Hi, thanks for your edit! The information and link you added in support is exactly the kind of thing this article needs. I did clean up your edit a wee bit.. (can't help myself lol) what exactly would bisexual sex consist of? (don't answer that lol) --Cheers! Monotonehell 18:41, 15 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Please remember to sign the comments you leave on Talk pages. All you need to do is type four tildes (~~~~) after your comment and Wikipedia will automatically fill in your username and a timestamp. Thanks. AlistairMcMillan 03:48, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
You ALWAYS sign comments? Would you care to place a small wager on that? [1]AlistairMcMillan 13:58, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Isn't the national government of the United Kingdom compared to the government of Scotland analogous to the federal government of the United States vs. the governments of the individual states? I would suggest that you do, then, live in a country with a federal government, of sorts. Denvoran 22:11, 2 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]
The Rfc is a good plan...thanks. Let's see what develops and that should resolve the matter with some consensus. DPetersontalk 20:24, 5 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I reverted the introduction to special education. Your introduction doesn't talk about inclusion. this one does...without special education, inclusion would not be possible. I agree with the previous editor. I don't like the way you say that this "may be" emotional, physical, circumstantial or intellectual and may require special teaching approaches, equipment or care within or outwith a regular classroom or in a special school setting. Special education is for students with sinular needs or disabilities.....i still think that it's much clearer before. What is your problem?! Why do you keep reverting my edits? I am fully involved. Look at all of my edits that I've done! How can you say I'm not fully involved? My edits does not involve in America....it is completely neutral. Clearly, you are the only being bothered by it. No one has said anything about it. Can't we get an administrator to help us resolve this issue? you don't agree with me...and I don't agree with you....Special education is inclusion...that's why I merged inclusion to special education. I did discussed it on the talk page.....that I was going to merge it. Well it's not my fault that people don't like to discuss things with me. I put that up like weeks ago...and did anyone respond to me? NO. I don't have all day waiting for their responses....how do i get them to respond to me faster?
(209.177.21.6 - Talk)
Thanks for your help in trying to balance the content of the special education article. I know it is especially frustrating at times, but I encourage you to tone down your remarks towards the other editor. I think completely changing the opening paragraph has had a positive effect on the discussion and hopefully the process will be easier (at least for the time being). Nposs 20:30, 13 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for your note. I've posted a request for help on the Wikiproject Education page. Maybe we can pick up a few experts to help out. By the way, having your username appear as a url might be a violation of WP:USER. Not sure - but you might want to take a look at it. Nposs 04:10, 14 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
As I hope you may have seen I am attempting to tidy up WP:SCOWNB by removing old notices and the duplication that has emerged since the creation of WP:SCO. One of the latter issues is that there are lists of active Wikipedians on both locations which overlap to a significant degree. As WP:SCOWNB is ideally a place for announcements I am in process of merging the lists at WP:SCO and intend to remove the one at WP:SCOWNB when this is complete. However there are a fair number of Users not on both lists. If you do not wish to have you current WP:SCOWNB entry re-appear at WP:SCO please either let me know or edit the latter as appropriate. Thanks for your patience, and continuing support of matters relating to WikiProject Scotland. Ben MacDui(Talk) 18:15, 11 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I am currently in a dispute about ratemyteacher and read your comments on that page. Talk: Seymour High School (Connecticut) I dont want the link on school pages. He disagrees. Wondered what you thought. Perhaps we work on the page?BrandtSchneider 22:50, 15 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Hi brideshead. I'm not sure if I have specifically pointed this out to you previous but the editor you are having constant battles with on special education and inclusive (______) is Jessica Liao. Jessica = 2 IP account, RainingmySoul, Oahc, etc. It's really tough to hold her back from making lots of edits even if you point out the clear POV she has. I don't know what action you can take, if she continues usually she'll get engaged in a 3RR case or she will post vandalism -- anyway keep an eye out there for new accounts that post exactly like the users your already dealing with -- it means she's probably created another account. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by MrMacMan (talk • contribs) 16:41, 21 April 2007 (UTC).
The above comment was *surprisingly* vandalized, aha. I am MrMacMan found on the links. MrMacMan Talk 23:58, 22 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Hi - if what you are saying about the anon editor here is correct (and I don't have reason to doubt you), I can certainly understand your annoyance.[2] It should not be tolerated. But, if you don't mind, I'd like to suggest you express it differently. I do not mind if you remove this message. Kind regards and happy editing. :) --Merbabu 11:37, 22 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Don't worry - I've been there, done that too. No doubt I will again one day. yes, wikipedia is permanent, but a quick and open modification of remarks goes a long way in my opinion. :) --Merbabu 11:47, 22 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
License tagging for Image:Indian Rhinoceros at Edinburgh Zoo.jpg[edit]
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Special schools do not provide special education.[edit]
Special schools do not provide special education. How can it provide special education if it doesn't have regular classrooms? Special education is to help the special needs student function in mainstream classes. In special schools, there are no mainstream classes. So how is special education provided? Someone should provide a reference stating that special education is provided in special schools. (209.177.21.6 - talk)
We have discussed this before. I am not going to keep having the same weak dialogue. That is your definition of special edcuation. You have no sources for it and it is not a view represented in the special needs community, in which i work. Special education is the provision of an education adapted to the additional needs of the individual in any setting. it has nothing to do with contrasting education with 'normal' classes. --Brideshead 10:05, 28 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
So then provide a reference!! You keep saying you'll right...then prove it...So why didn't you just say that before instead of arguing with me? It would have been better if you clarified your point. (69.117.20.128 - talk)
"However, even the narrower usage of the term may refer to a range of school type such as a school with an innovative and flexible cirriculum aimed at bright, self-motivated students; a school for students with behavioral problems; or a school with special remedial programs.[1] "
^"Changing Perspectives on Alternative Schooling for Children and Adolescents With Challenging Behavior," Robert A. Gable et al. Preventing School Failure, Fall 2006. Volume 51, Issue 1, page 5.
This section is in alternative school. However, it has a reference. So should we just leave it even though on alternative education, it says that magnet schools are part of school choice?
This part confused me..how come this says that special schools and magnet schools are alternative schools? but in the alternative education article, it says that magnet schools is part of school choice? On the alternative education article, they didn't mentioned special schools but it mentioned on the top in alternative school.
so in a way, special schools and magnet schools already has a citation on the alternative school article b/c on the top it already explains it. What do you think?
(Jessica - talk)
We are a growing community of Wikipedia editors dedicated to identifying, categorizing, and improving articles of interest to the LGBT community. Some points that may be helpful:
Our main aim is to help improve LGBT-related articles, so if someone asks for help with an article, please try your hardest to help them if you are able.
That Jessica, who has always been Jessica has now transformed herself into this 'new' personality 'Angelina'. I find this latest turn of events hilarious. Jessica is really getting very persistent these days, Special education, Alternative school, even Special school. The topics are so related that I've been taking a rest for a while now to try and figure out if she is trying to make them all sound the same or if they are in fact all the same. I'm glad that someone is looking over her edits and I want to give you a big pat on the back for your work. Keep up the good work, MrMacMan Talk 20:07, 7 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I mean i don't even mind that she uses IPs, its just the sheer scope of her work on the same articles. I mean she knows wikipedia policy and its rather clear of her intent, but she doesn't even push POV 'the right way' -- with correct sources -- she pushes it with putting the same info in an article over and over again. I mean if she cited the stuff she used, it wouldn't be an obvious problem, but she doesn't. She could be a great editor, she knows policy and knows stuff about the topics -- she's using her intelligence completely wrong. It's rather saddening. Jessica -- please, you know policy, why continue to use unsourced statements and copy from outside places? We all know you know better. MrMacMan Talk 20:15, 7 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Hi Brideshead/Archive 1, as a WikiProject Scotland participant, please check out this this thread and consider adding the bot results page to your watchlist so we can manually update the New Articles page. There are some false results for the first batch, but I'm sure we can collectively tune the rules to improve the output.
If we get enough people watching the results page, we'll be cooking with gas as they say :) This looks like a great helper in finding new Scotland related material. Cheers. --Cactus.man✍ 22:29, 16 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Monthly Challenge: June Stub Review! Take a moment and sift through the roughly 3,600 Stub-class LGBT articles. Are they still stubs? If not, make an assessment change. Even better, do you see anything you can add/edit to increase the rating? Let's see if the project can lower the number of stubs down below 3,000!
Project News
WP:LGBT Exceeds 200 Members!!
Two editors have been selected by project members as co-coordinators. Their duties are still a bit unclear, but having a few more janitors around the project will help keep us running smoothly. Please feel free to message Fireplace or SatyrTN if you have any project questions or concerns.
To stop receiving this newsletter, or to receive it in a different format, just ask Dev920. If you have any news or any announcements to be broadcast, do let her know.
Delivered on 16:00, 6 June 2007 (UTC).
SatyrBot 15:58, 6 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
License tagging for Image:Aegina Harbour.JPG[edit]
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This is an automated notice by OrphanBot. If you need help on selecting a tag to use, or in adding the tag to the image description, feel free to post a message at Wikipedia:Media copyright questions. 14:05, 10 June 2007 (UTC)
Hello Brideshead/Archive 1, you are member of the project European Union. I try to create a new project page for the project. You can see it at here Because this should be the project page for all it´s members, please tell me, what you think about it. Please leave your comments on the talkpage of the project.--Thw1309 11:40, 24 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Monthly Challenge: Submit an article to our Jumpaclass competition! Languishing unloved, it is a great way to improving that article you always meant to improve but never got round to. Challenge someone else to go head to head and see who can improve their article most!
Our Deputy Coordinators have been doing a fabulous job so far. Well done!
The portal is now looking very snazzy, well done to Fireplace for all his hard work.
The list of LGBT people to be sorted has now beed reduced by 20%. Please help us with it, all of us adding just one person a day would have a dramatic effect!
The Core Topics is now largely complete. The original aim of getting some kind of publication out of it is extremely long term - any short term uses we can make of it are welcome on the project talkpage.
