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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by HyrulesGreatest (talk | contribs) at 21:49, 27 September 2018. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

User:DeltaQuad/Menu


User:DeltaQuad/Templates/Off and On WikiBreak

Contact information
  • Email: Email me (Email rules)
  • IRC: @wikipedia/DeltaQuad, under nicks similar to DeltaQuad or Izhidez. (See IRC channel at the top for my home)

Help please

Not sure what's up with this user but I think they need counsulting - FlightTime (open channel) 19:09, 24 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – July 2018

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

Administrator changes

added Pbsouthwood • TheSandDoctor
readded Gogo Dodo
removed Andrevan • Doug • EVula • KaisaL • Tony Fox • WilyD

Bureaucrat changes

removed 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]

Wikipedia:Files for discussion/2018 June 18 closes

Hi DeltaQuad. I just noticed you closed quite a few FFD’s at Wikipedia:Files for discussion/2018 June 18. Just in case you didn’t notice, many of these discussion were not simple “keep” or “delete” discussions, but were rather “keep” or “remove” discussions. Most of the files are non-free files with multiple uses, and the discussions were about whether all or only some of these uses were WP:NFCCP compliant. So, it might help avoid confusion if you could clarify whether your closes are for all uses being discussed or only for some. FWIW,removing the file from some articles doesn’t mean the file will be deleted, but simply saying “keep” might be interpreted by some as “keep everywhere the file is being used” and others as “keep only for some uses”. Thanks in advance. — Marchjuly (talk) 10:03, 4 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Marchjuly: Ya I had already closed them (late at night) when I had realized it was more complex. I still actioned and removed the links from most articles, I just did not write it down. If you think it'll clarify it, I can go write that in the closes. -- Amanda (aka DQ) 18:37, 5 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I would appreciate it if you did to make the outcomes clear. — JJMC89 (T·C) 21:00, 5 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]
 Done [1] -- Amanda (aka DQ) 00:34, 6 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for doing that DeltaQuad. It might've been a little better to simply add the name of the files "mentioned by Explicit" to your closes, but at least this does indicate that this is not a "keep everywhere" type of close. Perhaps updating the {{Oldffdfull}} templates you added to the each file's talk page might also help. The reason I brought this up for discussion is not to be a pain in your side and create more busy work for you. It's just that image use can be tricky and files removed per an FFD discussion are sometimes re-added by either those (1) who aren't aware of the FFD dicussion or (2) those who are but disagree with the result. So, it helps to be able to provide a link back to the FFD which shows that a consensus was estalished to remove a file and why. -- Marchjuly (talk) 01:27, 6 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2018-28

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes

  • WebM video files have smaller file size but still be of the same quality. Creating WebM files will take longer time. [2]
  • The new filters for edit review tools and interface for watchlists will leave beta. This was supposed to already have happened but was delayed. For most wikis this will happen on 9 July. For the rest it will happen on 16 July. [3]
  • Advanced item All wikis now use the Remex parsing library instead of Tidy. This could cause errors. You can help fix the errors. [4]

Problems

  • When you rolled back an edit it could get both the Rollback and Undo tags. This has been fixed. [5]
  • Rollbacks from autopatrolled users were not marked as patrolled. This has been fixed. [6]

Changes later this week

  • When you edit a link in the visual editor there will be two separate buttons to change which page the link goes to (target) or its text (label). [7][8]
  • On the mobile version you can find a link to an editor's contributions from their user page. Now this will work even if they haven't created a user page. [9]
  • When you edit a discussion on the mobile version you sometimes get your signature automatically added. This will now not happen if you have already added a signature manually. This is to avoid double signatures. [10]
  • Structured discussions toolbars will have more style options. [11]
  • Advanced item When you look at Wikimedia code in Gerrit there will be a new interface. It is on by default for new users. This is also true for developers. This is to make it easier to understand what is happening. [12]
  • Recurrent item The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 10 July. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 11 July. It will be on all wikis from 12 July (calendar).

Meetings

  • Recurrent item You can join the next meeting with the Editing team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs you think are the most important. The meeting will be on 10 July at 18:30 (UTC). See how to join.
  • Recurrent item Advanced item You can join the technical advice meeting on IRC. During the meeting, volunteer developers can ask for advice. The meeting will be on 11 July at 15:00 (UTC). See how to join.

