Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-12-31/In the media

Perhaps a link to the top-viewed articles? Just so people can more easily find them? ··· 日本穣 ? · 投稿  · Talk to Nihonjoe ·  Join WP Japan ! 07:36, 2 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Ack, thank you for pointing this out. A link has been [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2012-12-31/In_the_media&diff=prev&oldid=530882928 added]. Ed [talk] [majestic titan] 07:39, 2 January 2013 (UTC)
 * If Wikipedia has enough money to set up a "Wikimedia Foundation Grants Program", then it appears to me that they are indeed 'cash rich'. Either that or very foolish. JRSpriggs (talk) 09:54, 2 January 2013 (UTC)
 * The grants program is what funds the chapters. Kaldari (talk) 10:52, 2 January 2013 (UTC)
 * You mean the chapters are mostly funded by the Wikimedia Foundation, but Andrew Orlowski was "confused" by not saying that the chapters are "independent, with the WMF"? (See above.)  Guys, get your stories straight.  The chapters can't be "independent" when the media finds out they spent way too much money on business cards, but then be "funded" by a WMF grants program when you think they're doing a lovely job.  I think the Wikiculture needs to take a long, hard look at what the words "independent" and that other favorite, "completely separate", actually mean. -- 2001:558:1400:10:241F:CEB4:6921:8249 (talk) 15:57, 2 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Honestly, the register article reads like a direct attack article (which given register's history with Wikipedia is not surprising. Seriously, they're still harping on about Doran which is beyond old news at this point). However this signpost article doesn't do much better, coming off super-defensive. I don't see any claim in the register article that Wikimedia UK is controlled by the WMF. (Other then "In the UK, the local chapter of WMF, Wikimedia Foundation UK" which is incorrect because the organization is called Wikimedia UK, not Wikimedia Foundation UK, which has very different implications [to people familar with Wikimedia's structure, the rest of the world probably didn't notice], and because Wikimedia UK is a local Wikimedia chapter, not a WMF chapter. These may seem like picking at word choices, but they really do have different meanings for some people). As for chapter independance - they are separate organizations, run by different people then the WMF is run by and hence mostly independant. Much of the chapter's money does come from the foundation's piggy bank from what I understand, which does influence the independance claim, but the funds are mostly distributed by FDC, which is independant body, so its not like the WMF is telling the chapters to jump for money. Bawolff (talk) 16:19, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

What Wikimedia conference will be held in Kazakhstan? --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; reply here 10:46, 2 January 2013 (UTC)
 * It was in April 2012. The grant for it is located here. Ed [talk] [majestic titan] 10:56, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

By some folks' accounts, it seems we should shut down Wikipedia in languages spoken in totalitarian countries, just because these languages' digital development is also on the regimes' agenda. Actually, developing Wikipedia as an independent, objective, neutral, and in most extent quite propaganda-resistent media, might very well give a free medium for the democratic opposition - in any debate, Wikipedia supports the side that speaks the truth. That's why some regimes tend to block it (e.g. Uzbek Wikipedia in Uzbekistan). --Oop (talk) 14:16, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

While some questions have been raised, for better or worse, about the Kazakhstan initiative, I don't think the word "corruption" should have been used in the headline. Newyorkbrad (talk) 17:58, 2 January 2013 (UTC)
 * One thing I became aware of recently is that Jimmy Wales co-chaired a Middle-East conference attended by both Blair and Kazakh President Nazarbaev. I hadn't known Jimbo was in the habit of chairing conferences like that. Andreas JN 466 20:58, 4 January 2013 (UTC)
 * “One Fatherland, one Fate, one Leader of the Nation”. Andreas JN 466 18:52, 5 January 2013 (UTC)

Wikipedian of the Year
As referenced here and reported in the Signpost of 8 August 2011, "Jimmy also announced the creation of an annual award—Global Wikipedian of the Year. This was given to Rauan Kenzhekhanuly of Kazakh Wikipedia and consisted of a $5,000 award to Wikibilim, the chapter in Kazakhstan, to pay travel expenses to Wikimania next year. This would be presented to Kezhekhanuly at a ceremony in Kazakhstan with the country's prime minister Karim Massimov". Who was the recipient of last year's "annual award"? Did I miss the Signpost's coverage of that event? Delicious carbuncle (talk) 03:37, 4 January 2013 (UTC)
 * I believe it was the Yoruba Wikipedia's Demmy. Ed [talk] [majestic titan] 07:27, 4 January 2013 (UTC)