AboutThe Signpost

The Signpost is a community-written and -edited online newspaper covering the English Wikipedia, itssister projects, theWikimedia Foundation, and the Wikimedia movement at large, currently published twice a month. Sinceits launch in 2005, there have been 719Signpost issues published, comprising 5770 articles, and 14201 pages total (4640 talk and 9561 non-talk).

The Signpost is produced by volunteers, and is independent of theWikimedia Foundation and other Wikimedia organizations. The original name of the newspaper wasThe Wikipedia Signpost; it was shortened to theThe Signpost in August 2010 as a symbol of an expansion in scope beyond the English Wikipedia. Ourstatement of purpose guides our efforts. Editorial decisions are made by the editorial board, composed of Wikimedia volunteers, and ultimately by the Editor in Chief.

Unlike most Wikipedia pages, eachSignpost article carries abyline to indicate its author, and is edited by at least one other team member. We welcome post-publication edits such as grammatical and spelling corrections to articles, subject to review by theSignpost team; we value our readers' efforts to correct simple mistakes and provide needed clarifications. Anyone may submit articles; suggestions and news tips are welcomed on oursuggestions page. Aspiring contributors may wish to consult ourQuick start page and ournewsroom.

Our readers have several options for subscription or notification of new issues, outlined on oursubscription page.

The magazine focuses on three things, broadly speaking:

• Inform: The primary purpose ofThe Signpost has always been to inform the community about events that affect and are affected by the Wikimedia movement. Though it was originally created topically an English Wikipedia–only publication, it has long since expanded its scope to cover the Wikimedia movement at large, a transformation symbolically completed by the2011 renaming ofThe Wikipedia Signpost to justThe Signpost.The Signpost does notspecifically maintain a commitment to neutrality in the same way that Wikipedia articles do, but the magazine is nonetheless known, and aims to serve, as a balanced and impartial news source—a recurring problem is the difficulty of representing consensus viewpoints in a critical lens. Its editors and contributors are expected to exercise good judgment at all times, and generally speaking reports usually include at least some mention of all major positions adopted by Wikimedians on the issues at stake.
• Entertain: A wish to entertain provides the incentive behind some of the publication's lighter-hearted features.The Signpost aims to be a quality online magazine, after all, and is not an encyclopedia itself, and so allows many things—editorializing, narrative, original research—that would be unacceptable in Wikipedia article space. It is worth emphasising, however, that unless there is good reason (and this is highlighted to the reader as a preface to a piece), writers always strive "to maintain [a level of] objectivity as would be appropriate for an independent media organization elsewhere" (inthe words ofThe Signpost founder Michael Snow).
• Publish:The Signpost is the best space available to present ideas, publish community research, and draw attention to a cause before both the English Wikipedia community and the Wikimedia movement more broadly. We are a community organized and executed publication reaching thousands of readers every month, attaining a readership—and an impact—for our publications that far exceeds any of the other, more disparate publication channels and newsletters maintained among the projects. TheWikimedia Foundation Blog is supposedly the most impactful channel of communication available to the movement—yet in our2015 readership survey we found that a significant number of our readers did not know of the blog's existence, and that those that did usually foundThe Signpost's content more appealing.The Signpost as a platform is available foryou, our readers, to use. Have a project that you'd like to highlight? An issue that you'd like to bring to light? An essay you'd like to publish? Bring it to us and let us help you to make it known.The Signpost solicits articles, op-eds, and special reports from the community, and publishes them subject to the approval of the editor(s)-in-chief. SeeHow to contribute for more details.

For more onThe Signpost's administration and the responsibilities of being a regular contributor, seeour coordination guidelines.

This user enjoysreading The Signpost.	This usersubscribes to The Signpost.	This userwrites for The Signpost.
{{User wikipedia/SignpostReader}}	{{User Signpost}}	{{User wikipedia/Signpost}}

The Signposthas its own barnstar; feel free to award it to someone you think has done a significant amount of work in the project!

Just copy the following and add your own message.

{{subst:The Signpost Barnstar|1=Put your message here. ~~~~}}

		TheSignpost Barnstar
		This user deserves recognition for their work onThe Signpost!
{{The Signpost Barnstar}}

The Signpost has an actively maintained presence on

• Signpost statistics from 2005 to 2022
• A history ofThe Signpost (2015-2019)
• A decade of theSignpost (2005-2015)