Future changes

  • Today all administrators can edit CSS and JavaScript for the entire wiki. There will be a new user group for editing CSS and JavaScript. Administrators will no longer automatically be able to do this. This is because it is a security risk when all administrator accounts can edit JavaScript even if they never plan to or do not know how it works. You can read more. [13]
  • Page previews will be on by default for new accounts. [14]

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

23:09, 9 July 2018 (UTC)

Indefinite IP range block

Hello. You blocked Special:Contributions/82.132.224.0/21 indefinitely. It's an anon-only block, but the block is indefinite. May I suggest specifying an end-date? Perhaps a multi-year block? That way, if the range is reallocated and/or the problem user goes away, the block just automatically expires? --Yamla (talk) 12:36, 11 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Oh crap...that's what I get for blocking 4 ranges at once with Special:MassBlock...I totally spaced on the expiry. I'll change the 4 ranges to a date at some point today. -- Amanda (aka DQ) 15:12, 11 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Works for me. :) Have a good day! --Yamla (talk) 15:16, 11 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@Yamla: Just so you know I finally followed up, they are done. -- Amanda (aka DQ) 17:36, 19 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Another revdel needed

On Eric's World, you missed a revdel on this revision (the one where you protected the page), and the inappropriate content is still there. Can you also revdel that edit too? — MRD2014 Talk 20:56, 11 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

 Done -- Amanda (aka DQ) 22:51, 11 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Feedback on reverts?

Hi there. I recently requested rollback permissions, but was denied due to not having spent enough days reverting.

Schistocyte (talk · contribs · deleted · count · AfD · logs · block log · lu · rfar · spi) Wikipedia:Requests for permissions/Rollback link

I plan on eventually resubmitting a request, but wanted to reach out to see if you (or another admin) is able to offer general feedback on my past reverts up until this point. If this is not possible, I totally understand. I just thought I'd go ahead and ask, as your feedback on WP:RFP/R is especially detailed. Also, I've been monitoring WP:CVUA, but there have been no slots open for some time. Thank you. — Schistocyte (talk) 01:33, 15 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Schistocyte: All of this may sound harsh, take it with a grain of salt. When looking for permissions, I have to look for issues, and it tends not to highlight your positive contribution. So my first concern would be that in 19 days you have amassed 375 edits, likely mostly rollback (of which are 14 days), after coming back from a 4-month holiday. Before then, you were not particularly well established as a user. Your February edits were mostly WP:SANDBOX changes, and January was reversion of vandalism, but most of it was marked as good faith edits. This shows that in January you didn't clearly know the difference between good faith and vandalism. Your talkpage also shows you are still learning about Wikipedia basics, which is great, but a concern for me. I recently gave someone with little experience a temporary run (First request, Second request) and had it backfire. So i'm a little more cautious about handing it out. A spot check of your reverts looks ok for the moment, but I didn't go in depth because of the above. So at this point I'd still be a  decline. -- Amanda (aka DQ) 17:24, 19 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@DeltaQuad: Thank you for taking the time to review my edit history. Your feedback was not harsh at all. I appreciate your honest review of my contributions as of this point. Just to clarify, I am not planning on requesting rollback again until I have more experience. Thanks — Schistocyte (talk) 19:14, 19 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2018-29

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes

Changes later this week

  • Your watchlist will show changes from the last seven days instead of three. If you have already set a length preference it will not change. [18]
  • Recurrent item The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from July 17. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from July 18. It will be on all wikis from July 19 (calendar).

Meetings

  • Recurrent item You can join the next meeting with the Editing team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs you think are the most important. The meeting will be on July 17 at 18:30 (UTC). See how to join.
  • Recurrent item Advanced item You can join the technical advice meeting on IRC. During the meeting, volunteer developers can ask for advice. The meeting will be on July 18 at 15:00 (UTC). See how to join.

