User talk:BethNaught/Archive 6
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Administrators' newsletter – March 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (February 2017).
Administrator changes
Amortias • Deckiller • BU Rob13
Ronnotel • Islander • Chamal N • Isomorphic • Keeper76 • Lord Voldemort • Shereth • Bdesham • Pjacobi
Guideline and policy news
- 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.
Technical news
- 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.
Removal of url on talk page entry
Hello, you removed the DailyMail url that I added to the talk page entry at User_talk:Jimbo_Wales#Another_unflattering_news_article. I'd like to readd it. Administrators are not supposed to act blindly. It is common sense that this url be kept there as the talk page entry is about it. Also the ban said "generally unreliable and its use as a reference is to be generally prohibited, especially when other more reliable sources exist" - it only says "generally prohibited" which means you and others should make use of common sense and it wasn't even used as a reference. Also it's a talk page and not an article.
--Fixuture (talk) 13:25, 4 March 2017 (UTC)
- WP:OUTING. You can't link to external pages containing other users' undisclosed personal information. BethNaught (talk) 13:30, 4 March 2017 (UTC)
Overview #2 of updates on Wikimedia movement strategy process
Note: Apologies for cross-posting and sending in English. This message is available for translation on Meta-Wiki.
As we mentioned last month, the Wikimedia movement is beginning a movement-wide strategy discussion, a process which will run throughout 2017. This movement strategy discussion will focus on the future of our movement: where we want to go together, and what we want to achieve.
Regular updates are being sent to the Wikimedia-l mailing list, and posted on Meta-Wiki. Each month, we are sending overviews of these updates to this page as well. Sign up to receive future announcements and monthly highlights of strategy updates on your user talk page.
Here is a overview of the updates that have been sent since our message last month:
- Update 7 on Wikimedia movement strategy process (16 February 2017)
- Development of documentation for Tracks A & B
- Update 8 on Wikimedia movement strategy process (24 February 2017)
- Introduction of Track Leads for all four audience tracks
- Update 9 on Wikimedia movement strategy process (2 March 2017)
- Seeking feedback on documents being used to help facilitate upcoming community discussions
More information about the movement strategy is available on the Meta-Wiki 2017 Wikimedia movement strategy portal.
Posted by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation, 19:42, 9 March 2017 (UTC) • Please help translate to other languages. • Get help
mozoon
I have created a new page for mozoon (Loyalty programme). Unfortunately You have been deleted. I am also new for wikipedia and my company was asked me to update the their new loyalty programme. I don't know even how this talk page work. Sorry if i did something wrong, Please kindly advise. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ablbaset (talk • contribs) 08:59, 12 March 2017 (UTC)
- It was deleted for being promotional—you wrote an advert rather than a neutral encyclopedia article. See WP:PROMO, WP:NPOV. Also Wikipedia has strict rules about conflict of interest editing, see WP:COI. If you are being paid to edit you must formally disclose this, such as on your user page, and you are strongly discouraged from editing or creating articles about your company or its products. BethNaught (talk) 22:10, 12 March 2017 (UTC)
Continued block evasion
Not sure who the master is but I know several incarnations of this user have been blocked/contribs deleted today, so you may be interested in this. CHRISSYMAD ❯❯❯¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 19:34, 16 March 2017 (UTC)
- @Chrissymad: thanks for reporting—the account has been blocked by another admin. For future reference the master is Nsmutte. BethNaught (talk) 20:28, 16 March 2017 (UTC)
- @BethNaught: yeah I realized that after this latest one. Silly vandals. CHRISSYMAD ❯❯❯¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 20:29, 16 March 2017 (UTC)
We invite you to join the movement strategy conversation (now through April 15)
- This message, "We invite you to join the movement strategy conversation (now through April 15)", was sent through multiple channels by Gregory Varnum on 15 and 16 of March 2017 to village pumps, affiliate talk pages, movement mailing lists, and MassMessage groups. A similar message was sent by Nicole Ebber to organized groups and their mailing lists on 15 of March 2017. This version of the message is available for translation and documentation purposes
Dear Wikimedians/Wikipedians:
Today we are starting a broad discussion to define Wikimedia's future role in the world and develop a collaborative strategy to fulfill that role. You are warmly invited to join the conversation.
