User talk:Osomite

Thank you for your contributions on Dinosaurs

Hi Osomite, We’ve noticed that you edited articles related to Dinosaurs. Thank you for your great contributions. Keep it up! Bobo.03 (talk) 01:14, 6 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Response on TheSoul Publishing Being Russian

@Osomite Even before news articles came out, I myself had suspicions that they are potentially Russian affiliated (anyone who takes the time can see the strange connections). Obviously we cannot say that for sure. I have added a neutral description on the Bright Side Wikipedia page regarding several media organizations supposing they are Russian-affiliated with a statement from TheSoul itself. Perhaps TheSoul needs its own article and/or combine Bright Side and 5-Minute Crafts. I don't know- even if its not an offical tie, the strangeness and reach of their content combined with occasional political overtones has caused me to stay away. I doubt a legitimate propaganda operation wouldn't also operate with profit in mind or at the very least a for-profit company could experiment with propaganda (but not be dedicated to that as a mainstay) See on the talk page — Preceding unsigned comment added by Superdadsuper (talk • contribs) 03:15, 10 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Is "pyto free environment" hyphenated and could I get your advice?

a very good-point. I don't know. I think it will be necessary to convene an assemblage (or is it called a "gaggle") of at least 30 editors and 60 administrators to ponder this point at length. Whatever the outcome, pro-or-con, it needs to be included in the Manual-of-Style so that future hyphenate-type-errors do not occur. Thank you Mini4WD for the heads-up.

Osomite ^hablemos 22:34, 16 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks...

...for catching my goof at Mad (magazine). I was looking at the wrong Crumb reference to Mad, incorrectly going to this passage:

What else was weird about Weirdo? As Crumb himself wrote in the first issue, the new effort marked "another new magazine, another MAD imitation, another small time commercial feature with high hopes, obviously doomed to fail." This is a reference to the number of MAD knock-offs that appeared during the 1950s and 1960s....

And so I say: D'oh!--Tenebrae (talk) 00:07, 23 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

D/S Alerts

decision here.

WP:ACDS topic areas. 1 January 2021

Retraction, please

In this edit you called me an "apologist". From the context, I infer that you meant a "Nazi apologist", since you also referred to my "prodigious efforts to maintain Nazi victory in Poland/" Please retract these untrue and defamatory statements. You can do so by striking them out, using <s> and </s> at the beginning and end of each statement. Your failure to do so will result in your being reported to Wikipedia administrators for a gross violation of WP:No personal attacks. Beyond My Ken (talk) 21:22, 26 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Should I assume that your putting an unwarranted edit-warring notification on my talk page is your way of saying that you refuse to retract your defamatory statements? If you can confirm that you have no intention of retracting, than I can proceed with reporting you to admins for personal attacks. Beyond My Ken (talk) 21:35, 26 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Beyond My Ken: Previously I put this post on your talk page. I include it here for the record.

By definition, an apologist is "a person who offers an argument in defense of something controversial". By inference, you are the one putting the Nazi tag on it. The "context" is what you are making it to be. It seemed to me that Germany's successful invasion of Poland was a Nazi victory. Isn't that the position you have been maintaining?

I did not say you were a Nazi apologist. I am sorry that you inferred that. For the offense you feel, I apologize.

According to Godwin's law, this is the point at which effectively the discussion ends.

Osomite ^hablemos 22:02, 26 February 2021 (UTC) PS Seriously, stop. If you believe that I am wrong, report me to the authorities.[reply]

And here is my response from my talk page:

No, this is not the end of the discussion, since yours is a classic "non-apology apology". You apologize for "the offense I feel" but do not apologize for your statements. In any case, I did not ask for, and do not want an apology, which is useless to me, what I asked for was a retraction of your statements by striking them out. Without such a retraction, I will be taking this to admins. Beyond My Ken (talk) 21:59, 26 February 2021 (UTC)

You have been reported to the Administrators' Noticeboard/Incidents

You will find the report here. Beyond My Ken (talk) 22:26, 26 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

You do really go to the ANI and explain yourself.Slatersteven (talk) 13:58, 28 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It has been suggested that your silence and unwillingness to strike the comments will lead to a block, you really do need to start taking this seriously.Slatersteven (talk) 18:26, 1 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Slatersteven: I appreciate your concern. Thank you. I find this issue very distressing. Sadly it was the last thing I thought about while trying to fall asleep last night (actually at 3 AM) as this dilemma has been weighing on my mind. I do not call people Nazi apologists. I have not called people Nazi apologists. Beyond My Ken through inference (BMK's word) says I did.

Slatersteven, after you made your proposal to me to remove my comments, I thought it was appropriate and was figuring out how to do what you suggested and best seek resolution. Yes, I was silent, the reason was that I wanted to give time to let things cool down. I was upset by the proceedings and want to be able to respond calmly. I was silent, but I was listening. I am distressed that my silence was construed as nefarious. Sometimes a silence is just a silence. I was just listening and thinking. What was the apparent need for urgency? You mentioned that I was "a POV pusher trying to force their version of nationalist history onto the article". Where did that come from? I have no alternate version of history to force. It is very interesting what some people consider the meaning of silence is.

This issue initiated around my "edit" (I apologize for the "scare quotes", but I can't get the dif rename done without them) of the following sentence in the Operation_Sea_Lion article in the section "Invasion of Poland":

In September 1939, the German invasion of Poland was a success, but this infringed on both a French and a British alliance with Poland and both countries declared war on Germany.

My purpose was to edit a poorly constructed sentence and clarify. With the result of:

In September 1939, German invaded Poland. This aggression infringed on a French alliance with Poland and a British alliance with Poland. Subsequently, France and Britain declared war on Germany.

(Oops, I see that I created a typo "German" instead of "Germany".) So I reconstructed a sentence that had a comma splice and unusual conjunction "but". I edited it to make it three sentences. Making the entry more informative and clear was my object. And then I was left with the first sentence where using the word "successful" felt awkward. I have never considered the invasion of Poland "unsuccessful" (as some here have somehow construed). An invasion is either an invasion or a "failed invasion". And I have never seen the use of "successful" relative to "invasion" anywhere. Seeing that accolade in an encyclopedia article did not seem to have a neutral point of view NPOV. So I did not think that using the "successful" necessary. Removing the word "success" or "successful" does not change the meaning of the sentence. I had no hidden agenda with doing this. I had no agenda. I was trying to write the best encyclopedia article I could by removing a word that was unnecessary. After all, was an invasion and the invasion did what an invasion does. And in the edit summary, I indicated, "There is no support for the claim that the invasion of Poland was "successful". And from there BMK disagreed and reverted the entire edit. BMK ignored my edit of the second sentence which was a marked improvement over the original.

Here is an observation. In the Invasion of Poland Wikipedia article, the word "success", relative to the overall invasion, was used once, stating "The success of the invasion marked the end of the Second Polish Republic, though Poland never formally surrendered." Here as with the Operation Sea Lion article, the word "success" is an unnecessary adjective. If the word "success" is removed, the meaning of the sentence is not altered.

The encyclopedia Britannica, when discussing what caused WWII, it simply states, "World War II began in Europe on September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland." Here is a creditable encyclopedia that does not feel the need for touting the invasion as "successful".

Through all of this, I have pondered about "what was Hitler's goal in invading Poland?" What would have been Hitler's criteria to consider the invasion successful? Clearly, Hitler desired to expand eastward to gain “lebensraum” (living space) for Germans. Did the invasion accomplish this goal? Another thought was that Hitler needed to possess Poland in order to launch his offensive against Russia. Yes, the invasion was successful in Germany "possessing" Poland for this purpose. If it is this apparent, why couldn't BMK simply qualify the condition of success? Maybe BMK could have added another sentence or two?

Recently, I read somewhere that with Germany's invasion of Poland and when the Allied Forces entered into WWII against Germany, at that point Germany had already realized that they had lost the war. With that view, it seems a stretch to say the invasion spawned a "success". I guess I need to find that again because there will undoubtedly be contention about this assertion. In any case, this line of inquiry is interesting and needs to be examined.

For some reason, Beyond My Ken has called me "the editor" throughout this entire episode. This is a personal slight, I consider BMK to be rude. There is some psychology involved with not acknowledging a person with their name. To not acknowledge someone is a snub. It can mean to ignore or not take notice of.

For some reason, from BMK's first revert of my initial edit, BMK made no effort to collaborate with me. He has only been brusk, offensive, and threatening. I made a single revert and BMK put the edit war Ambox warning on my talk page accusing "You currently appear to be engaged in an edit war according to the reverts you have made on Operation Sea Lion;" And then in an additional entry on my talk page threatened, "Your next revert to this article triggers a report to the edit warring notice board". OMG! I made a single revert at 10:35 and a second edit (retaining the word "successful" and BMK's response was to threaten me. Although in the edit war notice it counseled "Users are expected to collaborate with others", BMK never sought to collaborate with me. I highly doubt that BMK's behavior reflected an appropriate protocol.

Throughout many edit exchanges with editors, BMK has been determined to retain the exact original badly constructed sentence with simply the addition of four references supporting specifically for the single word "successful" in the context of "In September 1939, the successful German invasion of Poland". The placement of the references is unusual; they are placed immediately after the word " ". BMK's "edit" (Again, apologies for the "scare quotes") establishes that the references are specifically for just the word "successful", remarking in the edit summary "This is the way it must be done."

I appreciate that BMK has provided references specifically for the word "successful". I plan to track down the books to see whether there is actually a clear statement or analysis stating that the invasion was "successful". After I have been able to do find the books (they are at my libraries) and do the research, I was will report my results. If I am wrong, I will admit that I am wrong with appropriate apologies to BMK. I value truth and I value an honest presentation of history.

I see from the discussions, things have not cooled off. Beyond My Ken has been quite busy prosecuting his case. Is that appropriate? Today, BMK has "redacted what he considers to be personal attacks" in my post on the Operation Sea Lion Talk page. Was that appropriate? It seems that BMK is doing his best to add heat and stir the pot. From this situation, am I going to received fair consideration?

My posts concerned were in reply to "BLM post" (apologies for the "scare quotes") which was initiated immediately after I made "my first and only revert" (apologies for the "scare quotes").

BMK considers the following phrases to be personal attacks. Just to provide a perspective they were not grouped but spread in my post to BMK

"to maintain Nazi victory in Poland"

4 lines of text follows

"You are disingenuous."

10 lines of text follows

"Your argument is largely that of an apologist."

I am truly sorry that BMK inferred (BMK's word) that a word in the first phrase and a word in the third phrase was a personal attack of being called a "Nazi apologist". I am sorry he saw it that way. It was in no way intended to be a personal attack that I had "cleverly hidden". I did make an apology which was heartfelt ("I did not say you were a Nazi apologist. I am sorry that you inferred that. For the offense you feel, I apologize."). However, somehow I did not say whatever magical words BMK thought appropriate and called it a "nonapology apology". Some here have the view that I did not make a "not a genuine apology". Is there some guidance on how to make a genuine apology?

About "apologist". Some who are judging here, consider that because I rebuffed BMK's "success" argument by saying it was "largely that of an apologist" is a personal attack. An apologist is "one who speaks or writes in defense of something". What is wrong with that? That is what BMK did. I did not find BMK's argument convincing.

And about personal attacks. "BMK's reply to me" (apologies for the "scare quotes") contains some significant personal attacks on me:

"I won't take it seriously, because you're so far off the mark that you're entirely around the bend. Ignoring your ignorant personal jibes, the issue here is simple: reliable sources, and every historian worth their salt, says that the German invasion of Poland was a successful one."

BMK tells me, "I am entirely around the bend", calls me "ignorant", and then just claims the authority of historians "worth their salt". That wasn't much of an argument, it was, to me, what you would expect from an apologist who has few facts at hand. It was an insult to me. BMK claims I made a personal attack, which is ironic when BMK freely makes personal attacks; they were personal attacks that were so clear there was no inference needed to understand what they were. I would appreciate BMK's apology for his personal attack on me.

BMK's posts contain quite a bit of disparagement directed towards me; a lot of anger. The tone was arrogant and overbearing. BMK was presenting what BMK considered to be superior knowledge and was quite annoyed at being challenged. BMK took some particularly umbrage with my challenge requesting a reference for the adjective "successful". It seemed to me that BMK was looking for reasons to have controversy and conflict.

About "disingenuous". Here is "my post" and here is the comment in context which was concerned his aspersion that I was edit warring although I only made a single revert:

"You are disingenuous. You were in an edit war earlier this month from which you received a edit block of one month. You contested the block and received mercy. You ended the episode by claiming, "I'll try my best to improve". You need to work on that claim, walk the talk."

It is apparent, and BMK's editing history involving his past edit wars demonstrates it, that BMK is not candid or sincere and is in fact quite disingenuous. He claimed an edit war after I made a single revert, which is disingenuous. BMK would prefer to distract and misdirect and call it a personal attack; however, it is not, it is simply an observation of fact. This is not BMK's first rodeo.

Many words have been written here with many analyses of my words. In a lot of ways, I see this as much in the way of John Godfrey Saxe's poem [The Blind Men and the Elephant] which ends:

"So, oft in theologic wars, the disputants, I ween, tread on in utter ignorance, of what each other mean, and prate about the elephant, not one of them has seen!"

I hope for an honest opinion of the elephant.

Clearly the judges are self-selecting themselves. Can the judges act without bias and fairness?

I feel that the judges have been looking at this episode cherry-picking words, touching only the parts of the elephant that are easily at hand, and making assumptions based upon, probably, a predetermined result. You assume you know all about me and have already passed judgment. You layer assumption upon assumption. You suppose. You guess. You infer.

I feel that I will not find fair judgment here. I wonder that when making your judgments, has all of the record in the posts been reviewed and given equal weight? With BMK making on-going "comments" (again apologies for the "scare quotes") and whipping up the prosecution I feel an unfair finger on the scale.

I have a suspicion that what I have written here is just going to provide more "grist for the mill" with more criticism of what you think I really said and more condemnation.

As you judge me, do you consider Beyond My Ken blameless? Shouldn't his involvement be considered?

I have not challenged anyone's specific already stated determinations. Doing that would probably not change any opinion. I have not addressed every detail. If anyone has a specific question they would like me to address, please let me know.

Osomite ^hablemos 04:37, 2 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I will post this to the Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents and see what transpires

It might have been more helpful to have condensed this into one or two paragprahs.Slatersteven (talk) 10:54, 2 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Slatersteven: Yes less is more. Good thought. I have never been involved in a personal attack accusation and I had no guidance to follow so I did what I thought appropriate. Ironic, there was much ado about my prolonged silence, and now you want brevity. I was told to reply and that it was serious. I figured if it was serious, I would take it seriously and reply appropriately. I figured I had one opportunity to respond, so I made an effort to put it into perspective. What could I have explained in a paragraph or two? What is the critical issue? The critical defense?

You make a good point, so here is a try at brevity. A focused defence. (Hmm, and after writing the "brief", it is more than a paragraph or two. I did it with as few words as I could)

I have been accused by "inference" that I called Beyond My Ken (BMK) a Nazi Apologist. I did not. "Inference" is "a conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning." What is the evidence?

In my first post to the conversation, having spent some time carefully crafting it, I discovered when I tried to post I got an edit conflict as Slatersteven and BMK had posted several times while I composed, and I was behind. So I revised the post I was working on to place my somewhat belated comments in context. I "prefaced" with the comment, "I am a little behind on your prodigious efforts to maintain Nazi victory in Poland." I used the words "Nazi" and "victory" as they were prominently used in the back and forth posts between Slaterstevenu and BMK. I picked up on the theme. The words "Nazi attack" in my post were simply an "echoing" of the ideas being discussed. An echo nothing more.

The words "Nazi attack" would not be the ones I would use concerning the issue of "successful invasion". "Nazi attack" was not my original thought about the situation. BMK created the discussion section on the Operation Sea Lion talk page and titled it, "Was the Nazi invasion of Poland a success?" The original use of the word "Nazi" in the discussion done BMK.

Further down in the post, the part that I had tried to post but could not due to an edit conflict situation, I rebutted BMK's argument as being that of an apologist. An apologist, and nothing more. (See my previous post about "apologist", it is just a word to characterize a type of argument).

BMK, who clearly by the talk page discussion, at this point was very annoyed because I challenge the word "successful" and wanted a reference for that conclusion. So BMK, while annoyed (perhaps to the point of anger), read my post and wanted to reply. BMK created out of hole-cloth an imagined insult, a personal attack, because I used the word "Nazi" and "apologist" in the same post. Post hoc ergo propter hocer inferring, BMK decided that I said BMK was a "Nazi apologist". That is not true. I did not infer that, BMK inferred that.

To say that I made a personal attack is not true, I had no intent. I did not call BMK a "Nazi apologist". When I saw BMK's post back to me, I thought, "Oh Dear, where did that come from?" I immediately replied with an apology. Sadly BMK did not think it was not sufficient calling it a "nonapology apology". I am sorry that my apology did not satisfy BMK. At this point, I indicated I was no longer willing to engage (considering BMK's emotional state and imaginings). So I "went silent", which many here thought was a very suspicious thing to do. Note in my post, I said that was what I was intended to do. I invoked Godwin's law. And, I was condemned because I was not replying immediately. My speed of thought and action, unfortunately, does not match others in the Wikipedia world.

So BMK made a personal attack incident report. And here we are, with me defending myself from an "inferred" personal attack. I have been accused of doing something I did not do by "inference". Is inference adequate proof to make it fact? About this inference, I believe that I should be allowed the "benefit of the doubt".

I will post this to the Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents and see what transpires.

Osomite ^hablemos 20:43, 2 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Good description

Hi! I noticed a recent comment you made on an internal forum about BMK and his long-term pattern of behavior. It's something I've encountered myself, but you described it perfectly. Such a frustrating issue, and I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees it. I know commenting like this on the behavior of another editor is a dubious thing to do, but I strongly feel that this kind of thing is an exemplar of why Wikipedia's culture can discourage participation from newer editors. Ganesha811 (talk) 02:34, 5 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It's interesting how often people comment that this factor or that factor "drives away new editors", especially when put up against the reality that the majority of new editors - I would think - stick around, get the hang of the place, and eventually become productive editors, and that those who do run off frequently come back with new identities. Sometimes these also become productive contributors, but others, mostly the ones who were "driven off" because their edits were problematic in the first place, become puppetmasters, coming and going with new identities all the time. Now that, to my mind, is the true arrogance, the idea that one can edit whenever and as whomever one pleases, simply because someone dropped a dime on one's bad behavior.

Not everyone is cut out to edit in this kind of platform, which is simultaneously strict and free-form, and I, for one, don't feel that it helps the project much for us to bend over backwards to accommodate those square pegs who don't fit into the round holes we offer.

That you and Osomite (and others) don't like me is something I really can't do much about, not and remain true to myself and my commitment to continuing to improve the encyclopedia, but at least your crowd might recognize that I am committed to it, and that I do improve it, and that (here comes that "arrogance" again) I am more often right than I am wrong. Beyond My Ken (talk) 03:03, 5 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Beyond My Ken, hi! I do assume good faith on your part, as you describe in your last paragraph. We are all here to build an encyclopedia, and I know that dealing with repeated waves of vandals and trolls might engender a more blunt style than most people.

However, if you're open to a specific suggestion, I have one to make. I've noticed you often revert edits with the summary 'better before'. This is just not helpful. It's unlikely to produce any sort of constructive discussion, since it implies that there was something wrong with the change while providing absolutely no detail (policy-based, grammar-based, or otherwise) about what was wrong with it.

The result is that either you get into an edit war, or a discussion on the talk page that's already on the wrong foot, or, if they don't respond, you bite another editor by so bluntly reverting their contribution. You contribute a lot, but taking the time to give a specific reason for reverts rather than saying "better before", especially when the change is a matter of opinion and not clear vandalism, might help. Ganesha811 (talk) 03:38, 5 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, I will think about that. One of the problems is pure volume. I have a lot of pages on my watchlist, and I end up making a lot of edits in response to what's been done to them, so I fall back on "Better before" and "Not an improvement". I used to have a box on my talk page explaining what I mean by those canned replies (which are not so different from these commonly used abbreviations), but I took it down a while ago in a general clean up of the page. Beyond My Ken (talk) 04:14, 5 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Ganesha811, I appreciate your commiserating about Beyond My Ken's modus. Clearly, my talk page is on BMK's watchlist radar. Amazing how he jumped in and promptly replied to your note to me. It was enlightening to have BMK explain his method and motivation tending his watchlist.

I am not a prolific Wikipedia editor. I read Wikipedia articles and see things to fix. I read about things in newspapers, magazines, and books; I watch movies; I then look to Wikipedia to see what is said. Sometimes I find things to fix, sometimes I find things to add. My goal is to make Wikpedia content accurate and not confusing. A lot of Wikipedia writing is good, but some writing is pretty bad. I fix the bad when I find it.

About my observation on BMK's modus. A while back BMK and I tangled over an edit I made to Operation Sea Lion. It was my first encounter with BMK I was simply trying to clarify a poorly written sentence and in the process removed the word "successfully". BMK reverted my edit and strongly disagreed (he did do an edit summary explaining) and goaded me into an edit war (I thought I had made an improvement, but BMK clearly disagreed) and escalated it to an Administrator's Notice board and added that I made a "personal assault" against him. I was very surprised and offended about how I had been treated. This encounter with BMK was a bad thing, I wondered how it could be fixed.

It seemed to me that BMK was seeking controversy, wanting an argument. He was brusk, bullying, demanding, and condescending. BMK was on the offensive, attacking, leaving no room to collaborate. I came away from this encounter a bit hurt by what I considered a hostile environment--it was not right, it was not necessary. I thought that BMK's behavior was not appropriate visa via the espoused Wikipedia philosophy and policy and guidance about cooperation in writing an encyclopedia.

Since then, I have been trying to figure out what is/was going on with the Wikipedia environment by observing. Recently BMK took umbrage with a newish editor. The editor fixed a run-on sentence, and BMK goaded an editing war about an argument about "proper grammar". The edit argument had no merit, after all, good grammar is good grammar. BMK was harsh to the editor and was wrong in his position. What BMK was doing did not seem logical (what was BMK's motivation?). I felt the editor need support so I stepped in and pointed out how BMK was behaving badly. But, BMK refused to see anything but his point of view. This encounter was a bad thing happening in Wikipedia.

With Beyond My Ken having joined the conversation with you, and you with having made the good suggestion to him about edit summaries, and BMK acknowledging, may be . . .

I need to reply to Beyond My Ken congenially to seek resolution. I would prefer to like him.

Osomite ^hablemos 05:20, 6 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

{{rpa}}. It's OK to disagree with BMK's editing but name-calling is against our WP:NPA policy. – EdJohnston (talk) 03:38, 21 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

EdJohnston, you removed a personal attack that was made by an anonymous IP editor (an attack against Beyond My Ken, perhaps, as no specific editor was named in the post that was removed). Inadvertently (I hope), you made your statement quite ambiguous--it appears damning to me due to a lack of information to the contrary. Your comment makes it appear that I made the personal attack and not an anonymous IP editor. I realize that few people read my talk page and would see your comment, but in the spirit of accuracy, could you clarify who did what to whom? I would appreciate it. Osomite ^hablemos 20:52, 21 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I've fixed it. Beyond My Ken (talk) 20:56, 21 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

June 2021 chide

Your recent editing history at Veracity of statements by Donald Trump shows that you are currently engaged in an edit war; that means that you are repeatedly changing content back to how you think it should be, when you have seen that other editors disagree. 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 the bold, revert, discuss cycle 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 you 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 do not violate the three-revert rule—should your behavior indicate that you intend to continue reverting repeatedly. PackMecEng (talk) 23:33, 6 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@PackMecEng: quit being a bully. You are have initiated this supposed edit war over your agitationist view that facts must have a NPOV. You are arguing against the facts and the truth. Or is your starting an edit war with me personal? Or as your recent Block from editing on the Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard shows, are you are just looking to create controversy and be generally disagreeable. Your apparent Trump revisionist agenda is not a good look. Why are you so set against having the truth told about Trump? Is the truth a threat to your weltanschauung?Osomite ^hablemos 00:12, 7 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I was not the first one to revert you nor the last to disagree with your edit. You are welcome to take me to ANI or AN if you wish. You appear to be hear to WP:RGW. PackMecEng (talk) 00:14, 7 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@PackMecEng: My, my, my. You do carry on so. Trying to mount a defense to justify your behavior is so pathetic.