Future changes

  • Some articles have messages to readers about problems with the article. For example that it does not cite sources or might not be neutral. Readers do not see these messages on the mobile version. The developers now want to show them. You can read more and leave feedback.
  • You can use <inputbox> to create search boxes for specific pages. For example to search the archives of a community discussion page. Instead of prefix:Page name you will see a text that explains which pages are being searched. You can read more and leave feedback.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

16:00, 16 July 2018 (UTC)

George Galloway

Hello, this "protection" is not necessary, I didn't want to revert his edit. -- Tobby72 (talk) 12:04, 17 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

While I appreciate the sentiment, the talkpage clearly shows that the same issues still exist. If it wasn't going to be you, it was going to be someone else. -- Amanda (aka DQ) 16:00, 19 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

not here

Hi. You recently blocked SandSsandwich for not being here. I had come across the user on the talkpage of bot suggestions/requests. After watching his activity i Thought the same, him not "being here". At that time he had like 50 edits with only one in article space. I am not questioning the block, but just curious, how/why did you block him? Kindly ping while replying. —usernamekiran(talk) 02:56, 23 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Usernamekiran: So the first thing I come across is that they only had the one edit to the mainspace. People who are not here to contribute to the encyclopedia tend not to edit the mainspace. Second, their second edit was to motto of the day participants. Clearly, it's not their first time using Wikipedia. Then they proceed to give out a whole bunch of barnstars/cookies to users, including to someone who has been gone for ages (not disclosing per WP:BEANS). They also started to edit the retired template. If they are thinking about retiring at this point...like... Lastly, they did a crap load of edits to their userspace. Therefore with all this combined, they aren't here to contribute to the encyclopedia, but to screw around. -- Amanda (aka DQ) 13:05, 23 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2018-30

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes

  • When you log in to your account you can choose to keep being logged in. This checkbox now works better than before on the mobile version for users without JavaScript. [19]
  • Wikis that use Citoid can automatically generate citations for Swedish news sites. This only works in the visual editor. This now works for Swedish public service radio. More will come. Others could use this to add news sites in other languages in the future. [20]
  • Editors can do max 90 edits per minute. This is new since last month. This does not affect bots or administrators. [21]

Changes later this week

  • Recurrent item The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 24 July. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 25 July. It will be on all wikis from 26 July (calendar).

Meetings

  • Recurrent item Advanced item You can join the technical advice meeting on IRC. During the meeting, volunteer developers can ask for advice. The meeting will be on 25 July at 15:00 (UTC). See how to join.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

09:44, 24 July 2018 (UTC)

You've got mail

Hello, AmandaNP. Please check your email; you've got mail!
It may take a few minutes from the time the email is sent for it to show up in your inbox. You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{You've got mail}} or {{ygm}} template.Alex Shih (talk) 04:50, 28 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

UTRS and IPv6

Hey, at User_talk:Efa#IP_subnet_blocked the editor notes that UTRS won't accept the appeal due to the editor using IPv6. Is this a known issue? SQLQuery me! 13:32, 28 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Nevermind! SQLQuery me! 13:32, 28 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2018-31

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes

  • The design on Special:Log has changed. It will change again soon. Developers are working on fixing problems. [22]

Problems

  • Deployment of 1.32.0-wmf.13 has been partially delayed. All deployments have been resumed and successfully done after bug fixes. [23][24]
  • Deployment of 1.32.0-wmf.14 has been partially delayed. [25][26]

Changes later this week

  • Recurrent item The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 31 July. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 1 August. It will be on all wikis from 2 August (calendar).

Meetings

  • Recurrent item You can join the next meeting with the Editing team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs you think are the most important. The meeting will be on 31 July at 18:30 (UTC). See how to join.
  • Recurrent item Advanced item You can join the technical advice meeting on IRC. During the meeting, volunteer developers can ask for advice. The meeting will be on 1 August at 15:00 (UTC) as well as at 23:00 (UTC). See how to join.

Future changes

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

14:05, 30 July 2018 (UTC)

George Galloway pp-dispute removal

Now that the Arbitration Committee BLP issues on British politics articles has closed 5 days ago, centering on Philip Cross edits to George Galloway, could the pp-dispute/protection level on George Galloway's article you added be removed or reduced for established editors. There is at least one important backlog edit waiting to be made (see Talk:George Galloway#Significant development to Ali-Khan legal case). Thanks. Rwendland (talk) 09:20, 31 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

My protection of the article was not because of the arbitration case, but because of the fact that 99% of the page's history right now is edit warring. You are able to make edit requests, which if consensus exists, an administrator can add it to the article. The protection log, which also shows the expiry of the protection, will show you I did smaller increments of time to attempt to resolve the issue. -- Amanda (aka DQ) 17:20, 31 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – August 2018

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

Administrator changes

added Sro23
readded 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

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

Tech News: 2018-32

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes

Problems

  • The MediaWiki version that was released two weeks ago was late to some Wikimedia wikis. This was because of bugs. It was on all wikis 30 July. [28][29]

Changes later this week

  • Recurrent item The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 7 August. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 8 August. It will be on all wikis from 9 August.

