Wikinews:Water cooler/miscellaneous/Archive/12

Money
The Knight Foundation plans to give a total of $5 million for projects that show how online news can tranform community life. 23:33, 30 September 2006 (UTC)


 * I found a fundraising suggestions section of the Metawiki. Might be a good idea for someone to go there and suggest it. --Apartmento2 02:20, 5 October 2006 (UTC)


 * I've consequently posted it: $5 million from Knight Foundation.--Steven Fruitsmaak (Reply) 12:32, 12 October 2006 (UTC)


 * Be bold and do it - create a Knight Foundation proposal and go for it. Just don't involve anyone outside the wikinews community. Meta and the WMF in general are not going to help you anywhere. Let no one stop you from submitting a proposal yourself. Dedalus 19:57, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
 * i suggest this information to be posted on the Wikinews-I mailing list. An international collaboration could be a plus,no??? Jacques Divol 20:18, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
 * i sended a message on the list Jacques Divol
 * i don't know but i think we must also contact Wikimedia board should be mandatory before applying more than meta in fact ??? no ??? Jacques Divol 20:25, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

I had a quick look on the Knight page. I am not entirely sure we fit the deal, but that looks feasible. So, here is the issue. First, if you want to make the proposal in the name of the Foundation, you indeed need the agreement of the Foundation. I have looked at the form application, there is nothing special to provide that we do not have. Danny is the grant guy of the Foundation, he knows how to make a grant request, but he is likely to know Wikinews very little. I know he has drafted several different types of documents for grant requests or sponsor requests for Wikipedia. Probably not for Wikinews. However, he may have a good deal of information you may need for the general pitch. I am sure he can help you if you are yourself *serious* about this grant request.

I would suggest that if at least a handful of people agree to work on it, and if at least one person agrees to take the lead of that project, you should go for it. Just create that Knight Foundation proposal, think about what you can ask them for (perhaps help to get some features developped ?), draft all parts of the proposal, then ask for review from the Foundation, submit in time. There is two months. If you are serious about it, go for it. If you expect others to do the work for you, drop it. You are the guys who know wikinews and know what it needs. Anthere


 * Folks, I will attempt to lead this project. I will be using the proposal page to coordinate my work.  Anyone interested in helping or leading this instead, please coordinate with me there. -- IlyaHaykinson 06:34, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

Diffuz a free culture festival in Montpellier, France, pass the word !
Wikimédia France and Wikinews will attend the diffuz festival in Montpellier, France from 21 to october 28, 2006. The festival site is in French.

It's subject is the free culture : internet of course, music, with free spots to plug mp3's players in order to download legaly, concerts, speachs, videos... It's the first Diffuz.

If you know english speaking people leaving near, pass the word !

thanks

(PS : we need promotionnal material for Wikinews (and all projets not just wikipedia !, see : http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Promotion)

Jacques Divol 08:50, 20 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Amgine has (had) adverstments if thats what you want. Eloquence also previously made a presentation at a confrence in Korea some time ago (I think) and may have some promotional material from that. OhmyNews forum discusses experiences in citizen journalism. Also may be able to derive some stuff from WN:FA, WN:FAC (and its talk page). Bawolff ☺☻ 07:39, 11 November 2006 (UTC)
 * thanks, i thought about a cheatsheet wikinews oriented, and flyer, this material don't exist on meta for wikinews. Jacques Divol 18:12, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

And I'm back
I have been away for a few days now, and have since decided to come back- both because I am addicted Wikinews and because, well Wikipedia is not just as fun as it is here. I have decided, however, to go on "Admin-probation" for some time to come (between 2 weeks to a month). The terms of this self-enforced probation are :- My thanks to users (including Jason, Brian, Thunderhead and others) for convincing me to stay. PVJ(Talk)(Articles I have written) 10:07, 27 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Not using my sysop privileges on disputed pages, especially those that I am involved with.
 * Not blocking users whom I have had disputes with.
 * No self blocks or unblocks.
 * Not exceeding the 2RR (2 reverts in 24 hours) on any page.
 * Glad to hear it. Bawolff ☺☻ 23:42, 13 November 2006 (UTC)