Please quit posting comments on my talk page (actually, please quit doing it anywhere in Wikipedia) about things you demonstrate little understanding.

"Righting Great Wrongs?" That's a pretty feeble effort at gaslighting. You are accusing me of the behavior you are engaging in yourself. Clearly with your false "not NPV" claims, you are in the WP:RWG mode trying to rewrite history to falsely burnish Trump's legacy which consists of tens of thousands of lies. You clearly have a very, very big job ahead of you defending the beloved Supreme Leader.

Go away. Go bully someone else.

Osomite ^hablemos 20:09, 7 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Just so you know, there is nothing particularly personal in PME's behavior, they do this sort of thing quite often - I keep having to warn them about following me around to comment on things I post. (An admin offered to block them for it, but I didn't feel like compiling the evidence that would have been required.) For laughs, you should read this (the part that's been collapsed) and their "discussion" of the block that resulted from it on their talk page [1]. It's almost surrealistic. Beyond My Ken (talk) 21:16, 7 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Next Housekeeping deletes begin here. . .

Skeuomorph revision

Hey! I noticed you undid my change to Skeuomorph to add the Flag of the Haudenosaunee. What is the reasoning behind this not being a skeuomorph? The stair-stepping on the tree in the middle of the flag was a necessary structure in the original belt because it was made from beads. The design of the flag is explicitly fashioned after the design of the belt, and although the stair-steps are no longer needed, they are still included. --Blacklemon67 (talk) 23:22, 10 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Blacklemon67: This type of discussion should be on the Skeuomorph Talk Page. I am going to move your comment there and provide my reply.

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In focus: Editing difficulties on Russian Wikipedia

A multi-national encyclopedia tries to move forward.

Gallery: A voyage around the world with WLM winners

Wiki Loves Monuments 2021 winners announced.

Interview: On a war and a map

How a war map predated Wikimedia's map of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Serendipity: Wikipedia loves photographs, but hates photographers

Why not just link to an article to attribute famous photographers?

Traffic report: Justice Jackson, the Smiths, and an invasion

Plus deaths, films, and the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification.

Recent research: Student edits as "civic engagement"; how Wikipedia readers interact with images

And other new research findings

News from the WMF: How Smart is the SMART Copyright Act?

The deceptively simple Strengthening Measures to Advance Rights Technologies Copyright Act of 2022.

Essay: The problem with elegant variation

An elegant Wikipedia essay.

Humour: Really huge message boxes

A serious statement of Wikipedia policy.

From the archives: Wales resigned WMF board chair in 2006 reorganization

A look at when the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees was reorganized.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:42, 24 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 29 May 2022

From the team: A changing of the guard

Your two new Signpost Editors in Chief.

News and notes: 2022 Wikimedia Board elections

Plus, Form 990, fundraising, RfA and UCoC.

Community view: Have your say in the 2022 Wikimedia Foundation Board elections

Community shortlisting in an affiliate-based process, and a poll for you to speak your mind.

Opinion: The Wikimedia Endowment – a lack of transparency

A little more information, please.

In the media: Putin, Jimbo, Musk and more

A varied collection of "special operations", and interviews.

Special report: Three stories of Ukrainian Wikimedians during the war

Tales of hope, perseverance and even a little humor.

In focus: Measuring gender diversity in Wikipedia articles

A new approach at the article level.

Discussion report: Portals, April Fools, admin activity requirements and more

We summarize the drama for you.

WikiProject report: WikiProject COVID-19 revisited

March 2020 WikiProject report interviewees return discussing project's evolution and future.

Technology report: A new video player for Wikimedia wikis

Plus, Growth Features configuration, the Hackathon, and more.

Featured content: Featured content of April

Showcasing the very best articles, pictures, videos, and other contributions from Wikipedians last month.

Interview: Wikipedia's pride

An interview with queer Wikimedians.

Serendipity: Those thieving image farms

Stopping them from taking your photos from Commons.

Recent research: 35 million Twitter links analysed

And other recent research findings.

Tips and tricks: The reference desks of Wikipedia

Helpful advice from Tips of the Day.

Traffic report: Strange highs and strange lows

Were Johnny and Amber exchanging blows?

News from Diff: Winners of the Human rights and Environment special nomination by Wiki Loves Earth announced

Photos raise awareness for nature protection and human impact on nature.

News from the WMF: The EU Digital Services Act: What’s the Deal with the Deal?

New regulations governing online censorship.

Video: How the entire country of Qatar was blocked from editing

A lighthearted video recalling the 2006 incident.

Gallery: Diving under the sea for World Oceans Day

Exploring Featured Pictures of the world's oceans.

From the archives: The Onion and Wikipedia

A look at when The Onion published an humorous article regarding Wikipedia.

Essay: How not to write a Wikipedia article

On creative works.

Humour: A new crossword

Test your word-puzzle skills!

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:47, 29 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes – Issue 50

The Signpost: 26 June 2022

News and notes: WMF inks new rules on government-ordered takedowns, blasts Russian feds' censor demands, spends big bucks

Office actions to secretly delete stuff when told to? Well, at least not if they're Putin's.

In the media: Editor given three-year sentence, big RfA makes news, Guy Standing takes it sitting down

Belarusian Mark Bernstein to serve 36 months of "home chemistry" for unapproved posting, Slate covers historically large adminship bid, UBI economist with goofy infobox caption thinks it's funny.

Special report: "Wikipedia's independence" or "Wikimedia's pile of dosh"?

A review of Wikipedia's fundraising messages and financial status.

Discussion report: MoS rules on CCP name mulled, XRV axe plea nulled, BLPPROD drafting bid pulled

Just three for the history books this month (or not).

Opinion: Picture of the Day – how Adam plans to ru(i)n it

Famed FP ace steps up to run main page outfit. Millions tremble in fear, or something.

Featured content: Articles on Scots' clash, Yank's tux, Austrian's action flick deemed brilliant prose

And who can forget the black-breasted buttonquail.

Essay: RfA trend line haruspicy: fact or fancy?

Don't be dumb, says math whiz: avoid the gambler's fallacy. Illustrated for your pleasure.

Recent research: Wikipedia versus academia (again), tables' "immortality" probed

Tables "like to socialize" and "share genes": ooh la la!

Serendipity: Was she really a Swiss lesbian automobile racer?

What's the deal with Anita Forrer, redlinked woman of mystery who saved Schwarzenbach archives?

News from the WMF: Wikimedia Enterprise signs first deals

Google and Internet Archive sold on new product, more customers hoped to follow.

Traffic report: Top view counts for shows, movies, and celeb lawsuit that keeps on giving

Plus editing stampedes for cheery subjects: shootings, deaths, and virus.

Gallery: Celebration of summer, winter

Lest Southern Hemisphere be forgotten.

Humour: Shortcuts, screwballers, Simon & Garfunkel

Can we offer you a nice crossword in this trying time?

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:31, 26 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 1 August 2022

From the editors: Rise of the machines, or something

The future of stuff? Who knows, but two articles were written by a computer this month.

News and notes: Information considered harmful

Wikipedia and human rights, publishers and the Internet Archive, Russia and Wikipedia.

In the media: Censorship, medieval hoaxes, "pathetic supervillains", FB-WMF AI TL bid, dirty duchess deeds done dirt cheap

Real news or silly season?

Op-Ed: The "recession" affair

IGNORANCE IS NOT STRENGTH.

Eyewitness Wikimedian, Vinnytsia, Ukraine: War diary (part 3)

"This year's victory was sad and dull."

Election guide: The chosen six: 2022 Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees elections

Candidate op-eds, open question spaces, and more.

Community view: Youth culture and notability

Was Minecraft YouTuber a GNG pass in life, or only in death?

Opinion: Criminals among us

Mass murderers, sex criminals, Ponzi schemers, insider traders, and business people.

Arbitration report: Winds of change blow for cyclone editors, deletion dustup draws toward denouement

The last three months of arbitration through the eyes of a GPT-3

Deletion report: This is Gonzo Country

GPT-3 whips it out.

Discussion report: Notability for train stations, notices for mobile editors, noticeboards for the rest of us

And when is 'today'?

Traffic report: US TV, JP ex-PM, outer space, and politics of IN, US, UK top charts for July

The world shows its messy complexity.

Featured content: A little list with surprisingly few lists

More lists expected next month.

Tips and tricks: Cleaning up awful citations with Citation bot

It doesn't have to be a pain in the butt!

In focus: Wikidata insights from a handy little tool

PAC2 explains the item documentation template.

On the bright side: Ukrainian Wikimedians during the war — three (more) stories

Education, climate change, and journalism.

Essay: How to research an image

Zoom and enhance.

Recent research: A century of rulemaking on Wikipedia analyzed

And other new research findings.

Serendipity: Don't cite Wikipedia

But Commons is a treasure trove.

Gallery: A backstage pass

All the things about theatre that the general public misses out on.

From the archives: 2012 Russian Wikipedia shutdown as it happened

Ten years ago, Russian Wikipedia went dark in protest of new Russian laws. Today...

Humour: Why did the chicken cross the road?

Strange mysteries of our animal world.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:39, 1 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 31 August 2022

News and notes: Admins wanted on English Wikipedia, IP editors not wanted on Farsi Wiki, donations wanted everywhere

jimmy@wikipedia.org donate@wikimedia.org (not a typo?) wants a moment of your time.

Special report: Wikimania 2022: no show, no show up?

Why the 'Festival Edition' was less than perfect, and what we can do better.

In the media: Truth or consequences? A tough month for truth

But Annie Rauwerda is the real thing!

Discussion report: Boarding the Trustees

2022 elections, new page patrol, Fox News, Vector 2022, Royal Central and external links

News from Wiki Education: 18 years a Wikipedian: what it means to me

Change and stability.

In focus: Thinking inside the box

All there is to know about userboxen.

Tips and tricks: The unexpected rabbit hole of typo fixing in citations...

Sometimes Citation bot is not enough.

Technology report: Vector (2022) deployment discussions happening now

Plus, the Private Incident Reporting System, and new bots & user scripts!

Serendipity: Two photos of every library on earth

One exterior, one interior.

Featured content: Our man drills are safe for work, but our Labia is Fausta.

Also includes a campaign to "Suck for Luck".

Recent research: The dollar value of "official" external links

And other new research

Traffic report: What dreams (and heavily trafficked articles) may come

Because there really is no real theme this month you can grab onto to give a catchy title.

Essay: Delete the junk!

Some articles aren't worth saving

Gallery: A Fringe Affair (but not the show by Edward W. Feery that was on this year)

Edinburgh in August.

Humour: CommonsComix No. 1

Because the Signpost needs a cartoon.

From the archives: 5, 10, and 15 years ago

The Signpost looks back on The Signpost: New reports, conceived in a spirit of collaboration, and dedicated to the proposition of information and, uh, more information for all.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:00, 1 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – September 2022

News and updates for administrators from the past month (August 2022).

Administrator changes

DanCherek • DatGuy • Femke • Z1720

Aldux • Graham Beards • Nyttend

Interface administrator changes

Mr. Stradivarius

Guideline and policy news

A discussion is open to define a process by which Vector 2022 can be made the default for all users.
An RfC is open to gain consensus on whether Fox News is reliable for science and politics.

Technical news

The impact report on the effects of disabling IP editing on the Persian (Farsi) Wikipedia has been released.
The WMF is looking into making a Private Incident Reporting System (PIRS) system to improve the reporting of harmful incidents through easier and safer reporting. You can leave comments on the talk page by answering the questions provided. Users who have faced harmful situations are also invited to join a PIRS interview to share the experience. To sign up please email Madalina Ana.

Arbitration

An arbitration case regarding Conduct in deletion-related editing has been closed. The Arbitration Committee passed a remedy as part of the final decision to create a request for comment (RfC) on how to handle mass nominations at Articles for Deletion (AfD).
The arbitration case request Jonathunder has been automatically closed after a 6 month suspension of the case.

Miscellaneous

The new pages patrol (NPP) team has prepared an appeal to the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) for assistance with addressing Page Curation bugs and requested features. You are encouraged to read the open letter before it is sent, and if you support it, consider signing it. It is not a discussion, just a signature will suffice.
Voting for candidates for the Wikimedia Board of Trustees is open until 6 September.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:12, 1 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Left field

Sorry about the confusion - I was referring specifically to the use of the source as being not entirely random. Don't want to get back into that discussion; just want to apologize for the communication differences. I'm from the Ozarks and have a rural background so I learned a somewhat bastardized version of most common English idioms/pronunciations/spellings/grammatical constructions that can be at time confusing. Hog Farm _Talk 13:55, 9 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Hog Farm:, I appreciate hearing from you. No worries, it's all good.

I understand about rural idioms and such. Sometimes I encounter the same things-especially about pronunciation and I am particularly bad at spelling as I am slightly dyslexic. I have to work hard in getting writing right. I hail from a very rural part of Northern Eastern California. I had a neighbor from Missouri and I loved to listen to her talk. We lived high up in the Sierra Nevada mountains and whenever she talked about going west into the central valley, she would say about "going down below". And talking about something "over there", she would say "yonder". A wonderful lady. And since many of the older timers (way back then), like my grandmother, were one generation removed from the gold miners of the 1849 gold rush, they had their way with words also. Good memories.Osomite 🐻 (hablemos) 20:31, 11 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes – Issue 52

The Wikipedia Library

Books & Bytes
Issue 52, July – August 2022

New instant-access collections:
- SpringerLink and Springer Nature
- Project MUSE
- Taylor & Francis
- ASHA
- Loeb
Feedback requested on this newsletter

The Signpost: 30 September 2022

News and notes: Board vote results, bot's big GET, crat chat gives new mop, WMF seeks "sound logo" and "organizer lab"

Candidates sign off and peel out – Sigalov is on and Peel is in.

In focus: NPP: Still heaven or hell for new users – and for the reviewers

Just what is NPP? Why does it need the WMF? Why does it need YOU?

In the media: A few complaints and mild disagreements

Was Katherine Maher a former encyclopedia salesperson?

Special report: Decentralized Fundraising, Centralized Distribution

The latest from the Wikimedia Deutschland Movement Strategy & Global Relations Team.

Discussion report: Much ado about Fox News

Source reliability, NPP, and appearance discussions.

Interview: ScottishFinnishRadish's Request for Adminship

Find out firsthand what our newest admin, ScottishFinnishRadish, does with a chainsaw.

Opinion: Are we ever going to reach consensus?

Some Articles for Deletion just drag on.

Serendipity: Removing watermarks, copyright signs and cigarettes from photos

Suggestion: promote removal of visible copyright signs of images under a CC-BY license.

Recent research: How readers assess Wikipedia's trustworthiness, and how they could in the future

And other research news.

Traffic report: Kings and queens and VIPs

Repeat after me: I solemnly swear not to put "oh my!" in a headline.

Featured content: Farm-fresh content

This month: A FACBot upgrade, a completed list of lists.

Gallery: A Festival Descends on the City: The Edinburgh Fringe, Pt. 2

Lo!

CommonsComix: CommonsComix 2: Paulus Moreelse

When Commons gives you a blank space...

From the archives: 5, 10, and 15 Years ago: September 2022

Yes, again.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:02, 1 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – October 2022

News and updates for administrators from the past month (September 2022).

Administrator changes

ScottishFinnishRadish

Staxringold

Ahoerstemeier (deceased) • Ched

Interface administrator changes

Cyberpower678

CheckUser changes

GorillaWarfare

Guideline and policy news

Following an RfC, consensus was found that if the rationale for a block depends on information that is not available to all administrators, that information should be sent to the Arbitration Committee, a checkuser or an oversighter for action (as applicable, per ArbCom's recent updated guidance) instead of the administrator making the block.
Following an RfC, consensus has been found that, in the context of politics and science, the reliability of FoxNews.com is unclear and that additional considerations apply to its use.
Community comment on the revised Universal Code of Conduct enforcement guidelines is requested until 8 October.

Technical news

The Articles for creation helper script now automatically recognises administrator accounts which means your name does not need to be listed at WP:AFCP to help out. If you wish to help out at AFC, enable AFCH by navigating to Preferences → Gadgets and checking the "Yet Another AfC Helper Script" box.

Arbitration

Remedy 8.1 of the Muhammad images case will be rescinded 1 November following a motion.
A modification to the deletion RfC remedy in the Conduct in deletion-related editing case has been made to reaffirm the independence of the RfC and allow the moderators to split the RfC in two.
The second phase of the 2021-22 Discretionary Sanctions Review closes 3 October.

Miscellaneous

An administrator's account was recently compromised. Administrators are encouraged to check that their passwords are secure, and reminded that ArbCom reserves the right to not restore adminship in cases of poor account security. You can also use two-factor authentication (2FA) to provide an extra level of security.
Self-nominations for the electoral commission for the 2022 Arbitration Committee elections open 2 October and close 8 October.
You are invited to comment on candidates in the 2022 CUOS appointments process.
An RfC is open to discuss whether to make Vector 2022 the default skin on desktop.
Tech tip: You can do a fuzzy search of all deleted page titles at Special:Undelete.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:43, 1 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 31 October 2022

From the team: A new goose on the roost

Or maybe the spit -- only time will tell.

News and notes: Wikipedians question Wikimedia fundraising ethics after "somewhat-viral" tweet

News from Twitter, Commons and the WMF C-Suite.

News from the WMF: Governance updates from, and for, the Wikimedia Endowment

501(c)(3) application approved, Amazon donates another million.

In the media: Scribing, searching, soliciting, spying, and systemic bias

Wading into several controversies.

Disinformation report: From Russia with WikiLove

I can has Kremlin sockfarms?

Recent research: Disinformatsiya: Much research, but what will actually help Wikipedia editors?

And other new research publications.

Interview: Isabelle Belato on their Request for Adminship

The newest sysop speaks on the process that got them there.

Featured content: Topics, lists, submarines and Gurl.com

Administrators' newsletter – November 2022

News and updates for administrators from the past month (October 2022).

Administrator changes

- Isabelle Belato
- Whpq

Interface administrator changes

CheckUser changes

Oversight changes

DGG

Guideline and policy news

The article creation at scale RfC opened on 3 October and will be open until at least 2 November.
An RfC is open to discuss having open requests for adminship automatically placed on hold after the seven-day period has elapsed, pending closure or other action by a bureaucrat.

Arbitration

Eligible editors are invited to self-nominate themselves from 13 November 2022 until 22 November 2022 to stand in the 2022 Arbitration Committee elections.
The arbitration case request titled Athaenara has been resolved by motion.
The arbitration case Reversal and reinstatement of Athaenara's block has entered the proposed decision stage.
AmandaNP, Mz7 and Cyberpower678 have been appointed to the Electoral Commission for the 2022 Arbitration Committee Elections. Xaosflux and Dr vulpes are reserve commissioners.

Miscellaneous

The 2022 CheckUser and Oversight appointments process has concluded with the appointment of two new CheckUsers.
You can add yourself to the centralised page listing time zones of administrators.
Tech tip: Wikimarkup in a block summary is parsed in the notice that the blockee sees. You can use templates with custom options to specify situations like {{rangeblock|create=yes}} or {{uw-ublock|contains profanity}}.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:23, 1 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Portola

Sorry, you're claiming that it's pronounced both por-TOH-lə and like "power-tall-ah", while claiming that they're the same. I suspect that you aren't familiar with the key, but if you are adding a second pronunciation, you need to provide a source. YouTube is good enough. Can you find someone on YouTube pronouncing it the way you think is correct? — kwami (talk) 02:24, 14 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Kwamikagami: I think that your reclama and knowledge about this issue would be better placed on the Portola talk page rather than hiding it on my obscure talk page. Inquiring minds will want to know.

I will put this discussion on the Portola talk page. Please make your responses there.

I see from your user page that you have knowledge about how words are pronounced.

Your last edit on the Portola article you deleted my pronunciation of "pour|toll|'|ɑh". It has been in the article for quite some time. Wikipedia guidance tells that long-time-standing edits should not be changed without some talk page discussion and agreement first. Why didn't you just leave it alone?

I am puzzled, "power-tall-ah"? Where did that come from? Do you think that my "pour" comes out as "power"; "ur" sounds like "wer"? Seriously. Please explain how/where you came by that. Sounds made up for argument's sake to me.

I guess that I don't understand the obscure rule about creating that dialectical pronunciation of a place name. Where in the wide wide world of Wikipedia guidance is that explained? You say that a "reference" to the local dialectic pronunciation is required. Where exactly in the literature of the world would one find that reference? Surely you jest. I laugh that you think youtube is a reliable source. What do you want me to do, create a youtube titled "This is how you pronounce the name of the small rural town of Portola, California" and say the word Portola correctly pronounced many many times, and maybe, for no particular reason, read the Wikipedia article. Do you see how silly that idea is? And, by the way, Wikipedia does not consider youtube to be a reliable source.

I see that in your most recent edit you deleted the native area pronunciation (that I rendered to the best of my ability) of "pour|toll|'|ɑh"; or should I have presented it as "pourtollah"? I know this is the sound of how the folks in the area speak the town's name. I know because I live there. I hear it spoken that way almost every day. Why is it that you disagree about something you have never heard?

I don't quite understand how you rendered the "respelled" pronunciation as "por|TOH|lə". Where did you hear that pronunciation? I am particularly curious about the last syllable "lə"? You think that "la" has an unexpected vowel sound so you represent it with the schwa symbol? So if it is an unexpected vowel sound, what is is the actual sound?

In my local knowledge, the last syllable of "Portola" sounds distinctly like "ah". The last syllable consists of just the "a"; the "l" is spoken in the second syllable with the "to" and that sounds like "toll". Yes, I know, the hill folk of the eastern lost sierras speak funny. When you use "por" as the pronunciation of the first syllable, does it sound like "pour"?

Please tell me how you have expert knowledge about the pronunciation of the name of the village hamlet Portola? (I remember on the Today show in June 1960, when David Garraway mentioned that "the village hamlet of Portola (and he actually pronounced it as a Portolian would expect) is being threatened by forest fire". That was all he said--I heard it and I was gobsmacked that the news of the day from New York was about such an isolated place. So, every now and then, I like to use Dave's description of my town--village hamlet; however, it isn't hamlet-like.)

In one of your edit summaries, (or perhaps it was the edit you made on my talk page and then subsequently deleted--tsk, tsk. That was bad editor manners. If I want something on my talk page deleted, I will delete it) you wanted to "hear" the pronunciation. If you need to "hear" Portola spoken how do you know that the "funny" and unreadable, at least to me, International Phonetic Alphabet rendered pronunciation of (/pɔːrˈtoʊlə/) that has been in the article for quite some time, is correct? If you don't know how it sounds, how can you vouch for that pronunciation? Perhaps "(/pɔːrˈtoʊlə/)" should be deleted.

As background concerning the pronunciation of Portola and the reason for my involvement, an editor arrogantly assumed that the word was actually pronounced according to the Spanish language like the name of the explorer Gaspar de Portolá y Rovira for whom the town is indirectly named--that is a story in itself that I will include in the article after I have the necessary references that I hope to find in the Bancroft Library at Cal. So to correct that incorrect attribution, I edited and provided the native dialectic sound for the name and explained on the Portola talk page about the how and why of the edit.

I just realized that there is a district in San Francisco named "Portola". It is pronounced "close" to the lost sierra dialect, but not exactly. That pronunciation would be acceptable, but it would not be exact.

