Re: [WikiEN-l] So, what is the deal with flagged revisions?

2009-08-30 Thread Keegan Paul
On Sat, Aug 29, 2009 at 12:29 PM, Emily Monroe bluecalioc...@me.com wrote:

  the lack of visible reward will have the same effect on them as on
  new contributors.

 What can we do about that?

 Emily


In my opinion, nothing.  In any societal construct, 10% do the management,
30% does the other work, and 60% come an go as they please.  In a way, it is
for the best since you actually get care an concern rather than forced
labor.
~Keegan
-- 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Keegan
___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] Positives to publicity

2009-08-30 Thread Delirium
Keegan Paul wrote:
 People truly do have no clue about how to edit or the community and how it
 functions.  Actually, I don't think the functionality of the community can
 be described.
 Folks are amazed to be told that they can edit willy nilly, make an account
 and all that.  For all our popularity worldwide the vast majority of the
 consumers have no idea (I realize I'm preaching to the choir) until these
 news stories invoke interest.  So, what to do about it?  How to not bite?

It's a big topic, obviously, but this book written by a few Wikipedians 
is probably the best introduction I've found: http://howwikipediaworks.com/

Of course, not everyone will go off and read a book. But, I mean, it's a 
fairly large community, engaged in a fairly large project (one that's 
never been attempted at this scale, actually), so some amount of effort 
to fully understand what's going on is inevitable. What we really want 
is: a much shorter version of that book, that somehow covers an even 
larger breadth of information. ;-)

It's tricky. I mean, we're not just teaching people about Wikipedia 
itself when we explain how to edit Wikipedia, but about many other 
fields of knowledge that they may or may not already have any grounding 
in, which we've adapted in our practices (and which many of us have 
learned as we go). The idea of tertiary-source summaries vs. original 
research; what constitutes original research in various areas; what a 
neutral tone sounds like; what scholarly citation looks like; how to 
evaluate the reliability of sources; how to spot surprising claims that 
need citations; how to write in a sort of fractal summary style; etc.

Some of this is slowly seeping out into the wider culture, which may 
make the acculturation process easier if lots of people coming in 
already know certain things. The widespread outside-Wikipedia use of 
[citation needed], often in a way reasonably close to what we usually 
mean by it, is one example (and actually imo good for knowledge in 
general--- journalists in particular are increasingly getting the 
[citation needed] thrown at them when they make 
questionable-and-unsupported claims).

-Mark


___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


[WikiEN-l] I should know this, I worked on the Wikipedia article...

2009-08-30 Thread Steve Bennett
Just curious, how often do the subjects of articles you work on come
up in daily life? I work on a lot of pretty obscure and random stuff,
but even still, I'm surprised how often I can claim to have written
the article about some Australian town, a state park, a ski resort...

On the downside, it's humiliating to be participating in a trivia
night, and there's a question about just such a topic, and you can't
remember the answer. I did a fair bit of copyediting on [[Hughes H-4
Hercules]], but still couldn't remember the name of the damn thing the
other night...:(  (But I did know who [[Franck Sorbier]] was...)

Steve

___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] I should know this, I worked on the Wikipedia article...

2009-08-30 Thread WJhonson
Just last week I was out at a local flea market (is this the same phrase in 
British English?), and I asked a junk-book seller if he's ever seen the 
book Foster Family by Buddy Foster.  I explained that Buddy was Jody Foster's 
older brother who had actually had a TV career several years before hers.
   The lady next to me wanted to argue about whether Buddy Foster had been 
Andy Griffith's son, she said it was Ronny Howard.  That confused me because 
Ron Howard *was* Andy Griffith's son.  The part I couldn't remember at the 
time was... as WELL.  Because Andy had two different shows.
   See that's what I get for not yet having my brain implant.


Will Johnson
P.S. A Flea Market (at least in American English) is where people bring all 
their junk they want to get rid of, and spread it out for other people to 
buy it for very low prices.
___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] I should know this, I worked on the Wikipedia article...

2009-08-30 Thread Carcharoth
On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 2:11 PM, wjhon...@aol.com wrote:

snip

 P.S. A Flea Market (at least in American English) is where people bring all
 their junk they want to get rid of, and spread it out for other people to
 buy it for very low prices.

We have those. I've heard Americans refer to garage sales. We
(Brits) have those sometimes, but more often we take stuff to a local
charity shop, or a school's jumble sale, or stick stuff in the boot
(luggage compartment) of a car, drive with others to an empty field,
and have what called a car boot sale! :-)

Carcharoth

___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] I should know this, I worked on the Wikipedia article...

2009-08-30 Thread WJhonson
In a message dated 8/30/2009 6:22:24 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
carcharot...@googlemail.com writes:


 We have those. I've heard Americans refer to garage sales. We
 (Brits) have those sometimes, but more often we take stuff to a local
 charity shop, or a school's jumble sale, or stick stuff in the boot
 (luggage compartment) of a car, drive with others to an empty field,
 and have what called a car boot sale! :-)



OK, a garage sale is typically where you sell your stuff from your own 
garage.  People just park on the street, walk to your house and buy your stuff. 
 
Sometimes we'll have a neighborhood garage sale, where several people 
will sell their junk from one person's garage.

A flea market must be like your car boot sale, but the flea market's I've 
been to, aren't in empty fields, they are more organized and regular.  
Jumble sale that's a new one, I think we'd call that a charity flea market. 
 
That is, you donate your stuff and some charity sells it.

I was just thinking the other day, Is there a British-American Dictionary 
?  That would be a dictionary that has all these various words and phrases 
and their translations into British English.  Often I'll come upon an 
article obviously written by a Brit and it will say something like At the 
market, 
her trolley bumped into a right blinker and he copped her one...

