User talk:Edison/Archive 6
This is an archive of past discussions with User:Edison. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Archive 1 | ← | Archive 4 | Archive 5 | Archive 6 | Archive 7 | Archive 8 |
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98.227.23.122
You had temporarily blocked 98.227.23.122 (u) (t) from making edits due to vandalism on the Peoria, Illinois article. It appears they are unblocked now and doing the same sorts of vandalism. Suppafly (talk) 17:28, 12 June 2015 (UTC)
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BMJ
You should have received an email a couple of weeks ago regarding your request for access to BMJ. Can you please either fill out the form linked from that email, or let me know if you did not receive it? Thanks, Nikkimaria (talk) 17:18, 14 September 2015 (UTC)
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A barnstar for you!
The Admin's Barnstar | |
Thank you so much for the work you do! 9jafootballwiki (talk) 12:11, 1 October 2015 (UTC) |
A barnstar for you!
The Original Barnstar | |
Could you please help me with this article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_Omotola_Omidiji
It has both citation and categories but there's still this message: This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (September 2015) This article has not been added to any categories. Please help out by adding categories to it so that it can be listed with similar articles. (September 2015) 9jafootballwiki (talk) 12:45, 1 October 2015 (UTC) |
- I'll be happy to take a look at the article and see if I can help. Edison (talk) 18:43, 1 October 2015 (UTC)
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MOS:IDENTITY is being revisited: How should Wikipedia refer to transgender individuals before and after their transition?
You are being contacted because you contributed to a recent discussion of MOS:IDENTITY that closed with the recommendation that Wikipedia's policy on transgender individuals be revisited.
Two threads have been opened at the Village Pump:Policy. The first addresses how the Manual of Style should instruct editors to refer to transgender people in articles about themselves (which name, which pronoun, etc.). The second addresses how to instruct editors to refer to transgender people when they are mentioned in passing in other articles. Your participation is welcome. Darkfrog24 (talk) 02:32, 12 October 2015 (UTC)
Question about why Daniel Kappler was removed from the San Francisco mayoral election, 2015 page
I never added Daniel Kappler's name to the San Francisco mayoral election, 2015 page. I did hyperlink his name to his campaign website. When I returned to the page I saw that all the other candidates names were now hyperlinked and Daniel Kappler had been removed. I returned his name and I specified that he is a write in candidate and yet his name was removed again. As being a write in Candidate is a legitimate aspect of the democratic process why should his name excluded? What's the harm in providing the public with this information?Cite error: There are <ref>
tags on this page without content in them (see the help page). James9446 (talk) 04:05, 12 October 2015 (UTC)
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Halloween cheer!
Hello Edison:
Thanks for all of your contributions to improve Wikipedia, and have a happy and enjoyable Halloween!
– North America1000 23:39, 31 October 2015 (UTC)
Sent to users on my mailing list. To opt-out forever, just remove your name.
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Octaber
Hello Edison, thank you for reverting my edit, I'm sure you thought it was just vandalism. However, what you didn't know is that yesterday morning, Taylor Swift, the queen of life, asked Barack Obama if he could change the month of October's name to Octaber. He has just issued a declaration that the month's name has been officially changed as of Octaber 31, 2015. I was simply changing it to reflect what the president said. Thank you, and all hail Queen TayTay. Forget the haters, love you for you (talk) 02:17, 2 November 2015 (UTC)
- Hope your living conditions are nice under the bridge with the other trolls. Edison (talk) 02:19, 2 November 2015 (UTC)
Carbonara
Hey Edison, I recently made a change on the carbonara wiki because I felt I lacked a certain... hmmm.... PIZAZZ. This way it appeals to the youth demographic, who will be thinkers of tomorrow. Carbonara is one of the greatest wonders of the world, and deserves to be recognised as such. I kindly ask that you refrain from undermining my heartfelt attempts to spread its slurpy goodness.
New paragraph added 03/11/15. Edison my boi, we certainly had some disagreements over Carbonara, but I think that we should make peace and unite under the carbonara banner. Changes should be made to the Wikipedia entry to adequately depict carbonara for any uninundated reader who happens to come across the god food. Contact back, and we can further discuss. I hope this is the start of a long and happy friendship. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Carbonaramaster (talk • contribs) 21:17, 2 November 2015 (UTC)
Hail Caesar, Carbonaramaster Carbonaramaster (talk) 02:05, 2 November 2015 (UTC)
Petrolled!!! Already seeking for help.
Hi Edison! I am glad you have look at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act 2013 page, I have created. The reason was just to start it, because people here are searching for and they never found it on Wikipedia. I have started this topic as soon as I wonder, that Wikipedia don't have this "Notable" topic. I already post a request to other users to help me in the topic to expand it, but still I got no response. I was worried if my page not get deleted. So I believe we have to wait for some time. Let other members come and expand it, as I have given a lot of study and helping material with the post. Thanks bro, and if you want to help in topic by any means I will be forever in doubt. Thanks Fawad — Preceding unsigned comment added by FWd82 (talk • contribs) 15:26, 6 November 2015 (UTC)
Many Articles are dependent on one article. Lets create it
Hi Edison! I am glad for your response. I know not every legislation considered as notable. But the one I mention HERE is so important. The reason for that is, in Pakistan there are four Provinces. one of them is Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. before 2013 there were divions of land based upon West Pakistan Land Revenue Act, 1967. But now they are based upon Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act 2013 or HERE. I was going to edit and expand some articles as I am having some Govt document in hands right now. They need to link with the Article I mention above, and you know this is not a good idea for me to link so many article to any external link again and again, rather than we can create one wiki article which full describe the Act. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the Administrative units are changed. Before they were called Union Councils now they are called Wards, Wards are having Village Councils and Neighbourhood Councils. So I was going to expand the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Location Stub. Previous Locations and Administrative Units are not applicable anymore. So I helped Here: Babuzai, Aka Maruf Bami Khel, and by creating more location stubs like Sar Sardaray, Swat (Which is also Patrolled by a user :( ). So! If I am going to help with District Swat and its Tehsils, wards, VC and NC. I have best references in my hand provided by Govt Officials, but the thing is co-operation. Please help me in this regard, or If my articles or way of doing is wrong, let me know I will leave Wikipedia, as I don't love to spam. Best Regards. FWd82 (talk) 16:19, 6 November 2015 (UTC)
Independent sources
I'm not sure if this is where I should be posting this, so apologies in advance if it's not. In regards to independent sources needed to show the validity of an article, would these be something I could use? Also, thanks for clarifying all of this stuff for me :)
http://blogs.discovery.com/bites-animal-planet/2015/10/get-the-facts-on-national-cat-day.html http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/we-chat-with-the-creator-of-the-ray-clovis-cat-cartoon http://www.83degreesmedia.com/features/theory081214.aspx https://theoryanimation.com/about http://cltampa.com/tampa/best-local-animator-made-good/BestOf?oid=4250961 www.imdb.com/name/nm3546284/ https://www.facebook.com/utalumni/posts/866916596678020 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Katie at theorystudios (talk • contribs)
- Did you read WP:RS? In deciding whether a source is "reliable" by Wikipedia standards one might exclude, ironically, anything like Wikipedia, where the content is created by anonymous editors. If a source has signed articles and an identified editorial board who decide what gets published, and has a reputation for fact checking and accuracy, then it is probably a reliable source. http://blogs.discovery.com/bites-animal-planet/2015/10/get-the-facts-on-national-cat-day.html is just a blog, though it is affiliated with Animal planet. Your company just gets a passing reference, which does not do much to support notability. https://theoryanimation.com/about is not independent. www.imdb.com/name/nm3546284/ is like Wikipedia, a site anyone can edit, and is not a reliable source for anything but maybe screen credits, year of release, and running time. https://www.facebook.com/utalumni/posts/866916596678020 is Facebook, where anyone can say just about anything, so not a reliable source. On the other hand http://www.83degreesmedia.com/features/theory081214.aspx has a signed article with substantial coverage of the subject and has editorial control, so it looks pretty good. http://cltampa.com/tampa/best-local-animator-made-good/BestOf?oid=4250961 looks good, but it is brief. http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/we-chat-with-the-creator-of-the-ray-clovis-cat-cartoon looks good, though it is more about the cartoon than the studio. Per the COI policy, you should discuss these refs on the article talk page rather than adding them to the article yourself. Wikipedia editors are often young folks interested in popular culture, and media, so some might be interested in the subject enough to flesh out the article if sources are identified on the talk page.
You might do better with one article about the studio than the two (or more) you might wish to create, to avoid accusations of spamming, or of creating a "walled garden" of articles. Please sign your talk-page posts with four tildes, and create a user pagestating that you work for the company you edit for. . Edison (talk) 03:56, 7 November 2015 (UTC)
- This has nothing to do with the article's notability, but I watched and enjoyed the first episode (black magic book calls up monster). Good Abbot and Costello type humor. The lizard is great, but I wonder if the cat animator ever saw a cat. No claws, no sharp teeth, no cat nose (the flat pink spot does not do it), no whiskers, no raspy tongue for self-grooming, very flat face. I came to think of the cat as some sort of unknown alien creature. The cat does have an interesting personality. The sound and writing were good, and the special effects (fire and lighting changes) were good. I was glad the characters all had shadows rendered. Disney and other good old-school studios added shadows, which tied the characters to the backgrounds and indicated height from the ground. Edison (talk) 04:21, 7 November 2015 (UTC)
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Reverted edit at Resource exchange page
Dear Edison: You didn't leave an edit summary to explain why I am not allowed to post a request for a lookup in a journal on the Resource Exchange page. Please explain why you reverted my edit. Thanks.—Anne Delong (talk) 20:22, 18 November 2015 (UTC)
- It was inadvertent and unintended. I have undone my edit. Sorry. Edison (talk) 20:23, 18 November 2015 (UTC)
- That's fine. Thanks.—Anne Delong (talk) 23:02, 18 November 2015 (UTC)
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Hi,
You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:58, 23 November 2015 (UTC)
Tiber Oil Field
I want to translate the article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiber_Oil_Field in বাংলা Bengali. Can I ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jahanggir Jaman (talk • contribs) 17:43, 26 November 2015 (UTC)
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Redundancy
I am not sure if you are mistaking Mike Bushell for Matt Bushell or vice versa -- there are two consecutive AFDs with the same surname but I don't know if they're related. Otherwise, I know I hit a glitch when I was doing the second AFD but I can't fix it now. I am sure an admin will do so if there is an outstanding glitch in the system. Quis separabit? 04:09, 8 December 2015 (UTC)
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Season's Greetings!
Hello Edison: Enjoy the holiday season and upcoming winter solstice, and thanks for your work to maintain, improve and expand Wikipedia. Cheers, North America1000 18:47, 20 December 2015 (UTC)
- Use {{subst:Season's Greetings}} to send this message
Season's Greetings!
To You and Yours!