 * I don't think User:PVJ59 is fit for the job. Someone sent me an alarm because of his Holocaust denial comments but I was surprised to see even more of his extremist comments like this one . I sent him a totally legitimate warning and in return I was intimidated, and was called a vandal and a troll. I happen to be WP admin so I know a bit about those. Now he removed my comments and locked his talk page . Such behavior is simply unacceptable. Humus sapiens 10:08, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
 * I repeatedly asked you not to communicate with me on my talk-page, inspite of which you continued to harass me with your comments, leaving me with no choice but to protect my talk-page. Although this information about "alarms" being sent to certain users is very interesting. Are there any more alarms in the pipeline? If there are, we could set up a special mailing list for the same. Zeest(Talk)(Newpages) [[Image:Flag_of_India.svg|25px]] 10:35, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

This:. Your extremism is damaging the project. FYI, talk pages are for comnmunication, and my comments were totally legitimate (and you know it). It was you who harassed and intimidated me, hoping I am a newcomer who doesn't know policies. How many potential editors have you already driven away? This has to stop. ←Humus sapiens ну? 10:58, 17 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Comment Over 10 of this users < 20 edits have been to articles I am involved in. Zeest(Talk)(Newpages) [[Image:Flag_of_India.svg|25px]] 10:57, 17 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Rather than upholding our policies, you have violated a number of them today. Your outlandish behavior and extermist POV are damaging the project. ←Humus sapiens ну? 11:33, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Oscars photos -- cancelled
See Oscars 2008 co-ordination for other content.

Please don't comment yet, this is a work in progress.

Hi all, we've lost the Oscars. They refuse to accept even acknowledged they slipped during the process, let alone take the blame.


 * Summer: I went on the AMPAS press site, and changed my info to reflect Wikipedia/Wikinews, instead of Suite101.com, a site I once wrote an Academy Award column for.
 * Sept 13?: I change the info again, to be my personal contact info, instead of Wikimedia's HQ.
 * Sept 14: I recieve a "Welcome to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Press List. Your registration with the Academy Press List has been activated. You will begin receiving information from the Academy Communications department." This, despite the fact that I had already been registered with the same email address.
 * Sept 18: "Press credential applications for the 79th Academy Awards are now available. Applications will be available for download only to press who have registered for the Academy’s Press List and requested an application." I went online, hit the links, never heard anything, so I presumed they were waiting until the Nov 13 deadline to send anything to me.
 * Sept ##: I post to foundation-l, asking for California Wikimedians. One person offers their friend, who communicates intermittantly, nothing ever happens.
 * Oct 4: I post on Deviantart, expecting floods of potential photographers. No one.
 * Oct 19: I receive another message from the same person as the last. I go online, rehit the link, and on Oct 26 ask the "Communications / Awards Publicity" person to say "I'm unsure if I've properly arranged for credentials or not, I believe I've done everything suggested in this below message. Should the contact information be mine as the coordinator of entertainment photography (as the form currently shows), or that of the photographer themselves? Our photographer has completely seperate information." I received no response.
 * Oct ##: I give up on interior methods, and go to Craigslist to ask for photographers. I receive 50 submissions over four days, even though apparently 90%+ of readers marked the listing as spam. Apparently they thought it was a hoax; the listing is removed by Craiglist admins. Their loss, I thought.
 * Nov 13: The last day to take care of all of this stuff, I email the AMPAS people asking what gives? They finally respond, sometime after the workday ended in Toronto.
 * Nov 14: They say that we're not even in the database. A few emails later, they manage to find us. I explain the lack of response on their end, they ignore, and suggest I hurry up with the submission, as only a few hours are left. I plead, offering up our stats. They ignore, and offer to call me. They tell me, "all you did" was the first step. Again, I reiterate I did the first and second steps, but never got the true form for the third step. They state I didn't do the second step (clicking on one stupid link, something I did three different days) to get to the third step form. It go in circles over-and-over again, and they want to phone me to explain. I explain I'm not near a phone, and won't be until 7:15 EST, once they've likely left for the day PST. They ignore, ask again for my phone number. I give up.