There are many ways to participate, by joining an existing conversation or starting your own:
Track A (organized groups): Discussions with your affiliate, committee or other organized group (these are groups that support the Wikimedia movement).
Track B (individual contributors): On Meta or your local language or project wiki.
This is the first of three conversations, and it will run between now and April 15. The purpose of cycle 1 is to discuss the future of the movement and generate major themes around potential directions. What do we want to build or achieve together over the next 15 years?
We welcome you, as we create this conversation together, and look forward to broad and diverse participation from all parts of our movement.
- Find out more about the movement strategy process
- Learn more about volunteering to be a Discussion Coordinator
Sincerely,
Nicole Ebber (Track A Lead), Jaime Anstee (Track B Lead), & the engagement support teams05:02, 18 March 2017 (UTC)
Hi, fyi the lede & history section are also copyvio from the college website 'about us' page , and was added over a year ago by Sulthan90. perhaps you could do the necessary? tks--79.71.8.129 (talk) 04:26, 21 March 2017 (UTC)
- Done, thank you. BethNaught (talk) 07:04, 21 March 2017 (UTC)
Question about Nsmutte socks
Hi. I spend a lot of time at Afd had felt that User:PRIYAMHH was an Nsmutte sock, but wasn't sure enough to report it. Basically, any new user who goes straight to Afd, with a poorly worded rationale, is that what I should look for? There was no Bonedea tie-in here, from what I could see. Shawn in Montreal (talk) 19:08, 23 March 2017 (UTC)
- (talk page stalker) @Shawn in Montreal: Pretty much - there are a few other socks who do this too, like Atorres50 and they all share the same trait: unintelligible nonsense. CHRISSYMAD ❯❯❯¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 19:19, 23 March 2017 (UTC)
- If there is a user as you describe, and they have not done anything non-Nsmutte-y, there is a high chance it is Nsmutte. Like Chrissy says it's not always true, but if you get a hunch it's worth a report. BethNaught (talk) 19:28, 23 March 2017 (UTC)
- Okay, thanks. Will do. Shawn in Montreal (talk) 19:37, 23 March 2017 (UTC)
The heck?
Is this some kind of humorous/joke page? Boomer VialHolla! We gonna ball! 08:27, 24 March 2017 (UTC)
- Disregard. I did some more digging, to find out it was an April Fools Day joke. That did throw me through a loop, for a second. Boomer VialHolla! We gonna ball! 08:45, 24 March 2017 (UTC)
First draft
Since you seem to be technically able to offer a pretty comprehensive feasibility evaluation (which I certainly am not), I would be thankful for any input on this first draft for a counter proposal to that currently under discussion at Wikipedia talk:Protection policy. TimothyJosephWood 23:43, 28 March 2017 (UTC)
- Indeed I cannot. However I would note your current proposal suffers the same technical limitations (i.e. would require software development) as the original Protector proposal. If you want to get the attention of a real MediaWiki expert try asking at VPT. BethNaught (talk) 19:18, 29 March 2017 (UTC)
Done Thanks. TimothyJosephWood 19:29, 29 March 2017 (UTC)
Kenneth Levinson Deletion
I didn't have time to contest the deletion. Can you explain how this is promotional? Specifically, I wrote it from a neutral point of view. As the rules state, "Note: Any article that describes its subject from a neutral point of view does not qualify for this criterion." What wasn't neutral?
I'm a fellow lawyer and he's a notably accomplished trial attorney I think merits a page. Willeadie (talk) 01:04, 12 March 2017 (UTC)
- WP:DRV is thataway. I disagree that the page was written with a neutral point of view. You had multiple long quotes which praised Levinson or described his work from a positive rather than an encyclopaedic point of view. There was a long list of awards. The line about Solo Practice university is a little peice of trivia but you managed to get in several buzzwords of positivity. BethNaught (talk) 22:17, 12 March 2017 (UTC)
Help me understand. Awards are a good thing. A list of awards someone won is a fact. You can describe that neutrally--by listing them, for example--but is that not neutral because awards are good? That's pretty circular.
Anyway, I'm happy to rework it. Can you provide it back to me and I'll add it to the sandbox and get feedback? Any initial suggestions for improvement?
Thanks in advance!
Best,
Will
Willeadie (talk) 00:48, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
Bump.