(I just made that up), and it makes little sense at all to an American, 
unless they had watched a lot of British tele.

W.J.

___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] British-American dictionary

2009-08-30 Thread WJhonson
Here's one
http://www.travelfurther.net/dictionaries/ba-tz.htm

he doesn't have Trolley though, I think that's one of the funniest ones 
he doesnt list

To Brits a trolley is the cart you push around a grocery store.
To Americans a trolley is a streetcar usually electric and old-fashioned 
and quaint.

Advise to Brits, never say fag or fag end in the states
http://www.travelfurther.net/dictionaries/ba-df.htm




___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] I should know this, I worked on the Wikipedia article...

2009-08-30 Thread Emily Monroe
 I've heard Americans refer to garage sales.

Where I live (mid-Missouri), there's more yard sales and rummage  
sales than there are garage sales, but it's all the same thing.
On Aug 30, 2009, at 8:21 AM, Carcharoth wrote:

 On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 2:11 PM, wjhon...@aol.com wrote:

 snip

 P.S. A Flea Market (at least in American English) is where people  
 bring all
 their junk they want to get rid of, and spread it out for other  
 people to
 buy it for very low prices.

 We have those. I've heard Americans refer to garage sales. We
 (Brits) have those sometimes, but more often we take stuff to a local
 charity shop, or a school's jumble sale, or stick stuff in the boot
 (luggage compartment) of a car, drive with others to an empty field,
 and have what called a car boot sale! :-)

 Carcharoth

 ___
 WikiEN-l mailing list
 WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
 To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
 https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] I should know this, I worked on the Wikipedia article...

2009-08-30 Thread Carcharoth
n Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 2:33 PM, wjhon...@aol.com wrote:

snip

 I was just thinking the other day, Is there a British-American Dictionary
 ?  That would be a dictionary that has all these various words and phrases
 and their translations into British English.  Often I'll come upon an
 article obviously written by a Brit and it will say something like At the 
 market,
 her trolley bumped into a right blinker and he copped her one...

I was hoping Wiktionary had something, but haven't found it yet.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Main_Page

The main page says:

Designed as the lexical companion to Wikipedia, the encyclopaedia
project, Wiktionary has grown beyond a standard dictionary and now
includes a thesaurus, a rhyme guide, phrase books, language statistics
and extensive appendices. We aim to include not only the definition of
a word, but also enough information to really understand it. Thus
etymologies, pronunciations, sample quotations, synonyms, antonyms and
translations are included.

I'd assume that would include phrase books for US and British English
(and the other English variants as well).

I like the way Wiktionary approach policies!

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Wiktionary_policies

I'm impressed they are tackling sign languages:

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:About_sign_languages

A bit on spelling variants here:

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Spelling_variants_in_entry_names

For phrases, see here:

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Phrasebook

But no US or British phrases.

I think you are stuck with looking up individual phrases and seeing
which country they originate from. Getting translations from one
variant of English into another doesn't seem to be something
Wiktionary has attempted yet.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Americanism
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/American_English
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/British_English
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Scottish_English
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Commonwealth_English

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Dialects

Carcharoth

___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] I should know this, I worked on the Wikipedia article...

2009-08-30 Thread Eugene van der Pijll
Carcharoth schreef:
 I was hoping Wiktionary had something, but haven't found it yet.

It's on Wikipedia:

[[List of words having different meanings in British and American English]]

(and the other pages in the navbox at the top of that page).

Eugene

___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] I should know this, I worked on the Wikipedia article...

2009-08-30 Thread Thomas Dalton
2009/8/30  wjhon...@aol.com:
 A flea market must be like your car boot sale, but the flea market's I've
 been to, aren't in empty fields, they are more organized and regular.

Car boot sales are often very organised and regular. Some sellers will
be regulars (selling things they made or buy in from somewhere, or
whatever) some will be one-offs just having a clear out at home, but
the sale is often there every week.

___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] WikiEN-l Digest, Vol 73, Issue 110

2009-08-30 Thread Daniel R. Tobias
On Sat, 29 Aug 2009 14:19:05 -0700, stevertigo wrote:

 PS: Daniel, we know you read the digests, but would you please change
 the subject header in your replies to match the actual header of the
 thread? Thanks.

Yes, I try to, as part of the extensive copy-and-pasting I need to do 
when beginning a reply, in order to get a properly trimmed quote with 
an accurate attribution line; but, regrettably, I sometimes forget 
that last step of changing the subject line.  This time, ironically, 
I did it properly, but this merely resulted in replacing one digest 
subject line with another!

My apologies for this netiquette failure, and I'll make my best 
attempt to do better in the future.  Now, if only that would also be 
true of the several people on this list who invariably fullquote 
beneath their replies, sometimes building up a string of half a dozen 
or more untrimmed list footers that digest readers need to scroll 
through to get to the next message.  And then there's the weirdest 
perversion of all, the properly trimmed quote interleaved with reply, 
followed by an untrimmed fullquote; I call this doublequoting, not 
to be confused with the ASCII doublequote character with which I 
surround the word doublequoting here.  I have more discussion of 
such quoting abberations here:

http://mailformat.dan.info/quoting/top-posting.html

Is there really, as alluded to in the replies last time I brought up 
the issue, a mail program or webmail interface that silently adds 
such a fullquote to the bottom of a message (whether or not the main 
body of the message includes interleaved quotes and replies), giving 
no indication to the writer that such an attachment is being made nor 
any ability to trim or remove it?  Every mail interface I've ever 
encountered makes the quoted material visible and editable, though 
admittedly some (e.g., the iPhone) make it quite difficult to trim it 
(though the addition of cut/copy/paste capability on the iPhone in 
the 3.0 software upgrade a few months ago brought it from almost 
impossible to kind of hard but do-able).

