Re: [WikiEN-l] New York Times: Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People
On Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 2:11 PM, Andrew Turvey andrewrtur...@googlemail.com wrote: I had an interesting conversation with a senior BBC exec on this the other day. Apparently, their lawyers aren't sufficiently comfortable with the copyright violation checking on Wikimedia Commons to be able to rely on free photographs, so they don't use them. Bizarrely they'd rather pay someone for an image, and hence be able to sue them if they had copyright problems, than get it for free. Same reason I'd rather pay a store for my furniture than get a great deal from the back of someone's truck, basically. Which brings to mind an interesting business proposition. :) Seriously...that'd probably work... Get independent confirmation of copyright status from the individual image contributors, buy a decent liability policy, and guarantee the copyright status of the images in exchange for a fee. Might make certain community members hate you though, a la Mr. MyWikiBiz. ___ 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] New York Times: Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People
G'day folks, The New York Times reports on flagged revisions: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/technology/internet/25wikipedia.html?partner=rssemc=rss Wikipediahttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/wikipedia/index.html?inline=nyt-org, one of the 10 most popular sites on the Web, was founded about eight years ago as a long-shot experiment to create a free encyclopedia from the contributions of volunteers, all with the power to edit, and presumably improve, the content. Now, as the English-language version of Wikipedia has just surpassed three million articles, that freewheeling ethos is about to be curbed. Officials at the Wikimedia Foundationhttp://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home, the nonprofit in San Francisco that governs Wikipedia, say that within weeks, the English-language Wikipedia will begin imposing a layer of editorial review on articles about living people. The new feature, called “flagged revisions,” will require that an experienced volunteer editor for Wikipedia sign off on any change made by the public before it can go live. Until the change is approved — or in Wikispeak, flagged — it will sit invisibly on Wikipedia’s servers, and visitors will be directed to the earlier version. (More in article) Regards *Keith Old* ___ 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] New York Times: Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People
I'm waiting for actual definitive information on enwiki or meta. FT2 On Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 8:06 AM, Keith Old keith...@gmail.com wrote: G'day folks, The New York Times reports on flagged revisions: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/technology/internet/25wikipedia.html?partner=rssemc=rss Wikipedia http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/wikipedia/index.html?inline=nyt-org , one of the 10 most popular sites on the Web, was founded about eight years ago as a long-shot experiment to create a free encyclopedia from the contributions of volunteers, all with the power to edit, and presumably improve, the content. Now, as the English-language version of Wikipedia has just surpassed three million articles, that freewheeling ethos is about to be curbed. Officials at the Wikimedia Foundationhttp://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home, the nonprofit in San Francisco that governs Wikipedia, say that within weeks, the English-language Wikipedia will begin imposing a layer of editorial review on articles about living people. The new feature, called “flagged revisions,” will require that an experienced volunteer editor for Wikipedia sign off on any change made by the public before it can go live. Until the change is approved — or in Wikispeak, flagged — it will sit invisibly on Wikipedia’s servers, and visitors will be directed to the earlier version. (More in article) Regards *Keith Old* ___ 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] New York Times: Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People
Similar story also reported by the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8220220.stm Before you shout, Mike's already been on to them to correct the subsidiary wording. Wikipedia to launch page controls Jimmy Wales, Getty Images The call for flagged revisions came from Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales The online encyclopaedia Wikipedia is on the cusp of launching a major revamp to how people contribute to some pages. The site will require that revisions to pages about living people and some organisations be approved by an editor. This would be a radical shift for the site, which ostensibly allows anyone to make changes to almost any entry. The two-month trial, which has proved controversial with some contributors, will start in the next couple of weeks, according to a spokesperson. I'm sure it will spark some controversy, Mike Peel of Wikimedia UK, a subsidiary of the organisation which operates Wikipedia, told BBC News. However, he said, the trial had been approved in an an online poll, with 80% of 259 users in favour of the trial. The decision to run this trial was made by the users of the English Wikipedia, rather than being imposed. The proposal was first outlined by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales in January this year. It was met by a storm of protests from Wikipedia users who claimed the system had been poorly thought out or would create extra work. 