FWiW Bzuk (talk) 19:04, 25 December 2015 (UTC)
Comment
Hello Edison. I am confused about an article I noticed you were actively editing in the past, and wanted to ask you to help sort out the best course of "corrective action". The article is Hand Held Computer which I feel should more correctly be titled Hand-held computer by our MOS and best practice. I trust your judgement if instead you deem that I am mistaken. Please advise me of my error if this is the case. If I am correct I think you will need your admin tools to move this page over the redirect. Please look at the article when you have a chance and help ensure everything is in order. Thank you.--John Cline (talk) 15:24, 27 December 2015 (UTC)
- I was only able to find mention of it in one of the refs, https://fcw.com/Articles/2008/03/28/Have-feds-cheapened-contract-bonuses.aspx whuch calls it "handheld computer." Unless other refs can be found which call it "hand-held computer," I do not think it should be moved to that name. In fact, I think it lacks notability to satisfy WP:N and that it should be deleted unless more and better refs can be found which do more than make passing reference to it. The ref I found just seems to be calling it by a generic description, and not as a thing with an explicit name. Edison (talk) 20:35, 27 December 2015 (UTC).
- Since I am the editor that started the article, let me provide some insight. At the time I wrote the article I was a regional Manager for the Census and had what you might call inside info about the device. It had a specific usage that was unique to the 2010 Census management of information. It assisted the census takers to locate people in a safe and controlled manner. It was a tool that aided the actual "on the street" census taker, made their job easier and quicker and the information supplied was more reliable. Within the Census, we called it the HHC. I think it has some notability but would understand if the consensus rules otherwise.
I will NOT comment at the deletion request since, currently, the only editor to respond is not someone I wish to converse with.Buster Seven Talk 00:02, 28 December 2015 (UTC) - See [1]... These systems will support the data collection activities of Census Bureau enumerators and local census offices during the 2008 dress rehearsal and ultimately the 2010 Decennial Census. At the peak of data collection operations during the 2010 Census, the FDCA system will support approximately 500 local offices and over 500,000 enumerators. Buster Seven Talk 00:17, 28 December 2015 (UTC)
- Thank you for your feedback and help. I agree with everything you said and did regarding this article. I wish you wellness and good cheer; now and in the coming new year.--John Cline (talk) 04:20, 28 December 2015 (UTC)
- Also, [2] and [3] explain the use of the HHC device as a GPS ascertaining device for 2008 dress rehersal, the 2010 Census, and potentially all future censuses. Efficiency, speed, reduced paper costs, secure collection and, most importantly, confidentiality were all important. I'm sure Google searching can show media articles (there were some glitches related to enumerator mis-use and the like if the right question is asked. Buster Seven Talk 07:08, 28 December 2015 (UTC).
- Thank you for your feedback and help. I agree with everything you said and did regarding this article. I wish you wellness and good cheer; now and in the coming new year.--John Cline (talk) 04:20, 28 December 2015 (UTC)
- Since I am the editor that started the article, let me provide some insight. At the time I wrote the article I was a regional Manager for the Census and had what you might call inside info about the device. It had a specific usage that was unique to the 2010 Census management of information. It assisted the census takers to locate people in a safe and controlled manner. It was a tool that aided the actual "on the street" census taker, made their job easier and quicker and the information supplied was more reliable. Within the Census, we called it the HHC. I think it has some notability but would understand if the consensus rules otherwise.
[4] has an image of an early prototype of the unit that was eventually used during the 2010 census. As you can see there is no keyboard so maybe calling it "computer" is the problem and should be removed from the title of the article and changed to "device" or some other more descriptive and less confusing word. Buster Seven Talk 18:54, 28 December 2015 (UTC)
Removed comment
You removed my comment from December 5 at WP:VPP on December 15 when you added a comment of your own. Please take care not to remove others' comments. Fences&Windows 15:19, 26 December 2015 (UTC)
- See talk page of Fences and Windows. Unintended artifact of website. Edison (talk) 02:24, 27 December 2015 (UTC)
- Cool, no harm done. "Please understand that when I started using computers, I had to punch a deck of punchcards, or a punched paper tape." I had the benefit of a keyboard and disks/tapes when I first started, but I know a mechanic who maintained university computers when they still ran on valves and the like. Fences&Windows 00:38, 29 December 2015 (UTC)
I think your edit broke something
[5] Spartaz Humbug! 20:01, 29 December 2015 (UTC)
Revert
- Please do not remove other people's comments from deletion discussions like you did with this edit. --Guerillero | Parlez Moi 20:02, 29 December 2015 (UTC)
- Thanks. Having some problems with the browser which result in typing in something causing something else to disappear. Edison (talk) 20:03, 29 December 2015 (UTC)
- I went back to the same page and tried inserting a sentence to the latest version. Before I hit "save" I hit "show changes" and it showed that other comments at various places in the page would have been removed, without my having hilighted them or otherwise marked them for deletion, so I did not post there. There's some bug in the Wikipedia software or in my own PC, it would seem. I'll try some test edits in my sandbox. Edison (talk) 20:14, 29 December 2015 (UTC)
- I copied the entire AFD thread to my sandbox and did about 10 test edits. In no case did the addition of a comment cause removal of someone else's comment. The bug only appears when I edit the AFD page. Edison (talk) 20:45, 29 December 2015 (UTC)
- I tried to replicate the bug at AFD and it still happens (I did not save the edit); I just added a comment in the middle of the thread and "show changes" indicated it would have removed someone else's comment. Edison (talk) 20:55, 29 December 2015 (UTC)
- I went back to the same page and tried inserting a sentence to the latest version. Before I hit "save" I hit "show changes" and it showed that other comments at various places in the page would have been removed, without my having hilighted them or otherwise marked them for deletion, so I did not post there. There's some bug in the Wikipedia software or in my own PC, it would seem. I'll try some test edits in my sandbox. Edison (talk) 20:14, 29 December 2015 (UTC)
- Thanks. Having some problems with the browser which result in typing in something causing something else to disappear. Edison (talk) 20:03, 29 December 2015 (UTC)
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Happy New Year!
Have a prosperous, productive and enjoyable New Year, and thanks for your contributions to Wikipedia. Quis separabit? 17:48, 31 December 2015 (UTC)
Happy New Year, Edison!
Edison,
Have a prosperous, productive and enjoyable New Year, and thanks for your contributions to Wikipedia. Regards, Yamaguchi先生 (talk) 22:47, 31 December 2015 (UTC)
- Spread the WikiLove; use {{subst:Happy New Year 2016}} to send this message
Happy New Year, Edison!
Edison,
Have a prosperous, productive and enjoyable New Year, and thanks for your contributions to Wikipedia. North America1000 03:31, 1 January 2016 (UTC)
- Send New Year cheer by adding {{subst:Happy New Year fireworks}} to user talk pages.
A
Which wandalism, what are you sey???? Արթուր Կնյազյան (talk) 20:10, 1 January 2016 (UTC)
- Your vandalism at Parthenon. (The one in Greece). Edison (talk) 20:16, 1 January 2016 (UTC)
The Signpost: 06 January 2016
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MfD nomination of User:Edison/Golf Mill Shopping Center
User:Edison/Golf Mill Shopping Center, a page which you created or substantially contributed to, has been nominated for deletion. Your opinions on the matter are welcome; you may participate in the discussion by adding your comments at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/User:Edison/Golf Mill Shopping Center and please be sure to sign your comments with four tildes (~~~~). You are free to edit the content of User:Edison/Golf Mill Shopping Center during the discussion but should not remove the miscellany for deletion template from the top of the page; such a removal will not end the deletion discussion. Thank you. Ten Pound Hammer • (What did I screw up now?) 21:53, 9 January 2016 (UTC)
The Signpost: 13 January 2016
- Community view: Battle for the soul of the WMF
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WP:NOTFORUM
"We need to get this right, since it has major geopolitical implications, and feeds into narrative of fear-mongering demagogues in more than one country." Talk pages are for discussing sources and analyzing arguments, not suggesting a preferred 'spin', nor directing condemnation at proponents of particular viewpoints, nor questioning their motives (or even evaluating those motives). You're a WP admin, not an expert political analyst or professional judge of character. Please avoid this kind of chatter outside user talk pages. Dontmakemetypepasswordagain (talk) 16:15, 10 January 2016 (UTC)
- Replied on their talk page. Edison (talk) 19:17, 17 January 2016 (UTC)
The Signpost: 20 January 2016
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The Signpost: 10 February 2016
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Wikipedia library Newspapers.com renewal
Your free one-year account with Newspapers.com will end on March 2 2016. Newspapers.com has offered to extend existing accounts by another year. If you wish to keep your account until March 2 2017, please add your name to the Account Renewal list here. I'll let Newspapers.com customer support know, and they will extend your subscription. If you don't want to keep your account for another year, you don't have to do anything. Your account will expire unless I hear from you that you want to keep it. HazelAB (talk) 13:57, 22 February 2016 (UTC)
The Signpost: 24 February 2016
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You used {{Uw-spamublock}} but only blocked for 24 hours. I'd fix it but I don't know your true intentions. BethNaught (talk) 22:30, 26 February 2016 (UTC)
- Changed to the intended indef block. Edison (talk) 22:33, 26 February 2016 (UTC)
Gale
You should have received an email from me with a linked form to complete - could you please either complete it or email me if you didn't get it? Nikkimaria (talk) 20:19, 4 March 2016 (UTC)
The Signpost: 02 March 2016
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Humanities ref desk
Please go there and explain whether you meant "Roman Catholic" when you said "catholic". ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 16:24, 17 March 2016 (UTC)
- Sure thing. Thanks, Bugs! Edison (talk) 05:49, 18 March 2016 (UTC)
- Thank you for clarifying. I was fairly certain I knew what you were asking, but for some reason the discussion devolved into a technical argument over the term "protestant". Overlooked in all this is the main point: That the current Court is dominated by Catholics, and has a couple of Jewish also - but no other category of Christian. Which is kind of amazing, actually. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 17:54, 18 March 2016 (UTC)
The Signpost: 16 March 2016
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List of films on Commons
You asked elsewhere how to find a list of full films on Commons.
This is a great question and it has an interesting answer - I think there is no way, but obviously there could be lots of ways that this request could be met. There is Commons:Category:Films in the public domain, which is not the same thing. Overall, content on Commons could do with a lot more curation. Blue Rasberry (talk) 14:08, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
- Thanks. I have occasionally found an old public domain film linked from an article an watched it. After the discussion elsewhere on Wikipedia I was inspired to search on Google for PD films and found a list of great old PD films on Youtube l also found found some on Hulu I have been disappointed in the few classic films available online at Netflix, although they have a good selection on DVD. Thanks again for the response. Edison (talk) 15:58, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
Alternative to multiple identical discussions
Hi Edison. I noticed you started multiple identical discussions on several different talk pages about the size of US paper money. I suggest using transclusions or wikilinks, so that anyone who wants to respond will be directed to the same place, thereby giving greater opportunity to have a critical mass of participants. Wikipedia:Transclusion would be desirable if you can figure it out, because then the full conversation will be visible on all pages, but actually take place on only one of them.
I've responded to the one you started in the one-dollar-bill articles, so I suggest using that. ~Amatulić (talk) 00:01, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
- A great idea. It seemed adequate to post on each talkpage, rather than posting on one and leaving followers of other talkpages in the dark, when I corrected something which looked obvious.. BTW, in what year did "transclusion" enter the English language? Not objecting, just asking. It seems an obscure neologism, or "obslogism." I'm aware it is commonly used by Wikipedians. When you say "I've started a discussion" a wikilink to the discussion is a helpful courtesy, although I'm sure I can find it readily. Edison (talk) 01:00, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
- We actually have an article on it: transclusion. According to that, the term was coined in 1980. We have articles on almost everything! ~Amatulić (talk) 23:13, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
The Signpost: 23 March 2016
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Disambiguation link notification for April 9
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The Signpost: 14 April 2016
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Have a nice day!