-- 
== Dan ==
Dan's Mail Format Site: http://mailformat.dan.info/
Dan's Web Tips: http://webtips.dan.info/
Dan's Domain Site: http://domains.dan.info/



___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] So, what is the deal with flagged revisions?

2009-08-30 Thread Daniel R. Tobias
On Sun, 30 Aug 2009 03:06:45 -0500, Keegan Paul wrote:

 In my opinion, nothing.  In any societal construct, 10% do the management,
 30% does the other work, and 60% come an go as they please.  In a way, it is
 for the best since you actually get care an concern rather than forced
 labor.

Do they correspond to the lead, follow, and get the hell out of 
the way categories from the old expression?


-- 
== Dan ==
Dan's Mail Format Site: http://mailformat.dan.info/
Dan's Web Tips: http://webtips.dan.info/
Dan's Domain Site: http://domains.dan.info/



___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] So, what is the deal with flagged revisions?

2009-08-30 Thread Nathan Russell
One issue that's bugged me for awhile wrt flagged revisions is whether
we'll have a problem with people saying that [[m:The Wrong Version]]
is still flagged, and theirs hasn't yet been.  Granted, if this
becomes an issue, it can be easily enough solved by flagging the
current version (and, if necessary, applying the usual 3rr sanctions)
- but is it likely to be one frequently enough to be a practical
inconvenience for the community?

Pakaran

On Thu, Aug 27, 2009 at 10:23 AM, Apoc 2400apoc2...@gmail.com wrote:

  Controversial articles must not be constantly backlogged because
  reviewers are afraid of getting drawn into an edit war.
 I get the impression from this statement that traditional full dispute
 protection will still be needed. Will this still be available?


 Yes, ordinary full protection is still available, as is ordinary
 semi-protection.

 There is also the new full-flagged-protection where instead of using
 {{editprotected}} you can edit the draft and wait for an admin to flag. I
 don't know if this will actually be used very often, since it doesn't really
 stop edit wars.


 OT: Is there any way I can make my messages thread properly without having
 all messages sent to my email? I prefer to read the web archive.
 ___
 WikiEN-l mailing list
 WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
 To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
 https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] Well-sourced nonsense vs. unsourced competence

2009-08-30 Thread stevertigo
David Goodmandgoodma...@gmail.com wrote:
 From the excellent little book Keywords in Evolutionary Biology by
 Evelyn Fox Keller  Elisabeth Lloyd,
  Adaptation, Current uses by Mary Jane West-Eberhard,

 An 'adaptation' is a characteristic of an organism whose form is the
 result of selection in a particular functional context  Accordingly.
 the process of 'adaptation' is the evolutionary modification of a
 character under selection for efficient or advantageous
 (fitness-enhancing) functioning in a particular context  p.13

By characteristic do they not mean observed [quantity [result or
process]]? By organism do they not mean species?  The point here
is that no organisms themselves adapt - organisms are instances
of a species, and its the species itself that adapts.

But even that is not technically accurate - adaptation is a
perception of overall change - based in a *quantitative estimation of
things being different from what they were before. Then the
interesting point of adaptation is that the concept means something
more than just *quantifiable change(s) - that time and biochemistry
bring about some *qualitative improvements out of those changes.

Hence it's undeveloped meaning (organism's change) is imprecise, and
its developed meaning makes it still just a colloquialism for
evolution or natural selection - even when breaking it down as I
just did. The authors get it only mostly right.

-Stevertigo

___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] Well-sourced nonsense vs. unsourced competence

2009-08-30 Thread stevertigo
On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 1:13 PM, stevertigostv...@gmail.com wrote:

 But even that is not technically accurate - adaptation is a
 perception of overall change - based in a *quantitative estimation of
 things being different from what they were before.

Correction - should be: 'adaptation is a *quantitative estimation of
overall change - based in a perception of things as being different
from what they were before.'

-Stevertigo

___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


[WikiEN-l] Wired: Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text

2009-08-30 Thread Keith Old
Folks,

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/wikitrust/

Wired reports:


*Starting this fall, you’ll have a new reason to trust the information you
find on Wikipedia: An optional feature called “WikiTrust” will color code
every word of the encyclopedia based on the reliability of its author and
the length of time it has persisted on the page.*

*More than 60 million people visit the free, open-access encyclopedia each
month, searching for knowledge on 12 million pages in 260 languages. But
despite its popularity,
**Wikipedia*http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/wikitrust/www.wikipedia.org
* has long suffered criticism from those who say it’s not reliable. Because
anyone with an internet connection can contribute, the site is subject to
vandalism, bias and misinformation. And edits are anonymous, so there’s no
easy way to separate credible information from fake content created by
vandals.*

*Now, researchers from the **Wiki Lab* http://trust.cse.ucsc.edu/* at the
University of California, Santa Cruz have created a system to help users
know when to trust Wikipedia—and when to reach for that dusty Encyclopedia
Britannica on the shelf. Called
**WikiTrust*http://wikitrust.soe.ucsc.edu/index.php/Main_Page
*, the program assigns a color code to newly edited text using an algorithm
that calculates author reputation from the lifespan of their past
contributions. It’s based on a simple concept: The longer information
persists on the page, the more accurate it’s likely to be.*

*Text from questionable sources starts out with a bright orange background,
while text from trusted authors gets a lighter shade. As more people view
and edit the new text, it gradually gains more “trust” and turns from orange
to white.*

More in story

*Regards*

**

*Keith*
___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] Wired: Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text

2009-08-30 Thread Nathan
On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 9:19 PM, Nathan Russellwindrun...@gmail.com wrote:
 I'll just say I'm a bit surprised to be hearing it from Wired first.