'Lock down' The two-month trial will test a system of flagged revisions on the English-language Wikipedia site. This would mean any changes made by a new or unknown user would have to be approved by one of the site's editors before the changes were published. Whilst the changes are being mulled over, readers will be directed to earlier versions of the article. Wikimedia said the system was essentially a buffer, to reduce the visibility and impact of vandalism on these articles. There have been several high-profile edits to pages that have given false or misleading information about a person. For example, in January this year the page of US Senator Robert Byrd falsely reported that he had died. If a page has a number of controversial edits or is repeatedly vandalised, editors can lock a page, so that it cannot be edited by everyone. For example, following initial reports of the death of Michael Jackson, editors had to lock down two pages to stop speculation about what had caused his death. For these articles, flagged protection will actually make them more open, said Mr Peel. The decision had been made to focus on the pages of living people, he said, because they were the most high-profile pages with the highest probability of causing harm. [The trial] may also be extended to organisations which are currently operating, he added. The system has already been in operation on the German version of Wikipedia for more than a year. The changes to the English language site - which now has more than 3m pages - will be rolled out in the coming weeks, said Mr Peel. The changes will be discussed in Buenos Aires this week at the annual Wikimania conference. - Keith Old keith...@gmail.com wrote: From: Keith Old keith...@gmail.com To: English Wikipedia wikien-l@lists.wikimedia.org Sent: Tuesday, 25 August, 2009 08:06:05 GMT +00:00 GMT Britain, Ireland, Portugal Subject: [WikiEN-l] New York Times: Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People G'day folks, The New York Times reports on flagged revisions: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/technology/internet/25wikipedia.html?partner=rssemc=rss Wikipediahttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/wikipedia/index.html?inline=nyt-org, one of the 10 most popular sites on the Web, was founded about eight years ago as a long-shot experiment to create a free encyclopedia from the contributions of volunteers, all with the power to edit, and presumably improve, the content. Now, as the English-language version of Wikipedia has just surpassed three million articles, that freewheeling ethos is about to be curbed. Officials at the Wikimedia Foundationhttp://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home, the nonprofit in San Francisco that governs Wikipedia, say that within weeks, the English-language Wikipedia will begin imposing a layer of editorial review on articles about living people. The new feature, called “flagged revisions,” will require that an experienced volunteer editor for Wikipedia sign off on any change made by the public before it can go live. Until the change is approved — or in Wikispeak, flagged — it will sit invisibly on Wikipedia’s servers, and visitors will be directed to the earlier version. (More in article) Regards *Keith Old* ___ 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] New York Times: Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People
2009/8/25 Carcharoth carcharot...@googlemail.com: On Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 1:59 PM, Andrew Turveyandrewrtur...@googlemail.com wrote: Similar story also reported by the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8220220.stm Oh dear. Same picture as for the previous BBC story on Wikipedia. At least Dana Blankenhorn used the bouncy Wikipedia logo from Uncyclopedia! http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=4715 I've posted two lengthy reply comments explaining how BLPs work (or are supposed to work) and what flagged revisions are meant to achieve. - d. ___ 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] New York Times: Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People
Note for Jimbo - we need new free pics of you. FT2 On Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 5:09 PM, Carcharoth carcharot...@googlemail.comwrote: On Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 1:59 PM, Andrew Turveyandrewrtur...@googlemail.com wrote: Similar story also reported by the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8220220.stm snip Oh dear. Same picture as for the previous BBC story on Wikipedia. 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] New York Times: Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People
