Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard

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For urgent incidents and chronic, intractable behavioral problems, use Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents. If you are new, try the Wikipedia:Teahouse instead. Do not report breaches of personal information on this highly visible page – instead use Wikipedia:Requests for oversight. For administrative backlogs add {{Admin backlog}} to the backlogged page; post here only if urgent. Do not post requests for page protection, deletion requests, or block requests here. Just want an admin? Contact a recently active admin directly. If opening a close appeal, use {{RfC closure review}} When you start a discussion about an editor, you must leave a notice on their talk page. Pinging is not enough. You may use {{subst:AN-notice}} ~~~~ to do so. Sections inactive for over seven days are archived by Lowercase sigmabot III.(archives, search) Start a new discussion

Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Main Page features

Would admins close the various proposals at Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Main Page features? Started on 14 July 2011, the discussion has occurred for over 30 days. RFC bot (talk · contribs) removed the expired RfC template on 13 August 2011.

Perhaps admins can use Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)/Account security as a template for closure. Admins close the different proposals on the page with summaries of the consensuses, and when the all the discussions have been closed, the entire RfC is closed with an archive template. Cunard (talk) 09:30, 24 August 2011 (UTC)

Future timestamp to prevent archiving. Cunard (talk) 23:59, 25 August 2012 (UTC)

Thank you, MER-C (talk · contribs), for closing many of the proposals. Many of them remain open. Cunard (talk) 23:14, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)#RFC on the bot-addition of identifier links to citations and Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers#Proposal: date formats in reference sections

Would an admin (or admins) close Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)#RFC on the bot-addition of identifier links to citations and Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers#Proposal: date formats in reference sections? Both discussions are listed at Template:Centralized discussion. The first one is a stale discussion, having not received any comments since 22 August 2011. The second discussion has lasted for over 30 days.

If either of the RfCs result in "no consensus", a closure like that in Wikipedia:Naming conventions (use English)/Diacritics RfC, where the opposing arguments are summarized, will be helpful to the participants. Thank you, Cunard (talk) 08:34, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

Future timestamp to prevent archiving. Cunard (talk) 23:59, 7 September 2012 (UTC)

Backlog at WP:SFD

Can some admins please come and help out at Wikipedia:Stub types for deletion? The backlog there is out of controll again. עוד מישהו Od Mishehu 08:30, 14 September 2011 (UTC)

Future timestamp to prevent archiving. Cunard (talk) 23:59, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

Would admins close the following SfD discussions:

1. Wikipedia:Stub types for deletion/Log/2011/August/6#Cricket-admin-stub - already handled
2. Wikipedia:Stub types for deletion/Log/2011/August/11#Czech-*-stub templates
3. Wikipedia:Stub types for deletion/Log/2011/August/11#Category:Northern Ireland election stubs/Template:NI-election-stub
4. Wikipedia:Stub types for deletion/Log/2011/August/18#Rail -> Rail transport
5. Wikipedia:Stub types for deletion/Log/2011/August/20#Retail companies
6. Wikipedia:Stub types for deletion/Log/2011/August/21#Template:US-transport-company-stub
7. Wikipedia:Stub types for deletion/Log/2011/August/28 - already handled
8. Wikipedia:Stub types for deletion/Log/2011/September/2 - already handled
9. Wikipedia:Stub types for deletion/Log/2011/September/6 - already handled
10. Wikipedia:Stub types for deletion/Log/2011/September/8#Madagascar province categories - already handled
11. Wikipedia:Stub types for deletion/Log/2011/September/8#Old German district categories - already handled

Thank you, Cunard (talk) 10:23, 17 September 2011 (UTC)

Proposed topic ban of Jespah

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section. A summary of the conclusions reached follows.

Jespah (talk · contribs) is indefinitely prohibited from editing or discussing the articles John Prendergast, Unlikely Brothers, Satellite Sentinel Project, Enough Project, Not On Our Watch, and The Enough Moment. Jespah is also prohibited from editing or discussing articles insofar as the edits or discussions concern John Prendergast, Unlikely Brothers, Satellite Sentinel Project, Enough Project, Not On Our Watch or The Enough Moment.

Jespah's 24 September comment is noted. The best way to have this topic ban lifted -- "indefinite" does not mean "permanent" -- would be to edit collaboratively and in accordance with site policies on articles in other topic areas. --Mkativerata (talk) 07:24, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

---

I propose a topic ban on the user Jespah (talk · contribs) per this report which was written solely by me, an uninvolved party. The report is large as I try to be as thorough as possible about these sorts of things. I ask that the report not be altered and that any new discussion take place here.

The report concludes: Jespah has been editing since December of 2008 and, as of this post, 98.1% of her 1121 non-deleted mainspace edits (I can't see the deleted ones) have been made on 7 articles. These 7 articles are John Prendergast, Unlikely Brothers, Satellite Sentinel Project, Enough Project Lisa Shannon, Not On Our Watch, The Enough Moment and are either about organizations or people who do humanitarian work in Africa. Of the other 1.9% of her edits, all of the 21 edits are in regards to humanitarian work in Africa and/or the subjects covered in the top 98.1% of her edits. In short, I see not one single non-deleted mainspace edit that doesn't have to do with humanitarian work in Africa. While this isn't an issue by itself, when paired with Jespah's ownership issues, strong personal interest in these subjects, POV pushing, and extreme lack of ability or willingness to work with other editors to improve her editing patterns, it currently makes her a detriment to WP. Not only is she directly a detriment to the content of WP, she has tied up several other editors for an excessive amount of time which effectively impedes their ability to improve the project in other areas let alone the stress it causes them. I can only speculate on their stress; I'll refrain so that those editors speak for themselves.

