Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2023-10-23/In the media

In the media

YOUR ARTICLE'S DESCRIPTIVE TITLE HERE

By Smallbones and HaeB

Optional: Give a short WP:LEAD-like introduction statement here.

Wikipedia is the second-fastest website in the US

A website called "TechNewsWorld" reports that "Craigslist, Wikipedia, and Zillow are the fastest-loading U.S. websites on the internet, according to a study released Monday by web design company DigitalSilk." Wikipedia came second "with an average load time of 1.40 seconds (1.6 mobile, 1.2 desktop)", well ahead of sloths such as Instagram ("The site on mobile takes a whopping 6.7 seconds to load and 4.2 seconds on desktop") or Google ("While it had a respectable mobile load time of 1.1 seconds, its desktop time of 4.6 seconds bloated the search giant’s overall performance").

This success is certainly in part due to the longtime work of the Wikimedia Foundation's recently disbanded Performance team, but also, according to one of the study's authors, due to Wikipedia's simpler design: "It’s interesting to see how websites like Wikipedia and Craigslist, which have barely changed their design and have remained largely text-based, topped our list, and the popularity of these sites shows that sometimes simplicity can work."

(The TechNewsWorld article doesn't link to the actual study and doesn't provide much detail about its methodology. But in a similar study featured by ZDNet earlier this year, DigitalSilk had used an online tool called Pingdom Website Speed Test.)

"Slate" celebrates encyclopedic selfies

In Slate, Annie Rauwerda (of Depths of Wikipedia fame) explains why "On Wikipedia, Anyone Can Be a Model". The article focuses on User:LittleT889, who created the article thirst trap ("a type of social media post intended to entice viewers sexually") and illustrated with a shirtless selfie of himself that has since been "viewed almost a million times" (although it was recently replaced in the article). What's more, "He adds photos of himself to all sorts of encyclopedically relevant topics, like water bottle flipping, Nae Nae, and my favorite, the Floss (dance) article, where he wears sunglasses indoors and furiously shakes his hips in front of three guitars and a bongo drum", as well as Running man (dance), Dougie, and Naruto Run.

Rauwerda also managed to get in touch with other selfie contributors, such as a "20-year-old Russian university student [who said that] once he took a picture of his eye so astonishingly beautiful that an Instagram post wasn’t enough—he needed to put it on Wikipedia," and "a retired biology teacher in Germany [who] realized that Wikipedia had no good photos of female fingers [and] uploaded a snap of her own hand to Wikimedia Commons", which now illustrates the article finger. In general, the article observes that Wikipedia's "photos have an unvarnished feel and an unmistakably human charm" and that "It’s immediately obvious that Wikipedia’s models are real people, not actors." It also recalls earlier media coverage of similar examples, such as a couple who has graced the high five article since 2008, and last year - now married with kids - recreated the shots for an online magazine (see earlier coverage: "The king and queen of the high 5").

Lastly Rauwerda calls on Slate's readers to consider contributing themselves: "And even though Wikimedia Commons hosts more than 100 million pieces of media, it has some stunning gaps. There’s a big list of requested images, and some of the items are shockingly quotidian, like 'half-up hairstyle,' 'business women shaking hands,' and 'tripping' (go ahead, fall on your face for the sake of free knowledge)."

Lead story 1

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Lead story 2

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

In brief

[[File:|center|300px|]]

CAPTION

• What do "Ant", "Orca", and "Erie" have in common?: Christina Iverson's husband (archive, October 10) tells her that she is "a professional Wikipedia reader." Actually, she is an Associate Puzzle Editor at The New York Times and has often visited our articles on Ant, Orca and Erie. More important is her belief in lifelong learning. Do you know who gave the eulogy at boxer Muhammad Ali's funeral? Or when were Cheez-Its first sold?

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Do you want to contribute to "In the media" by writing a story or even just an "in brief" item? Edit next week's edition in the Newsroom or leave a tip on the suggestions page.

This page is a draft for the next issue of the Signpost. Below is some helpful code that will help you write and format a Signpost draft. If it's blank, you can fill out a template by copy-pasting this in and pressing 'publish changes': {{subst:Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Templates/Story-preload}}

Images and Galleries

Sidebar images To put an image in your article, use the following template (link): [[File:|center|300px|alt=TKTK]] O frabjous day. {{Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Templates/Filler image-v2 |image = |size = 300px |alt = TKTK |caption = |fullwidth = no }} This will create the file on the right. Keep the 300px in most cases. If writing a 'full width' article, change |fullwidth=no to |fullwidth=yes. Inline images Placing {{Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Templates/Inline image |image = |size = 300px |align = center |alt = Placeholder alt text |caption = CAPTION }} (link) will instead create an inline image like below [[File:|300px|center|alt=Placeholder alt text]] CAPTION Galleries To create a gallery, use the following <gallery mode = packed | heights = 200px> |Caption for second image </gallery> to create