Osomite 🐻 (hablemos) 05:00, 14 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I stopped reading your response when it became clear that you weren't being serious. We just can't take your word about something. You need evidence. And yes, if you have, say, the local news station pronouncing "Portola", or an interview with the police chief, that would probably be acceptable evidence for most people. — kwami (talk) 05:39, 14 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Kwamikagami: You stopped reading my response? How rude. I read your responses without stopping. It is petty of you to be criticizing my writing style.

Please note that I pointed out to you that further comment on this issue should appropriately be done on the Portola talk page. But you are ignoring my reasonable and logical request. Why is that?

I am requesting, make that demanding, that you no longer post on my talk page. I am within my rights to bar from positing here--there's guidance about this somewhere in the Wikipedia monolith but I am not going to find it for you.

I would like to point out that you need to add edit summaries when you post. Empty edit summaries are not satisfactory

You are discounting my position because you don't consider it to be serious. That's pretty arrogant. Don't you have a sense of humor? Is the world of posting pronunciations always deadly serious? If so, that is so sad.

There is content in my post which is quite relevant and on point, but you are ignoring it. I guess that is the easy way out for you, just disregard any argument that challenges your position. It seems you quit because you have nothing to support your position--all you are doing is citing a rule you have made-up and demanding evidence. When you post a new or revised pronunciation, where do you find your reference (aka evidence)? You clearly have no expert knowledge of the correct pronunciation of the word Portola, yet you refuse to address my position by falsely claiming superior knowledge and intelligence concerning the pronunciation of words. OMG!

Addressing your demanded acceptable proofs, there is no local radio station in the county--it is really rural and damn near dirt poor. And about "an interview" with the Chief of Police", there is no Chief of Police. The law enforcement is the Sheriff of Plumas County located in the county seat. In any case, where would this interview have taken place where the word "Portola" would be correctly pronounced? Were you anticipating that a recording of a radio station there would be available? Your thinking is a bit ivory tower, what planet are you living on?

As a Wikipedia editor aren't you supposed to honor the Wikipedia's Five Pillars? Consider the pillar that directs that "Wikipedia's editors should treat each other with respect and civility". This includes a basic tenant of seeking consensus and avoiding edit wars. And, notice the 5th pillar--Wikipedia has no firm rules.

I asked questions, and you are ignoring them. You demand evidence but you will not attempt any collegial effort or cooperation. What rule can you site that requires that I must render to you evidence about the pronunciation of the word "Portola"?

And once again, I will also add this post to the Portola talk page.

I hope you have read this far and not stopped earlier due to your opinion of my writing style. If you refuse to engage by posting on the Portola talk page, I will consider that you have surrendered the discussion.

Osomite 🐻 (hablemos) 09:04, 14 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes – Issue 53

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 53, September – October 2022

New collections:
- Edward Elgar
- E-Yearbook
- Corriere della Serra
- Wikilala
Collections moved to Library Bundle:
- Ancestry
New feature: Outage notification
Spotlight: Collections indexed in EDS

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --11:19, 17 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 28 November 2022

News and notes: English Wikipedia editors: "We don't need no stinking banners"

Joe Roe's close sows dough woes, manifestos... vetoes? overthrows?

In the media: "The most beautiful story on the Internet"

Ineffective altruism, return of the toaster, Jess Wade keeps wading through it, Russia censors searches, schools embrace Wikipedia.

Interview: Lisa Seitz-Gruwell on WMF fundraising in the wake of big banner ad RfC

An interview with Wikimedia's Chief Advancement Officer.

Opinion: Privacy on Wikipedia in the cyberpunk future

Oh, just one more thing... AI couldn't help but notice you use that punctuation a little bit more than most people...

Disinformation report: Missed and Dissed

Are government goons prowling our fair encyclopedia?

Op-Ed: Diminishing returns for article quality

Have we gotten past the point where better articles makes us a better encyclopedia? And what comes next?

Book review: Writing the Revolution

Heather Ford's new volume on Wikipedia, knowledge and power in the 2011 Egyptian revolution.

Technology report: Galactic dreams, encyclopedic reality

Facebook's Galactica demo provides a case study in large language models for text generation at scale: this one was silly, but we cannot ignore them forever.

Essay: The Six Million FP Man

Okay, six hundred, but either way, the bionic editor speaks.

Tips and tricks: (Wiki)break stuff

Productively doing nothing

Recent research: Study deems COVID-19 editors smart and cool, questions of clarity and utility for WMF's proposed "Knowledge Integrity Risk Observatory"

And other research findings.

Featured content: A great month for featured articles

Do consider joining FPC, though: we need you.

Obituary: A tribute to Michael Gäbler

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

Concept: The relevance of legal certainty to the English Wikipedia

A lost article from our deep annals

Traffic report: Musical deaths, murders, Princess Di's nominative determinism, and sports

The weeks and weeks, as reviewed by Wikipedia's readers.

From the archives: Five, ten, and fifteen years ago

Search upgrades, lawsuits, paid editing, and personal reflection.

CommonsComix: Joker's trick

A toast to good health, a health to good hoax, a hoax to good toast.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:42, 28 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

ArbCom 2022 Elections voter message

Hello! Voting in the 2022 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23:59 (UTC) on Monday, 12 December 2022. All eligible users are allowed 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 2022 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. If you no longer wish to receive these messages, you may add {{NoACEMM}} to your user talk page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:42, 29 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – December 2022

News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2022).

Administrator changes

Interface administrator changes

TheresNoTime

CheckUser changes

TheresNoTime

Oversight changes

TheresNoTime

Guideline and policy news

Consensus has been found in an RfC to automatically place RfAs on hold after one week.
The article creation at scale RfC has been closed.
An RfC on the banners for the December 2022 fundraising campaign has been closed.

Technical news

A new preference named "Enable limited width mode" has been added to the Vector 2022 skin. The preference is also shown as a toggle on every page if your monitor is 1600 pixels or wider. When disabled it removes the whitespace added by Vector 2022 on the left and right of the page content. Disabling this preference has the same effect as enabling the wide-vector-2022 gadget. (T319449)

Arbitration

Eligible users are invited to vote on candidates for the Arbitration Committee until 23:59 December 12, 2022 (UTC). Candidate statements can be seen here.
The proposed decision for the 2021-22 review of the discretionary sanctions system is open.
The arbitration case Reversal and reinstatement of Athaenara's block has been closed.
The arbitration case Stephen has been opened and the proposed decision is expected 1 December 2022.
A motion has modified the procedures for contacting an admin facing Level 2 desysop.

Miscellaneous

Tech tip: A single IPv6 connection usually has access to a "subnet" of 18 quintillion IPs. Add /64 to the end of an IP in Special:Contributions to see all of a subnet's edits, and consider blocking the whole subnet rather than an IP that may change within a minute.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:44, 1 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 1 January 2023

News and notes: Wikimedia Foundation ousts, bans quarter of Arabic Wikipedia admins

Plus admin update and cool tools for the new year.

In the media: Odd bedfellows, Elon and Jimbo, reliable sources for divorces, and more

Sometimes you need to read more than just the headlines!

Interview: ComplexRational's RfA debrief

Interview of ComplexRational about their recent request for adminship.

Technology report: Wikimedia Foundation's Abstract Wikipedia project "at substantial risk of failure"

Wikifunctions might drag it down.

Essay: Mobile editing

Frustrations and successes.

Arbitration report: Arbitration Committee Election 2022

Congratulations.

Recent research: Graham's Hierarchy of Disagreement in talk page disputes

And other new research findings.

Serendipity: Wikipedia about FIFA World Cup 2022: quick, factual and critical

How Iranian press agencies help Wikipedia to reflect football in a better way.

Featured content: Would you like to swing on a star?

You head into the featured content report. Amongst the features you see astronauts, both Gilbert and Sullivan, Ursula K. Le Guin's incredibly talented mother, and Billboard charts. It is pitch black, you are likely to be eaten by a grue.

Traffic report: Football, football, football! Wikipedia Football Club!

It is mostly about football!

CommonsComix: #4: The Course of WikiEmpire

In which a couple sentences of text recontextualises an image.

From the archives: Five, ten, and fifteen years ago

Photographers, Sandy Hook, the shocking use of Nazi symbols in articles about Nazis, and "You wouldn't recognise a fact if it bit you in the ass".

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:46, 1 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – January 2023

News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2022).

Administrator changes

Stephen

Interface administrator changes

Nihiltres

CheckUser changes

Moneytrees

Oversighter changes

Guideline and policy news

Speedy deletion criterion A5 (transwikied articles) has been repealed following an unopposed proposal.

Arbitration

Following the 2022 Arbitration Committee elections, the following editors have been appointed to the Arbitration Committee: Barkeep49, CaptainEek, GeneralNotability, Guerillero, L235, Moneytrees, Primefac, SilkTork.
The 2021-22 Discretionary Sanctions Review has concluded with many changes to the discretionary sanctions procedure including a change of the name to "contentious topics". The changes are being implemented over the coming month.
The arbitration case Stephen has been closed.

Miscellaneous

Voting for the Sound Logo has closed and the winner is expected to be announced February to April 2023.
Tech tip: You can view information about IP addresses in a centralised location using bullseye which won the Newcomer award in the recent Coolest Tool Awards.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:09, 6 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 16 January 2023

From the team: We heard zoomers liked fortnights: the biweekly Signpost rides again

It's not just a phase! Well, maybe it is.

Special report: Coverage of 2022 bans reveals editors serving long sentences in Saudi Arabia since 2020

Long-time contributors imprisoned for 32 and 8 years after "swaying public opinion" and "violating public morals".

News and notes: Revised Code of Conduct Enforcement Guidelines up for vote, WMF counsel departs, generative models under discussion

UCoC draws nearer, alongside the rise of the machines, in mainspace this time.

In the media: Court orders user data in libel case, Saudi Wikipedia in the crosshairs, Larry Sanger at it again

Wikipedia's birthday, a cute dog, and nipplefruit.

Technology report: View it! A new tool for image discovery

The depths of Commons, at your fingertips. Or eyetips.

In focus: Busting into Grand Central

Debunking widely-told myths about New York's grandest and centralest railway station.

Serendipity: How I bought part of Wikipedia – for less than $100

The economics of Wikipedia.

Gallery: What is our responsibility when it comes to images?

When notability conflicts with what it might be used for.

Humour: New geologically speedy deletion criteria introduced

7,000,000-year Landmasses for Subduction discussions considered "too long".

Opinion: Good old days, in which fifth-symbol-lacking lipograms roam'd our librarious litany

Allow us to bring you back, back, back, to days of Wikifun rampant.

Featured content: Flip your lid

...and your ambigram. Also: Boring lava fields, birds of Tuvalu, and commelinid family names with etymologies.

Traffic report: The most viewed articles of 2022

War, sports, and all types of chaos.

From the archives: Five, ten, and fifteen years ago

The editor with five million edits, the death of Aaron Swartz, and rollback.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:14, 16 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes – Issue 54

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 54, November – December 2022

New collections:
- British Newspaper Archive
- Findmypast
- University of Michigan Press
- ACLS
- Duke University Press
1Lib1Ref 2023
Spotlight: EDS Refine Results

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --14:15, 23 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – February 2023

News and updates for administrators from the past month (January 2023).

Administrator changes

Gimmetrow

CheckUser changes

Oversighter changes

Guideline and policy news

Following an RfC, the administrator policy now requires that prior written consent be gained from the Arbitration Committee to mark a block as only appealable to the committee.
Following a community discussion, consensus has been found to impose the extended-confirmed restriction over the topic areas of Armenia and Azerbaijan and Kurds and Kurdistan.

Technical news

The Vector 2022 skin has become the default for desktop users of the English Wikipedia.

Arbitration

The arbitration case Armenia-Azerbaijan 3 has been opened and the proposed decision is expected 24 February 2023.
In December, the contentious topics procedure was adopted which replaces the former discretionary sanctions system. The contentious topics procedure is now in effect following an initial implementation period. There is a detailed summary of the changes and administrator instructions for the new procedure. The arbitration clerk team are taking suggestions, concerns, and unresolved questions about this new system at their noticeboard.

Miscellaneous

Voting in the 2023 Steward elections will begin on 05 February 2023, 21:00 (UTC) and end on 26 February 2023, 21:00 (UTC). The confirmation process of current stewards is being held in parallel. You can automatically check your eligibility to vote.
Voting in the 2023 Community Wishlist Survey will begin on 10 February 2023 and end on 24 February 2023. You can submit, discuss and revise proposals until 6 February 2023.
Tech tip: Syntax highlighting is available in both the 2011 and 2017 Wikitext editors. It can help make editing paragraphs with many references or complicated templates easier.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:38, 2 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 4 February 2023

From the editor: New for the Signpost: Author pages, tag pages, and a decent article search function

Last issue's vow for "something to show for these efforts" revisited.

News and notes: Foundation update on fundraising, new page patrol, Tides, and Wikipedia blocked in Pakistan

As well as the continued rise of the machines, and Amanda Keton's WMF departure.

Section 230: Twenty-six words that created the internet, and the future of an encyclopedia

Section 230 before the Supreme Court in two cases, with broad implications for the web.

Disinformation report: Wikipedia on Santos

Or Santos on Wikipedia?

Special report: Legal status of Wikimedia projects "unclear" under potential European legislation

WMF issues salvo in latest battles of the Posting Wars

In the media: Furor over new Wikipedia skin, followup on Saudi bans, and legislative debate

The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Op-Ed: Estonian businessman and political donor brings lawsuit against head of national Wikimedia chapter

Isamaa party sponsor Parvel Pruunsild files claim in Tartu County Court against WMEE head Ivo Kruusamägi and Reform Party politicians.

Opinion: Study examines cultural leanings of Wikimedia projects' visual art coverage

English Wikipedia among most "global" and Thai Wikipedia's among most "Western", but non-Western works neglected overall.

Recent research: Wikipedia's "moderate yet systematic" liberal citation bias

And other new research publications.

WikiProject report: WikiProject Organized Labour

An interview with those who pitch in together

Tips and tricks: XTools: Data analytics for your list of created articles

Letting you find out about yourself (and others).

Featured content: 20,000 Featureds under the Sea

An exceptionally good period for featured articles.

Traffic report: Films, deaths and ChatGPT

Can we have a chat?

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:45, 4 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 20 February 2023

News and notes: Terms of Use update, Steward elections, and Wikipedia back in Pakistan

UCoC Enforcement Guidelines pass, Wikimedia Enterprise financials, GPTs gone wild, and a speedy deletion criterion removed.

In the media: Arbitrators open case after article alleges Wikipedia "intentionally distorts" Holocaust coverage

Also: Russ Baker's BLP, the digital commons, the NSA, and more on Pakistan.

Disinformation report: The "largest con in corporate history"?

Gautam Adani and his companies possibly behind scheme featuring scores of socks, infiltration of articles for creation process.

Essay: Machine-written articles: a new challenge for Wikipedia

GPT: friend or foe?

Tips and tricks: All about writing at DYK

Your one-stop hooker's handbook.

Featured content: Eden, lost.

But much else to be found.

Gallery: Love is in the air

Lovey-dovey stuff for Valentine's.

Traffic report: Superbowl? Pfft. Give me some Bollywood! Yours sincerely, the world

And maybe a side of AI.

From the archives: 5, 10, and 15 years ago: Let's (not) delete the Main Page!

Also: let's delete images of Muhammed! Let's delete portals!

Cobwebs: Editorial: The loss of the moral high ground

Yesterday's controversies, reported on today.

Humour: The RfA Candidate's Song

A musical interlude.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:03, 20 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – March 2023

News and updates for administrators from the past month (February 2023).

Administrator changes

The Wordsmith

CheckUser changes

Callanecc

Oversighter changes

Callanecc

Guideline and policy news

Following a request for comment, F10 (useless non-media files) has been deprecated.
Following a request for comment, the Portal CSD criteria (P1 (portal subject to CSD as an article) and P2 (underpopulated portal)) have been deprecated.
A request for comment is open to discuss making the closing instructions for the requested moves process a guideline.

Technical news

The results of the 2023 Community Wishlist Survey have been posted.

Arbitration

Remedy 11 ("Request for Comment") of the Conduct in deletion-related editing case has been rescinded.
The proposed decision for the Armenia-Azerbaijan 3 case is expected 7 March 2023.
A case related to the Holocaust in Poland is expected to be opened soon.

Miscellaneous

The 2023 appointees for the Ombuds commission are AGK, Ameisenigel, Bennylin, Daniuu, Emufarmers, Faendalimas, JJMC89, MdsShakil, Minorax and Renvoy as regular members and Zabe as advisory members.
Following the 2023 Steward Elections, the following editors have been appointed as stewards: Mykola7, Superpes15, and Xaosflux.
The Terms of Use update cycle has started, which includes a [p]roposal for better addressing undisclosed paid editing. Feedback is being accepted until 24 April 2023.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:19, 1 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 9 March 2023

News and notes: What's going on with the Wikimedia Endowment?

A lack of transparency.

Technology report: Second flight of the Soviet space bears: Testing ChatGPT's accuracy

Using failed AI Galactica's worst mistakes to test a new AI.

In the media: What should Wikipedia do? Publish Russian propaganda? Be less woke? Cover the Holocaust in Poland differently?

Probable answers: No, no, maybe?

Featured content: In which over two-thirds of the featured articles section needs to be copied over to WikiProject Military History's newsletter

Seriously, even the chef has a major military history connection.

Recent research: "Wikipedia's Intentional Distortion of the Holocaust" in Poland and "self-focus bias" in coverage of global events

And other new research publications.

From the archives: Five, ten, and fifteen years ago

Wikizine, Wikipedia Zero, Single User Login, and Wales allegedly editing his girlfriend's article.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 05:42, 9 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes – Issue 55

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 55, January – February 2023

New bundle partners:
- Newspapers.com
- Fold3
1Lib1Ref January report
Spotlight: EDS SmartText Searching

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --12:46, 16 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 20 March 2023

News and notes: Wikimania submissions deadline looms, Russian government after our lucky charms, AI woes nix CNET from RS slate

Be part of the Wikimania 2023 program!

Eyewitness: Three more stories from Ukrainian Wikimedians

One year in: volunteering, science, art, and candlelight.

In the media: Paid editing, plagiarism payouts, proponents of a ploy, and people peeved at perceived preferences

Everything is broken, again.

Featured content: Way too many featured articles

Seriously, it's only a fortnight's worth!

Interview: 228/2/1: the inside scoop on Aoidh's RfA

An interview with Wikipedia's newest admin.

Traffic report: Who died? Who won? Who lost?

All the pop culture that's fit to print, with a sprinkling of cocaine (bear).

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:17, 20 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 03 April 2023

From the editor: Some long-overdue retractions

Errata regretted.

News and notes: Sounding out, a universal code of conduct, and dealing with AI

Skynet believed to be in violation of the new Universal Code of Conduct.

In the media: Twiddling Wikipedia during an online contest, and other news

Taking the phrase "gaming the system" to the next level.

Arbitration report: "World War II and the history of Jews in Poland" case is ongoing

Desysop case request still in accept/decline phase.

Featured content: Hail, poetry! Thou heav'n-born maid

Thou gildest e'en the Signpost's trade.

Recent research: Language bias: Wikipedia captures at least the "silhouette of the elephant", unlike ChatGPT

And a dataset of article revisions to provide a corpus for promotional content.

From the archives: April Fools' through the ages

A retrospective of the best and worst pranks.

Disinformation report: Sus socks support suits, seems systemic

Do important banks sock? Maybe – but don't grab your money and run just yet!

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:46, 3 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – April 2023

News and updates for administrators from the past month (March 2023).

Administrator changes

Aoidh

KillerChihuahua

CheckUser changes

Ferret

Guideline and policy news

A community RfC is open to discuss whether reports primarily involving gender-related disputes or controversies should be referred to the Arbitration enforcement noticeboard.

Technical news

Some older web browsers will not be able to use JavaScript on Wikimedia wikis starting this week. This mainly affects users of Internet Explorer 11. (T178356)
The rollback of Vector 2022 RfC has found no consensus to rollback to Vector legacy, but has found rough consensus to disable "limited width" mode by default.
A link to the user's Special:CentralAuth page will now appear in the subtitle links shown on Special:Contributions. This was voted #17 in the Community Wishlist Survey 2023.

Arbitration

The Armenia-Azerbaijan 3 case has been closed.
A case about World War II and the history of Jews in Poland has been opened, with the first evidence phase closing 6 April 2023.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:11, 4 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 26 April 2023

News and notes: Staff departures at Wikimedia Foundation, Jimbo hands in the bits, and graphs' zeppelin burns

Plus: Wikipedians get own Mastodon account, and Wikiprojects move to uniform quality assessment.

In the media: Contested truth claims in Wikipedia

Covering Russia, Poland, the Vatican, the U.S., and the "perilously thin" boundary between real life and Wikipedia.

Obituary: Remembering David "DGG" Goodman

The prolific editor, former Arbitration Committee member and co-founder of Wikimedia New York City died in April.

Arbitration report: Holocaust in Poland, Jimbo in the hot seat, and a desysopping

No news is good news, and this isn't no news.

Opinion: What Jimbo's question revealed about scamming

The problem we haven't solved.

Op-Ed: Wikipedia as an anchor of truth

Can Wikipedia help keep AI agents honest?

Special report: Signpost statistics between years 2005 and 2022

In this article, we will look at The Signpost statistics. More precisely: Signpost article statistics by year, TOP 20 titles of Signpost articles, TOP 20 article authors, and the home wikis of article authors.

News from the WMF: Collective planning with the Wikimedia Foundation

First of a two part series summarising the priorities for the Wikimedia Foundation's next fiscal year (July 2022–June 2023) including staffing, budget and other changes, and how to provide your feedback.

Featured content: In which we described the featured articles in rhyme again

And somehow made it more readable than when it's not rhyming.

From the archives: April Fools' through the ages, part two

2011 and on.

Humour: The law of hats

The Selfish Hatnote, the Disambiguation Singularity, and other information-theoretic conundra of encyclopedic note.

Traffic report: Long live machine, the future supreme

Wrestling bumps world-changing technology from the #1 spot, imagine that.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:17, 26 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – May 2023

News and updates for administrators from the past month (April 2023).

Administrator changes

Spicy

CheckUser changes

Jimbo Wales

Oversighter changes

Jimbo Wales

Guideline and policy news

A request for comment about removing administrative privileges in specified situations is open for feedback.

Technical news

Progress has started on the Page Triage improvement project. This is to address the concerns raised by the community in their 2022 WMF letter that requested improvements be made to the tool.

Arbitration

The proposed decision in the World War II and the history of Jews in Poland case is expected 11 May 2023.

Miscellaneous

The Wikimedia Foundation annual plan 2023-2024 draft is open for comment and input through May 19. The final plan will be published in July 2023.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 09:23, 3 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 8 May 2023

News and notes: New legal "deVLOPments" in the EU

... and at WP:Mastodon.

In the media: Vivek's smelly socks, online safety, and politics

Fake fines, false alarms and faux headlines!

Recent research: Gender, race and notability in deletion discussions

And other new research publications.

Featured content: I wrote a poem for each article, I found rhymes for all the lists; My first featured picture of this year now finally exists!

...Layout lovers will hate this featured content's title.

Arbitration report: "World War II and the history of Jews in Poland" approaches conclusion

There will likely be more to say next issue.

News from the WMF: Planning together with the Wikimedia Foundation

The second article in a series describing the priorities and work of the Wikimedia Foundation. The article invites Wikimedians to collaborate with the Foundation.

Special report: There Shall Be Seasons Refreshing – Stories from WikiConference India 2023

First national-level conference in the Indian subcontinent in seven years.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 04:25, 8 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 22 May 2023

News and notes: Golden parachutes: Record severance payments at Wikimedia Foundation

... and a referendum on Jimmy Wales' traditional role as a final court of appeal in arbitration policy.