I propose that Jespah be banned from editing the articles John Prendergast, Unlikely Brothers, Satellite Sentinel Project, Enough Project, Not On Our Watch, and The Enough Moment as well adding information about those topics to other articles. I'm not overly confident in this scope and ask that we use it as a starting point with the goal of allowing Jespah to edit subjects in which she is not so personally invested. I started with what amounts to humanitarianism in Africa but I feel that it's far too broad.

This is the first time I've ever proposed a topic ban so please let me know if I've missed anything. OlYeller^Talktome 17:50, 19 September 2011 (UTC)

• Note - we might want to include a prohibition on the creation of new articles related to this topic. The Interior (Talk) 23:39, 20 September 2011 (UTC)

Ol Yeller lays the case very well. I do think we've reached the end of the trail for this user. There is a continued inability to acknowledge the issue or effectively change the behavior. I think part of the issue is Jespah's belief that this is an incredibly worthy cause, it causes her to be unable to view the issues from an encyclopedic perspective. I support the limited topic ban proposed and hope that Jespah can try her hand at other areas and possibly come back to these topics in the future when she has gained a better understanding of encyclopedic goals. --Daniel 18:36, 19 September 2011 (UTC)

I concur with the proposed topic ban. (I am, for the record, an involved party.) OlYeller has pulled together a lot of material in admirable fashion. The matter does, however, have a fairly voluminous history and any editor who is interested in going beyond OlYeller's report will find what I *think* is a comprehensive set of pertinent Talk page and other links on the Talk page of the report. JohnInDC (talk) 18:44, 19 September 2011 (UTC)

informational only - the deleted contributions from this editor match the pattern described. Many of them are image files created by this editor (supposedly as own work) and depict John Prendergast, who is inevitably first-named as merely "John" in an intimate/casual fashion. There's also a dead article on yet another organization working in the same field and for the same worthy cause. --Orange Mike | Talk 20:13, 19 September 2011 (UTC)

• Endorse topic ban, this looks very much like vanispamcruftisement but given the subject I suppose we should write it off to mistaken crusading zeal. Whatever, it needs to stop. Guy (Help!) 21:45, 19 September 2011 (UTC)
• It's been a year since I first crossed paths with this editor, and, I'll admit, I'm a bit sad that it has come to this. I had really hoped that this editor would "see the light" and realize that Enough and Prendergast could have nice, informative Wikipedia pages that conformed to policy. But that is not the case.

Jespah has insisted that Enough's press be hosted on Wikipedia pages, and sees no reason why it should not be. She has shown little interest in finding any other sourcing, and in fact sees the group's PR as perfectly neutral and reliable. No amount of discussion has made any difference. So, in the interests of moving on, I reluctantly support a topic ban as described above. (and thank you to Ol'Yeller, who has put a lot of time into his report.) The Interior (Talk) 01:11, 20 September 2011 (UTC)

• Support topic ban. I have followed the issue for six months after seeing a report on a noticeboard, and have reluctantly concluded that Jespah will never accept advice on how articles should be written (NPOV, RS), and will never avoid an opportunity to embellish one of these articles to promote the Good Cause. It's a difficult case because the user is civil and I don't recall seeing a single edit that stands out as a clear problem (although some copyvio claims were made here). The issue concerns relentless advocacy for the particular group—advocacy that results in considerable wasted time as other editors attempt to clean up. Johnuniq (talk) 08:32, 20 September 2011 (UTC)
• I would point out that if you're going to topic ban a user from editing the only articles they edit, then that's pretty much tantamount to banning them entirely. fish&karate 08:44, 20 September 2011 (UTC)

No it isn't - because like any wikipedian, they can leave their personal crusades at the door and pitch in to help with *our* goals. If they don't want to do that, then they effectively exclude themselves and frankly it's no great loss. --Cameron Scott (talk) 09:18, 20 September 2011 (UTC)

• Endorse topic ban - In one respect, I admire this editor for their tireless work on behalf of their cause. However, this isn't the place for it. --Cameron Scott (talk) 09:19, 20 September 2011 (UTC)
• Endorse. I do believe it is worth assuming good faith here, but the user evidently is at best an enthusiastic proponent somewhat lacking in judgement and detachment when editing with a tenacious intent to force inclusion of these organisations' promotion. The user, a single-purpose editor, is evidently hell-bent on support for a noble cause but lacks understanding of how this attitude is inappropriate for Wikipedia. Sad, indeed, due to the article diaspora here, but true. --Tristessa (talk) 17:04, 20 September 2011 (UTC)

• Question - Is there any need to alter the proposed scope of the topic ban? I worry that another organization may pop up and immediately fall outside of the topic ban and the issue may persist. Perhaps that's a problem to deal with if it actually occurs. Also, are there any other areas that we can request that editors review the situation? I think a review of the situation by as many editors as possible would benefit everyone. OlYeller^Talktome 15:28, 22 September 2011 (UTC)

Well - further up, TheInterior suggested that in addition to the 7 existing articles (or whatever the figure is), plus inserting them or referring to them in other articles, the ban could include the creation of new articles in the subject area. That would solve the problem you've described, though it does leave us with the issue of how to describe the articles that can't be created. "Humanitarian or human rights organizations relating to Africa"? It's hard - we don't want to be too broad but we also don't want to just push the problem (potentially) into a closely-related area that the language doesn't technically cover. On the other hand, if the problem re-emerges, I would think that expanding this ban could be accomplished fairly expediently. JohnInDC (talk) 17:10, 22 September 2011 (UTC)

I was thinking about limiting new article creation of orgs./people/books that are directly related to Prendergast/Enough. There could be some confusion and time wasted for Jespah if she puts together a big new article for Enough's latest initiative. The Interior (Talk) 02:28, 23 September 2011 (UTC)

