.

We're looking forward to hearing your ideas!

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:30, 9 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

This survey is a big deal for this dev team. I strongly urge the Wikivoyages and other mid-size projects to get organized, post their proposals, and invest time in following this over the next few weeks. Actual WMF dev work on at least one of the proposed projects is basically guaranteed, and it might be your wishes that are granted.  :-) WhatamIdoing (talk) 15:19, 11 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Wikimania 2016 scholarships ambassadors needed

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Hello! Wikimania 2016 scholarships will soon be open; by the end of the week we'll form the committee and we need your help, see Scholarship committee for details.

If you want to carefully review nearly a thousand applications in January, you might be a perfect committee member. Otherwise, you can volunteer as "ambassador": you will observe all the committee activities, ensure that people from your language or project manage to apply for a scholarship, translate scholarship applications written in your language to English and so on. Ambassadors are allowed to ask for a scholarship, unlike committee members.

Wikimania 2016 scholarships subteam 10:47, 10 November 2015 (UTC)

Wikimania will be in Europe next June, in Esino Lario near Italy's Lake Como. The Wikivoyage article is pretty extensive (and contradicts the rumor that's been going around, that "there are no hotels there!"), but needs a copyedit. We should make sure that the article is linked on wikimania2016.wikimedia.org. Perhaps we should check for translations at other Wikivoyages, too? WhatamIdoing (talk) 15:22, 11 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Sympathies to France, Lebanon

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There have been some horrific acts of terrorism lately. Beirut was hit the other day. Today, it's Paris. And in a smaller incident, an Israeli paramedic and his father were killed on the West Bank. We don't discuss politics here, nor would I want to, but I just want to extend my sympathies to everyone affected by this carnage. Ikan Kekek (talk) 00:23, 14 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Indeed- Regardless of politics, sympathies to all who were hurt or lost loved ones. Hobbitschuster (talk) 17:28, 14 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]
My condolences to the friends and families of the dead. One way to honour victims and survivors of terrorism, is through improvement of articles such as Paris and Beirut, to encourage tourists to return when the destinations are wafe again. /Yvwv (talk) 21:52, 14 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Very very sad. May those terrorists go to hell! I guess Muslim travellers to France especially Middle Eastern citizens will surely suffer from some time. --Saqib (talk) 03:37, 15 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Your input requested on the proposed #FreeBassel banner campaign

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This is a message regarding the proposed 2015 Free Bassel banner. Translations are available.

Hi everyone,

This is to inform all Wikimedia contributors that a straw poll seeking your involvement has just been started on Meta-Wiki.

As some of your might be aware, a small group of Wikimedia volunteers have proposed a banner campaign informing Wikipedia readers about the urgent situation of our fellow Wikipedian, open source software developer and Creative Commons activist, Bassel Khartabil. An exemplary banner and an explanatory page have now been prepared, and translated into about half a dozen languages by volunteer translators.

We are seeking your involvement to decide if the global Wikimedia community approves starting a banner campaign asking Wikipedia readers to call on the Syrian government to release Bassel from prison. We understand that a campaign like this would be unprecedented in Wikipedia's history, which is why we're seeking the widest possible consensus among the community.

Given Bassel's urgent situation and the resulting tight schedule, we ask everyone to get involved with the poll and the discussion to the widest possible extent, and to promote it among your communities as soon as possible.

(Apologies for writing in English; please kindly translate this message into your own language.)

Thank you for your participation!

Posted by the MediaWiki message delivery 21:47, 25 November 2015 (UTC) • Translate • Get help

Happy Thanksgiving

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Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating, and if you are travelling, be safe on the road. Ikan Kekek (talk) 07:17, 26 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

A Happy Turkey day from me to, to all of you who celebrate it. Don't get stuck in traffic or at the airport... And don't get trampled shopping tomorrow ;-) Hobbitschuster (talk) 20:11, 26 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Community Wishlist Survey

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Hi everyone!

We're beginning the second part of the Community Tech team's Community Wishlist Survey, and we're inviting all active contributors to vote on the proposals that have been submitted.

Thanks to you and other Wikimedia contributors, 111 proposals were submitted to the team. We've split the proposals into categories, and now it's time to vote! You can vote for any proposal listed on the pages, using the {{Support}} tag. Feel free to add comments pro or con, but only support votes will be counted. The voting period will be 2 weeks, ending on December 14.

The proposals with the most support votes will be the team's top priority backlog to investigate and address. Thank you for participating, and we're looking forward to hearing what you think!

/Johan (WMF) using MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 14:41, 1 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I don't have time to read through all those any time soon, but if any of you guys does and finds proposals that would benefit Wikivoyage, it would be nice if you could post them here. I'd like to support a few proposals that make sense to us. JuliasTravels (talk) 14:54, 1 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, please. m:2015 Community Wishlist Survey shows a few proposals specifically for Wikisource, Wikiversity, and Wikidata, but I don't see anything that is categorized as being specific to Wikivoyage. The only two that mentioned Wikivoyage by name are m:2015 Community Wishlist Survey/Miscellaneous#Education Program interface changes (to promote editing Wikivoyage as part of teacher-supervised classes) and in the prior discussion about m:2015 Community Wishlist Survey/Wikidata#Whole Infobox from Wikidata. There are probably more that would be interesting. WhatamIdoing (talk) 20:07, 1 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
m:2015 Community Wishlist Survey/Miscellaneous#Page-view Stats tool could be useful here. The present page view statistics shown as a link on an article's history page look wrong. AlasdairW (talk) 23:12, 1 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Support KML files in Commons might be relevant? Syced (talk) 09:08, 4 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
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