At least need the content back to start over in the sandbox. Willeadie (talk) 03:51, 23 March 2017 (UTC)
- The page history has been moved to User:Willeadie/Kenneth Levinson. BethNaught (talk) 17:32, 23 March 2017 (UTC)
So I'm probably being stupid, but clicking on the link doesn't show the original content. Any help appreciated. Willeadie (talk) 03:41, 31 March 2017 (UTC)
- Click on the view history tab to select from the old versions. BethNaught (talk) 06:35, 31 March 2017 (UTC)
Ooh
Thanks for this! I didn't know that template existed. --bonadea contributions talk 11:50, 30 March 2017 (UTC)
- Related: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/user:Bonad, User:KGgold. ansh666 03:59, 1 April 2017 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – April 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (March 2017).
Administrator changes
- TheDJ
- Xnuala • CJ • Oldelpaso • Berean Hunter • Jimbo Wales • Andrew c • Karanacs • Modemac • Scott
Guideline and policy news
- 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.
Technical news
- 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.
The Admin Barnstar!
The Admin Barnstar
|
The Admin's Barnstar | |
| With genuine respect and real admiration for your actions and comments in closing the Winkelvi block appeal. Your actions, explanation and comments to all involved, were thoughtful, respectful, well-measured and well-expressed. Succinct, Socratic and superb. Your work very likely went a long way in diffusing that tricky situation - for at least a while. Very well done, indeed. Admin-ing at its best! Thank you! X4n6 (talk) 01:26, 16 April 2017 (UTC) |
Unprotection request
A few months ago I asked for User talk:Sro23/unconfirmed to be semi-protected indef. Recently I've changed my mind, however, and would like to give it one last try. Could you please remove protection? Sro23 (talk) 16:47, 30 April 2017 (UTC)
- @Sro23: I've done so. --NeilN talk to me 17:04, 30 April 2017 (UTC)
- @NeilN: Thank you. Sro23 (talk) 17:07, 30 April 2017 (UTC)
The sock I reverted earlier...
...from your ANI request has returned. Hopefully you can take care of it. I have to get on the road for now. Happy editing! Scr★pIronIV 21:39, 1 May 2017 (UTC)
- I see you got to it by now, thank you. BethNaught (talk) 07:30, 2 May 2017 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – May 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (April 2017).
Administrator changes
- Karanacs • Berean Hunter • GoldenRing • Dlohcierekim
- Gdr • Tyrenius • JYolkowski • Longhair • Master Thief Garrett • Aaron Brenneman • Laser brain • JzG • Dragons flight
Guideline and policy news
- 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.
Technical news
- 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)
Miscellaneous
- 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.
Okay Hear me out please
I used to edit Wikipedia pages with and without logging in, on my IP address and on this account. Today I am on my IP and I try to look at the source of an article and I found I out i was banned till 17:25, 17 June 2017. I am apparently 107.77.200.0/24. For "long term abuse", the link provided sent me to a page on Ninja Robot Pirate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:NinjaRobotPirate/Animation_hoaxer#Copycat Where I found my IP address under IPv6 Drop down box. It seems I was banned since December by you. I did not do any animation hoaxing. Can you provide the page that I was banned on. So I can read the history and see it. I also made a ban appeal. I am currently the only active ban on the list on NinjaRobotPirate Page.— Preceding unsigned comment added by Valletpeter (talk • contribs)
- The IP address range you are using is cuurently blocked because a troll has been adding fake information to various articles about films. If you are not this troll (and I see no evidence to suggest you are) then the sanctions are not against you and you are free to edit while logged in to your account, as you have done today. BethNaught (talk) 08:09, 6 May 2017 (UTC)
The Wikimedia movement strategy core team and working groups have completed reviewing the more than 1800 thematic statements we received from the first discussion. They have identified 5 themes that were consistent across all the conversations - each with their own set of sub-themes. These are not the final themes, just an initial working draft of the core concepts.
You are invited to join the online and offline discussions taking place on these 5 themes. This round of discussions will take place between now and June 12th. You can discuss as many as you like; we ask you to participate in the ones that are most (or least) important to you.
Here are the five themes, each has a page on Meta-Wiki with more information about the theme and how to participate in that theme's discussion:
- Healthy, Inclusive Communities
- The Augmented Age
- A Truly Global Movement
- The Most Respected Source of Knowledge
- Engaging in the Knowledge Ecosystem
On the movement strategy portal on Meta-Wiki, you can find more information about each of these themes, their discussions, and how to participate.