• Endorse - I've tried many times to work with Jespah in the past. I believe that Jespah has good intentions. But I also think that she just cannot accept that it's not okay to promote worthy causes on Wikipedia. She seems to me to be a perfectly competent editor and I hope that in other topic areas she can prove to be more productive. -- Atama頭 20:54, 22 September 2011 (UTC)

I apologize for taking so long to respond and thank you all for the time and thought you have put into editing my work and considering what to do. As I think I said somewhere, I looked at Encyclopedia Britannica online and didn't find any differences in what they post and what I have posted. I am sorry that I seem to have a block, as I just don't get it, which isn't to say that I don't want to understand, as I truly do. If you feel you can give me another shot at this, I will be very appreciative and also will understand if you decide against that. --Jespah 02:42, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents#RfC on adding future fights to fight record table

A request at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents#RfC on adding future fights to fight record table by Fayerman (talk · contribs) has been unanswered. Would an admin assess the consensus at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Mixed martial arts#Adding fights to records months in advance? Thanks, Cunard (talk) 22:51, 23 September 2011 (UTC)

I was about to have a crack at this, but noticed this other recently closed straw poll. Perhaps someone from the project can explain what is going on here. --Mkativerata (talk) 22:32, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard#Proposed topic ban of Jespah

Also, would an admin close Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard#Proposed topic ban of Jespah and log the editing restriction at Wikipedia:Editing restrictions#Placed by the Wikipedia community? Thanks, Cunard (talk) 22:51, 23 September 2011 (UTC)

Done. --Mkativerata (talk) 07:32, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

Thank you, Mkativerata. Cunard (talk) 07:52, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

Notification of RFC on the proper scope of WP:BLPPROD

I have started an RFC at Wikipedia_talk:Proposed_deletion_of_biographies_of_living_people#Nominating_articles_with_unreliable_sources_for_BLPPROD asking if the BLPPROD policy should allow nomination of articles that contain only unreliable sources. Due to the ongoing failure of RFC bot to list this RFC on the appropriate pages, (Policy and Bio) I am posting a notice here to request additional comments. Monty₈₄₅ 14:30, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

Help closing or relisting a TFD?

Could someone close or relist this TFD? I would, but it looks like I !voted on it. If you would like to close it, but aren't sure what to do after closing it, just ping me. If that one is closed by the time you read this, then you can always close another one (there is still quite a bit of backlog). Thanks! Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 17:30, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

Review of block

NoHounding reported Izadso to WP:AIV due to the edits the latter editor made on Theodor Lessing. At the beginning I thought it was just a very bad case of edit warring and protected the article; after checking Izadso's edits more closely, however, I saw that almost every recent edit of theirs was an unexplained undo of one of NoHounding's and, therefore, I unprotected the page and indefinitely blocked Izadso for harassment, instead. Review is welcome (feel free to unblock, tweak the block settings and so on). Cheers. Salvio ^{Let's talk about it!} 19:27, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

Hmm. Have you checked why that user is called "NoHounding"? Sounds like there might be some backstory. Fut.Perf. ☼ 19:47, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

"NoHounding"'s very first edit was in fact a revert of an edit of Izadso [1]. So, who has been hounding who here? Fut.Perf. ☼ 19:49, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

I hadn't seen that! I blocked Izadso because this whole thing was incredibly disruptive and he was the one blindly reverting NoHounding. If it turns out that it was the latter who was hounding the former, I have no objections to blocking NoHounding or both... Salvio ^{Let's talk about it!} 19:59, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

If I'm correctly reading the contribution histories of both editors, it appears that User:NoHounding is spamming a reference to an essay across dozens of articles, and User:Izadso is removing them. A block is appropriate for the obvious edit-warring but I think we need to take a look at what User:NoHounding is up to as well. Why aren't they blocked for the edit-warring on Theodor Lessing? 20 of their last 21 edits are to re-insert this essay into the article. 28bytes (talk) 19:52, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

And before these two accounts were edit-warring about the spam links, other pairs of accounts were doing the same: HaTikwa (talk · contribs) vs. Susori (talk · contribs), e.g. on the Felix Salten article in July. These hounds are wearing woolen footwear. Fut.Perf. ☼ 19:56, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

@28bytes: Because I, apparently naively, perceived NoHounding as the victim... As I've said above, I have no objections to blocking them. Salvio ^{Let's talk about it!} 19:59, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

I note that User:Michael Kühntopf, who appears to have written the essay that "NoHounding" is reinsterting, is using the exact same edit summary as NoHounding to participate in the edit war on Theodor Lessing. Perhaps User:Michael Kühntopf is unaware of our policies on undisclosed alternate accounts? 28bytes (talk) 19:59, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

See interesting thread at User talk:HelloAnnyong#New HaTikwa sockpuppet, and related case at de:Wikipedia:Benutzersperrung/Michael Kühntopf. Definitely two persistent sock drawers fighting a feud, one of them apparently a COI spammer. Don't think either of them is "unaware" of our policies. Fut.Perf. ☼ 20:05, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

I've indeffed HaTikwa (talk · contribs) and NoHounding (talk · contribs) (the two spam-inserting accounts, evidently related to the author of the spam links, who apparently was in trouble over at de-wiki too). Fut.Perf. ☼ 20:09, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

Thanks to both of you for your time & review! Should we also indef Susori? I'd say so... Salvio ^{Let's talk about it!} 20:14, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

My inclination at this point would be to indef the lot of them, but we may need CheckUser assistance to determine who "the lot of them" are. At the least it would be helpful to get a list of accounts and IPs that have been adding this essay to articles. What to do about User:Michael Kühntopf? 28bytes (talk) 20:16, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