Quotes

Framed quotes “ Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet... ” — AUTHOR, SOURCE To insert a framed quote like the one on the right, use this template (link): {{Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Templates/Filler quote-v2 |1 = |author = |source = |fullwidth = }} If writing a 'full width' article, change |fullwidth=no to |fullwidth=yes. Pull quotes To insert a pull quote like “ Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet... ” use this template (link): {{Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Templates/Quote |1 = |source = }} Long quotes To insert a long inline quote like The goose is on the loose! The geese are on the lease! — User:Oscar Wilde — Quotations Notes from the Underpoop use this template (link): {{Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Templates/block quote | text = | by = | source = | ts = | oldid = }}

Side frames

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. A caption Side frames help put content in sidebar vignettes. For instance, this one (link): {{Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Templates/Filler frame-v2 |1 = Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. |caption = A caption |fullwidth = no }} gives the frame on the right. This is useful when you want to insert non-standard images, quotes, graphs, and the like. Example − Graph/Charts Further information: Category:Graph, chart and plot templates A caption For example, to insert the {{Graph:Chart}} generated by {{Graph:Chart |width=250|height=100|type=line |x=1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8|y=10,12,6,14,2,10,7,9 }} in a frame, simple put the graph code in |1= {{Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Templates/Filler frame-v2 |1= {{Graph:Chart |width=250|height=100|type=line |x=1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8|y=10,12,6,14,2,10,7,9 }} |caption=A caption |fullwidth=no }} to get the framed Graph:Chart on the right. If writing a 'full width' article, change |fullwidth=no to |fullwidth=yes.

Two-column vs full width styles

If you keep the 'normal' preloaded draft and work from there, you will be using the two-column style. This is perfectly fine in most cases and you don't need to do anything. However, every time you have a |fullwidth=no and change it to |fullwidth=yes (or vice-versa), the article will take that style from that point onwards (|fullwidth=yes → full width, |fullwidth=no → two-column). By default, omitting |fullwidth= is the same as putting |fullwidth=no and the article will have two columns after that. Again, this is perfectly fine in most cases, and you don't need to do anything. However, you can also fine-tune which style is used at which point in an article. To switch from two-column → full width style midway in an article, insert {{Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Templates/Signpost-block-end-v2}} {{Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Templates/Signpost-block-start-v2|fullwidth=yes}} where you want the switch to happen. To switch from full width → two-column style midway in an article, insert {{Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Templates/Signpost-block-end-v2}} {{Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Templates/Signpost-block-start-v2|fullwidth=no}} where you want the switch to happen.

Article series

To add a series of 'related articles' your article, use the following code Related articles Visual Editor Five, ten, and fifteen years ago 1 January 2023 VisualEditor, endowment, science, and news in brief 5 August 2015 HTTPS-only rollout completed, proposal to enable VisualEditor for new accounts 17 June 2015 VisualEditor and MediaWiki updates 29 April 2015 Security issue fixed; VisualEditor changes 4 February 2015 More articles Draft namespace, VisualEditor meetings 25 December 2013 Sockpuppet investigations, VisualEditor, Wikidata's birthday, and more 6 November 2013 Last call for Wiki Loves Monuments; Community–WMF tension over VisualEditor 25 September 2013 Making Wikipedia more accessible 4 September 2013 Gallery improvements launch on Wikipedia 28 August 2013 The VisualEditor Beta and the path to change 31 July 2013 Defining consensus; VisualEditor default state; expert and layperson terms in article titles 31 July 2013 VisualEditor in midst of game-changing deployment series 3 July 2013 VisualEditor will "change world history" 12 June 2013 VisualEditor, elections, bots, and more 12 June 2013 The Visual Editor: Where are we now, and where are we headed? 25 March 2013 Visual Editor "on schedule" for July rollout 18 March 2013 Looking ahead to 2013 7 January 2013 The new Visual Editor gets a bit more visual 10 December 2012 Second Visual Editor prototype launches 25 June 2012 Visual editor demo launched, hailed as "most important change to our user experience ... ever"; but elsewhere over-hasty deployments criticised 19 December 2011 Full steam ahead on Visual Editor, the avoidance of lock-breaking and 1.18b1 release 7 November 2011 {{Signpost series |type = sidebar-v2 |tag = VisualEditor |seriestitle = Visual Editor |fullwidth = no }} or {{Signpost series |type = sidebar-v2 |tag = VisualEditor |seriestitle = Visual Editor |fullwidth = yes }} will create the sidebar on the right. If writing a 'full width' article, change |fullwidth=no to |fullwidth=yes. A partial list of valid |tag= parameters can be found at here and will decide the list of articles presented. |seriestitle= is the title that will appear below 'Related articles' in the box. Alternatively, you can use {{Signpost series |type = inline |tag = VisualEditor |tag_name = visual editor |tag_pretext = the }} at the end of an article to create For more Signpost coverage on the visual editor see our visual editor series. If you think a topic would make a good series, but you don't see a tag for it, or that all the articles in a series seem 'old', ask for help at the WT:NEWSROOM. Many more tags exist, but they haven't been documented yet.

