User talk:AlexEng: Difference between revisions

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Let's chat

Click here to message me. I will try to reply as soon as possible. All replies will be made underneath your message on this page.

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Please comment on Talk:Battle of Clyst Heath (1455)

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Battle of Clyst Heath (1455). Legobot (talk) 04:24, 22 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Done

Your question at the Help Desk

You have a response.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 19:23, 26 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Read

Please comment on Talk:Mumtaz (actress)

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Mumtaz (actress). Legobot (talk) 04:24, 1 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Not done

Please comment on Talk:Clinton Foundation

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Not done

Please comment on Talk:Ronald Reagan

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Done

Please comment on Talk:Political positions of Donald Trump

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Political positions of Donald Trump. Legobot (talk) 04:26, 2 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Done

Merging articles on subjects you evidently don't have a clue about

Plip!

As you have little experience editing, I feel that a 'plip' will suffice. Please do not make unilateral decisions just because a merge tag was added by a dubious user in 2013. It's only been left in place under sufferance because the pejorative term Khokhol needs to be better referenced... but references there are, particularly since the events in Ukraine since 2014. It does not mean that it's the right thing to do: it means that numerous editors have been busy on other articles and haven't gotten around to further referencing or working out how best to merge the articles (if, indeed, they ought to be merged).

Note, also, that you are editing in a highly sensitive area of Wikipedia which falls under WP:ARBEE discretionary sanctions. Thanks for taking this on board, and in handling it with a sense of humour. --Iryna Harpy (talk) 05:31, 9 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Iryna Harpy: Thank you for your response to my edits. I appreciate that the topic is a sensitive one, and I am aware of all of the relevant policies. However, I am honestly surprised at your objection. There are three major points (and one side-note) to my view:

The merge was proposed in November of 2015 and the relevant merge discussion had been open for more than a year. The only editor who bothered to comment on the proposal was the creator of the article. Adding his support to the implicit support of the nominator and myself, that's a three-to-nothing consensus for a very old merge proposal. I see you've made 1, 2, 3 edits to the article on which the banner was posted since its addition. Yet in all that time, you didn't raise your objection to the merger? Why not? WP:SILENCE is consensus, and in the absence of any disagreement, I am forced to presume that there is no reason not to go ahead with the merger. That's why WP:MERGECLOSE specifies that if enough time (normally one week or more) has elapsed and there has been no discussion or is unanimous consent to merge, any user may close the discussion and move forward with the merger.
References (or lack thereof) have nothing to do with this particular merger. As mentioned in my discussion closure, the reason for this merger was #2 under WP:MERGEREASON, i.e. overlap. The two articles discuss the same topic; in fact, Chupryna even has a subsection for the pejorative connotations of Khokhol. That's because the page is a WP:REDUNDANTFORK of Khokhol. However, because that page has a gallery and broader coverage of the topic, I chose to merge Khokhol into it. I believe this was the best choice in this situation.
I'm not quite clear on whether your objection is to any merger between the two articles or in the manner in which the pages were merged. If it's the former, then I would urge you to voice your concerns on the merge section of the talk page. If it's the latter, then I don't see why you had to revert all of my edits rather than WP:FIXIT on the newly merged page. At least, if it's the text of the page that is in dispute, then we can discuss how it should look after the merger. I am completely open to listening to and incorporating your views on content.
Lastly, I know you mean well, but I would please ask you not to rely on arguments to the tune of WP:MOREX in your discussions with me. I have spent a long time on the project, and I historically read far more than I wrote. My edit count may be small, but I work hard to make sound, policy-based decisions.

Thanks again for bringing this to my attention. Please respond here or on the article talk page so we can determine how to move forward in a way that works for everyone involved. AlexEng^(TALK) 08:07, 9 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

A) The fact that it was supported by the creator of the article is irrelevant per WP:OWN; B) Not all merger proposals, RfCs, or RMs are closed by anyone. In fact, the majority are not closed and simply get archived due to lack of interest. I appreciate that Discospinster is a very active Wikipedian, but reintroducing a merge discussion tag to both articles without starting any form of discussion is drive-by tagging, and is not constructive. No editors wander in a year later when no one else has responded to the discussion, 'close', then merge in one fell swoop without testing the waters. In fact, 'khokhol' should probably be treated as a distinct WP:TITLE due to its historical and ongoing usage as a pejorative. There are blogs, political newspaper caricatures, etc. in frequent use currently as anti-Ukrainian propaganda, ergo it is 'chupryna' that is merely a simple historical cossack hairstyle. I'm more than happy to discuss it further on the relevant article talk page. That is my preference as, drawing on my experience, transparency of process is integral to the machinations of developing articles. One of the biggest problems with the majority of articles is that, while they are being developed continuously, there are tumbleweeds blowing through the talk pages.

I have other commitments until Sunday, but I will start a discussion on the article's talk page ASAP. Nice to meet you. It's unfortunate that our first encounter has been less than cheery one, but I look forward to working with you. Cheers! --Iryna Harpy (talk) 09:27, 9 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Gibraltar

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Gibraltar. Legobot (talk) 04:24, 13 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Closed

December 2016

Resolved: Edit Warring Notification

The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

Your recent editing history at Sunnyvale, California shows that you are currently engaged in an edit war. To resolve the content dispute, please do not revert or change the edits of others when you are reverted. Instead of reverting, please use the talk page to work toward making a version that represents consensus among editors. The best practice at this stage is to discuss, not edit-war. See BRD for how this is done. If discussions reach an impasse, you can then post a request for help at a relevant noticeboard or seek dispute resolution. In some cases, you may wish to request temporary page protection.