A suggestion was made this month that we start our own wiki. Although the conclusion was that we felt we were a part of Wikipedia rather than a stand alone organisation, it seems there is an LGBT wiki already, at http://lgbt.wikia.com/wiki/Main_page . Members may be interested in getting involved there.
The Collaboration is now getting rather short on suggestions. Article nominations for August through December would be welcome on the talkpage.
There is now a list of Missing LGBT Topics. Help is needed to work out which topics can be made redirects or need to be created. Please contribute is you can.
An LGBT banner that was created for Wikipedia's internal ads system has now been adapted so it can be placed on blogs and websites. The html is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:LGBT"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Qxz-ad48.gif" height="53" width="445"></a> Please credit Miranda and link to her userpage: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Miranda">Miranda</a>. The banner can be seen in action here. If you have a blog or a website, please consider adding the banner, either in a post or as part of your profile.
To stop receiving this newsletter, or to receive it in a different format, please let us know here. If you have any news or any announcements to be broadcast, do let Dev920 know.
Message from Coordinator: It's been almost two months since the last newsletter came out, so there are a fair few people who haven't really been kept up with our project. I'd like to welcome all those who have joined and those who have returned, and strongly reccommend that you use the talkpage for any queries or problems you have. Happy editing!
Article News
The ongoing effort to create a comprehensive list of LGB people has begun to bear fruit - /A AND the /W-Z lists have been featured! Congratulations to Dev920 and SatyrTN who nominated them respectively. Please consider pitching in the the remaining lists to help us get them finished before the end of the year.
Project News
WP:LGBT now has an IRC channel! It is #LGBTProject on Freenode. Users without IRC or Xchat can use the java app at java.freenode.net to access the channel from their web browser. Hope to see you in there sometime!
David Shankbone has taken a LOT of photos. An idea has been mooted to create a page for listing people who are willing to take images in their area on request, please give your thoughts here.
Considerable discussion has recently been held on our coverage of same sex marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships. You may be interested to read it.
The list of LGBT people to be sorted has now been reduced by over 30%. Please help us with it, all of us adding just one person a day would have a dramatic effect!
A gay cabal conspiracy ghost has been created to do with what you will. :)
Wooh, massive gay conspiracy...
Member News
Since the last newsletter was released, we have had more members been labelled inactive than who have signed up - please consider recruiting a few more people if you can, a WikiProject is only as good as its members. :)
To stop receiving this newsletter, or to receive it in a different format, please let us know here. If you have any news or any announcements to be broadcast, do let Dev920 know.
Delivered on 16:00, 6 July 2007 (UTC).
Fair use disputed for Image:CareCommissionLogo.gif[edit]
Thanks for uploading Image:CareCommissionLogo.gif. However, there is a concern that the rationale you have provided for using this image under "fair use" may be invalid. Please read the instructions at Wikipedia:Non-free content carefully, then go to the image description page and clarify why you think the image qualifies for fair use. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to ensure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
The LGBT studies project has been rather quiet of late. Though we've added over 180 new members in the last year, only a small percentage are active participants. If you haven't visited our project or talk page in a while, please stop by for a look. Also, if you happen to bump into another editor who you feel might enjoy working with us, please extend an invitation. There's lot's do do, and the active members would sincerely appreciate some help.
Our Peer review project is struggling at the present, with only a few people reviewing the articles. While it is certainly possible to submit articles for a general peer review, a review by members of the LGBT community can be of additional value for LGBT specific writing. There are several articles currently up for review on a wide range of topics. At the very least, reading the articles will undoubtedly broaden your intellectual horizons :-)
At the moment, David Le Brocq, Malmö Devilants and Trajectory Hermeneutics are up for deletion review. Please take a look at them and make your voice heard at the deletion review. Articles nominated for deletion also present a challenge for improvement. See what you can do, and watchlist our deletion review page.
The Pederasty articles continue to be a point of controversy both within and outside of our community. Various editors have suggested that to include them as LGBT Project related somehow taints the project and brings Wikipedia into disrepute. Other editors have stated that the articles, and especially the Pederasty article, are part of the core of LGBT studies. Well meaning editors continue to remove our tags from the articles themselves as well as the talk pages. If you have time, please read the articles and watchlist them to protect them from vandalism and well meaning but counterproductive edits.
The list of LGBT people has survived its 4th nomination for deletion. Please watchlist this list to protect it from vandalism and unsourced additions. There are many in Wikipedia who would like to see this Featured status list removed from the project. It is up to us to keep it to such a high caliber that it never is removed.
Our project member David Shankbone is now working as a journalist for Wikinews, as well as continuing to improve our project and Wikipedia as a whole with his photographs. A sincere thank you goes out to him for all of his hard work. Wikipedia would not shine nearly as brightly without your contributions, David.
Happy Halloween, everybody! Be happy and celebrate!
The surviving life partner of prominent LGBT rights activist Barbara Gittings recently called one of our editors and, among other things, complimented us on what a great job our project is doing on Wikipedia. Thanks to everyone who contributes to this project, either through their article edits or support for other project members. We really are making an difference here!
Member assistance
Some of our project members have been having difficulties related to editing on the encyclopedia. If you are feeling frustrated or distressed by your editing experience, please don't keep it to yourself. Wikipedia is a collaborative effort, and we are all here to help one another. Drop a line on our talkpage or on another editor's page, and other members of the LGBT project will happily give you the support you want and need.
Lastly, Halloween is just around the corner. More than most holidays, Halloween is a holiday embraced by and tailor made to our community (though God only knows why we are invisible in the Halloween article here. Perhaps somebody would like to rectify that editing oversight). Have fun, everybody, and remember to both trick and treat!
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Hey, Peeps, it's that time of the month again (no not that time — get your mind out of the gutter): time for another monthly edition of the LGBT Project'sLove Boat newsletter from your cruise directorMiss Julie. So much has been happening this month and I just can't wait to tell you all about it!!!
Let's start with some good news: Alice and the project lost the bothersome sock puppet who had been disrupting many articles we monitor, and now most of us can edit in relative peace. Congratulations, Alice, for being able to come out of semi-retirement. Benjiboi, on the other hand, has gained an anonymous IP stalker who seems to be more Catholic than the Pope and who has a hard-on for the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. We seem to have a sort of Yin and Yang thing going on here, which helps both to keep us in balance and on our toes <bright smiles all around>.
Albus Dumbledore got outed this month, and was immediately adopted by our project. The international brouhaha surrounding this disclosure reached all the way to Wikiland, and his article was briefly locked due to homophobic vandalism (as well as well meaning editors who just couldn't believe that that nice man could possibly be gay). This is a wonderful article to add to your watchlist, and will surely give you hours of reverting fun on cold winter days.
On a more serious note, Fireplace has suggested a new article series about LGBT rights in the United States, state by state. This ambitious topic will surely require many editors and a lot of research, but has the potential to add further prestige to our already prestigious project.
Same name, same sexuality: a riddle for the ages[edit]
Francis Bacon (not the new gay one, but the old gay one ... though they're actually both dead, now that I think about it) has also aroused passions here on Wikipedia, with editors opposing his sexuality being disclosed in his biography. The always helpful Haiduc has thoughtfully provided any number of sources, but it is slow going getting his point across. Anyone want to lend a hand?
And speaking of passions, Jack Kerouac has inflamed the senses once again with editors, including administrator Irishguy, mounting a spirited defense to keep him as heterosexual as possible for Wikipedia purposes. Why? I don't know. Perhaps some of you can drop by the talk page and ask your questions there. I feel certain a stimulating debate will ensue that will be enjoyed by all.
Did you know that one of our Featured articles, Lawrence v. Texas, lost its shiny gold star? That was a shocker. It has been suggested that we turn our attention to it in an effort to restore it to its former glory. I took a peek, and it does need our help badly. For our American editors, it would seem almost a civic duty to edit it (not that I'm hinting....).
Though it was far too intellectual a debate for a mere cruise director like myself to take part in, Intersexuality was certainly a hot topic a week or two ago. The thrust of the debate was over inclusion in our project. Lots of good editors had lots of good opinions. For those too lazy to check out the discussion, we decided to leave it out for now.
Peer review is, as always, short staffed and seemingly unloved. Wouldn't you feel better about yourself and the world in general if you took a few minutes to read one of the listed articles and offer some helpful advice? I know I'd feel better if you did.
The article LGBT movements in the United States certainly raised eyebrows last week, especially when it was discovered that copyrighted content had been added to our article. Tragedy was averted at the last minute, though, when the original hosts of the article where the material had been pilfered agreed to make it free to everyone. Our thanks to them, whoever they are. Busy Bee that I am, I haven't had time to read it, but I'm sure it's sensational.
Not content to run for Best Actress, plucky Bannon won a Best supporting actress Oscar... whoops, I meant to say Ann is also getting more than her share of womanly attention on the Good Article list. Joining her on this exalted plane are Freddy Mercury, Waylon Smithers and Lance Bass. Good articles indeed, and the last one mentioned just goes to show that one needn't admire the subject of an article to appreciate the effort put into making him worthwhile reading. What on earth Britney ever saw in him I'll never know. Truly a riddle cloaked in an enigma and wrapped around a puzzle.
On a personal note, your already overworked cruise director is being cyberly whipped almost daily by Nemissimo, who desperately wants to get the German BDSM translation copy edited and used as a replacement for the current one. It's such a ... err, stimulating topic that I am sure many of you will want to join the copy editing fun. Jump right in, folks! It's so lonely copy editing it all by my lonesome!
A little birdie just whispered in my ear that our noble collaboration project was delisted from the Community Portal due to inactivity. When asked how this scandalous turn of events could have occurred, the answer I received was "we suck at stuff like that". Well. In the first place, I disagree that sucking should be considered a negative, but to each his or her own. In the second place, I have full confidence that we can and will collaborate with other projects in the future. So let's not view this as a setback (even though it is), but rather a challenge to improve (and good Lord, I sound almost Wikipedian!).