2009/8/25 FT2 ft2.w...@gmail.com: Note for Jimbo - we need new free pics of you. FT2 There are better free pics but BBC sticks to Getty for the most part. -- geni ___ 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] New York Times: Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People
I had an interesting conversation with a senior BBC exec on this the other day. Apparently, their lawyers aren't sufficiently comfortable with the copyright violation checking on Wikimedia Commons to be able to rely on free photographs, so they don't use them. Bizarrely they'd rather pay someone for an image, and hence be able to sue them if they had copyright problems, than get it for free. Which brings to mind an interesting business proposition. :) - geni geni...@gmail.com wrote: From: geni geni...@gmail.com To: English Wikipedia wikien-l@lists.wikimedia.org Sent: Tuesday, 25 August, 2009 17:33:38 GMT +00:00 GMT Britain, Ireland, Portugal Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] New York Times: Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People 2009/8/25 FT2 ft2.w...@gmail.com: Note for Jimbo - we need new free pics of you. FT2 There are better free pics but BBC sticks to Getty for the most part. -- geni ___ 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] New York Times: Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People
In a message dated 8/25/2009 11:12:03 AM Pacific Daylight Time, andrewrtur...@googlemail.com writes: I had an interesting conversation with a senior BBC exec on this the other day. Apparently, their lawyers aren't sufficiently comfortable with the copyright violation checking on Wikimedia Commons to be able to rely on free photographs, so they don't use them. Bizarrely they'd rather pay someone for an image, and hence be able to sue them if they had copyright problems, than get it for free. Which brings to mind an interesting business proposition. --- Fork! Fork! spoon? Here at um wikifreeverified.com we ensure you that all our content has been triple-checked by expert triple-checkers to ensure that it's all free free free! To use that is. For your ease of mind you will pay us $1000 per year plus 25 cents per image. ___ 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] New York Times: Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People
On Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 7:17 PM, wjhon...@aol.com wrote: snip Here at um wikifreeverified.com we ensure you that all our content has been triple-checked by expert triple-checkers to ensure that it's all free free free! To use that is. For your ease of mind you will pay us $1000 per year plus 25 cents per image. That's cheap. You can go higher than that. Do more market research. 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] New York Times: Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People
On Tuesday 25 August 2009, Andrew Turvey wrote: I had an interesting conversation with a senior BBC exec on this the other day. Apparently, their lawyers aren't sufficiently comfortable with the copyright violation checking on Wikimedia Commons to be able to rely on free photographs, so they don't use them. Bizarrely they'd rather pay someone for an image, and hence be able to sue them if they had copyright problems, than get it for free. Which brings to mind an interesting business proposition. Some have attempted to take this route when it comes to free and open source software: to indemnify or provide insurance against copyright problems in the future. The thing that surprises me about the Times article, is that the Wikipedia logo is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation. I know I won't be able to afford its usage on my book, and so I wonder if the Times has licensed it or if there is some journalistic fair use. I don't think there is even a public policy yet, only this draft: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Logo_and_trademark_policy ___ 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] New York Times: Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People
Interesting. I've had emails from the BBC in the past asking to reuse images I've taken and uploaded to Commons (to which I replied saying yes), but I haven't seen them actually using them yet. Perhaps this explains why. Mike On 25 Aug 2009, at 19:11, Andrew Turvey wrote: I had an interesting conversation with a senior BBC exec on this the other day. Apparently, their lawyers aren't sufficiently comfortable with the copyright violation checking on Wikimedia Commons to be able to rely on free photographs, so they don't use them. Bizarrely they'd rather pay someone for an image, and hence be able to sue them if they had copyright problems, than get it for free. Which brings to mind an interesting business proposition. :) - geni geni...@gmail.com wrote: From: geni geni...@gmail.com To: English Wikipedia wikien-l@lists.wikimedia.org Sent: Tuesday, 25 August, 2009 17:33:38 GMT +00:00 GMT Britain, Ireland, Portugal Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] New York Times: Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People 2009/8/25 FT2 ft2.w...@gmail.com: Note for Jimbo - we need new free pics of you. FT2 There are better free pics but BBC sticks to Getty for the most part. -- geni ___ 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