Meetings

  • Recurrent item You can join the next meeting with the Editing team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs you think are the most important. The meeting will be on 7 August at 18:30 (UTC). See how to join.
  • Recurrent item Advanced item You can join the technical advice meeting on IRC. During the meeting, volunteer developers can ask for advice. The meeting will be on 8 August at 15:00 (UTC). See how to join.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

19:39, 6 August 2018 (UTC)

Tech News: 2018-33

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes

  • CSS in templates can now be stored in a separate page on all wikis. This is called TemplateStyles. This is to make it easier to edit how templates look. [30]

Changes later this week

  • There is no new MediaWiki version this week.

Meetings

  • Recurrent item You can join the next meeting with the Editing team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs you think are the most important. The meeting will be on 14 August at 18:30 (UTC). See how to join.
  • Recurrent item Advanced item You can join the technical advice meeting on IRC. During the meeting, volunteer developers can ask for advice. The meeting will be on 15 August at 15:00 (UTC). See how to join.

Future changes

  • The developers are planning more ways to block users. This could be blocking someone from just a page or a namespace. You can read more. You can leave feedback on the talk page. [31]

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

17:53, 13 August 2018 (UTC)

Your close at Talk:George Galloway

I find your close very strange. You say that there's no consensus bbetween #1 and Neither, and you note that people found #2 objectionable. But you also say that "so the article will stay as it is", which means ... #2 (which is the current version). That doesn't compute. Kingsindian ♝ ♚ 16:20, 14 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry about that. I thought these were proposed additions. I have amended things. -- Amanda (aka DQ) 16:33, 14 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

ygm

Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 01:15, 15 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2018-34

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Changes later this week

  • Recurrent item The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 21 August. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 22 August. It will be on all wikis from 23 August (calendar).

Meetings

  • Recurrent item Advanced item You can join the technical advice meeting on IRC. During the meeting, volunteer developers can ask for advice. The meeting will be on 22 August at 15:00 (UTC). See how to join.

Future changes

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

16:46, 20 August 2018 (UTC)

OTRS Permission

{{Ping|DeltaQuad}} For some reason I can't use your OTRS Permission script anymore, even though in it says available to OTRS-members of the global group which I am as seen here. --Clarkcj12 (talk) 15:03, 24 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Can you describe the conditions it's not working in and give me a link to your JS file? I can get it working perfectly fine. -- Amanda (aka DQ) 17:56, 24 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I did it as an importscript function in my Common.js at User:Clarkcj12/common.js. 23:28, 24 August 2018 (UTC)
I installed your scripts, it worked fine. I see you installed it today. Did you clear your cache? Also, this script is permanently dead, so I removed it for you. -- Amanda (aka DQ) 01:37, 25 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I did try clearing my cache, and even rebooting computer, but the error I get says OTRS fail! You are not authorized for this function!. --Clarkcj12 (talk) 01:31, 27 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I see in the code where you got that from. I've made a change. Can you clear your cache and try now? No guarantee it'll work. -- Amanda (aka DQ) 02:11, 27 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Just tried it out and it works now. --Clarkcj12 (talk) 02:45, 27 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2018-35

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes

  • You can now see moved paragraphs in diffs in the mobile view. It also works on all languages in the desktop view. [33]
  • Bureaucrats on all Wikimedia wikis can now remove the interface admin user right. [34]

Problems

  • Some diffs show lines in the wrong order. The developers are working on fixing it. [35]

Changes later this week

  • The message you see when you thank a user will change. This is to make it easier to understand. [36]
  • AWB will stop adding using AWB in the edit summary. Instead it will add a tag that says AWB. [37]
  • Advanced item 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. [38]
  • Advanced item Abuse filters can now use how old a page is. The variable is page_age. [39]
  • Recurrent item The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 28 August. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 29 August. It will be on all wikis from 30 August (calendar).

Meetings

  • Recurrent item You can join the next meeting with the Editing team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs you think are the most important. The meeting will be on 28 August at 18:30 (UTC). See how to join.
  • Recurrent item Advanced item You can join the technical advice meeting on IRC. During the meeting, volunteer developers can ask for advice. The meeting will be on 29 August at 15:00 (UTC). See how to join.