Lastly, the holidays are rapidly approaching. Our American cousins are currently getting ready to slaughter masses of poultry in an effort to show their gratitude and generally peaceful demeanor, and those of the Canadian persuasion, trendsetters that they are, celebrated a bit early this year. I'm sure all us foreigners will join together in wishing them all a very happy Thanksgiving on their respective holidays, both already celebrated and forthcoming... though I would hope somebody would enlighten me as to why they don't celebrate it on the same day. I was awake all last night trying to figure that one out.
In the spirit of this peculiarly North American holiday, let me take a moment to thank all of our editors for their contributions to this project. It's people like you who make people like me...well, a "people person"! May all your Wiki days be bright, and may your Love Boat never turn into a Poseidon.
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Quelle Suprise! King James is a Queen!
Our dear Haiduc, never a stranger to controversy, recently decided to delve into the wardrobe of the British Monarchy, and what did he discover? King James had more than appreciative eyes for strapping young men! Naturally, Haiduc felt the need to share this news with the community, but instead of being praised for his scholarship, he was reviled. In fact, one rabid heterocentrist even rummaged around in his own wardrobe until he found an old pair of socks to play with. All seemed lost until astute editor Jeffpw noticed some odd postings and did some sleuthing of his own. The socks were uncovered, the Wicked Witch was melted and readers the world over were able to learn that Good King James regularly ordered tube steak from the menu of the day. Thank you, Haiduc! Thank you, Jeff! And let Miss Julie add (for readers who might not know) that tube steak tastes just like chicken!
It's Britney, Bitch!
Well, maybe it's not Miss Thang, herself, but it's the next best thing: Chris Crocker! he stirs up just about as much controversy as his idol does, even here on Wikipedia. Though it's all a bit of a muddle, one of our editors hopes you can drop by the talk page and leave a message of hope for those battling the forces of obstructionism in that little corner of the Wiki World. It is so hard to spread enlightenment. As Miss Parker herself said, "You can lead a whore to culture, but you can't make her think".
Game show for nerds
Wallowing in cash from the latest beg-a-thon, the powers-that-be have decided to sponser a little contest here to improve the articles, with a Grand prize of $100. Yeah. Just enough for a Burger King dinner for the family. Still, the thought is nice and the goal is noble, so we should support it. Our little Queer beehive has taken a look at what's on offer, and both the Greek Traditionalists and Daughters of Bilitis are well represented. The ever useful SatyrTN has made a little list, which can be found here (if that malignant bot hasn't archived it already, that is). So find a pal, roll up your sleeves and dive right in. Let's show this Encyclopedia just what Queers with firecrackers up their....err, I mean, let's show the others what we can do.
Jón Þór Birgisson
I can't pronounce his name, but he's awfully cute, he's deliciously foreign, and best of all...he's GAY! But he won't be for long, if certain users have their way. A concerted effort has been under way for a while now, designed to neuter poor Jon (pretend I put a little accent thingy over that O) and make him into a sort of rockin' Ken doll. So please watchlist this hunka man, and keep him queer! If anybody questions you, tell them "Miss Julie sent me".
TranSanta
Everybody loves a sequel
Readers not afflicted with Alzheimer's will remember that last month we had a little story about Alice and her harasser. That proved so popular that we bring you the sequel: Benjiboi and his stalker. After a chance meeting at the Michael Lucas article, this anonymous user took a shine to our Benjiboi, and has been showering him with attention on virtually every board on Wikipedia. Flattered though he is, Benjiboi finds the attention a bit distracting, and administrators have been seeking various remedies for this. It has proven difficult, as the stalker has an IP address that changes quicker than Superman in a telephone booth. So perhaps some of you would like to watchlist Benjiboi's page, and lend a hand if you see some love letters from an 11 digit friend. I was actually thinking we should get Alice's harasser and Benjiboi's stalker together. Then we could have another sequel, sort of like Freddy vs. Jason. Any bets as to who would win??
Not quite the second coming, but special just the same
Let me be the first to give a warm, wet, Love Boat kiss (though not with tongue) to our newest Project members: Jacksinterweb, Cleduc, Pigman, Becksguy and Iamandrewrice. Even in the month of our Saviour's birth, your popping into our Wikipedian lives is a blessed event indeed. As Jesus Himself said, "Live long and prosper". He did say that, didn't he? I think he said it. In any event, if he was standing next to me now, I'm sure he'd say it, and add, "Happy homo editing!"
Battle of the Wikipedia Stars!
Indomitable Ann Bannon is holding her own in Wikipedia's answer to American Idol: The Featured Article candidate list! For four feverish weeks, she has mastered the challenges and not been eliminated from the competition. Drop by the FAC page and show Ann you love her....or give her the hook (I'm not supposed to tell you how to vote). Giving our plucky Ann reason to hope is the recent promotion of List of gay, lesbian or bisexual people: Sa-Sc. If Miss Julie has her way, we will have the entire alphabet of Queerdom Featured here on Wikipedia soon! And I would be remiss if I did not give a warm, Lesbian salute to our own Belovedfreak, who showed Wikipedia with But I'm a Cheerleader that even pom poms are no protection from the Love that dare not speak its name, and got a gold star for her efforts.
Climbing the Wikipedia career ladder is User: Tim1965, who has not only written, but is now promoting Reel Affirmations to Good article status. Best of luck, Tim, and remember: there are no small parts, only small actors. We're sure you'll be trading that green circle for a gold star soon (assuming you get the green in the first place!).
Santa's on his gay way!
Santa needs elves
Yes, I know: packages need buying, trees need trimming, egg nog needs drinking. The holidays make many demands on our time. It's ...well, it's a bitch, is what it is. So I wouldn't blame you for skipping this little section and putting off my request until next year. But...think of the children. Our future. They need quality information about the homosexual "lifestyle" if we are to indoctrinate them properly. That's why I am asking you to drop by our Peer review area and give your meaning as to the efforts of your fellow gay Wikipedians. And think: in this season of kindness and good will to all, isn't it nice that I am pointing you to someplace where you can (in a Wikiloving way, of course) rip someone a new asshole? Think about it...and those children with their shiny, bright eyes, thanking you for contributing to their future.
Even more festively, consider joining in on the deletion discussions of our favorite articles. Here you can bandy about such words as "homophobia", "Right-wing Christian agenda" and my personal favorite, "just who do you think you're pushing around?!?!?". If you play your cards right, there might even be an extra present under the tree for you. :-D
Urgent Christmas appeal Tovojolo asked me to ask you to edit Elizabeth Bishop as part of the Collaboration Project. She's an old dead poet (Miss Bishop, not Tovojolo. I've never actually met Tovojolo. She's probably very young and attractive. Maybe somebody should ask if she's single), but she was a flaming homosexual long before most of us had even been conceived, so we owe her some respect. Tovojolo actually asked me for the last newsletter, but Miss Julie forgot. Bad Miss Julie. She was so busy boosting morale it just slipped right by her. Nemissimo, maybe you need to crack that whip again to get Julie back in line.
Surrender, Dorothy!!!!!!! Friend of Dorothy has attracted the attention of a group of....the more senior elements of our gay society. They disagree with our thesis that Saint Judy was the possible source of the term, and demand we change the article to reflect their contention that Dorothy Parker was the origin. The problem is, their source didn't check out. So we agreed to disagree. Well, we at the project did. They got kinda mad at us, said unkind things, and started edit warring. Though they are old, they are certainly quick, and could revert the article faster than my nimble fingers could press the undo button. To quote the divine Miss Parker, every time I saw the article on my watchlist, I thought to myself, "What fresh hell is this?". The page was protected by sympathetic administrators, but keeping an eye on it will keep Dorothy safe from future Wicked Witches of the West or East.
Ambrosia
Our dear Benjiboi has been busy indeed, lately. He recently made fruit salad out of Fruit, turning a once nasty word into a damn good article, and saving it from deletion! Congratulations, Benjiboi! I hear he has turned his attention from fruit to poultry now. Before he is through, he will have turned every major food group gay on Wikipedia!
Christmas came early
Yes, indeed! Valued administrator WJBscribe was raised out of the mire of mid-level management and placed squarely into the Pantheon of Bureaucracy! And Miss Julie is just too proud of him not to mention that he got the most support votes in the history of Wikipedia! Congratulations, WJB! We know you will not prove the Peter Principle correct!
You!
Yes, you! It's you who make this project shine! It's you who make Wikipedia such a valuable resource for all humanity! And it's you who make Miss Julie's dull life just a little bit better. So I want to take this moment to thank each and every one of you for all you do here. Merry Christmas, everybody! Happy Hanukkah! Festive Kwanzaa!Delirious Dong Zhi!Delicious Diwali! And for our oppressed Iranian brothers and sisters, I wish you a safe and joyous Yalda. And if I didn't mention your favorite December holiday, well, it's because I feel it's so special I should just keep it between you and me. Always remember: You light up my life!
May we all have a joyous holiday season, and a safe, healthy, happy and prosperous 2008.
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Delivered on 20:05, 3 December 2007 (UTC).
SatyrBot 20:55, 3 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Ms Julie is .. unavailable .. this month, so Isaac and Gopher have stepped in to put this newsletter thing together. We may not be as funny as you're used to, but if you'd like a free drink, come see me at the bar. That might help. Maybe. And no, there aren't any flashing lights or fancy pictures this month - I'm still recovering from a whopping hangover. Julie's recovering too, but that's a story I'll let her tell.
Two New Featured Articles (and...)
Emma Goldman was promoted to Featured status on 2007December 27. If you don't know Ms. Goldman, she was a Lithuanian anarchist. Aren't many of those around, really, so having one of our very own is special. She'll be dancing the Cha-Cha on the Promenade deck later tonight.
Ann Bannon was promoted to Featured status on 2007December 3. Faithful readers may remember Moni moaning that we didn't mention this promotion in the last newsletter. Happy now?