In the media: History, propaganda and censorship

Opposing scholars on ArbCom case.

Arbitration report: Final decision in "World War II and the history of Jews in Poland"

Includes stronger sourcing restriction, and a nod to the UCoC.

Recent research: Create or curate, cooperate or compete? Game theory for Wikipedia editors

And other new research results.

Featured content: A very musical week for featured articles

Bird is the word for featured pictures.

Traffic report: Coronation, chatbot, celebs

Celebs and Bollywood film dominated reader interest, as usual, but with a new persistent presence on the lists of a certain AI.

WikiProject report: Wikipedians Convene for Queering Wikipedia 2023: The First International LGBT+ Wikipedia Conference

An online conference with 12 distributed trans-local in-person meetup "Nodes" on 5 continents.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 08:40, 22 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes – Issue 56

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 56, March – April 2023

New partner:
- Perlego
Library access tips and tricks
Spotlight: EveryBookItsReader

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --10:04, 24 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 5 June 2023

News and notes: WMRU director forks new 'pedia, birds flap in top '22 piccy, WMF weighs in on Indian gov's map axe plea

Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee Building Committee Commences Command By Convening.

In the media: Section 230 stands tall, WP vs. UK bill, Miss Information dissed again

Also: Goog gets delist ask for en-wp yt-dl ar-ticle, wacky football fails.

Featured content: Poetry under pressure

Now is not this ridiculous, and is not this preposterous? A thorough-paced absurdity - explain it if you can.

Traffic report: Celebs, controversies and a chatbot in the public eye

Plus mortalities, and movies about mermaids.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:22, 5 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – June 2023

News and updates for administrators from the past month (May 2023).

Administrator changes

Ingenuity

CheckUser changes

Courcelles

Guideline and policy news

Following an RfC, editors indefinitely site-banned by community consensus will now have all rights, including sysop, removed.
As a part of the Wikimedia Foundation's IP Masking project, a new policy has been created that governs the access to temporary account IP addresses. An associated FAQ has been created and individual communities can increase the requirements to view temporary account IP addresses.

Technical news

Bot operators and tool maintainers should schedule time in the coming months to test and update their tools for the effects of IP masking. IP masking will not be deployed to any content wiki until at least October 2023 and is unlikely to be deployed to the English Wikipedia until some time in 2024.

Arbitration

The arbitration case World War II and the history of Jews in Poland has been closed. The topic area of Polish history during World War II (1933-1945) and the history of Jews in Poland is subject to a "reliable source consensus-required" contentious topic restriction.

Miscellaneous

Following a community referendum, the arbitration policy has been modified to remove the ability for users to appeal remedies to Jimbo Wales.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:33, 5 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 19 June 2023

News and notes: WMF Terms of Use now in force, new Creative Commons licensing

Problems with emergency emails sent to WMF.

In the media: English WP editor glocked after BLP row on Italian 'pedia

... and an AI writer explains why he just bought a paper encyc.

Featured content: Content, featured

Poetry still present.

Recent research: Hoaxers prefer currently-popular topics

And other new research findings.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 10:10, 19 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – July 2023

News and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2023).

Administrator changes

Novem Linguae

Bureaucrat changes

MBisanz

Guideline and policy news

Contributions to the English Wikipedia are now released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0) license instead of CC BY-SA 3.0. Contributions are still also released under the GFDL license.

Technical news

Discussion is open regarding a proposed global policy regarding third-party resources. Third-party resources are computer resources that reside outside of Wikimedia production websites.

Arbitration

Two arbitration cases are currently open. Proposed decisions are expected 5 July 2023 for the Scottywong case and 9 July 2023 for the AlisonW case.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:58, 1 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 3 July 2023

News and notes: Online Safety Bill: Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia UK launch open letter

... and a new Elections Committee.

Disinformation report: Imploded submersible outfit foiled trying to sing own praises on Wikipedia

A few editors who fought many times to keep advertisements out.

In the media: Journo proposes mass Wiki dox, sponsored articles on Fandom, Section 230 discussed

Are you now, or have you ever been, a Wikipedia editor?

Featured content: Incensed

In which featured pictures have a pleasing orange/blue colour scheme for some reason.

Traffic report: Are you afraid of spiders? Arnold? The Idol? ChatGPT?

Don't worry, they are mostly harmless.

Humour: United Nations dispatches peacekeeping force to Wikipedia policy discussions

Mission to ensure stability in conflict-ridden area.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 08:15, 3 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 17 July 2023

News and notes: Big bux hidden beneath wine-dark sea as we wait for the Tides to go out?

Gitz666 unglocked, Wikimania scholarships given and a new admin anointed.

In the media: Tentacles of Emirates plot attempt to ensnare Wikipedia

Ruwiki on the Ruinternet, Rauwerda on TEDx, and Jimbo on Fridman.

Obituary: David Thomsen (Dthomsen8) and Ingo Koll (Kipala)

Philadelphians and Tanzanians say goodbye.

News from the WMF: ABC for Fundraising: Advancing Banner Collaboration for fundraising campaigns

The collaboration process for the 2023 English fundraising campaign is kicking off now, right from the start of the fiscal year.

In focus: Are the children of celebrities over-represented in French cinema?

Wikidata queries investigate nepo babies.

Tips and tricks: What automation can do for you (and your WikiProject)

A summary of various tools designed over the years.

Recent research: Wikipedia-grounded chatbot "outperforms all baselines" on factual accuracy

And various other research on large language models and Wikipedia.

Humour: New fringe theories to be introduced

Bold move intended to "get some variety" into Wikipedia arguments.

Cobwebs: If you're reading this, you're probably on a desktop

The annual report that tries to understand the Signpost through data, written in 2020, which never saw the light of day until now.

Featured content: Scrollin', scrollin', scrollin', keep those readers scrollin', got to keep on scrollin', Rawhide!

In which choices have been made™.

Traffic report: The Idol becomes the Master

Sex, drugs and violence, English, math and science.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 09:01, 17 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes – Issue 57

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 57, May – June 2023

Suggestion improvements
Favorite collections tips
Spotlight: Promoting Nigerian Books and Authors

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --11:22, 18 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 1 August 2023

News and notes: City officials attempt to doxx Wikipedians, Ruwiki founder banned, WMF launches Mastodon server

And French gov't proposes legislation to slam Wikipedia, others.

In the media: Truth, AI, bull from politicians, and climate change

Or just another brouhaha?

Disinformation report: Hot climate, hot hit, hot money, hot news hot off the presses!

Hot damn, it's damned hot!

Obituary: Donald Cram, Peter McCawley, and Eagleash

Three editors have departed.

Tips and tricks: Citation tools for dummies!

You don't really want to do this stuff by yourself, do you?

Humour: Does Wikipedia present neutral perspectives?

A serious visual investigation.

In focus: Journals cited by Wikipedia

A compilation of over 3M citations.

Opinion: Are global bans the last step?

Possible solutions after being re-harassed.

Featured content: Featured Content, 1 to 15 July

Due to unfortunate events, this issue is published as is, in its unfinished state.

Traffic report: Come on Oppie, let's go party

Oppenheimer, Barbie, and a couple other scandals.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:38, 1 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – August 2023

News and updates for administrators from the past month (July 2023).

Administrator changes

Firefangledfeathers

Interface administrator changes

Novem Linguae

Technical news

The tag filter on Special:NewPages and revision history pages can now be inverted. This allows hiding edits made by automated tools. (T334338)
Special:BlockedExternalDomains is a new tool that allows easier blocking of plain domains (and their subdomains). This is more easily searchable and is faster for the software to use than the existing MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist. It does not support regex (for complex cases), URL path-matching, or the MediaWiki:Spam-whitelist. (T337431)

Arbitration

The arbitration cases named Scottywong and AlisonW closed 10 July and 16 July respectively.
The SmallCat dispute arbitration case is in the workshop phase.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 08:54, 8 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 15 August 2023

News and notes: Dude, Where's My Donations? Wikimedia Foundation announces another million in grants for non-Wikimedia-related projects

Jimbo promises more transparency, Wikimania in Singapore, move away from Tides still planned, and Wikifunctions rolls out.

In the media: An accusation of bias from Brazil, a lawsuit from Portugal, plagiarism from Florida

Harsh words from problematic fave Glenn Greenwald.

In focus: 2023 Good Article Nomination drive is underway: get your barnstars here!

Rigorous Review of Content for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Wikipedia.

Special report: Thirteen years later, why are most administrators still from 2005?

Damn kids need to get off our lawn and onto RfA.

Tips and tricks: How to find images for your articles, check their copyright, upload them, and restore them

Because one gets some secondary skills when one has 645 featured pictures.

Cobwebs: Getting serious about writing

The innards of the Signpost received a major overhaul in March/April 2019. Here's how we reduced behind-the-scenes busywork and improved writers resources.

Opinion: Copyright trolls, or the last beautiful free souls on this planet?

For whom does the Creative Commons enforcement clause toll?

Serendipity: Why I stopped taking photographs almost altogether

An announcement of 335,000 new images on Wikimedia Commons.

Featured content: Barbenheimer confirmed

Some improvement on last week.

Humour: Arbitration Committee to accept case against Right Honorable Frimbley Cantingham, 15th Viscount Bellington-upon-Porkshire

Case request cited misuse of tools by administrator who last used tools in 1661.

Traffic report: 'Cause today it just goes with the fashion

Barbenheimer, Pee-Wee Herman and the Women's World Cup.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 14:17, 15 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 31 August 2023

From the editor: Beta version of signpost.news now online

News for the editoriat. Stuff that matters.

News and notes: You like RecentChanges?

Wikipedia really comes into its own, editorially and artistically.

In the media: Taking it sleazy

"Poli", which means "many", and "tics", which means "under-the-table Wikipedia article whitewashing campaigns".

Recent research: The five barriers that impede "stitching" collaboration between Commons and Wikipedia

And other recent research publications.

Draftspace: Bad Jokes and Other Draftspace Novelties

The good, the bad, and the nonsense.

Humour: The Dehumourification Plan

A message from the Counter-Fun Unit.

Traffic report: Raise your drinking glass, here's to yesterday

I just poured HOT GRITS down my pants ohh yeah

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:44, 31 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – September 2023

News and updates for administrators from the past month (August 2023).

Administrator changes

CheckUser changes

Bradv

Oversighter changes

Bradv

Guideline and policy news

Following an RfC, TFAs will be automatically semi-protected the day before it is on the main page and through the day after.
A discussion at WP:VPP about revision deletion and oversight for dead names found that [s]ysops can choose to use revdel if, in their view, it's the right tool for this situation, and they need not default to oversight. But oversight could well be right where there's a particularly high risk to the person. Use your judgment.

Technical news

Special:Contributions now shows the user's local edit count and the account's creation date. (T324166)

Arbitration

The SmallCat dispute case has closed. As part of the final decision, editors participating in XfD have been reminded to be careful about forming local consensus which may or may not reflect the broader community consensus. Regular closers of XfD forums were also encouraged to note when broader community discussion, or changes to policies and guidelines, would be helpful.

Miscellaneous

Tech tip: The "Browse history interactively" banner shown at the top of Special:Diff can be used to easily look through a history, assemble composite diffs, or find out what archive something wound up in.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 09:22, 1 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes – Issue 58

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 58, July – August 2023

New partners - De Standaard and Duncker & Humblot
Tech tip: Filters
Wikimania presentation

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --14:27, 12 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 16 September 2023

News and notes: Wikimedia power sharing – just an advisory role for the volunteer community?

Plus: Africa news, funding report, U4C draft, roads fork and another ChatGPT block.

In the media: "Just flirting", going Dutch and Shapps for the defence?

Plus a new judge, an "unimportant" record, and staying in the swim!

Obituary: Nosebagbear

A Wikipedian and a friend.

Serendipity: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no paywall, for thou, Wikipedia Library, art with me

Non-flammable, BPA-free, and really whips the llama's ass.

Featured content: Catching up

Covering all of August. Pretty much.

Concept: Strange portal opened by CERN researchers brings Wikipedia articles from "other worlds"

The Signpost brings you the latest from the source.

Traffic report: Some of it's magic, some of it's tragic

Sports, film and singers. We've got it all!

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 04:37, 16 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 3 October 2023

News and notes: Wikimedia Endowment financial statement published

Finances during Tides Foundation management of the endowment are shown for the first time.

In the media: History is written by whoever can harness the most editors

Plus Harvard, Yale, Lords and Commons, partners and trolls!

Recent research: Readers prefer ChatGPT over Wikipedia; concerns about limiting "anyone can edit" principle "may be overstated"

And other new research publications

Featured content: By your logic,

The first issue to feature two poetry article

Concept: Wikipedia policies from other worlds: WP:NOANTLERS

Material must be written with the greatest care and attention; the level of detail and commentary regarding the antlers of living persons is to be kept to a minimum.

Poetry: "The Sight"

Tamzin reflects on the hunt.

Traffic report: There shall be no slaves in the land of lands, it's a Bollywood jam

Taylor Swift with an NFL tight end and Lauren Boebert with a Democrat?

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:31, 3 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 23 October 2023

News and notes: Where have all the administrators gone?

Long time passing

In the media: Thirst traps, the fastest loading sites on the web, and the original collaborative writing

Also: High fives, Wikipedia as a guide for counterfeiters and crossword makers, and Iskander at the UN.

Gallery: Before and After: Why you don't need to know how to restore images to make massive improvements

The benefits of research.

Featured content: Yo, ho! Blow the man down!

These titles never make much sense even at the best of times, so why not be random?

Traffic report: The calm and the storm

They are still fighting.

News from Diff: Sawtpedia: Giving a Voice to Wikipedia Using QR Codes

Sounds good!

Humour: New citation template introduced for divine revelations, drug use, and really thinking about it

"Cite altered state" to join the distinguished ranks of CS1 templates

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 07:01, 23 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 6 November 2023

Arbitration report: Admin bewilderingly unmasks self as sockpuppet of other admin who was extremely banned in 2015

"Is this an ArbCom case request or an M. Night Shyamalan movie?"

In the media: UK shadow chancellor accused of ripping off WP articles for book, Wikipedians accused of being dicks by a rich man

Plus Gaza bias, Speaker Johnson, Maher, the music of websites, and antisemitism.

News and notes: Board candidacy process posted, editors protest WMF privacy measure, sweet meetups

And three new admins!

Opinion: An open letter to Elon Musk

You should learn some of our rules!

WikiCup report: The WikiCup 2023

The winner is...

News from Wiki Ed: Equity lists on Wikipedia

Do you ever wonder where Wikipedia articles come from?

Recent research: How English Wikipedia drove out fringe editors over two decades

And other new research findings.

Featured content: Like putting a golf course in a historic site.

Only literally.

Wikidata: Evaluating qualitative systemic bias in large article sets on Wikipedia

A systematic approach.

Traffic report: Cricket jumpscare

Plus Kollywood, Killers of the Flower Moon, and ongoing war.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:44, 6 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – November 2023

News and updates for administrators from the past month (October 2023).

Administrator changes

0xDeadbeef

Tamzin

Dennis Brown

Interface administrator changes

Pppery

Guideline and policy news

Technical news

The WMF is working on making it possible for administrators to edit MediaWiki configuration directly. This is similar to previous work on Special:EditGrowthConfig. A technical RfC is running until November 08, where you can provide feedback.
There is a proposed plan for re-enabling the Graph Extension. Feedback on this proposal is requested.

Arbitration

Eligible editors are invited to self-nominate themselves from 12 November 2023 until 21 November 2023 to stand in the 2023 Arbitration Committee elections.
Xaosflux, RoySmith and Cyberpower678 have been appointed to the Electoral Commission for the 2023 Arbitration Committee Elections. BusterD is the reserve commissioner.
Following a motion, the contentious topic designation of Prem Rawat has been struck. Actions previously taken using this contentious topic designation are still in force.
Following several motions, multiple topic areas are no longer designated as a contentious topic. These contentious topic designations were from the Editor conduct in e-cigs articles, Liancourt Rocks, Longevity, Medicine, September 11 conspiracy theories, and Shakespeare authorship question cases.
Following a motion, remedies 3.1 (All related articles under 1RR whenever the dispute over naming is concerned), 6 (Stalemate resolution) and 30 (Administrative supervision) of the Macedonia 2 case have been rescinded.
Following a motion, remedy 6 (One-revert rule) of the The Troubles case has been amended.
An arbitration case named Industrial agriculture has been opened. Evidence submissions in this case close 8 November.

Miscellaneous

The Articles for Creation backlog drive is happening in November 2023, with 700+ drafts pending reviews for in the last 4 months or so. In addition to the AfC participants, all administrators and New Page Patrollers can conduct reviews using the helper script, Yet Another AFC Helper Script, which can be enabled in the Gadgets settings. Sign up here to participate!

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:23, 7 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 20 November 2023

In the media: Propaganda and photos, lunatics and a lunar backup

Comic-con, Media summit, and a classic!

News and notes: Update on Wikimedia's financial health

Plus: Sockpuppet investigators asking for help.

Traffic report: If it bleeds, it leads

Or if it's Indian sport or cinema.

Recent research: Canceling disputes as the real function of ArbCom

And other new research findings.

Wikimania: Wikimania 2024 scholarships

Scholarship applications for Wikimania 2024 are now open!

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 09:44, 20 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes – Issue 59

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 59, September – October 2023

Spotlight: Introducing a repository of anti-disinformation projects
Tech tip: Library access methods

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --16:16, 27 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

ArbCom 2023 Elections voter message

Hello! Voting in the 2023 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23:59 (UTC) on Monday, 11 December 2023. All eligible users are allowed 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 2023 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. If you no longer wish to receive these messages, you may add {{NoACEMM}} to your user talk page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:28, 28 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 4 December 2023

News and notes: Beeblebrox ejected from Arbitration Committee following posts on Wikipediocracy

Just as his term was ending!

In the media: Turmoil on Hebrew Wikipedia, grave dancing, Olga's impact and inspiring Bhutanese nuns

Plus Apple Pay, fiction, registration, expulsion, and elimination!

Disinformation report: "Wikipedia and the assault on history"

An analysis of a literary mystery.

In focus: Tens of thousands of freely available sources flagged

Continuing years of efforts to improve free-to-read access.

Comix: Bold comics for a new age

"I think we ought to read only the kind of comics that wound or stab us. If the comic we're reading doesn't wake us up with a blow to the head, what are we reading for?" — Franz Kafka

Essay: I am going to die

And so are you.

Featured content: Real gangsters move in silence

Quite literally, and other fascinating featured articles, pictures and lists

Traffic report: And it's hard to watch some cricket, in the cold November Rain

If you don't fancy the sport that occupies over 25% of the slots in these lists, there's always movies, celebrities, and political follies to fall back on – or an unusual fired-for-the-weekend CEO.

Humour: Mandy Rice-Davies Applies

This page in a nutshell: Whether or not someone has denied unsavory allegations — though such a denial may not merit being given equal weight in an article — a worthless shitpost should still be included.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 10:09, 4 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – December 2023

News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2023).

Administrator changes

Beeblebrox → Just Step Sideways

CheckUser changes

Oversight changes

Guideline and policy news

Following a talk page discussion, the Administrators' accountability policy has been updated to note that while it is considered best practice for administrators to have notifications (pings) enabled, this is not mandatory. Administrators who do not use notifications are now strongly encouraged to indicate this on their user page.

Arbitration

Following a motion, the Extended Confirmed Restriction has been amended, removing the allowance for non-extended-confirmed editors to post constructive comments on the "Talk:" namespace. Now, non-extended-confirmed editors may use the "Talk:" namespace solely to make edit requests related to articles within the topic area, provided that their actions are not disruptive.
The Arbitration Committee has announced a call for Checkusers and Oversighters, stating that it will currently be accepting applications for CheckUser and/or Oversight permissions at any point in the year.
Eligible users are invited to vote on candidates for the Arbitration Committee until 23:59 December 11, 2023 (UTC). Candidate statements can be seen here.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:54, 8 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 24 December 2023

Special report: Did the Chinese Communist Party send astroturfers to sabotage a hacktivist's Wikipedia article?

Wikipedia article histories are public records that can be easily examined, so unlike other websites, we can answer this question thoroughly.

News and notes: The Italian Public Domain wars continue, Wikimedia RU set to dissolve, and a recap of WLM 2023

Not the best of times for Wikipedians across the world, but there are still glimpses of hope...

In the media: Consider the humble fork

Forky on forky on forky, plus a strange donation scheme and other interesting bits of news.

Discussion report: Arabic Wikipedia blackout; Wikimedians discuss SpongeBob, copyrights, and AI

Wiki goes dark and adopts Palestine flag logo; intellectual property rumblings from the bowels of the law.

In focus: Liquidation of Wikimedia RU

Wikimedia Russia closes after founder is declared a "foreign agent".

Technology report: Dark mode is coming

No more must Wikipedia always be a lightbulb in the dark — except metaphorically of course.

Recent research: "LLMs Know More, Hallucinate Less" with Wikidata

And other new research publications.

Gallery: A feast of holidays and carols

Peace on earth, goodwill to all!

Comix: Lollus lmaois 200C tincture

the dilution makes it stronger.

Crossword: when the crossword is sus

The Signpost Crossword is a 2018 online multiplayer social deduction game that takes place in space-themed settings where players are colorful, armless cartoon astronauts.

Traffic report: What's the big deal? I'm an animal!

Bollywood, Hollywood, and both kinds of football to close out December.

From the editor: A piccy iz worth OVAR 9000!!!11oneone! wordz ^_^

The debugging will continue until performance improves.

Apocrypha: Local editor discovered 1,380 lost subheadings in ancient Signpost scrolls. And what he found was shocking.

Heartwarming — MUST READ — You Won't BELIEVE #4!!!!!

Humour: Guess the joke contest

Winner receives a special prize!

BJAODN: Bad jokes and other deleted nonsense

Edit summary: "Only need this page for about 30 minutes to demonstrate to a friend how easy it is to create a Wikipedia page. Then it will be deleted."

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 09:58, 24 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – January 2024

News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2023).

Administrator changes

Clovermoss

Dennis Brown

CheckUser changes

Maxim

Oversighter changes

Maxim

Arbitration

Following the 2023 Arbitration Committee elections, the following editors have been appointed to the Arbitration Committee: Aoidh, Cabayi, Firefly, HJ Mitchell, Maxim, Sdrqaz, ToBeFree, Z1720.
Following a motion, the Arbitration Committee rescinded the restrictions on the page name move discussions for the two Ireland pages that were enacted in June 2009.
The arbitration case Industrial agriculture has been closed.

Miscellaneous

The New Pages Patrol backlog drive is happening in January 2024 to reduce the backlog of articles in the new pages feed. Currently, there is a backlog of over 13,000 unreviewed articles awaiting review. Sign up here to participate!

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:54, 1 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 10 January 2024

From the editor: NINETEEN MORE YEARS! NINETEEN MORE YEARS!

The Signpost can now drink beer and chant slogans in Canada. What slogans should we chant for the next nineteen years?

Special report: Public Domain Day 2024

Mickey & You: What can you do?

Technology report: Wikipedia: A Multigenerational Pursuit

A techie looks at the big questions.

News and notes: In other news ... see ya in court!

Let the games begin! The 2024 WikiCup is off to a strong start. With copyright enforcement, AI training and freedom of expression, it's another typical week in the wiki-sphere!

In focus: The long road of a featured article candidate

The first of two installments, regarding a process of many installments.

In the media: What is plagiarism? Oklahoma Disneyland? Reaching a human being at Wikipedia?

Watch out for those space ships!

WikiProject report: WikiProjects Israel and Palestine

What are the editorial processes behind covering some of the most politically polarizing and contentious topics on English Wikipedia?

Obituary: Anthony Bradbury

Rest in peace.

Traffic report: The most viewed articles of 2023

Around the world in 365 days (with many stops in India).

