Wikisource:News/2013-12

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Featured text for December 2013
The featured text for December 2013 is Vanity Fair, an 1848 novel by William Makepeace Thackeray.

Transcribed and proofread as part of a proofread of the month collaboration earlier this year, this version of Thackeray's classic replaced an incomplete text partially copied from Project Gutenberg. In addition to finishing the abandoned work, Wikisource is now able to offer the previously missing illustrations, as well as page scans for reference.

Subtitled "A novel without a hero", the book is a satire of mid-nineteenth century British society. It was initially serialised in twenty monthly pamphlets before being published as a complete novel, as was customary at the time. The story was acclaimed by critics even before the last instalment was issued, although some criticised its bleakness and, eventually, the downbeat ending. It is now considered a classic of English literature.

This month is the 150th anniversary of Thackeray's death.

While the present century was in its teens, and on one sun-shiny morning in June, there drove up to the great iron gate of Miss Pinkerton's academy for young ladies, on Chiswick Mall, a large family coach, with two fat horses in blazing harness, driven by a fat coachman in a three-cornered hat and wig, at the rate of four miles an hour. A black servant, who reposed on the box beside the fat coachman, uncurled his bandy legs as soon as the equipage drew up opposite Miss Pinkerton's shining brass plate, and as he pulled the bell, at least a score of young heads were seen peering out of the narrow windows of the stately old brick house. Nay, the acute observer might have recognised the little red nose of good-natured Miss Jemima Pinkerton herself, rising over some geranium-pots in the window of that lady's own drawing-room.

Collaborations for December 2013


The Tenth Anniversary Contest, which started on November 24 and ends on December 7, has been selected as Community collaboration. This is to celebrate the tenth birthday of Wikisource, which started on November 24, 2003. Participants are asked to proofread and validate pages from ten selected texts. The user with the highest score at the end of the contest will win a Kobo e-reader. There will also be two runners up: the users with the highest score in the first week and the highest score in the second week will each win a £10 (GBP) Amazon voucher. Prizes are sponsored by Wikimedia UK. The Italian and Catalan Wikisources are running analog contests, whose prizes are sponsored by Wikimedia Italy and Amical Wikimedia respectively.

The Proofread of the Month theme for December 2013 is games. The first selected book is Association Football and How to Play It (1908) by association football player John Cameron. This book marks the sesquicentennial of the Football Association, the governing body of association football in England.

The Maintenance of the Month task for December 2013 is Help page improvement. Many functions on Wikisource are either poorly explained or not explained at all. These range from simple things beginners need to know to advanced subjects.

Administrator confirmations
5 administrators were confirmed in November 2013:


 * Charles Matthews (talk | contributions)
 * Eliyak (talk | contributions)
 * Geo Swan (talk | contributions)
 * Phe (talk | contributions)
 * Prosfilaes (talk | contributions)

2 administrators will have their confirmation discussions in December 2013:


 * Dominic (talk | contributions)
 * EncycloPetey (talk | contributions)

Htonl needs more support votes in order to be granted CheckUser access. The global policy requires a minimum of 25 support votes with a minimum of 70% approval rate.