To brighten up your day, it is my pleasure to bestow a Random Smiley Award, please feel free to display it on your page. And if you've Smiled, please pass it on to someone else! ☺
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SeaBeeDee 22:46, 2 May 2016 (UTC) SeaBeeDee 22:46, 2 May 2016 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by SeaBeeDee (talk • contribs)
deleting issue
File:Kanon Ahmed.jpg | deleting issue |
why my article have been deleted sir ?.how can i restore my article ? Kanon Ahmed (talk) 21:29, 13 May 2016 (UTC) |
The Signpost: 17 May 2016
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Phone operators
Please tell me more about how and when they could eavesdrop on mechanically-dialed calls. deisenbe (talk) 19:07, 12 July 2016 (UTC)
- My mother worked for while as a phone operator in the era of direct dialing. They had a headset which allowed monitoring conversations by plugging in, in the room where the switch equipment was or at the operator positions. I don't know the exact circuit details. Any monitoring was to be done for "technical purposes" to make sure conversations were clear and noise-free, or whatever,and they were under orders not to reveal anything they overheard, and it was not law enforcement personnel listening in or recording the calls, but in the central office it was certainly possible for phone company personnel to plug in a headset and hear what was being said. This is not to say it was a constant or common practice. Today it is possible that all calls in the US and elsewhere are recorded for later listening by government security personnel, if there is a need, per an article in The Guardian quoting a former FBI agent.Edison (talk) 19:40, 12 July 2016 (UTC)
- Another way I know operators could listen to conversations is that in an emergency you could ask the operator to break into a conversation. It was necessary for the operator to hear the conversation to effectively break in and announce the farmer's barn was on fire or the doctor was urgently needed or whatever. Also I found a California Law Review (1991) which says courts have allowed testimony by long distance operators who "overheard" something in a conversation. Another snippet from 1972 indicates British operators commonly listening in on calls in Chippenham and sometimes heard the Royal Family's calls. And it is in not necessarily like picking up an extension, where there is a click and the call volume drops. If the monitoring circuit has a high impedance input to an amplifier, there would be no indication to the parties in the conversation that someone was listening in. Edison (talk)
The Signpost: 21 July 2016
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Request for your comment
Hi! I see that you commented at Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/London_Buses_route_77. You may be interested in commenting at this new Article for Deletion nomination Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/London Buses route 53. Best wishes, jcc (tea and biscuits) 09:21, 26 July 2016 (UTC)
The Signpost: 04 August 2016
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Evanston and Glencoe
The ref for "heavanston" seem ambiguous if it still is a current nickname, but the ref does seem otherwise solid. I know Robert Shea lived in Glencoe because I was in his house and met him when he lived there. Since my personal recollections are obviously not a reliable source, I'll see if I can dig up some old newspaper articles or other publications that mention his residency. That was my intention when I put his name in the article, but I guess I got sidetracked. Ace-o-aces2 (talk) 19:41, 24 August 2016 (UTC)
Here's Robert Shea's Obit. 2nd paragraph notes he lived in Glencoe. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1994-03-12/news/9403120059_1_historical-novels-robert-anton-wilson-conspiracy-theories Ace-o-aces2 (talk) 19:43, 24 August 2016 (UTC)
Looks like we both found the obit at the same time. Go ahead and add it. Ace-o-aces2 (talk) 19:45, 24 August 2016 (UTC)
I keep trying to add the ref, but it won't format right! What am I doing wrong? Ace-o-aces2 (talk) 20:10, 24 August 2016 (UTC)
- A useful feature: When you click "Edit" and the edit window opens, at the top there is a place you can click called "cite," and then a click box appears saying "Templates." Then just fill in the blanks for URL, author, publication, issue date, date you looked at it. The blanks will differ depending in the type of reference, and I don;t know what they want in some of the blanks, but it makes a good citation. I added the obit to his article and I tweaked the Glencoe article to include the obit author name. Additionally I'm finding it is pleasant wikignoming just to Google for the name of the town and he name of the uncited resident, and there is often an article to cite. I'm adding refs for Bruce Dern and Scott Turow. Edison (talk) 20:18, 24 August 2016 (UTC)
Incandescent light
I have noticed that you have made the claim that Joseph Priestley experimented with a wire and a Leyden jar, using the jar to make the wire glow and thus creating the prototype of an incandescent liight. Could you provide me with the source of this claim as information on this experiment is very hard to find on the internet?03:05, 17 August 2016 (UTC)— Preceding unsigned comment added by SQMeaner (talk • contribs)
- Do we have consensus for an edit that mentions the experiments by Kinnersley with incandescent wires?SQMeaner (talk) 21:47, 26 August 2016 (UTC)
Bogus
I see from the Ref Desk talk page that some users see that as an evil. That sentiment is so far from my version of reality and so depressing that I have decided to take a WikiVacation for a while.Edison (talk) 02:29, 27 August 2016 (UTC)
A personal sentiment
I wanted to express to you my perception, that the User Bull Rangifer is as equable and fair-minded an individual as is to be found here, so that one might truly assume good faith in querying him to understand the point of any editing he has done. One longstanding perspective, from an editor with hundreds of co-editing interactions with this chap, not always in peaceful contexts. I'd offer him to the Americans to run for president, as a unity candidate, if I thought it would do any good. Cheers. Le Prof 73.211.138.148 (talk) 03:47, 29 August 2016 (UTC)
- Postscript: You and I otherwise appear to share a fair number of other convictions regarding WP policies and guidelines, and so I can say I am happy to know of your work and perspectives. Le Prof. 73.211.138.148 (talk) 03:50, 29 August 2016 (UTC)
The Signpost: 06 September 2016
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Extended confirmed protection
Hello, Edison. This message is intended to notify administrators of important changes to the protection policy.
Extended confirmed protection (also known as "30/500 protection") is a new level of page protection that only allows edits from accounts at least 30 days old and with 500 edits. The automatically assigned "extended confirmed" user right was created for this purpose. The protection level was created following this community discussion with the primary intention of enforcing various arbitration remedies that prohibited editors under the "30 days/500 edits" threshold to edit certain topic areas.
In July and August 2016, a request for comment established consensus for community use of the new protection level. Administrators are authorized to apply extended confirmed protection to combat any form of disruption (e.g. vandalism, sock puppetry, edit warring, etc.) on any topic, subject to the following conditions:
- Extended confirmed protection may only be used in cases where semi-protection has proven ineffective. It should not be used as a first resort.
- A bot will post a notification at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard of each use. MusikBot currently does this by updating a report, which is transcluded onto the noticeboard.
Please review the protection policy carefully before using this new level of protection on pages. Thank you.
This message was sent to the administrators' mass message list. To opt-out of future messages, please remove yourself from the list. 17:47, 23 September 2016 (UTC)
The Signpost: 29 September 2016
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Two-Factor Authentication now available for admins
Hello,
Please note that TOTP based two-factor authentication is now available for all administrators. In light of the recent compromised accounts, you are encouraged to add this additional layer of security to your account. It may be enabled on your preferences page in the "User profile" tab under the "Basic information" section. For basic instructions on how to enable two-factor authentication, please see the developing help page for additional information. Important: Be sure to record the two-factor authentication key and the single use keys. If you lose your two factor authentication and do not have the keys, it's possible that your account will not be recoverable. Furthermore, you are encouraged to utilize a unique password and two-factor authentication for the email account associated with your Wikimedia account. This measure will assist in safeguarding your account from malicious password resets. Comments, questions, and concerns may be directed to the thread on the administrators' noticeboard. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:32, 12 November 2016 (UTC)
A new user right for New Page Patrollers
Hi Edison.
A new user group, New Page Reviewer, has been created in a move to greatly improve the standard of new page patrolling. The user right can be granted by any admin at PERM. It is highly recommended that admins look beyond the simple numerical threshold and satisfy themselves that the candidates have the required skills of communication and an advanced knowledge of notability and deletion. Admins are automatically included in this user right.
It is anticipated that this user right will significantly reduce the work load of admins who patrol the performance of the patrollers. However,due to the complexity of the rollout, some rights may have been accorded that may later need to be withdrawn, so some help will still be needed to some extent when discovering wrongly applied deletion tags or inappropriate pages that escape the attention of less experienced reviewers, and above all, hasty and bitey tagging for maintenance. User warnings are available here but very often a friendly custom message works best.
If you have any questions about this user right, don't hesitate to join us at WT:NPR. (Sent to all admins).MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:46, 15 November 2016 (UTC)
The Challenge Series
The Challenge Series is a current drive on English Wikipedia to encourage article improvements and creations globally through a series of 50,000/10,000/1000 Challenges for different regions, countries and topics. All Wikipedia editors in good standing are invited to participate.
- Use {{subst:The Challenge series invitation}} to invite others using this template.
- Sent to users at Northamerica1000/Mailing list using MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 08:15, 19 November 2016 (UTC).
ArbCom Elections 2016: Voting now open!
Hello, Edison. Voting in the 2016 Arbitration Committee elections is open from Monday, 00:00, 21 November through Sunday, 23:59, 4 December to all unblocked users who have registered an account before Wednesday, 00:00, 28 October 2016 and have made at least 150 mainspace edits before Sunday, 00:00, 1 November 2016.
The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.
If you wish to participate in the 2016 election, please review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:08, 21 November 2016 (UTC)
The Signpost: 4 November 2016
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Input requested
Hello, because of an edit war on And you are lynching Negroes, and an on-going stalemate on its talk page, I am going through and notifying people who have previously worked on the article, and are still somewhat active to comment on the current state of the page. It is my intent to improve the quality of the discussion by broadening participation to more fully achieve consensus. Thank you. --evrik (talk) 19:03, 15 December 2016 (UTC)
Season's Greetings
Hello Edison: Enjoy the holiday season, and thanks for your work to maintain, improve and expand Wikipedia. Cheers, North America1000 15:30, 18 December 2016 (UTC)
- Spread the WikiLove; use {{subst:Season's Greetings1}} to send this message
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Merry, merry!
From the icy Canajian north; to you and yours! FWiW Bzuk (talk) 13:56, 25 December 2016 (UTC)
I have unreviewed a page you curated
Hi, I'm Adam9007. I wanted to let you know that I saw the page you reviewed, Chloe Banfill, and have un-reviewed it again. If you have any questions, please ask them on my talk page. Thank you. Adam9007 (talk) 22:37, 11 January 2017 (UTC)
Adam9007 (talk) 22:37, 11 January 2017 (UTC)
The Signpost: 17 January 2017
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Administrators' newsletter - February 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (January 2017). This first issue is being sent out to all administrators, if you wish to keep receiving it please subscribe. Your feedback is welcomed.
- NinjaRobotPirate • Schwede66 • K6ka • Ealdgyth • Ferret • Cyberpower678 • Mz7 • Primefac • Dodger67
- Briangotts • JeremyA • BU Rob13
- A discussion to workshop proposals to amend the administrator inactivity policy at Wikipedia talk:Administrators has been in process since late December 2016.