Future changes

  • 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. You can read more about this.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

16:16, 27 August 2018 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – September 2018

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

Administrator changes

added None
removed Asterion • Crisco 1492 • KF • Kudpung • Liz • Randykitty • Spartaz
renamed Optimist on the run → Voice of Clam

Interface administrator changes

added 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) 23:23, 2 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2018-36

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes

  • There is a new user right for users who can edit CSS and JavaScript for the entire wiki. Before this all admins could edit CSS and JavaScript. This was a security risk. This group is called interface administrators. Administrators can delete user CSS and JavaScript pages. [40][41]
  • There will be an A/B test on the Wikipedia mobile website. It starts this week. It tests how we show templates that show information about an article. The test will last two weeks. [42][43]
  • You can now use different CSS rules for different skins when you edit templates. This is because of TemplateStyles. [44]
  • wp10 in ORES is now called articlequality. [45]
  • When you get a new message on your talk page you get a yellow message in the toolbar. The preference to show or not show this has been removed. [46]

Problems

  • UploadWizard had problems with campaigns. Users could not upload files. This has now been fixed. [47]
  • You can get a notification when a link is made to a page you created. This has not worked since June. It was fixed last week. [48]

Changes later this week

  • Recurrent item The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 4 September. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 5 September. It will be on all wikis from 6 September (calendar).

Meetings

Future changes

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16:47, 3 September 2018 (UTC)

Tech News: 2018-37

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes

  • When you added or edited a template with the visual editor the input boxes were very big. This has been fixed. The input boxes will now be smaller until you click on them. Then they will change size to fit the text. [50]

Problems

  • Some diffs showed lines in the wrong order. This was fixed last week. [51]
  • Marking a cross-wiki notification as read didn't work every time. The other wiki was not updated. This has now been fixed. [52]
  • <maplink> did not work for a few days. This was because of a bug. This has now been fixed. [53]
  • {{subst:REVISIONUSER}} is used by some templates. For a period edits saved with {{subst:REVISIONUSER}} would save the previous user's name and not your username. This is now fixed. Edits made before the bug was fixed will still be wrong and need to be corrected. [54]
  • When you move a page the title still shows the old page name. The developers are working on fixing this. [55]

Changes later this week

  • 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. You can read more about this.
  • Because of the data centre test there will be no new version of MediaWiki this week. Changes for this week will come next week instead.

Meetings

  • Recurrent item You can join the next meeting with the Editing team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs you think are the most important. The meeting will be on 11 Septmber at 18:30 (UTC). See how to join.
  • Recurrent item Advanced item You can join the technical advice meeting on IRC. During the meeting, volunteer developers can ask for advice. The meeting will be on 12 September at 15:00 (UTC). See how to join.

Future changes

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22:35, 10 September 2018 (UTC)

SPIs

Hi. I hope you are well.
This edit got me wondering, why SPIs arent usually filed for such users? He was clearly playing the good hand-bad hand stuff. So in the future, editors should be able to identify sych good hands. I have often seen such blocks previously, by many CUs. —usernamekiran(talk) 06:18, 15 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I try not to issue many blocks without an SPI. I went back through my blocks and i've only made 3 blocks where I haven't left any public trace at all. These blocks make it really hard for me to identify the original block reason, so I avoid not logging them frequently. While I think your question is good and worth comment, and I have a reasonable explanation, you are a little too early for me to have this discussion publicly, as I would be shooting myself in the foot. I'd be happy to discuss this case with you by email (which obviously would contain no extra private information), but if you are looking for a more public discussion, I would ask for you to wait until we get through an unblock request with the user. -- Amanda (aka DQ) 06:38, 15 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Hi. I apologise for being vague, and for giving the impression that I was asking about that particular block. I was asking about general circumstances. Also, I was not asking why you performed CU, or anything about that particular user. Sorry again :)
What I was trying to ask is, there are a few incidents like this where a case/perp should be known to other users, like which other accounts they handled; but (rarely) no more information is provided. I was looking for a general answer. I think that answer is the beans. I apologise for the confusion again :)
In a general situation, dont you think the other accounts should be disclosed after some period though? Like in "suspected/confirmed socks" tag on userpage, even if there is no SPI or behavioural evidence? In most of the cases behavioural evidence would be WP:beans. —usernamekiran(talk) 18:34, 15 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
No worries. So if you are speaking just to good-hand bad-hand accounts, the reasons are often very specific and not similar from one case to the next. It's hard for me to talk about them in generalities because I find those blocks aren't made often at all, and I honestly can't remember the last good-hand bad-hand I blocked beyond this. I'm happy to discuss old cases if you can find some and provide some reasoning on why it may of happened, it's just hard for me to pull out of my hat. Sorry for being difficult in giving an answer. -- Amanda (aka DQ) 19:34, 15 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