Being involved in an edit war can result in your being blocked from editing—especially if you violate the three-revert rule, which states that an editor must not perform more than three reverts on a single page within a 24-hour period. Undoing another editor's work—whether in whole or in part, whether involving the same or different material each time—counts as a revert. Also keep in mind that while violating the three-revert rule often leads to a block, you can still be blocked for edit warring—even if you don't violate the three-revert rule—should your behavior indicate that you intend to continue reverting repeatedly. Toddst1 (talk) 20:11, 20 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your message; I appreciate your concern. However, I am not engaged in an edit war, nor did I violate 3RR. I simply cleared up your misunderstanding of Northrup Grumman Marine Systems vis-a-vis Northrop Grumman proper. However, if you would like to discuss this as if it were a content dispute, then I'll be happy to take it to the article talk page. Thanks again for bringing this to my attention.

AlexEng^(TALK) 20:23, 20 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

For posterity, I was wrong on this and self-reverted. AlexEng^(TALK) 20:47, 20 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Counseling others

Hi Alex. To the eyes of long-term experienced editors and admins, disruption of serious parts of Wikipedia management are issues that clearly need to be addressed. We don't have anything against younger editors, and we are generally a very supportive community with a high degree of tolerance (much more so than teachers in primary and secondary schools), but you would need to have been around actively on Wikipedia to understand that. Please bear that in mind when offering your 'counsel', and taking others words out of context and casting veiled assertions. Mr rnddude and I while having identified such problem areas may not always agree entirely on the proposed approach and remedies, but he (Mr rnddude) is an editor with a level of experience and analysis which I highly value. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 02:53, 22 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Kudpung: thank you for your message. I understand from reading your (and others') interactions with the editor in question that you consider his behavior disruptive. From my point of view, the user is simply offering a non-verbose opinion on RfAs. I've seen, particularly in the most recent RfAs, that he doesn't flinch away from offering more detailed explanations when pressed. From what I understand, this doesn't signal disruptive behavior, but an eagerness to respond constructively to the community's open requests for feedback on RfA candidates. You're right about my edit count, but I should say that I place great value on reading and listening more than I historically placed on editing.

I may not be a prolific editor, but I do have a great deal of experience in conflict resolution and mediation. My message on Martin's talk page is a good faith attempt to de-escalate the conflict before it turns ugly. In order to do that, all parties need to recognize their parts in the conflict and try to understand the situation from the point of view of "the other side." I merely told you that Martin may have taken parts of your initial post as an attack on his competence as an editor. It's ok if that's not how you meant it (I'm assuming good faith on your part too), but that's clearly how it was received. What precipitates from that is Martin lashing out at the perceived attack, and then an escalation into what could potentially become an uncivil discussion. That's what I seek to prevent by counseling patience. Even if one person lashes out, the other can often ameliorate the conflict by remaining patient and calm. You didn't need to refer to his behavior as that of an "arrogant teenager," which clearly caused him offense; please accept this modest criticism, as it is not an attack on your character. I believe in you and Mr rnddude, and I have faith in your abilities to work with Martin to avoid escalation and retain a valuable editor. Warm regards, AlexEng^(TALK) 08:54, 22 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Template talk:Cold War

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Template talk:Cold War. Legobot (talk) 04:25, 23 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Done

You're now a pending changes reviewer

Hi AlexEng. I looked into your contributions, and thought that you could use the "pending changes reviewer" user right, so I just went ahead and gave it to you. It lets you review other users' edits on pages protected by pending changes. The list of articles awaiting review is located at Special:PendingChanges, while the list of articles that have pending changes protection turned on is located at Special:StablePages. If you do not want this user right, you may ask any administrator (or just ask me) to remove it for you at any time.

See also:

Wikipedia:Reviewing pending changes, the guideline on reviewing
Wikipedia:Pending changes, the summary of the use of pending changes
Wikipedia:Protection policy#Pending changes protection, the policy determining which pages can be given pending changes protection by administrators.

Cheers. ~Oshwah~^{(talk) (contribs)} 06:26, 23 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks very much! I'm actually very interested in doing this type of work. I'll put it to good use. AlexEng^(TALK) 06:29, 23 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Happy Holidays


	The 12 Days of Wikipedia On the 12th day of Christmas Jimbo sent to me 12 BLPs 11 RFAs 10 New Users 9 Barn Stars 8 Admins Blocking 7 Socks Socking 6 Clerks Clerking 5. Check Users Checking 4 Over Sighters Hiding 3 GAs 2. Did You Knows and an ARB in a pear tree. -May your holiday season be filled with joy, laughter and good health. --Cameron11598

Thank you very much! And a happy holiday season to you as well! AlexEng^(TALK) 06:51, 26 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Seasons Greetings!