Posted by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation • Please help translate to other languages. • Get help19:30, 16 May 2017 (UTC)
Wahooo! Water Park Bahrain
Hello, this is a gentle request to restore Wahooo! Water Park Bahrain page to Draft space. Please let me know, if this is possible. Roses23 (talk) 06:16, 21 May 2017 (UTC)
- No, I won't. It was clearly promotional and such pages should not exist anywhere on Wikipedia. You may start from scratch if you wish to write a neutral article. BethNaught (talk) 07:08, 21 May 2017 (UTC)
Invitation to test the Echo notification blacklist
Hello BethNaught, The Echo notifications blacklist feature is ready for testing and we'd like your help 1) to test that the feature works as expected & 2) to verify that our documentation is accurate before we invite the larger Wikimedia community to test and provide feedback. Instructions about the feature are found on the meta page. It's available for testing on beta Wikipedia, which requires a separate account from production. It should be easy to test by using a sock or by buddying up. If you find any bugs, either write on the Phab ticket T150419 or email me directly. Feel free to edit the meta page as you see fit. Thank you, and happy testing!
Links-
For Anti-harassment tool team- SPoore (WMF) (talk) , Community Advocate, Community health initiative (talk) 20:49, 26 May 2017 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – June 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (May 2017).
Administrator changes
- Doug Bell • Dennis Brown • Clpo13 • ONUnicorn
- ThaddeusB • Yandman • Bjarki S • OldakQuill • Shyam • Jondel • Worm That Turned
Guideline and policy news
- 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.
Technical news
- Users will soon be able to blacklist specific users from sending them notifications.
Miscellaneous
- 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
Survey Invite
I'm working on a study of political motivations and how they effect editing. I'd like to ask you to take a survey. The survey should take 5 minutes. Your survey responses will be kept private. Our project is documented at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Wikipedia_%2B_Politics.
I am asking you to participate in this study because you are a frequent editor of pages on Wikipedia that are of political interest. We would like to learn about your experiences in dealing with editors of different political orientations.
Sincere thanks for your help! Porteclefs (talk) 21:24, 22 June 2017 (UTC)
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
Administrators' newsletter – July 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2017).
Administrator changes
Guideline and policy news
- 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.
Technical news
- 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=1to 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
Miscellaneous
- 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).
Administrator changes
- Anarchyte • GeneralizationsAreBad • Cullen328 (first RfA to reach WP:300)
- Cprompt • Rockpocket • Rambo's Revenge • Animum • TexasAndroid • Chuck SMITH • MikeLynch • Crazytales • Ad Orientem
Guideline and policy news
- 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.
Technical news
- 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.
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
You've got mail!
Message added 14:38, 9 August 2017 (UTC). It may take a few minutes from the time the email is sent for it to show up in your inbox. You can at any time by removing the {{You've got mail}} or {{ygm}} template.
—MRD2014 Talk • Edits • Help! 14:38, 9 August 2017 (UTC)
Revoke TPA
Please revoke the talk page access of User talk:Shabihabbas110, the self promo continues. – Train2104 (t • c) 19:02, 13 August 2017 (UTC)
- Done BethNaught (talk) 18:48, 14 August 2017 (UTC)
Deleted file
Hi BethNaught. I was wondering if you could provide an explanation (as deleting admin) to why File:Pink Beautiful Trauma.png was deleted. It was uploaded earlier than Livelikemusic did (19:05, 10 August 2017), which can be proved by the time I added the image to the corresponding article (16:54, 10 August 2017)? It was of the same resolution as File:PINK - Beautiful Trauma (Official Album Cover).png as far as I can remember. The file was left unused because it was replaced on the article by another file that was uploaded after the initial one. Thus, it appears to me that F1 does not apply. Please tell me if I got anything wrong. Hayman30 (talk) 14:46, 22 August 2017 (UTC)
- It doesn't matter for F1 about when the files were uploaded, is the short answer. If you're unhappy about Livelikemusic having one-upped you on this image, I can't explain their actions. BethNaught (talk) 20:58, 22 August 2017 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – September 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (August 2017).
