Wikipedia talk:WikiCup/Archive/2014/4

Wikicup in the Signpost
Well, it looks like I should be able to do the same as last round in the Signpost. If anyone has an article, picture, or other contibution they particularly want to be used as their sample of work (must have a good free-use image), please state here. I think the cutoff will be 100 points, after that you start running into withdrawn users, which are, frankly, a bit hard to get a representative view of their work for something like this. Adam Cuerden (talk) 02:28, 30 June 2014 (UTC)
 * For me, Kent vs Lancashire at Canterbury or Digby Tatham-Warter are probably my best work in the last round. Soccer kick and Billy Boys are is also quite good but they don't have images.  The C of E God Save the Queen!  ( talk ) 11:19, 4 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Sounds good. Probably go with Kent - it's a bigger image file, and that'll matter with the mode=packed I'm using. Adam Cuerden (talk) 00:01, 5 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Looking at some of my DYKs to select one for you, I see Echidna catenata has a good colourful image. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 05:10, 5 July 2014 (UTC)

WikiCup/Reviews
Hi, I was browsing to see if there was anyone I could exchange GA reviews with, and there are several (~5) noms from editors no longer competing. Is it acceptable to remove those nominations? Thanks, Mat  ty. 007 14:07, 5 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Yes, it is. J Milburn (talk) 14:12, 5 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Thank you. Removed them. Thanks, Mat  ty  .  007  14:19, 5 July 2014 (UTC)

Wikipedia Signpost/2014-07-09/Wikicup
I've made my selections for the top 16. Note that there will be a section below that highlighting the contributions of people who didn't make the cut, but this is a decent size chunk to do in one sitting. Feel free to tweak things, and I'm sure I'll be punching up the language a bit myself. Adam Cuerden (talk) 07:52, 7 July 2014 (UTC)
 * I suppose you could say that I created Kent from scratch too in that round.  The C of E God Save the Queen!  ( talk ) 07:54, 7 July 2014 (UTC)
 * See, this is why I ask about these things. When juggling sixteen pages of Wikicup contributions, that's easy to miss. I need to go for a bit; will fix before publication, though. Adam Cuerden (talk) 07:58, 7 July 2014 (UTC)

Bot broken?
Is the update bot broken as it doesn't appear to have updated scores since yesterday morning.  The C of E God Save the Queen!  ( talk ) 07:13, 20 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Has new content been added to lists since then? It only shows as running if people add new content. Adam Cuerden (talk) 10:40, 20 July 2014 (UTC)
 * It is broken, thanks for pointing that out. - Jarry1250 [Vacation needed] 19:36, 20 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Hi, an IP just (correctly) added the multipliers in place of the bot. The address is US registered (i.e. not me), but I thought I should offer a heads up. Thanks, Mat  ty  .  007  20:30, 20 July 2014 (UTC)

Not here
Hello everyone- I'm sorry to do this, but I'm moving house and so will not have steady internet access until (we hope) Friday (this also means I won't quickly see emails). I will still endeavour to check in. Ed is also currently moving house (and encountering other problems...), and so is not about so much. This leaves as the most immediately contactable judge. I will make sure that the next round starts as it should, even if it means I have to sit in my office until the early hours one night. Thanks, J Milburn (talk) 18:30, 26 August 2014 (UTC)
 * Just to confirm that I'm around. :) Miyagawa (talk) 22:21, 26 August 2014 (UTC)
 * Before winding up the round, consideration should be given to the fact that the update bot seems to have gone on strike! Cwmhiraeth (talk) 08:01, 29 August 2014 (UTC)
 * Thanks C;, I assume you're aware of this? I've forced an update right now, and will force another after the round concludes. J Milburn (talk) 10:05, 29 August 2014 (UTC)
 * The bot seems to be failing to award a multiplier in some instances. In my last ten DYK submissions, added on August 28th, all should have received a multiplier but somewhat mysteriously, just one did. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 08:19, 30 August 2014 (UTC)
 * I'd been told about that from a different user, but I was hoping it was a one off. Pinging so that he knows about the issue when he closes up the round. Miyagawa (talk) 16:54, 30 August 2014 (UTC)
 * If you're available this evening, I'd appreciate it if you could have a look over this. If not, I will see what I can do tomorrow. If anyone has missed multipliers (also pinging ), you are welcome to list them here to make sure that I don't miss them myself. J Milburn (talk) 19:24, 30 August 2014 (UTC)
 * , my last one is missing its multiplier (link) czar ♔   13:30, 31 August 2014 (UTC)
 * Fixed, thanks. Missed that one, though I had checked your others. J Milburn (talk) 14:39, 31 August 2014 (UTC)
 * The multiplier seems still not to be working. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 12:48, 3 September 2014 (UTC)
 * How frustrating. I've added them manually in a few places, but I'm going to be away from Thursday to latish Friday evening; hopefully will be able to look into this soon. J Milburn (talk) 16:55, 3 September 2014 (UTC)