Hello AlexEng: Enjoy the holiday season, and thanks for your work to maintain, improve and expand Wikipedia. Cheers, -- Dane ^talk 08:19, 25 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Spread the WikiLove; use {{subst:Season's Greetings1}} to send this message

Thank you, Dane! Wishing you and yours a happy holiday season too! AlexEng^(TALK) 06:51, 26 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Merry Christmas

	Merry Christmas AlexEng!!
	Hi AlexEng, I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year, Thanks for all your help on the 'pedia! –Davey2010 ^{Merry Xmas / Happy New Year} 13:29, 25 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for thinking of me, Davey. Wishing a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family as well! AlexEng^(TALK) 06:52, 26 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Merry, merry!

From the icy Canajian north; to you and yours! FWiW Bzuk (talk) 18:59, 25 December 2016 (UTC) [reply]

Thanks very much, Bzuk! Merry Christmas from the only slightly uncomfortable reaches of California. And a Happy New Year! AlexEng^(TALK) 06:53, 26 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Happy New Year AlexEng!

Happy New Year!

Hello AlexEng:
Thanks for all of your contributions to improve the encyclopedia for Wikipedia's readers, and have a happy and enjoyable New Year! Cheers, JustBerry (talk) 00:32, 1 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Send New Year cheer by adding {{subst:AlexEng}} to user talk pages with a friendly message.

Happy New Year, AlexEng!

Happy New Year!

AlexEng,
Have a prosperous, productive and enjoyable New Year, and thanks for your contributions to Wikipedia. -- Dane ^talk 02:21, 1 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Send New Year cheer by adding {{subst:Happy New Year fireworks}} to user talk pages.

Happy New Year, AlexEng!

Happy New Year!

AlexEng,
Have a prosperous, productive and enjoyable New Year, and thanks for your contributions to Wikipedia.
–Davey2010 ^{Merry Xmas / Happy New Year} 12:44, 1 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Send New Year cheer by adding {{subst:Happy New Year fireworks}} to user talk pages.

Happy New Year, AlexEng!

Happy New Year!

AlexEng,
Have a prosperous, productive and enjoyable New Year, and thanks for your contributions to Wikipedia.
SorryNotSorry ✽ ✉ 15:43, 1 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Send New Year cheer by adding {{subst:Happy New Year fireworks}} to user talk pages.

Please comment on Talk:Sati (practice)

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Sati (practice). Legobot (talk) 04:26, 3 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Not done

Ealdgyth - RfA

I've undone your patronising comment at the RfC - please don't re-add it. If you have anything further to say, or if you'd like to make another pathetic attempt to try and patronise me by telling me to "settle down", please feel free, either here or on my talk page, if you must. But the RfA is no place to do it. Cassianto^Talk 05:31, 10 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

@Cassianto: thank you for your response! I'm genuinely sorry that my comment was interpreted as patronizing. My intention was to communicate the fact that it's all in good fun; I typically announce that intention by using the {{smiley}} template (

!). People will often do these joke "opposes" in the support section of an extremely successful RfA, a point cemented by the fact that the author of the comment thanked me for my response. That being said, your comments and edit summary are very close to breaching WP:CIVILITY, and I urge you not to cross that line. Not I nor any of the other involved editors come bearing any ill will; I'm assuming you feel the same. Additionally, you should know that striking (let alone reverting!) others' comments is contrary to the talk page guidelines which also apply to discussion pages such as RfAs. In this case, I will not re-add the removed comment because doing so would invalidate its purpose—to call attention to the humor of the situation. However, it is often considered bad form to remove others' comments in a discussion absent any extenuating circumstances discussed in WP:TPO, and I hope you don't do this to others. I'm sorry that we seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot, and I hope we have more cordial interactions in the future. Warm regards, AlexEng^(TALK) 07:52, 10 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Flag icons for Template:Welcome non-latin

Hey AlexEng,

I am a regular user of the Template:Welcome non-latin and noticed some changes had been made. I saw in your edit summary that you are interested in adding flag icons like and to the links to the translations of the welcome at the bottom of the page. Is that what you meant? If so, I would be glad to do that for you! Let me know!

Best,

TJH2018 talk 21:42, 12 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

@TJH2018: hi! Thanks for the message and for recognizing the work. Getting all the symbols right and paired with the right languages in the translation page took way longer than I'm willing to admit

. I would be grateful if you could add the flag icons (like the ones you posted) of the major countries associated with each language next to each link in the template. That would make identification of a user's native script much easier. I used the ISO 639-1 language codes to identify which language link goes to which section in the translation page. You can use this page to pair the language codes with the full names of their respective languages. Thank you for the offer to help! AlexEng^(TALK) 22:34, 12 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Saudi Arabia

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Saudi Arabia. Legobot (talk) 04:24, 14 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Done

Please revisit

Please revisit Talk:Haredi_Judaism#Ultra-Orthodoxy_considered_.22pejorative.22 in view of my latest comment there. Debresser (talk) 16:54, 14 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Not done

Please comment on Talk:Indus Valley Civilisation

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Not done

Please comment on Talk:Persian people

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Please comment on Talk:Katherine Johnson

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Please comment on Talk:George Wylde

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Please comment on Talk:Willie and Joe

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Please comment on Talk:Cold War II

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Please comment on Talk:Attack on Pearl Harbor

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Please comment on Talk:1873 in Germany

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Please comment on Talk:List of violent incidents in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, 2017

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Please comment on Talk:Jewish diaspora

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Please comment on Talk:Khan Shaykhun chemical attack

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Please comment on Talk:Lord North (disambiguation)

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Please comment on Talk:Judaism and sexuality

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Please comment on Talk:Winnipeg

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Please comment on Talk:McMahon–Hussein Correspondence

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Please comment on Talk:Longquan celadon

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Please comment on Template talk:Infobox country

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Please comment on Talk:Joseph Stalin

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Please comment on Talk:Ted Kaczynski

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Please comment on Talk:Badme

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IPBE Request

This discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

This blocked user is asking that his block be reviewed on the Unblock Ticket Request System:

AlexEng (block log • active blocks • global blocks • autoblocks • contribs • deleted contribs • abuse filter log • creation log • change block settings • unblock • checkuser (log))

UTRS appeal #19133 was submitted on Sep 01, 2017 18:27:09. This review is now closed.