Crossword: everybody gangsta till the style sheets start cascading

The good news is that I've perfected the templates that allow other people to make actually good crosswords.

Comix: Conflict resolution

Getting down to brass tacks &c.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:49, 12 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes – Issue 60

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 60, November – December 2023

Three new partners
Google Scholar integration
How to track partner suggestions

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --13:36, 24 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 31 January 2024

News and notes: Wikipedian Osama Khalid celebrated his 30th birthday in jail

Plus WMF child rights impact assessment, Chinese Wikipedia changes admin rules

Opinion: Until it happens to you

A stream of consciousness about plagiarism on Wikipedia from the perspective of a user who directly witnessed it.

Disinformation report: How paid editors squeeze you dry

And how you can stop them!

In the media: Katherine Maher new NPR CEO, go check Wikipedia, race in the race

Another wobble, more Ackman, our usual pathological optimist, and football in dirty pants!

In focus: The long road of a featured article candidate, part 2

Everything you really wanted to know about writing featured articles.

Recent research: Croatian takeover was enabled by "lack of bureaucratic openness and rules constraining [admins]"

And other new research publications.

Comix: We've all got to start somewhere

Writing a good subheading for a one-sentence joke is basically like writing an entire second joke so I'm not going to do it.

Traffic report: DJ, gonna burn this goddamn house right down

Job changes, death, sex, murder, suicide and a vacation!

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:14, 31 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – February 2024

News and updates for administrators from the past month (January 2024).

Administrator changes

Bureaucrat changes

Worm That Turned

CheckUser changes

Wugapodes

Interface administrator changes

Guideline and policy news

An RfC about increasing the inactivity requirement for Interface administrators is open for feedback.

Technical news

Pages that use the JSON contentmodel will now use tabs instead of spaces for auto-indentation. This will significantly reduce the page size. (T326065)

Arbitration

Following a motion, the Arbitration Committee adopted a new enforcement restriction on January 4, 2024, wherein the Committee may apply the 'Reliable source consensus-required restriction' to specified topic areas.
Community feedback is requested for a draft to replace the "Information for administrators processing requests" section at WP:AE.

Miscellaneous

Voting in the 2024 Steward elections will begin on 06 February 2024, 14:00 (UTC) and end on 27 February 2024, 14:00 (UTC). The confirmation process of current stewards is being held in parallel. You can automatically check your eligibility to vote.
A vote to ratify the charter for the Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C) is open till 2 February 2024, 23:59:59 (UTC) via Secure Poll. All eligible voters within the Wikimedia community have the opportunity to either support or oppose the adoption of the U4C Charter and share their reasons. The details of the voting process and voter eligibility can be found here.
Community Tech has made some preliminary decisions about the future of the Community Wishlist Survey. In summary, they aim to develop a new, continuous intake system for community technical requests that improves prioritization, resource allocation, and communication regarding wishes. Read more
The Unreferenced articles backlog drive is happening in February 2024 to reduce the backlog of articles tagged with {{Unreferenced}}. You can help reduce the backlog by adding citations to these articles. Sign up to participate!

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:00, 1 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 13 February 2024

News and notes: Wikimedia Russia director declared "foreign agent" by Russian gov; EU prepares to pile on the papers

"the exact extent of the obligations" unclear... many such cases!

Disinformation report: How low can the scammers go?

Lower, trust me!

Gallery: Before and After: Why you don't need to touch grass to dramatically improve images of flora and fauna

Finding the right bumblebee among all the bumblebees!

In the media: Speaking in tongues, toeing the line, and dressing the part

The usual odd articles about Wikipedia.

Serendipity: Is this guy the same as the one who was a Nazi?

The hunt for Bertil Ragnar Anzén.

Traffic report: Griselda, Nikki, Carl, Jannik and two types of football

Plus films, Grammys and a rumble!

Crossword: Our crossword to bear

&c.

Comix: Strongly

That's more than weakly!

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 04:36, 13 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – March 2024

News and updates for administrators from the past month (February 2024).

Administrator changes

Bureaucrat changes

SilkTork

Guideline and policy news

Phase I of the 2024 RfA review is now open for participation. Editors are invited to review, comment on, and propose improvements to the requests for adminship process.
Following an RfC, the inactivity requirement for the removal of the interface administrator right increased from 6 months to 12 months.

Technical news

The mobile site history pages now use the same HTML as the desktop history pages. (T353388)

Miscellaneous

The 2024 appointees for the Ombuds commission are だ＊ぜ, AGK, Ameisenigel, Bennylin, Daniuu, Doǵu, Emufarmers, Faendalimas, MdsShakil, Minorax, Nehaoua, Renvoy and RoySmith as members, with Vermont serving as steward-observer.
Following the 2024 Steward Elections, the following editors have been appointed as stewards: Ajraddatz, Albertoleoncio, EPIC, JJMC89, Johannnes89, Melos and Yahya.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:22, 1 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 2 March 2024

News and notes: Wikimedia enters US Supreme court hearings as "the dolphin inadvertently caught in the net"

Plus, the U4C Charter keeps planting seeds, the RfA process is set to become more sustainable, and more news from the Wikimedia ecosystem.

Recent research: Images on Wikipedia "amplify gender bias"

And other new findings

In the media: The Scottish Parliament gets involved, a wikirace on live TV, and the Foundation's CTO goes on record

Plus, naughty politicians, Federal judge not a fan, UFOs and beavers.

Obituary: Vami_IV

Rest in peace.

Traffic report: Supervalentinefilmbowlday

If you say it loud enough the views will come your way!

WikiCup report: High-scoring WikiCup first round comes to a close

135 battle it out; 67 advance

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:02, 2 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes – Issue 61

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 61, January – February 2024

Bristol University Press and British Online Archives now available
1Lib1Ref results

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --16:32, 5 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 29 March 2024

Technology report: Millions of readers still seeing broken pages as "temporary" disabling of graph extension nears its second year

Much effort was spent drafting a movement charter about becoming "essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge". How much is spent maintaining it?

Interview: Interview on Wikimedia Foundation fundraising and finance strategy

Signpost interviews Wikimedia Foundation leadership on fundraising banners

Special report: 19-page PDF accuses Wikipedia of bias against Israel, suggests editors be forced to reveal their real names, and demands a new feature allowing people to view the history of Wikipedia articles

And does it have anything to do with the unusual decision to let a zero-edit user open an arbitration request?

Op-Ed: Wikipedia in the age of personality-driven knowledge

Can we compete with social media? Will aoomers forget Wikipedia?

Recent research: "Newcomer Homepage" feature mostly fails to boost new editors

And several papers look at climate change on Wikipedia

News and notes: Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee Charter ratified

WLM winners announced, Wikimania 2024, a new Wikimedia movement affiliate, and active enwp admins reach a record low.

In the media: "For me it’s the autism": AARoad editors on the fork more traveled

Worldwide women turned blue and controversies on Serbian & French Wikipedia.

Traffic report: He rules over everything, on the land called planet Dune

Let me take you to the movies.

Humour: Letters from the editors

The only worthwhile grievance is the one that prompts satire.

Comix: Layout issue

margin: 0 auto !important;

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:40, 29 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – April 2024

News and updates for administrators from the past month (March 2024).

Administrator changes

Guideline and policy news

An RfC is open to convert all current and future community discretionary sanctions to (community designated) contentious topics procedure.

Technical news

The Toolforge Grid Engine services have been shut down after the final migration process from Grid Engine to Kubernetes. (T313405)

Arbitration

An arbitration case has been opened to look into "the intersection of managing conflict of interest editing with the harassment (outing) policy".

Miscellaneous

Editors are invited to sign up for The Core Contest, an initiative running from April 15 to May 31, which aims to improve vital and other core articles on Wikipedia.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:48, 1 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes – Issue 62

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 62, March – April 2024

IEEE and Haaretz now available
Let's Connect Clinics about The Wikipedia Library
Spotlight and Wikipedia Library tips

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --11:03, 23 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 25 April 2024

In the media: Censorship and wikiwashing looming over RuWiki, edit wars over San Francisco politics, and another wikirace on live TV

Plus, tribute songs and shout-outs outweighing vandalism and hoaxes, a dispute about the real king of the platform and other bits of news.

News and notes: A sigh of relief for open access as Italy makes a slight U-turn on their cultural heritage reproduction law

Plus, new updates on the privacy and research ethics whitepaper and the graphs outage situation, and an Iranian former steward is globally banned from Wikimedia projects

WikiConference report: WikiConference North America 2023 in Toronto recap

Outcomes of the event including newly published videos and photos, the archived conference website and program, and some attendee reflections on its significance.

WikiProject report: WikiProject Newspapers (Not WP:NOTNEWS)

A WikiProject report on the 📰🌍 globe's finest news source!

Recent research: New survey of over 100,000 Wikipedia users

And other recent research publications

Traffic report: O.J., cricket and a three body problem

Plus Godzilla meets Francis Scott Key!

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:49, 25 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – May 2024

News and updates for administrators from the past month (April 2024).

Administrator changes

Nyttend

Bureaucrat changes

Nihonjoe

CheckUser changes

Joe Roe

Oversight changes

GeneralNotability

Guideline and policy news

Phase I of the 2024 requests for adminship review has concluded. Several proposals have passed outright and will proceed to implementation, including creating a discussion-only period (3b) and administrator elections (13) on a trial basis. Other successful proposals, such as creating a reminder of civility norms (2), will undergo further refinement in Phase II. Proposals passed on a trial basis will be discussed in Phase II, after their trials conclude. Further details on specific proposals can be found in the full report.

Technical news

Partial action blocks are now in effect on the English Wikipedia. This means that administrators have the ability to restrict users from certain actions, including uploading files, moving pages and files, creating new pages, and sending thanks. T280531

Arbitration

The arbitration case Conflict of interest management has been closed.

Miscellaneous

This may be a good time to reach out to potential nominees to ask if they would consider an RfA.
A New Pages Patrol backlog drive is happening in May 2024 to reduce the number of unreviewed articles in the new pages feed. Currently, there is a backlog of over 15,000 articles awaiting review. Sign up here to participate!
Voting for the Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C) election is open until 9 May 2024. Read the voting page on Meta-Wiki and cast your vote here!

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:24, 2 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 16 May 2024

News and notes: Democracy in action: multiple elections

WMF trustee elections, U4C results, Italian ArbCom, WMF and Endowment annual reports.

Special report: Will the new RfA reform come to the rescue of administrators?

We don't know yet, but there is some encouraging news, nevertheless.

Arbitration report: Ruined temples for posterity to ponder over – arbitration from '22 to '24

Some go out with a bang, some with a whimper, few with much of a comprehensible explanation.

In the media: Deadnames on the French Wikipedia, and a duel between Russian wikis

Plus, the WMF joins the Unicode Consortium, Chris Albon talks about AI tools on Wikipedia, communities address under-representation on the site.

Op-Ed: Wikidata to split as sheer volume of information overloads infrastructure

More queries are failing, and more frequently, so what is to be done?

Comix: Generations

It do be like that sometimes.

Traffic report: Crawl out through the fallout, baby

With cricket and some cute baby reindeer!

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 10:58, 16 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – June 2024

News and updates for administrators from the past month (May 2024).

Administrator changes

Graham Beards

Bureaucrat changes

Oversight changes

Dreamy Jazz

Guideline and policy news

Phase II of the 2024 RfA review has commenced to improve and refine the proposals passed in Phase I.

Technical news

The Nuke feature, which enables administrators to mass delete pages, will now correctly delete pages which were moved to another title. T43351

Arbitration

The arbitration case Venezuelan politics has been closed.
The Committee is seeking volunteers for various roles, including access to the conflict of interest VRT queue.

Miscellaneous

WikiProject Reliability's unsourced statements drive is happening in June 2024 to replace {{citation needed}} tags with references! Sign up here to participate!

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:44, 5 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 8 June 2024

News and notes: Wikimedia Foundation publishes its Form 990 for fiscal year 2022-2023

The Form 990, as well as highlights and FAQs, are now available for review.

Technology report: New Page Patrol receives a much-needed software upgrade

A new model for collaboration between the WMF and the community?

Deletion report: The lore of Kalloor

Hoaxes and the genesis of information.

In the media: National cable networks get in on the action arguing about what the first sentence of a Wikipedia article ought to say

First line, sixth paragraph, body text or unified Reich?

News from the WMF: Progress on the plan — how the Wikimedia Foundation advanced on its Annual Plan goals during the first half of fiscal year 2023-2024

Outlining progress against the four key goals

Opinion: Public response to the editors of Settler Colonial Studies

A letter.

Recent research: ChatGPT did not kill Wikipedia, but might have reduced its growth

And various research findings about Wikidata and knowledge graphs.

Featured content: We didn't start the wiki

No we didn't write it, but we tried to cite it

Essay: No queerphobia

An essay.

Special report: RetractionBot is back to life!

... and flagging your articles with big ugly red notices! (This is a good thing.)

Traffic report: Chimps, Eurovision, and the return of the Baby Reindeer

Movies, deaths, elections (but no cricket).

Comix: The Wikipediholic Family

Some stuff's only okay in the privacy of the home.

Humour: Wikipedia rattled by sophisticated cyberattack of schoolboy typing "balls" in infobox

Project in shambles – "it had never occurred to us that this was possible".

Concept: Palimpsestuous

Hypertext.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:27, 8 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Just wondering why you added my editor data to one of your user pages

Doug Weller talk 07:54, 19 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Doug

Your name is on one of my talk pages serendipitously. Over the years, whenever I encounter something that is interesting and I do not have time to fully comprehend its content and such; I copy it to my talk page so I can read it later and keep track of it to see how things turned out. In one of those "save for later"' items, was from 2020 something about "left sidebars". So when I copied the post, you had commented in the conversation, your name was included. So that is why your name is on one of my talk pages. Nothing sinister. Out of curiosity, what prompted you to read my talk pages? I don't have any problem, it's ok that you did, I just want to know the back story. Osomite 🐻 (hablemos) 21:14, 19 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Doug

PS

I did a little more research. Your name is on my talk page purposely. When I encounter an editor who is interesting I include it an section "Editor Stuff". At some point I found you interesting and want to follow (not stalk) your postings. So you are interesting and occasionally I would look at your contributions because you are interesting. If you have a concern about with this, I will wiling remove your from my interesting "Editor Stuff". Osomite 🐻 (hablemos) 21:38, 19 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I would say that you should remove all names or better state why user names appear on your talk page. I have user names and user talk pages linked on mine too but it clearly states why they are there and generally it is because of a good encounter or something I learned from them. Had you been more concise, depending on your reasons, it may have been looked at and dismissed. As it stands right now it has become disruptive and concerning to some of the editors mentioned. Probably best to just remove. You can watchlist certain pages to keep up with subjects you are interested in. --ARose Wolf 12:59, 20 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

ARoseWolf

About my talk page section "Interesting Editors". There is nothing sinister or nefarious about it. I am puzzled how it is has “become disruptive and concerning to some of the editors mentioned.”

The content "Interesting Editors" is the result of several years of taking note of editors that I have encountered while editing an article, or have "come across" their posting in various talk pages and various "request for" pages. These editors catch my interest because of what they write, how they write, and in many cases because they are quite humorous. These editors I wanted to follow to see what they might "create". In some cases I would want to follow an editor because I might learn something from their massive efforts in creating and editing articles. I would look in on their talk pages to "see what might be going on".

In short, I follow editors because I enjoy observing Wikipedia's sociology, culture, and editor interaction "behind the scenes". It is quite interesting.

I realize how my "Interesting Editors" section "got into the spotlight". A couple of days ago I realized that my "Stuff" talk page was quite big and cumbersome. So I realized I could create a subpage to move some sections to so I could do some talk page housekeeping and cleanup and deletions. I created "More Stuff" which was a new page which apparently the new page patrol took notice.

You say if I documented each editor with why I "follow" them it would be OK. I have looked over "Interesting Editors" and I can not recall why I have added so many editors which I was interested in following. Thinking back, I would add editors who were involved in discussing a particular subject or "request for" issue or editing wars.. And after the discussion ended, I didn't delete those editors. And as the years went by I just "added new interesting editors" to the top of the section and basically ignored and forgot about the "bottom of the list".

So that is where I am at.

What is occurring makes me weary. I have to defend myself about something that you say has “become disruptive and concerning to some of the editors mentioned.” Somehow I don’t find this surprising considering the Wikipedia culture.

ARoseWolf, I appreciate your advice. But I wonder, what exactly have I done that is wrong? What rules have I violated?

The nature of this entire episode has reaffirmed my view of the Wikipedia environment. Rather than approaching me with concerns, it was an attack (ok, pretty strong word), a confrontation. It was done with little "collegiality" (one of the pillars of Wikipedia) and was quite abrupt. It was done almost ambiguously with an editor asking why that editor's name was on my list, And then an editor claimed that I made personal attacks on editors in that section. (There are no personal attacks in my “Interesting Editors” section.) All of this was very cynical and unfriendly. In my experience, the Wikipedia environment is just another type of “social media” culture where editors, being basically anonymous, take offense easily, are rude, offensive, and fail to have any sensitivity about how they behave. It is easier to be angry than to be friendly.

I am a bit distressed that I have been confronted about this situation. As I see often in Wikipedia, a mountain is made of a molehill and it becomes a can of worms.

Yes, I have written quite a bit about this mole hill. I thought that I needed to explain my “Interesting Editors” on the record so whoever could understand what is actually what.

I fail to see any rule that indicates that what I have accumulated is prohibited. What I have done is not a threat to anyone, I have had this accumulated list for several years, I have used it, and have never used it for any nefarious purpose. It is passive. I am sorry that editors imagine that it is considered a threat to them.

I will not just delete my “Interesting Editors” section. I need it for my process to engage in the Wikipedia. I will clean it up. If that is not satisfactory, make it an issue of a “request for” or whatever.

I am sorry if I have inadvertently offended. I apologize. Osomite 🐻 (hablemos) 19:55, 20 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I fail to see any rule that indicates that what I have accumulated is prohibited

You were given links to three rules that do just that. Viriditas (talk) 19:59, 20 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Oh my God..have I finally been accepted into....dun-dun-deeerrrrr, the Illuminati?!?! Or at least the No Homers' Club.Halbared (talk) 09:57, 19 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Halbared

The Illuminati? Say what? Osomite 🐻 (hablemos) 21:16, 19 June 2024 (UTC

What does the Geneology tag mean in your other stuff?Halbared (talk) 22:09, 19 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Not possible. I didn't send an invite. Chairman Doug and I have a matter of grave importance to discuss. Apparently they ran out of gummy bears as an ice cream topper in the cafeteria. --ARose Wolf 20:02, 19 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

ARoseWolf

Your post is most puzzling. I like a good puzzle. About running out of gummy bears, that's a shame. You can never have tooo many bears.. Osomite 🐻 (hablemos) 21:19, 19 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Osomite: It's easy for all the editors you blue-linked to find out that you blue-linked to them. I've read that section, and it sounds very much like you are criticizing editors, not just innocently keeping track of interesting discussions. Please be aware of the WP:Attack page policy. --Tryptofish (talk) 21:21, 19 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Tryptofish: Evidently you did not read my "Interesting Editor Stuff" section very closely. I have carefully read it to see what "sounds very much like you are criticizing editors" comments I might have made in your opinion. Tryptofish, I don't see what you see. If there is a criticism, it is content that I did not originate, but copied from its source.somewhere on Wikipedia.

I would appreciate it if you would point out any criticism of editors that "I posted" in that section so I can remove them.

Out of curiosity, what prompted you chime in on this post?

Osomite 🐻 (hablemos) 22:02, 19 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

D ;).Halbared (talk) 22:11, 19 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I've taken time to think about it, and I've carefully read your explanations here, and then I re-read the editor stuff with your explanations in mind. I guess I can see how you have, over time, found certain discussions or editors interesting or amusing, and wanted to keep track of what you encountered. But, without a whole lot of explanation, what it looks like is that you are assembling a sort of log of editors you want to follow, along with references to administrator actions taken, to various scandals, and to situations in which various editors were criticized. Regardless of what you might have intended, it comes across as a sort of "enemies list". If I try very hard to WP:AGF, I can make a rationale for why you do not intend it that way. It's worth considering the policy at WP:Harassment#Hounding, for what it says about tracking other editors' edits, and the need "to avoid raising the suspicion that an editor's contributions are being followed to cause them distress". WP:NOTWEBHOST also puts some limitations on what you can keep in user space, just because you find it interesting. I know you said that you don't want to delete the section, but I suggest that you think seriously about doing so. --Tryptofish (talk) 20:28, 20 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Tryptofish

"it comes across as a sort of "enemies list"." Seriously? Do you realize how paranoid that sounds. To say that I have created an "enemies list" is insulting to me. What in the "Interesting Editors" section supports your supposition? You are not adhering to the Wikipedia behavioral guideline of "Assume Good Faith" WP:GOODFAITH which in part says, "Unless there is clear evidence to the contrary, assume that people who work on the project are trying to help it, not hurt it. If criticism is needed, discuss editors' actions, but avoid accusing others of harmful motives." What "action" have I taken? I would appreciate an apology for that accusation.

Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, said, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar". And I point out, "Sometimes a list is just a list", Don't extrapolate the purpose of my "Interesting Editors" list with little information and a lot of imagination.

You have fabricated a current situation as well as a hypothetical future, that I am evil mastermind with some nefarious plan to do "something" that will upset the natural order of Wikipedia. The horror, the horror.

I am getting very weary of this, My list has existing for many years. In all those years, I have not harassed or confronted any editors. I don't have any of those intentions. Please quit assuming things.

If I am considered a threat in the opinion of any editor, if there are editors that remain upset after the explanations I have made, they can approach me directly and tell me what they believe and how I am an actual threat to them. Doing that will put some actual substantial evidence into this Salem Witch Trial environment (yes, that is quite a cliche and hoary trope, but it seems quit appropriate to me). I will apologize to those editors and remove their user name from my "interesting Editors" list.

At this point I consider what is happening is harassment. Please stop.

. Osomite 🐻 (hablemos) 04:14, 22 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I know better than to assume malice but I am still thoroughly confused about why I'm on that list. Aside from the initial drama when I was briefly known as SinglePorpoiseAccount (a play on words that some people didn't find too amusing) I don't recall doing anything particularly significant here. Maybe you could add a little context? MrPorpoise (talk) 23:47, 22 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Now that...was a good name.Halbared (talk) 23:07, 25 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

User:Osomite/Stuff/More Stuff

Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia. Your user page may not meet Wikipedia's user page guidelines. It is intended for basic information about yourself, your interests and goals as they relate to editing Wikipedia, as well as disclosures of conflicts of interest and paid editing. Although a lot of freedom is allowed in personalizing your user page, it is not:

an encyclopedia article (and should not be styled to look like one)
a workspace for a draft article
a personal website, blog, or social media site
a space for self-promotion or other advertising
a CV, resumé or lengthy autobiography

The user page guidelines have additional information on what is and what is not considered acceptable content. Please use your user sandbox or the draft article space to practice editing or to create new articles. Thank you. Viriditas (talk) 00:24, 20 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 4 July 2024

News and notes: WMF board elections and fundraising updates

Three new admins, but overall numbers still shrinking.

Special report: Wikimedia Movement Charter ratification vote underway, new Council may surpass power of Board

Will we weather the storm?

In focus: How the Russian Wikipedia keeps it clean despite having just a couple dozen administrators

Unbundling, automation, fighting spirit, and a bot named Reimu Hakurei.

Discussion report: Wikipedians are hung up on the meaning of Madonna

Debate unsettled after seventeen years.

In the media: War and information in war and politics

Advocacy organizations, a journalist, mycophobes, conservatives, leftists, photographers, and a disinformation task force imagine themselves in Wikipedia.

Sister projects: On editing Wikisource

A journey to a sister project.