The marathon efforts of Dev920 against her astonishing abilities of procrastination continued this month, and she managed to update the Portal's main articles. Whether she will finally beat her procrastination pixies in submission and update the biographies remains to be seen, but Jeffpw has leapt to the rescue and taken it upon himself to do all our lovely news. Friends, lend us your goodwill and your eyeballs, and mosey on over to see all Jeff's hard work.
Also, back in October 2007, Allstarecho and Benjiboi worked diligently on the "WP:LGBT Random Quote" and "WP:LGBT Random Picture" sections of the portal. They added many new quotes and pictures but, and yes here's the cat's meow friends... you can now use these on your own user pages! To add the "WP:LGBT Random Quote" to your own userpage, use: {{Portal:LGBT/Quotes}} And to add the "WP:LGBT Random Picture" to your own userpage, use: {{Portal:LGBT/Pics}} If you'd like to see it in action, check out Allstarecho's userpage for both in action and Benjiboi's talk page for the Quotes in action!
The long, slow race toward FP status continues...
Bisexual Awareness Month
Folks in Utah are celebrating Bisexual Awareness Month. For our own wikicelebration, Alison suggests we try to bring Bisexuality at least up to good article status. Working on the Utah article would be encouraged, but do it stealthily - they don't like us to be *too* open.
A cunning plan
In a move sure to bring her fame and fortune at last, Dev920 (talk·contribs) has proposed that an FA buddying system be set up, to help nudge frightened tikes who also happen to write killer ass articles over that initial first FAC hurdle. Anyone interested in shepherding duties, or anyone interested in being made to lie beside still waters (handcuffs are optional), do drop Dev an RSVP so she can start battering those darned pixies...
Zigzig20s has mentioned a desire to work on .. desire. Specifically literature by and about LGBT desire. To facilitate "LGBT Literature" taskforce, there will be shuffleboard and lesbian fiction on the foredeck later in the afternoon. Signup if you're interested.
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Delivered sometime in January 2008 (UTC).
SatyrBot (talk) 23:21, 19 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Project member Moni3 has been working on the article for Barbara Gittings and noted that the Lambda Literary Foundation used the lead paragraph from Wikipedia, skillfully and lovingly written by Moni3, verbatim in the Lambda Literary Pioneers calendar. Moni3 contacted the Lambda Literary Foundation to let them know, and to ask if we could get a little write-up in the next Lambda Book Report. There is a preliminary text you can find here. Feel free to add to it. It should be no longer than 1,000 words, and it needs to be submitted by March 15.
Place yourself in a user category so you can collaborate with other LGBT/Allied Wikipedians!
Mostly for allies of LGBT people; To place yourself in Category:Wikipedians interested in LGBT issues, just add [[Category:Wikipedians interested in LGBT issues|?]] to your userpage and change the question mark to your username OR add this userbox by placing {{User:UBX/LGBTinterest}} on your userpage.
Mostly for people who identify as either Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender; To place yourself in Category:LGBT Wikipedians, just add [[Category:LGBT Wikipedians|?]] to your userpage and change the question mark to your username OR add a userbox found at User:Xaosflux/UBX/Sexuality#Sexual orientation.
To stop receiving this newsletter, or to receive it in a different format, please let us know here. If you have any news or any announcements to be broadcast, do let us know.
Delivered by SatyrBot around 17:14, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
SatyrBot (talk) 17:23, 3 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Hello, members and friends of WP:LGBT! I'm not one to be writing newsletters, but I miss our cruise director, Miss Julie, and our project is drifting along with a few leaking plugs in the bottom of the boat. Hey, it happens. Every group we join goes through changes. If Wikipedia weren't so interesting it wouldn't also be so frustrating sometimes. And vice versa. More than one Wikiproject has tumbleweeds blowing through it, but this is one that can't afford to let that happen. Even if you pop in to the talk page of the project, you can let us know you're still around.
It wouldn't be a proper gay community without a li'l bit o' drama! That's right. If we aren't arguing about something, then we should be asking if we're still queer. Maybe that's for the best, since we know we're still kicking. Our most recent topic is how far the role of our project should go in dipping our toes into HIV/AIDS articles. The main AIDS article was delisted as a Featured Article last month, sadly. (Sending a swift kick to WP:Medicine.) A spirited discussion is available for your entertainment on the WP:LGBT talk page about just how much of HIV and AIDS should we take on. As ever, we'll take your opinions under advisement. We're going to have to, because it doesn't seem to have been settled.
We have a pretty cool sidebar that identifies core LGBT articles. Its symbol is the iconic gay pride flag, much like other Wikiprojects have iconic symbols denoting the topic is a core subject in a series of articles. However, a question recently arose asking if the symbol itself is not neutral. Should a pride flag show up at the top of the article on Conversion therapy? How else would anyone know the article is about queer issues? Is there another symbol that is as widely recognized and that includes all our many splintered facets? At what point do we stop asking ourselves all these questions and just go have a mint julep on the verandah and stop caring?
For the love of all that is holy, no Kool Aid jokes. However, an editor involved in pioneering San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk's article has included a section about the late supervisor's support of Jim Jones and the People's Temple. While it may be accurate, there is a Request for Comment regarding how much emphasis the section places on Milk's support in light of his overall political influence on the city, and indeed the rest of the United States. Milk's article is a sad one in more ways than one. It lacks the detail and heart that honors its subject. Anyone want to do a barter with me? I'll bring Harvey Milk to featured status (give me a month or two so I can read stuff), if you do something of equal value to WP:LGBT?? Make me an offer...
The established branch of study known as Queer studies was brought up as an category for deletion because an editor was offended by the use of "queer" in the title. It was overwhelmingly rejected mostly by the usernames I see here on our Wikiproject page. (A clue that I know you are out there, hiding...biding your time...) So, I wish I could congratulate you, but now I'm all confused by my sympathy for the editor who was offended. So, if you're reading this, Moni has a short memory and can't remember your username. Don't be put off by our demonstrative pushiness. Join us. We can always use involved editors.
What can you do to help the project out? Be a wiki-fairy, on many levels. There are all kinds of articles that need help. Why, just this morning I removed those ugly wikify and cleanup tags from four articles at random. If you can put [[ ]] around stuff, you can clean up articles. There's a list of articles that need attention at the top of the WP:LGBT talk page. Or you can start with the Lambda Literary Awards, where the goddess of my altar received a pioneering award, and was "reduced to rubble" by Katherine V. Forrest's wonderful speech. The 20th ceremony of the Lambda Literary Awards, which celebrates LGBT literature, took place in West Hollywood on May 29th [3]. The page needs to be updated with the new winners, to be found on the official website [4].
Why on earth would someone want to delete material about homosexuality? 'Tis truly a mystery. But these embattled articles have some random evil gnomes removing information that places these folks under our queer umbrella. Help us keep an eye out for the deletions. Take a peek at the articles, familiarize yourselves with the info, and be handy with the undo function in the article history. If tempers flare, take it to the Hall monitors and let them sort it out. Best solution is to make sure your sources are immaculate.
This is what I get for opening my big fat mouth and suggesting the newsletter should be revived. Here I am writing it. So, to pat self on back (*cough*) Mulholland Dr. became a featured article in May. This is A Good Thing since it is my personal declaration that there is no such thing as lesbian porn. I don't care what Benjiboi says about the video collection at goodvibes. Instead, we have hot women who connect on a deep, personal, soul-touching level, so this film should qualify as some of the skankiest porn available for lesbians. Plus, it's completely confusing and surreal! D'you think Laura Harring would care that the article is featured? I don't think so either... (Call me, Laura!)
Once I saw a harrowing episode of Animal Planet's Animal Cops where this guy had, like, 250 cats in his house and it freaked me right out. I'm drawing a parallel between 250 cats and, well...three, really, templates in articles involving LGBT issues. Can we stick to one, maybe? In the aforementioned Harvey Milk's article there's a core LGBT template, a link to the LGBT portal, and a sidebar for LGBT rights. Jiminy! You'd think we weren't the folk to set industrial grey carpeting and track lighting in vogue. An LGBT footer was designed to link to articles of interest that aren't the aforementioned core articles. What do you think, can we have either an LGBT template for core articles, a footer for LGBT articles that are high profile but not core, or an LGBT rights template? As ever, anything's up for discussion on the WP:LGBT talk page.
It's June, Pride month. Wear sunscreen, stay hydrated, get a designated driver, then go half-dressed in the streets find a girlfriend or boyfriend, or some homo who's standing there looking lonely and kiss 'em up real good. Remember, it all started 39 years ago when a bunch of drag queens just got fed the f*ck up by the cops raiding the bar and dragging them all out to the pokey again. Rock on, queens! Enjoy your celebrations. My town's is in October, and 200 people attend. I miss Denver.
It looks like we've picked up a lot of talent lately. We have no doubt you'll be making your indelible mark on LGBT knowledge as we know it, here at Wikipedia.
In the immortal words of Miss Julie, "May all your Wiki days be bright, and may your Love Boat never turn into a Poseidon."
We miss you, Miss Julie, as well as all the others who have graced our project and are on wiki-breaks or just got fed up with all the nuttiness and went to live their lives. Get your stupid houses built and hurry up and come back. --Moni3 (talk) 16:52, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
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This newsletter was delivered by §hepBot around 16:02, 11 June 2008 (UTC). ShepBot (talk) 16:12, 11 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The purpose of Bukkake is female humiliation. I don't doubt that someone has made a porn movie involving a male as a subject -- and called it bukkake. Their use is the misnomer, not the definition. My concern is the accuracy of the usage. The citation gived the definition. Male humiliation in that fashion may occur, but it would not accurately be called bukkake, because it is not a female subject. Although I personally advocate non-sexism and fair representation of sex acts regardless of the gender of the participants, in this case the act originated in Japan, a highly sexist culture at that time, and some might say still. The primary goal of the act then, and now is humiliation of a female subject. You and I may not think that is fair, but that does not really matter. Some may desire to generalize the definition to focus on the mechanics of the act, rather than socio-cultural origins and redifne it, but that is not for wikipedians to do. 75.72.34.245 (talk) 00:10, 14 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I realise this is only a talk page, however I really hope what is being said here does not make its way onto an article page. I would really love to see reliable citations to back up your claims, I would also love to see you justify the racism towards Japan that are stated above.