 * Hi, sorry, this was a bad week for things to go wrong (new job and new house!!), so I didn't check in on Wikipedia at all (please don't hold back in future from spamming my mailbox until I reply :) ). In this case there was a breaking change made to the Wikidata API, which is used to count interwiki links. In fairness to the Wikidata team, I did hear about this well in advance, I'd just forgotten that the Wikicup script relied upon the API feature under discussion. It should be fixed now. If you would like, I can write a quick script that would check this round's multiplier scores to see if the bot disagrees with any... but I'm guessing now we're in the final people would shout pretty loud if they thought something was amiss? - Jarry1250 [Vacation needed] 21:16, 7 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Thanks. The multipliers of articles already claimed are inaccurate. This is not just true of my submissions, but of other peoples' as well. I have added two more DYKs this morning to see what happens to them. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 05:44, 8 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Jarry, Cwmhiraeth is correct- if we could have the bot recount/recalculate everything already claimed this round, that would be appreciated. J Milburn (talk) 08:32, 8 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Okay, I think (in a roundabout sort of a way) the bot has now reassessed all the multipliers, with Cwmhiraeth and Casliber benefitting. - Jarry1250 [Vacation needed] 21:48, 8 September 2014 (UTC)

WikiCup/2015 signups
I've opened signups for next year. All are invited to sign up. J Milburn (talk) 18:32, 30 September 2014 (UTC)

WikiProject Good articles/GA Cup
If people want to take part in the GA Cup, which started earlier this month, you've only got a few more days to sign up. J Milburn (talk) 14:49, 12 October 2014 (UTC)

Fairer groups
Right now, the groups/pools are, as far as I know, completely random. I think it should be like the following instead. Personally I would still have wildcards with this, but if it ruined the point of wildcards to some people then it's not like we have to have them. –Ugncreative Usergname (talk) 04:57, 22 October 2014 (UTC)
 * Round 1 is still one group.
 * Round 2 is seeded based on round 1. So for example if we have 8 groups again, the top eight scorers from round 1 are put into pot A, 9th–16th make up pot B, etc., and a random editor from each pot goes into each group.
 * Round 3 is done the same way with round 2's scores.


 * A FIFA-like or NFL draft-like system would be good, and could be a decent incentive to prevent some people from stacking/delaying entries for next rounds. Nergaal (talk) 09:37, 22 October 2014 (UTC)


 * Yeah, the short version of my thought was that it should be like UEFA World Cup qualifying, but obviously not everyone knows what that means. –Ugncreative Usergname (talk) 15:10, 22 October 2014 (UTC)
 * UU: We have some discussions about the way pools will work next year at Wikipedia talk:WikiCup/Scoring. The proposal there is not necessarily in support of fairer pools, but in support of keeping more people in the competition longer. I'm not sure if the two are compatible, but they may be. J Milburn (talk) 16:58, 22 October 2014 (UTC)
 * I take "scoring" to be a separate thing from "format", so I just put it here. I took a look and saw the "more people" discussion you're talking about, and no one else seems to be pedantic about the word, so I'll copy this section to that page since it seems to get more attention and the discussion can continue there.
 * And they are compatible, you just put an arbitrary number of editors in each pot to make the same number of groups. Or you can raise the number of pots if you want more people in each group instead. –Ugncreative Usergname (talk) 21:49, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