Obituary: Hanif Al Husaini, Salazarov, Hyacinth, and PirjanovNurlan

Rest in peace.

Opinion: Etika: a Pop Culture Champion

An article about Etika's appeal and legacy in pop culture.

Gallery: Spokane Willy's photos

A virtual visit to the Inland Northwest.

Op-Ed: Why you should not vote in the 2024 WMF BoT elections

"Simply not good enough".

Crossword: On a day of independence, beat crosswords into crossploughshares

How well do you know the main page (no peeking)?

Humour: A joke

...!

Cobwebs: Counting to a billion — manuscripts don't burn

Special:Diff/1 and related techno-trivia more complicated than you'd think.

Recent research: Is Wikipedia Politically Biased? Perhaps

And other new publications on systemic bias and other topics.

Traffic report: Talking about you and me, and the games people play

Elections, movies, sports.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:39, 4 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – July 2024

News and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2024).

Administrator changes

Technical news

Local administrators can now add new links to the bottom of the site Tools menu without using JavaScript. Documentation is available on MediaWiki. (T6086)

Miscellaneous

The Community Wishlist is re-opening on 15 July 2024. Read more

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 07:59, 6 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes – Issue 63

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 63, May – June 2024

One new partner
1Lib1Ref
Spotlight: References check

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --12:16, 18 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 22 July 2024

Discussion report: Internet users flock to Wikipedia to debate its image policy over Trump raised-fist photo

Iconic photograph, invalid fair use exemption criterion #3a claimant, or both?

News and notes: Wikimedia community votes to ratify Movement Charter; Wikimedia Foundation opposes ratification

Establishment of power-sharing agreement between WMF corporation and volunteer user community in limbo.

News from the WMF: Wikimedia Foundation Board resolution and vote on the proposed Movement Charter

Natalia Tymkiv, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation, on the Charter vote results, the resolution, meeting minutes, and proposed next steps.

Essay: Reflections on editing and obsession

A lost Signpost submission from fifteen years ago brought into the light, as good and true now as it was then.

In the media: What's on Putin's fork, the court's docket, and in Harrison's book?

Failing forks, smart and well-researched stories, LGBT rights, and oral sex!

Obituary: JamesR

Rest in peace.

Crossword: Vaguely bird-shaped crossword

Do you know these Wikipedia quotes?

Humour: Joe Biden withdraws RfA, Donald Trump selects co-nom

Dems in disarray, GOP in chaos — analysts say news expected, but few can predict how race will shape up from here.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 09:31, 22 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 14 August 2024

In the media: Portland pol profile paid for from public purse

A STORM over an AI that writes articles. And other notes of interest.

Recent research: STORM: AI agents role-play as "Wikipedia editors" and "experts" to create Wikipedia-like articles, a more sophisticated effort than previous auto-generation systems

And other findings.

In focus: Twitter marks the spot

Musk's Twitter acquisition and rebranding have caused long debates on Wikipedia.

News and notes: Another Wikimania has concluded.

And Movement Charter ratification vote comments have been published

Special report: Nano or just nothing: Will nano go nuclear?

Possibly paid articles.

Opinion: HouseBlaster's RfA debriefing

HouseBlaster's reflections on his RfA. In particular, do not ask superlative questions.

Traffic report: Ball games, movies, elections, but nothing really weird

Just normally weird!

Humour: I'm proud to be a template

Come in, you whippersnapper, have a cup of tea.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:49, 14 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – September 2024

News and updates for administrators from the past month (August 2024).

Administrator changes

Pppery

Interface administrator changes

Pppery

Oversighter changes

Wugapodes

CheckUser changes

Guideline and policy news

Following an RfC, there is a new criterion for speedy deletion: C4, which applies to unused maintenance categories, such as empty dated maintenance categories for dates in the past.
A request for comment is open to discuss whether Notability (species) should be adopted as a subject-specific notability guideline.

Arbitration

Following a motion, remedies 5.1 and 5.2 of World War II and the history of Jews in Poland (the topic and interaction bans on My very best wishes, respectively) were repealed.
Remedy 3C of the German war effort case ("Cinderella157 German history topic ban") was suspended for a period of six months.
The arbitration case Historical Elections is currently open. Proposed decision is expected by 3 September 2024 for this case.

Miscellaneous

Editors can now enter into good article review circles, an alternative for informal quid pro quo arrangements, to have a GAN reviewed in return for reviewing a different editor's nomination.
A New Pages Patrol backlog drive is happening in September 2024 to reduce the number of unreviewed articles and redirects in the new pages feed. Currently, there is a backlog of over 13,900 articles and 26,200 redirects awaiting review. Sign up here to participate!

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:43, 2 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 4 September 2024

News and notes: WikiCup enters final round, MCDC wraps up activities, 17-year-old hoax article unmasked

JCW compilation now tracks free DOIs, Wiki Loves Monuments getting started, WMF's status as UN observer stymied by China for fourth time.

In the media: AI is not playing games anymore. Is Wikipedia ready?

Updates from the Portland pol's case, the war in Gaza, and other Wiki-related reports.

Recent research: Simulated Wikipedia seen as less credible than ChatGPT and Alexa in experiment

And other new research findings

News from the WMF: Meet the 12 candidates running in the WMF Board of Trustees election

Who are they, why are they running and what are they bringing to the Board?

Wikimania: A month after Wikimania 2024

What all happened in Katowice?

Serendipity: What it's like to be Wikimedian of the Year

Hannah Clover shares her fondest memories of her first Wikimania.

Traffic report: After the gold rush

The Olympics (yay!) and the American election (oh no).

Humour: Local man halfway through rude reply no longer able to recall why he hates other editor

"I can't remember whether he is an incompetent moron, or an incorrigible POV warrior, or some other thing, but either way, to hell with him."

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:27, 4 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes – Issue 64

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 64, July – August 2024

The Hindu Group joins The Wikipedia Library
Wikimania presentation
New user script for easily searching The Wikipedia Library

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --16:34, 11 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 26 September 2024

In the media: Courts order Wikipedia to give up names of editors, legal strain anticipated from "online safety laws"

ANI (but probably not the one you're thinking of), bias and bans, crisis and Clover, Engelhorn's euros, and will the zoomers inherit the project?

Community view: Indian courts order Wikipedia to take down name of crime victim, editors strive towards consensus

In response to a takedown request, Wikipedia editors reached a consensus on how to handle it appropriately.

Serendipity: A Wikipedian at the 2024 Paralympics

User Hawkeye7 opens up on his experience as a media representative following the Australian team at the latest Summer Paralympics in Paris.

Opinion: asilvering's RfA debriefing

User asilvering reflects on their recent successful request for adminship.

News and notes: Are you ready for admin elections?

More changes to RfA on the way in October, final results for the U4C elections revealed, and other news from the Wikimedia world.

Gallery: Are Luddaites defending the English Wikipedia?

Picture this: medicine, drugs, JFK, Cleopatra, anachronism, and global catastrophe.

Recent research: Article-writing AI is less "prone to reasoning errors (or hallucinations)" than human Wikipedia editors

And other recent research publications.

Traffic report: Jump in the line, rock your body in time

Band reunions and Beetlejuice!

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:10, 26 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – October 2024

News and updates for administrators from the past month (September 2024).

Administrator changes

CheckUser changes

Guideline and policy news

Administrator elections are a proposed new process for selecting administrators, offering an alternative to requests for adminship (RfA). The first trial election will take place in October 2024, with candidate sign-up from October 8 to 14, a discussion phase from October 22 to 24, and SecurePoll voting from October 25 to 31. For questions or to help out, please visit the talk page at Wikipedia talk:Administrator elections.
Following a discussion, the speedy deletion reason "File pages without a corresponding file" has been moved from criterion G8 to F2. This does not change what can be speedily deleted.
A request for comment is open to discuss whether there is a consensus to have an administrator recall process.

Arbitration

The arbitration case Historical elections has been closed.
An arbitration case regarding Backlash to diversity and inclusion has been opened.
Editors are invited to nominate themselves to serve on the 2024 Arbitration Committee Electoral Commission until 23:59 October 8, 2024 (UTC).

Miscellaneous

If you are interested in stopping spammers, please put MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist and MediaWiki talk:Spam-blacklist on your watchlist, and help out when you can.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:00, 2 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 19 October 2024

News and notes: One election's end, another election's beginning

Find more about the new Trustees, the first election cycle for admins, and other news from the Wikimedia world.

Recent research: "As many as 5%" of new English Wikipedia articles "contain significant AI-generated content", says paper

And other searchings and findings.

In the media: Off to the races! Wikipedia wins!

Perplexing persistence, pay to play, potential president's possible plagiarism, crossword crossover to culture, and a wish come true!

Contest: A WikiCup for the Global South

Can it be fun to address systemic bias? Eighty participants say yes, it can!

Traffic report: A scream breaks the still of the night

Help me make it through the night!

Book review: The Editors

A novel about us, from the point of view of three of us.

Humour: The Newspaper Editors

Where do I even start?

Crossword: Spilled Coffee Mug

Pasta, acronyms, and one computer-crashing talk page.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:15, 19 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – November 2024

News and updates for administrators from the past month (October 2024).

Administrator changes

Crisco 1492

CheckUser changes

Maxim

Oversighter changes

Maxim

Guideline and policy news

Following a discussion, the discussion-only period proposal that went for a trial to refine the requests for adminship (RfA) process has been discontinued.
Following a request for comment, Administrator recall is adopted as a policy.

Technical news

Mass deletions done with the Nuke tool now have the 'Nuke' tag. This change will make reviewing and analyzing deletions performed with the tool easier. T366068

Arbitration

RoySmith, Barkeep49 and Cyberpower678 have been appointed to the Electoral Commission for the 2024 Arbitration Committee Elections. ThadeusOfNazereth and Dr vulpes are reserve commissioners.
Eligible editors are invited to self-nominate from 3 November 2024 until 12 November 2024 to stand in the 2024 Arbitration Committee elections.
The Arbitration Committee is seeking volunteers for roles such as clerks, access to the COI queue, checkuser, and oversight.

Miscellaneous

An unreferenced articles backlog drive is happening in November 2024 to reduce the backlog of articles tagged with {{Unreferenced}}. You can help reduce the backlog by adding citations to these articles. Sign up to participate!

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 10:21, 3 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 6 November 2024

From the editors: Editing Wikipedia should not be a crime

But not everybody is able to legally read Wikipedia, and not everybody is able to legally edit Wikipedia.

News and notes: Wikimedia Foundation shares ANI lawsuit updates; first admin elections appoint eleven sysops; first admin recalls opened; temporary accounts coming soon?

Defamation, privacy, censorship, and elections.

In the media: An old scrimmage, politics and purported libel

Plus human knowledge and Ozzie places!

Special report: Wikipedia editors face litigation, censorship

Asian News International, the Delhi High Court, and the encyclopedia.

Gallery: Why you should take more photos and upload them

Your photos are more valuable than you may realize.

In focus: Questions and answers about the court case

What is going on?

Traffic report: Twisted tricks or tempting treats?

And Tata too!

Technology report: Wikimedia tech, the Asian News International case, and the ultra-rare BLACKLOCK

IP address privacy tools, and mysterious archive sites.

Humour: Man quietly slinks away from talk page argument after realizing his argument dumb, wrong

Many such cases.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 08:05, 6 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes – Issue 65

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 65, September – October 2024

Hindu Tamil Thisai joins The Wikipedia Library
Frankfurt Book Fair 2024 report
Tech tip: Mass downloads

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --12:50, 12 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 18 November 2024

News and notes: Open letter to WMF about court case breaks one thousand signatures, big arb case declined, U4C begins accepting cases

Many cases: many such cases.

In the media: Summons issued for Wikipedia editors by Indian court, "Gaza genocide" RfC close in news, old admin Gwern now big AI guy, and a "spectrum of reluctance" over Australian place names

Publisher versus intermediary, bias versus verifiability, and probing questions about Gwern's personal finances.

Recent research: SPINACH: AI help for asking Wikidata "challenging real-world questions"

And other recent publications.

News from the WMF: Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia Endowment audit reports: FY 2023–2024

An overview of the finances and an explanation of what the numbers mean.

Traffic report: Well, let us share with you our knowledge, about the electoral college

It's so over.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:43, 18 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – December 2024

News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2024).

Administrator changes

Interface administrator changes

Pppery

CheckUser changes

Guideline and policy news

Following an RFC, the policy on restoration of adminship has been updated. All former administrators may now only regain the tools following a request at the Wikipedia:Bureaucrats' noticeboard within 5 years of their most recent admin action. Previously this applied only to administrators deysopped for inactivity.
Following a request for comment, a new speedy deletion criterion, T5, has been enacted. This applies to template subpages that are no longer used.

Technical news

Technical volunteers can now register for the 2025 Wikimedia Hackathon, which will take place in Istanbul, Turkey. Application for travel and accommodation scholarships is open from November 12 to December 10, 2024.

Arbitration

The arbitration case Yasuke (formerly titled Backlash to diversity and inclusion) has been closed.
An arbitration case titled Palestine-Israel articles 5 has been opened. Evidence submissions in this case will close on 14 December.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:20, 3 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 12 December 2024

News and notes: Arbitrator election concludes

New arbs to be seated in January.

Arbitration report: Palestine-Israel articles 5

Will the fifth try at achieving peace be a mudfight, or something better?

Disinformation report: Sex, power, and money revisited

Should old acquaintance be forgot?

Op-ed: On the backrooms

An editor's reflection on social capital and their changing relationship with Wikipedia culture.

by Tamzin

In focus: Are Wikipedia articles representative of Western or world knowledge?

Wikipedia aims to represent the sum of all knowledge. Is there an imbalance between Western countries and the rest of the world.

In the media: Like the BBC, often useful but not impartial

Ballooning British bias bombast!

Traffic report: Something Wicked for almost everybody

Fighting and killing – on screen, in politics, and in the ring – competes for attention with Disney.

Opinion: Worm That Turned's reconfirmation RfA debriefing

The importance of feedback.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:58, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 24 December 2024

News and notes: Responsibilities and liabilities as a "Very Large Online Platform"

What the VLOP – findings of an outside auditor for "responsibilization" of Wikipedia. Plus, new EU Commissioners for tech policy, WLE 2024 winners, and a few other bits of news from the Wikipedia world.

Op-ed: Beeblebrox on Wikipediocracy, the Committee, and everything

A personal essay.

Opinion: Graham87 on being the first-ever administrator recall subject

Explanations for what led to it and what it was like to undergo it.

In the media: Delhi High Court considers Caravan and Ken for evaluating the ANI vs. WMF case

Plus, the dangers of editing, Morrissey's page gets marred, COVID coverage critique, Kimchi consultation, kids' connectivity curtailed, centenarian Claudia, Christmas cramming, and more.

From the archives: Where to draw the line in reporting?

Who's news?

Recent research: "Wikipedia editors are quite prosocial", but those motivated by "social image" may put quantity over quality

And other new research findings.

Humour: Backlash over Santa Claus' Wikipedia article intensifies

Good faith edits REVERTED and accounts BLOCKED.

Gallery: A feast of holidays and carols

Peace on earth, goodwill to all!

Traffic report: Was a long and dark December

Wicked war, martial law, killing, death and an Indian movie with a new chess champ!

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:02, 25 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Your mention of me on your user page

Hello, I'm glad you found me and my recent Signpost article interesting enough to mention on your user page User:Osomite/Stuff/More Stuff. I found it while doing a wikisource search for markup about my Signpost page. Just one correction though: I'm not one of Wikipedia's earliest editors, by a long way ... the site was already four years old when I started! Graham87 (talk) 14:11, 29 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Graham, what can I say? What you have contributed is (what's a word for ultra amazing?), oh, it's ultra amazing. And how you have done it is also ultra amazing. Even if you weren't "one of the first", your starting is basically during the mists of the beginning--it was a long, long time ago.

Being an "old timer", you definitely qualify as someone, to me, who is quite interesting.

Part of my interest in Wikipedia is the interaction editors have with editors and the interactions that editors have with admins. I sort of study the sociology of the Wikipedia world.

Your situation with blocking editors and having the Wikipedia "powers to be" chaste you, to me, was questionable. It seems to me it was the frequently occurring Wikipedian act of ganging up to punish. I see this happening a lot. Sadly, I think that there is a culture of disfunction within Wikipedia that is very toxic and dysfunctional. The fact that editors have to continually be reminded to "not bite newbies" demonstrates that "the blame game and hypercritical opinions" is ongoing. I think this bad behaviors is sort of similar to what occurred in the Stanford prison experiment. Sometimes, people exceed the authority of their role.

I have been editing Wikipedia off and on since 2007 and I still find Wikipedia to be a monolith. I have difficulty finding information within Wikipedia. I am continually searching and searching to find references that should be obvious/easy to find. But the basic things I have to keep looking for are not obvious nor easy to find. I have to keep notes (on my stuff talk page) for things I have found in Wikipedia. Somehow I think a function should be added to Wikipedia to provide a universal search of all of the various rules and methods to allow a friendly interface into the monolith. And, since I have continuing problems with the Wikipedia environment, I was very impressed with your facility and capability in an environment I find difficult.

Thanks for your note. Osomite 🐻 (hablemos) 01:24, 1 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

PS I find your story to be compelling (admiration in a powerfully irresistible way).Osomite 🐻 (hablemos) 22:32, 1 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – January 2025

News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2024).

Administrator changes

Sennecaster

CheckUser changes

Worm That Turned

Ferret

Oversight changes

Worm That Turned

Guideline and policy news

Following an RFC, Wikipedia:Notability (species) was adopted as a subject-specific notability guideline.
A request for comment is open to discuss whether admins should be advised to warn users rather than issue no-warning blocks to those who have posted promotional content outside of article space.

Technical news

The Nuke feature also now provides links to the userpage of the user whose pages were deleted, and to the pages which were not selected for deletion, after page deletions are queued. This enables easier follow-up admin-actions.

Arbitration

Following the 2024 Arbitration Committee elections, the following editors have been elected to the Arbitration Committee: CaptainEek, Daniel, Elli, KrakatoaKatie, Liz, Primefac, ScottishFinnishRadish, Theleekycauldron, Worm That Turned.

Miscellaneous

A New Pages Patrol backlog drive is happening in January 2025 to reduce the number of unreviewed articles and redirects in the new pages feed. Sign up here to participate!

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:46, 5 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes – Issue 66

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 66, November – December 2024

Les Jours and East View Press join the library
Tech tip: Newspapers.com

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --17:33, 10 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 15 January 2025

From the editors: Looking back, looking forward

The 20th anniversary of The Signpost.

Traffic report: The most viewed articles of 2024

A lot of psephology!

In the media: Will you be targeted?

HUMINT or humbug?

Technology report: New Calculator template brings interactivity at last

Hallelujah!

Essay: Meet the Canadian who holds the longest editing streak on Wikipedia

Johnny Au has edited for 17 years straight without missing a day.

Opinion: Reflections one score hence

Some thoughts from the original editor-in-chief.

News and notes: It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me... and I'm feeling free

Public Domain Day 2025, Women in Red hits 20% biography milestone, Spanish Wikipedia reaches two million articles, and other news from the Wikimedia world.

Serendipity: What we've left behind, and where we want to go next

The Signpost staff on achievements of '24 and hopes for '25.

Op-ed: Elon Musk and the right on Wikipedia

The latest crusade?

In focus: Twenty years of The Signpost: What did it take?

Our alumni speak!

Arbitration report: Analyzing commonalities of some contentious topics

Applying the scientific method to a model of conflict that leads to arbitration.

Humour: How to make friends on Wikipedia

This post fact-checked by real Wikipedian patriots.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 07:55, 15 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – February 2025

News and updates for administrators from the past month (January 2025).

Administrator changes

Euryalus

CheckUser changes

Oversighter changes

Technical news

Administrators can now nuke pages created by a user or IP address from the last 90 days, up from the initial 30 days. T380846
A 'Recreated' tag will now be added to pages that were created with the same title as a page which was previously deleted and it can be used as a filter in Special:RecentChanges and Special:NewPages. T56145

Arbitration

The arbitration case Palestine-Israel articles 5 has been closed.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:28, 5 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 7 February 2025

Recent research: GPT-4 writes better edit summaries than human Wikipedians

But an open language model is ready to help.

News and notes: Let's talk!

The WMF executive team delivers a new update; plus, the latest EU policy report, good-bye to the German Wikipedia's Café, and other news from the Wikimedia world.

Opinion: Fathoms Below, but over the moon

Editor Fathoms Below reminisces over their successful RfA from February 2024.

In the media: Wikipedia is an extension of legacy media propaganda, says Elon Musk

Plus, reports on the ARBPIA5 case, new concerns over projects targeting Wikipedia editors, John Green gets his sponsor flowers, and other news.

Community view: 24th Wikipedia Day in New York City

Wikimedians and newbies celebrate 24 years of Wikipedia in the Brooklyn Central Library. Special guests Stephen Harrison and Clay Shirky joined in conversation.

Arbitration report: Palestine-Israel articles 5 has closed

Ending with some bans, and a new set of editing sanctions.

Traffic report: A wild drive

The start of the year was filled with a few unfortunate losses, tragic disasters, emerging tech forces and A LOT of politics.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * Sent manually via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 05:46, 7 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 27 February 2025

News and notes: Administrator elections up for reapproval and 1bil GET snagged on Commons

French Wikipedia defends a user against public threats, steward elections, and other news from the Wikimedia world.

Serendipity: Guinea-Bissau Heritage from Commons to the World

"The only time I ever took photos in my entire life".

Technology report: Hear that? The wikis go silent twice a year

From patrolling new edits to uploading photos or joining a campaign, you can count on the Wikimedia platform to be up and running — in your language, anywhere in the world. That is, except for a couple of minutes during the equinoctes.

In the media: The end of the world

Or just the end of Wikipedia as we know it?

Recent research: What's known about how readers navigate Wikipedia; Italian Wikipedia hardest to read

Of "hunters", "busybodies" and "dancers".

Opinion: Sennecaster's RfA debriefing

User Sennecaster shares her thoughts on her recent RfA and the aspects that might have played a role in making it successful.

Tips and tricks: One year after this article is posted, will every single article on Wikipedia have a short description?

What are they? Why are they important? How can we make them better? And what can you do to help?

Community view: Open letter from French Wikipedians says "no" to intimidation of volunteer contributors

Liberté, liberté chérie.

Traffic report: Temporary scars, February stars

Grammys, politics and the Super Bowl.

Essay: The source, the whole source, and nothing but the source

Straight from the source's mouth. A source is a source, of course, of course!

Obituary: Ümüt Çınar (Kmoksy) and Vinícius Medina Kern (Vmkern)

Turkish linguist wrote about languages and plants; Brazilian informaticist studied Wikimedia projects and education.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 10:29, 27 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – March 2025

News and updates for administrators from the past month (February 2025).

Administrator changes

CheckUser changes

Oversighter changes

AmandaNP

Guideline and policy news

A request for comment is open to discuss whether AI-generated images (meaning those wholly created by generative AI, not human-created images modified with AI tools) should be banned from use in articles.
A series of 22 mini-RFCs that double-checked consensus on some aspects and improved certain parts of the administrator elections process has been closed (see the summary of the changes).
A request for comment is open to gain consensus on whether future administrator elections should be held.

Technical news

A new filter has been added to the Special:Nuke tool, which allows administrators to filter for pages in a range of page sizes (in bytes). This allows, for example, deleting pages only of a certain size or below. T378488
Non-administrators can now check which pages are able to be deleted using the Special:Nuke tool. T376378

Miscellaneous

The 2025 appointees for the Ombuds commission are だ＊ぜ, Arcticocean, Ameisenigel, Emufarmers, Faendalimas, Galahad, Nehaoua, Renvoy, Revi C., RoySmith, Teles and Zafer as members, with Vermont serving as steward-observer.
Following the 2025 Steward Elections, the following editors have been appointed as stewards: 1234qwer1234qwer4, AramilFeraxa, Daniuu, KonstantinaG07, MdsShakil and XXBlackburnXx.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:38, 4 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes – Issue 67

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 67, January – February 2025

East View Press and The Africa Report join the library
Spotlight: Wikimedia+Libraries International Convention and WikiCredCon
Tech tip: Suggest page

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --18:48, 19 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 22 March 2025

From the editor: Hanami

It's an ecstasy, my spring.

