Last October Wikipedia's supreme leader Jimmy Wales called for a "strong moratorium" on the online project's strange obsession with promoting Gibraltar - even suggesting a five-year ban on Gibraltar-loving Did You Know... posts on Wikipedia's front page.

"I think it is clear that there should be a strong moratorium on any Gibraltar-related DYKs on the front page of Wikipedia. I would recommend a total ban on them for five years, but that might be too extreme. I support that we get wider community attention on the issue," he wrote in October last year.

The moratorium was opposed by Wiki editors but they did agree on certain guidelines. Every Gibraltar DYK has to be reviewed by two reviewers to check for conflict-of-interest issues or promotionalism, and no more than one Gibraltarpedia hook is allowed in one a day. Also, Bamkin (user name Victuallers) is not allowed to create or nominate Gibraltar-related articles to DYK.

There is a summary of the restrictions here.

So how's that going? Let's have a look.

Here are some plugs that appeared in Wikipedia's "Did You Know?" box in December:



December 1

Did you know... ... that the Levant Battery on Windmill Hill was named after the Levanter cloud, below which it is situated? December 2 Did you know… that the Gibraltar Ranges predate the Great Escarpment? December 9 Did you know... ... that the site chosen for Operation Tracer during World War II was in close proximity to Lord Airey's Battery? December 11 Did you know… that Upper Rock Nature Reserve (pictured) in Gibraltar is famous for its population of Barbary Macaques, the only wild monkeys in Europe? December 17 Did you know...that the 9.2-inch gun at Gibraltar's Spur Battery was transferred to the Imperial War Museum Duxford in Project Vitello? December 23 Did you know... that by the end of the Third Siege of Gibraltar in 1333, the city's inhabitants were reduced to eating their shoes because the town's governor had stolen the money meant to pay for food? December 28 Did you know... that Gibraltar's North Bastion and South Bastion were built by Spain to protect the city against attacks from either direction? December 29 Did you know... that the Gibraltar Heritage Trust is a non-profit charity responsible for preserving and promoting Gibraltar's manmade and natural heritage? December 31 Did you know ... that in 1906, ties between England and Spain were sufficiently strong that King Edward VII and King Alfonso XIII became joint patrons of the Royal Calpe Hunt?

While in January, Wikipedians combed the millions of pages of the encyclopedia for and decided to highlight these:

February boasts six Gibraltar-related DYK entries so far. So we can safely conclude that any "moratorium" is holding fast.

Spotting the obsessive entries is becoming something of a sport with Reg readers, but please don't send any more in. ®