--UTRSBot (talk) 18:27, 1 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Algerian War

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Algerian War. Legobot (talk) 04:26, 7 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Orphaned non-free image File:CyberPowerPC Logo.jpg

⚠

Thanks for uploading File:CyberPowerPC Logo.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in section F5 of the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. --B-bot (talk) 17:40, 11 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Done (better image was inserted into the article) AlexEng^(TALK) 23:29, 11 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:State atheism

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:State atheism. Legobot (talk) 04:24, 18 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Done

Kate Millett

Please provide a policy or guideline against including survivors in Wikipedia articles. Many other articles have them, and the source cited is The New York Times. Skyerise (talk) 19:52, 20 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the message, Skyerise. Please read the Manual of Style entry about this exact issue: WP:SURVIVEDBY, which I twice mentioned in my edit summaries. I have no problems with The New York Times' reliability as a source, but using the language "survived by" is imprecise and unnecessary. The article already indicates that Millett had a wife and two sisters. Why is it noteworthy to specify that they were all alive at the time of her death? AlexEng^(TALK) 00:13, 21 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks!

Hi Alex, thank you for your comments at my RfA. I hope that I'll be able to answer your concerns with my actions rather than my words. Cheers, ansh 666 23:53, 22 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for reaching out, Ansh666. Despite my oppose, I'm happy you got the bit, as you clearly have the backing of the community. Best of luck; I've no doubt you'll do well.

AlexEng^(TALK) 00:46, 23 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Historicity of Jesus

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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.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:23, 2 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Iyoki Station

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Please comment on Talk:2017 Las Vegas Strip shooting

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Please comment on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Rivers

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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.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:49, 2 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Category talk:Years by country

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Please comment on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Elections and Referendums

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Please comment on Talk:Flag of Turkey

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Administrators' newsletter – December 2017

News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2017).

Administrator changes

Joe Roe

JzG

Ericorbit • Perceval • Thingg • Tristanb • Violetriga

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.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:57, 2 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

ArbCom 2017 election voter message

Hello, AlexEng. 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)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Flag of Turkey

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Flag of Turkey. Legobot (talk) 04:24, 12 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Kashmir conflict

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Kashmir conflict. Legobot (talk) 04:24, 23 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas AlexEng!!

Hi AlexEng, 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} 13:20, 23 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Seasons' Greetings

...to you and yours, from the Great White North! FWiW Bzuk (talk) 17:32, 24 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

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

Worm That Turned

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.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:37, 3 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Israel

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Israel. Legobot (talk) 04:25, 3 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Gråen

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Gråen. Legobot (talk) 04:24, 14 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Armenian Genocide

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Armenian Genocide. Legobot (talk) 04:26, 25 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

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.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:51, 4 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:1948 Palestine war

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:1948 Palestine war. Legobot (talk) 04:26, 4 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Oakland Coliseum station

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Oakland Coliseum station. Legobot (talk) 04:24, 15 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Joseph Stalin

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Joseph Stalin. Legobot (talk) 04:24, 25 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

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_all that 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.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:00, 2 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Winter War

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Winter War. Legobot (talk) 04:25, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Racism in the United States

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Racism in the United States. Legobot (talk) 04:25, 19 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Polish collaboration with Nazi Germany

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Polish collaboration with Nazi Germany. Legobot (talk) 04:24, 30 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – April 2018

News and updates for administrators from the past month (March 2018).

Administrator changes

331dot • Cordless Larry • ClueBot NG

Gogo Dodo • Pb30 • Sebastiankessel • Seicer • SoLando

Guideline and policy news

Administrators who have been desysopped due to inactivity are now required to have performed at least one (logged) administrative action in the past 5 years in order to qualify for a resysop without going through a new RfA.
Editors who have been found to have engaged in sockpuppetry on at least two occasions after an initial indefinite block, for whatever reason, are now automatically considered banned by the community without the need to start a ban discussion.
The notability guideline for organizations and companies has been substantially rewritten following the closure of this request for comment. Among the changes, the guideline more clearly defines the sourcing requirements needed for organizations and companies to be considered notable.
The six-month autoconfirmed article creation trial (ACTRIAL) ended on 14 March 2018. The post-trial research report has been published. A request for comment is now underway to determine whether the restrictions from ACTRIAL should be implemented permanently.

Technical news

There will soon be a calendar widget at Special:Block, making it easier to set expiries for a specific date and time.

Arbitration

The Arbitration Committee is considering a change to the discretionary sanctions procedures which would require an editor to appeal a sanction to the community at WP:AE or WP:AN prior to appealing directly to the Arbitration Committee at WP:ARCA.