Sennen goroshi (talk) 12:48, 14 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Brideshead, I am sorry for the confusion, I did realise that the initial message was not made by you, I should have clarified the fact that my comments were directed towards the anon IP editor, not yourself. Sennen goroshi (talk) 14:25, 14 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I intend no racism toward Japan. Japan, like the U.K and U.S. has less than favorable historical facts. Also, you should note that my comments are in regard to historical acts against women, not a race. These acts (against women) occur throughout most culture's history. The act called Bukkake has Japanese origins, but I have no doubt that every other culture has a similar history. Why the Japanese act is engraved in history and not the acts of other cultures is beyond me. Perhaps because of the Japanese occupation of China and Korea? Who knows. 75.72.34.245 (talk) 16:29, 15 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Bridesmaid:
Quote "The purpose of Bukkake is female humiliation". This is YOUR opinion, NOT fact. bukkake can involve a variety of participants, not simply the narrow definition you ascribe to it. I'm reverting the edit. --Brideshead (talk) 12:00, 14 June 2008 (UTC)
You are welcome to your opinion of course. But, I was not giving opinion but supporting the citation that was given. As a feminist is is also my perspective, but that isn't really relevant in the article. The act knows as "Gay Bukkake" is a recent phenomena. I am a strong supporter of GLBT/LGBT, and could care less what the genders of the people involved in any given sex act are. I am sure there is a long history of groups of people (male or female) ejecting or "splashing" ther ejaculate upon a single subject/victim for a variety of reasons, including for eroticism or humiliation or punishment -- whatever. The article is about Bukkake though, not about porn films, or "facials" or pearl necklaces or group sex or LGBT. Bukkake is of Japanese word and cultural origin. As I just said, the article is about Bukkake, not sperm ending up on someone elses face. Their probably is a much broader and more diverse history of Bukkake in Japan than I am aware of -- I am no expert on Japanese culture. One may need to be a good student of Japanese culture to really understand that. But, in a limited Wikipedia article, certainly the primary elements are 1) Muliple men ejaculate on their subject. 2) The subject is a woman. One can speculate the motivations of this cultural acts. (history suggests punishment of the woman, and ritual humiliation of the women is part of that, but there may be other contexts) The history does not, as far as I know, describe groups of men ejaculating on other men. (Although Japanese history does describe men urinating on other men as an act of domination/humiliation.) It does not describe describe groups of women ejaculating on men or women. So, when I emphasize that the Bukkake article should stick to the historical references, rather than a fairly recent trend of pornography of various kinds (regardless of the genders involved) it is not mean't to show bias against LGBT but intended to be true to the facts, regardless of what I would prefer. 75.72.34.245 (talk) 16:29, 15 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Nice theory, and the moment that theory is proven with citable and reliable facts, I will have no issues with it. As it stands there are no provable links between what may and may not have happened in Japan and what is known as Bukkake in the 21st Century. If this was about opinions then I might agree with you, Japanese Bukkake porn does seem to degrade the female on the receiving end (but then again, so does a lot of Japanese porn no matter what the particular sex act is) At the moment the only provable facts are that the word Bukkake is Japanese, Bukkake porn is available in Japan and that the act of multiple facial cumshots is generally known as Bukkake in countries other than Japan.
My personal opinion is that it is degrading, not because of the act of bukkake, but because of the Japanese porn industry.
Sennen goroshi (talk) 20:45, 15 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Hi there. I've reverted your edit over at the Prince Charles page. While it's true that in everyday English "pretender" could be seen as a pejorative term, when discussing royalty and thrones it is the correct term to use. You can read more about it at the pretender article, including the etymology of the word. Cheers. Prince of Canada t | c 23:14, 6 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I changed the link from Bizone. The text read "bizone" but the link took one to trizone then redirected to bizone. A pointless redirect. There is no article for trizone the link should be a direct bizone link. --Brideshead (talk) 11:03, 26 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I see what you mean. I was wanting to know whether the bizone or trizone introduced the DM. I'm pretty sure it was the trizone (hence the original link) but I'll look into it further. Dove1950 (talk) 20:13, 28 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
An unfortunate effect of a group less active than in the past is that our articles lose integrity. This one is at Good Article Review for that reason. The talk page is quite active as a result. You have the opportunity to help. This is the corest of our core articles, and it needs some attention because it gets a lot of controversial input from many sides. If you can spare any time to edit the article, please do what you can.
Soon after we were informed that Homosexuality is being scrutinized, we heard the same for one of our few Featured Articles. As a participant of the Featured Article process, I think this is actually a good thing. The standards for Featured Articles are getting higher with time. But as a member of this project, that means that a few of ours may be de-listed unless someone can swoop in and save them. This one has to do with the designation of homosexuality as a crime in Germany. Most of this article's sources are in German. If anyone has any particular skill in this area, please lend a hand!
I know you folks think I have much experience in a gay bathhouse, and I hate to disappoint you, but I actually do not. I seem like the sort of person who likes to stroll about in a towel. Shocking, no? It appears that Ashleyvh is single-handedly addressing all the problems with this article at its GA Review. While that's pretty impressive, it's also no doubt exhausting. Can anyone help out there?
In what I hope will counter the jolt of re-evaluating three Good or Featured Articles, José Sarria and Janet Jackson as gay icon passed as Good Articles, and Black Cat Bar (famous San Francisco oft-raided gay bar) is nominated, all by Otto4711. Rock on, man. You're a machine. Good luck with your nominations. What is it about women that make them gay icons? And are there lesbian icons that aren't lesbians? How about bisexual icons? Am I the only lesbian who reacts with soul-trembling fear at the sight of Angelina Jolie?
New WP:LGBT studies member Pinkkeith has done this cool thing. If you click on that link, you'll see all the articles, categories, templates, and miscellany up for deletion. They're usually there because they're not considered to be not notable. That can be a relative concept, and sometimes it has to be argued that topics pertaining to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues are notable.
It seems a recurring issue which articles to tag, and what to say about a topic that's tagged. Certainly, because an article falls under our scope doesn't necessarily make the person gay. Florida Governor Charlie Crist has been rumored to be gay in some newspaper accounts. Although we all know Fred Phelps is supergay, he won't admit it so instead he does the absolutely awfulest anti-gay things on the planet to deflect suspicion. NAMBLA, the red headed stepchild of the LGBT world, is tagged with an explanation we have yet to decide if we'll keep.
In the lurking I do around and about on Wiki, I've long been astounded at the forbearance Benjiboi has for the utterly insane. Perhaps not so much, since the message on Benji's talk page notes frequent absences due to homophobia and transphobia. But it takes some kind of ... something that I don't have to face the constant anti-gay POV Benji does.
Benjiboi is a a bit of a WikiFaerie, a WikiGnome and also a member of the Article Rescue Squadron in addition to being a LGBT project member. A few of Benjiboi's favorite links for making the wikiverse more fab are:
Becksguy didn’t start actively editing until May 2007. His most frequent tasks on Wiki include reverting vandalism to LGBT articles and creating new project-related articles. He comes from New York state, and to prove not all of us are teenagers (ha! I am so totally 15!) he's in his 60s and retired.
Becksguy considers his biggest triumph on Wikipedia so far was a DYK in December 2007 for the first-ever newspaper report on what became AIDS, in the New York Native. He's also helped save several project-related articles from deletion. His lowest moment here was getting involved in the discussion on a particular terrorism related article, thinking he could help calm the roiled waters on an extremely contentious subject with multiple edit wars and passionate editors.
Here at WP:LGBT, he creates and improves articles that present notable LGBT related subjects in a fair and balanced way, and tries to include more of the significant alternative sexuality related subjects without being an activist, and works to better source project-related articles.
On Wikipedia as a whole, he says, "I think we need to learn better what processes work for a massive collaborative project. Some of what worked well for a more informal small project doesn’t scale up well. Process is not as important when the participants know each other. We need to get more of the current members to be more active. If more members were energized, the project would be able to accomplish more. We should be, in effect, the smaller and included Wikipedia for LGBT related subjects. Overall, I wish we could focus more on content creation and improvement, and less on vandal fighting."
"A Supreme Court decision in 1958 reversed a 1956 ruling by a federal district court that U.S. postal authorities were correct in prohibiting the mailing of the Mattachine Society's ONE magazine. The lower court had ruled that ONE was not protected by the First Amendment because the magazine's contents 'may be vulgar, offensive, and indecent even though not regarded as such by a particular group ... because their own social or moral standards are far below those of the general community ... Social standards are fixed by and for the great majority and not by and for a hardened or weakened minority.'" - Michael Bronski in Pulp Friction, 2003
Thanks for being weak and having lowered standards with me. --Moni3 (talk) 00:10, 24 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
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Newsletter delivery by xenobot 12:50, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
In the summer, the ball drops at 1pm BST (12 GMT). Do you know what time it drops during the winter. Does it drop at 1pm GMT or 12GMT and thus 12 (local) time. I suspect the latter. Martin451 (talk) 22:56, 2 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The gun and ball occur simultaneously (barring sound travel) at exactly 1pm local time. therefore is is 1pm GMT/1pm BST depending on the time of year.--Brideshead (talk) 19:07, 3 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for your GA review. In response to your question about me reviewing an article (I assume one of your GANs), its probably best if I don't. Back around about Christmas time, I got wrong for reviewing and passing for a user which had been reviewing and passing mine (although I honestly believe they met the GA criteria at the time). Because of this, I think its best if I don't review any of your GANs, albeit I am willing to review an article or two at GAN which weren't nominated by you, if you like? Qst (talk) 14:12, 16 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
No problem, I wasn't referring to a "you scratch my back" situation. It is standard Wikipedia Policy to encourage a nominator to review another article when their nomination passes as a good faith community act to progress the project. it's not a bribe. See WP:GAC (point 1 under pass criteria). --Brideshead(leave a message) 14:16, 16 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Please be sure you check that an edit is actually vandalism before reverting it? The edits you reverted here were not vandalism, but an editor working with WP:SPOTLIGHT (which has done over 450 edits to that page since august 8, see the diff) to get an article to GA status. Can you please explain why you thought that was vandalism? If you dispute his edits, please make a comment on the talk page, but please don't call him a vandal. His edits are in good faith. Thanks.