Administrator changes
- Nakon • Scott
- Sverdrup • Thespian • Elockid • James086 • Ffirehorse • Celestianpower • Boing! said Zebedee
Guideline and policy news
- 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.
Technical news
- 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.
Arbitration
- 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
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) 20:56, 14 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).
Administrator changes
- Boing! said Zebedee • Ansh666 • Ad Orientem
- Tonywalton • AmiDaniel • Silence • BanyanTree • Magioladitis • Vanamonde93 • Mr.Z-man • Jdavidb • Jakec • Ram-Man • Yelyos • Kurt Shaped Box
Guideline and policy news
- 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.
Technical news
- 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.
Arbitration
- 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.
Help design a new feature to stop harassing emails
Hi there,
The Anti-Harassment Tools team plans to start develop of a new feature to allow users to restrict emails from new accounts. This feature will allow an individual user to stop harassing emails from coming through the Special:EmailUser system from abusive sockpuppeting accounts.
We’re inviting you to join the discussion because you voted or commented in the 2016 Community Wishlist discussion or IdeaLab discussion about letting users restrict who can send them email.
You can leave comments on this discussion page or send an email to the Anti-Harassment Tools team.
It is important to hear from a broad range of people who are interested in the design of the tool, so we hope you join the discussion.
For the Anti-Harassment Tools team SPoore (WMF), Community Advocate, Community health initiative (talk) 21:48, 11 October 2017 (UTC)
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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
We now have per-filter performance tracking available to those who have access to Logstash. In the report, it showed filter 755 was regularly slowing down editing by nearly a second for some users. I noticed it isn't tripped very often, so I don't think the expense is worth it in this case. I've disabled the filter for now, but if you need help cleaning it up and reducing condition count, etc., just let me know :) Best — MusikAnimal talk 19:58, 25 October 2017 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – November 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (October 2017).
Administrator changes
- Longhair • Megalibrarygirl • TonyBallioni • Vanamonde93
- Allen3 • Eluchil404 • Arthur Rubin • Bencherlite
Technical news
- 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.
Arbitration
- 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.
Obituaries
- 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.
Happy Thanksgiving
|
Happy Thanksgiving |
| A little early, but still...
Wishing you a day of celebration, relaxation, and happiness. If you don't celebrate, pass this on to someone who does! -- WV ● ✉ ✓ 01:12, 21 November 2017 (UTC) |
Special:AbuseFilter/755
I've had to disable this again. The most recent hits on the Grafana dashboard show this is sometimes crazy crazy slow (over 30 seconds!). The per-filter stats within the interface were recently re-added, so you can see that recent runtimes are acceptable (I don't think it's an average, despite what it says), but it's those few times where the conditions are right that it gets really slow.
I don't really know what's wrong. I tried to make some modifications to help, but apparently that didn't do the trick. I'm guessing the big issue involves reducing maximum condition count and avoiding running regex on big variables like old_wikitext. Use removed_lines instead, if possible. Other tactics: If you want to use rlike but the regex is just plain text, you should be using contains, contains_any, etc. Same with irlike. If it is plain text but case-insensitive, try first using lcase then using contains. Going by the timestamps I see in Grafana, users are getting slowed down by the filter, but not actually triggering it (because I don't see a log entry for the same timestamp). This suggests perhaps there is a way to reorder the conditions so that things that are most likely to evaluate to false come first. You might be able to combine some of the conditions, too.
Overall you may have to rethink this filter entirely. In general I don't think there should be pages of separate conditions. Please also note this filter is rarely hit (relatively speaking) but affects everyone who edits. — MusikAnimal talk 17:44, 22 November 2017 (UTC)
- See also Special:AbuseFilter/884 which I think it for the same purpose. We had issues with that filter being slow too, so now I think I know why. See my comment in the Notes. — MusikAnimal talk 18:11, 22 November 2017 (UTC)
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
ArbCom 2017 election voter message
Hello, BethNaught. 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)
ANI Experiences survey
The Wikimedia Foundation Community health initiative (led by the Safety and Support and Anti-Harassment Tools team) is conducting a survey for en.wikipedia contributors on their experience and satisfaction level with the Administrator’s Noticeboard/Incidents. This survey will be integral to gathering information about how this noticeboard works - which problems it deals with well, and which problems it struggles with.