He was also using the exact same edit summaries as the other socks, so he is almost certainly the sockmaster. Some of the background, as far as I got it from de-wiki: M.K. is an author of various published works on Jewish history, but he got in trouble over at de-wiki because apparently in some of his published work he had plagiarised Wikipedia texts. Ouch. Some of the links they were edit-warring over were references to just those publications. That means removing the refs was in principle justified, because the plagiarism background disqualifies them as reliable sources (though that may not be necessarily true for all his works). Fut.Perf. ☼ 20:21, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

There's a very very lengthy backstory here and here's the part I know. Basically, some academic named Michael Kühntopf (and possibly a small group of his associates) has been spamming every Wikipedia project by references to his obscure books and creating articles about the guy. The articles have been deleted at times and in particular Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Michael Kühntopf is instructive. This spamming even resulted in a thread on meta. discussion on meta block on de.wiki Here on the en.wiki, the battle is being fought through sockpuppets (see Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/HaTikwa/Archive). There are also single purpose accounts working against Kühntopf such as Izadso (talk · contribs) and Susori (talk · contribs). Mr. Kühntopf has made it clear that he know who this person is though I emphatically discourage anyone from caring. All accounts on both sides need to be blocked indefinitely and the individuals behind them need to be directed to a new hobby. I also believe that references to Kühntopf's work should be removed until someone can make a cogent case on a talk page regarding the value of such a reference in a given article. I know this is not the traditional approach but the spam has got to stop and as I recently noted [2] the circulation for Kühntopf's books it too low to be of any practical value, especially since the books are usually included not as citations but as general references. Pointing Wikipedia readers to a book that is only held by two state libraries doesn't make much sense and it's also difficult for other editors to verify the relevance of the book. Pichpich (talk) 20:20, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the background. I've requested a checkuser on the Kühntopf account, to be on the safe side. Fut.Perf. ☼ 07:19, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Good idea. 28bytes (talk) 07:27, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Update: Michael Kühntopf (talk · contribs) has been confirmed as part of the sock ring by checkuser and has been blocked together with other socks. Izadso (talk · contribs) has been offered a conditional unblock by Salvio, in light of what is apparently a background as a legitimate account on de-wiki. Seems we're mostly done here. Fut.Perf. ☼ 14:37, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Merger of Isdud into Ashdod

Merge proposal of Isdud into Ashdod requires the attention of an uninvolved administrator to close a week-long discussion. Thank you.Greyshark09 (talk) 20:03, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

Another merger requires an uninvolved party

Merge proposal regarding "2005 Ahvaz unrest" requires the attention of an uninvolved administrator to close an outdated discussion. Thank you.Greyshark09 (talk) 20:15, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

Administrator needed in closing unanimous requested move

Could an admin please close the multi-requested move at Talk:2005 Qur'an desecration controversy#Move?. The debate has been open since September 11 and everyone who has commented has agreed with the proposal. The move calls the the uniform rename of an entire category of articles, however many of the articles are move protected and it is therefore impossible for non-admins to complete the request. Thank you, Alpha Quadrant ^talk 20:29, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

That one is done. Where are the other articles that need moving? -GTBacchus^(talk) 23:42, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

The list is located at Talk:2005_Qur'an_desecration_controversy#Move.3F, it is in collapsed form as the list is fairly long. Many of the requests have redirects in the way, or are move protected. I have copied the list here using the same collapse template (click [show] to see the list): Alpha Quadrant ^talk 02:15, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Quran moves

• 2005 Qur'an desecration controversy
• Alexander the Great in the Qur'an
• Beit Al Qur'an
• Blood Qur'an

• Criticism of the Qur'an
• Cyrus the Great in the Qur'an
• Digital Qur'an
• Fi Zilal al-Qur'an
• Hafiz (Qur'an)
• History of the Qur'an
• List of people mentioned by name in the Qur'an
• List of Qur'anic names
• Noble Qur'an (Hilali-Khan)
• Parables in the Qur'an
• Portal:Qur'an
• Portal:Qur'an/Related portals
• Portal:Qur'an/Selected article
• Portal:Qur'an/Things you can do
• Portal:Qur'an/Topics
• Portal:Qur'an/Wikimedia
• Portal:Qur'an/WikiProjects
• Prophets in the Qur'an
• Qur'an 17:26
• Qur'an 2:255
• Qur'an 2:256
• Qur'an 24:35
• Qur'an 3:7
• Qur'an 4:24
• Qur'an 4:34
• Qur'an 5:32
• Qur'an 59:6
• Qur'an and miracles
• Qur'an and violence
• Qur'an desecration
• Qur'an reading
• Qur'an translations
• Qur'anic literalism
• Tadabbur-i-Qur'an
• Uthman Qur'an

I think we got 'em all. -GTBacchus^(talk) 03:38, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

It appears so. Thanks for performing the moves. Alpha Quadrant ^talk 04:06, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Merger of Elias into Elijah

Resolved

I proposed a merger of Elias into Elijah at Talk:Elias#Merger on 4 Sept 2011 and ask for closure.  Andreas  ^(T) 20:40, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

Done. -GTBacchus^(talk) 04:40, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Page Move Ban

At the suggestion of Jezhotwells[3], I am posting my request here for consideration. I am requesting that the indefinite “Page Move Ban” that was imposed against me over 2 months ago, on July 13, 2011, be lifted. I am an experienced editor, and I request that my editing history be thoroughly reviewed to confirm that there is no need for such on-going editing restriction. I wish to continue to work to rebuild my reputation on Wikipedia, and I appreciate the thoughtful consideration of my request. Dolovis (talk) 22:21, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

The ban allowed you to request any page moves you wanted via WP:RM. Have you initiated any such requests since the ban? 28bytes (talk) 22:38, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