Miscellaneous

A discussion has closed which concluded that administrators are not required to enable email, though many editors suggested doing so as a matter of best practice.
The Foundations' Anti-Harassment Tools team has released the Interaction Timeline. This shows a chronologic history for two users on pages where they have both made edits, which may be helpful in identifying sockpuppetry and investigating editing disputes.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:23, 2 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:National Rifle Association

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:National Rifle Association. Legobot (talk) 04:25, 9 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:List of English monarchs

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:List of English monarchs. Legobot (talk) 04:24, 20 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Randa Jarrar

I have reverted several of your whitewashed edits for Randa Jarrar's page. If you disagree, you may message me. — Preceding unsigned comment added by RRBBLL (talk • contribs) 23:53, 20 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@RRBBLL: hi! Thank you for contacting me directly about this. I do disagree with many of your edits:

I think the article lead should contain a balanced view of the author/professor.
Ethnicity should not be included in the article lead unless it is contextually relevant. See MOS.
Alumni and donor feedback is not relevant to the article section, especially if you're only going to include quotations from a single alumnus. Wikipedia is WP:NOTNEWS, and we don't necessarily include everything that a newspaper such as the NY Post would in the article. Reactions from various people fall under the category of WP:EXCESSDETAIL.
The same applies to similar incidents at Fresno State. The article subject, Randa Jarrar is not an article about Fresno State as a whole. Information about similar incidents, while interesting, has no place in an article about one specific person: Randa Jarrar. This detail need not be included in the article.

I hope we can come to an agreement about these points, but if not, fear not. There are many forms of Dispute Resolution that we can pursue.

AlexEng^(TALK) 00:43, 21 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

What he said ^. Look, @RRBBLL: you really need to understand where we’re coming from. Wikipedia has a large body of guidance relating to every aspect of editing, from spelling, to what abbreviations to use, to writing neutrally. And that guidance is what we’re trying to get the article to comply with. I get the sense from your edits, judging by the totality of them, that you wish to editorialize and basically insert loaded language. That’s not how it’s done here. We need to rely on facts and sources, not introduce a narrative we want to be true.

Think about it. Open yourself up to constructive criticism, but for the love of God, please start using the talk page. Let’s get a resolution to these issues. GnarlyLikeWhoa (talk) 00:52, 21 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Follow Up

Noted. I will attempt to find an alternate photograph of Randa Jarrar. — Preceding unsigned comment added by RRBBLL (talk • contribs) 00:01, 21 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

AE

I've moved your statement to the non-admin section. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 00:41, 26 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@NeilN: thank you. My mistake. AlexEng^(TALK) 00:42, 26 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Syria

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Syria. Legobot (talk) 04:25, 2 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – May 2018

News and updates for administrators from the past month (April 2018).

Administrator changes

None

Chochopk • Coffee • Gryffindor • Jimp • Knowledge Seeker • Lankiveil • Peridon • Rjd0060

Guideline and policy news

The ability to create articles directly in mainspace is now indefinitely restricted to autoconfirmed users.
A proposal is being discussed which would create a new "event coordinator" right that would allow users to temporarily add the "confirmed" flag to new user accounts and to create many new user accounts without being hindered by a rate limit.

Technical news

AbuseFilter has received numerous improvements, including an OOUI overhaul, syntax highlighting, ability to search existing filters, and a few new functions. In particular, the search feature can be used to ensure there aren't existing filters for what you need, and the new equals_to_any function can be used when checking multiple namespaces. One major upcoming change is the ability to see which filters are the slowest. This information is currently only available to those with access to Logstash.
When blocking anonymous users, a cookie will be applied that reloads the block if the user changes their IP. This means in most cases, you may no longer need to do /64 range blocks on residential IPv6 addresses in order to effectively block the end user. It will also help combat abuse from IP hoppers in general. This currently only occurs when hard-blocking accounts.
The block notice shown on mobile will soon be more informative and point users to a help page on how to request an unblock, just as it currently does on desktop.
There will soon be a calendar widget at Special:Block, making it easier to set expiries for a specific date and time.

Arbitration

The Arbitration Committee is seeking additional clerks to help with the arbitration process.

Obituaries

Lankiveil (Craig Franklin) passed away in mid-April. Lankiveil joined Wikipedia on 12 August 2004 and became an administrator on 31 August 2008. During his time with the Wikimedia community, Lankiveil served as an oversighter for the English Wikipedia and as president of Wikimedia Australia.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 07:05, 2 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Re: wording of text in the Drew Barrymore article.

Alex, Regarding your edit to Drew Barrymore article, the wording makes little sense (to me, at least). Of course the Barrymore family is a "thing." However, as it is now worded, with the statement that Barrymore is part of the Barrymore acting dynasty, followed by a colon and a list of that dynasty, it makes little sense that the Costellos (apart from Dolores, who married a Barrymore) should follow in the list of that dynasty. They were not part of the Barrymore acting dynasty. I won't revert, but it seems somewhat clumsy, or not well worded to me. It presupposes the Costellos were part of this family.

"She was born into the Barrymore acting dynasty: All of her paternal great-grandparents – Maurice and Georgie Drew Barrymore, Maurice and Mae Costello (née Altschuk) – as well as her paternal grandparents, John Barrymore and Dolores Costello, were actors, with John being arguably the most acclaimed actor of his generation. Barrymore is a niece of Diana Barrymore, a grandniece of Lionel Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore, and Helene Costello...."