The survey should take 10-20 minutes to answer, and your individual responses will not be made public. The survey is delivered through Google Forms. The privacy policy for the survey describes how and when Wikimedia collects, uses, and shares the information we receive from survey participants and can be found here:
If you would like to take this survey, please sign up on this page, and a link for the survey will be mailed to you via Special:Emailuser.
Please be aware this survey will close Friday, Dec. 8 at 23:00 UTC.
Thank you on behalf of the Support & Safety and Anti-Harassment Tools Teams, Patrick Earley (WMF) talk 21:14, 6 December 2017 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – December 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2017).
Administrator changes
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Guideline and policy news
- 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.
Technical news
- 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.
Arbitration
- 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.
Miscellaneous
- 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.
Suggestion From Your's Truly
Please pardon me if I put this in the wrong spot, but I would like to inform you of a user that has been constantly vandalizing pages, but has not been caught (since the Wikipedia bot reverted all of his "possible vandalism" edits). His IP address is 64.45.204.127. His latest edit was on the walking catfish page, where he deleted all of the article and replaced it with "suck it" Thank you... DoctorSpeed (talk) 19:12, 13 December 2017 (UTC)
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
You may wish to revoke talk page access.--Cahk (talk) 08:36, 20 December 2017 (UTC)
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Hello BethNaught: Enjoy the holiday season, and thanks for your work to maintain, improve and expand Wikipedia. Cheers, -- ψλ ● ✉ ✓ 16:17, 21 December 2017 (UTC)
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- Spread the WikiLove; use {{subst:Season's Greetings1}} to send this message
Merry Christmas!
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Merry Christmas BethNaught!!
Hi BethNaught, I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year,
Thanks for all your help and contributions on the 'pedia! 
,
–Davey2010 Merry Xmas / Happy New Year 13:21, 23 December 2017 (UTC)
Merry Christmas!
Hello BethNaught: Enjoy the holiday season, and thanks for your work to maintain, improve and expand Wikipedia. Cheers, —MRD2014 Merry Christmas! 01:44, 25 December 2017 (UTC)
- Spread the WikiLove; use {{subst:Season's Greetings1}} to send this message
73.110.38.97
Please block user:73.110.38.97. She is not stopping despite being reported. CLCStudent (talk) 17:14, 25 December 2017 (UTC)
- Done 🎄BethNaught (talk)🎄 17:16, 25 December 2017 (UTC)
- She is back as user:73.110.33.47. CLCStudent (talk) 17:27, 25 December 2017 (UTC)
- IP blocked and page protected. 🎄BethNaught (talk)🎄 17:29, 25 December 2017 (UTC)
Happy New Year, BethNaught!
BethNaught,
Have a prosperous, productive and enjoyable New Year, and thanks for your contributions to Wikipedia.
-- ψλ ● ✉ ✓ 23:34, 29 December 2017 (UTC)
Send New Year cheer by adding {{subst:Happy New Year fireworks}} to user talk pages.
Administrators' newsletter – January 2018
News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2017).
Administrator changes
- Muboshgu
Anetode • Laser brain • Worm That Turned- None
Bureaucrat changes
Guideline and policy news
- 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.
Technical news
- 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.
Arbitration
- 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.
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).
Administrator changes
- None
- Blurpeace • Dana boomer • Deltabeignet • Denelson83 • Grandiose • Salvidrim! • Ymblanter
Guideline and policy news
- 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.
Technical news
- 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.
Arbitration
- 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
Four years of editing
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Hey, BethNaught. I'd like to wish you a wonderful First Edit Day on behalf of the Wikipedia Birthday Committee! Have a great day! Chris Troutman (talk) 07:17, 17 February 2018 (UTC) |
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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
Administrators' newsletter – March 2018
News and updates for administrators from the past month (February 2018).
Administrator changes
- 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.
Guideline and policy news
- 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.
Technical news
- 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_allthat edit filter managers may use to check if one or more strings are all contained in another given string.
Miscellaneous
- Following the 2018 Steward elections, the following users are our new stewards: -revi, Green Giant, Rxy, There'sNoTime, علاء.
Obituaries
- 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.
AIV
Hi Beth, can you take a look at WP:AIV - there's a bit of a backlog. -KH-1 (talk) 09:12, 17 March 2018 (UTC)