A second note, if you wish to talk to him or me in real time, feel free to click this link. That is where spotlight collaborates. —— nixeagle 19:20, 14 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Its not me you need to apologize to. You are right, he probably should have used an edit summary, perhaps you can make that suggestion. My advice to you however is if an editor has a blue link on their talk page and their userpage to investigate a tad more (check page history?). :) Cheers! —— nixeagle 19:29, 14 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
A second note, when you revert folks for vandalism, you should be using the vandalism warnings, or at least leaving the folks a message. —— nixeagle 19:29, 14 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'm going to make a note, this was not a page blanking, or even a section blanking. If you took the time to look at the diffs, you would have realized that he added sourced content in as well as removed content. That is what rewriting a section looks like :). Cheers! —— nixeagle 19:30, 14 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Well thank you for your constructive comments. I am pleased to see that as an administrator you handle user mistakes in such an open and understanding way. I'd hate to think you may over-react and in any way labour the point. --Brideshead (talk) 20:49, 14 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Oh I'd not worry about that, I was just hoping you would apologize to the editor whose edits you reverted and called vandalism. Of course I can't force you to do so. :P Cheers! —— nixeagle 15:04, 18 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I noticed the nomination and had a quick look at the article. Two issues were immediately apparent. Firstly, there is a "fact' tag and that needs to be dealt with or it will fail for sure. Secondly, after a protracted discussion an additional guideline was recently added to WP:MOS. This now states:
In articles that cover two or more taxonomic groups a consistent style of capitalisation should be used for species names. This could involve:
using scientific names throughout - often appropriate for articles of a specialist nature.
using title case for common names of species throughout (per WP:BIRDS) and lower case for non-specific names such as eagle or bilberry, which may work well for articles with a broad coverage of natural history.
using lower case for common names, which may work well for non-specialist articles that happen to refer to various different taxonomic groups.
The article currently breaches this as well by mixing upper and lower case. The above implies you might be better of with title case but is deliberately non-proscriptive about this due to the varied approaches in place. Good luck. BenMacDui 19:58, 24 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Hello! I also stumbled across hypnagogia when browsing Wikipedia and I read that some people sometimes hear sounds sounds such as crashing or banging during this phase. I was amazed, when I heard of hypnagogia I immediately knew what it was, I experience it most nights :D When I start to drift off to sleep, first it started off as voices, random sentences or words, but they were SO CLEAR! Soon after I realized I could choose what I heard :P during hypnagogia I can hear any song I know and it sounds like, as you put it, and orchestra. :D When I read your comment I was as shocked as you were, I have told someone once or twice that I can hear amazingly clear music before I go to sleep, and they look at me like I'm crazy :P It's good to know I'm not :)
PS: Sorry if I have put this message in the wrong spot, I only signed up to Wikipedia today :P —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jaaakee (talk • contribs) 15:57, 18 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
hey, just wanted to second the move to make "inselberg" the primary title. It is the more common word used to describe the rock formation (at least in terms of scientific literature on the ecology). Orangesquid (talk) 07:42, 27 October 2008 (UTC)orangesquid[reply]
Wake up WP:LGBT! It's time to kick in gear and get some things done!
Project News
Wake up!
I say this to myself as much as I say it to all of us. I work a lot by myself or with individual editors who spend time at Featured Article Candidates. It seems on November 5 a fog was lifted off my brain that helped me realize that we have massive potential in this project to get things done. Take this allegory, for instance: On Wednesday, Nov. 5, 1980, my 10th-grade American history teacher started class by unfurling The New York Times. She pointed to its triple banner headline: “Reagan Easily Beats Carter; Republicans Gain in Congress; D’Amato and Dodd are Victors.” “Save this paper,” she told us. “This is the start of a whole new era.”Judith Warner from The New York Times
It definitely seems a start to a whole new era now. If planets align correctly to remind us that whatever advances we may have made in electing what appears to be an extraordinary president in the US, the moons that revolve around those planets also serve to illustrate it's not that simple. Florida, Arizona, and California all appear to have banned same sex marriage. As someone who was married in California and lives in Florida, this is particularly poignant. We seem to be at the juncture of two converging paths. If we maximize our efforts and take the right ones, we might just be able to affect some change for ourselves.
Though what we do is an interesting hobby for some, we have the power to make a difference. California's ballot initiative to ban gay marriage was a fierce fight. It's being challenged right now, but just look at how Wikipedia played a role in that: in October 2008, 360,238 people read its article. On November 5, an astounding 467,000 people read it. I commend the editors who work on that article—both those who support and oppose it. A look at the talk page shows a concerted effort to keep it civil and accurate.
What can we do?
How do you fight ignorance? With information. That's what Wikipedia is for. This project is overwhelming with 8,576 articles in its scope. We can continue to work piecemeal as we have in the past, or we can focus on goals. These are examples of areas we can concentrate on.
Current political events
LGBT Media and Literature
LGBT History
Sex and sexuality
Articles about political issues in the US and around the world that have been especially relevant within the past 5 years
Depictions of LGBT people and issues on television, film, newspapers, magazines
Topics about gay rights activism and the opposition to it
There are more than 8,000 articles to work on. Can we build a list of priorities? Can we build enough enthusiasm to work on these? What if we had editors who oversaw progress in these areas and reported to the talk page or in the newsletter? Surely someone here wants to report on the progress of sex articles.
Tony Perkins (irony) from the conservative Family Research Councilwas heartened by the recent passages of gay marriage bans. The Republican Party is without direction. What's going to take the place of a moderate voice will not be pleasant to our ears. Watching and improving articles of subjects that have opposed gay rights in the past will be of vital importance very soon, I predict.
But WP:LGBT is not a very active project
All we can do is start somewhere. The first step is answering this newsletter on the project talk page. Join in the discussion.
More things we can do
Give out more barnstars, and let each other know that what they're doing is valued.
Create a guide to stave off burnout, because editors in this project get burned out faster than others. There are many hills to climb.
Bring back the monthly collaboration project.
Participate in LGBT Peer reviews.
Get familiar with the characteristics of Good Articles and get our top priority articles to WP:GA.
Use the Newsletter, Moni3! You can suggest what to send out in the newsletter, too!
Offer research materials, copy editing, ideas, and support to your fellow editors.
Keep the project talk page informed of problems and discussions we should know about.
Proposal: Put Importance Levels on articles
If this was decided long before I was a member, maybe it's time to revisit it. Other WikiProjects, such as WP:Novels determine that some subjects have an importance category: Top, High, Mid, Low, or None (undetermined). If we decide that our most core articles, it might help to organize which articles to address first. Top importance, for example, would be Gay, Homosexual, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Sappho, Oscar Wilde, Stonewall riots, for example. High importance would be Homosexuality and psychology, Harvey Milk, Mattachine Society, Harry Hay, or Daughters of Bilitis, and so on. This can be a matter of discussion, or perhaps we could have someone in charge of determining these levels for all the articles we have tagged.
These are the editors I've seen working (and I know I'm forgetting a few). There's more of you out there I haven't seen. Some of you are new. We need all of you. Please help.
Miami, January 18, 1977 after the gay rights ordinance was passed: While Bryant and the others were creating the beginnings of the repeal effort, (gay activists) Basker, Campbell, Kunst, and the other (gay rights) ordinance supporters congratulated themselves on their success and then quickly disbanded... There was no organized recognition or celebration of the victory. As one activist remembered, "We just went home." They had little idea of the battle that was before them. - Fred Fejes in Gay Rights and Moral Panic, 2008
Don't go home yet, please. --Moni3 (talk) 00:10, 24 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
To stop receiving this newsletter, or to receive it in a different format, please let us know here. If you have any news or any announcements to be broadcast, do let Moni3 know.
This newsletter was sent by §hepBot (Disable) at 21:03, 12 November 2008 (UTC) by the request of Moni3 (talk)
[reply]
Proposed move of Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004[edit]
Re your removal of "spoon-meat" from the "spoon" article, please check the following citation:
"SPOON-MEAT
Noun
1. Food that is, or must be, taken with a spoon; liquid food.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Date "SPOON-MEAT" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1594.
Source: Spoon-Meat. Webster's Online Dictionary - with Multilingual Thesaurus Translation."
I restored the reference, preceded by "sometimes called". Anyway, thanks for your vigilance.
As you are a long standing user, I won't template you (WP:DTTR), but I note that you regularly use the minor edit flag for edits which go beyond the normal definition of minor edits. Please could you adjust your usage of the minor edits flag to correspond to the normal conventions? Cheers. Mayalld (talk) 23:35, 1 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Welcome to a special two month recap edition of the Eurovision Newsletter. From here on out, each monthly edition will be released at the end of the month, and will highlight the month's events.
The backlog of assessments in the project is still ongoing, with a large number of articles not being rated. If you see articles without the {{EurovisionNotice}} template on the article's talk page, please add it, or read Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Assessment if you would like to help assess the articles as well.
Remember to source all information you add to pages or else it may be removed and always use an edit summary so other users know why you are adding or removing information.
Welcome to the sixth edition of the WikiProject Eurvision newsletter!
It's been a busy few months for me at school so I am going to need a lot more participation from the WikiProject in organizing this newsletter each month. It's not an easy task. The best way to help would be to submit anything you feel should be on the next newsletter here so that when I want to make it, I have all of the information ready to go. Also, by doing it this way, there is more information that you want to know as opposed to what I felt was important.