 Pakaran


WikiTrust itself has been announced and then mentioned on this list
multiple times; in the absence of quotes in the article from Wikimedia
Foundation staff members, I'm not 100% convinced that a decision has
been made to roll it out to all users of the English Wikipedia. If I
remember, there were significant technical issues associated with a
real-time trust analysis on the entire encyclopedia. Perhaps the
mentions of gadgets were intended to signify that it would be an
optional gadget available in the preferences. It's a really
interesting method of looking at the project, I'm in favor of adding
it as a gadget if a way can be found to make it technically
manageable.

Nathan

___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] Wired: Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text

2009-08-30 Thread FT2
Color coding to show aging of text (Wikitrust) has been around for ages -- I
think since shortly after the Seigenthaler incident or some 2006 incident,
or some research around 2006 ish.

Maybe this means the owners will run it live or something. I don't know.

FT2


On Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 2:19 AM, Nathan Russell windrun...@gmail.comwrote:

 I'll just say I'm a bit surprised to be hearing it from Wired first.

 Pakaran

 On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 8:24 PM, Keith Oldkeith...@gmail.com wrote:
  Folks,
 
  http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/wikitrust/
 
  Wired reports:
 
 
  *Starting this fall, you’ll have a new reason to trust the information
 you
  find on Wikipedia: An optional feature called “WikiTrust” will color code
  every word of the encyclopedia based on the reliability of its author and
  the length of time it has persisted on the page.*
 
  *More than 60 million people visit the free, open-access encyclopedia
 each
  month, searching for knowledge on 12 million pages in 260 languages. But
  despite its popularity,
  **Wikipedia*
 http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/wikitrust/www.wikipedia.org
  * has long suffered criticism from those who say it’s not reliable.
 Because
  anyone with an internet connection can contribute, the site is subject to
  vandalism, bias and misinformation. And edits are anonymous, so there’s
 no
  easy way to separate credible information from fake content created by
  vandals.*
 
  *Now, researchers from the **Wiki Lab* http://trust.cse.ucsc.edu/* at
 the
  University of California, Santa Cruz have created a system to help users
  know when to trust Wikipedia—and when to reach for that dusty
 Encyclopedia
  Britannica on the shelf. Called
  **WikiTrust*http://wikitrust.soe.ucsc.edu/index.php/Main_Page
  *, the program assigns a color code to newly edited text using an
 algorithm
  that calculates author reputation from the lifespan of their past
  contributions. It’s based on a simple concept: The longer information
  persists on the page, the more accurate it’s likely to be.*
 
  *Text from questionable sources starts out with a bright orange
 background,
  while text from trusted authors gets a lighter shade. As more people view
  and edit the new text, it gradually gains more “trust” and turns from
 orange
  to white.*
 
  More in story
 
  *Regards*
 
  **
 
  *Keith*
  ___
  WikiEN-l mailing list
  WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
  To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
  https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
 

 ___
 WikiEN-l mailing list
 WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
 To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
 https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l

___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] Wired: Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text

2009-08-30 Thread Brian
On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 6:24 PM, Keith Old keith...@gmail.com wrote:

 Folks,

 http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/wikitrust/

 Wired reports:


 *Starting this fall, you’ll have a new reason to trust the information you
 find on Wikipedia: An optional feature called “WikiTrust” will color code
 every word of the encyclopedia based on the reliability of its author and
 the length of time it has persisted on the page.*

 *More than 60 million people visit the free, open-access encyclopedia each
 month, searching for knowledge on 12 million pages in 260 languages. But
 despite its popularity,
 **Wikipedia*
 http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/wikitrust/www.wikipedia.org
 * has long suffered criticism from those who say it’s not reliable. Because
 anyone with an internet connection can contribute, the site is subject to
 vandalism, bias and misinformation. And edits are anonymous, so there’s no
 easy way to separate credible information from fake content created by
 vandals.*

 *Now, researchers from the **Wiki Lab* http://trust.cse.ucsc.edu/* at
 the
 University of California, Santa Cruz have created a system to help users
 know when to trust Wikipedia—and when to reach for that dusty Encyclopedia
 Britannica on the shelf. Called
 **WikiTrust*http://wikitrust.soe.ucsc.edu/index.php/Main_Page
 *, the program assigns a color code to newly edited text using an algorithm
 that calculates author reputation from the lifespan of their past
 contributions. It’s based on a simple concept: The longer information
 persists on the page, the more accurate it’s likely to be.*

 *Text from questionable sources starts out with a bright orange background,
 while text from trusted authors gets a lighter shade. As more people view
 and edit the new text, it gradually gains more “trust” and turns from
 orange
 to white.*

 More in story

 *Regards*

 **

 *Keith*



What's interesting about WikiTrust is that a trust score is computed for
each individual. I wonder if these will be made public, and if so, how they
will change the community of editors.  It seems likely that they will not be
made public. However, since the algorithm is published and I believe the
source code as well anyone with the hardware could compute and publish how
trusted each community member is.
___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] Wired: Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text

2009-08-30 Thread Emily Monroe
 Or perhaps it is a reputation score - my memory is fuzzy.

Either way, I would like the score to NOT be published. I'd hate to  
have the community divided over a piece of software.