apologies, I didnt see you replied above, and with time I forgot about the conversation. I was just wondering, is it possible to run a CU on blocked users? I mean, technically it is possible, but is it possible policy-wise? There are huge behavioural similarities between Thanks Buddy, and Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Kindsouvik. Or, could you please run a CU on the latest confirmed sock of Kindsouvik? —usernamekiran(talk) 00:53, 26 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

So yes it is definitely possible policy wise. The problem we run into is that data expires after a certain amount of time. So everything in that SPI archive, I would have zero data available for me, even if I ran the check. -- Amanda (aka DQ) 01:29, 26 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

DELETION of the block, and I'm very sorry

Hi, I am a Wikipedia user who had created an account called Retired Wrestler that I was going to give to friend who is former wrestler called Verne Seibert (he said he didn't want it), and I also created some other accounts for people to help me out with issues of mine. I did not read the rules about sockpuppeting, but I have now and am ashamed off what I have done, and will never do that again. I want to get it de-activated can you please accept my request. I wish you good help health and I am grateful for the education on this issue. Davidgoodheart (talk) 21:11, 15 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Davidgoodheart: Ok, i'm a bit confused to what is going on, but can you list all the accounts you have created please? -- Amanda (aka DQ) 23:08, 15 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@DeltaQuad: Hi, other than User:Retiredwrestler, these are the other two accounts that I created: User:Steamroll464 and User:Terryedward. I am a bit confused to the User:Terryedward account though as this person who says they have been able to use it even though it is said to be blocked. I must deal with just de-activating one account at at time. So lets just start with Retired Wrestler listed on the Nancy Benoit article user history. Also thank you so much for giving me a second chance! Davidgoodheart (talk) 00:08, 16 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not sure what you mean by giving you a second chance, I didn't promise anything, nor do I even know what you are really asking for. If you are looking for the sockpuppets to disappear out of existence except to oversighters, I'm not allowed to do that. I have rules that I have to follow when it comes to the use of that tool or I could loose it. If you mean hidden to admins only, again I have rules that I have to follow when it comes to the use of that tool. They were all blocked 11 months ago and haven't edited since, so they will remain dormant. -- Amanda (aka DQ) 00:53, 16 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@DeltaQuad: What I meant is being made unveiwable to people in the viewing history page so they can no longer be seen, and yes I know that adminstators can still see them, as I am WELL informed of that so they no longer viewable as my sockpuppets to regulareeditors, what I meant by a second chance it to make to socking avialable only to administrators, as I promise I will NEVER do this again! Davidgoodheart (talk) 01:39, 16 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Please don't edit your previous comments, as it could be used to claim I'm being rude by not addressing everything you say. Please add them as new comments.
As I said above, I have a policy to follow just as you do. The policy tells me when I can use them and when I can not use them. Why are you asking me to violate policy and get myself in trouble? -- Amanda (aka DQ) 01:54, 16 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@DeltaQuad: Sorry If I came across as rude, but I found out more info since I last talked to you and I was not make you look rude by saying you weren't addressing me. I will know for next time to add them when I talk to you next. I'm sorry, but I don't really understand what the policy is as it seems very complex to me, and if I made it seem like I was trying to ask you to do that I wasn't so I apologize if it came across that way. If wish you a healthy recovery. Davidgoodheart (talk) 02:14, 16 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
You didn't come across as rude, more just that it is hard to keep track of a discussion, and I am trying to make the point clearly that this is not something I'm allowed to do. I wish I could help you more, but I can't in this case as policy prohibits it. -- Amanda (aka DQ) 02:24, 16 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
(talk page stalker) @Davidgoodheart: FYI, accounts can not be deleted. - FlightTime (open channel) 00:11, 16 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@FlightTime: I know, but they can be made dormant and unviewable. Davidgoodheart (talk) 00:19, 16 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
While they technically can be made unviewable, our policies prohibit such an action in this particular case. Primefac (talk) 02:17, 16 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@DeltaQuad: Is there anything that I can do, such as putting speedy deletion tags on them? Davidgoodheart (talk) 02:24, 16 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict)x2(talk page stalker) @Davidgoodheart: I do not believe that there is, I'm afraid. SQLQuery me! 02:32, 16 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@DeltaQuad: Hi, thank you for your help so far. I have an idea being is that can you unblock Retiredwrestler, I am going to change its name, and password and give it to someone who wants an account. Is that possible to do? Davidgoodheart (talk) 22:01, 16 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Are they just looking for the username? Because it's against policy to give someone else your username. Everyone is able to create an account on Wikipedia. But if they just want the username you have, we can request a rename for your account, and then they can create a new account under the old name. (Do not create it for them!) -- Amanda (aka DQ) 06:44, 17 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@DeltaQuad: Okay then, what are they next steps that we must take to make this happen? Davidgoodheart (talk) 20:36, 17 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
So you want to rename the account and let that person create it correct? I just want to make sure I give you the right directions. -- Amanda (aka DQ) 20:44, 17 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@DeltaQuad: Yes, that is right. Davidgoodheart (talk) 23:19, 17 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
You would want to follow the instructions here. -- Amanda (aka DQ) 23:32, 17 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@DeltaQuad: Great! As soon as I meet them, which hopefully will be tomorrow, I will have them create it. Davidgoodheart (talk) 23:55, 17 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@DeltaQuad: Hi, I just contacted the person and they said they will meet me tomorrow. I checked User:Retiredwrestler and it still seems to be blocked, can you please remove the block, and I will take care of the rest tomorrow, and thanks again for your help! Davidgoodheart (talk) 00:22, 18 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
As I stated above, you need to request a username change for that account, and then if it is approved, then the account name will become open for the person to register. They are NOT permitted to simply just use the account as is. That is known as a compromised account and is blocked completely. I am not allowed to simply unblock them to use that account. Please request the username change. (Be aware I do NOT have the ability to rename the user) -- Amanda (aka DQ) 01:48, 18 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

