The Signpost

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Signpost
Letter S symbol
Cover of The Signpost – February 24, 2016
Cover of The Signpost (February 24, 2016)
TypeMonthly newspaper
FormatOnline
Owner(s)Wikipedia community
Founder(s)Michael Snow
PublisherEnglish Wikipedia
Editor-in-chiefJPxG[1]
LaunchedJanuary 10, 2005
LanguageEnglish
Websiteen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost
Free online archivesen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives

The Signpost (formerly The Wikipedia Signpost) is the Wikimedia movement's online newspaper. Managed by the volunteer community, it is published online with contributions from Wikimedia editors. The newspaper's scope includes the Wikimedia community and events related to Wikipedia, including Arbitration Committee rulings, Wikimedia Foundation issues, and other Wikipedia-related projects. It was founded in January 2005 by Wikipedian Michael Snow, who continued as a contributor until his February 2008 appointment to the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees.

Former editor-in-chief The ed17 noted that during his tenure, from 2012 to 2015, the publication expanded its scope to report on the wider Wikimedia movement in addition to Wikipedia and its community.[2] After it reported on the changes to European freedom of panorama law in June 2015, a number of publications referred to The Signpost for further information.

The Signpost has been the subject of academic analysis in several journals, and was consulted by researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory and Dartmouth College. It has been covered by several publications, including the 2008 book Wikipedia: The Missing Manual, which called it essential for ambitious new Wikipedia editors.

History

Refer to caption
Signpost founder Michael Snow later chaired the Wikimedia Foundation's board of trustees.[3][4]

The

Meta-Wiki November 14, 2002,[8] and Wikipedia-Kurier in the German Wikipedia on December 10, 2003.[9]

Snow wrote in its first issue: "I hope this will be a worthwhile source of news for people interested in what is happening around the Wikipedia community",[10] and said that The Signpost's name was suggested by the Wikipedia practice of editors digitally signing talk-page posts.[10] He stepped down as editor of The Signpost in August 2005, continuing to write for the newspaper until his February 2008 appointment to the board of trustees.[11] User Ral315 succeeded Snow as editor, writing in his first post: "I'd like to personally thank Michael for his work on the Signpost; it was a great idea that really helped Wikipedians learn more about the happenings on Wikipedia."[12] He conducted a survey for The Signpost in September 2007, estimating a weekly readership of approximately 2,800 Wikipedia users based on survey results.[13]

In July 2008, Ral315 wrote about transparency for The Signpost, acknowledging that at the request of the Wikimedia Foundation, the newspaper had decided not to publish an article about a pending legal case against the foundation.[14] According to the editor, "I feel this was an unfortunate, but necessary move"; because of the newspaper's affiliation with the Wikimedia Foundation, an article about the lawsuit "might have had a severe effect on the case."[14] Ral315 expressed concern about the future impact of the decision: "I'm still rather troubled by the very nature of this situation because it was the first time that I've felt pressured by the Wikimedia Foundation not to write or publish a story. This also leaves us with a dangerous precedent that I'm hoping only to keep in the most serious cases."[14]

People at a long table with laptop computers
Wikipedia community members working on The Signpost at a conference in New York City, 2009

The Signpost published its 200th issue in November 2008.[15] A total of 1,731 articles had been published, written by 181 contributors.[15] Wikipedia user Ragesoss took over as editor of the newspaper in February 2009, in an issue that featured a new layout.[16] Ragesoss resigned as editor in June 2010, and HaeB took over as the newspaper debated changing its name from The Wikipedia Signpost to The Signpost.[17] That year, sister Wikipedia publications managed by volunteer contributors included The Wikipedia Weekly, a podcast, and The Wikizine, a news bulletin.[18][19]

HaeB resigned as editor after he was hired by the Wikimedia Foundation in July 2011: "It would make it too much of a conflict of interest if I were to continue to make final editorial decisions for a community-run publication."