- Wikipedia:Pending changes/Request for Comment 2016 closed with no consensus for implementing Pending changes level 2 with new criteria for use.
- Following an RfC, an activity requirement is now in place for bots and bot operators.
- When performing some administrative actions the reason field briefly gave suggestions as text was typed. This change has since been reverted so that issues with the implementation can be addressed. (T34950)
- Following the latest RfC concluding that Pending Changes 2 should not be used on the English Wikipedia, an RfC closed with consensus to remove the options for using it from the page protection interface, a change which has now been made. (T156448)
- The Foundation has announced a new community health initiative to combat harassment. This should bring numerous improvements to tools for admins and CheckUsers in 2017.
- The Arbitration Committee released a response to the Wikimedia Foundation's statement on paid editing and outing.
- JohnCD (John Cameron Deas) passed away on 30 December 2016. John began editing Wikipedia seriously during 2007 and became an administrator in November 2009.
13:36, 1 February 2017 (UTC)
The Signpost: 6 February 2017
- Arbitration report: WMF Legal and ArbCom weigh in on tension between disclosure requirements and user privacy
- WikiProject report: For the birds!
- Technology report: Better PDFs, backup plans, and birthday wishes
- Traffic report: Cool It Now
- Featured content: Three weeks dominated by articles
The Signpost: 27 February 2017
- From the editors: Results from our poll on subscription and delivery, and a new RSS feed
- Recent research: Special issue: Wikipedia in education
- Technology report: Responsive content on desktop; Offline content in Android app
- In the media: The Daily Mail does not run Wikipedia
- Gallery: A Met montage
- Special report: Peer review – a history and call for reviewers
- Op-ed: Wikipedia has cancer
- Featured content: The dominance of articles continues
- Traffic report: Love, football, and politics
Administrators' newsletter – March 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (February 2017).
- Amortias • Deckiller • BU Rob13
- Ronnotel • Islander • Chamal N • Isomorphic • Keeper76 • Lord Voldemort • Shereth • Bdesham • Pjacobi
- A recent RfC has redefined how articles on schools are evaluated at AfD. Specifically, secondary schools are not presumed to be notable simply because they exist.
- AfDs that receive little participation should now be closed like an expired proposed deletion, following a deletion process RfC.
- Defender, HakanIST, Matiia and Sjoerddebruin are our newest stewards, following the 2017 steward elections.
- The 2017 appointees for the Ombudsman commission are Góngora, Krd, Lankiveil, Richwales and Vogone. They will serve for approximately 1 year.
- A recent query shows that only 16% of administrators on the English Wikipedia have enabled two-factor authentication. If you haven't already enabled it please consider doing so.
- Cookie blocks should be deployed to the English Wikipedia soon. This will extend the current autoblock system by setting a cookie for each block, which will then autoblock the user after they switch accounts under a new IP.
- A bot will now automatically place a protection template on protected pages when admins forget to do so.
On this day, 12 years ago...
I remember that when I would search for some info on the Internet, the answer started coming up "Wikipedia says.." and the answers generally looked pretty sound. I remember when Google first emerged as an improved search engine. I remember pre-internet, when one used a Commodore computer to access bulletin boards operated by some hobbyist, or pre-internet services. I considered becoming a Wikipedia editor, since I had spent a lifetime acquiring information. In grade school, I considered it a well-spent recess if I had learned some interesting things from World Book Encyclopedia, Weekly Reader. or Science Research Associates reading (this was many years ago, when no one had envisioned an internet). Wikipedia seemed very complex and non-user friendly. The hardest thing was choosing a user name, since I wanted to display an interest in 19th century electrical technology. I chose "Edison," but it could as easily been "Tesla" or half a dozen other names. Edison (talk) 05:29, 2 March 2017 (UTC)
Hello Edison
Very well. I shall desist. I did not know I would have needed a consensus in order to continue, but rather just rightful proof of the course of action (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Human_geography#Question_regarding_human_geography), which I thought I had already provided. I had put the question to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Manual_of_Style/Icons#Flag_icons_for_religious_dioceses_and_religious_buildings, though I had thought by my proof that I would not need a consensus/answer so long as the proof was correct. I hadn't seen their answer as permission, but as a scholarly and practical opinion. I did not mean to cause harm, but rather only consistency with the rules on adding flag icons in infoboxes. (I had originally started out editing some of the dioceses' wiki articles because many had scant info and were sometimes not presented well/in an organized manner.)
There is no penchant for nationalism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Manual_of_Style/Icons#Flag_icons_for_religious_dioceses_and_religious_buildings, but rather consistency on conformity to the rules on human geography as set in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Icons#Avoid_flag_icons_in_infoboxes and expounded on in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Human_geography#Question_regarding_human_geography.
With regards to a diocese's structure and identification, there is a realistic functional distinction between one diocese to another and on nation's diocese's to another. In practice, diocesan structure and practice in functional matters is ultimately seen as very local and independent of adjacent dioceses and, in the case of national conferences, countries. Also, many dioceses' borders are structured around geopolitical lines of subdivisions within states (e.g. the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholic_Diocese_of_Charleston encompasses all of South Carolina; the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Freiburg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholic_Archdiocese_of_Freiburg and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholic_Diocese_of_Rottenburg-Stuttgart encompasses all of Baden-Württemburg; the Apostolic Vicariate of Saint Pierre and Miquelon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostolic_Vicariate_of_Iles_Saint_Pierre_and_Miquelon encompasses all of Saint Pierre and Miquelon; the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostolic_Vicariate_of_Northern_Arabia encompasses all of Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar; and the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostolic_Vicariate_of_Southern_Arabia encompasses all of Oman, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Yemen), which is why there can be similarities between state borders and diocesan borders. Bishops of a nation often meet together in order to be consistent with practice on matters that pertain to a national level, so the presence of a flag is not seen as individualistic nationalism, but rather a form of general individual identification of a nation's bishops' collectivity on jurisdiction on matters that pertain to that nation.
While there is no doubt that in belief and faith all members of a body of leaders are united, running individual affairs that come up in one's own dioceses is seen as the responsibility and right of that particular diocese or bishops' conference (depending on the nature of the subject), which is often based on state and national lines.
--Ka24872482Akeakamai (talk) 22:26, 7 March 2017 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – April 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (March 2017).
- TheDJ
- Xnuala • CJ • Oldelpaso • Berean Hunter • Jimbo Wales • Andrew c • Karanacs • Modemac • Scott
- Following a discussion on the backlog of unpatrolled files, consensus was found to create a new user right for autopatrolling file uploads. Implementation progress can be tracked on Phabricator.
- The BLPPROD grandfather clause, which stated that unreferenced biographies of living persons were only eligible for proposed deletion if they were created after March 18, 2010, has been removed following an RfC.
- An RfC has closed with consensus to allow proposed deletion of files. The implementation process is ongoing.
- After an unsuccessful proposal to automatically grant IP block exemption, consensus was found to relax the criteria for granting the user right from needing it to wanting it.
- After a recent RfC, moved pages will soon be featured in a queue similar to Special:NewPagesFeed and require patrolling. Moves by administrators, page movers, and autopatrolled editors will be automatically marked as patrolled.
- Cookie blocks have been deployed. This extends the current autoblock system by setting a cookie for each block, which will then autoblock the user if they switch accounts, even under a new IP.
Administrators' newsletter – May 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (April 2017).
- Karanacs • Berean Hunter • GoldenRing • Dlohcierekim
- Gdr • Tyrenius • JYolkowski • Longhair • Master Thief Garrett • Aaron Brenneman • Laser brain • JzG • Dragons flight
- An RfC has clarified that user categories should be emptied upon deletion, but redlinked user categories should not be removed if re-added by the user.
- Discussions are ongoing regarding proposed changes to the COI policy. Changes so far have included clarification that adding a link on a Wikipedia forum to a job posting is not a violation of the harassment policy.
- You can now see a list of all autoblocks at Special:AutoblockList.
- There is a new tool for adding archives to dead links. Administrators are able to restrict other user's ability to use the tool, and have additional permissions when changing URL and domain data.
- Administrators, bureaucrats and stewards can now set an expiry date when granting user rights. (discuss, permalink)
- Following an RfC, the editing restrictions page is now split into a list of active restrictions and an archive of those that are old or on inactive accounts. Make sure to check both pages if searching for a restriction.
Poor word choice
Yes, you are correct, I forgot to remove the "s" behind "year", though please have a look at how the sentence was phrased before my edit. "Please do not make such tweaks which do not improve the ease of comprehending the article." Oh hell, did this improve the ease of comprehending the article. At the same time you should think about your word choice. Ever heard of good faith and all that be-nice-to-one-another and so on? It seems a little late for a welcome message to link those pages. Even a level 1 MOS warning sounds better than what you placed on my talk page. As an admin you should be able to do better. -ImmernochEkelAlfred(Spam me! (or send me serious messages, whatever you like)) 14:35, 23 May 2017 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – June 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (May 2017).
- Doug Bell • Dennis Brown • Clpo13 • ONUnicorn
- ThaddeusB • Yandman • Bjarki S • OldakQuill • Shyam • Jondel • Worm That Turned
- An RfC proposing an off-wiki LTA database has been closed. The proposal was broadly supported, with further discussion required regarding what to do with the existing LTA database and defining access requirements. Such a tool/database formed part of the Community health initiative's successful grant proposal.
- Some clarifications have been made to the community banning and unblocking policies that effectively sync them with current practice. Specifically, the community has reached a consensus that when blocking a user at WP:AN or WP:ANI, it is considered a "community sanction", and administrators cannot unblock unilaterally if the user has not successfully appealed the sanction to the community.
- An RfC regarding the bot policy has closed with changes to the section describing restrictions on cosmetic changes.
- Users will soon be able to blacklist specific users from sending them notifications.
- Following the 2017 elections, the new members of the Board of Trustees include Raystorm, Pundit and Doc James. They will serve three-year terms.
The Signpost: 9 June 2017
- From the editors: Signpost status: On reserve power, help wanted!
- News and notes: Global Elections
- Arbitration report: Cases closed in the Pacific and with Magioladitis
- Featured content: Three months in the land of the featured
- In the media: Did Wikipedia just assume Garfield's gender?
- Recent research: Wikipedia bot wars capture the imagination of the popular press
- Technology report: Tech news catch-up
- Traffic report: Film on Top: Sampling the weekly top 10
The Signpost: 23 June 2017
- News and notes: Departments reorganized at Wikimedia Foundation, and a month without new RfAs (so far)
- In the media: Kalanick's nipples; Episode #138 of Drama on the Hill
- Op-ed: Facto Post: a fresh take
- Featured content: Will there ever be a break? The slew of featured content continues
- Traffic report: Wonder Woman beats Batman, The Mummy, Darth Vader and the Earth
- Technology report: Improved search, and WMF data scientist tells all
I have unreviewed a page you curated
Bully for you.Edison (talk) 03:29, 8 July 2017 (UTC)
Ennui index
For this user it is presently 9 on a 10 point scale. Edison (talk) 22:24, 24 June 2017 (UTC)
- I always considered myself incapable of being bored. Either I have changed or Wikipedia has. What is the purpose served by having to write deletion rationales at AFD for innumerable articles about different lenses offered for sale by a company to go with one of their cameras (varying little from similar lenses offered over the years by other manufacturers)? These article families are like someone creating articles about every style of shoelace made by a company, or every flavor of toothpaste, or every style of sock. Some editors want Wikipedia to be a mirror of every catalog. Forward the antivanispamcruftisment brigade? There has to be something in life more meaningful . Edison (talk) 03:15, 8 July 2017 (UTC)
Ok
Outside now will respond later@ww2casualties regards--Woogie10w (talk) 13:58, 25 June 2017 (UTC) I will answer tonight when I get home with multiple edits--Woogie10w (talk) 14:22, 25 June 2017 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – July 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2017).