National final season is now in full swing and participants and songs are being chosen every week. For the most part, we are doing a great job in keeping all of the pages up to date, but I urge veteran editors to help out the new people as they tend to not know how everything should be done. As always, I am here to help so if anyone needs an opinion or has a question feel free to leave me a message on my talk; I am on Wikipedia everyday and can respond swiftly.
We had no articles listed as Good Articles in December and January.
If you are no longer interested in WikiProject Eurovision then please remove your name from this list. This Newsletter was delivered by Grk1011/Stephen (talk) 23:55, 31 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
WikiProject Eurovision Newsletter - February 2009[edit]
Note: the Newsletter is "collapsed" for convenience. To see the full letter, click on the "show" button at the right end of the gray bar.
The backlog of assessments in the project is still ongoing, with a large number of articles not being rated. If you see articles without the {{EurovisionNotice}} template on the article's talk page, please add it, or read Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Assessment if you would like to help assess the articles as well. With the help of Camaron, Sims2aholic8, and Grk1011 in the past month, the assessment level has passed 50%!
Remember to source all information you add to pages properly or else it may be removed, and always use an edit summary so other users know why you are adding or removing information.
If you are going to make a page for a song in the contest, please make it more than a stub so it does not get deleted.
Eurovision News
Over twenty countries chose their songs or entrants in February for the upcoming 2009 contest. Check out the table of entries to see what's new.
Do you have news for the next issue? Submit it here!
Welcome to the seventh edition of the WikiProject Eurovision newsletter! It has been a busy month full of national finals and homework for school, so I apologize for publishing the newsletter so late.
The deadline for choosing the entries is right around the corner and following its passing, we will have a great opportunity to improve the quality of the articles in our project. There are many song stubs that have been created for the entries this year and I would like to see them expanded into coherent articles. Also, I think we need to take a look back at the "Country in ESC 2009" articles because I have noticed that most of them are out of date and need to be updated.
We need to focus more on quality these days instead of just adding new info wherever it fits. Our goals is not to jam as much info onto a page as we can, but to create an encyclopedia that people can read and learn from. Think about that next time you add something. Maybe take a minute to read the article over and fix any evident spelling, grammar, or flow problems. Everyone needs to do their share to make this a successful project.
If you are no longer interested in WikiProject Eurovision then please remove your name from this list. This Newsletter was delivered by Grk1011/Stephen (talk) 15:40, 10 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
WikiProject Eurovision Newsletter - March 2009[edit]
Note: the Newsletter is "collapsed" for convenience. To see the full letter, click on the "show" button at the right end of the gray bar.
The backlog of assessments in the project is still ongoing, with a large number of articles not being rated. If you see articles without the {{EurovisionNotice}} template on the article's talk page, please add it, or read Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Assessment if you would like to help assess the articles as well.
Remember to source all information you add to pages properly or else it may be removed, and always use an edit summary so other users know why you are adding or removing information.
If you are going to make a page for a song in the contest, please make it more than a stub so it does not get deleted.
Eurovision News
All of the 2009 entries have been chosen. Check out the table of entries to see which song will represent each country.
Georgia withdrew from this year's contest once again, after concern that the lyrics of "We Don't Wanna Put In" violated Contest rules.
Music videos have been released on the official Eurovision YouTube channel. The United Kingdom and other countries that missed the deadline still released music videos for their songs.
Countries have begun to finalize their songs, with Albania's "Më merr në ëndërr" being translated into English, and other songs being tweaked.
Do you have news for the next issue? Submit it here!
Welcome to the eighth edition of the WikiProject Eurovision Newsletter! It's been one incredible month with all 42 entrants finalising their songs.
In one weekend we found out the winner of Melodifestivalen 2009, the song the Czech Repbulic had selected and also that the Georgian entry, "We Don't Wanna Put In", had been disqualified!
The running order draw took place on March 16th and Montenegro will open the 2009 contest, just like they did last year, having been drawn 1st in Semi Final 1. Spain got to pick their position for the 2009 final, and they will perform 25th. The UK got a much better draw than last year and will perform 23rd. Other notable draws see that Bosnia and Herzegovina will close the first semi final, Croatia will open semi final two and the Netherlands will close it.
In terms of articles: some "Country in the ESC 2009" pages are still short compared to more detailed articles like the Sweden and Lithuania pages. The "At Eurovision" and "Promo" sections in these articles need to be updated as many have released promo videos, updated their songs and changed elements of their stage productions. The Greece and UK articles are the best representatives of these features.
Arguments have erupted over the language of the Bosnian entry. No official source has been found yet and the 4LYRICS source is questionable due to an on-going argument in the comments section on the "Bistra voda" lyrics page. The overall concensus on the language used in the song is Bosnian so please, no more changes to the language!
If you are no longer interested in WikiProject Eurovision then please remove your name from this list. This Newsletter was delivered by Grk1011/Stephen (talk) 22:41, 31 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
WikiProject Eurovision Newsletter - April 2009[edit]
Note: the Newsletter is "collapsed" for convenience. To see the full letter, click on the "show" button at the right end of the gray bar.
IMPORTANT: There is currently a proposal to change the design of some of our projects navigational templates. Please weigh in here. This project wide change needs as many opinions as possible to determine consensus.
Always use an edit summary even when the edit is minor so that other users know why you are adding or removing information; we can't read minds.
With Afkatk's recent tagging spree, there are now over 2,500 articles associated with the project. If you see Eurovision related articles without the {{EurovisionNotice}} template on the article's talk page, please add it. You can also read Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Assessment if you would like to help assess articles as well.
Eurovision News
Do you have news for the next issue? Submit it here!
Welcome to the ninth edition of the WikiProject Eurovision Newsletter!
We're less than a month away from the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 and now is the time to make sure that all articles are the best that they can be. This is our busiest time and thousands of people will come to Wikipedia and will see our work. We need to show them that Wikipedia is a place to come for facts and a site that they can rely on.
I can't emphasize enough how important it is for members to take part in discussions on talk pages. We have 65 members and usually less than five people step up and comment. Editing Wikipedia means is being part of a community. Take pride in what you do here and make your positions known!
I hope to see you all editing like a storm next month, and don't forget to submit news for the next newsletter here.
If you are no longer interested in WikiProject Eurovision then please remove your name from this list. This Newsletter was delivered by Grk1011/Stephen (talk) 23:59, 29 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
WikiProject Eurovision Newsletter - May 2009[edit]
Note: the Newsletter is "collapsed" for convenience. To see the full letter, click on the "show" button at the right end of the gray bar.
"Article Alerts" are available on our Eurovision project page and show which project related articles are tagged for things such as deletion, GA review, peer review, etc. Take a look and do what you can to help out.
Thanks to Afkatk's recent tagging and assessing spree, there are now over 2,700 articles associated with the project and all are assessed. If you happen to see a Eurovision related article without the {{EurovisionNotice}} template on the article's talk page, please add it. You can also read Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Assessment if you would like to help reassess articles in our project if you see that they have outgrown their current assessment.
F. Y. R. Macedonia is threatening to withdraw from the 2010 Contest with the reasoning that it has come tenth twice in successive years in the semi final stage, but has failed to proceed to the final in both instances.
More than a dozen countries have already confirmed their participation for the 2010 Contest. The countries confirmed so far can be seen here.
Welcome to the tenth edition of the WikiProject Eurovision Newsletter!
This month was a very busy month in terms of editing and adding to Eurovision 2009 articles. The 2009 contest is now over but there is still much work to be done.
Some Country in ESC 2009 pages are yet to have their "At Eurovision" sections updated. Some countries need more information than others, e.g. Slovenia's article needs to mention that the song was actually sung in Slovenian and English, and not just English like in the official mp3, etc.
Work has begun on the 2010 contest article already. Please do not add sections to the article about confirmed participants or withdrawn participants unless you have a source!
That's all from me this month!
Happy editing, Nathan | talk 16:03, 27 May 2009 (UTC).[reply]
If you are no longer interested in WikiProject Eurovision then please remove your name from this list. This Newsletter was delivered by Grk1011/Stephen (talk) 02:29, 1 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
How do you change the world? You can start by writing an incredible article for the world's encyclopedia. Moni3 kicks it old school again with Stonewall riots - a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969 at the Stonewall Inn. [...] [T]hey have become the defining event that marked the start of the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world. It's a featured article hitting the mainpage this Sunday to mark the 40th anniversary of the events. So first off, wow! Clever and cool. Moni3 has been recently named hottest delegate to Obama's bookclub but that may not be official yet. (Shhh!)
Otto4711 mentioned that gee we really should swamp the DYK section with LGBT-related articles for use on the 28th as well. We have eight or so in the holding area and if you push yourself to get an article together you might be able to get in on the fun. Do this now!
The official rules for DYKs can be found here. Once you have expanded an article 5-fold or created an article with at least 1,500 characters of prose, place your DYK thread here. Use this handy tool to count your 1,500 characters. As a suggestion, when you add your potential hook, include the character count and a link to the source(s) that confirm the hook. These will be confirmed anyway but may help.
The layout for the individual quotes is here (just copy/paste into one of the red links on Portal:Transgender/Random quote). Then this counter has to be upped to match the new # of total quotes (not counting quote zero).
Obama proclamation
On June 1, President Barack Obama declared June 2009 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month, citing the riots as a reason to "commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans". Excerpts at the bottom.
F*ck me I'm famous
I was interviewed by Wikipedia Signpost, the weekly in-house newsletter, for the WikiProject report. The Signpost has nearly 1,000 Wikipedian subscribers and arguably many of those folks actually read it. It came about rather quickly and my worst fears - that it was an elaborate hoax by a troll - were apparently unfounded. I hope y'all feel I did fine by the project, I did my best to avoid the phrase "man-humping, cock-sucking, doggy-style loving queer" but otherwise did ok.
Free image appeal
A friendly reminder to consider taking photos while you're out and about at various Dyke marches and Pride parades. Consider donating them to the world at Wikicommons. I'm sooo totally over having to deal with lovely images being deleted and argued about. If they are just free they are then also freely usable worldwide. And no, they don't need photos of your cha-cha or hoo-hoo-dilly.