Excellent question. In addition, if you want the restriction lifted by the community, can you please demonstrate understanding of what the problem was and why the ban was imposed in the first place, and explain what has changed in eight weeks? → ROUX ₪ 22:57, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

Speaking as an RM regular, I'd say that participation there would be an excellent way to establish that you're okay with page moves, whatever the reason was for the ban. -GTBacchus^(talk) 04:42, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Per the others above. Use WP:RM for now, once you can demonstrate that you are not going to cause disruption with page moves, the community will consider whether or not to lift the ban. Mjroots (talk) 09:27, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

I have requested a few moves since the ban, the most recent being Oleh Shafarenko → Oleg Shafarenko. Other RMs include Nick Johnson (ice hockey) → Nick Johnson (ice hockey b. 1985) and requests completed as non-controversial here and here. I have participated in other RMs including at Talk:Louis Berlinguette. Dolovis (talk) 12:41, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

The concern seemed to be that you would make diacritic-related moves without first seeking consensus. Can you address that concern? There is currently no consensus on how to handle diacritics, as far as I'm aware. What's your take on the issue? -GTBacchus^(talk) 16:34, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

I ran into the issue with diacritics when I started to create articles for notable ice hockey players playing in the Czech Extraliga, a topic that, until then, had received insufficient attention. The articles I created were titled, for the most part, without diacritics as the English sources I found to verify the articles did not use diacritics. I soon discovered that there is a dedicated faction of editors who are committed to renaming all Czech biographical articles to include diacritics, verified or not. My personal opinion is that article titles should be named according to WP:UE and WP:COMMONNAME, and I therefore reversed (per WP:BRD) those moves of the articles I created where no verifiable source was used to support the new article name. The massive page moves continued, and I then, perhaps naively, brought what I perceived to be "massive page moves against policy", to the attention of the Wikipedia community. That is when the complaints against me, from the pro diacritics crowd, started. If you will actually take a serious look at the “controversial” page moves that I made you will discover that they are not extremely numerous, and that they were generally only to undo the bold move of another editor per BRD. In any event, my work to create articles for the current notable players of the Czech Extraliga is generally completed, and I have acknowledged that my opinion in support the policies of UE and COMMONNAME is controversial, and I have moved on. In the future, if I feel that such an article should be moved, I will not invoke BRD, but will instead either ignore the issue of diacritics or will use RM. Dolovis (talk) 19:45, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

If you're committed to avoiding BRD in matters of pagemoves, and you acknowledge that any position on diacritics is controversial and in need of delicate handling, then I have no opposition to your being allowed to move pages. As you probably know, I'm extremely active in pagemoves, and as you might not know, I don't even consider using the 'R' step of BRD in move disputes. That's unless I'm reverting vandalism or fixing clear typos, or something like that.

The removal of your pagemove restriction is obviously not up to me alone, but that's my opinion, speaking as one of the most likely janitors to be on hand in the event of a spill in article titling... -GTBacchus^(talk) 21:56, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Thank you, and yes, I am committed to avoiding BRD in matters of pagemoves, and I do acknowledge that any position on diacritics is controversial. Dolovis (talk) 04:11, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

Requested Move at Talk:Tree shaping needs closure

Hi, I'd appreciate another uninvolved admin taking a look at Talk:Tree shaping#Requested move 2, a discussion which has been running for six weeks now, and really needs a close one way or the other. As a heads-up, the article is within the scope of an ArbCom case, Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Tree shaping, which centered around the naming of the article. I've been helping out as an uninvolved admin monitoring the user conduct in the topic area, but would rather that someone else handled the close. Thanks, --Elonka 06:39, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

(followup) The situation is complex, so we would appreciate multiple admin opinions if possible, at the talkpage. --Elonka 16:00, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Δ (Betacommand) and community restrictions

Earlier today I saw this edit at Sarah Blasko on my watchlist and thought BC was on edit restrictions from using scripts on his main account but he isn't, But I do believe the edit violated the following community restriction set on BC:

“ Before undertaking any pattern of edits (such as a single task carried out on multiple pages) that affects more than 25 pages, Betacommand must propose the task on WP:VPR and wait at least 24 hours for community discussion. If there is any opposition, Betacommand must wait for a consensus supporting the request before he may begin. ” — Wikipedia:Editing restrictions

Because he has appeared to have done more than 25 pages (based on my view of his 50 latest contribs and a random sampling of the diffs on that list), I also had a look at WP:VPR (including the last few archives) and couldn't find a discussion about this (His last posts there appear to be: Archive 75: Proposed partial solution to NFCC enforcement and Archive 73: Heads Up). Peachey88 ^{(T · C)} 07:15, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

• BC notified. Peachey88 ^{(T · C)} 07:16, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

• Given the general... aura that surrounds criticism of Δ, I very strongly suggest that you double and triple check your assertions before making such statements. 'Appears' is not useful in any sense of the word. And after you have gone through his contribs to see if there was in fact a violation, it may behoove you to instead rewind a little bit and nudge him gently on his talk page, rather than starting yet another round of drama. Yes, I am generally of the opinion that a restriction is a restriction, intent is largely irrelevant when someone is breaking them. The long history of Δ, however, has proven that to be an unworkable proposition; nobody is willing to actually say "this is your last chance. One more screwup and you are gone, forever, with no recourse. Enough is enough." In some cases discretion is indeed the better part of valour, and if there is no disruption being caused then perhaps it may be best to let sleeping dogs lie. → ROUX ₪ 07:30, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

• I would have checked at least 15 (on the low end) edits as well the matching edit summaries was close enough for me, as for "nudging" the user, he is well versed and should know his restrictions by now, as for no one willing to "drop the hammer" as some say, If everything was take to the users talk page as a "nudge" then barely anything would happen, some times taking things directly to noticeboards (and the subsequent "drama") is the best course of action. Peachey88 ^{(T · C)} 07:40, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