That's the scenario, to the best of my memory. Tomorrow I'll see what the Golden Globes will allow. I presume the Hollywood Foreign Press flows with things better than an actor's union. -- Zanimum 02:01, 16 November 2006 (UTC)


 * HFPA doesn't need forms until December 15! It's generally regarded as second rate to the Oscars, but it's still got the cream of the crop. --  Zanimum 02:08, 16 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Okay, forms are submitted to HFPA. I have requested 1 photographer arrival access, 1 journalist arrival access (eek, have to find one), 1 winner room video crew member access (eek, have to find one), 1 winner room journalist access, 1 winner photo room access, no one for the "deadline press journalist room", access to the photo upload room for 1 photographer with one workstation and power outlet, 0 radio journalists, 0 for the one-on-one interview room, and no truck access or technical worker access. --  Zanimum 02:31, 16 November 2006 (UTC)


 * I must say, they're website was much more straight-forward. Actually, they even have a rule that you must only submit online, as opposed to AMPAS' "anything but online" policy. Plus I've already got automatic receipts. I'll contact the top four photographers tomorrow, to ask them to switch to the Globes. --  Zanimum 02:43, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

James Hare Wikinews Contest
User:Messedrocker/Contest. Please make good use of this! Also the prize money may increase and there may be prizes for second and third place but I am not sure right now. —     01:34, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

James Doohan, Star Trek's 'Scotty', dies at 85
Image:Jamesdoohan.jpg is labelled as a problem image. Can Image:James Doohan 1980s.jpg from Wikipedia replace it? -- Zanimum 18:49, 4 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Changed. Just as a FYI that goes on WN:ALERT where there's a section for edits to protected articles. --Brian McNeil / talk 14:01, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

Wikinews reporting cited by press

 * Council's done A1 job, says Mihevic
 * Whatever Councillor Joe Mihevc's flaws, false modesty is not among them. The Ward 21, St. Paul's councillor, facing a strong challenge from veteran politicians John Sewell and John Adams, answered a survey from Internet site Wikinews that asked, in part, what city council decisions of the past term were the least desirable. His answer? "Ward 21 was well served by City Council, " he replied. "No adverse decisions were made."

And on my birthday too! It also appeared in today's issue of Metro Today, which often uses Torstar content. -- Zanimum 14:37, 9 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Thats cool Bawolff ☺☻ 22:01, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
 * And may I add, you've done a superb job on all the Toronto election articles. --+Deprifry+ 22:24, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree, absolutly excellent job. Bawolff ☺☻ 22:26, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
 * neat! and a belated Happy B'day too. &mdash; Doldrums(talk) 06:44, 11 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Thats great! Keep up the good work! — F e  llow  Wiki  News   (W)  18:15, 12 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Thanks all. Guess I didn't fully say, it's not only in Metro, but in the Toronto Star, one of Canada's most read newspapers. So does anyone know if we've ever been cited before? I know we've been discussed, and Wikipedia's been cited, but never us, AFAIK. --  Zanimum 15:48, 13 November 2006 (UTC)
 * This is the first I've heard. Its possible others have (We don't have contributors everywhere to read everything ever written). Bawolff ☺☻ 23:32, 13 November 2006 (UTC)


 * See In the news! (And keep it up to date if poss) Dan100 (Talk) 15:56, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

What's wrong with Wikinews & Jimbo about citizen journalism
I'm not sure if this has been already discussed but I found two articles related to Wikinews. First one covers Jimbo Wales' opinion on citizen journalism. Second one, What's wrong with Wikinews, was written as reaction to first one. --Derbeth 11:07, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Hmm, original reporting, try that here, and you get shot down for not having sources to back up your reporting claims. I was maybe going to write a report about how MSN's "silent upgrade" from their Butterfly MSN 9.0 internet interface to the MSN 9.5 version flubbed so badly that phone support lines are swamped and the interactive on-line chat problem resolution center is off-line, perhaps over-whelmed by the traffic. So if I'm a nobody, can I report that? Hmmm. -Edbrown05 11:41, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Faith in people baby, and I dunno, this site lacks it. -Edbrown05 11:43, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

One minute, or maybe that was six months ago, we hear Jimbo say perhaps Wikinews is a synthesis of the news, now it's a work-horse? Gee, no wonder I'm confused. -Edbrown05 11:49, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
 * In other words, do you want real reporting or not? Wikinews needn't apoligize for being sloppy. -Edbrown05 11:54, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
 * 'Neat' isn't news. -Edbrown05 10:57, 20 November 2006 (UTC)
 * I think we have a page for stuff like that, but I can't remember it. However the links (especially the second one) is intreasting. user:Bawolff

Kion okazis?
Kion okazis al Vikinovaĵo, la Esperanto-versio de «Wikinews?» La voĉdonadon por la projecto okazis je aprilo, 2005 sed ne projekto lanĉis. Mi ne estas preta gvidi tia projecto, mi ĵus mirindis kion okazis.