Opinion: Talking about governments editing Wikipedia

Let them know what you think!

News and notes: Deeper look at takedowns targeting Wikipedia

Read this, then forget all about it.

In the media: The good, the bad, and the unusual

Life on the Wiki as usual!

Recent research: Explaining the disappointing history of Flagged Revisions; and what's the impact of ChatGPT on Wikipedia so far?

And WMF invites multi-year research fund proposals

Traffic report: All the world's a stage, we are merely players...

The Oscars, politics, and death elbow for the most attention.

Gallery: WikiPortraits rule!

The photographers are the celebrities!

Essay: Unusual biographical images

And very unusual biographical images.

Obituary: Rest in peace

Send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:06, 22 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2025-13

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

Weekly highlight

The Wikimedia Foundation is seeking your feedback on the drafts of the objectives and key results that will shape the Foundation's Product and Technology priorities for the next fiscal year (starting in July). The objectives are broad high-level areas, and the key-results are measurable ways to track the success of their objectives. Please share your feedback on the talkpage, in any language, ideally before the end of April.

Updates for editors

The CampaignEvents extension will be released to multiple wikis (see deployment plan for details) in April 2025, and the team has begun the process of engaging communities on the identified wikis. The extension provides tools to organize, manage, and promote collaborative activities (like events, edit-a-thons, and WikiProjects) on the wikis. The extension has three tools: Event Registration, Collaboration List, and Invitation Lists. It is currently on 13 Wikipedias, including English Wikipedia, French Wikipedia, and Spanish Wikipedia, as well as Wikidata. Questions or requests can be directed to the extension talk page or in Phabricator (with #campaigns-product-team tag).
Starting the week of March 31st, wikis will be able to set which user groups can view private registrants in Event Registration, as part of the CampaignEvents extension. By default, event organizers and the local wiki admins will be able to see private registrants. This is a change from the current behavior, in which only event organizers can see private registrants. Wikis can change the default setup by requesting a configuration change in Phabricator (and adding the #campaigns-product-team tag). Participants of past events can cancel their registration at any time.
Administrators at wikis that have a customized MediaWiki:Sidebar should check that it contains an entry for the Special pages listing. If it does not, they should add it using * specialpages-url|specialpages. Wikis with a default sidebar will see the link moved from the page toolbox into the sidebar menu in April. [2]
The Minerva skin (mobile web) combines both Notice and Alert notifications within the bell icon (). There was a long-standing bug where an indication for new notifications was only shown if you had unseen Alerts. This bug is now fixed. In the future, Minerva users will notice a counter atop the bell icon when you have 1 or more unseen Notices and/or Alerts. [3]
View all 23 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week.

Updates for technical contributors

VisualEditor has introduced a new client-side hook for developers to use when integrating with the VisualEditor target lifecycle. This hook should replace the existing lifecycle-related hooks, and be more consistent between different platforms. In addition, the new hook will apply to uses of VisualEditor outside of just full article editing, allowing gadgets to interact with the editor in DiscussionTools as well. The Editing Team intends to deprecate and eventually remove the old lifecycle hooks, so any use cases that this new hook does not cover would be of interest to them and can be shared in the task.
Developers who use the mw.Api JavaScript library, can now identify the tool using it with the userAgent parameter: var api = new mw.Api( { userAgent: 'GadgetNameHere/1.0.1' } );. If you maintain a gadget or user script, please set a user agent, because it helps with library and server maintenance and with differentiating between legitimate and illegitimate traffic. [4][5]
Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

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

MediaWiki message delivery 22:39, 24 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2025-14

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

Updates for editors

The Editing team is working on a new Edit check: Peacock check. This check's goal is to identify non-neutral terms while a user is editing a wikipage, so that they can be informed that their edit should perhaps be changed before they publish it. This project is at the early stages, and the team is looking for communities' input: in this Phabricator task, they are gathering on-wiki policies, templates used to tag non-neutral articles, and the terms (jargon and keywords) used in edit summaries for the languages they are currently researching. You can participate by editing the table on Phabricator, commenting on the task, or directly messaging Trizek (WMF).
Single User Login has now been updated on all wikis to move login and account creation to a central domain. This makes user login compatible with browser restrictions on cross-domain cookies, which have prevented users of some browsers from staying logged in.
View all 35 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week.

Updates for technical contributors

Starting on March 31st, the MediaWiki Interfaces team will begin a limited release of generated OpenAPI specs and a SwaggerUI-based sandbox experience for MediaWiki REST APIs. They invite developers from a limited group of non-English Wikipedia communities (Arabic, German, French, Hebrew, Interlingua, Dutch, Chinese) to review the documentation and experiment with the sandbox in their preferred language. In addition to these specific Wikipedia projects, the sandbox and OpenAPI spec will be available on the on the test wiki REST Sandbox special page for developers with English as their preferred language. During the preview period, the MediaWiki Interfaces Team also invites developers to share feedback about your experience. The preview will last for approximately 2 weeks, after which the sandbox and OpenAPI specs will be made available across all wiki projects.
Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

In depth

Sometimes a small, one line code change can have great significance: in this case, it means that for the first time in years we're able to run all of the stack serving maps.wikimedia.org - a host dedicated to serving our wikis and their multi-lingual maps needs - from a single core datacenter, something we test every time we perform a datacenter switchover. This is important because it means that in case one of our datacenters is affected by a catastrophe, we'll still be able to serve the site. This change is the result of extensive work by two developers on porting the last component of the maps stack over to kubernetes, where we can allocate resources more efficiently than before, thus we're able to withstand more traffic in a single datacenter. This work involved a lot of complicated steps because this software, and the software libraries it uses, required many long overdue upgrades. This type of work makes the Wikimedia infrastructure more sustainable.

Meetings and events

MediaWiki Users and Developers Workshop Spring 2025 is happening in Sandusky, USA, and online, from 14–16 May 2025. The workshop will feature discussions around the usage of MediaWiki software by and within companies in different industries and will inspire and onboard new users. Registration and presentation signup is now available at the workshop's website.

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

MediaWiki message delivery 00:02, 1 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – April 2025

News and updates for administrators from the past month (March 2025).

Administrator changes

Dennis Brown

Bureaucrat changes

Barkeep49

CheckUser changes

0xDeadbeef

Oversighter changes

GB fan

Moneytrees

Miscellaneous

Sign up for The Core Contest, a competition running from 15 April to 31 May to improve vital articles.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:46, 7 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2025-15

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

Updates for editors

From now on, interface admins and centralnotice admins are technically required to enable two-factor authentication before they can use their privileges. In the future this might be expanded to more groups with advanced user-rights. [6]
View all 20 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week.

Updates for technical contributors

The Design System Team is preparing to release the next major version of Codex (v2.0.0) on April 29. Editors and developers who use CSS from Codex should see the 2.0 overview documentation, which includes guidance related to a few of the breaking changes such as font-size, line-height, and size-icon.
The results of the Developer Satisfaction Survey (2025) are now available. Thank you to all participants. These results help the Foundation decide what to work on next and to review what they recently worked on.
Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

Meetings and events

The 2025 Wikimedia Hackathon will take place in Istanbul, Turkey, between 2–4 May. Registration for attending the in-person event will close on 13 April. Before registering, please note the potential need for a visa or e-visa to enter the country.

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

MediaWiki message delivery 18:50, 7 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 9 April 2025

Special report: Wikipedian and physician Ziyad al-Sufiani reportedly released from Saudi prison

Fellow doctor Osama Khalid remains behind bars for "violating public morals" by editing.

In focus: WMF to explore "common standards" for NPOV policies; implications for project autonomy remain unclear

Major changes to core content policy, or still-developing plan for new initiative?

In the media: Indian judges demand removal of content critical of Asian News International

Defeat, or just a setback?

News and notes: 35,000 user accounts compromised, locked in attempted credential-stuffing attack

Plus: 30-year anniversary of wiki software commemorated.

Op-ed: How crawlers impact the operations of the Wikimedia projects

Our content is free, our infrastructure is not!

Opinion: Crawlers, hogs and gorillas

What is to be done?

Debriefing: Giraffer's RfA debriefing

Advice to aspirants: "Read RfA debriefs", including this one.

Obituary: RHaworth, TomCat4680 and PawełMM

Rest in peace.

Traffic report: Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho, off to report we go...

Snow White sinking, Adolescence soaring, spacefarers stranded, this list has it all!

News from Diff: Strengthening Wikipedia’s neutral point of view

The Wikimedia Foundation's announcement from Diff.

Comix: Thirteen

Gadzooks!

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:22, 9 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2025-16

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

Weekly highlight

Later this week, the default thumbnail size will be increased from 220px to 250px. This changes how pages are shown in all wikis and has been requested by some communities for many years, but wasn't previously possible due to technical limitations. [7]
File thumbnails are now stored in discrete sizes. If a page specifies a thumbnail size that's not among the standard sizes (20, 40, 60, 120, 250, 330, 500, 960), then MediaWiki will pick the closest larger thumbnail size but will tell the browser to downscale it to the requested size. In these cases, nothing will change visually but users might load slightly larger images. If it doesn't matter which thumbnail size is used in a page, please pick one of the standard sizes to avoid the extra in-browser down-scaling step. [8][9]

Updates for editors

The Wikimedia Foundation are working on a system called Edge Uniques which will enable A/B testing, help protect against Distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS attacks), and make it easier to understand how many visitors the Wikimedia sites have. This is so that they can more efficiently build tools which help readers, and make it easier for readers to find what they are looking for.
To improve security for users, a small percentage of logins will now require that the account owner input a one-time password emailed to their account. It is recommended that you check that the email address on your account is set correctly, and that it has been confirmed, and that you have an email set for this purpose. [10]
"Are you interested in taking a short survey to improve tools used for reviewing or reverting edits on your Wiki?" This question will be asked at 7 wikis starting next week, on Recent Changes and Watchlist pages. The Moderator Tools team wants to know more about activities that involve looking at new edits made to your Wikimedia project, and determining whether they adhere to your project's policies.
On April 15, the full Wikidata graph will no longer be supported on query.wikidata.org. After this date, scholarly articles will be available through query-scholarly.wikidata.org, while the rest of the data hosted on Wikidata will be available through the query.wikidata.org endpoint. This is part of the scheduled split of the Wikidata Graph, which was announced in September 2024. More information is available on Wikidata.
The latest quarterly Wikimedia Apps Newsletter is now available. It covers updates, experiments, and improvements made to the Wikipedia mobile apps.
View all 30 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week.

Updates for technical contributors

The latest quarterly Technical Community Newsletter is now available. This edition includes: an invitation for tool maintainers to attend the Toolforge UI Community Feedback Session on April 15th; recent community metrics; and recent technical blog posts.
Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

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

MediaWiki message delivery 00:21, 15 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2025-17

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

Updates for editors

Wikifunctions is now integrated with Dagbani Wikipedia since April 15. It is the first project that will be able to call functions from Wikifunctions and integrate them in articles. A function is something that takes one or more inputs and transforms them into a desired output, such as adding up two numbers, converting miles into metres, calculating how much time has passed since an event, or declining a word into a case. Wikifunctions will allow users to do that through a simple call of a stable and global function, rather than via a local template. [11]
A new type of lint error has been created: Empty headings (documentation). The Linter extension's purpose is to identify wikitext patterns that must or can be fixed in pages and provide some guidance about what the problems are with those patterns and how to fix them. [12]
View all 37 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week.

Updates for technical contributors

Following its publication on HuggingFace, the "Structured Contents" dataset, developed by Wikimedia Enterprise, is now also available on Kaggle. This Beta initiative is focused on making Wikimedia data more machine-readable for high-volume reusers. They are releasing this beta version in a location that open dataset communities already use, in order to seek feedback, to help improve the product for a future wider release. You can read more about the overall Structured Contents project, and about the first release that's freely usable.
There is no new MediaWiki version this week.

Meetings and events

The Editing and Machine Learning Teams invite interested volunteers to a video meeting to discuss Peacock check, which is the latest Edit check that will detect "peacock" or "overly-promotional" or "non-neutral" language whilst an editor is typing. Editors who work with newcomers, or help to fix this kind of writing, or are interested in how we use artificial intelligence in our projects are encouraged to attend. The meeting will be on April 28, 2025 at 18:00–19:00 UTC and hosted on Zoom.

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

MediaWiki message delivery 20:57, 21 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2025-18

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

Updates for editors

Event organizers who host collaborative activities on multiple wikis, including Bengali, Japanese, and Korean Wikipedias, will have access to the CampaignEvents extension this week. Also, admins in the Wikipedia where the extension is enabled will automatically be granted the event organizer right soon. They won't have to manually grant themselves the right before they can manage events as requested by a community.
View all 19 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week.

Updates for technical contributors

The release of the next major version of Codex, the design system for Wikimedia, is scheduled for 29 April 2025. Technical editors will have access to the release by the week of 5 May 2025. This update will include a number of breaking changes and minor visual changes. Instructions on handling the breaking and visual changes are documented on this page. Pre-release testing is reported in T386298, with post-release issues tracked in T392379 and T392390.
Users of Wiki Replicas will notice that the database views of ipblocks, ipblocks_ipindex, and ipblocks_compat are now deprecated. Users can query the block and block_target new views that mirror the new tables in the production database instead. The deprecated views will be removed entirely from Wiki Replicas in June, 2025.
Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

In depth

The latest quarterly Language and Internationalization Newsletter is now available. This edition includes an overview of the improved Content Translation Dashboard Tool, support for new languages, highlights from the Wiki Loves Ramadan campaign, results from the Language Onboarding Experiment, an analysis of topic diversity in articles, and information on upcoming community meetings and events.

Meetings and events

The Let's Connect Learning Clinic will take place on April 29 at 14:30 UTC. This edition will focus on "Understanding and Navigating Conflict in Wikimedia Projects". You can register now to attend.
The 2025 Wikimedia Hackathon, which brings the global technical community together to connect, brainstorm, and hack existing projects, will take place from May 2 to 4th, 2025, at Istanbul, Turkey.

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

MediaWiki message delivery 19:29, 28 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 1 May 2025

News and notes: India cut off from Wiki money; WMF annual plan and Wikimedia programs seek comment

As always, Wikimedia community governance relies on user participation; plus, more updates from the Wikimedia world

In the media: Feds aiming for WMF's nonprofit status

Scrapers, an Indian lawsuit, and a crash-or-not-crash?

Recent research: How readers use Wikipedia health content; Scholars generally happy with how their papers are cited on Wikipedia

And other new research findings.

Arbitration report: Sysop Tinucherian removed and admonished by the ArbCom

And don't bite those newbies!

Discussion report: Latest news from Centralized discussions

And don't bite those newbies!

Traffic report: Of Wolf and Man

Television dramas, televised sports, film, the Pope, and ... bioengineering at the top of the list?

Disinformation report: At WikiCredCon, Wikipedia editors and Internet Archive discuss threats to trust in media

Community volunteers network among themselves and use technology to counter attacks on information sharing.

News from the WMF: Product & Tech Progress on the Annual Plan

A look at some product and tech highlights from the Wikimedia Foundation's Annual Plan (July–December 2024).

Humour: Crisis erupts as furious admins, functionaries complain about crappy t-shirts

Hey! At least it is something!

Comix: By territory

Zounds!

In focus: Using AI on the Russian Wikipedia: opportunities or challenges?

Would a billion articles be a good idea?

Community view: A deep dive into Wikimedia

There's a lot more to this than you think.

Debriefing: Barkeep49's RfB debriefing

I wonder about having crats, but decided to become one anyway.

Gallery: Meet the winners of Wiki Loves Monuments 2024

Just beautiful photos!

Obituary: JarrahTree, JohnClarknew and Yashthepunisher

Rest in Paradise.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:18, 1 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2025-19

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

Weekly highlight

The Wikimedia Foundation has shared the latest draft update to their annual plan for next year (July 2025–June 2026). This includes an executive summary (also on Diff), details about the three main goals (Infrastructure, Volunteer Support, and Effectiveness), global trends, and the budget and financial model. Feedback and questions are welcome on the talk page until the end of May.

Updates for editors

For wikis that have the CampaignEvents extension enabled, two new feature improvements have been released:
- Admins can now choose which namespaces are permitted for Event Registration via Community Configuration (documentation). The default setup is for event registration to be permitted in the Event namespace, but other namespaces (such as the project namespace or WikiProject namespace) can now be added. With this change, communities like WikiProjects can now more easily use Event Registration for their collaborative activities.
- Editors can now transclude the Collaboration List on a wiki page (documentation). The Collaboration List is an automated list of events and WikiProjects on the wikis, accessed via Special:AllEvents (example). Now, the Collaboration List can be added to all sorts of wiki pages, such as: a wiki mainpage, a WikiProject page, an affiliate page, an event page, or even a user page.
View all 27 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week.

Updates for technical contributors

Developers who use the moment library in gadgets and user scripts should revise their code to use alternatives like the Intl library or the new mediawiki.DateFormatter library. The moment library has been deprecated and will begin to log messages in the developer console. You can see a global search for current uses, and ask related questions in this Phabricator task.
Developers who maintain a tool that queries the Wikidata term store tables (wbt_*) need to update their code to connect to a separate database cluster. These tables are being split into a separate database cluster. Tools that query those tables via the wiki replicas must be adapted to connect to the new cluster instead. Documentation and related links are available. [13]
Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

In depth

The latest Chart Project newsletter is available. It includes updates on preparing to expand the deployment to additional wikis as soon as this week (starting May 6) and scaling up over the following weeks, plus exploring filtering and transforming source data.

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

MediaWiki message delivery 00:12, 6 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – May 2025

News and updates for administrators from the past month (April 2025).

Administrator changes

Rusalkii

NaomiAmethyst (overlooked last month)

Interface administrator changes

Galobtter

Guideline and policy news

Following an RfC, administrator elections were permanently authorized on a five-month schedule. The next election will be scheduled soon; see Wikipedia talk:Administrator elections for more information. This is an alternate process to the RfA process and does not replace the latter.
An RfC was closed with consensus to allow editors to opt-out of seeing "sticky decorative elements". Such elements should now be wrapped in {{sticky decoration wrapper}}. Editors who wish to opt out can follow the instructions at WP:STICKYDECO.
An RfC has resulted in a broad prohibition on the use of AI-generated images in articles. A few common-sense exceptions are recognized.

Miscellaneous

A New Pages Patrol backlog drive is happening in May 2025 to reduce the backlog of articles in the new pages feed. Sign up here to participate!

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:02, 6 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2025-20

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

Weekly highlight

The "Get shortened URL" link on the sidebar now includes a QR code. Wikimedia site users can now use it by scanning or downloading it to quickly share and access shared content from Wikimedia sites, conveniently.

Updates for editors

The Wikimedia Foundation is working on a system called Edge Uniques, which will enable A/B testing, help protect against distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS attacks), and make it easier to understand how many visitors the Wikimedia sites have. This is to help more efficiently build tools which help readers, and make it easier for readers to find what they are looking for. Tech News has previously written about this. The deployment will be gradual. Some might see the Edge Uniques cookie the week of 19 May. You can discuss this on the talk page.
Starting May 19, 2025, Event organisers in wikis with the CampaignEvents extension enabled can use Event Registration in the project namespace (e.g., Wikipedia namespace, Wikidata namespace). With this change, communities don't need admins to use the feature. However, wikis that don't want this change can remove and add the permitted namespaces at Special:CommunityConfiguration/CampaignEvents.
The Wikipedia project now has a Wikipedia in Nupe (w:nup:). This is a language primarily spoken in the North Central region of Nigeria. Speakers of this language are invited to contribute to new Wikipedia.
View all 27 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week.

Updates for technical contributors

Developers can now access pre-parsed Dutch Wikipedia, amongst others (English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese) through the Structured Contents snapshots (beta). The content includes parsed Wikipedia abstracts, descriptions, main images, infoboxes, article sections, and references.
The /page/data-parsoid REST API endpoint is no longer in use and will be deprecated. It is scheduled to be turned off on June 7, 2025.
Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

In depth

The IPv6 support is a newly introduced Cloud virtual network that significantly boosts Wikimedia platforms' scalability, security, and readiness for the future. If you are a technical contributor eager to learn more, check out this blog post for an in-depth look at the journey to IPv6.

Meetings and events

The 2nd edition of 2025 of Afrika Baraza, a virtual platform for African Wikimedians to connect, will take place on May 15 at 17:00 UTC. This edition will focus on discussions regarding Wikimedia Annual planning and progress.
The MENA Connect Community Call, a virtual meeting for MENA Wikimedians to connect, will take place on May 17 at 17:00 UTC. You can register now to attend.

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

MediaWiki message delivery 22:35, 12 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes – Issue 68

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 68, March–April 2025

In this issue we highlight two resource renewals, #EveryBookItsReader, a note about Phabricator, and, as always, a roundup of news and community items related to libraries and digital knowledge.

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --10:19, 13 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 14 May 2025

News and notes: WMF to kick off new-CEO quest as Iskander preps to move on — Supreme Court nixes gag of Wiki page for other India court row on ANI — code-heads give fix-up date for Charts in lieu of long-dead Graph gizmo

And comment is requested on a privacy whitepaper.

In the media: Wikimedia Foundation sues over UK government decision that might require identity verification of editors worldwide

And other courtroom drama.

Disinformation report: What does Jay-Z know about Wikipedia?

And how he knows it: all about lawyer letters and editing logs.

In focus: On the hunt for sources: Swedish AfD discussions

Why the language barrier is not the only impediment to navigating sources from another culture.

Technology report: WMF introduces unique but privacy-preserving browser cookie

And QR codes for every page!

Debriefing: Goldsztajn's RfA debriefing

When an editor is ready to become staff at a public library (not a brother in a fraternity).

Obituary: Max Lum (User:ICOHBuzz)

Rest in peace.

Community view: A Deep Dive Into Wikimedia (part 2)

The technology behind it, and the other stuff.

Comix: Collection

Gadzooks!

From the archives: Humor from the Archives

And more.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:59, 14 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2025-21

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

Weekly highlight

The Editing Team and the Machine Learning Team are working on a new check for newcomers: Peacock check. Using a prediction model, this check will encourage editors to improve the tone of their edits, using artificial intelligence. We invite volunteers to review the first version of the Peacock language model for the following languages: Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, English, and Japanese. Users from these wikis interested in reviewing this model are invited to sign up at MediaWiki.org. The deadline to sign up is on May 23, which will be the start date of the test.