Cheers. ExRat (talk) 22:23, 2 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@ExRat: hello! Thanks for contacting me about this. You make a good point. The wording is confusing as I left it. Moreover, I've been racking my brain, and I can't actually find a better way to word it without making it even more confusing. I've self-reverted. Thanks again for your thoughts! AlexEng^(TALK) 03:53, 3 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Invitation to the Portals WikiProject...

You are invited to join the effort to revitalize and improve the Portal system.

The Portals WikiProject was rebooted on April 17th, and is going strong. Sixty-six editors have joined so far, with more joining daily. We're having a blast, and excitement is high...

Our goal is to update, upgrade, and maintain portals.

In addition to working directly on portals, we are developing tools to make portals more dynamic (self-updating), and to make building and maintaining portals easier. We've finished two tools so far, with more to come. They are Template:Transclude lead excerpt and Template:Transclude random excerpt.

Discussions are underway about how to further upgrade portals, and what the portals of the future will be.

There are plenty of tasks (including WikiGnome tasks too).

With more to come.

We may even surprise ourselves and exceed all expectations. Who knows what we will be able to accomplish in what may become the biggest Wikicollaboration in years.

See ya at the WikiProject!

Sincerely, — The Transhumanist 06:52, 4 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Abortion and the Catholic Church

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Abortion and the Catholic Church. Legobot (talk) 04:24, 13 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Referenced DOY?

Dear AlexEng, I would like to invite you into a discussion about referenced DOY. I see you were involved in a discussion about DOY somewhere in October 2017 and figure out perhaps I should invite you. I would appreciate your comment and many thanks :) --Rochelimit (talk) 16:38, 16 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Foreign involvement in the Syrian Civil War

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Foreign involvement in the Syrian Civil War. Legobot (talk) 04:24, 23 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Right to Exist

Re [[1]] - sorry for bad formatting, just back after 5 year ban! While you may be right that right to exist a moral defense of israel's wars is the most famous book with 'right to exist' in the title, it is not the only book with those words in the title, is not actually about the right to exist per se, and its article only gets an average of 5 views a day. To describe it as "the book" on "right to exist" is wrong. I would be most grateful if you would revert your edit. Thanks a lot!♥ L'Origine du monde ♥ ^{(♥ Talk♥ )} 23:10, 23 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, and thank you for your thoughtful message, L'Origine du monde! While I agree that there are surely other books out there with the term "Right to exist" in their titles, there are no notable ones (at least judging by Wikipedia articles and by a cursory Google search). Hatnotes are there to help our readers find what they're looking for, particularly when they've typed a word or phrase that can refer to multiple things. In this case, I think it's reasonable for a user who may have been searching for the book Right to Exist: a Moral Defense of Israel's Wars to have typed only "Right to Exist" in their search bar. That's why the hatnote should be there. As for the wording, you'll find that prefixing disambiguations with "the" is both more precise and more common on the project. You can check out the numerous examples on WP:Hatnote for reference. Referring to it in this way does not confer any special status to this text as an important book, it simply aims to say "This article is about the idea of a right to exist; you may have been looking for the book instead. Here's the link to it.". As a thought experiment, try saying out loud, "For the book, see Right to Exist: a Moral Defense of Israel's Wars." and then try saying, "For a book, see Right to Exist: a Moral Defense of Israel's Wars." Which one sounds more awkward?

By the way, welcome back to Wikipedia, and thank you for contributing!!!

AlexEng^(TALK) 00:05, 24 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for your kind words Alex, and your thoughtful message! Very glad to be back! I think that if you say "for the book" it confers undue authority on a book very few people are interested in, and is less precise, but I can see your point of view :) I hope you have no objection to me putting "For the personal right to exist, see Right to life." before the book, as I think it more likely people would be looking for that, as it is a lot more popular! ♥ L'Origine du monde ♥ ^{(♥ Talk♥ )} 00:42, 24 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@L'Origine du monde: no objections.

AlexEng^(TALK) 00:44, 24 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you Alex. I hope you don't mind me copying your smiley lets chat! ♥ L'Origine du monde ♥ ^{(♥ Talk♥ )} 00:49, 24 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@L'Origine du monde: No problem! I copied it myself from the ever-helpful Oshwah. AlexEng^(TALK) 01:03, 24 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I really like it :) Is it possible to describe Chomsky in some way? He is twice a professor, has over 40 degrees, linguist etc? You are right that it is wrong on wikipedia to say Professor Chomsky, but how could one give an idea of who he is?♥ L'Origine du monde ♥ ^{(♥ Talk♥ )} 03:33, 24 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for tidying up the mess I madeThis bit in the Israel section puzzles me - could you improve it too, if it doesn't just need deleting, which I am tempted to do! "Journalist and author Alan Hart, an anti-Zionist who has speculated that Israeli agents were behind the 9/11 attacks, has argued that there is no legitimacy to Israel’s claim to have a right to exist until Palestinians recognize it, and reasons that this is why Israel insists the Palestinians recognise its right to exist: "Israel has no right to exist unless it was recognized and legitimized by those who were dispossessed of their land and their rights during the creation of the Zionist state." ^[1]"♥ L'Origine du monde ♥ ^{(♥ Talk♥ )} 03:37, 24 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you very much

The RfC discussion to eliminate portals was closed May 12, with the statement "There exists a strong consensus against deleting or even deprecating portals at this time." This was made possible because you and others came to the rescue. Thank you for speaking up.