Emily
On Aug 30, 2009, at 8:32 PM, Brian wrote:

 On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 7:31 PM, Brian brian.min...@colorado.edu  
 wrote:



 On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 6:24 PM, Keith Old keith...@gmail.com  
 wrote:

 Folks,

 http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/wikitrust/

 Wired reports:


 *Starting this fall, you’ll have a new reason to trust the  
 information
 you
 find on Wikipedia: An optional feature called “WikiTrust” will  
 color code
 every word of the encyclopedia based on the reliability of its  
 author and
 the length of time it has persisted on the page.*

 *More than 60 million people visit the free, open-access  
 encyclopedia each
 month, searching for knowledge on 12 million pages in 260  
 languages. But
 despite its popularity,
 **Wikipedia*
 http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/wikitrust/www.wikipedia.org 
 
 * has long suffered criticism from those who say it’s not reliable.
 Because
 anyone with an internet connection can contribute, the site is  
 subject to
 vandalism, bias and misinformation. And edits are anonymous, so  
 there’s no
 easy way to separate credible information from fake content  
 created by
 vandals.*

 *Now, researchers from the **Wiki Lab* http://trust.cse.ucsc.edu/ 
 * at
 the
 University of California, Santa Cruz have created a system to help  
 users
 know when to trust Wikipedia—and when to reach for that dusty  
 Encyclopedia
 Britannica on the shelf. Called
 **WikiTrust*http://wikitrust.soe.ucsc.edu/index.php/Main_Page
 *, the program assigns a color code to newly edited text using an
 algorithm
 that calculates author reputation from the lifespan of their past
 contributions. It’s based on a simple concept: The longer  
 information
 persists on the page, the more accurate it’s likely to be.*

 *Text from questionable sources starts out with a bright orange
 background,
 while text from trusted authors gets a lighter shade. As more  
 people view
 and edit the new text, it gradually gains more “trust” and turns  
 from
 orange
 to white.*

 More in story

 *Regards*

 **

 *Keith*



 What's interesting about WikiTrust is that a trust score is  
 computed for
 each individual. I wonder if these will be made public, and if so,  
 how they
 will change the community of editors.  It seems likely that they  
 will not be
 made public. However, since the algorithm is published and I  
 believe the
 source code as well anyone with the hardware could compute and  
 publish how
 trusted each community member is.



 Or perhaps it is a reputation score - my memory is fuzzy.
 ___
 WikiEN-l mailing list
 WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
 To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
 https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] Wired: Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text

2009-08-30 Thread Nathan Russell
On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 9:31 PM, Brianbrian.min...@colorado.edu wrote:

 What's interesting about WikiTrust is that a trust score is computed for
 each individual. I wonder if these will be made public, and if so, how they
 will change the community of editors.  It seems likely that they will not be
 made public. However, since the algorithm is published and I believe the
 source code as well anyone with the hardware could compute and publish how
 trusted each community member is.

I don't think the trust scores, if they're based on what the article
describes, would really do much to show trust in a conventional
sense.

Consider that someone doing Michael-style subtle vandalism (release
dates, etc) may not get reverted for some time, while a good editor
who likes to edit in political topics may get reverted frequently even
when her contributions are good (or, perhaps, just have subtle PoV
issues).

Pakaran

___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] Wired: Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text

2009-08-30 Thread Nathan Russell
On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 9:34 PM, Emily Monroebluecalioc...@me.com wrote:
 Or perhaps it is a reputation score - my memory is fuzzy.

 Either way, I would like the score to NOT be published. I'd hate to
 have the community divided over a piece of software.

 Emily

There's also the possibility for gaming the system by, e.g., making
subtle expansions that are very unlikely to be reverted to articles
that don't get much attention.  Unless the algorithm is more complex
than I thought.

Pakaran

___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] Wired: Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text

2009-08-30 Thread FT2
Agree - trust scores are likely to be divisive and easily gamed. I do not
think trust score league tables will help the project.

However as they are also good ways to spot problems and see the reliability
profile of an article on review, perhaps some way might be found to make
some of their results available, in some limited manner? Admin only??

On the assumption admins are trusted anyway so they don't have such a vested
interest in numbers, but they might be interested in problem editorship.

The other view is if you can see the aging or trust profile of the article,
that's all you need. low trust-score users may simply be legitimate but
inexperienced, bold and reverted, etc. There are other ways to ID problem
editors, and if you need to know who wrote a specific sentence you can
always use WikiBlame to check the history.

So overall I would say you don't need to publish trust scores of users, and
even telling a user their own trust score is merely a toehold into self
promotion/gaming at best. People should edit, not be encouraged to keep
scorecards.

FT2




On Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 2:37 AM, Nathan Russell windrun...@gmail.comwrote:

 On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 9:34 PM, Emily Monroebluecalioc...@me.com wrote:
  Or perhaps it is a reputation score - my memory is fuzzy.
 
  Either way, I would like the score to NOT be published. I'd hate to
  have the community divided over a piece of software.
 
  Emily

 There's also the possibility for gaming the system by, e.g., making
 subtle expansions that are very unlikely to be reverted to articles
 that don't get much attention.  Unless the algorithm is more complex
 than I thought.

 Pakaran

 ___
 WikiEN-l mailing list
 WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
 To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
 https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l

___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] Wired: Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text

2009-08-30 Thread Andrew Gray
2009/8/31 Nathan Russell windrun...@gmail.com:
 WikiTrust itself has been announced and then mentioned on this list
 multiple times; in the absence of quotes in the article from Wikimedia
 Foundation staff members, I'm not 100% convinced that a decision has
 been made to roll it out to all users of the English Wikipedia.

 Which is what I meant, sorry.

The Wired article says it was derived from a UCSC story, which seems
to be the one here:

http://scicom.ucsc.edu/SciNotes/0901/pages/wiki/wiki.html

After years of collaboration, WikiMedia bigwigs finally decided in
April 2009 to make WikiTrust available for all registered Wikipedia
users. The launch date for the new gadget has not been set, but de
Alfaro thinks it will go live in September or October. 