(What happened to Vikinovaĵo, the Esperanto version of "Wikinews?" The vote for the project happened in April 2005, but no project launched. I'm not ready to lead such a project, I just wondered what happened.) -Richard &#39;Doc&#39; Kinne 17:02, 20 November 2006 (UTC)


 * It never took off / the original requested documents were never created. I'd be willing to help out with an Esperanto version - even be a member of the founding team - I just need some further tuition in Esperanto. I have a lesson here waiting to be sent off to my local tutor. --Skenmy(t•c•w•i) 18:10, 20 November 2006 (UTC)


 * I was just wondering, Paul, partially because I was surprised that there was no Vikinovaĵo while Vikipedio is such a success, and partially because your presence here brought it to my mind. Perhaps with Gxangalo being up the Esperanto-komunumo didn't see a need for a Vikinovaĵo.


 * I'm semi reasonable in Esperanto, but its not a language like English where I can write in it off the cuff while I'm doing other things as what happens when I'm at work. I'm also a good team player, but I'm a lousy long-term leader so putting me in the Captain's seat on something like this, even though I brought it up, would be a first-class disaster.


 * But I was just wondering. Thanks for the answer!! -Richard &#39;Doc&#39; Kinne 18:22, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

Ségolène Royal News Article Is Old News
It appears to me that the news article about French politician Ségolène Royal, with her photograph, has appeared on the main page as a top news story for far too long. (I could be mistaken, but it seems to me that the story/photo has been listed as a top news story for three or four days now.)

I suggest this story/photo be removed from the list of top stories and that it be archived.

The story current reads:

"Ségolène Royal (pictured) wins the Socialist Party's nomination for President of France in next year's election to become France's first female presidential candidate representing a major party." --Skb8721 15:01, 21 November 2006 (UTC)


 * I just updated the main article (but it has been updated a few times since that story). Make sure you purge the main page cache (the link is under the top story) and / or hard refresh the site (shift or ctrl + f5 depending on your browser). Hopefully that will update it for you! --Skenmy(t•c•w•i) 15:02, 21 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Skb8721 is not asking about Wikinews main page—that story never featured there. Skb8721, it seems you accidentally came here from English Wikipedia, and  commented about the Wikipedia:In the news section on the Main Page, in particular this version .  It was indeed very old news by Tuesday, and in fact lasted on the encyclopedia main page for a week .  Shame on the Wikipedians for not writing enough encyclopedic news! --InfantGorilla 14:28, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

Steward elections
There are just eight days left for voting in the Steward elections. (Voting closes on the 15th of December) There are fifteen great candidates running (including myself :)) from a number of projects. In order to vote you must have a valid account on Meta with a link to at least one account on a project where the user has participated at least three month. If you are interested in reading more or to vote visit Stewards/elections_2006-2. --Cspurrier 00:36, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

main page leads protected
have semi-protected main page lead articles following repeated vandalism. &mdash; Doldrums(talk) 10:08, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
 * ditto other templates used on Main page. &mdash; Doldrums(talk) 10:37, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

link to talk page on dispute tags
many article flags contain a link to the article talk page, for discussion about the tagging. atleast one of these, sources, does not always need a talk page comment to be useful and is typically added with no talk page comment accompanying it. this (debatably) holds for some other tags too (eg. npov, notnews) under some circumstances, but we currently strongly encourage adding comments. i intend to modify(see it here) atleast the sources template to hide the link to the talk page when the talk page doesn't exist. any comments? &mdash; Doldrums(talk) 08:24, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Hmm, I see what you mean. You have a good point. Sounds great! Thunderhead - (talk) Congrajulations to Kat! 08:35, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
 * If you remove the link to the talk page, it will not encourage other Wikinewies to discuss changes to the articles. After all, I thought that Wikinews is an online community. — F e  llow  Wiki  News   (W)  [[Image:Flag of Canada.svg|18px|I am Canadien!]] 16:55, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
 * conditional removal. the link won't be there if the talk page has not been created. will be there if the talk page exists. (try adding to a page with no talk page and one with talk page to see how it works.) most of the time, these tags are placed on articles created and worked on by new users. to have a link to a "discussion" on the tag which leads to an empty page will confuse rather than help them, i think. &mdash; Doldrums(talk) 19:19, 21 December 2006 (UTC)