By the way, the current issue of the Signpost features an article with interviews about the RfC and the Portals WikiProject.

I'd also like to let you know that the Portals WikiProject is working hard to make sure your support of portals was not in vain. Toward that end, we have been working diligently to innovate portals, while building, updating, upgrading, and maintaining them. The project has grown to 80 members so far, and has become a beehive of activity.

Our two main goals at this time are to automate portals (in terms of refreshing, rotating, and selecting content), and to develop a one-page model in order to make obsolete and eliminate most of the 150,000 subpages from the portal namespace by migrating their functions to the portal base pages, using technologies such as selective transclusion. Please feel free to join in on any of the many threads of development at the WikiProject's talk page, or just stop by to see how we are doing. If you have any questions about portals or portal development, that is the best place to ask them.

If you would like to keep abreast of developments on portals, keep in mind that the project's members receive updates on their talk pages. The updates are also posted here, for your convenience.

Again, we can't thank you enough for your support of portals, and we hope to make you proud of your decision. Sincerely, — The Transhumanist 23:30, 26 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

P.S.: if you reply to this message, please {{ping}} me. Thank you. -TT

Administrators' newsletter – June 2018

News and updates for administrators from the past month (May 2018).

Administrator changes

None

Al Ameer son • AliveFreeHappy • Cenarium • Lupo • MichaelBillington

Guideline and policy news

Following a successful request for comment, administrators are now able to add and remove editors to the "event coordinator" group. Users in the event coordinator group have the ability to temporarily add the "confirmed" flag to new user accounts and to create many new user accounts without being hindered by a rate limit. Users will no longer need to be in the "account creator" group if they are in the event coordinator group.
Following an AN discussion, all pages with content related to blockchain and cryptocurrencies, broadly construed, are now under indefinite general sanctions.

Technical news

IP-based cookie blocks should be deployed to English Wikipedia in June. This will cause the block of a logged-out user to be reloaded if they change IPs. This means in most cases, you may no longer need to do /64 range blocks on residential IPv6 addresses in order to effectively block the end user. It will also help combat abuse from IP hoppers in general. For the time being, it only affects users of the desktop interface.
The Wikimedia Foundation's Anti-Harassment Tools team will build granular types of blocks in 2018 (e.g. a block from uploading or editing specific pages, categories, or namespaces, as opposed to a full-site block). Feedback on the concept may be left at the talk page.
There is now a checkbox on Special:ListUsers to let you see only users in temporary user groups.
It is now easier for blocked mobile users to see why they were blocked.

Arbitration

A recent technical issue with the Arbitration Committee's spam filter inadvertently caused all messages sent to the committee through Wikipedia (i.e. Special:EmailUser/Arbitration Committee) to be discarded. If you attempted to send an email to the Arbitration Committee via Wikipedia between May 16 and May 31, your message was not received and you are encouraged to resend it. Messages sent outside of these dates or directly to the Arbitration Committee email address were not affected by this issue.

Miscellaneous

In early May, an unusually high level of failed login attempts was observed. The WMF has stated that this was an "external effort to gain unauthorized access to random accounts". Under Wikipedia policy, administrators are required to have strong passwords. To further reinforce security, administrators should also consider enabling two-factor authentication. A committed identity can be used to verify that you are the true account owner in the event that your account is compromised and/or you are unable to log in.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:59, 1 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Jabel Mukaber

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Jabel Mukaber. Legobot (talk) 04:25, 2 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Mass killings under Communist regimes

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Mass killings under Communist regimes. Legobot (talk) 04:24, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Donald Trump

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Donald Trump. Legobot (talk) 04:24, 24 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – July 2018

News and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2018).

Administrator changes

Pbsouthwood • TheSandDoctor

Gogo Dodo

Andrevan • Doug • EVula • KaisaL • Tony Fox • WilyD

Bureaucrat changes

Andrevan • EVula

Guideline and policy news

An RfC about the deletion of drafts closed with a consensus to change the wording of WP:NMFD. Specifically, a draft that has been repeatedly resubmitted and declined at AfC without any substantial improvement may be deleted at MfD if consensus determines that it is unlikely to ever meet the requirements for mainspace and it otherwise meets one of the reasons for deletion outlined in the deletion policy.
A request for comment closed with a consensus that the {{promising draft}} template cannot be used to indefinitely prevent a WP:G13 speedy deletion nomination.

Technical news

Starting on July 9, the WMF Security team, Trust & Safety, and the broader technical community will be seeking input on an upcoming change that will restrict editing of site-wide JavaScript and CSS to a new technical administrators user group. Bureaucrats and stewards will be able to grant this right per a community-defined process. The intention is to reduce the number of accounts who can edit frontend code to those who actually need to, which in turn lessens the risk of malicious code being added that compromises the security and privacy of everyone who accesses Wikipedia. For more information, please review the FAQ.
Syntax highlighting has been graduated from a Beta feature on the English Wikipedia. To enable this feature, click the highlighter icon () in your editing toolbar (or under the hamburger menu in the 2017 wikitext editor). This feature can help prevent you from making mistakes when editing complex templates.
IP-based cookie blocks should be deployed to English Wikipedia in July (previously scheduled for June). This will cause the block of a logged-out user to be reloaded if they change IPs. This means in most cases, you may no longer need to do /64 range blocks on residential IPv6 addresses in order to effectively block the end user. It will also help combat abuse from IP hoppers in general. For the time being, it only affects users of the desktop interface.