- The RFC discussion regarding WP:OUTING and WMF essay about paid editing and outing (see more at the ArbCom noticeboard archives) is now archived. Milieus #3 and #4 received support; so did concrete proposal #1.
- Fuzzy search will soon be added to Special:Undelete, allowing administrators to search for deleted page titles with results similar to the search query. You can test this by adding
?fuzzy=1
to the URL, as with Special:Undelete?fuzzy=1. Currently the search only finds pages that exactly match the search term. - A new bot will automatically revision delete unused file versions from files in Category:Non-free files with orphaned versions more than 7 days old.
- Fuzzy search will soon be added to Special:Undelete, allowing administrators to search for deleted page titles with results similar to the search query. You can test this by adding
- A newly revamped database report can help identify users who may be eligible to be autopatrolled.
- A potentially compromised account from 2001–2002 attempted to request resysop. Please practice appropriate account security by using a unique password for Wikipedia, and consider enabling two-factor authentication. Currently around 17% of admins have enabled 2FA, up from 16% in February 2017.
- Did you know: On 29 June 2017, there were 1,261 administrators on the English Wikipedia – the exact number of administrators as there were ten years ago on 29 June 2007. Since that time, the English Wikipedia has grown from 1.85 million articles to over 5.43 million.
The Signpost: 15 July 2017
- News and notes: French chapter woes, new affiliates and more WMF team changes
- Featured content: Spectacular animals, Pine Trees screens, and more
- In the media: Concern about access and fairness, Foundation expenditures, and relationship to real-world politics and commerce
- Recent research: The chilling effect of surveillance on Wikipedia readers
- Gallery: A mix of patterns
- Humour: The Infobox Game
- Traffic report: Film, television and Internet phenomena reign with some room left over for America's birthday
- Technology report: New features in development; more breaking changes for scripts
- Wikicup: 2017 WikiCup round 3 wrap-up
Administrators' newsletter – August 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (July 2017).
- Anarchyte • GeneralizationsAreBad • Cullen328 (first RfA to reach WP:300)
- Cprompt • Rockpocket • Rambo's Revenge • Animum • TexasAndroid • Chuck SMITH • MikeLynch • Crazytales • Ad Orientem
- Following a series of discussions around new pages patrol, the WMF is helping implement a controlled autoconfirmed article creation trial as a research experiment, similar to the one proposed in 2011. You can learn more about the research plan at meta:Research:Autoconfirmed article creation trial. The exact start date of the experiment has yet to be determined.
- A new speedy deletion criterion, regarding articles created as a result undisclosed paid editing, is currently being discussed (permalink).
- An RfC (permalink) is currently open that proposes expanding WP:G13 to include all drafts, even if they weren't submitted through Articles for Creation.
- LoginNotify should soon be deployed to the English Wikipedia. This will notify users when there are suspicious login attempts on their account.
- The new version of XTools is nearing an official release. This suite of tools includes administrator statistics, an improved edit counter, among other tools that may benefit administrators. You can report issues on Phabricator and provide general feedback at mw:Talk:XTools.
Made some needed improvements to the article. Drop by Talk:Baltic_Sea_anomaly#Disputed. - LuckyLouie (talk) 20:33, 2 August 2017 (UTC)
The Signpost: 5 August 2017
- Recent research: Wikipedia can increase local tourism by +9%; predicting article quality with deep learning; recent behavior predicts quality
- WikiProject report: Comic relief
- In the media: Wikipedia used to judge death penalty, arms smuggling, Indonesian governance, and HOTTEST celebrity
- Traffic report: Swedish countess tops the list
- Featured content: Everywhere in the lead
- Technology report: Introducing TechCom
- Humour: WWASOHs and ETCSSs
Administrators' newsletter – September 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (August 2017).
- Nakon • Scott
- Sverdrup • Thespian • Elockid • James086 • Ffirehorse • Celestianpower • Boing! said Zebedee
- ACTRIAL, a research experiment that restricts article creation to autoconfirmed users, will begin on September 7. It will run for six months. You can learn more about the research specifics at meta:Research:Autoconfirmed article creation trial, while Wikipedia talk:Autoconfirmed article creation trial is probably the best venue for general discussion.
- Following an RfC, WP:G13 speedy deletion criterion now applies to any page in the draftspace that has not been edited in six months. There is a bot-generated report, updated daily, to help identify potentially qualifying drafts that have not been submitted through articles for creation.
- You will now get a notification when someone tries to log in to your account and fails. If they try from a device that has logged into your account before, you will be notified after five failed attempts. You can also set in your preferences to get an email when someone logs in to your account from a new device or IP address, which may be encouraged for admins and accounts with sensitive permissions.
- Syntax highlighting is now available as a beta feature (more info). This may assist administrators and template editors when dealing with intricate syntax of high-risk templates and system messages.
- In your notification preferences, you can now block specific users from pinging you. This functionality will soon be available for Special:EmailUser as well.
- Applications for CheckUser and Oversight are being accepted by the Arbitration Committee until September 12. Community discussion of the candidates will begin on September 18.
The Signpost: 6 September 2017
- From the editors: What happened at Wikimania?
- News and notes: Basselpedia; WMF Board of Trustees appointments
- Featured content: Warfighters and their tools or trees and butterflies
- Traffic report: A fortnight of conflicts
- Special report: Biomedical content, and some thoughts on its future
- Recent research: Discussion summarization; Twitter bots tracking government edits; extracting trivia from Wikipedia
- WikiProject report: WikiProject YouTube
- Technology report: Latest tech news
- Wikicup: 2017 WikiCup round 4 wrap-up
- Humour: Bots
Merger
Message added 04:24, 5 July 2012 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.
208.114.41.141 (talk) 00:42, 13 September 2017 (UTC)
Message added 21:36, 7 June 2007 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.
208.114.41.141 (talk) 00:42, 13 September 2017 (UTC)
Invitation to Admin confidence survey
Hello,
Beginning in September 2017, the Wikimedia Foundation Anti-harassment tool team will be conducting a survey to gauge how well tools, training, and information exists to assist English Wikipedia administrators in recognizing and mitigating things like sockpuppetry, vandalism, and harassment.
The survey should only take 5 minutes, and your individual response will not be made public. This survey will be integral for our team to determine how to better support administrators.
To take the survey sign up here and we will send you a link to the form.
We really appreciate your input!
Please let us know if you wish to opt-out of all massmessage mailings from the Anti-harassment tools team.
For the Anti-harassment tools team, SPoore (WMF), Community Advocate, Community health initiative (talk) 19:52, 13 September 2017 (UTC)
The Signpost: 25 September 2017
- News and notes: Chapter updates; ACTRIAL
- Humour: Chickenz
- Recent research: Wikipedia articles vs. concepts; Wikipedia usage in Europe
- Technology report: Flow restarted; Wikidata connection notifications
- Gallery: Chicken mania
- Traffic report: Fights and frights
- Featured content: Flying high
Administrators' newsletter – October 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (September 2017).
- Boing! said Zebedee • Ansh666 • Ad Orientem
- Tonywalton • AmiDaniel • Silence • BanyanTree • Magioladitis • Vanamonde93 • Mr.Z-man • Jdavidb • Jakec • Ram-Man • Yelyos • Kurt Shaped Box
- Following a successful proposal to create it, a new user right called "edit filter helper" is now assignable and revocable by administrators. The right allows non-administrators to view the details of private edit filters, but not to edit them.
- Following a discussion about mass-application of ECP and how the need for logging and other details of an evolving consensus may have been missed by some administrators, a rough guide to extended confirmed protection has been written. This information page describes how the extended-confirmed aspects of the protection policy are currently being applied by administrators.
- You can now search for IP ranges at Special:Contributions. Some log pages and Special:DeletedContributions are not yet supported. Wildcards (e.g. 192.168.0.*) are also not supported, but the popular contribsrange gadget will continue to work.
- Community consultation on the 2017 candidates for CheckUser and Oversight has concluded. The Arbitration Committee will appoint successful candidates by October 11.
- A request for comment is open regarding the structure, rules, and procedures of the December 2017 Arbitration Committee election, and how to resolve any issues not covered by existing rules.
DR
Just a note to let you know that an AfD you participated in is up for review here. Thanks. John from Idegon (talk) 20:26, 2 October 2017 (UTC)
The Signpost: 23 October 2017
- News and notes: Money! WMF fundraising, Wikimedia strategy, WMF new office!
- Featured content: Don, Marcel, Emily, Jessica and other notables
- Humour: Guys named Ralph
- In the media: Facebook and poetry
- Special report: Working with GLAMs in the UK
- Traffic report: Death, disaster, and entertainment
You tagged the sentence that Coates' first name is derived from an Ancient Egyptian language name for Nubia, writing in your edit summary "The ref does not say the name is from old name for Nubia". Actually, it does. The reference is a radio program, and the website hosts (as it says in big bold letters) "Interview Highlights". To read the complete transcript of the radio program, click on the link at the top left of the page:
GROSS: You've commented over the years about how a lot of people, even people who know you, don't know how to spell your name. They get it wrong. People who don't know you don't know how to pronounce your name. I should say, your name is spelled - your first name, Ta-Nehisi, is spelled T-A-dash - T-A-hyphen, that is-N-E-H-I-S-I. And you're named for, named after...
COATES: Oh, am I filling in here?
GROSS: Yeah, you're filling in.
COATES: Oh, OK, sorry.
(LAUGHTER)
COATES: I'm named after - it's an ancient Egyptian name for ancient Nubia actually. And it's so funny because people become so interested in it - and you know, been people doing etymology for me. And apparently the top portion of it means land, and then the Nehisi portion of it, apparently there are no actual, you know, vowels in ancient Egyptian, so people put vowels in order to make it pronounceable. But it is a designation for people who are browner- or blacker- or darker-skinned. As the name was given to me, it was literally land of the blacks or land of the black people.