I cannot for the life of me find any reference to this on the
wikitrust website, on the mailing lists, etc - so, I dunno. available
for and Gadget makes it sound like an additional preferences thing,
which seems plausible - those tend to get installed pretty quietly.

I've copied this mail to Luca de Alfaro, who's posted here before, and
hopefully he can shed some light on what's actually going on! :-)

-- 
- Andrew Gray
  andrew.g...@dunelm.org.uk

___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] Wired: Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text

2009-08-30 Thread David Goodman
In the absence of any actual validation that this measures trust' or
reliability or quality, i am very skeptical it would be highly
inappropriate to integrate into our gadgets.

David Goodman, Ph.D, M.L.S.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:DGG



On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 9:44 PM, Andrew Grayandrew.g...@dunelm.org.uk wrote:
 2009/8/31 Nathan Russell windrun...@gmail.com:
 WikiTrust itself has been announced and then mentioned on this list
 multiple times; in the absence of quotes in the article from Wikimedia
 Foundation staff members, I'm not 100% convinced that a decision has
 been made to roll it out to all users of the English Wikipedia.

 Which is what I meant, sorry.

 The Wired article says it was derived from a UCSC story, which seems
 to be the one here:

 http://scicom.ucsc.edu/SciNotes/0901/pages/wiki/wiki.html

 After years of collaboration, WikiMedia bigwigs finally decided in
 April 2009 to make WikiTrust available for all registered Wikipedia
 users. The launch date for the new gadget has not been set, but de
 Alfaro thinks it will go live in September or October. 

 I cannot for the life of me find any reference to this on the
 wikitrust website, on the mailing lists, etc - so, I dunno. available
 for and Gadget makes it sound like an additional preferences thing,
 which seems plausible - those tend to get installed pretty quietly.

 I've copied this mail to Luca de Alfaro, who's posted here before, and
 hopefully he can shed some light on what's actually going on! :-)

 --
 - Andrew Gray
  andrew.g...@dunelm.org.uk

 ___
 WikiEN-l mailing list
 WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
 To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
 https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] Wired: Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text

2009-08-30 Thread Thomas Dalton
2009/8/31 FT2 ft2.w...@gmail.com:
 Agree - trust scores are likely to be divisive and easily gamed. I do not
 think trust score league tables will help the project.

 However as they are also good ways to spot problems and see the reliability
 profile of an article on review, perhaps some way might be found to make
 some of their results available, in some limited manner? Admin only??

Perhaps the trust scores could be released in the form of categories.
You can't find out an individuals actual score but you can find out if
they are untrustworthy, average or trustworthy (with dividing
lines that we have spent at least a gigabyte arguing over, of course).
I can't see any real use for the exact scores - the precision will be
so low that the rough categories are all you can conclude from them.

I'm not convinced there is sufficient use for even such categories,
though. They might be useful for prioritising recent changes in vandal
fighting tools, that's about it. (Perhaps the vandal fighting tools
could have access to the scores without their users having such
access?)

___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] Wired: Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text

2009-08-30 Thread Brian
On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 7:42 PM, FT2 ft2.w...@gmail.com wrote:

 Agree - trust scores are likely to be divisive and easily gamed. I do not
 think trust score league tables will help the project.

 However as they are also good ways to spot problems and see the
 reliability
 profile of an article on review, perhaps some way might be found to make
 some of their results available, in some limited manner? Admin only??

 On the assumption admins are trusted anyway so they don't have such a
 vested
 interest in numbers, but they might be interested in problem editorship.

 The other view is if you can see the aging or trust profile of the article,
 that's all you need. low trust-score users may simply be legitimate but
 inexperienced, bold and reverted, etc. There are other ways to ID problem
 editors, and if you need to know who wrote a specific sentence you can
 always use WikiBlame to check the history.

 So overall I would say you don't need to publish trust scores of users, and
 even telling a user their own trust score is merely a toehold into self
 promotion/gaming at best. People should edit, not be encouraged to keep
 scorecards.

 FT2


Playing devils advocate, isn't there far too little information available
about your average editor? How do you determine at a glance the reputation
of an editor whose edits you are reviewing, or with whom you are having a
conversation? Further, since the full history dump is publicly available and
the given algorithm is just one of many related measures that could be
computed, is it pointless to try and stop the information from being
released? Lastly, in the interest of transparency should the information not
be made available? Shouldn't the goal be to create an algorithm that can't
be gamed? It may actually be the case that this one is not very subject to
manipulation. The authors are very astute and it would take an awful lot of
effort.
___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] Wired: Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text

2009-08-30 Thread Brian
On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 7:48 PM, Brian brian.min...@colorado.edu wrote:

 On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 7:42 PM, FT2 ft2.w...@gmail.com wrote:

 Agree - trust scores are likely to be divisive and easily gamed. I do not
 think trust score league tables will help the project.

 However as they are also good ways to spot problems and see the
 reliability
 profile of an article on review, perhaps some way might be found to make
 some of their results available, in some limited manner? Admin only??

 On the assumption admins are trusted anyway so they don't have such a
 vested
 interest in numbers, but they might be interested in problem editorship.

 The other view is if you can see the aging or trust profile of the
 article,
 that's all you need. low trust-score users may simply be legitimate but
 inexperienced, bold and reverted, etc. There are other ways to ID problem
 editors, and if you need to know who wrote a specific sentence you can
 always use WikiBlame to check the history.

 So overall I would say you don't need to publish trust scores of users,
 and
 even telling a user their own trust score is merely a toehold into self
 promotion/gaming at best. People should edit, not be encouraged to keep
 scorecards.

