Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2006-01-02/News and notes

Jimbo Wales makes personal appeal for donations
The Wikimedia Foundation fundraising drive, which began last week, continued this week. It will last until 6 January. As of January 05, 2006, nearly US$341,610.09 had been raised, although falling short of the wished for US$500,000 Wikimedia CFO Daniel Mayer had expressed. With donations fewer than expected, Jimbo Wales made a personal appeal for donations, urging people to "consider a generous donation to the Wikimedia Foundation... to take back the world."

Steward election continues
The steward elections continue this week. The vote runs until January 10.

Userboxes spark controversy
The role of userboxes, popular colored rectangles placed in user pages, ignited controversy this week. After Kelly Martin started deleting userboxes deemed controversial, offensive, or containing fair use images, a request for comments was filed against her. Several users defended her actions, while others sharply criticized her. Two other RfCs were also submitted relating to the deletion of userboxes. A request for arbitration was also filed later in the week.

The RfCs also generated discussion on the userboxes, with Wikipedians arguing both for and against their use. A policy page was created for drafting new policy regarding userboxes. In addition, issues pertaining to the use of fair-use images on the boxes and boxes that could be interpreted as offensive were being discussed.

Linking to dates questioned
This week, the guideline at the Manual of Style regarding the linking of years and dates was brought into question, generating debate. The discussion started with the mass de-linking of years by Bobblewik using the AutoWikiBrowser; in addition, Bobblewik requested permission for a bot to do the work. Discussion was started about whether the guideline should be changed, with several editors arguing that the linking of dates was good, while others argued that the linking of dates was inappropriate. Bobblewik was blocked at first for the rapid de-linking of dates with the AutoWikiBrowser under suspicion of using a bot; however, it was later clarified that no bot had been used (the AutoWikiBrowser requires that the user manually verify each edit).

The proposed bot did not gain consensus, while attempts to change the Manual of Style resulted in heated debate. Also, Bluemoose, who created the AutoWikiBrowser, deleted his work after he apparently left Wikipedia.

Wikipedia "micronation" formed
A micronation of Wikipedia was formed this week. Formed by Cctoide, CuBiXcRaYfIsH, and Talrias, Tirben was created on Friday.

Esperanza concludes election
Esperanza concluded its elections this week. Celestianpower was chosen Administrator General, while FireFox, Karmafist, and Titoxd were elected part of the advisory council.

Briefly

 * The Slovak Wikipedia has reached 20,000 articles.
 * The French Wiktionary has reached 100,000 articles with the English word mourning.
 * The Bosnian Wikipedia has reached 6,000 articles.
 * The Swedish Wikipedia has reached 125,000 articles.
 * The Aragonese Wikipedia has reached 1,000 articles. The 1,000th article is an:Ziudá de Panamá
 * The Chinese Wiktionary has reached 10,000 entries.
 * The Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) has reached 10,000 entries. The 10,000th entry is Readiness.
 * The Cebuano Wikipedia has reached 1,000 articles. The 1,000th article is ceb:Leon Kilat.
 * The Ido Wiktionary has reached 30,000 articles.
 * The Latin Wikipedia has reached 4,000 articles.
 * The Albanian Wikipedia has reached 5,000 articles, after the Roboti bot generated thousands of stubs for years, decades, and centuries this week.
 * The Spanish Wikiquote has reached 1,000 articles.
 * The Spanish-language edition of Wikinews has reached 1,000 articles with Una comisión diplomática se reúne próximamente con las FARC
 * The Low Saxon Wikipedia has reached 2,000 articles.
 * The Thai Wikipedia has reached 6,000 articles.
 * The Simple English Wikipedia has reached 6,000 articles.
 * The Chinese Wiktionary has reached 5,000 articles.
 * The Indonesian Wikiquote has reached 500 articles.
 * The Dutch Wikibooks has reached 500 modules.