Links and such

This department (In the media): Next issue · Next next issue · Search for previous Arbitration report: Arbitration · Arbcom · Archives · Cases · Enforcements Discussion report: News and notes: In the media: Google News · TechMEME By the way, the template that you're reading right now is {{Editnotices/Group/Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Next issue}} (edit). A list of the preload templates for Signpost articles can be found here.

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"Slate" celebrates encyclopedic selfies

• @Smallbones and HaeB: I think the wiki-link for Slate is wrong... Still, shout-out to @LittleT889: and the legend Annie Rauwerda! Oltrepier (talk) 08:05, 24 October 2023 (UTC)

  Thanks for the head-up; it looks like Ca already fixed it shortly before your comment. Regards, HaeB (talk) 03:53, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

Wikipedia is the second-fastest website in the US

• so... Wikipedia is spending money elsewhere, which some believe is unnecessary, and disbanding teams that do essential work? Why am I not surprised? —usernamekiran (talk) 11:14, 23 October 2023 (UTC)
  • I'm sorry, but I can't figure out which section in this article you are referring to. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 13:55, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

    @Smallbones This success is certainly in part due to the longtime work of the Wikimedia Foundation's recently disbanded Performance team... Counterfeit Purses (talk) 16:12, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

• OK, I got it. With no disrespect to the performance team (which appears to have been fairly small and effective), I took the main reason for the speed of Wikipedia to be the simple design, as emphasized in the "TechNewsWorld" article. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 17:44, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

AI finding references

This item could have benefited from a bit more context, e.g. the fact that the paper was already published last year in preprint form and received media attention back then. We covered it in both "In the media" ("Facebook experiments with Wikipedia fact-checking") and "Recent research" ( "Facebook/Meta research on "'Improving Wikipedia Verifiability with AI'") at the time, and the current story doesn't really offer any new information about this research project. That said, we might still run a fuller review in "Recent research" now that the published version of the paper is out. Regards, HaeB (talk) 19:36, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

Yes @HaeB: - technically this is well above my pay grade ($0). And a short paragraph couldn't possibly cover it as well as an article in Recent research, it would be great for this. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 20:10, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

To follow up on a remark by Piotrus (moving here, as a more suitable location):

unlike most coverage (and research), this seems actually useful. Underlying research is here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42256-023-00726-1 The research say the code to reproduce the study is somewhere here: https://github.com/facebookresearch/side . Can anyone convert it it into a usable tool, assuming this has not been done already?

I agree this could be super interesting. Two things to be aware of though:

• The models alone appear to require two terabytes of disk space, so the server requirements are not quite trivial (e.g. it's not clear whether one could make this a Toolforge tool). That said, perhaps the Foundation's new "Lift Wing" machine learning infrastructure could be open to hosting such projects?
• In July 2022, the lead author stated that Note, Side is a POC [proof of concept] that shows the technology is there. To build a production system there is still lots to do. :) and the code repository hasn't seen new commits since then.

Regards, HaeB (talk) 21:03, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

Empirically we found that only using the first sentence in front of the claim and also adding the Wikipedia article’s title to the query did yield the best BM25 results. I know from my experiments that their approach, undoubtedly the best of what they tried, doesn't isolate the entire claim being sourced more than half the time. Associating a reference with the article text it is intended to support is very difficult even after examining the source in full. Sandizer (talk) 16:32, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

Interesting! Yes, I have been wondering what the state of the art is regarding this kind of entailment problem. This paper highlighted in the July issue of "Recent research" (see also talk page there) seemed to have encountered more difficulties than the authors of the Facebook/Meta paper. (By the way, in case you are interested, we would still like to run a fuller review of the paper in "Recent research", which could touch on the various issues mentioned above.) Regards, HaeB (talk) 03:42, 27 October 2023 (UTC)

Breaking news

See https://twitter.com/EdKrassen/status/1716103049863663962 and The Hill. Elon Mush offers $1 Billion if Wikipedia will change it's name to "Dickypedia" for 1 year. @JPxG: I got dibs on this story for the next issue! Smallbones_(smalltalk) 20:12, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

Weirder things have actually happened. ☆ Bri (talk) 20:39, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

And don't forget Joe, Montana Or the fact that somebody actually bought Twitter for $XX billion. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 20:56, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

Don't we have WP:POST/TIPS and/or the Newsroom talk page for this kind of remark?

Anyway, thanks in advance for your sacrifice ;) Some background on how what triggered this one-side schoolyard row: [1]. And the Guardian is making some hay of it too [2]. Regards, HaeB (talk) 20:50, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

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