• I don't see anything disruptive regarding the edit at all, The article appears to be in better condition after his edit. My understand is that Δ holds a 1RR line regarding his cleanup efforts. This is more than sufficient to comply with the intent of WP:BRD, and is no less disruptive than correcting a misspelled word. Surly we wouldn't say you can only correct 25 misspelled words without an RfC to do more. If Δ disrupts something, it should be dealt with. If he merely collaborates, that is what we would ask of him anyway. My76Strat (talk) 07:48, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

• (edit conflict)Allow me to be more direct, then: what disruption has been caused by this? In what way have Delta's actions been a net negative to the project? → ROUX ₪ 07:52, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Without commenting (yet) on the edit restriction aspect of this, was there something objectionable about the Sarah Blasko edit itself? Or is it just a matter of him doing it in rapid succession/scripted/without approval/whatever? I'd just like to get an idea of the scope of the complaint. 28bytes (talk) 07:51, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Wow. Can it be? Am I really seeing people above care more about the spirit of the project than the letter of some wikilawyered restriction? That's... a nice surprise. And yes, if it isn't clear, I fully agree with the sentiment that if the edits are helpful, don't kick the editor who is doing them. In fact, while I am not familiar with the wider background, if there is some kind of old restriction that could prevent an editor from improving the project, and the editor has been constructive for a reasonable amount of time (half a year?), I'd suggest revisiting the very need for such a restriction to still be in force. --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk to me} 08:32, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Your half a year and my half a year must be very different. His latest round was in June/July during which time arbcom imposed additional sanctions on his behaviour. that was 2-3 months ago. Anyone who isn't familiar with the wider background should spend awhile in the ANI archives, sub pages, arbcom cases, etc or Delta/Betacommand before really jumping in. It's a very long and storied case.--Crossmr (talk) 11:55, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

So, are you saying there is something harmful in these particular edits, or that there isn't? -GTBacchus^(talk) 12:22, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

can you show me any exceptions in the restrictions if that is the case? specifically it shows on-going contempt on his part for the community, regardless of the content of the individual edits. That's quite harmful.--Crossmr (talk) 14:30, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

I understand that issue, and you'll note I haven't disagreed with anything you've said. I haven't advocated making exceptions, and I'm not likely to do so. You didn't answer my question, though, so I'll clarify it.

Are you saying there are two issues: harmful edits and sanction violation, or one issue: sanction violation? Do you mind clarifying this point? I'd appreciate it, so I understand the full scope of what's going on. Thanks. -GTBacchus^(talk) 16:29, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

I've been doing general article cleanup going back two years now. Ive made 7641 edits with the edit summary "Cleanup" (just with this account) and gotten a barnstar for doing it. Ive received other thank you's and its been a fairly simple project. Please take issues to my talk page before dragging this to the drama boards. ΔT _{^{The only constant}} 18:25, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Have you been adding google book urls to articles for 2 years? how does that fall under the scope of "cleanup"? To mean clean-up is fixing up code, spelling errors, not adding urls for books.--Crossmr (talk) 22:34, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Then your definition of cleanup, and mine, at least, are different. Or not... adding a missing parameter and link to a template is, in fact, exactly "fixing up code" and "fixing errors" (missing data). --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk to me} 03:37, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

I was only clarifying for 28bytes that her complaint seemed to be that Delta violated his editing restrictions. As far as problems introduced by his editing, are their specific wiki markup related issues? no. There does seem to be at least one editor questioning whether or not these edits are best for the article though. So is that "harmful"? Possibly. If Delta is adding google URL links to books which have no preview, it's a fairly useless edit that isn't adding anything to the article as noted below.--Crossmr (talk) 22:34, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

The scope of the complaint seems to be that Delta has once again violated his editing restrictions. That despite the continually increasing, tweaking, negotiating, and repurposing of those restrictions, he's found himself once again for the nth time having violated them.--Crossmr (talk) 11:59, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

And for the nth time, nothing is going to be done about that. There is a general unwillingness, and specifically with regards to Delta, to ever enforce restrictions in an unambiguous way. There is always 'just one more chance, we mean it this time, honest.' While on general principles I agree that it shouldn't be that way, the bald reality is that it is that way, and we should probably give up tilting at that particular windmill. This is a tempest in a teapot, and unless Delta is flagrantly disrupting things, absolutely nothing will be done, so why waste time and energy? → ROUX ₪ 00:42, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

What's ambiguous about this? But you're right..I mean..why bother trying to take a stand as a community member. So what if we let users walk all over us. It couldn't possibly reflect poorly on the project or perhaps drive users away.--Crossmr (talk) 06:08, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

There is nothing in regards to that edit itself that I saw, the only reason I mentioned it was so people saw where I first noticed it, compared being accused of user stalking (or whatever the flavour is this month). Peachey88 ^{(T · C)} 09:53, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

Some of his edits are helpful, and some less so. I don't see the point in adding a Google Books url to all books, which he claims to do for uniformity purposes, especially to those that have no preview on Google. Adding those just clutters the edit window, making it more annoying for people that actually write content in these articles without any benefit towards easier verification by the reader (ISBN does just the same to prove the books exists). Have mörser, will travel (talk) 10:46, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

