Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Signpost/2014-08-27/In the media

Seeing myself quoted in the story on the Lynton Crosby was a bit scary, though the story was generally accurate (I don't think that it's accurate to say that "entire Crosby Textor computer networks" were blocked though, and when commenting on and subsequently blocking accounts involved in this matter I was at pains to stress that the conflict of interest was apparent given that I had, and have, no way of confirming whether or not it actually was linked to the firm). The journalist did a pretty solid job of digging through article histories, talk page histories and the SPI report when compiling the story - it's a very Wikipedia-literate piece. Nick-D (talk) 10:51, 31 August 2014 (UTC)
 * Journalists often make overly broad or outright incorrect claims about blocks, even in otherwise good articles about Wikipedia. In shorter pieces I just ignore those claims, sometimes I try to correct journalistic misconceptions in longer ones.  Gamaliel  ( talk ) 18:25, 31 August 2014 (UTC)

Since womyn is an actual word, are we sure the [sic] is warranted? Nikkimaria (talk) 14:51, 31 August 2014 (UTC)
 * I removed it, but I don't think it will last -- Guerillero &#124;  My Talk  17:05, 31 August 2014 (UTC)
 * The purpose of "sic" is to point out that the word was really the one used - it does not distinguish between unusual words, unusual usage and typographical errors. However on Wikipedia we often have the option of using a link, as Nikkimaria did, which indicates an unusual, but correctly spelled word. All the best: Rich Farmbrough, 17:16, 31 August 2014 (UTC).
 * My intent was to highlight the editor's obviously sarcastic use of the word, but it's now clear that it seemed I was implying it was not an actual word. Rich has the right idea, and I see someone's already implemented it.   Gamaliel  ( talk ) 18:25, 31 August 2014 (UTC)
 * It is not possible (in an inversion of Poe's law) to presume that the editor was being sarcastic. There exists within the feminist movement some rejection of transgender people - to the extent that a term has been created to describe certain people holding these views, and of course a controversy over the use of the term. See Radical feminism. All the best: Rich Farmbrough, 02:33, 1 September 2014 (UTC).


 * There should be a "sic" because the correct usage is "wimyn". "Womyn" is singular and the plural would be correct.— Vchimpanzee  •  talk  •  contributions  •  15:29, 1 September 2014 (UTC)


 * Plagarism - the cited source, in table E11, Deficits, Surpluses, Debt, and Related Series, 1971 to 2010, refers to "Debt held by the public."  There are many ways of counting governmental debt, for different purposes (and not just depending whether you are in government or not!) - but "debt held by the public" is defined by the US treasury as all federal debt held by individuals, corporations, state or local governments, Federal Reserve Banks, foreign governments, and other entities outside the United States Government less Federal Financing Bank securities. - equivalent to most definitions of "public debt"  The only other top-level government debt figures I am aware of are internal and external debt, and total debt or "total public debt", which includes intra-governmental debt - this is sometimes known as "national debt" (See for example Economicshelo.or).   Therefore Zakaria would appear to be wrong, both in his original article, and certainly in his criticism of Wikipedia.  All the best: Rich Farmbrough, 17:10, 31 August 2014 (UTC).