Blacked-out London Eye Ferris wheel, illustrating the effect of removing freedom of panorama
2015 reporting by The Signpost on changes to freedom of panorama copyright restrictions in Europe was covered by publications in several languages, including German,[24] Italian,[25] Polish,[26] and Russian.[27]

After its June 2015 reporting on the likelihood of increased copyright restrictions in Europe involving changes to freedom of panorama,[28] The Signpost was consulted for information by publications in several languages, including English,[29][30] German,[24] Italian,[25] Polish,[26][31] and Russian.[27]

Heise Online highlighted the use of a papal conclave image in a Signpost article about the controversy with Wikimedia Foundation executive director Lila Tretikov, saying that it symbolized pressure on the foundation's board of trustees.[32]

Wikipedia users Gamaliel and Go Phightins! became editors-in-chief of The Signpost in January 2015.[2] The ed17 noted that during his tenure, the newspaper expanded its scope beyond the English Wikipedia to the wider Wikimedia movement.[2] In a January 2015 tenth-anniversary retrospective, Gamaliel emphasized that further improvements to the newspaper depended on collaboration and involvement by the Wikipedia community and invited users to contribute suggestions and join the editing team.[33] In their first issue of the newspaper as editors-in-chief, Go Phightins! and Gamaliel wrote about The Signpost's unique role: "We will strive to maintain our voice and standing as an independent entity, separate from the WMF, Wikimedia chapters, WikiEd, or other entities."[34]

In January 2016,

Heise Online, the photo indicated pressure on the board to take action.[32] Andreas Kolbe wrote for The Signpost "that the creation of a successful search engine would transform volunteers into 'unpaid hamsters.'"[37]

Go Phightins! and Gamaliel remained co-editors-in-chief until the latter's resignation from Wikipedia in May 2016;[38] Go Phightins! would continue until August, when the role was passed to Andreas Kolbe and Pete Forsyth.[39] In November of that year, Kolbe departed,[40] and in June 2017, Evad37 assumed the role of sole editor-in-chief.[citation needed] Between 2018 and 2019, Bri and Kudpung both edited several issues;[41][42] in March 2019, Smallbones was selected as the next editor-in-chief.[citation needed] In May 2022, he retired from the position, succeeded by EpicPupper and JPxG, who were co-editors-in-chief until the former's resignation in September of that year.[43] Currently, the editor-in-chief is JPxG.[1]

In 2018, a Signpost article by writer (and later editor-in-chief) Smallbones broke the news that

made inappropriate edits to Whitaker's Wikipedia article, saying: "an editor with an account name almost identical to that of a WPM PR agent, as named in the FOIA release edited the article on Whitaker, adding external links in the text to both WPM's website and Whitaker's law office";[44] this was subsequently reported on, and cited, by The Wall Street Journal and Newser.[45][46]

In 2023, a report in The Signpost claimed that there may have been manipulation of several Wikipedia pages related to Gautam Adani and his companies, by use of sock puppets. This story was then picked up by multiple Indian news outlets, including The Times of India and The Hindu.[47][48]

Content

The Signpost publishes stories relating to the Wikipedia community, the Wikimedia Foundation, and other Wikipedia-related projects,[49][50][51][52] and is provided free of charge.[53][54] The Wikipedia community manages the newspaper. From 2005 to March 2016, The Signpost was published weekly. In April 2016, the nominal periodicity was changed to "fortnightly" (every two weeks) due to a shortage of contributors.[55] But in January and February 2017 only three issues were published,[56] and none in March, April or May. It is now published monthly. Readers may choose to be notified of a new issue by email or, with a Wikipedia account, on their user talk page.[57]

The newspaper informs Wikipedia editors about ongoing collaborative projects to improve articles on the site[58] and is a location for centralized notices of recent academic studies about Wikipedia.[5] The Signpost includes an arbitration report, formerly known as "The Report on Lengthy Litigation", which details proceedings by Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee.[59]

The Signpost archives are publicly available, facilitating study of the history of Wikipedia.[60]

Analysis

In a 2009 article in the peer-reviewed academic journal Sociological Forum, Piotr Konieczny called The Signpost an example of a subcommunity within the larger Wikipedia community.[61] In the social-movements journal Interface that year, Konieczny cited The Signpost as part of the "complexity and richness of those organizations" in which people can volunteer their time on the site.[62]

Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory and Dartmouth College relied on Signpost archives to track Wikipedia editing outages, presenting their findings at the 2011 IEEEIWIC/ACM International Conference on Web Intelligence.[63] In her 2013 study of Wikipedia and its reputation in higher education in the journal New Review of Academic Librarianship, Gemma Bayliss reviewed the Signpost Twitter feed to confirm the timeliness of her research.[64]

Reception

If you expect to continue editing at Wikipedia ... subscribe to ... The Wikipedia Signpost.

 —John Broughton, Wikipedia: The Missing Manual[57]

In 2007 The New York Times called The Signpost a "mocked-up newspaper" with a retro style characteristic of Wikipedia and "its own special brand of kitsch".[65] In his 2008 book Wikipedia: The Missing Manual, John Broughton recommended The Signpost as essential reading for aspiring Wikipedia contributors: "If you expect to continue editing at Wikipedia for any length of time, by all means subscribe to ... The Wikipedia Signpost."[57]

Heise Online, Torsten Kleinz wrote: "When official communications ground to a halt, The Signpost ... jumped into the breach, brought unknown facts to light and initiated an informed discussion."[69]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/About".
  2. ^ a b c The ed17 (January 21, 2015). "From the editor: Introducing your new editors-in-chief". The Signpost. Archived from the original on February 17, 2022. Retrieved April 30, 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ a b c Cohen, Noam (March 5, 2007). "A Contributor to Wikipedia Has His Fictional Side". The New York Times. p. C5. Archived from the original on July 21, 2016. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  4. ^ a b McCarthy, Caroline (July 18, 2008). "Wikimedia Foundation edits its Board of Trustees". CNET. Archived from the original on March 1, 2016. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  5. ^
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  6. ^ Sanger, Larry (November 20, 2001). "Wikipedia:Announcements (renamed to Wikipedia:Milestones in 2011)". Wikipedia. Archived from the original on June 10, 2021. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  7. ^ Lima, Kilo (June 13, 2011). "Wikipedia:Announcements moved to Wikipedia:Milestones". Wikipedia. Archived from the original on August 18, 2020. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  8. ^ Mav (November 14, 2002). "Wikimedia News". Meta. Archived from the original on June 10, 2021. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  9. ^ Elian (December 10, 2003). "Wikipedia-Kurier – Das internationale Wiki-Nachrichtenblatt" (in German). German Wikipedia. Archived from the original on June 10, 2021. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  10. ^ a b Snow, Michael (January 10, 2005). "From the editor: Welcome to the Signpost!". The Wikipedia Signpost. Archived from the original on June 10, 2021. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  11. ^ Ral315 (February 18, 2008). "From the editor: This week, I'd like to congratulate and thank Michael Snow". The Wikipedia Signpost. Archived from the original on June 10, 2021. Retrieved April 30, 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ Ral315 (August 15, 2005). "From the editor: As Michael Snow stopped operations on the Signpost last week, I chose to step in as editor". The Wikipedia Signpost. Archived from the original on June 10, 2021. Retrieved April 30, 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ Ral315 (September 24, 2007). "From the editor: Last week, I asked readers to respond to a survey, in order to help us make the Signpost more relevant". The Wikipedia Signpost. Archived from the original on June 10, 2021. Retrieved April 30, 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ a b c Ral315 (July 7, 2008). "From the editor: Transparency". The Wikipedia Signpost. Archived from the original on June 10, 2021. Retrieved April 30, 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ a b Ral315 (November 24, 2008). "From the editor: 200th issue". The Wikipedia Signpost. Archived from the original on June 10, 2021. Retrieved April 30, 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ Ragesoss (February 16, 2009). "From the editor: A new leaf". The Wikipedia Signpost. Archived from the original on June 10, 2021. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  17. ^ *Ragesoss, Mono and Pretzels (June 7, 2010). "From the team: Changes to the Signpost". The Wikipedia Signpost. Archived from the original on June 10, 2021. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  18. SSRN 1826325
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  19. .