— Malik Shabazz Talk/Stalk 01:53, 26 October 2017 (UTC)
- Thanks for your note. In the article about Coates, the reference does not mention Nubia, so I tagged the article.As you pointed out, the audio of the interview contains Coates' explanation of his name's derivation, at some point. If the audio were the reference, the citation should say at what time in the interview the information is found. But we are blessed with a transcript of the interview, so the appropriate reference to cite would be the actual transcript, not the inappropriate "highlights." Do you agree? Like most people who see and hear his name, I wondered why the pronunciation did not match the spelling. The vowel "i" is an "ah" sound as the next to last vowel and an "ee" sound as the last vowel. An explanation of this is called for in his bio article. His explanation does not account for why the next to last "i" gets pronounced "ah," since he says the vowels actually used in ancient Egyptian are not preserved, so apparently it is a modern arbitrary choice. I also asked about this at the Reference Desk. I found a blog where someone saying he was Coates' father explained that he got the pronunciation and odd spelling from a family friend who was an "amateur Egyptologist." The "ta" for country and "nhsy" for Nubia seem clear but that does not explain the vowel spelling. The spelling/pronunciation are certainly not "wrong" since someone can pronounce his name or spell it as he wishes. Have you already or will you adjust the ref to point to the transcript? If not do you object if I change it? I think it should not be untagged while it points to the original text, unless your explanation is added. Regards, Edison (talk) 12:14, 26 October 2017 (UTC)
- As I wrote, the reference is a radio interview. If you listen to the radio interview, you will hear Coates explain his name. The NPR website that hosts the recording of the interview has links on the top left to the complete recording and a complete transcript, and it includes selected highlights from the interview on the webpage. I will add a link in the footnote to the transcript for those readers who can't see the words "Interview Highlights" across the middle of the page or the words Download or Transcript in its upper left corner.
- Virtually the sum total of my knowledge about the ancient Egyptian language is that it was written only in consonants and its vowel sounds are lost to history. (I exaggerate a little bit: I know about hieroglyphics and demotic script and the Rosetta Stone but that, truly, is the extent of my knowledge of the subject.) I wouldn't know how to pronounce any Egyptian word, including kmt, unless somebody told me. — Malik Shabazz Talk/Stalk 02:37, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
- I am only slightly better in my knowledge of it than the college student who asserted in an essay test answer that the Egyptian wrote in "demonic." But if we can provide a ref that is less puzzling to the reader we have made the encyclopedia a bit better. It is good to see the referenced info without having to click on some button on the URL. It is like providing a page number in addition to a book title. Edison (talk) 17:24, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
- I believe my change accomplished that by adding a direct link to the transcript without removing the link to the main page for the radio broadcast. The source is cited for three unrelated facts in the article, so changing its URL to suit only one of those facts might be inappropriate for the other citations. — Malik Shabazz Talk/Stalk 03:47, 28 October 2017 (UTC)
- I am only slightly better in my knowledge of it than the college student who asserted in an essay test answer that the Egyptian wrote in "demonic." But if we can provide a ref that is less puzzling to the reader we have made the encyclopedia a bit better. It is good to see the referenced info without having to click on some button on the URL. It is like providing a page number in addition to a book title. Edison (talk) 17:24, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – November 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (October 2017).
- Longhair • Megalibrarygirl • TonyBallioni • Vanamonde93
- Allen3 • Eluchil404 • Arthur Rubin • Bencherlite
- The Wikimedia Foundation's Anti-Harassment Tools team is creating an "Interaction Timeline" tool that intends to assist administrators in resolving user conduct disputes. Feedback on the concept may be posted on the talk page.
- A new function is now available to edit filter managers that will make it easier to look for multiple strings containing spoofed text.
- Eligible editors will be invited to submit candidate statements for the 2017 Arbitration Committee Elections starting on November 12 until November 21. Voting will begin on November 27 and last until December 10.
- Following a request for comment, Ritchie333, Yunshui and Ymblanter will serve as the Electoral Commission for the 2017 ArbCom Elections.
- The Wikipedia community has recently learned that Allen3 (William Allen Peckham) passed away on December 30, 2016, the same day as JohnCD. Allen began editing in 2005 and became an administrator that same year.
The Signpost: 24 November 2017
- News and notes: Cons, cons, cons
- Arbitration report: Administrator desysoped; How to deal with crosswiki issues; Mister Wiki case likely
- Technology report: Searching and surveying
- Interview: A featured article centurion
- WikiProject report: Recommendations for WikiProjects
- In the media: Open knowledge platform as a media institution
- Traffic report: Strange and inappropriate
- Featured content: We will remember them
- Recent research: Who wrote this? New dataset on the provenance of Wikipedia text
Happy turkey day
ArbCom 2017 election voter message
Hello, Edison. Voting in the 2017 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23.59 on Sunday, 10 December. All users who registered an account before Saturday, 28 October 2017, made at least 150 mainspace edits before Wednesday, 1 November 2017 and are not currently blocked are eligible to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.
The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.
If you wish to participate in the 2017 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:42, 3 December 2017 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – December 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2017).
- Following a request for comment, a new section has been added to the username policy which disallows usernames containing emoji, emoticons or otherwise "decorative" usernames, and usernames that use any non-language symbols. Administrators should discuss issues related to these types of usernames before blocking.
- Wikimedians are now invited to vote on the proposals in the 2017 Community Wishlist Survey on Meta Wiki until 10 December 2017. In particular, there is a section of the survey regarding new tools for administrators and for anti-harassment.
- A new function is available to edit filter managers which can be used to store matches from regular expressions.
- Voting in the 2017 Arbitration Committee elections is open until Sunday 23:59, 10 December 2017 (UTC). There are 12 candidates running for 8 vacant seats.
- Over the last few months, several users have reported backlogs that require administrator attention at WP:ANI, with the most common backlogs showing up on WP:SPI, WP:AIV and WP:RFPP. It is requested that all administrators take some time during this month to help clear backlogs wherever possible. It should be noted that AIV reports are not always valid; however, they still need to be cleared, which may include needing to remind users on what qualifies as vandalism.
- The Wikimedia Foundation Community health initiative is conducting a survey for English Wikipedia contributors on their experience and satisfaction level with Administrator’s Noticeboard/Incidents. This survey will be integral to gathering information about how this noticeboard works (i.e. which problems it deals with well and which problems it struggles with). If you would like to take this survey, please sign up on this page, and a link for the survey will be emailed to you via Special:EmailUser.
The Signpost: 18 December 2017
- Special report: Women in Red World Contest wrap-up
- Featured content: Featured content to finish 2017
- In the media: Stolen seagulls, public domain primates and more
- Arbitration report: Last case of 2017: Mister Wiki editors
- Gallery: Wiki loving
- Recent research: French medical articles have "high rate of veracity"
- Technology report: Your wish lists and more Wikimedia tech
- Traffic report: Notable heroes and bad guys
Seasons' Greetings
...to you and yours, from the Great White North! FWiW Bzuk (talk) 18:12, 24 December 2017 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – January 2018
News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2017).
- Muboshgu
- Anetode • Laser brain • Worm That Turned
- None
- A request for comment is in progress to determine whether the administrator policy should be amended to require disclosure of paid editing activity at WP:RFA and to prohibit the use of administrative tools as part of paid editing activity, with certain exceptions.
- The 2017 Community Wishlist Survey results have been posted. The Community Tech team will investigate and address the top ten results.
- The Anti-Harassment Tools team is inviting comments on new blocking tools and improvements to existing blocking tools for development in early 2018. Feedback can be left on the discussion page or by email.
- Following the results of the 2017 election, the following editors have been (re)appointed to the Arbitration Committee: Alex Shih, BU Rob13, Callanecc, KrakatoaKatie, Opabinia regalis, Premeditated Chaos, RickinBaltimore, Worm That Turned.
Sigh
"The OP implied the bill said things it doesn't explicitly say.
". Can you please quote the words you are referring to? The IP voiced an opinion "overbroad provision permitting lawful harassment
". (((The Quixotic Potato))) (talk) 02:39, 13 January 2018 (UTC)
- The OP said the bill contained an "overbroad provision permitting lawful harassment of citizens." Apparently the bill does not explicitly permit this. What about this is confusing to you? Edison (talk) 03:54, 13 January 2018 (UTC)
- What seems to be inability to differentiate between the IP expressing its opinion and the mentioning of facts. If a friend of mine would say that my local jaywalking laws are "an overbroad provision permitting lawful theft" then I wouldn't ask for a reliable source that those laws allow theft; I would understand that that person was mad that (s)he got a fine for jaywalking. (((The Quixotic Potato))) (talk) 13:23, 13 January 2018 (UTC)
- Someone has re-hatted it. (((The Quixotic Potato))) (talk) 15:00, 13 January 2018 (UTC)
The Signpost: 16 January 2018
- News and notes: Communication is key
- In the media: The Paris Review, British Crown and British Media
- Featured content: History, gaming and multifarious topics
- Interview: Interview with Ser Amantio di Nicolao, the top contributor to English Wikipedia by edit count
- Technology report: Dedicated Wikidata database servers
- Arbitration report: Mister Wiki is first arbitration committee decision of 2018
- Traffic report: The best and worst of 2017
Administrators' newsletter – February 2018
News and updates for administrators from the past month (January 2018).
- None
- Blurpeace • Dana boomer • Deltabeignet • Denelson83 • Grandiose • Salvidrim! • Ymblanter
- An RfC has closed with a consensus that candidates at WP:RFA must disclose whether they have ever edited for pay and that administrators may never use administrative tools as part of any paid editing activity, except when they are acting as a Wikipedian-in-Residence or when the payment is made by the Wikimedia Foundation or an affiliate of the WMF.
- Editors responding to threats of harm can now contact the Wikimedia Foundation's emergency address by using Special:EmailUser/Emergency. If you don't have email enabled on Wikipedia, directly contacting the emergency address using your own email client remains an option.
- A tag will now be automatically applied to edits that blank a page, turn a page into a redirect, remove/replace almost all content in a page, undo an edit, or rollback an edit. These edits were previously denoted solely by automatic edit summaries.
- The Arbitration Committee has enacted a change to the discretionary sanctions procedure which requires administrators to add a standardized editnotice when placing page restrictions. Editors cannot be sanctioned for violations of page restrictions if this editnotice was not in place at the time of the violation.
The Signpost: 5 February 2018
- Featured content: Wars, sieges, disasters and everything black possible
- Traffic report: TV, death, sports, and doodles
- Special report: Cochrane–Wikipedia Initiative
- Arbitration report: New cases requested for inter-editor hostility and other collaboration issues
- In the media: Solving crime; editing out violence allegations
- Humour: You really are in Wonderland
The Signpost: 20 February 2018
- News and notes: The future is Swedish with a lack of administrators
- Recent research: Politically diverse editors write better articles; Reddit and Stack Overflow benefit from Wikipedia but don't give back
- Arbitration report: Arbitration committee prepares to examine two new cases
- Traffic report: Addicted to sports and pain
- Featured content: Entertainment, sports and history
- Technology report: Paragraph-based edit conflict screen; broken thanks
13 years of editing, today
Administrators' newsletter – March 2018
News and updates for administrators from the past month (February 2018).
- Lourdes†
- AngelOfSadness • Bhadani • Chris 73 • Coren • Friday • Midom • Mike V
- † Lourdes has requested that her admin rights be temporarily removed, pending her return from travel.
- The autoconfirmed article creation trial (ACTRIAL) is scheduled to end on 14 March 2018. The results of the research collected can be read on Meta Wiki.
- Community ban discussions must now stay open for at least 24 hours prior to being closed.
- A change to the administrator inactivity policy has been proposed. Under the proposal, if an administrator has not used their admin tools for a period of five years and is subsequently desysopped for inactivity, the administrator would have to file a new RfA in order to regain the tools.
- A change to the banning policy has been proposed which would specify conditions under which a repeat sockmaster may be considered de facto banned, reducing the need to start a community ban discussion for these users.