 FT2


 Playing devils advocate, isn't there far too little information available
 about your average editor? How do you determine at a glance the reputation
 of an editor whose edits you are reviewing, or with whom you are having a
 conversation? Further, since the full history dump is publicly available and
 the given algorithm is just one of many related measures that could be
 computed, is it pointless to try and stop the information from being
 released? Lastly, in the interest of transparency should the information not
 be made available? Shouldn't the goal be to create an algorithm that can't
 be gamed? It may actually be the case that this one is not very subject to
 manipulation. The authors are very astute and it would take an awful lot of
 effort.


I would also point out that competition can be a very healthy thing and it
could very well be a motivating tool. Assuming an algorithm that is
difficult to game editors might well be very interested in improving their
reputation scores. It could even give some credibility to the encyclopedia.
___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] Wired: Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text

2009-08-30 Thread WJhonson
Or if everybody knows how to game then the gaming advantage vanishes.  
Full disclosure can also level the field.

___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] Wired: Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text

2009-08-30 Thread Thomas Dalton
2009/8/31 Brian brian.min...@colorado.edu:
 I would also point out that competition can be a very healthy thing and it
 could very well be a motivating tool. Assuming an algorithm that is
 difficult to game editors might well be very interested in improving their
 reputation scores. It could even give some credibility to the encyclopedia.

Yes, competition is a good motivator, but that is only useful if it is
motivating people to do something desirable. We don't actually want
people to try and avoid being reverted - WP:BOLD is still widely
accepted as a good guideline, isn't it?

___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] Wired: Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text

2009-08-30 Thread Brian
On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 8:28 PM, Thomas Dalton thomas.dal...@gmail.comwrote:

 2009/8/31 Brian brian.min...@colorado.edu:
  I would also point out that competition can be a very healthy thing and
 it
  could very well be a motivating tool. Assuming an algorithm that is
  difficult to game editors might well be very interested in improving
 their
  reputation scores. It could even give some credibility to the
 encyclopedia.

 Yes, competition is a good motivator, but that is only useful if it is
 motivating people to do something desirable. We don't actually want
 people to try and avoid being reverted - WP:BOLD is still widely
 accepted as a good guideline, isn't it?


From the perspective of building an excellent encyclopedia you might want
people to be bold. This is an inherently inclusionist perspective where we
assume that bold editors who write awful, inaccurate or mediocre stuff are
still making valuable contributions. They are either contributing cruft
which is easy to get rid of, or they are contributing seeds for some future
editor to improve, or seeds for conversations on the talk page that will in
time result in high quality content. Or if we're lucky, they are not only
bold but really smart and only capable of producing brilliant prose. In
short, in the limit of time any contribution is a good contribution. Even
the worst contribution you can think of (which is probably engineered to
stick but blatantly false) is going to eventually be tagged as vandalism and
will help contribute to future intelligent algorithms that automatically
weed out vandalism.

From the perspective of an editor whose reputation is at stake, they are
going to want to think more carefully about their contribution. On average
they want all of their edits to remain in the encyclopedia for a long time.
They might not want to be bold and thoughtless because that means they are
simply planting a seed for another editor to improve on, making it easier
for that other editor to improve their reputation at the stake of your
reputation. You might want to start your seed of an edit as a draft and
improve it over time, only finally submitting it to the encyclopedia after
it is already high quality and likely to stick.

I tend to think that the latter version is healthier than encouraging
everyone to contribute every thought that they have. Similar to the
[[Foot-in-the-door technique]], first we convinced you to edit this page,
now we'd like to ask you to spend some time thinking about your edit before
you submit it. If you do, your reputation will improve and your peers will
respect your edits more in the future.
___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] Wired: Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text

2009-08-30 Thread Carcharoth
On Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 3:28 AM, Thomas Daltonthomas.dal...@gmail.com wrote:
 2009/8/31 Brian brian.min...@colorado.edu:
 I would also point out that competition can be a very healthy thing and it
 could very well be a motivating tool. Assuming an algorithm that is
 difficult to game editors might well be very interested in improving their
 reputation scores. It could even give some credibility to the encyclopedia.

 Yes, competition is a good motivator, but that is only useful if it is
 motivating people to do something desirable. We don't actually want
 people to try and avoid being reverted - WP:BOLD is still widely
 accepted as a good guideline, isn't it?

Is it not more likely that most long-term editors who have been active
for years have had most of their text mercilessly edited into oblivion
and have very low average trust levels? And more recent editors may
have higher trust levels?

Carcharoth

___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] Wired: Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text

2009-08-30 Thread FT2
Since the analysis is over a period of time, it's easy to trial it offline
by statically calculating results for a past period or certain editors, then
seeing if those mean anything. Overall my suspicion is 1/ it'll be so poorly
correlated with quality as to be unhelpful compared to other guides, 2/ we
don't want to encourage a move to that kind of user evaluation metric anyway
for the many reasons given.

FT2


On Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 3:57 AM, Brian brian.min...@colorado.edu wrote:

 On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 8:28 PM, Thomas Dalton thomas.dal...@gmail.com
 wrote:

  2009/8/31 Brian brian.min...@colorado.edu:
   I would also point out that competition can be a very healthy thing and
  it
   could very well be a motivating tool. Assuming an algorithm that is
   difficult to game editors might well be very interested in improving
  their
   reputation scores. It could even give some credibility to the
  encyclopedia.
 
  Yes, competition is a good motivator, but that is only useful if it is
  motivating people to do something desirable. We don't actually want
  people to try and avoid being reverted - WP:BOLD is still widely
  accepted as a good guideline, isn't it?
 