Rules change straw polls
Hello everyone- thanks for your patience concerning the end of the competition- it will all be sorted soon. In the mean time, you are invited to contribute to the polls at Wikipedia talk:WikiCup/Scoring. J Milburn (talk) 17:19, 2 November 2014 (UTC)

Change of judges
It came as a bit of a surprise that both the editors whose names seem synonymous with the WikiCup are retiring. They have kept level heads and guided the competition admirably through the difficulties which occasionally crop up. I would like to thank them for their sterling work and wish Brian and the new judges all the best for the future. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 20:11, 7 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Thanks C, it's appreciated. I've thoroughly enjoyed running the WikiCup, and look forward to taking part as a contestant this coming year! J Milburn (talk) 20:26, 7 December 2014 (UTC)
 * I'd also like to publically thank Ed and J for their hard work over the past several years, both during my previous experiences as a competitor and over the last 12 months as a judge. But we're all glad you're not going far! Miyagawa (talk) 15:52, 8 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Thank you and  for your service over the years. --ThaddeusB (talk) 18:29, 8 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Thank you all! Most (all?) of the credit should go to J, though, as he was the person putting in the time and effort of running the Cup on a day-to-day basis. :-) Ed [talk] [majestic titan] 20:21, 8 December 2014 (UTC)
 * +1 :) --- Another Believer ( Talk ) 23:09, 8 December 2014 (UTC)
 * +2 Thank you both! :)  Ruby  2010/  2013  01:23, 9 December 2014 (UTC)

Secret
Just a note, User:Secret has retired and is blocked indefinitely, unfortunately, and should probably be removed from the participants for 2015. Another thing, this is my first year, so any guidance would be appreciated, if possible. I've read the rules, but I still might make an error here and there. I'm hoping there won't be too much drama and aggressive competition this year, I don't like that. :) I'm doing it for fun, to say I participated, and of course to improve Wikipedia. I'll be lucky to make it past round one. Anyway, can blocked/retired users be removed from the participants list? -- Amaryllis Gardener   talk 22:36, 29 December 2014 (UTC)
 * I went ahead and removed him. He's never a 100% guarantee of being gone forever, but given the circumstances I can't imagine he'd be back anytime soon. I'll second that this competition is meant both for fun and for improving Wikipedia. Hopefully drama won't rear its ugly head in 2015. Wizardman  02:25, 30 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Ok, thanks. :) -- Amaryllis Gardener  talk 02:29, 30 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Thanks for both the notification and the speedy edit. Appreciated. :) Miyagawa (talk) 11:46, 30 December 2014 (UTC)

Sounds?
I'm wondering why featured sounds no longer qualify for points in the WikiCup. As an editor particularly interested in the natural sciences, I have been making recordings of (primarily) bird and reptile sounds for a while now. I've donated a few to Wikipedia, and plan to donate more. It would be great to have those qualify for points in the same way that photos do. Is there a reason why they don't? MeegsC (talk) 21:36, 30 December 2014 (UTC)
 * I suspect its because the Featured Sounds project is dormant. I'd say it would need to be reactivated before it can go in the WikiCup again.  The C of E God Save the Queen!  ( talk ) 21:41, 30 December 2014 (UTC)
 * It's exactly as The C of E explained, since that part of wiki is inactive right now, there would simply be no way for anything to become Featured through those means. Therefore it was removed from the cup a couple of years ago. Should it return, then we'll have to take a look at re-incorporating it. Miyagawa (talk) 08:59, 31 December 2014 (UTC)