- CheckUsers are now able to view private data such as IP addresses from the edit filter log, e.g. when the filter prevents a user from creating an account. Previously, this information was unavailable to CheckUsers because access to it could not be logged.
- The edit filter has a new feature
contains_all
that edit filter managers may use to check if one or more strings are all contained in another given string.
- Following the 2018 Steward elections, the following users are our new stewards: -revi, Green Giant, Rxy, There'sNoTime, علاء.
- Bhadani (Gangadhar Bhadani) passed away on 8 February 2018. Bhadani joined Wikipedia in March 2005 and became an administrator in September 2005. While he was active, Bhadani was regarded as one of the most prolific Wikipedians from India.
Precious
biographies
Thank you for beginning quality articles such as Fred de Cordova and Zofia Posmysz, for welcoming new users, admin services and gnomish work, for service from 2006, for answers at reference desks, for caring about notability, for "It is insulting to the reader." - repeating (15 March 2009): you are an awesome Wikipedian!
--Gerda Arendt (talk) 19:13, 27 March 2018 (UTC)
Signpost issue 4 – 29 March 2018
- News and notes: Wiki Conference roundup and new appointments.
- Arbitration report: Ironing out issues in infoboxes; not sure yet about New Jersey; and an administrator who probably wasn't uncivil to a sockpuppet.
- Traffic report: Real sports, real women and an imaginary country: what's on top for Wikipedia readers
- Featured content: Animals, Ships, and Songs
- Technology report: Timeless skin review by Force Radical.
- Special report: ACTRIAL wrap-up.
- Humour: WikiWorld Reruns
Administrators' newsletter – April 2018
News and updates for administrators from the past month (March 2018).
- 331dot • Cordless Larry • ClueBot NG
- Gogo Dodo • Pb30 • Sebastiankessel • Seicer • SoLando
- Administrators who have been desysopped due to inactivity are now required to have performed at least one (logged) administrative action in the past 5 years in order to qualify for a resysop without going through a new RfA.
- Editors who have been found to have engaged in sockpuppetry on at least two occasions after an initial indefinite block, for whatever reason, are now automatically considered banned by the community without the need to start a ban discussion.
- The notability guideline for organizations and companies has been substantially rewritten following the closure of this request for comment. Among the changes, the guideline more clearly defines the sourcing requirements needed for organizations and companies to be considered notable.
- The six-month autoconfirmed article creation trial (ACTRIAL) ended on 14 March 2018. The post-trial research report has been published. A request for comment is now underway to determine whether the restrictions from ACTRIAL should be implemented permanently.
- There will soon be a calendar widget at Special:Block, making it easier to set expiries for a specific date and time.
- The Arbitration Committee is considering a change to the discretionary sanctions procedures which would require an editor to appeal a sanction to the community at WP:AE or WP:AN prior to appealing directly to the Arbitration Committee at WP:ARCA.
- A discussion has closed which concluded that administrators are not required to enable email, though many editors suggested doing so as a matter of best practice.
- The Foundations' Anti-Harassment Tools team has released the Interaction Timeline. This shows a chronologic history for two users on pages where they have both made edits, which may be helpful in identifying sockpuppetry and investigating editing disputes.
The Signpost: 26 April 2018
- From the editors: The Signpost's presses roll again
- Signpost: Future directions for The Signpost
- In the media: The rise of Wikipedia as a disinformation mop
- In focus: Admin reports board under criticism
- Special report: ACTRIAL results adopted by landslide
- Community view: It's time we look past Women in Red to counter systemic bias
- Discussion report: The future of portals
- Arbitration report: No new cases, and one motion on administrative misconduct
- WikiProject report: WikiProject Military History
- Traffic report: A quiet place to wrestle with the articles of March
- Technology report: Coming soon: Books-to-PDF, interactive maps, rollback confirmation
- Featured content: Featured content selected by the community
Administrators' newsletter – May 2018
News and updates for administrators from the past month (April 2018).
- None
- Chochopk • Coffee • Gryffindor • Jimp • Knowledge Seeker • Lankiveil • Peridon • Rjd0060
- The ability to create articles directly in mainspace is now indefinitely restricted to autoconfirmed users.
- A proposal is being discussed which would create a new "event coordinator" right that would allow users to temporarily add the "confirmed" flag to new user accounts and to create many new user accounts without being hindered by a rate limit.
- AbuseFilter has received numerous improvements, including an OOUI overhaul, syntax highlighting, ability to search existing filters, and a few new functions. In particular, the search feature can be used to ensure there aren't existing filters for what you need, and the new
equals_to_any
function can be used when checking multiple namespaces. One major upcoming change is the ability to see which filters are the slowest. This information is currently only available to those with access to Logstash. - When blocking anonymous users, a cookie will be applied that reloads the block if the user changes their IP. This means in most cases, you may no longer need to do /64 range blocks on residential IPv6 addresses in order to effectively block the end user. It will also help combat abuse from IP hoppers in general. This currently only occurs when hard-blocking accounts.
- The block notice shown on mobile will soon be more informative and point users to a help page on how to request an unblock, just as it currently does on desktop.
- There will soon be a calendar widget at Special:Block, making it easier to set expiries for a specific date and time.
- AbuseFilter has received numerous improvements, including an OOUI overhaul, syntax highlighting, ability to search existing filters, and a few new functions. In particular, the search feature can be used to ensure there aren't existing filters for what you need, and the new
- The Arbitration Committee is seeking additional clerks to help with the arbitration process.
- Lankiveil (Craig Franklin) passed away in mid-April. Lankiveil joined Wikipedia on 12 August 2004 and became an administrator on 31 August 2008. During his time with the Wikimedia community, Lankiveil served as an oversighter for the English Wikipedia and as president of Wikimedia Australia.
The Signpost: 24 May 2018
- From the editor: Another issue meets the deadline
- WikiProject report: WikiProject Portals
- Discussion report: User rights, infoboxes, and more discussion on portals
- Featured content: Featured content selected by the community
- Arbitration report: Managing difficult topics
- News and notes: Lots of Wikimedia
- Traffic report: We love our superheroes
- Technology report: A trove of contributor and developer goodies
- Recent research: Why people don't contribute to Wikipedia; using Wikipedia to teach statistics, technical writing, and controversial issues
- Humour: Play with your food
- Gallery: Wine not?
- From the archives: The Signpost scoops The Signpost
The Signpost: 24 May 2018
- From the editor: Another issue meets the deadline
- WikiProject report: WikiProject Portals
- Discussion report: User rights, infoboxes, and more discussion on portals
- Featured content: Featured content selected by the community
- Arbitration report: Managing difficult topics
- News and notes: Lots of Wikimedia
- Traffic report: We love our superheroes
- Technology report: A trove of contributor and developer goodies
- Recent research: Why people don't contribute to Wikipedia; using Wikipedia to teach statistics, technical writing, and controversial issues
- Humour: Play with your food
- Gallery: Wine not?
- From the archives: The Signpost scoops The Signpost
Administrators' newsletter – June 2018
News and updates for administrators from the past month (May 2018).
- None
- Al Ameer son • AliveFreeHappy • Cenarium • Lupo • MichaelBillington
- Following a successful request for comment, administrators are now able to add and remove editors to the "event coordinator" group. Users in the event coordinator group have the ability to temporarily add the "confirmed" flag to new user accounts and to create many new user accounts without being hindered by a rate limit. Users will no longer need to be in the "account creator" group if they are in the event coordinator group.
- Following an AN discussion, all pages with content related to blockchain and cryptocurrencies, broadly construed, are now under indefinite general sanctions.
- IP-based cookie blocks should be deployed to English Wikipedia in June. This will cause the block of a logged-out user to be reloaded if they change IPs. This means in most cases, you may no longer need to do /64 range blocks on residential IPv6 addresses in order to effectively block the end user. It will also help combat abuse from IP hoppers in general. For the time being, it only affects users of the desktop interface.
- The Wikimedia Foundation's Anti-Harassment Tools team will build granular types of blocks in 2018 (e.g. a block from uploading or editing specific pages, categories, or namespaces, as opposed to a full-site block). Feedback on the concept may be left at the talk page.
- There is now a checkbox on Special:ListUsers to let you see only users in temporary user groups.
- It is now easier for blocked mobile users to see why they were blocked.
- A recent technical issue with the Arbitration Committee's spam filter inadvertently caused all messages sent to the committee through Wikipedia (i.e. Special:EmailUser/Arbitration Committee) to be discarded. If you attempted to send an email to the Arbitration Committee via Wikipedia between May 16 and May 31, your message was not received and you are encouraged to resend it. Messages sent outside of these dates or directly to the Arbitration Committee email address were not affected by this issue.
- In early May, an unusually high level of failed login attempts was observed. The WMF has stated that this was an "external effort to gain unauthorized access to random accounts". Under Wikipedia policy, administrators are required to have strong passwords. To further reinforce security, administrators should also consider enabling two-factor authentication. A committed identity can be used to verify that you are the true account owner in the event that your account is compromised and/or you are unable to log in.
The Signpost: 29 June 2018
- Special report: NPR and AfC – The Marshall Plan: an engagement and a marriage?
- Op-ed: What do admins do?
- News and notes: Money, milestones, and Wikimania
- In the media: Much wikilove from the Mayor of London, less from Paekākāriki or a certain candidate for U.S. Congress
- Discussion report: Deletion, page moves, and an update to the main page
- Featured content: New promotions
- Arbitration report: WWII, UK politics, and a user deCrat'ed
- Traffic report: Endgame
- Technology report: Improvements piled on more improvements
- Gallery: Wiki Loves Africa
- Recent research: How censorship can backfire and conversations can go awry
- Humour: Television plot lines
- Wikipedia essays: This month's pick by The Signpost editors
- From the archives: Wolves nip at Wikipedia's heels: A perspective on the cost of paid editing
Administrators' newsletter – July 2018
News and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2018).
- Pbsouthwood • TheSandDoctor
- Gogo Dodo
- Andrevan • Doug • EVula • KaisaL • Tony Fox • WilyD
- An RfC about the deletion of drafts closed with a consensus to change the wording of WP:NMFD. Specifically, a draft that has been repeatedly resubmitted and declined at AfC without any substantial improvement may be deleted at MfD if consensus determines that it is unlikely to ever meet the requirements for mainspace and it otherwise meets one of the reasons for deletion outlined in the deletion policy.
- A request for comment closed with a consensus that the {{promising draft}} template cannot be used to indefinitely prevent a WP:G13 speedy deletion nomination.
- Starting on July 9, the WMF Security team, Trust & Safety, and the broader technical community will be seeking input on an upcoming change that will restrict editing of site-wide JavaScript and CSS to a new technical administrators user group. Bureaucrats and stewards will be able to grant this right per a community-defined process. The intention is to reduce the number of accounts who can edit frontend code to those who actually need to, which in turn lessens the risk of malicious code being added that compromises the security and privacy of everyone who accesses Wikipedia. For more information, please review the FAQ.
- Syntax highlighting has been graduated from a Beta feature on the English Wikipedia. To enable this feature, click the highlighter icon () in your editing toolbar (or under the hamburger menu in the 2017 wikitext editor). This feature can help prevent you from making mistakes when editing complex templates.