New Page Review Bit

Well, I don't think I hit 20 pages in the week, was actually in the middle of reviewing one when it turned off, that was a little disorienting and funny. Let me know if you want to extend it and have me review more pages, I should have a good chunk of time this upcoming week to review more articles.

Overall, I think I did a decent job, though I had a couple instances of not understanding exactly what the review tools did, which lead to a few unintentional messages. Either way, thanks for giving me the shot. {{u|zchrykng}} {T|C} 05:03, 16 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

So the articles I will count:
  1. Makariy (Maletych)
  2. Great Bear (band)
  3. 1995 Volvo Women's Open – Doubles
  4. Andrea Lawrence (professor)
  5. Teachers Union
  6. Antonio Ereditato
  7. Beri Weber
  8. List of Brahmin dynasties and states
  9. Thomas J. Clayton
  10. Canadaland
As these were the only articles created recently. The rest just ended up in the page curation system out of stupidity. Since you only hit 50% of target with that list, I'd like to see another week. After that I'll ask you apply back at NPR so my colleges can also give input. -- Amanda (aka DQ) 05:35, 16 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Sounds good, I will make sure to focus on articles at the new end of the list. Figured I would work on the older ones to get them cleared, but yeah, they were there for stupid reasons. {{u|zchrykng}} {T|C} 05:52, 16 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Reapplied. Let me know if you have any questions for me. Didn't review as many as I wanted since I have been busy this week, but added a few to my list. {{u|zchrykng}} {T|C} 21:34, 21 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2018-38

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes

  • The Wikimedia Commons mobile app has a new version. Images uploaded using Nearby are now automatically added to the associated Wikidata item. You can browse other images on Commons. You can see your achievements and your upload statistics. It has also fixed some bugs. [56]
  • Advanced item MediaWiki web requests now have a time limit of 60 seconds for GET requests and 200 seconds for POST requests. [57]

Problems

  • You could not see the menu on the notifications page on the mobile version. This has now been fixed. [58]

Changes later this week

  • Special:AncientPages can hide disambiguation pages. [59]
  • Recurrent item The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 18 September. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 19 September. It will be on all wikis from 20 September (calendar).