Sonny and Cher's daughter was a famous lesbian and now he's a famous transman, possibly the most famous in the world. This also serves as a friendly reminder that we recently updated Wikipedia:WikiProject LGBT studies/Guidelines - it's not perfect but should help inform on those gnip-gnop battles that do seem to drag on, and not in the good way.
As part of the redecorating at our talkpage, the article alerts and keyword search alerts are handily located at the top of the page. Always fascinating to see what's up. All help appreciated on those.
Glambert
Adam Lambert is soooo gay - surprised? Neither is anyone else. Nuff said. David Ogden Stiers was outed but apparently he wasn't terribly in either.
The LGBT studies project does have its own free Internet Relay Chat channel, #wikipedia-en-lgbtconnect, for coordination, collaboration and socializing. This channel is hosted on Freenode and can be accessed in one of two ways: If you already have an IRC client, click the link to the left. If you do not have an IRC client, you'll need to get one installed on your computer first. Once you've done this, then click on the link to the left.
For more general information on IRC and a listing of other useful Wikipedia-related channels, see Wikipedia:IRC channels.
The project had at one point another channel at #LGBTprojectconnect but as the original people associated with the setting up and administration of that channel have seemed to have disappeared, this new channel has been set up. Plus the new channel is inline with required naming conventions for Wikipedia related IRC channels. So, feel free to use this channel. Such a channel gives opportunity to discuss the latest happening on articles, the LGBT project itself, latest happening in your life with "wiki-friends" here, etc.. You can say things on there you normally wouldn't here on Wikipedia (keeping it civil of course) like talk about the latest hot guy/girl or tell a joke.. you get the point. Anyway, see you there - eventually!
LGBT to-do list (held over from last edition)
Give out more barnstars, and let each other know that what they're doing is valued.
Create a guide to stave off burnout, because editors in this project get burned out faster than others. There are many hills to climb.
Bring back the monthly collaboration project.
Participate in LGBT Peer reviews.
Get familiar with the characteristics of Good Articles and get our top priority articles to WP:GA.
Use the Newsletter, Moni3! You can suggest what to send out in the newsletter, too!
Offer research materials, copy editing, ideas, and support to your fellow editors.
Keep the project talk page informed of problems and discussions we should know about.
“
There are many well-respected LGBT leaders in all professional fields, including the arts and business communities. [I]n both the White House and the Federal agencies -- openly LGBT employees are doing their jobs with distinction and professionalism. [...] LGBT youth should feel safe to learn without the fear of harassment, and LGBT families and seniors should be allowed to live their lives with dignity and respect. At the international level, I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexuality around the world. Here at home, I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans. These measures include enhancing hate crimes laws, supporting civil unions and Federal rights for LGBT couples, outlawing discrimination in the workplace, ensuring adoption rights, and ending the existing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security. [...] As long as the promise of equality for all remains unfulfilled, all Americans are affected. If we can work together to advance the principles upon which our Nation was founded, every American will benefit. During LGBT Pride Month, I call upon the LGBT community, the Congress, and the American people to work together to promote equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. [...] I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists. - Barack Obama, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month, 2009, The White House (June 1, 2009).
To receive this newsletter in a different format, please let us know here. If you have any news or any announcements to be broadcast, do let Moni3 know.
Newsletter delivery by xenobot 17:15, 24 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
WikiProject Eurovision Newsletter - June 2009[edit]
Note: the Newsletter is "collapsed" for convenience. To see the full letter, click on the "show" button at the right end of the gray bar.
There are now over 2,800 articles associated with the project (100 more than last month) and all are assessed. If you happen to see a Eurovision related article without the {{EurovisionNotice}} template on the article's talk page, please add it. You can also read Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Assessment if you would like to help reassess articles in our project if you see that they have outgrown their current assessment.
Following recent disputes relating to sourcing in Eurovision articles, an RfC has been opened on the issue at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Eurovision#RfC on reliable sources for Eurovision articles. The dispute particularly focuses on use of ESCToday and Oikotimes as sources in articles. The RfC is suffering from lack of participation; all project members are encouraged to state their opinion.
Project members are reminded that text and images in articles must follow Wikipedia's copyright policies. Text must not be copied out or copied and pasted into articles from websites whose material is not under a Wikipedia compatible free license. Fully copyrighted text includes that from the EBU (Eurovision.tv), ESCToday, and Okiotimes. Images must also not be uploaded onto Wikimedia Commons for use in Eurovision articles unless they are under a free license, this does not include most images on the internet or TV screen shots even if they were taken by the uploader. Copyrighted images may be uploaded onto the English Wikipedia (not Commons) for use in Eurovision articles if a valid claim of fair use can be made, note that the criteria are strict.
Welcome to the eleventh edition of the WikiProject Eurovision Newsletter!
Things are beginning to quiet down now that the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest is behind us, which is the project's busiest time of year. A few of us however still had to slow down during this period, including myself, as May and June also happens to be exam season in multiple parts of the world. There is much still to be done in any case with preparations for the 2010 Song Contest now well under way, and the host city, Oslo, now confirmed.
There are several items that this project needs to debate including choices of sourcing and what contests come under the banner of this project. The first of these items is already being addressed at a new RfC (see left). Further ideas that could be developed include creation of some article guidelines for Eurovision articles. This could start as an advisory essay and then later, if consensus permits, become an official Wikipedia guideline. Examples of these already in existence include Wikipedia:WikiProject Schools/Article guidelines and Wikipedia:WikiProject Video games/Article guidelines.
If you are no longer interested in WikiProject Eurovision then please remove your name from this list. This Newsletter was delivered by Grk1011/Stephen (talk) 02:19, 1 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]
WikiProject Eurovision Newsletter - July 2009[edit]
Note: the Newsletter is "collapsed" for convenience. To see the full letter, click on the "show" button at the right end of the gray bar.
The RfC on article sourcing was closed by Moonriddengirl (talk·contribs) as an uninvolved editor. The decisions were for each source:
ESCToday: Reliable
ESCKaz: Semi-reliable
ESCTime: Not reliable
Oikotimes: No consensus
More details on the decision as well as the full RfC can be found on the project talk page. The decisions made in the RfC will likely impact on future drafts of the article guidelines. Please note that further use of Oikotimes and ESCTime is discouraged and existing uses should be replaced with reliable sources. If no other source exists for the information, leave the current source for the time being.
Due to a new naming convention relating to the use of the term "FYR Macedonia", the Republic of Macedonia should be referred to as "Macedonia" in Eurovision articles. Mention of the country's participation in the Contest under the name "FYR Macedonia" should be written in the lead of articles such as Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest, though it is not necessary to express this fact in the general Contest articles.
Two months after the 2009 Contest ended, the EBU revealed the full jury and televoting results for each country on its website. The results showed that Norway was the winner of both the jury and the televoting, while many placings would have changed had no jury voting taken place.
Georgia announced its return to the Contest, while the Czech Republic will withdraw from the 2010 Contest.
Welcome to the twelfth edition of the WikiProject Eurovision Newsletter!
It has been a very slow couple of months in terms of Eurovision news since the passing of the 2009 Contest, however, it has been a very busy time for guidelines and policies affecting our project. Landmark decisions have been made regarding our use of sources and even how we are to refer to Macedonia. In addition, several of our Good Articles have been delisted as part of a task force charged with maintaining the quality of Wikipedia's Good Articles.
With there being less information to add and therefore less to do for some, we need to focus on the upkeep and quality of our project's articles and getting those inactive members active once again. We can do this by making sure all new guidelines and naming policies are adhered to and by working to move articles up the quality scale. We are a WikiProject and we all work towards a similar goal. Introduce yourself to your fellow members and get active!
If you are no longer interested in WikiProject Eurovision then please remove your name from this list. This Newsletter was delivered by Grk1011/Stephen (talk) 23:15, 31 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]
WikiProject Eurovision Newsletter - August 2009[edit]
Note: the Newsletter is "collapsed" for convenience. To see the full letter, click on the "show" button at the right end of the gray bar.
There has been some discussion on if a monthly newsletter is viable. The current result is not clear, though it appears for the time being months will simply be skipped as necessary when project activity is low.
There has been a heated debate on how to deal with criticism and controversy in Eurovision Song Contest article, with a proposal made to re-organise articles to avoid dedicated "controversy" and "criticism" sections in order to have maximum neutral point of view policy compliance.
The RTL Group has declared that they are seriously considering a return of Luxembourg to the Eurovision Song Contest for 2010.
Azerbaijan's participation in the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest has been put in doubt following controversial actions which are believed to have occurred after the 2009 Contest. Azerbaijan has denied that any questioning of individuals over voting in the contest has occurred.
Welcome to the thirteenth edition of the WikiProject Eurovision Newsletter!
August 2009 will not be remembered as a good month for WikiProject Eurovision. The number of this newsletter might have something to do with it, other possible explanations include circumstances, time of year, and even just coincidence. In any case we have had no new members and no further GA or FA article promotions.
The demotion of Eurovision Song Contest, probably the most important article on the project, was a historic blow. Reasons for this and other demotions in recent months include an inflation of article standards, article deterioration through inappropriate edits, and possibly inappropriate promotions in some cases.
We should remember however that despite these demotions we still have 2 FAs, 9 GAs, and 41 B-class articles, as well as 2 Featured Lists. This is a big achievement for a project with only 75 members, a small amount compared to other projects. To compare WikiProject Schools has 292 members with no newsletter, and WikiProject Video games has a massive 1,298 members with only a quarterly newsletter.
This project will likely be disadvantaged for a long time to come with limited membership and fluctuating activity during the year, but it will grow out of this blip.
Want to invite new members? Place our invitation template on the talk page of anyone you would like to invite to our project.
No new members joined the project in the month of August.
If you are no longer interested in WikiProject Eurovision then please remove your name from this list. This Newsletter was delivered by Grk1011/Stephen (talk) 16:55, 8 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]