Updates for editors

From May 20, 2025, oversighters and checkusers will need to have their accounts secured with two-factor authentication (2FA) to be able to use their advanced rights. All users who belong to these two groups and do not have 2FA enabled have been informed. In the future, this requirement may be extended to other users with advanced rights. Learn more.
Multiblocks will begin mass deployment by the end of the month: all non-Wikipedia projects plus Catalan Wikipedia will adopt Multiblocks in the week of May 26, while all other Wikipedias will adopt it in the week of June 2. Please contact the team if you have concerns. Administrators can test the new user interface now on your own wiki by browsing to Special:Block?usecodex=1, and can test the full multiblocks functionality on testwiki. Multiblocks is the feature that makes it possible for administrators to impose different types of blocks on the same user at the same time. See the help page for more information. [14]
Later this week, the Special:SpecialPages listing of almost all special pages will be updated with a new design. This page has been redesigned to improve the user experience in a few ways, including: The ability to search for names and aliases of the special pages, sorting, more visible marking of restricted special pages, and a more mobile-friendly look. The new version can be previewed at Beta Cluster now, and feedback shared in the task. [15]
The Chart extension is being enabled on more wikis. For a detailed list of when the extension will be enabled on your wiki, please read the deployment timeline.
Wikifunctions will be deployed on May 27 on five Wiktionaries: Hausa, Igbo, Bengali, Malayalam, and Dhivehi/Maldivian. This is the second batch of deployment planned for the project. After deployment, the projects will be able to call functions from Wikifunctions and integrate them in their pages. A function is something that takes one or more inputs and transforms them into a desired output, such as adding up two numbers, converting miles into metres, calculating how much time has passed since an event, or declining a word into a case. Wikifunctions will allow users to do that through a simple call of a stable and global function, rather than via a local template.
Later this week, the Wikimedia Foundation will publish a hub for experiments. This is to showcase and get user feedback on product experiments. The experiments help the Wikimedia movement understand new users, how they interact with the internet and how it could affect the Wikimedia movement. Some examples are generated video, the Wikipedia Roblox speedrun game and the Discord bot.
View all 29 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week. For example, there was a bug with creating an account using the API, which has now been fixed. [16]

Updates for technical contributors

Gadgets and user scripts that interact with Special:Block may need to be updated to work with the new manage blocks interface. Please review the developer guide for more information. If you need help or are unable to adapt your script to the new interface, please let the team know on the talk page. [17]
The mw.title object allows you to get information about a specific wiki page in the Lua programming language. Starting this week, a new property will be added to the object, named isDisambiguationPage. This property allows you to check if a page is a disambiguation page, without the need to write a custom function. [18]
User script developers can use a new reverse proxy tool to load javascript and css from gitlab.wikimedia.org with mw.loader.load. The tool's author hopes this will enable collaborative development workflows for user scripts including linting, unit tests, code generation, and code review on gitlab.wikimedia.org without a separate copy-and-paste step to publish scripts to a Wikimedia wiki for integration and acceptance testing. See Tool:Gitlab-content on Wikitech for more information.
Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

Meetings and events

The 12th edition of Wiki Workshop 2025, a forum that brings together researchers that explore all aspects of Wikimedia projects, will be held virtually on 21-22 May. Researchers can register now.

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

MediaWiki message delivery 23:10, 19 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2025-22

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

Weekly highlight

A community-wide discussion about a very delicate issue for the development of Abstract Wikipedia is now open on Meta: where to store the abstract content that will be developed through functions from Wikifunctions and data from Wikidata. The discussion is open until June 12 at Abstract Wikipedia/Location of Abstract Content, and every opinion is welcomed. The decision will be made and communicated after the consultation period by the Foundation.

Updates for editors

Since last week, on all wikis except the largest 20, people using the mobile visual editor will have additional tools in the menu bar, accessed using the new + toolbar button. To start, the new menu will include options to add: citations, hieroglyphs, and code blocks. Deployment to the remaining wikis is scheduled to happen in June.
The #ifexist parser function will no longer register a link to its target page. This will improve the usefulness of Special:WantedPages, which will eventually only list pages that are the target of an actual red link. This change will happen gradually as the source pages are updated. [19]
This week, the Moderator Tools team will launch a new filter to Recent Changes, starting at Indonesian Wikipedia. This new filter highlights edits that are likely to be reverted. The goal is to help Recent Changes patrollers identify potentially problematic edits. Other wikis will benefit from this filter in the future.
Upon clicking an empty search bar, logged-out users will see suggestions of articles for further reading. The feature will be available on both desktop and mobile. Readers of Catalan, Hebrew, and Italian Wikipedias and some sister projects will receive the change between May 21 and mid-June. Readers of other wikis will receive the change later. The goal is to encourage users to read the wikis more. Learn more.
Some users of the Wikipedia Android app can use a new feature for readers, WikiGames, a daily trivia game based on real historical events. The release has started as an A/B test, available to 50% of users in the following languages: English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, and Turkish.
The Newsletter extension that is available on MediaWiki.org allows the creation of various newsletters for global users. The extension can now publish new issues as section links on an existing page, instead of requiring a new page for each issue. [20]
View all 32 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week.

Updates for technical contributors

The previously deprecated ipblocks views in Wiki Replicas will be removed in the beginning of June. Users are encouraged to query the new block and block_target views instead.
Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

Meetings and events

Wikidata and Sister Projects is a multi-day online event that will focus on how Wikidata is integrated to Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects. The event runs from May 29 – June 1. You can read the Program schedule and register.

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

MediaWiki message delivery 20:02, 26 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2025-23

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

Weekly highlight

The Chart extension is now available on all Wikimedia wikis. Editors can use this new extension to create interactive data visualizations like bar, line, area, and pie charts. Charts are designed to replace many of the uses of the legacy Graph extension.

Updates for editors

It is now easier to configure automatic citations for your wiki within the visual editor's citation generator. Administrators can now set a default template by using the _default key in the local MediaWiki:Citoid-template-type-map.json page (example diff). Setting this default will also help to future-proof your existing configurations when new item types are added in the future. You can still set templates for individual item types as they will be preferred to the default template. [21]
View all 20 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week.

Updates for technical contributors

Starting the week of June 2, bots logging in using action=login or action=clientlogin will fail more often. This is because of stronger protections against suspicious logins. Bots using bot passwords or using a loginless authentication method such as OAuth are not affected. If your bot is not using one of those, you should update it; using action=login without a bot password was deprecated in 2016. For most bots, this only requires changing what password the bot uses. [22]
From this week, Wikimedia wikis will allow ES2017 features in JavaScript code for official code, gadgets, and user scripts. The most visible feature of ES2017 is async/await syntax, allowing for easier-to-read code. Until this week, the platform only allowed up to ES2016, and a few months before that, up to ES2015. [23]
Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

Meetings and events

Scholarship applications to participate in the GLAM Wiki Conference 2025 are now open. The conference will take place from 30 October to 1 November, in Lisbon, Portugal. GLAM contributors who lack the means to support their participation can apply here. Scholarship applications close on June 7th.

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

MediaWiki message delivery 23:52, 2 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – June 2025

News and updates for administrators from the past month (May 2025).

Administrator changes

Interface administrator changes

0xDeadbeef

CheckUser changes

L235

Oversight changes

L235

Guideline and policy news

An RfC is open to determine whether the English Wikipedia community should adopt a position on AI development by the WMF and its affiliates.

Technical news

A new feature called Multiblocks will be deployed on English Wikipedia on the week of June 2. See the relevant announcement on the administrators' noticeboard.
History merges performed using the mergehistory special page are now logged at both the source and destination, rather than just the source as previously, after this RFC and the resolution of T118132.

Arbitration

An arbitration case named Indian military history has been opened. Evidence submissions for this case close on 8 June.

Miscellaneous

Voting for the Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C) election is open until 17 June 2025. Read the voting page on Meta-Wiki and cast your vote here!
An Articles for Creation backlog drive is happening in June 2025, with over 1,600 drafts awaiting review from the past two months. In addition to AfC participants, all administrators and new page patrollers can help review using the Yet Another AFC Helper Script, which can be enabled in the Gadgets settings. Sign up here to participate!
The Unreferenced articles backlog drive is happening in June 2025 to reduce the backlog of articles tagged with {{Unreferenced}}. You can help reduce the backlog by adding citations to these articles. Sign up to participate!

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:17, 6 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2025-24

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

Weekly highlight

The Trust and Safety Product team is finalizing work needed to roll out temporary accounts on large Wikipedias later this month. The team has worked with stewards and other users with extended rights to predict and address many use cases that may arise on larger wikis, so that community members can continue to effectively moderate and patrol temporary accounts. This will be the second of three phases of deployment – the last one will take place in September at the earliest. For more information about the recent developments on the project, see this update. If you have any comments or questions, write on the talk page, and join a CEE Catch Up this Tuesday.

Updates for editors

The watchlist expiry feature allows editors to watch pages for a limited period of time. After that period, the page is automatically removed from your watchlist. Starting this week, you can set a preference for the default period of time to watch pages. The preferences also allow you to set different default watch periods for editing existing pages, pages you create, and when using rollback. [24]

Example of a talk page with the new design, in French.

The appearance of talk pages will change at almost all Wikipedias (some have already received this design change, a few will get these changes later). You can read details about the changes on Diff. It is possible to opt out of these changes in user preferences ("Show discussion activity"). [25][26]
Users with specific extended rights (including administrators, bureaucrats, checkusers, oversighters, and stewards) can now have IP addresses of all temporary accounts revealed automatically during time-limited periods where they need to combat high-speed account-hopping vandalism. This feature was requested by stewards. [27]
This week, the Moderator Tools and Machine Learning teams will continue the rollout of a new filter to Recent Changes, releasing it to several more Wikipedias. This filter utilizes the Revert Risk model, which was created by the Research team, to highlight edits that are likely to be reverted and help Recent Changes patrollers identify potentially problematic contributions. The feature will be rolled out to the following Wikipedias: Afrikaans Wikipedia, Belarusian Wikipedia, Bengali Wikipedia, Welsh Wikipedia, Hawaiian Wikipedia, Icelandic Wikipedia, Kazakh Wikipedia, Simple English Wikipedia, Turkish Wikipedia. The rollout will continue in the coming weeks to include the rest of the Wikipedias in this project. [28]
View all 27 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week.

Updates for technical contributors

AbuseFilter editors active on Meta-Wiki and large Wikipedias are kindly asked to update AbuseFilter to make it compatible with temporary accounts. A link to the instructions and the private lists of filters needing verification are available on Phabricator.
Lua modules now have access to the name of a page's associated thumbnail image, and on some wikis to the WikiProject assessment information. This is possible using two new properties on mw.title objects, named pageImage and pageAssessments. [29][30]
Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

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

MediaWiki message delivery 01:14, 10 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2025-25

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

Updates for editors

You can nominate your favorite tools for the sixth edition of the Coolest Tool Award. Nominations are anonymous and will be open until June 25. You can re-use the survey to nominate multiple tools.
View all 33 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week.

Updates for technical contributors

Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

In depth

Foundation staff and technical volunteers use Wikimedia APIs to build the tools, applications, features, and integrations that enhance user experiences. Over the coming years, the MediaWiki Interfaces team will be investing in Wikimedia web (HTTP) APIs to better serve technical volunteer needs and protect Wikimedia infrastructure from potential abuse. You can read more about their plans to evolve the APIs in this Techblog post.

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

MediaWiki message delivery 23:36, 16 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2025-26

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

Weekly highlight

This week, the Moderator Tools and Machine Learning teams will continue the rollout of a new filter to Recent Changes, releasing it to the third and last batch of Wikipedias. This filter utilizes the Revert Risk model, which was created by the Research team, to highlight edits that are likely to be reverted and help Recent Changes patrollers identify potentially problematic contributions. The feature will be rolled out to the following Wikipedias: Azerbaijani Wikipedia, Latin Wikipedia, Macedonian Wikipedia, Malayalam Wikipedia, Marathi Wikipedia, Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia, Punjabi Wikipedia, Swahili Wikipedia, Telugu Wikipedia, Tagalog Wikipedia. The rollout will continue in the coming weeks to include the rest of the Wikipedias in this project. [31]

Updates for editors

Last week, temporary accounts were rolled out on Czech, Korean, and Turkish Wikipedias. This and next week, deployments on larger Wikipedias will follow. Share your thoughts about the project. [32]
Later this week, the Editing team will release Multi Check to all Wikipedias (except English Wikipedia). This feature shows multiple Reference checks within the editing experience. This encourages users to add citations when they add multiple new paragraphs to a Wikipedia article. This feature was previously available as an A/B test. The test shows that users who are shown multiple checks are 1.3 times more likely to add a reference to their edit, and their edit is less likely to be reverted (-34.7%). [33]
A few pages need to be renamed due to software updates and to match more recent Unicode standards. All of these changes are related to title-casing changes. Approximately 71 pages and 3 files will be renamed, across 15 wikis; the complete list is in the task. The developers will rename these pages next week, and they will fix redirects and embedded file links a few minutes later via a system settings update.
View all 24 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week. For example, a bug was fixed that had caused pages to scroll upwards when text near the top was selected. [34]

Updates for technical contributors

Editors can now use Lua modules to filter and transform tabular data for use with Extension:Chart. This can be used for things like selecting a subset of rows or columns from the source data, converting between units, statistical processing, and many other useful transformations. Information on how to use transforms is available. [35]
The all_links variable in AbuseFilter is now renamed to new_links for consistency with other variables. Old usages will still continue to work. [36]
Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

In depth

The latest quarterly Growth newsletter is available. It includes: the recent updates for the "Add a Link" Task, two new Newcomer Engagement Features, and updates to Community Configuration.

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

MediaWiki message delivery 23:18, 23 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 24 June 2025

News and notes: Happy 7 millionth!

Admins arrested in Belarus.

In the media: Playing professor pong with prosecutorial discretion

Pardon our alliteration!

Disinformation report: Pardon me, Mr. President, have you seen my socks?

A get-out-of-jail card!

Recent research: Wikipedia's political bias; "Ethical" LLMs accede to copyright owners' demands but ignore those of Wikipedians

And other new research publications.

Traffic report: All Sinners, a future, all Saints, a past

Holy men and not-as-holy movies.

News from Diff: Call for candidates is now open: Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

Get your self-nomination in by July 2nd!

Opinion: Russian Wiki-fork flails, failing readers and editors

After two years RuWiki fails to thrive.

Debriefing: EggRoll97's RfA² debriefing

With some sweet-and-sour sauce!

Community view: A Deep Dive Into Wikimedia (part 3)

Every thing you need to know about the Wikimedia Foundation?

Comix: Hamburgers

Egad!

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:28, 24 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2025-27

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

Weekly highlight

The CampaignEvents extension has been enabled on all Wikipedias. The extension makes it easier to organize and participate in collaborative activities, like edit-a-thons and WikiProjects, on the wikis. The extension has three features: Event Registration, Collaboration List, and Invitation List. To request the extension for your wiki, visit the Deployment information page.

Updates for editors

AbuseFilter maintainers can now match against IP reputation data in AbuseFilters. IP reputation data is information about the proxies and VPNs associated with the user's IP address. This data is not shown publicly and is not generated for actions performed by registered accounts. [37]
Hidden content that is within collapsible parts of wikipages will now be revealed when someone searches the page using the web browser's "Find in page" function (Ctrl+F or ⌘F) in supporting browsers. [38][39]
A new feature, called Favourite Templates, will be deployed later this week on all projects (except English Wikipedia, which will receive the feature next week), following a piloting phase on Polish and Arabic Wikipedia, and Italian and English Wikisource. The feature will provide a better way for new and experienced contributors to recall and discover templates via the template dialog, by allowing users to put templates on a special "favourite list". The feature works with both the visual editor and the wikitext editor. The feature is a community wishlist focus area.
View all 31 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week. For example, a bug was fixed that had caused some Notifications to be sent multiple times. [40]

Updates for technical contributors

Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

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

MediaWiki message delivery 23:38, 30 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes – Issue 69

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 69, May–June 2025

In this issue we highlight a new partnership, Citation Watchlist and, as always, a roundup of news and community items related to libraries and digital knowledge.

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team – 13:11, 1 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – July 2025

News and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2025).

Administrator changes

NuclearWarfare

Interface administrator changes

L235

Guideline and policy news

Following a talk page discussion, speedy deletion criterion G13 has been amended to remove "Userspace with no content except the article wizard placeholder text."
WP:Manual of Style/Superscripts and subscripts was upgraded to a guideline following a RfC discussion.

Miscellaneous

The 2025 Developing Countries WikiContest will run from 1 July to 30 September. Sign up now!
Administrator elections will take place this month. Administrator elections are an alternative to RFA that is a gentler process for candidates due to secret voting and multiple people running together. The call for candidates is July 9–15, the discussion phase is July 18–22, and the voting phase is July 23–29. Get ready to submit your candidacy, or (with their consent) to nominate a talented candidate!

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:49, 7 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2025-28

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

Weekly highlight

Temporary accounts have been rolled out on 18 large and medium-sized Wikipedias, including German, Japanese, French, and Chinese. Now, about 1/3 of all logged-out activity across wikis is coming from temporary accounts. Users involved in patrolling may be interested in two new documentation pages: Access to IP, explaining everything related to access to temporary account IP addresses, and Repository with a list of new gadgets and user scripts.

Updates for editors

Anyone can play an experimental new game, WikiRun, that lets you race through Wikipedia by clicking from one article to another, aiming to reach a target page in as few steps and in as little time as possible. The project's goal is to explore new ways of engaging readers. Try playing the game and let the team know what you think on the talk page.
Users of the Wikipedia Android app in some languages can now play the new trivia game. Which came first? is a simple history game where you guess which of two events happened earlier on today's date. It was previously available as an A/B test. It is now available to all users in English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic, Turkish, and Chinese. The goal of the feature is to help engage with new generations of readers. [41]
Users of the iOS Wikipedia App in some languages may see a new tabbed browsing feature that enables you to open multiple tabs while reading. This feature makes it easier to explore related topics and switch between articles. The A/B test is currently running in Arabic, English, and Japanese in selected regions. More details are available on the Tabbed Browsing project page.
Bureaucrats on Wikimedia wikis can now use Special:VerifyOATHForUser to check if users have enabled two-factor authentication. [42]
A new feature related to Template Recall and Discovery will be deployed later this week to all Wikimedia projects: a template category browser will be introduced to assist users in finding templates to put in their “favourite” list. The browser will allow users to browse a list of templates which have been organised into a given category tree. The feature has been requested by the community through the Community Wishlist.
It is now possible to access watchlist preferences from the watchlist page. Also the redundant button to edit the watchlist has been removed. [43]
View all 27 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week.

Updates for technical contributors

As part of MediaWiki 1.44 there is now a unified built-in Notifications system that makes it easier for developers to send, manage, and customize notifications. Check out the updated documentation at Manual:Notifications, information about migration in T388663 and details on deprecated hooks in T389624.
Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

Meetings and events

WikidataCon 2025, the conference dedicated to Wikidata is now open for session proposals and for registration. This year's event will be held online from October 31 – November 02 and will explore on the theme of "Connecting People through Linked Open Data".

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

MediaWiki message delivery 00:02, 8 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2025-29

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

Updates for editors

Featured templates, a new feature related to Template Recall and Discovery will be deployed this week to all Wikimedia projects: With this feature, editors will be able to quickly access a list of templates that are likely to be useful. These templates will be displayed in a list, under the "featured" tab of the template discovery interface. Administrators can define the list via the Community Configuration interface. The feature fulfills a request by the community through the Community Wishlist. [44][45]
View all 31 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week. For example, the request to add Malayalam fonts in the Wikisource Book Export Tool was resolved and now, the rendering of Malayalam letters in exported Wikisource books are accurate. [46]

Updates for technical contributors

Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

In depth

Developers, designers, and all Wikimedians are invited to submit a project idea for the Wikimania Hackathon 2025. Read this Diff blog post for more details.

Meetings and events

WikiIndaba 2025 scholarship application and program submission is open until 23:59 GMT on July 20. WikiIndaba is a regional conference for African Wikimedians both on the continent and in the diaspora to unite and grow together. Submit your scholarship application and program proposal now!
WikiCon Brasil 2025 will take place on July 19-20 in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. The Brazilian community members are encouraged to register and attend!

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

MediaWiki message delivery 20:06, 14 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 18 July 2025

News and notes: Is no WikiNews good WikiNews? — Election season returns!

Endowment tax form, Wikimania, elections, U4C, fundraising and a duck!

In the media: How bad (or good) is Wikipedia?

And how do we know?

WikiProject report: WikiProject Medicine reaches milestone of zero unreferenced articles

Five-year journey comes to healthy fruition.

In focus: Wikimania 2025: Connecting Wikimedians across the world for 20 years

Wikimedians from around the world will gather in person and online at the twentieth annual meeting of Wikimania.

Recent research: Knowledge manipulation on Russia's Wikipedia fork; Marxist critique of Wikidata license; call to analyze power relations of Wikipedia

As well as "hermeneutic excursions" and other scientific research findings.

News from the WMF: Form 990 released for the Wikimedia Foundation’s fiscal year 2023-2024

The report covers the Foundation's operations from July 2023 - June 2024

Discussion report: Six thousand noticeboard discussions in 2025 electrically winnowed down to a hundred

A step towards objective and comprehensive coverage of a project nearly too big to follow.

Comix: Divorce

Drawn this century!

Opinion: Women are somewhat under-represented on the English-language Wikipedia, and other observations from analysis

How data from the Wikipedia "necessary articles" lists can shed new light on the gender gap

Community view: A Deep Dive Into Wikimedia (part 4): The Future Of Wikimedia and Conclusion

Annual plans, external trends, infrastructure, equity, safety, and effectiveness. What does it all mean?

Obituary: Pvmoutside, Atomicjohn, Rdmoore6, Jaknouse, Morven, Martin of Sheffield, MarnetteD, Herewhy, BabelStone

Rest in peace.

Traffic report: God only knows

Wouldn't it be nice without billionaires, scandals, deaths, and wars?

Humour: New forum created for people who don't care about Wikipedia

If you are too blasé for Mr. Blasé and don't give a FAC.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 07:50, 18 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2025-30

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

Updates for editors

The Translation Suggestions feature in the Content Translation tool now has another level of article filters added to the "... More" category. Translators who use the Suggestions feature can now select and receive article suggestions that are customized to geographical locations of their interest using the new "Regions" filter. [47]
Administrators can now limit "Add a Link" to newcomers. The "Add a Link" Structured Task helps new account holders start editing, but some communities have requested the ability to restrict it to its intended audience: newcomers. Administrators can configure this setting within the Community Configuration feature.
View all 29 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week.

Updates for technical contributors

For AbuseFilter editors on some wikis, it is now possible to filter edits based on the RevertRisk score of the edit being attempted. It is only populated if the action being evaluated is an edit. For more information, please see the ORES/AbuseFilter variables documentation.
The Beta Cluster wikis have been moved from beta.wmflabs.org to beta.wmcloud.org. Users may need to update URLs in any tools, or in their password managers. Any related issues can be reported in the task.
Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

Meetings and events

WikiCite 2025 will take place from 29–31 August, both online and in-person in Bern, Switzerland. The event's goals are to reconnect communities, institutions, and individuals working with open citations, bibliographic data, and the Wikidata/Wikibase ecosystem. Registration is open and the call for proposals will be announced soon. [48]

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

MediaWiki message delivery 23:39, 21 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2025-31

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

Weekly highlight

The Community Tech team will be focusing on wishes related to Watchlists and Recent Changes pages, over the next few months. They are looking for feedback. Please read the latest update, and if you have ideas, please submit a wish on the topic.

Updates for editors

The Wikimedia Commons community has decided to block cross-wiki uploads to Wikimedia Commons, for all users without autoconfirmed rights on that wiki, starting on August 16. This is because of widespread problems related to files that are uploaded by newcomers. Users who are affected by this will get an error message with a link to the less restrictive UploadWizard on Commons. Please help translating the message or give feedback on the message text. Please also update your local help pages to explain this restriction. [49]
On wikis with temporary accounts enabled and Meta-Wiki, administrators may now set up a footer for the Special:Contributions pages of temporary accounts, similar to those which can be shown on IP and user-account pages. They may do it by creating the page named MediaWiki:Sp-contributions-footer-temp. [50]
View all 21 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week.

Updates for technical contributors

Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

Meetings and events

Wikimania 2025 will run from August 6–9. The program is available for you to plan which sessions you want to attend. Most sessions will be live-streamed, with exceptions for those that show the "no camera" icon. If you are joining online to watch live-streams and use the interactive features, please register for a free virtual ticket. For example, you may be interested in technical sessions such as:
The MediaWiki Users and Developers Conference, Fall 2025 will be held 28–30 October 2025 in Hanover, Germany. This event is organized by and for the third-party MediaWiki community. You can propose sessions and register to attend.

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

MediaWiki message delivery 00:23, 29 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]