  20. ^ HaeB (July 11, 2011). "From the editor: Stepping down". The Signpost. Archived from the original on June 10, 2021. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  21. ^ Jarry1250 (September 19, 2011). "From the editor: Changes to The Signpost". The Signpost. Archived from the original on June 10, 2021. Retrieved April 30, 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  22. ^ a b The ed17 (May 21, 2012). "From the editor: New editor-in-chief". The Signpost. Archived from the original on June 10, 2021. Retrieved April 30, 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  23. ^ Halleck, Thomas (November 8, 2013). "Wikipedia And Paid Edits: Companies Pay Top Dollar To Firms Willing To 'Fix' Their Entries". International Business Times. Archived from the original on January 31, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  24. ^ a b Diener, Andrea (June 27, 2015). "Geben Sie Panoramafreiheit, Sire!". FAZ – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). Archived from the original on June 29, 2015. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
  25. ^ a b "Libertà di Panorama: a rischio in Europa con una riforma del copyright". Blogo: Informazione libera e indipendente (in Italian). June 22, 2015. Archived from the original on June 23, 2015. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
  26. ^
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  27. ^ a b "ТРЕВОГА! Свободная съемка на улицах Европы – под угрозой" (in Russian). June 23, 2015. Archived from the original on June 27, 2015. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
  28. ^ Heald, J. (June 17, 2015). "Three weeks to save freedom of panorama in Europe". The Signpost. Archived from the original on February 17, 2022. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  29. ^ Cheesman, Chris (June 23, 2015). "Photography of public buildings under threat after European rule change, MEP warns". Amateur Photographer. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
  30. ^ Taylor-Hochberg, Amelia (June 22, 2015). "Photographing public art and architecture in the EU may soon cost you". Archinect. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
  31. Gazeta.pl (in Polish). June 22, 2015. Archived from the original
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  32. ^
    Heise Online (in German). Archived from the original
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  33. ^ Gamaliel (January 21, 2015). "Anniversary: A decade of the Signpost". The Signpost. Archived from the original on February 17, 2022. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  34. ^ Go Phightins! and Gamaliel (January 28, 2015). "From the editor: An editorial board that includes you". The Signpost. Archived from the original on February 17, 2022. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  35. ^ a b Groden, Claire (January 26, 2016). "Wikipedia Members Vote Against New Board Member". Fortune. Archived from the original on February 20, 2016. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
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  38. ^ GamerPro64 (May 28, 2016). "Gamaliel resigns from the arbitration committee". The Signpost.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  39. ^ Signpost editorial board (August 4, 2016). "The Signpost loses and gains a co-editor-in-chief". The Signpost.
  40. ^ Pete Forsyth; Tony1. "In brief". The Signpost.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  41. ^ Kudpung (April 26, 2018). "The Signpost's presses are rolling again..." The Signpost.
  42. ^ Kudpung (August 1, 2018). "Today's young adults don't know a world without Wikipedia". The Signpost.
  43. ^ EpicPupper; JPxG (May 29, 2022). "A changing of the guard". The Signpost.
  44. ^ Smallbones (December 24, 2018). "Wikipedia not trumped by Trump appointee". The Signpost.
  45. ^ Maremont, Mark (December 26, 2018). "Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker Incorrectly Claims Academic All-American Honors". Wall Street Journal.
  46. ^ Roney, Luke (December 27, 2018). "Acting AG Incorrectly Claims Honor on Resume". Newser.
  47. ^ "Adani flagship Adani Enterprises falls 10% after Wikipedia's allegation". The Hindu. February 22, 2023. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  48. ^ Zachariah, Reeba (February 22, 2023). "Adani Group manipulated entries, claims Wikipedia". The Times of India. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
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  55. ^ Tony1; Andreas Kolbe (July 4, 2016). "Brief notes". The Signpost. Archived from the original on October 11, 2016. Retrieved July 19, 2016.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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  63. from the original on January 26, 2018. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  64. .
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Further reading

External links