Miscellaneous

Currently around 20% of admins have enabled two-factor authentication, up from 17% a year ago. If you haven't already enabled it, please consider doing so. Regardless if you use 2FA, please practice appropriate account security by ensuring your password is secure and unique to Wikimedia.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:22, 3 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Ideological bias on Wikipedia

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Ideological bias on Wikipedia. Legobot (talk) 04:24, 4 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Wikipedia talk:No original research

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Wikipedia talk:No original research. Legobot (talk) 04:24, 14 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Khalistan movement

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Khalistan movement. Legobot (talk) 04:24, 24 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Donald Trump

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Donald Trump. Legobot (talk) 04:24, 3 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – August 2018

News and updates for administrators from the past month (July 2018).

Administrator changes

Sro23

KaisaL • Ymblanter

Guideline and policy news

After a discussion at Meta, a new user group called "interface administrators" (formerly "technical administrator") has been created. Come the end of August, interface admins will be the only users able to edit site-wide JavaScript and CSS pages like MediaWiki:Common.js and MediaWiki:Common.css, or edit other user's personal JavaScript and CSS. The intention is to improve security and privacy by reducing the number of accounts which could be used to compromise the site or another user's account through malicious code. The new user group can be assigned and revoked by bureaucrats. Discussion is ongoing to establish details for implementing the group on the English Wikipedia.
Following a request for comment, the WP:SISTER style guideline now states that in the mainspace, interwiki links to Wikinews should only be made as per the external links guideline. This generally means that within the body of an article, you should not link to Wikinews about a particular event that is only a part of the larger topic. Wikinews links in "external links" sections can be used where helpful, but not automatically if an equivalent article from a reliable news outlet could be linked in the same manner.

Technical news

The WMF Anti-Harassment Tools team is seeking input on the second set of wireframes for the Special:Block redesign that will introduce partial blocks. The new functionality will allow you to block a user from editing a specific set of pages, pages in a category, a namespace, and for specific actions such as moving pages and uploading files.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:31, 5 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:George Galloway

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:George Galloway. Legobot (talk) 04:25, 14 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Module talk:Infobox military conflict

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Module talk:Infobox military conflict. Legobot (talk) 04:24, 29 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – September 2018

News and updates for administrators from the past month (August 2018).

Administrator changes

None

Asterion • Crisco 1492 • KF • Kudpung • Liz • Randykitty • Spartaz

Optimist on the run → Voice of Clam

Interface administrator changes

Amorymeltzer • Mr. Stradivarius • MusikAnimal • MSGJ • TheDJ • Xaosflux

Guideline and policy news

Following a "stop-gap" discussion, six users have temporarily been made interface administrators while discussion is ongoing for a more permanent process for assigning the permission. Interface administrators are now the only editors allowed to edit sitewide CSS and JavaScript pages, as well as CSS/JS pages in another user's userspace. Previously, all administrators had this ability. The right can be granted and revoked by bureaucrats.

Technical news

Because of a data centre test you will be able to read but not edit the wikis for up to an hour on 12 September and 10 October. This will start at 14:00 (UTC). You might lose edits if you try to save during this time. The time when you can't edit might be shorter than an hour.
Some abuse filter variables have changed. They are now easier to understand for non-experts. The old variables will still work but filter editors are encouraged to replace them with the new ones. You can find the list of changed variables on mediawiki.org. They have a note which says Deprecated. Use ... instead. An example is article_text which is now page_title.
Abuse filters can now use how old a page is. The variable is page_age.

Arbitration

The Arbitration Committee has resolved to perform a round of Checkuser and Oversight appointments. The usernames of all applicants will be shared with the Functionaries team, and they will be requested to assist in the vetting process. The deadline to submit an application is 23:59 UTC, 12 September, and the candidates that move forward will be published on-wiki for community comments on 18 September.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:22, 2 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

We need your input! Request for Comment - Including China's stance on Hamas

Your name was found on Feedback request service Politics, government, and law. Please join the discussion here and give your needed opinion on whether to include China's position concerning Hamas. Thanks! Veritycheck✔️ (talk) 16:25, 6 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

^ The False Messiah: Zionism, the Real Enemy. Volume 1, p.34 by Alan Hart

[1] The False Messiah: Zionism, the Real Enemy. Volume 1, p.34 by Alan Hart

[1]

@@ Line 976: / Line 976: @@
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+== We need your input! Request for Comment - Including China's stance on Hamas  ==
+Your name was found on [[Wikipedia:Feedback_request_service#Politics,_government,_and_law|Feedback request service Politics, government, and law]].
+Please join the [[Talk:Hamas#Request_for_Comment_-_Including_China's_stance_on_Hamas_in_the_lead|discussion here]] and give your needed opinion on whether to include China's position concerning [[Hamas]]. Thanks!  [[User:Veritycheck|Veritycheck✔️]] ([[User talk:Veritycheck|talk]]) 16:25, 6 September 2018 (UTC)