 From the perspective of building an excellent encyclopedia you might want
 people to be bold. This is an inherently inclusionist perspective where we
 assume that bold editors who write awful, inaccurate or mediocre stuff are
 still making valuable contributions. They are either contributing cruft
 which is easy to get rid of, or they are contributing seeds for some future
 editor to improve, or seeds for conversations on the talk page that will in
 time result in high quality content. Or if we're lucky, they are not only
 bold but really smart and only capable of producing brilliant prose. In
 short, in the limit of time any contribution is a good contribution. Even
 the worst contribution you can think of (which is probably engineered to
 stick but blatantly false) is going to eventually be tagged as vandalism
 and
 will help contribute to future intelligent algorithms that automatically
 weed out vandalism.

 From the perspective of an editor whose reputation is at stake, they are
 going to want to think more carefully about their contribution. On average
 they want all of their edits to remain in the encyclopedia for a long time.
 They might not want to be bold and thoughtless because that means they are
 simply planting a seed for another editor to improve on, making it easier
 for that other editor to improve their reputation at the stake of your
 reputation. You might want to start your seed of an edit as a draft and
 improve it over time, only finally submitting it to the encyclopedia after
 it is already high quality and likely to stick.

 I tend to think that the latter version is healthier than encouraging
 everyone to contribute every thought that they have. Similar to the
 [[Foot-in-the-door technique]], first we convinced you to edit this page,
 now we'd like to ask you to spend some time thinking about your edit before
 you submit it. If you do, your reputation will improve and your peers will
 respect your edits more in the future.
 ___
 WikiEN-l mailing list
 WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
 To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
 https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l

___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] Wired: Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text

2009-08-30 Thread FT2
On Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 4:08 AM, Carcharoth carcharot...@googlemail.comwrote:

 Is it not more likely that most long-term editors who have been active
 for years have had most of their text mercilessly edited into oblivion
 and have very low average trust levels? And more recent editors may
 have higher trust levels?

  Carcharoth



That at least, no - I gather it's based on evaluation of edits' longevity,
not whether they still exist now.
___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l



Re: [WikiEN-l] Wired: Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text

2009-08-30 Thread Carcharoth
On Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 4:10 AM, Brianbrian.min...@colorado.edu wrote:
 On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 9:08 PM, Carcharoth 
 carcharot...@googlemail.comwrote:

snip

 Is it not more likely that most long-term editors who have been active
 for years have had most of their text mercilessly edited into oblivion
 and have very low average trust levels? And more recent editors may
 have higher trust levels?

 With the disclaimer that I haven't read the paper since the 2006 Wikimania,
 no, the algorithm is smarter than that. Simply having your edits overwritten
 at some point in the future is not going to detract from the period of time
 that your edit lasted. Additionally, if some but not all of your words
 persist through rewrites that would contribute to your reputation.

If you merely revert vandalism that removes a persistent piece of
text, doesn't that unfairly contribute to your reputation as the text
continues to persist and the algorithm thinks that anyone who added it
was doing so independently?

Carcharoth

___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] Wired: Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text

2009-08-30 Thread Brian
On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 9:31 PM, Carcharoth carcharot...@googlemail.comwrote:

 On Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 4:10 AM, Brianbrian.min...@colorado.edu wrote:
  On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 9:08 PM, Carcharoth carcharot...@googlemail.com
 wrote:

 snip

  Is it not more likely that most long-term editors who have been active
  for years have had most of their text mercilessly edited into oblivion
  and have very low average trust levels? And more recent editors may
  have higher trust levels?
 
  With the disclaimer that I haven't read the paper since the 2006
 Wikimania,
  no, the algorithm is smarter than that. Simply having your edits
 overwritten
  at some point in the future is not going to detract from the period of
 time
  that your edit lasted. Additionally, if some but not all of your words
  persist through rewrites that would contribute to your reputation.

 If you merely revert vandalism that removes a persistent piece of
 text, doesn't that unfairly contribute to your reputation as the text
 continues to persist and the algorithm thinks that anyone who added it
 was doing so independently?

 Carcharoth


If you have questions like that you should probably look into the website
and the paper. I think that you'll find they realized most of these issues
and incorporated them into the algo.  They already detect reverts so it
doesn't make sense to punish the reverter.
___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l


Re: [WikiEN-l] I should know this, I worked on the Wikipedia article...

2009-08-30 Thread Steve Bennett
On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 11:33 PM, wjhon...@aol.com wrote:
 I was just thinking the other day, Is there a British-American Dictionary
 ?  That would be a dictionary that has all these various words and phrases
 and their translations into British English.  Often I'll come upon an
 article obviously written by a Brit and it will say something like At the 
 market,
 her trolley bumped into a right blinker and he copped her one...

 (I just made that up), and it makes little sense at all to an American,
 unless they had watched a lot of British tele.

There are dozens of books like that. In reality, there aren't all that
many words in common use that are incomprehensible one way or the
other. I'd venture to suggest that Brits and particularly Australians,
Kiwis etc are generally more aware of American words (even if they're
not sure what they mean than vice versa). Now when I speak to an
American, I almost mentally load an American vocabulary knowledge
module :) (Like you said, shopping cart not trolly, turn signal not
blinker/indicator...)

On a side note, I frequently find myself reverting what I believe are
well-intentioned changes to spelling.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Optical_wirelessdiff=310779361oldid=277787036

That is, I don't think the people making these changes are aware
they're switching from British to US spelling - I think they think
they're just correcting spelling mistakes/typos. I could be wrong
though.

And since I'm truly rambling, on the flea market thing, I'm not sure
we have a specific term. School fetes sometimes have trash and
treasure markets, but for permanent commercial things...I know of one
that's just called the Sunday market. *shrug*

Steve

___
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l