If this action is desirable, the {{cite book}} template should be changed to allow a "googid" or something similar to be used, like it has for ISBN, DOI, OCLC etc. At least that will slightly reduce the clutter in the edit window. Have mörser, will travel (talk) 10:54, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Oh, and regarding the scripts, is Delta still not under the restriction regarding making automated or semi-automated edits?--Crossmr (talk) 22:34, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Have other means of dispute resolution been attempted first before this thread started? Looks to me like Delta was making a good-faith attempt to improve the encyclopedia...like he always does. I agree he has a tendency to edit right at the edge of his restrictions but what do you want the guy to do, change his entire editing philosophy and focus? That would be akin to banning him entirely. I think last time we were here (NFCC edits and being bitey was the issue) there was actually community consensus to lessen the restrictions until arbcom got involved and overruled. Not 100% sure on that and don't feel like digging through the archives at this hour. The question I must ask is, if someone makes a good-faith attempt to improve the encyclopedia, as Delta seems to do, and responds to community concerns, as Delta seems to do, then why must we bring every potential technical breach of the restrictions here? There is a key difference between the spirit of restrictions and the letter. While Delta may have violated the letter he doesn't seem to have violated the spirit, which is about unauthorized bots if I recall correctly. Heck Arbcom even exempted User:Δbot so SPI could actually have a clerkbot. All this does is drive good-faith editors away from the project. I'm actually somewhat amazed Delta's hung around this long despite all the...stuff...he goes through on a routine basis. N419BH 06:22, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)#RfC: Structure WP:WQA conversations and Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)#Remove ability for new users to create other accounts

Would an admin (or admins) close Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)#RfC: Structure WP:WQA conversations and Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)#Remove ability for new users to create other accounts? Both discussions were listed at Template:Centralized discussion and delisted to Wikipedia:Centralized discussion/Archive owing to inactivity. Thanks, Cunard (talk) 10:14, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/BOARD International

Please see Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/BOARD International, Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/BOARD International and User talk:KuduIO#Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/BOARD International. Since Cirt has been desysopped by ArbCom and hasn't replied to my inquiry, I'd like another admin to close the request. — Kudu ^~I/O~ 17:43, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

If these were deleted via deletion discussion, then they should go to WP:DRV before being recreated.--v/r - TP 19:50, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Age requirements for Wikipeida

OK, this is extremely likely having nothing to do with this page, but what are the requirements for Wikipedia editors and accounts? I'd post this elsewhere, But I cannot find it. Thanks and you may move this if you wish. --Hinata talk 18:02, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

There are none. →Στc. 18:05, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

If you're good enough, you're old enough. PaoloNapolitano (talk) 18:06, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Edit conflict again, ugh yeah. I'm 17 and have been using this site since 2003. But never edited it until this account. So, a user could be 8? --Hinata talk 18:08, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Yep. As long as they don't tell us their age and act maturely, we would never know. →Στc. 18:09, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Alright, but one last thing. What about the recent incident with the Wikiproject Pornography? What are your thoughts on this? Personally, I threw up when I read that thread. Look in my edit history and you'll see why. --Hinata talk 18:11, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

How would you enforce such an age-restriction? That is near impossible without breaching someones privacy. I would have to look it up to see who, but as far as I known the Dutch Wikipedia has a thirteen year old as administrator. Would you ban him from vandalism-fighting on Wikiproject Pornography? Night of the Big Wind _talk 18:27, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

The community's thoughts on this, and administrators' thoughts on this, are splattered all over Wikipedia:Village pump (policy), User talk:Jimbo Wales and some archives of WP:ANI. I don't think it's useful to re-run the entirety of those discussions here just because we can. --Demiurge1000 (talk) 18:30, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

I agree, and yes, I admit... I view that sort of stuff from Google. But personal issues aside, it is unenforceable... because it would take out the privacy that so few websites have. --Hinata talk 18:32, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Oh yes. Because obviously no under-13s use Facebook *grins* Of course it's unenforcable. - Jarry1250 ^{[Weasel? Discuss.]} 18:34, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Aside from that, it would disallow Anonymous editors and that, in turn, would ruin the principles of Wikipedia. --Hinata talk 18:36, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog or a young pup. -- Gogo Dodo (talk) 20:56, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

AFAIK the 13yr age restriction on FB (and a number of other fora) is due to US privacy laws. As opening an account here does require no personal information to be given this is moot. This site has seen 13 year olds as admins and at least one buerocrat. Agathoclea (talk) 06:56, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

Speedy deletion abuse

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section. A summary of the conclusions reached follows.

Wrong venue. If you believe that this decision was found in error, please contact the administrator who implemented the deletion request. If you are not satisfied with his response, your concerns can be taken to deletion review. Salvio ^{Let's talk about it!} 21:07, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

---

I created an article here and then it got deleted the next day i get on without letting me have a chance to discuss what is going on. The reason to delete my article is simply not notable enough and that person which is this User:Versageek didn't even provide me any proof about it. I put my reasons in here and the one that deleted it doesn't even bother to participate into the discuss. What kind of wikipedia rule is this? Delete without any reasonable reason? I did in fact have like 4 references in my article and it is formatted the way it supposed to be. This is really a big insult to me. I have been writing many articles in Vietnamese Wikipedia for many years. I'm confident to tell that i know what is to keep and what is to delete. This is my first article here but doesn't mean it has poor standard or anything. I think the action need to be undone and whoever did that must hold responsibility for carelessness before doing something and didn't bother to take a consideration. In case i could be wrong, at least put my article into this Wikipedia:Articles for deletion and see what the majority says. I'm strongly suggest that the administrators must solve this issue fairly.Trongphu (talk) 20:21, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

There is no guideline to delete without discussion, he abused it. --Hinata talk 20:23, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Yes there is. Take a look at WP:CSD for more details.