- IP-based cookie blocks should be deployed to English Wikipedia in July (previously scheduled for June). This will cause the block of a logged-out user to be reloaded if they change IPs. This means in most cases, you may no longer need to do /64 range blocks on residential IPv6 addresses in order to effectively block the end user. It will also help combat abuse from IP hoppers in general. For the time being, it only affects users of the desktop interface.
- Currently around 20% of admins have enabled two-factor authentication, up from 17% a year ago. If you haven't already enabled it, please consider doing so. Regardless if you use 2FA, please practice appropriate account security by ensuring your password is secure and unique to Wikimedia.
The Signpost: 31 July 2018
- From the editor: If only if
- Opinion: Wrestling with Wikipedia reality
- Discussion report: Wikipedias take action against EU copyright proposal, plus new user right proposals
- Featured content: Wikipedia's best content in images and prose
- Arbitration report: Status quo processes retained in two disputes
- Traffic report: Soccer, football, call it what you like – that and summer movies leave room for little else
- Technology report: New bots, new prefs
- Recent research: Different Wikipedias use different images; editing contests more successful than edit-a-thons
- Humour: It's all the same
- Essay: Wikipedia does not need you
Administrators' newsletter – August 2018
News and updates for administrators from the past month (July 2018).
- After a discussion at Meta, a new user group called "interface administrators" (formerly "technical administrator") has been created. Come the end of August, interface admins will be the only users able to edit site-wide JavaScript and CSS pages like MediaWiki:Common.js and MediaWiki:Common.css, or edit other user's personal JavaScript and CSS. The intention is to improve security and privacy by reducing the number of accounts which could be used to compromise the site or another user's account through malicious code. The new user group can be assigned and revoked by bureaucrats. Discussion is ongoing to establish details for implementing the group on the English Wikipedia.
- Following a request for comment, the WP:SISTER style guideline now states that in the mainspace, interwiki links to Wikinews should only be made as per the external links guideline. This generally means that within the body of an article, you should not link to Wikinews about a particular event that is only a part of the larger topic. Wikinews links in "external links" sections can be used where helpful, but not automatically if an equivalent article from a reliable news outlet could be linked in the same manner.
- The WMF Anti-Harassment Tools team is seeking input on the second set of wireframes for the Special:Block redesign that will introduce partial blocks. The new functionality will allow you to block a user from editing a specific set of pages, pages in a category, a namespace, and for specific actions such as moving pages and uploading files.
Current; Turned off
Inaccurate; malapropos for technical context. Minor, but for the sake of veracity. Tjt263 (talk) 02:05, 28 August 2018 (UTC)
- It took a while to parse your comment. A dif helps. You are referring to the article on Magnetism where I undid your change from current being “turned off” to current being “removed.” If I had told a coworker that I “removed” some current, he would likely have asked where I took it. If someone leaves a faucet with water coming out, I do not say “remove” the water. I say “turn off” the water. It is common English. “Remove the current” just sounds odd. People would certainly figure out what was meant, but it would not be idiomatic. Edison (talk) 15:17, 29 August 2018 (UTC)
The Signpost: 30 August 2018
- From the editor: Today's young adults don't know a world without Wikipedia
- News and notes: Flying high; low practice from Wikipedia 'cleansing' agency; where do our donations go? RfA sees a new trend
- In the media: Quicksilver AI writes articles
- Discussion report: Drafting an interface administrator policy
- Featured content: Featured content selected by the community
- Special report: Wikimania 2018
- Traffic report: Aretha dies – getting just 2,000 short of 5 million hits
- Technology report: Technical enhancements and a request to prioritize upcoming work
- Recent research: Wehrmacht on Wikipedia, neural networks writing biographies
- Humour: Signpost editor censors herself
- From the archives: Playing with Wikipedia words
Administrators' newsletter – September 2018
News and updates for administrators from the past month (August 2018).
- None
- Asterion • Crisco 1492 • KF • Kudpung • Liz • Randykitty • Spartaz
- Optimist on the run → Voice of Clam
Interface administrator changes
- Amorymeltzer • Mr. Stradivarius • MusikAnimal • MSGJ • TheDJ • Xaosflux
- Following a "stop-gap" discussion, six users have temporarily been made interface administrators while discussion is ongoing for a more permanent process for assigning the permission. Interface administrators are now the only editors allowed to edit sitewide CSS and JavaScript pages, as well as CSS/JS pages in another user's userspace. Previously, all administrators had this ability. The right can be granted and revoked by bureaucrats.
- Because of a data centre test you will be able to read but not edit the wikis for up to an hour on 12 September and 10 October. This will start at 14:00 (UTC). You might lose edits if you try to save during this time. The time when you can't edit might be shorter than an hour.
- Some abuse filter variables have changed. They are now easier to understand for non-experts. The old variables will still work but filter editors are encouraged to replace them with the new ones. You can find the list of changed variables on mediawiki.org. They have a note which says
Deprecated. Use ... instead
. An example isarticle_text
which is nowpage_title
. - Abuse filters can now use how old a page is. The variable is
page_age
.
- The Arbitration Committee has resolved to perform a round of Checkuser and Oversight appointments. The usernames of all applicants will be shared with the Functionaries team, and they will be requested to assist in the vetting process. The deadline to submit an application is 23:59 UTC, 12 September, and the candidates that move forward will be published on-wiki for community comments on 18 September.
The Signpost: 1 October 2018
- From the editor: Is this the new normal?
- News and notes: European copyright law moves forward
- In the media: Knowledge under fire
- Discussion report: Interface Admin policy proposal, part 2
- Arbitration report: A quiet month for Arbcom
- Technology report: Paying attention to your mobile
- Gallery: A pat on the back
- Recent research: How talk page use has changed since 2005; censorship shocks lead to centralization; is vandalism caused by workplace boredom?
- Humour: Signpost Crossword Puzzle
- Essay: Expressing thanks
Administrators' newsletter – October 2018
News and updates for administrators from the past month (September 2018).
- Justlettersandnumbers • L235
- Bgwhite • HorsePunchKid • J Greb • KillerChihuahua • Rami R • Winhunter
Interface administrator changes
- Cyberpower678 • Deryck Chan • Oshwah • Pharos • Ragesoss • Ritchie333
- Guerillero • NativeForeigner • Snowolf • Xeno
- Following a request for comment, the process for appointing interface administrators has been established. Currently only existing admins can request these rights, while a new RfC has begun on whether it should be available to non-admins.
- There is an open request for comment on Meta regarding the creation a new user group for global edit filter management.
- Partial blocks should be available for testing in October on the Test Wikipedia and the Beta-Cluster. This new feature allows admins to block users from editing specific pages and in the near-future, namespaces and uploading files. You can expect more updates and an invitation to help with testing once it is available.
- The Foundations' Anti-Harassment Tools team is currently looking for input on how to measure the effectiveness of blocks. This is in particular related to how they will measure the success of the aforementioned partial blocks.
- Because of a data centre test, you will be able to read but not edit the Wikimedia projects for up to an hour on 10 October. This will start at 14:00 (UTC). You might lose edits if you try to save during this time.
- The Arbitration Committee has, by motion, amended the procedure on functionary inactivity.
- The community consultation for 2018 CheckUser and Oversight appointments has concluded. Appointments will be made by October 11.
- Following a request for comment, the size of the Arbitration Committee will be decreased to 13 arbitrators, starting in 2019. Additionally, the minimum support percentage required to be appointed to a two-year term on ArbCom has been increased to 60%. ArbCom candidates who receive between 50% and 60% support will be appointed to one-year terms instead.
- Nominations for the 2018 Arbitration Committee Electoral Commission are being accepted until 12 October. These are the editors who help run the ArbCom election smoothly. If you are interested in volunteering for this role, please consider nominating yourself.
The Signpost: 28 October 2018
- From the editors: The Signpost is still afloat, just barely
- News and notes: WMF gets a million bucks
- In the media: Bans, celebs, and bias
- Discussion report: Mediation Committee and proposed deletion reform
- Traffic report: Unsurprisingly, sport leads the field – or the ring
- Technology report: Bots galore!
- Special report: NPP needs you
- Special report 2: Now Wikidata is six
- In focus: Alexa
- Gallery: Out of this world!
- Recent research: Wikimedia Commons worth $28.9 billion
- Humour: Talk page humour
- Opinion: Strickland incident
- From the archives: The Gardner Interview
Administrators' newsletter – November 2018
News and updates for administrators from the past month (October 2018).
- A request for comment determined that non-administrators will not be able to request interface admin access.
- A request for comment is in progress to determine whether the Mediation Committee should be closed and marked as historical.
- A village pump discussion has been ongoing about whether the proposed deletion policy (PROD) should be clarified or amended.
- A request for comment is in progress to determine whether pending changes protection should be applied automatically to today's featured article (TFA) in order to mitigate a recent trend of severe image vandalism.
- Partial blocks is now available for testing on the Test Wikipedia. The new functionality allows you to block users from editing specific pages. Bugs may exist and can be reported on the local talk page or on Meta. A discussion regarding deployment to English Wikipedia will be started by community liaisons sometime in the near future.
- A user script is now available to quickly review unblock requests.
- The 2019 Community Wishlist Survey is now accepting new proposals until November 11, 2018. The results of this survey will determine what software the Wikimedia Foundation's Community Tech team will work on next year. Voting on the proposals will take place from November 16 to November 30, 2018. Specifically, there is a proposal category for admins and stewards that may be of interest.
- Eligible editors will be invited to nominate themselves as candidates in the 2018 Arbitration Committee Elections starting on November 4 until November 13. Voting will begin on November 19 and last until December 2.
- The Arbitration Committee's email address has changed to arbcom-enwikimedia.org. Other email lists, such as functionaries-en and clerks-l, remain unchanged.
It's
very hard to be civil, in light of your last reply over this AfD but I'll try.WP:LISTN is a section of WP:N.And, WP:N states at the very top that it is a guideline.The section of LISTN has a hatnote to WP:STANDALONE which is also a guideline.Assuming that I have note gone batshit blind or insane, what on earth leads you to believe that it is a silly essay?∯WBGconverse 09:04, 4 November 2018 (UTC)
- Please let your nerves settle until you find it easy to be civil before you post on anyone’s talk page. On the AFD you linked to the somewhat insulting essay WP:ILIKEIT, but you piped it so it looked like you were linking to WP:LISTN. See [6] They are not the same thing. I assume this was not intentional, although your edit summary was “ILIKEIT” but an explanation would be greatly appreciated. Did you change your mind in mid-edit? Edison (talk) 20:34, 5 November 2018 (UTC)
ArbCom 2018 election voter message
Hello, Edison. Voting in the 2018 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23.59 on Sunday, 3 December. All users who registered an account before Sunday, 28 October 2018, made at least 150 mainspace edits before Thursday, 1 November 2018 and are not currently blocked are eligible to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.
The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.
If you wish to participate in the 2018 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:42, 19 November 2018 (UTC)
The Signpost: 1 December 2018
- From the editor: Time for a truce
- Special report: The Christmas wishlist
- Discussion report: Farewell, Mediation Committee
- Arbitration report: A long break ends
- Traffic report: Queen reigns for four weeks straight
- Gallery: Intersections
- From the archives: Ars longa, vita brevis