Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2010-11-01/Features and admins

New administrators
The Signpost welcomes three editors as our newest admins.
 * Leyo (nom) has a Masters of Science degree and is a native German-speaker from Switzerland, with good French and basic Spanish. He has been active on the English Wikipedia for four years and has made more than 50,000 edits to an unusually wide range of Wikimedia projects. He is already an admin on Commons and the German Wikipedia, and being an admin on en.WP will enhance his ability in the interwiki management of image files.
 * Elen of the Roads (nom) is an English local government officer, and has been with Wikipedia since 2008, editing fully since 2009. She is an active contributor to WP:Media copyright questions and AN/I, and also contributes to AFD, using her close knowledge of policy. She has a keen interest in Egyptology, but lists her most significant article contribution as rescuing an article on industrial mixing technology.
 * Diannaa (nom), from Alberta in western Canada, has made more than 12,000 edits, nearly 60% of them in article space. She has helped to combat vandalism, although most of her admin interests, she says, will lie in managing content rather than editors, including our seriously backlogged area of copyright. Diannaa is an active member of the Guild of Copy Editors and has participated in three Backlog elimination drives (the next one of which starts soon). She is a member of the WikiProject Military History, and has helped several editors promote their articles and lists to good and featured status.

Featured articles
Nine articles were promoted to featured status:
 * ARA Moreno (nom), the first of two ships in the Rivadavia class, were a product of a naval arms race between the three most powerful South American countries: Argentina, Brazil, and Chile (nominated by ).
 * Oryzomys peninsulae (nom), a little-known rice rat—it may be extinct, it may not; we are uncertain (Ucucha).
 * Galaxy Science Fiction (nom), one of the most influential science fiction magazines ever published, which came into being almost accidentally, and had a chequered on-again off-again history of publication.
 * , one of England's leading 20th century composers.
 * , a Canadian ice hockey defenceman and executive from 1905 until 1954. Regarded by his peers as one of the best defenders of his era.
 * (1825–91), the second and last ruler of the Empire of Brazil, reigning for 58 years ( and ).
 * Killer7 (nom), an action-adventure video game released in 2005, for the Nintendo GameCube and PlayStation 2.
 * , "just an odd wood pigeon really", says nominator, "the third in a series of Madeiran endemic birds"
 * , one of half a dozen changes and rearrangements of government in South Vietnam in 1964, full of deception and intrigue . (picture at right)

Choice of the week. The Signpost asked FA nominator and reviewer to select the best of the week.

My ideal featured article is one that the kids in high school can read for their projects, and hopefully that they'll enjoy too. I think the entire batch this week passed that test, but one stood out in particular. My choice of the week is the December 1964 South Vietnamese coup, since high school kids might well come across that in their curricula. I found the lede very engaging, which I think is the most important aspect of a featured article. Parts of it seemed like they came straight from a movie, but lo and behold it happened. The rest of the featured articles were a varied bunch. ARA Moreno reminded me of the project I'm usually in (the hurricane folks). Oryzomys peninsulae is an example why Wikipedia is great, since it has such a great account on a species that may no longer exist and which wasn't even considered its own species for some time. I also enjoyed William Walton, since I am a musician in real life, even though I try and keep my lives separate! All in all, a good week for FA promotions—a good sign that Wikipedia is not slowing down.

Three featured articles were delisted:
 * Dorset (nom: referencing)
 * Adi Shankara (nom: referencing)
 * Ahmedabad (nom: referencing, NPOV)

Featured lists
Four lists were promoted. These will be considered for Choice of the week in a later edition.
 * (nominated by )

Featured topics
One topic was promoted:
 * Rivadavia class battleships (nom), with two featured articles and one good article. This was a two-ship group of battleships designed by the American Fore River Shipbuilding Company for the Argentine Navy and in commission 1914–56.

Two featured topics were delisted:
 * The Orange Box, (loss of and failure to regain article status).
 * Half-Life 2 titles, (loss of and failure to regain article status).

Featured pictures
Five images were promoted. Medium-sized images can be viewed by clicking on "nom":
 * Pulmonata (nom), an illustrated collage of members of the pulmonates, an informal group of snails and slugs that includes many land and freshwater families, and several marine families; the nomination passed after clarification of its encyclopedic value (created by H. Morin; restoration by Citron).
 * IJN Yamato schematic (nom), a schematic of the Japanese battleship Yamato in her final configuration on 7 April 1945.
 * Slate pencil urchin (nom), a sea urchin that inhabits the littoral regions of the Atlantic Ocean, probably "traveling over the hard corals and not feeding on them", says creator Nick Hobgood.
 * Branched murex (nom), a predatory sea snail of the murex family, an economically important species in the Indo-West Pacific. The compound image shows the characteristics: a short spire, slightly inflated body whorl, moderately long siphonal canal, and striking leaf-like ornamentations (created by H. Zell).
 * John Reynold's death (nom), the career US Army officer (1820–63) who died almost instantly after being shot in the back of the head or neck and falling from his horse on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg. (Alfred Rudolph Waud, restoration by Jujutacular and Papa Lima Whiskey, including slightly more contrast and less yellowing on the advice of reviewers; from the Library of Congress).

Choice of the week., a regular reviewer and nominator at featured picture candidates, told The Signpost:
 * "This week saw the promotion of several excellent images demonstrating the remarkable range of our featured pictures. Two historical prints and two digital photographs were joined by an exceptionally detailed and historically precise original drawing. Had the lively underwater photography of Nick Hobgood not been recognized in this space two weeks ago, I might well have chosen his marvelous candid shot of a most peculiar creature in motion, but equally impressive is H. Zell's composite image of a sea snail shell, taken from multiple angles. The precise focus and large depth of field show the possibilities of digital macro photography, revealing complex textures that almost give a sense of tactility."



Information about new admins at the top is drawn from their user pages and RfA texts, and occasionally from what they tell us directly.