References assert notability and importance. I'm not sure what the content was in that article, but from what you said on the talk page, I can guess that it was a bad deletion. →Στc. 20:29, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

While we appreciate that you were apparently instrumental in the establishment of the Vietnamese language Wikipedia, that is a weak assertion of notability at best. You have made no attempt to discuss this with Versageek, nor have you notified him as required. I will do that for you. You were correctly notified that the article might be deleted on your talkpage. Perhaps the Vietnamese Wikipedia is different in regard to speedy deletion: I don't know, but you should also realize that creating autobiographies is strongly discouraged on the English Wikipedia. You must first discuss this with the deleting admin, and then take it to WP:DRV if that doesn't work out to your satisfaction. Acroterion (talk) 20:33, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

The article subject is user:Mxn, not the article creator. Here you also have the google cache link. Two of the four references are statistics on the vietnamese wikipedia and the other two are vietnamese websites. I am dubious whether they pass our guideline on reliable sources though. Yoenit (talk) 20:41, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Vietnamese websites are not reliable? Is that what are you telling me? What kind of attitude is that? Do you even know anything about Vietnam? This statement is absolutely strongly stereotype or discrimination. And since i work for Vietnamese Wikipedia, can i as well say English sources can not be use in Vietnamese Wikipedia???Trongphu (talk) 21:09, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Criteria A7 does not consider whether the subject of the article is notable, only whether the article makes a claim of importance about the subject. Here (based on the google cache) the article claimed "He was one of the founders of Vietnamese wikipedia" which is a claim of importance. Whether that is enough to keep an article around is an appropriate topic of discussion, which means the article should have gone to AfD where a discussion could occur. Monty₈₄₅ 20:50, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

I agree that there might be a weak claim of notability, but my primary point is that the discussion should take place with the deleting admin, or at DRV, not on AN. Acroterion (talk) 21:02, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

And let me make another important point. Wikipedia is a lot more important to Vietnamese people than it is to English speakers, reasons are in the talk page. I have provided all the references needed in the article.Trongphu (talk) 21:03, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

I think it should be the admin responsibility to engage to discuss before he delete my article with a weak reason, which i'm guessing he is not neutral viewing the significant of Vietnamese people. He should be the one really careful consider any article he delete that is it really deserves a speedy deletion? His obviously fault is that he was too rush on deleting articles which he thinks deserves the speedy deletion without further discuss with the author or asking the majority opinion (this is almost the same as dictator i'm thinking, which is not a good thing). Power should goes with big responsibility. This action makes me started to think how many other articles that have been deleted that should deserve to keep? And i'm pretty sure there must have been a tons (or a few) of mistaken deletion according to this. Another issue is for most members on the first article they created if those articles got deleted those people won't have any idea how to find justice for themselves like i did (because they don't know Wikipedia well enough, where they can get help) they probably got frustrated and end up give up on editing dream on Wikipedia. Well that's why the amount of new wikipedians keep decreasing over the past few years, here. And why autobiography is strongly discourage? It's not like i'm writing about myself. For all i know it is strongly discourage for "only" those people that write about themselves. Example Jimmy Wales wrote about his article in Wikipedia = discourage. I don't see any rule that limit writing about people that notable enough and deserves to have an article on here. My last opinion here is we need more enforcement to protect new article that created my new members to avoid bad justice as good as possible to ensure to prosperous future of Wikipedia. I think we should make a rule like no admin can delete an article just base on his opinion, the admins must take the community consensus first before they take actions because the admins point of view can not always be neutral. Whoever violate the rule must hold responsibility.Trongphu (talk) 21:03, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Disabling "Email this user" from another editor's account

Hi there. Does anyone know if it is possible, or what user rights are required, to disable "Email this user" from an editor's account. Don't ask me the reasons at this stage: I just need to get in touch with an appropriate account creator/'crat/developer whatever. --Mkativerata (talk) 21:48, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

I assume they are not blocked (since otherwise you would do it yourself, as part of the block)? I'm reasonably sure it can't be done to an unblocked account, except perhaps by a developer, and that seems fairly unlikely. But without knowing what is going on, I would think if the emailuser right is being misused, perhaps a block is in order anyway? --Floquenbeam (talk) 21:58, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

The issue is that there is good reason for the user not to be receiving email, so I'd like to disable the "Email this user" function that appears on the left of the user's talk page. I don't believe that's within the power of a humble sysop. --Mkativerata (talk) 22:09, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

I understand now what's going on. I'm sorry. I'm about 99.5% sure either (a) you need a developer to do it, or (b) it can't/won't be be done by a developer and you might consider a carefully worded block of the account. --Floquenbeam (talk) 22:20, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

:::The user can disable his/her own mail if he/she decides this is warranted. What's the problem? Bielle (talk) 22:22, 25 September 2011 (UTC) Look first; write second. Bielle (talk) 22:27, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

TreasuryTag indef blocked

I have indefinitely blocked User:TreasuryTag. He was indef blocked on 29 August by Ioeth, and unblocked on 2 September by HJ Mitchell, but with conditions as stated here. I have explained my reasoning for the reblock at User talk:TreasuryTag#Indef block. Review of this block and any changes (unblock, shorter block, topic ban, whatever) to it are welcome. Fram (talk) 09:52, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

I don't know how someone is supposed to know ahead of time that a request for delete will result in a keep. However, if there's an issue with Dr. Who, maybe a topic ban from that subject would work better. Then there should be no wiggle room. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 10:17, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

• I don't think this was a good block. Any reasonable editor should have been able to look at that article, looked at WP:CRYSTAL, and drawn the obvious conclusion to delete. There is no guarantee that this particular episode will be notable, there's precious little information on it, and deletion is the obvious choice unless and until there is significant coverage indicating that this episode is, indeed, notable. The fact that the original blocking admin knew of this and failed to view it as an infraction of the conditions that he imposed seems particularly relevant. → ROUX ₪ 10:23, 26 September 2011 (UTC)