Meetings

Future changes

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

21:58, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

Accidental rollback

Hi, I just wanted to let you know that I accidentally rollbacked you while rollbacking a disruptive IP. Sorry! JOEBRO64 22:53, 21 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the heads up, no worries. -- Amanda (aka DQ) 01:35, 22 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Clarification concerning WP:ADMINACCT

Hi there.

WP:ADMINACCT mentions, “Repeated or consistent poor judgment,” as possible criteria for sanctions. My question to you is this. To feasibly establish this type of behaviour concerning an Admin’s decisions given out at Arb/Req/Enf, would the complaint have to include several different cases? Furthermore, would all of these cases have to be summarized in a single 500 word filing?

If so, it seems there would be great difficulty if not impossibility to demonstrate this in so few words.

This is a hypothetical question, at the moment, to understand clearly how this would need to be demonstrated to avoid wasting the time of everyone, myself included. I assume that a complaint of behaviour like the one I filed will be deleted and not be on the record to establish consistent poor judgment should such a situation arise in the future. Is that true?

On a facetious note. If someone comes to my house with a dish they’ve prepared not to my liking, I still thank them. For they have certainly put effort into it which I appreciate. In this particular situation, the food may not have been to my taste but I liked the plate it was served on and admired its subtle colour.

Thanks for your time if you are able to reply. I understand it might need to wait till the present situation is completely resolved. From your talk page I see that you are not feeling well. I wish you a speedy recovery. Veritycheck✔️ (talk) 04:18, 23 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the well wishes. I do what I can here and there, it depends on the day.
As for ADMINACCT, yes it does state repeated or consistent poor judgement. It would definitely have to be more than 1 case. I'm not going to go into how many would be required, because it's all circumstantial. But the dispute resolution in this case was limited to a very small section on a user talkpage. I would think (don't quote me on this, i'll get someone to comment on this later who is more awake than I am) the best place to appeal an AE is at WP:ANI or WP:ARCA if you disagree with the result on it. If you get a handful of those all over turned then I would definitely have to consider it longer than I did this case.
As far as word count goes, remember that case requests is just meant to give a basic outline to decide if we need a full 4 week case over the matter. You don't have to spill all the beans there. That is what evidence is for. And you can always ask for word extensions.
As for your hypothetical question, the words you use are ambiguous, so i'll use a different set. The request will be archived in the case request page history and still be viewable to everyone. As far as it being on the record as an ArbCom matter, it would not count. You would have to reestablish that fact in future proceedings, unless somehow the current committee passes a motion of some sort, which I doubt will happen.
I'm not really sure where you are going with the dish, so I'll just pass on commenting for that. If you have any other questions, I'll try to answer them though others may help and be more useful too. -- Amanda (aka DQ) 04:43, 23 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
There is further clarification here -- Amanda (aka DQ) 05:55, 23 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2018-39

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Changes later this week

  • The preferences form will change to use the standard look. If you see any problems please report them on Phabricator. [60]
  • Recurrent item The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 25 September. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 26 September. It will be on all wikis from 27 September (calendar).

Meetings

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

15:22, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

Joseph Kropschot.png

Hi Delta Quad,

I communicated through social media (instagram) with the image's owner and got permission from him that way. I have screen shots of the DMs we exchanged, could I email those screen shots to the email address instead of actually forwarding an email? The image owner's name is Dale Shirley, his Instagram account is 'dabombphotos'. I have DMed him again and asked if he could send his permission in an email and have not heard back. Please let me know how to proceed. I am trying to follow all the rules here, I'm just a noob at Wikipedia entries and protocol so I'm just kind of stumbling my way through it. Thanks.

John — Preceding unsigned comment added by NorCal4Life (talk • contribs) 17:36, 27 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Sadly, sending screenshots of DMs will not work. Not that I believe you would do this, but people have modified screenshots before and that is why we can't except them, it has to come right from the source. -- Amanda (aka DQ) 21:40, 27 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Request

Hey, DeltaQuad,

Can you delete my edits on User talk:143.231.249.130, please? I posted a joke section because of what the IP address did to the Lindsey Graham page, but I feel embarrassed over it. Thanks. HyrulesGreatest (talk) 21:45, 27 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:AmandaNP&oldid=861500622"